Traveller General: From Long Hauls to Short Runs Edition

Well, it's built to do a kind of medieval town, but you can easily tweak it to do higher TL city too. Which kind of makes sense, I guess?

>Well, it's built to do a kind of medieval town, but you can easily tweak it to do higher TL city too.

Hmm... I thought Cepheus was predominantly sci-fi. I didn't realize folks were using it for medieval stuff too.

Anyway, as we both observe, the results can be easily tweaked.

So what do the ship in Traveller use for propulsion? Do they use reactionless drives or is it normal reaction mass based rocket? In addition to this, shouldnt the ships be designed with the floor being pointed at the drive cone, because that is where down would be if a ship is under thrust.

>So what do the ship in Traveller use for propulsion?

As with so many other things in Traveller, the answer is: It Depends.

Reaction drives, reactionless drives, gravitic thrusters, neutrino drives, fusion rockets, HePLaR, you name it.

Pick a version, pick a TL within a version, and you'll still have a couple of answers.

>>In addition to this, shouldnt the ships be designed with the floor being pointed at the drive cone, because that is where down would be if a ship is under thrust.

Nearly all Trav ships have some sort of artificial gravity so using thrust to simulate gravity isn't needed. That being said, there are designs in which the ship's decks are perpendicular to it's thrust.

Oh so its a not really hard scifi is it, Need to look for something that is more rocketpunk and less phasers

Well, Traveller has always had a spectrum of tech from wooden clubs to fusion guns. Cepheus Engine is the same. I guess the author of that figured it was easier to write a sort-of medieval town thing and let you convert it to higher tech levels by bumping up the population and using the core book's trade goods, than to write a generator for higher tech level cities, and tell people to convert it downward and invent their own trade goods list and stuff.

Personally I think he should have come up with some rules for shifting the TL up or down, but hey, it's his book.

See the Orbital sourcebook for MGT1, which does that pretty well. Under MGT1/Other Settings, I believe.

Cool, that looks to be filled with the vastness of space and Newtonian physics

>Oh so its a not really hard scifi is it,

It's as hard as you want it to be.

>>Need to look for something that is more rocketpunk

Orbital for MgT, "One Small Step" for MT, heplar in TNE, there's a plenty of rocketpunk for people to use or not use.

>>and less phasers.

Oddly enough, that something no version has. There are plasma and fusion guns, but you need to be wearing battledress and carrying a power pack to use them.

Traveller is as hard as YOU decide it should be.

I've recently learnt of Traveller.

How's the system framework like?
(Combat, interactions with NPCs or the Environment alike)

Are there mechs? I'm mostly curious because I don't want everyone stuck in the same ship and about half or more of them feeling inadequate.

>How's the system framework like?
Rolls are usually 2d6 + attribute + skill, success on 8+. Attribute and skill modifiers are usually -3 to +3. It's lite, solid, and flexible.

>Are there mechs?
Certainly there are, though the ones statted out are typically more Western Battlemech ones than anime fare. That being said, it's not much trouble to make one with the relatively robust starship and/or vehicle rules.

Is it possible to do fancy things like shooting a guy's weapon off his hand, etc?

>shouldnt the ships be designed with the floor being pointed at the drive cone
In the many versions of Traveller there are plenty of spacecraft rules for use with non-gravity-producing hulls, like counter-rotating wheels (a la your O'Neill Cylinders). However, these advancements are typically of a lower technology level than the standard Traveller game and setting, which assumes that the development of gravitic drives occurs sometime after space colonies and just before Jump drives.

Now, that being said, reaction-mass drives are totally a viable option for most Traveller systems well into the highest tech levels; they are, like most things, an option that you can decide to use or not for your game.

>Is it possible to do fancy things like shooting a guy's weapon off his hand, etc?

Traveller combat generally leans towards the nitty-gritty, realistic, you can get killed easily, side of things. With new groups I usually have one or more d20 players who receives rude awakenings when their PCs can't wade through a horde of mooks without getting a hangnail. That's why I like to start off new groups with one-shot sessions to get them used to the differences.

That being said, there are GURPS and d20 versions of the game which can and do support the cinematic style of play you asked about.

As for mechs, the MgT version has them.

TL;DR - Cinematic play easily occurs if the GM wants it to.

MgT 1e or 2e?

