http://www.rpgbloggers.com The best in tabletop RPG blogs Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:07:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rpgblog2/~3/wFOqwz79wvQ/legacy-of-traveller.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rpgblog2/~3/wFOqwz79wvQ/legacy-of-traveller.html#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:54:00 +0000 RPG Blog II tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702508936667404812.post-4114624702882260572 Traveller. Here we have a game that was one of the first few sci-fi/space RPGs released, in 1977, and it is still at the top of its RPG genre. Sure, there have been new editions, but unlike other game lines that have been updated, its original form and function is still largely followed, rules-wise. Mongoose Traveller, the latest iteration, is closer to Classic Traveller than any other version of the game, and many feel it’s close enough to be regarded as a sibling with some clean-up and tweaks. Meanwhile, Classic Traveller itself is still one of the best-supported games online, second perhaps only to all editions of D&D.

How many game lines can say they’ve stayed remarkably close to the mark over the years, especially for multiple decades? Certainly Mongoose RuneQuest veers from the original, as does the latest iteration of Dungeons & Dragons (as have the various, sometimes sorry, editions of Gamma World). Tunnels & Trolls can make this boast as well, but it’s a short list after that, especially if we only look at sci-fi and space games.

Do we have other space/sci-fi RPGs? Of course! It’s not a knock against Traveller that there are so many other space and sci-fi games out there; rather, it’s about the richness of the genre, and just how many possibilities there are therein.

No, it’s a homage to the long-lasting design, appeal, and premise of Traveller that after all these years, it’s still setting a standard for that part of the hobby. Games come and go; Traveller endures.

]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rpgblog2/~3/wFOqwz79wvQ/legacy-of-traveller.html/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/browncoats-inspiration/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/browncoats-inspiration/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:56:58 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=610 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/browncoats-inspiration/feed/ 0 http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2010/08/many-spinward-marches.html http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2010/08/many-spinward-marches.html#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:00:00 +0000 Bat in the Attic tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904133056957353312.post-4347298646553164750 http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2010/08/many-spinward-marches.html/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/traveller-the-skill-based-odd/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/traveller-the-skill-based-odd/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:04:19 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=605 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/traveller-the-skill-based-odd/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/youre-in-a-bar/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/youre-in-a-bar/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 23:12:29 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=547 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/youre-in-a-bar/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/love-the-game-hate-the-setting/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/love-the-game-hate-the-setting/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:03:07 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=537 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/love-the-game-hate-the-setting/feed/ 0 http://thekyngdoms.com/keith/?p=655 http://thekyngdoms.com/keith/?p=655#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:14:45 +0000 The Kyngdoms http://thekyngdoms.com/keith/?p=655 http://thekyngdoms.com/keith/?p=655/feed/ 0 http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/our-story-so-far.html http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/our-story-so-far.html#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:24:00 +0000 Under A Blood Red Sky tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://7ff6eb5e95ef7f1fcc84f72c6cac65d8

"So the team finally made it to the planet surface where they were able to obtain material help from the Covert Team located at Kohang. Despite a few encounters from the local patrols there were no untoward incidences. With the aid of the local smugglers they were able to get their equipment aboard the monorail that will get them closer to their objective. A thousand kilometers away from the objective the rug was pulled out from under them as the monorail was derailed. Mushroom clouds were rising from the horizon. The city of Chu from which they had just passed through a more than a thousand kilometers behind them rising up in its own mushroom cloud. Making their way out of the wreckage the team notes the weather in the area is frosty with sleet falling."

By now, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the button was finally pushed and doomsday has arrived on the planet. The War to End All Wars has finally started between the Free Commerce and Private Ownership Blocs.

Stranded in the middle of nowhere, in a cold and wind-swept steppe, dressed in uniforms of troops from an Internal Security Special Unit, our Travellers, through one of my players have voiced these concerns:

"Here is the situation in a nutshell.

1.Mu is a thousand kilometers away.

2.We are on a wrecked monorail.

3.Our smuggled care package is in one of four trains.

4.Are any of the party injured?

5.Combat Environment Suits will provide limited nuclear protection. Which means in my mind that Bob has the discretion to tell us when we have reached the limit. It is not unrealistic to assume that the suits are considered disposable due to radiation exposure. They will protect from background radiation but not direct exposure. At this point we shelter in the train we are in and search it for useful items. Skills that should prove useful would be Survival, Navigation (Land), Recon, Medic and J-O-T.

6.Once we are suited up and armed then we make the decision as to where we are going. Mu where there is possibly a Scout Outpost with the artifacts or to the coast which I have no idea where or how far is on the map?

7.Additional resources will depend on what we will find on the way, (to where I have no idea!)."

Reading through the above, it dawned upon me that this is the first time I'll be testing the Combat Environment Suit in Mercenary for proof against radioactive fallout- something that it was always claimed to have been designed for. In some strange way, the present situation on Porozlo harkens to the wars which may well just qualify as the Mutant Past in a Mutant Future game.

I guess we'll be seeing how things will turn out on our next session on the 7th of August. I can't wait!

]]> http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/our-story-so-far.html/feed/ 0 http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-intro-to-players-for-our-current.html http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-intro-to-players-for-our-current.html#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:05:00 +0000 Under A Blood Red Sky tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://0a925c2b9f3f0035d0e25ed54da4cf2f
I'm still trying to get an after-action report of our last session set up, so by way of introduction, let me present this er, intro.

Since everyone requested to play active-service operatives for the Imperium (as opposed to mustered-out/retired adventurers/mercs), the premise here is that their characters are part of a special operations group 'answerable to the highest levels of government in the Spinward Marches'. Yes, it sounds cheesy but it gets the game going, neh?

Think Mission Impossible meets Aliens, or something to that effect.

Porozlo is a world taken from canonical GDW Traveller lore. It was mentioned in Book 4 (Mercenary) and the 76 Patrons supplement. Essentially, it is a highly populated, up-and-coming planet divided until recently between a liberal Free Commerce Alliance and a more inward-oriented Private Ownership Bloc. I also hand-drew a hex map of the world and colored it to boot using colored pencils I cribbed from my son's doodling supplies. Unfortunately, the map won't scan properly, so I won't be able to post it for now.

I normally always send out such intros for my players to chew on before running a game. In this case, I fed them this and left them alone as to how they will accomplish the mission. This includes coming in, getting to the mission area and going out.

