I'm playing Traveller again!

[kaladorn]

I think skill-0 eliminates the penalties.

If I were to put it into my military days:
0 - trained recruits. Can handle a rifle and not shoot self. Might not shoot anyone else yet. In HTH, a four week self defence course. Might function in an emergency. In science, a six week to ten week course in the subject.
1 - trained infantryman. Can handle a rifle and hit a target fairly regularly. In HTH, a trained beginner... has one or maybe two belts depending on style. In Science, a year or two of college.
2 - good shot. Experienced, or with good natural talent. Hits targets regularly, can sometimes make the tough shot. In HTH, a mid-belt like green/orange. In science, a BS.
3 - marksman. Experienced and practiced and well coached. Hits targets almost always, can make tough shots regularly. In HTH, brown or purple belt. In science, an MD.
4 - superior marksman. Since in MT terms he can eliminate an entire difficulty level, that's pretty hot stuff. In HTH, this is a Dan ranking in a martial art. In science, a Doctorate.

Now, I acknowledge that the Dark Vader example with Blade Combat-5 marks him as potent. And if you use CT, COTI is most likely to produce a few low level skills. But I submit these are 'NPC material' in that they do not reflect real skills.

Let me be immodest for a minute... but not braggart. I'll list my version of my own skillset in MT terms:
Computer Programming-3, Electronics-1, Mechanical-0, Combat Rifleman-1, Handgun-1, Martial Arts-2, Medic-0, Admin-1, Physics-1, Chemistry-0, Psychology-0, Sociology-0, History-1, Large Blade-0, Small Blade-1, Combat Engineer-0, Navigation-1, Small Watercraft-1, Wheeled Vehicle-1, Survival-0, Linguistics-1, Biology-0,
Carousing-0, Communications-1, Recon-0, Stealth-1, Leader-0, Sport-0, Tactics-1
So, totalling that up we have: 19 skill points and 29 or 30 skills. Now, I might have Edu and Int total of 20 or 21. So I guess I'm not broken. But I have far more capable friends who have a larger repository of military skills and numbers in excess of 30 were quite feasible. And some of the ones with skill totals in the mid-twenties probably have an int+edu of eighteen to twenty. So, not too badly broken, but broken.

 

[kaladorn]

I think skill-0 eliminates the penalties.

If I were to put it into my military days:
0 - trained recruits. Can handle a rifle and not shoot self. Might not shoot anyone else yet. In HTH, a four week self defence course. Might function in an emergency. In science, a six week to ten week course in the subject.
1 - trained infantryman. Can handle a rifle and hit a target fairly regularly. In HTH, a trained beginner... has one or maybe two belts depending on style. In Science, a year or two of college.
2 - good shot. Experienced, or with good natural talent. Hits targets regularly, can sometimes make the tough shot. In HTH, a mid-belt like green/orange. In science, a BS.
3 - marksman. Experienced and practiced and well coached. Hits targets almost always, can make tough shots regularly. In HTH, brown or purple belt. In science, an MD.
4 - superior marksman. Since in MT terms he can eliminate an entire difficulty level, that's pretty hot stuff. In HTH, this is a Dan ranking in a martial art. In science, a Doctorate.

Now, I acknowledge that the Dark Vader example with Blade Combat-5 marks him as potent. And if you use CT, COTI is most likely to produce a few low level skills. But I submit these are 'NPC material' in that they do not reflect real skills.

Let me be immodest for a minute... but not braggart. I'll list my version of my own skillset in MT terms:
Computer Programming-3, Electronics-1, Mechanical-0, Combat Rifleman-1, Handgun-1, Martial Arts-2, Medic-0, Admin-1, Physics-1, Chemistry-0, Psychology-0, Sociology-0, History-1, Large Blade-0, Small Blade-1, Combat Engineer-0, Navigation-1, Small Watercraft-1, Wheeled Vehicle-1, Survival-0, Linguistics-1, Biology-0,
Carousing-0, Communications-1, Recon-0, Stealth-1, Leader-0, Sport-0, Tactics-1
So, totalling that up we have: 19 skill points and 29 or 30 skills. Now, I might have Edu and Int total of 20 or 21. So I guess I'm not broken. But I have far more capable friends who have a larger repository of military skills and numbers in excess of 30 were quite feasible. And some of the ones with skill totals in the mid-twenties probably have an int+edu of eighteen to twenty. So, not too badly broken, but broken.

