I've never required the system of character creation, in any particular game I can think of, to make characters interesting. It isn't necessary to create strange and unlikely skill layouts as a way of creating 'character'. Once in a while, sure - you can get an outlier here or there. But most of the time, individuals take some handle in their fate and choose their directions - maybe not every day, but when they can.

Beyond that, I've had players who are dead set against playing 'new things' (in D&D, A always plays fighter/rogue mix, in traveller Navy Officer, B always plays fighter or wizard, in traveller Marine or Army veteran) and who like to craft their character (A does, B does not from the prior example). For those folks, a character that isn't what they want their vision to be is something they'll get killed at the first opportunity or they'll just limp along being unengaged in the game because they can't seem to engage with the character.

I'm not that sort - I've played most of the races and classes in D&D and most of the careers in Traveller (I kinda hate Pirates, but otherwise, I'd try just about anything). But I do recognize those people after having played with some of them. I've tried on occasion to pry one or other in a different direction, but it has never ended well.

A prefers to be very cool because (I think in some part of his soul) he wishes he could be that cool yet feels he is not or perhaps he just can't get his head into the headspaces of less normative characters. My example B is a bit funny because he has racial prejudices (human, human and human - based on not being able to get into Elf/Dwarf/Vargr/etc mindsets) but in every game where he's a human (if I don't twist his arm), his height/weight/eyes/complexion all match up to his real world self. When I quizzed him about that, for him RPing is about what he would be/do in that situation so his characters are all him (another reason he doesn't switch races because that would not be him).

I'll try most things because I like the challenge of figuring out what another race or profession might think like. (In D&D, in my long running campaign, the elves are nigh immortal if not killed, and that tends to make them *super* dangerous - lots of decades to get dangerous - maybe like Orlando Bloom... lol.... but there are few of them and they have fought wars to keep the humans from logging their lands or clearing them for villages and towns....).

But if you have the sorts who prefer to play to an archetype, and their vision includes some skills, some look, maybe some career (and success perhaps in same)... ultimately if it gets them engaged and the balance isn't destroyed, then EVERYONE at the table has more fun.

So that's the other reason I prefer at least partially directed character creation vs. the random tables. It works for those sorts of people who have an image and then want to build it in the game, vs. rolling the dice to see who they are... (Traveller rules are evolutionist - basic stats then off into the world to see how you do.... but a decent percentage of players like to build the character they wish they could be... and random dice are often not kind for that).

TomB

On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 10:50 PM Frank Filz <xxxxxx@mindspring.com> wrote:

Yea, that’s another good point about the random skills, they create interesting characters. In a system that has so little to define characters, creating as much interesting bits as possible makes a lot of sense.

 

Frank

 

From: xxxxxx@simplelists.com [mailto:xxxxxx@simplelists.com]
Sent: Friday, July 3, 2020 2:24 AM
To: Tml <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
Subject: Re: [TML] Pilot position

 

 

 

On Fri, 3 Jul 2020 at 09:47, Alex Goodwin <xxxxxx@multitel.com.au> wrote:


The _degree_ of randomisation - up to eleven - was the real surprise. 
It has definitely created some ... interesting ... histories

 

Yes, while I don't get to do char gen much with players (TravCon is all pre-gen and TTA is an ongoing campaign with only one switch of character thus far), I *love* how rolling randomly for skills gives interesting backgrounds to explain.  Whether for PCs or slightly more detailed NPCs.  I even have a table somewhere for randomly choosing Background skills with equal chance.  Yes, if I need to 'direct' an NPC slightly (see an upcoming article in Freelance Traveller) I like using the 'make a roll but pick which Skill table after the roll' option, but generally random is fun and stops me getting in a rut or thinking 'well, skill X is in my experience a bit more useful than skill Y'.

 

 

Is there any gubbins in MGT, either 2e (or not 2e), about running
_active duty_ characters?  If so, where?

 

Yes, it's in the Elements Class Cruisers boxed set, 'Naval Campaign Sourcebook'. 

 

HTH

 

tc

 

 

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