Prodromoi
SOC-3
It's ages since I've been on here - not since before the change of server - and I've been meaning to get back to the place. The various forums on Facebook and, to a lesser degree Reddit, have been keeping me occupied.
So. Hello again.
First got into Traveller in the early eighties, with the black box starter set. The group I was in had got into role-player via D&D (in no small part because of our chemistry teacher). But while I enjoy fantasy I've always preferred science fiction, so when I picked up the Traveller starter box at the local games shop, it was something I had to buy! We played a fair few games of it (always me running it, of course) back in the day - but the group still largely preferred fantasy, and I think also character levelling-up. And it was the absence of that 'reward' that was one of the big draws for me - I wanted games to be for the fun of the game, the story, the role-playing rather than ever having an eye on accumulation of experience points.
We grew up, the group ended and we went off to have adult lives and RPGs rather took a back seat for ages. Back of my mind was the occasional "hmm, I miss that roleplaying thing" but nothing happened... until just before COVID hit.
Randomly Facebook through a link to a Traveller group at me one day. "Oh, I remember that", I thought. So I joined it. Read random posts. Got the urge again. Dug out my old Traveller books. Bought new Traveller books. You know the story... And just after I'd joined I saw an AmberZone competition to write an adventure. So I did - although cutting it down to the requisite word count (2000 words if I recall) was agony. It didn't win, but it did get some nice comments.
Then along came COVID and I was rushed off my feet with work for ages. But as things settled down, the online "Mayday" games were being planned. Most years I've got into a few of those games and met (electronically) a good number of Traveller players who I chat with via the groups and forums quite often. Suddenly I'd played more RPGS in the space of two or three years than in the previous twenty.
And today... well, I've been running an online campaign for about three years (with breaks here and there rather than continuously) with a group of chaps in their rather antique Donosev-class survey scout, investigate A Big Mystery(TM) in the Spinward Marches. Recently my partner has joined in as player character after watching the fun over my shoulder for ages. It's a very "cloak and dagger" Cold-War kind of thing, and often I worry that I've been overambitious, but it's going well. (At least, that's what the players tell me!)
They haven't yet found the murderbot they're looking for. But they are persistent!
Outside the campaign I've been working on lots of ideas which frankly I haven't always had an idea of what to do about them - whether to turn them into fiction, or incoporate them into the campaign, or write them up and publish them. After a lot of preperation, last week I finally took the plunge and put my first work onto DriveThruRPG and I'm pleased to say it's gone down very well.
Last night would have seen a game session but for the fact that the storm that the hit the southwest of the UK took out our internet connection for most of the day. Just about as I'd finished doing the last-minute prep for the game, of course! Hopefully, we're rescheduling for next week.
Alex
So. Hello again.
First got into Traveller in the early eighties, with the black box starter set. The group I was in had got into role-player via D&D (in no small part because of our chemistry teacher). But while I enjoy fantasy I've always preferred science fiction, so when I picked up the Traveller starter box at the local games shop, it was something I had to buy! We played a fair few games of it (always me running it, of course) back in the day - but the group still largely preferred fantasy, and I think also character levelling-up. And it was the absence of that 'reward' that was one of the big draws for me - I wanted games to be for the fun of the game, the story, the role-playing rather than ever having an eye on accumulation of experience points.
We grew up, the group ended and we went off to have adult lives and RPGs rather took a back seat for ages. Back of my mind was the occasional "hmm, I miss that roleplaying thing" but nothing happened... until just before COVID hit.
Randomly Facebook through a link to a Traveller group at me one day. "Oh, I remember that", I thought. So I joined it. Read random posts. Got the urge again. Dug out my old Traveller books. Bought new Traveller books. You know the story... And just after I'd joined I saw an AmberZone competition to write an adventure. So I did - although cutting it down to the requisite word count (2000 words if I recall) was agony. It didn't win, but it did get some nice comments.
Then along came COVID and I was rushed off my feet with work for ages. But as things settled down, the online "Mayday" games were being planned. Most years I've got into a few of those games and met (electronically) a good number of Traveller players who I chat with via the groups and forums quite often. Suddenly I'd played more RPGS in the space of two or three years than in the previous twenty.
And today... well, I've been running an online campaign for about three years (with breaks here and there rather than continuously) with a group of chaps in their rather antique Donosev-class survey scout, investigate A Big Mystery(TM) in the Spinward Marches. Recently my partner has joined in as player character after watching the fun over my shoulder for ages. It's a very "cloak and dagger" Cold-War kind of thing, and often I worry that I've been overambitious, but it's going well. (At least, that's what the players tell me!)
They haven't yet found the murderbot they're looking for. But they are persistent!
Outside the campaign I've been working on lots of ideas which frankly I haven't always had an idea of what to do about them - whether to turn them into fiction, or incoporate them into the campaign, or write them up and publish them. After a lot of preperation, last week I finally took the plunge and put my first work onto DriveThruRPG and I'm pleased to say it's gone down very well.
Last night would have seen a game session but for the fact that the storm that the hit the southwest of the UK took out our internet connection for most of the day. Just about as I'd finished doing the last-minute prep for the game, of course! Hopefully, we're rescheduling for next week.
Alex
