Freelancer Traveller

[KJohnston]

Hey all. Just nipped out and bought two copies of the Traveller rulebook. My dad used to run this for me and his work mates back in the day, so I had a lovely feeling of nostalgia looking through the book. It captures the look and feel of days gone by, and reminds me of all the good times I had with my father, so for that I can only thank the Mongoose team.

I have absolutely no quibbles with the book, but on the back pages of one of the books, the binding is a little shoddy and some of the ink is smudged, making it a bit of a pain to read. Just wondering if anyone else had this problem? It's not a huge or unreadable deal, just a little annoying to have to squint.

Anyway, aside from my gushing, I wanted to do something unique with Traveller, something beyond the usual setting whilst still retaining the spirit of things. I remembered a game from 1998, Freelancer. From the same guys that bought us Privateer, one of the recommended resources for inspiration, it seems to have a plot entirely suited for Traveller, with a little tweaking to add the aliens and the oppressive but fractured Imperium of Man. Here's some links to those of you who don't remember or have never played this game:

http://www.microsoft.com/games/freelancer/default.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(computer_game)

I think it would be fun. I just want to make sure I can bring forth the fun spirit of Traveller that I remember before I start on a few simple conversions.

Thanks for reading,
Kevin.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Now that you mention it, Freelancer was a fun game and probably would work pretty decently with Traveller.

 

[-Daniel-]

I had not heard of this before, but from the links it does look like it could fit the Traveller game quite well.

Daniel

 

[WhiteWolf]

Wow! How did I miss this? Is it still available for play? Downloading the demo right now.

 

[KJohnston]

Copies are a little hard to find, but quite cheap now. Oh, and it's not as open ended as Privateer, story is top notch though.

Still wondering about the printing issue. Unlucky one off? I'm still wary after my Conan copies.

 

[WhiteWolf]

Just finished downloading the demo, but I will most likely wait till this weekend to try it out.

So far my copy of the Traveller book from Mongoose is good.

 

[lordmalachdrim]

I've gotten several books from Mongoose recently (since the change to outside printing) and they've all been fine. I looked thought a copy of Traveller at a local store last weekend and it looked fine too (just didn't have the cash to pick it up).

 

[-Daniel-]

Still wondering about the printing issue. Unlucky one off? I'm still wary after my Conan copies.

The four copies in the FLGS I saw were fine. Mine is fine. I think you just may have a one off issue.

Daniel

 

[KJohnston]

Ah well you lose some . . . and you lose some

Trying to figure ways to work in the other major races into the Freelancer story. May just leave them out at the moment and work them in at a later point.

Currently trying to create a lovely, parastic alien race for the Freelancer campaign.

 

[KJohnston]

Not that anyone will particularly care, but may as well turn this into a little update thread.

As it stands there will be no non-human species in my campaign, bar the Zephandi who will make subtle appearences here and there, but are not actually noticably different enough to warrant my players going "Oh dear lord, an alien!"

I've given up on trying to create the parasitic alien race for now. They wont make an appearence yet for months, so I'll leave them for the time being until I can come up with a suitable posession method and whatnot.

I'm currently deliberating on the Jump Gates and Trade Lanes found in Freelancer. Jump Gates allow quick travel between sub-sectors, cutting out the need for scary deep space mishaps. Trade Lanes allowed quick travel within the sub-sector between major planets etc etc. I'm thinking of cutting out these elements simply because these things were added into a game that had limitations. Roleplaying has none.

I'm thinking of adopting the standard Imperium ships as Liberty ships. Although the look is vastly different it allows me to start the game come Friday.

Anyways, back to tweaking.

 

[SSWarlock]

Wow! How did I miss this? Is it still available for play? Downloading the demo right now.

There are also a number of websites which host fan-produced mods that expand the type of ships and star systems in the game. One of the best ones (IMO) is Lancers Reactor.

Best thing to do is to play the original game to completion before loading any mods though.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Ah well you lose some . . . and you lose some

Trying to figure ways to work in the other major races into the Freelancer story. May just leave them out at the moment and work them in at a later point.

Currently trying to create a lovely, parastic alien race for the Freelancer campaign.

Send an Email to Matthew Sprang here at Mongoose. I'm sure he will take care of your bad copy.

 

[Chronus]

I've given up on trying to create the parasitic alien race for now.

Perhaps a bit off topic but I sometimes toy around with the idea of fleshing out the intelligent, spider-like aliens from Horde (Double Adventure 5 - The Chamax Plague/Horde). No, not the Chamax themselves, but the ones driven off the planet in their sub-light speed spaceships.

For peaceful, diplomatic adventurers, a "first contact" scenario, when the aliens first come out of their space craft from cold sleep, could be interesting. How do you communicate with a "spider"? What if the Chamax come boiling out? What if a mix of both aliens are in there?

