New to Traveller... questions

[Darkbridger]

So after running through some character creation with a few friends, we came up with a few questions...

If an event leads to prison (example encounter: Event 8 in Merchant), do you still roll Mustering Out Benefits for Merchant?

Do you lose previous Benefits and/or items gained from Events when imprisoned?

One character went through the Scout path and was hoping to be a vehicle specialist (Flyer, Drive, Mechanic... not so much Pilot). He liked the description of the ATV as a scout vehicle. However, Drive isn't on the Scout lists anywhere, which is just sort of odd. Is it fair to change all "Pilot" entries to "Pilot or Drive"? It would seem apt for the Explorer assignment. Secondly, the Scout does not get a Personal Vehicle option in the Mustering Out benefits. He asked to trade a Ship Share for it, but that seems like a bad deal with 300,000 vs 1MCr. We discussed multiple vehicles as a trade and we discussed reducing the ship share somehow to include an armed (not normally permitted) ATV in the Scout Ship, but I have no idea if these are feasible or advisable ideas. Why is Navy the only career that grants a Personal Vehicle?

Do you have to spend 5 terms in the same career to get a pension? If not, do prisoner/drifter/rogue terms served in the middle (2 career terms, 1 prison term, 2 career terms) counts as 5 terms for a pension?

Why is the Scout excluded from a Pension? It's even referred to as a "service", not some questionable career like Rogue.

Can a player spend Benefit money in combination with a Benefit item (say Weapon) to get a higher priced item? Folks seemed to be frustrated that Laser weapons were out of reach of the Benefit item limit of 1,000cr and that the only Sniper weapon was a Laser weapon (yes, the gauss rifle has similar range, but there is no specific sniper slug weapon). On the surface the answer would seem to be no given the 2,000cr limit on starting equipment, but I am not sure.

 

[Linwood]

Welcome to Traveller!!! Don’t mind the smoke, just another accidental weapon malfunction...

I can answer a few of your questions:

Prisoner - I believe you only lose your benefits for that term when you go to prison, not for the whole career. However there may be a few specific Mishaps that say otherwise.

Items previously gained - I believe you keep those.

 

[NOLATrav]

Welcome!

I wish I could answer all your questions with authority but many of them fall into the category of Rule 0: if a rule doesn’t fit your group, by all means change it so it does.

IMTU (In My Traveller Universe), regarding swapping skills during character generation, I have no problem with it. For instance, Engineering can be pretty hard to come by if you’re not Navy/Eng. So if a player wants to play that character type, I pick two tables and place the skill in them. I also allow the players to roll the die then pick any table they qualify for. They don’t always get what they want but there’s a better chance they will.

Some will say that’s not true to spirit of Traveller (ie, you should play the cards you’re dealt) but having been playing since the mid 80’s, I think I’ve earned the right to tweak things a bit. As should you!

Happy Travelling!

 

[AnotherDilbert]

If an event leads to prison (example encounter: Event 8 in Merchant), do you still roll Mustering Out Benefits for Merchant?

Yes? Just follow the insructions in the Event/Mishap.

I roll Mustering Out for each career as it is finished.

Do you lose previous Benefits and/or items gained from Events when imprisoned?

No? Just follow the insructions in the Event/Mishap.

One character went through the Scout path and was hoping to be a vehicle specialist (Flyer, Drive, Mechanic... not so much Pilot). He liked the description of the ATV as a scout vehicle. However, Drive isn't on the Scout lists anywhere, which is just sort of odd. Is it fair to change all "Pilot" entries to "Pilot or Drive"?

Yes, it is your game. See Rule Zero (Core, p2).

Secondly, the Scout does not get a Personal Vehicle option in the Mustering Out benefits. He asked to trade a Ship Share for it, but that seems like a bad deal with 300,000 vs 1MCr. We discussed multiple vehicles as a trade and we discussed reducing the ship share somehow to include an armed (not normally permitted) ATV in the Scout Ship, but I have no idea if these are feasible or advisable ideas.

Yes, it is your game. See Rule Zero (Core, p2).

