Mustering out early???
- Thread starter jasper
- Start date
Yeah, most of my players rarely continue to generate a character past four terms (under T20, anyway). I do have one that went for quite a bit, but he plays to the rules more than the concept, it seems. (He's still fun to game with, but he's also the one that will push the envelope when he can.
)
Hasta,
Flynn
Hasta,
Flynn
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Rarely by choice. The only young characters I recall our group playing were the result of failing to re-enlist.
I did raise a stink whenever I had a character forced to re-enlist (as must have been the case for the example above), just as a matter of getting into character
I mean here "I" (the character) am, ready to move on with my life (i.e. adventure) and they "force" me to commit to another 4 years, if I'm lucky and don't get hurt or killed, and for what, a chance of a few more creds?
Generally I'm more comfortable playing close to my real age and that has changed considerably over the 25 odd years of this grand old game. Still I like the mental exercise of occasionally playing outside the scope of my real hide.
Heck, right now I'm just jealous that you are actually playing with live people
so go with the flow and enjoy the game and (not that I expect you wouldn't) let the players do the same. If that means one of them wants to play a green 20 something when the rest are grizzled vets of several decades so be it. Sure your job might be a bit harder, keeping the whole crew active and involved but it will be worth it. If you're stuck for ideas ask the player how they see the group dynamic. What can their youthful and inexperienced character bring to the group?
I did raise a stink whenever I had a character forced to re-enlist (as must have been the case for the example above), just as a matter of getting into character
Generally I'm more comfortable playing close to my real age and that has changed considerably over the 25 odd years of this grand old game. Still I like the mental exercise of occasionally playing outside the scope of my real hide.
Heck, right now I'm just jealous that you are actually playing with live people
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
I remember, five terms ago in the real world, thinking that playing anyone with over four terms of experience would be a waste of time as the character would be old, infirm, boring even.
Well some of that is right
Well some of that is right
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
4 terms here, too, normally.
Straybow
SOC-14 1K
The CT aging rolls are debilitating, to the point of modeling Medieval life expectancy rather than post-modern humans who expect to live 100 years or more with med tech we can barely imagine.
In games I played aging was handled somewhat differently: each age bracket (4-7 terms, 8-11 terms) could only generate one reduction maximum for each stat. We also had ratings, so that you could get promotion skills without being an officer, and a few other ways to get skill. Retirement at 5-6 terms was advantageous, but still we tended to get antsy and drop out after 3-4.
In games I played aging was handled somewhat differently: each age bracket (4-7 terms, 8-11 terms) could only generate one reduction maximum for each stat. We also had ratings, so that you could get promotion skills without being an officer, and a few other ways to get skill. Retirement at 5-6 terms was advantageous, but still we tended to get antsy and drop out after 3-4.
It is surprising to me that many of you end character generation after 3-4 terms. I have been playing Traveller then MegaTraveller for over 20 years and I can't honestly remember any of my characters or other players' characters getting out after any less than 5 or 6 terms. The only exception to that rule would be forced muster-outs due to injury.
I think perhaps that it may be a result of our early adaptation of the alternate character generation offered in Mercenary, for example. When I look at examples of basic Traveller characters with 5 terms and maybe 7 or 8 skill levels, and I compare them with a 5 term character generated under the advanced systems (ie, 20+ skill levels not being uncommon), I can understand why our gaming group likes the alternate system better.
As far as aging system is concerned, I too look upon the matrix as set out being very Draconian, especially considering the highly advanced nature of everyday life and relatively easy access to health care on most mid-tech or better worlds. I think that the initial aging crisis should be pushed back at least 2 to 3 terms, if not more, since it is almost certain that the average useful lifespan of an Imperial citizen would have to be at least 90-100 yrs (and I'm being pessimistic here), since I think the average lifespan now is somewhere between 72 and 76 yrs in the Western world. (And it can only get better, right?). I know somebody's probably going to take exception to that comment......
My 2 credits....
I think perhaps that it may be a result of our early adaptation of the alternate character generation offered in Mercenary, for example. When I look at examples of basic Traveller characters with 5 terms and maybe 7 or 8 skill levels, and I compare them with a 5 term character generated under the advanced systems (ie, 20+ skill levels not being uncommon), I can understand why our gaming group likes the alternate system better.
