I've had that freeware Traveller Character Generator on my desktop for a while and every now and then I'll roll up a character to see what I get. Since Traveller chargen is an almost entirely random procedure, what I end up with is pretty hit or miss. Surprisingly few of the characters have died while being rolled up, but it does happen. More common are characters with some ridiculously low attribute, like the Army vet who had a successful career, acquired several skills and reached the rank of major -- all with an Intelligence of 3! Then there was the Navy man who ended up with an Endurance of 1. I'm all for playing challenging characters, but and invalid is a bit much. Anyway, here's my best result so far.
Baron Xaq von Sytok, Capt. Imperial Navy (ret.) Male Human, Age 34
UPP 96AABC
Skills: Blade (Sword)-1, Computer-1, Engineering-2, Gunnery-1, Jack of All Trades-1, Navigation-1, Pilot-1, Vacc Suit-2
Gear: 25,000 credits and one sword.
With a determination to reach the stars and the top of society, young Xaq entered the Navy and embarked on a stellar career. Although never gaining a command of his own, he became an accomplished ship's engineer, willing to go the extra parsec and suit up to crawl into a hot reaction tube for some emergency repairs. His outstanding service and social graces saw him created an Imperial Baron. He now seeks adventure on the Imperial frontier, where his formidable skills and urbane demeanor are always welcome aboard ship.
Showing posts with label Traveller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traveller. Show all posts
Friday, September 9, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Traveller inspirational reading
There's a great post over at The Zhodani Base today recommending some classic sf novels that influenced Traveller. I tried to comment, but the website ate my post. You can't go wrong with any of those books, and you're sure to get some great ideas from them.
There are a couple more novels that relate to CT that I'd recommend. Andre Norton's Plague Ship and Voodoo Planet are part of a series that recounts the adventures of the Free Trader Solar Queen and her crew. No points for guessing how they relate to the game.
And BeRKA mentions the "obsolete" CT computer rules. While they do seem a bit dated today, I think that when they were written they were a clever attempt to add computer management to space wargames. There were other sf combat games that achieved a similar effect with different rules. In Star Fleet Battles you had energy management rules, and later in BattleTech you had heat management rules. In CT it was computer program management. So to me the CT computer rules make much more sense when seen in the context of wargaming conventions where it's taken for granted that there's something, whether energy, heat or programs that the player has to finesse to get the better of their opponent.
There are a couple more novels that relate to CT that I'd recommend. Andre Norton's Plague Ship and Voodoo Planet are part of a series that recounts the adventures of the Free Trader Solar Queen and her crew. No points for guessing how they relate to the game.
And BeRKA mentions the "obsolete" CT computer rules. While they do seem a bit dated today, I think that when they were written they were a clever attempt to add computer management to space wargames. There were other sf combat games that achieved a similar effect with different rules. In Star Fleet Battles you had energy management rules, and later in BattleTech you had heat management rules. In CT it was computer program management. So to me the CT computer rules make much more sense when seen in the context of wargaming conventions where it's taken for granted that there's something, whether energy, heat or programs that the player has to finesse to get the better of their opponent.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Traveller lasers
I've never been big on Traveller even though I don't have any major problems with the game system. Most of the criticisms I have of the rules are nitpicks. But I don't particularly care for the OTU, partly because it's so low-tech. When you roll up a character you just might end up with skills like "cutlass" or "revolver". Those are great for a certain type of setting - like campy space pirates - but it doesn't quite fit my view of the average space opera game. My views on this were shaped by things like larry Niven's Known Space tales where Louis Wu doesn't know how to use an axe, or the TOS episode "Shore Leave" by Theodore Sturgeon where Sulu has to explain what a revolver is.
So my idea of a space opera setting is one where things like cutlasses and revolvers are antiques, not standard issue. If characters have weapons they'll be things like force blades and lasers. But in OTU the lasers that are available are cumbersome weapons that require a bulky external battery to use.
That's the kind of weapon that would be more at home in the near-future of Cyberpunk 2020 than in a star-spanning interstellar empire where anti-gravity tech is common. As for laser pistols, forget it. They didn't show up until MegaTraveller. I'm not sure why Miller and co. decided to go this direction, but maybe it was to make the game seem more realistic. Or something.
This isn't a major problem. Creating your own campaign setting is part of the fun of gaming. And it's relatively easy to come up with some house rules for laser pistols and such like. But there are a lot of little things like this about the rules that are sticking points for me. Traveller is a game I want to like, but it takes quite a bit of tweaking to get it to where I want it.
