Originally posted by kaladorn:
S4, I gotta disagree with some of what you say about CT (at the risk of having my place in Traveller heaven revoked). CT is NOT all that broad in skills in key places - in fact, I'd go so far as to suggest it is *waaay* over-specific in those cases. The fact that body pistol, auto pistol and revolver or rifle and carbine are separate skills is ludicrous. MT fixed that by creating Rifleman and Handgun which includes appropriately similar weapons.
Not exactly...take a look at Book 4: Mercenary, which introduced the
Pistol skill.
Pistol served as both revolvers and autopistols.
Then, in Book 5: High Guard, the
Handgun skill is introduced, which includes revolvers, autopistols, snub pistols, and body pistols, all under one umbrella (didn't have to wait for MT to get to this idea).
Plus, there's two other things about CT to consider:
(1) That a GM is enabled to develop skills for his campaign as he sees fit (Creating New Skills section in the Traveller Book)...so, combining some skills together that don't make it to official "print" should be a no-brainer.
(2) That there is an implied rule in CT where related skills can be used at one (or two) levels lower (or even at the same level in a different skill). If you have Pilot-2, then you also have Ship's Boat-1. If you have BattleDress-2, then you also have Vacc Suit-2.
If you have Vacc Suit-2, you have BattleDress-2 on a restricted basis (see the BattleDress description in Book 4).
If you have Navigation-2, then you have Sensor Ops-1.
If you have Robotics-2, then you have Robot Ops-2 and Computer-2. You also have Mechanical-1, Electronics-1, and Gravitics-1 on a limite basis. (See the description in Book 8).
The implication for CT is simple: If you're in a situation where your character has AutoPistol-3, but he only has a revolver at hand, does he use that weapon as Revolver-0?
Nope. This is a GM call (and CT is very GM-Decision oriented), but typically a GM should allow the character to use the revolver at the same skill level (Revolver-3) or, at a minium, at one skill level lower (this is what I do--this character would use the revolver at Revlover-2 level of expertise).
It probably depend on your GM (and your GM's grasp of CT), but I still stand by my statement that CT has skills that are very, very broad.
When I'm GMing a situation in a CT game, the first thing I do I ask the players, "What skill do you have that you can apply to this situation?"
If anything comes close to what is needed for the situation, I'll let them use it. I may modify it (one level or two levels lower), but I'll let them use the skill.
CT also suffers greatly from having stats have *too much* of an impact on skill rolls.
I don't agree completely. In combat, for example, stats have a little impact. Skill has more impact.
For example, if you're firing a rifle, you're -2 to hit if your DEX is 5-. You're +0 to hit if your DEX is 6-7. And, you're +1 to hit if your DEX is 8+.
Other than that, your Rifle skill is what gives you the biggest bonus to hit (+1 for each level of expertise).
Now, if you're talking about generic tasks that a GM comes up with--those typically can be weighted too much towards stats. But, remember, CT has no formal task system. The closest it has to a task system are the rules written up (to the fullest) in the Traveller Adventure...and I'd agree that those are weighted towards stats.
Remember, in CT, instead of a formal task system, the GM is encouraged to come up with a roll that is appropriate for the situation. He can do this a number of ways (useing the Traveller Adventure guidelines is a good place to start). But, this is all really the realm of the GM.
If your GM bases everything on stats, then, yes, your CT game will be weighted towards stats.
"You want to force open that stuck hatch...hmmm....OK, roll STR or less on 3D. If you make the roll, you've forced open the hatch."
See, CT is about fast and quick play. The GM has to be sharp and quick. Come up with a roll on the fly and stick with it. No argument. Just go.
But, see, your GM is not directed by any CT rule to always weight a throw in favor of stats all the time. Even the rules in the Traveller Adventure mention this.
Those rules stress that a GM should come up with a roll that seems appropriate and keep the game moving.
"The ship is about to blow!" The GM says.
"I'm running for the airlock!" Says the player, quickly.
