MGT Only: Aging Houserules

[BrunCarneiro]

Hey guise.

So, there's been plenty of threads about how Aging, RAW, is... pretty hardcore, with the average 777777 citizen dying at the lovely age of 66. Because of that, I'm looking to houserule aging rolls.

>inb4 they are travellers and live dangerous careers
They may also be... just citizens. The rules don't discriminate.

My first idea was to add the Character's Homeworld (Or, wherever they are currently) as a DM to aging. That way, an average person might die at 114. Still, this would also means that it's pretty easy for a whole group to be a bunch of generals and admirals. Therefore, I though of raising every advancement roll by something between 2 and 4.

What do y'all think? Do you have your own rules to deal with aging?

 

[Daidoji Dave]

Do you have your own rules to deal with aging?

I stick to the book.

And I cap terms anyway, but if I didn't, aging as written is only a weak replacement for "dying" in char-gen, which was always better understood as a meta-game incentive not to play geriatric characters for the skills than as a literal death.

>inb4 they are travellers and live dangerous careers
They may also be... just citizens. The rules don't discriminate.

Classic and Mongoose Traveller are not, never were, and never will be simulationist rule sets. That the game attracts simulationist players and GMs is an odd quirk of fate, but you'll be happier and make more sense of the rules if you don't try to pound a square peg into a round hole.

 

[coliver988]

I believe there are several house rules floating around, including those in at least 1 of the Cepheus Engine.

Generally, most people seem to gravitate towards higher TLs have better aging rolls. Perhaps starting a term or two later or making it easier to pass the aging rolls. I've also seen social stats play a roll: the higher your social status, easier to pass the aging rolls as you can afford good medical care, eat better, healthier foods, etc.

However, countering this to keep the RAW, higher tech also brings about its own issues: highly processed cheap foods, faster traffic, higher stress levels

The aging rules are probably there as mentioned by Daidoji Dave: to prevent geriatric characters with a shuttle-worth of skills from playing. While more meta than RPG/character, it makes sense to me from that perspective.

 

[Fovean]

We rarely get this crunchy anymore but yeah, we used TL breaks as a +DM to aging rolls IMTU:

Worldbound (TL2-) DM-3
Pre-Stellar (TL3-5) DM-2
Interplanetary (TL6-8) DM-1
Low Stellar (TL9-11) DM+0
Common Stellar (TL12-14) DM+1
High Stellar (TL15-17) DM+2
Low Galactic (TL18+) DM+3

Where ever the term was spent was the TL applied to the aging roll. So it could vary term to term, which helped build the character of the setting.

We never used SOC but I can see where that could play a part, especially for Drifters and Nobles.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

What do y'all think? Do you have your own rules to deal with aging?

The book works fine for me. Players can "choose" to be old weakened Travellers with more skills and SOC, or young healthier Travellers with fewer skills and SOC. Most players don't understand SOC at all, and view it as "it's just a wasted attribute is all". But once explained, it is a great characteristic for role-playing.