Questions that arose during character creation

[Stjarnvik]

Yesterday evening we did our Travellers creation as a group. During the process we had a couple of questions for which we couldn't find any clear answer in the latest rulebook.

- Traveller goes to an Army military academy, so gets the basic training from the Army career (all service skills at 0) and fails to graduate. For his second term he enters the Army career, since this is a new career the rules states he should go through basic training again. But he already has all basic skills, with regard to skill acquisition should this first Army term be handled as if it was a second term (so roll on a selected table)?

- If you don't qualify for a career can you attempt again next term? I would have thought yes but this line in the Qualification section (MGT2e Up2022 p18) makes me unsure: "If you leave a
career, you cannot return to it in the next term."

- If you get ejected from a career can you try to re-qualify next term (or any subsequent term)?

- Assuming you can re-apply to a career you got ejected from? Do you have to go through basic training again? This might prove useless if you already have a skills or the career you are re-entering was your first one (where you got all Service skills at 0 as your basic training).

Thanks for your help.

 

[Garran]

#1: By default it appears that you still get basic training, which means no benefit. It wouldn't be out of place to give a skill roll instead though.

#2: Yes. You never entered the career.

#3: No, because you already entered the career a previous term.

 

[Stjarnvik]

#3 But where is that written in the rules? I even checked my old MGT 1e and can't find any clear mention of this. Is it a Traveller fact that is so well known that Mongoose simply forgets to write it plainly in their rulebook or am I just blind?

 

[agentwigggles]

#3 But where is that written in the rules? I even checked my old MGT 1e and can't find any clear mention of this. Is it a Traveller fact that is so well known that Mongoose simply forgets to write it plainly in their rulebook or am I just blind?

Its not.
But its a follow-through RAW.
You tried for that Career.
You failed the Qualification
This means you were never in that Career. How can you be a career you were never in?

The rule you're referencing requires you to be in that career than for you to get ejected from event, failing survival, promotion failing or deciding to leave on your own.
You cannot go back to that career on your next term. You need a career in between trying again.
So if you went into the Army in Term 1. Got booted out. You cannot try to go into the Army again on Term 2. You may attempt the army again on Term 3.
If you tried to get into the Army in Term 1 but failed to qualify. And then you went Drifter Term 1. Because you were never in Term 2, you may try the Army again on Term 2.

 

[john_q_traveller]

- Assuming you can re-apply to a career you got ejected from? Do you have to go through basic training again? This might prove useless if you already have a skills or the career you are re-entering was your first one (where you got all Service skills at 0 as your basic training).

From Core Rulebook 2022, page 18, Basic Training:

For our first career only, instead of rolling for a skill, you get all the skills listed on the Service Skills table at level 0 as your basic training. For subsequent careers, you may pick one skill listed in the Service Skills table at level 0 as your basic training.

 

[Gavain]

TBH I skip basic training. Oh the character gets the zero level skill(s), but it doesn't take the whole four years. ISTR that army basic taining is in the order of ten weeks. I couldn't see to stretching it out to four years. Especially for a second career.

 

[agentwigggles]

TBH I skip basic training. Oh the character gets the zero level skill(s), but it doesn't take the whole four years. ISTR that army basic taining is in the order of ten weeks. I couldn't see to stretching it out to four years. Especially for a second career.

That is an interesting take on basic training.
Do you apply to all the careers or just the military ones? As its called basic training for all the careers.

As far as it taking 4 years just for basic training, no. Its 4 years of that job, that includes basic training. Then 42 weeks and 3 years of regular career training.

 

[Garran]

"Basic Training" in the Traveller context isn't just a few weeks of boot camp (or whatever equivalent you want to imagine for non-military careers). It's the whole (or nearly whole) term worth of on-the-job training; the only difference is that it gives you a suite of skills at a basic professional level (which certainly won't happen in a few weeks) rather than focusing on one at an advanced level.

The entire premise of the military academy term also makes very little sense if you'd get all of those rank-0s in a few weeks of "basic training".