Quote from: BalbinusChargen as you say in your first para, otherwise though I think the basic books generally do provide enough, I think giving a default equal to terms is overpowered though, as a seven termer would get a skill of seven which is very high.

Perhaps a free level 0 for each term of service?

A free .5 level per term, rounded down. That would give a seven termer a 3 rating, which is reasonable for someone with that many years in.

-clash

Quote from: Balbinus...I think giving a default equal to terms is overpowered though, as a seven termer would get a skill of seven which is very high.

My immediate thought as well.  I don't want to add more skill, just broader skill.  And nothing approaching the degree of J-o-T (which should remain it's own, distinct little animal).

QuotePerhaps a free level 0 for each term of service?

I think you may have struck upon the ideal middle ground.  For each term, choose a single Skill-0.  You may not combine successive 0-level skills to equal Skill-1 (similar to what was suggested in one of the adventures, I think).

Now, does one choose individual 0-level skills at the end of each term, or all of them at the end of character generation?  In the former case, a given Skill-0 may be superceded by a roll of that skill during a later term.  In the latter case, all 0-level skills are chosen to insure a roundedness of the character, not prey to the vagaries of the die roll.  In the true spirit of Traveller chargen, I favor the first option.  Sure, there's a chance that you may waste one of your 0-level skills, but you have at least assured that your character has some desired, non-random proficiency tailored to your concept.

!i!

This is why I use gurps traveller. (Well, one reason, the other reason being that I didn't know what an asshole steve jackson is when I got into gurps or I wouldn't have.)

I like to make my own character the way I want to, with skills, attributes, advantages and disadvantages that I want to use.

Some people like random character creation, I don't.

Quote from: Dominus NoxThis is why I use gurps traveller.

Okay...

Quote(Well, one reason, the other reason being that I didn't know what an asshole steve jackson is when I got into gurps or I wouldn't have.)

God damn it, Nox. Keep it in your pants.

QuoteI like to make my own character the way I want to, with skills, attributes, advantages and disadvantages that I want to use.

Which is a valid opinion, one that you share with many fans of the many incarnations of Traveller.  We are discussing old skool Trav here, though.  Now, I kind of fired off a warning volley at Settembrini earlier for daring to mention the notorious pretender to the throne, Megatraveller, but realistically, MT addressed a lot of problems people had with the original chargen rules (like bonus skill rolls and cascade skills instead of bloated advanced chargen).

There is a certain beauty to the totally random character in Traveller, though.  As many here have attested, the challenge of figuring out how to play just some random guy instead of a polished hero is all part of the excitement.  As a GM (or, in proper Traveller parlance, a Referee), I've always been lenient in letting players fiddle with their characters to tweak them into a form that they enjoy, but the essential randomness has always had an appeal for me.

!i!

In my experience, if there was a skill the party absolutely had to have that nobody rolled, it was the cue to introduce an NPC.

Our CT campaigns were seldom plotted out except in the broadest of strokes, so either the PCs could be made to fit those broad strokes (as mentioned earlier - we're a starship crew, make a Navy guy, or whatever) or the GM would modify the broad strokes of the campaign to "fit the party".

Character skills were important, but like Droog said, if there was a vital crewmember spot not covered by a PC, enter NPC, stage left.

And I think the "less is more" nature of Traveller characters led to MORE roleplaying opportunities. If you have a skill for EVERYthing (as GURPS tends to produce), alot of the problems and puzzles are solved by die rolls intead of thinking. Keep it simple, is my motto. That's why I love CT (even the expanded chargen of Mercenary and High Guard - as "expanded" as they were, they still pale to many modern skill-based games).

Also, since there are tons of DOS or JAVA-based character generation programs out there on the 'net, character creation is a snap if you want to go that way. Just keep clicking until the right PC shows up.

QuoteAlso, since there are tons of DOS or JAVA-based character generation programs out there on the 'net, character creation is a snap if you want to go that way. Just keep clicking until the right PC shows up.

Which, I'm discovering, can actually be a fun little game all it's own, even if it is pretty random.

I like games where chargen is a game in itself.

