handling prior history

[qbert]

I just got T20 and I love most of it, but
I'm pretty ambivalent about the prior history
concept. Unfortunately it seems pretty deeply
embedded in the assumptions of the game. How
do you handle its effects?

As DMs, how do you plan a campaign and handle play balance since different players, depending on their choices and die rolls, can vastly differ in level and resources?

As players, how do you deal with the fact that
prior history can totally screw up any character concept you might have? (I want to be a up-tight naval officer. Oops, failed out of OTC).

 

[DrSkull]

First of all, don't create a character concept until you've completed Prior History. I know this may seem unusual, but that's how Traveller works. Roll, then explain what the results mean: that's your character concept. You just have to accept this going in, and it soon becomes second nature.

Also, having characters of different skill levels and resources is really not such a big deal, since in combat all characters are just about equally vulnerable.

In D&D having some 8th level guys and some 2nd level guys in the same party really sucks for the 2nd level guys, because the 8th level guys can obliterate anything that might challenge the 2nd level guys, and 8th level challenges wil kill 2nd level guys dead.

But in d20 Traveller, combat results are as much tied to equipment and smarts as they are to character level. So lower level guys aren't going to be sitting around powerless.

While running a Traveller campaign, the individual character's abilities are rarely the key to a successful adventure. If there does seem to be a big imbalance, it is easy to fix. Just give the less useful characters some money to buy superior equipment, or give them a shot at a unique item then things balance quickly (any doofus can have some fun with a box of grenades).

I've just never had a problem with "play balance". If you have a ship, somebody has to be the captain, somebody has to be the engineer and somebody the gunner. If you have a great engineer and a lousy pilot, that isn't going to "throw things off". It's not as if the Engineer is going to want to be taking the Free Trader against the Mercenary Cruiser, while the pilot wants to "wait a few levels", the ship is the key quantity

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

How hard would it be to just pick the "prior history" options that matched a character concept? I suppose there'd have to be a lot of trust between GM and player there, but it does at least allow one to generate a character according to a concept, instead of being lumbered with a character that doesn't necessarily turn out as something that one would enjoy playing... (maybe I've just got spoiled by all these non-random character generation systems I'm used to

)

This wouldn't have to be done for every possible roll though, just the important ones. In qbert's example, how about just fixing the result so the character makes it through OTC for a few terms?

 

[MichaelL65]

There are ways to deal with those things.

First, having characters that are 3-4 levels apart are not going to be that unballanced. Traveller is far more forgiving in that respect (which is why it was never used before T20, and came close to being left out of it).

Second, as a GM you can decide to let some rolls slide (a failed re-inlistment roll, etc.) if they are important to the campaign. Maybe come up with something like "paperwork was lost and you ended up with an extended leave of 2 weeks until your re-enlistment papers came through."

Since real-life often doesn't come out the way we want it, your other option is you can just roll-play that your character wanted to be a Navy officer, and will always now have something against the Navy, or often tries to pass himself as a Navy officer, etc.

For example, my Scout I played in the last Traveller game I was in. He wanted to leave after 4 terms of service. He got drafted back in and had to serve another four years before he got out. He ended up a level or two above what he had intended, but what the hey. He lives.

 

[Bruce]

The other day was rolling up one of my players characters.
He rolled that he was from a tech lvl 2 planet! Tech lvl 2!!! Oh my..it seemed the end of the world!
But what happened? he went into the low tech army, he made it through two full terms and made 5th lvl. Now the one thing he had going for him for later was a SOC 16! He was a knight on his homeworld. Well after being in the army, he said, hey i wanna to get off this rock and he went into the mercs. A natural progression. He was SEEN by an off-world merc company that was on the tech lvl 2 planet on a ticket and he was scooped up cause he was GOOD material or his DAD pulled strings to get his SOC 16 son into the unit. Needless to say, he became a captain in the mercs! He then continued on and did some noble stuff and got a SHIP! A yacht! Go figure! A lowly tech lvl 2 character, a ship owner! But the idea was that his stint in the Mercs opened up his career choices and life choices and so now he's a owner of a yacht and he needs a crew to run it since he has NO captain skills etc. SO that leads me to say he's the "owner on board" a classic situation! Lots of good role playing here between crew...
So, the idea is you take what life gives you and you make something from it!
This player basically did'nt let his characters humble start keep him from becoming something he could play.
I always liked the prior history ideas of CT and now T20...it gives you something to hang you hat on and it's VERY organic. It flows, it's not so contrived...to me at least. It helps you create a backstory. Too many players of 3e have NO backstroy for their characters, they just have I'm a 3rd lvl fighter...UGH! me kill!! But to use the example above..this guy was in a low tech army, became a captain in a merc company and made the big time parlaying his carreer int he military to something useful as anoble and is now a ship owner...that's just so much more INTERESTING!!

Oh ok..I'll get off my soap box...grin...

just some exmaples friends!

Bruce
The Man Behind the Curtain

 

[qbert]

Okay, sounds like it isn't so bad in practice.
The idea of emergent character concepts will take
some getting used to, though.