Fantasy Races in Traveller

[Tom Kalbfus]

Lets assume there is no magic in Traveller, except for psionics, and lets suppose at some point in the past a number of fantasy races crossed over to the Traveller Universe. Lets start with the D&D player character races: Elves, Dwarves, halflings, and gnomes. We're talking about 3.5 and earlier
Elves have bonuses to Intelligence and Dexterity, this would correspond to the Traveller attributes of Intelligence and Agility. The rulebook says they get a +2 in those attributes, and a -2 in Constitution, which I think corresponds to Endurance. I think a +2 is equivalent to a +1 in Traveller, so a Traveller Elf would get a +1 in intelligence and agility, and a -1 in Endurance. Elves are very long lived races, in this setting they are deprived of their magic. They might develop Traveller Psionics.

 

[Reynard]

Of course there's magic in Traveller, Arthur C. Clark said so! "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

 

[Nathan Brazil]

If you look in this old thread, I wrote conversions of D20 to MgT

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=55762

Describing Races: Use or create Alien Traits to describe races. Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation (an "Traveller Compatable Product") by Jason "Flynn" Kemp is I cannot stress more, an excellent guide (Thank you Mr. Kemp!). His bonuses for some Alien Traits do not correlate to my conversion, but I use it as a base.

In converting natural weapons, Supplement 11: Animals Encouners p.25 (example Tramples and Stomps = Thrasher) has a chart which describes many SRD natural attacks into Traveller natural weapons.

Since Traveller does not care about Challenge Ratings or game balance in the normal D20 way, don't worry about it.
Example: Elves
Genetic
• Notable Dexterity (+1), Weak Endurance (–1)
• Acute Hearing (+1 to hearing based Recon tasks)
• Acute Sight (+1 to sight based Recon tasks)
• Low-Light Vision
• Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +1 DM to Resistance enchantment spells or effects.
• An elf who merely passes within 1.5 meters of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Very Difficult Recon check (-4) check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it. An elf’s senses are so keen that she practically has a sixth sense about hidden portals.

Social (May take instead of a homeworld or education skill choice)
• Racial Weapons: Longsword, Rapier, Composite Longbow, Composite Shortbow, Longbow, Shortbow (Provides a Melee (name of weapon) 0 with ONLY those weapons, so taking this is not the same as getting Melee Combat (Blade) 0 and Athletics (Bows) 0. Also no way to increase these skill Levels normally).
• Language 0 (to "know" Common trade tongue)

 

[Nathan Brazil]

And there is
Flynn's Guide to Magic in Traveller
Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation
both "Traveller Compatable Product"

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Stats:

d20 nicely fits into MgT. Simply divide the d20 Stat by 1.5 and you roughly have the MgT value. 3-18 d20 rolls match Traveller rolls and so does 23 d20 human maximum matches the Traveller 15 human maximum

d20 MgT
1	  1
2	  1
3	  2
4	  3
5	  3
6	  4
7	  5
8	  5
9	  6
10	 7
11	 7
12	 8
13	 9
14	 9
15	 10
16	 11
17	 11
18	 12
19	 13
20	 13
21	 14
22	 15
23	 15
24	 16
25	 17

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Stats are tricky because in fantasy settings you have "Charisma" and Traveller has Social Standing. The Judge Dredd book introduced a new stat called "Influence" which functions more like "Charismal".

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

Stats are tricky because in fantasy settings you have "Charisma" and Traveller has Social Standing. The Judge Dredd book introduced a new stat called "Influence" which functions more like "Charismal".

One society's hero is another's outcast. My problem with Social Standing, is that it is an attribute of a character and not of the society that thinks of that character. I don't really think that one's social standing should necessarily follow that character around wherever he goes. Social Standing is what that society thinks of the character, in Traveller their are many societies, especially with the slow rate of communication. In D&D a character's intelligence is often a determinenent of what he knows, and is used like Education in Traveller. However the lack of an intelligence attribute in Traveller makes it difficult to represent really stupid characters. A person is either educated or he is not, a person could be educated but not very smart.

My main question is what would a society of Elves look like in a Traveller setting? Are they still nature people, how would society react to their living a couple thousand years as a normal lifespan?

I think Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes would do well on high gravity worlds, such as those Super Earths that were discovering, Dwarves would be especially good at this, with their massive muscles on their short frames.

 

[GypsyComet]

As much fun as using Chirpers in this role is, I wouldn't mind having reptilian 3.x Kobolds.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

As much fun as using Chirpers in this role is, I wouldn't mind having reptilian 3.x Kobolds.

How about "Orcs in Spaaaaace!"
What would orcs be like in space, assuming they have their own spaceships and a homeworld to call their own, assuming they retain their personalities, with behaviors tending toward "chaotic evil". I think Orcs would make great pirates, they are a bit sensitive to bright light. how to explain this? Maybe they come from a super-Earth orbiting a red dwarf star, and because of that their visual spectrum includes a bit of the infrared, so basically they can see heat signatures in addition to normal light. How big a menance do you think orcs could be? Should they have their own interstellar Empire, would they be much like Klingons in effect? How much of a menance to the Imperium would they be, if introduced to the OTU?

