Character with heavy armor
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CordwainerFish
Emperor Mongoose
Poison them. Have a noble challenge them to a duel. Have their ex show up with a host of bailiffs and a warrant for seizure of assets.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Well, in all but lawless and warfare condition, you can't prance around in full armour without a very good reason, so assuming the armour isn't all non-intrusive (augments, diplovests, etc.) put them in situations where you can't just go barging in, a Casino Royale, not a Monte Cassino.
If it's powered armour, there's also maintenance issues, infected onboard computers. And armour piercing ammunition. Or artillery. Or, well, power and air supply isn't infinite...
It doesn't need to be adversarial between you and the Traveller. It could also be that you put them in situations where only that powerful armour has a chance of saving the day... as long as they don't fall into the volcano, star, black hole, monofilament thrashing machine, etc.
Finally, if you fly into a solid object (wall, tree, starship, asteroid) at high velocity and come to a sudden stop, the armour might not crack, but whatever is inside still goes splat, though people might not notice until they open the suit and the occupant oozes out.
If it's powered armour, there's also maintenance issues, infected onboard computers. And armour piercing ammunition. Or artillery. Or, well, power and air supply isn't infinite...
It doesn't need to be adversarial between you and the Traveller. It could also be that you put them in situations where only that powerful armour has a chance of saving the day... as long as they don't fall into the volcano, star, black hole, monofilament thrashing machine, etc.
Finally, if you fly into a solid object (wall, tree, starship, asteroid) at high velocity and come to a sudden stop, the armour might not crack, but whatever is inside still goes splat, though people might not notice until they open the suit and the occupant oozes out.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
If they are violating the law level, special forces will respond with armor busters. Plasma if you got 'em.
If it gets really bad, Power Armor doesn't resist Fuel-Air bombs. Bonus, no radioactive contamination in the newly leveled soon-to-be reconstruction zone. Just some smoking magnetic/claw boots to pick up...
If it gets really bad, Power Armor doesn't resist Fuel-Air bombs. Bonus, no radioactive contamination in the newly leveled soon-to-be reconstruction zone. Just some smoking magnetic/claw boots to pick up...
If you are running a military/merc campaign where heavy armor is appropriate, there are military grade tools for dealing with it. If you are doing more basic adventuring/crime type stuff where the opposition isn't likely to have heavy weapons, then the main thing is to have challenges that aren't just about surviving getting shot.
That can be law enforcement issues, as mentioned above. It can be squeezing into that cave to reach the Ancients base. It can be the fact that the person who has the skills to do the thing isn't the guy in the invincible armor and getting *them* safely to objective without getting killed takes more than being a human shield.
Ideally, what you want to do is create a mix of situations, some where they get to be badass because they have that heavy gear and others where they have to rely on other stuff. The Imperial Marine officer in my campaign is usually using an autopistol and diplo-Vest, because the campaign is more Leverage meets Tomb Raider. But sometimes they are out in the wilds or facing some serious nasties and out comes the highly customized HEV and tricked out Gauss Rifle and its whoop-ass time. They get to do their thing either way with appropriate tools for the task at hand.
That can be law enforcement issues, as mentioned above. It can be squeezing into that cave to reach the Ancients base. It can be the fact that the person who has the skills to do the thing isn't the guy in the invincible armor and getting *them* safely to objective without getting killed takes more than being a human shield.
Ideally, what you want to do is create a mix of situations, some where they get to be badass because they have that heavy gear and others where they have to rely on other stuff. The Imperial Marine officer in my campaign is usually using an autopistol and diplo-Vest, because the campaign is more Leverage meets Tomb Raider. But sometimes they are out in the wilds or facing some serious nasties and out comes the highly customized HEV and tricked out Gauss Rifle and its whoop-ass time. They get to do their thing either way with appropriate tools for the task at hand.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Depends on the flavour of the game.
And the antagonists
But if you're wearing it downtown Regina, you're going to get Swatted.
And the antagonists
But if you're wearing it downtown Regina, you're going to get Swatted.
