How to make Traveller more popular with TTRPG players

[MongooseBella]

What I meant was, and it will go down like a lead balloon, use an AI to animate Bu and Embla, the actual characters...

I think I just replied to you because I saw the tiktok thing, not all of the rant was aimed at you.

But yeah, no

 

[JupiterIndustries]

Matt will too, if coerced (a sausage roll will do it)

A high price indeed!

 

[MarcusIII]

None of this is because of lack of trying - We have spent a not insignificant amount of money on marketing this year. Did it work out? Eh. But we can only continue trying and try different things.

None of this is because of lack of trying - We have spent a not insignificant amount of money on marketing this year. Did it work out? Eh. But we can only continue trying and try different things.

Maybe switch over to PR from straight mktg spend. It can be cheaper and more return on your pound

 

[Anstett]

While I might have to go create a new section of Freelance Traveller for this kind of article, I'd still be interested if you should prove to be willing to write this up for sharing...

@Studio Cat & FreeTrav

I ran a series of Adventures in Space during the library Summer Learning Program in 2024.
Mongoose was very supportive, we gave a PDF of the Explorers edition to each of the participants.

Post in thread 'Travellers Needed! Traveller's 50th' https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/travellers-needed-travellers-50th.124504/post-979554

To add a STEM component to that would be a simple additional page with 10 points that are reinforced by playing Traveller. Well any RPG but highlight Traveller.

FreeTrav I can look at what deadline you have for an article.

 

[FreeTrav]

FreeTrav I can look at what deadline you have for an article.

Deadlines? What be thems?

Seriously, it's 'the sooner the better' for obvious reasons, but also 'take what time you think it needs for a proper treatment', which is probably more important. The idea here is that I want to focus on quality, and with the exception of the Theme Issues, I don't look to place any specific article in a specific issue - an interesting article today should still be an interesting article tomorrow or the next day.

 

[actionman]

I've run a large multi national company for many years.

Well done!

EDIT: That's a sincere compliment, it's no small thing to do that.

 

[MarcusIII]

Well done!

EDIT: That's a sincere compliment, it's no small thing to do that.

Thanks. It almost killed me stress wise. The money wasn't worth it. Shoulda stayed in programming.

 

[actionman]

Matt will too, if coerced (a sausage roll will do it).

It's a long way
To the shop
If you want a sausage roll

 

[actionman]

The rules need to be separated from the setting.

This can be easily done, like with the Traveller Starter Set or some kind of free quickstart rules.

New settings need to be created.

That's where we come in. If Traveller players have a setting they're creating, then they can put it up on Drivethru or something and see how well it does, or even share it with selected beta readers or whatever. Forgotten Realms, one of the most popular D&D settings, came from the imagination of Ed Greenwood before D&D was created.

New settings should have modern scifi elements, like cybertech, nanotech, biotech, and psionics.

New settings should avoid cosmic evil and so on because that's firmly in the realm of Warhammer 40K.

But how do people create new settings? Most people use inspiration from other intellectual properties, like Dune, Star Wars, etc. Giving people a setting like Charted Space is a very good idea. State up front that Traveller can be used to create original settings, and then hand people Charted Space so they can at least play while they go through the trouble of creating their own universe.

kiddies

And we should stop referring to younger players like this or any other way which could be demeaning.

 

[MarcusIII]

This can be easily done, like with the Traveller Starter Set or some kind of free quickstart rules.

True that

 

[actionman]

If Traveller players have a setting they're creating, then they can put it up on Drivethru or something

If anyone who has done this put together a tutorial on which software to use to prepare something for online publication, tips and tricks, that would be great too!

 

[MarcusIII]

If anyone who has done this put together a tutorial on which software to use to prepare something for online publication, tips and tricks, that would be great too!

That would be great to have a simple step by step on how to create a PDF for download on DriveThru

 

[Endie]

That would be great to have a simple step by step on how to create a PDF for download on DriveThru

Creating a pdf is not hugely difficult. If you have Microsoft Word, for instance, you can choose Print as PDF as an alternative to your printer. I bet that Libreoffice or whatever the kids use these days has a similar option.

