How to create Tougher Travellers?

[Randal]

Mongoosers,

I have been running sessions of Traveller in between our normal D&D campaign and it looks like my group would be interested in a Traveller campaign afterwards.
One snag is Travellers just can't take the relative pounding a D&D chr can so given my group need a carthartic scrap in a game after a week of work what can be done to improve Travellers' damage capacity/reststance?
Chucking them in a low berth with a slow pill and glass of water is rather like a D&D long rest but what else?

- armour
- leap for cover reaction
- Athletics: END

Does anyone have any house rules? Are there any armour combinations? Helpful cybernetics?

Thanks!

 

[DeepSpaceAdventures]

Traveller and D&D are different games. Combat in Traveller is intended to be deadly. I'd suggest, you first try and embrace this philosophy for some time, maybe your admiration for a different play style will grow.

 

[Tom B]

Stress that it's a different game not so combat orientated and that it is deadly.

You've listed the things that can allow them to 'absorb' more damage.

Stats, especially END
DEX & the athletics skill to allow them to dodge.
Armour
Yes, there's subdermal armour, it's expensive but it can be obtained at character creation. It goes up to +3.
You can also get implants that up a stat up to +3, again expensive.

What armour can stack isn't always entirely clear. Some of the rules contradict common sense (in my opinion). What would be useful would be a chart showing which combinations are allowed.

Have someone trained in Medic with a medkit to help them.

The other thing that can help an individual is the regeneration, but that's psionics and you probably don't want a party full of psions.

 

[Maxijohndoe]

Armour and limiting the weapons the Travellers will face. And make the Law Levels of various planets count.

A Traveller wearing a good vacc suit can take a couple of pistol rounds and not die.

A Traveller wearing Combat Armour can take hits from heavier weapons.

Anything with the AP trait is potentially deadly.

Look at the average DAM a bad guy can do with their weapon compared to the armour the Travellers are wearing. If a Traveller is likely to take enough damage to put two Attributes to zero then that is a deadly encounter.

 

[Randal]

Traveller and D&D are different games. Combat in Traveller is intended to be deadly. I'd suggest, you first try and embrace this philosophy for some time, maybe your admiration for a different play style will grow.

Yes, I agree. I am intending to cosy the players into this philosophy but I wanted to compile some ideas on increasing general Traveller durability.

 

[Randal]

Stress that it's a different game not so combat orientated and that it is deadly.

You've listed the things that can allow them to 'absorb' more damage.

Stats, especially END
DEX & the athletics skill to allow them to dodge.
Armour
Yes, there's subdermal armour, it's expensive but it can be obtained at character creation. It goes up to +3.
You can also get implants that up a stat up to +3, again expensive.

What armour can stack isn't always entirely clear. Some of the rules contradict common sense (in my opinion). What would be useful would be a chart showing which combinations are allowed.

Have someone trained in Medic with a medkit to help them.

The other thing that can help an individual is the regeneration, but that's psionics and you probably don't want a party full of psions.

Athletics: DEX for dodging, I hadn't thought of that.
Thanks!

 

[Condottiere]

Minions. meatshields, and mercenaries.

 

[MongooseChris]

Does anyone have any house rules? Are there any armour combinations? Helpful cybernetics?

Basically, they'll learn that they should never get into what consistitutes a "fair fight." If you're going to get into combat in Traveller, have better armour and weapons than your opponents or you vastly increase your chances of dying. It might seem like that would take the drama out of it — especially for a group that is accustomed to more combat-oriented games — but you'll be surprised. Even if the odds are stacked in their favor, Traveller players will still enjoy the tension and immersion of getting into a fight.

 

[Endie]

Just give them adequate armour and have them fight skillful opponents with no AP. They'll get the odd point of damage from Effect 6 hits but they can churn through mooks. Add a couple of points of damage or AP to tune if you need more risk.

 

[Tom B]

Just give them adequate armour and have them fight skillful opponents with no AP. They'll get the odd point of damage from Effect 6 hits but they can churn through mooks. Add a couple of points of damage or AP to tune if you need more risk.

Or throw in someone with a gravity hammer!

 

[Endie]

Or throw in someone with a gravity hammer!

If you want to murder them, this will work a treat.

 

[Saladman]

I work at calibrating my NPCs and creatures to balance against randomly rolled PCs at best. Regular thugs or guards might have Gun Combat 1 and physical stats at 6, with normal weapons and armor not as good as PCs. Published adventures don't always model this anymore; the 1e core book had a two page spread of example NPCs that I still use in 2e.

On the player side, better armor is the way to go, but the GM resists the urge to match them to challenge them.

But all that said I agree with posters above that multi-round slug fests are not what Traveller is trying to do in the first place, so you're really fighting the system. If you're determined to do it you might consider a hit point kicker for PCs, maybe doubling End for purposes of taking damage.

 

[Perkanis83]

I mean most fun I ever had was when I had a group of players in full power armour screaming that the mooks they were killing from a gang was to tough since they had shotguns loaded with shot and was wearing post apoc armour, I then introduced them to the wonders of solid slug AP ammo for shotguns suddenly they did not complain about the normal shot ammo anymore.

