This is so important to remember. I've owned this game in its many guises since 1984 and it took me a long time to recognise the importance of IMTU. Everything i tried to do i was very conscious about the pre-written canon and lore. These days i utilise Alpha Crucis subsector and its subsectors and systems only in terms of the maps and names - pretty much everything else is mine. Yes its on the border of the Third Imperium and the Solomani Confederation but thats the key fact that remains. All other stuff is pretty much made up from scratch by either myself or my players.
New Traveller Referee? Some tips...
- Thread starter Sigtrygg
- Start date
I'm so with you on this one. I'd love a book that allows me to design and replicate technologies from any sci-fi setting i can imagine or replicate. I know some rules exist across different books but id love a setting agnostic sourcebook that pulls it all together and adds more stuff.
I suppose the T5 folks would say that that’s exactly what their game is designed to achieve.
It’s also a cautionary tale for Mongoose and others as to just how niche-of-a-niche the market for that is, and how hard it is to make something so open-ended actually playable by normies.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Pretty sure that this is a general comment I wanted to make somewhere else, or several times.
The reason we rely, or should, on consistency in the rules, and give money to Mongoose, is that we all like to inhabit a shared universe, and at certain points within it, are all on the same page.
The reason we rely, or should, on consistency in the rules, and give money to Mongoose, is that we all like to inhabit a shared universe, and at certain points within it, are all on the same page.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
T5 is the roleplaying game for Marc's vision of the Third Imperium and its various eras. There is no variant technology from other sci fi franchises or sources. It is as closely tied to the setting at MegaTraveller, TNE, and T4 are.
Of those only TNE tried to offer variant technology and setting tropes.
In the general roleplaying community if you say Traveller people think of the Imperium setting first, then that you die during character generation.
Traveller has so much more to offer than just the Third Imperium setting and its constraints.
I am of the opinion that a new referee should not worry at all about the Third Imperium setting, run the game and the setting as you and your players want it to be.
In Discord the T5 chat has had people mention several times that their T5 mechanics ("makers"?) are precisely for things like "I'd love a book that allows me to design and replicate technologies from any sci-fi setting". There's discussion about it being a game construction kit as much as a game in itself.
Jarac Rassen
Banded Mongoose
I'm brand new to Traveller, and I don't know how it took me so long to get into it. Especially because I love sci-fi. Your tips are very helpful! I picked up the Fall of Tianth and questioned using that as an introductory adventure, but I might have plans for that later. I'll likely want it as part of a custom setting I want to build. But first, I want to get my feet wet in the Charted Space setting.
One of my friends who is interested said that he definitely want to play as a Bwap, so that'll be interesting.
One of my friends who is interested said that he definitely want to play as a Bwap, so that'll be interesting.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
I am returning to this thread due to a comment on another thread.
This should go without saying but here it is.
Make sure every player is involved, even if their character is not in the current situation. Every player should be regularly asked what their character is doing (I once ran RuneQuest with a table of around fourteen players - every one of them felt involved in the sessions). Even if the main group is involved in a critical situation, take a moment to ask players not in that situation what they are up to.
This should go without saying but here it is.
Make sure every player is involved, even if their character is not in the current situation. Every player should be regularly asked what their character is doing (I once ran RuneQuest with a table of around fourteen players - every one of them felt involved in the sessions). Even if the main group is involved in a critical situation, take a moment to ask players not in that situation what they are up to.
Yes. There's always a potential trap in space combat where only the pilot and the gunners make active choices. Maybe the Sensops has some EW rolls, occasionally the engineer has a thing to do. That's made worse if some or all of those jobs are NPCs.
If you have a larger group - in the 5 or more size - or a team with a lot of passengers, you want to work in drama to keep everyone engaged. Doesn't have to be much, but something. Maybe a passenger panics about being in space combat and needs to be calmed down; maybe a sharp evasion maneuver causes some minor system to overload and a bit of trivial damage control is needed. Maybe a subplot can be progressed.
If you have a larger group - in the 5 or more size - or a team with a lot of passengers, you want to work in drama to keep everyone engaged. Doesn't have to be much, but something. Maybe a passenger panics about being in space combat and needs to be calmed down; maybe a sharp evasion maneuver causes some minor system to overload and a bit of trivial damage control is needed. Maybe a subplot can be progressed.
