Insight
Adventurer
Yeah, in GURPS, the strategy is "don't get hit". That goes for pretty much everyone except maybe Supers.
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Leif's DISCONTINUED GURPS Traveller Game OOC01
- Thread starter Leif
- Start date
Yeah, in GURPS, the strategy is "don't get hit". That goes for pretty much everyone except maybe Supers.
Well, in GURPS 3rd Edition, armor DOES make you harder to hit. 
It has Passive Defense, which can add to your attempts to evade attacks, or give a chance to avoid attacks passively (though it's a hail mary roll in that case).
Plus, high tech armors have pretty high DR ratings. That's less true in Traveller unless you're military, but in standard GURPS Ultra-Tech, by the time you see blasters, you've also got access to bioplastic clothes that have DR 15...and they're not even really considered armor!
In Traveller, your defensive options are much more limited...which is one reason you also don't see the full range of Ultra-Tech weapons reprinted in the Traveller books. The other reason being that they were never part of the Traveller universe to start with.
It has Passive Defense, which can add to your attempts to evade attacks, or give a chance to avoid attacks passively (though it's a hail mary roll in that case). Plus, high tech armors have pretty high DR ratings. That's less true in Traveller unless you're military, but in standard GURPS Ultra-Tech, by the time you see blasters, you've also got access to bioplastic clothes that have DR 15...and they're not even really considered armor!
In Traveller, your defensive options are much more limited...which is one reason you also don't see the full range of Ultra-Tech weapons reprinted in the Traveller books. The other reason being that they were never part of the Traveller universe to start with.
Insight
Adventurer
I used TL 10 as a hard limit for my equipment, with the exception of a few items or modifications Doc could have "invented" himself (TL 11 and no higher).
Leif
Adventurer
Since you 'fudged' and went to TL 11 for some things, I guess everyone else can, too. Just make sure that any of your TL 11 goodies are rare and very special to your characters, because well, they should be!
I checked, I checked! Coolness! He's kind of a cross between House and Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce, isn't he?
Incidentally, why is he missing some health?
Insight
Adventurer
Doc has the "Extra Hit Points +1" advantage, so his HT is 11, but his "hit points" are 12.
Leif
Adventurer
We seem to have encountered our first major problem, and, unlikely as it may seem, it's that the party has more starships than they need! Shayuri is purchasing a FreeTrader, and Doc Hannigan has his own personal ship. (Maybe a yacht of sorts, *shrug* not really sure at the moment.) Any proposed resolution of this difficulty will be appreciated and duly considered.
grufflehead
First Post
Returned from the wilderness so a good point to chip in...
Although I haven't played much SF in my long gaming career, any 'Traveller-type' games I have played have always had a strange sort of economics to them. Wealth seems to work on a log scale in that you can buy all your usual 'adventuring' gear fairly cheaply (even progressing up to fancy lasers and battle armour) but unless the game has started with the group having their own craft, then the MASSIVE cost of not only buying, but running, a starship just dwarfs everything else to the point that we've always usually come by ships by plot device. Plus, once you've got one, given how hugely expensive they are, if you can get another one then you could practically buy a small continent on a nice warm planet somewhere by selling it off. Someone made the comment about not getting hit being the strategy for GURPS combat - last game like this I played our ship had no guns, shields or armour, so whenever we detected another ship we just ran on general principles; the risk of getting into a fight was just too much to take!
So, I'd say decide on which ship you want us to be on. If it's been given to us by a patron or for some other reason, just ask other people not to bother buying their own craft other than for flavour reasons ('we've got 2 weeks off so I'm going to spend some time on my boat...'). Otherwise, unless money is going to play a significant part in events (in one game we were literally having to take cargo with enough value to be able to afford to buy fuel - a la Serenity - money was *that* tight) then if Shayuri's character concept is served by having a ship, then go that route. How did the character get it (not being familiar with the GURPS Traveller version) - is it a mustering out thing, or did he buy it (in which case, I presume that's a whole lot of character points into Wealth to be able to afford it)?
From my character's POV, the difference will be whether Shayuri's character has hired him as an engineer previously because it is his ship, or whether we have been thrown together as 'crew' on behalf of a patron. This, I assume, will have a bearing on how the game works. If the ship is supplied, the patron can direct us on 'jobs' which allows for the element of 'you're doing it because I tell you you're doing it' in the plots; that can still happen if one of the characters owns the ship and we are some sort of company with a letter of marque from a patron, but it may also open up other avenues, for example the 'we're so short of money we're just going to *have* to take this job' type of thing. How does that square with what you had in mind, Leif?
Although I haven't played much SF in my long gaming career, any 'Traveller-type' games I have played have always had a strange sort of economics to them. Wealth seems to work on a log scale in that you can buy all your usual 'adventuring' gear fairly cheaply (even progressing up to fancy lasers and battle armour) but unless the game has started with the group having their own craft, then the MASSIVE cost of not only buying, but running, a starship just dwarfs everything else to the point that we've always usually come by ships by plot device. Plus, once you've got one, given how hugely expensive they are, if you can get another one then you could practically buy a small continent on a nice warm planet somewhere by selling it off. Someone made the comment about not getting hit being the strategy for GURPS combat - last game like this I played our ship had no guns, shields or armour, so whenever we detected another ship we just ran on general principles; the risk of getting into a fight was just too much to take!
So, I'd say decide on which ship you want us to be on. If it's been given to us by a patron or for some other reason, just ask other people not to bother buying their own craft other than for flavour reasons ('we've got 2 weeks off so I'm going to spend some time on my boat...'). Otherwise, unless money is going to play a significant part in events (in one game we were literally having to take cargo with enough value to be able to afford to buy fuel - a la Serenity - money was *that* tight) then if Shayuri's character concept is served by having a ship, then go that route. How did the character get it (not being familiar with the GURPS Traveller version) - is it a mustering out thing, or did he buy it (in which case, I presume that's a whole lot of character points into Wealth to be able to afford it)?
From my character's POV, the difference will be whether Shayuri's character has hired him as an engineer previously because it is his ship, or whether we have been thrown together as 'crew' on behalf of a patron. This, I assume, will have a bearing on how the game works. If the ship is supplied, the patron can direct us on 'jobs' which allows for the element of 'you're doing it because I tell you you're doing it' in the plots; that can still happen if one of the characters owns the ship and we are some sort of company with a letter of marque from a patron, but it may also open up other avenues, for example the 'we're so short of money we're just going to *have* to take this job' type of thing. How does that square with what you had in mind, Leif?
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