Skip to to the 10:00 min mark for Sulu's history lesson
So my idea of a space opera setting is one where things like cutlasses and revolvers are antiques, not standard issue. If characters have weapons they'll be things like force blades and lasers. But in OTU the lasers that are available are cumbersome weapons that require a bulky external battery to use.
That's the kind of weapon that would be more at home in the near-future of Cyberpunk 2020 than in a star-spanning interstellar empire where anti-gravity tech is common. As for laser pistols, forget it. They didn't show up until MegaTraveller. I'm not sure why Miller and co. decided to go this direction, but maybe it was to make the game seem more realistic. Or something.
This isn't a major problem. Creating your own campaign setting is part of the fun of gaming. And it's relatively easy to come up with some house rules for laser pistols and such like. But there are a lot of little things like this about the rules that are sticking points for me. Traveller is a game I want to like, but it takes quite a bit of tweaking to get it to where I want it.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Traveller morale
While the current Mongoose edition of Traveller has a lot to recommend it, one thing they omitted is a morale system. Which is too bad, because CT has one of the best and most straightforward systems for handling morale. Here it is from pg. 33 of my horribly water damaged LBB.
And that's all there is to it. It's a great set of concise rules that are easy to tweak. For example, I might add a provision covering situations where the characters are outnumbered by 2 to 1 or facing overwhelming odds (a mecha, Godzilla, etc.). This rule never should have been left out of the newer editions, but that's what house rules are for.
MORALE
A party of adventurers (player or non-player) which sustains casualties in an encounter will ultimately break or rout if it does not achieve victory.
At the point in which 25% of a party are unconscious or killed, the party must begin throwing for morale. Average morale throw is 7+ to stand, or not break. Valiant parties may have a higher throw. DM's are allowed: +1 if the party is a military unit, +1 if a leader (leader expertise) is present, +1 if the leader has any tactical expertise; -2 if the leader is killed (for two combat rounds, and then until a new leader takes control), -2 if casualties exceed 50%.
And that's all there is to it. It's a great set of concise rules that are easy to tweak. For example, I might add a provision covering situations where the characters are outnumbered by 2 to 1 or facing overwhelming odds (a mecha, Godzilla, etc.). This rule never should have been left out of the newer editions, but that's what house rules are for.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Grand Campaign
I've long dreamed about running a Grand Campaign. Not just an extended campaign involving the GM and players in an epic adventure. By Grand Campaign I mean a huge game setting involving multiple gamers acting as both GMs and players. You would map out the game world, or at least the general outlines, and then each gamer were be given a section of the world for which they would be the GM. For example, if you were playing Traveller, you could take a sector map and assign each player 2-4 subsectors that they would flesh out and run adventures in.
Each gamer would take turns being both a GM for their portion of the map, and running characters in the other player's games. That means you would have several characters coexisting at different places in the game universe. (Obviously this would require the various GMs to take turns running their games, and I don't pretend to know how that would work without conflicts.)
The game would also work on another level. You could play out the strategic conflicts of the various regions as wargaming sessions, using a space combat game or even a strategic 4X game. The results of the wargaming sessions would influence the background events of the roleplaying universe, giving the whole setting an extra level of depth.
Of course actually coordinating and running a Grand Campaign like this would be almost impossible. Maybe if you had a tight-knit gaming group that kept a regular schedule you could attempt it. But considering how hard it is just to run a an extended campaign and get everyone to show up when they're supposed to, it seems like a pipe dream. But it's a fun dream.
Each gamer would take turns being both a GM for their portion of the map, and running characters in the other player's games. That means you would have several characters coexisting at different places in the game universe. (Obviously this would require the various GMs to take turns running their games, and I don't pretend to know how that would work without conflicts.)
The game would also work on another level. You could play out the strategic conflicts of the various regions as wargaming sessions, using a space combat game or even a strategic 4X game. The results of the wargaming sessions would influence the background events of the roleplaying universe, giving the whole setting an extra level of depth.
For example, Stellar Conquest
Of course actually coordinating and running a Grand Campaign like this would be almost impossible. Maybe if you had a tight-knit gaming group that kept a regular schedule you could attempt it. But considering how hard it is just to run a an extended campaign and get everyone to show up when they're supposed to, it seems like a pipe dream. But it's a fun dream.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Strange new worlds
Any good space opera rpg worth it's salt has to have rules for randomly generating star systems. It just goes without saying. This probably goes back to Traveller, which in many ways set the standard for sfrpgs. So nearly every space themed game that followed had charts that let you churn out solar systems like nobody's business. But more than a few of those games were determined to outdo Traveller by making there generation systems scientifically realistic. So realistic that nearly every system you generated was a desert of lifeless rocks. Mr. Lizard commented on this in the course of his exhaustive review of the obscure game Star Rovers.
