ACTUALLY, it's a science oriented RPG. Aramis is correctly pointing out phenomenon that is commonly overlooked but, does have an impact
on design considerations.
Travel time for in system jumps?
- Thread starter Blue Ghost
- Start date
ACTUALLY, it's a science oriented RPG. Aramis is correctly pointing out phenomenon that is commonly overlooked but, does have an impact
on design considerations.Keklas Rekobah
SOC-14 1K
IMO, it's best to start off knowing the rules of the game, then you can look for the loopholes that 'harder' SF could slip into. Where there is conflict between rules and reality, fall back on the Traveller Prime Directive: "Make it FUN!"
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
What the hell are you going on about? Why on earth would anyone what to know this stuff, its just an RPG game. And space dust hasnt affected Voyager or Pioneer has it - so I think you are talking rubbish. IMO of course.
I'll choose to believe you were being silly rather than rude. This time.
nats
SOC-12
ACTUALLY, it's a science oriented RPG. Aramis is correctly pointing out phenomenon that is commonly overlooked but, does have an impact
Its a bit daft in my opinion discussing things like that when one of the largest parts of the game (ie jump drives) is strongly based on science fiction and not fact. I could cite millions of elements in Traveller that are strongly based on fiction not fact for gameplay reasons. Get into realistic discussions like that and the whole game starts falling apart. Then you arent discussing Traveller any more but some kind of hybrid between Traveller and the real world. And I thought this forum was about Traveller.
You were wrong. This is the Lone Star.
I doubt that very much. Most of the rules are simplifications of real-life (factual
) facts. Some of them are simplification of fictional facts. But very few of them are going to have a one-to-one relationship to the facts, fictional or factional as the case might be. Who will believe that if you try to enlist in the Imperial Navy, the recruitment officer will whip out a pair of dice and sign you up if he rolls an 8 or more, even if it is an imaginary organization? Or that if you fail to enlist, the press gang will scoop you up and deliver you to a criminal gang on a roll of 6, even if it is an imaginary society? Or that Fate, or somebody, will prevent you from becoming a hunter because it isn't using extended character generation? No, it's just that the rules are simplifications of the hugely complex chains of events that lead to one person enlisting in the Navy and another one ending up forging passports for a living.
Or is it really impossible to misjump from Regina to Shionthy? In a boardgame that used the CT misjump mechanic it would be impossible, sure, but Traveller is a role-playing game. If the Referee thinks the campaign would benefit from a misjump from Regina to Shionthy, he will, by gum, introduce a misjump from Regina to Shionthy, whatever the rules may say. Because the rule is a simplification of that infinitely complex (and completely fictional) process called misjump.
Traveller is a set of rules describing a fictional world that is very similar to the real world in many ways (Though certainly also very different in some ways). Discussing what a rule really covers helps figuring out rational ways to interpret them when the game steps outside the boundaries of the rules. You can't do that with a boardgame, but you can with a role-playing game. And that's the way I, for one, like it.
Hans
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E.D.Quibell
SOC-13
I understand your point of view.
To play any RPG you have to have some base in reality. You and your players have to have a starting point, to which you all agree. Following this you then suspend belief in certain aspects of reality to gain enjoyment through playing. The rules of the RPG are the framework which allow you to arbitrate the referee’s running of the story you are all participating in.
However the rules don't cover everything, and when your players do something you weren’t expecting; say speed up their free trader to 3% of light speed and then fly through the dust rings of your local gas giant, attempting to escaping the Empire's cruiser for whatever reason, you may need to know what might happen to them if they do. You could of course make it up. You may decide that it has no effect at all. Or you may decide that it vaporises them. Or you could turn to the real world, work out the maths and decide the likely course of events form there.
Your choice of course. As I said before some people who play Traveller like it as a Hard ish Sci-Fi RPG and this type of discussions helps them in the participation of their particular story.
Best regards,
Ewan
nats
SOC-12
Sorry I was in a argumentative mood. I understand some people like to think outside the box and that should be welcomed. Anything that can add to the fun of playing Traveller is interesting to me. Certainly dust impact at high speed affecting the operation of a ship hadnt occurred to me to be a factor in Traveller but I suppose yes if flying through rings or near collisions of asteroids,comet tails etc could well increase the maintenance requirements when next in port. I cant see normal space flight being too much of a concern though as space dust must be very sparse. Surely micrometeorites would be of more concern in long term sublight flight.
E.D.Quibell
SOC-13
No worries. Having discussions with differening points of view is interesting, informative, and often incitefull.
MegaTraveller uses a minimum of 40 Armour for space going craft to mitigate against micormeteorites and radiation. I don't know how this is mitigated for im MgT.
Best regards,
Ewan
That's why the barkeep collects everyone's blasters & light sabers when they enter the The Lone Star.
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