Scouts -- the old way and the (kinda) new way...

[LouGoncey]

I decided to try "just the 3 LBBs" form of Traveller. The one thing I noticed is the difference between the original LBBs and the Standard LBBs when it comes to Scouts. The standard LBBs have Scouts roll twice for skill selection for their entire enlistment -- the original LBBs do not have this added in...

What do people feel about this? Since not getting any ranks to promote into plus the highest chance of death during character generation it seemed fair to me and my friends at the time that the Scouts earned the 2 skill rolls per every term. In fact, me and my old friend Ron would always try to roll up Scouts just for the death-defying thrill of it...

I am keeping this rule in, of course, unless somebody comes up with some reason why I shouldn't...

[ffilz]

Nov 25, 2016 16:07:33 GMT -5 LouGoncey said:

I decided to try "just the 3 LBBs" form of Traveller. The one thing I noticed is the difference between the original LBBs and the Standard LBBs when it comes to Scouts. The standard LBBs have Scouts roll twice for skill selection for their entire enlistment -- the original LBBs do not have this added in...

What do people feel about this? Since not getting any ranks to promote into plus the highest chance of death during character generation it seemed fair to me and my friends at the time that the Scouts earned the 2 skill rolls per every term. In fact, me and my old friend Ron would always try to roll up Scouts just for the death-defying thrill of it...

I am keeping this rule in, of course, unless somebody comes up with some reason why I shouldn't...

2 rolls per term was added in 1981. I think it's a good rule. In fact I carry it over to any service that doesn't have ranks (including Other).

Frank

[coffee]

Actually, the 2 skills per term rule is older than 1981. It can be found in Supplement 1, 1001 Characters, on page 20 (from 1978).

They don't give the same thing to the Other service, but they do use a modified character creation that allows Others to get any skill in the book. (But they don't recommend these characters for players.)