Ever run a "small number of worlds game?"

[PoppySeed45]

The idea is inspired by Diaspora RPG (though I ended up selling it because I just don't like the rule-set - I'll stick to Traveller, thank you).

Anyway, one thing I did like was the idea of a small number of planets, say one for each player plus the GM, and that everyone rolls up their own world (to be used in character generation) and then these same worlds are used as a part of regular play.

In general, in Traveller, players roll up a homeworld, never to see it again, which, narratievly, sort of voids some of the background stuff like enemies, etc. So, I'd like to make this a game of a small number of worlds, say, 4-8 total. That's it. Maybe there are other worlds out there, but they take a jump 6 ship to reach, and no one has that technology anymore.

What do you think? What does it do to the common assumptions of Traveller? If I wanted something 3rd Imperium-esque, what would that change?

 

[rust]

So, I'd like to make this a game of a small number of worlds, say, 4-8 total.

Almost all of my settings are of this kind, usually with one planet as the
focus of the setting and a small number of nearby planets forming a kind
of cluster on the frontier of some difficult to reach and mostly undefined
interstellar state.

The advantage of this kind of setting is that the characters have a home
and are a part of long term social relations with their own responsibilities
(and adventure hooks). They are members of a community, not care free
wanderers in a social vacuum, and this adds depth to the campaign.

The disadvantage is that this kind of setting needs very detailed worlds
and societies. There is a lot more to do than just rolling up some planets
that consist of a starport only and are just visited once or twice during the
entire campaign.

If you use the Third Imperium as the distant, difficult to reach interstellar
nation, it does not change anything - unless you decide to do so.

 

[Matian]

If you want something 3I-esque, you could always set the entire story in one subsector and have everyone gen characters from those planets (I have d6/d66 charts for sector and subsector I use for quick chargen). If you want it smaller than the average 12-20 planets in Spinward Marches, the upcoming Reft Sector would probably work.

I think your idea works just fine, although adventure and exploration is a big part of my homebrew games that use the MGT engine, so I'm biased toward a larger number of planets (say, 12-15) that are either uninhabited/explored or dropped off the radar 50-250 years ago. What's on the planet? Religious dictatorship? Nuclear wasteland? Who knows?!

I don't think your idea messes with any "ideas" about Traveller. Everyone has a different interpretation of what the rules, setting, and atmosphere "should be", and that's okay. I prefer heavy themes of exploration and potential disaster, another friend likes heavy diplomacy, a third likes Star Wars Lite - and we all have fun and play together. I don't think you owe any explanation to potential players except to say where you've changed the OTU, or that you're using a homebrew with the MGT engine.

 

[Astromancer]

One Traveller campaign that wasn't going well (Secret Psions fleeing Imperial Agents) I switched up by shipwecking the PCs. The next few months until the group broke up where spent on a lost colony world. The PCs both liberated a kingdom from a corrupt monarchy and started scientific and industrial revolutions. The Imperial Anti-Psi Agents fought for the King and got killed in battle, so when the campaign ended the PCs were introducing Psionics to a free people. Without either the Imperials or the Zhodanni interferring.

I had plans to cause them new miseries, but the group broke up and it was a while before I had a RPG group again.

 

[Diamondfist]

I just want to make sure I understand you correctly. This isn't a criticism; I think this is a great idea, but I am a little confused by what you said. This part of your idea I am clear on so far:

Anyway, one thing I did like was the idea of a small number of planets, say one for each player plus the GM, and that everyone rolls up their own world (to be used in character generation) and then these same worlds are used as a part of regular play.

Here is where I am misunderstanding:

In general, in Traveller, players roll up a homeworld, never to see it again, which, narratievly, sort of voids some of the background stuff like enemies, etc.

Do you mean that the characters are meant to believe they won't see their homeworlds again, but the homeworlds actually become the very locations they are destined to visit as part of the adventure/story, or do they roll up their homeworld they actually never see it again, and they each roll up a homeworld that becomes part of the worlds they visit during the adventure?

 

[Vile]

I've run and played in "small number of worlds" games, from single-system to small-scale interstellar settings. I personally prefer them to grand space opera backgrounds like the OTU, but I find they are actually more work for the referee*. There is a much higher degree of detail required, and it has to be consistent. It's easy with a big setting to just concentrate on the characters and only deal with the most important or interesting elements, because they'll be of to another system next week anyway.

*Okay, some people might call it work, I actually think it's fun.

 

[BP]

...In general, in Traveller, players roll up a homeworld, never to see it again, which, narratievly, sort of voids some of the background stuff like enemies, etc.

In MGT, they select a homeworld - or its characteristics (not roleup, as in generate).

There is no reason they can't select a world in the ref's setting - even the starting world for a campaign or adventure.

Many careers involve space travel - so enemies and contacts can come from other planets - just as PCs often come from different homeworlds. To be usefull, these planets should be nearby within the game, or the enemies or contacts can be assumed to travel as well. It is Traveller!

 

[PoppySeed45]

Yes, that's right, they CAN, but when I last ran Traveller with the group, they really preferred, I discovered, to roll their own homeworlds rather than choose one from the list I'd prepared - didn't even look at it actually. One guy says, "Hey, the book says we should generate our homeworld!" and that was that. They enjoyed do that, but it meant the stuff I'D done, generating the sub-sector, should have been tossed out.

(For the record, that's what I didn't do, and now realize I should have done, or left room for their homeworlds on the map, and then filled them later after they rolled them up. My mistake).

In any case, I want to USE those homeworlds that they generate, and in fact, make them the center of everything - a small number of worlds, where their contacts and the like were from, and off we go!

 

[BP]

If you are leting your players generate part of the setting, then by all means you should include such in your game

For experienced players this would be a good approach. I often have my players generate additional history and familial connections for their PCs, while I provide a list of contacts and connections, often on various systems, that they can use later.

 

[Techno-Guru]

Sometimes smaller is indeed better. While I haven't really run a Traveller game (yet,) I have been working on a sci-fi setting of my own. And I have run into the problem of having too many worlds and cultures; I haven't quite had the same situations you've had but I imagine I will. There's also the problem of keeping track of different planets and societies as well as figuring out ways to make them interesting.

As for would this impact the 3I setting? I wouldn't worry about it, what happens in your game is your game.

 

[Treebore]

I was able to accomplish this when I ran the Mongoose module "Beltstrike" by keeping it a closed system.