Skill Explosion: CT to MT

[opensent]

Ok, I'm a T20 kind of guy for Traveller, but I've slowly been picking up some pieces of the other editions. I've got LBB1-3 FFE reprint and the PDF MegaTraveller players guide.

I've noticed that the number of skills increase dramatically between editions. Where does this happen at? Are these new to MegaTraveller, or does it start in LBB 4-whatever?

I've also heard that MT is just CT with all the fixins. If I pickup books 4+, will those have the new skills in them?

Just wondering. I'm thinking about getting either the CT CD-ROM or the MT CD-ROM. I like the smaller skill group of CT. Some of the MT skills seem like they were reaching (Zero-G? They couldn't cover that during my 4 years of Vac Suit Training??)

Thanks!

 

[ditzie]

HI os!

Probably, you wanna grab both CDs, but if you get CT first you'll get the short list and most or all of the extra skills as well.

Dizamer

 

[Vargas]

I like the smaller skill group of CT. Some of the MT skills seem like they were reaching (Zero-G? They couldn't cover that during my 4 years of Vac Suit Training??)

Some of the bloat comes from trying to include things like various sciences, skills DGP was keen on, like those related to robots, or those introduced in the CT character expansions in Books 5-7. I think you're right in that some of them are a reach.

 

[far-trader]

Skill expansion happened (well, was officially codified) beginning with LBB4-7 yes, and with CT Supplement 4 (S4) to a small degree. The added LBBs increased the number of skills a character ended up with as well as adding some new skills, S4 simply expanded on the types of skills available to some new characters.

As for Zero-G being covered in Vacc-Suit well, not all vacuum work is going to be in zero-gees, and not all zero-gee work is going to be in vacuum. The biggest part of the reason for splitting some skills was because they had to make the skills more specific to retain the balance of play when giving the character more skills. Otherwise you'd end up with a character with a few skills at very high levels.

 

[opensent]

Thanks, that give me what I'm looking for. I've got the CT disk on order. Even though the skills bloat happens, I still want the material.

>>As for Zero-G being covered in Vacc-Suit well, not all vacuum work is going to be in zero-gees, and not all zero-gee work is going to be in vacuum. <<

So those fairly rare cases (noting that the universe is mostly zero-g while also being mostly vacuum) justify not teaching both skills in one course to the people flying around in starships? lol 8)

Perhaps instead of adding more skill opportunities (which they must balance by adding more skills), they could have just allowed more choice form the basic skills. That's the reason I think people wanted more skills. It was a silent demand for more choice. If you make more rolls, surely you end up with 1 useful skill, right?

I don't know, I like the CT system right up to the point where inevitably I roll up a character that's next to useless for the given party, adventure, whatever. Then it starts to piss me off.

 

[far-trader]

...>>As for Zero-G being covered in Vacc-Suit well, not all vacuum work is going to be in zero-gees, and not all zero-gee work is going to be in vacuum. <<

So those fairly rare cases (noting that the universe is mostly zero-g while also being mostly vacuum) justify not teaching both skills in one course to the people flying around in starships? lol 8)

Yep, I wasn't disagreeing, just making the point. Pretty sure iirc CT pre-expansion, Vacc-Suit skill DID include zero-g skill. And Battle Dress skill

...I like the CT system right up to the point where inevitably I roll up a character that's next to useless for the given party, adventure, whatever. Then it starts to piss me off.

You should look at what Mongoose is doing as they have introduced a nice elegant simple solution to that very problem. One I intend to adopt for most every game I hope to play. Basically it's a pool of necessary skills for the players to pick from in turn after char gen to insure a functional party for whatever type of game they intend to play.

CT kind of addressed this with zero-level skills being easy to pick up as needed so that players could muddle through. Not elegant, but serviceable.

 

[opensent]

Yep, I wasn't disagreeing, just making the point. Pretty sure iirc CT pre-expansion, Vacc-Suit skill DID include zero-g skill. And Battle Dress skill





You should look at what Mongoose is doing as they have introduced a nice elegant simple solution to that very problem. One I intend to adopt for most every game I hope to play. Basically it's a pool of necessary skills for the players to pick from in turn after char gen to insure a functional party for whatever type of game they intend to play.

CT kind of addressed this with zero-level skills being easy to pick up as needed so that players could muddle through. Not elegant, but serviceable.

Hmm... that's a good idea. I'll check them out..

GOOGLE POWERS ACTIVATE!

 

[far-trader]

Hmm... that's a good idea. I'll check them out..

GOOGLE POWERS ACTIVATE!

I should have included the link, save those special powers for when they're needed to save the world and all

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=89&sid=a3dcbf1e4f533a9666412fec41a52e4c

 

[Icosahedron]

I don't know, I like the CT system right up to the point where inevitably I roll up a character that's next to useless for the given party, adventure, whatever.

Er, why be so rule-bound? What's the GM doing? Surely your GM has already addressed the group: "Ok, Frank, so you want to play the medic this time? Right, the first skill you roll will be Medic-1 whatever the dice say. Joe, you want to be pilot, so..."
The rules are there to facilitate play, not to hogtie it. Loosen up, chill out, have a fun game!

 

[JAFARR]

Besides all said before, IIRC, there is a mention somewhere in the basic LLB set that the referee can add any needed skills and that the ones listed were not necessarily the only skills available. I think the idea behind that was primarily to allow just what happened in the later LLBs, I.E. we anticipate that the skills listed are not going to cover everything that will come up, but we can not anticipate what those skills may be.

MT added some general skill categories with only some skills in them specified like the academic skill.