Played some Classic Traveller today

[AbdulAlhazred]

My Traveller refereeing in the 80s was terrible. I'm currently in my heyday!

Well, a lot of it was in the 70's actually.... I think I literally bought the first printing of the LBBs. I recall getting a map of the Spinward Marches from someplace eventually, but we were honestly never super big on the whole Third Imperium as a thing. It was more "random walk" sort of play.

 

[pemerton]

Well, a lot of it was in the 70's actually.... I think I literally bought the first printing of the LBBs.

I got it in the late 70s - I think I'm a second printing (I don't think first printings made it to Australia). But I didn't play it until the 80s.

we were honestly never super big on the whole Third Imperium as a thing.

The Third Imperium is of zero interest to me. What's the point of playing a system that is so strong on just-in-time setting and setting element generation, if you're going to go with a pre-packaged setting?

 

[payn]

The Third Imperium is of zero interest to me. What's the point of playing a system that is so strong on just-in-time setting and setting element generation, if you're going to go with a pre-packaged setting?

I dont follow. Can you expand on this?

 

[werecorpse]

I like what has been done wth the star map, the spin ward marches etc some of the third imperium is great, like the idea of worlds being settled, then the imperium collapsing then the worlds being rediscovered as an explanation for the wide variety of tech levels. But the info out there often seems too fall between little to be useful & just enough to get in the way.

 

[pemerton]

The Third Imperium is of zero interest to me. What's the point of playing a system that is so strong on just-in-time setting and setting element generation, if you're going to go with a pre-packaged setting?

I dont follow. Can you expand on this?

For me, at least, a real strength of Classic Traveller is its variety of systems for creating content during the course of play - starship encounters, on-world encounters, new worlds, patrons, presence (or not) of the Pisonics Institute - and integrating these into the unfolding situation.

Using someone else's pre-generated starmaps, pre-generated NPC motivations, etc, undercuts this feature of the system.

A contrast, for me, would be Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, or my LotR adaptation of that system: this is a RPG that benefits from having PCs and situation that evoke and draw on a pre-established fiction.

 

[payn]

For me, at least, a real strength of Classic Traveller is its variety of systems for creating content during the course of play - starship encounters, on-world encounters, new worlds, patrons, presence (or not) of the Pisonics Institute - and integrating these into the unfolding situation.

Using someone else's pre-generated starmaps, pre-generated NPC motivations, etc, undercuts this feature of the system.

A contrast, for me, would be Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, or my LotR adaptation of that system: this is a RPG that benefits from having PCs and situation that evoke and draw on a pre-established fiction.

Gotcha, Traveller certainly gives you tools for creating content. I like the Third Imperium because it provides a skeleton, which I need, because im not very good at making a whole world from scratch.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

For me, at least, a real strength of Classic Traveller is its variety of systems for creating content during the course of play - starship encounters, on-world encounters, new worlds, patrons, presence (or not) of the Pisonics Institute - and integrating these into the unfolding situation.

Using someone else's pre-generated starmaps, pre-generated NPC motivations, etc, undercuts this feature of the system.

A contrast, for me, would be Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, or my LotR adaptation of that system: this is a RPG that benefits from having PCs and situation that evoke and draw on a pre-established fiction.

Yeah, though I think @werecorpse (interesting moniker) has a good point. Those systems, and the core rules in general, are really designed around the whole "long established society" and other elements that are present in the Third Imperium setting. So, for instance if you were to posit a de novo expansion into unexplored space, you would pretty much need to strip away (or not get to use) the portions related to civilization and such (IE there would only be virgin worlds, you could generate their physical elements with the world generation system, but the social/political elements wouldn't apply). It would be a bit harder to swallow the 'pseudo feudal' social milieu as well, though I suppose it would be more a matter of spinning it a certain way vs it being unusable. Likewise character generation might need to be at least reflavored a bit.

So, in general, you're kind of encouraged to at least 'clone' most of the key elements of the Imperium, a restoration after an interregnum, a large far-flung star empire of the far future, an oligarchical/monarchical type of system with decentralized control, etc. Not to mention it is easier to just go ahead and assume the established organizations and conventions (TAS, Scouts, local/regional/imperial political and military forces, amber/red zones, etc.).

It would be interesting to produce a radically different setting for the core game, but then once you go that far, I guess you might as well develop a core as well, or adopt another one. Although I think that it would be fairly interesting to take the design principles of Traveler and the engine and build a bit different milieu with it. An alternate history, or very different part of the timeline. I think there were a few halting attempts, but nothing REALLY radical (IE the Solomani Rim, but it was still just a variation of the core setting).

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

For me, at least, a real strength of Classic Traveller is its variety of systems for creating content during the course of play - starship encounters, on-world encounters, new worlds, patrons, presence (or not) of the Pisonics Institute - and integrating these into the unfolding situation.

Using someone else's pre-generated starmaps, pre-generated NPC motivations, etc, undercuts this feature of the system.

A contrast, for me, would be Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, or my LotR adaptation of that system: this is a RPG that benefits from having PCs and situation that evoke and draw on a pre-established fiction.

Yeah, though I think @werecorpse (interesting moniker) has a good point. Those systems, and the core rules in general, are really designed around the whole "long established society" and other elements that are present in the Third Imperium setting. So, for instance if you were to posit a de novo expansion into unexplored space, you would pretty much need to strip away (or not get to use) the portions related to civilization and such (IE there would only be virgin worlds, you could generate their physical elements with the world generation system, but the social/political elements wouldn't apply). It would be a bit harder to swallow the 'pseudo feudal' social milieu as well, though I suppose it would be more a matter of spinning it a certain way vs it being unusable. Likewise character generation might need to be at least reflavored a bit.

So, in general, you're kind of encouraged to at least 'clone' most of the key elements of the Imperium, a restoration after an interregnum, a large far-flung star empire of the far future, an oligarchical/monarchical type of system with decentralized control, etc. Not to mention it is easier to just go ahead and assume the established organizations and conventions (TAS, Scouts, local/regional/imperial political and military forces, amber/red zones, etc.).

It would be interesting to produce a radically different setting for the core game, but then once you go that far, I guess you might as well develop a core as well, or adopt another one. Although I think that it would be fairly interesting to take the design principles of Traveler and the engine and build a bit different milieu with it. An alternate history, or very different part of the timeline. I think there were a few halting attempts, but nothing REALLY radical (IE the Solomani Rim, but it was still just a variation of the core setting).

 

[Sepulchrave II]

It would be interesting to produce a radically different setting for the core game, but then once you go that far, I guess you might as well develop a core as well, or adopt another one.

Mercator sets the game in the first century CE in the eastern Roman Empire. It works rather well if you’re interested in this period (I am). Link is straight to pdf.

https://www.freelancetraveller.com/magazine/2010-04/mercator.pdf

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Mercator sets the game in the first century CE in the eastern Roman Empire. It works rather well if you’re interested in this period (I am). Link is straight to pdf.

https://www.freelancetraveller.com/magazine/2010-04/mercator.pdf

That's cool. I think its a system that is perfectly capable of being adapted to various milieu, though I think some will work better than others. I would have thought the 6th Century might even be a more parallel scenario to the Game's standard setting and genre.