Giving a character a starship worth a few hundred MCr might be a bit unfair to the other players, but a vehicle shouldn't be a problem.

Scouts often get to loan Scout ships, if so just give it an ATV instead of the Air/raft.

Do you have to spend 5 terms in the same career to get a pension? If not, do prisoner/drifter/rogue terms served in the middle (2 career terms, 1 prison term, 2 career terms) counts as 5 terms for a pension?

Probably, but I'm not too fussy about that.

I would count the example as a single 4 term career.

Why is the Scout excluded from a Pension? It's even referred to as a "service", not some questionable career like Rogue.

I don't know. Historically Scouts are often not retired, just on Detached Duty*, especially if they have a Scout ship.

* Get into trouble independently, report anything interesting to the Scouts.

Can a player spend Benefit money in combination with a Benefit item (say Weapon) to get a higher priced item?

Not by RAW, but I would allow it. I allow money to be spent before play starts.

 

[Saladman]

I let multiple Weapon benefits trade up to a better item. I'll even stack it with the skill boost if I (GM) pick the better item rather than going straight to the very best.

It's not game-breaking if you let players pay the difference. It does bypass one element of play in traditional Traveller, where you get to a starport and go shopping. Sometimes using Carouse/Streetwise/Broker depending on legality and availability. I once got half a session of play out of one player tracking down a flamethrower. Crucially he involved the rest of the party, or I'd have rolled for it and been done, but still, I considered playing it out a success. If players have to start without the exact gun they want, it's usually only one or a few sessions before they can buy it in play.

All others, "why does career X only give benefit Y but not Z..." - I never thought Traveller career paths were meant to be perfectly simulationist. They return likely candidates for player characters, and that's a good thing. But the fact that a six-entry skill list doesn't contain a skill doesn't mean no NPC careerist ever gets it.

For skills players really want, they've got Connections and Skill Packages. If a player thinks a career should have given them a certain skill but won't spend a Connection on it I've got no sympathy - that's what it's for. On the other hand, I'm a big fan of custom careers to represent settings, so if you think a career should work a certain way by all means change it.

 

[Condottiere]

Antithetical to Traveller character generation, you could reverse engineer it, by approximating what you'd like to end up with, and backtracking how you could get there.

And then trust in the Dice Gods.

You could try to purchase a vehicle by mortgaging your ship share.

With weapons, there might be in universe reasons why you cannot muster out with more expensive examples (essentially, more capable smallarms), but if the Dungeon Master agrees, probably not really an issue.

 

[Darkbridger]

Follow up question...

I allowed the players to choose their skills (from the Companion book I think it is), but apparently I worded it poorly. They thought I meant they could choose on all tables instead of rolling, including Events and Mustering Out. Everyone chose events that gave them skills and then they also did the Connections thing. So they may be a bit more skillful than the game intends. Would it be a good idea to leave off the Skills Package and let their choices stand? Or should I force them to roll?

As an example, their four term Navy character has Pilot 3, Astrogation 3, Leadership 2, Electronics (comms) 1, Electronics (computers) 1, Flyer (grav) 1, Gun Combat 1, Melee (blade) 1, Tactics (naval) 1, Vacc Suit 1, Science (physical sciences/jumpspace physics) 1, Athletics 0, Gunner 0, Mechanic 0, Profession (spacer/crewmember) 0, Survival 0

That seems like a lot. :shock:

Even though they didn't all choose 6s on their Mustering table (because I think they thought they couldn't change the same value more than once), I plan to make them roll those.

 

[paltrysum]

That looks roughly in line with a character who has successfully made all his/her promotion rolls, no mishaps, and already has the package and connection skills.

 

[Darkbridger]

That looks roughly in line with a character who has successfully made all his/her promotion rolls, no mishaps, and already has the package and connection skills.

Yes, they did roll for Survival and Advancement and with the exception of one character, they were all frighteningly consistent. But now that I look at the submitted sheets, I can see why... everyone has a decently high Edu and the military characters all have good End and they are perhaps high rolls (48 to 51 total). No one tried for a Psion though and despite being allowed to pick on the tables, no one took an attribute increase. I don't mind any of this as long as it is in the expected power range for published material (it's a six character group)... I'm not planning to put together my own campaign or anything yet.

