Announcing: The Open Playtest!

[noobdelux]

i for one would liked a better explained way to make a character : P

So an explanation of say how the character "Merchant Captain Alexander lascelles Jamison" came to be about would be useful in the rule book?

Certainly I hope and trust they have either 1 character that covers every aspect or few smaller character creation processes as an example of how to go through the process.

I also hope some of the wording is tidied up a bit in the final document.

The whole thing can be pretty complex(I'm still trying to figure out few things myself ;-) and while I'm sure text is clarified in final version(this is playtest version afterall) example or two for new players wouldn't go amiss.

exactly what i was looking for.. slowly making an character in my chracter generation noobs thread : P

 

[Allensh]

The characters generated by my friends and me are so far looking rather sparse on the skill front. More so than even Classic Book 1 characters. They are admittedly bulked up by a number of additional Skill-0 skills. I'd like to see more options in the life events/ mishaps tables. 12/6 ends up with "what we were both cashiered from the Navy for losing a critical battle?" too often.

We really are not enjoying the whole initiative thing, it is clumsy in any combat involving more than two participants. We refuse point blank to sit down at a table with a bag full of D6's to track initiative. Not everyone sits at a table or even has floorplans for minis when doing combats.

I quite like the task system. Classic 8+. Ken Bearden developed a similar system a couple of years back, worth checking out. The time and effect dice are an interesting idea but again I'm not a fan of the whole "red" die is for "a", "white" die for "b" thing. We'll probably end up rolling 1 die twice and/or ignoring the time increment (like we did with Megatraveller).

A weekend's worth of trial and error is coming up and we'll have more once we've played through a bit more.

I just rolled up a character who served 3 terms in the Navy. He wound up with 11 levels in skills (I used the Solo Generation guidelines for this one), He finished at rank 3. I then rolled up essentially the same guy for CT and he got 7. (I let him get commisioned and promoted at the same rate). Now this was with the "basic" CT system, not High Guard. Getting the two extra skills for connections and 1 for "skill package" does help a lot.

Now I tried to build the same guy with the same stats using the Point Generation system and ran out of points. I then used the point system to duplicate a 5-term CT Scout I had around here, and that one worked (partially due to a 3 END) with 1 point to spare.

Allen

 

[dmccoy1693]

DMcCoy1693's CharGen Report

I made 2 characters last night and noticed a few problems:

-Benefits: It took me a few readings of the benefits explaination on page 4 of the CharGen section to understand that all benefits rolls are made when you leave a career. Also there was some confusion concerning the fact that there are 2 benefits tables: one the counterpart of cash and one that encompasses cash and benefits. Recommendations: Clearly state that all benefits rolls are made upon leaving a career and rename one of the benefits tables.

-Navy Rank: All other careers have their Rank Table beneath the Advancement Table. Navy has their's above the Survival Table. This disrupts the flow of CharGen. Recommendation: Move the Navy's Rank Table below Advancement Table.

-CM Table: I know this has been stated before, but I'll state it in the interest of completeness. The CM Table on page 2 has come confusion since 13 is stated twice. Also, to keep the flow of the numbers constant (and easier to remember), the +2 should be for 12-14 and the +3 should be 15+.

-Environment Table: On page 2, you pick the environment of your world. There is no "Earth-like" option. The closest I could figure is Fluid Oceans or Ice Capped, but I don't see how an earth-like planet would require everyone to be either Seafarers or Survivalists. Granted, I understand that it could be easily said that on such a planet, the player should just pick an environment that best suited their climate and move on. But the description does not currently say that. Recommendation: Clearly state that on Multi-environment worlds, the player should just pick which environment best suited their region that they grew up in.

-Generation Checklist: The Generation Checklist was very handy, but would be even more handy if it was closer to the front of Chargen, like at the very beginning. This way a player could read over it first and then figure out what each step meant as they continued on.

-Iron Man Generation: Instant Death upon failing the survival roll is rather harsh. My 2 characters failed 5 out of 8 survival rolls. One didn't have a stat below 7, the other had his survival rolls not depend on his weak stats. Recommendation: This should be changed to something like: "Option 1 on all survival tables be changed to Character Death," or something similar. Possibly, military careers should have a maybe options 1 and 6 changed to Death.

End Report.

EDIT: Copy of report sent to email address provided.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

After reading through the outline and TL stuff, I noticed something that no one else has mentioned yet.

TL11: (Early Stellar) The first rue artificial intelligences become possible, as computers are able to model synaptic networks. Grav-supported structures reach to the heavens. Jump-2 travel becomes possible, taking ships off the the one-jump stellar mains.

Emphasis mine.

This statement says that jumping into empty hexes is not possible. Previously Traveller, while being sometimes conflicting, always allowed empty-hex jumps. Is this an intentional change to the way Jump Drives work, or is it just a misunderstanding by the writer that will be corrected in later revisions?

