Traveller General: Friday Night in the Solomani Rim Edition

So what have you guys been doing? I'm currently poking at a "Brief Intro to Classic Traveller" text to go in the archive, like a quick overview of the various editions of Classic and rules modules out there for it, since there's so much stuff it can be daunting when you first look at it.
It's an idea I've had floating about for a while, but I figured tonight I'd sit down and start going over the various books and taking notes for it.
I'll post a draft when I think I've got most everything.

>>49895265
I'm preparing to run my first Traveler game for a bunch of strangers at my FLGS. I'm planning on setting it in the Gvurrdon sector, starting out in the Rrouzasun system and using that as a base of operations for the players. I think I'm almost ready, but I'm still deciding on whether I want to stick with MgT 1e or 2e. I love everything about 1e's books: how small and efficient they are, how they look, the feel of the pages, the COST.
Yet I can't deny how accessible 2e is to new players, what with its pretty pictures and simplified tables and options. Plus, I think the boon/bane system is a neat idea. I also wonder how 2e's career term tables stack up next to 1e's.

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Archive updates: Cepheus Engine is getting moved from the Classic Traveller folder to the MGT folder. That review I read that said it was based on Classic was mistaken -- reading it it's obviously MGT1e based, and google says it was based on the MGT1 SRD, with some tweaks to be more compatible with Classic material.

I'm also adding some third party deck plans that are compatible with Traveller and some other SF wargames, under General Misc/Holistic.

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Hmmm. It's quiet tonight.

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I'm thinking of running a game in a custom setting that mixes the 17-18th century Carribean and the Silk Road c.1400 (the Trade route, not the elicit website) all mixed up in space. Any suggestions for TL ceiling, interesting cargoes, spaceport details, and unique NPCs?

Could someone tell me what's wrong with megatraveller?

>>49898289

On the crunch side, folding Striker into core made the game super crunchy, which some people liked, but most people found a bit much.

On the fluff side, the Rebellion metaplot was a bit heavy and felt both remote from the players, and yet close enough to color every situation, which was a change from the very open and changeable feel of Classic's atmosphere.
Still, folks who were unhappy about that hadn't seen nothing yet -- in Traveller: The New Era they took the whole setting and burned it to the ground, turning it post-apocalyptic. Which is kinda cool in its own right, but is a very different feel from what most people wanted out of Traveller.

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>>49896796
Huh. I like it. This is a good way to handle it.

>>49899063
Are the rules still crunchy in THE?

>>49900380
Whoops I meant TNE

>>49900380
>>49900391

Sort of. Crunchier in some ways, not so crunchy in others. (TNE also has Fire, Fusion and Steel, the best book if you want to get super crunchy with your starships.)
Honestly, I've not read much of TNE. The setting apparently produced a couple of neat books, but it doesn't suit me, and what I read of the books seemed pretty tied to the setting.

OK. Yeah. It's like this:

You have inherited a helicopter. This shit is expensive as hell to operate, and the cargo capacity ain't that great. You can go pretty much anywhere, but not like a 747. You gotta stop and drop in every other city down the road. So ... how do you make a living?

This is was the answer we settled on to the question:

>Hey guys, we're big DND players. What is Traveller like?

Bonus! first scene of first Traveller adventure I entered into:

>Enter Regina starport bar.
>Accost bartender, looking for work.
>Nothing?
>Drop 20k credits on bar as tip to loosen him up.
>Bartender: "Wait over there in that corner a moment, and stay down. I'll be right with you."
>Bartender reaches under bar and pulls out a 50cal space machine gun.
>Bartender: "Yo, I got business to attend to. CLOSING TIME!" *Cha-CLICK*BUDDAH*BUDDAH*BUDDAH*BOOM*

Not the best adventure I ever had, but it's them first runs that always stay with you.

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>>49900632
>>space fitty
I love it.

>>49895265
Please do. I don't have a clue to how to start with traveller

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>>49895265
I've been tapping away at things relating to The Islands. Trying to work out ideas for a horror campaign taking place at an isolated, heavily automated He-3 harvesting facility on a remote low-density "fluffball" moon. Statted out some ships, wrote some fluff for some of the more neglected polities.

