Traveller - TNE (Inactive)

Game Master Daniel Stewart

Yeah, a wheelman would be good. A scientist would also be good biology, xnobiology, metallurgy, that sort of thing. Or you could bug the GM about being a secret psion!

Letryck, my PC is pretty flexible and if you wanted to go for a driver/ general mechanic build I can adjust my mechanic skill.

As I become more familiar with the system/rolls I keep on tweaking my build (sorry). I went ahead and got rid of brawling +1 (reduced to 0) and picked up pilot (small craft) +1, and reduced Mechanic to +1 and added Astrogation +1. This will allow me to take on the back up pilot roll if Jasmine/robertness goes for the main pilot roll. Or I could pick up pilot as the group skill and be the primary pilot if Jasmine/ robertness doesn't want that roll or if someone else decides to take on that roll.

Regardless, I think these skills will help the party more as we have a very mechanically inclined group.

Ideas? Advice?

A couple of points to keep in mind. Your background and basic training skills are at 0. If you pick a background skill that is also a basic training skill, it's still 0.

In addition, any skills you get from rank ar at 1, if you already have itat 1, it gives no increase.

For instance, My first rank skill is mechanic 1. If I already had mechanic 1 from my first term, I would get no benefit.

However, if I select Mechanic in term 3, it adds to my mechanic 1.

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So, you want your background skills to be those you won't be improving later on, but will help round out your character.

Don't get too tied up on the service skills from basic training, you'll likely increase some of them anyway.

And take care of when you select a skill that you will get from rank advancement.

In addition, any skills you get from rank ar at 1, if you already have itat 1, it gives no increase.

For instance, My first rank skill is mechanic 1. If I already had mechanic 1 from my first term, I would get no benefit.

However, if I select Mechanic in term 3, it adds to my mechanic 1.

Wow, that's actually really dumb and unintuitive. I had assumed "Mechanic 1" meant "Mechanic +1"

What's the order in which those things happen? Eg: If I get Medic 1 at Rank 1, can I also take Medic as the training for that Rank, or would that still not stack? Eg: Do I get the Rank ability before the training abilities.

Here is the section on Skills and Training from the 2016 version of the game.

Skills and Training
Each career has four or five types of skill table associated with it – Personal Development, Service Skills, Specialist Skills (divided into three sub-tables corresponding to assignments), Officer Skills and Advanced Education. In each term you spend in a career, pick one of these tables and roll 1D to see which skill you increase.
You may only roll on the Advanced Education or Commissioned tables if you have the listed requirement (usually EDU 8+ or a certain Rank).
Skills can be listed with or without an associated level. If no rank is listed, then you gain that skill at level 1 if you do not have it already, or increases its level by +1 if you are already trained in that field. If a rank is listed, then you gain the skill at that level so long as it is higher than your current level in that skill.
For example, Gambler 0 would mean you receive the Gambler skill at level 0. This is of benefit to you only if you have no Gambler skill.
Vacc Suit would mean you increase your Vacc Suit skill by +1, or gain it at level 1 if you have no Vacc Suit skill to begin with. If you have Vacc Suit 0, it increases to 1, if you have Vacc Suit 2 it rises to 3, and so on.
Streetwise 1 would mean you get the Streetwise skill at level 1. If your Streetwise skill is already 1 or more, then this is of no benefit to you. If you have no Streetwise skill, or it is only at 0, you jump straight to Streetwise 1.

Definitely archaic and unintuitive.

I did some reading on why it was like that.

A skill at 0 represents basic familiarization.
A skill at 1 represents some advanced training.

So I have my driver license and I've been driving to/from school. I had to pass a very basic test to get that license. This is rank 0.

I get a job that involves driving. My company has me do some defensive driving/distracted driving classes, etc. This is rank 1.

I have a CDL and routinely drive large rigs. I get a promotion to supervisor, my company, as a matter of routine, sends me to defensive driving/distracted driving. This doesn't mean I can now drive with hazardous materials, nor am I now a stock car racer. Since my CDL already effectively covered that, the training didn't really do much for me.

For each term, you get one skill for the term, then another for (the free) advancement. Note that not every rank level is going to give a rank skill. Players will only get one or two rank skills. Typically at term 2 and 4. If you chose two different careers, then you may not get any as the ranks don't combine across careers. (I.e. Army for term 1, physician for terms 2-4)

So, I chose Worker for all four terms.

