MgT2 Newbie player questions

[mentor]

Hello, i am a complete newbie in Traveller, i got the MgT2 Core rulebook and i need some help.

When a character leaves a career and enters it again in another term after the next one he/she left it(MgT2 Core rulebook pg.18), at what rank he continues that career? does he have to roll for qualification again?what about a character with a pension from a career? can he enter it again?

Thank you in advance!

 

[robject]

I would say that the character picks up from where they left off. For sanity's sake, I would say that the pension depends on total terms in that service.

 

[DickNervous]

Generating characters can be a little confusing for people unfamiliar with the system. For the each term in any career you need to do the following (assuming you make the rolls):

1. Roll Enlistment (first term only)
2. Pick Specialty (this you can change but see notes below)
3. Roll for a skill (if first term, get basic training)
4. Roll for Survival
5. Roll for Event
6. Roll for Advancement (either Commission or Promotion depending upon carer)

If you continue in the same career/specialty then for the 2nd term you simply start at step 3.

If you want to change the Specialty and are in the Army, Marine, Navy, Nobility, Rogue, Scholar, or Scout career you will need to make the enlistment roll again. If you fail, you simply stay in the specialty that you are in.

If you want to change the specialty in the Agent, Citizen, Entertainer, or Merchant careers then it is considered a new career and if you fail the enlistment roll you either submit to the draft or become a Drifter.

No matter what you choose, you never lose any ranks that you have acquired.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Just to throw some thoughts around... Note that these are based on the play test. I have not gotten the final version yet.

Rank
It's bad enough that you can be a Captain in the Army after 12 years serving as a support medic and with a skill level 2 you have to start out as a rank 0 physician in your scholarly post military career. I say let someone who leaves but later gets drafted back into the Army retain their commission and rank. I'm sure players would want this for their characters, there is some real life logic to it, and the rules don't say it isn't allowed across the board. Keep in mind that there are some rules that specifically prohibit rank carryover for certain careers such as leaving Entertainer journalist and going back later as an Entertainer artist. See the changing assignments section.

Qual
I tell company Xray to take this job and shove it or I'm let go. Several years go by and I decide to go back to company Xray... Or, I'm working on a cruise ship as a steward and later in life I try to go work for another cruise ship as a steward... In most cases one needs to "qual" for a job even if it is the same field or even the same company.

Anyways, based on the rules, I don't recall anything that indicates you can skip qualification due to reentering a career. Maybe it's your first time, maybe it's your second, maybe it's your third... but to me you are still trying to enter the career and need to qual.

Pension
Mongoose has said that some rules are left vague on purpose. They want people to interpret things on their own and play the way they want. I don't believe the rules indicate if the terms need to be consecutive. So go ahead and add all the term up for the pension if that's what you'd like or do what makes sense to you and your play group.

This does bring up something I never thought of. Technically if a character "retires" from a career but continues chargen, they could be earning that pension during chargen.

 

[DickNervous]

Anyways, based on the rules, I don't recall anything that indicates you can skip qualification due to reentering a career. Maybe it's your first time, maybe it's your second, maybe it's your third... but to me you are still trying to enter the career and need to qual.

If you leave a career, do something else, and come back you have to re-qualify. The only thing they changed along those lines is that you don't have to re-enlist to stay in the same career.

Pension
Mongoose has said that some rules are left vague on purpose. They want people to interpret things on their own and play the way they want. I don't believe the rules indicate if the terms need to be consecutive. So go ahead and add all the term up for the pension if that's what you'd like or do what makes sense to you and your play group.

This does bring up something I never thought of. Technically if a character "retires" from a career but continues chargen, they could be earning that pension during chargen.

Pension is simply based on terms in a career. There is no difference based on which career it is, so you just add up the terms in a career that qualifies for a pension and get your number.

And yes, it would seem correct that if you spend enough terms to earn a pension in one career and switch to another, you should get that pension. The rules state (pg 46)

A Traveller that leaves a career (other than Scout,
Rogue, Prisoner or Drifter) after at least 5 terms is
considered to have retired and receives a pension. This
pension is paid at the beginning of each year, effective
upon leaving the service, and may be collected at any
class A or B starport.

So yes, serve 5 terms in the Army then move on to something else for 2 terms, you would have accumulated 8 years of pension, in this case at 10k/yr.

And one thing I forgot to add to my list above, is the "Connections Rule". During chargen (as a group) two characters can "share" an event to make a connection between them. If they do they each get a free skill of their choice (except Jack-of-all-Trades) as long as it doesn't raise the skill above a 3. You can do this twice with two different characters.

 

[robject]

Pension
Mongoose has said that some rules are left vague on purpose. They want people to interpret things on their own and play the way they want.

Hmmmmmmmmm. Okay. I find that troubling, but I guess that means I just crack open Traveller5 when I want to use pension rules.

...gotta get Marc to finish up errata...

 

[mentor]

First of all thank you for your quick and helpful responses!!!
I need some extra clarifications:

If for example i qualify for the Army, get 3 full terms there reaching the rank of Corporal(2) then leave the career for any reason, spend 2 terms in the Citizen career reaching rank 1 then i can try again to qualify for the Army and if i succeed i can enter it at the Corporal rank and have another term there and then start adventuring?

What about benefits? i roll them when i finish character creation? so i have acquired 3 benefits from Army for three full terms there(1st time) , and also an extra benefit roll from reaching rank 2, and another benefit from my last term and i roll them on the Army Benefits/Cash tables?
And also 2 benefits rolls from my Citizen two terms and 1 extra for reaching rank 1 and Roll them on the Citizen tables, right?

I am also confused in the cash rolls, i choose either benefit or cash on my above rolls but with maximum 3 rolls for cash on the corresponding tables?

And also confused in the last term before you start adventuring, i have read elsewhere that it doesn't count as a full term for benefits is that right?

Sorry for my full auto question rate, i am already in love with this system and i want to start right in it!

 

[robject]

If for example i qualify for the Army, get 3 full terms there reaching the rank of Corporal(2) then leave the career for any reason, spend 2 terms in the Citizen career reaching rank 1 then i can try again to qualify for the Army and if i succeed i can enter it at the Corporal rank and have another term there and then start adventuring?

That sounds right to me. As long as your referee is fine with that.

What about benefits?

I'd roll them every time I mustered out from a career. So when you re-enter the Army then muster out, only roll benefits for the terms racked up that time around.

I am also confused in the cash rolls, i choose either benefit or cash on my above rolls but with maximum 3 rolls for cash on the corresponding tables?

Right. You can't make more than 3 rolls on the cash table. I think that's the total from each career, but it might be across ALL careers. That might be a call for your referee to make. To play it safe, stick to a max of 3 cash rolls across all careers. (Besides, cash isn't that valuable in Traveller.)

And also confused in the last term before you start adventuring, i have read elsewhere that it doesn't count as a full term for benefits is that right?

I've never seen that rule before.

 

[ovka]

And also confused in the last term before you start adventuring, I have read elsewhere that it doesn't count as a full term for benefits is that right?

I've never seen that rule before.

Perhaps what you've read about is a term shortened by injury?

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[whulorigan]

And also confused in the last term before you start adventuring, i have read elsewhere that it doesn't count as a full term for benefits is that right?

Perhaps what you've read about is a term shortened by injury?

As Ovka alluded to, if a character is forced to leave a career early (i.e. he doesn't complete his term due to injury or other mishap or is otherwise ejected form the career, and doesn't complete the full 4 year term as a result), then he is ineligible for mustering out benefits for that particular term.