Prior History and Historical Events

[Crazy 'Scaper]

How will the new Traveller rules handle the big, historical events (e.g. the Dilgar War, the Minbari War, the events of the series etc) when they occur as part of a character's prior history? For example, if a PC is in EarthForce during one of those wars, will the events they experience be different from those of peacetime and mechanically, how will that work?

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I have no inside knowledge, but I would think that in some ways you have to know how old your character is before you start. THEN, you can roll on a special table for these events.

The Minbari War will probably be the biggest issue. Even a newbie 18 year old, will have been alive during the E-M war. I am sure there will be an Event Table for that.

Older characters will have been involved in the Dilgar War or any of a dozen other conflicts (internal and external to the EA). Tables will have to exist for them.

Also, there will be a table for the Shadow War (remember it only lasted 3 years, so 1 term will cover it), maybe another Event Table for the Earth Rebellion and then something for the Crusade timeline (maybe).

Aliens will have similar tables. There will be the Narn war of Independence etc. that can be handled by Event Tables.

It might be a bit complicated, but it is certainly doable. One of the great benefits of the new Traveller Character Generation method is it's flexibility in these kinds of situations.

 

[Valarian]

I'm hoping that Loz has done this so that the prior history works backwards. In other words, you pick the year you want to start the campaign/adventure and then roll a number of terms in to the past. You could set the game in 2258 and play a green EarthForce Lt (1 term) just out of training, or an Earth-Minbari / Dilgar War veteran (3 or 4 terms).

 

[darktalon]

I believe we've been told that the game can be set in any of B5's five seasons so character creation must take this into account.

 

[lastbesthope]

The Minbari War will probably be the biggest issue. Even a newbie 18 year old, will have been alive during the E-M war.

Not if yuo set it circa Sleeping In Light, or even Pre Minbari war, but I'm sure the rules will have events for the EM War in char generation.

LBH