Mostly 1e. 2e dialed them back a bit when the Traveller fan base howled. There's a new Vehicles book out for 2e with which you can easily build SW-ish walkers.

Given Traveller's tech assumptions - which at least try to err to the side of reality - mechs are childishly retarded. Something that big is just a better target for the game's plasma or fusion weapons and I'm not even going to bring up the issue of ground pressure.

Traveller does have powered armor and "flying" tanks.

You can have mechs in your game as long as you take care to nerf the weapons that can push their shit in.

Again, Traveller is as hard/soft gritty/cinematic as you want it to be. And there's 40 years of materials to help you do just that.

How does intelligent weapon options work?
What's Computer/0?

>How does intelligent weapon options work?

Depends on the rules set. The Vehicles book I mentioned lets you build drones.

>What's Computer/0?

Is that a PC skill or an equipment rating?

Equipment rating.
Does it just add into your roll?

Oh boy, there's not much melee weapon choices for MgT 2e is there?

>Equipment rating.
>Does it just add into your roll?

What version? There's ELEVEN of them.

>Oh boy, there's not much melee weapon choices for MgT 2e is there?

Melee weapons. A sci-fi system with automatic rifles, tac missiles, rapid fire gauss guns, plasma weapons, nukes, etc. and you want swords.

Check out Classic's Supplement 4 "Citizens of the Imperium". It has stats for various archaic weapons.

>What version?
MgT 2e.

>Melee weapons. A sci-fi system with automatic rifles, tac missiles, rapid fire gauss guns, plasma weapons, nukes, etc. and you want swords.
Sometimes a man just wants to do some RIP AND TEAR

>MgT 2e.

Read the rules. I don't regularly use MgT so I cannot say for certain.

>Sometimes a man just wants to do some RIP AND TEAR

Sure. Check out the supplement I mentioned but don't be surprised when their aren't 20 kinds of swords, bows, armor, etc.

Are classic supplements compatible with MgT?

Is there a maximum to the armour I can put on a ship? seems I could stack Titanium Steel 20 times, have 40 armour and never take damage from anything smaller than a mass driver.

>There's ELEVEN of them.
CT, MT, TNE, T4, T5, T20, MgT, MgT2, GT (3e), GT:IW/GT4e?, HT?

>Are classic supplements compatible with MgT?

Mongoose claims they (mostly) are. You may have to fudge a few things.

>Is there a maximum to the armour I can put on a ship?

There is in Classic's High Guard. As for MgT, you'll have to read the rules.

CE, Fudge, Liftoff, etc.

>you'll have to read the rules.
If I had found an answer, I wouldnt be asking.

If you're going to use the rules, you're going to need to understand them.

Instead of MgT2e, why not begin with CE?

Thanks, you're about as helpful as a brick to the skull.

>Thanks, you're about as helpful as a brick to the skull.

You're welcome. By the way, I'm the guy who pointed you to both Traveller and this thread from the other one you started asking about sci-fi rule sets.

You've been looking over one version of the game for less than an hour, but you're bitching about not having every jot & tittle of the rules spoon fed to you. Too fucking bad, Skippy.

Here's my final bit of advice: Do you own homework.

Good night.

TAS Bar starts are something of a tradition.

You shouldn't assume you know who people are, it's kind of the point of this website. Rookie mistake.

The Virushi (the big rhinotaur) are generally pacifist and many enter the Scout Service (like the Human) but literally don't know their own strength and are known to break "delicate" (melee hardened) tools.

>there are GURPS and d20 versions of the game which can and do support the cinematic style of play you asked about.

The D20 version is still pretty deadly for D20. Guns treat only your CON as HP. A proper bare knuckle brawl will use your full HP, however.

>You shouldn't assume you know who people are, it's kind of the point of this website. Rookie mistake.

You do know about the add-on tool that tells you which posts come from which IP, don't you? It's been available on Veeky Forums for over a decade.

Hmm, MgT 2e's rulebook in the Mega link has no pictures.

Is there one with pictures lying about?

Does age (from chargen) affect anything?

Details depend on the version.

In the original, you literally risked death in chargen to gain more skills. That got pruned back to "only" being tossed out of chargen and into play. Aging remained however.

As you completed more terms for the chance to earn more skills, you began facing aging rolls every 4 years from age 34 onward. Fail the rolls and you lost points off your stats.

You could still gain stat bonuses in chargen and the experience system let you add to your stats also, but the idea of balancing the chance at more skills against the chance of aging has been part of most versions.

