The following are my comments (originally mailed to GDW via Loren) to the
T:TNE character generation draft. I'm posting them here in the hopes that
they will stimulate some discussion here on TML.
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First of all, a general comment: I would like to see a "design your own"
character generation system, as well as a random one. This is particularly
useful for the Referee, when generating a "Character NPC", or when preparing
for a campaign based on a particular theme (such as all of the PCs being
active-duty Navy personnel). In these cases, the Referee typically has a
specific end in mind, and would like a character generation system which gets
the character there with a minimum of fuss and bother (and re-generating the
character because it doesn't come out right).
The character generation system as presented seems to be the equivalent of
"basic" character generation. Will there be a detailed "advanced" (year by
year) version? I find the detailed character generation to be superior for
player characters; I make a "resume" that records all of the assignments and
outcomes. Then this information can be related to events in the background
history, to more firmly tie the character into the background.
One other thing I have done is to note a "contact" for each year. This is an
NPC that was particularly important to the PC in some way or another; it
could be his or her first commanding officer, a co-worker, or subordinate;
and this person could be kindly or unkindly disposed towards the PC. At
character generation time, we would determine who this person was, his or
her name, and their disposition towards the PC (I used the reaction table
for this last).
Later in the campaign (typically at unexpected times) these people might show
up. Someone's old Academy room-mate (with whom he never did get along) would
just happen to be the commanding officer of the customs inspection ship. Or
the engineer who trained the PC in jump-drive operations happens to be the
supervisor of the shipyard where they have come for repairs. Or whatever.
SEVERITY: CONFUSING
> When I was a child, Grandfather told us stories at night, stories of dukes
> and admirals, of galaxy-spanning empires, of star fleets locked in titanic
> battles. And he showed us the shiny radiation scars he had earned in those
> battles, scars which were red and ugly and came flickeringly to life in the
> dancing firelight.
> None of the others believed the stories. Some said they must have happened
> generations earlier than Grandfather's time @@others said they could never
> have happened. But I believed. And late at night I Iooked up and dreamt of
> the stars, and of others like myself on the cold worlds circling them who
> must also look up and dream. And I knew that one day, somehow, I would walk
> among them.
This part is confusing. I was under the impression that the rules were going
to be as background-neutral as they could be. This is a nice bit of "color",
but it doesn't seem to fit in with anything else.
Is this part of the background information for the New Era? I'm not trying
to be a pain here, but this doesn't make sense. I thought that the New Era
was supposed to start around 1200 Imperial; any player character alive at
this time would have grandparents or great-grandparents who were survived the
Rebellion, Hard Times, and the Virus.
To put it in modern perspective, do school-age children today believe in the
Great Depress and World War II? My father in law talks to his grandkids (my
children) about Pearl Harbor and the Second World War; do most (or even many)
people say that it "must have happened generations earlier" or "could never
have happened"? Grandpa probably still has his father's (or his, depending
on how old Grandpa is) old Imperial Interstellar Scout Service dress uniform
cap (or belt buckle, or cufflinks, or whatever). My "Uncle" George still has
is WWII Army uniform cap, his Purple Heart, and snapshots of his buddies.
When I was younger, he told me about serving in the Pacific.
My point is that even if all computers, books, and other records from prior
to seventy years ago were destroyed by the virus; all the PCs have to do is
ask *anyone* old enough (80 years or so) and they will get about the same
story. In the New Era times, the Imperium is still recent enough to be a
part of the living oral history on many worlds. In another hundred years or
so, it will have passed into folklore, and will probably have been
embellished or altered to near unrecognisability.
SEVERITY: NIT
> Roll two six-sided dice and subtract one
Why the long drawn-out text explanation here? I can understand this the
first or second time die rolls are called for, but each and every time? What
about providing a section (and listing it in the table of contents!) that
explains all of the terms used in the game (like "2d6-1", "DM+1", etc.).
Using specific abbreviations like this makes the rolls easier to pick out of
the text. Using the text version makes the rules harder to *use*, and
doesn't appreciably add to the difficulty for a first-time player.
I should note that you use the term "DM" without defining it first.
SEVERITY: MINOR
> Homeworld Effects On Attributes
As mentioned by Scott "2G" Kellogg, a -1 AGL for large homeworlds doesn't
make any sense. Perhaps just a +1 STR (no modification to AGL) is in
order here?
