What would you change in Traveller?

[Infojunky]

Here it is an open question, drag out the bits that irk you.

Lots of ground has been covered over bits and pieces that don't work the way we think they should. Skills have gotten a hashing over, Damage/weapon qualities, then there is the pages long rant on starship design that has been going around in circles for a couple of weeks now.

Right now One question I have is what does a three round burst look like within the rules? Is it a +1 to hit? Or a +3 to Damage or could it be both?

Does Starship armor make sense? Should it be doubled in volume and limited to TL/2. Do the missile rules make any sense?

See there are tons of questions what have you got?

 

[sideranautae]

My biggest outstanding set of Q's as I rewrite rules revolves around coming up with a vehicle design system that is of the same paradigm as the ship design system. Something MGT totally lacks.

What's your favorite vehicle design system (from any game) that is very similar to the MGT HG ship design system?

 

[Infojunky]

My biggest outstanding set of Q's as I rewrite rules revolves around coming up with a vehicle design system that is of the same paradigm as the ship design system. Something MGT totally lacks.

What's your favorite vehicle design system (from any game) that is very similar to the MgT HG ship design system?

What you are asking for only exists in a couple of Games, TNE has Fire Fusion and Steel, and GURPs 3rd edition has it Vehicles book. Both are pretty much ground up for anything geadhead-ish.

Right now I would be adapting the MgT Vehicle 5-6 for most of the vehicles I am interested in. Which means adapting it to do Smallcraft. It does landspeeders quite well with minor adaptions and looks like it could be readily adapted to do Starfighters and the related. But it doesn't make the jump to larger vessels quite as smoothly as I would like, but those things are generally setting/plot devices so they aren't as critical.

One of the biggest changes I would make to vehicle design would be to change the formula for figuring out Hull/Structure to one that uses a cube root of volume from the linear one as presented.

 

[sideranautae]

My biggest outstanding set of Q's as I rewrite rules revolves around coming up with a vehicle design system that is of the same paradigm as the ship design system. Something MGT totally lacks.

What's your favorite vehicle design system (from any game) that is very similar to the MgT HG ship design system?

What you are asking for only exists in a couple of Games, TNE has Fire Fusion and Steel, and GURPs 3rd edition has it Vehicles book. Both are pretty much ground up for anything geadhead-ish.

Thanks I'll check out GURPS. FF&S is FAR more complex than MGT HG. Don't want that much

 

[Infojunky]

Thanks I'll check out GURPS. FF&S is FAR more complex than MGT HG. Don't want that much

Remember the Spreadsheet is your friend when gearheading.

 

[sideranautae]

Thanks I'll check out GURPS. FF&S is FAR more complex than MGT HG. Don't want that much

Remember the Spreadsheet is your friend when gearheading.

Yep. Coming back to me. I just made formula based starship design rules for 100+ tons. MUCH less Spreadsheet work that way. One drive formula to rule them all! :mrgreen:

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

I'd replace the Jump Drive with a wormhole projector.
I'd replace the Jump Fuel requirement with an energy requirement,
Energy is stored in capacitors and it built up over time, and the energy stored is negative.
The negative energy props up quantum wormholes and inflates one to macroscopic size temporarily allowing the starship to pass through. the gravity of the temporary wormhole pulls the starship through accelerating it to near light speed and slowing it down to its original velocity as it leaves, time dilation means that 5 days pass for the external universe while for the crews occupants, because they are slowed down by time dilation, perceive that time passing in an instant, a few seconds at most. There is no Jump space The wormhole is created in front of the ship and looks like a spherical bubble in space. As the ship is drawn into it, the bubble expands and engulfs the starship while the space behind is contracted into a bubble. The bubble lasts a few minutes after the starship passes through and then collapses back down to nothingness.

I'd expand the Jump limit to 4 au from a sunlike star, the actual limit would be the cube root of the star's mass in Solar Masses times 4 au, the distance travelled by a spaceship to reach the jump limit is the jump limit less the planet's distance from the star. In the case of Earth, and starship would have to travel 3 au to reach the 4 au jump limit since it is already starting out at 1 au from the Sun.

 

[dragoner]

Here it is an open question, drag out the bits that irk you.

In a word, no. I do not want to learn a new rules set if I do not have to. A huge amount of stuff doesn't make sense, esp from an engineering standpoint, eg armor value reduction? Are these tandem rounds hitting in the same spot? I don't want to have to teach players new rules either if I don't have to. I'm cool with mong, warts and all. 8)

 

[Infojunky]

I'd expand the Jump limit to 4 au from a sunlike star, the actual limit would be the cube root of the star's mass in Solar Masses times 4 au, the distance travelled by a spaceship to reach the jump limit is the jump limit less the planet's distance from the star. In the case of Earth, and starship would have to travel 3 au to reach the 4 au jump limit since it is already starting out at 1 au from the Sun.

That isn't so bad a switch..... Though, jumping in to a Gas Giant would take some figuring...

 

[sideranautae]

I'd expand the Jump limit to 4 au from a sunlike star, the actual limit would be the cube root of the star's mass in Solar Masses times 4 au,

Why based on AU?

