Playing Traveller vs. Playing at Traveller.

[BetterThanLife]

I am going to keep this simple. I wrote the T20 definition for Traveller use with klooge. I wrote and Berg revised the T20 character sheet for GRiP. I have not had much luck at finding active Traveller games either live or online. (And I live in a college town that supports 2 game stores.)

As far as I can tell nobody besides me is using either my Traveller Definition for Klooge or the T20 Grip definition. Am I missing a big underground gaming movement?

Who is actually playing Traveller on a regular basis. (And I am not talking about once in a blue moon at a convention.

)

 

[BetterThanLife]

By the way, as the regulars on here know I do referee a weekly T20 campaign set in the Reaver's Deep Sector during the Solomani Rim War online using Klooge. (7PM Eastern every wednesday.)

 

[mike wightman]

I need to record a vote for two options.

I play in a regular game face to face, and I referee a regular game too, also face to face.

 

[BetterThanLife]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
I need to record a vote for two options.

I play in a regular game face to face, and I referee a regular game too, also face to face.

I set this up, quite frankly to attempt to get a percentage of how many people are actually playing or refereeing. I thought about putting more than one option available, but that wouldn't show proper percentages. I suppose I could have worded choices differently so there is one choice for playing Traveller and one for playing with the rules, but that didn't seem right.

Please feel free to pick the one that you either do more often or enjoy more of the playing choices in this poll.

 

[mike wightman]

Ok, I referee more often than play

 

[Golan2072]

I'm currently playing in one PBEM Traveller game and one PbP Traveller game, both set in the Classical-Era OTU. other than that, I like to tinker with Traveller settings and rules above and beyond the needs of being a player in these games.

I'll probably also run a face-to-face 1248 game in a few month with my girlfriend being the main player (her RPG interests are centered on Shadowrun for the time being but she've expressed desire to check out Traveller as well).

 

[flykiller]

ref a BB game, will be starting up a second when I recover from surgery.

'course there's always a lot of background work for the game. deckplans, planetary graphics, cultures, animals, T.O.E., settings. lot to do.

 

[KenHR]

I have a play by voice chat game that's due to start Real Soon Now, but as it hasn't started yet, I had to choose the "not playing/refereeing" option. Real life has pushed our start date back from mid-September to the first Thursday of November.

This will be everyone's first foray into Traveller territory. I'm the only one with any "experience" to speak of so far, as I've solitaired personal and starship combats and other stuff to familiarize myself with the rules. If the game never starts, I think I could have lots of fun tinkering.

 

[Jamus]

I ref a eight player CT game weekly and have for the last year and a half.

 

[bryan gibson]

whats Klooge? Grip I know but have never used, but why would you need a definition for it?

 

[BetterThanLife]

Bryan. Klooge is a similar concept to Grip. It allows pen and paper RPGs to be played over the internet. It does this by facilitating a specialized chat server on the host computer and clients for the players. (Simplifying greatly.) GRiP, Klooge and several others do this in different ways but essentially it is the same principal. However to facilitate game play in a specific game you have to create some things for that game. In general this includes but is not limited to a character sheet. In GRiP and Klooge this includes an automated character sheet so push the button and your skill check, with appropiate modifiers is automatically rolled. (As an example.) A Definition file in Klooge (Their name for it) Ruleset in FantasyGrounds, or the Character Sheet in GRiP all serve the same function. They allow you to play a specific game using this software.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[drmike]

I actually just downloaded Klooge and your def file. THANKS for saving me many hours!

Working like mad to get all my piles of stuff into the computer so I can start a new virtual tabletop game.

 

[BetterThanLife]

Originally posted by xenodoc:
I actually just downloaded Klooge and your def file. THANKS for saving me many hours!

Working like mad to get all my piles of stuff into the computer so I can start a new virtual tabletop game.

Now if I could get the PCGen T20 to export to the Klooge Character sheet.

 

[Icosahedron]

One thing puzzles me about this poll - why are there considerably more referees than players? Aren't the players sufficiently interested in Traveller to be Citizens?

 

[aramis]

Icosahedron:

In general, this board and the TML tend towards embracing gearheads (a narrow subset of players, and a slightly less narrow subset of refs), and detailed discussions of canon issues... which rules out casual players in both cases.

Almost anyone interested enough to engage in canon debates is interested enough to referee.

Likewise, most gearheads tend to referee, so they can USE their nifty stuff.

Further, many Traveller players don't go looking for their system stuff on-line; they tend to get it through/from their ref. This is more profoundly so given the high likelyhood of extensive houserules, most especially with CT, which may require alternate character sheets.

For example, if one is playing in a DGP-CT task system, one needs the stat mods to tasks. MT, alternate experience systems were common; the AT's section of the skills area needs changing. Many Ref's use Cha in pre-TNE rulesets as a bolt-on, so one needs to add space for that.

So, for my MT TU, I'd need to change the defs from standard for weapons (I use a slightly different damage algorithm for Pen vs AV) and for tasks (I use Att/3, not Att/5). I also need to adjust it for places for damage to Int and Edu (based upon a TD article), experience (I use AT's only, shooting for 15+, but allow AT's every 90 days), and I use Cha, too, so that's another character sheet change.

I also use the Tactics Pool (Stock MT), Striker/Supp13 derived morale, TNE Initiative, T4 swings and dodge pools, and often use a variety of tasks with differing attributes.

So, a player in my game isn't likely to find a sheet with ALL these nifties in one spot.

 

[kafka47]

If by regular we are not talking about once in a blue moon. Then certainly online gaming life has been much more fruitful than trying to get people around the tabletop. However, it does not stop me from trying.

 

[BetterThanLife]

Originally posted by kafka47:
If by regular we are not talking about once in a blue moon. Then certainly online gaming life has been much more fruitful than trying to get people around the tabletop. However, it does not stop me from trying.

I have run a successful online campaign for a while now. That doesn't stop me from wanting to run or play in an FTF game. But even in this college town I haven't even seen sign of any interest. (And we have two specialized game stores in addition to the big book store chains.

)

 

[Berg]

Lots of board gaming in my neck of the woods... Trying to get some people into RPGing, but all they've heard of is D&D. I try to convert BGer's by initially making my RPG's like BG's with pieces to move on a grid.
I guess for Traveller I'll have to start with space combat

Online Traveller player as all my RPGing is online these days...

 

[BetterThanLife]

Originally posted by Berg:
Lots of board gaming in my neck of the woods... Trying to get some people into RPGing, but all they've heard of is D&D. I try to convert BGer's by initially making my RPG's like BG's with pieces to move on a grid.
I guess for Traveller I'll have to start with space combat

Online Traveller player as all my RPGing is online these days...

The big, IMHO, benefit of T20 is the ability to introduce some of these D&D people without losing the feel of Traveller and without having to explain all the rules to them. Problem with starting wiht space combat is that most other Space Combat games, fighters are significant, in Traveller they are hardly worth the time in real naval combat.

 

[robject]

We will be starting a f2f TravellerQuest game next week. However, I had to vote "no", since it ain't happening now, and all I've been doing lately is shooting holes in starship hulls in a myriad of different ways