I was not entirely impressed with the Cepheus Engine (CE) skills. I frowned that there wasn't a skill for deception, that there wasn't a skill for investigating a scene or deduction, or that skills were arrayed in a position that I found a tad confusing. This post is about how I've been reorganizing the skill list, changing cascade skills, adding skills, and, consequently, reorganizing the skills listed on the Career Tables. Cascade skills in Traveller are the same as specialty skills in GURPS.
I figured that Persuade, Deception, or whatever else kind of social pressure/social maneuver mechanic could all fall under Liaison. How the PCs use the Liaison skill (whether by diplomacy, persuasion, deception, or, perhaps, intimidation) will reflect how the skill is handled and resolved. Persuading someone to do something can actually be pretty difficult -- nearly impossible if the target already doesn't want to do it. Depending on what the goal of the PC is and the attitude of the target (the NPC), the difficulty/target number (TN) of the PC may be higher than it is for the NPC, or I may give the NPC more DMs (Direct Modifiers). For example, attempting to fast-talk a guard will consist of a an opposed Liaison skill, where the PC's TN is 10+ and the NPC's TN is 8+. Depending on how compelling the reasons given by the PC are, the TN for the NPC may be raised. A later blog post might go into more detail how I'll be using the Liaison skill in CE.
I threw in a couple skills from Mongoose Traveller (MgT1) -- Art and Investigation. I needed a skill to represent the ability to write coherently and appealingly for the Journalist career I was adding (noted below). I also needed a skill for the Entertainer. That's why I added Art, a cascade skill. I'm using the same specialties of MgT1. To create a successful report on something that the Party does or what they observe, they would have to make a successful Art check, typically based on Intelligence.
I have seen the Investigation skill used in MgT1 primarily as research. This might make sense, but I would just have the player make a Computers check. Computers covers the ability to comb a database for relevant information, and even to find typically inaccessible, secured information (though at higher risk). Investigation is using the principles of detection and discerning motive. Investigation will not only include the skills of finding clues in a crime scene or judging the character of a person by searching their rooms, but also of stringing together the information gleaned from the Computers skill to accurately string together meaning from the information.
Besides adding skills, I have been reorganizing the skill list -- placing the skills under their cascade and rearranging the cascades themselves. I've added Grouped Skills. These are a group of related skills, rather than cascade skills. I did these to cascade skills that are related, but wouldn't realistically allow for defaults between the skills. I did this to two skills: Sciences and Vehicles. Knowing how to fly some kind of ground vehicle doesn't give someone a working idea of how to pilot a submarine, sailing ship, jet, or helicopter. Related, the Sciences are no longer a cascade skill. Knowing Social Sciences doesn't default to Life Sciences. Whether each of those Science skills are Cascade Skills will depend on how cinematic the players and the GM want the game to be. If they don't want the game to be too cinematic, I would use the specialties of MgT1.
I turned Engineering into a Cascade skill. I basically mirrored the specialties from MgT1. I did this because I liked the idea of having there not be a general Engineering skill that serves as a catchall for all types of engineering, from complicated systems from life support to arcane jump drives. If the players want the game to be more cinematic, these specialties could, of course, be disregarded. I tend to appreciate more 'realistic' games, so I divided up the Engineering skills into the MgT1 specialities of: M-Drive, J-Drive, Electronics, Gravitics, Life Support, and Power. I figured that the CE Gravitics skill seemed to be a specialized form of Engineering, so I included it as such. On the career tables, Gravitics would be replaced by Engineering and where it's important that it's listed as Gravitics, Engineering (Gravitics). Where Engineering is already mentioned, it would be Physical Sciences.
Reading through the cascade skills, I also found that Survival was listed as a specialty of the Animals skill. I wasn't sure that this was a mistake or not, but I liked it. I decided to keep Survival as a specialty of Animals, and replaced Survival on the career tables with Animals. Where Animals was already listed, I kept it open for another skill was important or useful for that career. I could also, if I so desired, list the specialty as Animals (Survival).
