Optional change to background skills

[rinku]

Following from a recent thread re issues with the way MGT covers background skills, I've had a look at previous editions (in particular TNE) and come up with my own take.

Briefly, the problem is that by linking background skills to the trade codes there are some situations that either seem silly, or result in characters who logically should get a required background skill for their homeworld not getting it. (i.e. If you grew up on a planet with a trace atmosphere and no water, you don't know how to use a vacc suit. Sorry. You have to have an ice cap for that training to become available...)

Anyway, I've kept the same basic idea - that a character gets 3+Edu mod skills at level 0, with some choices imposed based on homeworld and the rest chosen from a list. However, I have mostly discarded the use of trade codes to determine what skills are available, basing the UWP restrictions on previous editions of Traveller. In some cases, the trade code fitted and I have used that as a shorthand.

Homeworld imposed skills (taken before other choices):

Atmo 0, 1, B, C = Vacc Suit
Size 0 = Zero-G
TL 9+ = Computer
TL 4-10 = Drive
TL 11+ = Pilot
Agricultural = Animal
Water = Seafarer
High Population = Streetwise
Industrial = Trade
Desert = Survival

After taking the above skills, if there are any available from the character's allocation, the player may choose other skills that represent vocational and educational training, as well as areas in which the character has natural talents. Some of these are generally available, while others have homeworld UWP restrictions. Note that in many cases I have placed tech level restrictions higher than when the skill could have been learned (i.e. Vacc Suit skill is definitely around at TL6-7). This list represents skills an enthusiastic teenager of that planet can be expected to have gained basic competency in; at TL7 only professionals would be expected to know Vacc Suit, unless the planet in question had a hostile atmosphere. At TL9 the culture is starfaring and any kid with a keen interest has probably had an orbital trip or two.

Background skills:

Vacc Suit (TL 9+), Pilot (TL 5+ and Atmo 4+, or TL9+), Drive (TL 4+), Computer (TL 7+),
Animal (Atmo 4-7), Seafarer (Hydro 1+), Life Science (TL2+),
Physical Science (TL2+), Engineer (TL 4+), Mechanic (TL 2+),
Gun Combat (Law 8 or less), Streetwise (Pop 4+), Survival (Atmo 2+),
Comms (TL4+), Space Science (TL8+), Steward, Athletics, Carouse,
Trade, Medic, Admin, Advocate, Persuade, Deception, Social Science,
Language, Art, Stealth, Recon, Broker, Gambling, Leadership,
Diplomacy, Melee Combat.

Feel free to discuss!

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

I can see how growing up on a planet without an atmosphere would not neccessarily lead to gaining vacc suit skill, after all, if everybody lives in climate controlled, thickly domed arcologies, only those whose job takes them outside would require vacc suit. For emergencies some kind of airtight "sancturies" would have to be available for most people.

However, I like your ideas, especially linking the available skills to the tech level of the planet. I tend to allow (or enforce, eg, "so your character is a barbarian from a TL 1 world, no you can't have Drive as a skill") a certain amount of "fudging" with the background skills anyway, your ideas certainly put that on a firmer basis! You could probably argue that social status might affect things as well, the son of noble may have no streetwise, even in a planet where it is essential for most people. Even on a desert world, especially if high tech, much of the population may not have survival (witness the annual cases in Australia of ordinary folk completely unable to survive in the outback), suppose you could also argue that if you gain such a skill on your planet, it is limited to similar climatic/floral/faunal conditions

Thanks

Egil

 

[rinku]

Probably not fair to compare the whole continent of Australia with a desert planet proper - we are, after all, girt by sea

The homeworld list really represents "skills you'd expect an adventurer from that kind of planet to know", I guess. Any planet with an atmosphere above trace could be an extreme environment that would force Survival. However, apart from Desert worlds these aren't so easy to define just from UWP.

The Referee should allow any reasonable level 0 skill from a particular planet once it's established in the campaign. An arctic or jungle world should require Survival 0, too, especially if low tech. Likewise, if a planet is known for a particular skill or culture, maybe other skills should be imposed. Anyone from Jackson's Whole from Lois McMaster Bujold's books would be expected to have Broker 0; conversely if the planet was settled by NRA members, Gun Combat 0 would be compulsory

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

I suppose the point about Oz is really that just living in a place doesn't always give you the skills to survive in the wilderness, esp in this modern world when we rely on access to vehicles, calling out the emergency services etc. Oz is girt by sea, but very few Aussies are seafarers. The Earth is probably a garden world with high population, but not all 18 year olds have both animals and streetwise!

