Traveller General--Hivers do it Just As Planned Edition

>>52934530
>the Humbolts
This is indeed a better idea than me simply going "A bunch of un-aligned planets got together to fuck over the Imperium because they're salty over Imperial-world successes".

>>52953128

Not so big on a truly pacifist race. No truly pacifist race would ever survive to the space age.

File: 1273137.jpg (82KB, 600x600px) Image search: [Google]

82KB, 600x600px

Does anyone have the Spaceman Spiff conversion article?

I think it was in either Space Gamer or Challenge, and it may be a TL17 setting.

Star Trek is horrible for campaign inspirations.

>>52954820

It's not in JTAS or Challenge, those have indexes. I did find a 2002 post on the CotI forum from a guy who was working on a set of Spaceman Spiff rules, but his rules document is 404ed and isn't in archive.org either.
Shame, I'd like to see this. I guess it's one more for the list of oddball stuff we need for the archives.

File: tumblr_n6mhc0rEkf1qmtfp8o2_500.jpg (39KB, 500x375px) Image search: [Google]

39KB, 500x375px

>>52955092

>Star Trek is horrible for campaign inspirations.

I don't know about that. I can see running a Blakes 7 [b]anti-[/b]Federation campaign in the Triangle.

"Die, Commie scum!"

http://www.mediafire.com/file/f22onfg8dywzeq3/Star_Trek_Alpha_Quadrant.pdf

>>52953128
Anyone have any stories about playing a party of Zhodani? Maybe undercover operatives encouraging and fostering psychic power in Solomani?

File: chats_with_a_hiver_by_barkkorn-d31iwxo.jpg (90KB, 900x475px) Image search: [Google]

90KB, 900x475px

>>52953128

>Are Hiver entirely pacifistic, like in GURPS Traveller, or can they commit acts of violence if need be, even if they'd prefer not to?

They can employ violence if they're corned and have no choice.

>>52934628
Thanks for replying. Be sure to post when you ran next session!

>>52955330
I wish I could remember where I saw it. Could it have been in Shadis?

>>52956542
>Blakes 7 anti-Federation campaign

Always thought it would be fun to reboot Blake and crew as Gelflings - then run the Dark (Crystal) Federation as the puppets of hidden Skeksis manipulators. Then adding in the Mystics to give a Arisia vs Boskone backstory. Imagine the reactions when an Arisian created Lensman showed up to reclaim the Liberator.

>>52956979
>They can employ violence if they're corned and have no choice.

The Hivers are in no way pacifists. There is a difference between being a physical coward and a pacifist. Cowards can also be murderers.

The Hivers prefer "violence at a distance". They've elevated passive-aggressive behavior to an art form. They also routinely poison each other and arrange plausibly deniable "accidents".

Check out TNE's "Aliens of the Rim" for a more adult and nuanced version of the Hivers than the "Happy Mute Starfish" presented in Classic.

>>52958278
>the "Happy Mute Starfish" presented in Classic.

Hey, now, I'll admit that TNE really upped the dark'n'gritty factor to suit the 90s, but the Classic rendition of Hivers does not paint them as some sort of care bears. They have a standing military, including masses of Ithklur infantry who relish doing the close-up fighting for them, and their victory in the Hiver-K'kree war is downright scary.

>Selecting several worlds within Kilong sector deep in the K'kree's Two Thousand Worlds, major secret expeditions were dispatched to work a variety of manipulations on native K'kree populations. Over a period of years (-2018 to -2013), the expeditions were successful in changing altering K'kree culture from its consistent and static mold, introducing such aberrations as meat sauces for foods and acceptance of isolation as a recreation.

>n 2013, the Hivers succeeded in drawing the K'kree to the negotiating table by hinting that they were ready to surrender. During the discussions, the Federation horrified K'kree negotiators by demonstrating to them the success of their expeditions, and revealing plans to radically alter the K'kree social order if the war were to continue. Several months of serious negotiation (and frantic checking by the K'kree) finally resulted in an armistice which returned the occupied worlds to the Hivers and established a secure border which remains stable to this day.

>The K'kree were extremely disturbed by the Hiver tampering with their culture. The four K'kree worlds which had been tampered with were sterilized immediately; they remain inter-
dicted worlds even today.

File: Tytlal.png (327KB, 513x771px) Image search: [Google]

327KB, 513x771px

>>52960880
Culture war is crazy to think of, that is the state of modern and future warfare. I mean with that recent CIA leak thing they mentioned how they have a "memetic warfare" division.

>>52960880
Is there any fun compedium of OTU which I can read or is everything spread over tens of books?

>>52961745

It's more or less the latter; I check the Traveller wiki a lot, but it could use some more work. A really good collection of the OTU stuff would be nice.

File: Traveller Integrated Timeline.pdf (1MB, 1x1px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1x1px

>>52961745
>>52961914
There's the OTU timeline, it's not much, but it helps, in the archive under general universe, file related

File: Traveller history.pdf (118KB, 1x1px) Image search: [Google]

118KB, 1x1px

>>52961745
>>52961914
There's the OTU timeline, it's not much, but it helps, in the archive under general universe, file related

shit, thought those'd be in the same post

>>52962795
Nice one, definitely useful. Thanks!

>>52960880
>They have a standing military, including masses of Ithklur infantry who relish doing the close-up fighting for them, and their victory in the Hiver-K'kree war is downright scary.

1st, the Ithklur are allotted about four paragraphs in Classic's Hiver alien module along with a few other Hiver "servitor" races. Much of the regarding them came later and was a result of fan enthusiasm 'cause any sci-fi setting simply MUST have "Klingons". As it did with the Hivers, TNE's "Aliens of the Rim" presents a more mature and nuanced version of the Ithklur as did GT's alien books. The MT and GT books dealing with the Solomani show Fed ground forces made up of several servitor species.

2nd, the "We trolled your culture LOL" story the armistice is the Hivers' version of what happened. The Ithklur tell a story which, while having the same result, is very different.

3rd, the Hivers are MANIPULATORS and celebrate that aspect of their culture. Manipulating perceptions of events AFTER the fact is far easier than actually manipulating conditions as those events occur. TNE suggests that one of the reasons the Hivers are so good at cybernetics is their constant need to "cook the books" in order to claim prescience and credit where none are actually due.

Ever see the movie "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"? There's scene with Pee Wee quickly pedaling his bike through a neighborhood. He wipes out in front of a group of kids, falling off the bike, and rolling across a lawn only to pop up on his feet without a bruise or scratch on him. Realizing that he's embarrassed himself in front of a bunch of grammar school kids, Pee Wee boldly claims "I meant to do that...".

That's exactly what the Hivers most often do when claiming they've performed a manipulation. They claim control and/or guidance of events AFTER the fact. Putting it in current terms, the Hivers control the narrative. They obfuscate and spin the facts in favor of the "fake news" which supports their claims.

File: trust_me___i__m_a_robot__by_arcas_art-d5rsld2.jpg (101KB, 451x640px) Image search: [Google]

101KB, 451x640px

>>52958278

>The Hivers are in no way pacifists.

Agreed. I always viewed them as more cowardly than pacifistic. They'd gladly stab you in the back if they could get away with it. Look what they do to their own children.

>Check out TNE's "Aliens of the Rim"

I think that's what most of us are basing our views on. I'm not all that familiar with the GURPS version.

>>52965326
>I think that's what most of us are basing our views on. I'm not all that familiar with the GURPS version.

I doubt most are basing their views on the TNE product. In my experience, most views are usually a mix of Classic and fanon. The GT version shares more with TNE than Classic.

Has Mongoose fucked up the Hivers yet?

File: Ithklur Color 1.jpg (89KB, 694x960px) Image search: [Google]

89KB, 694x960px

>>52964696

>The Ithklur tell a story which, while having the same result, is very different.

The Ithklur version is correct.

Who was it that said TNE was more adult? Ho ho humbug!

File: hiver.png (148KB, 458x370px) Image search: [Google]

148KB, 458x370px

>>52965469

>Has Mongoose fucked up the Hivers yet?

Dunno. I just collect their shit. I don't actually read it. :)

File: boondoggle5.jpg (47KB, 396x572px) Image search: [Google]

47KB, 396x572px

Has anybody here actually tried to play T5?

>>52966115
Travelleronomicon? I tried chargen, but had to start rolling Sanity checks IRL.

IIRC someone tried to make it readable. I didn't try improved version, though.

>>52966115
Are they still going to release the rumored Player's Guide Edition?

>>52965517
>Who was it that said TNE was more adult? Ho ho humbug!

That was me and it was a poor word choice. I should have written "mature".

>>52966115
>Has anybody here actually tried to play T5?

Setting, alien, world, etc creation and such, yes. Play? Fuck no. It truly is a game kit and not a game.

>>52969188
>Are they still going to release the rumored Player's Guide Edition?

People are working on it, but people worked on T5 for for close to 2 decades so don't get your hopes up. Hell, I've T5 "update" emails talking about it being released "soon" dating from 2005.

>>52965517
What IS the Ithklur version?

>>52964696
>We trolled your culture LOL

Dude, they drove several entire planets clinically insane by K'kree standards. Like horrifically insane, to the point the K'kree nuked their own people from orbit..

You're free to have your own headcanon that that stuff never happened and that it was just the Hivers making stuff up or taking credit for things they had nothing to do with or whatever, but none of that appears to be in the Classic text.

>>52973242
>Dude, they drove several entire planets clinically insane by K'kree standards.

Dude, read "Aliens of the Rim". It's just as much canon as the Classic module.

In fact, AotR is written in a way 4Chan users may find interesting. The text from the Classic module is presented followed by what is best described as a GREENTEXT commentary on how most of that text is self serving bullshit.

It was "only" 4 planets by the way.

>>You're free to have your own headcanon that that stuff never happened

I'm not saying it never happened, fuckwit. I'm saying ACTUAL CANON has two versions of the events and the Ithklur one is far more plausible. This isn't headcanon, this is stuff published by GDW.

>>>>52972522
>>What IS the Ithklur version?

Ithklur ground troops were left behind when the Hivers in the Fed navy ran away. Ithklur being Ithklur and knowing what the K'Kree did to carnivores and omnivores, they decided to fight to the last. Captured supplies kept the Ithklur in the fight while K'Kree CORPSES kept the Ithklur FED. That triggered an escalating cycle of atrocities committed by both sides which culminated with K'Kree troops beginning the ceremonial consumption of dead Ithklur as an act of revenge.

The Hivers continued to lose the war on the strategic level and had opened surrender negotiations. A Hiver in charge of trying to relieve the cut-off Ithklur had learned about what was going on and created backdated fictitious orders claiming it had manipulated carnivorous practices among the K'Kree involved.

As AotR then explains: "Tschudi arrived at the Hiver surrender negotiations in the nick of time and turned the tables by terrifying the K’kree with this putative master-stroke, in fact a shrewd, if disingenuous, portrayal of other realities. For saving the Federation, Tschudi was granted the title of Manipulator. To this day, M. Tschudi is remembered by the lthklur with contempt as the archetype of Hiver opportunistic deceit."

File: AZHANTI HIGH LIGHTNING.jpg (38KB, 700x775px) Image search: [Google]

38KB, 700x775px

Hey there spacers, would any of you guys be interested in an online Traveller game?

Caveat 1: No guarantees I'll actually run anything, just throwing out an interest check
Caveat 2: I'm GMT/BST and apparently have a thick Irish accent
Caveat 3: I've never refereed Traveller before, and never GMed online. However I am IRL forever GM, and I have experience with stuff like 5e and OSR
Caveat 4: I'm not a massive OTU fan, so I'll probably be running something smaller scale, somewhere between the Classic implied setting and Stars Without Number

I've just been reading MgT2 and the LBBs, and I really want to run this shit.

>>52975710
>Dude, read "Aliens of the Rim". It's just as much canon as the Classic module.

Irrelevant, since we were talking about the Classic Traveller depiction, not the TNE one that we all agreed was darker. Don't move the goalposts and then call me a fuckwit, you ass.

You said the TNE version was darker than the Classic one, which was fine, and you also said CT depicted them as "Happy Mute Starfish." I showed, with citations from Classic, that that claim was bullshit and the CT Hivers were still scary and dangerous to fuck with. If you want to show that they are "Happy Mute Starfish" using only Classic Traveller sources, go ahead. But pointing out that TNE retcons it like that is a waste of time that could have been spent conceding the point.

>It was "only" 4 planets by the way.

That's still 4 planets that, thanks to the work of a handful of Hiver agents each, had turned into Jeffrey Dahmer theme parks from the K'Kree standpoint.

>>52975847
I'd be interested in it, not saying I could make it, but I'm interested

Does anyone have any good alternative character sheet suggestions? The ones I downloaded from Mongoose's website are a bit wonky in my opinion.

>>52975847
I'd be interested, any ideas on the plot?

File: eb81453cac3f70eae4efefa6ed8a3acf.jpg (330KB, 808x989px) Image search: [Google]

330KB, 808x989px

Does anyone have some good interior art/plans for ATVs?

>>52975847
I'd be in, depending on specific times.

File: image.jpg (22KB, 195x145px) Image search: [Google]

22KB, 195x145px

Jump-1

>>52975847
GMT here, I'd be interested depending on specific timing.

I love these threads when they stay up, so much nicer that the Star Wars threads. Shitposting in those is unreal sometimes.

>>52953128
>Are Hiver entirely pacifistic, like in GURPS Traveller, or can they commit acts of violence if need be, even if they'd prefer not to?
They are based on Nivin's Puppiters from the Known Space/Ringworld universe, but seeing as how they actualy have fleets of drone warships they are not entirely reliant on fucking over your entire socio-economic structure or instigating wars between other races and the hostile alien empires they fear. I would not however refer to eaither species as pacifist, as they have no moral quams about conflict just an overwhelming fear of being directly involved in it..

>>52983522
>Does anyone have some good interior art/plans for ATVs?

Interior plans? Sorry, I've never seen any beyond the very simple plan in Classic's Double Adventure and another very simple one in the old "dead tree" JTAS mag.

It's odd when you think about it. We've deckplans for all sorts of smallcraft down to 5dT and smaller but no one has bothered to detail an ATV.

One work around may be to use a grav carrier deckplan and call it an ATV. IIRC, there are two good interior plans for g-carriers in the "World Builders Handbook" for MegaTraveller.

New to Traveller (Mongoose 2nd), reading through the core rulerbook.

In what situations would you change the difficult of a task check vs using boons and banes.

Shooting an enemy as your moving on a fast train is going to be difficult, but does the speed count as a bane? I don't understand.

File: see you space cowboy.jpg (24KB, 1174x880px) Image search: [Google]

24KB, 1174x880px

>>52986989
>>52983876
>>52981964
>>52977438
Not quite sure when to run, maybe Sunday evenings?
I won't be starting anything for a couple of weeks definitely.

As for setting, I've been cooking up about two Trav subsectors, most of which is ruled by a paternalistic Confederation, a successor state of the Terran Mandate (think SWN). Said Confederation just won a pretty nasty civil war and is currently in the process of rebuilding what you did during the war is gonna be a special term at the end of chargen
I'm not going to lie, I've taken a lot from Firefly already, so I'm thinking standard Traveller "Here's a ship, here's crippling debt, use A to solve B"
We'll see closer to the time sure, I'm not too hung-up on specifics

>>52988226
Any thoughts on venue? (Hangouts, Discord, Text Chat, Roll20?)

Any good books about the Vegan?

>>52994205

Good question. They're nicely alien and yet not much has been done with them.

There is some info about them out there. GURPS "Rim of Fire" and "Interstellar Wars" has the most. There's also their first appearance is in Classic's "N-Z Library Data". All of those can be found in the Archive naturally.

I can't remember whether they're in any of GURPS 4 alien books for Traveller. Hopefully another anon will let us know.

>>52994399
Just those three books I think

File: megatraveller__arrival_vengeance_by_caesar120-d5ykkoy.jpg (1MB, 1024x2281px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1024x2281px

>>52994399
>>52994205
The Vegan Autonomous Zone is described in CT's Solomani Rim supplement.

File: 1492976585776.jpg (362KB, 1272x1000px) Image search: [Google]

362KB, 1272x1000px

There's a really good sci-fi art thread on /hr/ with heaps of Traveller inspiration.

>>>/hr/2880049

File: Vegan.jpg (104KB, 825x562px) Image search: [Google]

104KB, 825x562px

>>52994205

>Any good books about the Vegan?

http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Vegan
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Children_of_Earth
http://web.archive.org/web/20001206223800/http://www.siscom.net/~hdhale/COE.htm

The Traveller Chronicle, Issues 10-13.

File: Data-lt-commander-data-33751816-245-182.gif (431KB, 245x182px) Image search: [Google]

431KB, 245x182px

>>52975710

>I'm not saying it never happened, fuckwit.

Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.

This beats the fuck out of CotI.

>>52988226
I'd be interested depending on the timing. Roll20? Voice chat?

hello, I own a copy of OG traveler but i've never actually done anything with it, I admit the wall of rule text has always intimidated me. Is it worth it for be to put the time to try the system out? Is the original one good?

>>53002101
>Is the original one good?

Yeah, it's great. It took over thirty years and many, many tries before they managed to make a new edition of Traveller that most folks would agree was better, or at least not worse than Classic, and there yet remain some folks (like me) who think CT is still the best.
You have the three little black books, or one of the later revisions?

>>53002321
three little black books.
also empire of the petal throne but thats not related

I know this isn't Traveller related, but I have secured permission from schlockmercenary to reproduce some of the current pdf of Planet Mercenary RPG and am running a PM thread over in /qst/, if anyone wants to try it out
>>>/qst/1420443

Anyway, back on topic of Traveller.
Has MGP fixed all the broken crap from HG2e yet?

>>53001599
>>52990788

Roll20 I guess? I've fucked around a bit with it, and it seems to be decent enough.
I don't particularly want to do anything grid based, but being able to draw out "you guys are here, those guys are here, this squiggle is a crevice" would be handy

>>53001222

The Traveller Wiki is little more than a fanon-infested pile of shit. It's routinely denigrated at COTI.

Harold Hale's CoE is perhaps the most cringe worthy 3rd party TNE setting and one which MWM ordered specifically ignored when the M:1248 materials were being written.

Traveller Chronicle ranges from meh to okay. It was one of the better fanzines but it's a still a fanzine.

>>53001539
>Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.

Sure thing. Anything to help a fellow anon.

Fuckwit sniffed that AoT was irrelevant to the conversation because only Classic was under being discussed. That's a lie, naturally, as the OP's initial question specifically asked how GURPS portrayed the Hivers. Other versions were part of the conversation from the first.

Fuckwit's bleating about only examining the Classic module also fails because AoT quotes the text of the Classic module in full. As I explained with the greentext analogy, AoT essentially "deconstructs" the information PROVIDED by the Hivers by use of a running commentary interleaved with the text of the Classic module.

The Classic alien modules were written "in character", that is the aliens in question were said to be writing the material. Which is why many of those module have GM eyes only section where various lies are exposed.

Traveller has always been about "wheels within wheels". The Aslan were a Major Race, then they weren't, then it didn't matter. The Zhos were mind rapers, then the happiest human polity in Charted Space, and then something very frightening indeed. The list stories within stories and reinterpreted facts in Traveller is a lengthy one.

The Classic module is what the Hivers claim. AoT is what the Hivers' VICTIMS claim. The truth, as always, lays somewhere in between. That's why I wrote that AoT was a more "mature" source; it acknowledges uncertainty.

You can go with the childish & derpy "Super meme masters" version the Hivers claim they are. You can go with the mature and nuanced "Pathological liars who use opportunistic deceit to claim ownership of events" version the Hivers' various victims and wogs claim the Hivers are. Or you can go with something in the middle.

And the game goes on...

>>53003309
>It's routinely denigrated at COTI.

>denigrating a wiki instead of fixing it

It's not like the thing has a large user base that could defend its turf like on Wikipedia, any concerted effort could repair it.

>>53003605

I see you're still not providing any citations for Classic depicting them as "Happy Mute Starfish," just using later sources that modify it to fit your argument.

Sure, AoT may retcon shit from Classic to be "in character" and unreliable, but that's because that was the popular thing in the 90s, and even so it's STILL beside the point I was arguing -- you were flat-out wrong when you claimed that Classic depicts them as "Happy mute starfish" and you keep avoiding that and trying to point at TNE texts written a decade later to defend your inaccurate portrayal of what Classic says. Also, quit being a douchebag and shitting up the general.

>>53003776
>I see you're still not providing any citations for Classic depicting them as "Happy Mute Starfish,"...

They stopped a genocidal race of psychotic herbivores WITHOUT fighting a catastrophic war. All they "did" was claim to deliberately fuck up 4 worlds out 2000 and the resulting peace has lasted thousands of years. The Hivers' claim they don't need to fight nasty wars.

They also claim to guide their "federation" not through naked force but because they alone can determine what is best for all the "wogs" they contacted. The Hivers claim everyone under their control is all one big happy family.

Here's the bit you still can't understand, Fuckwit. The Hivers' story in the Classic module is one of them being "happy mute starfish" who only want the best for all the "child species" they encounter. I'm not claiming the Hivers ARE happy mute starfish. I am claiming the text "written" by the Hivers in the module wants us to believe they're happy mute starfish. Understand, Fuckwit?

>Sure, AoT may retcon shit from Classic

It's not a retcon when it's designed that way from the first. Like the Pathfinder/Aslan story, the fact that the Hivers are lying monsters isn't a retcon but instead is a revelation.

>>you were flat-out wrong when you claimed that Classic depicts them as "Happy mute starfish"

Again, that's what the Hivers' text wants to portray, Fuckwit, and not what the facts are.

>>you keep avoiding that and trying to point at TNE texts written a decade later to defend your inaccurate portrayal of what Classic says.

Sorry, Fuckwit. I've explained at least twice now that there is a difference between what the Classic text claims to be and what it actually is. The Hivers' story is supposed to be one thing and, if you read it uncritically, you'll believe it. However, when you read between the lines like you have, that story is something else entirely.

>>quit being a douchebag

Right back at you, Fuckwit. Nice chatting.

>>53004220
>I am claiming the text "written" by the Hivers in the module

There's the point of contention. You accept the TNE retcon that the CT text is written by the Hivers, I do not. If you accept this non-Classic text, then the Classic text retroactively can be reinterpreted the way what you claim it does. If you look only at Classic sources, none of that "unreliable narrator" stuff is in there, or you'd have provided a citation instead of just hot opinions and pointing at TNE over and over.

>there is a difference between what the Classic text claims to be and what it actually is

...according to TNE, not Classic. Which was my entire point.

>>53004461
>reinterpreted the way

*to be the way

File: Air Raft 9 front.jpg (172KB, 744x558px) Image search: [Google]

172KB, 744x558px

Please try to maintain a civil tone in the general, people. I've worked hard to build these threads up over the past year and a half, and so far they've been largely courteous and mature, and I'd prefer that to continue.
I'd like to think that everyone can disagree politely like adults without descending into the nasty childishness seen elsewhere.

Thank you.

>>53004851
>the nasty childishness seen elsewhere
I miss the old Star Wars generals, now it's just Disney vs Legends and Empire dindu nuffin all day every day. I just want to have a fun thread that isn't full of autistic jackasses.

This thread is nowhere near as bad as the others, but I do appreciate your efforts to keep a good tone in here.

>>53004461
>If you look only at Classic sources, none of that "unreliable narrator" stuff

There's no unreliable narrator stuff in Classic? MWM says there is. The late LKW said there was.

I choose to believe them and, for whatever reason you do not.

And the game goes on...

>>53005243
>MWM says there is. The late LKW said there was.

Well those guys are authorities, sure, but they're still outside sources when it comes to what Classic itself actually says about the Hivers. (And we both know "unreliable narrator" is really a dodge used for fixing the contradictory lore that piled up over the years)
If you just take what Classic says about the Hivers and ignore all the later editions' changes and stuff, they are pretty scary. (I'll also admit I like some of the TNE changes to Hivers, which is funny since I don't like most of what TNE did)

>>53005364

Let me expand on this a little bit. When we're talking about "how Classic portrays the Hivers" I don't feel we can take anything that's not in the Classic text as an authoritative source. Even if it's published as official Traveller stuff in later editions, or handed down from on high by Marc Millar later on, it should still be viewed no better than headcanon when you're talking about Classic itself.

I mean sure, MWM is The Guy, and he can change his interpretations, and those new interpreattions then become official, but it doesn't change what he put out in the past. Once you put something out there, it no longer belongs to you entirely.
At this point, I feel even the creator has no special rights to alter the original -- we can choose to take his new reading or leave it, just the same as if it came from any other source.

The alternative is accepting that alien-hunting secret government agents only carry walkie-talkies in E.T., or that "It was Midichlorians all along!" is the "real" story, and what was presented originally is now either false, or irreversibly modified by the new version. That's not something I'm prepared to accept.
People change, their ideas shift, and the only real authority on what a text says is the text itself.

So: IMO Prequel George Lucas is not really the same guy as Original Trilogy George Lucas, and therefore "midichlorians" are little more than new-George Lucas' headcanon, and can safely be ignored as a stupid idea that should have been left on the cutting room floor, and which has no relevance for talking about what happens in the original trilogy.

So I'm brand new to Traveller, as in only started looking today new. Other than death from reduced stats, what's to stop me from making a 70 year old character with a huge amount of skills? I don't quite get it. Why would a 66 year old be a better brawler than an 18 year old?

inb4 read the rules, it's what I'm doing right now.

>>53007163

In Classic LBBs? The odds are he'll die in chargen if you keep pushing it that far. In later Classic with the optional survival rules, or later editions where death in chargen was reduced to an optional rule, well, your referee will likely say "no more than x terms" where x is like 4-7.
Playing with the survival rule just ruins the whole "Push Your Luck" gambling thing that the original had going on, IMO.

>>53007343
Eh, you hit them with an injury that hits the stats hard. Eventually, nobody'll want them.

Additionally, CT had limits to the total skills if I recall

File: MPost309-TRAVELLER.jpg (32KB, 414x499px) Image search: [Google]

32KB, 414x499px

>>53007163

As for Brawling in particular, think of it a bit like a kung fu movie, or Red, where you should respect your elders because they may have taught the guy who taught you how to fight.
That said, stat loss due to aging means that while they'll be ahead on technique, they're also squishier than you and more likely to go down after you land one good hit.

>>53007593
>CT had limits to the total skills if I recall

Not in the original LBBS, but the Traveller Book had a maximum limit where your skills couldn't add up to more than the sum of your INT and EDU scores. (I've never thought about this before, but it sort of implies that you'd have to lose skills in old age)

>>53007695
>it sort of implies that you'd have to lose skills in old age

I think the idea is that as you grow old you start to get rusty in some areas.
Skill-0 doesn't count toward it right?

>>53008364

Nope, it explicitly states that a 0 skill is not counted. IE, it counts as a zero.

>>53005364
>(And we both know "unreliable narrator" is really a dodge used for fixing the contradictory lore that piled up over the years)

It used as a dodge in some cases, just not in this one. The reason is part of Trav's design.

Trav doesn't have the in-game rewards seen in other RPGs. There are no XPs. levels, easy increases to skills/stats, etc. Instead, Trav's in-game rewards are money, equipment, influence, and - most importantly - in-game KNOWLEDGE. The various sidebar and advice sections littered throughout Classic constantly talks about puzzles, enigmas, and the players' "incomplete knowledge of the universe".

If knowledge is going to be a reward, than it can't be laid out for everyone to read. That's why from the very beginning, Trav's "lore" has featured wheels within wheel, easter eggs, puzzles, unreliable narrators, and all the rest.

The Aslan/Major Race puzzle is a good example of this. The "Major Races Invent Jump Drive" definition was stated, along with suspicions that it's more of an excuse than a rule. Next, hints were dropped in various materials for years that the Aslan didn't develop jump drive. Finally the Pathfinder story was revealed, the fact that the Aslan didn't independently develop jump was acknowledged, and - here's the fun bit - the Aslan were still regarded as a Major Race.

All of that took over a decade and NONE of it was a retcon. It had been planned from the first. It was a bit of in-game knowledge PCs could discover as a "reward".

The Classic/AotR Hiver material is much the same. To the casual reader - which you are not - Classic's text portrayed "happy mute starfish" whose curiosity alone led them to the stars, whose paternal feelings lead them to uplift "child" races, who fight wars by not fighting wars, and who benevolently preside over a happy multi-species federation.

Discerning readers - of which you are one - saw all that as bullshit and rightfully perceived the Hivers as amoral, lying monsters. (cont.)

>>53011958 (continued)

After Trav presented the 'happy mute starfish" version, TNE's AotR then TOOK THE SAME TEXT FOUND IN THE CLASSIC MODULE and added commentary pointing out the bullshit which discerning readers like you had noticed all along.

AotR didn't change anything. AotR didn't retcon anything. AotR even used the same text as Classic. All AotR did was point out the lies, tautologies, logical errors, deliberate omissions, and whatnot that already existed in Classic's text and which casual readers had ignored.

Like the Aslan not inventing jump drive, AotR's take on the Hivers had been truth from the beginning. AotR uses the same words, names, dates, facts, and whatnot as Classic and tells a very different, more accurate story and the solution to another long term in-game puzzle was revealed.

All this is akin to how children's nursery rhymes often have several different meanings despite using the same text.

>>53007695
>As for Brawling in particular, think of it a bit like a kung fu movie, or Red, where you should respect your elders because they may have taught the guy who taught you how to fight.
Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men!

>>52988226
Sounds pretty cool mate, as others asked; venue?

why do people say that traveller aliens are better than just humans in rubber foreheaded suits, just curious?

File: Llellewyloly_small.jpg (13KB, 180x240px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 180x240px

>>53025842

Read up on some of them. Even the most human-like are still strange -- the Vargr may be uplifted canines from Earth, but they don't think or act the same as humans. To them, we seem weirdly single-minded and driven. They often think that you shouldn't bother offering a job to a human if he already has one, because "everybody knows humans never change jobs." The Imperium is a huge, disturbing, impossible thing to them. No organization could possibly get so big, or last so long, and yet it just goes on and on forever. Humans all over will gladly obey a guy they've never even seen in their lives! What the hell?

And those are the most human of the various alien species. From there on out it just gets weirder. (pic related)

>>53011958

[Reposting without accidental quote]

That's the thing, I don't think that's some kind of secret that's "hidden" in the CT Hiver text, it's blatantly right there in the open. There is no big "reveal" happening here. I don't think anybody would read that book and just think that Hivers are happy, friendly guys who wouldn't hurt anyone.

Reading it, they come off as weird and creepy. I think you're pushing the analogy to the Aslan jumpdrive thing too hard -- that really IS a secret that's buried in the original lore and which gets slowly revealed later on, but that doesn't mean everything else is. And the authors like to pretend everything is just as planned, but there's a lot of contradictions, mistakes, and retcons in the lore, too.

I really think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who thought Hivers were innocuous just based on CT alien module 7.

>>53027465
>That's the thing, I don't think that's some kind of secret that's "hidden" in the CT Hiver text

That's because you were able to read between the lines. Other people, not so much.

>I really think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who thought Hivers were innocuous just based on CT alien module 7.

I had a player who thought so. He took AM:7 at face value and wanted to play a Hiver from a Spinward Marches topical club who was touring around trying to reduce tensions between the various powers. He had even come up with the name M. Ghandi.

I sat down with him, went over the text, and pointed out the stuff that you, I, and everyone else noticed. He rejected it out of hand claiming I was simply looking for the bad side in everything.

People are strange. The more you meet, the stranger they become.

File: Consider the following.jpg (25KB, 569x428px) Image search: [Google]

25KB, 569x428px

>>53029382

Uh, I think your player might just be dumb, man.

File: ATV-Vehicle-Bryan-Gibson-Traveller_atv_lg.jpg (45KB, 600x434px) Image search: [Google]

45KB, 600x434px

>>53005003

>I just want to have a fun thread that isn't full of autistic jackasses.

You do realize where you are, right?

File: DitzieSpofulam.jpg (56KB, 504x648px) Image search: [Google]

56KB, 504x648px

>>53003309

Newfag asked about Vegans. Hale wrote a chargen for Vegans. You might think it's horseshit. Somebody interested in Vegans might find it worthwhile.

Fuck canon.

>>53031929
Yeah, but Traveller is a good way to channel autism constructively.
We're all autists here, may as well be decent to each other

File: 241287844_11dd94b91d_o.jpg (46KB, 626x545px) Image search: [Google]

46KB, 626x545px

>>53032544

I haven't seen anybody who's been out of line. It's no worse than CotI. The language is a little stronger, but that's about it.

Special snowflakes don't belong on 4chan.

>>53032236
>You might think it's horseshit

I don't think Hale's Vegan chargen is horseshit. Marc Miller, OTOH, directed the M:1248 authors to ignore all of Hale's work.

Some of Hale's work was extremely cringeworthy. Hale's CoE featured an Earth ruled by royal family psionic-priests and the population so swept up in their new psionic religion that jihadists/crusaders are a career and PCs from Earth need to make "tolerance" rolls whenever encountering "heathens".

Hale's Vegan materials are worth looking at. The rest not so much.

>>53029647

Dumb, young, or "on the spectrum". He took the text at face value and made his decisions accordingly.

A lot of people aren't that discerning.

>>53033468
>He took the text at face value

I don't think you could even say that. Selective blindness would be necessary to get that out of the text.

>>53033425
>directed the M:1248 authors to ignore all of Hale's work
Oh, I doubt MJD needed any goading.
Hale's stuff came out during a time when Traveller as a published game was dead. T4 had died an ignominious but deserved death, GURPS Traveller had not yet risen, and T20's ancestry was still fucking its way around the TSR offices, picking up various diseases.
Hale is pretty mellow about it though. He knew he was getting out there a bit.
The guy who couldn't get mellow when Marc and MJD ignored his stuff was Grey. Totally apeshit.

File: 3afa66129476de3a63a834e515a7baa2.jpg (42KB, 236x525px) Image search: [Google]

42KB, 236x525px

>>53033425
>>53033804

I never paid much attention to it, except for the Vegan stuff. I didn't think it was all that bad, nor all that good. I shouldn't be surprised that Miller invalidated it. TTC might have been a fanzine, but it was a licensed fanzine. It should have been canonical.

My view of fanon seems to be more liberal <gag> than yours. I'm willing to accept much of what is on the Wiki, but then I'm a heretic. To me, Judges Guild is canon. T20 is blasphemy (in more ways than one).

Yeah, I know. The JG aliens were stupid, but wtf? Back in the Old Days, JG shit was easier to find than GDW shit. We spent a lot of time in the Gateway Quadrant. Miller should've put T20 somewhere else.

Note: I don't care to get into a discussion about what is or is not canon. I've seen enough of that bullshit on TML and CotI. I really don't care. You run your universe and I'll run mine.

One final thought....The fact that Norris is a cocksucking faggot is fanon.

File: 1Astral Empires - RPG MONGOOSE TRAVELLER EDITION_Lightspeed 02600 AD2 (new AE lettering)2.png (545KB, 953x1253px) Image search: [Google]

545KB, 953x1253px

Anybody know anything about this?

>>53034496
>To me, Judges Guild is canon. T20 is blasphemy
Judges Guild is low quality proto-Traveller, and was when it was published. It was amazing to me that a couple JG guys thought they could do better, formed Group One, and turned out even worse than JG. Early GDW was vague on purpose, JG and Group One were vague because they had no idea how to write the stuff, proofread it, or not trace over Frazetta for art.

JG was de-Canonized twenty years before T20 came along.

File: jg domain.png (2MB, 1107x1600px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1107x1600px

>>53035643

>Judges Guild is low quality proto-Traveller, and was when it was published.

Who cares? A lot of stuff sucked back in those days. It was still a lot of fun.

File: Nystalux.jpg (763KB, 1254x1623px) Image search: [Google]

763KB, 1254x1623px

>>53036241

Hell yeah, and say what you like about the contents of the Group One books, but some of those covers were cool and evocative as hell.

Like I don't what's going on in this pic here, but at the same time it's got the kind of lovely weird sci-fi imagery you usually can't find outside of 70s progressive rock album covers, and it just fires my imagination up.

Hello Traveller general! I've been interested in learning traveler for sometime but I didn't know which edition to start with, normally I would just learn the newest one but I heard it wasn't that good.

Which edition would everyone recommend?

>>53036656

Mongoose 1e core book is a nice all-in-one setup. MGT 2e is good too, but you'll need the High Guard if you want to be able to design spaceships, as that was split out of core.

I'm a big fan of Classic personally, but I'll grant that it's a bear to get to grips with since there's so much stuff and a lot of it is kind of "some assembly required" and has a DIY vibe. Starter Traveller is probably the best intro to that edition, or maybe The Traveller Book.

>>53036940
Thank you kindly, I myself have no issue with some diy ambigiousness but my players while don't mind some depth they would probably wanna get on upgrading their rust bucket and catching bounties asap.

Ill look into everything you said though, thanks for the advice.

Okay i got two players that want to play Aslan... So what do i need to know? (playing mongoose 1st ed)

>>53038615
Just tell them to scream and leap.

>>53038615
>>53038830
Eh. They aren't Kzin, who were modeled more on tigers. Socially the Aslan are more like lions with a side order of Japan. Males have a genetic need to own or control territory, while the women are more organizationally minded. How an individual is gender addressed is based more on their job than on their biological gender, though it is relatively rare for females to do mens work or vice versa.
The Mongoose book on the Aslan is a decent read on them, just ignore the art. The CT book on them is a bit drier, but is a little better on the art. The MegaTraveller book on them is quite good, if a bit heavy on the Japan, and has really good art.

>>53039233
There is also the GURPS book, which is workable.

Aslan are socially flexible enough to "Imperialize", and many have, leaving behind most of the almost Japanese traits of their own space and adopting the social trappings of their immediate neighbors. The genetic needs of the males remain, however. That can range from "MY engine room! OUT!" to wanting to look at real estate lists on every world you visit.
Your players don't need to go full Aslan culturally, but some itches never go away...

>>53002447
I would like to join too

>>53036656
>Which edition would everyone recommend?

It depends. The Mongoose versions are more like what current players think an RPG should be. MgT2e is the current version and corrects some mistakes in 1e. If you use 2e, you'll need the 2e High Guard book too.

Cepheus Engine is a recent OGL version. Given the glacial "progress" of T5 and Mongoose's well known problems, CE is most likely going to become everyone's default version. A shit load of 3rd party material is already out for it and much more is in the pipeline.

As >>53036940 suggests, Classic is best approached through Starter Traveller and/or The Traveller Book.

>>53033804

Peter Grey had what's best described as a psychotic break. He went FUCKING MENTAL.

>>53034496
>>53035643
>>53036241
>>53036480

Canon, fanon, who cares? If something's good, I'm gong to steal it. The only real difference between canon and fanon is the good to bad ratio. Most fanon is 99.999% shit

JG had some fun stuff, some bad stuff, and some incredibly stupid stuff. Complaining about JG's art forgets what most 3rd party work was like in the early 80s.

As for T20, I don't consider it's RULES Traveller either. They come from an entirely different RPG lineage. T20's setting materials, like all others, range from bad to meh to good.

Regarding Norris, LKW said he was gay and that settles it for me. Whether Norris is a homo or not has no effect on my sessions.

File: Map-v2.png (278KB, 1243x942px) Image search: [Google]

278KB, 1243x942px

>>53018222
I was thinking Roll20?>>53002447

>>53046885
>>52990788
>>53001599
To give a timeframe, my last exam is 23rd of May, so probably shortly after then. I might be moving into a new flat too, but that shouldn't affect things too much. I'll post into the general sure.

Here's the map of the setting as it is. Yellow dots are systems with habitable worlds. Most systems without habitable worlds still have belter stations and the like.
The regions bounded by dotted lines are Confederate Sectors/Naval Commands (still deciding on a name). The regions bounded by hashed lines are foreign powers.
The Light Blue Spinwards are angry xenophobic aliens who only communicate with us through weapons-fire.
The Red is the Pirate Kingdoms, a patchwork of feuding polities that's going to get it's shit kicked in by the Confederacy any day now
Dionea, the Hot Pink down Trailing is a System-State with a substantial pre-tech navy and techbase. The Confederation currently trades with them to get their advanced pharmaceuticals and drugs, but is definitely eyeing them up.
The Pinkish region of space Trailing is the Maze. It fucks with jump drives, with jumps into it A. taking much longer and B. spitting you out at a random star within range.

It's definitely very WIP. I have a general idea what most of the places with names are going to be like. I'm going for the "give most places a name and a general theme, then flesh out if the players might go there in the next session" style.

How much of this sounds stupid?

>>53050699
>How much of this sounds stupid?

If you and your players have fun none of it is stupid.

>>53050699
I've seen far worse sector subsectors. Sounds like a strong basis for a fun game.

File: ole43.jpg (143KB, 741x900px) Image search: [Google]

143KB, 741x900px

What are some fun creature ideas for a safari campaign?

>>52988187
pls respond

>>52988187
Just ignore Boons & Banes altogether, this is Traveller, not 5e.

File: 1491336173077.jpg (1MB, 2285x2674px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 2285x2674px

What plot are you running right now, fellow Travellers?
My vague plans for a campaign:
>Sword Worlds Aesir Church planning some hybrid war shit on Darrians
>Meanwhile Ling Standard Products focuses greatly on Flammarion and it's neighborhood, trying to gather worlds under it's corp protectorate
>Meanwhile some psi group disguised as a genetic corporation tries to carve a place for itself in Spinward Marches,
Probably going to insert some space communists somewhere, just because.
What's your meta-plot?

>>53058558
Story so far:
>Players are hired as extra crew on a subisdised merchant delivering food from Frenzie to Quare
>Engineer character goes to engine room, engineer npc shows him around. Jump-1 drive has been rigged to somehow achieve Jump-2
>Engineer trying not to get an aneurism AND a heart attack, but is assured it's "totally safe, honest!"
>Ship lifts off, goes to jump distance, guess what happens
>Misjump!
>Half the ship fucking explodes, one of two jump generators blown, the other still somehow creates a jump bubble and jumps the ship
>Plasma inside jump bubble boiling at xray temperatures, luckily the players and captain NPC are semi safe on the bridge and nearby crew areas
>Engineer NPC is never heard from again, she was somewhere on the ship, fixing stuff
>Three days later, life support starts to fail
>Someone has to go down to engineering and restart one of the fusion reactors
>Captain NPC is Jingsei Hao, veteran of several wars, retired navy captain, bought a freigther with his retirement money, has been making ends meet but has fallen on hard times lately
>Before PCs can start drawing straws, they hear the airlock cycle
>Hao sacrificed himself, knowing full well that the radiation would kill anyone going outside
>Restarts reactor with help from engineer PC, dies
>More problems arise, but all can be fixed from within the intact area
>Week is up, ships pops back into realspace
>Collision alert!
>Planet right ahead, maneuver drives are fried, only things kinda working are sensors and life support
>One of the players remembers that susidised merchants carry a launch as standard
>Players put on vacc suits, go out the airlock and climb over the half-glowing, cratered, radioactive hull to the top of the ship where the launch is kept
>On their way there, they are hailed!
>Engineer NPC actually survived and lived in the launch for the last week
>Picks them up, decellerates to a safe landing

Can continue if anyone is interested

>>53059113
>Can continue if anyone is interested
Do you need to ask?

>>53057718
Like T5, which has both sliding dice and mods, it works best when you use one or the other

>>53057718

Read page 59 in the core book, you stupid fuck. The Boon/Bane section is all of FOUR paragraphs long and examples of what constitutes a Boon or Bane are given. Seeing as you're an illiterate douche, I'll quote the relevant 2 paragraphs here so everyone else can see just how simple the process is:

>If a Traveller has help, such as good tools, competent aids or other beneicial circumstances, he receives a Boon. This means he rolls an extra dice during a check
and discards the lowest.

>If a Traveller is hindered in a check, such as with poor tools, a dimly lit environment or other negative circumstances, he receives a Bane. This means he rolls an extra dice during a check and discards the highest.

Do yourself a favor. Seeing as your too stupid to understand those 2 paragraphs, do not use the Boon/Bane system and let someone else act as the referee.

>>53059113
>Can continue if anyone is interested

Please do. While it's nothing I would run or my players would stand for, it's nice to read how other referees plot out their games.

>>53059113
>>53061461
>PCs land on the planet, it's night
>Start to explore the area, no atmosphere, nitrogen and carbon dioxide snow everywhere, also strangely formed rocks
>Investigate rocks
>It's starship wrecks. Hundreds and thousands of them, stuck in the snow, half buried, broken in pieces
>PCs start to explore, oxygen and food is running low
>Find intact oxygen tank stuck in a wreck, start salvaging
>Suddenly, crossbow bolt appears near Engineer's head
>Group is sourrounded by figures in vacc suits, carrying crossbows
>Army Major tries to shoot one of them, notices her gun has cold welded itself
>One of the figures comes up to Army Major, touches their visor to hers
>Starts asking questions about who they are, how many they are, how they got there
>Tells them them to lead them to their launch, Engineer NPC has been doing maintenance
>After figuring out they're not a threat, the leader introduces himself as Vincent, leader of a tribe on this planet
>Flies them to his 'village', a pair of habitat modules hidden in a cave under a large piece of wreckage
>Pleasantries are exchanged, protein glop is eaten, pregnant women are examined
>The village is in pretty bad shape, life support is slowly failing, food is running low, tools are giving out
>Players comclude they can't help them with what they have
>However, Vincent knows of a ship that seems to be in relatively good shape and actually landed on the planet
>Problem is, it's a raider stronghold
>The players figure that now is the best time to strike, since their ship is now a glittering cloud of debris on the horizon and every raider on the planet is probably heading there
>They take their launch, Vincent and three of his sons and fly to the ship
>Tracks of several vehicles in the snow as they fly high over the ship, also a habitat module
>Thermals only tell them that life support is running in the module and the ship
>They land out of sight, the players and Engineer NPC walk to the module

continued in next post

>>53062331
>getting this angry

My question was what's the difference between a boon and bane and modifying a DC? Why is a dimly lit environment a bane and not an increase in difficulty?

File: dice_autism.png (142KB, 1683x461px) Image search: [Google]

142KB, 1683x461px

>>53062835
If I've done my maths right, this here's the difference.
A boon is roughly equivalent to a +2.5 DM, except it's less likely to roll low. Bane is the same but opposite.
Based off this I'd guess you'd use boon/bane in instances where things are *really* easy or hard, but not entirely certain.
I can imagine getting more mileage out of banes than boons, seeing as the line between granting a boon and no-roll auto-success is going to be thin in most situations.

File: dice_autism 2, electric boogaloo.png (134KB, 1686x467px) Image search: [Google]

134KB, 1686x467px

>>53063146
Another interesting thing to note is that boons don't shift the upper bound above 12, so minus DMs are still going to have a significant effect.
Also, if you already have a -5DM, even having a boon is going to be an auto-fail.
Essentially, even favourable conditions can't help an illiterate lost-worlder perform complex neurosurgery with mead and a hatchet.

>>53062794
>Knock on the airlock. Outer door opens
>Group goes in, airlock cycles. Inner door opens, four guys with crossbows tell them to take off their vacc suits and drop their weapons
>They fight and just manage to kill all of them
>Go into ship, find more hostiles, kill them too
>Ship's secure, they search it
>Find out it's been sitting there for almost 80 years
>The original crew stranded here due to a misjump, their jump drive was fried but otherwise the ship was fine
>The crew soon starts to bicker and fight among themselves and decides that no group should control the ship alone
>They remove the maneuver drive, the computer and the jump drive and three groups head out in vehicles, each carrying a part
>Decide to end the session for the evening
Yes, it's a collect quest. I thought it was a good way to introduce them to how ships work. That's how far we got last week

>>53062835

You truly are a moron, aren't you? If you can not or will not understand dice probabilities how the hell are you going to referee a game?

As >>53063146 explains, the Boon/Bane system is a way to "split" the difference between varying difficulty levels. Instead of making the entire step between Average (8+) and Difficult(10+) you assess a Bane on an Average check to make it harder but not as hard as a Difficult check.

As >>53063146 also points out, you can assess a Boon on a Very Difficult (12+) throw to make it easier while not being as easy as a Difficult throw.

The 2-4-6--8-10-12-14 progression is necessarily coarse. Boons and Banes allow a good referee - which you'll never be - adjust those numbers to targets "in between" the named difficulty levels.

So a dimly lit environment is a Bane when the lack of light should be accounted for but still isn't enough to push the task to a higher difficulty.

>>53063313
>I thought it was a good way to introduce them to how ships work.

While it's most definitely NOT how ships work, but it's most definitely exciting. I'm sure your players are having one helluva of a time just as I'm also sure my players would quit in disgust.

Different players, different needs, and you've been wise enough to provide them with what they like.

>>53063146
>>53063274
Thank you that makes more sense.
>>53063431
Why are you being such a cunt, bad day?

>>53063485
>Why are you being such a cunt, bad day?

I make it a point not to suffer fools gladly.

File: 1480448356729.png (362KB, 476x476px) Image search: [Google]

362KB, 476x476px

>I make it a point not to suffer fools gladly.

Is there an interesting way to do an inter-system race? I ask because I'm planning an event for players to potentially earn a planet or something quite valuable and don't want to completely boil it down to "roll pilot, you win/lose."

Also I wasn't entire sure how Boon/Bane worked differently so I just didn't use it.

File: The Green Hills of Earth.jpg (2MB, 1678x2532px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1678x2532px

>>53063431
Please don't use my autism to be a dick, I promised it would only be used for good.
With great autism comes great responsibility and all that.

But seriously, it isn't entirely clear in the book what should be represented as task difficulty and what should be represented as boon/bane. If the mechanic is intended to provide a more granular difficulty, that isn't really spelled out in the book.
It's just not a great mechanic to be honest, but I like the idea of using it for stuff like Aslan and Vargr heightened senses.

Anon is new, you can't expect them to infer all this on first reading. Be patient with the young grasshopper

>>53064213
I guess you could work it by having the racers have a set amount of delta-v they're allowed to use. Have the organisers stick a chip in their M-Drive or something. You should probably also ban nav-computers to stop them calculating the optimal route.
The idea is you've got to use daring orbital mechanics to get to the finish point as fast as possible while staying within the dV limit.
In terms of time-frame this would probably only work if the race is around a Gas Giant with a lot of moons or something similar.

I mean, it's not exciting, but it's more involved than just rolling pilot.
More like the Tour de France than car-racing

File: Pillars of Creation.jpg (152KB, 982x1024px) Image search: [Google]

152KB, 982x1024px

Jump-2

File: lLxCoWM.jpg (150KB, 1280x1120px) Image search: [Google]

150KB, 1280x1120px

>>53026828
What would you say are the most alien aliens in traveller, what're the best (most interesting) aliens in traveller (both that you'd like to see more done with, and the 'major' aliens, like the darrians, or the aslan) and the minor aliens, and can you recommend me other systems with cool alien aliens to loot, I mean, borrow ideas from?

File: kafers I think.jpg (78KB, 658x345px) Image search: [Google]

78KB, 658x345px

>>53068974
I know it's basically Traveller at this point, but 2300ad's aliens are pretty neat.

There's the Kafers, who are the scary alien enemy.
You know the way that humans have adrenaline, which makes you more alert and shit in a crisis? The Kafer equivalent of adrenaline makes them way more intelligent, such that the only way they can sustain a proper modern society is to have regular ritualised violence to get the not!Adrenaline pumping.
It doesn't help that to the Kafers, Humans bear a massive resemblance to the "smart barbarians" who would regularly overthrow established societies on their homeworld. The smart barbarians being recessively mutant kafers with a hyper-active smart-gland.
Essentially they find the idea of a species that's intelligent all the time as alien and scary.

There's also the Sung and the Xiang.
The Sung are small winged reptiles-ish, while the Xiang are vaguely arachnoid. They're both from the same system, with the Sung being from a planet and the Xiang from a gas giant's moon.
The Sung have this cultural idea that a stronger group has a moral imperative to dominate weaker group, but they should also share technology and ideas with their subjects.
The Sung developed inter-system travel and subjugated the Xiang, who are hippies and don't care about tech and so don't like being enslaved. The Sung have no clue why the Xiang are so pissed.
The Chinese and Canadians beat up the Sung to free the Xiang. The Sung see this as "subjugation" and would be happy about being subjects, except they expect Humans to share FTL-tech with them, which Humans aren't willing to do.

Then there's the Ebers, who have two heads and a bicameral personality. They also nuked themselves to death, with only a few colonies surviving.

>>53069861
Not to forget the really odd ones, the pentapods.

>>53068974
The most "alien" of aliens can be hard to pin down because the material may fail at conveying just how far from human norms they are. See the Hiver misunderstanding uptopic (or in the previous one), or modern politics (in which comprehending the other end of the spectrum from yourself is frequently very difficult).

Some of the farthest "out there" in Traveller's many editions include the fungal hive mind out near the Hiver/K'kree frontier, and the plantfolk in Aslan space. By comparison the Hiver manipulative mindset is pretty close to home.

I also suspect that the Droyne are actually MUCH weirder than the material suggests.

I just found out Hammer's Slammers was adapted for Traveller.

Anyone ever play with that setting?

I wanna merc in hover tanks and glass motherfucking mountains with 20cm barreled death machines.

>>53072178
The adaption was workmanlike, but better than the rushed B5 adaption.

>>53072178
There's a few blogs from the late aughts in the Midwest who have posts about that.

>>53072178
Heard the adaptation was dodgy, but I've used it for wargaming a few times. IIRC people make minis for it in 28mm, 15mm and 6mm these days - the latter two are more popular due to the scale of combat.

Oh, and knock-offs in 3mm.

>>53073011
>>53072970
>>53072297
Awesome!

>>53072178

It sucks because Mongoose changed HS to fit Traveller instead of changing Traveller to fit HS.

Mongoose's biggest mistake? No power guns. That's right. The signature weapon of the HS series and Mongoose couldn't be arsed to put them in their "version". Other bits of typical Mongoose douchebaggery was ignoring the existence if FTL comms in HS and using jump drive instead of HS' much faster/longer ranged FTL drive.

>>53077769
Sounds like they just slapped the HS name on their own armoured cavalry merc supplement.

>>53069861
>Then there's the Ebers, who have two heads and a bicameral personality. They also nuked themselves to death, with only a few colonies surviving.

The Ebers have no "head" and their brain has SIX lobes surrounding the "CPU" each with a different personality, memories, and skill set.

>>53071464
>Not to forget the really odd ones, the pentapods.

Good one. Sessile "gods" squatting in ocean trenches which dispatch specifically geneered "bullets" to interact with first the world around them and later the universe. Delightfully weird and criminally underdeveloped.

>>53071594
>I also suspect that the Droyne are actually MUCH weirder than the material suggests.

Very much so. The six "castes" are only an approximation of the reality of Droyne society. I find the static nature of the Droyne fascinating. There are Droyne societies whose way of life has been essentially unchanged for over 250K years. Very spooky.

>>53077801
>Sounds like they just slapped the HS name on their own armoured cavalry merc supplement.

That's it basically. It was the usual cynical Mongoose rush job meant to separate unsuspecting buyers from their money. There are at least two other HS minis rules sets, /hwg/ will be able to tell you more about them.

In fact, /hwg/ will be able to suggest many better "merc campaign" rules sets you can use for HS-ish gaming.

File: nuit von noire.png (712KB, 1081x2000px) Image search: [Google]

712KB, 1081x2000px

so my campaign fell through but I brewed up some worlds and plot hooks anyway if anyone wants them.

>>53058558

>Be me
>Nobody on campus plays anything but D&D
>Decide to try out Cepheus Solo with the Orbital 2100 TL9 No-Grav No-Jump supplement. The Expanse with no Epstein Drive.
>Roll up a crew at full rando: Silas, the Captain, who I rolled 4d6 for Psionics for shits n' gigs and got 20! I decided he'll be like Yaskodray from the Secrets of the Ancients campaign, but way chiller and nowhere near as smart. He mostly uses his power to fly around the ship when nobody's looking in the Null-G, or make people stop fighting (valuable in Cepheus Solo where people fight all the fucking time). His backstory is 2 years in the Earth Space Agency that went shitty, followed by 4 years as a tramp merchant crewman, and now he's the primary pilot of the ship. Used his psionics to build a ton of connections across space.
> Karen Kapoor, the Engineer, kinda a cunt and believes Silas got her sister killed during his shitshow years in the Earth Space Agency (which is sorta true - power flareup, I decided). Has tons of engineering skills. Has a foe in this cunt bitch who threw her out of her colony home early in life. From Earth's Slums but quickly moved to the aforementioned colony. After the colony she was a bigshot engineer in the navy and saved a whole ship one time.
> Imrit, the useless thief from the moon. He's literally useless, rolled 'Criminal Feud' twice and got shot both times and injured. Came out with a solid Zero-G skill making him the best spaceman, but only really skilled in computers, gun combat, and especially mechanic. He's the ship's fixer spaceman.
> Tyler, the wimpy fuck from Titan who was in the Marines and got injured. Think Adam Driver except instead of becoming a legendary actor he accomplished nothing. Solid Mechanic/Survivalist.
> Eileen has a huge SOC so I decided in the 2100 verse meant she was a top tier meme. She used her meme-tier skills to Trump her way into congress, where she helped out the PC Ship's company and got herself a science position. Cont.

>>53078250

>So crew get together on an Eki-class Module Transporter, owned by the big Matsuyama (Alt-Mitsubishi?) colonial corporation. Their mission is a long-haul to Neptune and the empty world of Triton where science teams are doing research.
> They'll be carrying 16 colonists and a bunch of lander pods.
> Decided to roll per 6 months for encounters because rolling ~28 times for random shit seemed like a really bad idea.
> First 6 Months, roll for crew reactions, Karen and Silas have an argument. Something something my name is Karen Kapoor you killed my sister.
> Karen punches wall, I decide, after maintenance roll suggests there was a hull hit. I decide that Karen's punch causes a hull breach, meaning the compartment is leaking air.
> Karen and Tyler go out to fix the shit. While doing so, Karen gets blasted off into space when I roll a bad consequence on the plan.
> Tyler be like 'OH FUCK' and goes back inside. The crew grabs the Palomino Lander and blasts off after her, managing to grab her just before her suit runs out of air.
> Second 6 Months: Everything's normal until I roll an encounter in deep fucking space. It's an Earth Space Agency ship and I determine with a roll on the events table that this ship is in distress. PREPARE FOR FLIP AND BURN.
> Silas botches the roll, meaning their course doesn't get them close enough. He transfers to the Palomino Lander with Karen/Imrit, and arrives at the ship just in time to see it explode spectacularly in half.
> They rescue six crew and four filled fuel tanks from the wreckage ('Useful piece of kit' consequence). This refuels the PCs ship completely making up for the lol explosion.
> Third Month: Snake Eyes on the crew's reaction. Imrit accidentally breaks an entire fucking pressure hatch and everyone fights until Silas finally has Imrit brigged in a low berth until they reach Neptune/Triton.
> Fourth Six: Nothing happens. The Odei burns into orbit of Triton and finds the settlement.
> Little boring desu.

>>53077769
Mongoose occasionally release a damn good book. This is not some mere accident, despite appearing to happen at random - it's a deliberate move to make you trust them, and think that perhaps they've changed.

They haven't changed. They'll go back to releasing trash.

>>53078100
>so my campaign fell through but I brewed up some worlds and plot hooks anyway if anyone wants them.

Sorry to hear about your campaign, but I'm sure everyone will want to look over your worlds and plot hooks.

>>53078418

An accurate observation. Let me try to explain just how piss poor MgT's HS book is.

The most recent HS book is called "The Sharp End". The book is set after Hammer's coup on Freisland and the the Slammer's amalgamation into the planet's defense forces. A small advance team investigating conditions on a planet to determine whether the FDF should pitch their services to the nominal rulers of the planet. (The world in question produce "gage" the recreational drug of choice in the HS universe, two cabals control production, and their fighting is interfering with that production.)

The advance team uses their skills and tech to trick the cabals into fighting each other and a battalion of Slammers arrives to clean up the mess.

You can see how that is a PERFECT setup for a RPG merc campaign. Small numbers, high tech toys, general mayhem, etc. Sadly, you cannot run that with MgT's shitty HS supplement because of Mongoose's usual fuck-ups. Not only are power guns missing, but Mongoose's lack of FTL comms and different FTL drive the entire plot can't work.

You see, the team leader is in DAILY contact with Freisland. He sends a report each night which Freisland uses to negotiate a contract with the planet's nominal owners. Freisland is then able to DIRECTLY dispatch the battalion to the planet in a trivial amount of time. No ships carrying messages, no week in jump space, no six parsec limit, none of Traveller's tech assumptions.

That didn't stop the assholes at Mongoose from ignoring HS setting's tech and imposing Traveller tech instead.

You can use MgT's Slammers supplement to play a generic merc campaign, but you can't use it to play a Hammer's Slammer campaign.

>>53078376
> Little boring desu.

Go and jerk off

>>53078418
>Mongoose occasionally release a damn good book. This is not some mere accident, despite appearing to happen at random
Authorship matters, and Mongoose frequently goes with the fast ones. That's a gamble the House always wins.

File: 1490368787394.jpg (89KB, 480x476px) Image search: [Google]

89KB, 480x476px

>>53078598
So the Campaign was to be set in a pocket Empire founded somewhere in the interrim of the second imperium and the third imperium. It was called the Muhamara pocket and consisted of three star systems.

Sahra is a desert world and the homeworld of the military caste. The rich live in terraformed canyons and everyone else lives in cities underneath enormous photovoltaic panels that both power the city and protect it from the lethal radiation of their sun. Its home to a modified race of humans called Azurians who are mostly human baseline aside from being resistant to radiation and desert survival.

Next up we have Heejur, a rocky mining world. Ostensibly military property but the administrator trades to the merchant faction on the sly. It does have an atmosphere maintained by sheets of algae but its pretty cold and unpleasant and most people live in caverns or habitat facilities. Not much in the way of native life beyond miners and whatever alien critters get abandoned there and feed on the algae. Also has a sizable population of Azurians, Heejur lacks an EM field even if its sun is less brutal than Sahra's due to having no spinning core.

Next up we have the Merchant's star system. There's Hamyd a world with liquid ammonia oceans. Obviously its an iceworld and too cold for humans on top of being poisonous locals live in habitats and underground and work as indentured servants to earn the right to live on the 'Garden' world Hadeeka. It has an ecology based around Ammonia, started as a Research world.

Hadeeka has a global jungle based on fungal 'plants' and various wildlife. Two basic varieties of inhabitants. City dwellers who live reasonably normal lives and jungle types who are tribal and live most of their lives in ritual and carrying out their traditions by reliving their myths. Everyone wears protective equipment due to the spores. If they get in your lungs or bloodstream the fungus will eat you from the inside out.

File: the scarabs.jpg (82KB, 682x383px) Image search: [Google]

82KB, 682x383px

>>53079160
so the plot hooks.

The military caste has all the tech, powered armor, etc. The merchants have all the money and the major scientific hub and can use corruption to get what they want.

You have the nobles, half of whom favor cultural stasis, the other half want to start a democratic oligarchy.

so the two sides are at war, then the third imperium shows up. The PCs were meant to work for one side or another, race to the station the third imperium wants to use to send off an expedition to conquer this sector and get their backing.

Alternatively I suppose you could treat it as the imperium moving in and siding with one group or another.

Oh and there's a nearby Vargr homeworld, atomic level. One PC was using them as a source of mercenaries in exchange for giving their strongest clan technological secrets and helping them build a space station via connections and funds so they could work on getting their own space program up and running. World is called Varlshav, mostly ocean, scattered archipelagos and one huge pangean continent.

>>53079160
>>53079232

I like it. Enough details to be interesting, yet not enough details to preclude me from "tweaking" it for me groups.

Thanks for sharing.