Which adventure format do you prefer?

[Blue Ghost]

So I'm back to writing the stuff I wanted to write for this game, and an odd thought occured to me; that is I really like the old adventure format from the LBBs; i.e. "Standards and Assumptions", "Setup", "Background", "Characters" and "Equipment".

It's very simple, basic, and less cinematically driven as Avery's "EPIC" format. I'm pretty stupified by the Epic format because, well, it is "epic". That is the few adventures I've bought and DL'd from this site are really huge, and seem to delve into a level of detail that the previous published adventures didn't seem to address.

So, with that in mind, for you expeienced Traveller-nards who've Refed and played both formats, which do you prefer? Do you prefer the epic format, or the older LBB format?

 

[Cryton]

Wow. Rough question.

Im actually going to have to say, I dont really have a preference.

I love the LBB format as it allows me to keep a game "small" when thats what both my players and I want to do.

And as you said, the EPIC system is fantastic for just that sort of game. EPIC.

I also have to say I do kinda miss the "nugget" format.

Overall though, I think I wouldn't mind seeing more of both in published things as they both have their place in my gaming groups.

 

[Madarin Dude]

My favorite kind is episodic story arc with other stuff in it. The Traveller adventure is the only example that I know of for Traveller. Runequest had a few like that like Griffen Mountain.Both ad parts that were fluff adventures and characters that you can use anywhere and the big adventure too. Maybe a series of adventures involved in exploring a region of space and life in the outskirts of the Imperium.

 

[MJD]

Having been forced to use the EPIC system extensively, I feel that while it works for some types of adventure, it can be very difficult to shoehorn others into the format. I guess it suffers from usual the problem with trying to create a one-size-fits-all product: you can jam most things in but sometimes a custom item is more comfortable.

 

[Vargr]

I can hardly be considered an experienced Traveller GM, having run only a couple of adventures, and never an EPIC one.

I will say, for what it is worth, that I love the traditional LBB adventure format.

Remember, we are dealing with a setting with a time-frame of thousands of years spread across hundreds of light-years. The pre-adventure information ("Standards and Assumptions", "Setup", "Background", "Characters" and "Equipment") is practically sine qua non. It sure makes the GM job a whole lot easier knowing the "Where", "When", "Who", "How" and "Why" before delving into the plot.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Thanks guys.

Writing in Epic format strikes me as akin to writing an outline for a screenplay. And, having written dozens of screenplays (a few of which I hope to shoot someday) I can say that it's no mean feat. I tried following the basic Epic format, but I just couldn't get myself retooled mentally for it.

I like the LBB format, for what it's worth, and I'll see what the powers that be think of it once I finish the first one.

Thanks for the input.

 

[kafka47]

Call me new old fashioned...I liked the DGP Nugget format...it had structure but could easily be adapted for sandbox play. Many don't like it because it reaked of railroading but I think in the wrong hands...yes...but if you look carefully it just was a framework the referee did not have to do
1->2 -> 3 or 5 and then back to 4. Also, I think it provided a lot of guidance for first time referees. Then again...I also like the purple pose of TSR products....

 

[jatay3]

Thanks guys.

Writing in Epic format strikes me as akin to writing an outline for a screenplay. And, having written dozens of screenplays (a few of which I hope to shoot someday) I can say that it's no mean feat. I tried following the basic Epic format, but I just couldn't get myself retooled mentally for it.

I like the LBB format, for what it's worth, and I'll see what the powers that be think of it once I finish the first one.

Thanks for the input.

Actually, what I think would be great would be a Traveller equiv of Dune or Lotr.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Dune or Tolkien? I'm not following. Could you elaborate?

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

The LBB standard is my preference, since I can embellish its contents to 'epic' proportions all on my own. And even though the EPIC format is nicely-structured, there has never been an adventure in that format that I have not had to adjust for context or continuity.

The Adventure Nugget also makes for a good starting point.