While it may be a minor point, it has HUGE ramifications for how any interstellar polity will develop, thus affecting the OTU or any ATUs to be developed.

I do realize that this section is about character generation, but it still needs to be consistent with whatever is coming in the technology section.

PLEASE do not respond by arguing for or against Mass Precipitation, that is not what my comment is about. I just wanted to point out the apparent inconsistency with previous versions of Traveller.

 

[Hangfire]

This statement says that jumping into empty hexes is not possible.

I was under the impression (and it's been ages since I've read my CT books) that you had to refuel after every jump, making jumping into empty hexes rather pointless. Also, you could read the passage you quoted regarding stellar mains as meaning the most frequented travel points - the main travel areas. Something like the main highway. I'm now curious about this too. Although it is your game, you can do whatever you like with it - that's one of the great things about role playing games.

 

[vargr1]

Also, I would like to see all character generation rolls be converted to the task system if possible.

This would allow a further customization of character development. is Take a higher difficulty on the survival roll in order to get a bonus on the Advancement roll.

For example:

Marine enlistment:
Target: Routine(6), END
If age 30+, Target: Difficult(10), END
+1 to Target for each previous career

Marine Survival
Support: Target: Easy(4), END
Star Marines: Target: Routine(4), END
Ground assault: Target: Average(4), END

May take a +1 Target Level in exchange for a -1 Target Level on the Advancement table. If Survival task fails, -1 to Mishap roll.

Marine Advancement
Support: Target: Average(8), INT
Star Marines: Target: Routine(6), INT
Ground assault: Target: Easy(4), INT
+1 to Target for each Term in Career


Also, and I just noticed this - there is no 'Commissioning' roll for a character. If you get promoted, you go from Line Marine to Lieutenant. No corporals, no senior sergeants, etc.

 

[AKAramis]

This statement says that jumping into empty hexes is not possible.

I was under the impression (and it's been ages since I've read my CT books) that you had to refuel after every jump, making jumping into empty hexes rather pointless. Also, you could read the passage you quoted regarding stellar mains as meaning the most frequented travel points - the main travel areas. Something like the main highway. I'm now curious about this too. Although it is your game, you can do whatever you like with it - that's one of the great things about role playing games.

CT's The Traveller Adventure in the chapter In Search of Longer Legs specifically allows adding demountable jump tanks to the hold, allowing 2 jumps before refueling. It then suggests jumping to an empty hex, then jumping on from there.

 

[michael]

Oh, and another further thought: I think the aliens should be left out of the core book entirely and reserved for the supplements. Giving them a bunch of stat modifiers and using the human character creation tables takes away their alienness. Save them for supplements, then do them properly.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

I disagree with this wholeheartedly.

Nothing is taken away by allowing them to be in the core book.
The Traveller aliens are inherent to the background.
It would be a ripoff to have to buy two books just to get the basic alien character generation rules.

The seperate books for the Traveller alien background have already been done (multiple times). There are plenty of NEW books that can be done.

You are unlikely to run out of things to make books of for Traveller so that you need to cripple the core book.

 

[michael]

Putting the Aliens in the rule book links the rules to the Official Traveller Universe.

I'd suggest leaving them out for a settings book.

Best Regards

Ewan

Well, this is the *playtest* document, so it's okay to have them in there for that purpose...we might need a few when we...you know...playtest.

:lol: Gosh, so I guess if we need them to playest...then new players might actually need them to play!

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

This statement says that jumping into empty hexes is not possible.

I was under the impression (and it's been ages since I've read my CT books) that you had to refuel after every jump, making jumping into empty hexes rather pointless. Also, you could read the passage you quoted regarding stellar mains as meaning the most frequented travel points - the main travel areas. Something like the main highway. I'm now curious about this too. Although it is your game, you can do whatever you like with it - that's one of the great things about role playing games.

Put 2 jumps worth of fuel in that Jump-1 ship and off you go. That is how the Terrans got to Alpha Centauri (Prometheus) and Barnard's Star. The fuel needed for a Jump-1 ship to make 6 Jumps is the same as the fuel needed by a Jump-6 ship to make a single jump of 6 parsecs. It just takes the J-1 ship 6 weeks to do it, with all the sanitation issues that would entail.

I do in fact play it the way I want to (which isn't important to this discussion). My concern was that the book would be inconsistent with whether jumps to empty hexes were allowed or not. Unfortunately, several of the previous incarnations of Traveller have muddied the waters on this issue. I just want consistency.

 

[michael]

Putting the Aliens in the rule book links the rules to the Official Traveller Universe.

I'd suggest leaving them out for a settings book.

Best Regards

Ewan

Uh, I think the references to the Imperium, Jump Drive, and Black Globes in the TL section also does that. Oh, and the fact that they are naming it 'Traveller'.

