If you could change just one thing about the new Traveller..

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Lets look at Tatooine as an example, maybe a bad choice, but it is one we all probably know about.

The Sandmen were TL 1 maybe, except that they used blaster rifles. They lived in tents and definitely knew about grav speeders. Teaching one of them to operate that speeder probably wouldn't take much effort (if he didn't beat you up first).

 

[SableWyvern]

Actually, it's more to do with Charisma being non-specific, in terms of measurement.

Fair enough. 8)

 

[DaltonCalford]

I think alot of you are forgetting how difficult things where when you just started out.

Many people today are familiar with computers. They play with them as kids, they operate them at work etc, but when it comes to programming them, most modern programmers do not know the difference between a compiled and an interpreted language let alone memory registers and how to write a device driver. For the computer skill, it assumes a knowledge of programming, not just operation. If I took one of todays university grads and through them in front of an old style mainframe, most would be at a total loss, and vice versa, and old style programmer from 20 years ago would be at a loss in front of that virus we call an operating system.

People grow up around cars their entire life, they understand what they are, the concepts on how they work etc, but, how many pass their drivers test on the first try? How many know proper vehicle maintenance? Driving in non-optimal conditions or even local laws (in Ontario, you can make a right hand turn at a red light, but in Quebec, this is illegal).

Overall, there are a million and one little details about the operation of equipment that can get you in trouble, some are technical, some are operational, some are based upon underlying cultural assumptions while some problems are based upon laws and accepted norms of conduct.

Now, that is true regardless of the TL and it has never been addressed in earlier versions of traveller, although gurps did address it so by extension, gurps traveller had some rules for it. I am proposing that the players have a base-line tech that they are comfortable with, and perhaps a skill that cancels out some levels of penalty caused by TL differences.

I refer to Jack of All Trades as a good candidate skill to eliminate penalties, but perhaps a skill called 'adaptable' would be more appropriate.

The concept of using the word 'charisma' is that it has too much to do with appearance, and that is irrelevant to any being who is not of the same species. I have met alot of good leaders who are anything but empathic, in fact most empathic people do not inspire others. Those who are confident and strong willed tend to inspire and that has alot to do with their bearing, thus that is why I suggested that name vs any other.

As for not having a way of rating a persons bearing, well there are many different personality tests and I am sure by the time we get to the technology postulated by Traveller, we will have some accurate ways to measure it.

best regards

Dalton

 

[Klaus Kipling]

The concept of using the word 'charisma' is that it has too much to do with appearance, and that is irrelevant to any being who is not of the same species. I have met alot of good leaders who are anything but empathic, in fact most empathic people do not inspire others. Those who are confident and strong willed tend to inspire and that has alot to do with their bearing, thus that is why I suggested that name vs any other.

Dunno, I've met dogs with charisma, and dogs without charisma. Same with cats. So not sure it's speices specific.

However, any measure of charisma/bearing/presence/personality is purely subjective. But then, so are rpg's.

 

[TrippyHippy]

What's the difference between Bearing and Social Standing, again?

 

[DaltonCalford]

What's the difference between Bearing and Social Standing, again?

Social Standing is your economic class. If you are the bum on the street or if you are the son of the local duke. It represents your spending money and your acceptance into polite society......

Bearing is how you carry yourself, your attitude, your ability to interact with others and how others perceive you.

You can be the snivelling rich kid (high SOC low BER) or the poor slob with the noble attitude (Low SOC high BER)

Appearance could be considered the average of the physical attributes as most consider healthy individuals to be attractive, but as the man said, she ain't pretty, she just looks that way......

 

[Klaus Kipling]

Interesting one this.

Using my students (16-19) as an example.

With the 'good' students, the only difference between my middle class (wealthy, more priviledged) and working class (lower income parents) is that the MC ones will have more expensive clothes and trendier hairstyles. The MC might be a bit more confident, but the WC ones more personable.

With the 'bad' students, the difference is more marked. MC ones tend to be lazier and more whiny, coming up with increasingly lame excuses. The WC ones often have serious issues at home (often gang related, whether themselves, or family members). Both types are distracted and disorganised, but the reasons behind it are clearer.

With the good ones I find it harder to discern the underlying reasons.

Anyway, vaguely interesting digression. Don't want to go too far off topic.

 

[TrippyHippy]

What's the difference between Bearing and Social Standing, again?

Social Standing is your economic class. If you are the bum on the street or if you are the son of the local duke. It represents your spending money and your acceptance into polite society......

Bearing is how you carry yourself, your attitude, your ability to interact with others and how others perceive you.

You can be the snivelling rich kid (high SOC low BER) or the poor slob with the noble attitude (Low SOC high BER)

Appearance could be considered the average of the physical attributes as most consider healthy individuals to be attractive, but as the man said, she ain't pretty, she just looks that way......

OK. Well, for me to be happy, I'd want something that was objectively measureable. I'd certainly accept Appearance as measureable - which there are actually some well researched methods of doing so - but I'm still finding Bearing a bit tricky as a concept though (although I do accept that it represents a useful distinction to SS).

 

[Golan2072]

Just to argue the other side for a minute, in the Imperial setting, TL of the world does NOT mean that is all they able to understand or that they have ever used, only what they usually use. TL is production, not knowledge.

EVERYONE knows about Contra Gravity. They may not be able to build it, or may never have seen an Air Raft, but they DO know that Contra Gravity exists, even if they live on a TL 2 world. They are NOT Iron Age barbarians (usually), they just live on a planet that can't make those things. They are not savages, just poor.

In regards to Tech Levels, there are generally three types of worlds: Integrated, Independent and Isolated.

Integrated worlds have a high volume of interstellar trade, and thus are an integral part of the interstellar economy. In this case TL is production (and, to a lesser degree, the availability of experts), and imported tech is relatively common. the ruling class would have all the luxuries of the interstellar TL, and their army/security services would have a mixture of high TL gear and cheaper mid-tech imported gear; the lower classes would usually live in the world's TL, though with some cheap imported mid-tech goods - to quote Rikki Tikki Traveller, they are not savages, just poor.

Independent worlds have some interstellar contact but only a limited volume of interstellar trade and thus the majority of their economies work independently of the interstellar economy. These worlds have knowledge of the existence of an interstellar civilization, and know the basic facts about technology, but are mostly limited to local low-tech products. The ruling class and its army would have a few rare high-tech and mid-tech gadgets, but even they would live at the nominal TL for the most part; the lower classes would rarely see a high-tech item but would hear stories about them. These people are far less technologically developed than most of the galaxy but with the knowledge that technology could exist and that interstellar visitors are people from other worlds using machines and not gods/witches/demons using magic.

Isolated worlds have little or no interstellar contact and had no significant interstellar contact for a long time. They are limited to local TL in both production and knowledge, and, if their TL is pre-industrial, might regard they few higher-tech relics they have as magical items. Of course, at industrial TLs, they would probably recognize a starship as a starship and a laser rifle as a laser rifle, even if these things are only sci-fi for them.