Yes, I agree that the basic skills concept is rather vaguely defined, so now tend toward allowing a guided choice from a selection of skills, your earlier post has certainly given me a few ideas.

Egil

 

[rinku]

Had a thought in addition to the above - players who want to come from a spacefaring background (either an orbital habitat or whose parents were spacers). Effectively treat them as belters, but allow use the UWP of their main homeworld for background skills (if they want to go dirtside to learn how to farm, let them). In the case of travelling spacers, assume TL12, require Vacc Suit 0 but otherwise allow any of the background skills (if a spacer teen *really* wants to lean to drive a ground car, they'll be able to practice every second planet or so...).

 

[far-trader]

May I ask a possibly silly and obvious side question? Why is Survival related exclusively to Desert worlds?

I don't think someone with Survival based on a background of living off the land in a Desert environment is going to last long in an Arctic* environment. Or a Rain Forest. Or a Swamp. Or a Forest. Or my home on the Prairie*...

...or any number of other environments.

So, am I missing something?

* both also arguably Deserts (semi-arid at least) in their own right at times but not at all the same survival challenges

 

[far-trader]

Pondering this afresh (more or less) I think I'd skip the forced selection based on homeworld entirely. Feels too limiting and artificial to me. I also think 3 + EDU bonus is a bit much and also artificial, and unfair. How about CHARACTERISTIC based limits instead of Homeworld based limits? In my experience early skills are driven by natural aptitude. The athletic kids go out for sports and excel in skills there, the studious kids go out for academics and excel in skills there. High STR gets you Athletics. High EDU gets you Computers. And so on.

Just off the top of my head I'm thinking something like:

Prior to career generation a maximum of 6 Background Skills may be selected, of the Player's choice subject to Ref approval, based on the character's background. The number and type of skills available are based on CHARACTERISTIC bonuses. Any CHARACTERISTIC with a bonus (a CHARACTERISTIC of 9+) permits the selection of 1 skill that references that CHARACTERISTIC. All skills are at level-1 (Note).

OPTIONAL RULE: Any CHARACTERISTIC with a bonus of +2 allows selecting two skills at Level-1 for that CHARACTERISTIC, subject to the maximum of 6 Background Skills.

For example:

Charlie - UPP 958C69

Charlie has 3 CHARACTERISTICS with bonuses, STR 9 is +1, INT C is +2, and SOC 9 is +1. Charlie is permitted 3 Background Skills, 1 relating to STR, 1 relating to INT, and 1 relating to SOC. With the Refs permission Charlie's player selects: Athletics-1 (for STR, specializing Strength), Admin-1 (for INT), and Advocate-1 (for SOC). If the Ref allows the optional rule for extra skills then Charlie's player may select another INT related skill at Level-1.

Note: Why Level-1 and not Level-0? My feeling is that zero level skills at initial character creation are pointless. Either the player will bump it up through character gen or not. If they do then the zero level feels like a waste or rip-off. If they don't then one wonders what they were doing through their whole life with this interest that they never improved, they should have lost any marginal proficiency if they never improved. Again it seems a waste or rip-off. Level-0 skills imo should be situational awards of a temporary value after character generation. A stepping stone to full competency Level-1. A character needs to use a VaccSuit so his buddy shows them the basics, granting VaccSuit-0 for the encounter. If the player wishes to keep the basics they need to work on it and will eventually gain VaccSuit-1 for doing so.

 

[rust]

In Mongoose Traveller a skill level of 2 is the equivalent of a doctorate,
so a skill level of 1 would be the equivalent of several years of training
in a skill.
For example, if Medic-2 is a medical doctor, as the core rules state, the
character with Medic-1 would be the equivalent of a registered nurse or
a very experienced paramedic.
Therefore I think that a skill level of 0 describes quite well what some-
one without professional training can know at the age of 18 years.

 

[far-trader]

I think you'll find many Nurses or Paramedics in the profession who can well argue they are as well trained and experienced as a Doctor of the same time in study and work. Just in different specialties. I think Medic-1 is more like competency in the basic sciences related and first aid. Something quite possible for a gifted high school graduate.


MGT Core Rules (pg 51 sidebar)

If a character has one or more level in a skill (Level 1, Level 2,
and so on) then he is trained in that skill. Each rank represents
several years of experience using that skill. A character with Level
2–3 in a skill is a skilled professional in that field. A character with
Medic 2 could be a doctor; a character with Medic 4 is a famous
surgeon or specialist.

(note the "Medic 2 could be a doctor", not is, but could be. Could also be a Nurse or a Paramedic imo. Could also be as good as a Doctor but without the license and M.D.)

