CT lite

[mike wightman]

What would you do as a simple intro that could be given away free?

1, Characters

Attributes - roll 2d6 for Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education, Social standing; alternatively allocate 42 points between them, no attribute can be higher than 12 or lower than 2

Career and skills - choose a career and number of years of service from 2 to 12 (or roll 2d).

Receive automatic skills for chosen career and choose a number of additional skills (or raise the level of an existing skill by 1) equal to 1 per 2 years served, round up.

Soldier - automatic skills: rifle, tactics.

other skills - physical, weapon, vehicle, leader, medical, admin, mechanical, electronic, computer, tactics, gambling, battle dress, fwd obsvr

Merchant - automatic skills: space, admin

other skills - physical, weapon, vehicle, space, medical, admin, mechanical, electronic, computer,
streetwise, steward, jack-o-t, bribery

Scout - automatic skills: pilot, space (other than pilot)

other skills - physical, mental, weapon, vehicle, space, medical, mechanical, electronic, computer, jack-o-t

Spacer - automatic skills: vacc suit, space (other than vacc suit)

other skills - any attribute, weapon, medical, admin, mechanical, electronic, computer, fwd obsvr, jack-o-t, space

Agent - automatic skills: streetwise, weapon

other skills - physical, weapon, vehicle, gambling, bribery, streetwise, mechanical, electronic, forgery, medical, computer, jack-o-t

Some of the skills above require you to choose one from a list of skills each time you take it.

physical - increase Str, or, Dex, or End, by 1

mental - increase Int, or Edu by 1

No attribute, physical or mental, can be raised above 15.

space - choose 1 from engineering, gunnery, navigation, pilot, vacc suit

vehicle - choose 1 from ATV, grav vehicle

weapon - choose 1 from handgun, rifle, heavy weapon, brawling, small blade, large blade

 

[mike wightman]

What would you do as a simple intro that could be given away free?

1, Characters

Attributes - roll 2d6 for Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education, Social standing; alternatively allocate 42 points between them, no attribute can be higher than 12 or lower than 2

Career and skills - choose a career and number of years of service from 2 to 12 (or roll 2d).

Receive automatic skills for chosen career and choose a number of additional skills (or raise the level of an existing skill by 1) equal to 1 per 2 years served, round up.

Soldier - automatic skills: rifle, tactics.

other skills - physical, weapon, vehicle, leader, medical, admin, mechanical, electronic, computer, tactics, gambling, battle dress, fwd obsvr

Merchant - automatic skills: space, admin

other skills - physical, weapon, vehicle, space, medical, admin, mechanical, electronic, computer,
streetwise, steward, jack-o-t, bribery

Scout - automatic skills: pilot, space (other than pilot)

other skills - physical, mental, weapon, vehicle, space, medical, mechanical, electronic, computer, jack-o-t

Spacer - automatic skills: vacc suit, space (other than vacc suit)

other skills - any attribute, weapon, medical, admin, mechanical, electronic, computer, fwd obsvr, jack-o-t, space

Agent - automatic skills: streetwise, weapon

other skills - physical, weapon, vehicle, gambling, bribery, streetwise, mechanical, electronic, forgery, medical, computer, jack-o-t

Some of the skills above require you to choose one from a list of skills each time you take it.

physical - increase Str, or, Dex, or End, by 1

mental - increase Int, or Edu by 1

No attribute, physical or mental, can be raised above 15.

space - choose 1 from engineering, gunnery, navigation, pilot, vacc suit

vehicle - choose 1 from ATV, grav vehicle

weapon - choose 1 from handgun, rifle, heavy weapon, brawling, small blade, large blade

 

[mike wightman]

2, Skills

admin - dealing with bureacracy

ATV - can drive an ATV, or any ground vehicle

battle dress - using powered armour

brawling - skilled at unarmed, or using improvised weapons in, hand to hand fighting

bribery - persuading others to do things for reward

computer - operating, searching, programming

electronic - repairing electrical and electronic systems

engineering - know how ship engines work

forward observer - hitting stuff with orbital support weapons

gambling - taking risks

grav vehicle - can drive an air/raft, g-carrier, and speeder

gunnery - using ship mounted weapons

handgun - skill in firing and maintaining handguns

heavy weapons - skill in firing and maintaining heavy weapons

jack-of-trades - avoid unskilled penalties

large blade - skilled at armed hand to hand fighting using swords, axes, spears etc.

