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Post by Houndin on Aug 25, 2012 4:26:29 GMT -8
I've somehow gotten talked into running a Mongoose Traveler game online. I know I have two players, but any more than that is going to be sketchy. (Unless someone here is interested in an 8pm Eastern Saturday game) I've never even played traveler, but since listening to the HJ crew it's on my list of games to try.
Anyway, Is it a viable system for a small party? I know some games work well with small groups, and some <cough>4e<cough> have issues with it.
Is there any advice you all can give me for running it?
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Aug 25, 2012 9:35:33 GMT -8
Best of luck. I personally don't even like running/playing with just 3 let alone 2.
I have limited experience playing and running Mongoose so take this with a grain of salt. Depending on what ya'll are up to, your party may want some hired help to cover some skills gaps. Not all of them mind you. It's nice to have a problem once and a while that no one is really good at solving.
Having peons could make for a good social game (if that's what you are looking for). Your party could find themselves dealing with personnel issues. I'm not just talking about the jerk that doesn't put deodorant on. Perhaps your handy engineer has an enemy that starts causing problems for everyone else.
Stray thought: Your players may have a bit more attachment to an NPC helper if they went ahead and rolled him/her up.
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Post by Houndin on Aug 25, 2012 12:16:10 GMT -8
That's a good idea, I've also thought about having them roll up two each to get me a small ship's crew.
I think my biggest problem though is the mechanics, I'm completely unfamiliar with the game crunch. this is one of those times I wish I had a co-gm, but then again, I wish I had a full party too!
Thanks for the advice.
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Post by stork on Aug 25, 2012 19:12:29 GMT -8
Unlike a lot of games. Traveller lets you do anything. Even if you don't have the skill you can still be affective. You can attempt any thing just at a minus, with some modifiers tossed in to mitigate it. So, if you wanted to, you could try to pick a lock even if you don't have a point in that skill. can still try it and you still have a chance to accomplish it. There really are no classes in Traveller.
Well that's not entirely true, but the line is blurry, and anyone can try anything regardless of what they think their role in the party is.
So the "balanced party model" isn't really a consideration. If you think about it, you have NO idea what type of character the players will roll up. And neither do they. The game isn't about having a Tank, a DPS, and a healer. It's really about working with what the players roll up
As a GM, you have the "gift" of being in on the character creation and seeing what connections there are. Then you can weave what happens out of Char-Gen into the story.
I guess you need to divorce yourself from the "we don't have an effective party" mind set, and go with what your players have rolled up.
Its Unique
Its different, and maybe a little scary. I get that.
Here's what you do.....Spend one session devoted only to character gen. Believe me, its fun, its worth it. Then you say ok...thank you, I need time to digest this, well meet again next week. You then take all those threads (Joss Whedon style) and weave them into a story that builds on the players ability's and strengths.
Lemee say that again.......you build encounters based on the players back stories and ability's. Your not tossing some random adventure "or module" created in a vacuum at them, your working within the framework of their character creation and their abilities.
So......in answer to your question. Its my belief, that since your tailoring the adventure around the characters, and since any character can attempt any skill even if they don't have a point in it, you can have any size group you want and still have a group that is effective.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Aug 25, 2012 21:09:47 GMT -8
I think my biggest problem though is the mechanics, I'm completely unfamiliar with the game crunch. I get that. I was pretty nervous running my first session too. But honestly I find the basic skills mechanics very refreshing now. One area I focused on was all the different skills they provided and examples of their use. I really like the freedom that the system provides when choosing what character crunch to apply to a roll. I find it quite natural now for me to take a situation that a PC has produced and independently pick the skill and attribute for them. In other systems I sometimes was uncomfortable with applying certain skills to a test when they didn't fit well. I don't have that problem near so much with MGT. BTW, I'm a big fan of the idea of "Tell me what you want to do, I'll tell you what skills/attributes to apply to your roll." I prepped by reading the core book twice. I also looked at some of the other books, but mostly for fluff. Across all the books they provide a LOT of crunch for simulating the workings of a very wide range of how the galaxy works. I read through those supplemental with no intention of actually using those specific mechanics. I liked the fleshing out of their universe and their various tables of events were simply idea seeds. Once characters were produced I then had an idea of the sorts of things they'd like to be doing and I then read applicable crunch again. I then started making some crunch cheat sheets. Theoretically I could have prettied them up, printed them out and insert them into my GM screen. I didn't bother with a screen as I was G+ing it. But the exercise of making those sheets really helped get the rules into my head so I didn't need them after all. PS: I found the healing rules to not be laid out the best. Between natural healing and medical treatment, there's a little bouncing around between different areas of the core book. Healing is a pretty common thing to come up in RPGs so I'd keep an eye out for that. PPS: There's a thread in this forum where I asked for book recommendations. Matt especially, but some others as well provided some good advice. Some of the supplement books added a new skill or two to help polish flesh out the flavor of the game. I really like what they did with security in the scoundrel book for example. If you do look into a supplement book, keep an eye out for those.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2012 16:42:31 GMT -8
You can absolutely pull this off. I've done it many times. I spent a couple years with just two players.
I'd say the key is NPCs.
Make them crew on a big ship. And just give them interesting adventures to happen to them.
Or, if you don't like that, fill out the party with some NPCs. Whatever roles are missing. But make the NPCs less assertive, and less give them less leadership qualities. So they're just likely to follow the plans of the PCs.
I've done this a lot, as a player and a GM. It can be very cool, because the game really becomes about the PCs, and at the same time, they can forge some really deep, intense relationships with the NPCs in the group.
Good luck!
--Pukka Tukka
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Post by Houndin on Aug 28, 2012 11:19:32 GMT -8
Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I'm going to have to curl up with the .. well I can't say book, since I got the pdf. but I'm going to read it again.
I really like that idea. That could work out really well. But as stork mentioned, it's really going to depend on what they literally roll up as characters.
Thanks again guys, and I'll take a look for that 'suggested reading' thread GtP mentioned
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Post by jazzisblues on Sept 11, 2012 10:40:49 GMT -8
Were it me in this situation, I would possibly strongly suggest to the players that they create some sort of bond between their characters. This will make the reasoning more cohesive and give you even more focused ideas for the game.
Best of luck,
JiB
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Post by stork on Sept 11, 2012 15:15:32 GMT -8
BTW, Traveller has a system in char gen to steer towards certain types of games. They are called "Skill Packages". pp 37-38.
That will insure the team has useful skill sets for whatever situation.
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