Traveller General Veeky Forums

There's a Getting Started pdf in the Archive some anons put together last year. It gets referenced and lot and people seem to like it.

Start small and keep things manageable. user is correct in saying you shouldn't feel that you need to hand them a ship. Have the patrons they're working for provide passages instead. If they complain about not having a ship, give them one with plenty of strings attached like it's only been assigned to them for a job. Classic's big string was the mortgage, ships were designed to operate in the red so the players would look for additional work beyond carrying freight and passengers. With that work came adventures of course.

The Freelance Traveller site linked above has a lot of small adventures in a section called "Getting Off The Ground". Most can be easily used anywhere and are meant to get things started. You may find some ideas there.

Yo.
batintheattic.blogspot.com.au/2009/04/how-to-make-traveller-sandbox.html

That's a great blog post. An user shared in the last thread but it's always good to read again.

My only quibble with it is the size of the sandbox; two subsectors. Each one is 8 hexes by 10 hexes so you're looking at 160 hexes. Standard system density is 50% and scattered is 33%. You could be looking at 80 to 53 systems to roll up. While you don't need to detail most past the UWP, that blog post suggests coming up with something for all hi-pop worlds, all Class A & B starports, and whatever others systems catch your eye. Add all the rumors, patrons, and other stuff he recommends and you're looking at a metric shit ton of work, even with the help of all the good stuff in SWN.

Yeah the biggest mistake you can do as a traveller GM is biting off more than you can chew. There is a reason why SWN for example never goes above a subsector, because that is more than enough for a long term campaign if you detail it enough.

What are you thoughts on Ringworlds?

Well, the wiki says they're buildable at around TL 27, so there's that. Maybe as an ultimate campaign-culminator? Stumbling upon a forgotten Ringworld built by the Ancients, located in a system obscured from observation by a huge gas cloud or somesuch... or, heck, even the ruins of a shattered Ringworld would be neat.

But yeah; I don't think it should be something dropped lightly. Ancient constructions like that are ultra-rare, and where they're found, they're usually blockaded by one of the great powers--there are a few planetary Rosettes like that, if I recall.

I wouldn't rule out maybe some mid-to-late-campaign instances of, say, defunct distributed ring systems meant to harvest massive amounts of sunlight with an endless march of individual solar stations or something like that. But Ringworlds are on a whole 'nother level.

Let your players stand in awe on one for a few hours, then reveal that it's turned into a killzone. Otherwise your players might develop an appetite to do sth with the massive resources.

I had an idea as one for either the capital of a galactic empire - or, the discovery of one by the PC's leading to this kind of insane "Manifest Destiny" push from multiple races seeking to establish outposts on it. There would be room to do so - Niven's Ringworld had the surface area of 3 million Terras.

The latter seems perfectly plausible if you're using the OTU canon, I think. Since they're so huge and the technology that goes into creating them so valuable, if one were to be discovered on the borderlands between three or four different great powers--there are several places where this is the case--it could easily spark off a Sixth Frontier War. As capital of a galactic empire, I think it'd be much less plausible; they're so huge, such an empire wouldn't have any need to spread beyond their home system, essentially. If they had filled it somehow and were making full utilization of it, such that they needed to spread out, they'd probably more comically, insanely powerful than the entire Ziru Sirka at the height of its might.

But I guess it could be... a smaller ringworld, if you wanted it to be the capital of an extant empire? Maybe around a smaller type of star, like a brown dwarf or a white dwarf? Maybe just much more thin in terms of area?

Don't let me discourage you, though--Ringworlds are super-cool and nothing makes an idea pop like enthusiasm over it.

So having one as the seat of a collapsed super civilization makes more sense, then?

I like the idea of a smaller one, too. The only issue there is whether it could support life with a White Dwarf star.

If anyone has a link to the Chaosium Ringworld boxset in .pdf for download, I will suck your dick, man.

>tfw looking for the perfect subsector
I think I've narrowed it down to the Old Expanses, anyway

What are they like?

Hey, I heard this game can kill you in character generation? What's up with that?

...only kidding! ;-)
I'll get my coat.

Ah, I am glad to see you guys are back.

I am currently attempting to get a Traveller game together with my friends.