I think the worst offender in this regard has probably got to be Spacemaster, which has chart after chart that seldom produced an inhabited system even after hours of rolling. (No, I do not speak from experience. Even I have my limits.) Traveller never made that mistake, and when you rolled up systems for the game you were guaranteed to get inhabited systems. You know, places for adventure? Another game of that era that had the sense to put the adventure first was FASA's Star Trek rpg. They took it for granted that you would be exploring Class M planets, so when you got to a new system the question wasn't if there were habitable planets present, but how many were there. They even condensed the whole generation system into one convenient page.
I'm all in favor of having realistc science in my games, but not when it interferes with the fun. That's especially true of space opera games which are rather unrealistic to begin with. Skewing the system generation system to produce exotic locals for adventure seems to me to be the best direction to go.
Much as the entire early wave of fantasy RPGs made some design choices purely because "That's how D&D did it", most space-travel focused science fiction games offered a random star system generation system which was at least vaguely "scientific", because Traveller did, and many decided to trump Traveller by offering "realistic" probabilities for habitable worlds (based on, you know, all the habitable worlds which had been found in 1981), which meant a DM could wear out his dice hand before generating a random system which contained anything other than barren rocks.
I think the worst offender in this regard has probably got to be Spacemaster, which has chart after chart that seldom produced an inhabited system even after hours of rolling. (No, I do not speak from experience. Even I have my limits.) Traveller never made that mistake, and when you rolled up systems for the game you were guaranteed to get inhabited systems. You know, places for adventure? Another game of that era that had the sense to put the adventure first was FASA's Star Trek rpg. They took it for granted that you would be exploring Class M planets, so when you got to a new system the question wasn't if there were habitable planets present, but how many were there. They even condensed the whole generation system into one convenient page.
I'm all in favor of having realistc science in my games, but not when it interferes with the fun. That's especially true of space opera games which are rather unrealistic to begin with. Skewing the system generation system to produce exotic locals for adventure seems to me to be the best direction to go.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Warp Factor six is slow
I was thinking about what it would be like to use Traveller subsector maps in a Star Trek game. They're a nice, convenient size. It's quick and easy to randomly generate solar systems, etc. And it's in a generous scale of one parsec to the hex. So how long would it take a Constitution class starship traveling at warp factor six to get around the map?
_at_galactic_barrier.jpg)
Warp Factor six is 216 times the speed of light. That means it would take roughly 1.7 days to travel one light year. To cross one parsec of 3.26 light years would therefore take you about 5.5 days. So it takes our ship 5.5 days to travel one hex one the map. Since the map is 8x10 hexes that means it would take 44 days to cross the top of the map, and 55 days to go from bottom to top! Our crew could spend a whole year of their five year mission just in this one subsector.
Now in the TV show the Enterprise went zipping around over much greater distances. That's why the authors of the first edition of the FASA Star Trek rpg didn't bother to include a map. They knew they couldn't handwave it away. But if you want to conduct your adventures on a more reasonable (and manageable) scale, the subsector maps are a good resource. So just generate four or five of these subsector maps and you'll have a sandbox that should support a five year long campaign.
Warp Factor six is 216 times the speed of light. That means it would take roughly 1.7 days to travel one light year. To cross one parsec of 3.26 light years would therefore take you about 5.5 days. So it takes our ship 5.5 days to travel one hex one the map. Since the map is 8x10 hexes that means it would take 44 days to cross the top of the map, and 55 days to go from bottom to top! Our crew could spend a whole year of their five year mission just in this one subsector.
(generated using the Random Subsector Generator)
Now in the TV show the Enterprise went zipping around over much greater distances. That's why the authors of the first edition of the FASA Star Trek rpg didn't bother to include a map. They knew they couldn't handwave it away. But if you want to conduct your adventures on a more reasonable (and manageable) scale, the subsector maps are a good resource. So just generate four or five of these subsector maps and you'll have a sandbox that should support a five year long campaign.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Snapshot (1979)
I found this video retrospective of Snapshot (1979) by HistoryGamer over on BoardGameGeek. Snapshot separates out the combat system from Traveller book one and adds Action Points and a 15mm scale grid-based movement system. It focuses on indoor combat, mainly inside the confines of spaceships. Along with the usual eclectic assortment of weapons ("The following are polearms often carried by low technology boarding parties.") it also includes what has to be one of the weirdest rules ever.
