Lord Iron Wolf
SOC-12
For comment and discussion;
Over on RPG.NET there was a discussion of what Traveller is and was. Besides the smoke and thunder that usually involves a Traveller discussion there was a piece of insight I got from it and I believe it explains why I still like Traveller where other games I played in the past have faded in my affections. It involves the assumptions and attitude of Traveller.
Anyway here is the post and my response to it. If anyone else wants to expand or has other insights to it, I'd appreciate if you would post them.
I think the posts on this board nail really one of the unique features of this game: that in a sprawling universe of potential adventure, your character still had to get the bills paid; in a universe so big your character could never reach its end, your PCs bones were already getting creaky at the prime of his life; in a stellar empire of infinite possibilities the choices your character had made in his youth limited who he was in his 40's.
This, I think, is an amazing and unique tension for RPGs. It's a completely different set of concerns than found in most RPGs--which cater to the delightful and high spirited point of view that "All I need to do is keep going and I'll get more powerful and powerful." Traveller was written from the point of a view of adulthood, and most RPGs (and this is neither good nor bad) work from the adolescent view that lacks an awareness of mortality, death, decay or limits.
Does this mean there are no heroes in Traveller, by the way? No. The tales of Beowulf, The Lord of the Rings, Mallory’s Le Morte D'Arthur and other fantastic legends posit the tension between fantastic settings and heroic deeds against the encroaching weakening of muscles, the end of ages and life. Star Wars, on the other hand, the model for a lot of RPG sensibility from the mid-seventies onward, possesses exactly that naive-kid-in-a-big-place-stretching-his-muscles-forever sensibility. It's significant, I think, that Traveller was on the way to the printer just as Star Wars hit the screen. It's a pre-Star Wars SF setting. This makes it not better or worse than all the would-be "youth" tales—just different.
So, first think Traveller. Now think, "Clint Eastwood." See? Easy as pie.
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I think one thing which has been said on this thread is that Classic Traveller is an adult game and if you look at history a bit you will know what is going on.
Traveller and Dungeons & Dragons came into the public eye at roughly the same time. While Dungeons & Dragons used the basic concept of a young man working his way up into his full powers ala "A Hero's Journey", (experience points/Luke Skywalker/Harry Potter), Traveller used the idea of a mature man in the height of his powers (or the first part of their decline) to create an adventurer (King Solomon’s Mines/Allen Quartermain, John Carter, ect.)
In Traveller your character develops in the generation process and you get to choose when to break your character out (with needs of the service being the exception.) They are ready to adventure at that time and are able to face the deadliest foes. They are also men not supermen and thus don't readily appeal to younger players who are in the throes of an adolescent power trip. (Specializations, feats, "arcane" classes)
In the beginning days RPG's were aimed towards people in their late teens and early to mid twenties (military, college) and written for that maturity level. D&D found a gold mine when they castrated themselves to get the 12-14 year olds; Traveller never did. Many companies jumped on the bandwagon and imitated TSR's strategy. Dungeons & Dragons won out as the dominate way to design a game due to shear force of numbers; much as VHS versus BETA, or PC vs Mac.
Traveller is based on a different design philosophy than D&D and succeeding generations of games. In other words, D&D and Vampire are more alike in structure than D&D and Traveller. If you look at Traveller don't bring your prejudices in with you, most modern games are simply built on a D&D framework for their structure.
Traveller isn't.
Looking Forward to your Comments,
Lord Iron Wolf
Over on RPG.NET there was a discussion of what Traveller is and was. Besides the smoke and thunder that usually involves a Traveller discussion there was a piece of insight I got from it and I believe it explains why I still like Traveller where other games I played in the past have faded in my affections. It involves the assumptions and attitude of Traveller.
Anyway here is the post and my response to it. If anyone else wants to expand or has other insights to it, I'd appreciate if you would post them.
I think the posts on this board nail really one of the unique features of this game: that in a sprawling universe of potential adventure, your character still had to get the bills paid; in a universe so big your character could never reach its end, your PCs bones were already getting creaky at the prime of his life; in a stellar empire of infinite possibilities the choices your character had made in his youth limited who he was in his 40's.
This, I think, is an amazing and unique tension for RPGs. It's a completely different set of concerns than found in most RPGs--which cater to the delightful and high spirited point of view that "All I need to do is keep going and I'll get more powerful and powerful." Traveller was written from the point of a view of adulthood, and most RPGs (and this is neither good nor bad) work from the adolescent view that lacks an awareness of mortality, death, decay or limits.
Does this mean there are no heroes in Traveller, by the way? No. The tales of Beowulf, The Lord of the Rings, Mallory’s Le Morte D'Arthur and other fantastic legends posit the tension between fantastic settings and heroic deeds against the encroaching weakening of muscles, the end of ages and life. Star Wars, on the other hand, the model for a lot of RPG sensibility from the mid-seventies onward, possesses exactly that naive-kid-in-a-big-place-stretching-his-muscles-forever sensibility. It's significant, I think, that Traveller was on the way to the printer just as Star Wars hit the screen. It's a pre-Star Wars SF setting. This makes it not better or worse than all the would-be "youth" tales—just different.
So, first think Traveller. Now think, "Clint Eastwood." See? Easy as pie.
--------------------------------------------------
I think one thing which has been said on this thread is that Classic Traveller is an adult game and if you look at history a bit you will know what is going on.
Traveller and Dungeons & Dragons came into the public eye at roughly the same time. While Dungeons & Dragons used the basic concept of a young man working his way up into his full powers ala "A Hero's Journey", (experience points/Luke Skywalker/Harry Potter), Traveller used the idea of a mature man in the height of his powers (or the first part of their decline) to create an adventurer (King Solomon’s Mines/Allen Quartermain, John Carter, ect.)
In Traveller your character develops in the generation process and you get to choose when to break your character out (with needs of the service being the exception.) They are ready to adventure at that time and are able to face the deadliest foes. They are also men not supermen and thus don't readily appeal to younger players who are in the throes of an adolescent power trip. (Specializations, feats, "arcane" classes)
In the beginning days RPG's were aimed towards people in their late teens and early to mid twenties (military, college) and written for that maturity level. D&D found a gold mine when they castrated themselves to get the 12-14 year olds; Traveller never did. Many companies jumped on the bandwagon and imitated TSR's strategy. Dungeons & Dragons won out as the dominate way to design a game due to shear force of numbers; much as VHS versus BETA, or PC vs Mac.
Traveller is based on a different design philosophy than D&D and succeeding generations of games. In other words, D&D and Vampire are more alike in structure than D&D and Traveller. If you look at Traveller don't bring your prejudices in with you, most modern games are simply built on a D&D framework for their structure.
Traveller isn't.
Looking Forward to your Comments,
Lord Iron Wolf