I figured that Persuade, Deception, or whatever else kind of social pressure/social maneuver mechanic could all fall under Liaison. How the PCs use the Liaison skill (whether by diplomacy, persuasion, deception, or, perhaps, intimidation) will reflect how the skill is handled and resolved. Persuading someone to do something can actually be pretty difficult -- nearly impossible if the target already doesn't want to do it. Depending on what the goal of the PC is and the attitude of the target (the NPC), the difficulty/target number (TN) of the PC may be higher than it is for the NPC, or I may give the NPC more DMs (Direct Modifiers). For example, attempting to fast-talk a guard will consist of a an opposed Liaison skill, where the PC's TN is 10+ and the NPC's TN is 8+. Depending on how compelling the reasons given by the PC are, the TN for the NPC may be raised. A later blog post might go into more detail how I'll be using the Liaison skill in CE.
I threw in a couple skills from Mongoose Traveller (MgT1) -- Art and Investigation. I needed a skill to represent the ability to write coherently and appealingly for the Journalist career I was adding (noted below). I also needed a skill for the Entertainer. That's why I added Art, a cascade skill. I'm using the same specialties of MgT1. To create a successful report on something that the Party does or what they observe, they would have to make a successful Art check, typically based on Intelligence.
I have seen the Investigation skill used in MgT1 primarily as research. This might make sense, but I would just have the player make a Computers check. Computers covers the ability to comb a database for relevant information, and even to find typically inaccessible, secured information (though at higher risk). Investigation is using the principles of detection and discerning motive. Investigation will not only include the skills of finding clues in a crime scene or judging the character of a person by searching their rooms, but also of stringing together the information gleaned from the Computers skill to accurately string together meaning from the information.
Besides adding skills, I have been reorganizing the skill list -- placing the skills under their cascade and rearranging the cascades themselves. I've added Grouped Skills. These are a group of related skills, rather than cascade skills. I did these to cascade skills that are related, but wouldn't realistically allow for defaults between the skills. I did this to two skills: Sciences and Vehicles. Knowing how to fly some kind of ground vehicle doesn't give someone a working idea of how to pilot a submarine, sailing ship, jet, or helicopter. Related, the Sciences are no longer a cascade skill. Knowing Social Sciences doesn't default to Life Sciences. Whether each of those Science skills are Cascade Skills will depend on how cinematic the players and the GM want the game to be. If they don't want the game to be too cinematic, I would use the specialties of MgT1.
I turned Engineering into a Cascade skill. I basically mirrored the specialties from MgT1. I did this because I liked the idea of having there not be a general Engineering skill that serves as a catchall for all types of engineering, from complicated systems from life support to arcane jump drives. If the players want the game to be more cinematic, these specialties could, of course, be disregarded. I tend to appreciate more 'realistic' games, so I divided up the Engineering skills into the MgT1 specialities of: M-Drive, J-Drive, Electronics, Gravitics, Life Support, and Power. I figured that the CE Gravitics skill seemed to be a specialized form of Engineering, so I included it as such. On the career tables, Gravitics would be replaced by Engineering and where it's important that it's listed as Gravitics, Engineering (Gravitics). Where Engineering is already mentioned, it would be Physical Sciences.
Reading through the cascade skills, I also found that Survival was listed as a specialty of the Animals skill. I wasn't sure that this was a mistake or not, but I liked it. I decided to keep Survival as a specialty of Animals, and replaced Survival on the career tables with Animals. Where Animals was already listed, I kept it open for another skill was important or useful for that career. I could also, if I so desired, list the specialty as Animals (Survival).
Modifying the skills -- adding these two skills -- proved important for me to do because I was replacing the Hunter career with the Journalist career. Art (writing) and Investigate would be invaluable for the Journalist, of course. I also wanted to have players who wanted to try making a space detective have that opportunity. The adjustments to make the space detective has mostly been focused on either the planetary defense careers and Agents.
In the future I may post my modified career tables and what I have done to the skills.
In the future I may post my modified career tables and what I have done to the skills.
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