If this is an attempt at play-balancing, I suggest you reconsider the
modifiers for homeworld population, TL, and law level, so that all of
them are "balanced".
Personally, I would prefer not to worry about "balancing" characters in this
manner; as long as the modifications are kept reasonably small (ie: +/- 1),
the difference is relatively minor, and anyway: some places are simply better
than others to grow up in.
SEVERITY: MINOR
> Background Skills: Characters will have picked up certain skills before
> reaching age 18 as a result of childhood hobbies and activities.
You may want to consider adding the following skills to this list:
Acrobat - Acrobatics
Artisan - Carpenter
Artisan - Jeweler
Charm - Act/Bluff
Charm - Persuasion
Crime - Pickpocket
Explore - Climb
Explore - Map
Science - Biology
Science - Chemistry
Science - Meteorology
Science - Physics
Technician - Electronics
Technician - Mechanical
Another good source of skills that characters might be able to learn before
age 18 would be to peruse the Boy Scout Handbook, and see what sorts of
other skills these kids learn.
SEVERITY: MINOR
> ((Diplomacy, Bureaucracy, Barbarian, and Corsair) have ranks but no "O"
> ranks, and so no roll for obtaining a commission is ever made.
A couple of things here. Why don't Barbarians and Corsairs have officer
ranks? Particularly aboard a starship (even a pirate starship) there will
be clear distinctions of rank and clear lines of authority. In these two
professions, rising up through the ranks is probably easier than for the
more formal military services (on the other hand, the chances of surviving
long enough should be smaller ...). However, these rank increases would not
cause the automatic social level increases that happen for other careers.
I'd argue that the Diplomacy service should have ranks, but no *ENLISTED*
ranks (on the other hand, enlistment should be difficult, and promotion
even more so).
Finally, for Bureaucracy, why aren't there any Officer ranks? Here in
Washington, DC (home of one of the largest bureaucracies I know of), the
"enlisted" civil servants (ha!) are the GS (Government Service) pay scale.
The "officers" are on the ES (Executive Service) and SES (Senior Executive
Service) scales. Bureucrat "Officers" typically retire and become lobbyists,
or to positions of importance in private industry. Perhaps instead of a
gold watch, these folks should get "contacts" as mustering-out benefits.
These "contacts" would be previous co-workers (or previous subordinates) that
either owe the character a favor, or who are favorably disposed towards the
character.
SEVERITY: MINOR
> In the Medical
> profession there are non-commissioned ranks, but once a character receives a
> commission the character is a "doctor" and receives no further promotions.
I think anybody in the medical profession will disagree (strongly!) with your
table of "ranks" and with the above rule. You may want to re-think this
whole thing. It is extremely rare for someone to start a career in Nursing
as a step towards becoming a Medical Doctor.
Perhaps a better technique would be to have several "colleges" and "schools",
similar to the concept used in High Guard (for College, Naval Academy, Flight
School, and Medical School).
SEVERITY: MINOR
> Homeworld Limitations: Certain skills are not available on the character's
> homeworld.
This actually applies to homeworld selection as well. This area is very
campaign dependent. For example, an Imperial Marine (Classic Imperium) will
probably learn Battle Dress and Fusion Rifle skills even if he comes from a
TL-5 world. On the other hand, in some campaigns certain entire careers will
be impossible (for example, an Interstellar Scout Service in a "Bootstraps"
campaign), and some skills will be unavailable no matter how well the player
rolls.
Similarly, in a "Bootstraps" campaign, only one homeworld is available; but
in a "Pocket Empire" setting, there may be a half a dozen or more (and if a
Classic Imperium suppliment is ever written, there will be over 11,000
possible homeworlds).
Instead of putting the homeworld selection and the homeworld restrictions in
the character generation rules; I would suggest splitting this material out
into a sidebar or two. Discuss homeworld selection (and how the Referee will
need to decide what homeworlds are available) in one sidebar, and on a later
page, discuss how the homeworld and the type of campaign being run will
affect skill availability.
SEVERITY: WEIRD
> speci@c ... [email removed] ... [email removed] de@ne ... Pro@le ... @fth ... [etc]
This is silly. If it's a problem with your word-processor, you should
get it fixed! On the other hand, if this is an attempt at "protecting" the
text, it's rather futile (inspection will determine what the words should
be; all it does is serve to frustrate the reader).
SEVERITY: MAJOR
> We need a system for shared ownership of starships, particularly in the
> case of merchant characters ...
Again, this is *extremely* campaign-dependent. In a "bootstraps" campaign,
starship benefits (and starship careers, for that matter) should be
completely unavailable. In a "pocket empire" campaign, the degree of ship
ownership allowed will depend greatly on what the referee wants to do.
From your descriptions of a pocket empire, there shouldn't be any surplus
scoutships available as mustering out benefits at all. It's more than a
little contradictory to explain that there aren't enough starships to do even
limited (subsector-scale) exploration, and then hand the players a "surplus"
starship (co-operatively owned or not)! After all, if the service had ships
to spare, they'd be using them!
Specific Suggestions:
* Write a sidebar explaining how the different kinds of campaigns affect the
services available for enlistment, and how it affects the mustering out
benefits available.
* Write a separate sidebar for inclusion in the referee's section of the
background information explaining the campaign options available in the New
Era. Something a lot like you described to me over the phone, so that the
referee can choose something amenable to his and his players' tastes.
* While you're at it, another sidebar which gives suggestions for >NON New
Era< campaigns is a good idea. Just touch on some of the classic SF-RPG
themes, and suggest that the referee could build his own campaign universe
around any of these. Ones that are particularly suitable to Traveller: The
New Era include the "Ancient and Decadent Star Empire", "Free the Galaxy!",
"Boldly Go ...", "Cold War", and of course, many others.
Shares (sidebar): In some campaigns, the outright ownership of a starship is
a practical impossibility: starships are too rare and valuable to be owned by
any one person, and bank financing is unavailable. In such campaigns, a
system of shares may be used, each representing 1/100th of the ownership of
the vessel. The shares are commonly owned by governments, industries, and
individuals; if the player characters can accumulate a bloc of approximately
20 shares, they will probably control more shares than any other single
shareholder. This (in addition to having the skills required to run the
ship) will give them a great deal of say in how the ship is used (but not
absolute: the referee, playing the other shareholders, may ocassionally make
demands on the players).
In other campaigns, outright ownership of starships is possible, and bank
financing of their purchase is common. In such a system, a 40-year note
(with the starship as collateral) is usual, and merchant starships are
normally purchased this way. In this case, each share represents 6 months
worth of payments. If the players somehow accumulate 80 shares, the starship
is paid off (and the players own it free and clear). Note that this
financing is not available for scoutships, seekers, and corsairs.
Shares are always used for the ownership of seekers and corsairs, because
the purchase of these ships cannot normally be financed. In this case, the
other shareholders are usually the other crewmembers, and backers of the
referee's creation.
Scoutships recieved as a mustering out benefit are never owned by the player
characters; shares and bank notes do not apply. In some campaigns, large
numbers of obsolete scoutships are made available to retired scouts. In
other campaigns (where no such ships are available) the service, at the
referee's discretion, may provide a ship to a retiring scout for a particular
purpose (such as the exploration of a specific area, or to search for
something or someone).
* Scout/Courier: In campaigns where starships are plentiful, the Scout
Service frequently loans surplus Scout/Courier ships to retired personnel.
The service retains ownership, and the ships are subject to recall in an
emergency. In campaigns where starships are less plentiful, no surplus ships
are available, except at the referee's discretion (and frequently only for a
specific purpose).
* Seeker: If the belter has ever made a strike (see the career description),
recipt of this benefit indicates that the belter owns a seeker (a
prospector's starship) free and clear (in other words, 100 shares). If the
belter has never made a strike, then each recpit of this benefit represents
2d6 shares in such a ship.
* Corsair: Each recpit of this benefits results in 2d6 shares. (If rank for
corsairs is implemented, use the same method for allocating shares as
merchants, below). Corsairs should not be available in campaigns where
starships are rare. However, if starships are common enough that scoutships
and lab ships can be given as benefits, then corsairs are a very real
possibility. Remember, the individual referee has the ultimate veto power.
* Merchant, Safari, or Lab Ship: Each recipt of this benefit results in a
number of shares, depending on the rank of the character. Enlisted ranks
recieve 1d6 shares; Officers recive 2d6+(rank number) shares (in other words,
an O1 recieves 2d6+1 shares, while an O5 recieves 2d6+5).
SEVERITY: MINOR
> A character gains a certain base cash value multiplied by the
> character's Social Level. The base cash value is determined by the Tech
> rating of the character's homeworld.
So, starship crewman hired from a HighSteller world are paid more than those
hired from a EarlyStellar world? Even on the same ship? This rule makes
sense for some occupations, but not for others. Maybe a better way to do
this would be to build the starting money into the mustering out tables (as
in Classic Traveller and MegaTraveller), or to provide different rules for
different services. While each world may pay it's Navy at different rates, I
doubt that a Pocket Empire's Navy will pay crewmembers from different worlds
at different rates.
Personally, I suggest chucking this part altogether. If you want players to
have more starting money, change the mustering out tables, or pay a fixed
rate for each rank each term. This could be indicated on the rank tables,
and for some services (like Medical) could be modified by the homeworld TL.
SEVERITY: MINOR
> NOTE: JOT, each award allows skill level 0 in all skills of any 1
> attribute?
That sounds good.
SEVERITY: MAJOR
> TNE SKILL LIST
* There does not seem to be any replacement for the "Inborn" skills; since
characters get skill points for their hobbies, it would seem that some hobby
type skills are needed. What about Art (Sculpture, Painting), Writing,
Music (Composition or an Instrument), or Dance?
* Why is a distinction made between Biology and Xeno-Biology, but not between
medicine practiced on humans versus aliens? (and for that matter, why don't
Biology and Xeno-Biology don't at least allow application of some of the
skill to the other field?)
* The science of Geology seems to be having an identity crisis with the
Prospecting skill. Perhaps these should be two, complimentary skills;
geology has a much broader scope than simply prospecting.
* Engineering lists "Construction" (presumably you mean Civil Engineering,
which concerns itself with bridges, buildings, roads, dams, and the like),
Mining, and Combat Engineering. What about Mechanical, Electrical,
Electronic, Computer, Aerospace, and Naval Engineering? And before someone
asks, no: mechanical engineering is not the same as mechanical technical
skill. Mechanical engineering concerns itself with the design of mechanical
objects, everything from paperclips to the landing legs of starships. The
mechanical technical skill concerns itself with the fabrication, repair, and
maintainance of mechanical objects. I suggest that you add some of these
subject areas to engineering and/or science.
* Similarly, the science cluster is at least as notable for what is not
included as for what is there. What about astrophysics, computer science (I
notice that robotics is there, but not computer science?), psychology (and,
I presume, xeno-psychology), oceanography, and mathematics?
* Medicine has Diagnosis, Trauma Aid, and Surgery. Don't you think that
doctors should have non-surgical treatment options? If nothing else, a
generic "Treatment" skill (representing all forms of non-surgical treatment)
seems appropriate. A better idea would be to have a couple of these, like
Pharmacology (the treatment of disease with drugs), Therapy (treatment of
disease through non-drug methods).
* I suggest that for engineering and science (and possibly other skills, such
as medicine), that a list of a half-dozen or more disciplines be provided as
a suggestion, with the players and referees encouraged to create their own.
* In addition, or as an alternative, I suggest the creation of a "Knowledge"
skill category. This skill represents the knowledge of some set of
information (which is defined by the player and referee when the skill is
recieved). This allows the players to extend the skill system in ways that
interest them. For example, a player could choose Knowledge: Imperial
History and Legend if she wanted to be particularly expert in the fragments
of history which have survived to the New Era. A different example would be
for a human doctor character to have the Surgery skill, and a Knowledge:
Aslan Physiology in order to practice his skill on a different species
("Dammit, Jim! I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!", and of course, see the
scene with Kirk, Bones, and the dying Klingon leader in ST:VI).
* The Artisan cluster is confusing: Why the distinction between jeweler and
metallurgy, but no mention of weaving, glassmaking, or woodcarving?
Overall, I think it's a good first cut. Most of the things I mentioned were
minor, and none of them is a "showstopper". It is aparrent that more thought
needs to be given to the skill list --- it seems as if the skill list is in
mid-transformation from the very combat/survival oriented T2K into something
which attempts to provide skills for every human endeavour.
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[email removed]
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Science-Fiction Adventure
in the Far Future