Increasing Traveller's popularity.

[atpollard]

If you're a referee who prefers that kind of play.

Actually, a good point.
First, to be clear - the definitions, as determined by THIS ONLINE POLL, are:

The Character Player enjoys creating in-depth characters with distinct and rich personalities. He identifies closely with his characters, feeling detached from the game if he doesn't. He takes creative pride in exploring different characters, often making each new one radically different than others he's played. The Character Player bases his decisions on his character's psychology first and foremost. He may view rules as a necessary evil at best, preferring sessions in which the dice never come out of their bags. For the Character Player, the greatest reward comes from experiencing the game from the emotional perspective of an interesting character.

The Storyteller is in it for the plot: the sense of mystery and the fun of participating in a narrative that has the satisfying arc of a good book or movie. He enjoys interacting with well-defined NPCs, even preferring antagonists who have genuine motivations and personality to mere monsters. To the Storyteller, the greatest reward of the game is participating in a compelling story with interesting and unpredictable plot threads, in which his actions and those of his fellow characters determine the resolution.

Looking at the 49 different individuals who responded to the poll on THE 'What type of Player are you' TOPIC:

77% identified "Storyteller" and "Character Player" as their top two traits
61% identified "Storyteller" as their top trait
33% identified "Character Player" as their top trait
4% identified "Storyteller" and "Character Player" below the second trait (or did not mention them at all)

I have no idea how the sample on COTI compares with the gaming world at large, but it does indicate a very strong attraction for a particular style of play among the COTI members. It would seem that we, as a group, tend to experiencing the game from the emotional perspective of an interesting character and enjoy a compelling story in which his actions and those of his fellow characters determine the resolution.


Shonner, not to put you on the spot, but I would just point out that you included yourself in this group:

I come up as storyteller.

 

[thalassogen]

At least half the gamers I played with were Casual Gamers. The other half a mix of Weekend Warriors, Character Players, Tacticians, and Power Gamers. Storytellers (in my experience) are seldom players, but rather often ambitious GMs.

 

[rancke]

I have no idea how the sample on COTI compares with the gaming world at large, but it does indicate a very strong attraction for a particular style of play among the COTI members. It would seem that we, as a group, tend to experiencing the game from the emotional perspective of an interesting character and enjoy a compelling story in which his actions and those of his fellow characters determine the resolution.

It would be interesting to get the people at SJG and theRPGsite and other RPG sites to take the test and compare results. TML too, if that's still active.


Hans

 

[thalassogen]

Do you think that the kind of gamer someone is, determines whether s/he likes Traveller or not? Or is it a particular background, hobby, occupation? Or maybe is there a special part of Traveller that suits more gamers than another part?
If it is of interest I could load up some questionnaires on my website for visitors to answer (at the moment I am getting about a thousand clicks per day and I am seeing two to three hundred unique regular visitors).

 

[atpollard]

Do you think that the kind of gamer someone is, determines whether s/he likes Traveller or not? Or is it a particular background, hobby, occupation? Or maybe is there a special part of Traveller that suits more gamers than another part?
If it is of interest I could load up some questionnaires on my website for visitors to answer (at the moment I am getting about a thousand clicks per day and I am seeing two to three hundred unique regular visitors).

I suspect that the Advanced Chargen appeals to "Character Players" and the sandbox nature of every world is different appeals to "Storytellers". So these groups found something in Traveller that resonated.

Players who really want more "Casual Gaming" or "Tactical" or some of the other gamer personalities, have lots of other games that they can play.

... But this is just personal, empty speculation.

 

[McPerth]

I suspect that the Advanced Chargen appeals to "Character Players" and the sandbox nature of every world is different appeals to "Storytellers". So these groups found something in Traveller that resonated.

Players who really want more "Casual Gaming" or "Tactical" or some of the other gamer personalities, have lots of other games that they can play.

... But this is just personal, empty speculation.

Advanced Chargen may (IMHO) also interest to power players, as it gives quite more skills than basic Chargen, so making the chracters more powerful.

 

[atpollard]

Advanced Chargen may (IMHO) also interest to power players, as it gives quite more skills than basic Chargen, so making the characters more powerful.

I would think that power players would want more control and gravitate towards something like a point buy system where they have control ... and a game system that has character levels.

 

[Thanos]

As a side note atpollard's attempt with the RPGsite doesn't seem to be wholy in vain. There are now a number of positive Traveller threads on the front page.

 

[kafka47]

Run it at Science Fiction Conventions - have two or three of your regular players show up - to show what fun it is.

Tap into popular SF memes and build a game out of those.

Use Social Media to recruit with lots of images - for n00bs will be attracted more to the Chrome than the grit.

Have cosplayers model different outfits of the Imperium holding T5/MgT front and centre...

Advertise in your FGLS your games and the game in general.

 

[Shonner]

Do you think that the kind of gamer someone is, determines whether s/he likes Traveller or not? Or is it a particular background, hobby, occupation? Or maybe is there a special part of Traveller that suits more gamers than another part?

I find that players new to Traveller tend to enjoy it once they are willing to abandon the D20 gaming model. They don't have to know anything about sci-fi or be a computer and/or science geek to enjoy it either. Too much sci-geek and meme humor from other players though can wreck a game for players new to role-playing period. So I keep those two kinds of players separate from each other.