Expletive: Not properly a movement, expletive is the venting of frustration and anger when a character is not capable of using his action points efficiently. In addition to its use in the pick-up maneuver, expletive may be used while waiting for sliding doors to open, or as desired. Expletive requires the expenditure of 1 AP per execution; it does not require triple cost payment in order to maintain a sneaking posture.
*@#*!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Digest sized games
There's something inherently old-school about digest-sized game books. That's because the earliest games, like OD&D, T&T 1st ed., and CT were all first issued in digest-sized volumes. I wish more games were printed in digest size, not only because they'd be cheaper, but because that would just be cool. Here's a few digest sized games I have...
Published by Corgi Books and distributed in the box set of Tunnels & Trolls, this digest sized rulebook is a reprint of the venerable 5th edition rules with only minor alterations (but not the 5.5 rules). The paper isn't the best quality, and it's missing the illustrations by Danforth and Carver that make 5E so memorable, but this is still the rulebook I get out when I want to play a game.
It was cool how Guardians of Order printed most of their books in digest format. It wasn't until the end that they started releasing big, expensive hardbacks (which may have contributed to GoO's demise, but I could be wrong about that). Of course BESM kind of contradicts my assertion that digest size books are old school, since it was a decidedly new school, story telling game. But it was still cool.
Slightly smaller than digest sized, the Pocket Edition of Traveller (Mongoose) is a miniaturized version of the main rulebook. Unfortunately that means the text is very tiny, so reading these rules involves a lot of squinting. I really like the Mongoose iteration of the classic Traveller rules a s they address some of my nit-picks with the original and more importantly they combine all rules in one volume rather than splitting then up into three volumes.
One of the reasons the first rpgs were digest sized is because that was the format of the miniatures wargames that the hobby grew out of. Some wargames kept that format, like Shock Force 2nd Ed. This fast, fun skirmish game is set in a science fantasy setting that's somewhat reminiscent of Gamma World, but the force builder rules let you take this game into any setting...like Gogol Island, for ex.
Another great set of skirmish rules I have are Wessex Games' Firewall 2136AD. While it doesn't capture the feel of cyberpunk as well as Cyberpunk 2020, it's still a fun rules-lite game.
UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot BESM at first. I added it and a few minor clarifications and corrections.
Published by Corgi Books and distributed in the box set of Tunnels & Trolls, this digest sized rulebook is a reprint of the venerable 5th edition rules with only minor alterations (but not the 5.5 rules). The paper isn't the best quality, and it's missing the illustrations by Danforth and Carver that make 5E so memorable, but this is still the rulebook I get out when I want to play a game.
It was cool how Guardians of Order printed most of their books in digest format. It wasn't until the end that they started releasing big, expensive hardbacks (which may have contributed to GoO's demise, but I could be wrong about that). Of course BESM kind of contradicts my assertion that digest size books are old school, since it was a decidedly new school, story telling game. But it was still cool.
Slightly smaller than digest sized, the Pocket Edition of Traveller (Mongoose) is a miniaturized version of the main rulebook. Unfortunately that means the text is very tiny, so reading these rules involves a lot of squinting. I really like the Mongoose iteration of the classic Traveller rules a s they address some of my nit-picks with the original and more importantly they combine all rules in one volume rather than splitting then up into three volumes.
One of the reasons the first rpgs were digest sized is because that was the format of the miniatures wargames that the hobby grew out of. Some wargames kept that format, like Shock Force 2nd Ed. This fast, fun skirmish game is set in a science fantasy setting that's somewhat reminiscent of Gamma World, but the force builder rules let you take this game into any setting...like Gogol Island, for ex.
Another great set of skirmish rules I have are Wessex Games' Firewall 2136AD. While it doesn't capture the feel of cyberpunk as well as Cyberpunk 2020, it's still a fun rules-lite game.
UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot BESM at first. I added it and a few minor clarifications and corrections.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Traveller System Generator
I haven't abandoned this blog, honest. It's just that, unfortunately, I haven't been gaming much lately. Even so here's a nice little System Generator utility for Mongoose Traveller that I found on the 'net. It spits out something like this...