Soothing work I hope never to show to another human being.

>>49899063
>Still, folks who were unhappy about that hadn't seen nothing yet -- in Traveller: The New Era they took the whole setting and burned it to the ground, turning it post-apocalyptic. Which is kinda cool in its own right, but is a very different feel from what most people wanted out of Traveller.
I am unironically fond of Virus, but these days I'd go closer to the Beast from Homeworld Cataclysm.

>continues making notes for a long-past-Virus setting where there's been a Traveller Butlerian Jihad, and your computer's dtonnage is actually living quarters for your mentat.

What's the least crunchy edition? Mongoose 2e?

are there any official sources for super high tech level gear and spaceships? Like shields, teleporters etc

>>49901760

Classic using the ship rules from Starter Traveller is pretty light. (It replaces the complex vector based combat of the LBBs with a simple range-band system) The whole ship combat system is laid out on page 39 to page 42, with two pages of tables in the charts book.

>>49895083
Is it possible to let players each create their own race in this system? How much work would it take to get it working? Any pointers as to how to go about it? Any hurdles you foresee?

>>49905474

The Third Imperium is lousy with minor races, of varying degrees of canon. It shouldn't be too hard to brew up your own. Usually they're mostly fluff, with maybe a minor mechanical tweak here or there to support it, like Vargr swapping out Social Standing for Charisma.

http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Minor_Non-Human_Race

>>49901017

>dat image


> Time and Again
> Clifford D. Simak (ACE)

> Asher Sutton has been lost in deepest space for twenty years. Suddenly arrives a warning from the future, that he will return- and that he must be killed. He is destined to write a book whose message may lead to the death of millions in centuries to come. For this reason Sutton is hounded by the sinister warring factions of the future who wish to influence or prevent the writing of this book he has not yet begun to write.
> Yet already a copy has been found in the burnt-out wreckage of a space-craft on Aldebaran XII.

>>49902143
Black globes are a canonical energy shield. The 2nd edition of High Guard for Mongoose Traveller has rules for generic energy shields.

>>49899063
The Rebellion killed the Imperium.
Virus just took care of the cremation.

>>49905774
Keeping in mind that the Vargr are actually a Major Race.

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>>49895083
>>>/hr/2765812

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>>49914467
[WORRY INTENSIFIES]

book 14:space stations is not available anywhere on the internet

until now
https://mega.nz/#!8xB2zRrA

>>49918766

>not available anywhere on the internet

Uh, thanks, but I've already got it up in the master archive at the top of the thread. Also you need to add the decryption key to your links or it won't let people in.

>>49918860
huh? i googled for hours a few weeks ago and couldnt find shit, should've waited for the next traveller general, i guess

>>49918899

It's cool, I should make the general more regularly. Anyway, the MGT1e folder's supplements are complete up to #16.
If you have any other stuff to contribute, though, let me know.

>>49919033
>make the general more regularly
Evidence suggests that shitposters flock to constantly rotating Generals like beer swilling redneck antibodies. Space 'em out a bit, since we don't have a handy airlock to actually space the shitposters...

>>49919618

Maybe on other boards, but /tg/'s are pretty decent. At least the OSR thread is, they very rarely get that kind of shit going on.

>>49921333

Eh, I don't see it. Other boards' generals get filled with waifus and namefag fights and shit, ours just get the occasional driveby shitposter.
Maybe I don't frequent the right generals.

Anyway, updates to the Archive are ongoing. There's a couple new things in CT adventures, game modules, and supplements from the CT CD-ROM, as well as more GURPS Traveller stuff. I'm still going through all the things I picked up a while back and sorting them in.

>>49921407
>Maybe I don't frequent the right generals.
considering the OSR thread had to recently encrypt the link to their archives after mutliple takedowns you guys have it easy.

also relative newbie to traveller:
>get invited to new game [just before fall of empire]
>GM and one of players husband and wife
>said husband and wife periodically dissapear off to argue after repeated heated dissagreements about rulings
>game collapses after barely a month

Still would like to try Traveller though - just dont know anyone local who runs it.

Also does anyone know what happened to that attempt to make a fantasy version of traveller? i keep seeing periodial articles about it but nothing recent about it.

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Some more Megatraveller books are going up to the Master Archive now, with some TNE stuff to follow.

>>49926273
>COACC

>Guy seems to understand how RL air forces work.
>Usual number of typos and uncorrected errata for a MegaTrav product. Oh well...

Anyway, good to see it available.

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>>49927240

Well, there's this.

>>49931256
what kind of alien is the giant 4 armed dude?

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>>49931570
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Sydite

>>49905474
If you go with Mongoose first edition the least effort needed is to just slap some alien features on the character. If you want to put in a bit more effort you might come up with some kind of interesting custom characteristic to replace Social Standing with.

>>49931862
Vargr Charisma is just a slightly less formalized and more mutable Social Status, which is in itself an artifact of the stratified nature of Imperium's Vilani/Solomani caste system.

I get what Miller, et al, were trying to do, but I prefer an inherent charisma-type attribute.

>>49931570
He's a Sydite, one of the few Human offshoots overtly modified by the Ancients. They were in the setting by name as early as MegaTraveller, but acquired the extra arms and cultural details in T20, which is centered in Gateway Domain where they live. They are also one of the farthest Human offshoots to Trailing (righthand edge of the map) in Charted Space.

That pic captures many of the defining elements of the Sydites: big, four-armed, generally bald, not terribly bright, and typically martial in outlook. They told the Imperium to fuck off centuries ago, but a few do work the border in the modern era.

Anyone read marc miller's Agent of the imperium book? Is it worth reading?

>>49934797

I haven't read it yet, but I hear good things. I'm still trying to get a copy for the archive.

>>49934797
Oh and what other traveller novels are particularly worth reading?

>>49934869
The Winds of Gath.

(I have never read a Traveller novel)

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>>49934869

PDF related has reviews of the various Traveller novels.

>>49934968

Oh yeah, and if anybody has Dumarest pdfs, or any other books that influenced Traveller (the stuff in >>49935003 for instance) please share. I'd be happy to add it to the Archive.

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>"Right! We need to plan a distraction. Something that will let us sneak past the planetary authorities, land, and pick up the dingus. Then we fight our way -"
>"Dude? No. We don't need mercenaries for a distraction. Fire ... I mean muster out the ship's company. All I want are you, me, this ship, and the purser. Have him fill the hold with computers. And get some high capacity comm equipment we can strap to the hull."
>"Um ... why are you painting out our ship name?"
>"She is now known as AOHell. It's a Vilani name. Trust me."
>...
>Jump in system.
>Park in geosynchronous orbit over whatever continent has the most colleges and universities.
>Six months later everyone is connecting through our orbital server farm, playing Space Station 1113 and shitposting on 3dholochan.
>Planetary economy collapses.
>"OK! Find us a place to land without too much rioting and explosions."

The problem with Striker campaigns is they never go as planned. Ever.

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Wow, that New Era stuff took a while, but it's finally up. One gigabyte of TNE scans, including better copies of what little was in there before.

>>49934797
I thought so, but my SF reading tastes are admittedly old school.

Question, if I wanted to start with traveller, which edition/books would be the best to start with?

>>49944986

Simplest to get into would be Mongoose 1e. Get the core book, and you're good to go.
Caveat being that outside core, Mongoose's quality control is pretty bad.

Classic is a bit more "assembly required." I've been working on an intro text that will give you the rundown on what's available and help people get started quickly with classic.

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>>49944986
If you are looking for Traveller as a distinct system and experience, then Classic, Mega (with errata and an open mind), or Mongoose 1e are the editions to consider first. MegaTraveller is not as much of a "beginner's edition" as it wanted to be, but it can provide answers to some of the things left hanging in Classic if you need them. Alternately, ask here or at Citizens.

Kit-bashing the system itself is a long tradition with Traveller, seen in both the official magazine and is early articles in other magazines.

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Has anybody tried to run a game of Traveller 5? Or is it just so dense its unplayable?

The book IS dense, but the system is playable. As wth most of Traveller, T5 is modular.

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The K'kree have been here...

>>49945958

I hear the latest revision is much better. (It should be up on the Archive by tomorrow. Right now it's zines being added)

>>49946414
5.09? Yes, it is.

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Oh and speaking of zines, I really dug the featured article in this. It's all about jump physics, and relates the 100d limit to dark matter/gravitons. It also seems to straddle the line between the early fluff about maximizing power output for a jump, and the later bits about jump bubbles.
Also, all ships IMTU now give off a burst of blue Cherenkov radiation when entering jumpspace from here on out, because that's just awesome.

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>>49945752

>>49947307
The White Dwarf article compilation is way above upload limit here.

>>49949610
>ree bad deckplans useless and fiddly cutter operations why is it a tailstander
>but i like it <3

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>>49951220
My first Traveller campaign was based on the Broadsword adventure and I loved it.

>>49951220
It is an awkward ship in some ways, yes. That's one reason I go back to the original Type C from the 1977 edition. Two Pinnaces instead of two Cutters with extra modules.

>>49947405
Drop it somewhere else then. Sendspace, for example.

>>49951663
Some form of it (checking now) is already at http://documents.mx/documents/white-dwarf-magazine-classic-traveller-white-dwarf-articles.html

>>49951729

It's also in the archive under Zines.

>>49951786
>>49951729
The one linked just now is just Andy Slack's compiled 'Expanded Universe' series from very early.

>>49951510
There's a lot of stuff that works better in 77trav. Not requiring a power plant equal to the jump drive is kind of a big deal, you can actually fit reasonable numbers in the liner for example.

also, x-boats actually work.

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Okay, new Traveller5 stuff is in. There are several new zines, and The Traveller Chronicle and Megatraveller Journal have had things added. (Chronicle was only issues 9 and 10, now it's complete from 1 to 13)

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Anybody know what this is? I don't know where to file it.

>>49953431
Setting: 3rd Imperium.
Map of Solomani Rim sector (Solomani Sphere).

>>49955168

Yeah, that much is obvious, but what era, though? It's not labelled. Maybe I'll just throw it into the General stuff and let the viewer figure it out.

>>49955825
The border between the Solomani Sphere and the Imperium doesn't seem to match the data in Mongoose Traveller 1e Solomani book, not the map at travellermap.com.

So either it is wrong, or overs an era that those two other sources don't.

>>49956231

Yeah, it's definitely not the Classic 1105 era. In addition to the border, there are changes to amber and red zones, and I imagine world data too. That means it's either Rebellion, or Milieu 0, or maybe the alternate timeline from GURPS where the Emperor was never assassinated.
It looks similar to the GURPS one, but I see tech levels differ a good bit, they're generally higher.

I was hoping the guy who posted it (since I got it from /tg/) might show up and know what the deal is. I guess it's going into General Setting info for now, labelled "unknown era."

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>>49934797

Agent of the Imperium is up now, under Books.

>>49958242
The TL and Terra's status as an Imperial "colony" put this into a 120 year window at most, but the border is still wrong.

The routes that clutter up the map come from one fan-made trade map generator.

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I've always wanted to run a game where the players have to establish and grow a new colony on an unclaimed world.

Does that sound fun at all? What sorts of stuff could you do with such a campaign?

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>>49960332

There's a book for that, under TNE.

>>49960613
Huh, neat. I gotta check that out.

>>49960250
Actually, the border does fit the currently defined data fairly well.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the T5SS has led to revision of many UWPs across the map, so this map is probably from pre-revision data.

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>>49960857

>>49960332
If you're into Stars Without Number, the Suns of Gold expansion has some neat material on this that might be worth a look.

>>49960613
>>49962264
Hm. This makes me wonder if I could write a new splatbook for it. I'd be at a loss as to whether or not to do it for MgT 1e or 2e, though. Convention dictates that the latest version ought to be written for, but personally I like 1e a lot more. Wouldn't want to write a book for a system not enough people play anymore, though, if most folks are moving to the latest version.

>>49960857
It has Sarpedon as Solomani territory when it is actually Imperial. It has Imperial territory going around and claiming Smades Planet, while that is actually an independent world completely surrounded by Solomani territory.

While the border is similar, there are discrepancies.

>>49963148

You could write it for Cepheus Engine. If you plan on releasing commercially, you won't have license fees taking half your profits that way.
As a bonus, Cepheus Engine is supposedly tweaked to be more compatible with Classic than straight MGT1 is.

>>49963341
>Cepheus Engine
Huh. First time hearing of it. Well, might as well give it a look.

>>49963156
Smade's should be sitting between the borders, with the Solomani border like the trade map and the Imperial border like Traveller Map. Whatever. Old data and odd border interpretations.

>>49963148
How tightly do you need to tie it to an RPG system, really? The answer is probably not "not at all," but you should consider how you're going to approach that aspect first.

>>49967818

BITS often prints their stuff with numbers for more than one edition, which is pretty cool.

Bump. Currently adding more Challenge magazine issues to the Zines folder.

>>49975886

You spend a week locked up in that fucker, technically not even in the same universe as anyone else. You get a daily maintenance/watch schedule, more to keep you busy than anything else, but other than that, it seems like the same five vids and the same twenty or so text-novels every station. You've read them all multiple times. You fap a lot. You sleep a lot.

They say you get a week off after every jump, but between data transfer, debriefing, and making sure maintenance did their job pre-departure, you maybe get three days off-station. Usually they run you out for six or seven jumps, then send you back along the same route, so you'll only be an the same world three or four times a year. You don't have time to make *enemies*, let alone friends.

I keep thinking I'm gonna buck for Exploration next term, but honestly those guys don't spend anymore time out of the can than we do, and the time they do spend dirtside is simultaneously twice as boring, and ten times more dangerous.

I've had decorated Marine Commandos shake their heads and ask me how the fuck I could do it. I don't know. What else is there?

>start MG2 game with some friends
>three have only played D&D/Pathfinder
>one has never played RPGs before
>one's only experience with space RPGs is 40k
>the last one's only space RPG experience is Star Wars RPG
>I get their characters set up; two naval engineers (the officer among the two is their captain), a ground assault marine, an "entertainer" who made her character an Inara expy, a space bum who did a stint of piracy before his legs were blown off, and a cop who turned to grand-scale theft before getting out of her home system
>they wind up getting a modified Corvette designed to look like it isn't a gunboat with a 600kCr+ monthly loan
>this is after I showed them numerous trade ships at a third of their initial ship's cost
>they expect to make their profit exploring fringe space

I really don't want to fuck them as hard as that ship deserves, but I want them to see that they've picked a hard road.

>>49977956

This is what characters like Jabba the Hutt are for. If they can't pay their bills, the local crime syndicate or pirate fleet will end up owning their ship, and likely them. Which is a viable way to adventure, if the players aren't completely butthurt about losing their agency. And there's always the promise of the One Big Score that will allow them to buy their freedom. You might even actually let them have it.

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>>49977452
I always thought there was no sense in having a human pilot for an x-boat, unless you were doing some kind of psychological experiment in isolation. Surely it would be easier and cheaper just to have some rudimentary robot plugged into the cockpit, programmed with Pilot 2 Navig 2 or something, and use that? After all, the only things the pilot does is fly it out to the jump point, jump, twiddle their thumbs for a week, then wait to be picked up. You don't need a human for that at all.

>>49977956
For the loners and introverts, the time in jump IS the time off. The rest of the time they are dealing with people is "work".

>>49979913
That is extremely true. You could even have the tenders do everything to prep the ship for jump, but leaving the actual jump to be handled by the autopilot. Of all of the starship jobs out there the X-Boat is probably the most amenable to automation.

>>49979913
>>49981031
Sure do you not need a sophont for jumping to work? I'm 80% that was a thing in one edition or another

>>49981583
It varies. Though some people absolutely hate it, one Classic Traveller adventure (Leviathan) has unmanned jump torpedoes for delivering messages.

>>49977452
Same five vids and text-novels? Look at the mass of entertainment media being produced now. Multiply by the number of planets above, say, TL6 in the 3I.

Sure, some of it would be incomprehensible due to language and weird customs, but translations, adaptations and rip-offs would exist.

Failing that, the pilot could start studying something, almost anything, if he wants another job eventually.

>>49979913
We're beginning to see the bad side of automation in aviation. Sure, all them computers have made flying so much safer. But when a plane does get into a situation outside the computers' capabilities, the crew may no longer have sufficient experience to correctly analyze the problem and get the plane back into the safe zone.

Traveller assumes clunky computers that just about can handle take-off, landing and jumping (notwithstanding the experimental AI on Kinunir). Anything out of the ordinary needs to be handled by the crew.

I wonder why there isn't a series of adventure books for solo play around the x-boat network.

>>49977452
Thats good! Ideally you want the PCs to always be struggling to make ends meat, that way they're forced to take extra jobs on the side. Perhaps your "main quest" could pay them as well

>>49982363
Using the X-Boat network as a backdrop for solo-play sounds like a good idea. You don't have a party because your occupation makes it difficult to maintain long term human contact. You have a constant cycle of jump space-planet side around which you can build mechanics. If the narrative becomes a bit disjointed that is just the game mechanics reflecting the disjointed life of an X-Boat courier.

>>49982477
Adventuring with x-boats also sounds difficult. The typical x-boat has a survival pack for the pilot, a space suit, attitude thrusters (no M-drive) and perhaps a solar sail for emergencies. Good luck with that.

So while the pilot may be able to witness events in space, there's very little he can do about them. Dropping out of jumpspace within reach of a derelict ship is something that wouldn't normally occur in the lifetime of a pilot.

Remaining scenarios?

>>49982306
>99% of your data storage is reserved for high priority Imperial message traffic.
>Firewall between basecomp and the planetary internet because Zhodani hackers or some shit.
>Your phone isn't compatible with the local nets, and they deliberately jack the price of adapters to bilk the offworlders.
>Technical branch sends the same personal media package to every x-boat station; if any of a dozen or so worlds declare a book or vid contraband, it doesn't go in. Wouldn't want to offend the natives.
>Last update was three years ago, because Tech branch in understaffed, and IT has bigger fish to fry.
>"One ton, 16K" has been retconned in newer editions, sure, but Traveller computers of any TL are still worse than what we have now.

>>49982714

Private message delivery. Someone on planet A wants a small package delivered on the down low to a specific person on planet B. There are, of course, complications...

>>49983208
Nice, although not specific to the x-net. Any merchant will take parcels. AFAIK an x-boat might also squeeze in one passenger in addition to the pilot.

Next I'm thinking of goings-on within the Scout Service, along the lines of ST:TNG.

For the sake of adventuring we might assume a series of x-boats with a 1G manœuvre drive.

>>49983113
The pilot could always bring his own books.

The x-boat only goes as far as the tender. Contact with natives is on the pilot's own time.

Messages would be secured against raiders and spies with asymmetric encryption. Unfortunately for adventures, this would also stop the pilot from rifling through them in jumpspace, and discovering secrets that way.

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>>49979913

The reason is cultural: The Vilani have never trusted machines. This mistrust is deep-seated and goes back to the earliest days of the First Imperium. It's mitigated a bit in the modern Vilani/Solomani culture of the Third Imperium, but it's still there. You can always count on people to just be people, but machines need watching, and the latest whizz-bang tech should be treated with suspicion until it's proven itself.

This attitude has a fair bit of justification in-universe, to be honest.

>>49983484
The secondary courier routes are usually handled by the Type S or free traders, but an experimental program to jam J3 and a minimal maneuver drive into a 100 ton X-Boat hull is always a possibility. You'd have to design it under an edition that doesn't use the letter drives, though; letter drives don't do odd ranges or Gs in a 100 ton hull.

>>49984788
>This attitude has a fair bit of justification in-universe, to be honest.
Like ancient war machines ruling Vland like death gods for literally thousands of years. The Vilani didn't start to civilize until the robots' batteries finally all died.

>>49984788

>>49901104
>continues making notes for a long-past-Virus setting where there's been a Traveller Butlerian Jihad, and your computer's dtonnage is actually living quarters for your mentat.

>>49984960
Wait, when did that happen?

>>49985198
It didn't, but I found it funny.

And am thinking about trying it, somehow.

>>49985244
Godspeed, anon. I might like mentats better than supercomputers because they would change the Traveller setting beyond recognition (for me at least).

I'm not informed whether the OTU's history is being advanced right now, as it used to be done in JTAS. Thus I had to ask. Who knows, maybe the highly trained computer operators in TNE turned into mentats.