Traveller 1e & Me

GothmogIV

Adventurer
Hello, friends. I have just purchased Deluxe Traveller, the old 1e box from 1983. I have never played Traveller before, and I am looking forward to getting to know the system, playing around with some campaign building based on old school pulp scifi, and generally nerding the f'out. I would love to hear any observations, advice, experiences, etc. from those who have played--and who, perhaps, continue to play-- this venerable game. I did look at the newer versions from Mongoose, but I decided to kick it wicked old school for now.
 

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The Mongoose game isn’t much changed from the original. They do incorporate a fair bit of stuff from the many supplements that GDW put out. At the time they were pocket money prices, I’m not sure if you can pick them up easily now, but the game is a bit incomplete without them.

I played quite a bit in the 80s, and am planning on running a game when I finish my current D&D campaign.
 

I'm trying to get away from settings created by others in general (I mostly run fantasy games set in the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Hyboria, etc.) I want something as system agonistic as possible for the sci-fi game I'm kicking around in my head.
 

I'm trying to get away from settings created by others in general (I mostly run fantasy games set in the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Hyboria, etc.) I want something as system agonistic as possible for the sci-fi game I'm kicking around in my head.
Traveller can be setting agnostic but it's probably best known for it's Third Imperium setting. I remember reading in Shannon Appelcline's Traveller history that it started out without a setting but gained one over time.

If you want to create your own setting just look at the rules for creating your own subsector and build from there. Mongoose includes them in their books but I'm not sure if they appear in 1e little black books.
 


I love classic Traveller, and some of my best gaming experiences have been with it. It's different from a lot of other (modern) games, though.

1. Character creation, even removing death during chargen, yields wildly variable characters. Many modern players don't like that. I've made my own rules for normalizing it, but as written there's a lot of variability. At the same time, you can play a whole campaign with a character with Vacc-1 and no other skills. (From the sounds of things you're only using books 1-3. Adding supp 4 is fine, but once you gets books 4-7 mixed in, those characters are far more capable.)

2. There's very little character development. No zero-to-hero. Once you're adventuring, you can become more and more financially stable, sometimes, but really that's it. It's about surviving in the universe, not about levelling up.

3. Whether you're using the Third Imperium or you have just rolled up your own subsector, the world is a sandbox. You can present missions for the players (mercenary tickets, or whatever), but often players just want to explore and player whim might take the characters tens of lightyears away from an adventure you have prepared.

4. Combat is deadly. There's tons of granularity in the system, as weapons and armour intersect with one another, but they all are going to kill you.

5. The skill system inadequate. Players will quickly learn that they don't want to roll for things, and make choices to avoid extremes where failure is likely. It's what most of us do in life. Letting characters explain why they might have some basic knowledge even if it's not on their sheet is part of the fun, and helps fill out their background. But as ref, you need to allow them to do that.

6. Despite all of this, it's an awesome game. The world created by the system is rich and open to endless adventure, and boogieing around in a little spaceship with your friends is the future I wish for us all.
 

Classic Traveller is good, but I prefer Mongoose 2E. The modern touches are delicate and much needed.

That said, its one of my favorite RPGs but im a skill focused system kinda guy. I think you will find Traveller is quite agnostic and easy to run anyway you'd like. The chargen system is still one of my favs to this day.
 


5. The skill system inadequate. Players will quickly learn that they don't want to roll for things, and make choices to avoid extremes where failure is likely. It's what most of us do in life. Letting characters explain why they might have some basic knowledge even if it's not on their sheet is part of the fun, and helps fill out their background. But as ref, you need to allow them to do that.
I would push back on this a bit. The original 1977 Classic Traveller has a robust skill system and tells the referee to make up whatever skills or rolls they deem necessary to cover whatever else they might need or want. The note on the bottom of page 20 is fantastic. It was edited and changed in subsequent versions which partially neutered the skill system.

Skills and the Referee: It is impossible for any table of information to cover all aspects of every potential situation, and the above listing is by no means complete in its coverage of the effects of skills. This is where the referee becomes an important part of the game process. The above listing of skills and game effects must necessarily be taken as a guide, and followed, altered, or ignored as the actual situation dictates.

In some game situations, actual die roll results must be concealed from the players, at times allowing them to misconstrue the reasons for their success or failure. In other situations, the referee may feel it necessary to create his own throws and DMs to govern action, and may or may not make such information generally available to the players.

In order to be consistent (and a consistent universe makes the game both fun and interesting), the referee has a responsibility to record the throws and DMs he creates, and to note (perhaps by penciling in) any throws he alters from those given in these books.”
 

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