 

[JWMcFarlin]

I would suggest that in fact the skills in Traveller are skills relevant to the Traveller universe. I had always played that the generally spare inventory of skills held by Traveller characters was indicative of the high degree of training involved in even one skill level. How else to explain that every four years generally involved gaining two skill levels.

Your skills are skills relevant to our world. For example, your Navigation skill is Navigation that does not have anything to do with plotting a jump. Navigation in the 53rd century involves a lot of higher math, handling computer data, and so forth--now we feel that computers are better than they were predicted to become in 1977, but who's to say that other factors aren't involved? We are, after all, talking about going into another dimension. : )

The skills in Traveller are also very broad. Most training these days is very specialized. Your electronics-3, for example--are you professional-level in electronics repair and design, from high voltage power transformers, to power generation, to wiring, to cellular telephone repair? If you permit the Traveller skills to be broad in scope, even a level of 1 is quite potent in the skills often found in the Advanced Education Tables.

If I were to run my skill roster, in CT terms, I would probably have:

Admin-0, Sword-1, Rifle-1, Pistol-0, Leader-2, J-O-T-1, Wheeled Vehicle-0, Tracked Vehicle-0, Forgery-0, Computer-0, Hvy Weapon-1, Fwd Observer-0, Mechanical-0, Medical-0, Brawling-0, Tactics-1.

7 skill levels, and 10 zero-level skills, for a four-term character. Reasonable? Probably.

There's validity in either approach.

John

 

[JWMcFarlin]

I would suggest that in fact the skills in Traveller are skills relevant to the Traveller universe. I had always played that the generally spare inventory of skills held by Traveller characters was indicative of the high degree of training involved in even one skill level. How else to explain that every four years generally involved gaining two skill levels.

Your skills are skills relevant to our world. For example, your Navigation skill is Navigation that does not have anything to do with plotting a jump. Navigation in the 53rd century involves a lot of higher math, handling computer data, and so forth--now we feel that computers are better than they were predicted to become in 1977, but who's to say that other factors aren't involved? We are, after all, talking about going into another dimension. : )

The skills in Traveller are also very broad. Most training these days is very specialized. Your electronics-3, for example--are you professional-level in electronics repair and design, from high voltage power transformers, to power generation, to wiring, to cellular telephone repair? If you permit the Traveller skills to be broad in scope, even a level of 1 is quite potent in the skills often found in the Advanced Education Tables.

If I were to run my skill roster, in CT terms, I would probably have:

Admin-0, Sword-1, Rifle-1, Pistol-0, Leader-2, J-O-T-1, Wheeled Vehicle-0, Tracked Vehicle-0, Forgery-0, Computer-0, Hvy Weapon-1, Fwd Observer-0, Mechanical-0, Medical-0, Brawling-0, Tactics-1.

7 skill levels, and 10 zero-level skills, for a four-term character. Reasonable? Probably.

There's validity in either approach.

John

 

[RainOfSteel]

Are we going to get any more campaign reports?

<he says, hopefully>

 

[RainOfSteel]

Are we going to get any more campaign reports?

<he says, hopefully>

 

[RobertFisher]

Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
Are we going to get any more campaign reports?

<he says, hopefully>

Sure. Last night's session was a bit brief on actual play due to a late dinner, xmas related exchanges, & the usual non-game chatter.

I realized I'd messed up on mustering out benefits for PCs 3 & 4, so we remedied that, & everyone picked a hobby at skill level zero.

Katja, the baroness, choose to hang around Dinomn for the week for the best chance of filling the staterooms of her yacht, the Swan's Grace, with paying passengers. There were plenty of people willin to go to Rech 1st class, so that was choosen as the destination. (The yacht is only jump-1, but carries enough fuel for two consecutive jumps.)

(I forgot to play up the reports of the difficulties brewing between the patron & the local government...)

dissolve to different time/place

Alaina "served 2½ terms as a Rogue" before suffering an injury that ended her career prematurely. She'd been getting by on Dinomn by selling her biweekly high passage from her TAS membership.

Checking the classifieds one day, she comes across a job listing for a "document specialist". Perhaps an opportunity to exercise that Forgery-1?

She meets with Frederick Reginaldi, a merchant. He explains that he's planning to buy a used starship. Since the paper work on used ships isn't usually very good, & since that can cause annoying delays at some starports, he's looking for someone to cross-the-Ts & dot-the-Is on the ship's paper work once he purchases it. He offers 9,000Cr for the job, plus passsage to Rech, where the ship will be purchased. He also mentions that there may be the opportunity for a long-term position.

It's clear to Alaina that Reginaldi isn't completely on the up-&-up. It doesn't seem any more shady than other deals she's been involved with, though. She says she'll do it for 10,000, & the deal is sealed.

dissolve to different time/place

Oleg Sevenus, Ph.D. (the seventh character generated by that player

) is on Regina when he gets a message from an old colleague from his merchant days. Fred Reginaldi's message says simply that he has a business opportunity he'd like to talk to Oleg about. He asks Oleg to meet him on Dinomn, & 3 mid passages are attached.

Ole Fred. He was always searching for an angle or a get-rich scheme. Always looking for the short cut. Figured he would either wind up either destitute or filthy rich. We'll since he's paying the passage, might as well go hear him out.

Roughly 3 weeks later, Oleg meets with Fred. Fred says he finally made enough profit on his last tour to retire & become his own boss. He's found a good deal on a used ship. He remembers that Oleg was a quite resourceful & seemed to be able to handle almost anything (Jack-o-T-1), so Fred wants him as part of his crew. Fred offers to pay his expenses until the ship purchase is finished & then they'll work out a deal for Oleg to get a share of the profits.

dissolve

So, Fred Reginaldi & four other associates in addition to Oleg & Alaina board the Swan's Grace as high passengers bound for Rech.

 

[RobertFisher]

Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
Are we going to get any more campaign reports?

<he says, hopefully>

Sure. Last night's session was a bit brief on actual play due to a late dinner, xmas related exchanges, & the usual non-game chatter.

I realized I'd messed up on mustering out benefits for PCs 3 & 4, so we remedied that, & everyone picked a hobby at skill level zero.

Katja, the baroness, choose to hang around Dinomn for the week for the best chance of filling the staterooms of her yacht, the Swan's Grace, with paying passengers. There were plenty of people willin to go to Rech 1st class, so that was choosen as the destination. (The yacht is only jump-1, but carries enough fuel for two consecutive jumps.)

(I forgot to play up the reports of the difficulties brewing between the patron & the local government...)

dissolve to different time/place

Alaina "served 2½ terms as a Rogue" before suffering an injury that ended her career prematurely. She'd been getting by on Dinomn by selling her biweekly high passage from her TAS membership.

Checking the classifieds one day, she comes across a job listing for a "document specialist". Perhaps an opportunity to exercise that Forgery-1?

She meets with Frederick Reginaldi, a merchant. He explains that he's planning to buy a used starship. Since the paper work on used ships isn't usually very good, & since that can cause annoying delays at some starports, he's looking for someone to cross-the-Ts & dot-the-Is on the ship's paper work once he purchases it. He offers 9,000Cr for the job, plus passsage to Rech, where the ship will be purchased. He also mentions that there may be the opportunity for a long-term position.

It's clear to Alaina that Reginaldi isn't completely on the up-&-up. It doesn't seem any more shady than other deals she's been involved with, though. She says she'll do it for 10,000, & the deal is sealed.

dissolve to different time/place

Oleg Sevenus, Ph.D. (the seventh character generated by that player

) is on Regina when he gets a message from an old colleague from his merchant days. Fred Reginaldi's message says simply that he has a business opportunity he'd like to talk to Oleg about. He asks Oleg to meet him on Dinomn, & 3 mid passages are attached.

Ole Fred. He was always searching for an angle or a get-rich scheme. Always looking for the short cut. Figured he would either wind up either destitute or filthy rich. We'll since he's paying the passage, might as well go hear him out.

Roughly 3 weeks later, Oleg meets with Fred. Fred says he finally made enough profit on his last tour to retire & become his own boss. He's found a good deal on a used ship. He remembers that Oleg was a quite resourceful & seemed to be able to handle almost anything (Jack-o-T-1), so Fred wants him as part of his crew. Fred offers to pay his expenses until the ship purchase is finished & then they'll work out a deal for Oleg to get a share of the profits.

dissolve

So, Fred Reginaldi & four other associates in addition to Oleg & Alaina board the Swan's Grace as high passengers bound for Rech.

 

[RobertFisher]

Any ideas on why Wypoc/Lanth (2011) is an Amber Zone?

 

[RobertFisher]

Any ideas on why Wypoc/Lanth (2011) is an Amber Zone?

 

[aramis]

IMTU, it's been threefold:

1) local atmosphere breaches vaccsuits in 4 hours, battledress & combat in 8hrs

2) local wildlife includes 44ton flying pouncer from the highlands.... the infamous Wypoc Dragon. They border on sentience.

3) Local laws, IMTU, is particularly unusual, both in very public trials, no privacy protections, and the jury is sequestered, and sees only holotapes of the trial (so that anything removed by objections,etc, is never exposed to the jury), and particularly harsh sentencing. Violations of air tax, for example, if not corrected, result in being shoved out an airlock, without benefit of suit. Assault results in having to do their job (or pay someone to do so) while they can't, plus pay medical bills plus insure that they lose no pay.

ALso, IMTU, they lack a decent hospital; they cryo-freeze and ship to regina any major big-bad injuries.

BTC claims there is an IMC base for testing hostile environment gear.

(Dragon side note: They hunt by smelling metallic ions, and by psionic life detection....)

 

[aramis]

IMTU, it's been threefold:

1) local atmosphere breaches vaccsuits in 4 hours, battledress & combat in 8hrs

2) local wildlife includes 44ton flying pouncer from the highlands.... the infamous Wypoc Dragon. They border on sentience.

3) Local laws, IMTU, is particularly unusual, both in very public trials, no privacy protections, and the jury is sequestered, and sees only holotapes of the trial (so that anything removed by objections,etc, is never exposed to the jury), and particularly harsh sentencing. Violations of air tax, for example, if not corrected, result in being shoved out an airlock, without benefit of suit. Assault results in having to do their job (or pay someone to do so) while they can't, plus pay medical bills plus insure that they lose no pay.

ALso, IMTU, they lack a decent hospital; they cryo-freeze and ship to regina any major big-bad injuries.

BTC claims there is an IMC base for testing hostile environment gear.

(Dragon side note: They hunt by smelling metallic ions, and by psionic life detection....)

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by JWMcFarlin:
Your skills are skills relevant to our world. For example, your Navigation skill is Navigation that does not have anything to do with plotting a jump. Navigation in the 53rd century involves a lot of higher math, handling computer data, and so forth--now we feel that computers are better than they were predicted to become in 1977, but who's to say that other factors aren't involved? We are, after all, talking about going into another dimension. : )

Yes, but.... Navigation also covers landbout military navigation. This would cover nautical force and army navigation. Having knowledge of map and compass, GPS, a bit of knowledge about LORAN-C and other navaids, as well as having some training in land nav and in sea nav plus having worked in simulating air nav systems, I think that clearly qualifies for a level here. This skillset *IS* very relevant to scouts, to armies, and to nautical force members.

The skills in Traveller are also very broad. Most training these days is very specialized. Your electronics-3, for example--are you professional-level in electronics repair and design, from high voltage power transformers, to power generation, to wiring, to cellular telephone repair?

More design end, but yes. I've worked on wireless comms systems, power systems, and wirewrapped my own microprocessor systems and all their associated transducer interfaces as well as having written the firmware to drive them. And I've worked extensively with police wireless systems, am a qualified VHG operator, etc. And I specialize at work in writing network software for wired or wireless comms.

If you permit the Traveller skills to be broad in scope, even a level of 1 is quite potent in the skills often found in the Advanced Education Tables.

Yes, except that there are in CT (moreso than MT) plenty of areas justifying a skill (based on the already present ones) that don't have one and the fact is, a +1 modifier isn't a huge effect. And we have setpoints like requiring Med-3 to be considered a Doctor for a ship, for instance, or the kinds of modifiers you need to accomplish tough tasks regulary.

I know I've had more learning opportunities (read stress situations over long periods) than many people, but I'm not unique. In the course of any given year at work, I can be deeply involved in 3-4 different 'domains' of work. Prior domains include client/server computing, computer internetworking, wireless communications, police and public safety operations, airborne operations, computer aided training, air navigation, simulation, fault-tolerant server design, cell phone portals, point-of-sale systems, postal systems, IP telephony, web services, etc. And in a prior life, I was a hardware geek - microprocessors, firmware, analog and digital stuff, sensors, etc. In my spare time, I'm a martial artist, sailor, gun-geek, armchair historian, and general. In another past life, I wore a uniform and carried a service rifle and leared about section attacks, digging trenches, fire and manouver, MOUT, artillery, etc. I have fragments of two university degrees, two 3 year college diplomas, lots of work-related training courses, certification in SCUBA, sailing, navigation, VHF radio, martial arts (karate, aikido), etc.

And all of that on the way to being the grand old age of 35 (just over 4 terms).

Most of these skills would be of use to adventuring types from time to time (at least as much use as Steward or Gravitics). Travellers spend a lot of time planetbound. Sometimes lost. They turn their hand to a bit of everything.

(Sure, I could just claim JoT-3 and apply that to any situation... but that's not a real satisfactory representation).

Anyway, to each his own, but I find MT with the expanded character generation and greater skill counts, binning the int+edu limit, and homeworld skills come a long way towards producing a more interesting, varied, and to me realistic character than CT managed. I can imagine that my CT character had not-listed skills to fill in the blanks, but MT didn't make me do that.

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by JWMcFarlin:
Your skills are skills relevant to our world. For example, your Navigation skill is Navigation that does not have anything to do with plotting a jump. Navigation in the 53rd century involves a lot of higher math, handling computer data, and so forth--now we feel that computers are better than they were predicted to become in 1977, but who's to say that other factors aren't involved? We are, after all, talking about going into another dimension. : )

Yes, but.... Navigation also covers landbout military navigation. This would cover nautical force and army navigation. Having knowledge of map and compass, GPS, a bit of knowledge about LORAN-C and other navaids, as well as having some training in land nav and in sea nav plus having worked in simulating air nav systems, I think that clearly qualifies for a level here. This skillset *IS* very relevant to scouts, to armies, and to nautical force members.

The skills in Traveller are also very broad. Most training these days is very specialized. Your electronics-3, for example--are you professional-level in electronics repair and design, from high voltage power transformers, to power generation, to wiring, to cellular telephone repair?

More design end, but yes. I've worked on wireless comms systems, power systems, and wirewrapped my own microprocessor systems and all their associated transducer interfaces as well as having written the firmware to drive them. And I've worked extensively with police wireless systems, am a qualified VHG operator, etc. And I specialize at work in writing network software for wired or wireless comms.

If you permit the Traveller skills to be broad in scope, even a level of 1 is quite potent in the skills often found in the Advanced Education Tables.

Yes, except that there are in CT (moreso than MT) plenty of areas justifying a skill (based on the already present ones) that don't have one and the fact is, a +1 modifier isn't a huge effect. And we have setpoints like requiring Med-3 to be considered a Doctor for a ship, for instance, or the kinds of modifiers you need to accomplish tough tasks regulary.

I know I've had more learning opportunities (read stress situations over long periods) than many people, but I'm not unique. In the course of any given year at work, I can be deeply involved in 3-4 different 'domains' of work. Prior domains include client/server computing, computer internetworking, wireless communications, police and public safety operations, airborne operations, computer aided training, air navigation, simulation, fault-tolerant server design, cell phone portals, point-of-sale systems, postal systems, IP telephony, web services, etc. And in a prior life, I was a hardware geek - microprocessors, firmware, analog and digital stuff, sensors, etc. In my spare time, I'm a martial artist, sailor, gun-geek, armchair historian, and general. In another past life, I wore a uniform and carried a service rifle and leared about section attacks, digging trenches, fire and manouver, MOUT, artillery, etc. I have fragments of two university degrees, two 3 year college diplomas, lots of work-related training courses, certification in SCUBA, sailing, navigation, VHF radio, martial arts (karate, aikido), etc.

