Traveller & Ashen Stars

[Grimolde]

Upon reading about Ashen Stars, I came across a statement where it said something along the lines of, "whereas most other sci-fi rpgs have the space combat issue about giving all players something to do, Ashen Stars resolves this by..." - that's not the exact quote.

Is this a problem in Traveller concerning space combat, are some players relegated to spectators?

 

[locarno24]

How long is a piece of string?

Gunners obviously have something meaningful to do, as does the pilot, the sensors operators and the damage control dude. Marines will if the ship gets boarded.

Whether that number is equal to, greater than (npcs needed) or less than (leaving people with nothing to do) the number of players, depends more on what ship they've got and how many enemies they're facing than anything else.

 

[Grimolde]

How long is a piece of string?

Gunners obviously have something meaningful to do, as does the pilot, the sensors operators and the damage control dude. Marines will if the ship gets boarded.

Whether that number is equal to, greater than (npcs needed) or less than (leaving people with nothing to do) the number of players, depends more on what ship they've got and how many enemies they're facing than anything else.

Thanks for that.

Ashen Stars looks good, but if means having to be a 'space police detective'. Perhaps I don't want to be a police cop. Then I thought about Traveller - the ultimate sandbox!

 

[rust]

Is this a problem in Traveller concerning space combat, are some players relegated to spectators?

It depends on the focus of the characters. Players with characters
designed for planetary surface activities and therefore with little
or no space skills could become spectators during space combat.

In my view Traveller characters rarely have the diverse high le-
vel skills required for both planetary and space adventures - the
ace pilot or ace gunner is only rarely also an ace survivalist.

We usually solve this problem by giving each player two charac-
ters, one designed for planetary surface activities and one for spa-
ce activities. This way each player has an active competent cha-
racter, whether the party explores the ancient ruins in a planet's
jungle or gets involved in space combat.

 

[locarno24]

It depends on the focus of the characters. Players with characters designed for planetary surface activities and therefore with little or no space skills could become spectators during space combat.

In my view Traveller characters rarely have the diverse high level skills required for both planetary and space adventures - the ace pilot or ace gunner is only rarely also an ace survivalist.

Ah - but just because someone's inept doesn't mean they're reduced to an observer. They can still be in a critical role; in some ways, the game is more interesting when players have to act outside their area of competence - the untrained kid desperately manning the laser turret to fend off marauding fighters and all that.

 

[rust]

Ah - but just because someone's inept doesn't mean they're reduced to an observer. They can still be in a critical role; in some ways, the game is more interesting when players have to act outside their area of competence - the untrained kid desperately manning the laser turret to fend off marauding fighters and all that.

Very true, but:
- quite a few players dislike to play inept characters in
critical roles,
- there is not always a fitting niche for each character,
to put a character with no skill level at all in a critical
role (the biologist with no gunnery skill manning the
laser turret) can be detrimental to the party's survival.

In the end it depends on the players, whether they in-
sist on playing mostly competent characters with the
right skills for their jobs or agree to have characters
who at least occasionally become dilettantes who ha-
ve to rely on their luck to stay alive.

It also depends somewhat on the referee, because in-
competent characters often force the referee to bend
the rules a little to prevent a series of burials, their
chance to get themselves killed is higher than that of
competent characters.

And the setting also influences the choice and type of
characters. An organization or a patron will hardly hire
obviously incompetent people for a specific task, so it
can become a bit difficult to explain why the inept cha-
racter is with the party in the first place.

But, yes, it can be a lot of fun to play a character "out
of the water", and it raises the tension of the game.

 

[zero]

I prefer being a Gunner in space combat, or possibly sensors if thats not possible. Something rolly basically! :mrgreen: