One of the popular features of the “Advanced Character Generation” systems in books 4-7 was the introduction of new skills. Along with this came the controversy over ‘skill bloat’, which I have addressed elsewhere. I have nothing more to add here; I’m interested in the skills as skills.
Not
all of these advanced skills are equally useful, but many of them are clearly beneficial. I got
to thinking about how to work them back into Book 1 character creation. I have
two ideas to present. Both result in the players having access to a wider array
of potential skills, without the skill bloat.
The
first is to derive the 'advanced book' skills with the skill set from Book 1,
then allow players to choose: if you roll Skill X, you can take it, or
substitute one of the derived skills attached to it.If you're not familiar with what a skill does, the Traveller Wiki is a good resource to explain. (Find the link under "Check out Other Traveller Sites" in the sidebar)
The second is compiling an 'alternate' Service Skills table – or a Table 5, whichever you prefer – for each of the original six services.
It would not be wise, I think, to throw open the gates and let a character in any service take any skill from the full list. That would invalidate the concept of services being distinct organizations doing specific things.
Method One: New skills as alternatives to existing skill tables
| Book 1 Skill | Derived skill(s) | New skills available to: |
| • +1 Physical | Athletics | Any |
| • Administration | Broker, Legal | Merchants |
| • Bribery | Trader | Merchants, Other |
| • Computer | Robotics, Communications | Any |
| • Electronics | Gravitics | Any |
| • Engineering | Naval Architect | Navy, Scouts |
| • Gun Combat | Hv. Weapons, Field Artillery | Army, Marines |
| • Gunnery | Hv. Weapons, Field Artillery | Army, Marines |
| • Leader | Instruction, Recruiting | Army, Marines |
| • Mechanical | Demolitions | Army |
| • Pilot | Ship's Boat | Navy, Scouts, Marines |
| • Steward | Carousing, Liaison | Merchants |
| • Streetwise | Carousing, Liaison | Merchants, Other |
| • Tactics | Cbt Engineering | Army, Marines |
| • Tactics | Ship or Fleet Tactics | Navy, Marines |
| • Vacc Suit | Battle Dress, Zero-G Cbt | Marines, Scouts |
| • Vehicle | Equestrian | Any |
There are several skills introduced in later books that don't correlate well to my mind with the Book 1 list. These include:
Skill Introduced
• Hunting Scouts
• Interrogation Navy
• Prospecting Beltstrike
• Reconnaissance Army, Marines
• Survey Scouts
• Survival Army, Marines
• Athletics Cepheus Engine
Method Two: a Table 5 for Each Service
Army
1. Combat Engineering
2. Field Artillery
3. Heavy Weapons
4. Reconnaissance
5. Survival
6. Instruction
Scouts
1. Survival
2. Hunting
3. Survey
4. Communications
5. Prospecting
6. Liaison
Other
1. Liaison
2. Carousing
3. Prospecting
4. Ship's Boat
5. Survival
6. Legal
Merchants
1. Legal
2. Broker
3. Ship Tactics
4. Survey
5. Survival
6. Forgery
Navy
1. Forward Observer
2. Liaison
3. Survival
4. Ship/Fleet Tactics
5. Naval Architect
6. Carousing
Marines
1. Survival
2. Cbt Engineering
3. Reconnaissance
4. Field Artillery
5. Ship’s Boat
6. Hv Weapons
What skills do you think the Original Six should have access to? Discuss in the comments.
Endnote/footnote: Some time ago, I acquired a .pdf called the CT Big Skill List. I want to attribute it properly, but all I can recall is that it probably came from the COTI boards. The document properties list “mcginnis” as the author. If the compiler of the document will identify himself, I will give more complete credit.
Photo credit: Pixabay
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