JustEastOfTheEdge
Cosmic Mongoose
(1) don't let the campaign revolve around combat results.
e.g. armour won't stop you dying in a spacecraft fight, or from being arrested for any number of crimes , real or otherwise.
(2) if they earned it, why not let them have it? Just, as others have said, it won't be legal on most worlds.
(3) armour is extremely expensive to upkeep and repair, or make it so.
(4) there are very powerful weapon in the game that armour won't guarantee safety.
etc
e.g. armour won't stop you dying in a spacecraft fight, or from being arrested for any number of crimes , real or otherwise.
(2) if they earned it, why not let them have it? Just, as others have said, it won't be legal on most worlds.
(3) armour is extremely expensive to upkeep and repair, or make it so.
(4) there are very powerful weapon in the game that armour won't guarantee safety.
etc
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Every time I run a new campaign I end up further editing down both the overall highest tech level, and what's actually available out of starting gear rolls and starting cash purchases. Cash purchases in play are still possible but may take actual role play and table time, not just a given when you have the credits. So it won't actually be the case that we'll start a campaign with a character with battle dress, and even good combat armor would take multiple benefit rolls, or table time tracking it down at market.
Then when someone gets better armor down the line, they can have their moment in the sun. Let it work.
Except NPCs aren't stupid, and word gets around. Stomp around in battle dress too much and opponents are going to start bringing things that can crack it.
And play out law levels, and play out social standing, and play out social expectations. Battle dress on city streets on a high pop world isn't going to be ignored the way a fighter in plate armor is ignored in D&D. Even short of getting swatted (which may be on the table depending on law level), you're going to stand out and you're not going to be treated like any other joe.
And Vormaerin has good advice above. Armor aside, in Traveller in general I had to add more complications to my situations and challenges than I was used to in some other games. In some rpgs a simple obstacle or simple combat can take up a certain amount of time and still be fun. In Traveller both the skill system and the combat system need more than just "roll to overcome this one single thing," because doing so can be over quickly.
Then when someone gets better armor down the line, they can have their moment in the sun. Let it work.
Except NPCs aren't stupid, and word gets around. Stomp around in battle dress too much and opponents are going to start bringing things that can crack it.
And play out law levels, and play out social standing, and play out social expectations. Battle dress on city streets on a high pop world isn't going to be ignored the way a fighter in plate armor is ignored in D&D. Even short of getting swatted (which may be on the table depending on law level), you're going to stand out and you're not going to be treated like any other joe.
And Vormaerin has good advice above. Armor aside, in Traveller in general I had to add more complications to my situations and challenges than I was used to in some other games. In some rpgs a simple obstacle or simple combat can take up a certain amount of time and still be fun. In Traveller both the skill system and the combat system need more than just "roll to overcome this one single thing," because doing so can be over quickly.
ProfGrizzlyJon
Cosmic Mongoose
I actively use cyberwarfare against heavy armor, in almost every instance that it over balances the game.
I got the idea from Richard Morgan (Rawlings Virus) and then used the Robot Handbook to create it after binge watching Blake’s 7 (ORAC is the best).
I used to use APDS specialty ammunition in a gauss sniper rifle (thanks to Clarence Bodicker and his “state of the art bang-bangs”), and there are plenty of other variations there.
I got the idea from Richard Morgan (Rawlings Virus) and then used the Robot Handbook to create it after binge watching Blake’s 7 (ORAC is the best).
I used to use APDS specialty ammunition in a gauss sniper rifle (thanks to Clarence Bodicker and his “state of the art bang-bangs”), and there are plenty of other variations there.
Reisender
Cosmic Mongoose
There is no such thing as "invincible". A referee has so many things at his/her disposal to kill anything. The only question is if everyone is happy about a arms race. That's why communication between referee and players is so important.
Armor does not protect against falling damage. Bounce them off the ceiling and floor a few times in a gravity field that cycles from -6 G's to +6 G's, then change it to 6 G's sideways and watch that corridor become their death. Then bring in a cleaning bot to mop up the red splatter.
