(rpg) Traveller -- tell me why you like it?
- Thread starter TheLe
- Start date
Breakdaddy
First Post
WizarDru said:
Firefly is what you liked so much about traveller??
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
I rather liked the dying during character creation bit. Added a bit of risk to starting the game.
Shame that they removed it.
Shame that they removed it.
MrFilthyIke
First Post
sjmiller said:
My wife says that was why Traveller was her greater love over d&d, the great character creation AND the chance of dying (yes, she's played the OLD Traveller)
WayneLigon
Adventurer
Breakdaddy said:
It's the single most perfect implementation of Traveller on the screen that I've ever seen. After I saw the first episode, we were all going 'OK, 'Traveller: The Series'. It has a small band of adventurers, rootless and unwelcome on most of the civilized worlds, making their way as best they can be it legal, quasi-legal, or totally illegal. That describes almost every Traveller campaign I've ever played in.
Things I liked about it:
Classic Traveller is totally simple. 8+ on 2d6 (plus or minus modifiers) and you succeed, or hit your target. That sentence right there is the chapter on combat. And skill resolution. Everything else is just icing.
The most scientifically beleivable aliens done to date. I can't think of another SF game that has such plausible aliens. The Zhodani and Vilani are a good example of human cultures done very differently.
The classic science-fiction feel rather than space opera. Much as I love space opera and science fantasy, cold hard SF done right just can't be beat.
MegaTraveller was the pinacle of the game as far as I'm concerned (I have not played T20 but perhaps I will someday. I don't own it. What I saw in the previews and reviews killed any enthusiasm I'd built up for it). The SF approach married to the richness of Digest Group's rules and vision. To this day I wish somehow those people had managed to wrest the game from GDW. The task system was a great leap forward, and characters could improve after character creation. And I could get a decent set of skills and not be an old man.
Everything I didn't like about Classic Traveller was fixed in MegaTraveller, so I really don't have anything there to add.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
jdrakeh said:
While it was in the original rules, it was alleviated somewhat in the Traveller Book (the hardback compilation), and if you failed survival, you simply bailed out after half a term.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
I think in part because it's sort of "Han Solo" the RPG. Back in the day, a lot of people wanted to be like Han Solo. Go around the galaxy in a tramp freighter. Traveller was the game to do that in, even if it wasn't that Star Wars like.
Actually, part of the reason I could never get into Firefly is because it wasn't like Traveller. Firefly seemed more like Cowboy Bebop, but with 3 times as many characters, which confused me as I could never remember who was who (I mostly tell people apart by hair color, everyone on Firefly has brown hair).
In Traveller, characters travel. They go from world to world, star system to star system. In Firefly, there's one star system. In Traveller, there's exotic and weird places. Funky alien artifacts. I don't think Firefly had anything like that.
Actually, part of the reason I could never get into Firefly is because it wasn't like Traveller. Firefly seemed more like Cowboy Bebop, but with 3 times as many characters, which confused me as I could never remember who was who (I mostly tell people apart by hair color, everyone on Firefly has brown hair).
In Traveller, characters travel. They go from world to world, star system to star system. In Firefly, there's one star system. In Traveller, there's exotic and weird places. Funky alien artifacts. I don't think Firefly had anything like that.
Last edited:
ColonelHardisson
What? Me Worry?
For me, it was the background. The Imperium of Traveller is one of the largest settings imaginable. The Spinward Marches and the Solomani Rim books detailed enormous chunks of space, with more planets to explore than a group could get to in a lifetime of playing.
In addition, Classic Traveller adventures were the best of just about any RPG that existed concurrently. Adventures like the Kinunir gave the bare bones of the adventure, and let the GM make them his own.
In addition, Classic Traveller adventures were the best of just about any RPG that existed concurrently. Adventures like the Kinunir gave the bare bones of the adventure, and let the GM make them his own.
Character-Driven
I'm shocked no one has mentioned this -- Traveller was (is?) the most character-driven role-playing game ever created. There is not a single moment in the game, ever, that the player can't ignore the plot hook, give the Referee the finger, and do something totally different. As Painandgreed mentioned, you could just keep travelling from system to system, forcing your referee to roll up new planets, encounters and trade goods, trying to keep one step ahead of the repo men. Or you could build yourself a little Striker merc unit and start carving out a personal fiefdom for yourself. Or you could turn outlaw pirate. Or you could go industrial espionage. Or you could turn traitor and sell secrets to the Zhodani. Or you could become Solamani terrorists. Or you could open up a starport bar somewhere and lay low keeping profits high while interstellar war wages around you. And you know what? Whatever you did, the Referee couldn't stop you. Only death or poverty could.
