Non Third Imperium Setting

[Infojunky]

You could even just make that an "Etiquette" skill or something, that you could roll against.

In Gurps that skill is called sa'voir-faire...

But to be honest I have always pondered Social Standing as an attribute A lot of games I have played in have treated it solely as social rank with standard associated Feudal ranks system attached. where as when I am running a game I have vacillated back and forth between the hard and fast Social Class measure and a more generic attribute like Charisma... (I tend to run a pretty Nob free Traveller Universe, where ranks are just titles and not much more).

But coming back to a specific skill for interaction the jury is still out. Right now I am inclined to use the more generic stance...

 

[Epicenter]

However when generating characters for a setting where technology isn't higher than TL 10, you still get things like battledress during character generation. Plus you get Third Imperium artifacts like TAS membership in the character generation tables. Generally, I just asked my players to roll again.
Does anyone have any tips for running non Third Imperium games?

Generally, I find a lot of the mustering out table benefits to be extremely Traveller-specific. I usually genericize them. Like "memento"? Or "blade" for that matter.

It doesn't take me much effort to quickly write up new mustering out tables more specific to my campaign world. However, barring that, I'd suggest making all of the weapon awards generic into just "weapon" - so things like blade, gun, or battledress all become "weapon." The number of times you get the award shows what weapon you have.

A single award of "weapon" allows you to get something that a civilian could buy without too much effort on a frontier world - pistols, hunting rifles, shotguns. The product of this award will be illegal in some locales.

Two awards lets you get military-grade small arms such as assault rifles with a grenade launcher, man-portable machineguns, and so on. I caution that the product of this award is likely to be illegal in many locales so they'll have to use caution.

Three awards is pretty much "the sky is the limit" for this kind of thing. The player might have an anti-aircraft missile (the equivalent of a Stinger) and a few extra missiles, or a RPG, recoilless rifle, VRF, Plasma / Fusion Guns, and so on. The award's product is pretty much going to be very illegal anywhere but the most lawless frontier.

I use a similar system for awarding vehicles and starships, though the number of awards goes up for those - the point is to encourage a party of players to combine their awards to get something, as opposed to Jorge having a suit of battledress while nobody else does, something that tends to cause balance problems or the battledress being next to useless (unless Jorge sells in which case he's suddenly doubled the money he started with).

TAS, +1 SOC, and similar things I tend to just have the player reroll.

 

[GypsyComet]

So you're sorting of thinking like would be to use the battledress skill for something like Heavy Gear or those mechs from Avatar? Or like conventional exoskeleton's currently in development for lifting. Seems like a good idea, the only player with a battledress skill is playing a marine anyway.

Also the defense frames from the third Matrix (insert standard Highlander disclaimer here).

It might also be useful, though Vacc Suit is generally more appropriate, for really heavy hostile environment suits, haz-mat gear, and similar.

 

[Infojunky]

So I've been running a game in a setting other than Third Imperium. Mostly it hasn't been a problem. However when generating characters for a setting where technology isn't higher than TL 10, you still get things like battledress during character generation. Plus you get Third Imperium artifacts like TAS membership in the character generation tables. Generally, I just asked my players to roll again.
Does anyone have any tips for running non Third Imperium games?

It really depends on how much work you want to do, for Tech level limited games just assign whatever the equivalent tech if you want it that way. In general I assume a average Tech Level and use it as a baseline for universal availability. i.e. TL is an economic factor not a achievement factor. Right there you break the Traveller as setting mold.

Now for TAS membership I have done several thing in the past from having it be a membership in a trade association, allied traders who keep communal offices and warehousing on a set of worlds, to having it be a Union card that allows deadheading on ships and dormitory like lodging on world with a union hall.

Right now I am figuring out what careers will work in a game I have in my head, I am totally ditching starships as a play option. Repair is taking the place of Engineering with Mechanical and Electronics being the only two specialities right now, though I am considering adding in a gunsmithing skill and computers as well. But it is a game centered on Speeder bikes and Landspeeders and blaster pistols.

Mostly figure out the bits you need and ignore the rest.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

So I've been running a game in a setting other than Third Imperium. Mostly it hasn't been a problem. However when generating characters for a setting where technology isn't higher than TL 10, you still get things like battledress during character generation. Plus you get Third Imperium artifacts like TAS membership in the character generation tables. Generally, I just asked my players to roll again.
Does anyone have any tips for running non Third Imperium games?

Takes two seconds to fix. What is your game setting? Maybe we can get on Google+ Hangout or on Skype and talk about the setting first and tech level of it?

 

[AndrewW]

Takes two seconds to fix. What is your game setting? Maybe we can get on Google+ Hangout or on Skype and talk about the setting first and tech level of it?

Would be easy enough to setup an IRC channel for it.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I don't use IRC. I did 20 years ago, though.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Marc created the stat because he was to set his game in a rigid feudalistic society.