Outside of calling it "The Quintessential SF RPG", I don't really know how to sell it to them.

Aside from this, I'm also having a few issues...grasping space travel, both FTL (specifically travel times) and standard. Can you guys help me with this?

(With FTL, I'm wondering how long does it take to travel, as I read it was like a week a parsec which while quite fast, that leaves a lot of downtime, and I'm not sure what the crew does during that time. With standard non FTL travelling, I am trying to grasp how long it would take to fly from say Earth to Pluto)

Everything else I think is...pretty okay. The space battles being akin to the nautical battles we've seen during the age of sail in regards to them being slow, ponderous and chess-like may turn off some of my more ADD players, but I'm sure I can, like, muck about and find some solution.
It also makes me wonder how one can board without fucking the airlocks up terribly and sucking the crew of boarded vessel into space (hostages, dig?)

A few of my players may whine about playing older characters. Could I just have them start their careers a tad earlier in life? (say, 12, or 14 years old)

Thanks in advance, lads

Is there a pdf dump for some of the Mongoose Traveller books?

A nice fat cluster where the borders of the Imperium, the Solomani Confed and "unaligned space" all meet; specifically the So Skire subsector

Cobham seems like fun

Hell doesn't seem too bad, although according to the wiki it's a prison planet

Appeal to your friends and potential players interests. Tell them its like Cowboy Bebop or Firefly, or the closest cultural touchstone you all share or have a shared interest in. Think about the kind of game you want to run, and try to condense it down into an exciting paragraph summary.
As for jump time, in Traveller, each jump-capable ship has a Jump Rating, which determines how far a ship can jump. The important thing to remember is that 1 Jump takes 1 week, no matter the jump rating. So a Jump-1 ship can travel a jump-1 distance in 1 week and a Jump-4 ship can travel a jump-4 distance in 1 week.
Downtime is usually taken up with a few roleplay scenes (as maby or as few as your group wants to do) and skill training. Training or levelling up your skills takes weeks, depending on how proficient you are with that skill. So a significant portion of the downtime in jump is usually spent training. Training is optional, but I've never seen a player not do it.
You have the right idea with 'age of sail'. Big space battles or engagements betqeen ships of the line can take hours or days, not minutes and seconds going by the base rules. Smaller ships resolve combats faster.
Don't be afraid to make the system your own and do what you want with it! There is a reason the most useful acronym is IMTU, or 'in my traveller universe'
If you want to take hostages, then use an umbilical or docking ship, depending on if hostilities are imminent,present, ongoing or concluded. Always have at least a helmet with oxygen suppy on during ship combat, if not a vac-suit. Ship to ship battles have a tendency to vent your atmo.
In regards to age, sure. You don't need 3-4 careers to play, you can do 0, 1, 2.
Planets of origin can begin formal education, careers or conscruption at any age you want them to.

Been a while since I've hit the word limit.
Things to consider:
Traveller is lethal in terms of combat under the base rules, so your 16 year old anime high school hero will get gunned down if they aren't careful. If thats not the flavor you're going for, just be aware of it and adjust things as necessary.
I recommend you roll up a character or two and have a quick mock fight against the mooks in the back of the book. See how long they last.
Determine if you want to start them with a ship, without a ship or have them pick a ship either beforehand or during play.
Make use of the materials and resources in the OP.
And most importantly, have fun.

>teenagers in space

This can be an entertaining campaign, since teenagers are generally incompetent idiots who think they know it all already, and Traveller will model that pretty well. Still, most of them should probably have a point of skill in something, as most teenagers have probably developed one skill to the point where they could enter the workforce with it.
Pic related can be used to bump teenagers up a level, though it's probably too generous at ~ 3 skill points for the average teenager -- 1 point in a skill is enough to get a job in that capacity, and it's shouldn't be the average teenager who's fully trained and ready to work as, for example, an administrator, a mechanic, and an electronics technician.
(I'd make it so these rules give you zero-level skills instead, and you can optionally spend one of your points to put a single skill up to one.)

Well, I mean, not teenagers, but some players just don't want to player grizzled oldfags in space.

>What are you thoughts on Ringworlds?

