Traveller RPG (Looking for Opinions)

[MGibster]

I've got an itch to run a science fiction campaign, and while I'm not looking for something so fantastic as Star Trek or Star Wars I'm okay with FTL and artificial gravity. I've got my sights on Traveller 2nd edition by Mongoose Publishing. For a game that's been around in one form or another since 1977 there's a dearth of videos about it on YouTube. And the ones I did find were mostly by Seth Skorkowsky though at least they're very good. As the thread title states, I'm looking for opinions from people who have experience with Traveller. Any edition of the game will do.

Odds are good my campaign will revolve around free traders and I figure the PCs won't actually own their own ship outright. So I'll want them to have a to float a monthly ship payment on top of paying upkeep, salaries, and any miscellaneous expenses that will pop up from time-to-time. I've got two concerns about this. The first is making sure the PCs are actually make enough money to keep themselves afloat. I had a hard time with games like Shadowrun where it seemed like the PCs never really made enough nuyen to even make running worthwhile. Is there a good chance of that happening in Traveller as well? My second concern is that I don't really want to role play every single cargo run or minor job they do to make bank as I want to focus on the ones that make for fun adventures. Does the game have options for handling jobs to generate income outside of normal game play?

I plan on using the standard setting from the current edition of the game. It looks like I'll be able to add things to it as I see fit especially since none of my players have any experience with any edition of the game. I'll probably limit character species to the various flavors of humanti. So, anyone have any tips or suggestions for running a Traveller game?

 

[Derren]

The players not totally owning their ship and having to do monthly payments, both for upkeep and as mortgage is actually the default assumption in Traveller.
But unlike Shadowrun there is no wealth guideline or advice on how much should they make for each mission (or what a mission actually is).
It does have a trading system which lets you buy and sell cargo based on skill rolls and so make a profit or they can also take on passengers, transport mail, etc. So yes, there is background income.
Keep in mind though that in Traveller time passes quickly.

With the right skills this background income can actually become quite lucrative, so you might to make sure that you increase the difficulty of the rolls a bit when a player happens to be an expert trader.

Traveller is huge, so people usually do not notice if you use the official setting or not as long as you stay away from the famous planets. So feel free to make stuff up as you see fit.
Be aware that initial character creation takes a long time and is a game in itself. So you probably end up having a entire character creation session when your players are new.
Traveller is special as the player does not have a lot of influence in how his character is build and can end up with a very different character than what he had in mind. Be sure that your players are ok with that (as progression in Traveller is nearly exclusively through gear and not to skill gain). If not look if you find some houseruled character creation somewhere.

Also, the stuff from 1st Edition of Mongoose is more or less still compatible so if you really want to go into a specific direction you can get the splatbook and be able to use most of the stuff in there.

And be sure that your players understand how FTL in Traveller works. I am always surprised how difficult it is for some people to wrap their head around non "warp" space travel.

 

[dragoner]

I played and ran mong 1e from 2009 until last year, I found it was handy to have the classic rules around because it is incomplete in a lot of places, though I doubt I will play it again. I have been running a Classic Traveller game, though with some changes to make it harder SF, and in my own setting. Each iteration does it's own sort of trading (arbitrage) game, the players have been doing some trade as well as piracy to get by; and I too find myself glossing over the details. One of the players is into it and keeps the records for the trade deals, and if that makes them happy, then I am happy. Years ago someone released a generator for m 1e, that had trade stuff on it, otherwise I found it too fiddly; classic is like a page, which is more to my liking, or attention span.

Classic starter is here, for free: CT-ST-Starter Traveller - Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) | Classic Traveller | DriveThruRPG.com

I think with any iteration, it will take some working with, or modification to get exactly what you want.

 

[Eltab]

The basic rulebook offers rules that keep you at break -even, with a chance at a flashy load to bring in cash.
The Merchant Prince supplement offers a trade system that can be used to generate predictable income, if you are willing to travel a loop repeatedly.

Does your group want to wander, or stick to a finite area?

 

[Parmandur]

I would suggest planning your campaign after character creation... it's possible for them to get ship ownership, partial or entire, if they roll right.

