Traveller Fans - What Do You Want People To Know About Traveller?

[Jeff M. Hopper]

OK, so I am considering helping a buddy out and doing a convention panel on Traveller. So, what do you Traveller fans out there really want people who are interested in learning more about Traveller but may have never played the game think they should know? I'm looking for input and ideas.

 

[CosmicGamer]

First off they should know that there are different variations and what they are. I say variations instead of versions because in most instances in the real world the latest version of something is meant to replace the previous version but with Traveller, the variations can be things like d20 vs 2d6 and while there are similarities, the different variations are almost like separate games. Based on polls done here, CT still has a player base about as large as any other variation and is still a viable choice. I say this even though I prefer Mongoose and would love for all new people to play the same version I do. People should know there are viable options.

I think an important thing to point out is how Traveller is different from most RPGs with how it does character generation and improvement/experience. Traveller characters don't have levels, they are older and already have had careers and developed skills. The game is more about the role playing experience and not about earning experience points and leveling up.

 

[Enoki]

That Traveller is scalable. You can have a very small party in an RPG setting doing very personal things to interplanetary and system wars and naval battles depending on how you want to use the rules.

 

[salochin999]

It's a good system for getting you to imagine an entire galaxy in detail - which is kinda cool in itself if you like that kind of thing.


It's also (probably) a good way of recreating the grittier sci-fi movies / tv series as a game.

(I say probably as my big problem running Traveller in the past was always trying to run it like a series of D&D combat encounters whereas now I think it would work better as a series of combat *avoidance* encounters (or at least avoiding *fair* combat). I have the same problem with Call of Cthulhu for the same D&D related reason so I expect a lot of people at a convention who've run Traveller or Cthulhu in the past will understand that angle.)

 

[rancke]

That there is a very rich background that they can draw upon if they like that sort of thing, but that they shouldn't let it scare them off if they don't -- they can just ignore it if that's what they want. Learning 35 years worth of stuff isn't a requirement.


Hans

 

[robject]

I think Cosmic's post has important points that differentiates Traveller from most other games.

* Career-path character generation (no character classes)
* Non-XP rewards system - (does this make the game slightly more "narrative" than other games some small way?)

Along those lines, I'd add

* Its foundation is "classic" space opera.
* Aliens run the gamut from "Rubber Suited" to "Inexplicable".
* There is room for casual gamers, method actors, power gamers, and systems engineers.

 

[aramis]

I think Cosmic's post has important points that differentiates Traveller from most other games.

* Career-path character generation (no character classes)
* Non-XP rewards system - (does this make the game slightly more "narrative" than other games some small way?)

Except that it's not accurate.

Non-XP character growth: It's true of CT, MT and MGT, but not of TNE, T4, nor T20. Nor, technically, of GT or HT.

Career path generation is true of all but GT and HT.

Traveller is a set of tropes shared across 8 different games (6 mechanically interrelated in various ways)...

• Traveller Characters tend to have life experience before play
• The setting has FTL travel, but no FTL comm except by ship
• The setting has cheap fusion and gravitics
• The setting has many inhabitable worlds, and is of the life is inevitable where it can exist approach.
• No "zapguns" nor "laserswords"... the tech ain't entirely realistic, but it's not overly far fetched.
• It's hard space opera, but not hard Science

 

[rancke]

[*]It's hard space opera, but not hard Science
[/list]

Traveller is a hard science coating with a soft gooey fiction center.


Hans

 

[Spinward Scout]

Topics to cover for new Traveller players:

1.) Shotguns and swords in spaaace!
2.) Mostly benevolent Space Empire - not your run-of-the-mill meanie government.
3.) Traveling through JumpSpace takes time.
4.) So does sending messages across the Imperium.
5.) Dirty Zho's (or 'Let's lynch the psychic!').
6.) All worlds aren't high-tech. Good luck finding that part for your spaceship on a TL-3 world.
7.) Sand, Space Combat and You!

 

[robject]

OK Spinward, that gave me a chuckle. The ones I like in particular are:

3.) Traveling through JumpSpace takes time.

6.) All worlds aren't high-tech. Good luck finding that part for your spaceship on a TL-3 world.

The others... well they seem to depend on the setting, or in some cases are a little farther into the rules than (I think) brand-newbies would care about.

 

[aramis]

OK Spinward, that gave me a chuckle. The ones I like in particular are:



The others... well they seem to depend on the setting, or in some cases are a little farther into the rules than (I think) brand-newbies would care about.

Not really. They're RAW that way in all but GT.

 

[robject]

So what, GT doesn't get a veto this time? [/humor]

Well, RAW is nice, but shotguns and swords... oh, okay, that's fine. But the mostly benevolent empire? Okay, but how important is that to communicate to bare-naked-newbies? Similarly about Joes and Sandcasters?


"Here are the most important things to know about Traveller:

It's handy for re-creating sci-fi movies and TV shows. It's "hard space opera", but not "hard science".
Characters tend to have life experience before the game begins.
Characters are as likely to have shotguns as lasers. (Okay, that is a good one). And there's an even chance they'll be handy with a blade.
There are no "zapguns" or "laser swords": the tech ain't entirely realistic, but it's not overly farfetched.
Fusion power is cheap.
Gravitics / antigravity is commonplace.
FTL travel is commonplace.
There is no "ansible".
Planetary life is inevitable: if it can exist, it will.
Technology varies greatly from planet to planet. Not all worlds are high-tech: good luck finding that part for your spaceship on a world in the Iron Age.
There is a rich background available, with friendly and unfriendly empires, but there is also a rich set of tools for referees to build their own setting."

