Given how fractured Traveller has become over the years, I really wasn't planning on buying into Mongoose's version, as my CT/MT rules have served me well. However, a friend recently gave the core book to me for my b-day, and I must say I'm intrigued by it. Two of my favorite source books from MT are the Starship Operator's Manual and World Builder's Handbook - using the sensor and task rules/guidlines from those books at the right points in my campaigns has made for some great campaigns. I've done some preliminary examinations of Mongoose Traveller, and it appears that for the most part, converting those things over to the new system shouldn't be hard at all. However, I wanted to ask about it here, and see if anyone had any advice for doing so, and/or pitfalls to watch out for? MT's Starship Operator's Manual and World Builder's Handbook both rocked!
Starship Operator's Manual The book is almost all flavor text, with very few hard 'rules' You will want to tweak the skill rolls a bit. Make sure you double-check what skills are being called for.
Also, and equally important, check to ensure that the players had a reasonable chance to acquire the needed skills during character creation. World Builder's Handbook I've used this book to turn planets from 'a place to stop for a bit' into 'a full NPC'. It really can make a planet come to life. That said, the book does have a lot more 'rules' in it. Again, check the skills that various tasks call for and what difficulty they are listed as. I've not double-checked the ship section yet, but always loved the Kinnekur (sp) G-Carrier.
Most of the section on planets can be used as is. They can add huge amounts of detail to a planet, especially the sections on Tech Levels and Cultural stuff (merchants must conduct major business dealings over a shared meal). One adventure I ran had the players going to a planet where the wearing of blue was one of the greatest taboos, because the planet had been conquered for 1000 years by an alien race which wore blue uniforms. Players forgot to check the Library Data on the planet (which mentioned the taboo), and then debarked their ship wearing blue jumpsuits. They could not figure out why.no one. would talk to them, serve them, service their ship, unload their cargo, etc etc etc.
It was an amazing game, and it really made the fact that they were on an alien planet come to life. Hope this helps. BenGunn wrote:If you are using MegaTraveller anyway it would be easier to replace the character generation from MT with the one from Mongoose and keep the rest since rules-wise I can't see any benefit from using Mongoose For me, the benefit of using Mongoose Traveller is one of perception among new players around here. CT/MT, despite the fact that it now has all it's materials available are perceived as 'old & unsupported', while MgT doesn't have that stigma attached to it. There seems to be some growing community excitement about Traveller here in my area, thanks to MgT.
MrUkpyr wrote:MT's Starship Operator's Manual and World Builder's Handbook both rocked! Starship Operator's Manual The book is almost all flavor text, with very few hard 'rules' You will want to tweak the skill rolls a bit. Make sure you double-check what skills are being called for. Also, and equally important, check to ensure that the players had a reasonable chance to acquire the needed skills during character creation. Thanks - I was thinking this might be the case, good to have confirmation. BenGunn wrote:Since IIRC the WorldBuilders HB is basically 'Out of print' (since it is DGP stuff) you might also want to take a look at the TNE 'World Tamers HB' (Availabel as a PDF) Not the same kinds of detail.
WTH is essentially rules for running colonies. IIRC its worldbuilding stuff was similar in detail to WBH or MT - I remember getting it when it first came out, looking through it, and thinking 'huh, this doesn't give me much more than I had in WBH already'.
Not that WBH is actually particularly accurate in itself, though, but it's more detailed than CT. The colony building stuff and other material in WTH however, is excellent, and well worth getting the book just for that. I had a look at that again recently and wondered how the heck I failed to appreciate that first time around.
Traveller General Anonymous 12/25/13(Wed)00:48 Docking Complete. Freight 4 weeks late fucking pirates Ship maintenance Due definitely not paying that Ship Mortgage Due not paying that either Living costs Due can I afford to eat this month? If I want that Beam Laser, I better eat cheap. 400 Cr for living costs Have you Paid Your Crew?
Totally forgot about them. I guess I'll just pay the marine, that way if the others mutiny, at least He'll be there to stop 'em. Price of Refuel: 37,000 Cr Shieeeeeeet. Well boys, looks like we're gonna have to skim fuel again. Jumping's gonna be dicey.
What is Traveller? Traveller Folder and Pastebin: 8br7g7ux9q/Traveller Music to Explosive Decompression to; Old Timey Space music SnJNP-4&list=RD02FH8lvwXxY8 Slough Feg JqiYonw&list=PL8DECD4 Goldsmith - Alien Soundtrack rhUdgOI&list=PL75A961 Herrmann - The Day the Earth Stood Still iVqeF5U. File: -(270 KB, 1440x900, Homeworld.jpg) I've been thinking about that anons idea to do Homeworld with Traveller rules. All the attack craft could be done, but the Mothership seems to break it a bit, According to homeworld1 stats, the Mothership is 5,000,000 tons. The High Guard supplement only goes up to 1,000,000 tons. I was thinking that you could just ignore the Mothership and resource gatherers, and instead focus on the combat end of the interceptors, bombers, and missile frigates.
I could see the PCs being part of an interceptor squad, then slowly working their way up to heavier and heavier crafts, A Homeworld campaign might be all about 'leveling up' to the next ship, and causing/taking more damage So any thoughts or ideas on this? Anonymous 12/25/13(Wed)01:33 Depends on the larger context. Would this be in the context of a larger war or campaign, where the PCs start as noncombatants or lightly armed with interceptors and scouts, being forced into a hostile universe that's determined to fuck with them (ie, the general structure of the two good Homeworld games)? Would they be warlords, pirates or mercenaries, determined from the very start to hurt people and break things (but for a good reason, maybe)? To me, Traveler is less Homeworld and more Elite. Wing Commander, Freelancer, etc. File: -(106 KB, 526x359, 9spooky1me.jpg) I imagine the PCs control a Mothership, are thrust into enemy/hostile territory, and have to build/improve to survive.
