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I notice a distinct lack of Bots and Droids

CT Book 8 deals with robot design. Adventure 2, Research Station Gamma, features a few robots that can be drafted into service for other needs.
 
ScotHarvest said:
I'm not even referring to the sentient robots aka C3PO or the like, but rather just the presence of robots as an integral part of the workings of a ship or space station or cargo hub.

You don't consider your car "sentient" or even robotic yet many people name their cars and become sentimentally attached to them.

I just wanted to "flavor" my campaign with some.

Any suggestions?
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Its a matter of perception.

In the Imperium everything that is computer controlled and can move is a robot - they just don't look like Robbie.

They are so common from TL12 onwards they are harldy mentioned, but they are there.

If you want to highlight their presence then emphasise it in your descriptions.

The cargo lifter that moves the shipping containers, the taxi that takes you to the hotel etc.
 
MTU is lightly populated enough that robots can be important. They aren't really obvious a lot of times, but they are there. (A bulkhead-climbing Roomba, for instance, in some ships, or some of the taxis. Cargo loading, though? Not around here! That's a union job! ;) )
 
mike wightman said:
Its a matter of perception.

In the Imperium everything that is computer controlled and can move is a robot - they just don't look like Robbie.

They are so common from TL12 onwards they are harldy mentioned, but they are there.

If you want to highlight their presence then emphasise it in your descriptions.

The cargo lifter that moves the shipping containers, the taxi that takes you to the hotel etc.
Click to expand...

I fully agree with this post. Robots are constant in the background, while seldom told about (as are cars in the street, people walking in the parks, birds in the air, etc.)

Only when they become relevant they are told about or described, most time being only supernumeraries on the background, as are most Imperial citizens and other world details.
 
mike wightman said:
Its a matter of perception.

In the Imperium everything that is computer controlled and can move is a robot - they just don't look like Robbie.

They are so common from TL12 onwards they are harldy mentioned, but they are there.

If you want to highlight their presence then emphasise it in your descriptions.

The cargo lifter that moves the shipping containers, the taxi that takes you to the hotel etc.
Click to expand...


So your saying they ARE there.... but I have to make stuff up rather than have a book to guide me.

I can do that.... I just thought there was more info that I might be missing.
 
In CT you have the book 8 to feature them.

In MT you have the robots book (found here).

In MgT there is a robot specific book.

Not sure about other Traveller versions.
 
Also for CT you have this: http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/50830/101-robots

101 Robots cover said:
:

Here under one cover are 101 different robots for use in Traveller games. Every single robot comes with a complete description, an official Univeral Robot Profile, and an illustration. You will know what each robot can (and can't) do, what the robot looks like, and what the robot costs.

If you're just starting to design your own robots, this book has more than a hundred examples. If you already have several designs of your own, here are 101 more to add to your campaign.

Whether you're a Traveller player or a referee, 101 robots give you all the robots you need to know what life is like at higher tech level.
Click to expand...

And, from The Travellers' Digest (Issue 8) comes
Beyond 101 Robots said:
Additional robot designs. Ship's boat pilot, clerk, servant, security, and terraforming robots.
Click to expand...
http://rpggeek.com/rpgissuearticle/58831/beyond-101-robots
 
ScotHarvest said:
So your saying they ARE there.... but I have to make stuff up rather than have a book to guide me.
Click to expand...
Yup :)

Well, sort of. As the others have said there are sourcebooks on robots available to fill in the details.
The JTAS articles are the ones I use the most, now added to with stuff from T5 and an occasional dig through LBB:8

I can do that.... I just thought there was more info that I might be missing.
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T5 is the first time extensive rules for synthetics and mechanicals have made it to a main Traveler rulebook, although they are mentioned in the equipment section of MgT.