 

[GM Joe]

That it's like Firefly, only with a slightly different 'verse.

 

[aramis]

So what, GT doesn't get a veto this time? [/humor]

Well, RAW is nice, but shotguns and swords... oh, okay, that's fine. But the mostly benevolent empire? Okay, but how important is that to communicate to bare-naked-newbies? Similarly about Joes and Sandcasters?


"Here are the most important things to know about Traveller:

It's handy for re-creating sci-fi movies and TV shows. It's "hard space opera", but not "hard science".
Characters tend to have life experience before the game begins.
Characters are as likely to have shotguns as lasers. (Okay, that is a good one). And there's an even chance they'll be handy with a blade.
There are no "zapguns" or "laser swords": the tech ain't entirely realistic, but it's not overly farfetched.
Fusion power is cheap.
Gravitics / antigravity is commonplace.
FTL travel is commonplace.
There is no "ansible".
Planetary life is inevitable: if it can exist, it will.
Technology varies greatly from planet to planet. Not all worlds are high-tech: good luck finding that part for your spaceship on a world in the Iron Age.
There is a rich background available, with friendly and unfriendly empires, but there is also a rich set of tools for referees to build their own setting."

The term "Ansible" is little used; six authors use it.
FTL Radio or FTL communicator is much more commonly used, and unlike ansible, doesn't haul up images of U.K. LeGuin, V. Vinge, or OS Card. (Dan Simmons, Jason Jones, and L.A. Graph are the others who used Ansible.)

Also Ansibles are, axiomatically, instantaneous or nearly so. Battletech's Comstar HPG Relays aren't instant, but are much faster than ships. Likewise for several other forms of FTL radio in various other authors' works.

 

[Hyphen]

Communication lag encourages an interstellar feudal society - so you may get to play a Knight!

All through the system there are solo games, from chargen to ship design to worldbuilding. And the results can be used in later gameplay.

 

[rancke]

The term "Ansible" is little used; six authors use it.
FTL Radio or FTL communicator is much more commonly used, and unlike ansible, doesn't haul up images of U.K. LeGuin, V. Vinge, or OS Card. (Dan Simmons, Jason Jones, and L.A. Graph are the others who used Ansible.)

There is at least one more: Elizabeth Moon.

Also Ansibles are, axiomatically, instantaneous or nearly so. Battletech's Comstar HPG Relays aren't instant, but are much faster than ships. Likewise for several other forms of FTL radio in various other authors' works.

There are numerous authors with similar devices differently named. Perhaps Robert should substitute 'instantaneous communication'. Or perhaps 'faster than the speed of travel'.


Hans

 

[robject]

I'm sure Jeff will phrase things to fit the audience.

 

[Blue Ghost]

OK, so I am considering helping a buddy out and doing a convention panel on Traveller. So, what do you Traveller fans out there really want people who are interested in learning more about Traveller but may have never played the game think they should know? I'm looking for input and ideas.

That it started out as a generic sci-fi RPG, but has evolved beyond that. But that even though it now has an established official setting, filled with gaming and science-fiction richness, it can still be played and modified to play any setting desired.

Then give examples of the big popular franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Battlestar Galactica and so forth.

Then give examples of how you can do all kinds of periods for setting, combat and what not. Tell the potential player they can use a sword, spear, submachinegun, an Aliens LMG, a Phaser, or even a blaster from Star Wars. Or, that they don't have to use any of those, but can, with the rules, create their own devices.

Finally, emphasize that it's not just a game for teenage boys, but for people of all ages. If I understand correctly, some people here play with their kids. Some with their girlfriends and so forth.

And emphasize that it is not (not usually, anyway) a rules heavy game, unless you get into advanced starship combat. Maybe emphasize classic character generation, and how a lot of people find that aspect of the game a fun game unto itself.

I think that will help.

 

[rancke]

Then give examples of the big popular franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Battlestar Galactica and so forth.

All of these have some decidedly un-Travellerish tropes, e.g. time travel, galaxy-spanning travel, light sabers. O course, there are SOME Traveller tropes that are almost universal and thus to be found in almost any setting, but I wouldn't use any of these as examples. Well, some of them might do for examples of 'Traveller without interstellar travel'.


Hans

 

[aramis]

That it started out as a generic sci-fi RPG, but has evolved beyond that.

so far, so good.

But that even though it now has an established official setting, filled with gaming and science-fiction richness, it can still be played and modified to play any setting desired.

Then give examples of the big popular franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Battlestar Galactica and so forth.

That part is really BAD advice for new-to-trav players these days. All of these require significant hacking. Star Wars, Star Trek, and BSG require hacking into the FTL travel mode, and have FTL comms, as well; two of the core tropes enshrined in rules, and which are core to the derivation of the trade system. Wells and Verne require significantly more hacking. And Dr. Who and Star Trek clearly exceed the tech scale of CT, T20, TNE, T4 and MGT.
Star Wars has ships into the multiple millions of Tons Displacement... and accelerations into the 30G range.

Before there was so much canon for Star Trek and Star Wars, it was easy to fake with Traveller, but 30 years of additional canon for both has rendered them really poor fits for the base assumptions of the tech paradigm.