Just too fucking big. Like the another user said, you're looking at the equivalent of 3 million Earths in one stellar system. Something that size can "swallow" Charted Space a couple times over. During the MT period GDW plopped an "unfinished" one between Solomani, Imperial, and Hiver space. I think most people have just ignored it ever since. SJGames topped that by dropping an "unfinished" Dyson sphere in their version trailing of K'Kree space.

Most PCs should be out of the service and in play at 34 or so -- that's a 4 term character, which is pretty good. Drop it back to two or three terms if you like.

In Classic, dropping out early was a viable strategy if you wanted to shoot for psionics. It's not guaranteed, but if you can find an underground psionics institute, your abilities will be stronger the younger you are when you start training. If you're too old, you may get zip.

>(With FTL, I'm wondering how long does it take to trave...

168 hours for anything up to 6 parsecs. It is ALWAYS 168 hours ( plus or minus 10%) for EVERY jump regardless of distance.)

>> a week a parsec which while quite fast, that leaves a lot of downtime, and I'm not sure what the crew does during that time.

Maintenance, healing/recovery, training, dealing with passengers, etc. Classic had an experience system PCs could use to improve stats and learn skill. Time in jump was perfect for it.

>>With standard non FTL travelling, I am trying to grasp how long it would take to fly from say Earth to Pluto)

It's simple math which is explained from Classic on. Traveller ships are (mostly) limited to 6gees so how long trip would take depends on how much thrust you use. When travelling to Pluto, however, it's better to jump because even as trip at 6gees takes longer than 168 hours.

>The space battles being akin to the nautical battles we've seen during the age of sail in regards to them being slow, ponderous and chess-like may turn off some of my more ADD players...

Traveller space battles are not like Age of sail, dreadnoughts, carriers, subs, or anything else. While it shares aspects with all of those, it's not some brain dead copy of any of them. Age of Sail is often cited because of communication times, there's no FTL radio meaning messages have to be carried by ships and any news from beyond your system is 168 hours out of date. Also, like age of sail, ships can see one another long before they can shoot at one another.

In reality, Traveller ships can and do damage each other quickly in battle. With spinal mounts and the critical hits they inflict, battles between large ships can easily be over in one round as a ship can be "mission killed" by one hit. (continued)

(continued)

>It also makes me wonder how one can board without fucking the airlocks up terribly and sucking the crew of boarded vessel into space (hostages, dig?)

You can't board without fucking up the ship being boarded. Again, this isn't pirate, Nelson, and all the rest.

>A few of my players may whine about playing older characters.

Tell them this isn't D&D and that most PCs are in their early 30s. PCs start as competent, professional adults who've already been to school or had careers. PCs get "better" through money, property, and in-game knowledge rather than meta-game mechanisms like XPs and levels. It's different and it was meant to be different.

>>Could I just have them start their careers a tad earlier in life? (say, 12, or 14 years old)

There are variants for playing teens. I know MT has some and I'm sure others do too. PCs start with home world skill in many versions. If you think it would be fun for your players to spend 6 years or so of game time in school learning 2 or 3 skills at a minimal level before entering university or beginning a career, go for it.

Edit: "grizzled old fags". Nice b8 m8.

>grizzled old fags

As seen in the movie Red, experience and cunning can beat youthful vigor.

>Edit: "grizzled old fags". Nice b8 m8.
I was meant as a joke, bud

>Traveller space battles are not like Age of sail

But...but said they were >.>

>But...but said they were >.>

But..but...but... read what I wrote.

Traveller ship combat contains ASPECTS of Age of Sail combat along with aspects of ironclad, dreadnoughts, carriers, subs, aerial, and other combat.

The biggest analogy between Traveller and the Age of Sail in the speed of strategic communications. FTL messages are carried by ships and every jump takes 168 hours. There's no FTL radio or telegraph. Everything you know about the systems beyond the one you're in is a week out of date.

Ship combat in Traveller also resembles Age Of Sail that you can "see" a ship well before you can "hit" it. There's no stealth or hiding in space. You can make it harder for an enemy to target you by various means, but you're not going to hide the fact that you're out there.

The trouble with analogies is that people always take them too far. Bring up the fact that Traveller shares some aspect with the age of sail and people immediately it share every aspect with the age of sail.

Every ship combat system released for Traveller can be found in the Archive. Play a few and then develop an opinion. You'll be surprised, trust me.

