Traveller is a classic science fiction system first released in 1976. In its original release it was a general purpose SF system, but a setting was soon developed called The Third Imperium, based on classic space opera tropes of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, with a slight noir tint. Though it can support a wide range of game types, the classic campaign involves a group of retired veterans tooling around in a spaceship, taking whatever jobs they can find in a desperate bid to stay in business, a la Firefly or Cowboy Bebop.
>Sup, Veeky Forums. I'm looking to get a group together for Traveller, any tips for a new GM?
Convey early on that combat is seriously brutal and deadly. If any of your players have played CoC, it's kinda like that- dying instantly because of one bad roll is a very real possibility.
Elijah Russell
What sort of economic activity would a "cloud city" on a heavy-atmosphere planet engage in? The two main possibilities I can think of are refining and shipping atmospheric gas siphoned from the surface and tourism.
Christian Powell
>Tax haven >all kinds of chemical industry directly on site >aerodynamics testing ground with different conditions in layered atmosphere >breweries harvesting alcohol clouds >criminal forging underground that artificialy ages art and artifacts by careful exposure to acidic atmosphere >manufacturing superior atmospheric sensors, filters and suits because of special expertise.
Thomas Martinez
Nice, nice! These are definitely going in the idea bin!
Jonathan Baker
>airborne algae farming >meat smoking small business, catering to some alien taste >prestigious university site >renowned for cupping therapy, not because of actual medical reason, but because a clever doc started up in a thematically appropriate location >media broadcasting complex >artistic glassworks, ballooned by pressure differences and natural winds >special fiber production using factury ships that trail them hundreds of miles long through the atmosphere
Jordan Thompson
I've been intrigued about running a Traveller game for ages, but I never could settle on which edition to use. Is there a widely agreed upon "best"?
Oliver Taylor
Is there native life (of any kind) on the planet?
Matthew Walker
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm most fond of Mongoose 1st edition. It strikes me as the most accessible, despite their bad reputation for editing and shaky splatbook quality.
Nolan Thomas
Neat! I'd've never thought of these on my own!
I hadn't really thought about it. I had envisaged it as a planet much along the lines of Venus, and I wasn't sure what sort of life might even be able to exist there, past exotic extremophile microorganisms living in the upper atmosphere or something.
Wyatt Fisher
Indeed it is.
Most recent session I was in, all but one member of the party was rendered unconscious, and she probably only survived because she went full-on psychic vampire.
John Sullivan
I've only played Mongoose, but I agree with this user that it was easy to pick up.
Nathan Howard
>diving equipment production because of easy knowledge transfer >prison site, sweatshops optional >innovative lighting solutions, like glow inducers for various gases >eye cyberware against the harsh light above the cloud layer >fuel selling, overpriced if strategic location >hidden smugling caches, inside cloud formations that are tricky to penetrate
Liam Wilson
>production of quality home trainers, and exercise stations for ships, manufacturing tradition started because of confined space >high stress polymer hoses >high wind tollerance extendable landing bridges >winches >software programming, sidestepping resource issues >brake parachutes >exports seasonal workers to the belts in system >integrated pressurized air cleaning systems, just blow that shit out of the window >painting, lacquer and varnishing stations
David Brown
>fashion industry, dramatically flowing clothes, extra dangerous catwalks that are just a ledge in the sky >atmospheric floating lifeboats that extend to form zeppelins, keeping you safe inside the hull >pimp my flying vehicle, add sharp looking ailerons and sky glow n' shiet >communication lasers >free fall martial arts dojo
William Gomez
>>neonpunk racing planes on spectral sky-buoy tracks
Parker Gomez
I didn't list recreational ideas, because they could fall under tourism. But for you:
>Sky-hawser racing Vehicles are connected to a central pylon per cable and race in an high speed circle around it. If you want to make it extreme, teams can try to cut cables to send the vehicles flying off by sheer rotational force.
