Traveller is a classic science fiction system first released in 1977. 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.
Previously on Traveller General: Library Data: Master Archive: snip li /Traveller
Got a PDF to add? /DropOff (Name it "*-notclean" if you suspect it has watermarks.)
So, suppose the PCs get offered a job as security and/or roadies for a Vargr entertainer. Good idea, or the best idea?
Things to consider: How much of the Vargr music industry is run by the various mafias, how much is legit, honest, and fair, but still looks like a mafia, because Vargr?
Weird groups endorsing or opposing given entertainers for crazy reasons, including makers of various goods literally fighting over sponsorship deals.
Rival entertainers trying to get to the top of the charts by knocking off the competition in one way or another. The more public the better, as humiliating a star on holovid would be super effective at reducing their popularity, thanks to the loss of charisma.
Similarly, if a Vargr pop star takes up some weird political or religious notion, their fans will be all over it, because of the Vargr obsession with charisma.
Late night bump before we fall off the boards, I found some interesting stuff that might help my fellow anons out, or give some inspiration:
I was poking around the net for large ships to use in games as a kind of fabled lost ship or other mcguffin, I found Dcmstarships, a guy on Wordpress that makes speculative sci fi ships in his free time. I'd link it but Veeky Forums doesn't like the link for some reason.
That and I found a Species template creator for Stellaris online, I have zero clue how useful this is, I personally have been using Traveller and Stellaris to create my campaign setting so I thought I'd share.
>So, suppose the PCs get offered a job as security and/or roadies for a Vargr entertainer. Good idea, or the best idea? Vargrs aside, I've always loved that essential concept
How beginner friendly is mongoose traveller 2e? I wanna run a game for my group but they're really not into hard-to-get-into systems.
Cameron Smith
The system for play is straighforward. Where the game gets its rep is in the worldbuilding tools and the sheer volume of the default setting.
That said, Mongoose has a rep of their own, and it doesn't include clear writing.
John Scott
>Good idea, or the best idea?
Recycled idea.
"Road Show", JTAS #23, by John M. Ford. (Yes, THAT John M. Ford.) It's also the idea behind Greg Lee's "Cirque", the only adventure so far released for T5.
>How beginner friendly is mongoose traveller 2e
Read the Getting Started pdf posted above. The nuts & bolts of the system aren't hard, it's the mindset many players of other RPGs have problems with. There are no levels, no XPs, combat is deadly to everyone, and PCs begin as professional adults with skills they can be hired to perform. It's a bit of a mental shift for folks only used to D&D and D&D-derived systems.
Is there any existing splat or homebrew floating around adding cybernetics/gene mods for a cyberpunk sort of feeling? I've been hanging out in the osr general too much and want to run cyberpunk in an old school/rules light system. Classic traveller seems good to me, but I'm not entirely sure how to handle cybernetics.
Brandon Fisher
Try Zozer Games' Zaibatsu, which is in the Cepheus Engine folder.
Where does one even look for a Traveler group? I've always wanted to play but the different books and which rules to learn has always been intimidating
>which rules to learn Learning any of the Classic/Mega/Mongoose group will give you a solid foothold in all three, and are the most likely to find players for. In all three cases, start with the core:
Books 1-3 and Supplement 4, or "The Traveller Book" for Classic. Player's Handbook and Imperial Encyclopedia (for the equipment lists and setting primer) for MegaTraveller. Core Rule book, either 1st or 2nd Ed, for Mongoose.
Jace Jenkins
I joined a Classic game on Roll20 and have been playing about a month now. I've seen Mongoose/Classic games open for players from time to time there. And the other guy's right, the popular editions are fairly similar so if you know your way around one of them you can play the others with little trouble.
Sebastian Johnson
Those three/four editions are closely related, as they all use 2d6 + a characteristic-derived modifier + a skill-derived modifier to beat a task target number. The modifiers and targets are different between these editions, however. Skill values and statistics affect the rolls in a linear fashion in MegaTraveller and Mongoose, but on a case-by-case basis in Classic.