 

[TrippyHippy]

The Traveller aliens are inherent to the background.
It would be a ripoff to have to buy two books just to get the basic alien character generation rules.

This needs to be stated again, really.

The core rules for Traveller should be for generic sci-fi use, wherever possible, just as they were in the original lbbs. When talking about aliens specific to the Traveller (Imperium) Universe (TM), then this data should be withheld for the later campaign supplement. It is reasonable to have some sort of alien design system in the corerules, probably in the Encounters section, but they must be suitably neutral in design, and are unlikely to be particularly detailed. Personally, I'd rather have rules for artificial intelligences in the core-rules, but I doubt it will happen till a supplement comes along to give this aspect a full-blown treatment. It won't, for me, detract from the functional use of the core rules, however.

Anyway....

I'm not sure I like all the Assignment breakdowns of all the careers, as they stand:

Questionable Assignment names, for me, would be:

Navy - All good.
Marines - Support, Space Marines and Ground Assault.
Army - Support, Infantry, Armoury.
Scout - Courier, Survey, Exploration
Merchant - I'm not sure at the moment, but 'Merchant Marine' sounds rubbish. I guess: Corporate, Star (Rogue?) Trader, and Planetary-based Trader would be better for me...but they still need some work.
Agents - All good.
Nobles - Politician (whether they rule or not!), Diplomat, Dilettante.
Scholar - Academic (humanities), Scientist, Medical. Every scholar is a student(!) already, and Physician is very archaic.
Entertainer - All good.
Rogue - All good.
Drifter - I prefer: Barbarian, Traveller and Belter, myself, but I'm not overly fussed.

Also, where are the Citizens tables, or have I missed something?

I would hope that, when the final draft comes through, each profession would actually be introduced fully, with an explanation about what the career choice entails, and what they would tend to be good at, etc. Previous editions of Traveller have neglected giving full explanations, and it only leads to confusion for newbies.

Anyway, more to come as I look through.

 

[Hangfire]

My concern was that the book would be inconsistent with whether jumps to empty hexes were allowed or not.

I'm not sure how the rules could NOT allow for it. I mean, if you can refit a ship with extra fuel (maybe converting the cargo hold), then what's to stop you from jumping anywhere you want? I think I see your point though. I'm hoping that there are some rules for creating and modifying ships, this should cover how much fuel can be carried, and therefore dictate where a ship can and cannot jump to.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I really didn't want this discussion to go this long, but...

The term in Mass Precipitation. Basically, the idea is that in order to exit Hyperspace, you have to have a mass near by. Thus if there is not a star or planet in a hex, you cannot exit hyperspace there, basically, you can't jump there.

It is considered heresy by some and standard practice by others. That really isn't the issue, I just wanted to make sure the authors were aware of the issue and treated it consistently within the entire rule set and setting books.

Without Mass Precipitation, Terrans could travel to Alpha Centauri at TL9 as soon as they developed Jump-1. They could theoretically reach just about anywhere in the galaxy, as long as they could find fuel every 6-8 parsecs.

With Mass Precipitation, Terrans could not leave the Solar System until TL11 since there are no stars within 1 parsec of Sol. They could however, have used the Jump-1 drive as a form of interplanetary travel if they wanted to, and for reaching the outer solar system bodies, it would be shorter to jump than to use a 6g acceleration ship.

Anyhow, that is not really the issue I was trying to bring up. I personally don't care if Mass Precipitation is used or not (I will do what I want anyway). I just want the rules to be clear on the issue.

 

[dmccoy1693]

michael and Trippy, I started a seperate thread for the aliens being OGL or not, lets keep this thread about playtesting and things that need modified.

Nobles - Politician (whether they rule or not!), Diplomat, Dilettante.
Scholar - Academic (humanities), Scientist, Medical. Every scholar is a student(!) already, and Physician is very archaic.
Drifter - I prefer: Barbarian, Traveller and Belter, myself.

I would hope that, when the final draft comes through, each profession would actually be introduced fully, with an explanation about what the career choice entails, and what they would tend to be good at, etc. Previous editions of Traveller have neglected giving full explanations, and it only leads to confusion for newbies.

I would have to agree with each of these points. Medical could include a number of options that Physician doesn't. Student is a little ... unprofessional sounding. Academic sounds alot more professional. Not to mention that an academic would get the benefits rolls that a student would otherwise be denied (without compensation). Alternatively, Student (or whatever you end up calling it) could be denied all benefit rolls while at rank 0 since Grad Students sometimes get a stipend for doing research while in grad school.

 

[JimG]

DMcCoy1693's CharGen Report
-Environment Table: On page 2, you pick the environment of your world. There is no "Earth-like" option. The closest I could figure is Fluid Oceans or Ice Capped, but I don't see how an earth-like planet would require everyone to be either Seafarers or Survivalists. Granted, I understand that it could be easily said that on such a planet, the player should just pick an environment that best suited their climate and move on. But the description does not currently say that. Recommendation: Clearly state that on Multi-environment worlds, the player should just pick which environment best suited their region that they grew up in.