>ultra-long skydiving bungee with wing suits
>jumping inside giant floating sphere that is elastic like a trampoline
>long distance gliding launched by air pressure cannon
Jace Jenkins
>artistic jetpack flight, jizzing colored smoke all around
>world longest slide that is a translucent polymer tube connecting two sky stations
>hurricane climbing; you climb along an obstacle curse against harsh winds
>sport shooting, where you have ammo pellets with special aerodynamic traits, making them fly in waves and helixes
>drag racing, where the point isn't speed but slowing down the fastest using chutes
Jack Rivera
i dunno, with battle dress or even combat armor, combat is pretty survivable. Provided your not up against FGMPs or PGMPs.
Even in combat armor you can take a direct hit from a rocket and still be ok.
Henry Jackson
I guess, if you're okay with your players always having that sorta stuff on. Personally, the setting I'm working on is set in a place fairly low-tech, so battle dress is not only available to the military only, but is illegal to traipse around in almost everywhere. Kinda like how some modern nation states are beginning to ban body armor of certain sorts.
Landon Perez
I'm currently working on an end-all be-all houserules compendium for my current Classic Traveller group. I'm calling it "Perfect Traveller". It features:
Better character generation (a mash up of the systems from the OG booklets and High Guard/Mercenary/Merchant Prince/Citizens of the Imperium, plus a little MegaTraveller... basically you get better control, more choices, and wind up with more useful characters with mo' betta skills)
More engaging space combat (vector-based and miniature-compatible like the original, but with a slightly different time/space scale, and hexes ala MayDay. A few things like weapons are also ported over from High Guard)
Slightly tweaked personal combat (including a flat skill DM like in Mongoose instead of different ones for each and every weapon, also movement speed based on attributes, to enable chases and tactical maneuvering)
A motherfucking experience system, for Christ's sake (heavily based upon White Dwarf magazine's "The Experienced Traveller" system, though a little different)
Anyone have any ideas for some other houserules I might want to include?
Henry Powell
Maybe extended rules for creating Walkers?
Charles Fisher
That pasta is outdated and contains broken links. Here's the previous thread: New pasta follows:
Traveller is a classic science fiction system first released in 1976. In its original release it was a general purpose SF system, but a setting was soon developed called The Third Imperium, based on classic space opera tropes of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, with a slight noir tint. Though it can support a wide range of game types, the classic campaign involves a group of retired veterans tooling around in a spaceship, taking whatever jobs they can find in a desperate bid to stay in business, a la Firefly or Cowboy Bebop.
How would an experience system for Traveller work? You goin' full D&D on it or something?
Aiden Wilson
I actually like the Mongoose 1st Ed approach, though it is not all that obvious hidden at the end of the skills chapter like that.
Zachary Fisher
Oh, so just the whole weeks and cumulative skill totals and stuff like that?
I always thought it might be nice to add a kinda of CoC-ish "check" system to that. Like, if players succeeded in a hard roll relating to a skill, they could get a check for it for that play session that would count as a week of training for the total.
Elijah Adams
Which is not a bad addition to the Mongoose approach, except that in real life failures can be more instructive than successes.
Hudson Sanchez
Huh. I'd never thought of it that way. I wonder how you'd swing that?
Samuel Bell
Rolls made in the stress of play are worth a day, perhaps, but you simply bank the days for skills you are not currently "studying".
Alexander Hughes
Well, the Experienced Traveller thing he talked about works on a system where you gain a set number of points in a given skill after a certain amount of use. After gaining these points, you have the opportunity to roll d100 at or under the total number. A success bumps your skill up one level, a failure saves your current points, which accumulate with any points earned in the future, making each subsequent roll easier until you finally make the roll and the points are reset to 0.
For example, the experience earned for blade combat is 1 point per combat round of use, times two, minus current skill level. So if your character has Dagger-1 and uses his dagger for 5 rounds in a fight, he gains 5*2-1=9 points after the fight is over. The player can then roll his two d10 (or a legit d100 if he's a real g) in hopes of getting a 9 or less. If he fails, the points carry over to the end of the next combat encounter where he uses his dagger. Let's say he gets into a real slog of a fight that lasts 14 rounds. If he used his dagger in all of those rounds, he earns 27 more points, which get added to his previous sum, giving him a grand total of 36 points. If he rolls a 36 or lower now, he gains Dagger-2 and his experience in that skill is reset to 0.