So what I want to have said here in regards to the original question Shotguns are great and can really give your players a feeling of being invulnerable since their standard ammo doubles any armour values but can still be tailored up when you feel the need to have a nasty surprise.

 

[Bense]

Use the Luck attribute rules from the Companion.

If you want it to play more like D&D you could always play using the T20 rules.

 

[swordtart]

Layering armour.
I lieu of formal guidance I normally allow a max of 2 layers.
I allow Diplovest to be worn under anything.
Cloth Trench Coat can go over anything.
Good combinations:
Protec Suit + Cloth Jacket (when outdoors). Not as overt as other armours and gives protection 9.
TL10 cloth + Diplo vest. Can pass for normal clothing and gives protection 11.
TL10 cloth + Cloth Trench Coat. Starting to look a bit thuggish, but still not combat armour and provides protection 14 which is enough to stop the majority of firearms and even blunts the more common AP weapons.
None of these combinations will run you more than Cr1000 for the set.

Even if they take away your outer layer they may not recognise the inner layer as armour. If you have all of the cloth based armours you can mix and match as the need arises. The combinations can be everyday wear (the worst armour is the one left in the wardrobe). You could probably wear all these combinations in the starport without anyone raising an eyebrow.

If you add in an expanding shield you can hide behind it in Boarding shield mode for another 8 protection. In its closed up form it might not be recognised as armour at all.

There were some armoured clothing options in JTAS 12 - "Suits you, sophont". Double the cost of conventional clothes and get 3-5 protection depending on TL. Gel cloth at 5 times cost gets you 5-7 protection. These are supposed to resemble normal clothing. Technically they could be in addition to the armour rules since they specifically mention layering over a standard suit of armour, not a set of armoured clothing.

If you are going to shoot other people sneak up on them and aim. The +6 for 2 rounds of aiming can make all the difference, but even taking the minor action in your firing turn to aim can turn a near miss into a hit.

I do not allow multi-turn aiming against moving targets and I don't allow unbraced pistols to get more than 1 round of aiming in any case. The trick is not to stand in the middle of the street firing at people in cover. So when it all kicks off, keep moving and diving for cover and wait for the right time to shoot. I also rule that being wounded breaks your aim.

Winning initiative (so tactics-military ) can also be vital as you can snap fire, then move behind complete cover before they can retaliate. Alternatively you can pop up from hiding and snap fire, hopefully dropping them before they get their go. it is a bit you -go-I-go but it evens out in the end.

Good leaders might be better not trading fire and instead use their major action to give the rest of their team +1's. Too often people with very little chance to hit cannot resist wasting ammo.

Buy the best toys. Traveller is about the tech. Get scopes and smart weapons, high quality weapons with +1 to accuracy or lethal damage etc. Make sure that you are the best equipped in any fight. If you are planning on going into a firefight (rather than finding yourself in one) make sure you do not go underequipped. If you can wear combat armour do so. As other have said stack the odds in your favour.

 

[CordwainerFish]

Basically, they'll learn that they should never get into what consistitutes a "fair fight."

This. In Traveller, just like in real life, 'fair fight' means you have a 50% chance of finishing on the floor, likely so badly hurt you will never fully recover, very possibly dead. And there is no resurrection magic.

OP, teach your players to cheat. Avoid contact with the enemy, or show up in sufficient force that they will surrender (you think they're being paid enough to be on the wrong side of an Alamo?), or make them think you're in sufficient force, or straight up bribe them, or...

 

[Terry Mixon]

This. In Traveller, just like in real life, 'fair fight' means you have a 50% chance of finishing on the floor, likely so badly hurt you will never fully recover, very possibly dead. And there is no resurrection magic.

OP, teach your players to cheat. Avoid contact with the enemy, or show up in sufficient force that they will surrender (you think they're being paid enough to be on the wrong side of an Alamo?), or make them think you're in sufficient force, or straight up bribe them, or...

Technically, there is resurrection magic, but it’s not likely to happen because of time and potential cost restraints.

 

[AndrewW]

Basically, they'll learn that they should never get into what consistitutes a "fair fight." If you're going to get into combat in Traveller, have better armour and weapons than your opponents or you vastly increase your chances of dying. It might seem like that would take the drama out of it — especially for a group that is accustomed to more combat-oriented games — but you'll be surprised. Even if the odds are stacked in their favor, Traveller players will still enjoy the tension and immersion of getting into a fight.

Like bring a PGMP to a pistol fight.

 

[Vormaerin]

If you allow characters to have decent armor (5-8 range) and you keep everyone's weapons in the civilian range (2-3d6 with little or no AP) then you can have fun shootouts and brawls without characters dying left and right. Though healing afterwards will definitely take up some time.

Characters with no armor or facing military weapons (Autofire, AP, higher DMG) will tend to become dead on a regular basis.

The key to having combats in Traveller that are not just "he who shoots first wins" is keeping control of the gear.

If they have no armor and fights are brawls, that's viable.
If they have civilian grade concealable armors (5-8) and civilian weapons, that's viable.
If they have military grade armor (combat armor) and military grade weapons, that's also viable.

If armor is a higher grade than the weapons, hurting folks is very hard.
If weapons are a higher grade than the armor, keeping people alive is hard.

 

[Condottiere]

Shotgun.

Silencer.

Short range.

Surprise.