Combat also differs significantly, with Classic being very similar to D&D Armor Class (range and armor affect the chance to do unmodified weapon damage), Mongoose using a linear damage reduction approach for armor, and MegaTraveller using an indirect damage reduction approach for armor AND range.
In general, though, the Ref will handle the combat numbers, so you just need to handle character generation. For that, the processes are quite similar across all three. While Classic and MegaTraveller assume solitaire character generation, Mongoose strongly advises a group approach. I recommend a group approach for any edition, to be honest.
>I recommend a group approach for any edition, to be honest.
That is very good advice. While Traveller doesn't strictly follow D&D's "party composition" trope of fight-magic use-cleric-thief, certain campaigns run better with certain skills and PCs should compliment each other.
Daniel Watson
How do i explain to new people who are playing traveller for the first time that taking under 3 terms is a terrible idea
Carter Gomez
It's not, really? You can get by with just a handful of skills, just remember that MgT has skill packages, and Classic has implied 0 levels. Of course that may not help if your referee is the sort who assigns inappropriately harsh outcomes to failed rolls.
Parker Sanchez
Alright, but what should I do to a snowflake type who wants to play a dude with a single term of Psion? He saw the shinies with the psion traits and wanted to knock people out with the Assault power (Mongoose 2e if its not apparent yet) but he only noticed the cool shit is 12+ and 14+. Also he has a pathological fear of having a bad character cause he rolled pretty bad and got a drifter with 8 terms and 4 mishap rolls his first game It might be that he's an unsavable cunt but he's friends with the DM so we cant just kick him out for being a snowflake.
Bentley Ortiz
Not sure how Mongoose 2e works with regard to psionics, but once you are trained in most editions, your Psionics score doesn't drop with age. Only your *potential* does that, and only prior to evaluation and training.
So if he wants a high end Psion, he can start there and then move on to something else to get some actual skills.
Adrian Hernandez
>a drifter with 8 terms that's still pretty decent, just not very broad. I do allow characters a skill roll on mishap terms. since disasters can be very educational.
Traveler is great but it a little hard to get into. It would be nice if there was a starter box with some swag. I also feel like this would be a system that would benefit greatly from a box of space pirate miniatures and a sack of 1in graph ship layouts.
>Traveler is great but it a little hard to get into.
The mechanics are dead simple; little more than 2D6 roll over 8. Canon is too much to keep track of even for long time players. That's why the Getting Started PDF recommends ignoring most of it. Also, unlike WarHamster's "lore", an understanding of Traveller's canon isn't necessary for play.
You want a starter version? One was produced nearly 40 years ago for Classic. Oddly enough, it's called Starter Traveller.
You want deckplans? Again, Classic's Snapshot and AHL had them decades ago. Producing deckplans is one of the biggest "side games" in the game. The web is full of plans you download and print.
You want minis? Any modern figs will work.
Alexander Thomas
Swag?
Part of the problem is that we as gamers are still mostly stuck in the 00s when it comes to the prices we're willing to pay, but printing and other production costs have continued to climb. GW gets away with $160 starter boxes, but no one else can.
Logan Butler
>Producing deckplans is one of the biggest "side games" in the game. The web is full of plans you download and print. The new deckplan set from FFE is very nice, and one of the old 15mm lines of Traveller minis is still available from RAFM. (The other 15mm line was lost to a fire, and the 25mm and 28mm lines a bit too distinctive to sell without a license)
And before you commit to 28mm, be aware that even a small ship is too big for most game tables in that scale. Which is why the game has used 15mm from very early.
Jacob Foster
>And before you commit to 28mm, be aware that even a small ship is too big for most game tables in that scale.
That's a very good point.
Let me also caution people about backing Mongoose's latest "Element-class cruiser" kickstarter. The proposed product will include several blueprint-style posters. They'll be lovely to look at, but they won't be deckplans which can be used in play with chits or minis.
Evan Long
Eh. More a case of knowing what you are, and are NOT, getting. It may be fine for what it is, but I can guaranty it will be castigated for what it is not, and that Mongoose Matt will be clueless regarding those lapses until sales a year later prove it to him.
Christopher Collins
>More a case of knowing what you are, and are NOT, getting.
True and the ad copy doesn't exactly help. The first paragraphs are the usual breathless claims about how an entire cruiser is going to be "detailed". It's only when you bother to read the rest and squint at the artwork that you realize the blueprint posters will be useless for tabletop play. Just like the angled perspective plans they've used in most of their splats.
Still, there will most likely be enough people who either still want the product or don't realize the posters aren't useful. After all, look at all the people Ken Whitman conned over the years.
>>Mongoose Matt will be clueless
He couldn't find his ass with both hands, a map, and a flashlight. The only keeping him is business is the stupidity and/or low expectations of RPG consumers.
Ethan Foster
I read somewhere that if a modern Monopoly game was made with the quality and materials of the original ones it would cost more than $100 US. It would still be a lousy excuse for a board game, though.
Ryan Butler
>>It would still be a lousy excuse for a board game, though.
It isn't if you play it by the actual rules instead of what too many people believe the rules to be. While traveling on business back in the 90s, I saw a Monopoly tournament in which games lasted less than 45 minutes because they were being played RAW.
- All fines and penalties aren't placed in the middle of the board and claimed by whomever lands on Free Parking. - The numbers of houses and hotels are limited to those supplied in the game. - A player landing on a mortgaged property can claim that property by paying the mortgage fee. - If a player lands on property which isn't owned and declines to buy it, the property is auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The last rule especially speeds play. Most deeds are owned within two passes around the board and bankruptcies take place soon afterward. When a player cannot meet a rent demand, all their cash and deeds go to the player they can't pay. Being the receiver of a bankruptcy or two can quickly put you in the winning position.
TL;DR - Like many games, Monopoly only sucks when you ignore the rules.
Ethan Nguyen
I'd say it sucks even if you follow the rules.
Nolan Collins
There's no accounting for taste.
I'm fairly certain, however, that the only time you played Monopoly you played it wrong.
Elijah Brooks
...Are you sure about that mortgage one? The rest, yeah, but I was pretty sure all the versions I'd read were pretty clear about nothing happening if you landed on a mortgaged property.
Luis Harris
This guy says it's in the rules, if you can't afford to buy a property you landed on the players bid on it. He also says it's still terrible, and you should play Power Grid instead.
The bidding rule I've seen, but the mortgage rule I was referring to >- A player landing on a mortgaged property can claim that property by paying the mortgage fee. Isn't one I've ever seen, and isn't in the picture you posted, unless I missed it.
And I found a PDF of the rules on Hasbro's site and it even says >The player who mortgages property retains possession of it and no other player may secure it by lifting the mortgage from the Bank.
The mortgaged property rule I saw used could have very well been a tournament rule, but the auction rule is in the official rules.
My point still stands. Few if any of us have ever played Monopoly correctly and Monopoly's reputation is based largely on incorrect play.
Justin Russell
Soooo.
Traveller ship mortgages... Threat or Menace?
Evan Moore
how about Plot Device?
Kayden James
>Threat or Menace?
Neither. GDW always talked about how adventures need a "push" and "pull" among other things. (Miller still talks about it.) Mortgages are pushes and pulls. Mortgages are a reason for the PCs to take risks.
The need for "pushes" and "pulls" is also why Classic's trade system (usually) doesn't pay the bills.
Thinking about artwork for inspiration or exposition (to show players), I want my upcoming Traveller game to be heavily influenced by the art style of the master Syd Mead. Anyone have other artist names of a similar vibe?
Question about psionics: How extensive is it, Grandfather and his ilk aside? Is it more of the eclipse phase, limited sort of thing where you boost your own capabilities a bit with the occasional psychic icepick to the face for someone? or is it closer to space magic, like the Force from SW?
Ryder Cruz
Tends towards the low-level utility kind of thing rather than full-on Star Wars space magic. It also tends to have realistic constraints where possible -- like how teleportation around planets has limits based on angular momentum and potential energy, but Zhodani teleport commandos are still a canonical thing.
Little of both, but on a tight budget (in most editions). Very few Psions have the full suite,and usually specialize in one or two of the power groups. The most common is telepathy, which ranges from being able to tell there are minds around you to being capable of mental assault. The other really common grouping is Awareness, which is the stat boosting discipline but also includes personal hibernation. Teleportation, Telekinesis, and Clairvoyance round out the broad groups.
All are powered by the user, and the higher end abilities are more taxing, with usually a day to day recovery cycle. Extensive combat TK, as we see among a number of Jedi, is not possible under RAW due to both the sheer lifting capacity available and the tight energy budget.
If you want Lensmen or Jedi, accelerating the recovery cycle is the first step.
David Allen
Yeah, I was more hunting for a sci-fi setting where it was present, but not dominant. I'll start chewing into the core books; thanks.
One thing not readily apparent from most editions is that, at least in the standard setting, *everyone* has psionic potential aside from the occasional race that is just wired wrong, and the very rare Nulls. Psionic Potential is NOT just a PC thing.
Austin Gutierrez
Psionics have been of the limited sort for most of the game's existence. Mongoose made psionic use a little easier and little more powerful because they're 1) morons and 2) were pandering to a potential customer base who thinks Star Wars is the root of all science fiction and would want psionics to be the Force.
Classic's system has been followed more or less by all subsequent versions aside from MgT:
- Everyone in the game has a psionic potential - That potential decays over time if you never received training and will eventually reach 0 - Even if trained, you strength rating may be too low to perform any action of consequence - Just which of six broad talent categories you can perform are subject to a one time die roll at the time of training
As explains, realistic constraints are part of Traveller psionics. Psionics are further limited by the strength requirements I mentioned earlier. Most effects have a duration usually measured in minutes or less and recovery times is measured in hours.
In the hands of thoughtful players, psionics works very well in the game. No one is going to be Luke or Vader however despite both characters being stated in Classic's books.
Adam Gonzalez
>If you want Lensmen or Jedi, accelerating the recovery cycle is the first step.
Granting all talents and buffing psionic strength ratings are the next steps.
>Psionic Potential is NOT just a PC thing.
That cannot be stressed enough. Similar to how NPCs are just as deadly in combat as PCs, psionics also has no "boundary". This isn't D&D or a D&D-derived system in which PCs level up to a demi-god status where they can swat mooks like flies. PC-NPC equivalency has been part of Traveller from the first.
It's rare that a player in my games is interested in the psionics, mostly because of how the need for training constrains career lengths. NPCs in my game have no such concerns however.
David Hughes
Well, reading the corebook of T5 is basically staring into the mouth of madness, but I managed to parse Alpha Omega, I'll parse this. What little I can tell about psionics seems to indicate it's what I'm looking for - there, and viable, but not the be-all-and-end-all. Cheers to all.
Reading T5? Hold shit, what the fuck are you doing THAT for? T5 isn't a RPG. T5 is a kit you can use to build a RPG. You'll get nothing but a headache from T5.
Put down T5, go the Archive, and download Book 3 "Worlds and Adventures" in the Classic folder. The psionics section starts of page 38, ends on page 46, and has everything you need.
Aaron Scott
>Hold shit
Sorry. That's supposed to read "Holy shit". Potato phone, potato fingers, and potato brain.
John Butler
This explains one fuck of a lot. I'm not that bothered about psionics specifically, beyond the whole 'there but non-dominant' thing. I just went straight for the 'core rules' part of 5. Ta.
Logan Thomas
T5 isn't the "core" rules. There's been only one adventure published for it in the ~4 years since it was released. The only people using any part of it it are those maintaining travellermap DOT com and all they're doing is updating the UWPs to match the new schematic.
The "Getting Started" pdf was posted at the start of this thread. Do yourself a huge favor and read it. Pick up either Classic, Cepheus Engine, or MgT and start there.
Lightning. Somehow to me it always feels like too big ship for good PC ship. At least it got too many weapons for fun spaceship combat. Or was it intended more like a Enterprise type moving homebase type adventures with the PCs as officers??
Austin Hall
If someone were to create a new version of Traveller, what sort of stuff would people like to have included in it?
