New to MGT

[bhudson1972]

I have just started reading up on the Traveller Core Rules. I tried creating some characters for practice and I'm confused on a few things.

1. When you roll on a table for your career specialty to see what skill you get that term and it says "random skill" (any). Does the any mean you pick which specialty of that skill you get the skill increase?

2. When you roll Survival successfully, and then your Event roll sends you to the Mishap table, do you still have to leave the career, lose your advancement roll chance and benefit roll for that term?

3. When you muster out, are you rolling on the cash table or the other benefits roll separately, are is each roll for both and then once you pass your third roll, you ignore what the cash says?

4. When you finish a term, and you want to stay in the same career, it says go to step 5. Does that mean you can change specializations in a career and not have to "qualify" for the change in specialization?

Thanks!

 

[Easterner]

I have just started reading up on the Traveller Core Rules. I tried creating some characters for practice and I'm confused on a few things.

1. When you roll on a table for your career specialty to see what skill you get that term and it says "random skill" (any). Does the any mean you pick which specialty of that skill you get the skill increase? "random skill" does not show under FIND in Core. Can you give example including page

2. When you roll Survival successfully, and then your Event roll sends you to the Mishap table, do you still have to leave the career, lose your advancement roll chance and benefit roll for that term? If your told specifically by the event or the MISHAP table you do not have to leave, then you leave. Example from SCOUTS: Disaster! Roll on the mishap table, but you are not ejected from this career.

3. When you muster out, are you rolling on the cash table or the other benefits roll separately, are is each roll for both and then once you pass your third roll, you ignore what the cash says?
You pick table to roll on per career. no more than 3 total CASH rolls may be made i.e. if you have 6 muster you can have up to 6 non-bash or substitute cASH rolls for up to 3 of the 6.

4. When you finish a term, and you want to stay in the same career, it says go to step 5. Does that mean you can change specializations in a career and not have to "qualify" for the change in specialization? You roll to change branch i.e. move from Exploration to Courier, fail and you stay Exploration.

Thanks!

 

[AndrewW]

If you mean something like:

Engineer (any)
Gun Combat (any)

And so on, you get to pick the speciality.

 

[bhudson1972]

Thanks. That helps. Yes, I was saying "random skill" just to represent any of the skills that seem to have specialties represented by the (any).

 

[CosmicGamer]

1. When you roll on a table for your career specialty to see what skill you get that term and it says "random skill" (any). Does the any mean you pick which specialty of that skill you get the skill increase?

Yes.

2. When you roll Survival successfully, and then your Event roll sends you to the Mishap table, do you still have to leave the career, lose your advancement roll chance and benefit roll for that term?

Sometimes the text for the event will tell you what to do. For example the Army event #2 says "you are not ejected from this career". Then what happens if you roll a 5 for the mishap which says "drives you out of the service"?

So here's how I handle this.

First, the rules in question fall under the heading Survival and not a paragraph on mishaps. Mishaps don't even have an entry in the index! My interpretation is that failing the survival roll is the game mechanic that forces a character from their career and failing the survival roll is what causes a character to lose a benefit for the term.

Next, some Mishaps do specifically say you must leave the career and some don't. If the event that sends you to the mishap table doesn't tell you what to do, you stay in the career unless the mishap specifically says otherwise. If the event that sends you to the mishap table specifically says what to do, such as Army event #2 says "you are not ejected from this career", then I would ignore any conflict in with the text of the mishap and do as the event said.

In any case, the character will not lose a benefit though because they did not fail the survival roll. - Unless the event or mishap specifically says a benefit is lost.

I'd allow an advancement roll if the survival roll succeeded, even if events still force the character out.

3. When you muster out, are you rolling on the cash table or the other benefits roll separately, are is each roll for both and then once you pass your third roll, you ignore what the cash says?

Choose just one table for each roll.

4. When you finish a term, and you want to stay in the same career, it says go to step 5. Does that mean you can change specializations in a career and not have to "qualify" for the change in specialization?

That is my take on it. However, I also have no problem with others who do require a qual roll to change specialties.

 

[GamerDude]

4. When you finish a term, and you want to stay in the same career, it says go to step 5. Does that mean you can change specializations in a career and not have to "qualify" for the change in specialization?

That is my take on it. However, I also have no problem with others who do require a qual roll to change specialties.

Page 5 of Core Rulebook, box on bottom right hand side of page (BOLD UNDERLINE and bulletting the list is mine). Basically yes at the start of each term you choose your specialization for that term.

Character Generation Checklist
Basic character generation uses the following steps:

• 1. Roll characteristics and determine characteristic modifiers.
• 2. Homeworld/Background Skills
  • a. Choose a homeworld.
  • b. Gain background skills.
• 3. Career
  • a. Choose a career. You cannot choose a career you have already left.
  • b. Roll to qualify for that career.
  • c. If you qualify for that career, go to Step 4.
  • d. If you do not qualify for that career, then you can go to the Draft or enter the Drifter career. The Draft can put you back into a career you have been forced to leave, at your old rank. You can only apply for the Draft once.
• 4. If this is your first time on this career, get your basic training.
• 5. Choose a specialization for this career.
• 6. Term Skills/Survival
  • a. Choose one of the Skills and Training tables for this career and roll on it.
  • b. Roll for survival on this career.
  • c. If you succeed, go to Step 7.
  • d. If you did not succeed, then events have forced you from this career. Roll on the Mishap table, then go to Step 9.
• 7. Events
  • a. Roll for Events.
  • b. Optionally, establish a Connection with another player character.
• 8. Advancement
  • a. Roll for Advancement
  • b. If you succeed, choose one of the skills and training tables for this career and roll on it. Increase your Rank and take any bonus skills from the Ranks table for this career.
  • c. If you roll less than the number of terms spent in this career, you must leave this career.
  • d. Military characters (Army, Navy, Marines) can roll for commission instead of rolling for advancement.
• 9. Increase your age by 4 years. If your character is 34 or older, roll for Aging.
• 10. If you are leaving the career, roll for Benefits.
• 11. If you have left your current career, then go to Step 3 to choose a new career, or to Step
• 12 if you wish to finish your character. Otherwise, go to Step 5.
• 12. Finalize any Connections with other characters.
• 13. Choose a Campaign Skill Pack and allocate skills from that pack.
• 14. Purchase starting equipment and, if you can afford it, a spacecraft.

 

[bhudson1972]

So, when you fail a survival roll, but then the mishap says "this mishap does not cause you to leave this career", do you have an advancement roll after that? Do you still lose your benefit roll for that term?

 

[GamerDude]

So, when you fail a survival roll, but then the mishap says "this mishap does not cause you to leave this career", do you have an advancement roll after that? Do you still lose your benefit roll for that term?

As I see it, in this case all that happens is you end up with a second 'event' for the term. I mean you didn't leave the career so you did the entire four years got all the benefits rolls etc.

Al B.   [B-)