Dilettante

[alex_greene]

Who else bought this book? What did you think of it?

I know, I skipped from Merchant Prince straight to Dilettante, but trust me - if Fan Boy 3 had had MP, I'd have got that as well today.

It'll have to come later for me. I'll probably order that book at the same time as the robot book, or maybe the powered armour supplement.

 

[Charakan]

I picked it up yesterday along with Merchant Prince at Spirit Games in Burton-on-Trent, I've only skimmed it, but it doesn't seem like something I'd use, I'm just trying for a full set of MGT books.

 

[OddjobXL]

I've skimmed through it. I don't think it would be immediately useful for a baseline Traveller campaign.

Where it does come in handy, and the book itself alludes to that, would be for handling player characters towards the endgame where they may have accumulated wealth and need a purpose for burning it off, or complications that come along with fame, or for creating the world of high class patrons as a backdrop and perhaps motivation for the player characters.

There's also a bit in there about an all Dilettante campaign though I'm unsure how much fun that would really be, maybe depends on the players involved. However they also discuss the noble entourage ala Fading Suns (a nobleman and his retainers).

It does certainly fill a hole for my RPG collection. I've piles of RPGs and RPG supplements on feudal nobility and how they live but how would the sci fi jetset live and keep themselves occupied? What would be a threat or a reward to them? Where's the story? Some good ideas in here.

 

[hdan]

I haven't even seen Dilettante yet, but based on daydreaming and the preview, I have to say that I've seriously considered trying to do a "rich/powerful folks in trouble" sort of campaign based loosely on the style (though not the substance) of Star Wars. Planetary governors calling for help, turncoats and betrayals in the court, sending in a platoon of Imperial Marines first to coerce reluctant foes, etc.

Players would all be nobles of some sort (or possibly their most trusted Generals, etc.) who are going about the business of trying to maintain control of a border subsector. The players would probably find themselves being the PATRONS in many encounters as they hire locals and "untraceables" to do their dirty work. (For a very regular group, it might be fun to run those missions as one-off sessions using the other characters - the players would certainly be motivated to succeed!)

I would not really track things like money (except in some cases where they wind up in truly frontier areas who do not link in to the banking system, and then I'd play it more for laughs and frustration) or require the players to carefully manage their inventories (aside from their personal "signature" equipment). Naturally the players would have at least one ship in the 1000 ton range at their disposal, as well as a raft of competent but expendable NPCs and such.

Such a campaign would work well in either Imperial or Aslan space, or (better yet) on the border between the two.

It would certainly be a change from the Free Traders & Mercs style games at any rate.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I have it.

I really liked the info on Wealth and non-Noble use of high social status.

The section on Wealth, Fame and Entertainments were also quite good. LOTS of adventure ideas there.

The careers were nice too, although I thought they needed a Servant/Assistant career for those who keep the Dilletante out of trouble.

Some of the Wealth info would easily apply to a PC group that gets a lot of money or does something truly heroic and gets a big reward.

I think it was worth the money.

 

[Cyphr]

I have it.

I really liked the info on Wealth and non-Noble use of high social status.

The section on Wealth, Fame and Entertainments were also quite good. LOTS of adventure ideas there.

The careers were nice too, although I thought they needed a Servant/Assistant career for those who keep the Dilletante out of trouble.

Some of the Wealth info would easily apply to a PC group that gets a lot of money or does something truly heroic and gets a big reward.

I think it was worth the money.

I agree some of the individual chapters can add a lot to almost any flavor of Traveller campaign. The addiction section was very nice addition.

One thing I found interesting that careers got me thinking of non-scifi campaign types. The one in particular was the socialite detective/busy body campaign. Think Agatha Christie or Dorothy L Sayers mysteries set in space.

Here's another thing to consider is how Dilettante works with Merchant Prince. You have a Dilettante that gets bored and heads into commerce. With a combination of wealth and experience they can be a very important partner in a Commercial Entity. Cashing in 1MCR portfolio item yields 40 Wealth points. Then add in other bonuses like rank and ship shares.