"Ok," responds the GM, "I'll roll 2D to see how many round it will be until the ship blows." He rolls dice. The rusult is 8. "Ok, the ship's computer is counting down, saying 'DANGER! THE SHIP'S REACTOR WILL EXPLODE IN TWO MINUTES'. You've got to roll 2D for 8 or less. If you fail the roll, your character did not make it out in time."
"What about my character's quickness? What about is coordiation? Shouldn't that get him some type of bonus?"
"Sure," says the GM, "it makes sense. You get a -1 on the roll if your DEX is 9+, BUT you also get a +1 on the roll if your DEX is 5-. What's your DEX?"
"My character's got DEX-8."
"Well then, no modifier. Roll 8- on 2D, or he didn't make it out...roll them bones."
See...this is the type of gaming CT encourages. Quick, fast, skin-o-the-teeth GMing.
I do recognize that, especially with MT and other more modern games, that players and GMs sometimes need more structure to their games. This is why I created the
UGM. It adds structure to tasks in CT, and it doesn't overweight stats.
But, I don't encourage a GM to use the UGM all the time. He should use it only when he thinks it appropriate. Consider it another tool at the GM's disposal.
When the game is fast and fun, with the GM making rolls up on the fly, and the players
living the game, that's when CT is at its best.
For best experience, CT players should be aware that a GM will make things up on the fly...and will do his best to be fair and impartial...but to also keep the game moving at a fast clip. Exciting. Fun.
If the players understand that, then they're in for a fun ride.
MT fixed that a bit by coming up with a standardized way to assign assets and conditional modifiers.
I, personaly, do like MT. But, I also think it made things a bit too generic in the interests of "standardizing" as you say.
For example:
Take a character, DEX-8, with Handgun-1. And, let's say that the character has a choice of arms at hand: an AutoPistol, a Body Pistol, a Revolver, and a Snub Pistol. And, let's say this character is going to shoot at a target at Medium Range.
Under MT, here's what this character throws for each of those weapons...
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">2D +2 for 11+ (2D for 9+) Body Pistol
2D +2 for 11+ (2D for 9+) Snub Pistol
2D +2 for 11+ (2D for 9+) AutoPistol
2D +2 for 11+ (2D for 9+) Revolver</pre>[/QUOTE]Yep, it's all very standardized. All very generic.
Now, take the same character with CT and make the same shot. The character would roll...
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">2D -8 for 8+ (2D for 16+) Body Pistol
2D -7 for 8+ (2D for 15+) Snub Pistol
2D -3 for 8+ (2D for 11+) AutoPistol
2D -2 for 8+ (2D for 10+) Revolver</pre>[/QUOTE]We're talking about shooting a pistol at a target that is at a range of 6-50 meters. MT says this can be accomplished on a roll of 9+ if the character has level-1 expertise. CT says that the difficulty
depends on the weapon as well as the expertise of the character. You don't have a Body Pistol shooting at a target 27 meters away as well as you do when a Revolver is being used.
This is another reason why I use CT in favoer of MT.
A similar idea is used for rifles in MT. They all fire that same (have the same to-hit) where as CT differintiates between each weapon.
I like that about CT.
Plus some sorts of skills are just plain missing from the game.
I'm looking at CT and MT right now. Which skills are you referring to?
I think CT by itself has some serious weaknesses.
I think every game has something that needs to be "fixed", some more than others.
CT is no exception. But, neither is MT, TNE, T4, or any other RPG for that matter.
MTs cascade skills and skills which include other skills really was a useful way (I thought) to group skills.
This was first used in CT, BTW.
With the Special Duty roll, you tend to get 2-4 skills a term.
We agree here. I absolutely love the Special Duty roll in MT. I use it in my CT game.
Nowadays, I've run Traveller now for 25 years... My NPCs don't even tend to have stats anymore. I just imagine the NPC in my head and assign a (perhaps slightly randomized) skill level to them for a pertinent skill.
We'll have to differ here. My group absolutley loves the CT chargen. We love to "discover" who a character is through chargen--then role play to what has been developed through the rules.
It so addictive that one of my players loves to roll up NPCs for use in the game later. If it doesn't impact that story or surprises I have in store for them, I let him do that (otherwise, I just use a computer program).
-S4