The only RPG I recall ever making space combat interesting was some old Star Trek RPG. From like the 80s? They had job stations for all the characters with stuff to do. I can't say that I played much of it, so it might have actually been awful. But they actually tried.
That would probably be the FASA one. We played a bit of it, and it did indeed do a good job of that.
It probably helps that Trek has energy shields, so that's another role, and that any engineer has more to do than is usual in Traveller.
Mind you, very often the guns don't see use. But when it flips over to diplomacy, the entire bridge crew are supposed to chip in with advice.
Oh! And that does remind me that Trek does usually have something for the science and medical staff to do... Traveller and Star Wars... not so much by default. Definitely make sure those players aren't bored.
It probably helps that Trek has energy shields, so that's another role, and that any engineer has more to do than is usual in Traveller.
Mind you, very often the guns don't see use. But when it flips over to diplomacy, the entire bridge crew are supposed to chip in with advice.
Oh! And that does remind me that Trek does usually have something for the science and medical staff to do... Traveller and Star Wars... not so much by default. Definitely make sure those players aren't bored.
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actionman
Emperor Mongoose
I remember that. It was the 80's FASA Star Trek. Every job station had a fold out paper console and counters, so when the captain wanted to allocate more power to phasers or something, the engineer player would actually move counters on his console sheet. Someone could actually call out "Shields at whatever percent!"
It was a great innovative approach that did a great job of creating the bridge crew interaction.
Quint
Mongoose
Yeah, as another old Grognard I fell victim to the same problem - exacerbated by the fact that I drew heavily on the now-decanonized Paranoia Press and Judges Guild Sectors. Now I prefer to think that IMTU is "inspired" by the canon Traveller setting, while drawing from wherever and whatever works for me. Worrying less about strict canonicity has really made the game much more fun...
D.
I have now run several games where the players start out at 18 and have an adventure with a few zero level skills and the rest at -3. The adventure was not as challenging as the standard adventure (which meant we were not dealing with a raft of skills at once).
The adventure was a prequel, summer work at the Resteff Ranch on Tarsus years before the events presented in the Tarsus source book. They were all Tarsus natives and friends. They each had two skills at level one as connection skills representing why they were such close friends (shared a shooting hobby, fixed up and raced a grav in a school club etc.). They were looking to raise some money for a low passage or better to go to Collace for the hiring fairs, I gave them a few small items as coming of age gifts from their parents).
They had to get hired on by the Agri-combine and allocated to a ranch for the harvest, this was run as a few job "interviews" where they just came up with words and rolled skill checks to impress people about the groups skills (and influence their daily rate of pay). Whilst this seems trite and boring it was one of the best sessions we had with players taking the micky out of each other when one player completely botches their roll and the others were coming up with stupid things they might have said in order for the interview to go so badly. It really solidified their relationships to each other and their characters.
The interview they did best in was for Mr. Resteff and he bought them a good dinner to go over the details (they were pretty low on cash at this point) and were picked up by Air Raft the next day. The journey to the ranch is several hours and requires a few stops. Resteff takes the opportunity to actually test the skills they claimed (using INT or EDU) in practice (so they got to use DEX or STR with the same skills). One of them flew the Air Raft. At the first stop they had a break and did a bit of basic non-essential mechanics.
At the next stop they had lunch and did a bit of shooting at targets using the various weapons Resteff had with him (Tarsus is Law 0). The two characters who went shooting together did well with a pistol and the character who didn't (and had a poor DEX to boot) failed miserably, so Resteff got out a shotgun and enabled him to succeed (we were using the spread rule from Field Catalogue) to show the benefit of aiming and that the right tools can make up for poor skills. Resteff went off behind a tree for a comfort break while they were to pack up camp and stow the guns. Before they had a chance to pack up Resteff comes running out of the treeline pursued by a swap hog. This gives the players a chance to practice combat in a low threat setting and impress the boss. As it turns out one player spent the entire time manoeuvring for a "better angle" and Resteff got slightly injured before they killed the hog. That at least gave the non-shooter a chance to use his medic skill and everyone impressed the boss.