-Start-

Date: 1108 Imperial

Mission: Retrieval of Ancient Artifact

Area: Poroszlo [Rhylanor/Spinward Marches] (A867A74-A)

Intel briefing:

Poroszlo is a high tech, balkanized, high population planet in the Rhylanor subsector of the Spinward Marches. Its population, until recently, was divided mainly into two camps- the Free Commerce (FC) Bloc and the Private Ownership (PO) Bloc. The FC nations are concentrated mainly on the large western continent of San Miklos. Although controlling about 2/3s of Poroszlo's population of 9+ billion, the FC nations are the richest, most tech advanced countries on the planet. They adhere to a policy of close ties with off-world mega-corporations and business concerns.

The PO Bloc on the other hand controls the much of the remaining majority on the planet and are concentrated on the central supercontinent of Hoxha. This is further divided into two great states: the Greater People's Democratic Collective (DemoCol) and the Supreme Federated People's Union (SFPU). The PO adheres to a nationalistic, Poroszlo-first policy and are wary of off-world mega-corp 'imperialism'.

Tensions always remained high on the planet giving rise to brush fire wars and coups, the latest most serious being the counter-coup in Steposzhevac, on San Miklos, wherein numerous off-world mercenary contingents figured in forcibly unseating a pro-PO junta.

[note: refer to sample tickets in Book 4, Mercenary for more background]

Last year, the fragile situation was upset by hostilities between two ostensibly allied nations: the DemoCol and SPFU. Skirmishes along both authoritarian nations' shared border erupted into full-scale war. Most predicted a swift DemoCol victory in view of the latter's more sophisticated armed forces (stiffened liberally by higher TL imported military hardware). After swift gains deep into SFPU territory, the DemoCol forces were locked into a stalemate as the SFPU numbers slowed down the DemoCol advance. This Greater Hoxha Eastern Theater of Operations eventually became a meatgrinder which consumed division after division of conscripts from both sides.

Four months ago, a senior officer coup occured in the Republic of Morovic, on San Miklos, wherein the pro-FC national assembly was held hostage by air assault pathfinders commanded by conservative elements in the military. The pro-PO coup plotters appeared to have miscalculated as this led to a spontaneous popular uprsing by the pro-FC segment of the population. With fighting in the streets, the members of the national assembly still at large sent a formal request for FC Bloc military intervention. This was followed by a ultimatum by the DemoCol that any intervention will be considered a formal act of war against the PO. Curiously, the SFPU remained neutral on account of continuing aid and support from the FC Bloc.

48 hours later, air assault units of the FC Bloc landed in Morovic with armored brigades crossing the border from Steposzhevac to the south. Later that day, a state of war existed between the FC Bloc and the DemoCol.

Already under strain from the campaign against the sFPU, the DemoCol forces were pushed steadily eastwards into the home territories of the DemoCol constituencies as generally better-equipped and sophisticated FC Bloc forces went into the attack.

As of the present, FC Bloc forces have pushed as far as 2000 km into DemoCol territory.

So far, none of the combatants have used their stock of nuclear or biological weapons but reported use of chemical weapons has been reported.

Mission:

The Scout Technical Services Branch (R&D office) along with the Liason branch (contact and liason Office) maintains a covert station in the northern territorial area of the SFPU. The existence of this station is highely classified - the decision to create and maintain this goes all the way up to the Office of Sector Archduke Norris. it appears that certain mysterious archeological sites were discovered in the far north of the eastern part of Hoxha - sites which appear to have yielded inexplicable artifacts of ultra-high TL. it is postulated that these could even be from the precursor race known as the Ancients.

The covert station is in the heart of a SFPU industrial settlement, which unfortunately is now an active warzone after the DemoCol opened its northeastern front in an attempt to deprive the SFPU of its source of strategic minerals and resources.

Your mission is to proceed immediately to Poroszlo and retrieve a list of items from the inventory of the station. Failing to do so, you are to completely destroy the whole inventory of the station.

Important:

1. Poroszlo is now an Amber Travel Zone. Travellers proceed with caution.

2. The Imperial Navy just imposed a blockade of all military activity in the system. All travel two and from the world is restricted to the main starport of Timosoara in the continent of San Miklos (FC Bloc territory) and the subsidiary spaceports in the SFPU and the DemoCol.

3. Space and air defenses remain very tight throughout the planet - a legacy of a prolonged state of political tension in the past. this contributes to a lot of emphasis in ground-based action.

4. We have solid imperial contacts in Timosoara. there is a small spy ring in the SFPU and DemoCol spaceport areas, respectively.

5. you are expected to find a way into the planet, arrange for mission-specific gear and to get to the mission site. you have to specify what support you need so we can assess if this is available.

6. The FC has, until recently, employed numerous off-world mercenary contingents. the SFPU may have a few (officially known as Offworld Military Advisers) and the DemoCol has a few also (officially termed as People's Democratic Volunteers).

-end-

If you do see any parellels between the events here and something you came across in a history or game book, chances are you're correct. I admit to cribbing something from both actual history and a game book to spruce this up. I just hoped I wasn't too obvious!

]]> http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-intro-to-players-for-our-current.html/feed/ 0 http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/giving-life-to-characters-places-and.html http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/giving-life-to-characters-places-and.html#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:51:00 +0000 Under A Blood Red Sky tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://fdb67df4722a01aaa830d9f252d9e547
The dizzying variety of RPGs indicates a correspondingly dizzying variety of setting down the facts and figures which make up a player character. I recall dicing up characters in high school for Metamorphosis Alpha and writing up the stats on a torn-off sheet of notebook paper, and I’ve seen the same thing repeated recently with the Mutant Future characters of some of my players in my more recent campaign. On the other end of the spectrum, the sheer amount of data in ‘newer’ type games I’ve ran/played in would give an income tax return from our Bureau of Internal Revenue a run for its money. Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition and Gurps are two games that come to the top of my mind in this regard.

All these of course can be abbreviated, hence we have stat blocks or chopped up versions of the most important character stats in the character sheet.

In Classic Traveller (CT), what counts are the Universal Profiles. We have Universal Personality Profiles (UPPs) for player and non-player characters, Universal Ship Profiles (USPs) for starships and Universal World Profiles (UWPs) for er, worlds.