Game would play pretty like the introduction and first few hours of Homeworld 2. Athough I agree that Traveller is more for 'a couple of ships', and that if each PC has their own vessel. Shit can get complex.
Still, If the Mothership pays for your mortgage and maintenance, then gameplay would be dead easy; Do what the mothership says and try not to die. listening to radio waves translated into our hearing range. File: -(368 KB, 1280x1601, taikonautby0800-d5q3uuz.jpg) Hey, got a question regarding ambiance for you guys. I'm trying to set up a scenario involving spaceship junkers, deep space hulks and horrible alien monstrosities, but the Alien soundtrack seems to be a bit too obvious for my group, and I won't use any Dead Space because the third act pissed me off too much to use.
Does anyone have any recommendations for backround music that has a good horror vibe for what I'm doing? As a down payment, have some pics. File: -(98 KB, 531x697, cyberapebylaemeur-d4parym.jpg) (continued from previous post) The basic plan is to have the players find a reason to go to a spaceship graveyard floating in the trojans of an outer system rockball planet. Ideas included needing parts for their spaceship, finding a haul of salvage for sale and needing to stake a claim, working with the IISS to gather some data from a shattered Type-S that crapped out, hiding from the Imp Navy after a pirate raid, or just looking in the shattered hulls for leftover cargo or ship weaponry to snag for free. Stuff like that.
While the group is floating around in zero-g, shit will indeed hit a fan at a relatively high speed and the players will need to, of course, fix it or die horribly. Anonymous 12/25/13(Wed)23:39 This was the kickoff free-trader campaign, Expeditions Ltd's first experience with Traveller, held in Don's apartment, with starship miniatures from Valiant's Stardate:3000 line. It ended up giving both the character and starship combat systems a workout and set some kind of record for the most cinematic scenes per session - remember, Star Wars had premiered less than three months before, and was still fresh in everyone's mind. Sometimes I forget how old Traveller is. File: -(361 KB, 1013x788, planningthemanipulation(.).jpg) I'm a bit late for the music recommendations, but this is my Traveller soundtrack: Jarre QqIPaGg Vangelis NHNo1LA Tangerine Dream bdsuWSg Brian Bennett qPPugEI SPK L0e7498 As you can probably tell, I think electro/industrial stuff from the earliest period ofTraveller was first made (say 1977-83) is the best.
It has the retrotech feel I love to use in my Solomani games. Also, this is really creepy: the sounds of Jupiter: E01YYWs. File: -(246 KB, 819x278, 373.png) Okay, One thing I always was disappointed by.there's rules that say if your shit get decompressed you just die outright(paraphrasing, it is in the armory section of the mong rulebook) but there's no situations in rules as written that decompress your ship other than doing it intentionally yourself.
If you get a hole blow in the ship the rules say it fixes itself nearly instantly. Did I miss the part where there are rules for getting sucked out into space or otherwise killed in ship to ship encounters in other ways than crew hits, boarding deaths, or your whole ship being destroyed? File: -(4.53 MB, 3375x2625, 679.jpg) Here's how i do misjumps: Jump Roll (2D6): (+Effect of Engineering roll, -2 per jump drive hit, -2 unrefined fuel, -8 within d-limit) Result: 0 or less: Misjump -scatter D6 parsecs from the intended system in a random direction.
Also, roll 2d6. If the result is 2 (snake eyes) Roll for a GAME CHANGING EVENT GAME CHANGING EVENT: Roll 1 D6: 1 Jump into star. Crew and ship survive on a 4+, taking Heavy RADS and damage (lets say 2D6 X 100 RADs, and 2D6 X D6 damage on the ship) 2 Jump into deep space: D6 X 100 Sectors off the side of known space.
3 Jump into Parallel Time: a different timeline, perhaps the Ancients are still around? Perhaps Vargr Rule the Galaxy? Tess Gerritsen.
Perhaps Robots rule the galaxy? Perhaps Coke-a-cola Rules the galaxy? Perhaps everyone is John? 4 Jump into alternate Universe: Chaos, Complete Alien species, Completely foreign architecture and building layout, Perhaps small beings that serve drinks through body-generated force fields, using robotic arms to grasp and serve beverages, a small pile of feces builds up in the bottom of the force fields, etc. 5 Into Matrix/Werid Death 2001 Space - its so spooky?! What is real?!? 6 Absolutely nothing around.
Only hope is to freeze everyone and wait it out. Found floating in space in: D6 1-3: 100-600 years, 4-6: 10-60 years.
1-4: Innacurate Jump - Dumped in the system 2D6 AU from the mainworld 5-7: Close Jump - Dumped in the system, D6 AU from the mainworld 8 or higher: Precise Jump - Exit jump exactly on the D-limit of the mainworld. JOIN THE CONFEDERATION NAVY TODAY! File: -(397 KB, 1280x1024, ahlwip5.jpg) Ah, the Azhanti.
The Imperium's Fuck-Off Brick. Definitely one of the signature vessels, certainly the only one to get a whole game to itself. i5j4ne1650vq9b6/Game%2003%20-%20Azh anti%20High%20Lightning.rar Ship Type / Class Cruiser / Azhanti High Lightning Class Displacement 60,000 Tons Jump 5 Manuever 2 Crew / Passengers 62 officers / 333 crew / 75 pilots / 150 troops / 320 frozen watch Hardpoints 24 + Spinal Mount Manufacturer Varies Hull Type Rectangular Closed Streamlining Non Atmospheric Cargo Tonnage 400 The Azhanti High Lightning was originally conceived and built to be a Fleet Intruder class ship back during the Solomani Rim war of the old Imperium. Although it was not technically a capital class ship in the days of the Imperium, the Azhanti ships of the Republic are the largest class of warship still in regular operation, and have been promoted to role of Heavy Cruiser within the High Guard, who operates six of these formidable vessels within the combined fleet.
