Nick Nova, Star Traveller (web series)

Thanks, Nick. Another nice Traveller intro, especially as a tool to wean D&D players over to the sci-fi side.

You brought up an interesting method that I've heard several people use, but which baffles me: pre-rolled characters. I think using pre-rolled characters takes a massive amount of fun out of the game, and reduces the chances of successfully evangelizing the game to newcomers. I'm surprised that people use it. Character generation is essentially a mini-game in and of itself, allowing you to go through your character's pre-play career, establishing the events and mishaps that made the character become who she/he is in the gaming present. It also allows players to establish connections with each other that enhance the roleplaying experience. Perhaps pre-mades could work as an initiation into the game, but I would think that going through chargen together would be much better for that as well.
 
Yes, I LOVE the character creation process - but for brand new players I usually provide pre-rolled characters and we play a complete (usually one-off) adventure before people roll up characters. I do this for two reasons:

1- I've seen people get turned off about the character system because they ended up with a character they didn't want to play. To combat that, I have a selection of common archetypes for them to choose form to get started.

2- It gives the players some insight as to what skills are used most often and what types of situations they might have to deal with. This informs their decisions when we actually sit down and make characters.

Usually what happens is the players fall in love with the premade characters and end up wanting to play them (because they are interested in the further adventures of those characters) AND they roll up new characters. They usually get an idea for the type of character they want to play after getting a taste of the game's theme and flavor.

Another benefit to pre-rolled is you are ready to go - no stumbling blocks or barriers to entry. Wanna play Traveller? I have a scenario and pre-gen characters ready - we could play right *now*.
 
paltrysum said:
an interesting method that I've heard several people use, but which baffles me: pre-rolled characters. I think using pre-rolled characters takes a massive amount of fun out of the game, and reduces the chances of successfully evangelizing the game to newcomers. I'm surprised that people use it. Character generation is essentially a mini-game in and of itself, allowing you to go through your character's pre-play career, establishing the events and mishaps that made the character become who she/he is in the gaming present. It also allows players to establish connections with each other that enhance the roleplaying experience. Perhaps pre-mades could work as an initiation into the game, but I would think that going through chargen together would be much better for that as well.
Click to expand...

Pregens work great for me in quickly teaching role-play to new gamers. Players soon want to make their own characters after playing a quick 35-40 minute tutorial at the table for their next game. Random chargen is a game in itself before any role-play session can start. It has a higher learning curve than the task check mechanic. And it is time consuming when players just want to start out with guns blazing to see if they even like how the game plays first.

If players don't like random chargen, they won't care how the game's task checking or the rest of the game plays out. If they love the game mechanic, but not the random chargen so much, I let them do point-buy.
 
With a pregenerated character, you might find your freedom of action somewhat limited, sort of like an actor taking on a stage role, whereas with your own generated one, it tends to be improv.

But sometimes it's just to move things along, you want your players to be equipped with the appropriate tools and skills.
 
Good role-players can role-play any Traveller character given them. Not sure what difference it makes how the character was generated.
 
I don't think Condotierre said anything to contradict that. He said they might find their freedom limited; nothing about not roleplaying well. Besides, Shawn, you indicated that you use pre-rolls to introduce new players to the game. While being new does not preclude them being good roleplayers, if they're new to the game, they're usually not going to exhibit mastery of RPing. If they're new to Traveller, but have experience in other games, well, there's no accounting for taste, but I think they're tough enough to get a grasp of the chargen mechanics.

A more experienced roleplayer, as Condotierre indicates, might feel more limited. I'm not fan of pre-gens regardless. I saw throw players right into chargen. If they're timid to the point where that can scare them off, Traveller might not be their thing.
 
CyborgPrime said:
Next episode will be on Character Creation.. shooting it today
Click to expand...

Cool.

paltrysum said:
Shawn, you indicated that you use pre-rolls to introduce new players to the game. While being new does not preclude them being good roleplayers, if they're new to the game, they're usually not going to exhibit mastery of RPing.
Click to expand...

Actually, they will. And do. New players are actually the best when it comes to looking for actual role-players for a table session.
 
Hi guys - sorry for the delay.

I intended to shoot and post on Sunday, but my neighbor's dog had 8 puppies at the beginning of August and they keep coming over and crying outside the studio door. lol

They kept me up all night again (they decided my porch is where they want to sleep) but I'll try to shoot today in between puppy crying/squealing sessions... they usually get bored after a few hours and either go home or fall asleep.

Thanks for understanding.
 
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