Term 1 I selected "Jack of all Trades " and "Science " for my advancement skill.
Term 2 I selected "Jack of all Trades" and "Electronics ". I also received "Trade 1" for my rank.
Term 3 was "Jack of all Trades " and "Engineer "
Term 4 was "Engineer " and "Science ", plus "Mechanic 1"

So, notice that only two of those have numbers with them. They are locked at that level.

Therefore my skill line up is:
Jack of all Trades 3
Science 2 (either two different specializations at 1 or one specialization at 2)
Electronics 1
Trade 1
Engineer 2 (same as the science skill)
Mechanic 1

Now, if I had taken "Mechanic " in Term 1, I would not have received a benefit from getting "Mechanic 1" at rank 4.

However, I could have taken "Trade " in term 3 and it would have added to the "Trade 1" I received from reaching rank 2 the previous term.

I hope that helps explain the process.

Thanks Fnord for the explanation! And you are both right..it is counter-intuitive and one of the problems I had hoped they corrected in the new (2016) edition...but did not!.

Ok, so we have one more day until all submissions need to be in...I will have to tally up who has what so far, but I think it looks like we might have a core group of about 8 people. Need to do a roll call...lol

Very helpful thanks!

You could house rule that skills stack instead of being locked...

:)

I think I will leave it as is for now...otherwise everyone will need to re-work their characters and mass confusion will ensue (maybe..lol). Instead I just might be talked into giving each player a +1 skill bonus to be used however they want...once you have your connection skills and have chosen from the Group Skills. As it looks, each player will get 1 skill from that Group, as we will probably be using 8 players...

Lectryk – Aven Brody - Soldier
YoricksRequiem – Estelle Beaumont - Mechanic/Doctor
G-unit – Ephraim Cole - Drifter
Tarondor – Marcus Aurelius Carter - Security Officer
robertness – Jasmine Dalrath - Scout/Thief
fnord72 – Emilyene Shadye

Dr. Buzzard - ???
Misroi - ???

SO just need to hear from Dr. Buzzard and Misroi before 5:00pm MST tomorrow if they will be joining our stout band of adventurers.

I think everyone else has their background and connections finished, so I will copy your info to my master sheet and Thursday night or Friday Morning we can begin with the opening of the gameplay thread.

Yeah! The more I read about this system the more I am liking it. I am probably going to breakdown and buy the pdf book tonight.

@fnord - that was super helpful, thanks very much!

So my question is: do we in fact get a free skill at each level for advancement as fnord says? I didn't take any. Just the standard skill and those for rank levels.

@Tarondor

GM said in rules:

"6. Players may choose their skills rather than roll, and no roll is required for survival (every one survives) or advancement (there are NO ranks). Players will still qualify for any Rank/Level skill if they served the number of Terms required to gain such skill (just as if they received the required rank – all are considered enlisted ranks for this bonus). "

Simplifying that I get:

Players may choose their skills rather than roll. No roll is required for advancement. Players still qualify for rank/level skill.

I believe that most of us took this to be that advancement was effectively automatic for the mechanical benefits as there was no actual 'social status' change by ranking. It isn't too hard to rank up anyway, so the guaranteed skill for advancement is balanced by the lack of events.

You can put my role down as mechanic/engineer.

Players may choose their skills rather than roll. No roll is required for advancement. Players still qualify for rank/level skill.

Well in that case I've got three more skills coming. 'Scuse me while I power up!

All Done. I also swapped EDU (which I'm using less than I thought) with SOC (which I'm using more.)

Sorry to be so late with this, but I posted a preliminary backstory for Jasmine.

Daniel, if I have something in there (such as how long the ship's boats were operational) that doesn't fit your continuity let me know and we can edit as needed. I figured if Jasmine was actually getting a +1 for Pilot, she needed more than simulator time.

OK...recruitment will be closing at 5:00pm MST today. Anyone still interested, please get in your character by this time.

Thanks

@Jasmine: The ship's boats were not used for much after the "incident" by the direct command of the Commandant. Very short hops might have been possible, but for the most part they were grounded. No one really knows why, except maybe the Commandant did not want to draw any unwanted attention to the moonbase???

My life has been rather busy this week, and I don't anticipate being able to finish my character by tomorrow. Seeing how you have a six person table already, I'll bow out in the interest of letting you guys get started.

Have fun exploring the Third Imperium of Humaniti!

