Traveller With & Without Miniatures

[sshinn]

Back in the day we ran Classic Traveller (and everything else) with either no miniatures or maybe miniatures and some dice as proxies but with no battlemat. I'm looking at starting up a Mongoose Traveller game after a 30 year hiatus from Traveller.

Do most folks playing Traveller these days do it without miniatures?

What about Con games: if you ran a game for a Con game, think folks would get bummed out if it didn't have miniatures?

I'd rather avoid miniatures due to time to collect, paint and prep them for games, but I don't want to find myself inviting people to a group and find that most modern Traveller fans are now wedded to miniatures.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

-- Stan

 

[AndrewW]

Not everyone, I'm not wed to the use of minatures.

 

[evo]

I always play RPG (not only traveller) without figurines, because it encourages too much focus on the rules to the detriment of roleplay. It kills the imagination, somewhere.

 

[IanBruntlett]

I only use figurines for combat situations. I've a bag of toy soldiers (from a type of cheap shop in the UK - a "pound" shop) to represent e individuals. A friend painted their helmets different colours to differentiate between characters.

 

[Chernobyl]

I used to play old school with no figs and just descriptions of the combat. These days though, since the advent of 3.0/3.5, a lot of players I find expect to use them. They have a very hard time picturing the setting without a map and minis. So, we wind up using them. life in the modern times.

 

[OddjobXL]

Kids these days. No imagination.

But with the coming 5th Edition of D&D we might see WotC getting away from RPG as minis marketing tool. That can only help.

 

[Chernobyl]

those weren't kids I was talking about...it was guys in their 30s-50s. Guys who played "classic" D&D. The kids may have driven the minis, but the adults have slowly become handicapped by it

 

[OddjobXL]

Maybe we can stage an intervention? Form a 12-step group?

 

[sshinn]

Maybe we can stage an intervention? Form a 12-step group?

LOL :lol:

 

[Rusty_Unycorn]

Hi, my name is Rusty and I play Rollplaying games with miniatures.

 

[Vargrz]

My group plays both with and without miniatures. Almost the entire game is without. We do break out the miniatures, maps, deck plans and even terrain on occasion. Why? In addition to being old role-players, most of are also old war gamers too. The terrain, miniatures and maps add something to combat. Sure it could be done without it, but it is there as an added option.

Once again, this is the wonder of Mongoose Traveller! With or without miniatures it is a great system and it elands itself to mixing it up for the fun of it...

 

[Infojunky]

Do most folks playing Traveller these days do it without miniatures?

Today?!? The answer will vary with the wind. If I run Traveller it will be with 15mm Miniatures. After 12+ years of collecting 15mm miniatures for Traveller that should be expected...

What about Con games: if you ran a game for a Con game, think folks would get bummed out if it didn't have miniatures?

Depends on the type of Con and Game.

rather avoid miniatures due to time to collect, paint and prep them for games, but I don't want to find myself inviting people to a group and find that most modern Traveller fans are now wedded to miniatures.

Thoughts?

If you find you want "miniatures" and don't want to paint, Steve Jackson Games makes Traveller specific "Cardboard Heros"