As the adventure progressed they met the farm hand Hyrm (grumpy and hard to please) and Resteff's feisty niece Jane (damsel-in-distress subverted). They had some time management tasks setting up temporary billets and servicing air rafts for the incoming hunters. They was a bit of logistics work ensuring the stores were sorted (Hyrm very practical but hates paperwork). Later there was a breach in the fence and swamp dragons are getting in (foreshadowing the events in the published adventure), daring do and clever problem solving.
Once the hunters turn up there is opportunity for social interaction and establishing contacts (ex-military, some pirates on the lam, even a minor noble out for sport) and potentially passage to Collace. One group fails to turn up and Resteff is at risk of failing to meet the quota which provides the players an opportunity to step up and participate in the hunt. It also gives them a chance to negotiate the loan of some heavy duty weapons and extend their practice with the combat system. Of course as hunters they get paid as hunters moving this from a Cr20-30 per day to a bonus few thousand moving them from having to travel Low to travelling Basic (luxury).
Along the way they defend Janes honour, diffuse an unpleasant posturing between some ex-imperial marines and ex-provincial forces, correct an issue where someone fails to be in the right place and risks unravelling the very complex logistics of killing and recovering 100 carcasses within 1 hours from a herd moving at 20-40 km per hour. They also successfully complete their own part of the quota and save the day.
Having secured the objective of the adventure they got some cash, some souvenir guns and secured passage to Collace where they all went off to pursue separate careers at University in Collace and the Navy Academy at Motmos.
With so few skills players improvised a lot more, allowed others to do the heavy lifting where they had a clear skill advantage (rather than all insisting on having a go) but there were also times they could work together to improve outcomes. There was plenty of NPC interaction (actually running and generating 40 NPCs was quite a lot of work so it was a good thing I had a raft of stereotypes and random tables to draw on).
They all have an excellent reason to meet up after their first terms end back in Collace (presuming they get a month of leave between terms). Unfortunately we lost a player and it was very difficult arranging a mutually convenient time to play as one player was on shift work and the other was doing a lot of overtime so it sort of drifted apart. We'd all got quite attached to the characters by this point so it was a shame. The plan was for another adventure with them benefitting with a few more skill levels and either rolling on from there or going back for another term in a career - rinse and repeat.
I am now running the same mechanism with my youngest daughter and the gradual introduction of skills and concepts and playing a young adult is easier for a 14 year old then suddenly being dropped into playing a 40-50 year old retiree per the standard model.
The adventure was a prequel, summer work at the Resteff Ranch on Tarsus years before the events presented in the Tarsus source book. They were all Tarsus natives and friends. They each had two skills at level one as connection skills representing why they were such close friends (shared a shooting hobby, fixed up and raced a grav in a school club etc.). They were looking to raise some money for a low passage or better to go to Collace for the hiring fairs, I gave them a few small items as coming of age gifts from their parents).
They had to get hired on by the Agri-combine and allocated to a ranch for the harvest, this was run as a few job "interviews" where they just came up with words and rolled skill checks to impress people about the groups skills (and influence their daily rate of pay). Whilst this seems trite and boring it was one of the best sessions we had with players taking the micky out of each other when one player completely botches their roll and the others were coming up with stupid things they might have said in order for the interview to go so badly. It really solidified their relationships to each other and their characters.
The interview they did best in was for Mr. Resteff and he bought them a good dinner to go over the details (they were pretty low on cash at this point) and were picked up by Air Raft the next day. The journey to the ranch is several hours and requires a few stops. Resteff takes the opportunity to actually test the skills they claimed (using INT or EDU) in practice (so they got to use DEX or STR with the same skills). One of them flew the Air Raft. At the first stop they had a break and did a bit of basic non-essential mechanics.
