(rpg) Traveller -- tell me why you like it?

[WizarDru]

What I liked about Traveller?

Buy or Rent the Firefly series DVD collection. That about sums it up, right there.

 

[Dirigible]

After character creation, your character is fairly well established.

That is a very dubious thing to be asserting as a positive.

 

[TheLe]

Traveller sounds awfully complicated.

Is that why it is so popular?

~Le

 

[painandgreed]

Traveller sounds awfully complicated.

Is that why it is so popular?

Just find somebody with a copy and make up a few characters, get a spaceship and do some trading and you'll get most of the flavor of the game. The system is realativly simple* but it covers all the things it needs to. It's popular because it's well done, it works and it's been around for a long time. It was one of the very first RPGs after OD&D and was an old favorite before Star Frontiers ever arrived.

*Classic Traveller is three little books that are all the rules you really need. A few others really help, but you don't need them. Lord knows there are much more complicated sci-fi games out there. I doubt if Star Frontiers is simpler actually. You character can pretty much be summed up by a single string of characters (of course, they are in hex) as can ships and worlds. Everything is a 2d6 roll and charts are minimal as they are usually based on 1 or 2 d6.

 

[jdrakeh]

What I liked...

Versatility - Traveller is to Hard Science what D&D is to High Fantasy.
Accessibility - Traveller is widely available all over the world in 5+ editions.
Multiple Systems - Traveller has been published for more than three popular RPG systems.

What I disliked...

Dying during character creation. An in-joke that isn't funny anymore.

 

[EdL]

As I said in the other message thread, this hasn't even been true for Classic Traveller since 1981! It's Traveller's own Urban Myth which never seems to die.

I only ever played using the original rules, and not often or long. However, the first character I rolled up did die as the result of the last character creation roll. So it's no urban legend! (But he was promptly ressurected and that rule junked so we could actually play the game.)

Things I liked about Traveller:
Quick character generation.
Lots of published adventures.
Lots of other support materials.

Things I wasn't so keen on:
Character generation was too random for my taste.
You either had to work for someone else or you spent a lot of time worrying about money. (Too much like real life!)

 

[Shadowdancer]

Traveller sounds awfully complicated.

Is that why it is so popular?

~Le

It might sound complicated, but actually when you play it isn't. Or it doesn't have to be. One of the things I love about Traveller is that you can choose the degree of complication you want in the playing of the game.

If you want to micromanage everything, and stress out over every little detail, you can. If you just want to gloss over everything and stick with the basics, you can do that, too. You can take the basic starships, equipment, star systems that the game gives you. Or you can create your own, if you chose.

One of the things that has always bugged me about Traveller, however, is that in the basic adventuring group model -- the tramp freighter -- the economics are such that you can't break even unless you engage in speculative trade (which can complicate the economics more than some people want) or you get involved extra side work, usually of a semi-illegal nature (adventures). If forces you to worry about mortgage payments and buying life support every two weeks and other bookkeeping necessities that I'd rather not have to worry about when playing a game -- I worry about that stuff too much in real life.

I know there is a reason for this -- it forces the players to take the adventure hooks the Ref throws out there for them -- but it can really get frustrating for some players.

Otherwise, I love Traveller for all of the reasons others posted above. It is a simple system, yet can be very complex if you want it to be. It is very flexible, and can easily handle lots of different gaming settings and styles. The prior history system during character creation gives you a character that feels like a real person, and not just a collection of stats.

I don't think Traveller is complicated to play. But I think it appeals more to players of a certain maturity level.

 

[jdrakeh]

I only ever played using the original rules, and not often or long. However, the first character I rolled up did die as the result of the last character creation roll. So it's no urban legend!

Nope. It's in the original rules, and made it into some of the re-prints, as well.

 

[Psion]

Traveller sounds awfully complicated.

No, not really.

So editions' starship creation was pretty involved. And you might do an equation that involved a square root if you wanted to figure travel time. It does have a pretty extensive background to draw from, if that's what you are getting at.

As far as characters and resolving tasks/skills went, it was pretty straightforward.

 

[painandgreed]

One of the things that has always bugged me about Traveller, however, is that in the basic adventuring group model -- the tramp freighter -- the economics are such that you can't break even unless you engage in speculative trade (which can complicate the economics more than some people want) or you get involved extra side work, usually of a semi-illegal nature (adventures). If forces you to worry about mortgage payments and buying life support every two weeks and other bookkeeping necessities that I'd rather not have to worry about when playing a game -- I worry about that stuff too much in real life.

Funny story. I was teaching a friend how to play Traveller a few years back. He rolled up a scout character and got a ship (we probably flubbed the roll to get one). From there I went into spaceship maintenace and trade. He'd buy at one world and sell on another, figuring out all the costs for keeping the spaceship running. This went on for awhile until I figured he was getting bored. I suggested I get around and give him an adventure. His repsonse, "Screw that! I'm making money!" We kept it up for another hour or two until he'd tricked out his scout ship the way he wanted it and then we went onto the adventure.