Help out a noob

[Merxiless]

Across the Bright Face is a very good adventure.

The big key with Traveller is, no combat should be set up to "Wade In". It's near as deadly as a real gun battle, so there is something to be said for disrection.

It works very good as an episodic TV show style, not nearly so much hack and slash as D&D.

Space battles are also deadly.

So, when you get set up to write your own adventures down the road, make any sort of combat a critical choice, and don't force combat, if at all possible, as you'll end up with a lot of dead PCs, typically.

I'd suggest lots of skills challenges, mysteries, and plot twists.

Also stay away from merchant trade die rolls as story. I'm not saying don't have spec cargo, or passengers, but as another poster said generate the details. Otherwise it breaks the story to say "Okay, you pick up 3 lots of 2d6 tons of cargo."

And finally, oft quoted "Don't let it grow too fast."

Map out what you need, maybe sketch out a half dozen worlds, detail one or two of them to some depth.

No need for more than a subsector, really unless your scope is lots of travel, visit a place and leave it.

I've never personally needed any more than about 15-20 worlds for the average campaign.

 

[Merxiless]

Across the Bright Face is a very good adventure.

The big key with Traveller is, no combat should be set up to "Wade In". It's near as deadly as a real gun battle, so there is something to be said for disrection.

It works very good as an episodic TV show style, not nearly so much hack and slash as D&D.

Space battles are also deadly.

So, when you get set up to write your own adventures down the road, make any sort of combat a critical choice, and don't force combat, if at all possible, as you'll end up with a lot of dead PCs, typically.

I'd suggest lots of skills challenges, mysteries, and plot twists.

Also stay away from merchant trade die rolls as story. I'm not saying don't have spec cargo, or passengers, but as another poster said generate the details. Otherwise it breaks the story to say "Okay, you pick up 3 lots of 2d6 tons of cargo."

And finally, oft quoted "Don't let it grow too fast."

Map out what you need, maybe sketch out a half dozen worlds, detail one or two of them to some depth.

No need for more than a subsector, really unless your scope is lots of travel, visit a place and leave it.

I've never personally needed any more than about 15-20 worlds for the average campaign.

 

[Golan2072]

Welcome aboard!

Follow the LBB0 advice about learning the system. Traveller might be a little confusing at the start but once you get the hang of it it's one of the simpler and more flowing RPG systems out there.

I'd suggest that you use a "task system" - it makes things quite easy. UGM is a good place to start; you could get a very long list of tasks and how to resolve them here.

As long as you have only the LBBs 0-8 reprint, I think that you should build your own TU (start with a basic concept and one subsector of space). If you get other supplements (the most useful IMHO are S3: The Spinward Marches, S4: Citizens of the Imperium, S8: Library Data A-M, S10: The Solomani Rim and S11: Library Data N-Z) you could use the OTU, which is quite fleshed out and is a good setting to start with.

And as Kurega Gikur has said, watch Firefly; it well get you to the Traveller mindset quite well. Andromeda could also be useful.

 

[Golan2072]

Welcome aboard!

Follow the LBB0 advice about learning the system. Traveller might be a little confusing at the start but once you get the hang of it it's one of the simpler and more flowing RPG systems out there.

I'd suggest that you use a "task system" - it makes things quite easy. UGM is a good place to start; you could get a very long list of tasks and how to resolve them here.

As long as you have only the LBBs 0-8 reprint, I think that you should build your own TU (start with a basic concept and one subsector of space). If you get other supplements (the most useful IMHO are S3: The Spinward Marches, S4: Citizens of the Imperium, S8: Library Data A-M, S10: The Solomani Rim and S11: Library Data N-Z) you could use the OTU, which is quite fleshed out and is a good setting to start with.

And as Kurega Gikur has said, watch Firefly; it well get you to the Traveller mindset quite well. Andromeda could also be useful.

 

[Merxiless]

I originally used Traveller to do a Star Wars setting, until West End Games arrived on the scen with Star Wars (d6).

I've seen other referees use it for Ridley Scott's Aliens.

Of course Harold Hale ran his own Children of Earth setting, which I was lucky enough to play in a few times prior to it's release.

 

[Merxiless]

I originally used Traveller to do a Star Wars setting, until West End Games arrived on the scen with Star Wars (d6).

