character creation

[hounder]

Pre-career portion seems light. I liked the T4 additions to the schooling part of the equation. I Would like to know if these are going to be expanded in supplement or not.

I have one other thing that just doesn't sit well, why are there no early prodigies. I mean we have kids passing college and getting PhD's before they hit the age of 18, there isn't any possibility of having a early bloomer as a character. With the advent of higher technology, it would be easier to get education to children at a earlier age, and in a format that would be best received by them, in the current Traveller time line, people should be getting smarter and at an earlier age. this all supposes that tech levels of the home world are above earth currently. Prime example, smartphones, computers are all being understood at an earlier age here on tech level 8 earth.

I have been thinking of changing the creation rules to straight rolls, and rewarding "Nat 12's" in Int and Edu as being able to start at an earlier age, and or completing school in an accelerated time frame for a natural 12 on the graduation roll.

 

[mancerbear]

There's university and college options in pre-career.

There's nothing saying that you can't make your own adjustments to the game. You want pretentious unsocialized stunted geniueses going to university at 9, go for it. You'll find though that they probably won't be able to enter a real career till they turn 16-18 anyway (in my opinion). I mean, who wants a Navy Admiral at 22 (no matter how clever he is)?

Just my opinions though. Milage may vary. Mix, cook, and serve to your taste.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Pre-career portion seems light. I liked the T4 additions to the schooling part of the equation. I Would like to know if these are going to be expanded in supplement or not.

I have one other thing that just doesn't sit well, why are there no early prodigies. I mean we have kids passing college and getting PhD's before they hit the age of 18, there isn't any possibility of having a early bloomer as a character. With the advent of higher technology, it would be easier to get education to children at a earlier age, and in a format that would be best received by them, in the current Traveller time line, people should be getting smarter and at an earlier age. this all supposes that tech levels of the home world are above earth currently. Prime example, smartphones, computers are all being understood at an earlier age here on tech level 8 earth.

I have been thinking of changing the creation rules to straight rolls, and rewarding "Nat 12's" in Int and Edu as being able to start at an earlier age, and or completing school in an accelerated time frame for a natural 12 on the graduation roll.

Traveller isn't set in our universe. It's set in an alternate future universe. Anyway, Referees get to use Rule Zero. Your character sounds more like an NPC rather than a Traveller.

 

[Condottiere]

You may find that a points based system (id est GURPS), rather than a randomized one like Classic/Mongoose, would probably better cater to your character concept.

Alexander was Regent of Macedonia by sixteen, an army commander shortly after, and King by twenty, but he probably cost three hundred points.

 

[mancerbear]

Alexander was Regent of Macedonia by sixteen, an army commander shortly after, and King by twenty, but he probably cost three hundred points.

A truly exceptional human being.

 

[nats]

It wasnt until I read a book called Gamemastering that I realised how bad Traveller is at character generation. In that book it basically suggests that you should allow players to make up their own character any way they want, just with a bit of overwatching by the referee to ensure they dont become overly powerful. It suggests that these randomised chargen methods will usually result in a character that the player will not like and will not want to play, and the book isnt wrong.

At least I guess Mongoose v1 provided a points method of chargen. I didnt see the point in that before, but after reading this book I now understand. The whole point is the player has to have a character he will be interested in playing, and that character should usually be a hero of sorts not a weakling or a wimp. I have to say that for most people that is good advice. Certainly its encouraged me to be a lot more relaxed in the character generation.

Say the player for example really wants to be able to fly an air/raft, hunt animals, be an expert in unarmed combat and own a laser pistol. Chances are the Traveller chargen system wont provide those skills for him. This book suggests the referee should just allow the player to choose his own skills. I think thats pretty good advice as long as he makes sure the player fits into the overall game.

Whereas the normal Traveller chargen system is an interesting sub-game to try from time to time I have to agree that its not any good for creating decent characters for players to use in a campaign longterm.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Players looking for Traveller to be a "the universe revolves around my heroic character" are going to be very disappointed. And Mongoose 1st Edition's point-buy chargen does not allow for heroic characters. Might as well also tell such players about their precious missing XP in the game, to get it over with so you can deal with more realistic Traveller gamers.

 

[Condottiere]

You could describe it as MARPS Middle Age Role Playing System.

And with the skill pack, you can cover any holes you think exist in your character cv.

I think the point was to create an all around experienced character, but I suspect that most of us can better identify with a newly generated character that we can build up more or less in the direction we want through accumulating experience points, or mold from a set of creation points to your taste.