Extra 0-level skills at the start of a game?

[Spinward Scout]

What extra 0-level skills would you give to characters at the start of a game?

I'm thinking things like Computers-0 or Imperial Culture-0 or even Spacer Knowledge-0. Things that should be mandatory, just for being trained by the Imperium or an Interstellar MegaCorp or such - like something everyone except a Barbarian should have. Or like something a new player wouldn't think of to ask about if they could make an EDU roll for it.

 

[Timerover51]

What extra 0-level skills would you give to characters at the start of a game?

I'm thinking things like Computers-0 or Imperial Culture-0 or even Spacer Knowledge-0. Things that should be mandatory, just for being trained by the Imperium or an Interstellar MegaCorp or such - like something everyone except a Barbarian should have. Or like something a new player wouldn't think of to ask about if they could make an EDU roll for it.

I would say Computer-0 would be the normal, as long as Education is at least 6-7.

If from a world with an Atmosphere of Very Thin to Vacuum, then Vacc-Suit-O. High population worlds maybe some form of Vehicle-0. For worlds with Thin to Dense Atmosphere and low population, say 6 or lower (Millions to Tens), and reasonable hydrosphere, then maybe some form of Firearm-0, assuming that hunting would be a routine activity.

 

[Spinward Scout]

I would say Computer-0 would be the normal, as long as Education is at least 6-7.

But anyone with a modern cell phone has a handcomp in their hands - no matter their EDU. And that cell phone is stronger than the computers that flew men to the Moon. Would INT be more of a basis for being able to use it well?

If from a world with an Atmosphere of Very Thin to Vacuum, then Vacc-Suit-O. High population worlds maybe some form of Vehicle-0. For worlds with Thin to Dense Atmosphere and low population, say 6 or lower (Millions to Tens), and reasonable hydrosphere, then maybe some form of Firearm-0, assuming that hunting would be a routine activity.

True, but I was thinking more about their Career training than Homeworld skills.

 

[Fovean]

I played in a PBP online game where the Ref gave every character Subsector 0 (+1 per 2 terms served in the area) and World 0 for each significant location in the career (+1 per 2 subsequent visits). Homeworld 1 - 3 depending.

It was more work generating the PCs obviously but it was pretty cool. Most characters had a smattering of knowledge about the campaign area, the Scout had quite a bit and the Agent who had never left his home system knew just the merest facts - helped create an interesting player dynamic right off the bat. The Ref would offer task rolls to avoid insulting locals, remember certain events or notables, that sort of thing.

It helped it all feel very immersive.

As far as Service knowledge, that's a little harder to pin down. I would think a PC that served in Imperial Service would understand all the other services. Likewise for the MegaCorps. But do you give the 2 term Marine and the 5 term Scout the same Imp Srvc 0? What about Other careers?

 

[Blue Ghost]

But anyone with a modern cell phone has a handcomp in their hands - no matter their EDU. And that cell phone is stronger than the computers that flew men to the Moon. Would INT be more of a basis for being able to use it well?



True, but I was thinking more about their Career training than Homeworld skills.

Well, the game was written in 77. I was hacking on teletypes and PET computers around 75 at Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. Unless you lived near MIT, maybe the Detroit area where the auto industry was still extremely strong, or one of the other major tech hubs, odds are you didn't have comp-0. I think some kid today of the same age would blow my old TL6 or TL7 self out of the water with his computer skills.

 

[kilemall]

One Vehicle-0 (Which could be Equestrian for low tech, Watercraft for Hydro 8+, Ship's Boat for Asteroids, etc).

One tech/fix-0 (Mech/Electronics/Medical/Engineering/Computer).

One social-0 (Carousing/Bribery/Liaison/Leader/Persuade/Gambling/Admin).

One enviornmental-0 (Survival/Recon/Hunting/Vacc Suit/Navigation/Streetwise).

That's homeworld skills.

For service, someone suggested all Service Skills at 0. That would come up with some odd situations, perhaps more like roll one extra 0 skill per term.

 

[Timerover51]

But anyone with a modern cell phone has a handcomp in their hands - no matter their EDU. And that cell phone is stronger than the computers that flew men to the Moon. Would INT be more of a basis for being able to use it well?

