MattWittherson
SOC-1
I have some questions regarding Traveller, all of which having to do with the fifth edition. I figured this board was the best place to ask them, and so here I am - making a topic. I will also state that while I know this isn't the introductions board, I am still rather new here. This is being brought up simply to illustrate I haven't quite gotten used to the searching mechanics of this forum. I've occasionally found what I'm looking for, but often times have to read through several lengthy topics, hoping I might gleam what I'm attempting to find.
As such, I figured it best for me to ask my questions here and now, before I simply forget about them or put them aside to never settle them. If the questions have already been asked and answered on another topic, then I present my sincere apologies. Also, to give a reference to where I'm going from, I bought T5 around when they came out, and I'm still learning as best as I can from it before I start my first game as a Referee. I've played Traveller before - many a time, but never as the moderator. My experience with Traveller goes back four years, and I've played a version that was kind of a mix between Classic and Mongoose - near as I could tell, mostly with the same referee, but occasionally with the aforementioned referee's father running the game. Our playing group consists of role players who mostly seem to favor fantasy RPGs who are all in their young twenties. I feel as though perhaps I'm one of the few who finds Traveller to be their favorite.
Although, I suppose Traveller was also the first tabletop I really took seriously. For the most part, we've played though two lengthy campaigns, neither finished, the first telling a story of a rising mercenary/security force. The other campaign serves as a precursor, where we're spies slowly uncovering new truths of the beginnings of the first campaign. We play fairly exclusively in the Spinward Marches, but our referee is very liberal with settings. The mercenaries from the first campaign operate out of a non-canon world, and we somehow managed to run the Chamax dual adventure without needing to travel out to the rim of the Imperium. Additionally, our referee is combat oriented, I suspect, and I'm not complaining. It seems we can't go an adventure without getting into a gunfight. Based on my understanding of the game, it seems that with combat, most combatants will limp away injured or just be flat out killed, but our referee has been merciful on that point to.
Overtime, I've become curious what Traveller might look like if I started up my own game, which would be a bit closer to the rules. My referee not only gave me his approval, seeing as how it would be taking pressure of him to run sessions because we could split the burden, but he also signed up as one of my players. I'm also got what I think to be an interesting story lined up, but I suppose I could just as well be wrong.
But enough explanations (I'm sorry, occasionally I ramble) - hopefully you readers have enough background to give me solid and understandable answers for a relative beginner.
Question 1: If a fifth edition Traveller character was being built to have a career in military intelligence (or at least having the skills resembling that background), should he be in a military career or an agent career?
Question 2: If a character is accelerated through the ranks of their career, e.g. through a military service academy, do they get the automatic skills from all the ranks they skip? Specifically, would a soldier starting at an officer rank also have all the enlisted automatic skills?
Question 3: This one might be more related to personal preference. I'm trying to build major npcs that the characters will interact with, and I felt it would make them more real if I rolled up their characters, plus it would give them a spattering of randomized skills as well. But, what if I don't like the outcome of the chance-taking character creation, and they don't end up fitting the part they should play at all. I figured, have certain factors be automatic, e.g. they successfully manage to stay in the career for x-amount of terms, but also have certain factors be chance-based, e.g. still having to roll for skills. I was curious if anybody had any advice on this, or how other people walk this line with npc building?
Question 4: On the subject of Noble Land Grants, what determines where their additional land grants will be, especially for non-high nobility? I think the book implied it the grants would be centralized around where the noble was stationed, but what about non-high nobles, who really don't dominate entire worlds? Like, say you had a Baronet or two in the party, and they traveled often. What would determine the location of their grants. And, on that topic, what about non-main world grants? Is there a list of non-main worlds for each system anywhere that I can refer to for this, and what determines how they're assigned?
Question 5: I have a (former) Scout in the party who has some Discoverer Land Grants, but seeing as how I need his character to be centralized around the Jewell Subsector for my campaign, I figure there was no way he was searching the edges of the known Imperium for new planets - not around the year 1105 at least. So, should I assume that his discoveries were of planetary anomalies as well, and how does that affect the grant if they were anomalies and not entire planets he was discovering?
Question 6: I have Moot-worthy nobles in my party, and I wanted some clarification. Seeing as how they're not anywhere near Capitol, does that mean they have to relinquish their vote to another Noble who is currently sitting on the Moot? What if one of these nobles had a noble career path and walked away with a handful of proxies, does that mean he has to find a voter to represent those proxies as well? And, on the subject of proxies and the Moot, is there any interesting way I can incorporate that element into the story, like the Moot sitting noble didn't vote the way my party member would have wanted? Or perhaps he sold his vote to the highest bidder and that's coming back to bite him? Just some ideas on how I can play with that would be absolutely lovely.