As far as aging system is concerned, I too look upon the matrix as set out being very Draconian, especially considering the highly advanced nature of everyday life and relatively easy access to health care on most mid-tech or better worlds. I think that the initial aging crisis should be pushed back at least 2 to 3 terms, if not more, since it is almost certain that the average useful lifespan of an Imperial citizen would have to be at least 90-100 yrs (and I'm being pessimistic here), since I think the average lifespan now is somewhere between 72 and 76 yrs in the Western world. (And it can only get better, right?). I know somebody's probably going to take exception to that comment......
My 2 credits....
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
I'm of the opinion that the CT aging rolls, like the survival rolls, were a part of the game within the game. They are meant to make you balance the choices of experience (skills) and fitness (abilities).
It helps to keep the party more level when you have a diverse age range by balancing the two against each other.
Then also you can go for physical improvement as you extend your career to offset some of that aging.
If you start messing with the aging rolls then you change the dynamics, same with granting more skills. It can be done, if its what you want and you strive for balance or don't mind the shift and its effects on the game.
So I don't see the aging table as a reflection of the health or aging of the population in general so much as the result of the dangerous life choices made by that rare breed, player characters
Live fast and die hard. They probably could have called it something other than "aging" I guess, like premature aging.
It helps to keep the party more level when you have a diverse age range by balancing the two against each other.
Then also you can go for physical improvement as you extend your career to offset some of that aging.
If you start messing with the aging rolls then you change the dynamics, same with granting more skills. It can be done, if its what you want and you strive for balance or don't mind the shift and its effects on the game.
So I don't see the aging table as a reflection of the health or aging of the population in general so much as the result of the dangerous life choices made by that rare breed, player characters
Live fast and die hard. They probably could have called it something other than "aging" I guess, like premature aging.
From my recent (2003+) Traveller experience 3-4 terms (counting University / Graduate / Doctorate as seperate terms for example) tops in either CT/MT or T20. In T20 this produces 5-7 levels usually. And Asu started at age 14 per the CT Entertainer rules.
From what I can remember from before 2003 (I didn't actually play Traveller between '84 or so until 2003) 6 terms at the most. My TW2K characters were under 40...most under 30. Never actually played 2300 or Space 1889.
Casey
From what I can remember from before 2003 (I didn't actually play Traveller between '84 or so until 2003) 6 terms at the most. My TW2K characters were under 40...most under 30. Never actually played 2300 or Space 1889.
Casey
two of the players were DEAD set against playing OLD characters. On the aging I am planning on using the 3.5E aging rules. But what gets me is except for 1 that is O, N, E character, in playing multiple games, campaigns, systems no one had died due to old age. And that one was due to a ghost attack. That is one pc in almost 25 yrs of gaming. Gosh I feel old.
Of course one person is not going to be happy this Friday since I collected the character sheets to double check math. Most will be gaining feats or skills. One is going to lose due play a Visrsuri.
Of course one person is not going to be happy this Friday since I collected the character sheets to double check math. Most will be gaining feats or skills. One is going to lose due play a Visrsuri.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
I usually give aging roll bonuses based on TL and SOC.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
That about mirrors my experience too. In our groups similar history there is only the one time a PC came close to death due to advanced age. And like your example that was D&D and a fight with a ghost (as I recall my pc aged a lot but lived, half-elf or dwarf I can't recall for sure. About the rest of that party I think some also aged, my other pc, a human, took one hit I think before falling back
).I don't recall a single aging crisis ever occuring in our Traveller games.
As for how many terms that'll depend on the rules set, the PC's initial stats and how things go in generation. I'll usually "put in my papers" when the physical stats start to go way south unless I'm shooting for rank privileges (like a shot at a Free-Trader on muster) or retirement pay.
Yea the successful ghost attack was when I started making players have an age for their characters. Bob made up his age the rolled for his max age. Then we firgure the ghost attack. He aged one day over his natural life. Ouch. Of course to make things easier. I use the regular calendar and let the players pick a dob. If they don't then all the characters dob is the players dob.
Straybow
SOC-14 1K
In a game where you don't expect a space version "dungeon crawl," one or two primary skills is all a character needs. In CT there is no xp or leveling. If I'm an adventurer I don't want to waste my life in low-paying service, and I'm out the door as soon as I feel I have the skills I need.
In most cases a character rarely gets to use multiple skills. If you have both Pilot and Gunnery, you will be serving in only one capacity or the other when it comes to a fight.