You do have a very good point there. As I basically use my iPhone 5 strictly as a phone, I keep forgetting that is has more power than my first Macintosh personal computer. I would go with your view of INT as the basis for use.

True, but I was thinking more about their Career training than Homeworld skills.

Realistically, probably some sort of Vehicle skill would be valid then. If Social Standing is low, then probably Streetwise-0. Is Social Standing is high, then maybe Gambling.

By the way, what version of Traveller are you thinking of?

 

[Spinward Scout]

I played in a PBP online game where the Ref gave every character Subsector 0 (+1 per 2 terms served in the area) and World 0 for each significant location in the career (+1 per 2 subsequent visits). Homeworld 1 - 3 depending.

I like this!

For service, someone suggested all Service Skills at 0.

I like that in MgT, that's standard. I'm not sure any other ruleset had that.

I'm looking at skills just for being in Imperial Service or other services. Like, everyone in Imperial Service could have Computer-0, just to be able to get their payroll, schedule appointments or meetings. And how much crosses over with Comms?

Or something more simple, like Imperial Sophonts-0.

Am I putting too much thought into this? Should there just be a General Knowledge check?

 

[Condottiere]

If they ever had an adolescence, Pop Culture.

 

[aramis]

What extra 0-level skills would you give to characters at the start of a game?

I'm thinking things like Computers-0 or Imperial Culture-0 or even Spacer Knowledge-0. Things that should be mandatory, just for being trained by the Imperium or an Interstellar MegaCorp or such - like something everyone except a Barbarian should have. Or like something a new player wouldn't think of to ask about if they could make an EDU roll for it.

I use the MT list, plus 1 per full 5 points of Edu.

 

[mike wightman]

Computer skill is for coding and hacking, you need no skill to use the interwebs and google...

use Edu for computer use, not computer skill.

As to level 0 skills, in MTU every player writes down all of the skills on the service skills table and get these at level 0, every term served they can pick a skill from the advanced education table to get at level 0.

 

[kilemall]

I like that in MgT, that's standard. I'm not sure any other ruleset had that.

I'm looking at skills just for being in Imperial Service or other services. Like, everyone in Imperial Service could have Computer-0, just to be able to get their payroll, schedule appointments or meetings. And how much crosses over with Comms?

Or something more simple, like Imperial Sophonts-0.

Am I putting too much thought into this? Should there just be a General Knowledge check?

Hmm, well the default skills like Scout Pilot-1 can be argued to be the service skills.

Admin-0 would be more like computer user office skills for payroll and meetings, more important to follow the mindset of the organization procedures then clicky computer use.

Consider the advent of Alexa and other such voice services- it may be that most people's interactions with computers for office work will not involve detailed manipulation of an app or OS at all.

I don't know that I would do a generic 0 skill for Service vs. Citizens/Others, seems like more opportunity to stake out unique cultural values of the various careers.

So for a quick example....

Navy
VaccSuit-0
Engineering-0
Gunnery-0

Marines
VaccSuit-0
Zero-G Combat-0
Tactics-0

Army
Admin-0
Forward Observer-0
Vehicle-0

Scouts
Survey-0
VaccSuit-0
Survival-0

Merchants
VaccSuit-0
Steward-0
Trader-0

Others
Vehicle-0
Streetwise-0
Electronics-0

 

[Condottiere]

Self driving vehicles might make knowledge of vehicle operations unnecessary, much like velcro and zippers make the skill of buttoning and tying shoelaces unnecessary.

 

[kilemall]

Self driving vehicles might make knowledge of vehicle operations unnecessary, much like velcro and zippers make the skill of buttoning and tying shoelaces unnecessary.

Very true, the functional equivalent of the Alexa effect, but our Travellers work off-the-grid, so that vehicle skill alone may set them apart from the herd and get them jobs the same way Medical or Pilot would.

<Shrug> for the homeworld skill, you could say pick/assign one skill each from 3 of the 4 categories I suggested, and so some characters would have a 'manual' vehicle skill, some wouldn't.

That would work for the Barbarian set as well, a steppe tribesman would virtually guaranteed have Equestrian-0, a fishing village Sailing Watercraft-0, but a citizen of SpaceRome might not have any.

