Fields of Experience

[Supplement Four]

What I'm saying is that having Pilot skill plus Parachute FoE, plus HALO FoE is no less cluttered than having Pilot skill plus Parachute skill, and both methods will be a 'waste' because they will be seldom used.

I understand what you were saying, but I guess I'm not being clear about the FoEs.

In CT, skills are precious and hard to get. Rarely does a character improve once he's out of chargen (although Book 4 makes this somewhat easier).

In CT, a skill like "History" (to borrow from other Traveller games), or "Biology" (to borrow from a CT magazine article) are basically wasted skills. You hardly ever have to throw on them.

What would be better is a generic skill called "Science". This would be useful for a lot of throws in Traveller. Then, the character could just pick up FoEs like Pathology, Biology, or even Astronomy, which would filter how the Science skill is used.

One character's Science skill could be quite different from another character's, based on the FoEs. But, they'd both be able to roll on any type of Science check--just with different modifiers because of their FoEs.



And, FoEs don't have to be tied to a particular skill. A character could have the Pathology, Biology, and Astronomy FoE. And, the character could have the Science skill, the Medical Skill, and the Navigation skill.

The Pathology and Biology FoEs could apply to either the character's Science or Medical skill throws, depending on what he's doing. The Astronomy FoE could modify the Science or Navigation skill throws, again, depending on what was trying to be accomplished.



And not only do FoEs not need to be tied to a particular skill, they don't need to be tied to a skill at all. A character with a Pathology FoE, for example, without a single skill that Pathology could be tied to, would modify his INT and EDU checks by his Pathology FoE when making Pathology related throws.



Here's something I may have not made clear. FoEs will be easier to obtain then skills. Skills will be big and broad and still about as hard to obtain in CT as they currently are.

But, FoEs will be easier to obtain during the game. This is how the character will grow and become more experienced and capable.

There may be a limit on the number of skill levels the character has (the INT + EDU experience rule), but their won't be a limit on the number of FoEs the character has.



So, really, that's the "advantage". But, I don't really like calling it an "advantage"--it's more of an alternate way of doing things. A houserule.

 

[Supplement Four]

FoEs used in CT example

Here's an example of how FoEs would be used in Classic Traveller.



First, I'll take a pre-generated character from 1001 Characters. Off the top of my head, I'll go with a Marine. I roll 1D, get a 2 result, so our base character for this example is:

Lieutenant 956956 Age 22 1 Term
Vacc-1, Cutlass-1, Revolver-1


Given the CT character growth rules, this is probably what the character will look like throughout his entire gaming career (although Book 4 makes character improvement a bit easier than Book 1).

But, that's OK. In CT, there is no penalty (typically) for not having a skill. The penalty is that the character doesn't get the bonus the skill level provides. And, sometimes, that bonus is quite big. It isn't always a standard "+1 per skill level" proposition. Take, for example, the Vacc Suit skill this character has. Many times, a Vacc Suit check is made at +4 DM per skill level. Sometimes it's made at a +2 DM per skill level.



Now that we have our character, we'll change a couple of things. Two of his skills aren't generic enough. They're really FoEs, not skills. So, we need to re-write the character like this:


Lieutenant 956956 Age 22 1 Term
Vacc-1, HTH Combat-1, Fire Arms-1

Fields of Experience: Cutlass, Revolver.



Now, anytime the character goes into HTH combat, he can use his base skill. If he uses a cutlass, he gets a bonus. The same thing with firearms. Aiming one pistol is like aiming another. And, certain skills one gets in aiming a pistol is certain to translate into aiming rifles too. So, now we have a big, generic Fire Arms skill that applies to all types of weapons. This character has an FoE in Revolvers, which is a favored weapon type. He's a specialist with revolvers, so he gets a bonus when using them.

Other skills from the CT canon will go away or change into FoEs too. For example, some FoEs that could be added to this character to fit his Vacc Suit skill are the (prior CT skills, now FoEs) FoEs: Zero G Operations, Zero G Combat, and Battle Dress.

All of those, now, are FoEs instead of CT skills.



The character operates normally, as he does in a regular CT game. His skills are a bit broader (Fire Arms relating to all fire arms now--not just Revolvers), but treat him as you would a normal CT character.

If the character has an FoE that applies to the situation, then give him a small bonus.



What bonus to give?

What that "bonus" is needs to be worked out when this house rule is implemented. Maybe it's a +1 DM. Maybe it's something like, "No DM bonus, but you can re-roll an "1" results on your die throw".

Or

Maybe the bonus is something like this: "If you have an appropriate FoE for a throw, then roll 3D on tasks, taking the highest two dice."

Thus, when this charcter fires an AutoPistol, he'll roll 2D +1 normally. But, if he's using a Revolver, he'll throw 3D, take the best 2D +1 for the attack.

I like that idea, but more thought would have to be put into it for the house rule.



And, don't forget, the character doesn't have to have an appropriate skill in order to use an FoE. Let's say our example character here obtains an FoE called First Aid. He doesn't have a Medical skill, but that's OK. The character now knows a bit about first aid without being taught the all-encompassing stuff the Medical skill covers.

He can throw First Aid checks due to his First Aid FoE. The GM will determine what is a First Aid throw and what requires a full Medical skill throw. Plus, the GM may make the target number higher since the character doesn't have the Medical skill. But, the character will still roll 3D, taking the best 2D, for the throw.

As an example, let's say the GM calls for an EDU or less check. But, since the character doesn't have the Medical skill, he decides to make it harder by throwing 3D or less.

Go with the spirit of the FoEs. Allow the character to throw 4D, taking the lowest 3D, to represent his First Aid check.

 

[Icosahedron]

Ok, I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's something I'll adopt.
Good discussion, though.

 

[Supplement Four]

Ok, I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's something I'll adopt.
Good discussion, though.

As I said earlier, it's a good system for the 007 rpg. Fits the genre well. But, I'm not of the inclination to change CT to fit it either. I like vanilla CT too much.

But, it is a decent idea. Viable. And, if one worked up a set of rules for CT, I think the FoE idea would fit well.

One of the reasons I think it wold work well: Players, especially newer Traveller players, are always trying to find ways to add more skills to CT characters. Every new edition of Traveller after Classic strives to laden the character with more skills.

Players get through CT charagen and say, "What do you mean my character has Admin-1, Streetwise-1, and Shotgun-1? That's it? He sucks!"

Well, that character is very playable in CT. Heck, if you look through 1001 Characters, there are some with only two skills....and still a very playable character.

Adding Fields of Experience to the game will solve these players appetites for a "more defined character". A character may have Electronics-1 and Vacc Suit-1 only as skills, but add 3-5 FoEs to go along with that, and the character seems more capable...more defined.

I submit that FoEs is a better way to go than to add more skills to the 2D6 system. The advantages of having and FoE doesn't have to be DMs on the dice throw. There can be other advantages (like my suggestion of rolling 3D and taking the best 2D). And FoE can allow a character to do something that he previously couldn't do (for example, a FoE of Surgery is required before the character with the Medical skill is a surgeon--otherwise, the Medical-3 character is not qualified to perform surgery).

In the hands of the right GM, I think FoEs might be a good fit for CT.

 

[casquilho]

S4,

Nice write up. I follow what you are saying and see why it might apeal to some. But it just seems like a level of complexity I do not need.

However what I have gotten from this is a better understanding of how I might want to make some calls in the case someone is trying to strtch a skill for use in a game.

Thank You!

Daniel