No worries Misroi...perhaps at a later junction you can drop in...

Ok, I have heard from Misroi and he has dropped out, now I am just waiting to see if Dr. Buzzard is still interested.
Recruitment will be ending at 5:00pm (about 45 minutes from now)

Bummer missed an opportunity on this one. If you need a replacement player at some point. PM me. Always wanted to try Traveller

Sounds good...will keep you in mind!

Ok rolling up a character as a spare and to be introduced later.
Thinking you'll could use another combat orientated party member.

Char1: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + (1) + 2 = 6
Char2: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + (5) + 2 = 9
Char3: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + (6) + 2 = 10
Char4: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + (5) + 2 = 8
Char5: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + (1) + 2 = 7
Char6: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + (3) + 2 = 7
Char7: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + (3) + 2 = 6

Going with
STR 8
DEX 10 (+1)
END 9 (+1)
SOC 7
EDU 6
INT 7

Skills
Athletics [Str] (0)
Athletics [Dex] (0)
Athletics [End] (1)
Gun Combat [Energy] (1)
Gun Combat [Primitive] (0)
Gun Combat [Slug] (2)
Heavy Weapons [Man Portable] (0)
Investigate (1)
Leadership (1)
Mechanic (0)
Melee [Blade] (2)
Recon (1)
Stealth (0)
Streetwise (0)
Survival (0)
Tactics [Naval] (0)
Tactics [Military] (1)
Vac Suit (1)

Hello out there! Well the first part of our adventure went well, however we did lose a few players, so I am opening this recruitment up again and am looking for 1 and possibly 2 more players. Check the top of the post for the particulars for character generation. If you have any questions just drop me a line.

Thank you

Daniel

Dotting! I've always wanted to try Traveller.

a tentative dot.. :)

So characteristics will now be rolled as 1d4+1d6+2....hope that works for everyone....

1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + (5) + 2 = 9

Hey there..sorry was away last week. Go ahead if you are still interested and submit your completed character. I will go over the submissions as they come in.

No worries. I had a busy night last night, I'll get started right now.

Braydn Hobbs
Male Human

Service skills are 0 only, if you already have them from university, then you don't improve.

Also note that university counts as your first term, so you don't get all of the service skills for subsequent careers, I believe you get to pick one or two at zero.

That's weird. Why would anyone do university then?

Basic Training

For your first career only, you get all the skills listed in the Service Skills table at Level 0 as your basic training. For any subsequent careers, you may pick any one skill listed in the Service Skills table at Level 0 as your basic training.

The book says for your first Career only and university isn't a career. I think I still get the Basic Training skills...

Rereading through the university rules I've realised I missed the event table roll...

University Event: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11 Ok... War has come... I'm drafted into the army maybe..

SOC: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 5) = 6 Yep drafted into the army so I need to change term 2 anyway...

1d6 ⇒ 2 drafted into the Army. So I have to do Army for term two, correct?

Whoops kind of just grabbed the book and went for it there. I've just reread your character generation guidelines and realised I've done completely the wrong thing...

Slightly embarrassed... I'll just go make my character now :-\ sorry.

lol...no worries Kip....took me a few tries to get things sorted out. The group here are a great resource for helping build your character. Sorry I have been slammed with work and so did not get back to you earlier....

Ok Kip, how is your character coming? I wnat to get us back playing, I hope, no later than next week. Do you still need a hand?

Sorry everyone, I've had a busy week, I'm getting there. I'll do my best to get this done tonight.

Is it too late to jump in here? Just got the core rulebook and fancied taking it for a run :)
I can have a character ready tomorrow.

Welllll...if you can get the character ready for us by tomorrow...have you viewed the game start info? There are some very specific rules for character creation in this game. If you have not read them yet, take a look and if you have questions just ask

1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + (3) + 2 = 9
1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + (3) + 2 = 9
1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (6) + (2) + 2 = 10
1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (6) + (3) + 2 = 11
1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + (4) + 2 = 7
1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + (3) + 2 = 6
1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + (4) + 2 = 7

I think kip84 highlighted most of the pitfalls :)
only query I have right now is equipment.
vacc suit
sidearm/firearm
personal comms
tool kit or similar?
anything else?

Nope...that is all...most other gear is released by the people at Supply on a need to use basis. You will be given other equipment to help on your missions, as well as being able to request specific items for missions.

Otherwise looks good