[[[Playtest Focus]]] Advanced Careers

[MongooseMatt]

Okay, this is something I have been mulling over and I could use some thoughts from you chaps!

Fairly early on, we made a decision with the new Traveller that we would not have multiple new careers in supplements. So, no string of new careers handling each branch of the Scouts, for example. It is just not needed.

However, we did pen in the idea of 'advanced' careers: careers you could take on in later terms, provided you met specific criteria. One idea we had for this was 'high command' for the Navy.

The trouble is... we are having some issues deciding exactly what an advanced career should be and do. Or, to use the High Command example, what could the advanced career give that was not already adequately handled by Ranks 5 and 6 of the existing Navy career?

The idea of advanced careers is funky enough, but it needs purpose.

What would you guys like to see?

 

[phavoc]

Honestly, I would prefer to see the "higher careers" in a supplement or something else outside of the core book. I think for the majority of players the ability to be a terraforming engineer vs. a planetary geologist, or toodling along the "high command" path vs. "scout" path is nice to see, but it's not a core requirement. It also potentially takes away page space and focus from the standard careers.

This belongs, in my opinion, in a supplement. Not that I'm trying to give you guys more of my money! You could easily release this as a low-cost PDF only document, or even as as a free supplement.

Unless the alternate paths would materially add a lot of playability or flair to the game.... thus far that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Sounds a bit like Pretige Classes, or Advanced Careers from Warhammer.

I think that you need to first highlight those areas of high advancement that would be something that players would really want to go for - and I'd be thinking more exotic (as with the Psionic careers) than anything else. You're right that it's hard to see where a Navy Officer could go beyond Rank 5-6. Rank 9-10 perhaps?

 

[chiron0224]

To me it seems unnecessary. Prestige or advanced classes work in D20 system because you level up through classes and can wind up in them later on as you advance. Traveller doesn't work like that at all. With Traveller careers are a tool to generate a character that you then go on adventures with. I feel like any player who wants to use the careers to make a 50 something year old Fleet admiral is trying to make a character who will probably not be off tooling the Spinward Marches and doing, you know, Traveller stuff. At that point the character stops being really viable as a player character. One possibility would be to put them in the supplement books. So High Guard could have the Admiralty advanced career for Naval characters so that if you want to run a more high end naval game you could then have the context in which to play a member of the admiralty with hundreds or thousands of ships under your command. But barring that, it just seems to be beyond the scale of what I think most Traveller players would be looking to actually do.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Fair points all, we are going to drop this (third party publishers take note!).

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

To me it seems unnecessary. Prestige or advanced classes work in D20 system because you level up through classes and can wind up in them later on as you advance. Traveller doesn't work like that at all. With Traveller careers are a tool to generate a character that you then go on adventures with. I feel like any player who wants to use the careers to make a 50 something year old Fleet admiral is trying to make a character who will probably not be off tooling the Spinward Marches and doing, you know, Traveller stuff. At that point the character stops being really viable as a player character. One possibility would be to put them in the supplement books. So High Guard could have the Admiralty advanced career for Naval characters so that if you want to run a more high end naval game you could then have the context in which to play a member of the admiralty with hundreds or thousands of ships under your command. But barring that, it just seems to be beyond the scale of what I think most Traveller players would be looking to actually do.

Agree with this.