 

[shirgall]

Creating a pdf is not hugely difficult. If you have Microsoft Word, for instance, you can choose Print as PDF as an alternative to your printer. I bet that Libreoffice or whatever the kids use these days has a similar option.

It's matching the Adobe InDesign templates that's a pain.

 

[MarcusIII]

It's matching the Adobe InDesign templates that's a pain.

Exactly. I don't think DriveThru will take just any PDF for its downloads. Or maybe they do.

 

[IanBruntlett]

Creating a pdf is not hugely difficult. If you have Microsoft Word, for instance, you can choose Print as PDF as an alternative to your printer. I bet that Libreoffice or whatever the kids use these days has a similar option.

To create a PDF from a LibreOffice file:-
1. Open the file in LibreOffice.
2. Choose the File menu.
3. Select Export As
4. Choose which format you want to export as - PDF or EPUB

I have created PDFs many times in Linux. Especially to get my notes printed on both sides of the page on someone else's printer (on a Windows computer) with no worrying about fonts.

 

[MarcusIII]

To create a PDF from a LibreOffice file:-
1. Open the file in LibreOffice.
2. Choose the File menu.
3. Select Export As
4. Choose which format you want to export as - PDF or EPUB

I have created PDFs many times in Linux. Especially to get my notes printed on both sides of the page on someone else's printer (on a Windows computer) with no worrying about fonts.

From DriveThru. Help page

 

[shirgall]

Exactly. I don't think DriveThru will take just any PDF for its downloads. Or maybe they do.

DriveThru will, but if you want to match the TAS rules you are supposed to follow the templates.

 

[actionman]

That would be great to have a simple step by step on how to create a PDF for download on DriveThru

Absolutely!

In response to the original question, what do we have so far:

Decide what we want to do: 1) inspire 5e players to play a 5e version of Traveller, or 2) inspire 5e players to play Mongoose Traveller. Of course people can play both, but they'll usually pick one.

Decide what constitutes Traveller: the Traveller game system? If not, if we're using a different system, 5e or another system, then people aren't playing Traveller, they're playing a new game, a new 5e scifi game if we're not using Charted Space, or Charted Space 5e if we are. The only Traveller commonality will be setting.

What we can do:

Play fun outgoing extroverted Traveller games in game shops. Have Traveller books and Ref screens so people can see the art. Agree beforehand that it's a session for showing people Traveller, so keep the game fun. Have pickup games for new players. Run adventures that demonstrate character combat and space combat. Be ambassadors for Traveller.

• Create new settings and publish them. They can even pay what you want, it doesn't have to be all about money. Someone who knows how to do this can create a tutorial to reduce the obstacle of people not knowing how to do it.
• 21st Century Traveller settings:
• Should have cybernetics, nanotech, biotech, and psionics. Spend some time reading journals or other sources about bleeding edge science, then consider including it if compatible.
• Should allow characters to travel, to have that feeling of discovery.
• Possibly can start small with a subsector or sector sized area, and then be expand it with new products.
• Show how Traveller's creation rules can be used to generate various types of adventures, like Sword & Sandal, Star Trek type exploration and discovery, cyberpunk adventures on a single world, The Expanse type intrigue and war in a single star system, and Star Wars adventures against an evil empire, or Firefly adventures against an oppressive government in a single star system.
• Possibly emphasize planetary romance, in depth adventures on a single planet, getting to know it, and being involved with it, instead of the current emphasize of one mainworld per system, one starport or city, and characters do their thing and leave.
• Possibly consider making travelling a dangerous undertaking like the Age of Sail, instead of a routine matter of buying passage and spending weeks or months in staterooms and ship common areas. Strange worlds, engine failures, struggling for survival, getting in adventures, then finally making it. The real profit was all the adventures we had along the way. Inspiration: Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster, or Deathworld 2 by Harry Harrison.
• Create a Dumarest setting, scattered worlds, no giant empires, Earth is a faded memory, and characters struggle against the evil Cyclan.
• Stop calling younger players kiddies and other demeaning names. Young players or new players will do fine. I know people say that because they're parents or the new players are actually pre-high school children, but teens won't see it that way. They have to know they're welcome.

 

[actionman]

As for creating pdfs, I was thinking more about the desktop publishing aspect of preparing an rpg product, like layout, and so on.