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Can you tell me more about Traveller? (Forked Thread: Space RPGs?)
Hi, over in another thread Metus asked for some advice looking for a space-themed RPG. A bunch of you suggested the game Traveller. I did a very brief cruise through the net for basic info on the game (it has quite a history as far as I can tell!) but was wondering if others could give me more insight to the game.
Stuff like how the mechanics run (I gather its 2d6+Attribute rolls over a target number?). What about the other rules for regular, and space/ship combat? Is it easy to keep the players focus in what seems such a open-sandbox style game? Any other personal anecdotes about the game you have? I understand that Mongoose Publishing just put out an updated version of the game, so if it matters for you answers that is the specific game version I would be picking up.
Thanks again. Based on responses I might have more specific questions.
Traveller comes in many editions, and its rules and assumptions vary between them. The following will be most relevant to Classic Traveller (CT) and Mongoose Traveller (MGT), both being relatively popular versions. Mega Traveller (MT) and Marc Miller's Traveller/Traveller 4th Edition (T4) are also similar in many aspects but different in others. There are also Traveller: New Era (TNE) using a variant the Twilight:2000 rules, Traveller D20 (T20), GURPS: Traveller and Traveller Hero; these versions differ in many ways from CT, MT, T4 and MGT.
So let's get into Traveller itself. Traveller (originally published in 1977) was originally designed to be a generic sci-fi ruleset compatible with a wide array of sci-fi settings, especially of the 1960's-1970's interstellar kind. All editions of Traveller come with many world-building rules - random world generation, ship-design systems, and in some cases alien critter ("animal") generation systems and vehicle design systems. It is entirely possible to build your own setting for Traveller and ignore any official setting material - in fact, the original rules has no official setting at all!
However, Traveller has long been associated with the Official Traveller Universe (OTU), an Asimov-style (so I've been told) space-opera affair centered on the Third Imperium. The Imperium is a huge quasi-feudal interstellar state encompassing 11,000 worlds (most of which have either official or unofficial stats!); during th Classical Era - covered by both Classic Traveller and Mongoose Traveller - it was mostly a stable society, despite occasional wars with its surrounding states. Several official alien races also exist, such as the felinoid Aslan, the caninoid Vargr, the reptilian (but with an insect-style society, metamorphoses and biological castes) Droyne, the psionic human Zhodani, the Terran-nationalist Solomani, the militant herbivore K'Kree and the weird, manipulative Hivers. The OTU feels like 1960's-1970's sci-fi and is a bit technologically conservative (very little cybernetics, not many AIs around until TNE, little focus on computers). The Imperium is also anti-psionics, unlike other politics (such s the Zhodani, who are ruled by psions).
The basic Traveller game mechanic is roll 2d6+skill level+modifiers; a roll of 8 or more is a success. Skills usually range between 0 and 3 but could be higher; characteristics (ability scores) usually range from 2-12, with 1 or 13-15 in extreme cases. Classic Traveller has several varieties of this mechanics for different uses, but MegaTraveller and Mongoose Traveller use a coherent "task system" with coherent characteristic (ability) modifiers. Difficulty is also a die modifier in most versions.
Traveller is skill-based. At their heart, characters have six characteristics (Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Intelligence, Education and Social Standing) and a number of skills. In Classic Traveller, your entire "character sheet" (other than gear, money and ships, of course) could be summarized in a single short paragraph! There is a wide range of skills, from Admin (a social skill used to deal with bureaucracies) through things such as Gun Combat (several skills, depending on which kind of guns you want to use) and Pilot (used for piloting starships) to Medic and Vehicle skills. At its core, Classic Traveller had 27 skills; later versions have more diverse skills.
Character creation is semi-random and based on resolving the character's pre-adventuring career. Traveller characters start the game as experienced adults rather than 18-years-old beginners. Most character development (in the game-mechanics sense) takes place during character generation; during play, most character development is in terms of knowledge, personality, possessions and political power, while acquiring new skills is a very slow process. But that's OK, since you could start the game as a very experienced professional!
Traveller technology mostly has a "hard science" feel to it. Sure, there are anti-gravity vehicles, reactionless drives, psionics and jump (read: FTL) drives, but other for these the technology seems very plausible and even "conservative" (AIs are rare and there is almost no nano-tech to speak of). The majority of ground weapons are slug-throwing guns, with energy weapons typically being heavy support weapons.