Azhanti class ships carry a wide array of weapons and defense systems, including a spinal mounted weapon (usually particle accelerator), twenty-four 50-ton weapons bays, meson screens, nuclear dampers, and a compliment of fighter craft of up to 60 fighter craft organized into 10 ship squadrons. Small weapons systems such as laser turrets, repulsors, and sandcasters cover the external surface of it's heavy pierced plate hull structure. Anonymous 12/26/13(Thu)19:18 He definitely wasn't pulling one on me.
I walked each of them through character generation, it's just that I hadn't (and still haven't - fucking Christmas) finished reading the rulebook. So I was pretty much skipping around the rulebook to relevant parts when I needed them, inevitably missing things. Things such as that line - shit, you'd think it'd just be 5 shares towards the ship called 'Smuggler Ship'. I'm gonna let them have the Smuggler Ship on mortgage, because that's more interesting and it's more in line with the benefits in the core rulebook. Smuggler Ship, pg.89 of 'Book 6 - Scoundrel'. It's a refitted Type A Free Trader. Anonymous 12/26/13(Thu)23:18 A small one, yes.
Much above 100 tons and you'll need a crew, though. One solution is to assume a LOT more automation, but damage control becomes problematic. Another is to just move the tonnage decimal one place to the left on everything except staterooms. Now anything bigger than 10 tons can jump, and you can build a lot of variety in small packages. Alternately, just cut.fuel. to 10% of normal. This gives you either a lot more range or a LOT of room for variation in a 100-ton hull.
If you want more interaction between fights, either shorten jump times or hook everyone together to go places so they can talk to each other. File: -(38 KB, 336x336, Sexy-Pilot-Concept-336x336.jpg) Don't worry friend! There are always crews for hire One of my PCs runs a 400 ton Corsair by himself, along with an NPC crew of 4; Pilot: Ensign Jameson: Solomani Female (8/10) A54595, 26, attracted to Aslan PC (on the other PC ship.) Navigator: Commander Riuni: SC Male 65B82B, 40, Borrows money. Steward: 3rd officer Sheffram: Zhodani Female (10/10) 98758A, 30, Good on the Ships guns. Wants to hire the PCs Engineer Johns, SC male, 28, ex-scout, good mechanic. Will betray the PCs.
Total cost per month for this crew is only 17K swear to the void I rolled all this up, even the attractions to the PC, I rolled the trait, then randomized who the NPC would be attracted to. They almost never get to hang out, because the captains of both ships are ruthlessly following their mission and pretty strict. In fact Ensign Jameson has made some mistakes in the past (damaging the sensors during an atmospheric entry) and has been yelled at by the PCs Droyne Captain. NPCs have feelings too! File: -(129 KB, 800x999, 266.jpg) One of my all time favorite Traveller stories involves tax - the funding of an AHL-class cruiser called 'Children of the March'. A fleet intruder (later frontier cruiser) of the Azhanti High Lightning -class.
Tail number 6355. Laid down 095-994. First flight 117-997. 60,000 tons and heavily armed. The Children of the March was unusual in this class of ships primarily for its method of financing. The boost to subsector economy created by the award of starship construction contracts is always important enough to make all areas of the Imperium vie for the privilege. At the time of the bidding invitations, the Solomani Rim War (990 to 1002) was burning on the other side of the Imperium; there was little chance that the Spinward Marches would receive a contract.
The Duke of Regina, speaking for the Marches, proposed that the Marches fund one additional ship from its own resources, on the condition that the Marches receive a contract to produce a portion of the total run. The school children of the worlds within the Marches contributed their lunch money, at a quarter credit each, for the ultimate funding of one ship, and it was named Children of the March in their honour. File: -(39 KB, 600x480, 3603225-600x480.jpg) At least, that is the story available to the casual reader. But that sort of activity is very cost-ineffective, and has a great potential for graft, or at least inattention. Instead, the sector government came up with the idea, and implemented it at the highest levels. Given a population of 783 billion in the Marches (under direct Imperial rule), children in school amount to about 10% of that population. Assuming a contribution of a quarter credit per student, the campaign could produce the sum of 19.575 billion credits.
The bureaucracy simply deducted this sum from funds budgeted to education; the responsibility for replenishment fell upon educational administrators, who could solicit donations from students (or others) for the shipbuilding campaign. Aside from the initial notification from the sector government, no further effort was necessary, no further credit transfers were needed, and the campaign was allowed to go on for however long was necessary. Reportedly, some backwater districts still collect for the 'Starship Fund'. Source: CT Library Data book. Anonymous 12/27/13(Fri)06:03 Why not? The 3I has something like 11,000 inhabited worlds in it.
You are going to find anything somewhere in something that size. Dippy tax regulations on one world would mean most ships get flagged elsewhere, just as occurs here and now on Earth. If your PCs roll up too much ship during chargen and you need to rein gem in some, tell them the ship is registered on Redtape-II and let them go through the hassle of transferring that to New Liberia. As any old time Trav GM can tell you, the key to controlling your players is keeping them POOR. File: -(234 KB, 610x799, GURPS Traveller aliens.jpg) Yep pretty much everything can be quick referenced in game, as long as you know how the shit works, all you need is a table or two for each section (Trade, ship combat, personal combat etc. I have heaps of Quickref documents here; k37waqict6t/Traveller%20Referee%20D ocs The other option is to just have the CoreRulebook open in a pdf or something on a laptop on the table. I also like to utilize a 'personal combat chart' that I have up on the wall.
An A3 page showing actions/reactions and cover. That's just me though. Anonymous 12/27/13(Fri)18:44 Yeah. Mongoose is pretty much the new Classic though. Don't bother with most of the Mongoose supplements unless you really need them.