I've seen other referees use it for Ridley Scott's Aliens.

Of course Harold Hale ran his own Children of Earth setting, which I was lucky enough to play in a few times prior to it's release.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

S4: Citizens of the Imperium is definitely one of the best add-ons.

Sorel, you will also need to decide early on if you only want to allow Basic character generation or not. In the LBBs, Advanced chargen really doesn't balance well with characters done with Basic. If you incorporate careers from S4, you will have a real problem as there is no Advanced chargen for them.

(Note: Many folks shifted to the MegaTraveller Basic chargen to kind of even things up. You can get the MegaTraveller Player's Manual here for only $10.)

 

[Fritz_Brown]

S4: Citizens of the Imperium is definitely one of the best add-ons.

Sorel, you will also need to decide early on if you only want to allow Basic character generation or not. In the LBBs, Advanced chargen really doesn't balance well with characters done with Basic. If you incorporate careers from S4, you will have a real problem as there is no Advanced chargen for them.

(Note: Many folks shifted to the MegaTraveller Basic chargen to kind of even things up. You can get the MegaTraveller Player's Manual here for only $10.)

 

[Cymew]

Good to hear you are starting up a game. I have owned Traveller for many years but almost never played it.

I have a problem with adventures, as many are not very inspiring. They are *very* bare bones in many cases.

Check out this thread I just started for discussion about Traveller pre-made adventures:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001705;p=1#000005

As far as rules go, I think you have a very good deal in the LBB reprints. Note that your game will be totally dominated by military men unless you get S4: Citizens of the Imperium! There are no, I repeat, no support for anything but characters from the armed forces, scouts and merchant marines unless you get S4. I consider it the most needed for for running Classic Traveller. Many disagree.

Hope that gave some insight. Welcome aboard. This place is filled with friendly people and great advice.

 

[Cymew]

Good to hear you are starting up a game. I have owned Traveller for many years but almost never played it.

I have a problem with adventures, as many are not very inspiring. They are *very* bare bones in many cases.

Check out this thread I just started for discussion about Traveller pre-made adventures:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001705;p=1#000005

As far as rules go, I think you have a very good deal in the LBB reprints. Note that your game will be totally dominated by military men unless you get S4: Citizens of the Imperium! There are no, I repeat, no support for anything but characters from the armed forces, scouts and merchant marines unless you get S4. I consider it the most needed for for running Classic Traveller. Many disagree.

Hope that gave some insight. Welcome aboard. This place is filled with friendly people and great advice.

 

[Sorel]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome. Now, I just need that book to arrive... and more money so I can buy the classic supplements book.

and then the short adventure reprints... OW my wallet! At tleast it's cheaper than the DnD stuff these days.

I have no problem improvising. With my players, sometimes you just have to.

Now, I just have lots of reading and Firefly watching to do.

Thanks to all.

 

[Sorel]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome. Now, I just need that book to arrive... and more money so I can buy the classic supplements book.

and then the short adventure reprints... OW my wallet! At tleast it's cheaper than the DnD stuff these days.

I have no problem improvising. With my players, sometimes you just have to.

Now, I just have lots of reading and Firefly watching to do.

Thanks to all.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Sorel, PM me if you want to just see what S4 can do for you chargen-wise. I have done up a bunch of it in Excel.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Sorel, PM me if you want to just see what S4 can do for you chargen-wise. I have done up a bunch of it in Excel.

 

[Golan2072]

A few points to remember when switching from D&D to Traveller:
1) While there are careers, there are no real character classes; the two things that define a character most are her personality and her skills.
2) Under very basic CT (Classic Traveller) you have no real character advancement; under the later books (Mercenary and High Guard, which you have in your 0-8 reprint) you advance by getting trained, which takes .
3) An implication of the above: killing things is not usually encouraged. D&D rewards monster-slaying with XP; Traveller "rewards" an uncareful combatant with impairing wounds or even death. Combat should be a serious matter and a major plot scene; preparing for it (and better yet, setting ambush/boobytraps) makes your players' life easier).
4) Psionics aren't magic; and people in the OTU don't like them. Think Babylon 5 rather than Tolkien.
5) Characters can start the game quite experienced, as opposed to the 1st-level weaklings in D&D - in Traveller starting the game with a middle-aged guy with serious experience (in commerce, combat, politics and so on) under his belt is more or less the norm. But still, a rookie with a cheap shotgun could still be a threat to your veterans.
6) More on comabt: planning and tactics are atleast as important as having the biggest gun in the solar system.
7) Admin and Streetwise are important skills (in making your life easier in interaction with the "system" and with the underworld, respectively) and so are Engineering, Mechanical and Electronics (in getting your ship/ATV/computer working after combat or an accident). Playing a bureaucrat in D&D is usually boring; playing a bureaucrat in Traveller is full of role-playing potential as she knows how to "play the system" and could meet all the interesting high-rank NPCs and talk them into seeing things her way.
8) Designing things - be them characters, starships, star-systems or universes - is a VERY fun thing to do, speaking from experience.
9) Character generation is a very fun game by itself, unlike the D&D one which is usually seen either as a chore or as a munchkin contest