I'm currently skimming over Mongoose's version of chargen. But it does seem liek the pros severely outweigh the cons if you don't mind an older character.

But is it?

>But is it?

Skills are IT in Traveller. There are no feats, no advantages, none of the "bennies" or "crutches" found in other systems. CT was initially rather skills lite but the "Skills & Levels" bloat of the early 80s quickly infected Traveller too. Take a peek at MT's skills list if you don't believe me.

Personally, I think rolling and not enough role-ing is done in Traveller and other RPGs today. Those early Classic PCs with 3 or 4 levels in 2 or 3 skills played just fine. When advanced chargen came in an arms race of sorts started and suddenly those PCs were up against PCs with 9 or 10 levels in 7 or 8 skills.

Generally speaking, however, playing a 34 or 38yo instead of a 22yo does have it's advantages.

But is there any big disadvantages to doing more terms during chargen beyond the PSI score penalty?

Depending on the version, death, injury, aging, etc.

The MgT has life events tables that can impose some nasty penalties like courts martial, scandals, criminal charges, etc.

You have to run some risk to get the skills you desire.

Btw, are there rules for prosthetics or cybernetics?

>CT was initially rather skills lite but the "Skills & Levels" bloat of the early 80s quickly infected Traveller too.
"Too"? Pray tell.
Aside from combat skills, CT's skills are typically very broad at first, and have overlap for certain circumstances. As CT progressed, and keeping in mind that it was one of the first skill-based RPGs of any sort, combat skills and transport skills became more general while non-combat skills proliferated, largely by addressing careers that weren't some form of military.
MegaTrav represented the attempt to straighten and unify that, while acknowledging that overlap was a feature, not a bug.

I'm having visions of the Drones Club in space.

Guess that's what you get when the whole party's rolling hot for Social but dropping out after a term of some noble bullshit career.

good to know.
Thanks.

The armor maximum is very clearly spelled out in the armor table for ships. Titanium steel armor is limited to a maximum armor rating of 9 or the ships TL, whichever is less.

Basically, read the damn book.

Wait, I see you are still using 1e. The core rulebook doesn't lit the maximums, but High Guard 1e page 41 does.

Upper class twits under fire.
Send your RICH useless kids out for a term or two and now they are in what is basicly a Brushfire war

>the whole party's rolling hot for Social but dropping out after a term of some noble bullshit career.
I got more mileage out of an earned Knighthood in one recent game. While all nobs are *due* deference and respectful behavior, the average citizen knows that the vast majority of Knights *earned* that respect themselves. The novel "Agent of the Imperium" from last year is eye opening in some regards, especially for the nobles.

Any games open? I wanna fly around a space ship, trading goods and fending off pirates.

>I got more mileage out of an earned Knighthood in one recent game. While all nobs are *due* deference and respectful behavior, the average citizen knows that the vast majority of Knights *earned* that respect themselves.

That's an excellent and subtle point. Sadly, it's one that many group can neither understand nor employ.

Roll 2d6 to not die.
I now tell you of my father's college days group, when they stuck sixteen criminals in a scout.
Then they got a broadsword, and there was much celebration over having more turrets.
There was also celebration over how big of a bounty they had on their heads.

in both 1e and 2e of Mongoose, the number after the slash is the rating of the computer. Computer programs such as hacking or astronomical calculations take up Bandwidth, even on super future computers, so the computer rating is the total Bandwidth of running programs that the computer can accomplish at one time.

If you're sticking solely with MgT 2e, the Central Supply Catalogue has a few more melee weapons. 1e had even more, which are, for the most part, directly compatible, but some of those are wonky as fuck.

OH SHIT CSC HAS CHAINSWORDS FUCK YEAH

Oh I see, so they software comes separately?

That's awesome

>they stuck sixteen criminals in a scout.

Oh man, that must have overloaded the air scrubbers, I bet that ship smelled after a while.

Classic melee weapons should work just fine.

There was a third-party splat for MGT1 released for Renaissance-level worlds, tech and all, too, but it's not in the Archives.

