Leif's DISCONTINUED GURPS Traveller Game, Recruiting Thread

[grufflehead]

I was thinking the grunts would be just that - guys (possibly in power armour) who fire big weapons at people or blow stuff up. Admittedly if they survived, they would inevitably start to take on some personality, but if they were 100 pt characters instead of our 200 pt 'stars' then I wouldn't see the attraction of playing them in preference.

Other advantages to having them would be - although they aren't completely expendable - if the situation warrants a big firefight, then there's less 'pressure' not to accidentally kill off a major cast member. Yes, that sort of thing adds drama, but this is one of the areas where I'm of the opinion that films/books/TV shows and the *games* of those settings diverge in that what is dramatic and memorable in the show, might require taking control out of the hands of the players, which is generally not done in rpgs. Rather than having the PCs 'always win', maybe this offers opportunities for heroic sacrifice and/or failure with less possbility of having the whole game disappear down the wormhole because some long terms plots or hooks that the GM has carefully crafted go with the character.

Don't know, just braindumping now so feel free to ignore rambling

 

[Insight]

Since Doc is next to useless in a fight, I wouldn't mind playing a "marine" or something if we have to do extended combat missions. Or swapping back and forth.

 

[Shayuri]

Hmm. I rather liked the idea of a smaller ship and crew. Having a cast of redshirts (albeit ones that may become more) detracts from the thrill of the game. Plus, it doesn't make sense for the premise. If you're going to send in a frigate or cruiser, loaded down with a full complement of Marines, why bother outsourcing? It certainly won't be subtle. Just make it an official project of the Consulate, fully backed by the military.

My impression was that we were supposed to be -quietly- poking around, looking for leads and such...and the Consulate's official position on the subject was essentially 'no comment.'

That said, if we decide we want a Space Marines game, I'm up for that too.

 

[grufflehead]

I'm good with a smaller ship too. But there'll be 2 of us (at least) who are non-combatant so if we get into a firefight we might be in trouble. I guess with 4, maybe 5 players, we're struggling to crew an entire ship - is 200 pts enough for us all to be multi-functional (not knowing enough about the game system)?

I certainly had no plans of having any combat skills at all, and neither does the doc from the sound of it.

 

[Insight]

I'm good with a smaller ship too. But there'll be 2 of us (at least) who are non-combatant so if we get into a firefight we might be in trouble. I guess with 4, maybe 5 players, we're struggling to crew an entire ship - is 200 pts enough for us all to be multi-functional (not knowing enough about the game system)?

I certainly had no plans of having any combat skills at all, and neither does the doc from the sound of it.

I've built Doc already, so I can tell you what I was able to do with 200pts.

He can handle a gun, but he's not terribly skilled at it. He can also fly a spaceship, but more for personal travel than big ships like ours. He is very skilled in Physician, Surgery, Diagnosis, and so forth, which is pretty obvious given his role. Due to his interests in cyberware and biotech, Doc is also very skilled in engineering, electronics, armory, and even biochem. So, he covers some of the "science" backup. He can also backup as ship's engineer, but I hope that never comes into play! Especially if he's had a few shots of whiskey!

 

[Scotley]

Scotley hasn't chimed in with any character ideas yet. As it is *his* game (or at least his suggestion) then I'm going to hold off making any more developments so as to minimise the chance of stepping on any of his ideas. And if he was set on an engineer type, then I'll come up with another idea.

Don't let me hold anyone up. I'm thinking Zhodani with Psi powers and some communication and ships weapons skills for his crew duties since that niche seems unfilled at this point. He'll have some talent for computers as well.

I've got a lot of studying to do to make this happen as my Traveller experience is 30 years out of date and my GURPS experience is virtually nil. I do have 60 GURPS and Traveller books to peruse and I'm making my way through them as fast as I can.

 

[grufflehead]

Doc is also very skilled in engineering, electronics, armory, and even biochem.

Care to define 'very skilled'? I don't have much of a feel for levels of competence in a 200 pt game. Is 14- good enough or would you expect a specialist to be better than that?

What sort of engineering does Doc do? Looks like one that you have to specialise in so a potential points sink.

As a matter of interest, who is our diplomat/negotiator as that seems like another niche we probably want to fill.

If I throw some ideas out can someone help me with the numbers if I'm struggling?

 

[Insight]

Care to define 'very skilled'? I don't have much of a feel for levels of competence in a 200 pt game. Is 14- good enough or would you expect a specialist to be better than that?

I would say 14 or 15 would be considered "very skilled" or "expert". Anything higher than that is likely to come with diminishing returns; the points spent on getting a skill higher than 15 isnt worth the slightly increased chance of making super-high rolls, if that even ever comes up.

What sort of engineering does Doc do? Looks like one that you have to specialise in so a potential points sink.

Engineer-Cyberware and Electronics-Cyberware, mostly. Oh, also Armory-Cyberware. The specialist skills generally default to each other with some sort of penalty, so Doc can do other things, just not as well.

If I throw some ideas out can someone help me with the numbers if I'm struggling?

I'm certainly willing to help out if you need game-related assistance.

 

[Insight]

By the way, Doc, despite being human, is well-versed in both Zhodani and Vargyr languages and physiologies. I think that would make him a natural choice for this crew, despite that he probably sticks out like a sore tentacle. Or whatever you wierdos have

 

[Shayuri]

Hee. Zhodani are human too, actually. They look just like anyone else.

One could be next to you RIGHT NOW.

@_@