Right, sorry, was derping hard.

Now I just need to engage in some math to figure out how fast a "gee" is. Bleh, math.

Thanks for helping, you guys. Remember, I'm working with Mongoose, here.

Also

>Maintenance, healing/recovery, training, dealing with passengers, etc. Classic had an experience system PCs could use to improve stats and learn skill. Time in jump was perfect for it.

This interests me.

>Now I just need to engage in some math to figure out how fast a "gee" is.

A gee is a measure of acceleration, not velocity. It measure how fast you can change your speed, not how fast you're going. D/l Book 2 Starships from the Classic folder in the Archive. It explains it all very well. It even has a table of trip times for given distance at given gee ratings.

>>Bleh, math.

Math is hard. Let's go shopping!

>Remember, I'm working with Mongoose, here.

That's part of your problem.

>This interests me. (Devoting time in jump towards Classic's experience system)

My players routinely plan on spending their time in jump working out, learning/improving skills, etc. They've even hired NPC crewmen with an eye towards what training those NPCs could provide. I don't know why so many groups overlook the experience rules. It may be that the system isn't "automatic" and requires time, effort, and money on the part of the PC.

>That's part of your problem.
What makes you say that, China? What about Mongoose Traveller is bad?

Or are you just kind of a Grognard?
Like, nothing wrong if you are. I know I feel that way about a few games too. New shit: bleh

Also I'm such a fucking idiotic wad that I don't know how to access the archive.

>>What about Mongoose Traveller is bad?

The core is fine. It's the splat bloat which followed that's the problem.

>Also I'm such a fucking idiotic wad that I don't know how to access the archive.

The link is in the OP.

>I don't know how to access the archive.

Easy peasy, user. Pic related.

Mongoose has had a reputation for poor quality going back to their d20 days. (Ask some old 3aboos, or the Runequest guys about Mongoose's shit sometime.)

>(Ask some old 3aboos, or the Runequest guys about Mongoose's shit sometime.)

I know a Runequest guy who bought a Mongoose RQ splat at a 'con, read it, went to a Kinkos or something, had it shredded, returned to the 'con, and dumped the confetti on the Mongoose booth.

Thanks

I remember their Conan run. It was okay. Hilariously racist, though

>One type of black people has +4 bonus on jumping and +1 to throwing spears

Wow. that guy was either very special, or the product was especially bad. maybe both. Goddamn.

>maybe both

Both. Definitely both.

Runequest fag her and don't get me fucking started on the shit they pulled.
Especially the ducks.

Ah. Can't find any Alien Modules for Mongoose. Damn. I'll have to go shopping, then

They're in there. Settings - Third Imperium.

> math
Finally a reason to put all that dry stuff to fun use, and you go Bleh.

They're in the Archive. Look in the MgT1e folders

>Especially the ducks.

IIRC, the ducks were the reason why the Mongoose booth received all that confetti.

And here I am, thinking my day could't be any better.
Give your buddy my thanks, user.

Sure thing. He wasn't the only one giving them shit and the shit they were getting wasn't only but RQ either. I guess Mongoose "overpromised" on some naval minis game of theirs and caught a ration of feces from various 'con attendees about that too.

Speking of RQ ducks, how would you stat 'em for Traveller, user?

Oh that's a bit tricky.
Do you mean purely physically or the "idea" of a duck ?

Okay for the "idea" of the duck, and being a duck sucks.
-2 str
normal dex
+2 con for being tough little buggers, if nothing else.
normal int, they are just as smart as human
normal edu, they learn just as well as human
-2 soc, nobody takes the duck serious, go back to your swamp.

>"idea" of a duck

The "idea". Sorry, I should have been more clear.

I was looking through SWN the other day and noticed Crawford's delineation between Pre and Post Scream technologies. Pre-Scream, the Terran Mandate was able to quite literally twist reality thanks to psionics and was able to create substances, machines, etc., which would normally be physically impossible. That got me thinking about "failed" or "abandoned" uplift projects, not necessarily in the SWN setting but in a more "Traveller-ish" one.

