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Career Book 1
 
$6.99
Average Rating:4.5 / 5
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by Steve K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/12/2021 12:40:42

The alternate and expanded Mishap and Career Event tables for Agent, Drifter, Entertainer, Merchant, Nobility, Psion, Rogue and Scholar are appreciated. There are TWO d66 Life and Unusual Event tables providing many new twists on Travel, Relationships, Good Fortune, Betrayals, etc. I've mined Career Book 1 considerably for my home-brew universe (which is akin to 2300 AD and High Colonies.) I find the Colonists, Corporate Citizens and Workers detailed here more to my tastes and millieu than Book 10 Cosmopolite.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by David T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/25/2021 12:07:47

This is an aid for Mongoose Traaveller which you will need for it to be of use. It contains expanded tables for mishaps, life and unusual events for the non military traveller careers. There follows the reason I purchased the book details of 8 new career paths broken down into the customary 3 roles. This is followed by 48 pregenerated characters which are a useful bonus.

There are a few illustrations in back & white rather than colour, which is why this is a 4 and not a 5.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by Jeffrey Z. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/10/2021 16:08:22

This review originally appeared in the September 2013 issue of Freelance Traveller.

On the Shelf

Forty pages isn’t very large, so shelving this volume spine-out will cause it to be lost among other books. The cover is black, with a central panel about two-fifth of the cover in height, and extending almost edge-to-edge, depicting three characters in a desert landscape. Above the picture is a medium-blue (New Yorkers will recognize the color as “Con Ed blue”) stripe extending from the left edge almost to the right edge, with Spica’s logo on it; below the picture is a similar stripe bearing the title. At the bottom, lined up with the right edge of the lower stripe, but on the black area below, is the Traveller Compatible logo. The stock is good quality, with a finish that could be considered glossy, but not high-gloss.

On Inspection

There is very little explanatory text; most of what exists is in the one-page Introduction, which basically explains that you need the Traveller Main Book (TMB) from Mongoose, and why. Following the Introduction is a section of alternative Mishap and Event tables for several of the TMB careers. The revised Mishap tables are 2d6 rather than TMB’s 1d6, and the Event tables are d66 rather than 2d6, thus offering more choice—though there is no discussion of why the author felt the standard tables to be inadequate. Each career’s revised tables fits on a single page. Following the career event tables are two pages of Life and Unusual Events tables, each of which is d66 rather than the single 2d6 table in TMB; again, there is no discussion of why these should be preferred over Mongoose’s. I am generally in the camp that says that “more choice is better”, but I also acknowledge the possibility of too much choice and the potential that dithering over such choice might lead to wasting time. In this case, I don’t disapprove of the new tables; I disapprove only of the lack of discussion of why.

The following section should be considered the real meat of the book; each of eight new careers is presented on two pages, similar to the TMB presentation of a career. Each career follows the pattern set by Mongoose in the TMB—three career paths, each with specific skills, supplementing three general tables open to all characters in the career. The Mishap and Events tables are the expanded 2d6/d66 versions. An experienced referee could probably come up with ways to use these careers in a campaign; it’s less clear whether a less-experienced (or rookie) referee could do so. I could thus wish that an extra page had been devoted to each new career, providing a character overview, adventure seed ideas, and/or suggestions for integrating a character from the career into a campaign.

The remainder of the book is some pre-generated characters; these are just raw data—stats, skills, and equipment (which includes Contacts/Rivals/Allies/Enemies). No suggestion of career-ending mishaps or life events has been included, and no personality profile—really, nothing to inspire the referee or the players to “get into” the characters.

Conclusion

I can’t really be more than lukewarm about this; there’s just too much that could have—and, in my opinion, should have—been included to really make the idea behind this book ‘pop’. On the other hand, accepting the limitations, the author has done a credible job, though the proofreader could have used a bit more practice. For those reasons, I’d rate the PDF a better value than the print-on-demand edition.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by Ernest B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/28/2020 18:26:58

There is little that I can add to the general chorus of highly justified praise for this suppliment. Spica Publications has outdone themselves with their Career Books, the alternate events table with d66 resolutions alone are almost worth the price by themselves. Honestly squaring up to the fact that career-based character creation is a mini-game itself in Traveller, the authors have devised interesting and relevant paths that will be appropriate in almost any sci-fi setting, even if you don't favor the Third Imperium. From Adventurer to Space Patrol member, they kick their series off with a winner and include several excellent NPCs as both examples and quick-start figures for your game. The one quibble I had is that they do not give the career events for them in Book 1, an oversight that they happily correct in their subsequent volumes. Worth it at full price, but extra so during sale time. If you are a Traveller grognard, snatch this up!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by Daniel C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/23/2016 18:22:10

Picked up this along with a few other Spica books. I really thought they did a great job with the new careers and felt they offered some fun shifts for players without becoming munchkinish. I loved the d66 charts as well. I thought the layout was nice, the information was presented clearly and was easy to use. In fact the only thing I didn't like was having to deside which of the new careers to play first. LOL

I am glad I bought this book and will be picking up the 2nd and 3rd books as well for my collection. I would recomend this for any GM or player looking to try some new careers without ruining th egame balance.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by Jacob R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/01/2011 10:20:45

Career Book 1 from Spica Publishing is among the finest third-party publications for the Traveller RPG that I have ever seen. The book features several all-new and fresh careers for PCs, as well as a fine selection of NPCs. Layout and art are fantastic, making the book an attractive addition to one's shelf (or file folder). Its greatest strength lies in the expanded Event Tables for the careers from the Core Traveller Rule Book and the expansions to the somewhat boring Life Events table from Mongoose' book. The only issue that I had with the book is that I would have liked for the religious careers to have some sort of psionic option.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by colin t. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/01/2011 14:23:41

Very nice, I heartily recommend picking this up, it has some extras you'll find very useful indeed! Just remember this combines some new event tables for certain careers as well as pregenerated characters for those careers and given the price its certainly well worth it!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by William H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/07/2010 00:03:05

An excellent addition to one's Mongoose Traveller game, providing over half a dozen new careers, and expanded event tables for a number of core careers.