The Campaign Guide is especially bad, but Mercenary was written by someone who apparently saw the word 'traveller' once, a lot of the books have illegible deckplans (which look like crudely and repeatedly resized bitmaps) and generally it's a wonderful illustration of Mongoose Quality (tm). Sometimes they publish something awesome (MgT core qualifies), then they slip back to being the company best known for killing D20 third party content by pumping out utter shit. Anonymous 12/27/13(Fri)18:52 There are reasonably-available reprints.
Last I checked it was £20 for a reprint containing all the core books (1-3, the basic set, and all five further books), the same for other reprints of adventures and supplements. They're in a slightly weird format (you can see the covers here: tml - each page has two pages from the original book on it side-by-side) but they're perfectly usable. They're not all available there, but I've seen them in various stores. File: -(486 KB, 1373x812, Aoa'iw Light Trader.png) Docked at C class starport in the Amonchomchu system, Solomani space. Stopped by Solomani officials while unloading passengers. Managed to talk my way out of it, but they weren't happy to see me or the rest of my Aslan crew. Next destination is the Mcmanus system, 1 parsec away.
Looking at the readout from the ship's library: Ice-capped Non-agricultural world with decent population and low law. Also very thin atmosphere. Anyway, I spent 5 hours arranging passengers for the trip, then another day arranging Cargo and freight. Flight Manifest for jump: Amonchomchu - McManus 15 tons Illegal Weapons (bought for 65% of standard price!) 15 tons Advanced machine parts 20 tons Medical Supplies 10 tons Basic Electronics 10 tons Illegal Weapons 25 tons Biochemicals Also 5 High passengers and 19 tons of freight. We're jumping from low law system to low law system, so there shouldn't be any problems with those weapons.
As we decouple with the starport, I realize its been 6 months since I set out from the Aslan Homeworld, Kyusu. May our ancestors guide the jump. File: -(1.21 MB, 2537x1628, K'tanaals journey, 6(.).jpg) Jump went fine, We exited near the mainworld of the Mcmanus system. As we approached the starport, we were hailed by a Solomani police cutter. Just my luck!
The one police vessel in the system and I run right into it! I managed to use my Streetwise skills to avoid a full search, and The captain was sated with our mission of establishing trade routes with the Hiver federation.
Thankfully no one was around to notice the containers with 'Third Imperium Armory' stamped on the side. I really should refrain from Illegals in future. The Credits are good. Speaking of which, I sold The weapons for an excellent price, and combined with the other goods, made a total of 1,800,250 Cr from the trip. Paid my monthly ship and crew salary costs, and am sitting at a healthy 5,118,047 Cr.
Time to relax and maybe check out some of these human 'bars' that I keep seeing. File: -(1.93 MB, 2129x1301, SPACE REF.jpg) Just handwave everything. Unless you get into combat, then you gotta do it right. Solo games can be done however you like, you're the Ref, you're the PC. If you wanna trade the stars, go for it, wanna kill on endless mercenary missions?
Prepare for hot LZ insertion. Just have fun and do whatever you want. Just make sure you roll for random encounters when you're moving around, or approaching mainworlds. I've found the random encounter tables in the core book are great, combined with some of the tables from the Referees guide (Mongoose Supplement 9 - Campaign Guide) for the exact type of ship/species encountered.
From then on it's like any other Traveller game. Try not to die, and try to cover your costs. Random space encounters/combat sheet. File: -(77 KB, 550x411, solfrigate.jpg) the core book covers law level and travellers. You roll 2d6 when you arrive at a system, if the result is equal to or less than the law level, your ship is checked. Don't forget that while mainwolrds may be high law, most Imperial starports (in orbit) are Law level 1, to allow mercenaries to carry their weapons etc. As long as you don't have illegals, you wont get arrested for carrying an assault rifle on a starport.
Of course, If you're carrying around a FGMP, someone will check you to see if you have a 'license' to carry that kind of weapon (If you have Gun combat(heavy weapons) you are considered as having the appropriate papers and licenses for operating a FGMP) We pretty much count that if you have a skill to use a certain weapon, you also have the paperwork to back it up. (unless the skill has been learned in game. In which case, might need to get a permit, pay fees, obtain C-class license etc.) As soon as you enter the atmosphere of a high law-level mainworld, better leave your assault rifle in the ship, and hope the tech level is low enough that the local authorities can't scan your cargo bay/ships locker. Usually Imperial starports have a Law level 1 'Imperial airspace' associated with them; the space from the d-limit to the starport and perhaps a narrow corridor to the systems gas giants, for refueling. If you leave these 'imperial airspaces' you may well be accosted by local system authorities (depending if the mainworld is capable of space flight) who will enforce their systems laws. That's how we do it. Also read through the 'law and Travellers' section of the core book, shows you how to deal with encounters with law and the issues of prison time and fines.
Mongoose Core Book: Law and Travellers: pages 173-174 Starport rules: page 178 This entire map was compiled by players and writers of Traveller, over the last 36-odd years Hell you can even map out new areas and submit them to the maps. File: -(586 KB, 1025x747, amderstun.jpg) One of all my-time favorite fucked-up sectors is Amderstun, way rimward of the edge of the Solomani Confederation. It's a realm of pocket empires and lost colonies. One area seems particularly bad. The forces of the Amderstun Empire and the Chromiri Alliance have reduced dozens of worlds to nuclear slag in their endless war (note all the dead red zoned worlds) in the aptly named subsector 'Warzone'.
