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If the referee wants player character officers in his campaign, characters should be allowed to apply to the Gollwin Academy. Of course, characters who are accepted will be inactive for two years of campaign time. In many cases this will be undesirable. If it works out, however, the following requirements must be met by aspiring Space Cadets.
Requirements. All cadets entering the academy must have scores of at least 50 in six of their eight abilities. The character's Leadership score must be higher than 50. No character who has been identified as having committed an illegal act will ever be admitted to the academy. If the ability requirements are met, the character must be interviewed by the faculty before applying for entrance. The character must furnish his own transportation to the academy for this interview. If the character passes a Personality check, he is accepted into the academy and will begin classes immediately. If the interview is unsuccessful, the character may apply again one year later.
Academy Skills. Characters who go through the academy's course of instruction can choose astrogation, piloting or spaceship engineering as their area of expertise. After the player chooses a skill area, the character must make a Logic check. If this roll is successful, the character can study in his chosen field. If the roll is unsuccessful, the character must choose one of the other two areas and roll again. If the second roll fails, the character may try once more for the remaining skill area. If the third roll fails, the character has "washed out" of the academy and will never be admitted again. Cadets who successfully enter a skill area at the academy will graduate after two years with 1st level spaceship weaponry skill (either rocket or energy weapons) and a 2nd level ability in the spaceship skill of their choice. If the character did not have the foundation skills necessary for a spaceship skill when he entered the academy (such as 6th level computer skill for astrogation), he will receive these as well.
Advancement. Junior Lieutenants may advance in rank by earning experience points. Experience points spent to increase an officer's rank may not be used to increase that character's skill level; however, officers are required to increase one of their spaceship skills (or add a new spaceship skill) at least once after each promotion.
For example, a character might graduate from the Academy with 1st level energy weapons skill and 2nd level skill in astrogation. In order to increase his rank from Jr, Lieutenant to Lieutenant, the character must earn enough experience points to "buy" the Lieutenant rank. Before he can be promoted again, he must earn enough additional experience points to advance to 2nd level energy weapons skill, 3rd level astrogation or 1st level piloting, engineering or rocket weapons.
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Command. As mentioned earlier, Spacefleet enlisted personnel are not always the most pleasant and cooperative types. If a character is in charge of enlisted NPCs, his Leadership score becomes very important.
Enlisted NPCs will obey most orders automatically, if the officer expresses it frankly and fairly and it is a basically mundane order. If the order requires the NPC to risk his life, or is expressed arrogantly or insultingly, the NPC will obey the order only if the character passes a Leadership check. The officer should receive a +5 modifier for each level of his rank. A Fleet Lieutenant, for example, gets a bonus of 15 to his Leadership for this check. As usual, this rule can be modified or disregarded by the referee to suit the situation at hand.
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