Advancement in Traveller?

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Yeah, I think in similar terms, 1 level per 4 years, so long as it can be justified by the kind of work the character is usually involved in and/or gained through working with someone who has a higher level of that skill. I would be tempted to cap a skill gained that way at 3.

In a long running campaign spread over game years, especially an episodic one, the time required to learn extra-skills via the rules as written may well not be such a problem, the characters who need an extra skill take 12 or so weeks out(dependant on their current Skill Total) from ordinary play, pay their living costs and whatever fees the GM deems neccessary, gain their new skill, and resume travelling. In some cases a patron might feed and educate them so they have appropriate skills for a specific job ....

Egil

PS So you have seen those holopics as well?

 

[hector]

Secondly, Traveller already has an advancement system in place, but GMs and players don't know how to use it. "Advancement" generally means an increase in power or capability and in Traveller that means more knowledge and connections. Which would you rather have--
a) An FGMP-15;
b) Energy Weapons-4; or
c) Compromising Holopics featuring an Imperial Marine Colonel, a couple of burly Imperial Navy Chief Petty Officers (sex undetermined), and a tub of pudding?

Definitely C, though A is a close second . Funnily enough, I hadn't thought of it that way; I'd mostly assumed that "advancement" was intended to be mostly to do with gear, with fights determined more by tactics and equipment than by skills.

 

[rust]

In my view the type and speed of advancement depends a lot on the spe-
cific setting and campaign.

For example, in one of my "colony settings", where characters necessarily
have to learn the new skills to survive in a new environment quickly, I use
house rules with rather short learning times for such skills up to Level 1.
The guy from the asteroid belt who decides to become a settler on a wa-
ter world simply needs a chance to learn to swim and to pilot a boat befo-
re he can take part in the campaign in any meaningful way.

Another example would be a campaign with diplomacy, politics and intri-
gue as its focus. Here improved and new skills could be far less important
than contacts or insider knowledge, so I would probably use other house
rules, more or less ignoring "skill advancement" and concentrating on the
use of status and influence instead.