There's also no less than three prison worlds in there. The ultra-rare blue zones originally come from TNE. These systems are Technologically Elevated Dictatorships, despite the fact they have no population. Make of that what you will. Anonymous 12/28/13(Sat)05:30 The thirty-five sectors in the center (Spinward Marches is one corner, Spica the opposite corner) were mapped in low detail in the early 80s, with just high pops named. Much of that was then filled in by fans, though the Spinward Marches, Solomani Rim, Diaspora, Massillia, Deneb, Reft, Trojan Reach, and chunks of Vland, Lishun, Core, Old Expanses, Reavers Deep, and Corridor would be printed officially (as well as several sectors outside that area, such as parts of Gvurrdon and all of Hinterworlds). Subsequent fan and official work has produced the body of work the Traveller Map displays.
That work is still ongoing. That row of sectors between the K'kree and Hivers was added in 2013. Anonymous 12/28/13(Sat)09:32 Classic Trav is Classic and Old, but it's still pretty damn good. MegaTraveller & T4 added too much complexity and nonsense.
TNE has some of the issues of MT & T4, and also did Things to the setting, including Homeworld: Cataclysm- or Berserker-style 'Virus'-infected AI ships. GURPS Traveller is GURPS, and its sourcebooks are fascinatingly spergy even for non-GURPS games. There are actually two editions - GURPS 3e has Traveller and a ton of supplements, GURPS 4e basically just has one Traveller book IIRC, but it's set in a slightly different era - not that long after first contact with the Solomani (that's us Earthlings). T20 is terrible. Some good third-party fluff was published for it IIRC, but the game itself is bad.
That HERO-system port is pretty bad IIRC. T5 is just a goddamn mess. Some people have developed a sort of stockholm syndrome, especially some of the kickstarter backers, and claim there is some great insight in there, that it all makes sense if you just open your mind and study it, and that it's not terrible. It might become good eventually if they release T5.5 after a lot of extra work. Stars Without Number isn't Traveller but it's got damn good tools for a Traveller referee.
I'd go with CT or MgT, maybe GURPS. Read the supplements you enjoy. Then branch out and look at how other editions covered similar topics, eventually just read everything and take what is good.
Anonymous 12/28/13(Sat)12:13 It isn't a Stockholm Syndrome thing with T5. A number of the people in the playtest crowd for it got to watch the tools grow gradually instead of having the brick delivered all in one go. They know the tools instead of having to figure them out from the mess of the book. T4 wasn't complex except in the one spot it was supposed to be, the 'build it all' book.
Since that book also suffered from the same organizational hand that gave us T5, it is even more of a mess than it should be. The rulebook for T4 is, wonky dice aside, a good edition. Just avoid the rest of T4. Hero Traveller and GURPS Traveller are Hero and Gurps first, Traveller second. There is some good stuff in GURPS Traveller, but it damn near stands in isolation. T20 could have been good. Unlike the two other adaptions, it shredded D20 and rebuilt it for Traveller's purposes.
Unfortunately, the mix of D20s unavoidable crunch and Traveller's standard subsystemic crunch, and the author's need for certain foibles of organization, character generation is a mess. Oddly, the rest of the book is fine, and the various add-ons do not shame the franchise. TNE is, oddly, another adaption. GDW's House System, used for Twilight 2000, Merc 2000, and Dark Conspiracy, is converted to Traveller. The resulting combat chapter is way too dense.
As mentioned, it also blew up the beloved Third Imperium once and for all, and used 'impossible' things to do it. TNE's most complex moment is Fire, Fusion & Steel, the 'build it' book, and is ironically the one part of TNE that the haters tend to embrace. File: -(523 KB, 805x885, Hivers.jpg) Legion of Vra'tha 1000 ton Hiver Scum-Runner Hull 20 Structure 20 Armor 8 Bridge 2 X Battle Bridge Jump-2 Thrust-2G 4 Model 6 Computers (rating 30 each) Advanced Electronics 8 Triple Turrets; 4 with 3 X Missile Racks 2 with 3 X Beam Lasers 2 with 3 X Particle Beams 36 Missiles (3 salvos) 1 Bay Particle Beam (6D6 Damage + Crew hit) 10 Staterooms 100 tons Cargo 400 tons fuel Thoughts?
I figure this is one of those 'you need to board it to stop it' vessels. Skint crew of weak, semi-unarmed hivers. As long as PCs don't try to bash it out with this ship, they could close quick and take it by force. Anonymous 12/29/13(Sun)18:07 In my experience - running Traveller for a big chunk of the 80s and 90s - aliens as PCs are the exception and not the rule. Traveller differs from DnD and it's descendants in many ways. Deadly combat was one difference, equality between PCs and NPCs was another, and there being no real need for 'token' PCs was yet another.
![Megatraveller World Builder Handbook Pdf Megatraveller World Builder Handbook Pdf](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123725133/757483478.jpg)
In DnD and it's various clones and descendants, parties seemingly always included an elf, dwarf, half-this, or half-that for various in-play advantages. Having a non-human provided certain benefits so seemingly every party included one.
That doesn't hold as true in Traveller. True, aliens have some quirks which can prove useful in some instances, like language or cultural familiarity, but, unlike DnD with it class focus, an alien won't be a better engineer or trader simply by virtue of being alien. Another point to consider is the vast distances within the Traveller setting. Again, unlike DnD & Company, every alien in the setting doesn't live next door to every other alien, let alone the various branches of humanity.
The K'Kree and Hivers are sectors away from the Aslan, for example. The Vargr do share a small border with the K'Kree, but it's separated by a rift from the central K'Kree territories. The Vargr and Aslan central territories are also sectors apart. While you can plausible place both Vargr and Aslan in the Spinward Marches, finding a Hiver there, let alone the xenophobic K'Kree is a much bigger issue.
Playing alien PCs seems to be on the upswing lately perhaps due to the DnD crowd entering Traveller. They learned RPGs with mixed race parties and in settings where different races lived somewhat intermixed. While that type of play and the perception which led to it is somewhat different from the 30+ years of previous Traveller play, it isn't wrong either.