Traveller uses the hexadecimal system in encoding character attribute stats, such that values from one to nine are written normally but values from ten upwards are expressed in letters. Hence ten becomes A, eleven becomes B, twelve becomes C, and so on. A human character in CT can have an attribute score of two to fifteen. You roll two six-sided dice twice each for Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education and Social Standing, which are the attributes of every human character. This gives you an unmodified spread of two to twelve. You get a chance to raise attributes higher than twelve during the character generation process itself (then again, you can also lose points during character generation and end up with lower attributes than those you originally rolled).

The point I’m driving at here is the UPP of player and non-player characters in Traveller is, to my mind, an example of a succinct way of encoding the totality of a character’s stats to ensure that you get an idea of what she can do in one fast glance. Very much sort of like shorthand notation.

Take the example of Army Captain Sam Riley, one of the operatives running loose on Porozlo from last Saturday’s game. His UPP is Capt. Riley: ACC885. One glance tells me the Captain is stronger than average, with excellent reflexes and endurance. He’s quite smart too, with a decent education. A social standing of 5 would seems that he came from a middle-class background. All around, Captain Riley is a cut above the rest of the crowd- good stats for a smart, deadly survivor type in the service of the Imperium.

Putting this together with the incidents in Captain Riley’s career- which are played blocks of four year terms at a stretch in the basic rules- and you have what you need to flesh out a CT character. Unlike newer-type games, I don’t need advantages, disadvantages, quirks, doodads, shticks or other gimmicks to flesh out this character. Instead, I extrapolate from his UPP and my dice rolls during the character generation career cycle using a lot of imagination. This to me is another hallmark of the Old School way of gaming: letting your own imagination free in using the data in one’s character sheet and cobbling them up together to come up with something uniquely yours.

Although the UPP and the rest of Capt. Riley’s character sheet will look downright anemic by some of today’s gaming standards, I consider this a blessing, rather than a curse. This serves to free the player – remove the fetters and enable one to really stir up one’s grey matter and come up with an interpretation of the stats to flesh out the character.

The same principle works out with the UWP in CT’s Worlds and Adventure. This is where, as game master and umpire, I get a lot of gaming satisfaction. Each world’s UWP data string is shorthand detailing the basic stats of a planet. Starport type, size, atmosphere, hydrographic percentage, population, governmental type, law level and the ever-important tech level are learned by one glance at the profile. Hence, our current setting Porozlo has a UWP of A867A74-A.

At one glance this tells you our world has an Excellent Quality Starport, a Planetary Diameter of about 12,800 km (roughly comparable to Earth), a standard breathable atmosphere for Terra-humans, about 70% ocean cover, a population running to almost ten billion (crowded!), a balkanized political structure (meaning no central world government- something like what we have on Earth today), a rather liberal law level near the Starport and a technology level more advanced that what we have today (with developed non-FTL craft and primitive gravitics) but still only average by overall Imperial standards.

Not bad for one string of numbers.

Of course, this is just the jumping-off point for real world development. I took these facts and, together with some rather sparse canonical data published by GDW in Mercenary, ran with them and built up a current setting for our game.

Again, imagination is a key ingredient. Other systems can (and do have) more extensive world generation parameters, but to me, this is all I need. Perhaps it is this sparseness which lends itself to a lot of player/umpire creativity to bring the stats to life which really characterizes Old School gaming and differentiates it from the newer varieties which are in much use today.

In any case, whether you prefer the older-type rules sets or the more contemporary ones, you’ll never go wrong by investing a lot of imagination in your games.

]]> http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/giving-life-to-characters-places-and.html/feed/ 0 http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/combat-drop.html http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/combat-drop.html#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:53:00 +0000 Under A Blood Red Sky tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://ed965f3dfe0ae3ef051d24286aa9de55
Traveller is known for its power armored troops in what is known as Battledress. For those of you who aren't into the military SF genre, think Iron Man. Imagine something like his armored suit with all the hydraulic power boosts, weapons packages and doo-dads. Imagine the 101st airborne going in for an assault drop somewhat like that in Normandy or Holland in '44 but kick up the tech level considerably and give them Iron Man's powersuits. Have them coming in from orbit while the Navy provides high guard cover and the Army's Close Orbital Aerospace Command flies interference on the deck. Traveller has a supplement called Mercenary which deals quite a lot with this.

The thing is, I can see another generational gap interposing itself here. My player is a younger fellow (most of them are!) weaned on Warhammer 40k novels. I believe he is presently reading about the Space Wolves and their drop pods from orbit, hence his request. Me, I'm very much game for this but chances are, the game will be resembling more of Heilein's Starship Troopers during the best times (read: when the mission turns out well) and Joe Haldeman's Forever War, as a default setting.

In any case, a game we'll be playing on this theme is bound to be interestingly fun to say the least...

]]> http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/combat-drop.html/feed/ 0 http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/back-to-gaming.html http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/back-to-gaming.html#comments Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:24:00 +0000 Under A Blood Red Sky tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://69ca6fd9e921f083e9167b1983483b01
My Mutant Future game is on hold for the moment. A combination of lack of time and scheduling problems compounded by umpire burnout sort of doomed this game of mine to the archives for the moment.

What I've been playing lately is my other great old school rpg love: Classic Traveller. So far, I've been very lucky to be able to get a few Saturdays off in order to get a Traveller game running with a semblance of regularity. I also take my hat off to my players for being really patient and so willing to give my first SFRPG love a try. I've been running and playing games in the Traveller universe on an off since 1981 under a series of different game systems spanning the original Little Black Book (LBB) set from GDW, to the latest incarnation in GURPS 2nd edition. What I haven't done yet was to take Mongoose's Traveller version for a spin, even if I managed to buy a copy of the rulebook on PDF.

So far, I managed to walk my players through the basics of classic traveller after running them a pre-made adventure by GDW called Night of Conquest.

Traveller, in its earliest incarnation (being the 1977 version) consisted of three basic little black books. One for character generation and combat (unsurprisingly entitled Characters and Combat), one for space craft and space combat (entitled Starships - rather essential to a space operatic SF game) and a third one dealing with planets, systems, equipment and other rules (entitled Worlds and Adventure). Re-reading my dog-earned version of these rules (which are also referred to collectively as Classic Traveller or CT) just drove the point home to me how much these were more of a SF gaming toolkit which, when properly used, would allow an enterprising gaming group to create their own SF space opera game.

Without going into an extensive discussion of the influences of CT, the best way I found to describe the feel and nature of a Traveller game in more contemporary terms would be to say that playing in it would be more akin to Firefly or the remake of Battlestar Galactica rather than Star Wars (particularly the later Episodes One to Three).

