payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
That is a bad way to go about Traveller. Careers are not classes, and while there is random aspects to chargen, you can steer towards skills you want.
Sell me on Traveller
Thomas Shey
Legend
How much varies considerably, however, especially if you're not going insane with the number of terms you try and stay in.
MGibster
Legend
I know it was from a long while, but "steer towards" the career you want was how I described character generation in Traveller. In most other games, I could just pitch a concept like "You're all members of a crew who operate a tramp freighter as you attempt to make some scratch and eek out an existence in a hostile universe." Players could then choose specifically, "I'll be an engineer," or "I'll be a physician." It doesn't work like that in Traveller. I could pitch an idea but the player who wants an engineer character might end up like me with a knife skill of 3 and a Steward skill of 4. I just find it difficult to plan a campaign as I normally plan them.
Gradine
The Elephant in the Room (she/her)
This is what the skill packages are for. There a suite of skills for most campaign types you could think of, and it makes sure that you end up with everyone getting the skills they need.
I would say that approaching chargen with "I'm going to be the engineer!" from the very beginning isn't the right approach, really. Most of your skills are front loaded, though, so you'll have a pretty good idea of what type of character you're going to end up with by age 22-26. That's probably the best point from which to "steer towards" a character concept.
I think the best default for Traveller is sci-fi oriented mystery/conspiracy. I started my ongoing campaign with medical supplies that turned out to be part of a bioweapons conspiracy. With one of my kids, the mystery/conspiracy was around the relationship between "comfortable" colonists living in domes, and "exiles" living in caves. With the other kid, the mystery/conspiracy was a request to deliver (what turned out to be forged) deeds of title to mining tenements.
Mystery/conspiracy can easily accommodate a range of PC skills - social ones, obviously, but also combat (a fight can always break out when conspiracy is afoot), vehicle (some part of the conspiracy is off-world, outside the dome, or whatever else fits the PCs and the situation), and tech (when you're infiltrating the enemy installation you need to short circuit a door, or tamper with their ATV, or hack their computers, or intercept the comms, or whatever).
And if you're using random patron generation, patrons can easily have some other angle/aspect to their request, flowing from their context and your imagination, which can embroil the PCs in the mystery/conspiracy in some or other interesting way.
aramis erak
Legend
With only a minor mod here or there, I have run campaigns based upon contracted rank/position, an idea borrowed from FASA's STRPG... Noting also that FASA were, prior to STRPG, doing 3PP for Traveller...
I ran a campaign based upon a Marine Regiment. I changed the effects of failed survival to lose an attribute point, and the effect of failed enlistment to "drafted into the Marines." Reenlistment was ignored until target rank.
The players included the Colonel, who was Regimental CO, the XO, Ops, Supply, RSM, and one Bn CO. Each was given a target rank, and minimum skills for position. One skill per term was able to be taken from the position skills.
Worked great. (Oh, and the core rules I used were MegaTraveller...)
You don't have to us random character generation in Mongoose Traveller if you don't want to - there are alternate rules which give you a lot more control over the outcome. Which is a good thing, since Mongoose Traveller doesn't allow you to "accidentally" kill a bad character during character generation.
However, I think Traveller works best if you embrace the random character generation.
I once rolled up a character with some good stats, and thought "there's a great chance of becoming a naval officer" so applied for a commission in the (space) navy. I only needed 5+, but rolled 4 and got rejected. Then, to add insult to injury, the character ended up getting drafted - into the navy, as a grunt. That's an instant character hook - how does the character feel about that? I decided that he was very bitter over the whole experience, and did not like the navy at all.
Traveller characters are usually people for whom life did not turn out as they had hoped / expected. They've ended up on the fringes of the Imperium (say) and now have one last chance to make something of themselves.
Or to put it another way, it's fine that your character always wanted to be an engineer, and it's fine if the dice determined that he never actually got to be one - because now things are about to change.
However, I think Traveller works best if you embrace the random character generation.
I once rolled up a character with some good stats, and thought "there's a great chance of becoming a naval officer" so applied for a commission in the (space) navy. I only needed 5+, but rolled 4 and got rejected. Then, to add insult to injury, the character ended up getting drafted - into the navy, as a grunt. That's an instant character hook - how does the character feel about that? I decided that he was very bitter over the whole experience, and did not like the navy at all.
Traveller characters are usually people for whom life did not turn out as they had hoped / expected. They've ended up on the fringes of the Imperium (say) and now have one last chance to make something of themselves.
Or to put it another way, it's fine that your character always wanted to be an engineer, and it's fine if the dice determined that he never actually got to be one - because now things are about to change.
payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
Yeah I think the "Firefly" template isn't the best one for Traveller. For example, the classic campaign Pirates of Drinax gives the PCs an empire building goal to achieve. Its a sandbox so they can go about that as they see fit. The skill package as mentioned helps shore up missing links. Though, if the players decided to make a bunch of debutant wastrels, then you can round them out with an NPC ship crew.
I had a great campaign a few months ago where the Travellers where part of a medical rescue team. We had a labship converted into a medical hospital. The launch would go into war torn and hazardous situations to save people. One player had the Jayne Cobb combat ready muscle guy to watch our six. A couple others made first responder types. Another player had an ex spy with lots of contacts that helped us keep an ear to ground for jobs and the dangers that laid within them. Finally, I made a doctor that ran the med ship and did the surgeries and research on viruses and such. Was a good time and way better than, "you got a leaky dinghy trade ship and pocket lint to make a living" campaign.
I think Traveller can be a hard sell for folks who dont like random chargen (which seems most folks these days). Its also hard for backstory first style players. I sell it on the idea it flips all that on its head. You start by thinking about the skills you want your character to be able to do, and then aim your stats and careers at getting them. Being in the Navy for 1 term and then going to the merchant marines is not multiclassing! You are building a skill package and it pays to think about that ahead of time. Also, the events are where you get ideas for the backstory. Again, random elements might be hard to swallow for some, but it can really help creativity in making a character. Also, I highly recommend the entire group doing this together in a session zero as opposed to rolling apart. This can connect the group and help aid in direction.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
So, I think the way to go here isn't to try to sell people on a campaign,but to sell them on a one-shot, casual, no commitment beer-and-pretzels session zero that is all messing about with character creation to see what happens. Then if they liike the characters that emerge after a few goes...build a campaign for those characters.
Last edited:
