Things you've wanted to try in traveller but were afraid to.

[The Thing]

Here's two things I've wanted to try in traveller but never have been able to yet:

1. making the aslan like the vargr, the evolved descendants of terran felines genetically altered by the ancients. I think I'd like this just to say STFU to all the people who say traveller can't be serious SF because it has "cat people" aliens in it. (BTW, no one says larry niven's known space isn't serious because of the kzin....)

If the aslan were literally descended from terran felines the same way the vargr are altered terran canines, it would end the "cat people alien" crap, AFAIC.

2. Transhuman traveller: I'd seriously like to take the transhuman space line and crossbreed it with traveller. I could see it having real legs, and would open interesting possiblities. Suppose there's a 'water world" where settlers decided to engineer themselves into aquatic humanoids? Or what about low g habitats where people adapted themselves for low g settings like in transhuman space?

As long as we keep the jump drive it's still basically traveller.

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

The first idea is actually the way I present stuff to my players ...
The thing I would like to to but do not dare, is to consequently get rid of the so humanlike aliens and transform them just into other human empires...I would keep most of the cultural stuff and sjust skip the physilogical aspects.
Really I hate biped-upright humanized aliens ....

Sure genetic manipulation provides so many oppertunities, but I do not like a TU appearing as a zoo.
Luckily genetic science frequently discovers new surprising features, making the system more and more complex...

Anyway, regarding no.2, don't you think Thing, that its already possible to do that in Traveller anyway ??

regards,

TE

 

[Valarian]

Suppose there's a 'water world" where settlers decided to engineer themselves into aquatic humanoids?

Isn't this the Luriani?

 

[atpollard]

RE: water breathing humans

Imagine someone going door-to-door at the floating city trying to convince you that you should have your unborn child genetically altered to breathe water. "Imagine all the advantages they will enjoy ..."

THAT would be a very hard sell.
"I think it's time for you to leave. Martha, get my shotgun!"

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

This only came about after T20...

Since T20 and DnD 3.x are fairly compatible, I wanted to have a fight between an Ancient Red Dragon and a fire team of TL 15 Imperial Marines in battle dress w/ grav belts, gauss rifles, and a FGMP-15 for support.

So far, no referee or player has risen to the challenge this presents.

 

[pendragonman]

This only came about after T20...

Since T20 and DnD 3.x are fairly compatible, I wanted to have a fight between an Ancient Red Dragon and a fire team of TL 15 Imperial Marines in battle dress w/ grav belts, gauss rifles, and a FGMP-15 for support.

So far, no referee or player has risen to the challenge this presents.

IMHO, the fire team wins hands down, even in open terrain where the dragon would have superior air speed. One hit by the FGMP and its all over but determining the rareness of your dragon steak. Without the FGMP, the gauss rifles out range the dragon, allowing considerable incoming damage to the dragon as it prepares for its weapons to range.

 

[Gadrin]

Here's two things I've wanted to try in traveller but never have been able to yet:

1. making the aslan like the vargr, the evolved descendants of terran felines genetically altered by the ancients. I think I'd like this just to say STFU to all the people who say traveller can't be serious SF because it has "cat people" aliens in it. (BTW, no one says larry niven's known space isn't serious because of the kzin....)

If the aslan were literally descended from terran felines the same way the vargr are altered terran canines, it would end the "cat people alien" crap, AFAIC.

2. Transhuman traveller: I'd seriously like to take the transhuman space line and crossbreed it with traveller. I could see it having real legs, and would open interesting possiblities. Suppose there's a 'water world" where settlers decided to engineer themselves into aquatic humanoids? Or what about low g habitats where people adapted themselves for low g settings like in transhuman space?

As long as we keep the jump drive it's still basically traveller.

or having your players discover these new types of aliens, only to find they have ties to human DNA, whence they originally came.

I s'pose that'd work for the Vargr and Aslan too, who seem to have in their midst...

you could work it anyway you'd like and it might give a nice twist to a Traveller setting, esp if the players aren't aware of your interest in THS.

I've always liked the Chronos-Series bioroid from GURPS Bio-Tech and have a Traveller baddie who has a "Vargr-Human hybrid" as a combat partner. From the waist up he resmbles a Vargr basically, but has human like legs. Since everyone and his brother uses the name Fenris, I call him Garm.

 

[TheEngineer]

Travellers

This only came about after T20...

Since T20 and DnD 3.x are fairly compatible, I wanted to have a fight between an Ancient Red Dragon and a fire team of TL 15 Imperial Marines in battle dress w/ grav belts, gauss rifles, and a FGMP-15 for support.

So far, no referee or player has risen to the challenge this presents.

Well, this is a very famous Traveller battle ...
Do You remember Gavin and the TRAVELLERS ?

 

[Gadrin]

Or the Technomages from Babylon 5. Of course the technology is much different, but I do have a few ideas on what they might use to accomplish some of their feats. GURPS was very helpful with this, thanks to Ultra Tech.

I bought the B5 Technomage Fact book, but it was ultimately disappointing because they really use magic ! versus the setting-logic of them using high technology to simulate the effects of magic.

I think they're a good excuse to allow Research Station technology away from some top-secret base, or finding their "Place of Power" ends up like a trip to a Research Station.

 

[Scott Martin]

Things you've wanted to try in traveller but were afraid to.

You mean like:

Actually run a Traveller game in the last decade?

Scott Martin

 

[Kharum1]

Things you've wanted to try in traveller but were afraid to.

You mean like:

Actually run a Traveller game in the last decade?

Scott Martin

I would just like to play. I haven't played in a game for almost 23 years. I've run a lot of games but that hasn't been for about 10 years.

 

[Droyne668]

Here's two things I've wanted to try in traveller but never have been able to yet:

1. making the aslan like the vargr, the evolved descendants of terran felines genetically altered by the ancients.

2. Transhuman traveller

As long as we keep the jump drive it's still basically traveller.

I've used both of those ideas for a few years now (my current campaign, now maybe eight years in, on and off). In with the Vargr, Humaniti, and revised Aslan, I lumped Bwaps (those little salamander guys?), and anything else that looked like an Animal Person. Everything works fine, as no one with whom I game (however infrequently) is a stickler for "canon" anything. I can pull things from CT, MT, TNE, T20, D20, lint from under the couch, Vargr flea combs, etc. and no one worries about it.*

What I'd like to do but never have been able to do yet:

1. Trillion Credit Squadron anything. Space battles. Take off and nuke the site from orbit! Drop a few dozen TL15 Marines in the middle of a few thousand TL4 savages. Anything with guns and bombs and grav tanks and all that fun sort of stuff.

2. Play instead of run a game. It's been nearly 20 years since I actually got to be a Player Character instead of a horde of NPCs and assorted hangers on.

*Keep watching this space. I'm eventually going to get around to uploading to my website my Uber-Heretical Traveller Campaign that pulls every dark secret in the Traveller universe together, from the Ancients to Virus to the Civil War, etc. It really does work if you don't look ~too~ closely at it in terms of what's canon and what's not. We have a lot of fun with it, though.

Best,
Will

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Come join us!

I would just like to play. I haven't played in a game for almost 23 years. I've run a lot of games but that hasn't been for about 10 years.

Kharum, talk t oFar-Trader in about a week and a half. We have officially started our 30th anniversary CT PbP game in his private group. Our characters just all got into their jammies for a week's sleep while Dan does something business-like where he doesn't have internet access.

We had 5 folks signed up, but I don't know if everyone really made it. (He hasn't heard from Burocrate.)

 

[Scott Martin]

Burocrate's in (he's playing our unconcious friend who was unceremoniously dumped into the tank) and has a post in the game digest already.

We also have a bit of stuff going on in the "this happened at dinner before we got frozen" topic, which your character might want to get in on

I think that Maybe Dan's getting more than he bargained for, since at least 3 of his players usually *run* games instead of playing them, so his TU is "congealing" in some interesting ways.

We'll have to see what things look like when we actually hit Jenghe, but with the motley crew we have so far, I suspect that it will be... interesting.

Scott Martin

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Hey! I don't think my character is "motley" at all! It's the rest of you bums...

And, yes, I saw Burocrate jump in (well, get carried in, actually) on the game.

 

[Golan2072]

Things I've wanted to try in traveller but were afraid to:

1) Run a strategic-level game (possibly combined with a usual PC-level game) using either World Tamer's Handbook or Pocket Empires. This has three conditions: I must buy either - or both! - books (which is theoretically possible); I must get several other strategy-inclined people together to play (which is less likel); and I must get enough free time to do so (even less likely).

2) Ignore TNE and run wild with the Hard Times; the problem is that I'll be writing myself into a corner, atleast fanbase-wise (I like writing things which other people would want to use, not just me), as Hard Times is - unfortunately - quite a niche milieu.

3) Run a "pure" military campaign (say, on an active-service Type-T or 1,000-dton cruiser); the problem is that most players I know are interested in other areas rather than military (exploration, diplomacy and science).

4) Revanp the robot design rules to make them more bearable and/or useable for designing vehicles as well; the key issue here is the shortage of free time.

5) Run a one-shot System Shock 2-style horror adventure with a high body-count (couldn't just find the time to do so).

 

[Ptah]

Here's two things I've wanted to try in traveller but never have been able to yet:

1. making the aslan like the vargr, the evolved descendants of terran felines genetically altered by the ancients. I think I'd like this just to say STFU to all the people who say traveller can't be serious SF because it has "cat people" aliens in it. (BTW, no one says larry niven's known space isn't serious because of the kzin....)

If the aslan were literally descended from terran felines the same way the vargr are altered terran canines, it would end the "cat people alien" crap, AFAIC.

Sure you can do this. MTU has always been populated with aliens taken from my favorite sci-fi, James White, Larry Niven and now David Brin being the top three.

I think the "cat people" criticism comes from Traveller not just having cat people, but dog people and horse people as well. Then the cultures of these aliens are the cliche traits we associate with these animals. Larry Niven used anthromorphic aliens sparingly, the Kzin in the first stories were emphasised as being independently evolved rat-cats, the similarity in appearance to cats being covergent evolution. Only later was the cat-like habits played up because, I guess, many folks love the anthromorphic alien.

Further, IMHO, Niven and others are very good writers, they can get away with cat people because they can craft a setting and story that lets you suspend disbelief. Sadly, most RPG setting products have writing that is nowhere near the level of sophisitcation of the authors that inspire us, so that suspension of disbelief suffers. To someone who is not a fan of the game, they take the setting write-ups as any other story.

As long as we keep the jump drive it's still basically traveller.

That does seem to be a single feature of TRaveler that has far reaching defining consequences.

 

[Ptah]

Things I've wanted to try in traveller but were afraid to:

1) Run a strategic-level game (possibly combined with a usual PC-level game) using either World Tamer's Handbook or Pocket Empires. This has three conditions: I must buy either - or both! - books (which is theoretically possible); I must get several other strategy-inclined people together to play (which is less likel); and I must get enough free time to do so (even less likely).

Same here. I've reworked starship construction and combat and never got too started on economy. Never get around to finishing it off.

4) Revanp the robot design rules to make them more bearable and/or useable for designing vehicles as well; the key issue here is the shortage of free time.

Another project I've stopped and started several times over the years. Never enough time to finish.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

IMHO, the fire team wins hands down, even in open terrain where the dragon would have superior air speed. One hit by the FGMP and its all over but determining the rareness of your dragon steak. Without the FGMP, the gauss rifles out range the dragon, allowing considerable incoming damage to the dragon as it prepares for its weapons to range.

See, I dunno about that. The dragon would have spell use, breath weapon use, and would only take 1/2 to 1/4 damage from the PGMP-15 due to immunities.

I'd sure be interesting, though.

 

[Ishmael]

Same here. I've reworked starship construction and combat and never got too started on economy. Never get around to finishing it off.


Another project I've stopped and started several times over the years. Never enough time to finish.

same here....
maybe it might be a good thing to swap/share ideas and then at least one version of all that might get finished