And all of that on the way to being the grand old age of 35 (just over 4 terms).

Most of these skills would be of use to adventuring types from time to time (at least as much use as Steward or Gravitics). Travellers spend a lot of time planetbound. Sometimes lost. They turn their hand to a bit of everything.

(Sure, I could just claim JoT-3 and apply that to any situation... but that's not a real satisfactory representation).

Anyway, to each his own, but I find MT with the expanded character generation and greater skill counts, binning the int+edu limit, and homeworld skills come a long way towards producing a more interesting, varied, and to me realistic character than CT managed. I can imagine that my CT character had not-listed skills to fill in the blanks, but MT didn't make me do that.

 

[Straybow]

Originally posted by kaladorn:
If I were to put it into my military days:
0 - trained recruits. Can handle a rifle and not shoot self. Might not shoot anyone else yet. In HTH, a four week self defence course. Might function in an emergency. In science, a six week to ten week course in the subject.
1 - trained infantryman. Can handle a rifle and hit a target fairly regularly. In HTH, a trained beginner... has one or maybe two belts depending on style. In Science, a year or two of college.
2 - good shot. Experienced, or with good natural talent. Hits targets regularly, can sometimes make the tough shot. In HTH, a mid-belt like green/orange. In science, a BS.
3 - marksman. Experienced and practiced and well coached. Hits targets almost always, can make tough shots regularly. In HTH, brown or purple belt. In science, an MD.
4 - superior marksman. Since in MT terms he can eliminate an entire difficulty level, that's pretty hot stuff. In HTH, this is a Dan ranking in a martial art. In science, a Doctorate.

From what I've seen, belt ratings aren't that hard to get in most martial arts. Black belt and Dan ranks would be skill-3.

Skill-4 and higher would be doing movie stunt stuff: Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4 grabs Mel Gibson's pistol and, in one deft move, removes the slide.

 

[aramis]

Straybow: that's not MA-4 alone; it's MA-4 and AutoPistol-1...

Kaladorn: In traveller, that land-nav stuff really falls under Survival, not navigation (which, in TNE, is renamed astrogation, for good reason)

 

[aramis]

Straybow: that's not MA-4 alone; it's MA-4 and AutoPistol-1...

Kaladorn: In traveller, that land-nav stuff really falls under Survival, not navigation (which, in TNE, is renamed astrogation, for good reason)

 

[kaladorn]

Land nav probably should have its own skill (it differs from surivival, though survival could integrate it...). Land and sea nav differ from one another too, especially if you have to fall off using your DGPS. On land, you have to know about pacing, how to work around obstacles, etc. and at sea you have to know about things like tides, currents, leeway, etc.

I'm sure I've seen written tasks for MT that used Navigation in land-nav situations. I too agree it should be a different skill (or a cascade maybe, with subclasses of Land, Sea and Star Nav).

As to the other comment, I don't know what arts you studied.... in the one I'm thinking of (Aikido, as taught by my old Sensei William Bickford), it took 4 years of serious training at about a minimum to get a Dan ranking. It might be argued as L3, but could equally be argued as L4.

 

[kaladorn]

Land nav probably should have its own skill (it differs from surivival, though survival could integrate it...). Land and sea nav differ from one another too, especially if you have to fall off using your DGPS. On land, you have to know about pacing, how to work around obstacles, etc. and at sea you have to know about things like tides, currents, leeway, etc.

I'm sure I've seen written tasks for MT that used Navigation in land-nav situations. I too agree it should be a different skill (or a cascade maybe, with subclasses of Land, Sea and Star Nav).

As to the other comment, I don't know what arts you studied.... in the one I'm thinking of (Aikido, as taught by my old Sensei William Bickford), it took 4 years of serious training at about a minimum to get a Dan ranking. It might be argued as L3, but could equally be argued as L4.

 

[RobertFisher]

Thanks for the ideas, Aramis!