leader - get others to do what you want

mechanical - repair machines

medical - repair people

navigation - plotting a course through space

pilot - flying a ship

rifle - skill in firing and maintaining rifles

small blade - skilled at armed hand to hand fighting using knives, daggers machetes etc.

steward - care for ship passengers

streetwise - know your way around the colourful parts of town, you know people who know people

tactics - the appliance of violence to its best effect

vacc suit - you know how to put operate in a vacuum, and in a zero-g environment.

 

[mike wightman]

2, Skills

admin - dealing with bureacracy

ATV - can drive an ATV, or any ground vehicle

battle dress - using powered armour

brawling - skilled at unarmed, or using improvised weapons in, hand to hand fighting

bribery - persuading others to do things for reward

computer - operating, searching, programming

electronic - repairing electrical and electronic systems

engineering - know how ship engines work

forward observer - hitting stuff with orbital support weapons

gambling - taking risks

grav vehicle - can drive an air/raft, g-carrier, and speeder

gunnery - using ship mounted weapons

handgun - skill in firing and maintaining handguns

heavy weapons - skill in firing and maintaining heavy weapons

jack-of-trades - avoid unskilled penalties

large blade - skilled at armed hand to hand fighting using swords, axes, spears etc.

leader - get others to do what you want

mechanical - repair machines

medical - repair people

navigation - plotting a course through space

pilot - flying a ship

rifle - skill in firing and maintaining rifles

small blade - skilled at armed hand to hand fighting using knives, daggers machetes etc.

steward - care for ship passengers

streetwise - know your way around the colourful parts of town, you know people who know people

tactics - the appliance of violence to its best effect

vacc suit - you know how to put operate in a vacuum, and in a zero-g environment.

 

[mike wightman]

3. Using skills

The referee chooses one of three levels of difficulty for the task attempted, which generates a target number that you have to roll equal to or higher than on 2d6

easy - most people should succeed nearly all of the time - 4+

challenging - most skilled people will find it better to take their time, but if you're in a hurry... - 8+

very difficult - most are going to fail at this one - 12+

You get DMs - die modifiers - to your roll

+1 per level of relevant skill
+1 if the referee decides you can apply an attribute and it is at least equal to the target number
+1 if you have the correct specialised equipment and the ref says so

-1 improvised tools when specialised ones are required
-4 if unskilled

 

[mike wightman]

3. Using skills

The referee chooses one of three levels of difficulty for the task attempted, which generates a target number that you have to roll equal to or higher than on 2d6

easy - most people should succeed nearly all of the time - 4+

challenging - most skilled people will find it better to take their time, but if you're in a hurry... - 8+

very difficult - most are going to fail at this one - 12+

You get DMs - die modifiers - to your roll

+1 per level of relevant skill
+1 if the referee decides you can apply an attribute and it is at least equal to the target number
+1 if you have the correct specialised equipment and the ref says so

-1 improvised tools when specialised ones are required
-4 if unskilled

 

[mike wightman]

4, combat

Who goes first?

Roll 2d6, DMs for tactics skill, Dex of 8+ +1, Dex of 12+ +2

highest goes first

How do you hit?

In hand to hand combat:

attacker rolls 2d6, DMs for weapon skill, Str of 8+ +1, Str of 12+ +2, defender does the same. If the attacker's total equals or exceeds the defender then he has hit, if the defender's total is higher then the attack misses

In firearm combat:

attacker rolls 2d6, DMs for weapon skill, Dex of 8+ +1, Dex of 12+ +2, -1 if taget is walking, -2 if running, double the movement DM if target is evading
the target number depend on weapon type and range

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;"> m e l vl
handgun 8+ 8+ 12+ -

rifle 12+ 8+ 8+ 12+

heavy weapon - 8+ 8+ 12+</pre>[/QUOTE]m = melee
e = effective
l = long
vl = very long

Damage.

