Review of Careers Book 1, by Richard Hazelwood and Spica Publishing Limited
Spica Publishing Limited has published a set of alternate career events tables for the non-military careers-- presented in the Traveller Main Book (TMB), using a d66 roll (rolling two d6s and taking one for the tens and one for the ones) much as Mercenary has done. This is a worthy addition to the Mongoose Traveller character generation options, as expanded life events are always useful for fleshing out characters. One thing is that the table has life events as occurring on rolls between 31 and 36; I would prefer to have the option be scattered throughout the table and reflect life’s randomness, but since space on the table is limited I expect that it was done this way to save it. The tables themselves give both alternate mishaps and more career events (split into two tables, naturally), providing players an alternate set of events for their characters; these remind me why I like to roll for life events for each year instead of each term. This section promises to be useful for anyone who wants more options than provided by the main book alone, or a jumping-off point for tailoring life events for their players. Perhaps they should have put in a table for the Psionicist career, but that may be in another book—or I hope so.
There are two Life and Unusual Events tables. The first has been similarly expanded, using a d66 roll. There are some extra options here as well, such as several varieties of betrayal and having two versions of “crime.” The Unusual Events table is now a 2d6 roll, giving 11 options, with 5 that were not available in TMB (I really like the “game show” result; it injects a bit of lightheartedness which is an interesting little bit of fluff to stick on characters). One of the options is “ancient technology,” like in TMB; however, CB1 has not given any options for what the technology may be. This is one of the few flaws in the book; I would want some extra options for what kinds of Ancient tech that my characters or players might find, simply so that I could create an interesting story around it (such as a sapient computer which is also psionic—and when the Imperial authorities come to take it away, it takes over the character who finds it and manages to drive the Imperials off while running away from them).
Art is somewhat sparse in this book. The art is computer-generated, and is in black and white; in my opinion, this type of art is better when it is done in color; however, that is about my only complaint about it. Most of the art pieces are examples of each career, for example having an adventurer, a bounty hunter and a worker with the appropriate careers. Some of the expressions are odd, particularly the Clergy and Space Patrol. They’re amusing, but on the other hand maybe they give character.
True to its name, Careers Book 1 gives several more careers for Traveller campaigns: Adventurer, Bounty Hunter, Clergy, Colonist, Corporate Citizen, Militant Religious, Space Patrol and Worker. It also includes a selection of pregenerated characters, made using the careers presented in this book. Each of the careers is presented in the same manner as in the TMB; each has a qualification roll, assignment selection with three each, career progress (survival and advancement), skills/training, rank listing and rank benefits, life events and mishap tables and mustering out benefits. These careers are compatible with Mongoose Traveller’s setup, and are meant to be utilized the same way. One addition that this book makes is the skill of Social Science: Theology, which is the study of religion; it is only standard for the Clergy and Militant Religious careers, but since it is a social science it can be learned by anyone (as skills should be in Traveller).
The book gives a selection of pregenerated characters, three from each of the careers and several multi-career characters using careers from the TMB. They are presented in stat-block format, with age, terms, credit balance, attributes, skills and possessions/contacts listed in that order. They have been generated in the per-term method; in my opinion they are a bit low on skills (given how I prefer to generate skills and life events by year), but they are absolutely compatible with TMB characters, and give Referees and players a good idea of what the careers can produce. Perhaps the author and playtesters could have created a few more characters with combination careers, such as a Clergy-and-Militant Religious character, but within the space they had the characters presented are quite nice.
Conclusion: Spica Publishing Limited’s Careers Book 1 is a worthy addition to Traveller and Mongoose Traveller. Although I would encourage SPL to insert a list of Ancient Technology possibilities, I would encourage Travellers everywhere to gain a copy (would that everything could be free, but that’s a couple dozen or so social advances from now). The book allows players to generate a wider range of characters, from a treasure-loving adventurer to a priest who’s taking her faith to the stars to a colonist who’s grown restless taming an underdeveloped planet, and allows referees to generate NPCs from all walks of life for their players to interact with. I enjoy this book a lot, and encourage people to buy it. Even if your campaign uses Classic Traveller, Mega-Traveller or even TNE, this supplement will be useful, and if converted, opens up a wider range of character possibilities.