Let's say someone starts an uplift project, official or secret it doesn't matter. At some point, the subjects become sentient just not yet at the level desired. That's when the project gets shut down. It's either uncovered or it's funding is cut or the culture conducted decides it's immoral or some other thing. What ever the reason, the "ducks" are left in this in-between state: Sentient but not sentient enough. (I know RQ ducks aren't mentally challenged.)

You just can't kill or sterilize them out of hand. Besides, they're capable enough to survive and, after a fashion, thrive. So you plunk them down on a "reservation" and forget about them.

For the sake of discussion, let's say they're basically innumerate and. absent evolution or uplift, will remain so. They can count on the their fingers; i.e. "1, 2, 3, a lot", and that's it.

I like that and it does capture the RQ "idea". Ducks suffer more from a social stigma than anything else.

In the decades before Terra encountered the Ziru Sirka, a former con artist real estate tycoon turned reality holovid star ran for Earth president. Initially his campaign was viewed as a joke, but when rumors spread on the internet that his campaign promises included "I'm going to make Donald Duck real," a secret coalition of Finns and Italians conspired in the largest ballot-stuffing action in Earth's history!

...

>What's up wid dat? Y'all cowards don't even die during chargen.

If this happens with my game, I just keep the "dead" characters for use as NPC's.

It's "you'll cowards," user.

Hey, question on character creation.

Mongoose V1, specifically the free version Cepheus (see attached)

Isn't there supposed to be a "life event" that happens? If you never fail to qualify and never fail a survival roll.... then the characters turn out pretty boring. Am I missing something? Is it just a thing with this version?

>Isn't there supposed to be a "life event" that happens?

Nope. It's not part of CE chargen and it wasn't part of any Traveller chargen until MgT.

>>If you never fail to qualify and never fail a survival roll.... then the characters turn out pretty boring.

Boring? Fly starships, visit different worlds, meet strange people and aliens? Boring?

>>Am I missing something?

An imagination? Why do you need a die roll on a table to personalize your player-character?

>>Is it just a thing with this version?

That's right. It's a thing with that version and every other version except MgT1e and 2e.

Yeah, has anyone ever really done the math behind this sort of idea?

Tidally locked planets can be pretty much as hot or cold as you want with different classes of sun. They can be any size you want. And they can have as much water and land as you want.

But any sort of liquid water that flows to the sun-side will boil off and... some will eventually fall back down on the dark side as snow... permanently. Without some sort of water CYCLE, you don't have rivers or lakes. I'm not sure you have atmosphere.

Maybe the dark-side builds up to where gravity just pulls it sun-side. You'd have a lop-sided planet with snow-fall building up glaciers that slide down towards the sun and melt-off forms river flowing down to... salt-beds or something where it all boils off.

Shout-out to anyone who's read "city of long shadows".

ok ok. Thanks for the answer dude.

I guess I just thought "life happens" even when you're frying bugs on Klendathu.

>Now I just need to engage in some math to figure out how fast a "gee" is.

9.81 Metres per second, per second (meaning it accelerates constantly until it achieves terminal velocity).

>Yeah, has anyone ever really done the math behind this sort of idea?

Some have and some just run with a fun idea.

You are aware of "libration", right? The "wiggle" some satellites have in their orbits? For example, the Moon is tidally locked to Earth but it's libration means we can see ~60% of it's surface instead of just half. A similar libration between a tidally locked planet and it's star would result in regions which see cycles of freezing and thaws.

>>I guess I just thought "life happens"

Life does happen, so why do you need tables to think up life events for your own player-character? I can think of one reason and that's because I tend to think of only the same kinds of life events!

If you do need tables - and who wouldn't want to look some over to get new ideas - do what we all do and borrow those rules you like from other versions. I use Classic's chargen, for example, but MT's cascades and homeworld skills among other things. Both editions of MgT are in the Archives so you easily borrow the life event tables from both.

There aren't any version police or rules cops. You can kitbash together whatever you like. Make the game your own and ignore what everyone else is doing.

>There aren't any version police or rules cops.
Of course not. you're thinking of FASA

I believe you roll life events only if you fail survival rolls.

My only experience is with CT. Explain "life events" for me.

Ouch...

It's something more current RPGs have adopted. The idea is provide PCs with events in their life prior to adventuring which effect their skills and stats in various ways, some positive and some not.

