lilappleblossom
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 51
Preferred Game Systems: 3.5, Dark Heresy, Only War, Grimm, Savage Worlds
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Post by lilappleblossom on Jan 12, 2014 13:25:28 GMT -8
I have no experience with this game, unless you count watching Firefly as experience. I want to run/play it a lot and can't wait to read through it. But while I wait for it to arrive, for those of you that are experienced with this system and world, what should a brand new person to the system know that you wish you would have known when you started? Any advice/tips would be awesome, the more the better. Thank you!
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maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
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Post by maxinstuff on Jan 12, 2014 14:34:29 GMT -8
What I will say is it is.... a little different. You're probably used to having lots of control when creating characters and traveller character gen is a lot more chaotic than most.
My tip would be - make characters. Lots of 'em. And keep all of them to use as NPC's.
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lilappleblossom
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 51
Preferred Game Systems: 3.5, Dark Heresy, Only War, Grimm, Savage Worlds
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Post by lilappleblossom on Jan 12, 2014 14:38:51 GMT -8
Got ya, thanks for the tip. I've heard so much about the character creation in Traveller and I really can't wait to try it out, I'm actually looking forward to not having control over my character while creating it, sounds like a really fun challenge.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Jan 12, 2014 19:13:44 GMT -8
The classic advice of running yourself through some combats to get comfy applies.
Depending on what kind of game you're in for, there could be a lot of bookkeeping. There's a yahoo group that has a few nice resources if you're interested. I haven't been there in a while, but I think it was called MGT-Aids or something like that.
For me, I didn't feel like trying to invent my own universe. So I enjoyed reading though the fluff & advice of several books (agent, scoundrel, spinward marches, aslan, spaceports). There's a lot of stuff in there for "roll X to determine if Y happens" for just about any situation. For a lot of it I didn't feel like messing with, but it provided ideas that I could keep in my back pocket.
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Post by stork on Jan 12, 2014 20:17:53 GMT -8
Space is boring. That is to say, space travel in a game called Traveller is boring. You set up, you jump, then you have 2 WEEKS where you are out of touch, and unreachable to the rest of the universe until you drop out of Jump Space.
It is a temptation to focus on space travel, but that is a lie.
Focus on the destinations. The star ports, the lower tech level planets, exploring the abandoned space hulk. Navigating your way through the courts of some feudal planetary government is MUCH more interesting than navigating your way between jump points.
Again Firefly demonstrates this very well. Aboard ship they are always sitting and eating, it's only when they make land fall that anything interesting happens.
So I say, spend as much time as you can on the class C spaceport, treading that line between the black market cartels, and the corrupt police force. That's your story, not sitting in your Scout ship counting the days till you drop out of Jump Space.
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Post by Kainguru on Jan 13, 2014 2:26:48 GMT -8
Except in (Jump) Space No One Can Hear You Scream. Aaron
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Post by pigsinspaces on Jan 13, 2014 3:27:32 GMT -8
Except in (Jump) Space No One Can Hear You Scream. Aaron Unless you use your comms channel ... Remember to say "over" after the scream though.
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Jan 13, 2014 13:53:15 GMT -8
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Post by malifer on Jan 13, 2014 14:24:55 GMT -8
Traveller.
System is easy and 2d6 + Skill and/or Attribute. Tons of fun.
Everyone says you never know what kind of character you're going to get. I agree, the character gen is my only gripe with the system. There are point buy rules in the book, however I think a more "traditional feel" method would just be to make a random roll table of the Careers. I haven't done this yet myself, but what really annoyed me was everything is random except that career choice.
So you random roll stats and say "I'll put this 10 in Intelligence and as my first choice I'll be in a Career that uses intelligence" Nope you failed your roll. Eh. What?
I think if it was totally random I would be able to get behind it more.
Other things I wish I had known.
If you only have the core book there isn't any setting info. I played in a game and our GM was fairly well versed with the setting, but I had no clue what was going on beyond the rules. Everyone kind of rolled with my ignorance and we had a blast, I certainly paid attention while played and picked up things about the setting but it has a lot going on.
Jump Space was when our PCs trained. The GM asked what we were doing for the 2 weeks and then if there wasn't any encounter set during that time we "cut to the destination".
One last thing is to pick what style game you want to run. You can really get into the small things. Your game could just be trading merchandise and paying the rent. The GM I had was really good at and into tracking how much money the party had and how much repairs cost, but to simplify things (due to story) we didn't pay rent on our ship. So while making money was a part of our story it wasn't the focus. So if you want a more action oriented game then back off the bean counting. However you may want to count some beans.
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lilappleblossom
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 51
Preferred Game Systems: 3.5, Dark Heresy, Only War, Grimm, Savage Worlds
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Post by lilappleblossom on Jan 14, 2014 11:11:43 GMT -8
I'm thinking of doing a Firefly inspired story, seems to be a popular and fitting type of campaign to run for the setting. I'm so happy with all of the advice, thank you all for taking the time to help me out. I'm even more excited to start now.
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andreasdavour
Patron (Supporter)
Posts: 257
Preferred Game Systems: M0, Savage Worlds, Over the Edge, Warhammer FRP 1st ed.
Currently Playing: None
Currently Running: Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate
Favorite Species of Monkey: Llama
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Post by andreasdavour on Jan 15, 2014 11:03:38 GMT -8
Stork, it's actually one week, not two. (Hey, I only correct you off the air...
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lilappleblossom
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 51
Preferred Game Systems: 3.5, Dark Heresy, Only War, Grimm, Savage Worlds
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Post by lilappleblossom on Jan 19, 2014 11:06:05 GMT -8
I thought I bought Mongoose Traveller... I bought Traveller 5...I'm not a crunch minded person in any sense of the word. Waste of my gift card from Christmas. I'm going to slink into the corner and hug my Savage Worlds books while I cry myself to sleep.
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lilappleblossom
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 51
Preferred Game Systems: 3.5, Dark Heresy, Only War, Grimm, Savage Worlds
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Post by lilappleblossom on Jan 19, 2014 11:07:30 GMT -8
Though, it is signed by the creators...Which is kind of cool, but now I know why it was so cheap.
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Post by Kainguru on Jan 19, 2014 11:13:51 GMT -8
Lock it away in very deep vault so that it can cause no further harm to anyone - like one of those plutonium containment facilities . . . Aaron
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lilappleblossom
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 51
Preferred Game Systems: 3.5, Dark Heresy, Only War, Grimm, Savage Worlds
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Post by lilappleblossom on Jan 19, 2014 11:18:00 GMT -8
Yeah, no kidding. As someone who hadn't even heard of Traveller 6 months ago I can't even look at this fucking thing. I'm so pissed at myself.
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