 

[Jame Rowe]

Tips for those who want to use magic:

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=50773

Two different takes on fantasy for Traveller:

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=43387

and

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=40930

 

[l_c_jackson]

And there is
Flynn's Guide to Magic in Traveller
Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation
both "Traveller Compatable Product"

How did you find those products? Do they play easily? Are they reasonably compatible with the basic rules of Traveller?

Any idea how they compare with similar products?

Above all, are they fun to use?

Thanks.

 

[Reynard]

I know Darrians are the Traveller elves in space and there's also a human variant that have been referred to as dwarves. Halflings are easy being a human variant whose planetary environment and possible isolation from other genetic pool sources favored a smaller form but not dwarfism either resembling children or proportionally small adults. Their homeworld is (was) relatively pastoral and low tech. They are easy going and xenophillic.

Gnomes are another small human variant at about a meter tall OR could be a non-human race especially considering their wide variation in physical features such as large varieties of skin and hair color and body features in proportions noticeably out of the norm for humans. The feature are individual rather than genetic grouping. See well in dim light and keen senses along with their stature and colorations could suggest they live on a world of deep forest. As 'primitive' as they seem, they are well known for craft and engineering occupations.

Orcs and hobgoblins? Big, tough, strong, ugly humanoids of either mammalian or reptilian stock, carnivore or omnivore and hunter or killer. Big on slavery especially for crews to run starships.

Here's an interesting thought. The One Ring is an ancient artifact that bends light around a wearer of standard human size or smaller when worn. Unfortunately the unstable structure and or power source slowly causes both mental and physical degradation. There are also six other rings with a marking of one of the six major races. No one knows what they are, if they do anything or if there's a connection other than the markings. Each leader most representative of the race has their race's ring they either wear or is in protective storage and is passed down over the millennia. No one knows why and the majority if the races don't know of these rings existence. When Terra conquered the Vilani, the ring of humanity moved to the new seat of power during the Rule of Man. It somehow arrived in the Sylean Federation during the Long Night and followed the Emperor to the capital of the Imperium. What happens to the ring after Strephon's assassination and Virus?

 

[Condottiere]

Racism: Orcs and Half Life

ShadowRun and GURPS' take on Orc/Ks is in exchange for rapid maturation and improved physical characteristics, they live only half as long as a human; Warhammer's is up or die, or at least a slide into decrepitude due to the Peter Principle.

 

[Condottiere]

Racism: Orcs and Half Life

Of course, playing such races who aren't noted for performing considerably better at academic pursuits than humans, and with only half the time to acquire them, means a preponderance towards a point driven character generation system, or any other option that skips time based turns.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

And there is
Flynn's Guide to Magic in Traveller
Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation
both "Traveller Compatable Product"

How did you find those products? Do they play easily? Are they reasonably compatible with the basic rules of Traveller?

Any idea how they compare with similar products?

Above all, are they fun to use? Bo

Thanks.

They are available at drivethrurpg. Alien Creation is extremely compatible. You will see...similarities to the 3.0/3.5 SRD translated to MgT terms. Magic is also if you allow for skill levels higher than 4.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

They were written for the 1st Edition OGL, so are 100% compatible with 1st Edition Mongoose Traveller.

They are both GREAT products (as is anything else from Flynn).

I have both and highly recommend them to anyone that would like to include this sort of thing in their games.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

Racism: Orcs and Half Life

Of course, playing such races who aren't noted for performing considerably better at academic pursuits than humans, and with only half the time to acquire them, means a preponderance towards a point driven character generation system, or any other option that skips time based turns.

There is always agathics. Traveller has a means to extend human life beyond its natural span, it is not unthinkable that the same could be done for orcs. The question is, what do you get in exchange for the shorer lifespan. Orcs are basically brutes, they are stronger than humans physically, the thing is though, greater physical strength doesn't matter as much in a science fiction setting as it does in a fantasy setting, if an orc can't go toe to toe with you, then the advantage goes with the person that has the longest-ranged deadliest weapon.

 

[Condottiere]

A lot of RPG campaigns start off on equal footing, first level, with every option have some form of compensation, and all of them relatively novices in their career paths.

Anagathics in Traveller are meant to be hard to find and an expensive habit to maintain.

With half life, you get about a twenty or thirty year active span, which is enough.

The problem with Traveller character generation is, that the Orc will mature between eight and thirteen year physically and mentally, and a twenty year career in the military means about two to seven years adventuring time, before you have a rapid descent into senility.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

You both speak of game balance with regards to characters. Sometimes being able to make the claim your character is of species X culture Y is its own reward even though there is no discrete game mechanic benefit.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

A lot of RPG campaigns start off on equal footing, first level, with every option have some form of compensation, and all of them relatively novices in their career paths.

Anagathics in Traveller are meant to be hard to find and an expensive habit to maintain.

With half life, you get about a twenty or thirty year active span, which is enough.

The problem with Traveller character generation is, that the Orc will mature between eight and thirteen year physically and mentally, and a twenty year career in the military means about two to seven years adventuring time, before you have a rapid descent into senility.

Do orcs need to get really old to be cannon fodder? Even if orcs do age more rapidly, they usually don't die of old age, they die at the point of a spear, and arrow, or a sword, that is their purpose, they were created to be warriors, and are thus expendable.