Beyond that, it's a really well-balanced system that D&D only started paying attention to with 3rd Edition. Classic Traveller had a purpose for every single characteristic excepting, maybe, endurance (but if you played with the Snapshot rules endurance suddenly became very important). You had to study your characteristics before choosing your military career, maximizing your probability of not just survival but advancement and mustering out benefits. And yes, you could die in character creation (it's practically blasphemy to think they did away with that in future editions) but that was another balancing factor -- do you go Scout, with its highly-desirable skill set (automatic pilot skill) and risk better than 50% death chance in return for the possibility of mustering out with a Scout Ship? Or do you go Merchant and re-enlist term after term after term hoping for promotion to Captain before being forced into retirement so you can muster out with a Tramp Freighter? Or do you go Army/Marine and figure you'll join a Merc unit when you get out? Or do you use your Social Status to move ahead in the Navy and figure you'll use you're awesome skill set to hire onto a choice position on a Cruise Liner or Bulk Freighter?
It all mattered; it wasn't just random.
And how did the Referee combat all this crazy freedom given to the characters? With tons of charts and tables to create environments on the fly. And with odds that were constantly stacked against those characters. So the characters don't want to do the adventure hook and just want to trade? Well guess what, sooner or later they're gonna fall behind on their payments and they're gonna be faced with jumping their bank loan or accepting that adventure hook, after all. So the characters' merc unit just rolled a choice assignment running security on a backwater world? Tough cookies that a Mega-Corporation has decided that planet is profitable and the characters were hired by an anti-free-trade political faction. So the characters don't want to get involved in the Zhodani-Imperium war and would rather just serve liquor at their local bar? Well, okay, in that case I guess the Referee's screwed.
And Traveller was deadly. Not just because a bullet could kill you, but because no matter how big and bad you were there was always something in the universe that dwarfed you. You think that tricked out corsair is pretty kool, huh? Well meet Mr. Azhanti High Lightning Battlecruiser, tasked with clearing the system of pirates. Oops, did you think like Han Solo you could out-maneuver the big Star Destroyer? I'm sorry, in this game the big ships are faster than the little ones. So sorry. Would you like to role up a new character?
I'm shocked no one has mentioned this -- Traveller was (is?) the most character-driven role-playing game ever created. There is not a single moment in the game, ever, that the player can't ignore the plot hook, give the Referee the finger, and do something totally different. As Painandgreed mentioned, you could just keep travelling from system to system, forcing your referee to roll up new planets, encounters and trade goods, trying to keep one step ahead of the repo men. Or you could build yourself a little Striker merc unit and start carving out a personal fiefdom for yourself. Or you could turn outlaw pirate. Or you could go industrial espionage. Or you could turn traitor and sell secrets to the Zhodani. Or you could become Solamani terrorists. Or you could open up a starport bar somewhere and lay low keeping profits high while interstellar war wages around you. And you know what? Whatever you did, the Referee couldn't stop you. Only death or poverty could.
Beyond that, it's a really well-balanced system that D&D only started paying attention to with 3rd Edition. Classic Traveller had a purpose for every single characteristic excepting, maybe, endurance (but if you played with the Snapshot rules endurance suddenly became very important). You had to study your characteristics before choosing your military career, maximizing your probability of not just survival but advancement and mustering out benefits. And yes, you could die in character creation (it's practically blasphemy to think they did away with that in future editions) but that was another balancing factor -- do you go Scout, with its highly-desirable skill set (automatic pilot skill) and risk better than 50% death chance in return for the possibility of mustering out with a Scout Ship? Or do you go Merchant and re-enlist term after term after term hoping for promotion to Captain before being forced into retirement so you can muster out with a Tramp Freighter? Or do you go Army/Marine and figure you'll join a Merc unit when you get out? Or do you use your Social Status to move ahead in the Navy and figure you'll use you're awesome skill set to hire onto a choice position on a Cruise Liner or Bulk Freighter?
It all mattered; it wasn't just random.
And how did the Referee combat all this crazy freedom given to the characters? With tons of charts and tables to create environments on the fly. And with odds that were constantly stacked against those characters. So the characters don't want to do the adventure hook and just want to trade? Well guess what, sooner or later they're gonna fall behind on their payments and they're gonna be faced with jumping their bank loan or accepting that adventure hook, after all. So the characters' merc unit just rolled a choice assignment running security on a backwater world? Tough cookies that a Mega-Corporation has decided that planet is profitable and the characters were hired by an anti-free-trade political faction. So the characters don't want to get involved in the Zhodani-Imperium war and would rather just serve liquor at their local bar? Well, okay, in that case I guess the Referee's screwed.
And Traveller was deadly. Not just because a bullet could kill you, but because no matter how big and bad you were there was always something in the universe that dwarfed you. You think that tricked out corsair is pretty kool, huh? Well meet Mr. Azhanti High Lightning Battlecruiser, tasked with clearing the system of pirates. Oops, did you think like Han Solo you could out-maneuver the big Star Destroyer? I'm sorry, in this game the big ships are faster than the little ones. So sorry. Would you like to role up a new character?
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