At the next stop they had lunch and did a bit of shooting at targets using the various weapons Resteff had with him (Tarsus is Law 0). The two characters who went shooting together did well with a pistol and the character who didn't (and had a poor DEX to boot) failed miserably, so Resteff got out a shotgun and enabled him to succeed (we were using the spread rule from Field Catalogue) to show the benefit of aiming and that the right tools can make up for poor skills. Resteff went off behind a tree for a comfort break while they were to pack up camp and stow the guns. Before they had a chance to pack up Resteff comes running out of the treeline pursued by a swap hog. This gives the players a chance to practice combat in a low threat setting and impress the boss. As it turns out one player spent the entire time manoeuvring for a "better angle" and Resteff got slightly injured before they killed the hog. That at least gave the non-shooter a chance to use his medic skill and everyone impressed the boss.
As the adventure progressed they met the farm hand Hyrm (grumpy and hard to please) and Resteff's feisty niece Jane (damsel-in-distress subverted). They had some time management tasks setting up temporary billets and servicing air rafts for the incoming hunters. They was a bit of logistics work ensuring the stores were sorted (Hyrm very practical but hates paperwork). Later there was a breach in the fence and swamp dragons are getting in (foreshadowing the events in the published adventure), daring do and clever problem solving.
Once the hunters turn up there is opportunity for social interaction and establishing contacts (ex-military, some pirates on the lam, even a minor noble out for sport) and potentially passage to Collace. One group fails to turn up and Resteff is at risk of failing to meet the quota which provides the players an opportunity to step up and participate in the hunt. It also gives them a chance to negotiate the loan of some heavy duty weapons and extend their practice with the combat system. Of course as hunters they get paid as hunters moving this from a Cr20-30 per day to a bonus few thousand moving them from having to travel Low to travelling Basic (luxury).
Along the way they defend Janes honour, diffuse an unpleasant posturing between some ex-imperial marines and ex-provincial forces, correct an issue where someone fails to be in the right place and risks unravelling the very complex logistics of killing and recovering 100 carcasses within 1 hours from a herd moving at 20-40 km per hour. They also successfully complete their own part of the quota and save the day.
Having secured the objective of the adventure they got some cash, some souvenir guns and secured passage to Collace where they all went off to pursue separate careers at University in Collace and the Navy Academy at Motmos.
With so few skills players improvised a lot more, allowed others to do the heavy lifting where they had a clear skill advantage (rather than all insisting on having a go) but there were also times they could work together to improve outcomes. There was plenty of NPC interaction (actually running and generating 40 NPCs was quite a lot of work so it was a good thing I had a raft of stereotypes and random tables to draw on).
They all have an excellent reason to meet up after their first terms end back in Collace (presuming they get a month of leave between terms). Unfortunately we lost a player and it was very difficult arranging a mutually convenient time to play as one player was on shift work and the other was doing a lot of overtime so it sort of drifted apart. We'd all got quite attached to the characters by this point so it was a shame. The plan was for another adventure with them benefitting with a few more skill levels and either rolling on from there or going back for another term in a career - rinse and repeat.
I am now running the same mechanism with my youngest daughter and the gradual introduction of skills and concepts and playing a young adult is easier for a 14 year old then suddenly being dropped into playing a 40-50 year old retiree per the standard model.
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I like this concept.
It has some aspects of how Pendragon does character progression in winter, between any adventuring done that year.
Depending on the characters' career trajectories, they could even meet up mid-term. Which could be a good way to run a campaign when you know various players are going to be in or out on a given session. Try to complete a one session story with whichever of the friends are home at the time, or who might run across each other offworld. Variable time passes between sessions; at some point a term has elapsed for everyone.
It has some aspects of how Pendragon does character progression in winter, between any adventuring done that year.
Depending on the characters' career trajectories, they could even meet up mid-term. Which could be a good way to run a campaign when you know various players are going to be in or out on a given session. Try to complete a one session story with whichever of the friends are home at the time, or who might run across each other offworld. Variable time passes between sessions; at some point a term has elapsed for everyone.
I was thinking about maybe trying to use the mid-term event (or failed survival roll) as a played out adventure rather than a quick roll on the table, (especially where the event allows a "saving throw" that changes the outcome) that could be expanded upon as a single character adventure to give the player a little more agency.
With a player with the right mind-set you could even run it having rolled the outcome of the event and treating this as some sort of doom that is coming upon them.