The game does show its 1960s SF roots and the tech level of the seventies - what with an emphasis on safetech and the liberal persistence of slug throwers (ie. Bullet Firing Guns) in an age of faster than light drive and galactic-scale empires. Somehow, this has always resonated powerfully with me - or maybe it's just my advancing age showing through.

I do hope and expect to get more gaming and blogging in the next few weeks, what with the ever-present excigiencies of life always hanging above up there... While I have been following a lot of the posts of my friends and fellow gaming bloggers out there, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to wishing I had more available time to post and stay in touch with those in our great gaming community.

In any case, here's to more and fun gaming. We can always use more of this in our lives. :)

]]> http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/07/back-to-gaming.html/feed/ 0 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyJacksRpgPodcast/~3/VQoRopdnuyc/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyJacksRpgPodcast/~3/VQoRopdnuyc/#comments Sat, 17 Jul 2010 06:00:47 +0000 Happy Jacks RPG Podcast http://www.happyjacks.org/?p=640 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HappyJacksRpgPodcast/~3/VQoRopdnuyc/feed/ 0 http://www.lordkilgore.com/star-merchant http://www.lordkilgore.com/star-merchant#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:58:21 +0000 Lord Kilgore tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://b85c09af871f6a059d9cf9642a487abc http://www.lordkilgore.com/star-merchant/feed/ 0 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PlacesToGoPeopleToBe/~3/28GOpsvfKU4/old-charts-jump-lines.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PlacesToGoPeopleToBe/~3/28GOpsvfKU4/old-charts-jump-lines.html#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000 Places To Go, People To Be tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6947575331383292615.post-5846054568592325152 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PlacesToGoPeopleToBe/~3/28GOpsvfKU4/old-charts-jump-lines.html/feed/ 0 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-07-14_From_Traveller_to_Diaspora http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-07-14_From_Traveller_to_Diaspora#comments Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:24:32 +0000 Alex Schroeder tag:www.emacswiki.org://5fe803252e2c39f8a6c8c483e29ae8f0 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-07-14_From_Traveller_to_Diaspora/feed/ 0 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamingBrouhahaRpg/~3/Dt3Cj-kvyvo/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamingBrouhahaRpg/~3/Dt3Cj-kvyvo/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:44:27 +0000 Gaming Brouhaha http://rpg.brouhaha.us/?p=2970 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamingBrouhahaRpg/~3/Dt3Cj-kvyvo/feed/ 0 http://zho.berka.com/2010/07/01/the-second-76-patrons-contest/ http://zho.berka.com/2010/07/01/the-second-76-patrons-contest/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:11:17 +0000 The Zhodani Base http://zho.berka.com/2010/07/01/the-second-76-patrons-contest/ http://zho.berka.com/2010/07/01/the-second-76-patrons-contest/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/give-them-a-ship/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/give-them-a-ship/#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:47:00 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=517 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/give-them-a-ship/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/traveller-rule-5-life-is-messy/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/traveller-rule-5-life-is-messy/#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 15:58:09 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=504 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/traveller-rule-5-life-is-messy/feed/ 0 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-05-20_Updated_Traveller_Mapping http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-05-20_Updated_Traveller_Mapping#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 15:55:13 +0000 Alex Schroeder tag:www.emacswiki.org://ae539b887fc79d6c32179c0375f15936 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-05-20_Updated_Traveller_Mapping/feed/ 0 http://zho.berka.com/2010/05/18/adventure-ideas-repost/ http://zho.berka.com/2010/05/18/adventure-ideas-repost/#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 18:39:30 +0000 The Zhodani Base http://zho.berka.com/2010/05/18/adventure-ideas-repost/ http://zho.berka.com/2010/05/18/adventure-ideas-repost/feed/ 0 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PlanetAlgol/~3/7nDYJ4hphIs/awesome-sci-fi-od-supplement-terminal.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PlanetAlgol/~3/7nDYJ4hphIs/awesome-sci-fi-od-supplement-terminal.html#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 07:04:14 +0000 Planet Algol tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://11bed2de51f76371b4c0e079dc56bb6b
The Polish gentleman necro_cyber dropped me a line to let me know that his science fiction/science fantasy supplement for OD&D, Terminal Space, was available for download (the sidebar-widget pdf thing on the right-hand side).

Just a quick first-impression review. It unabashedly proclaims itself a "...supplement for Dungeons & Dragon Original Edition."; it contains lots of genuinely cool/good original art (Spaceman vs. Beholders!); it was originally in Polish, the translation is charmingly clunky but completely clear; it has a d% Deep Space Encounter Table!; solar system, Moon! and planet generation tables; spacecraft rules; pilot, technician and scientist character class; tables for the pilot%, repair% and science% skills for OD&D classes!; a tech level Ability Score!; and a bunch of other wacky, sci-fi OD&D goodness.

I will definitely be printing this out in digest-format and using it in my campaign, and I strongly recommend this to those of like (weird/sci-fi/sci-fantasy) interests!

]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PlanetAlgol/~3/7nDYJ4hphIs/awesome-sci-fi-od-supplement-terminal.html/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/traveller-rule-4-monstrous-personalities/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/traveller-rule-4-monstrous-personalities/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 14:59:05 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=501 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/traveller-rule-4-monstrous-personalities/feed/ 0 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-05-12_Traveller_Bureaucracy http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-05-12_Traveller_Bureaucracy#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 22:44:13 +0000 Alex Schroeder tag:www.emacswiki.org://55022c9cd38a03aaafa22f6510fa0e78 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-05-12_Traveller_Bureaucracy/feed/ 0 http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2010/05/travellers-other-combat-system.html http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2010/05/travellers-other-combat-system.html#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 10:00:00 +0000 Bat in the Attic tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904133056957353312.post-1633075791694264580 http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2010/05/travellers-other-combat-system.html/feed/ 0 http://stirgessuck.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/lifepathing-diaspora-a-system-hack/ http://stirgessuck.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/lifepathing-diaspora-a-system-hack/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:46:31 +0000 Stirges Suck http://stirgessuck.wordpress.com/?p=498 ]]> http://stirgessuck.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/lifepathing-diaspora-a-system-hack/feed/ 0 http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/04/mongoose-traveller-character-generation.html http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/04/mongoose-traveller-character-generation.html#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:18:00 +0000 RPG Blog II tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702508936667404812.post-545781243066444354 this post for their kind advice). We’re using the Core book and High Guard, as all players are characters on an Imperial Naval vessel. I've added a few tweaks to chargen to make the characters a bit more elite and competent then the swarms of petty warlords, pirates, and planetary navies they’ll be encountering—after all, this is the Imperial Navy! Here’s the 12-step character generation checklist I’ll be handing out:

1) Each character will start with an array of numbers to put into your characteristics. Your standard array is 5,7,7,7,8,9, plus 2 points to put into a characteristic or characteristics of choice (note an average human characteristic is 6-8). Determine characteristic modifiers.

2) Choose a homeworld.

3) Record background skills. Remember, all skills start at Rank 0. If you select a skill again, it becomes Rank 1, and so on.

4) You're starting off as an 18 year-old. Since we're running a Imperial Navy-only campaign, character generation will differ a little here. For your first term, you may either a) directly enlist in the Navy (no need to roll), b) attempt to get into the Naval college, or c) try for another career field. The first option gets you going right away, but there's no chance of commission. Naval college can boost you up to a commission quickly, but if you flunk out, you're back to being a drifter for a bit. Trying for one 4-year term in something else before joining the Navy can give you some great experience, but can delay your chance for advancement. If you're going with option c) and want to make it random, declare for the draft! You'll end up in a random military-related career field for a term.

Every character will get at least one, no more than four terms in the Navy. Naval college graduates are treated as having "Crewman" path (getting the service skills from that path) before they move on to their chosen career field. Remember, if you don't like how something turned out, you get one auto-success and one reroll during chargen!

5) If this is your first time in your career, record your basic training skills. You get all skills listed under Service Skills at Level 0.

6) Choose a specialty. Choose one (and only one) of the Skills and Training tables for this career and roll. Roll on Survival to see if you make it to another term. For our purposes, if you don't make this roll, that's where your current development ends, and will be where you start the game. Good thing you have that free auto-success and reroll!

6a) If you did not succeed on your Survival roll, proceed to roll on the Mishap table. You will remain in the service, but may have some career-altering event in your past. If you made your Survival roll, disregard this step. If you had another career field before the Navy, you may roll on that career's mustering out table.

7) Roll for Events. Some players will want to take every opportunity they can to gain the highest military honours possible during character creation. As a result it is possible for players to go for glory whenever they are presented with a chance for a reward. A character may add up to 3 to the difficulty of the skill roll, making it much more likely to be injured. However, when it comes to receiving an award the modifier is added to the Effect instead.

7a) After your Events, you may optionally make a Connection with another player. For example, if you were injured in a fight against pirates, perhaps you say that Player X's character dragged yours to safety. Each player may do this once during Chargen. If a Connection is made, one additional skill roll is allowed to each player involved. No player may be involved in more than 2 Connections.

8) Roll for advancement, to see if you were promoted. Alternately, you may attempt to see if you gained commission. If commissioned, you immediately become a rank of O-1 (Sublieutenant). Note any bonuses that advancement or promotion grants.

9) After you first Naval term, you may roll to see if you qualify for one of the other Naval career paths: Engineering, Pilot, Gunnery, Command, Support, Small Craft Pilot, High Command, Naval Intelligence and Naval Research. If you fail, you may spend another term as a crewman, studying up and waiting for your big break. Note that you can also automatically join a career field if you meet the minimum number of terms required! Make sure to add 4 years to your age for each term served. If you are 34 or older, roll for Aging modifiers.

10) Each character will receive two free skill ranks to place where they wish. They may use the two ranks to buy one skill they do not have, or may increase any skills by one per rank.

11) Once everyone is done with the characters, the group takes turns selecting skills from the campaign pack. Every selects a listed appropriate skill until there are none left. The skills for your campaign are: Pilot (any) 1, Gunner (any) 1, Engineer (any) 1, Mechanic 1, Sensors 1, Medic 1, Comms 1, Astrogation 1. This represents the vital skills and minimum required training for a viable starship campaign.

12) Don't worry about equipment--weapons, armor, and other equipment are stored in the ship's locker, to be assigned as mission dictates. You don't have much personal space onboard, but you can write down a few personal effects and 1-2 tools of the trade, as needed. Yes, you get a Mulligan Stone (worth one free reroll for you or another, non-Referee player). You really, really want to save it in this game.

]]> http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/04/mongoose-traveller-character-generation.html/feed/ 0 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/_aSz-2m9BXM/randalls-essential-classic-traveller.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/_aSz-2m9BXM/randalls-essential-classic-traveller.html#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:24:00 +0000 RetroRoleplaying tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707455220399106053.post-2590828635757186792 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/_aSz-2m9BXM/randalls-essential-classic-traveller.html/feed/ 0 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/vL-LvdmfZ74/classic-traveller-paranoia-press-pdfs.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/vL-LvdmfZ74/classic-traveller-paranoia-press-pdfs.html#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:35:00 +0000 RetroRoleplaying tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707455220399106053.post-475390672650041591 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/vL-LvdmfZ74/classic-traveller-paranoia-press-pdfs.html/feed/ 0 http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/04/classic-traveller-starter-set-now-free.html http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/04/classic-traveller-starter-set-now-free.html#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:58:00 +0000 RPG Blog II tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702508936667404812.post-9174264784581772229 RetroRoleplaying reminded me) that the Classic Traveller Starter Set is currently available for free at RPGNow. Remember you need to view your order afterwards to get the charts that function as the second half of this product.

]]> http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/04/classic-traveller-starter-set-now-free.html/feed/ 0 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/GqYMWdNaByY/classic-traveller-starter-set-free-on.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/GqYMWdNaByY/classic-traveller-starter-set-free-on.html#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:32:00 +0000 RetroRoleplaying tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707455220399106053.post-4051921948154515825 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/retroroleplayingblog/~3/GqYMWdNaByY/classic-traveller-starter-set-free-on.html/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/traveller-rule-3-dont-build-dungeons/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/traveller-rule-3-dont-build-dungeons/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:26:31 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=498 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/traveller-rule-3-dont-build-dungeons/feed/ 0 http://worldofcorruption.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/science-fiction-sandbox-recipe-repost/ http://worldofcorruption.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/science-fiction-sandbox-recipe-repost/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:00:12 +0000 Viriatha de Cordova tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://9c9a25b1a324d647a96a8a70f8f1c695 ]]> http://worldofcorruption.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/science-fiction-sandbox-recipe-repost/feed/ 0 http://mutagenicsubstance.blogspot.com/2010/03/mutant-future-goes-travelling.html http://mutagenicsubstance.blogspot.com/2010/03/mutant-future-goes-travelling.html#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:19:00 +0000 Mutagenic Substance tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616286796727756915.post-366250409043643335 http://mutagenicsubstance.blogspot.com/2010/03/mutant-future-goes-travelling.html/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/traveller-rule-2-story/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/traveller-rule-2-story/#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:39:51 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=493 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/traveller-rule-2-story/feed/ 0 http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/traveller-product-ideas.html http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/traveller-product-ideas.html#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:35:00 +0000 RPG Blog II tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702508936667404812.post-6803221296032328063
Uncommon Valor: Sacrifice In Space

This product takes the ideas of trading survival (and thereby success) for a nasty injury from such Flying Mice titles as In Harm’s Way. The airlock malfunctioned, endangering the whole crew. Does Petty Officer Smith improbably get it closed in time before you Jump? Yes, but at what cost?

The idea is that you either auto-succeed or get a magnificent bonus to your death-defying risk, but that in the best tradition of Admiral Nelson or Winfield Scott Hancock, that victory comes with a very personal price. I see d66 charts you roll on for your injury for Army, Navy, Marines, and Scouts. Perhaps you come away with a slight limp (-1 DEX). Or perhaps your extended recovery leaves you weak (-1 STR). Maybe you’ll need a prosthetic hand, but what’s that to a Hero of the Fleet? Besides, that facial scar makes you look dashing.

Mongoose Traveller already has an optional “death or glory” type rule for their Event tables during character generation, but this would be for more in-play.

Theoretical Size/Price: 16 pages, $1-2. This would be a pretty small pdf.


Imperial Navy Handbook

We already saw something like this with Martin J. Dougherty’s Grand Fleet (only more complex), but I’m imagining a cheap, easy-to-follow 32-page pdf here, along with some uniform ideas, rank illustrations, basic fleet structure, and so on. If you were a new recruit to the Imperial Navy, this would have everything you need. I’m thinking like a 32-page pdf here, directed towards novices and those who want easily-digestible bits about one of the services. A player decides to play a Naval character, simply hand them this. It would be cool to have the same thing for the Scouts, Marines, etc., at some point down the road.

Theoretical Size/Price: 32 pages, $3.50. Just because I like saying “three fiddy”.


Ship’s Locker

Another grab n’ go title, this book would list common equipment (with relevant values and stats, where applicable) for some of the most commonly-used ship variants. Want to know what your Free Trader will likely have in its ship’s locker—how many weapons, vacc suits, what sort of other supplies? What about a mercenary cruiser, safari ship, or lab vessel? Don’t spend hours in Central Supply Catalog outfitting your ships while forgetting the basics—simply find your ship’s type, pick whether it’s Resources Level is Poor, Moderate, or High—and record what’s onboard.

Theoretical Size/Price: 32-48 pages, maybe a bit less depending on how extensive the descriptions are and how many different types of ships are represented. $2-3 or so?


Scout Survey Series

Basically, each entry in this series details a world, gives you the world basics, complete with world hexmap, trade, government, and population information, a brief Who’s Who and planet history, and a solid collection of adventure hooks. The idea is they can be dropped right in to a game or campaign and give your characters plenty to do. There have books done like this in the past (such as the Planetary Survey line with SJ Games), and I thought they were really interesting and useful.

Theoretical Size/Price: 16 pages each, let’s say for a buck each.


Of course, if I could write worth a toss, I’d do it myself. But for now, I’ll hope someone more talented comes along with the same ideas and intentions as I have.

]]> http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/traveller-product-ideas.html/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/skill-package-washed-up/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/skill-package-washed-up/#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:52:27 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=487 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/skill-package-washed-up/feed/ 0 http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/finding-starship.html http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/finding-starship.html#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:35:00 +0000 RPG Blog II tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702508936667404812.post-8543486501036434374
Should have known, of course, that the Wayback Machine would come through. I found a lab ship variant of the Orca from an old site for a (now-defunct?) Zaon RPG, (warning: slow load) and I think it just might work. I still need to make a few adjustments, and I still have a little time to switch in case I find anything better out there.

(It looks like here the designer of the original ship plans is claiming copyright on the plans. I guess I'll need to PM him, though since it's for non-commercial use, it should be fine).

]]> http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/finding-starship.html/feed/ 0 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-03-12_Traveller_Communication_Lines http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-03-12_Traveller_Communication_Lines#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:13:36 +0000 Alex Schroeder tag:www.emacswiki.org://a1ba53aba50e49ef137df02ce0a2178e http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-03-12_Traveller_Communication_Lines/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/traveller-rule-1-adventure/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/traveller-rule-1-adventure/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:03:49 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=477 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/traveller-rule-1-adventure/feed/ 0 http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/for-those-of-you-playing-along-at-home.html http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/for-those-of-you-playing-along-at-home.html#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:30:00 +0000 RPG Blog II tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702508936667404812.post-278279717447647896 Traveller campaign. The following are what’s being counted on as of now.

Traveller Core Rulebook OR Pocket Rulebook (Mongoose Publishing): The material in both is really the same. It’s matter of if you want to trade a smaller-sized book for bigger print. I like the Pocket Rulebook, tiny font and all, because it’s a) a bit handier of a size to port about, b) it reminds me more of the Classic Traveller Little Black Books (LBBs), and c) you can find it online for about $20 cheaper, if not more.

Book 2: High Guard (Mongoose Publishing): Since we’re running an Imperial Navy campaign, the careers in this book will be very handy and help diversify character generation a bit.

And that’s it, for now. I’m probably using some charts from the most-excellent Jon Brazer Enterprises, and eventually look at Spica Publishing’s Career Books. Traveller is in many respects the biggest stellar sandbox ever created, but it’s also important when running first-timers through it that you don’t bite off more than they can chew. A few links to the background of the Third Imperium and some recent history of the area of (non-canon) space we’ll be adventuring in should be enough for now.

Of course, I wouldn’t enjoy or run Mongoose Traveller if they hadn’t come so close to the mark of Classic Traveller. They kept it close in design and spirit, while cleaning some things up, adding some new rules without making things too complex (such as the Connections rules), and generally did a pretty nice job keeping the legacy of Traveller intact. Plus, although Mongoose is often faulted for their editing, the original Traveller book was pretty good (except for some issues with multiplication signs, though I hear several supplements had some issues in places). It’s accessible, it’s easily available, and it’s close enough to Classic Traveller where I can use ideas from modern and classic supplements if I so choose. I also like the fact that Mongoose plans on keeping the system the same for their ten-year run of the license. Planned (systemic) obsolescence is no fun if you want support for a game.