 

[MGibster]

It does have a trading system which lets you buy and sell cargo based on skill rolls and so make a profit or they can also take on passengers, transport mail, etc. So yes, there is background income. Keep in mind though that in Traveller time passes quickly.

Yeah, it looks like it's going to take them at least a week or two to jump anywhere plus at least 2-3 days to land on a planet. I imagine we'll determine out how much it cost to to pay their ship note, maintenance cost, fuel,docking fees, and crew salaries and figure out how much they need to charge from there.

Be aware that initial character creation takes a long time and is a game in itself. So you probably end up having a entire character creation session when your players are new.

I'm looking forward to this. I have mixed feelings about the random character generation, I don't use them in any other game, but on the other hand rolling up a character is almost a game unto itself.

And be sure that your players understand how FTL in Traveller works. I am always surprised how difficult it is for some people to wrap their head around non "warp" space travel.

I suspect the biggest problem is explaining that it's not like Star Wars.

Does your group want to wander, or stick to a finite area?

We're in the middle of a D&D campaign so I haven't even pitched the idea to them yet. I imagine I'll set the game in a specific sector, set them up on a home base planet, and branch out from there as everyone gets more familiar with the game.

I would suggest planning your campaign after character creation... it's possible for them to get ship ownership, partial or entire, if they roll right.

That's a good point. I don't want to plan it out too much but I generally like for them to have an idea of what direction the campaign is going in. If they start out with their own ship, great. If they don't, I can have them be part of a free trader crew. I've got a few scenario ideas in my head.

Each iteration does it's own sort of trading (arbitrage) game, the players have been doing some trade as well as piracy to get by; and I too find myself glossing over the details.

I don't think I'm going to make them keep track of life support costs. That seems a bit tedious. I do have some players who really enjoy keeping track of "treasure" and doing what they can to upgrade their ship. Personally, I prefer to gloss over the details much of the time.

 

[aramis erak]

It's quite possible to wind up with a party incompatible with a trader game. Think firefly, but even less competent overall.

Traveller's default assumptions for PC's is that they've exited the daily job phase of life. The rules tend to provide more interesting bits in merchant shipping and in mercenary type games, but really, it's a fairly generic space opera genre game. It's harder SF than most TV space opera (Trek, Orville, Disney Star Wars), more on par with the various Stargate series. It took no modifications to use CT nor MT for active duty OTU military games, for troubleshooters for hire games (think Leverage, The A-Team, or Magnum PI), merchant shippers of both sizes (Small tramps and large ship crews), even for criminals on the run.

Note that all of the non-mongoose editions are available on CD or thumb drive from FarFuture.net. Including the Hero System 5th ed version and the GURPS version.

Each system in the line has its fans (tho' 4th ed's fans seem scarcest), T5 isn't a good start point for anyone...
Classic: no unified actions mechanic. table driven combat system for personal combat, Speculative Trade module in core, bulk hauler rules in supplement. gear to TL15. (Some gear to TL18 in supplements) Alternate combat systems in boardgames and the minis game. Integration not seamless, but not hard. Combat attack actions are 2d6+Skill+AttMod for 8+

MegaTraveller (Abbr. to "MT"): unified action mechanic, called the "Task System". 2d6+AssetA+AssetB vs 3/7/11/15/19 + (simple, routine, difficult, formidable, impossible - way to remember it? A character with Attribute 6 and skill 1 can do the simple in 10 units of listed time, routine nigh automatically at 20 units or with good odds in 10 units. They have a high failure rate at Difficult, can't hit formidable without taking the extra time, and even with extra time, can't do the Impossible.) Allows more choices in Character Gen. Uses the Book 7 Merchant Prince trade system from CT as the corebook one. Merchant games become EXTREMELY hard...

Traveller The New Era: the setting reset via an AI Computer Virus...
Different task mechanics: 1d20≤((Att+Skill)× DifficultyMultiplier). Difficult is ×1, routine is ×2 and formidable is ×1/2; I'm too lazy to look up the other two. Same mechanics as Twilight:2000 2.2 and Dark Conspiracy, Core includes no vehicle design of either kind. Skill levels about 1.5x those in CT, and 1.3x those in MT.