True. But also a setting where each system has it's own government and daily life is very removed from the imperial nobility - let alone whatever the non noble soc levels is supposed to represent. If your not a noble your not a noble. What difference should a soc 2 and a soc 8 have? We always played it as also representing some social ability because otherwise it made little sense.

What about using Social Status as a score representing social skills?

I don't think that this would be much of a problem. While some skill examples might use Int (thinking of streetwise examples) which you should probably change to SOC or INT, other examples such as "Gathering rumors at a party" and "Finding a black market supplier" seam more logical with a social ability vs feudalistic society rank social value.

I can see using a social ability, open mindedness and willingness to observe, adapt and interact with others as more realistic than a social status when working outside your normal area of social influence. If you are too outside your norm, this is where the GM can alter task difficulty or add situational DMs.

I agree that social skill is something to role play. Don't you already role play strength, dex, Int and other stats?

For certain carouse, streetwise, persuade, admin and other skills that use soc, it seams you need to have some characteristic or else you are imbalanced (probably the wrong word) compared to other skills that have the additional DMs available.

So what attribute do you typically replace social standing in regards to character generation? For example gaining commission requires a social roll, do you replace that with an intelligence or education roll instead?

I think you could still use the soc if used as a social interaction skill. It can represent being comfortable with your place in society and being able to work well with superiors and those who work for you. Also with your own social skill, it can represent natural ability to help others get along. It is a typical leadership and diplomat DM in the examples.

 

[F33D]

Marc created the stat because he was to set his game in a rigid feudalistic society.

What difference should a soc 2 and a soc 8 have? We always played it as also representing some social ability because otherwise it made little sense.

It still makes little sense. Reread conversation above.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

So far I've kept Social Standing and just sort of thought of it as how cultural sophisticated or politic the character is. Has the lack of a Social Standing characteristic affected your games much?

Yes. Keep that characteristic whether your character is in a noble family or not. It can be used for status, for fame, for charisma, for clout, for class, for prestige, for respect, etc. The advanced career books for Mongoose Traveller mention uses for SOC for characters that are not necessarily nobility types.

Higher SOC gets you into places only higher-ups are allowed into. Lower SOC gets you into places that higher-ups would never visit or see.

Keep in mind that bad guys can have high SOC just as good guys can. They just use their high SOC to climb the corsair ladder instead of the corporate ladder.

 

[AndrewW]

I don't use IRC. I did 20 years ago, though.

It will vary. I don't happen to use any social networking sites or Skype for that matter.

One advantage though of IRC in this case is it doesn't matter if everyone has an account or not, can just give them a link and they can use that without the need to setup an account or anything like you would need to do with a lot of the other options.

Of course if everyone already has an account using whatever it is you use this doesn't really matter.

 

[Sleepy Fremen]

However when generating characters for a setting where technology isn't higher than TL 10, you still get things like battledress during character generation. Plus you get Third Imperium artifacts like TAS membership in the character generation tables. Generally, I just asked my players to roll again.
Does anyone have any tips for running non Third Imperium games?

Generally, I find a lot of the mustering out table benefits to be extremely Traveller-specific. I usually genericize them. Like "memento"? Or "blade" for that matter.

It doesn't take me much effort to quickly write up new mustering out tables more specific to my campaign world. However, barring that, I'd suggest making all of the weapon awards generic into just "weapon" - so things like blade, gun, or battledress all become "weapon." The number of times you get the award shows what weapon you have.

A single award of "weapon" allows you to get something that a civilian could buy without too much effort on a frontier world - pistols, hunting rifles, shotguns. The product of this award will be illegal in some locales.

Two awards lets you get military-grade small arms such as assault rifles with a grenade launcher, man-portable machineguns, and so on. I caution that the product of this award is likely to be illegal in many locales so they'll have to use caution.

Three awards is pretty much "the sky is the limit" for this kind of thing. The player might have an anti-aircraft missile (the equivalent of a Stinger) and a few extra missiles, or a RPG, recoilless rifle, VRF, Plasma / Fusion Guns, and so on. The award's product is pretty much going to be very illegal anywhere but the most lawless frontier.

I use a similar system for awarding vehicles and starships, though the number of awards goes up for those - the point is to encourage a party of players to combine their awards to get something, as opposed to Jorge having a suit of battledress while nobody else does, something that tends to cause balance problems or the battledress being next to useless (unless Jorge sells in which case he's suddenly doubled the money he started with).

TAS, +1 SOC, and similar things I tend to just have the player reroll.

I like your idea about muster out awards, one of my players got blade during character creation and while it wasnt too much of a stretch, it didnt make the most sense.

So far I've kept Social Standing and just sort of thought of it as how cultural sophisticated or politic the character is. Has the lack of a Social Standing characteristic affected your games much?

Yes. Keep that characteristic whether your character is in a noble family or not. It can be used for status, for fame, for charisma, for clout, for class, for prestige, for respect, etc. The advanced career books for Mongoose Traveller mention uses for SOC for characters that are not necessarily nobility types.

Higher SOC gets you into places only higher-ups are allowed into. Lower SOC gets you into places that higher-ups would never visit or see.