Combat is fast, rules-light (yet, in Mongoose Traveller, covering a surprisingly wide range of possibilities for its mere 9 pages) and deadly. Very deadly. While a typical character has a good chance of surviving a gun shot, each shot is very damaging and two or three shots (or even one in some occasions) would kill each character. Combat uses the same basic "2d6+skill+modifiers for 8 or more" mechanic as any other skill roll; things such as range or cover modify that roll. Damage is subtracted directly from the target's physical characteristics; when two are reduced to zero, the character becomes seriously wounded and unconscious; when all three are zeroed the character is killed. Vehicle and ship combat uses hit-location tables (listing things such as weapons, drives, passengers, fuel etc).
__________________ In space, everyone can hear you pump the 12-gauge.
- Korgoth about Classic Traveller
First, I think it's a good idea of yours to choose Mongoose's version (MGT). I'm one who owns and has played all versions, and I think MGT captures the games original soul while also wisely modernizing it in certain places (e.g. d20-style combat actions). Mongoose also supports its games really well (downloads, ample and fairly frequent new releases). Lastly, MGT so closely reflects the early editions of the game (CT and MT) that you can easilty plunder old material and use it about 90% word for word.
I'm curious about your question as to whether its "open sand-box style" will keep players "focused". I think I know what you mean, but would like a little more information on your part.
In any event, I would guess the element of MGT you and your players will find most radical is its non-level advancement. Skills define entirely a character. In fact, as Shades of Green noted, there's little (or slow) advancement after character generation. Gamers coming from a heavy d20 background might not like this.
On the other hand, if you're burnt out on level-based systems, this could be a positive.
A basic concept of Traveller is that communications are limited to the speed of travel - there is no "hyperwave" or "subspace", so the fastest way you could communicate is by courier ships, and these at best could cross 6 parsecs (about 19 light-years) in a week-long Jump. Most ships are far slower - a week-long Jump for them cross less parsecs (a parsec is approximately 3.26 light-years). Due to this communication lag, large interstellar governments have to be fairly decentralized - as asking for specific orders would take week, months, or even years. This is a good thing for the game as it means that PCs in a frontier area are on their own, with the major authority figures tucked away a few weeks (at most) of jumps away.
As I've mentioned in my previous post, Traveller has a comprehensive random system for generating worlds. Each world has eight characteristics - Starport (how good the port facilities are), Size (how large/heavy is the world), Atmosphere (what atmosphere it has - some kinds are breathable, others are not), Hydrographics (which percent of the world is covered with water or other fluids), Population (how many people are there), Government (general class of government - e.g. Representative Democracy, Impersonal Bureaucracy, Charismatic Dictatorship and so on), Law Level (how restrictive the world's law enforcement system is, especially in regard to guns) and Tech Level (how advanced is the local technology, ranging from "0" for stone-age to "15" or "16" for sci-fi high-tech). Generating worlds in Classic or Mongoose Traveller is fast once you're experienced with it - I've recently generated a while subsector (see below) of around 30 worlds in about 2-3 hours.
As an abstraction, Traveller uses 2D space maps (rather than realistic 3D). It isn't very realistic but its very comfortable to work with. The game divides space into hex-grid "subsectors" of 8 parsecs by 10 parsecs (neatly fitting unto an A4 page). Four subsectors are a quadrant; four quadrants (or sixteen subsectors) are a sector; and four sectors are a domain (in the official universe's Imperium, and Archduke rules a domain). Most campaigns could be played in a single subsector or quadrant, or, at most, a sector.
__________________ In space, everyone can hear you pump the 12-gauge.
- Korgoth about Classic Traveller
Thank you thank you! That was a wonderful summary.
Seems like a lot of great tools for the GM in the book. When you sit down for an evening to play Traveller, how much book work (random content generating) is present at the table?
I assume any good GM worth their keep would do as much prep work before the game as possible. But lets say during the game, the players decide to Zig while you had planned for a Zag. Does the game grind to a uncomfortable stop as the GM brings out the book, rolls dice and flips through pages and checks random tables? Or is this a relatively painless process? I ask because in the end the motley crew I game with, along with myself enjoy fast, rules-lite games with little 'table' book work (that is, while we are there at the table during the game).
What about character growth in Traveller? Is there any at all? Or are those relatively static? Is it the money, new gadgets and ship gear the replacement incentive?
What I mean with the sand-box style game is that from what I am gathering, Traveller does not seem to have much of an agenda in terms of gameplay. I guess the fact that the rules are set up for a GM to generate an entire plot of a galaxy complete with planets and aliens to explore, there seems a notion that players could get easily 'distracted' unless there was a pretty obvious set goal. But then again, maybe that's Ok to do in a Traveller game.
This of course is coming from someone without any prior knowledge of the game so it may just be self conceived issues I am developing in my head as I imagine my friends and self playing the game.
Traveler is also the only game I have experience with where it is possible (and often quite likely if you're rolling an older character) to die during character creation. I think the early versions of Twilight 2000 and 2300 AD have this feature as well. In Mongoose's edition, it's an optional rule rather then the default though.
