Played some Classic Traveller today

[Sepulchrave II]

I mean, what are these people doing on a Free Trader? Players will go for it, because they are Duke! But too often, I find the high status in-congruent, and sort of a one trick pony that neither the player or GM has realistic ideas of playing.

I’ve always assumed that when characters have a noble rank, it’s a local title from some backwoods world, rather than an imperial rank. It’s kind of absurd otherwise - imperial dukes govern subsectors.

 

[MGibster]

From the 1981 printings of the Little Black Books onward, it makes them a Duke. How that all functions, it's not very well defined. It can be difficult having a campaign with Dukes, Barons, Admirals, and Generals; I mean, what are these people doing on a Free Trader? Players will go for it, because they are Duke! But too often, I find the high status in-congruent, and sort of a one trick pony that neither the player or GM has realistic ideas of playing.

In MGT 2nd edition, if you have a high SOC they offer some ways to explain why you're not sitting around doing noble type things. Maybe your family lost its fortune but your name remains intact or maybe your character is famous for some other reason besides being an noble (some career tracks give bonuses to Soc depending on what rank you achieve).

In most RPGs, once you achieve that kind of high status it essentially takes the character out of the adventuring phase of their life. But I'm a bit surprised in 40+ years there's no information in Traveller for how characters might run their own space station, corporation, or fleet.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

The last few posts illustrate my point perfectly. Traveler is so tightly focused on a party of shiftless waifs on a type S scout, wandering the space lanes that it doesn't really have a complete setting even after 50 years!
This means it works really well for one specific story, but every Traveler campaign is basically just a random variation of that story. The core mechanic is very solid but never extended to the general.
In effect it's the BitD of the 1970s. Except back then we were ignorant of this, so we tried to imagine it was a general SFRPG, but it is not.

 

[dragoner]

This means it works really well for one specific story, but every Traveler campaign is basically just a random variation of that story.

But I'm a bit surprised in 40+ years there's no information in Traveller for how characters might run their own space station, corporation, or fleet.

There is, Gurps Nobles, T4's Pocket Empires, and Mgt 1e's Dilettante and Dynasty; probably others as well.

This bleeds into that one story, it can play other stories, but it really does that one story well. The above supplements are all more like board games, similar to High Guard and Trillion Credit Squadron, cool, but not very role playing-ish. Traveller does do the footloose Free Trader, as written in Andre Norton's stories, mix a bit of Vance's Gaen Reach, and Tubb's Dumarest - that is 99% where it stands. It is a fertile ground for role playing.

 

[dragoner]

I’ve always assumed that when characters have a noble rank, it’s a local title from some backwoods world, rather than an imperial rank. It’s kind of absurd otherwise - imperial dukes govern subsectors.

Duke Norris of Regina is a major character in Traveller canon, much more so than Duchess Delphine of Mora, who rules the whole Spinward Marches. Though in fact, Traveller's "Feudal Technocracy" is more an actual monarchy, such as from the UK in the 18th Century; except it doesn't sound as cool as a "Feudal Technocracy".

When we played it that you could assign your characteristic, highest went to dex, and soc usually became the "dump stat", so that ultimately we were usually low soc so the issue never really was there.

 

[pemerton]

It can be difficult having a campaign with Dukes, Barons, Admirals, and Generals; I mean, what are these people doing on a Free Trader? Players will go for it, because they are Duke! But too often, I find the high status in-congruent, and sort of a one trick pony that neither the player or GM has realistic ideas of playing.

I wasn't surprised to see @AbdulAlhazred give XP to your post, because this is something he's often said about Traveller.

The last few posts illustrate my point perfectly. Traveler is so tightly focused on a party of shiftless waifs on a type S scout, wandering the space lanes that it doesn't really have a complete setting even after 50 years!
This means it works really well for one specific story, but every Traveler campaign is basically just a random variation of that story. The core mechanic is very solid but never extended to the general.
In effect it's the BitD of the 1970s. Except back then we were ignorant of this, so we tried to imagine it was a general SFRPG, but it is not.

I agree that Classic Traveller is not a general sci-fi RPG. There are claims to that effect in one of the Book 0 (or similar) products, but they're not plausible. You can't do Star Wars using Classic Traveller anymore than you can do Excalibur using Gygax's AD&D.

But I think there are ways of using the nobles without collapsing into absurdity (maybe there are similar ways of using paladins in AD&D without just collapsing into absurdity). In the real world there were (and are) adventuring knights. In our campaign we have a "diplomat" who was clearly a spy (skill in Forgery, Streetwise, Gambling, Interrogation, Wheeled Vehicle) with Soc A: that's a version of James Bond. The PCs' original vessel was a Yacht which one of the noble PCs had won gambling (this was part of his backstory; likewise his mustering out wounded was a result of the beating he received from the losers of that bet).

This is where a bit more use of contemporary techniques - framing situations in light of PC backstory - can help out.

 

[MGibster]

The last few posts illustrate my point perfectly. Traveler is so tightly focused on a party of shiftless waifs on a type S scout, wandering the space lanes that it doesn't really have a complete setting even after 50 years!
This means it works really well for one specific story, but every Traveler campaign is basically just a random variation of that story. The core mechanic is very solid but never extended to the general.
In effect it's the BitD of the 1970s. Except back then we were ignorant of this, so we tried to imagine it was a general SFRPG, but it is not.

Do you think this lack of focus is part of Traveller's success? I only just got into Traveller having decided to purchase it after watching Seth Skorkowsky's videos about it on Youtube. I found it a bit daunting at first but thanks to the Traveller wiki and travellermap.com I grew a bit more comfortable setting the backdrop for my campaign. I was blown away looking at the Traveller map online by the number of systems, sub-systems, and worlds available to me. But on the other hand, it looks like I'll have to fill in the blanks if I really want to flesh out the world. Having a party of shiftless waifs will probably help make it easier because there's a lot I won't have to fill in.

 

[dragoner]

I wasn't surprised to see @AbdulAlhazred give XP to your post, because this is something he's often said about Traveller.

I haven't read that; though it is an old criticism in the same sense where D&D wanders into Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Traveller sometimes becomes the Pirates of Penzance. The adventuring knight works, even the former admiral baron, more in an 18th or 19th century sense, which plays to the age of sail vibe traveller sometimes has; except it also isn't always the sort of thing people have in mind when thinking of sci-fi.

Traveller's rules can be rather thin on the ground in some ways, so it is a question of what type of game someone is looking for. It can be pretty generic if one wants it to be.

 

[aramis erak]

There is, Gurps Nobles, T4's Pocket Empires, and Mgt 1e's Dilettante and Dynasty; probably others as well.

Also TNE's World Tamer's Handbook, albeit the scope is more colonial than baronial.

One of the key assumptions for PC's is that they're Honor/reward nobles, not Hereditary nor Landed. The exception is the Noble career.

 

[payn]

I dont want to "beam me up, Scotty" or " Use the force, Luke" so Traveller system and setting works fine. I love the large map and even more that there are so many blanks to fill in as referee. It was mentioned earlier in thread that all stories start in the same place. I see this as a strength, because I've done it over and over and it never feels the same. Traveller really lends itself to sandbox play, which perhaps, folks are confusing with the system being generic Sci-Fi?