Each weapon has a damage rating, which is the number of dice rolled on a successful attack. The numbers rolled on the damage dice are subtracted from the physical characteristics of the damaged party in the order Str, Dex, End, Str, Dex, End etc.

Armour subtracts damage dice equal to its rating, taking away the lowest rolled number first, then the second lowest etc. until only one damage die remains. Unused armour points are then subtracted from this final damage die.

Example: Guy 7-7-7-7-7-7 is shot by a gauss rifle for 4d of damage.
The damage rolls are 2, 4, 3, 4. Guy should lose 2+4 from his Str, 4 from his Dex, and 3 from his End.

Lucky for Guy, he is wearing a flak vest which has an armour rating of 3, so the 2, 3 and one of the 4s are stopped by the armour. Guy's player can chose to lose 4 from his Dex or 4 from his Str.

If one physical stat is reduced to 0 the character in unconscious, if two are reduced to 0 then the character is seriously wounded and may die without medical aid, if all three are reduced to 0 it's either high TL medical care or roll up a new character

You must make an Endurance check after one characteristic is reduced to zero (make it and it is temporarily treated as half), and a more difficult Endurance check if two are reduced to zero (if made, temporarily treat each stat as half).
Each time a stat is reduced to zero again make an even more difficult End check, and keep a note of how many extra serious wounds have been inflicted, because once combat is over there are going to be End rolls for shock, blood loss, and medical rolls are going to be more difficult for each serious wound.

Example.

Abb 7 7 7, is shot and reduced to 0 6 4.

He makes his Endurance check so he remains conscious with stats of (3) 6 4.

He is wounded again, this time he spreads the damage to (2) 3 0

This makes him seriously injured, but he makes his difficult End check, so he is now (2) 3 (3)

Next time he is injured he has no real choice but to go to 0 1 0 (if he'd reduced his End to 0 he would have died immediately the combat ended).

Amazingly he makes his difficult End check (don't forget to use the unwounded values for the check)
so he is [3] 1 [3].

Combat ends, his stats drop to 0 1 0 and he has taken three serious wounds, making his shock and blood loss rolls more difficult, and making it more difficult for the medics to treat him.

 

[mike wightman]

4, combat

Who goes first?

Roll 2d6, DMs for tactics skill, Dex of 8+ +1, Dex of 12+ +2

highest goes first

How do you hit?

In hand to hand combat:

attacker rolls 2d6, DMs for weapon skill, Str of 8+ +1, Str of 12+ +2, defender does the same. If the attacker's total equals or exceeds the defender then he has hit, if the defender's total is higher then the attack misses

In firearm combat:

attacker rolls 2d6, DMs for weapon skill, Dex of 8+ +1, Dex of 12+ +2, -1 if taget is walking, -2 if running, double the movement DM if target is evading
the target number depend on weapon type and range

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;"> m e l vl
handgun 8+ 8+ 12+ -

rifle 12+ 8+ 8+ 12+

heavy weapon - 8+ 8+ 12+</pre>[/QUOTE]m = melee
e = effective
l = long
vl = very long

Damage.

Each weapon has a damage rating, which is the number of dice rolled on a successful attack. The numbers rolled on the damage dice are subtracted from the physical characteristics of the damaged party in the order Str, Dex, End, Str, Dex, End etc.

Armour subtracts damage dice equal to its rating, taking away the lowest rolled number first, then the second lowest etc. until only one damage die remains. Unused armour points are then subtracted from this final damage die.

Example: Guy 7-7-7-7-7-7 is shot by a gauss rifle for 4d of damage.
The damage rolls are 2, 4, 3, 4. Guy should lose 2+4 from his Str, 4 from his Dex, and 3 from his End.

Lucky for Guy, he is wearing a flak vest which has an armour rating of 3, so the 2, 3 and one of the 4s are stopped by the armour. Guy's player can chose to lose 4 from his Dex or 4 from his Str.

If one physical stat is reduced to 0 the character in unconscious, if two are reduced to 0 then the character is seriously wounded and may die without medical aid, if all three are reduced to 0 it's either high TL medical care or roll up a new character

You must make an Endurance check after one characteristic is reduced to zero (make it and it is temporarily treated as half), and a more difficult Endurance check if two are reduced to zero (if made, temporarily treat each stat as half).
Each time a stat is reduced to zero again make an even more difficult End check, and keep a note of how many extra serious wounds have been inflicted, because once combat is over there are going to be End rolls for shock, blood loss, and medical rolls are going to be more difficult for each serious wound.