I was resistant as anyone to change in Traveller when Mongoose announced the license, but they’ve done well here.

]]> http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/for-those-of-you-playing-along-at-home.html/feed/ 0 http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/my-traveller-character-generation-rules.html http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/my-traveller-character-generation-rules.html#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:48:00 +0000 RPG Blog II tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702508936667404812.post-8480064611398287413 Traveller characters.

Below is my draft for my Traveller character generation rules for our upcoming Imperial Navy campaign. I think doing it this way should create some very competent, interconnected characters:

1) Each character will start with an array of numbers to put into your characteristics. Your standard array is 5,7,7,7,8,9, plus 2 points to put into a characteristic or characteristics of choice (note an average human characteristic is 6-8). Determine characteristic modifiers.

2) Choose a homeworld.

3) Record background skills. Remember, all skills start at Rank 0. If you select a skill again, it becomes Rank 1, and so on.

4) You're starting off as an 18 year-old. Since we're running a Imperial Navy-only campaign, character generation will differ a little here. For your first term, you may either a) directly enlist in the Navy (no need to roll), b) attempt to get into the Naval college, or c) try for another career field. The first option gets you going right away, but there's no chance of commission. Naval college can boost you up to a commission quickly, but if you flunk out, you're back to being a drifter for a bit. Trying for one 4-year term in something else before joining the Navy can give you some great experience, but can delay your chance for advancement. If you're going with option c) and want to make it random, declare for the draft! You'll end up in a random military-related career field for a term.

Every character will get at least one, no more than four terms in the Navy. Naval college graduates are treated as having "Crewman" path (getting the service skills from that path) before they move on to their chosen career field. Remember, if you don't like how something turned out, you get one auto-success and one reroll during chargen!

5) If this is your first time in your career, record your basic training skills. You get all skills listed under Service Skills at Level 0.

6) Choose a specialty. Choose one (and only one) of the Skills and Training tables for this career and roll. Roll on Survival to see if you make it to another term. For our purposes, if you don't make this roll, that's where your current development ends, and will be where you start the game. Good thing you have that free auto-success and reroll!

6a) If you did not succeed on your Survival roll, proceed to roll on the Mishap table. You will remain in the service, but may have some career-altering event in your past. If you made your Survival roll, disregard this step. If you had another career field before the Navy, you may roll on that career's mustering out table.

7) Roll for Events. Some players will want to take every opportunity they can to gain the highest military honours possible during character creation. As a result it is possible for players to go for glory whenever they are presented with a chance for a reward. A character may add up to 3 to the difficulty of the skill roll, making it much more likely to be injured. However, when it comes to receiving an award the modifier is added to the Effect instead.

7a) After your Events, you may optionally make a Connection with another player. For example, if you were injured in a fight against pirates, perhaps you say that Player X's character dragged yours to safety. Each player may do this once during Chargen. If a Connection is made, one additional skill roll is allowed to each player involved. No player may be involved in more than 2 Connections.

8) Roll for advancement, to see if you were promoted. Alternately, you may attempt to see if you gained commission. If commissioned, you immediately become a rank of O-1 (Sublieutenant). Note any bonuses that advancement or promotion grants.

9) After you first Naval term, you may roll to see if you qualify for one of the other Naval career paths: Engineering, Pilot, Gunnery, Command, Support, Small Craft Pilot, High Command, Naval Intelligence and Naval Research. If you fail, you may spend another term as a crewman, studying up and waiting for your big break. Note that you can also automatically join a career field if you meet the minimum number of terms required! Make sure to add 4 years to your age for each term served. If you are 34 or older, roll for Aging modifiers.

10) Each character will receive two free skill ranks to place where they wish. They may use the two ranks to buy one skill they do not have, or may increase any skills by one per rank.

11) Once everyone is done with the characters, the group takes turns selecting skills from the campaign pack. Every selects a listed appropriate skill until there are none left. The skills for your campaign are: Pilot (any) 1, Gunner (any) 1, Engineer (any) 1, Mechanic 1, Sensors 1, Medic 1, Comms 1, Astrogation 1. This represents the vital skills and minimum required training for a viable starship campaign.

12) Don't worry about equipment--weapons, armor, and other equipment are stored in the ship's locker, to be assigned as mission dictates. You don't have much personal space onboard, but you can write down a few personal effects and 1-2 tools of the trade, as needed. Yes, you get a Mulligan Stone (worth one free dice reroll for you or another, non-Referee player). You really, really want to save it in this game.

]]> http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/my-traveller-character-generation-rules.html/feed/ 0 http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/5-traveller-rules/ http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/5-traveller-rules/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:06:38 +0000 8:05 p.m. http://805pm.wordpress.com/?p=471 Continue reading →]]> http://805pm.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/5-traveller-rules/feed/ 0 http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/enter-traveller.html http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/enter-traveller.html#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:44:00 +0000 RPG Blog II tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702508936667404812.post-9080886348561481099
I won't go into all the gory details, save it to say the group rolled two of the worst watch encounters back-to-back I have ever seen. The first, a vampire, they managed to mist and drive off (thanks to some quick thinking from the Friar and company). The second, however, was a Behir, and it overwhelmed the group entirely. I ran both right out of the book, and there was a small window to flee, but Friar Charles and the sorcerer Vas both went down permanently. The dwarven cleric Nalgin was rescued by Antigus the Druid, who escaped along with the (new party member) Valrayan the Ranger thanks to their (eventually) displaying the better part of valor.

I felt bad, but that's how the dice roll. It was just a matter of luck running out--no more Mulligan stones, no more d30 supercharge rolls. Just eating it, in a big way. But if there isn't the spectre of catastrophe, you don't have any suspense. I still think I'll be second-guessing a few things for a while, but to overuse a phrase, it is what it is.

Our group had already been discussing playing some different games before this all happened, and this was a pretty good to suspend the Castles & Crusades game for now. We all talked, and we were mostly all ready to try something other than high fantasy for a bit. So, next time, one of the guys will be running a one-off Deadlands session (I get to play for a change!), and the session after that, we do group character generation for Mongoose Traveller.