Level-1 is therefore training and several years of experience (but NOT Professional). That sounds a lot like grade school through pre-grad and/or tech school. Basic Education. Level-2 or 3 is Professional (Doctor, Nurse, Paramedic), which sounds like grad-school and/or work experience.

 

[rinku]

May I ask a possibly silly and obvious side question? Why is Survival related exclusively to Desert worlds?

I don't think someone with Survival based on a background of living off the land in a Desert environment is going to last long in an Arctic* environment. Or a Rain Forest. Or a Swamp. Or a Forest. Or my home on the Prairie*...

...or any number of other environments.

So, am I missing something?

* both also arguably Deserts (semi-arid at least) in their own right at times but not at all the same survival challenges

No you're not missing anything. Survival is quite appropriate for any number of extreme climate worlds, but it's not possible to easily define other ones just from the homeworld UWP. For example:

C666666-6

May describe a pleasant, rural sort of world with pretty butterflies and docile fauna. It may also describe a glaciated snowball with constant raring blizzards. It might be a humid, jungle deathworld with hostile native aliens, or deadly hunting predators.

Did you overlook my reply above on this point?

Re medical skill etc:

These free skills represent stuff an 18 year old can be expected to have picked up through growing up on a particular type of planet and having had a basic education. Each level of skill (including 0) represents several years of experience or training, roughly equivalent to a term or degree bracket. Medic 0 is a newly qualified paramedic or a medical student. Medic 1 is an experienced paramedic, newly qualified nurse or intern. Medic 2 is a doctor, senior nurse or other health care professional with 8-12 years experience and/or qualifications.

Personal aptitude *does* come into this - a young medic-4 may have only just qualified as a doctor, but be naturally talented. However that's not going to show up at age 18 before they have been trained. The potential may be there, but the skill levels will not be.

I'm not totally opposed to the concept of some skills being learned by age 18 above zero, however given that everyone serves at least one term, I'm more than happy to let that form part of the overall character generation process. If your 34 year old character happens to have ended up with Medic 4, why not say that he was effectively Medic 1 at age 16 and a prodigy?

 

[rust]

Level-1 is therefore training and several years of experience (but NOT Professional). That sounds a lot like grade school through pre-grad and/or tech school.

Even the professional training and the four years of experience on the
job give a character only a level 0 skill in the average service skill of
his career, so a level 1 skill for someone without any professional trai-
ning and experience seems rather generous to me.

 

[BP]

The first term of most careers give six level 0 skills, plus 1 to 4 level 1 skills (and that doesn't count connection or package skills). So the 'time' (study and experience wise) for skill levels is all over the page...

Roleplay 'simulation' of skill learning/advancement is independent of, and inconsistent with, random generation. Unlike other RPGs, Traveller has never really addressed 'character advancement' as a major roleplay goal. Whether this is good or bad is a matter desires.

(Personally, while my D&D background bent me to the idea that character advancement should be a goal, the reality is that my players never really spent enough time attempting untrained skills for them to 'believably' advance - and there was sufficient game play motivations using their characters as generated to not necessitate the need for 'character advancement' and instead, devote their time to roleplay rather than game mechanics.)

 

[Myrm]

Just as a comment on the original list - I would have thought that the high tech level skill should be either Pilot or Flyer (grav)

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Spica Publishing's Career Book 2 has TWO different ways to generate Background Skills.

One use Intelligence rather than Education.
The other uses TL as the basis of the background skills, not the Trade Code.

It also expanded on the skills that could be selected from; adding things like Gun Combat and Melee.

 

[far-trader]

May I ask a possibly silly and obvious side question? Why is Survival related exclusively to Desert worlds?

I don't think someone with Survival based on a background of living off the land in a Desert environment is going to last long in an Arctic* environment. Or a Rain Forest. Or a Swamp. Or a Forest. Or my home on the Prairie*...

...or any number of other environments.

So, am I missing something?

* both also arguably Deserts (semi-arid at least) in their own right at times but not at all the same survival challenges

No you're not missing anything. Survival is quite appropriate for any number of extreme climate worlds, but it's not possible to easily define other ones just from the homeworld UWP. For example:

C666666-6

May describe a pleasant, rural sort of world with pretty butterflies and docile fauna. It may also describe a glaciated snowball with constant raring blizzards. It might be a humid, jungle deathworld with hostile native aliens, or deadly hunting predators.

Did you overlook my reply above on this point?

Not so much missed, as failed to understand and apply. Thanks for pointing me back to it for a re-read. I think I get what you're saying now