While I was kidding earlier about a "lack" of imagination, the truth is most of us tend to use the same tropes and ideas over and over when building a PC's background. For example, how many PCs have you seen who were orphans? Life events tables help you mix things up and try new ideas, both of which are good things.

What do you think about Gundam setting?
>Restricted to solar system
>Particles that block radars, comms and the like
>Mecha
>Cylindrical colonies rotating around Earth
>Moon is colonized
>Beam weapons are (almost) only for ships, the rest of the universe uses bullets
>Central government on earth disliked by space colonies

Travel time between locations is going to really drag out. The advantage of FTL travel is obvious when you calculate how long it would take to get from Earth to Neptune.

And don't get me started on Uranus!

Has anyone ever come up with a good ways to do in-system travel? I guess in theory you could randomly generate orbits for things and calculate the distance (and thus time) from those, but that seems like a lot of work for little benefit.

Has anyone ever come up with good ways to do non-Jump engines that actually use up fuel?

As the previous guy said life events are just random stuff. Some give bonuses or penalties. Some are along the lines of "a romantic relationship ends" etc

>Has anyone ever come up with a good ways to do in-system travel?

MT has tables which lay out generic travel times by orbit. They figure the planets will one of three positions relative to one another: either on the same side of the star, 90deg apart, or on opposite sides.

>>Has anyone ever come up with good ways to do non-Jump engines that actually use up fuel?

Good ways? Not really. TNE introduced a drive which used enough fuel that you needed to calculate gee-turns. Doing the extra math was adding something to some peoples' games and didn't add something to other peoples' games.

Yeah I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas. I'd like to do a game featuring actual realistic performance rockets, but the math involved seems so heavy it would bog down the game.

Just rename the worlds. They can get heavily unpronounceable

As with all things in life, there are min/max curves at work. Sure; you can do all the math, but how much fun does it add? What does it really bring to your players' experience on the table top? Just where to draw the line is going to depend on your group and you'll draw it someplace different than other groups.

I generally go with MT's method. Do the math for short, medium, and long trips then dice between them to choose which is current.

Speaking of which, we all know how...heavy alien names can get. Is it normal for Humans to give alien crew members/friends/allies nicknames?

Definitely. Also I very much like pirate-y navy nicknames for people, like in the same ship you have Small Tom; Big Tom; Tom the Fatass; Yellow Tom; Tommy-Boy and such.

It's gonna depend on the Alien in question, but I imagine an accepted short-form name would be common, and nicknames more so

>"I'm gonna call you 'Bob'."
>--Commander Shepard, Stargate Atlantis

Remember in Niven's Ringworld, that Kzin that was dubbed "Speaker to Animals" by his own people because his shame had relegated him to diplomacy with *shudder* other sentient life?

Ringworld Boxed Set with Companion at pic related.

>terminal velocity
>in space
user ...

>*dutifully gets on knees and takes off your pants*

Welll..... Captain on deck....

There must be a theoretical upper limit to speed in space.... mustn't there?

You mean aside from the speed of light? Most sci-fi ignores that one - and once you strike that, it'd be easy to introduce a new speed limit during the requisite hand-waving.

Yes, but it's not your terminal velocity. You can always go just a little bit faster.

I've been lurking and I have to ask, amongst you lot, which edition do you guys play?

Classic, but I'm currently snooping through the supplements of later editions looking for things to cherry pick and add to my own Traveller Universe....

>mfw a missile from a long-dead race punctures the hull at relativistic speeds

Why did Traveller choose not to have shield technology, given how popular it is in science fiction? Is it because of the source material (and the authors) that inspired the game?

I thought there were shields

>Particles that block radars, comms and the like
no
>Mecha
definitely no

everything else is fine though

At least in Mongoose version, there are shields. Deflector screens (IIRC, you need to aim them manually still) are TL10, energy shields (passive) are TL16+.

Rules question: is there jump cooldown? Could a ship outfitted with enough fuel do two consecutive J-1s instead of a single J-2? Is there a disadvantage to doing it that way, aside from time and supplies?

I'm running a short campaign with my players, where they're on the hunt for an Ancient ship of legend that drifts through deep space. The setting is mostly the same as OTU, save for the history of the Ancients and some of the geography. Pic related, it's their space jalopy.