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

I'd expand the Jump limit to 4 au from a sunlike star, the actual limit would be the cube root of the star's mass in Solar Masses times 4 au,

Why based on AU?

Forces the players to spend some time traveling through the system slowing down instead of just appearing at 100 planetary diameters. the fact that you spend 3.5 days slowing down from 4 AU to 1 AU is compensated by the fact that the jump is instantaneous to the ship's crew and passengers, so for them they take a week traveling from their previous destination to the current one, to an outside observer it is a week plus 5 days to actually travel through the wormhole. Time is slowed down to a near standstill as they pass through the wormhole due both to gravity and the fact that they are traveling near the speed of light as they has through that wormhole due to the gravity, the gravity then slows them down to normal speed as they come out of the other end of the wormhole. The wormhole is unstable and lasts only long enough to make that journey. It is just possible for another ships to follow the starship through its own wormhole, but there is not much time to do so. The wormhole stays open for 5 days and quickly collapses after the starship has passed through. A gravity wave ripple then follows the collapse of the wormhole.

 

[sideranautae]

I'd expand the Jump limit to 4 au from a sunlike star, the actual limit would be the cube root of the star's mass in Solar Masses times 4 au,

Why based on AU?

Forces the players to spend some time traveling through the system slowing down instead of just appearing at 100 planetary diameters. the fact that you spend 3.5 days slowing down from 4 AU to 1 AU is compensated by the fact that the jump is instantaneous to the ship's crew and passengers, so for them they take a week traveling from their previous destination to the current one, to an outside observer it is a week plus 5 days to actually travel through the wormhole. Time is slowed down to a near standstill as they pass through the wormhole due both to gravity and the fact that they are traveling near the speed of light as they has through that wormhole due to the gravity, the gravity then slows them down to normal speed as they come out of the other end of the wormhole. The wormhole is unstable and lasts only long enough to make that journey. It is just possible for another ships to follow the starship through its own wormhole, but there is not much time to do so. The wormhole stays open for 5 days and quickly collapses after the starship has passed through. A gravity wave ripple then follows the collapse of the wormhole.

Makes sense.

 

[IanBruntlett]

I would...

1. Improve the index.
2. Make Character Creation a little less ambiguous. In particular, on the Army page note that "Enlistment" is equivalent to "Qualification".
3. Add a glossary
4. Use the blank pages at the inside front and inside back covers. I bought the Traveller Referee's screen and some copies of the Core Rule Book. I photocopied the screen and pasted the tables onto the inside front and back covers.
5. Put downloadable examples of the rules being used in a game on the Mongoose website.

HTH

 

[TrippyHippy]

1) I'd like to see the combat system - especially the Initiative aspect of it - more developed and less bland. Make the Initiative a D6 roll, and include some type of tick-marking approach, as they tried to implement in the play testing (but fell short).

2) I'd like to see the character generation being better explained - instead of a big step-by-step list of instructions, have just five well explained stages (Homeworld, Education, Career Basic Training, Career Advancement, Mustering Out). I too would also like better definitions of terms, and less ambiguity (and a better index!).

3) I'd like to make all the art consistently of the same style, and generally less cartoony. Make the game more presentable with glossier paper and the like. Use computer generated images, and tidy up the layout a bit.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

How about we give characters hit points points instead of subtracting damage from each of their characteristics in turn? I'm a little confused about physical characteristics doubling as hit points, why not just use hit points as hit points instead of using physical strength, endurance and agility?

 

[TrippyHippy]

How about we give characters hit points points instead of subtracting damage from each of their characteristics in turn? I'm a little confused about physical characteristics doubling as hit points, why not just use hit points as hit points instead of using physical strength, endurance and agility?

This system is good because:

a) being injured gives an immediate and direct consequence in terms of reduced physical capabilities.

b) it stratifies levels of injury into minor (only Endurance affected), serious (where unconsciousness may occur if a second characteristic is reduced to 0), or life threatening (death occurs where all three are reduced to 0).

Hit points on their own, a lá D&D, are a pure abstraction and have no consequence or meaning until they are totally reduced to 0.

 

[Infojunky]

1. Improve the index.

Check

2. Make Character Creation a little less ambiguous. In particular, on the Army page note that "Enlistment" is equivalent to "Qualification".

A downloadable Check sheet and/or character generation sheet would be nice.

3. Add a glossary

Check.....

4. Use the blank pages at the inside front and inside back covers. I bought the Traveller Referee's screen and some copies of the Core Rule Book. I photocopied the screen and pasted the tables onto the inside front and back covers.

Production complexity, though it would be nice.

5. Put downloadable examples of the rules being used in a game on the Mongoose website.

Isn't that what the forums are for?

 

[IanBruntlett]

5. Put downloadable examples of the rules being used in a game on the Mongoose website.

Isn't that what the forums are for?

There are a number of forums and a large number of threads in the forums. Having something that made relevant threads more visible would be very helpful

 

[Infojunky]

There are a number of forums and a large number of threads in the forums. Having something that made relevant threads more visible would be very helpful

So True, maybe on their own separate sub-board?