I agree with Robert and Jeff: If you're going to put in Colleges and Academies into Book 1 character generation then you need to limit the skills available in a term spent them.

Stick to Book 1 skills only;
So for College you would likely be limited to one of Engineering, Medical, Computer (possibly Admin (covering legal, finance, business degrees etc))
For Navy might be Navigation, Admin and Pilot
For Army/Marines it might be Leader, Tactics, Admin
For Merchants it might be Navigation, Pilot, Admin

Limit the number of skills you gain: the best you can get from a term of service in Book 1 character generation is 6 (or possibly 7) skills (initial term in Army or Marine, commission promotion and two defaults) and +2, +3 or +4 in a stat and/or another skill in gun combat (mustering out benefits) but this is really pushing it.

The scouts get 2 skills a term and the sabbatical rules in book 2 allow a single skill of 2 per term, so I would stick with these from the skill options above (you might add Electronics, Mechanical for technical schools, and/or possibly Forgery for Art School)

Increasing EDU in book 2 isn't that onerous (it just costs money as long as you have some INT) so I'd give them a chance of increasing their EDU stat; say roll 8+ for Honours for +1 EDU with a +1 DM if they are INT 9+ and I'd probably allow that for the academies as well; but you'd need to have a reasonable standard of education to attend, so I'd put the eligibility as the advanced education table EDU 8+ to attend.

And for the academies they'd be commissioned as Rank 1 into their service and have to serve a minimum of 1 term with the additional skill from the commission (but then they don’t get a mustering out benefit for the term attending the academy), and it would probably mean that the commission role is worth using as the eligibility stat as well

So to wrap it up.

College or Technical School;
One term (no mustering out benefit for this term)
Eligibility EDU 8+
Pick one skill at Level-2 from:
Engineering, Medical, Computer, Admin, Electronics, Mechanical
Roll 8+ for Honours for +1 EDU with a +1 DM if INT 9+

Academies
One term (no mustering out benefit for this term)
Entry requirements as per service commission roll
Pick one skill at Level-2 and one skill at Level-1 from the Academy Options
Roll 8+ for Honours for +1 EDU with a +1 DM if INT 9+

Naval/Merchant Academy: Navigation, Pilot, Admin
Army/Marine Academy: Leader, Tactics, Admin

And then I ask the question what does this add to Book 1 character generation? Or in other words is it worth implementing? What does it bring?
It allows a player to choose a speciality, without them being too much at the mercy of the dice.
It allows a player to have Engineering and/or Admin if they go into the Other career
For the sacrifice of a mustering out benefit

So yes it's probably worth allowing.

Best regards,

Ewan
--
For the fallen in the cause of the free:
 "When I go home I will tell of them and say,
 For our tomorrow, They gave their today."

 My spelling is entirerly due to dyslexia, typos, and poetic license

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxxx@simplelists.com <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
Sent: 04 May 2026 01:04
To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com
Subject: Re: [TML] College / Academies in Book 1 style chargen

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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