I could easily imagine that there would also be several months leave in that 4 year term where the team could meet up (probably between the skill acquisition at the start of the new term and before the survival roll - I imagine this as a period of training followed by using the skill). The skill rolled would determine the theme of the adventure.. Advancement is another logical transition period that could be preceded or followed by a period of leave for the same reason. It is not unreasonable to suppose that friends that stayed in touch could coordinate leave.
Of course if you do this you are starting to subvert the default chargen system and morphing into a hybrid which could easily result in a better outcomes for a particular character (extra time for studying new skills, additional equipment or cash acquisition beyond the usual benefits for example), but both the player and the referee are investing more time so this is perhaps not unreasonable.
Given travel takes so long I have decided that servicemen at least are permitted to accumulate leave (several months at a time) so they could visit their home world periodically. To facilitate this they are eligible for an Imperial Travel Order. This allows free low passage on any service vessel during the leave period. Along the x-boat network I have x-boats carry Grav Low Berths (RH p182) as cargo. These are often used to move key staff where needed in extremis. There is generally capacity that ITO holders can use, but at any point they can be bumped by a higher priority cargo but this rarely results in more than a few days delay. The berths themselves are switched out as necessary by a tender so revival need only occur at the very end of the journey and is generally conducted by very experienced medical staff (Medic-3). There is therefore very little chance of incident.
Anstett
Emperor Mongoose
The only trick to this would be different Travellers having different number of terms.
If the players all agree to a 4 term limit then that would be a nice start to a campaign. Grow together, work/adventure/work emerge at the end with a nice close knit group.
Yes, but there are ways round it as the non adventure time is when people go back to their careers, you could just have players who decide not to take the career just age (or maybe not even that if they spent 4 years as frozen watch). As long as you start together the campaign could be 8 years in before it even becomes a question.
Players generally only stop careers once they hit the aging rolls, but if they see they are getting more development and fun when actually playing then they might easily see the benefit in just mustering out.
We had agreed to a 2-3 term cap. Playing a 28 year old seemed optimal.
Jarac Rassen
Banded Mongoose
On aging/term limits, I've actually decided to forgo it this time around. I kind of want to see a diverse range of ages. I know some will keep rolling if they are on a hot streak. But I also know that my players are one bad mishap or disasterous aging roll from Mustering Out and starting the game. So I'll give them that freedom, for now.
I definitely know the Aslan player is going to be sweating if he gets up to the aging threshold.
I definitely know the Aslan player is going to be sweating if he gets up to the aging threshold.
Yeah, as a strategy for a particular campaign it requires the characters to be in synch. You could add new ones mid-campaign, but they'd be younger than the original group. It does probably work best if the group are either serving together or are remaining in the same subsector, but depending on the career mix and player availability, they might roam further and come together when one of them needs help or finds something interesting.
There's no actual need to take things to mustering out, really. Just play the group through their careers and let the term events influence how that term's adventures play out. Maybe run roughly one adventure per chronological year? Don't use the training rules for advancement, just have the advances granted by various things in the term give those after they are resolved, or at the end of term if appropriate.
It could also be a way to do a planet of the week style campaign without having to track all the tedious jump travel. This session we're on Efate, throwing Jaxon a surprise birthday party, which does not go as planned... next session, 8 months later, the gang meet up by chance at Lanth. A year later, Monny finds themselves in big trouble on Rhylanor and sends out a call for help. The two other players available to play are the ones whose characters are close enough to respond in time. The next time they find themselves gathered is back home for Jaxon and Monny's wedding.
There's no actual need to take things to mustering out, really. Just play the group through their careers and let the term events influence how that term's adventures play out. Maybe run roughly one adventure per chronological year? Don't use the training rules for advancement, just have the advances granted by various things in the term give those after they are resolved, or at the end of term if appropriate.
It could also be a way to do a planet of the week style campaign without having to track all the tedious jump travel. This session we're on Efate, throwing Jaxon a surprise birthday party, which does not go as planned... next session, 8 months later, the gang meet up by chance at Lanth. A year later, Monny finds themselves in big trouble on Rhylanor and sends out a call for help. The two other players available to play are the ones whose characters are close enough to respond in time. The next time they find themselves gathered is back home for Jaxon and Monny's wedding.
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