Old to RPGs, new to Traveller...how it went.

[chip_crawford]

So I was very nervous taking Traveller to my gaming group. We are all great friends, but mostly we're stuck in our ways and don't like new systems. I was praying that I didn't drop $150 on books that I'd never get to use.

However, I made a bit of progress this weekend. After reading through the main book to get a grasp on the rules, I decided to make character gen the 1st session. I liked how the connections rule brought the characters into the game from the get-go.

So this was the first major hurdle. My group is used to playing games like DnD where you can say, "I'm gonna make a fighter," or "I'll be a cleric." Right off the bat, the players began formulating exactly what they wanted their characters function to be, but after throwing a diplomacy 10+ I was able to gently explain that chargen in Traveller was a bit different, and they needed to let fate play a bit of a role. There was a long minute of blank stares and I thought I was about to lose them, but they relented.

I took some time to explain the races and the different careers, then we started in with the dice rolling. I had given each of them 3 poker chips that allowed them to reroll one dice roll, or shift one outcome + or - 1 as long as it stayed on the chart. I did this as a softener for this first time, and it worked well. There was even a moment when one player begged me to allow him to spend HIS chip for another player, because the other player was close to finishing his Broker (Arms Dealer) when he rolled almost killed in events and was about to loose 6 of one physical, and 2 of the other two. I allowed it and the reroll was lesser injuries. (Oh and I haven't forgot about the giving player, he'll get a reward in the future).

So we learned a fair bit about characters by doing it this way. We went round-robin around the table with each person rolling 4 years and then on to the next player. One player stayed in the navy to retire an admiral of engineering...and he's a Hiver. One player changed careers what seemed like every other 4 years, but through it all ended up a jack of all trades 3. Our Zhodani pilot/medic gained a rival when he left psion early on for the navy (which upset his instructor). And thier Arms Dealer left the nobility to sell guns yet still managed to end with a 15 Soc. That should be interesting game play.

So I figured they would not enjoy chargen, but I was completely wrong! They were having more fun generating their characters than I've seen them playing some past games. At one point I even heard one remark, "You know, this could be an awesome game in itself, just making characters and seeing what happens." At which point there were laughs and agreement around the table.

So I'm putting them in the Spinward Marches (Sword Worlds / Border Worlds) to start. They mortgaged a fast trader and are starting a trade business. We'll see where that takes them.

Couple of questions: I saw in the main book that characters can train new skills and improve skills anytime. Is there a cost? Or is it just Ref's discression? If so, what is a good suggested baseline cost for a week of training?

Thanks all and looking forward to adventures in space.

Chip

 

[rust]

If so, what is a good suggested baseline cost for a week of training?

For my setting I use the monthly wages of the members of a ship's crew
as a reference and calculate half a month's wage of the trainer as the cost
for one week of training.
For other professions than ship's crew members I estimate their average
monthly incomes, with the 6,000 Credits earned by a pilot as the upper
end of the scale, for example as a scientist's income.

So, as a pilot earns 6,000 Credits per month, he will charge approximate-
ly 3,000 Credits per week to teach someone how to fly a ship; a medic
earns 4,000 Credits per month, so he will charge about 2,000 Credits per
week to teach someone.
If the teacher in question is a friend or ally, and the character does not
fumble his roll in a relevant social skill, this teacher may teach him "at
cost", for half the price.
If there are any additional costs, for example to charter a craft or to buy
necessary equipment, I then add it to that cost.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Glad you and the group had so much fun with that Chip.

About experience, yea Traveller is odd like that. Those of us new to Traveller (myself, about a year ago) sometimes have a hard time to grasp this, but the GM doesn't hand out experience points. The character trains generally while they're jumping from system to system. That's one week while jumping and one week they can tick off on their time they need to train. If your players want to like train for a day here and a day there, they can (and they will shave off some time), but my group found it to be to much book keeping and unless we're going to spend longer than a few days in a location they just trained while jumping from system to system.

Welcome to Traveller.

 

[PoppySeed45]

Heh, I did the same thing with my group last session. Six people plus me. Same way you did, we went round robin for each player's four year turn. Fun bit was how everyone pitched in ideas when those decision points came in the events - very funny was our medic. She hits the "do unethical stuff" and one guy is arguing about the damage to her soul, another the game odds of making the roll for it, a third for the number of enemies it would generate - awesome.

And same thing as you had - they all said it was just fun rollingup the characters to see what would happen. We'll play our first session in a few weeks, so we'll see if gameplay is just as fun. Best part was, they already knew their characters, and even did some improptu roleplaying to decide on connections and such. Then they choose the ship they wanted to mortgage, wheretheir ROOMS were, etc. Next session we'll start with them buying stuff...which they're actually excited about.