Scouts-Supplement 6

[Timerover51]

Just wondering a couple of things, as I have not had Scouts out in a while in terms of the Scout extended character generation.

One, is the +4 DM for all O-1 Rank and above mandatory in the rules as written? If so, then the O-1 rand and higher are restricted in what skills they can achieve.

Next, any explanation as to why Scouts do not get either pensions or retirement benefits beyond a Scout Ship?

Lastly, does anyone actually use the distinction between Field and Bureaucracy?

 

[BlackBat242]

1. In all CT chargen we always (from when I first played in 1983 on) let the player decide whether or not to apply the DMs for skill acquisition rolls - after we told them what skills they could get with the specific number they had just rolled.

2. There was no such thing as a "retired" scout - to us, the rules were pretty clear that all PC-scouts were "on detached duty", and thus could always get lodging/medical care/basic resupply/etc at any Imperial Scout Base. If any PC-scout was in serious financial trouble, he could always ask for a temporary active assignment in order to earn some money. Remember that the rules specify that PC-scouts with ships are "on detached duty" and are subject to mandatory re-activation at the ISS' discretion, we just considered that to be true of all PC-scouts.
As most PC-scouts had a ship (or shares in one with another PC-scout), then temporary assignments were usually easy to get - although most times they were missions that the ISS didn't want to risk an active scout on, so the PCs would be at high risk.

3. The only time it really came up outside of Chargen was if the game situation was such that a PC-scout needed to "game the system" in regards the to ISS - a former Field scout would be able to deal with things involving ships and missions (often through "contacts" with higher-level active field scouts).
Former Bureaucracy scouts would be able to either confuse or divert a bureaucracy (scout or otherwise) or to manage to get things through or done more quickly than normal (again via "contacts" and a knowledge of how to bypass regulations/people or to jam up the process).

 

[GypsyComet]

One, is the +4 DM for all O-1 Rank and above mandatory in the rules as written? If so, then the O-1 rand and higher are restricted in what skills they can achieve.

Yes, because the Scout Service is described as two very distinctive career paths. Prior to Book 6 you would have used the Bureaucrat from S4. In Book 6 a promotion to the Bureaucracy side is to be avoided if you are looking for an old field guy.

Next, any explanation as to why Scouts do not get either pensions or retirement benefits beyond a Scout Ship?

Not that I recall, but it has been a while since I gave that book or the GT equivalent a serious dissection.

Lastly, does anyone actually use the distinction between Field and Bureaucracy?

Why wouldn't you? The IISS needs an administrative side to run X-Boat logistics, exploration logistics, Survey data collation, verification, and publication, and other functions. They can't ALL be anti-social hotshot field mavericks. The number of IISS vessels in a sector may be greater than what the Navy maintains in the same area; there are thousands of X-Boats per sector, for starters.

 

[aramis]

To do the Bk6 IISS with basic gen, add a commission roll, and upon commission, use the bureaucrat tables.