What the players need to learn?

[Rhialto the Marvelous]

Jeffr0, very impressive work you did there... wow.

IIRC the Bowman Arm is a cool mini-sandbox. That would be an ideal starting point.

 

[Rhialto the Marvelous]

Re. players knowing the rules or not, that's ultimately a matter of taste IMO. Both are viable, although in my experience only people new to the hobby will be open to the S4 approach nowadays.

 

[Supplement Four]

Re. players knowing the rules or not, that's ultimately a matter of taste IMO. Both are viable, although in my experience only people new to the hobby will be open to the S4 approach nowadays.

I've been gaming with the same group of people for 20+ years. I'd call them veteran gamers. They could give two swats o' flies for the rules. They just want to play...and, they're damn good role players.

I had a Conan game going. It's the first d20 game I've run in something like 20 years. The d20 system seems to require players to know about the rules (for building characters, feats and such).

Guess what. My Conan game is dying. Not because the story isn't interesting (they seem to really like that). It's those damn, pesky, crunchy, d20 rules.

I know them well. But, the players aren't learning their feats and stuff. They're not thinking ahead far enough with their characters to build them. And, they've already made some mistakes in the past.

 

[aramis]

See, that's the thing: you've been gaming with the same people, and they have a deep abiding trust that you'll deal with it.

In a crunchy game, especially one like 4E or D20, a player MUST know the rules in order to play effectively, if only the rules for their own abilities.

It actually reinforces the need for players to know the rules as a generality, while also pointing out that, for some groups and for some gamers, it's not needed.

My WFRP (1E) game, I have a new-to-WFRP player playing a wizard (started as a Wizard's apprentice). Experienced gamer. All I had to tell him was the basics of combat: On your initiative, you get your action, and you roll d% for either adjusted WS or less to hit with melee, or adjusted BS or less for ranged; or you roll 2d6 for current magic points or less to cast. If you go faster than walk, you can't attack nor cast; exception: if you charge, you have to move at least 4yd straight at them, and get a +10WS and +1 Damage. Damage is 1d6+(your S) -(target's T)-(armor in location hit), and comes off wounds; at the end of the round, if you are negative, you're back to zero, and if a hit drives you neg, you take a crit. Called shots are -20...

That gave him enough to understand that he's not likely to hit if he does fancy stuff, that he can and should charge, and that he's not as fragile as 5W really looks. (He's 2T, so he IS fragile, but we didn't tell him that.) Since everything else works similarly in WFRP, it was enough. When he got XP, we taught him to use them.

For CT, the combat system is straightforward, but table driven. I hated it until I cornered my Ref, and got him to explain it. Then I found it workable, becuase I now had a clue about what weapons were useful and to what ranges. He used a "2d6+Skill" for announced target number or more as his normal task mode. To try unskilled, 3d6 for Stat+JoT or less.

 

[flykiller]

Use Scouts to create a subsector (if not using an official subsector).
Use Trillion Credit Squadron to create the fleets (if necessary for your game) to create the possible vessels in this subsector.
Use Grand Census and Grand Survey to detail the heck out of the worlds you've created.

this is all an awful lot of work.

lots of people have placed their subsector work on the net. you can lift entire sections of it and place it all in your game.

even more people have placed their fleet concepts on the net. if you see one that would work in your game you can just go with that.

detailing worlds is enormous effort. start with the one your players are at, and move outward from there - don't try to do it all at once.

 

[Jeffr0]

this is all an awful lot of work.

And even if you had all of that customized data... how do you synthesize it to get gameable material?

Plot plot plot plot plot!! Characters chacters characters characters!

That other stuff is just chrome and bogs down the begining ref. So what if your steller generation is inferior to Constantine Thomas's approach. That has nothing to do with running a game of Traveller.

Too much census/science data turns it all into "Accountants and Asteroids."

 

[rsitalyct]

This is true, and I would add that, if prepped right, there *will* be no railroad. You actually can go anywhere, because anywhere has in fact been mapped out, however roughly--and roughly is all that's required. Setting up such a "sandbox" environment takes a little while, but even a beginner can do it.

My online buddy Rob Conley wrote a great post on how to go about it (and S4 has described similar strategies).

http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2008/10/to-me-traveller-public-by-gdw-games-and.html

Very useful post ... thanks for sharing!

Roberto

 

[rsitalyct]

WOW ... I have found all the answers really interesting!
I have collected a lot of suggestions that will help me on how to proceed.
For sure I have a long road in front of me for become a good GM!

A big thanks to all ...

Roberto

 

[aramis]

It was no problem to detail out every world in the sector using Mercator... but Rob's not updated it in more than a decade... 68K & PPC Mac only!

 

[Jeffr0]

One more tip... for the ref with new players. Note what this grizzled pro is doing here:

"Finally my fantasy setting continues to use standard tropes of D&D. Stuff that I borrowed from over the years (Harn, Ars Magica, etc) serve to flesh out these tropes rather than replace them. The problem I find with settings like 7th Sea, Exhalted, Eberron and others are that there is a learning curve invovled before the players get comfortable. By sticking with standard tropes new players can make assumptions about my setting that are valid." -- Rob Conley

http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2008/10/old-school-essence.html

(That's from the same guy that was linked to earlier.)

Do not put the learning curve of the OTU gestalt on your players shoulders. If they are unsure of what to do... start laying out the cliches and sci-fi tropes-- they'll perk up because they know exactly what part to play. Data and subtleties are meaningless to new players-- but cliches are an invitation to start playing!

 

[rsitalyct]

One more tip... for the ref with new players. Note what this grizzled pro is doing here:

"Finally my fantasy setting continues to use standard tropes of D&D. Stuff that I borrowed from over the years (Harn, Ars Magica, etc) serve to flesh out these tropes rather than replace them. The problem I find with settings like 7th Sea, Exhalted, Eberron and others are that there is a learning curve invovled before the players get comfortable. By sticking with standard tropes new players can make assumptions about my setting that are valid." -- Rob Conley

http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2008/10/old-school-essence.html

(That's from the same guy that was linked to earlier.)

Do not put the learning curve of the OTU gestalt on your players shoulders. If they are unsure of what to do... start laying out the cliches and sci-fi tropes-- they'll perk up because they know exactly what part to play. Data and subtleties are meaningless to new players-- but cliches are an invitation to start playing!

Another interesting blog ... thanks!

Roberto