Just different. TL;DR - Playing aliens in Traveller is fine, but isn't mandatory either. Anonymous 12/29/13(Sun)18:26 Mongoose published a 3I library data book, but I wouldn't bother paying for it or for most of Mongoose's publications for that matter. All you need is the core rules book because the web has a metric shitton of free Traveller information just waiting for your browser to scoop up. People have been playing and playing with this game since Jimmy Carter was in the White House and since before there was a public internet. Folks have been creating content for Traveller longer than most of the anions here have been alive.
There's a Traveller Wiki, google it, and be prepared to spend a few hours reading and following links. Google 'freelance traveller' too. It's a webzine with web-based content and a mess of links.
Starting with those two links, you can learn about the 3I setting as much as you want or need to do. Remember, everyone always tailors the setting to the needs of their group. If your player really wants to play a Hiver, point him to the pertinent info at the wiki, and let him run with it. Good luck and have fun. Anonymous 12/30/13(Mon)01:24 Hey Vargr-friend, your woman, she is very pretty yes? I give you six vacc-suits for her! Hey creep, she's not for sale, I mean- Okay ten!
Ten vacc-suits! In my culture this buy you many women! You don't shut up now, I'm gonna punch you, you. C'mon Dave, let's just go, he's not worth it- Okay friend! TWENTY vacc-suits and all the Vegan pie you can handle! Fukken sold.
Get with the alien bitch, no way am I passing up some V.P. Dave, you- ZZZAPPP! Shame about the 80's hair, but I can fix that! (scoff, slurp) This is some fukken good pie you little xeno creep. File: -(162 KB, 800x584, SJG10-0103.jpg) An OGRE Mk III is approximately 19m long, 10m wide and 13m tall.
It's also angry and full of nukes. The whole body isn't that height, of course, that's the sensor mast, but I don't think you can retract it. If you can, assume the height required is more like 8m. How would you go about transporting and landing one, in Traveller? It can handle a bit of rough stuff, but it's not a Bolo and can't fly.
Hot drop-zones aren't necessary; assume it's landing safely behind friendly lines and driving in the direction of the enemy. Also assume legal issues regarding its armament are resolved.
This may be relevant to a mercenary campaign two people are already rolling up characters for. They aren't the mercenaries. The OGRE is the mercenary. They're just the hired pilot and crew. I'm thinking a custom ship might be required, but I'm not that familiar with the various transports out there and there might be something that can handle it.
I seem to remember that this subject has been mentioned several times in the more distant past, but not recently. In a way I would prefer if Mongoose would take its time to develop any world building system that is more detailed than the one in the core rules. The current stream of astronomical discoveries shows that much of what was considered reliable knowledge was closer to an exception than to a rule, and that many of our previous ideas about planetary systems and planets were only partially true.
If Mongoose would now publish a world building system based upon the outdated knowledge, they would receive a lot of flak from those fans who follow the astronomical news. And to use the newly aquired knowledge is still somewhat dangerous, because the dust has not yet settled, and it is not at all certain what this new hypothesis will declare plausible, possible or impossible. So, for now I continue to use GURPS Traveller First In (good on culture) and GURPS Space 4e (mostly good on physical data) for my world buil- ding, and do not hold my breath for a detailed Mongoose Traveller world building system. DFW wrote:Indeed. The recent past discoveries (dating to published data of only a few days ago) shows that long held theories of planetary system development have been falsified. Based on our current sampling rate (basically 0%), I wouldn't expect any accurate new theories to be formulated within our life time.
Unless, there is unexpected breakthroughs in long range detection which would have to be extreme, to say the least. 'Falsified' is a little strong, as it overtly implies deliberate, well, lying.
The theories were as accurate as they could be given the small sample size. Even now, though, all of those extrasolar planets, the ones we can actually detect, may well be the freaks. Perhaps the model holds true for other systems, without the freakish worlds that we can detect from here. Then again, maybe not. But to describe the process so far as 'falsification' does a gross disservice to the people who devote their life's work to this field. And perhaps denotes a misunderstanding of how the work of science is actually accomplished.
Even today, the Kepler mission announced the discovery of two planets transiting the same star, a first. Science grows with the accumulation of new data.
Theories changes to fit the observable universe. That's how it is done. DFW wrote:Indeed. The recent past discoveries (dating to published data of only a few days ago) shows that long held theories of planetary system development have been falsified. Based on our current sampling rate (basically 0%), I wouldn't expect any accurate new theories to be formulated within our life time. Unless, there is unexpected breakthroughs in long range detection which would have to be extreme, to say the least.
Its not so much 'breakthroughs in long range detection' that is needed, but larger array baselines. NASA's Space Interferometry Mission is due for launch in 2014. The mission was supposed to launch in 2005, but budget cuts have kept it delayed. Technology and science are NOT the reason we've not already detected small planets - it's funding.
We're only.just. now putting up satellites designed to detect small planets; Kepler was launched about 18 months ago, and the data from that isn't expected to be crunched until next year. I'd be astounded if we don't have a decent sample size of exo-solar systems to work with in our lifetimes - most likely with programs already in place and planned we should have it by the end of the decade. @OP: The MegaTraveller WBH was in fact a Digest Group Publications product and not part of the GDW copyright that Mongoose has access to as far as I know.
There was a TNE WBH issued by GDW, so maybe the name did get transferred, though. The stuff in Mongoose Scouts is equivalent to the solar system building rules out of CT book 6.
However, basic rules p. 177 has a table for generating cultural details that is roughly equivalent to those in WBH; that's probably why they didn't revisit them in Scouts. There's also nothing preventing you from using the old WBHs if you have them - they are pretty much version independant. DaltonCalford wrote:I am curious if Mongoose is going release an updated version of LBB6 (Scout) or MegaTraveller's WBH?