My personal favorite is the Space Patrol, but having clergy and militant clergy careers allows both modern and sci-fi religious themes pretty easily. Well written and easy to use, it integrates almost seamlessly into a Traveller game.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 03/01/2009 11:12:58

Intended as a supplement to Mongoose's Traveller Main Book, this work looks at alternate options that could be available to characters following careers in the core rules and provides some new career paths. As any experienced Traveller player knows, the 'career' defines what his character knows and what he did in the past before the game itself began - a ready-made history even before you start thinking about the specifics of what happened to make your character the man he is today. The Mongoose ruleset in particular has taken advantage of this method of character generation by providing tables of 'Mishaps and Events' that you can roll on to provide extra detail and flavour; and here with have additional tables for the Agent, Drifter, Entertainer, Merchant, Nobility, Rogue and Scholar careers which feature in the Mongoose rules. There are also generic Life and Unusual Event tables. The new tables are entertaining to read and have the potential to spawn plenty of backstory which will no doubt return to haunt you during the game!

Next comes eight new career paths. All are suitable for human characters, and most will suit at least some alien races as well. All the career-specific information and tables are here for you to create an Adventurer, Bounty Hunter, a member of the Clergy, a Colonist, a Corporate Citizen, a Militant Religious individual, a member of the Space Patrol or a Worker. Each has sub-paths, so your clergyman might be a missionary or a monastic, while your wage-slave Corporate Citizen may earn his way as a lawyer, accountant or administrator... while giving ideas, none tie you down too much, just providing a framework on which you can build your character as you choose. Again all the incidents provide plenty of ideas for background for your character... the good sort of background (for the GM at least) that provides lots of material for the things from your past that pop up to make the present interesting!

The final part of the book contains a bunch of pre-generated characters, usful if you need an NPC in a hurry or even need a character and have no time to generate one. Although they have allies, enemies and such like listed, presumably from the appropriate life path tables, there's no indication of what went on, so either make it up or roll a few times to come up with a backstory for them if you need that kind of detail.

Overall it is a neat addition to the Mongoose ruleset. Back in the days of the 'little black books' I spent many an afternoon inventing new career paths, it's good to see that the appeal of trying to model just about anything that a character might have done in his past is alive and well!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by Allen S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/01/2008 15:56:55

I posted this review at the Freelance Traveller website, and am reposting it here:

On the ... Shelf? An attractively laid out and well organized PDF. I was especially impressed with the artwork; while much of it computer generated, it’s pretty good. Mongoose should give these artists some work.

Initial Impressions I was quite happy with the book as I originally purchased it – and then they put out an updated version with even more goodies in it. This is exactly the kind of support I was hoping we’d see from "third-party" sources. New careers are always fun, and expanded event tables are great stuff.

On Closer Inspection We get expanded mishap and event tables for the non-military careers from the Core Book, except for the Scouts because those will be forthcoming from Mongoose. All the new event tables are "d66" format, with a lot more potential events. They can be used in place of or in conjunction with the originals. There are two new Life and Unusual Events tables to really add some spice to your characters background. Then we get into the new careers and specialties: Adventurer (explorer, treasure seeker, hunter), Bounty Hunter (skip tracer, repossessor, support), Clergy (missionary, monastic, preacher), Colonist (farmer, miner, settler), Corporate Citizen (finance, legal, administration), Militant Religious (warrior, monk, zealot), Space Patrol (operations, trooper, technical) and Worker (technician, service, labourer). The Corporate Citizen, Colonist and Worker careers take the specialties from the core book’s Citizen and expand them into full careers of their own. My personal favorite is the Space Patrol; space cops! Traditionally in OTU this job has been done by the Navy, which never made a lot of sense to me. There is now officially a Imperial Interstellar Space Patrol in my campaign.

And then we get FORTY pre-generated characters; one from each assignment of the new careers and 16 multi-career characters that also use some of the core book careers. I will go on record right now; I would purchase a book of nothing but these! What a great resource for referees! They can be used as NPCs or as PCs and they are great! Notes are included on the new skill specialty Social Science (theology).

Summary Buy this PDF. Its simply that good. New careers, and those pregens..this is great stuff. And the presence of the "1" in the title implies that there will be more, and if so I will be all over that like a Hiver on corn dogs!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Career Book 1
Publisher: Spica Publishing
by Rudolf S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/02/2008 04:21:37

I was working on my new Traveller setting, adapting the core book's careers to the setting, when Career Book 1 was published - and did almost all of the work for me.

Eight very useful careers, some of them of a kind rarely seen before in Traveller ga- mes (e.g. Clergy, Militant Religious), some of them expanded in a way that really gi- ves more colour and depth to the game (e.g. Colonist, Worker), tables with lots of in- teresting ideas, pre-generated characters and some very nice illustrations make this book a real Traveller GM's friend.

Yes, I indeed like it - very much so.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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