On a related note, under CT system generation (the only traveller rules set I have available) and in lot of related materials, there are many worlds that don't have any of the listed Environments or Trade codes. So how do you handle an average Education character from a world with none of the above for Environment or Trade code choices?

Also, some of the choices on the Trade table seem kind of iffy, and characters might be forced to choose something non-sensical. (Granted these are based on my memory of CT, but since we don't have any world generation rules or examples, it's all I have to go on.)

Specifically:

• Low Pop: this isn't synonymous with primitive... a high tech colony on a vacuum world might have a low population, but it seems unlikely that someone growing up there would learn Survival
  
  Poor: as for Low Pop, a high tech world might have few natural resources, but there wouldn't necessarily be a lot of Animals to train.
  
  Non-Industrial: as I remember it non-industrial didn't translate to primitive either, it meant that the world didn't have the population or resources to support heavy industry. Again, Animals seems an inappropriate choice.
  
  Rich: I didn't think that this meant wealthy as much as it meant plentiful resources. Maybe I'm wrong, but either way Admin 0 or Broker 0 seem like equally valid choices.

In general, I'd like to see more choices on the background skills table, but that's just a personal preference.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Skill system - I agree, having set scores for Task difficulties, rather than modifiers is much easier for the referee to interpret amd implement at a glance.

The scale of the task system difficulties, when laid out clearly, is pretty much co-ordinated with those of the Characteristic values (1-15), so there is some reinforcement there too.

Also, some of the tables are very strangely laid out: always start at 1 and go through to 15, please.

Some of the skills could be developed a bit too:

Arts - Acting, Dance, Holography, Music, Craft. Writing. The changed two can be specified futher, of course.

Gun Combat - Call it Ranged Combat, so you can list other types (like bows).

Leadership - Should be based upon Intelligence, in at least some circumstances. It's not all about shouting and intimidating! Strength hasn't anything to do with it!

Recon - Call it Surveillance. Easier to understand what it is.

Science - I'd make very sure of your definitions, with a dictionary in hand, with some of these. Other 'sciences' to possibly list - Anthropology, Astrophysics, Geology, Theology...[EDIT: See later post]

I would also make research, or investigative Science tasks based upon Intelligence, rather than Education.

Seafarer - call it Watercraft - much more generically descriptive.

As I mentioned before, +3 characteristic bonuses should only be for very high scores (15+). Most characters shouldn't be able to negate non-skilled penalties. Combined with Jack of all Trades, this would be quite ridiculous! Ensure that Jack of all Trades is negated by characteristic bonuses, possibly?

Anyway, more to come...

 

[TrippyHippy]

More skills:

Athletics - include Swimming and Throwing, as specs.

Astrogation - would Astro-navigation, be better? I dunno.

BattleDress - I'd prefer this to be reduced to a personal combat speciality (EDIT: Maybe Groundcraft?). It's too specific for me.

Drive - Groundcraft, is better.

Flier - call it Aircraft, lest players think they can sprout wings themselves!

Gambler - Gambling, is better.

Gunner - Not sure about this name, either.

Investigate - Investigation.

Medic - 'Emergency Care' and 'First Aid' are the same speciality, in effect. Paramedic, Surgery, Diagnosis, Nurse, Councilling, etc, would be much better.

Melee - I prefer 'Personal Combat', myself. Can't 'Battle Dress' be reduced to speciality of this?

Pilot - Starcraft or something similar, would be more descriptive.

Remote Operations , Vacc Suit and Sensors - could be combined (with several other specialities), into a 'Technology' or 'Tech-Use' skill.

Edited.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Combat -

The length of a round - why is a round two seconds long? If a round is going to be this short, why not base rounds on just one second? Surely it would make the system a bit more intuitive, and it wouldn't take much to adjust the movement distances, accordingly: 1m in 1s (round), etc.

Range - Is it worth having seperate Ranges for Personal and Close combat? Some martial arts would be optimum at Personal range (Aikido, for example), but you've listed them all as optimum at Close range. Why not just merge the lot into Close/Personal range. Would it not be easier to make 'Optimal' simply mean the same as '+0' too? Avoid the confusion.

Damage - Specify the order, completely. In order: Endurance, then Dexterity, then Strength. This may seem arbitrary, but it's simpler to explain: You soak damage (Endurance), then reduce your physical acuity (Dexterity), then go unconscious........if you take any more damage, you may die (Strength).

 

[TrippyHippy]

Technology levels:

Rather than call TLs:7-9: 'Pre-Stellar' (which is pretty meaningless), call them 'Communication', as in 'the Communication Age'.