For the more adventurous types, perhaps a "spider ship" arrived at one of the more barren planets 50 years earlier than expected. The party may stumble across a secret, thriving spider colony in the jungles somewhere. Perhaps this colony will rejoice in finally making contact with someone, or perhaps they want their colony to remain a secret.

Anyway, just a thought in regard to a possible resource. The only problem is ... the aliens I'm describing sound a bit too friendly for what you're looking for. The Chamax themselves are certainly parasitic, but not intelligent.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Now, make the Spiders FRIENDLY. After all, if they look evil, they must BE evil Right? RIGHT? WRONG! Make them look nasty, but be basically friendly to the party. Then the characters can help the gentle spiders fight off the nasty Chamax.

I haven't read the adventure in a LONG time, but if the Spiders are not friendly, maybe this group is...

Twisting people preconceptions is a good GMing tool.

 

[Chronus]

Now, make the Spiders FRIENDLY. After all, if they look evil, they must BE evil Right? RIGHT? WRONG! Make them look nasty, but be basically friendly to the party. Then the characters can help the gentle spiders fight off the nasty Chamax.

I haven't read the adventure in a LONG time, but if the Spiders are not friendly, maybe this group is...

Twisting people preconceptions is a good GMing tool.

And to REALLY twist things up for our adventurers . . .

The "friendly spiders" are truly an evil race. They are only acting all nice and benevolent because they know they are on the verge of extinction and need help from the adventurers.

You see, thousands of years ago, an ancient, good race discovered these evil spiders and contrived a way to eliminate them - the Chamax Plague.

Now, thanks to our band of foolhardy adventurers, this evil spider race has survived. In a few centuries, the Spinward Marches will not contain a single human soul. This will occur because the spider race will have managed to open a portal which allowed their evil goddess, Lloth, and her Drow minions to step through and . . . oops! Sorry, wrong setting. :wink:

 

[-Daniel-]

Now, make the Spiders FRIENDLY. After all, if they look evil, they must BE evil Right? RIGHT? WRONG! Make them look nasty, but be basically friendly to the party. Then the characters can help the gentle spiders fight off the nasty Chamax.

I haven't read the adventure in a LONG time, but if the Spiders are not friendly, maybe this group is...

Twisting people preconceptions is a good GMing tool.

And to REALLY twist things up for our adventurers . . .

The "friendly spiders" are truly an evil race. They are only acting all nice and benevolent because they know they are on the verge of extinction and need help from the adventurers.

You see, thousands of years ago, an ancient, good race discovered these evil spiders and contrived a way to eliminate them - the Chamax Plague.

Now, thanks to our band of foolhardy adventurers, this evil spider race has survived. In a few centuries, the Spinward Marches will not contain a single human soul. This will occur because the spider race will have managed to open a portal which allowed their evil goddess, Lloth, and her Drow minions to step through and . . . oops! Sorry, wrong setting. :wink:

Don't stop I want to hear the rest... :shock:

I must admit I sometimes enjoy using stuff from one setting in another just for the reason it catches folks off guard. :lol:

Daniel

 

[dmccoy1693]

I dug out my old Freelancer game yesterday, loaded and it was just as fun as I remember.

Thanks for bringing that old game to mind.

 

[SSWarlock]

I must admit I sometimes enjoy using stuff from one setting in another just for the reason it catches folks off guard. :lol:

Daniel

And then there's the one about the munchkin D&Der who made everyone mad by using his uber armor and weapon to keep all the loot in a dungeon run. The GM brought him to heel by giving him a phaser which worked perfectly. The munchkin dropped his "useless weaponry" and slaughtered everything he shot at..right up to the point he pointed it at an ancient red dragon and pulled the trigger only to hear a "clickclickclick".

"The powerpack is drained," said the DM. "Oh, and you hear the dragon take a really deep breath..."

 

[KJohnston]

Well, having ran through a sample character creation, fight and ship battle, we seem to have the hang of the rules. A few instances of players assuming too much (Yacht = an actual yacht, not just ship shares ) as well as some assumptions of too little on my part (only 1d6 for aging ) but the kinks got ironed out.

No one has sprung for any alien race, so I can always add them in at some point. As it stands Freelancer adapts pretty well, though I noticed a little quirk within the game that has led me to choose to start the game in either Kusari (Japanese) or Rheinland (German) space, as opposed to starting in Liberty (American) like the game.

The dodgy back pages are now becoming more of a hinderance, especially as players look at stock ships. I feel bad about contacting Mongoose cause I had to do it with two Conan books. Weird I know, but it feels like mooching.

I apologise for the random update, but felt like doing it

Kevin

 

[drdentista]

Yep, I have a Runequest book which also exhibit this problem. The ink seem to have flown out in a spot about 1x1 cm, and the corresponding page have been discolored by the ink.

Regards