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
When you sit down for an evening to play Traveller, how much book work (random content generating) is present at the table?
I assume any good GM worth their keep would do as much prep work before the game as possible. But lets say during the game, the players decide to Zig while you had planned for a Zag. Does the game grind to a uncomfortable stop as the GM brings out the book, rolls dice and flips through pages and checks random tables? Or is this a relatively painless process? I ask because in the end the motley crew I game with, along with myself enjoy fast, rules-lite games with little 'table' book work (that is, while we are there at the table during the game).
From my experience (mostly with GURPS Traveler, but it should hold with Mongoose) Play doesn't really grind to a halt as long as you take the time to generate a whole sub-sector or two before you start or use one of the published sectors as your setting. Compared to a lot of sci-fi setting travel in Traveler is slow. The 'affordable' (with large mortgages) ships that your average table can actually crew are all Jump 1 or 2 craft, meaning they can travel one or two hexes in week.
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
Traveler is also the only game I have experience with where it is possible (and often quite likely if you're rolling an older character) to die during character creation. I think the early versions of Twilight 2000 and 2300 AD have this feature as well. In Mongoose's edition, it's an optional rule rather then the default though.
There is no version since Classic Traveller for which "death in chargen" is a standard feature. MGT is not exceptional here.
__________________ "This game requires no gameboard because the action takes place in your imagination..." - Cover of Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules Set 1.
Thank you thank you! That was a wonderful summary.
I'm glad you liked it
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woas
Seems like a lot of great tools for the GM in the book. When you sit down for an evening to play Traveller, how much book work (random content generating) is present at the table? I assume any good GM worth their keep would do as much prep work before the game as possible. But lets say during the game, the players decide to Zig while you had planned for a Zag. Does the game grind to a uncomfortable stop as the GM brings out the book, rolls dice and flips through pages and checks random tables? Or is this a relatively painless process? I ask because in the end the motley crew I game with, along with myself enjoy fast, rules-lite games with little 'table' book work (that is, while we are there at the table during the game).
The trick is to make efficient use of your prep time to prepare general, multi-use stuff. You'd probably like to try out the various generation systems beforehand to get a hold on them - keep the results, and store them (either electronically or on paper) in a way which would be easy for you to find when needed. That would probably include ships (it takes about 20-30 minutes to make one when you're experienced with the system), worlds, animals, characters (usable as NPCs) and so on.
On the other hand, patrons (i.e. quest-giving NPCs) are quite easy to generate with Mongoose Traveller even on the fly - just put a bookmark at the relevant pages in the book. Another great resource in the Mongoose version is a list of generic useful NPCs with full stats (on pp.84-85) such as thugs, guards, ship crewmembers and so on, ready to use as-is or with improvised modifications.
Another thing you should probably read is Reynard's Seven Sandbox Essentials; while written for D&D, many of his concepts are easily applicable to Traveller.
If you have 35$ to spare, you could buy the Classic Traveller CD-ROM from Far Future Enterprises. Sure, its for Classic Traveller, but that would give you TONS of recycleable material, stealable ideas, maps and so on - that CD has almost all of the Classic Traveller books, adventures, alien modules, supplements and so on in PDF format in it. A real treasure trove.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woas
What about character growth in Traveller? Is there any at all? Or are those relatively static? Is it the money, new gadgets and ship gear the replacement incentive?
Traveller has a very different concept of character advancement than D&D (or similar level systems). You start off as an experienced professional, and most of your in-game achievements and rewards are not in skills or game-mechanics powers but in political power, wealth, discovering the setting's secrets, even empire-building. You COULD train your skills, but it takes time and money - just like in the real world. For more discussions of this subject (on the Mongoose boards) look here, here and here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woas
What I mean with the sand-box style game is that from what I am gathering, Traveller does not seem to have much of an agenda in terms of gameplay. I guess the fact that the rules are set up for a GM to generate an entire plot of a galaxy complete with planets and aliens to explore, there seems a notion that players could get easily 'distracted' unless there was a pretty obvious set goal. But then again, maybe that's Ok to do in a Traveller game.