T4: Mark Miller's Traveller: set in the past of the other editions. First Post-GDW edition. task system 1.5/2/2.5/3/3.5/4 d6 for ≤ Att+Skill. Skill levels about 4x those of CT. Simple/Routine/Difficult/Formidable/staggering/Impossible are the labels.
Errata moved it to 1.5/2/3/4/5/6 d6. The undid that.
Then added "If skill < dice, add 1d to difficulty" calling that the "Harder than it looks" rule.
The consolidated errata makes it 1.5/2/2.5/3/4/5 & Harder than it looks
Thus a routine task for a guy with Att 7 (the average) and 1 skill is 3d ≤ 8, but a simple check is 1.5d ≤ 8. For Att 7 skill 2 (the expected for competentcy) routine is 2d6 ≤ 9...

T5 uses the same values as T4, but officially removes an upper limit on task difficulties... still, the core levels are labeled the same... but are 1d/2d/3d/4d/5d/6d/7d/8d for Easy/Average/Difficult/Formidable/Staggering/Hopeless/Impossible/Beyond Impossible; again, This is hard applies, and Easy requires no roll if the character is skilled, even if their attribute is below 6. It's Xd6 ≤ Characteristic + Skill+mods1+Mods2

T20: Traveller's Handbook is a d20 version - atts scale per D&D, ACs are low because they don't include armor, armor reduces lifeblood damage. It uses a CT Bk2 Trade System variant for the trade system, and a CT Bk5 variant for then ship construction...

The Hero System version is a set of books for adapting 5E Hero System to do Traveller.

GURPS Traveller was an extensive line of supplements for GURPS to do the OTU setting, but it can be used just as well for other traveller settings. The license ended, and no new products are coming, but the existing ones are available on the CDs.

Mongoose Traveller is a different core system, skill levels tend to be slightly higher than in CT, a unified task system but not one that uses the same steps as MT (which said, those same steps were used in T:2300 and 2300AD - versions 1 and 2 of the same game, btw).... Where it has lacks, CT is easily enough imported...

MGT2E - reduces the combat skills, and a number of other changes, basically for Edition Churn.

2300 AD (initial release was called Traveller:2300) - uses 1d10 instead of 2d6 for the same task system overall as MegaTraveller. Incompatible combat mechanics to the others, too.

Note that every edition has different ratings for weapons and damage from every other edition, including the change from the 1st edition CT to 2nd edition CT (1981 and later printings)

I loved MT and 2300, but I can't bring myself to run MT anymore due to the excess details in many places I don't want them: Ship Construction and Ship Combat, and I don't like the HG bulk freight rules.

I'm fond of the MGT1 trade rules, but not the rest of the system. MGT2 added nothing I liked, and did away with the details in the few places I wanted them...

And for full disclosure... I playtested T20, MGT1E, and have been involved in the T5 process... I participated in the MGT2 playtest but was not credited to my knowledge. I also am the lead admin for the official traveller boards.

Note: if you want thumb-drive instead of CD when ordering from FFE, make note of that in the notes to shipper.

 

[MGibster]

It's quite possible to wind up with a party incompatible with a trader game. Think firefly, but even less competent overall.

I can certainly be flexible. I don't think all my players would like something as structured as a straight up military campaign, but scouting, cyberpunk style corporate espionage, or maybe a little bounty hunting or piracy. I've ordered the 2nd edition of Mongoose Traveller.

 

[Derren]

I can certainly be flexible. I don't think all my players would like something as structured as a straight up military campaign, but scouting, cyberpunk style corporate espionage, or maybe a little bounty hunting or piracy. I've ordered the 2nd edition of Mongoose Traveller.

Yes, but as I said the players do not have as much influence on character creation as in other RPGs. They might decide that they want to be a trader or soldier, but the dice might say no to that.

 

[MGibster]

Yes, but as I said the players do not have as much influence on character creation as in other RPGs. They might decide that they want to be a trader or soldier, but the dice might say no to that.

I understand that. What I mean about being flexible is that I've got to be able to adapt the campaign based on what the PCs are actually capable of.