 

[agorski]

Nobody has mentioned T5 yet. It has a standard list of Level-0 skills that everyone gets, specific Level-0 skills based on homeworld codes, plus Level-0 skills for homeworld knowledge and career knowledge.

 

[khadaji2002]

Nobody has mentioned T5 yet. It has a standard list of Level-0 skills that everyone gets, specific Level-0 skills based on homeworld codes, plus Level-0 skills for homeworld knowledge and career knowledge.

I don't have T5. That would be an interesting list to peruse. I have done something similar with MgT. I do the homeworld/EDU skills as listed in the book. Then as the PC is rolled up I look at the various careers and work with the player to fill in two or three spots the PC would likely have picked up over the course of their career that didn't come up in dice rolls.

 

[agorski]

The T5 career skill level is the number of terms served in that career.

The T5 world skill level starts at a value based on the pre-career time spent on the world (can't remember the exact algorithm right now) and decreases gradually during character generation for each term spent away from the world, going no lower than level-0.

 

[whartung]

Yea, there are millions of people that use a computer today but have no "Computer Skills".

There are millions of New Yorkers that have no idea how to operate a vehicle.

There are millions of drivers that may have "Drive Car-0" or "Drive Car-1" but have no mechanical skill whatsoever.

 

[Supplement Four]

What extra 0-level skills would you give to characters at the start of a game?

I'm thinking things like Computers-0 or Imperial Culture-0 or even Spacer Knowledge-0. Things that should be mandatory, just for being trained by the Imperium or an Interstellar MegaCorp or such - like something everyone except a Barbarian should have. Or like something a new player wouldn't think of to ask about if they could make an EDU roll for it.

In CT, there are a lot of skills that a character can use with Level-0 or no skill at all, with no penalty.

Note that there is no general penalty for not having a skill level in a skill. The penalty is usually task (and Ref) dependent, where a character might get a penalty for not having a skill on one task but be able to roll without penalty on the same skill for a different type of task.



Characters created with Book 1 are given all the weapon skills in that book at Level-0 (this does not hold true for characters created using Supplement 4).



The Traveller Book says that are appropriate for level-0 are air/raft, ATV, forward observer, steward, vacc suit, and weapons (which, as I just noted, the book gives to characters created using The Traveller Book).



As a Ref, I am likely to give a character a Level-0 skill if his background makes for a good case that the character has the skill.

And, I am most likely to allow Level-0 skills with skills that don't formally mention penalties for not having the skill in the skill descriptions.

For example, if a character is from a waterworld, then I will probably agree to allow the character to have one of the Watercraft skills at Level-0.



Classic Traveller skills are divided into three groups: Basic Skills, Weapon Skills, and Transport skills.

The character, if generated with Book 1/The Traveller Book/Starter Traveller, gets all the listed Weapon skills at level-0 by default.

With the transport skills, I would make a determination on that based on the character's background and homeworld. Where did he spend his time during character generation? Did he use transport skills a lot during that time?

With Basic Skills, I would be harder on these. These are the skills that a character should earn through character generation. I might include them on the character's skill tables (replacing a skill from the default skill table) with a Basic Skill the player wants--I am more likely to do that than to just give a character a Basic Skill at level-0.

Next, I'd read the skill description. If it mentions a penalty, then I am less likely to award that skill as a Level-0 skill.

 

[nobby-w]

What extra 0-level skills would you give to characters at the start of a game?[ . . . ]

I've done house rules for background skills at various times, which would give characters some zero-level skills and maybe one or two skills at level-1.

Skills should be something you might actually roll on. I'm not sure Imperial Culture should be a skill so much as an assumption for the background of someone born in the Imperium. Ask yourself if you've ever conceived of an interesting game event that arose from someone failing such a roll. I'm getting more of the view that success should be assumed unless failure is interesting for some reason. See the Gumshoe SRD or various FATE materials for a more in-depth discussion of this.

I just let players make up an interesting background and give out (say) two level-0 skills and two level-1 skills. These could be anything consistent with the background. For example, a farm boy from a colony world might have skills such as animal husbandry, driving a vehicle, mechanical, or rifle. A street urchin might have streetwise, brawling, intrusion or small blade. An educated, middle class kid might have academic skills, carousing, computer, driving or admin.