In T4 the Central Supply Catalogue has quite a few examples of the robots common during the early days of the Third Imperium - if they are common at the beginning they are going to be more common at the end ;)

So common you don't notice them, take them for granted, don't even recognise them for what they are.
 
don't forget the famous Sir Aybee van Owen (sp?). I think he was mentioned in the Traveller Digests. Mine are stored somewhere so i can't look him up but he was one of the Characters in the "Early Adventures"
 
With all this info I have a good idea of what to do.

But like everything else in Traveller "I" have to fill in the details from
vague descriptions and stat tables.

Don't get me wrong, its one of my favorite features of the game because it makes every game masters universe different.

As a side note I think EVERY ship should have some repair crawlers they
are constantly looking for things in need of repair. I will give them the common designation GRID SPIDERS.
 
Robots not being in most of the books is deliberate. Traveller is geared towards a science fiction style where "living beings" are the doers and robots are merely tools. This is reinforced in a rules standpoint.
Click to expand...

it's also enforced by the players themselves. I've tried several times to incorporate robots into games, but the players had little interest in any of them.
 
flykiller said:
it's also enforced by the players themselves. I've tried several times to incorporate robots into games, but the players had little interest in any of them.
Click to expand...

I've had a few players more than willing to use robots to make up for the lack of PC's in the group.
 
ScotHarvest said:
I'm not even referring to the sentient robots aka C3PO or the like, but rather just the presence of robots as an integral part of the workings of a ship or space station or cargo hub.

You don't consider your car "sentient" or even robotic yet many people name their cars and become sentimentally attached to them.

I just wanted to "flavor" my campaign with some.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Yup, there's a free supplemental PDF a guy put together and linked to here on COTI that enumerates robots for MegaTraveller... where IS that file? Anyway I think it has a lot of examples, ready to use.

Ah, here it is. It's free:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/94849/MT-MegaTraveller-Robots
 
My players standard rule in every high tech game from CT to shadowrun is...

NO AI'S!!!!!

Real bad experiences from the shadowrun arcology shutdown that had every evil AI theme/stereotype known to man or moderator...And I didn't even run it! Some other GM did while I was sleeping off a same day surgery anesthetic...slept for well over 24 hours.

Yup, nothing but dumbots and robots that pretend to be a personality...but are just a sophisticated overlay.
 
ScotHarvest said:
With all this info I have a good idea of what to do.

But like everything else in Traveller "I" have to fill in the details from
vague descriptions and stat tables.

Don't get me wrong, its one of my favorite features of the game because it makes every game masters universe different.

As a side note I think EVERY ship should have some repair crawlers they
are constantly looking for things in need of repair. I will give them the common designation GRID SPIDERS.
Click to expand...

I look for guidance in games to, mostly for things outside my experience.

For a feel of robots and cyberized humans projected to be here in the year 2030, I suggest 'Ghost in the Shell'. Some of the anime episodes are bloody. Also if you can find the Ghost in the Shell manga, I found an English translatioon at my local book store, there are robots and cyberized humans in there as well. The anime and movies take things from the manga out of sequence, but its still interesting.

I find the 'ghost hack', someone hacking into someone's cyber-brain, and controling them, believing in events and knowing people who don't exist, etc. to be somewhat scary.

The first two movies is one story arc, the anime episodes and the third movie is a slightly different story arc.

A prequel, of The Major, in her early days is supposed to be coming out soon.
 
I can understand some of the technophobia but the real world has advanced quite a bit since 1977. Was the U.S.S Enterprise a robotic ship?
 
Nathan Brazil said:
It was in "The Ultimate Computer" Star Trek Episode :)
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That did not turn out terribly well.

As for Robots and Androids, if you play in the New Era or have a universe with the Virus in it, are you really going to have any significant reasonably capable robots around? They might just do a Dulinor on you.
 
aramis said:
I've had a few players more than willing to use robots to make up for the lack of PC's in the group.
Click to expand...

My Traveller GM has robots in his universes. More as plot devices/NPCs than anything else. As far as I can tell they
tend to be 'bots more than AIs.

Not sure if he has stats for 'em or not.
 
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