Keep in mind that bad guys can have high SOC just as good guys can. They just use their high SOC to climb the corsair ladder instead of the corporate ladder.

In practice that's what i've been doing one of my players is playing an administrator whose Social Standing is quite high another a doctor with high Social Standing. Since there is no nobility in the setting I've created I chose to interpret it as a degree of fame and as you say an acceptance into high society.

 

[Sleepy Fremen]

The setting I have been running is one where humans have just discovered FTL travel and are now just being exposed to the galaxy at large. As such human native technology is no higher TL 10 with a few TL 11 prototypes. The role of the players is to covertly acquire advanced technology in order to quickly close the gap between Earth's technology and that of the major alien powers. So higher TL technology exists in the setting it's just inappropriate for starting characters to have their hands on yet.

 

[Epicenter]

The setting I have been running is one where humans have just discovered FTL travel and are now just being exposed to the galaxy at large. As such human native technology is no higher TL 10 with a few TL 11 prototypes. The role of the players is to covertly acquire advanced technology in order to quickly close the gap between Earth's technology and that of the major alien powers. So higher TL technology exists in the setting it's just inappropriate for starting characters to have their hands on yet.

I'd shift everything down for "weapon" awards then. One award is like civilian type weapons - stuff you could buy on a frontier world without raising too many eyebrows. This ranges from pistols to assault rifles (this is assumed to be surplus military weapons). The benefit is that you can carry them around without raising too many eyebrows. The police are likely to at least tell you to put the weapons down and arrest you.

Two awards becomes "military" small arms (assault rifles with grenade launchers and machineguns as well as things like recoiless rifles, RPGs, anti-aircraft MANPADSs and so on - the limitation of the heavier weapons will mean the players won't often carry them, be sure to let them know that you'll be enforcing it - nothing is going to get a small town up in arms than some guy showing up with a mortar that's fed from a 5-round clip). This stuff gets more iffy to carry. When someone is walking around with an RPG, the police may just shoot first.

Three awards would be some sort of gosh-wow alien technology weapon - the performance doesn't have to necessarily be beyond Earth tech, but it's made using alien technology so it's special. Obviously this stuff is going to attract a lot of attention, official and unofficial.

Obviously if a player has three awards and just wants a hunting rifle, a pistol, and a shotgun that's fine. He doesn't have to pick an alien weapon.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Several "weapon" results could also mean an especially prestigious ornamental, engraved, presentation piece. Possibly as a reward, recognition, prize, or an honour.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

In practice that's what i've been doing one of my players is playing an administrator whose Social Standing is quite high another a doctor with high Social Standing. Since there is no nobility in the setting I've created I chose to interpret it as a degree of fame and as you say an acceptance into high society.

Also check the player character's homeworld government and planet type to get ideas for what a SOC value would mean for them. Were they high up in a totalitarian state? Were they low down in a science colony? Did they have to leave a war-torn homeworld because of their SOC value maybe?

 

[Giantmoth]

I run a space opera type of game in a soft sci-fi homebrew setting, but I tend to find reasonably similar things in my worlds to that of the Traveller core. Battledress is Powered Armor, Sandcasters have been refluffed as "Deflector Shield dishes", serving the same purpose ruleswise. Ship armour is more of a shield generator, and the FTL is a variation of the alternate "warp drive" rules, but a lot faster, and more fuel intensive.

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Yeah, always a tricky one to pin down, "clothes maketh the man", but also grooming? Is good grooming a socially acquired skill? Convincing body language and voice can result being born into, and educated, in a higher class, but can also learnt.

Just throwing out a few ideas, there aren't really any clear cut answers.

Egil

You could even just make that an "Etiquette" skill or something, that you could roll against.

I think that etiquette would be part of the diplomacy skill. Social standing can be used to effect quite a variety of skills, advocate, carouse, deception, persuade, streetwise, perhaps even steward, admin and broker in some circumstances.

Egil

 

[Boneguard]

I know it would require a bit of conversion, but SJGames had just such a setting for their GURPS Traveller line: Interstellar Wars!

Here is the blurb:

The transition between the First Imperium, governed by the Vilani, and the Rule of Man, led by the Terran Confederation, has always been a pivotal era in Marc Miller's Traveller universe. Now, for the first time in any game system, Traveller players can explore the depths of this rich setting.

GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars covers the 200 years of war, peace, and overwhelming change as the ancient Vilani Imperium falls to the upstart Terrans. In this time of conflict, the opportunities for adventure are more exciting than ever before!

GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars is an official GURPS Fourth Edition sourcebook for the Traveller universe. It includes a detailed timeline, along with rules for tailoring characters to the last days of the First Imperium, starship design, interstellar trade, exploration, and ship-to-ship combat.

THe whole background is there and you could easily swap game mechanic.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

If you want to dump Social Standing as an "Attribute" I would just call it "Charisma" and be done with it. Charisma can logically used as a replacement in most instances that Social Standing is now used.
My 2 cents