He once ran a campaign for the family. It didn't last long because his work bounced back up to 70-90 hour weeks, but it was fun. He ran old style "the dice fall where they will" games, supplemented by random tables in his head (a trait I inherited), and so it should be no surprise that thanks to random rolls our asteroid miner destabilized a systems economy before gaining a TL 24 Ancient ship the size of Ceres from an asteroid belt. Before the game ended, said ship had jumped us to a space between galaxies that contained a few hundred thousand of those ships. Their goal: seed life across the galaxies.
We could've done what he did and taken on an entire sector fleet. Just at once instead of via raids and guerilla warfare like his group did.

...

>software comes separately?
yes. If you're using MgT2e, as it seems you are, do read the section on programs.

...

How does this system handle character advancement?

I assume you mean something along the lines of leveling up?

If so, PCs assign skills to learn and take 1+Current Skill Total weeks to advance a level in that skill (this is for MgT, I don't know about other versions).

As for stats like strength I'm not as certain. I know that Social Standing can increase or decrease depending on player action though. Obviously augmentation can increase stats.

Originally? You pay to take a course (during downtime, doesn't take time out of play) to raise a skill. This takes several years. You have to roll to see if your character sticks with the course or just gives up after a year.

It's actually a bit harsher than that - you have to do a 4-year course to raise two skills by 1 (although if it's weapons, you get a ranged and a melee weapon).

You make the dedication roll before the program and if you pass, you get the +1 right away!... but then, at the end of the four years? You lose it, unless you make another dedication roll, and train a second four year term to make the skill increase permanent.

You can also work out, but you have to keep working out to keep your stat increases. You get a bonus to dedication for working out if you're not very smart.

Once per lifetime you can take four years off to go learn a skill at level 2.

You're better off staying in your career an additional term, really.

The dedication roll is 8+ on 2d6, of course. No bonuses, unless it's for working out. You can always try again after a year if you roll poorly and get lazy!

As , , and say, actual stat/skill advancement is hard.
Essentially, this is because Traveller (especially classic) is based around the idea of lateral advancement, where instead of your character becoming more super-human, they get more resources to draw upon.
So instead of being able to cleave through Marines with a rusty spoon late in a campaign, you're the (relatively) rich owners of a shipping line/mercenary company/whatever with favours all over near space to call on.
Or something like that, you get the picture

It's worth mentioning that in Classic, a single point in a skill is enough to get a real job working in that field. Like with 1 point in Medic, you've had enough training to be a nurse, and with 2 you can be a G.P. or something. At 4 you're a renowned doctor or surgeon.

Getting those 2 points in a skill is a big deal, and basically like going to medical school for four years.
Getting even 1 point in a skill is not supposed to be something you just kinda figure out on your own in a couple of months of adventuring.

Anyone can drive a basic vehicle (implied 0 level skills) but 1 point means you've had special training, and can probably get work as a professional driver for that minor corporate bigwig who has to worry about kidnapping attempts and needs a real driver.

Oh, yeah - that four year sabbatical giving you a level two skill is basically going to college and coming out with a career. I think it's described that way.

But most PCs dropped out of their jobs the second they found a gun and can't even spell the word "career." They mistake it for "careen," which is also an accurate description of how they're driving that stolen g-carrier right now. Oof, you're not meant to make tight turns by bouncing off the corner, lads.

...

Has anyone built a setting for Traveller that wasn't 3I? I know it was common to do so before they released 3I, and after that... Not much.
If you have, tell us about it. I'll hold off on mine until maybe a few others have asked for it.

Not mine, but there's a thing called Clement Sector you might want to take a look at.

If you want something completely different, have a look at Stars Without Number.

The base system is OSR, but it's designed from the ground up to be A. a love letter to traveller and B. modular/stolen from.

The setting is post-apocalyptic sci-fi, where the Human Empire collapsed due to a wave of psi-madness killing or driving mad all the psionics who made the amazing tech work

I've looked at SWN, and while it's cool, its also not my cup of tea.
Although I think that to most people, Traveller means the Third Imperium. I know before 3I got released, most people made settings where the biggest empires were maybe a subsector.
Those reviews look promising.

>It's as hard as you want it to be.

That would be Eclipse Phase.

Look up the Outer Veil. It's set in near-space, about 4*4 subsectors centred on Earth, with a big Aliens vibe, alongside the standard small-scale Traveller vibes

Sounds interesting.
I suppose what I didn't get across is that I'm not looking for alternative settings to play in, I want to hear about the ones that you, the people of this thread, have created and played in.

There was an user from many threads back who was making an Age of Sail inspired campaign.

