TRAVELLER Preference

[Drakon]

Ship owners, light personal weapons / armor.
The adventure I am patching together occurs in part on a gigantic luxury starliner, where display of personal weapons would be intolerably rude.

But from there they will be investigating a murder, a decade-old trade war and ducal coup, Vargr/Zhodani diplomacy, and illicit research Imperial and otherwise, before getting to the nut of the problem, and will need to be doing a certain amount of running around in their own little rock-skipper transport.

I note the word "display" above. It seems to me that 1) The starliner should have a security detail, a "Master at Arms" force. 2) Any visiting dignitary or VIP might likely have have their own security detail. 3) Diplomats will have personal body guards, or even Marines. 4) Any criminal element will likely be be armed, as well as any undercover law enforcement agents such elements will attract.

So while no one is packing on their hip, unless there are weapons sensors all over the place, concealed carry sounds pretty popular.

 

[Gvadakoung]

So while no one is packing on their hip, unless there are weapons sensors all over the place, concealed carry sounds pretty popular.

Welcome aboard the Tukera Lines Starliner Verthandi, serving the Antares Sector with Destiny-Class luxury and Antebellum opulence. For ship safety, Tukera Lines requires personal arms be registered with the Warrant Officer, and secured in your stateroom locker during your voyage with us. Contests of Honor may be arranged at ports of call where such contests are not prohibited. In all other matters, please contact Ship Security should you require assistance.

There probably are ways to arrange to conceal a weapon - and admin/birbery check with the Warrant Officer, Tukera Lines security clearance, an Imperial Warrant, Ducal Prerogative, diplomatic immunity, etc. The ship's security detail is probably specifically trained in nonlethal subdual methods, and appropriately equipped with stunning implements. Note that this is passenger security - not the antihijack forces, who the passengers are unlikely to see unless they try to access the bridge.

 

[boomslang]

I prefer "light weapons", but my fellow players seemed to gravitate toward munchkinism, so I selected "heavy weapons".

"The referee should adjust the size, armor, and weaponry of the encountered party to match those of the PCs."

That never gets old...

:devil:

 

[Imperial Planetologist]

Keeping the ship equipped and running is an adventure in and of itself.

This.

The current group of characters in the game I'm running started off with a seeker equipped for salvage. After twelve years game-time they now have a fleet of a dozen merchant ships and cruisers, and they keep a mercenary battalion on the payroll.

So I picked ship owners with heavy weapons and armor.

 

[Rraurgrimm]

"Shipless Travellers, light personal weapons and armor" - though the characters are part of a starship crew (an 800t patrol cruiser design) and are part of the "Confederation d'Isles" in a campaign loosely based on the Trillion Credit Squadron background of the Islands cluster - they are unable to directly control the ships' actions and do not own it and are sometimes involved in fighting both aground and in space. Of course their decisions may influence what is happening.
Luckily we avoid heavy armours and weapons: it tends to get messy with those.

 

[Easterner9504]

Class

Sounds more like Active Duty Military than one of the civilian breakdown classes.

 

[BardicHeart]

I personally enjoy a mix of campaign styles, including military, exploration, scientific and mercantile. Favorite characters have included both noble and non noble military commanders, grunt troopers, scouts, genius scientists and various sorts of traders (from the scruffy to ambitious pros). Weapons and armor tend to be comensurate with the type of campaign. I've had officers who rarely picked up more than a pistol or broadsword... but commanded entire regiments or squadrons. I've had grunt troopers who were armed to the teeth. Scientists who carried no weapon, yet invented or repaired starships capable of obliterating entire cities. Pocket dictators who wielded the resources of an entire world... which still paled in comparison to the Imperium.

Its all relative.

 

[samuelvss]

I find the Scout Courier gets shoe-horned into a a lot of roles, and since the highest real age in my current game is 11, a lot more shooting than finess is involved. I find that law levels are a great "leveller," as they were made to be. The body pistol is a great "work around," but combat armor and heavy weapons means there are only a few places you can play.

Here's an interesting twist: how many "less lethal" weapon systems do your players have available? How often do they use tranq when force must be used to avoid some of the reprecussions of killing?

I have tried to ease soem of these in through patrons, but often it is ignored.

But here is a current adventure idea I had for a merc ticket: a firestorm from a war has left 500,000 in a small area homeless and starving on a nearby planet (J-2). A large (cost-plus) contract is offered to reach the world within 15 days, feed, shelter, and keep order. The initial contract is slim on the "-plus" side, but significant bonuses are offered for effectiveness and efficiency leading to minimum lives lost.

Gauss needles for crowd control would be discouraged....

 

[ravells]

I plumped for shipless with light weapons and armour, although it's pretty much a fifty / fifty with having a ship and light weapons. I kind of like the idea that ships should be rare and beautiful things which are earned. Access to a ship, sure, usually the players will serve as crew for a passage.

 

[mike wightman]

The shipless with light armour and weapons is in my opinion the best of the bunch. It is closest to the Dumarest novels that Traveller borrows from, it doesn't prevent the players from occaionally crewing a ship but does remove the Economists and Accountants elements of a ship based game, and it is also the campaign type I've had the most fun with over the years.

 

[Drakon]

I still like ship's owners and flying from planet to planet. I kind of like the econ stuff, its a small price to pay for visiting strange new worlds.

 

[Whipsnade]

I voted for "shipless with light armor and weapons" despite the fact that most of my campaigns involved PCs who owned or operated ships.

Removing or downplaying the accounts angle can only help IMHO. Players can get too fixated on mortgage payments or making their next million. In hindsight, my favorite campaign has to be "The Fixers" in which the players were troubleshooters.


Regards,
Bill

 

[stealth]

I take it nobody uses the title field?

Sooner or later, it all comes out. Everybody picks up auto-RAM GL's, PGMP's, x-ray lasers (ever get shot with an x-ray laser rifle? OUCH). Then it ususally ends with someone popping off an HE grenade and just dropping it as his feet (since nobody can escape the blast radius), somebody puts a tac-missle into the guy in battle-dress, or something equally lethal.

Our fire fights usually lasted about 2 seconds, and if you weren't fighting from ambush then your boots are now a handy pair of ash-trays. We did everything from stealth and carried freezer boxes for our heads, fighting with the full knowledge of how far weapon technology outstips armour in Traveller.

It was bloody, it was brutal, it was brief. But it was fun

 

[far-trader]

Just a few oddballs ;-) Now and then...

Hey, welcome aboard stealth

You were so sneaky I missed your arrival. Well actually I thought I'd seen this id here before so now I'm confused.

 

[Imperial Planetologist]

Sooner or later, it all comes out. Everybody picks up auto-RAM GL's, PGMP's, x-ray lasers (ever get shot with an x-ray laser rifle? OUCH). Then it ususally ends with someone popping off an HE grenade and just dropping it as his feet (since nobody can escape the blast radius), somebody puts a tac-missle into the guy in battle-dress, or something equally lethal.

Our fire fights usually lasted about 2 seconds, and if you weren't fighting from ambush then your boots are now a handy pair of ash-trays. We did everything from stealth and carried freezer boxes for our heads, fighting with the full knowledge of how far weapon technology outstips armour in Traveller.

It was bloody, it was brutal, it was brief. But it was fun

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Easterner9504]

Armor

Fortunately in GURPS TRAVELLER the armor evolves with each TL gain in some cases. So combat armor stops 28 points TL9 (a 7mm does 21 on avg) but stops 52 at TL 12 (CT= TL 15) a gauss halves your armor and does an avg 24 points, so arms & armor keep pace in some cases.

 

[Slatz_Grobnik]

If they just work for someone else who furnishes a ship they seem to lose the ship or it gets hurt more often then if they own it.

4 out of 5, I agree. One out of five, well, if you put effort into making who provides the ship an unusual character, there's a lot of payoff.

 

[Sir Brad]

I voted Ship & Light Weapons (normally Para-military), that's most of my campaigns, among the ones I'm GM'ing ATM is a Shipless with light Weapons, admittedly she has quite an armoury of of light paramilitary weapons.

 

[Quint]

I chose active duty military, but simply because I tend to run groups who are "in Imperial service" and tend to run around with ships and weapons as needed - either in personal use or attached to the appropriate service persons.

D.

 

[nobby-w]

I've done both - one I've done a couple of times is starting the party without a ship for the first few sessions and then having them acquire a ship from some adventure. Pride of Lions from the JTAS was a good scenario for this, as it also got the party a patron who owed them a favour. Other options could involve a derelict ship a la Annic Nova, although the ship could be more conventional.

The campaign would start out with a lightly armed party, who would progress through a lightly armed party with a ship and maybe get hold of some heavier kit.

IMTU I also had a brisk market in used spaceships, with the price really based on the revenue generating capability of the ship, so you could pick up a small starship for a few million.