On Sun, 3 May 2026 18:26:04 -0400, Christopher Sean Hilton - chris at
vindaloo.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote to Freelance
Traveller:

>I'm making the distinction between CT Book 1 style and CT Book (4|5|6|7) style character
>generation. College becomes available with the later, more detailed chargen systems. I'm
>considering allowing Book 1 style player characters to choose to go to college, and med
>school as described in the High Guard rules. I'm also including the various service
>academies, Naval, Flight School, and Merchant Academy. Finally, I wondering if the rules
>should be expanded to include a West Point style academy for the Army service and should
>NOTC as described in High Guard, be xOTC instead and apply to Navy, Army, Marines, and
>Merchants.

The main issues with B4+ chargen vs B1 chargen are skill proliferation(1)
and skill proliferation(2).

SP(1) is the creation of a wider variety of narrower skills, leading to
very distinct differences between an ex-Army and an ex-Scout and an
ex-Merchant. This in effect promoted the idea that a "retired" character
going Travelling is just doing the same thing that they spent their life
doing, only for not-as-steady (and probably not-as-much) pay. Which, IMO,
sorta defeats the purpose of retiring and becoming a Traveller...

SP(2) is the effect that characters generated under B4+ tend to have more
levels of skills, making them more capable than a character generated under
the same B1 career, and discouraging the mixing of characters for the two
generation systems in one adventure.

If you want to offer the college and service academy options in B1 chargen,
you need to do it in a way that avoids promoting SP(1) or SP(2). To this
end, I would recommend that success at College (i.e., civilian university,
not a Service academy) grant either EDU +2 or (EDU +1 and +1 in an
appropriate skill). Success at a Service Academy should offer the same
thing, and grant automatic enlistment and automatic commission in first
term in the matching service. For the Service Academies, I'd recommend
specific skills that would be useful generally in adventuring: Admin for
Army and Navy (Naval Academy should include a "Marine Option"), Medic for
Medical School, Broker or Admin for Merchant, and if you allow for a Scout
Academy (or a Scout Option in one of the others), Liaison. Unless you're
going to import COACC from MegaTraveller (which was largely a B4+ chargen),
ignore the questions of "Flight School". Note that in the real world,
College, Medical School, and Service Academies are largely mutually
exclusive.

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