How many career templates should be in the core rules?

[Tobias]

I don't think that the Merchant has always had such a specific meaning in Traveller. It could always be interpreted as a land-based, corporate role.

Hardly. 4th Officer, 3rd Officer, 2nd Officer, 1st Officer, Captain aren't what you gonna hear in corporate buildings.

Would there be any reason why a character couldn't get a couple of terms in the Navy, another term as a Merchant, and finally a term as a Rogue and just call himself a 'pirate'?

Now, the option for several careers, I absolutely support. But that last term should still be "corsair", as the apparently better liked term.

 

[Mickazoid]

Artisan?

An idea - instead of 'civilian' (maybe being too broad), I suggest the 'artisan' class for individuals possessing advanced skills in certain trades.

From 'entertainer' to 'artist', etc. the 'artisan' skill seems to have a niche of its' own:

- 'Chef': Culinary Arts (chef, maitre'd, sommelier, critic)
- 'Entertainer': Performing Arts (singer, dancer, virtualist)
- 'Artist': Visual Arts (painter, sculptor, datacrafters)
- 'Musician': Musical Arts (instrumentalist, composer, jinglist)
- 'Athlete': Physical Arts (trainer, climber, gymnast, stuntperson)

etc.

What do you folks think?

 

[Fritz_Brown]

That definitely works, Mick. I break them out slightly in my homebrew, but it makes for an interesting set of careers.

 

[Flynn]

Considering the 3rd Imperium's distaste for psionics would it have a readily availble psionist career path or class?

Remember that the anti-psionics bit in the 3I has only been around for the last 250 years (in the CT Era), since the Psionic Suppressions of the late 800s, and is gone in many polities in the post-3I eras of TNE and 1248.

There's a good case that can be made in which psionics and a psionic career should be in a generic sci-fi rulebook, and then a sidebar (or even better, a 3I setting book) can contain rules for settings that do not openly accept psionics.

Personally, I think this is the best approach for maintaining a generic RTT.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[deniable]

Psionics

Removing the psionics also limits Zhodani characters. You can play in the setting but outside the 3I.

 

[Klaus]

Military (Army, Marine)
Navy
Scout
Spacer (inc Merchant Spacer and Belter)
Corporate
Government
Field Scientist
Academic
Medic
Traveller (inc Hunter)
Mercenary (inc Corsair and technical espionage)
Rogue
Colonist
Professional (lawyers, teachers and the like)
Law Enforcer
Technician (for all those blue collar workers on industrial planets)
Player (possibly awkward term for sports/entertainer)
Creative (artists, designers, media etc)
Aristocrat (not just those Imperial Nobles, but the filthy rich and powerful everywhere)
Primitive (for those wild barbarian types)

 

[aramis]

The Aristocrat really is two different fields...
Wealthy (probably focuses on admin, bureaucracy, computer, and leadership)
Noble (wider range of skills, much less cash on hand).

CT and MT nobles seem more Troubleshooter & Ruler... and often are not terribly wealthy due to the 3 roll limit.

The Wealthy Traveller in TNE was a good "Non-Noble but raised Filthy Stinking Rich".

Some ideas for things for the Wealthy Aristocrat's potential MOB's:
Allowance: Make a roll on the Cash Table; This is your annual allowance. Multiple receipts stack. This is recieved from a trust fund or other non-liquifiable source of income.
Assets Portfolio: treble the value of a 1d roll on the cash table to find the value of the portfolio. Each year, it pays a dividend of 1d6% of value. It can be sold off at value. The value fluctuates by 2d6-7% each year from the previous year's. The GM can modify this value adjustment for campaign events by up to + or - 2.

 

[Mytholder]

What I'm fiddling with - and this is by no means at all certain to stay in - is to do something that's about half-way between the LBB1 careers and the advanced careers in other books. For example, when you serve a term in the Navy, you get to choose between Crew, Engineering/Gunnery, and Flight. Each one of those specialisations has its own column in the skills and training tables. Rogues might be divided into, say, Thieves, Enforces and Corsairs and so forth.

 

[Echo]

Sounds good to me. It does solve some of the tricky issues that we've been debating here somewhat. Nomenclature also counts for a lot too, I think. I'd be happier about having 'Corsairs' to choose from, rather than 'Pirates' for sure.

