The trades are the full assortment of skilled, blue-collar career paths, from construction through electronics.
Trades are largely blue-collar jobs requiring informal training, apprenticeships or vocational school (see Education), or occasionaly no training for entry. In some cases, this is at the referee’s discretion.
See the section on Secondary Skills, at the bottom of the page.
Entry: Strength: 4+.
First Term Skills:
Choose up to four levels from among the following - no more than 3 in any one skill:
Climbing
Construction
Excavation
Contacts and Special: Characters start the game with appropriate tools, at referee's discretion (i.e. less likely if they were drafted or mobilized in reserves). Also see "Secondary Skills", below.
Anything from a line cook at a diner to a chef.
Entry: No restrictions, technical school
First Term Skills:
Culinary / Food Handling 3 (see proposed skills)
Scrounging 1
Contacts and Special: Characters start the game with a pretty righteous set of kitchen knives, at referee's discretion (i.e. less likely if they were drafted or mobilized in reserves). Also see "Secondary Skills", below.
Covers all varieties of electricians, communications technicians, networking technicians, cable guys...
Entry: Tech School or direct (apprenticeship), Intelligence 5+
First Term Skills:
Electronics, Communications or Computer to a total of 4.
Contacts and Special: At referee's discretion, these characters may start the game with electrician / electronics toolkits. Also see "Secondary Skills", below.
Entry: No prerequisite or Trade School.
First Term Skllls:
Choice of up to four levels of any of the following - no more than 2 in any specialty
Construction
Electronics
Machinist
Mechanic
Gunsmith
Metallurgy
Contacts and Special: See "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Entry: Tech School or direct (apprenticeship), Intelligence 5+
First Term Skills:
Gunsmith 2
Mechanic 1
Machinist 1
Contacts and Special: Gunsmiths start game with gunsmithing tools, capablity of repairing (or, at higher levels, constructing parts of) firearms and artillery. Also see "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Entry: Tech School or direct (apprenticeship), Dexterity 6+
First Term Skills:
Metallurgy 1
Intrusion 2
Mechanics or Electronics 1
Contacts and Special: Locksmiths start game with set of locksmiths' tools (unless they are in the armed forces) and the detailed knowledge of how locks work. Also see "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Entry: Tech School or direct (apprenticeship), Intelligence 5+
First Term Skills:
Machinist 3
Mechanic 1 OR Gunsmith 1
Computer OR electronics 1
Contacts and Special: At referee's discretion, Machinists may opt to buy machine shop tools at the beginning of the game (depending on whether character is in the military or not, depending on the situation). Also see "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Includes miners of all kinds.
Entry: Tech School or direct (apprenticeship), Strength 5+
First Term Skills:
Excavation 3
Vehicle (wheeled or tracked) or Mechanic: 1
Contacts and Special: Also see "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Entry: Tech School or direct (apprenticeship), Intelligence 5+
First Term Skills:
Mechanic (Vehicle or Aircraft) 3
Electronics or Machinist 1
Contacts and Special: At referee's discretion, Mechanics may opt to buy mechanics' tools at the beginning of the game (depending on whether character is in the military or not, depending on the situation). Also see "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Includes oilfield workers - roughnecks, pipefitters, and all the rest of the trades that keep the oil pumping and flowing.
Entry: Strength 6+
First Term Skills:
Select up to four levels from among the following, with no more than two in any area.
Excavation
Mechanics
Vehicle (wheeled or tracked) or Mechanic
Construction
Contacts and Special: See "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Entry: Tech School or direct (apprenticeship), Dexterity 5+
First Term Skills:
Metallurgy 1
Construction 2
Mechanics 1
Contacts and Special: Plumbers start game with set of plumbers' tools (unless they are in the armed forces) and the knowledge of how to do plumbing. Also see "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Entry: Tech School or direct (apprenticeship), Intelligence 5+
First Term Skills:
Metallurgy: 3
Construction: 1
Contacts and Special: At referee's discretion, character may start the game with welding equipment. Also see "Subsequent Term Skills", below.
Contacts: All trades characters get two contacts per term, either in their trade, in business or (at referee's discretion) some other field as a former customer/client (for example, a plumber who did calls on an Army base, a construction worker who did jobs for a major businessperson, or so on). On a D10 roll of 10 that contact can be foreign.
Subsequent Term Skills: As a general rule (and we’ll invoke referee’s discretion here) secondary skills should be related to the character’s trade. An electrician would be more likely to pick up Computer than, say, Metallurgy.
That being said, jacks of one trade frequently pick up bits and pieces of other trades outside their formal specialty. It’s up to the character (and of course, the referee) to decide whether the character is a specialist or a jack of, literally, many trades. It is thus possible to build a player character with a very broad - and, in original Twilight terms, incredibly useful - set of skills.
Subsequent term skills available to characters in the trades include:
Mechanic (vehicle or aircraft)
Communications (see proposed skills)
Construction
Culinary / Food Handling (see proposed skills)
Excavation
Electronics
Ground Vehicle (motorcycle, wheeled or tracked)
Instruction
Intrusion
Metallurgy
Climbing
Gunsmithing
Machinist
Scrounging
Special: All Blue Collar and Trade characters may take two secondary skills per term.