Rules for detailing the entire solar system systematically are something I am looking for along with extra rules for culture generation. This has been a part of traveller for decades and I am wondering if the new version of Traveller is going to fill this hole in the product line? I'd recommend just using the World Builder's Handbook. I don't recall anything in the world building portion of the book that would not be compatible with MgT. Mongoose stellar data are fully compatible with Classic and Mega- Traveller. This approach does, however, ignore all the astronomical discoveries since 1989.
Of course, with how often new things are being discovered these days in the area of exoplanets, you could publish something today and it might be obsolete by the time it gets back from the printer. Don't be too worried about 'all the new discoveries'; up till now the exoplanets we can detect are pretty much pre-selected to be unusual cases. It's.quite.
Megatraveller World Builder S Handbook Pdf
possible that the hot jupiters should be considered as a type of failed binary star instead of a type of planet. As a comparison, in the list of the top 20 brightest stars that can be seen from Earth, 25% of them are type B, and only 40% are main sequence (type V). This is NOT a representitive sample of star type distribution. The vast majority of stars in our stellar neighbourhood are too dim to be seen with the unaided eye.
In the list of the 20.nearest. star systems, we have one non-dwarf Type A (Sirius A), 75% Type M and all of them are main sequence. Rinku wrote:Its not so much 'breakthroughs in long range detection' that is needed, but larger array baselines. NASA's Space Interferometry Mission is due for launch in 2014.
In order to know enough about the planets found (not just size, density, etc.) what you are mentioning is not enough, by far. No, that's where spectroscopy comes in to it. Current science and technology is capable of detecting water and atmospheric content (IIRC there was one profiled earlier in the year).
We just need the gear to be in space with a decent baseline for a large synthetic array. I'd point out that this is NOT extremely expensive stuff in space science terms - the original SIM budget was only $700M, or less than 5 F-22 Raptors. Rinku wrote:Its not so much 'breakthroughs in long range detection' that is needed, but larger array baselines. NASA's Space Interferometry Mission is due for launch in 2014. In order to know enough about the planets found (not just size, density, etc.) what you are mentioning is not enough, by far.
No, that's where spectroscopy comes in to it. Current science and technology is capable of detecting water and atmospheric content (IIRC there was one profiled earlier in the year). We just need the gear to be in space with a decent baseline for a large synthetic array. I'd point out that this is NOT extremely expensive stuff in space science terms - the original SIM budget was only $700M, or less than 5 F-22 Raptors. Yes, quite correct.
As in, E=MC2 was successfully falsified by the discovery of extra-galactic gamma-ray bursts that exceeded the energy level allowed for under the formula E=MC2 when the inverse sqaure law was applied to the burst origination points. Sorry that 'theory' was found in error quite some time ago. Einstein's theories are constantly being tested (as well they should be) and also constantly being applied (some, very fortunately, less than others). To date, no experiment has successfully contradicted dE = dMC^2, and a number of NASA and ESA programs have validated Einstein's theories in the more extreme environs of space (such as Cassini-Huygens). They have not been successful in validating any alternate models. Not to say Gamma-ray bursters aren't a fascinating wonder of our universe that still hold many secrets. For some good stuff on that check out the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), which was renamed Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope IIRC by Dr.
Alan Stern - whom I've met several times as he was my father's boss for many years and is now the P.I. For New Horizons (the Pluto mission) part of which was fabbed in the high-bay clean room connected to my dad's lab (my dad fabbed and vaccum tested the UV imaging instrument, Alice for that mission and the earlier Rosetta - he also worked on one that flew on Cassini-Huygens as well).
Putting this into a MGT context RE:Worlds - I am very much a fan of astrophysics and research - but, I wouldn't play traveller if I wasn't also a fan of Science- Fiction. My players expect to spend time on worlds - and traveling in space between them. Jump 'time' really doesn't offer to much in the way of RP opportunities (at least on non-Capitol ships). The lack of rules because of silliness by a handful of folks who think the system has to be 'realistic' really harms one of the important parts of the game. Even in the early 80's when I began playing Traveller, I knew the system generation rules were 'wrong'.
Didn't keep them from being fun. To be quite frank - very little in the game is truly 'realistic' at all - it is a game after all. I won't even get into the delusional nature of many of these arguments about what is realistic for worlds. As DFW stated 'Based on our current sampling rate (basically 0%).' , these folks are mostly just peeing in the wind anyway. DFW wrote:Indeed. The recent past discoveries (dating to published data of only a few days ago) shows that long held theories of planetary system development have been falsified I'll just draw your attention to a thread on CotI where I pointed out the error in DFW's interpretation of how science works (DFW is already aware of this thread, since he started it there).
I'm not really interested in continuing that discussion here since I've said pretty much all I wanted to say on the topic over there. If you disagree with what I say there, then you should save yourself some time and read the rest of the thread first as well, because I'm sure that many of the counter-arguments that you'd raise were made in there too.
Suffice it to say that scientists are not 'delusional', 'myopic' or anything else like that, and neither is anything being 'falsified' or 'disproved' here. Theories adapt and change with new data - that is how science works, and always has done. If you believe that science is written in stone (or should be), then you are wrong. If you believe that scientists think or claim that it's written in stone, then you're also wrong.
Our theories of planetary formation have not gone out of the window or been discarded; they've merely changed. We still think that all planets (including our own) form from accreting gas and dust; migration was just added when the Hot Jupiters were discovered (and that also helped explain a few things about our own solar system). I'm sure more things will be added as more rocky planets are discovered around other systems.
Nothing was ever 'invalidated' during this process though - just modified. Again, that is how science works. BTW, personally I play Science Fiction RPGs because I want to play in a setting that is fictional and scientific.