For the miltary careers, you could possibly pick up some recruitment brochures to see what types of job are actually on offer - and build from there.

Don't forget your conmen and smugglers in the criminal careers too, though!

 

[Takei]

What I'm fiddling with - and this is by no means at all certain to stay in - is to do something that's about half-way between the LBB1 careers and the advanced careers in other books. For example, when you serve a term in the Navy, you get to choose between Crew, Engineering/Gunnery, and Flight. Each one of those specialisations has its own column in the skills and training tables. Rogues might be divided into, say, Thieves, Enforces and Corsairs and so forth.

So would this be a case of CT-like tables with, say, six per career; one common to everyone and then specialisations within the career? In the case of Ground Military this could be Military Life, Infantry, Marines, Engineers, Armour & Artillery.

This could work very well, allowing a limited number of careers but with lots of flavour.

 

[aramis]

You'd probably have two common:
Personal Development (those skills common to the lifestyle, but not of need the job)
Service Skills (Those skills common to most persons in the overall service)

Then Specialty Skills tables for several specialties. Much like the K'Kree Character Gen in AM_: K'Kree or AM_: Droyne. I found them fiddly, and confining.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

So would this be a case of CT-like tables with, say, six per career; one common to everyone and then specialisations within the career? In the case of Ground Military this could be Military Life, Infantry, Marines, Engineers, Armour & Artillery.

This could work very well, allowing a limited number of careers but with lots of flavour.

That's what I've done, essentially, Takei.

 

[atpollard]

At the risk of committing heresy, you could also create one big skill table for each MOS (like Crew, Engineering/Gunnery, and Flight) that included the Military Life Skills and rolled a D20 for the skill (or a D6 with a character option of +6 or +12 to move the skill focus). This would create only 1 skill table per "class specialty" to make things simpler for new players.

 

[kafka47]

Maybe, because I cut my Traveller teeth on the MegaTraveller game set, I have always felt that the number of careers should be the same as MT for any initial game ruleset (ie. CT LBB careers plus Citizens of the Imperium). However, I did always feel cheated that MT limited expanded/advanced chargen was limited to the basic LLB. I then had to buy numerious small fanzines to make it all work and buy back into CT to get some of the more exotic advanced chargen...ie SolSec could have been modelled after a generic Intelligence Operative/Spy in the basic rules then when Rats & Cats came out, they could indicate the modifiers from the basic template.

All other versions of the rules TNE, T4, GT, T20 gave me ideas but nothing more...save, the Traveller which is good addition. It really revolves around the idea is point of Traveller games to become more proficient in a particular trade/profession or is it for them to become generalists after they retire from a particular service. For me, it has always been the CT philosophy - they become generalists.

 

[Ishmael]

I think there should be a skill table for each world to give an idea of what skills could be learned while stationed on that world. After all, you would learn different skills on a hi-pop/law industrial 'Bladerunner' type world than you would on a quiet lo-pop wilderness/agricultural world.

Of course you'd have to decide what planet the player is on during the character creation bits, but for most characters, that shouldn't be too difficult.

"Woohoo!...shore leave!..I'm gonna find me some booze and some broads!"
" heh...there's a religious dictatorship here...a very strict one...no sinning allowed"
"awwwwwww nuts"

but you could get a skill in theology maybe at least.

 

[Prospero]

I always liked the LBB4-8 chargen because of the background it gave my character. I knew how much action he'd seen, or whether he'd been primarily a mechanic etc.

However, one thing about char gen that has always bugged me is the lack of hobby skills. Why can't my Marine learn to play the guitar or what have you? It would be nice to have a list of skills that could be considered hobby skills and taken in lieu of other skills or as extras or some such mechanism.....

just a thought.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Prospero, my homebrew allows subsitution of a Background table for almost any other table during a term. You just have to declare it in advance. (You still don't have to roll on it; but it does eliminate one other table for your options.)

 

[Prospero]

Prospero, my homebrew allows subsitution of a Background table for almost any other table during a term. You just have to declare it in advance. (You still don't have to roll on it; but it does eliminate one other table for your options.)

Seems like a good approach.

NT