Example.

Abb 7 7 7, is shot and reduced to 0 6 4.

He makes his Endurance check so he remains conscious with stats of (3) 6 4.

He is wounded again, this time he spreads the damage to (2) 3 0

This makes him seriously injured, but he makes his difficult End check, so he is now (2) 3 (3)

Next time he is injured he has no real choice but to go to 0 1 0 (if he'd reduced his End to 0 he would have died immediately the combat ended).

Amazingly he makes his difficult End check (don't forget to use the unwounded values for the check)
so he is [3] 1 [3].

Combat ends, his stats drop to 0 1 0 and he has taken three serious wounds, making his shock and blood loss rolls more difficult, and making it more difficult for the medics to treat him.

 

[philippe tromeur]

For the French Traveller, I was planning to publish a small pdf booklet with simplified rules (that can be summarised in 1 or 2 pages).

I was going to base chargen on Snapshot, but your version is very cool. I don't agree with your combat rules, though ; they're good, but too much different from CT, IMHO.

 

[philippe tromeur]

For the French Traveller, I was planning to publish a small pdf booklet with simplified rules (that can be summarised in 1 or 2 pages).

I was going to base chargen on Snapshot, but your version is very cool. I don't agree with your combat rules, though ; they're good, but too much different from CT, IMHO.

 

[mike wightman]

Feel free to borrow anything that you like Philippe

Yes, the combat rules are based more on AHl/Striker/T4/T20 than CT/Snapshot. I want to keep it brief, and I prefer the armour as damage reduction to the combat matrices.

Plus the combat matrices would take up too much room I'll be able to fit all the weapon and armour stats into half a page.

 

[mike wightman]

Feel free to borrow anything that you like Philippe

Yes, the combat rules are based more on AHl/Striker/T4/T20 than CT/Snapshot. I want to keep it brief, and I prefer the armour as damage reduction to the combat matrices.

Plus the combat matrices would take up too much room I'll be able to fit all the weapon and armour stats into half a page.

 

[Piper]

You might consider adding several brief scenario ideas and possibly include a short introductory scenario modeled after Marooned, Pyramids, or Annic Nova (with something to shoot at).

An encounter table and a map of a few rooms or a small derelict could probably be done in 3 or 4 pages and might be worth the additional space.

 

[Piper]

You might consider adding several brief scenario ideas and possibly include a short introductory scenario modeled after Marooned, Pyramids, or Annic Nova (with something to shoot at).

An encounter table and a map of a few rooms or a small derelict could probably be done in 3 or 4 pages and might be worth the additional space.

 

[mike wightman]

Good idea.
The ideal would be to have these rules in every intro adventure, and to have lots of intro adventures.

Each adventure could explore a certain theme, or focus on a particular career type, and be generic enough that they could fit into anyones' TU setting.

 

[mike wightman]

Good idea.
The ideal would be to have these rules in every intro adventure, and to have lots of intro adventures.

Each adventure could explore a certain theme, or focus on a particular career type, and be generic enough that they could fit into anyones' TU setting.

 

[Piper]

You could even connect these in a mini campaign.

First booklet: personal combat rules with a mini Pyramids scenario.

Second booklet: your vehicle was shot up in Pyramids, so you have to trek back to civilization. Marooned/Animal encounters and events.

Third booklet: using information discovered in the first set, you find the location of a derelict spacecraft with a functioning weapons system. Annic Nova/Space combat.

 

[Piper]

You could even connect these in a mini campaign.

First booklet: personal combat rules with a mini Pyramids scenario.

Second booklet: your vehicle was shot up in Pyramids, so you have to trek back to civilization. Marooned/Animal encounters and events.

Third booklet: using information discovered in the first set, you find the location of a derelict spacecraft with a functioning weapons system. Annic Nova/Space combat.

 

[mike wightman]

I like it

 

[mike wightman]

I like it