 

[Condottiere]

As long as none of the characters are over powered, you might be able to close an eye.

You could insist that pools of points have to be distributed evenly across skills and attributes.

 

[Darkbridger]

As long as none of the characters are over powered, you might be able to close an eye.

Yeah, my problem is I don't know where overpowered lies. How many total attribute points becomes overpowered? How many total skill points?

Just got questions from the Rogue player...

He played two terms as a Thief and advanced once, then switched to Enforcer after making a second qualification roll. The earlier section of the book says you retain your rank, which makes sense for the military careers that only have a single rank table (well two, one for enlisted and one for officers). But the Rogue has three rank tables. Is he now a rank 1 Thief and a rank 0 Enforcer? Or is he just considered a rank 1 Enforcer without the skill bonus?

 

[NOLATrav]

This current version of Traveller (MgT 2e) hews very closely to the original game (Classic Traveller or CT) in many ways; CT had a rule that PC skill levels could not exceed INT+EDU. I use that rule in my current game, with additional skills being gained at level 0; swapping is allowed during char gen but once we start the game it is what it is. I believe 2e RAW state two or three times INT+EDU so your Navy example is legal, if a bit robust.

Wafer Jacks and other tech allow PCs to move past that limitation.

I would let the players move forward with characters they’ve created, knowing as a Ref I might need to bump up the antagonists’ stats, skills, tech or number appearing. Play a couple sessions and see how powerful they really are and adjust accordingly.

As far as the Rogue, I would say rank 0 Enforcer. Sure, they’ve been around the block a few times but they’ll still have to prove themselves in the new situation.

Cheers

 

[Condottiere]

Freeing up hard drive capacity.

 

[Linwood]

I've had two players bump up against that INT+EDU skill limit - but it took them 8-9 terms to do it...

As an alternative to picking from all events, I've been using the D66 Companion (on DriveThru) alternate event tables. I let the player roll once, then allow selection between the core rulebook event and one of the D66 event. However, I don't let them pick the same event twice. Gives them a little more agency in character creation and adds a bit more variety to the outcomes.

 

[Erias]

Hello, I'm currently running the Starter Set campaign 'The fall of Tinath" and we are at Chapter ten "Captive audience". My players raised an alarm and an Essaries drone came by, they decided to shoot it down but he darn thing has a 20 armor and their weapons don't deal enough damage (ACR and submachine guns and this is not enough to blast the drone). How can I deal with that? I had one of them equipped with a PGMP Heavy weapon (but it's TL12 and bit far fetched on a TL6 world- even if there two TL12 worlds a couple of parsecs away). How would you do it?

 

[Geir]

Hello, I'm currently running the Starter Set campaign 'The fall of Tinath" and we are at Chapter ten "Captive audience". My players raised an alarm and an Essaries drone came by, they decided to shoot it down but he darn thing has a 20 armor and their weapons don't deal enough damage (ACR and submachine guns and this is not enough to blast the drone). How can I deal with that? I had one of them equipped with a PGMP Heavy weapon (but it's TL12 and bit far fetched on a TL6 world- even if there two TL12 worlds a couple of parsecs away). How would you do it?

There is a way, but it takes Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS) ammunition from the Central Supply Catalog, p. 139. A regular rifle (3D) would get AP 9, which would be enough for an "average" shot to have a 50/50 chance of getting through, more chance with the Effect of a good shot.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Rifle grenade...

 

[Linwood]

TL 6 should also give you 1st-generation grenade launchers (they’re TL 6 or 7) or 1st-gen rocket weapons like the bazooka or Panzerfaust. ITRW they’d have lousy accuracy against a flying target but they’d make for a very satisfying cinematic finish....

You might check out the anti-material rifle too. I think those were TL 6.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Anti-tank rifles were certainly a thing at TL6

 

[Condottiere]

Four inch recoilless cannon.