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Classic Traveller - a dice-driven game
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7302543" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>No. (Maybe this is a rule in MegaTraveller?)</p><p></p><p>The roll to learn from an Instructor is modified by high INT. The roll to do physical self-improvement is modified by low INT (which one of my players, who has a PhD but also enjoys physical activity, was a bit outraged by). The other rolls are unmodified in the rules, though I have introduced DMs similar to those for Instruction to apply for a sabbatical success roll.</p><p></p><p>But none of my players tried for sabbatical (it costs too much and takes too long, at least at this stage of the campaign), and none tried for physical improvement either, deciding (based on a few sessions' experience) it was better to try and pump skills.</p><p></p><p>I don't have any issue with the probabilities. I just find it very striking compared to other systems. (I can't remember how training in RQ works - does it require making a roll over the skill bonus?)</p><p></p><p>Like I posted, I haven't used the random sector rules - I'm placing my random planets in a way that (I think/hope) supports the unfolding action.</p><p></p><p>I also have written up two non-random planets (one actually a huge space station), adapted from two Space Master modules, and have provisionally placed them on my emerging star chart, but they haven't come up in play yet and so their existence and location are not yet established as part of the campaign backstory.</p><p></p><p>But I think using those random processes is a big part of what makes Traveller the game that it is!</p><p></p><p>Ron Edwards <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/15/" target="_blank">wrote this</a> about Traveller, under the heading "Setting-creation and universe-play mechanisms":</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Another derivation of the Purist for System approach brings the Setting creation process directly into play itself. The System-driven elements of the Setting are as "active" as any particular character might be, during play as well as during preparation. Basically, the setting is played, even created, as a part of regular play. </p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Boink! I just realized that the original Traveller, or at least one way to play it, represents an example of this approach. Star system and planet creation are written right into the process of play, such that adventures and missions become not only a means of enjoying and improving characters, but also a means of enjoying and basically mapping the game-space. This is very distinct from later versions of Traveller, which were emphatically High Concept with a Setting emphasis. . . .</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">This mode of play is not merely creating more setting through preparation as play progresses. It relies on doing so in a system-driven fashion much like character creation, carried out as an overt or near-overt part of actual play. </p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">It's a pretty rare form of play and design, probably because the economics of splat-book publishing overwhelmed the hobby, and Traveller itself, from the mid-1980s onwards.</p><p></p><p>In my Traveller game, my non-random, non-procedural placement of the worlds is a departure from the pure form of what Edwards describes, but the game is still a lot closer to that pure form than any other system I've run. (I guess some people run AD&D a bit like this - that's in part what "Gygaxian naturalism" is meant to be about - but personally I can't see how it would work. <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?510873-Played-AD-amp-D-yesterday-(using-Appendix-A-for-a-random-dungeon)" target="_blank">I ran some random dungeon generation AD&D about a year ago</a>, and it doesn't have anything like the same robustness in content-generation as Traveller has shown over the course of four sessions so far.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7302543, member: 42582"] No. (Maybe this is a rule in MegaTraveller?) The roll to learn from an Instructor is modified by high INT. The roll to do physical self-improvement is modified by low INT (which one of my players, who has a PhD but also enjoys physical activity, was a bit outraged by). The other rolls are unmodified in the rules, though I have introduced DMs similar to those for Instruction to apply for a sabbatical success roll. But none of my players tried for sabbatical (it costs too much and takes too long, at least at this stage of the campaign), and none tried for physical improvement either, deciding (based on a few sessions' experience) it was better to try and pump skills. I don't have any issue with the probabilities. I just find it very striking compared to other systems. (I can't remember how training in RQ works - does it require making a roll over the skill bonus?) Like I posted, I haven't used the random sector rules - I'm placing my random planets in a way that (I think/hope) supports the unfolding action. I also have written up two non-random planets (one actually a huge space station), adapted from two Space Master modules, and have provisionally placed them on my emerging star chart, but they haven't come up in play yet and so their existence and location are not yet established as part of the campaign backstory. But I think using those random processes is a big part of what makes Traveller the game that it is! Ron Edwards [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/15/]wrote this[/url] about Traveller, under the heading "Setting-creation and universe-play mechanisms": [indent]Another derivation of the Purist for System approach brings the Setting creation process directly into play itself. The System-driven elements of the Setting are as "active" as any particular character might be, during play as well as during preparation. Basically, the setting is played, even created, as a part of regular play. Boink! I just realized that the original Traveller, or at least one way to play it, represents an example of this approach. Star system and planet creation are written right into the process of play, such that adventures and missions become not only a means of enjoying and improving characters, but also a means of enjoying and basically mapping the game-space. This is very distinct from later versions of Traveller, which were emphatically High Concept with a Setting emphasis. . . . This mode of play is not merely creating more setting through preparation as play progresses. It relies on doing so in a system-driven fashion much like character creation, carried out as an overt or near-overt part of actual play. It's a pretty rare form of play and design, probably because the economics of splat-book publishing overwhelmed the hobby, and Traveller itself, from the mid-1980s onwards.[/indent] In my Traveller game, my non-random, non-procedural placement of the worlds is a departure from the pure form of what Edwards describes, but the game is still a lot closer to that pure form than any other system I've run. (I guess some people run AD&D a bit like this - that's in part what "Gygaxian naturalism" is meant to be about - but personally I can't see how it would work. [url=http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?510873-Played-AD-amp-D-yesterday-(using-Appendix-A-for-a-random-dungeon)]I ran some random dungeon generation AD&D about a year ago[/url], and it doesn't have anything like the same robustness in content-generation as Traveller has shown over the course of four sessions so far.) [/QUOTE]
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