 

[aramis]

My preferred adventure format is the DGP Cinematic Nugget Format.

 

[jatay3]

Dune or Tolkien? I'm not following. Could you elaborate?

A talented writer who goes out of his way to make a long and elaborate epic set in TTU.

 

[kafka47]

A talented writer who goes out of his way to make a long and elaborate epic set in TTU.

Is that not what Secrets of the Ancients is doing over at Mongoose...

Seriously, the storybank of shared adventures is rather scanty in Traveller. I would seriously welcome more OTU Epic (not Epic TM) Adventures but Megamodules.

This has always been the edge that D&D has had one us Traveller. Our adventures are more than fight & loot - and finding the crafted writer who can combine that with a sense of adventure and wonder (that feeling that we ain't in Kansas anymore) is seriously needed.

 

[jatay3]

Is that not what Secrets of the Ancients is doing over at Mongoose...

Seriously, the storybank of shared adventures is rather scanty in Traveller. I would seriously welcome more OTU Epic (not Epic TM) Adventures but Megamodules.

This has always been the edge that D&D has had one us Traveller. Our adventures are more than fight & loot - and finding the crafted writer who can combine that with a sense of adventure and wonder (that feeling that we ain't in Kansas anymore) is seriously needed.

D&D? You mean with fixed character alignments, generic setting, and plots centered around walking around in caves to no particular purpose? You can't beat that?

 

[kafka47]

Crudely, that is what D&D was...but it also developed intricate and intricate storylines that provided more Push & Pull and Enigmas than most Traveller adventures.

Also, as Modules developed more attention was paid to the backstory and character development. It also spawned Campaigns that had adventures could be fitted together and played separately. Traveller never left the sandbox.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. For I came really into D&D around time that it was quite mature {circa 1981} and my preferences naturally reflect what was the material at that time (which is why I hate 3e & 4e) so I guess I am a Hickman heretic to some but remain an old fart to others.

 

[jatay3]

Crudely, that is what D&D was...but it also developed intricate and intricate storylines that provided more Push & Pull and Enigmas than most Traveller adventures.

Also, as Modules developed more attention was paid to the backstory and character development. It also spawned Campaigns that had adventures could be fitted together and played separately. Traveller never left the sandbox.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. For I came really into D&D around time that it was quite mature {circa 1981} and my preferences naturally reflect what was the material at that time (which is why I hate 3e & 4e) so I guess I am a Hickman heretic to some but remain an old fart to others.

Why didn't Traveller "leave the sandbox"? There's so much outside.

 

[kafka47]

Why didn't Traveller "leave the sandbox"? There's so much outside.

Good question and one guaranteed to raise some interesting answers.

We can only speculate but here is some facts...

Traveller was produced by one company/group of people for a long time who had their roots in wargaming not RPGs. While that group slowly expanded the core ethic remained. Traveller until recently was built upon unchangeable code of what is Traveller and what was not by RPG companies who did not really foster innovation and were quite hostile to things like Open Sourcing... Although, the original Traveller (CT) had tons of fan efforts they did little to sway the big players. There was also a conscious move not to ape D&D lest it be relegated to "D&D in Space" then when the Storyteller system came in not to be "Vampire in Space", etc. There was also a tight reign on what was the Intellectual Property reinforced by elements of fandom (whose rallying cry is: "That's not Traveller") which has hampered innovation. Many of the guiding ethos has not been entrepreneurial but intrapreneurial innovation (the improving of a product rather than revolutionizing it). D&D spawned a spin-off industry in the form of the boom of fantasy literature whereas, Traveller was until recently built upon an existing literature (Golden Age SF).

How does this relate back to modules...for me other than the basic rules Modules form part of the collective consciousness of RPGs. They form the basis of shared stories which liven and sustain the hobby. True, many people are natural storytellers (no WW reference) and can recount many great adventures which is completely valid but it is only through the sharing of similar experiences do we build community and modules provide one outlet for that. Because modules and adventures in Traveller have been rather sparse and formulaic (in the sense only following the proscribed path set down in the sandbox) Traveller lost some of the vitality that could otherwise be subscribed to it. Why did it not follow suit.