I'd also like to run Thousand Suns or the new In Harm's Way: StarCluster (which I'm still digesting) eventually, but almost no one in our group has played Traveller before--it's a gamer rite of passage. There's also some demand for Rolemaster, but I'm waiting on some things before I run it again, and the idea was to get away from fantasy for a little bit. I also still have my alt-history/pulp Two-Fisted Tales game under prep/research, and I think we'll get to it. I think the group agrees--there's just too many great games out there to be married to one game into perpetuity.

The basic idea is that all the players will be Imperial Navy, stationed on a science vessel that was part of a small fleet "showing the flag" in a little-traveled backwater full of warlords and hostile aliens. A surprise rebellion destroyed the entire fleet, save this one science vessel, which had to remain behind at a remote starport for vital repairs. Now, an entire sector of hostile space separates them from home.

One 600-ton science vessel vs. an entire hostile sector? A mismatch, I know. It doesn't seem fair to the sector...

]]> http://www.rpgblog2.com/2010/03/enter-traveller.html/feed/ 0 http://zho.berka.com/2010/03/07/vasaloppet-the-space-race/ http://zho.berka.com/2010/03/07/vasaloppet-the-space-race/#comments Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:02:21 +0000 The Zhodani Base http://zho.berka.com/2010/03/07/vasaloppet-the-space-race/ http://zho.berka.com/2010/03/07/vasaloppet-the-space-race/feed/ 0 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-02-28_Traveller_Subsector_Coding_Hell http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-02-28_Traveller_Subsector_Coding_Hell#comments Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:03:54 +0000 Alex Schroeder tag:www.emacswiki.org://98a5ec78d353d63d7e3b24c91625be98 http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/2010-02-28_Traveller_Subsector_Coding_Hell/feed/ 0 http://www.freespacer.com/2010/02/28/structure-is-essential-to-design/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=structure-is-essential-to-design http://www.freespacer.com/2010/02/28/structure-is-essential-to-design/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=structure-is-essential-to-design#comments Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:01:31 +0000 Free Spacer http://www.freespacer.com/?p=67 [...]]]> http://www.freespacer.com/2010/02/28/structure-is-essential-to-design/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=structure-is-essential-to-design/feed/ 0 http://www.heropress.net/2010/02/my-life-and-roleplaying-changing-rules.html http://www.heropress.net/2010/02/my-life-and-roleplaying-changing-rules.html#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:00:00 +0000 HeroPress tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5230114691512883134.post-5820270362122786132 http://www.heropress.net/2010/02/my-life-and-roleplaying-changing-rules.html/feed/ 0 http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/02/traveller-and-games-before-long-night.html http://underabloodredsky-future.blogspot.com/2010/02/traveller-and-games-before-long-night.html#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0000 Under A Blood Red Sky tag:www.rpgbloggers.com://9da1c9f447858aa8efea1856f6326f78

Traveller was one of the first role playing games I ever learned. For the longest time, science fiction role playing to me was synonymous to Traveller. Due to the unavailability of published game material where we lived, my gaming group’s exposure to Traveller was initially confined to the three little black books that comprised the Classic Traveller rules.

Needless to say, we had a smashing time gaming in our own Traveller universes. We didn’t know much about the Third Imperium, although we understood that there appeared to be a default game setting created by GDW. Neither did we care! We were too busy having fun in our own homebrewed games which I ran for most part. At that time, my games were set in game worlds largely derived from existing SF literature which I really liked. I remember running a game based loosely on Larry Niven’s World Out of Time, as well as a longer-running series set in the Fallen Galactic Empire ala Foundation, and still another one, in a junkyard planet straight out of Piper’s Cosmic Computer.

It was only in 1989 when we fully discovered what the Third Imperium was all about when Doc Ben-g, one of my regular players, brought back the Mega Traveller Boxed set from a recent trip to the U.S. We went along with the Rebellion that tore apart the Third Imperium and had our share of adventures in the Hard Times that followed. For some reason, the idea of struggling to survive and prosper amidst the ruins of a fallen empire resonated well with our gaming group. Maybe it was largely on account of our attachment to that other GDW game, Twilight 2000. In any case, we followed through with some Star Viking adventures in the New Era in the early 1990s using the Gurps system, which, for a long time, became our system of choice.

Since then, I’ve ran a few games in the canonical Third Imperium of GDW and even bought some Gurps sourcebooks for this.

The Third Imperium was quite good – it hung together well, and had a lot of support from writers and fans which continues to this date. That said, I can’t help but harken back to the the days when we didn’t know about the Third Imperium and created our own Traveller universes. Far from feeling that we missed out on something, I feel, with the benefit of hindsight, that we created something vibrant, alive and uniquely ours at the time we were gaming with only our three Little Black Books.

Reading this post from James M.'s Grognardia along with a reference to the Burgess Shale Period of Traveller found in Bat in the Attic made me think back and remember the days before we learned about the Third Imperium. If anything, it reinforced to me the point that Classic Traveller was really a versatile and potentially endless game system upon which an enterprising gaming group can bring their own gaming universe to life.

This got me started on actually planning to revisit Classic Traveller and running a few games in the future set in a non-Third Imperium game setting. I had been busily going through my latest acquisitions of Poul Anderson’s future history stories, particularly those of the Polesotechnic League and that of the Terran Empire that followed. These really ranked high on my list along with the future history stories of H.Beam Piper – thus maybe it is hardly surprising that I remain a Traveller fan after all these years. I remember trying (and mostly failing) to locate Anderson’s stories as a high school kid and only caught bits and pieces of his future history in one tattered SF anthology or another. I only lately managed to locate many of these stories in these volumes I just acquired.

Many of the Van Rijn/Falkayn and Flandry stories of Anderson revolve around intrepid characters who live in the what may be described as the Eve of Destruction – that period in time when their civilization is just about to tip over and go crashing down into the abyss of history. As a gamer I am drawn to this kind of setting and personally refer to this as gaming in an era right before The Long Night. While much of my Traveller and Traveller-inspired games were set in the Long Night, I can’t seem to recall running a game where the characters lived right before the The Fall. By analogy, Traveller-wise, my games tended to be set in the Mutant Future, rather than the Mutant Past.

Hence my current plan for a revisit to Classic Traveller begins to take shape slowly- and I have this hankering to run it differently this time. In all likelihood, instead of the Long Night, it will be set on the Eve of Destruction.

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