Can you tell me more about Traveller? (Forked Thread: Space RPGs?)

[Vague Jayhawk]

Wonderful explanation of Traveler. I could have not done better.

 

[Shades of Green]

Wonderful explanation of Traveler. I could have not done better.

Thanks for the kind words

 

[dmccoy1693]

Several plus sides of Mongoose Traveller:
Alternate Settings Mongoose plans to release books for Babylon 5, Judge Dredd, and Stranium Dogg with Traveller rules. I believe that Starship Troopers will be released as well.

OGL and Logo License Mongoose released the base system in an SRD and has a compatability logo license for it that affords 3rd party companies a quality deal. So if you're looking for something niche, try talking a 3PP into doing something with it. There is one 3PP with product out, another scheduled to release their first product in the next month, and I've heard rumors of another coming out in a few months.

Flaming Cobra Avenger Games has a license to product OTU material through flaming cobra. So they're covering areas to small for Mongoose to profitibly handle (like adventures). Mongoose may let other companies do the same, but its unclear how many will.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I like original (LBB) Traveller a lot. Flavorwise its perfect for playing in the genre of Andre Norton's SF, books such as The Zero Stone, Uncharted Stars, and Moon of Three Rings Those are among my favorite books ever, so I think it's a great game. I liked the character generation mini-game, including the die-during-creation part. That said the rules were a bit on the weak side and the setting information was scant.

I've heard really good things about Mongoose's version but haven't played it.

 

[Shades of Green]

Another cool thing you could do in a Traveller trading campaign (one of the commonest types of Traveller sandbox) is to use the trade system as a random adventure-hook generator. When the PCs end up buying speculative trade goods at 50% or less of the market price, or find a buyer willing to pay 150% or more of the market price, something's probably afoot.

Think about that - the majority of trade between well-settled worlds is probably done by the megacorporations, buying and selling massive amounts of goods at prices close to the market price. Free (tramp) Traders get the scraps from this system - whether that is a cargo left behind when the corporate megafreighter has left, buyers who want something *NOW* with minimal paperwork, and sellers who want to get rid of goods as fast as they can.

For example, someone willing to pay 400% (the maximum in CT) or a ton of Radioactives looks like a great plot hook to me, as does someone selling a few military vehicles (or even a few tons of robots) at 50% of the listed price. Just think of the buyer's or the seller's motive for accepting a seemingly unprofitable deal like that...

 

[Storm Raven]

I like original (LBB) Traveller a lot. Flavorwise its perfect for playing in the genre of Andre Norton's SF, books such as The Zero Stone, Uncharted Stars, and Moon of Three Rings Those are among my favorite books ever, so I think it's a great game.

The setting for Traveller was clearly heavily influenced by a number of "Golden Age" science fiction authors, plus a handful of others who carried on the same style despite writing in a later era (such as Niven and Pournelle).

The setting owes a lot to Andre Norton (interstellar megacorporations and tramp "free traders" operating in their shadows, with organized space pirates and a "patrol" to combat them), Robert Heinlein (for example, the use of powered armor coupled with justifications for the use of archaic hand to hand weapons and other military technology), Isaac Asimov (the Vilani Empire seems to be very much influenced by the galaxy wide empire of the Foundation books and related works, including the anti-telepathy paranoia), Larry Niven (The Aslan and Hivers seem to be heavily influenced by the Kzin and Puppeteers, plus superscience elements such as the stasis globes), Poul Anderson (some races, such as the Vargyr, appear to be lifted from his works, plus the clash of star spanning empires).

Basically, if you go through the works of most classic science fiction authors, you can come up with literally hundreds of adventure and campaign ideas for the Traveller setting.

 

[Woas]

I have some speculative questions on combat. In some of my cruisers around the huge amount of Traveller resources I've found on web I have noted that combat (especially 'face to face' gun/melee combat) and just being hurt in general from mishaps during a characters life can rapidly becomea bad situation and is rather deadly in general -more so than you find in a typical D&D game or other RPGs. With characters that have shares/mortgages/part ownership in very expensive and important aspects of the game (like the teams spacecraft) how much does a character death put gum in the works? What happens to those shares/mortgages when a char dies?

I guess thats a little disorganized. Since I'm still without book, I'm really just wondering in general "How's that stuff all work?!"

 

[Shades of Green]

I have some speculative questions on combat. In some of my cruisers around the huge amount of Traveller resources I've found on web I have noted that combat (especially 'face to face' gun/melee combat) and just being hurt in general from mishaps during a characters life can rapidly becomea bad situation and is rather deadly in general -more so than you find in a typical D&D game or other RPGs. With characters that have shares/mortgages/part ownership in very expensive and important aspects of the game (like the teams spacecraft) how much does a character death put gum in the works? What happens to those shares/mortgages when a char dies?

Yes, combat is far more lethal than in D&D. While it in the Mongoose version it isn't as deadly as in real life (one gunshot would rarely kill you), it is still very deadly for an RPG (two or three his would possibly kill you). Players would have to pick their fights and use tactics (cover, ambushes, surprise, sniping positions) to survive.

Regarding ship shares, one idea is to let the character have a will, so that in the case he dies another person (the new character - relative or acquaintance of the old one) would get the share and the money.

 

[Korgoth]

A lot of people have some interest in the Third Imperium setting for Traveller. Personally, what attracts me to Traveller is not the setting, but the original rules (Classic Traveller, specifically the original 3 LBBs).

The game contained therein is one of modest scale (no space battleships or supertech) and light rules (there's no universal task resolution system: outside of combat the Ref just sets the target number for rolls on the fly, and sets modifiers on the fly... so you can come up with your own task system or go purely on spot rulings if you like).

I find it very liberating.

 

[Woas]

I actually am not too interested in the Third Imperium setting either. As someone who just a week ago never knew that Traveller existed, the amount of information is just too much for me. The combination of this huge established setting to sift through and my own inclinations for creations (I'll admit it I am a homebrewer at heart when it comes to RPGs and settings) I don't have much need for the Third Imperium info.


In the other thread this one forked from, you mentioned you wouldn't touch the Mongoose version of Traveller. Any particular reasons why or just because it comes without as many 'strings attached'? Is the resolution system in CT still 2d6+abilites+skills+/-modifiers?