 

[Golan2072]

A few points to remember when switching from D&D to Traveller:
1) While there are careers, there are no real character classes; the two things that define a character most are her personality and her skills.
2) Under very basic CT (Classic Traveller) you have no real character advancement; under the later books (Mercenary and High Guard, which you have in your 0-8 reprint) you advance by getting trained, which takes .
3) An implication of the above: killing things is not usually encouraged. D&D rewards monster-slaying with XP; Traveller "rewards" an uncareful combatant with impairing wounds or even death. Combat should be a serious matter and a major plot scene; preparing for it (and better yet, setting ambush/boobytraps) makes your players' life easier).
4) Psionics aren't magic; and people in the OTU don't like them. Think Babylon 5 rather than Tolkien.
5) Characters can start the game quite experienced, as opposed to the 1st-level weaklings in D&D - in Traveller starting the game with a middle-aged guy with serious experience (in commerce, combat, politics and so on) under his belt is more or less the norm. But still, a rookie with a cheap shotgun could still be a threat to your veterans.
6) More on comabt: planning and tactics are atleast as important as having the biggest gun in the solar system.
7) Admin and Streetwise are important skills (in making your life easier in interaction with the "system" and with the underworld, respectively) and so are Engineering, Mechanical and Electronics (in getting your ship/ATV/computer working after combat or an accident). Playing a bureaucrat in D&D is usually boring; playing a bureaucrat in Traveller is full of role-playing potential as she knows how to "play the system" and could meet all the interesting high-rank NPCs and talk them into seeing things her way.
8) Designing things - be them characters, starships, star-systems or universes - is a VERY fun thing to do, speaking from experience.
9) Character generation is a very fun game by itself, unlike the D&D one which is usually seen either as a chore or as a munchkin contest

 

[Golan2072]

By the way, one of Classic Traveller's big weaknesses is the complete lack of ground-vehicle combat rules; a fan-made addition to remedy this was done by a user on these forums called Piper; his work could be found here.

 

[Golan2072]

By the way, one of Classic Traveller's big weaknesses is the complete lack of ground-vehicle combat rules; a fan-made addition to remedy this was done by a user on these forums called Piper; his work could be found here.

 

[RandyT0001]

Originally posted by Berg:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Randy Tyler:
In preperartion for the PC's having a ship create a few passengers before the game that will travel on their ship or be the other passnegers on a ship they may book passage on. (If you want I can email you the .txt file I have created to assist in doing this. I can also send you a "cheat sheet" with the CT skills list and their basic throws and modifiers in .rtf and .wps formats.)

These seems widely useful... Post if possible or links perhaps

</font>[/QUOTE]As I have them written and formatted they wont fit here. I have a yahoo personal webpage but I really don't have any webspace to post it to. If you have a website and would like to post them to it for all to see and use I'll send you copies.

 

[RandyT0001]

Originally posted by Berg:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Randy Tyler:
In preperartion for the PC's having a ship create a few passengers before the game that will travel on their ship or be the other passnegers on a ship they may book passage on. (If you want I can email you the .txt file I have created to assist in doing this. I can also send you a "cheat sheet" with the CT skills list and their basic throws and modifiers in .rtf and .wps formats.)

These seems widely useful... Post if possible or links perhaps

</font>[/QUOTE]As I have them written and formatted they wont fit here. I have a yahoo personal webpage but I really don't have any webspace to post it to. If you have a website and would like to post them to it for all to see and use I'll send you copies.