Traveller players, explain yourselves! [+]

[Autumnal]

I suddenly found myself wondering what the state of play is like now for players and GMs of Traveller and related games. I’m casting my net widely here to include the various editions of Trav and the expanded cinematic multiverse: other games now using Trav mechanics, Cepheus Engine games, you name it. What are you playing these days, or have played in the last couple years? How’s it going! What makes you happy about it? How have you adapted to challenges playing in ways that make you happy?

Note that this is a plus thread. I can get negativity elsewhere, including from inside my own head.

Anecdotes of play and refereeing and very much welcome. I’m curious about your characters and what they do. Thanks!

PS. I’m as usual these days particularly interested in solo play, so any anecdotes of Trav soloing would be particularly welcome. But not to the exclusion of all else.

 

[dragoner]

I made my own setting with hookers and blow (just kidding) It's Cepheus Engine:

Solis People of the Sun

A more modern science fiction take using accurate star maps. This grew out of games I have been playing for about 13 years or so. Near future, hardish SF, use it as a rough framework to hang whatever sci-fi story I feel like playing. Sometimes I call it "gritty solarpunk."

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

We have been in a years-long campaign that started with the Fall of Tinath, and spiralled into a Firefly/BSG kind of mystery with plenty of exploration. We've gotten to the point where we now have two scout-class ships, and have located and crewed a larger, more advanced cruiser we're bringing back to the fleet. Using ancient tech, we've put many of the civilians in the fleet into a virtual reality paradise, as well as offered them the chance if they want to leave and be resettled.

For game play, Fall of Tinath did a very good job of slowly introducing mechanics to new players. Being on a planet way out past the frontier allowed us to focus on just the planet and its moon primary and avoid any kind of massive lore about the universe. We were all humans, and while we'd heard of other species like the vargr, it wasn't until the exodus that we found any evidence of them.

The adventure set went session by session, adding mechanics. The first session was a jungle expedition to mysterious ziggarauts where we met our first aliens, the Esseray, and learned basic skill checks and ground combat. We went to a moon base to rescue humans that had been captured, which introduced us to concepts like zero-g combat and a lot more stealth aspects. As a war developed between the humans and the esserary, we had to do things like lead a PR campaign to rally the humans, etc.

I love the system. I feel like it could be a good fit for solo play due to the randomness in backgrounds etc. I'm not very familiar with many types of solo play, but in Traveller, it's easy to envision someone, especially scout service, with a scout vessel being utterly independent and crewing it by themselves, making profits and upgrading the craft and adding robotic crew - our first investment as a party was the AI crew software because a lot of the PCs didn't start with useful skills

Sorry for the ramble

 

[Thierry-Advent]

Hostile Solo is a Traveller 2d6 derivative. I've heard great things about it but have not played it.

 

[Agamon]

I'm playing a solo Starforged game. Not Traveller exactly, but very Traveller coded.

 

[Thierry-Advent]

I'm supposed to do a Traveller solo story with the Mongoose 2022 core update. The background and career system is great for solo. Haven't found the initial story set up to get me started, yet.

 

[Autumnal]

Solis People of the Sun

A more modern science fiction take using accurate star maps. This grew out of games I have been playing for about 13 years or so. Near future, hardish SF, use it as a rough framework to hang whatever sci-fi story I feel like playing. Sometimes I call it "gritty solarpunk."

I’ll give it a look. That’s a promising sound mix of elements when it comes to Things Bruces Like.

Sorry for the ramble

I love a good ramble. No apology called for! I have one question, though: what’s the Fall of Tirath?

I'm playing a solo Starforged game. Not Traveller exactly, but very Traveller coded.

Thst could mean a lot of things. Which ones do you mean?

 

[Autumnal]

I'm supposed to do a Traveller solo story with the Mongoose 2022 core update. The background and career system is great for solo. Haven't found the initial story set up to get me started, yet.

What kinds of things seem appealing? What have you looked at and set aside?

 

[dragoner]

I’ll give it a look. That’s a promising sound mix of elements when it comes to Things Bruces Like.

I have a ton of Traveller, this setting, as well as the official "OTU" games I can ramble on about too, I have been playing since 1979.

 

[Thierry-Advent]

What kinds of things seem appealing? What have you looked at and set aside?

I haven't looked at the book since 2023. We played with the group. I would have to do a deep dive for solo.

As I recall, during character creation there are tables of life events for each 4 year tour. When you decide to muster out you have several story threads you can use later during the adventures.