Unlike most gamers I was never that into Traveller. One reason was that characters were invariably middle aged human veterans. Another was the relatively low-tech setting, with machine-guns, bulky computers and Jump Drives that need huge fuel tanks and take a week get anywhere. Top it off with a confining Official Universe © and I was off to other games. Which in retrospect I can see was my loss. All of those gripes I just listed could easily have been handled with a few simple house rules. And now with the Mongoose edition of Traveller I'd hardly need to bother. I really like this edition of the game and I think it's finally made a convert out of me. Now if it only had mecha...
| UWP: | C9E9332-B S Fl Lo NI |
| Gas Giant: | Yes |
| Star Port: | C (Berthing Cost: Cr. 600) |
| Size: | 9 |
| Atmosphere: | E - Thin, Low (Temperate) |
| Hydrographics: | 9 - 92% |
| Population: | 3 - 2.7 thousand |
| Government: | 3 - Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy |
| Law Level: | 2 - Portable energy weapons prohibited |
| Tech Level: | B |
| Naval Base: | |
| Scout Base: | Yes |
| Research Base: | No |
| TAS: | No |
| Imperial Consulate: | No |
| Pirate Base: | No |
| Classification: | Fl Lo NI |
Unlike most gamers I was never that into Traveller. One reason was that characters were invariably middle aged human veterans. Another was the relatively low-tech setting, with machine-guns, bulky computers and Jump Drives that need huge fuel tanks and take a week get anywhere. Top it off with a confining Official Universe © and I was off to other games. Which in retrospect I can see was my loss. All of those gripes I just listed could easily have been handled with a few simple house rules. And now with the Mongoose edition of Traveller I'd hardly need to bother. I really like this edition of the game and I think it's finally made a convert out of me. Now if it only had mecha...
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Space Opera Campaigns
The recent post over on Oddysey's blog about Six Traveller Campaign and Adventure Ideas has some good suggestions for space opera campaigns (my personal favorite being Space Ship Rockstar.) And while intended for use with Classic Traveller they're just as appropriate for any space opera game, such as Mekton Z. So to take this idea and run with it a bit, here are a few more tried-and-true space opera campaigns to have fun with.
Interstellar Patrol: The PCs are members of a service charged with keeping the peace and maintaining the safety of the spaceways. Whether it's fending off an alien menace, taking down a crooked trader, rescuing starships in danger, or ending a space-pirate's reign of terror your valiant crew is up to the task. You may even be assigned to top-secret missions that will take you undercover in the most dangerous corners of the galaxy. If it just weren't for all that red tape...
Colonial Convoy: The PCs are tasked with escorting a group of colonists to their new planet. The goal of the PC ship's officers or scouts is get the colonists to their destination in one piece. They may in one huge colony ship, or a fleet of smaller vessels. En route there can be any manner of complications, such as mechanical malfunctions (loss of artificial gravity, breakdown of FTL drive, etc.), contaminated stores, space-pirates, hostile aliens, disease, and natural disasters. Along the way you'll encounter numerous interesting planets and space stations offering rest and resupply -- as well as further tricky situations. And even once you get the colonists to their new planet they have to tame it...
Asteroid Miners: Among the whirling rocks of the asteroid belt is a fortune waiting to be had. Prospectors stake their claims and hope to find the valuable substances (and alien relics) that will make their fortunes, all the while surviving a hostile environment and fending off claim-jumpers. And in the wild boom town on that large asteroid you'll find the casinos and sexroids to squander your earnings on. Just watch out for the cutthroats and vigilantes. And don't limit yourself to asteroids. Miners can be found extracting metallic hydrogen from the clouds of gas giants, or in rubber science games, on platforms extracting unobtainium from the corona of stars.
Interstellar Patrol: The PCs are members of a service charged with keeping the peace and maintaining the safety of the spaceways. Whether it's fending off an alien menace, taking down a crooked trader, rescuing starships in danger, or ending a space-pirate's reign of terror your valiant crew is up to the task. You may even be assigned to top-secret missions that will take you undercover in the most dangerous corners of the galaxy. If it just weren't for all that red tape...
Colonial Convoy: The PCs are tasked with escorting a group of colonists to their new planet. The goal of the PC ship's officers or scouts is get the colonists to their destination in one piece. They may in one huge colony ship, or a fleet of smaller vessels. En route there can be any manner of complications, such as mechanical malfunctions (loss of artificial gravity, breakdown of FTL drive, etc.), contaminated stores, space-pirates, hostile aliens, disease, and natural disasters. Along the way you'll encounter numerous interesting planets and space stations offering rest and resupply -- as well as further tricky situations. And even once you get the colonists to their new planet they have to tame it...
Asteroid Miners: Among the whirling rocks of the asteroid belt is a fortune waiting to be had. Prospectors stake their claims and hope to find the valuable substances (and alien relics) that will make their fortunes, all the while surviving a hostile environment and fending off claim-jumpers. And in the wild boom town on that large asteroid you'll find the casinos and sexroids to squander your earnings on. Just watch out for the cutthroats and vigilantes. And don't limit yourself to asteroids. Miners can be found extracting metallic hydrogen from the clouds of gas giants, or in rubber science games, on platforms extracting unobtainium from the corona of stars.
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