Spica Publishing Limited has published a set of alternate career events tables for the non-military careers-- presented in the Traveller Main Book (TMB), using a d66 roll (rolling two d6s and taking one for the tens and one for the ones) much as Mercenary has done. This is a worthy addition to the Mongoose Traveller character generation options, as expanded life events are always useful for fleshing out characters. One thing is that the table has life events as occurring on rolls between 31 and 36; I would prefer to have the option be scattered throughout the table and reflect life’s randomness, but since space on the table is limited I expect that it was done this way to save it. The tables themselves give both alternate mishaps and more career events (split into two tables, naturally), providing players an alternate set of events for their characters; these remind me why I like to roll for life events for each year instead of each term. This section promises to be useful for anyone who wants more options than provided by the main book alone, or a jumping-off point for tailoring life events for their players. Perhaps they should have put in a table for the Psionicist career, but that may be in another book—or I hope so.
There are two Life and Unusual Events tables. The first has been similarly expanded, using a d66 roll. There are some extra options here as well, such as several varieties of betrayal and having two versions of “crime.” The Unusual Events table is now a 2d6 roll, giving 11 options, with 5 that were not available in TMB (I really like the “game show” result; it injects a bit of lightheartedness which is an interesting little bit of fluff to stick on characters). One of the options is “ancient technology,” like in TMB; however, CB1 has not given any options for what the technology may be. This is one of the few flaws in the book; I would want some extra options for what kinds of Ancient tech that my characters or players might find, simply so that I could create an interesting story around it (such as a sapient computer which is also psionic—and when the Imperial authorities come to take it away, it takes over the character who finds it and manages to drive the Imperials off while running away from them).
Art is somewhat sparse in this book. The art is computer-generated, and is in black and white; in my opinion, this type of art is better when it is done in color; however, that is about my only complaint about it. Most of the art pieces are examples of each career, for example having an adventurer, a bounty hunter and a worker with the appropriate careers. Some of the expressions are odd, particularly the Clergy and Space Patrol. They’re amusing, but on the other hand maybe they give character.
True to its name, Careers Book 1 gives several more careers for Traveller campaigns: Adventurer, Bounty Hunter, Clergy, Colonist, Corporate Citizen, Militant Religious, Space Patrol and Worker. It also includes a selection of pregenerated characters, made using the careers presented in this book. Each of the careers is presented in the same manner as in the TMB; each has a qualification roll, assignment selection with three each, career progress (survival and advancement), skills/training, rank listing and rank benefits, life events and mishap tables and mustering out benefits. These careers are compatible with Mongoose Traveller’s setup, and are meant to be utilized the same way. One addition that this book makes is the skill of Social Science: Theology, which is the study of religion; it is only standard for the Clergy and Militant Religious careers, but since it is a social science it can be learned by anyone (as skills should be in Traveller).
The book gives a selection of pregenerated characters, three from each of the careers and several multi-career characters using careers from the TMB. They are presented in stat-block format, with age, terms, credit balance, attributes, skills and possessions/contacts listed in that order. They have been generated in the per-term method; in my opinion they are a bit low on skills (given how I prefer to generate skills and life events by year), but they are absolutely compatible with TMB characters, and give Referees and players a good idea of what the careers can produce. Perhaps the author and playtesters could have created a few more characters with combination careers, such as a Clergy-and-Militant Religious character, but within the space they had the characters presented are quite nice.
Conclusion: Spica Publishing Limited’s Careers Book 1 is a worthy addition to Traveller and Mongoose Traveller. Although I would encourage SPL to insert a list of Ancient Technology possibilities, I would encourage Travellers everywhere to gain a copy (would that everything could be free, but that’s a couple dozen or so social advances from now). The book allows players to generate a wider range of characters, from a treasure-loving adventurer to a priest who’s taking her faith to the stars to a colonist who’s grown restless taming an underdeveloped planet, and allows referees to generate NPCs from all walks of life for their players to interact with. I enjoy this book a lot, and encourage people to buy it. Even if your campaign uses Classic Traveller, Mega-Traveller or even TNE, this supplement will be useful, and if converted, opens up a wider range of character possibilities.