Question 7: Does anybody have any tips in general of things to keep in mind when running a game or how to be a good referee in general, I'd appreciate the help?
Well, thanks for reading, and once again, I'm sorry if I rambled or if any of these questions are answered anywhere else.
As such, I figured it best for me to ask my questions here and now, before I simply forget about them or put them aside to never settle them. If the questions have already been asked and answered on another topic, then I present my sincere apologies. Also, to give a reference to where I'm going from, I bought T5 around when they came out, and I'm still learning as best as I can from it before I start my first game as a Referee. I've played Traveller before - many a time, but never as the moderator. My experience with Traveller goes back four years, and I've played a version that was kind of a mix between Classic and Mongoose - near as I could tell, mostly with the same referee, but occasionally with the aforementioned referee's father running the game. Our playing group consists of role players who mostly seem to favor fantasy RPGs who are all in their young twenties. I feel as though perhaps I'm one of the few who finds Traveller to be their favorite.
Although, I suppose Traveller was also the first tabletop I really took seriously. For the most part, we've played though two lengthy campaigns, neither finished, the first telling a story of a rising mercenary/security force. The other campaign serves as a precursor, where we're spies slowly uncovering new truths of the beginnings of the first campaign. We play fairly exclusively in the Spinward Marches, but our referee is very liberal with settings. The mercenaries from the first campaign operate out of a non-canon world, and we somehow managed to run the Chamax dual adventure without needing to travel out to the rim of the Imperium. Additionally, our referee is combat oriented, I suspect, and I'm not complaining. It seems we can't go an adventure without getting into a gunfight. Based on my understanding of the game, it seems that with combat, most combatants will limp away injured or just be flat out killed, but our referee has been merciful on that point to.
Overtime, I've become curious what Traveller might look like if I started up my own game, which would be a bit closer to the rules. My referee not only gave me his approval, seeing as how it would be taking pressure of him to run sessions because we could split the burden, but he also signed up as one of my players. I'm also got what I think to be an interesting story lined up, but I suppose I could just as well be wrong.
But enough explanations (I'm sorry, occasionally I ramble) - hopefully you readers have enough background to give me solid and understandable answers for a relative beginner.
Question 1: If a fifth edition Traveller character was being built to have a career in military intelligence (or at least having the skills resembling that background), should he be in a military career or an agent career?
Question 2: If a character is accelerated through the ranks of their career, e.g. through a military service academy, do they get the automatic skills from all the ranks they skip? Specifically, would a soldier starting at an officer rank also have all the enlisted automatic skills?
Question 3: This one might be more related to personal preference. I'm trying to build major npcs that the characters will interact with, and I felt it would make them more real if I rolled up their characters, plus it would give them a spattering of randomized skills as well. But, what if I don't like the outcome of the chance-taking character creation, and they don't end up fitting the part they should play at all. I figured, have certain factors be automatic, e.g. they successfully manage to stay in the career for x-amount of terms, but also have certain factors be chance-based, e.g. still having to roll for skills. I was curious if anybody had any advice on this, or how other people walk this line with npc building?
Question 4: On the subject of Noble Land Grants, what determines where their additional land grants will be, especially for non-high nobility? I think the book implied it the grants would be centralized around where the noble was stationed, but what about non-high nobles, who really don't dominate entire worlds? Like, say you had a Baronet or two in the party, and they traveled often. What would determine the location of their grants. And, on that topic, what about non-main world grants? Is there a list of non-main worlds for each system anywhere that I can refer to for this, and what determines how they're assigned?
Question 5: I have a (former) Scout in the party who has some Discoverer Land Grants, but seeing as how I need his character to be centralized around the Jewell Subsector for my campaign, I figure there was no way he was searching the edges of the known Imperium for new planets - not around the year 1105 at least. So, should I assume that his discoveries were of planetary anomalies as well, and how does that affect the grant if they were anomalies and not entire planets he was discovering?
Question 6: I have Moot-worthy nobles in my party, and I wanted some clarification. Seeing as how they're not anywhere near Capitol, does that mean they have to relinquish their vote to another Noble who is currently sitting on the Moot? What if one of these nobles had a noble career path and walked away with a handful of proxies, does that mean he has to find a voter to represent those proxies as well? And, on the subject of proxies and the Moot, is there any interesting way I can incorporate that element into the story, like the Moot sitting noble didn't vote the way my party member would have wanted? Or perhaps he sold his vote to the highest bidder and that's coming back to bite him? Just some ideas on how I can play with that would be absolutely lovely.
Question 7: Does anybody have any tips in general of things to keep in mind when running a game or how to be a good referee in general, I'd appreciate the help?
Well, thanks for reading, and once again, I'm sorry if I rambled or if any of these questions are answered anywhere else.