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Tension, Threats And Progression In RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7731515" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Yeah, well, the heyday of my Traveller play was before any of the Imperium setting stuff was even put out there. It was somewhat implicit in the core rules, but we always stuck to just building star maps using the random rules as-needed and inventing interstellar culture/politics to go with it. You had the basis of a 'There is a noble class' in the SS rules, though IIRC even those don't really try to pin down exactly what SS means in a generic way, you have to read the actual 'Spinward Marches' and TAS stuff to start getting the actual details on that. </p><p></p><p>This did make us free to extrapolate details in a more interesting way than Spinward Marches does (which IMHO is a pretty 'dead' sort of setting as produced). The patron system COULD work, but the PCs have little push to access it, and it doesn't just come up by itself, unless you engineer it. The PC-gen system OTOH does nothing for you. It gives you a totally generic outline of your character's backstory, but void of any personal details. </p><p></p><p>What I would recommend is making the players run through the PC-gen phase TOGETHER. So do something like generate you stats, make up some sort of campaign-appropriate background system that ties the PCs to specific locations, families, organizations, etc. (something like 4e's backgrounds maybe would work, but random checks could be used, which is more Traveller-esque). THEN put the PCs through the chargen system, and flesh out the details as you go. When the Marine character gets sent to 'special ops' and gets injured, then the scout character rescued him, etc. Now you have some character bonds and a true backstory that works. At that point I agree, it starts to become a more fun game. I think the in-play systems are still a bit lackluster, but they aren't a bad starting point. </p><p></p><p>Once you do all this, then I think it becomes pretty easy to create motivation, tension, threat, etc. Progression is still an issue in Traveller though, characters simply don't change over time! I guess if you live long enough you age, but that's unlikely in a milieu where starships fire nuclear tipped missiles and petawatt laser beams at each other on a regular basis... You can introduce training and a sort of 'XP', which were fairly common additions to the game, but they were certainly always an afterthought. Just by nature of the chargen system your character is effectively 'fully formed' at game start.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7731515, member: 82106"] Yeah, well, the heyday of my Traveller play was before any of the Imperium setting stuff was even put out there. It was somewhat implicit in the core rules, but we always stuck to just building star maps using the random rules as-needed and inventing interstellar culture/politics to go with it. You had the basis of a 'There is a noble class' in the SS rules, though IIRC even those don't really try to pin down exactly what SS means in a generic way, you have to read the actual 'Spinward Marches' and TAS stuff to start getting the actual details on that. This did make us free to extrapolate details in a more interesting way than Spinward Marches does (which IMHO is a pretty 'dead' sort of setting as produced). The patron system COULD work, but the PCs have little push to access it, and it doesn't just come up by itself, unless you engineer it. The PC-gen system OTOH does nothing for you. It gives you a totally generic outline of your character's backstory, but void of any personal details. What I would recommend is making the players run through the PC-gen phase TOGETHER. So do something like generate you stats, make up some sort of campaign-appropriate background system that ties the PCs to specific locations, families, organizations, etc. (something like 4e's backgrounds maybe would work, but random checks could be used, which is more Traveller-esque). THEN put the PCs through the chargen system, and flesh out the details as you go. When the Marine character gets sent to 'special ops' and gets injured, then the scout character rescued him, etc. Now you have some character bonds and a true backstory that works. At that point I agree, it starts to become a more fun game. I think the in-play systems are still a bit lackluster, but they aren't a bad starting point. Once you do all this, then I think it becomes pretty easy to create motivation, tension, threat, etc. Progression is still an issue in Traveller though, characters simply don't change over time! I guess if you live long enough you age, but that's unlikely in a milieu where starships fire nuclear tipped missiles and petawatt laser beams at each other on a regular basis... You can introduce training and a sort of 'XP', which were fairly common additions to the game, but they were certainly always an afterthought. Just by nature of the chargen system your character is effectively 'fully formed' at game start. [/QUOTE]
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