Boon and Bane terminology

[Stainless]

Disclaimer; I've not actually seen the rulebook yet. Just getting this from the announcement Blog post.

Firstly, I like the concept of Boon and Bane dice (BTW, D&D 5ed were not the first to use this type of mechanic in case anyone wants to claim you've "stolen" the idea). What I find less that optimal is the terminology itself. It doesn't sound very Sci-Fi to my ears. It makes me think very much about fantasy settings.

Unfortunately, Advantage and Disadvantage is already associated with the aforementioned 5ed. Hmm, how about Benefit and Hinderance? Agonist and Antagonist is probably too much of a mouthful and not widely known. Lead and Lag? Improve and Deteriorate? Promote and Demote? Increase and Decrease?.....

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Where I live, we say boon and bane. So the context of the rules fits in perfect. Maybe in some towns, people use other words instead?

Boon and bane are quicker to say without interrupting role-play, as well. The focus is not so much on the roll, but on what Travellers are currently doing. And it's not like those rolls will be all over the game during a session.

If a referee narrates that it's very dark where I am, and I can't see what I'm doing, bane roll without any question or commenting.

 

[Matt Wilson]

I think if you went down a very bad path, you could make the argument about a whole lot of existing terms in the game not sounding "sci fi". Like shouldn't "Strength" be "Muscle Fiber Density" or something technical? I'd say take a little time to adjust to boon and bane and they'll start to sound perfectly natural.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I think if you went down a very bad path, you could make the argument about a whole lot of existing terms in the game not sounding "sci fi". Like shouldn't "Strength" be "Muscle Fiber Density" or something technical? I'd say take a little time to adjust to boon and bane and they'll start to sound perfectly natural.

Makes sense, since Mongoose Traveller is a system for any genre.

 

[JRoss]

Where I live, we say boon and bane.

Rivendell?

 

[dragoner]

Firstly, I like the concept of Boon and Bane dice (BTW, D&D 5ed were not the first to use this type of mechanic in case anyone wants to claim you've "stolen" the idea). What I find less that optimal is the terminology itself. It doesn't sound very Sci-Fi to my ears. It makes me think very much about fantasy settings.

+1

It does sound archaic. Plus if you live somewhere multilingual, such as California, you never hear words like those because they are hard to pronounce, in Spanish the b is a soft v.

 

[AndrewW]

It does sound archaic. Plus if you live somewhere multilingual, such as California, you never hear words like those because they are hard to pronounce, in Spanish the b is a soft v.

Well, I'm in California and would disagree.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Gets his popcorn.

 

[Stainless]

I suppose the aetiology of terminology being what it is means one can't satisfy everyone. I agree that Boon and Bane are short to speak and so well crafted for a narrative game mechanic, but I still find them ill suited stylistically to a sci-fi genre. But that is obviously just my personal opinion. Perhaps it will be one of those classic US vs Europe things. No matter what it is ultimately called, I think in my games I'll use Advantage and Disadvantage. I don't mind them big words.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I suppose the aetiology of terminology being what it is means one can't satisfy everyone. I agree that Boon and Bane are short to speak and so well crafted for a narrative game mechanic, but I still find them ill suited stylistically to a sci-fi genre. But that is obviously just my personal opinion. Perhaps it will be one of those classic US vs Europe things. No matter what it is ultimately called, I think in my games I'll use Advantage and Disadvantage. I don't mind them big words.

The game mechanic is not sci-fi though. And most Travellers will not be doing sci-fi things. Besides, you have difficulty levels you can use as well. "Easy" doesn't sound too sci-fi. Should that be changed? If you're saying that those two words are archaic where you live, I guess you have something new to use instead. If Traveller was written in German, I guess we'd have plenty of words to get used to.

 

[dragoner]

It does sound archaic. Plus if you live somewhere multilingual, such as California, you never hear words like those because they are hard to pronounce, in Spanish the b is a soft v.

Well, I'm in California and would disagree.

Guaranteed it is the soft v sound. I've never heard any of my family use it, and many of them (most) are native Spanish speakers. I can't remember ever hearing anyone use it in the 20 years I lived there.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Guaranteed it is the soft v sound. I've never heard any of my family use it, and many of them (most) are native Spanish speakers. I can't remember ever hearing anyone use it in the 20 years I lived there.

It's not their style. What's the spanish words for boon and bane?

 

[AndrewW]

Guaranteed it is the soft v sound. I've never heard any of my family use it, and many of them (most) are native Spanish speakers. I can't remember ever hearing anyone use it in the 20 years I lived there.

Not saying everyone uses it or anything. Just that the statement was too general. Might be used less in some areas, but wouldn't see it being completely unused.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

"Bringing that truck of yours was a real boon for what needed getting done today."

"That dying A/C, with the water dripping, is something of a bane to our servers."

People under 30 probably don't talk like this in Los Angeles.

Anyway, players won't talk that way either. They'll say, "life is hard", "this stuff's easy". The referee just needs to say "bane roll" "boon roll".

 

[Stainless]

Shawn, somehow I'm getting the feeling the terminology was your baby. Procrustus would be proud.

 

[alex_greene]

Boon in its archaic form only refers to favours owed. It is used in modern parlance. "This new wireless touch pad is a boon for modern designers."

I couldn't find a more modern synonym for bane. Every synonym referred to diseases, poisons, curses and cancer.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Shawn, somehow I'm getting the feeling the terminology was your baby. Procrustus would be proud.

It was independently house ruled from Mongoose's revisions. Bane and Boon have been used before in other RPGs. Just not with 6-sided most of the times.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Boon in its archaic form only refers to favours owed. It is used in modern parlance. "This new wireless touch pad is a boon for modern designers."

I couldn't find a more modern synonym for bane. Every synonym referred to diseases, poisons, curses and cancer.

The real bane to cancer research is the lack of funding. Again, it's an age thing. Kids don't talk like this. Do kids say advantage or disadvantage? Hindrance? Obstacle? Impediment? They say hard or easy. Do easy roll and hard roll make sense? Boon and Bane are rare rolls by the way. You'll see when they are used in the rules.

 

[dragoner]

Unfortunately, Advantage and Disadvantage is already associated with the aforementioned 5ed. Hmm, how about Benefit and Hinderance? Agonist and Antagonist is probably too much of a mouthful and not widely known. Lead and Lag? Improve and Deteriorate? Promote and Demote? Increase and Decrease?.....

Giving this more thought, Bonus and Penalty would be most simple, and easily translatable ESL-wise. More artistic, Fortune and Misfortune, while getting fancy: Avail and Scourge.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

+1 -1 do the bonus penalty already.