I would think that power players would want more control and gravitate towards something like a point buy system where they have control ... and a game system that has character levels.

That's been my experience.

 

[HG_B]

I find that players new to Traveller tend to enjoy it once they are willing to abandon the D20 gaming model.

Do you mean the PC leveling model? If so then I agree that they need to be oriented towards Trav's different model. Having some interest in Sci-Fi also helps ensure a successful experience.

 

[whulorigan]

I find that players new to Traveller tend to enjoy it once they are willing to abandon the D20 gaming model.

Do you mean the PC leveling model? If so then I agree that they need to be oriented towards Trav's different model. Having some interest in Sci-Fi also helps ensure a successful experience.

It is perhaps helpful to put it in the terms that "You are rolling up a character that is the equivalent of an experienced character, or 'higher-level character' in D20 to start with, instead of having to achieve it thru play". If you want a "lower-level" character, go thru only a term or two of CharGen; if you wan the equivalent of a "high-level" character, go thru several terms of CharGen. In each case, choose the career path(s) you want in order to get the type of character you want. The CharGen process will fill in the background details and make sure you have the right skill-sets.

 

[atpollard]

More for LBB1-3 Classic Traveller than later versions, but I find it helpful to think about each 'skill' in CT as all of the experiences gained in about 2 years of living in that job ... making a CT skill level closer to a D&D mini-'prestige class' than what is typically a D&D skill. With Traveller rules systems that have lots more skills and specialties, there are fewer 'assumed abilities' associated with each skill, so this becomes less true.

YMMV, but that is how I viewed it.

 

[Shonner]

I tell future Traveller players that their characters have already lived and have lots of experience at the start of a game. Players get it when I reference movies like ALIEN or Star Trek or Blade Runner, where characters start as adults with skills and stuff before their lives are turned around.

 

[rancke]

It is perhaps helpful to put it in the terms that "You are rolling up a character that is the equivalent of an experienced character, or 'higher-level character' in D20 to start with, instead of having to achieve it thru play". If you want a "lower-level" character, go thru only a term or two of CharGen; if you wan the equivalent of a "high-level" character, go thru several terms of CharGen. In each case, choose the career path(s) you want in order to get the type of character you want. The CharGen process will fill in the background details and make sure you have the right skill-sets.

You should probably add that a skill level of 2 is actually quite enough to be a professional. I remember that (based on the one example in the rules, medical) I thought that a skill of 3 was average professional and was rather puzzled by the amount of incompetents the system threw up.

I was wrong, but back then I didn't do analyses of die rolls and how modifiers affected them. Presumably I did something to up primary skills to 3+, but I can't remember what. I do remember that before switching to my own house rules, I used a throw-3D-success-on-12 paradigm for a while.

(It's one of the reasons I wouldn't go back to RAW Traveller. Back in the day, I just managed to live with skill-3 being a pretty ordinary professional and real experts having skill-4 and skill-5; the RAW is too coarse-grained for my taste.)

Anyway, if you're going to introduce newcomers to RAW skill resolution, they need to know that skill-2 is pretty good and even skill-1 nothing to sneer about.


Hans

 

[HG_B]

I tell future Traveller players that their characters have already lived and have lots of experience at the start of a game. Players get it when I reference movies like ALIEN or Star Trek or Blade Runner, where characters start as adults with skills and stuff before their lives are turned around.

That hasn't been the problem as much as explaining that the goal isn't to gain XP and constantly level up towards demi-god level.

 

[whulorigan]

That hasn't been the problem as much as explaining that the goal isn't to gain XP and constantly level up towards demi-god level.

That's also an excellent point.

 

[Enoff]

The Traveller universe needs a reboot with FUN ready to run adventures.

 

[Frewfrux]

I've had the T5 rules for 12 days now and have not even finished the Tasks chapter yet. I have yet to master how to create a character partly because of layout issues, partly because of errata, and partly because of my own time-availability issues. I am starting to feel frustrated every time I begin to try creating a new character as I have yet to be able to do so without running into questions that are not clearly answered by the rules. I hate feeling like this because I love Traveller. In short, I am starting to regret my purchase, which could have been 5 presents for family for Christmas.

Why am I saying this, and why am I saying it in this thread?

I would love to promote Traveller to my friends, but I cannot do so in good conscience. How do you increase Traveller's popularity? You don't. Not until you have a clear, concise product with minimal errata that won't cause people to wish they could ask for a refund. If you try before then and new players end up feeling like I am and you will only hurt the game.

Don't get me wrong, I'm determined to figure this version out, and I hope to start running campaigns once I do (though this might take a while, and I will tell my players not to buy the rules until there's a corrected version out there). It's just that this process is starting to wear on me. I'm sorry I posted such a negative comment, but I had to say something as I'm starting to feel a little depressed about it (which is silly because it's just a game, right?). I won't post about this again.

 

[robject]

Frew, you could ask about efforts made to make sense of the process, especially of chargen. I've seen one, and it's a vast improvement, mostly thru organization and a humanocentric focus.