On the other hand, if the kind of salaries PCs have to pay their starship crews were accruing to a Merchant officer, and some reasonable percentage could be saved up in addition to muster out benefits and pension, then there'd be a reason to stay on. Since CT doesn't work that way except by house rule (wasn't the case in the games I played) the point fails.
In most cases a character rarely gets to use multiple skills. If you have both Pilot and Gunnery, you will be serving in only one capacity or the other when it comes to a fight.
On the other hand, if the kind of salaries PCs have to pay their starship crews were accruing to a Merchant officer, and some reasonable percentage could be saved up in addition to muster out benefits and pension, then there'd be a reason to stay on. Since CT doesn't work that way except by house rule (wasn't the case in the games I played) the point fails.
Dameon Toth had 9 terms, with two pre-terms (think cub scouts type of thing). He's got 5 terms with Anagathics so he sits at an apparent age of 34 years old which is what I am until the 22nd. I would think that the Anagathics option would be used more often. Especially when someone wants the skills, but doesn't want to play an older character. I know there's a stigma against it, but it's a good option. It's one of things that I hope Marc Miller consolidates and updates a little bit with T5. With all the stem cell research, we might have regeneration technology in the next ten years. I don't know if anyone heard the news that they used human stem cells to repair paralysis in some mice - it was in Discover magazine a while back. I wonder what will happen if they try it the other way around and use mice or other animal stem cells in humans. I can see a stem cell bath therapy in the near future. They are also taking umbilical cords/placental tissue and baby teeth to have a store of personal stem cells frozen until needed. Between that and cloning tech, we should all be pretty much immortal in the next 50 years.
Later,
Scout
Later,
Scout
Spiderfish
SOC-12
I've always thought thirty four was a good age in CT or anything for that matter. Guess how old I am now?
Though one of the best PCs I ever rolled in CT was a 54 year old Marine Force Commander. He was a tough old muscle bosun.
I do tend to think the aging rolls are often unrealistic though, the three "hardest" men i've ever known are all almost and in one case past fifty years old now. They probably need to stretch more often but they all have great reserves of physical strength and stammina.
Its actually reduced training that causes the biggest loss of strength and stammina in people over 35 not aging. If you actually intensify physical training in your thirties you can still get stronger, faster and better. At the moment i'm working to get my strength and speed up to the level I had at thirty and I am getting there pretty rapidly. And I can't really see career military types laying off on basic physical training
Thus ends the lesson on fitness and incidently has anyone else ever considered adding a gym to a ship? Oh just me then?
Oh and the best way for you to the pay crew if your a merchant is a share in the profits of your trading, piracy, private security work and general law breaking then cut 'em loose with an FGMP. Can make it hard to get new staff though if word gets round...
Though one of the best PCs I ever rolled in CT was a 54 year old Marine Force Commander. He was a tough old muscle bosun.
I do tend to think the aging rolls are often unrealistic though, the three "hardest" men i've ever known are all almost and in one case past fifty years old now. They probably need to stretch more often but they all have great reserves of physical strength and stammina.
Its actually reduced training that causes the biggest loss of strength and stammina in people over 35 not aging. If you actually intensify physical training in your thirties you can still get stronger, faster and better. At the moment i'm working to get my strength and speed up to the level I had at thirty and I am getting there pretty rapidly. And I can't really see career military types laying off on basic physical training
Thus ends the lesson on fitness and incidently has anyone else ever considered adding a gym to a ship? Oh just me then?
Oh and the best way for you to the pay crew if your a merchant is a share in the profits of your trading, piracy, private security work and general law breaking then cut 'em loose with an FGMP. Can make it hard to get new staff though if word gets round...
FlightCommanderSolitude
SOC-13
That must be my cue...
While we in the first world have mobile phones, automobiles, miracles of modern medical science, etc., some 20% of the world's population doesn't even have access to clean drinking water, and the average life expectancy in some countries is alarmingly short, not to mention nasty, dull and brutish.
There's little reason to imagine things being any different in the Third Imperium. *
While certainly there will be medical advances in the far future, it hardly follows that everyone will have access to them. So while I agree that the aging tables in the LBBs are rather harsh, consider them an average of many different social situations and factors, and perhaps adjust them where you see fit by, for example, shifting the age brackets up a few terms, or compressing them so they begin later but occur more frequently.
* Of course, your mileage may vary. However, I find it much more realistic - and certainly more interesting! - to have a Third Imperium where there are poor places and rich places, etc.
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