First of all, you should probably sit down with your group and talk about what they want to do in Traveller. A lot of campaign directions are very possible - do they want exploration into the unknown? Do they want to play naval officers patrolling the frontier? Do they want to be mercenaries? A noble and his entourage out to see the universe? Traders? Asteroid miners? Space Pirates (ARRRRRRRR! YE MATEY!)? A huge amount of campaign types are possible. Once you know what they want to do in general, you could prepare accordingly: exploration needs a frontier, many worlds, and pre-generated animals (among other things); a naval campaign needs a good ship and political tension between space empire; mercenaries need war-torn worlds and meddlesome off-world interests (and in that case you should consider getting the Mercenary book from mongoose - it has, among other things, a mass-combat system and mercenary adventure generators); a sightseeing noble would need exotic worlds, rival noble houses, and even more exotic dangers; traders need a number of worlds with varied trade characteristics, pirates, and rival merchants; asteroid miners need frontier belts complete with rival companies, belt pirates, and weird alien artifacts; and space pirates need frontier worlds with a lot of grog, many small traders and little naval enforcement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woas
Thanks again!
You welcome!
__________________ In space, everyone can hear you pump the 12-gauge.
- Korgoth about Classic Traveller
There is no version since Classic Traveller for which "death in chargen" is a standard feature. MGT is not exceptional here.
MGT is closest to CT in both tone and mechanics, and I was referring to CT there, but I suppose I was unclear.
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
Personally, I think Traveller is best as a setting instead of a full game. I'm not overly enamored of the system (I have CT and MT and T20---and I'd probably run it in d20 Modern or something else if I were running it today) but the setting is what's interesting.
Not terribly original, mind you, but interesting. It kinda captures that old school Isaac Asimov, David Niven, etc. era of science fiction. Think Foundation plus Man/Kzin wars and you're on the right track.
The one subsystem of the rules with which I am absolutely enamored, however, is the star system generation and hex mapping conventions. I've ported that over entirely, nearly word for word, into other games.
Not terribly original, mind you, but interesting. It kinda captures that old school Isaac Asimov, David Niven, etc. era of science fiction. Think Foundation plus Man/Kzin wars and you're on the right track.
Nitpick: Larry Niven is a science fiction author. David Niven is an actor.
And you are completely correct about the Man-Kzin Wars, the setting has a not very well disguised version of the Kzin in the Aslan (think bipedal, honor obsessed, warlike, intelligent Lions). The Hivers are a little like the Puppeteers too. Some of the backstory of the setting has a passing resemblance to the Known Space backstory, with stasis globes and so on. It wouldn't be that hard to use the system to do the entire Known Space setting.
There's also a little bit of Poul Anderson (the Vargyr especially).
__________________ I don't know if I would consider being smashed into a pulp by a giant mace to be a "good result".
I think cT Book 0 is both a decent introduction to Traveller and to the hobby in general.
One of the great things about cT, IMHO, is the modularity. There’s an awful lot of rules, but you can use as many or as few of them as are applicable to the current situation.
__________________ (^_^)
Anything I type is only my opinion unless explicitly stated otherwise, which should go without saying. Please assume that I've left out a smiley after every sentence. Thank you.
A very nice summary of Traveller there Shades of Green. I'm having a pleasant wander down memory lane. But I wish you hadn't put in that link to the Classic Traveller CD Rom. Am fighting urge to reach for credit card...
__________________ Just making it up as I go along.
A very nice summary of Traveller there Shades of Green.
Thank you for your kind words
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrunkonDuty
But I wish you hadn't put in that link to the Classic Traveller CD Rom. Am fighting urge to reach for credit card...
It's a very good product at a very low price compared to its scope of contents - it gives you ALMOST ANYTHING ever published for CT. However, if you want to play Traveller and have limited funds, I'd recommend the Mongoose book instead; its a modernized version of CT and is very well done.
__________________ In space, everyone can hear you pump the 12-gauge.
- Korgoth about Classic Traveller
Well thanks to you all! I ordered a copy of Mongoose Traveller. I'm not sure when exactly I will be able to get a game of it started, but I know there is some interest in it with my group. So after our current game we'll give it a whirl. I'll probably be back here as I read and digest the book when I get it and have more specific questions than "is it fun?!"
The best favor you can do yourself with regards to Traveller is to find and pick up everything done by Digest Group, who did a magazine and several adventure books for Megatraveller. The magazines contain massive amounts of cool info on the Third Imperium and shed light on several areas of the background. Their Starship Operator's Manual made Traveller starships come to life for me with detailed descriptions of just what a ship was like and how it operated.
The best favor you can do yourself with regards to Traveller is to find and pick up everything done by Digest Group, who did a magazine and several adventure books for Megatraveller. The magazines contain massive amounts of cool info on the Third Imperium and shed light on several areas of the background. Their Starship Operator's Manual made Traveller starships come to life for me with detailed descriptions of just what a ship was like and how it operated.
There all out of print and it would cost an arm and a leg lol
Some of the material is in the GURPS Traveller books like the Alien books and the Rim of Fire book.
Mike
__________________ "I am a Ranger. We walk in the dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass. We live for The One. We die for The One." Marcus, Babylon 5
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