I can get fiction anywhere, but it's the science in science-fiction that makes it unique, interesting and specific. EDIT: Also, 'realistic' is relative. If we had to wait til we had every bit of information about planets and stars and other things before we 'committed' to formulating theories or statements about them then we'd never get anywhere.
Maybe the simulations that we call 'realistic' today will in the future be mocked as mercilessly as the pre-1950s idea that Venus was a jungle planet. But given what we know at the time, it's realistic enough. I for one would rather make the attempt to keep up with the current state of knowledge what than just ignore or dismiss it and say we'll never understand it.
There's nothing 'delusional' about that, and I think that a lot of (if not most) educated people do fully appreciate and understand that what we consider 'realistic' at any given time is subject to change as new data is received. EDIT: Changed quote to DFW. Apologies to BP. BP wrote:I won't even get into the delusional nature of many of these arguments about what is realistic for worlds. As DFW stated 'Based on our current sampling rate (basically 0%).' , these folks are mostly just peeing in the wind anyway.
I'll just draw your attention to a thread on CotI where I pointed out the error in your (and DFW's) interpretation of reality (DFW is already aware of this thread, since he started it there). I made no 'interpretation of reality' - nor did I anywhere state 'scientists were delusional'. You have misread my statement - and made some very invalid assumptions. The quote taken out of context from my post was in relation to MGT and 'purists' who somehow think Traveller is supposed to somehow match reality. It doesn't - and that is not now, nor has it ever been its goal. In all likelihood, I might agree with at least the intent behind many of the statements you did post, though I simply have no interest in reading them.
Especially after reading your post above. If you bothered to read my entire post, you might have picked up on the fact that I have quite a bit of respect for scientific inquiry and scientists in general. In point of fact, I spent quite some time on a recent vacation discussing various aspects of the upcoming Juno mission with several scientists involved in the project (one of which I have known for over 10 years). In all likelihood, chances are good you haven't spent anywhere near the time with space scientists as I have.
As I stated - I am a big 'fan' of science as well. And have been reading Science fiction for over 30 years - so definitely a fan there as well. Even back in my early days of CT I added missing 'details' like inclination and eccentricity and made 'corrections' for orbital 'slots' and albedo.
I used simplistic orbital mechanics and gravitational assists for my Traveller's. But that is me - I like that and was able to add it on to what GDW provided. I don't have any expectation that everyone should conform to that model. That is unrealistic.
Having actually worked with a number of scientists over the years, I cannot say they are universally not delusional. Traveller has the Ancients. Their science was so far advanced that they can, and have, created pocket universes, ring worlds, and anything else any GM wants to dream up, and none of it would make any sense as to how they came about based on our current knowledge level, so 'reality' doesn't really matter in Traveller, except when we are creating what we consider to be 'normal' systems, and even then, the vast majority of people playing Traveller will have anywhere near the level of expertise needed to argue how implausible anything is. Except maybe my son, he is quit the Astronomy Hobbyist, so he might have learned enough bu now. Or the rare player who is the Astronomer or other scientific field that would teach them enough to know better than what is in the Traveller rules. I mean, how many of you are scientifically expert enough to really understand current creation theories/hypothesis in depth enough to truly argue with what is contained in Traveller rules? Especially when our understanding of the creation of the universe is so juvenile that no one can say with any true authority how anything was created?
We only 'know' one thing. Everything exists. How that all came about we can only hypothesize and theorize about. We are far from incontrovertible understanding of it all. BP wrote:I made no 'interpretation of reality' - nor did I anywhere state 'scientists were delusional'. Admittedly most of my post was aimed at DFW. In retrospect I should have replied to one of his posts, not yours.
Sorry about that. That said, I do have an issue with your statement that I conflated in there, when you said 'I won't even get into the delusional nature of many of these arguments about what is realistic for worlds.' I notice that you've said that several times on this board, and I strongly disagree with it.
Drawplus software. The quote taken out of context from my post was in relation to MGT and 'purists' who somehow think Traveller is supposed to somehow match reality. It doesn't - and that is not now, nor has it ever been its goal. I think the existence of CT book 6 totally proves you wrong there; GDW most definitely made an attempt to match reality there in the Astronomical Data section. 'GURPS Traveller: First In' is another example of how realism was brought into Traveller. 'Fire Fusion and Steel' for TNE was yet another. Maybe they didn't completely succeed at being realistic, but they certainly tried. So you are incorrect to suggest that people who claim that the game has ever attempted to be realistic are 'delusional' or 'are making delusional claims', and they also are not 'peeing in the wind'.
Traveller has always had the option of being played in either a very unrealistic universe or in a more realistic one. I don't think that one or the other is the 'right way', they are both equally valid ways to play the game.
Sure, it's probably more common to play it 'unrealistically', but why should anyone who prefers to run with more realism care about that? They'll most likely have players who also prefer realism, so where's the conflict? And why claim that it 'harms one of the most important parts of the game' if people think the system has to be realistic? Sure, 'fun' is important when you're playing a game, but not all people agree on the definition of 'fun'. Some find designing realistic vehicles or star systems to be fun.
Others think it's fun to argue about the economics of the game and to try to make those more realistic. Some want to run the game fast and loose and cinematic, others want to run it as gritty and realistic. Nobody here should be claiming that any of those approaches is 'wrong' or 'not fun' or 'harming the game'. Treebore wrote:Especially when our understanding of the creation of the universe is so juvenile that no one can say with any true authority how anything was created? We only 'know' one thing. Everything exists.
How that all came about we can only hypothesize and theorize about. We are far from incontrovertible understanding of it all. We know a lot more than just that 'everything exists'. Nobody claims to understand everything completely, but we're certainly not blundering around in complete ignorance.