Perhaps, that has do with the inner dynamics of GDW which unleashed a torrent of RPGs but Traveller was marginalized after the CT era supported mainly through supplements rather than adventures.

Successor companies either "did not get" (according to that one segment of fandom) or did not produce the same proliferation hence the art of adventure writing was not refined.

 

[Blue Ghost]

I think that's part of it, but I think the larger part is that Traveller always felt like a generic shelf product. D&D had the advantage in that even though it was a generic shelf product, the background from which it draws its rules is colorful and free of copyright issues; i.e. Chaucer's estate couldn't sue TSR for some medieval reference, nor Homer nor Poe, nor even Tolkien because his material was essentially mythology and folklore.

Traveller had the disadvantage in that it was meant to be to sci-fi what D&D was to fantasy. Only Traveller can't publish Godzilla or Star Wars material without either getting permission or sued. So Traveller has to rely on its own ingenuity and good looks to thrive and bring in new blood. For a sci-fi RPG that's a pretty tall order, but most sci-fi types are fairly well grounded, and look beyond the flash of a D&D. Traveller has developed its own history as well, so it's got some customer loyalty going for it.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

I think that's part of it, but I think the larger part is that Traveller always felt like a generic shelf product...

I can see that. But that's not the be-all and do-all of Traveller. On the surface, Traveller seem to be little more than "Shotguns in Space" and the various methods that referees employ to put them there. Deeper than that, Traveller is a Whole New Universe each time I crack open one of the LBBs and raise my pen to write a new adventure. The basic framework allows me to be creative without having to rely on commercial products.

The downside is that not many people see science-fiction as much more than James T. Skywalker and the Temple of the Holy Grail. Popular media aside, not many people read the classics that inspired M.W. Miller to set down a few rules regarding six-sided dice and a space-faring genre. I've read not only Asimov and Bradbury, but Kafka and Tolstoy as well! But try to impress that level of conflict on players that are more interested in figuring out how to talk me into allowing light-sabres into the game.

Us auldenfartzen who remember Hugo Gernsback and his publishing empire cringe at the sight of yet another androgynous anime bishonen using magic to power his 100-metre tall, sword-wielding, flying robot. We know that 'real' Traveller has more in common with Aliens and Outland than Power Rangers and Sailor Moon. But when we present a future that involves more intrigue, double-dealing and mystery than flash-bang battles and gee-whiz gadgetry, we lose the interest of newer players that were brought up on Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon.

I'd say we're a dying breed.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Possibly, but I think it may be more a sign of the times than anything else. All those sci-fi geeks and nerds you and I grew up with went on to become engineers and researchers of various types. What does that mean? Well, they went ahead and did the leg work to make those cool gadgets you mentioned that were once only confined to TV, movies and comic books (novels too). So, the sci-fi-ness of tech like a communicator is pase to the youngins, in my opinion. Because an iPhone or some knockoff does tons more than a Trek communicator ever could (as far as we know).

In short, kids today are tougher to impress because yesterday's tomorrowland is encroaching on our existence.

But that doesn't mean Traveller can't bust the mold. Referencing back to Trek, imagine running a session with the vampire cloud from "Obsession" descending on your player group. No amount of Gauss ammo or fusion fire is going to burst this cloud's bubble. So, how do you deal with it? That's where the players need to pull their craniums together and formulate some plan based on what they know. To me that's Traveller (along with the shotguns in space thing ). Finding good authors who can devise and writeup clever adventures I think is key.

Your bugaboo about Anime-Fantasy is something I share. I still don't understand what the hell is up with spikey-haired dude with oversized sword genre. I mean, .. why? Just ... why? Particularly when there's so much classic stuff like Burroughs and Bradbury that's so much more interesting. But that's just me.

Anyway, did any of this post make sense