Other Universes: Silhouette Skills in MegaTraveller

One of the concerns when moving between game systems is allowing for differences in skill lists. While a decent GM can make rulings on an ad hoc basis, there's always the risk of those rulings changing over time. So, to allow for conversion between Silhouette and the various Traveller systems, I sat down with a list of skills and the MegaTraveller Players' Manual and came up with what I consider to be a decent conversion from one system to the other. Converting will require the Players' Manual and (for House Rules systems) a copy of Survival Margin or some other document to convert from MegaTraveller to New Era.


Overall, this should be pretty straightforward. Each point of skill in Silhouette can be converted to a point in any of the listed MegaTraveller equivalents. If there are multiple skills listed, the player can select a different skill for each point (but only one skill per point). As usual, cascades need to have a specialization selected. There are a few new skills and some that don't convert over. Heavy Gear Pilot and Strider Pilot both become a new skills, Walker, which is the ability to operate, use, and maintain walking vehicles, with a cascade to Heavy Gear and Strider. The three design skills (Electronic Design, Heavy Gear Architecture, and Mechanical Design) should be considered similar to Naval Design, but for Electronics, Walkers, and Mechanics respectively.

HG Skill		MT Skill
Acrobatics		Physical
Aircraft Pilot		Aircraft
Archery		Archaic Weapons
Dance		Physical
Dodge		Hand Combat
Drive		Tracked Vehicle, Wheeled Vehicle
Hand-to-Hand		Hand Combat
Heavy Gear Pilot		Walker
Heavy Weapons		Heavy Weapons
Melee		Blade Combat
Parachuting		Grav Belt
Riding		Equestrian
Sleight-of-Hand		Vice
Small Arms		Gun Combat
Stealth		Recon, Stealth
Strider Pilot		Walker
Throwing		Archaic Weapons
Zero-G		Zero-G Environ, Vacc Suit
Seduction		Persuasion
Intimidate		Interrogation
Animal Handling		Animal Handling
Camouflage		Hunting, Recon, Stealth
Cooking		Mental
Craft		Artisan
Disguise		Disguise
Electronic Warfare		Technical
Forgery		Forgery
Interrogation		Interrogation
Literature		Academic
Music		Mental
Space Pilot		Pilot, Ship’s Boat
Survival		Recon, Survival, Stealth
Tactics		Fleet Tactics, Ship Tactics, Tactics
Teaching		Instruction
Tinker		Technical
Visual Art		Mental
Athletics		Physical
G-Handling		High-G Environ
Swimming		Physical
Etiquette		Interpersonal
Haggling		Broker, Trader
Leadership		Leader
Streetwise		Vice
Theatrics		Mental
Bureaucracy		Admin
Business		Economic
Communications		Communications
Computer		Computer
Demolition		Combat Engineering, Demolitions
Earth Sciences		Prospecting
Electronic Design		No equivalent
Electronics		Electronics
First Aid		Medical
Foreign Language		Linguistics
Heavy Gear Architecture		No equivalent
Law		Legal
Life Sciences		Biology, Genetics
Mechanical Design		No equivalent
Mechanics		Mechanical
Medicine		Genetics, Medical
Navigation		Navigation
Physical Sciences		Chemistry, Physics
Psychology		Interpersonal
Security		Intrusion
Social Sciences		Academic
Combat Sense		*Special
Forward Observing		Forward Observer
Gambling		Gambling
Gunnery		FA Gunnery
Investigation		Forensic
Naval Pilot		Large Water Craft, Small Water Craft, Hovercraft
Notice		Recon
Sniping		Gun Combat
Human Perception		Carousing, Interpersonal

Note that Combat Sense is listed as *Special. For MegaTraveller, it should convert to levels of Tactics. For House Rules systems, a character with no combat sense rolls 1d6/2 for initiative (rounded up). Characters with a single point roll 1d6-1 (minimum 1), characters with Combat Sense 2 roll 1d6, and each additional point of Combat Sense is +1 to initiative.

For all other skills, the character should be converted to MegaTraveller, then use the system at the back of Survival Margin to convert the MT character to House Rules.