CT+ Skills List

[Maladominus]

Ahhh and one last comment from me....

I am really surprised that people are blind and never realized (maybe except for me and the players in MY Traveller campaigns) that these "skills lists" do not contain Xenology or Sophontology.

Xeno means "alien". Sophont means "sentient (alien) race". Do you guys not realize that this is a huge part of Traveller????

Man, what a silly game where 95% of your Character's life is spent adventuring and meeting/encountering alien life forms and alien sentient beings.... yet NOT A SINGLE CHARACTER in the adventure party has any functional knowledge/skills regarding alien life forms (i.e. xenology) or academic knowledge of sentient alien beings (i.e. sophontology)

As far as I'm concerend, Xenology and Sophontology are far more appropriate and useful skills in a game of SPACE ADVENTURE (which is what Traveller is 90% of the time) instead of skills such as Forward Observer, Naval Architect and Philosophy.

But that's just me being opinionated here.


EDIT: I give Fritz credit for suggesting Xeno-biology skill in his skills list.

 

[parmasson]

Good aliens speak Anglic or Vilani. Bad ones get shot.

Seriously tho’
I think “Liaison” covers it. I think we can assume a familiarly with alien cultures.

 

[robject]

Don't forget Xenoarchaeology.

Hey, there's lots of areas that can be specialized to aliens, if you want to go that way. The categories can be quite deep, too, since there can plausibly be one separate interpersonal skill per sophont type, not to mention many tech-related skills. I mean, their brains and psychology are completely alien, right? So all interpersonal skills may vary wildly.

Xenomech and Xenotech. Xenodiplomacy.

Xeno-carousing. Xeno-computers. Xeno-equestrian. Xeno-gambling.

Xeno-instruction and Xeno-interrogation.

Xeno-legal. Xeno-medical.
Xeno-pilot. Xeno-recruiting. Xeno-steward.
Xeno-tactics.


Actually, I'm with Parmasson on this one. I think the xeno- ought to be inferred, even with uncontacted races, just to make the game manageable.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Well, I added the Xeno- biology and Psychology because those will be the things that will be most way out. If you know archaeology, you can dig for all kinds of stuff from alien civilizations, without any additional academics because that's what archaeology is all about. History is the same. But, all those bugs/kitties/centaurs/etc will be different bilogically and will (hopefully) think differently. If you have Xeno-Psychology, Sociology, and Archaelogy, though, you will be even better prepared.... Admittedly, that is one area where I felt just a little forced - at least partly because I can see the argument for at least a few more "Xeno-"s.

This is also why MyT states that the referee should feel free to use different cascades (particularly for Academics) if there is a plausible reason.

Lastly, don't forget that a Vargr would learn Biology for his own race. If he wanted to doctor (or vivisect?) Humans, he would need Xeno-Biology.

 

[mike wightman]

Can you not just adapt the rules for xeno-medicine in CT revised to cover any skill used with an unfamiliar race or culture?

When in doubt, say the computers built into the diagnostic equipment make the job of the medic/mechanic/engineer etc. easier with known races - it's just the newly discovered ones where your skill drops.

Until enough data is collected to update the database

 

[robject]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Lastly, don't forget that a Vargr would learn Biology for his own race. If he wanted to doctor (or vivisect?) Humans, he would need Xeno-Biology.

Or grind up some K'Kree burgers?

(Vargr steward, consulting anatomy book) "Rrrrowff. Poison, poison, poison... tasty part, tasty part... poison... tasty part..."

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Yeah, Sigg, you could. But, the Academic cascade is for slightly more advanced stuff really - despite my post just above yours.