Mongoose's Traveller Settings

[Peter Schutze]

>A very well done almanach with graphics etc. that are mostly "spot on"

the graphics are what stopped me buying the Hammers Slammers book - especially the scenario battle grid ones that did absolutely nothing for my understanding

almost went out and bought it anyway when they started the 2 adventures in signs and portents but neither was continued

 

[aramis]

B5 was actually rather easy to run... several options come immediately to mind: alternate characters in the main plot, supporting characters handling some of the lower level stuff, a ship crew around the time of the series (Lots to do, but less big impact), a similar but more limited station on the other end of the EA (limits the aliens). I ran a supporting characters in a side arc game.

Tolkien is actually much easier; the main characters of the story are easily avoided, tho their impacts are not. Or, one can run any time up to 150 years prior with little to no change other than fewer to no orcs. The world presented is large and rich, and most stories don't have the scope to impinge upon the ring plot.

Trek is the easiest... pick a time, pick a ship not named Enterprise, (nor Voyager, Excelsior, or Defiant), and populate it. Sure, the GM might have to occasionally portray the series characters...

Star Wars, sure Leia is the BIG bigwig (even tho Luke seems the main character)... but we know she's one of about 15-20 bigwigs, and the SW galaxy is HUGE and highly populated. It's entirely possible to make a huge regional difference and still stay below Vader's Radar. And there are HUGE gaps between the movies. Lots of room to do other stuff, and lots of BIG stories to tell. Heck, one of the novels deals with obliterating another incomplete death star...

I've never had a problem with players wanting to "play the main plot" in SW nor B5.

 

[saundby]

Ditto to what Aramis says on running B5. I had a party as a non-EA salvage team based on B5, answering to certain of the command crew sub-rosa. I created a character as the head of station maintenance to be their primary contact, though they met some of the names from the show.

Their initial job was to scrounge parts from the destroyed Babylon stations as well as battle sites from the war to help fit out the new, not-really-finished scratch-job B5. Along the way they got involved in all sorts of stuff peripheral to the main plot, as well as running into all sorts of unresolved trouble from the war and the first four Babylon projects. They helped evacuate B4, and got left in a precarious position when Sinclair left since they were unofficially hired on his authority.

When RL broke off the game, the team was cut off from their station access, money, and patron chain and were wondering what to do with a tricky cargo they'd brought in.

We may pick up the game this fall, when some of summer's disruptions go away for my players.

The number of loose threads, side stories, and minor characters in the show makes it pretty easy to come up with adventures for the B5 game. The main story in the show sort of skims the surface, so there's plenty of material if you dive a little deeper.

Sometimes our game felt like that amateur SW movie, Troops. Where you see a whole different take on the main story from outside the camera's view in the original.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Back while B5 was on in first run, might have been season 2 but I don't recall for sure, I had a desire to run some B5 play with Traveller rules. I hacked together some simple conversion notes and created a small trade ship and trader/smuggler, inspired by an episode with/of the same. I don't recall the name now but I had a whole campaign pretty much ready to go in a couple days designed around the whole station underground society (whatever they were calling it) and the ethically challenged but generally decent traders who kept it alive. Would have been a good game, with the overall bigger story not much mattering but there for background. Pity we never played much and it all went nowhere. What I'm saying is there's usually stories to be told in any setting that are removed from the big one and it's larger than life heroes. The stories of the ordinary people, who may find themselves thrust into extraordinary circumstances of the big story, even side by side with the heroes. I seem to recall said merchant in that story ended up saving what's his name, the security chief, but the story felt more to me to be about the plight of the nameless residents of the underground.

There are IMHO a couple of problems with that:

+ The material delivered in the sourcebooks typically focus on the main story line and the equipment used by the main heros (I.e until late in the line life StarWars/D6 seemed to be populated by YT-1300 freighters mostly). Sure one can work out the rest of the universe. Or one can do something better with the time than crunching numbers

+ The players know the main action is somewhere else. And it's ACTION not politics and blabbering poliTICKS (like most of the Traveller background i.e). Setting them on a sideline scenario makes them feel underused, second class. Not a good base for an RPG

 

[far-trader]

There are IMHO a couple of problems...

+ The material delivered in the sourcebooks typically focus on the main story line and the equipment used by the main heros... Sure one can work out the rest of the universe. Or one can do something better with the time than crunching numbers

Wasn't an issue for me, there were no B5 RPG materials at the time and it didn't take much work to capture the flavour with some tweaks to the Traveller rules

+ The players know the main action is somewhere else... Setting them on a sideline scenario makes them feel underused, second class. Not a good base for an RPG

Again not an issue for me, haven't had that problem or attitude myself or with those I played with. This is more a publisher, ref and player problem imo...

• The publisher naturally (usually) is going to focus on the previous materials, it's easier and they (mistakenly imo) believe that is what people want, to play the Big Story and Main Characters (or reasonable facsimiles). They don't credit their market with much imagination. Not all follow this mold though, some few break it.
• The ref, perhaps with little spare time to work up a game from whole cloth or not able or trusting enough of their own creativity wants (demands) that everything be provided by the rules. Even adventures so detailed that they permit no deviation from the plot. It wouldn't surprise me if they'd even prefer such adventures follow the plot of the movies/episodes. Not saying there's anything wrong with that if it works for you, it's just not me. And taken a little further who needs a ref as it's no longer a Role Playing Game but a Roll Playing Game.
• The players, wanting to play (replay) the main plots and characters (mimicking, even down to quoting the characters at times) is another symptom of the lack of time and/or trust of imagination imo. And again not Role Playing as much as Roll Playing. To me the whole idea is boring. In Cred Ib Ly Bor Ing. I already know what the main characters and plot of the franchise are and frankly don't want to go anywhere near it, would just as soon ignore and forget it, play as if it is not in the player's purview, while still playing in the same universe.

Summing and paraphrasing, there are a billion stories in the naked universe, imo your game should be just one of them, not THE one that inspires it. I know that's what I want for mine.

 

[Finarvyn]

In the case of JRR Tolkien's work, he wove a whole complex world. It's easy for you run all kinds of campaigns and never touch the books main arc's or the films. Its a bad example my friend.

Point taken. Tolkien had enough depth in his world that there would be lots of neat things to do and explore if the group is interested in doing so. The problem is probably in my group, since they always seem to drift towards pre-determined plotlines and places.

I ran a 4th Age game once which was a lot of fun because the whole "ring thing" was done and they couldn't be sidetracked by what they thought they were "supposed" to be doing.

 

[robject]

Finarvyn, I've sent you a PM.

 

[malchya]

I've been very tempted by the Hammer's Slammers supplement...but, no powergun stats???? That's like leaving swords out of LOTR!

 

[FreeTrav]

Well, they're not quite the HS powerguns, but Scott Diamond has an article statting out some "powerguns" in the current issue of Freelance Traveller...

 

[aramis]

I've been very tempted by the Hammer's Slammers supplement...but, no powergun stats???? That's like leaving swords out of LOTR!

There are stats for personal ones, and use-stats for the few armor units described, but no design stats.