I've run a 1-star system game before with a focus on belters, went pretty well.

>Has anyone built a setting for Traveller that wasn't 3I?

Thousands if not tens of thousands have. Even after GDW started wrapping the 3I up in the rules.

>>I know it was common to do so before they released 3I, and after that... Not much.

Thanks to Mongoose trying to fuck over 3rd party creators and the release of stuff like the SRDs and CE, non-3I settings ARE where the game is seeing growth. The only way for 3rd parties to sell and maintain ownership of what they write is to stay far away from the OTU/3I.

There's multiple products settings like Clement Sector, Outer Veil, Orbital, These Stars Are Ours, and Mindjammer already out along with with plenty of one-offs and many others planned.

By way of contrast, T5 has all of TWO products, only one of those is actually released, and it's a very narrow/niche campaign about a circus.

>Essentially, this is because Traveller (especially classic) is based around the idea of lateral advancement, where instead of your character becoming more super-human, they get more resources to draw upon.

THIS along with unforgiving combat (deadly and no resurrection spells) is perhaps the hardest aspect of Traveller players with other RPG experience have understanding. Trav PCs have been described as ordinary people in extraordinary situations while Trav PCs and NPCs are essentially the same.

I often run a short "shoot 'em up" session for players new to Trav to give them some feel for the different aspects of the game.

>It's worth mentioning that in Classic, a single point in a skill is enough to get a real job working in that field.

That's another good point. In GURPS, for instance, if you don't have Skill-15 you a fucking idiot while in Trav Skill-1 means you can be hired to do that skill.

Again, it's something players with other RPG experience have trouble understanding at first.

While it sounds as if it definitely kept your interest, it would be nothing I would have wanted to play in. Doesn't mean it was bad, just that I prefer something else.

Many, many years ago when Yahoo Groups were still a thing, a member of the CT group there used to post about a campaign he was running for his wife and friends. The PCs were insanely powerful cyborgs who could live in space, jump using psionics, killed by ripping out internal organs by telekinesis, routinely teleported nukes around, etc., etc. It was insanely over the top and they loved it, but it was nothing many of us would choose to play.

Different people, different taste, different games.

Oh yeah, I completely understand. We probably would've done something to move away from that plotline, since it was going too powerful too fast.
Which kind of sucks about T5, since I kind of like how dense, complex, and semi-generic it is.

>Oh yeah, I completely understand. We probably would've done something to move away from that plotline, since it was going too powerful too fast.

Please don't misunderstand me. The campaign you described sounds absolutely fantastic. I mean, look at all the details you remember from it.

Such a campaign just isn't to my taste, but my taste doesn't amount to squat for anyone other than me. I prefer Trav to be ordinary people in extraordinary situation, not fantastic people in fantastic situations.

>>Which kind of sucks about T5, since I kind of like how dense, complex, and semi-generic it is.

T5's "problem" is that no Player, GM, whatever handbook exists yet. They're in the works, but you're not going to see T5 used until it's more accessible to writers and players.

T5 is a fantastic game development kit. It just isn't a fantastic setting development kit yet.

I'll admit to using the Traveller Character creation tools a few times for other games. Even stealing a few questions from it, with slight alteration for other settings and systems, helps weed out troublemakers.

It's even a good way to introduce people to your own unique settings. Just follow the general skeleton of it and both GM and player get a quick feeling if the game is for them.

>I've run a 1-star system game before with a focus on belters, went pretty well.
Same, with family-run prospector ships. Turns out you can cram parents and two young kids into a Seeker!

No, I was trying to convey that I understand that that particular campaign was not to your taste. Then I tried to mention that it was entirely possible that an internal campaign action would've brought it closer to your preferred type.
Now I feel compelled to mention that I will engage in sociological analysis at random points.
We definitely were ordinary people though. I mean, I was a Belter, older brother was a Marine, and my little sister was... An Agent, I think. All with three or so terms under our belts.
We played people with big dreams, tiny wallets, and a shitty mining ship, for all of 1.5 sessions.
Damn random tables, there were plans of economic takeover by unionizing the belters.

I think I may have been a little overzealous when I stated the TL-11 Mega-Fishing-Factory-Trawller had freezer storage for 40,000 Tons of fish...

What are some tips for publishing one's first Traveller splatbook?

Before anything else, have you had the splat proofread? Don't be a Mongoose and leave in silly typos or editting mistakes!