Quote from: J ArcaneWhich, I'm discovering, can actually be a fun little game all it's own, even if it is pretty random.

I like games where chargen is a game in itself.

The other night, I rolled up a Vargr corsair out of The Traveller Adventure.  

In his first term, he just kind of coasted through; on his second, he got a comission AND a promotion.  He was moving up the ranks...

In his third term, I blew his survival roll and he was out on his tail halfway through.

Knowing what I know about Vargr, I decided upon what all these rolls meant: being that Vargr rise in rank by challenging and intimidating their superiors, and given that my character's Charisma really wasn't very high, I figured that he got lucky on his first two challenges, got cocky, then went gunning for another promotion and got his snout slapped for it.  

My bundle of numbers and random rolls suddenly took shape into a character: a guy who's learned his lesson but is bitter about it, because the lesson was so costly.  

Ta-daaah!  Trav chargen comes through again!

I spent time in the Old Days (tm) rolling up pages of stats, for characters AND planets, and yes, you really can almost see them taking shape in your mind's eye. Worlds especially - those wierd size/atmo/pop/TL numbers could really tax the imagination sometimes.

Quote from: droogIn my experience, if there was a skill the party absolutely had to have that nobody rolled, it was the cue to introduce an NPC.

Or to let one of the PCs have it at Level 0. :steeringwheel:

I very often used the NPC solution, but it often had unsatisfactory results (e.g. Firgn, the Vargr gunner who seemed to be kinda good at just about everything the player characters weren't).  The problem that I ran into was the typical railroad narration during the all-too-frequent situations when the PCs had to stand by watching the NPC do the pivotal, exciting stuff.

With a mind toward the future, I'm really liking this Skill-0/term house rule.  It would potentially eliminate any number of "spear carrier" NPCs who detract from the players' sense of accomplishment.

!i!

Here's another thought I had on the house rule discussed above, though I fear that it rather uncomfortably embraces some of this new-fangled game design with the old skool charm of Traveller.

Player characters earn one 0-level skill per term, but they are held in reserve until play begins.  As the adventure proceeds and the players discover situations where their characters lack a necessary skill, they may declare one of their 0-level skills to address the situation.  Thus, not only will a single player have 2 to 4 0-level skills on hand over the course of a campaign, but an average party of 3 to 5 players may have from 6 to 20 suck baseline skills available.

That's a pretty powerful player option. Honestly, I'm not sure I really like it.  Seems too non-Classic to me.

!i!

QuoteSeems too non-Classic to me.

I concur.
What totally ble my mind and revolutionized my roleplaying was when I found out, that it was acceptable and accepted to hire NPCs to do stuff.
From that moment, RPGing was never the same to me.

And I don´t want back.

Quote from: SettembriniWhat totally ble my mind and revolutionized my roleplaying was when I found out, that it was acceptable and accepted to hire NPCs to do stuff.

You'll have to indulge me in a reductio ad absurdum for a moment, but there's a point at which one could feasibly hire NPCs to do everything for your character, a point at which the RPG effectively becomes a boardgame.  That's what I was driving at in my post about NPC hirelings above -- sometimes they end up doing the fun stuff instead of your character.

I still like the Skill-0 rules, but I was objecting to the "editorial control" of conforming the choices to the scene-by-scene needs of the adventure.  Too new skool.

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaPlayer characters earn one 0-level skill per term, but they are held in reserve until play begins.  As the adventure proceeds and the players discover situations where their characters lack a necessary skill, they may declare one of their 0-level skills to address the situation.  Thus, not only will a single player have 2 to 4 0-level skills on hand over the course of a campaign, but an average party of 3 to 5 players may have from 6 to 20 suck baseline skills available.

That's a pretty powerful player option. Honestly, I'm not sure I really like it.  Seems too non-Classic to me.

Hmmm. Seems to be a in-keeping-with/a-generalization-of a policy that already existed in classic adventures to me. Some CT adventures had little blurbs describing 0-level skills that could be granted to give the players a better chance with the adventure. (Nomads of the World Ocean is one like this, but there were others.)