Sell me on Traveller

[pemerton]

I find the tech differential from planet to planet based on the in-universe history and logistics one of the more fascinating parts.

To me it suggests a "civilisation" in decline - eg all these TL 6 to 8 worlds with corrosive atmospheres suggest they once had the capacity to do something (control weather, maintain domes, whatever it might be) that now is lost.

 

[Parmandur]

To me it suggests a "civilisation" in decline - eg all these TL 6 to 8 worlds with corrosive atmospheres suggest they once had the capacity to do something (control weather, maintain domes, whatever it might be) that now is lost.

Yeah, a reasonable deduction, supported in the fiction.

 

[payn]

Yeah, a reasonable deduction, supported in the fiction.

It also makes adventuring interesting when not every civilization within reach has exactly the same tech and culture. The most fun comes from discovering the diversity to be had in a galaxy. You know, getting out and travelling!

 

[payn]

I gotta say, I really wish I was playing some Traveller right now. I always end up the Ref.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I gotta say, I really wish I was playing some Traveller right now. I always end up the Ref.

I tried to play it this weekend at GenCon Online, but the $0 sign-up fee meant every player but me flaked, so it was just me and the ref sadly sighing.

 

[payn]

I tried to play it this weekend at GenCon Online, but the $0 sign-up fee meant every player but me flaked, so it was just me and the ref sadly sighing.

Is that common?

 

[Panzeh]

Is that common?

That'll happen a lot- people will sign up on a lark and forget about it because it costs nothing and is totally online.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wrestled with setting a fee on the GenCon Online game I ran this weekend and ended up setting it to the default ($2). I only had one no-show out of six people who signed up, which was good.

If I do a game next year, I'll probably set it a dollar or two above that, to make sure people commit. My game sold out in 15 minutes, and it's irritating that the person who blew it off took away a spot that someone else probably would have wanted.

 

[MGibster]

I'm curious, for those players who come to the table with pages of background already, are there options to directly choose portions of the character generation to match the character they had in their head, or is that sort of thing discouraged and against the spirit of how the game is set up?

If you have a player whose really likes to create the character they've envisoned in their head, then Traveller might not be their game. Even the type of planet you grew up on is rolled randomly. You can try to push your character down a certain path in regards to education and career, but at any time one die roll can radically alter your character's trajectory. I haven't played yet, but made several characters just to get the hang of it and got some wild results.

1. I ended up with a psychic.
2. I tried to push a character into engineering, and was somewhat successful, but he ended up with a 3 in the melee (knife) skill and a 4 in Steward. In this context, a steward attends to the needs of passengers on the ship. With a 4, my character was a space butler on par with Jarvis or Alfred.
3. I ended up with a convict in his 70s by the time I rolled to get out of prison.
4. A high ranking retired military officer with his own scout ship. I just kept rolling promotion after promotion.

 

[Parmandur]

If you have a player whose really likes to create the character they've envisoned in their head, then Traveller might not be their game. Even the type of planet you grew up on is rolled randomly. You can try to push your character down a certain path in regards to education and career, but at any time one die roll can radically alter your character's trajectory. I haven't played yet, but made several characters just to get the hang of it and got some wild results.

1. I ended up with a psychic.
2. I tried to push a character into engineering, and was somewhat successful, but he ended up with a 3 in the melee (knife) skill and a 4 in Steward. In this context, a steward attends to the needs of passengers on the ship. With a 4, my character was a space butler on par with Jarvis or Alfred.
3. I ended up with a convict in his 70s by the time I rolled to get out of prison.
4. A high ranking retired military officer with his own scout ship. I just kept rolling promotion after promotion.

2 and 4 seem to go together weirdly well.