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Sven
Germany
Frankfurt am Main
Hessen
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Hey guys,
I've been looking for a good Space Opera-RPG recently and of course it couldn't take long until someone suggested Traveller.
So tell me: Why is Traveller great and should I give it a try?
A little bit of background:
After a long hiatus, I starte playing RPGs again last year (Dark Heresy) as a player and now I'd like to get back into GMing a bit. I have one player who is strongly biased towards SciFi-Settings, so I can't run my favorite Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and that's why I am looking for alternatives.
Space Opera seems like a good choice, since I want something less dark than Dark Heresy, and it is a genre, that I always enjoyed as a a player (mainly with Star Wars (WEG 2nd Edition)) and one I would enjoy GMing.
What I am looking for:
One thing, that is really important to me, are the rules. I like systems with rather simple rules, that paint with a broad brush. I really hate systems with lots of rules for almost any conceivable special case like D&D 3rd and 4th. To be honest, even Dark Heresy already has got too detailed rules for my liking - that's ok, as long as I am not the GM but when I am in charge, I'd like something simpler.
So how do you rate Traveller's ruleset? Is it easily accessible or rather complex?
Also, would you say, that it's easy to run for novice/returner GMs?
Of course I am also interested in your own reasons, why you think Traveller is great and why I should definitly give it a try. 
Thx in advance!
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Andy Leighton
England
Peterborough
Unspecified
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Traveller's ruleset is fairly small and simple. They tend to slide in to the background.
As for complete. Well the rules in the core rulebook are plenty to run any adventure you would like. Setting detail is very light in the core rulebook.
There are extra books which give more options when creating your character - these aren't new skills or feats or anything, they work exactly the same as the core rules. They also fill in some background stuff and often introduce a few extra bits of chrome (Fame for example). You can get a good feel for the level of this by looking at the previews on the Mongoose site.
Finally I don't know what style of play you are looking for. I have never have had a lot of ship to ship combat using Traveller. We have definitely focused in on the characters and seen space travel as more of a necessary evil although I know that many feel the opposite and love Traveller because they love designing their spaceships. Generally I haven't had a lot of cybernetics or sentient robots and no PC psionics in my Traveller Universe either. There are source books that cover those three.
One good thing about Traveller is that there is plenty of free support for it. Adventures and other articles in Signs & Portents. The free Secret Of The Ancients campaign.
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Tanakor wrote: So tell me: Why is Traveller great and should I give it a try?
Well, you can't really say you've lived until you've played a Vargr desperately clinging to the roof of a speeding milk truck as he tries to escape the town he just exuberantly shot up.
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Peter Darby
United Kingdom
Welshpool
Powys
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My reasons in the first post on my blog
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Eric Dodd
New Zealand
Martinborough
Wairarapa
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See my review of the RPG here: The Classic SF RPG
The Imperium background can be ignored or play up as you see fit. The system is easy to grasp: roll 8+ on 2d6 to succeed on any task, modified for any skills that help and environmental modifiers. Combat is usually brief but bloody, and characters can never "shrug-off" weapon or blade hits so it's fairly realistic. It's a great rule system for GMs to play around with as you can generate NPCs, spaceships and whole worlds for both entertainment and to help build a campaign.
Give it ago!
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Andy Leighton
England
Peterborough
Unspecified
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Red Wine Pie wrote: See my review of the RPG here: The Classic SF RPGThe Imperium background can be ignored or play up as you see fit. The system is easy to grasp: roll 8+ on 2d6 to succeed on any task, modified for any skills that help and environmental modifiers. Combat is usually brief but bloody, and characters can never "shrug-off" weapon or blade hits so it's fairly realistic. It's a great rule system for GMs to play around with as you can generate NPCs, spaceships and whole worlds for both entertainment and to help build a campaign.
Although that review is of Classic Traveller I feel that what has been written here still applies to Mongoose Traveller. The differences are fairly minor* - although in some cases those minor differences do slightly alter the feel of things (characters can be even more fragile for example). There are a few changes in the Imperium setting and aliens (in the supplements) which some do not like - but these will not be an issue to a first-time player (and everyone's Traveller Universe is slightly different in play anyway).
* One of those changes is the task system. CT was a little looser for task resolution ISTR. The task system was also one of those things that people often replaced (with the BITS task system for example)
Mongoose Traveller is 2d6 + skill + stat modifier + other modifiers + difficulty >= 8 (very difficult tasks have a negative difficulty modifier)
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Sven
Germany
Frankfurt am Main
Hessen
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Wow...lots of replies. Thanks for your help guys!
Another thing I am a bit confused about after reading some reviews, is the background - or the seeming lack thereof:
Several reviews state that there is very little backgound in the basic book and that it is badly organised. Also, Eric stated above, that the background can be ignored while Andy said that everyone's Universe is slightly different.
Does all that mean, that Traveller is a game, where the big picture is of lesser importance and that there are only vague informations about the greater workings of the universe? Or am I misinterpreting that? Not that it would necessarily be bad - I tend to be somewhat overwhelmed by the 50+ pages detailed background informations you get on some gaming universes.
I seem to remember that long ago I read somewhere, that Traveller is rooted in or inspired by Asimov's Trantor-Universe. Is that correct?
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Eric Dodd
New Zealand
Martinborough
Wairarapa
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Tanakor wrote: Wow...lots of replies. Thanks for your help guys! Another thing I am a bit confused about after reading some reviews, is the background - or the seeming lack thereof: Several reviews state that there is very little backgound in the basic book and that it is badly organised. Also, Eric stated above, that the background can be ignored while Andy said that everyone's Universe is slightly different. Does all that mean, that Traveller is a game, where the big picture is of lesser importance and that there are only vague informations about the greater workings of the universe? Or am I misinterpreting that? Not that it would necessarily be bad - I tend to be somewhat overwhelmed by the 50+ pages detailed background informations you get on some gaming universes. I seem to remember that long ago I read somewhere, that Traveller is rooted in or inspired by Asimov's Trantor-Universe. Is that correct?
I think the Asimov origin is probably correct - the Imperium is a Galactic Empire ruled from a central planet, fighting wars on the fringes and faced with the possibility that the entire structure will collapse into another Long dark Night (as it did in the past - and it did in MegaTraveller). The Imperials are there as Police to stop the players getting out of hand, cultural touchstones so that there's enough in common for players to grasp and as NPCs to provide careers, jobs and opposition for the players. But you can ignore all that if you like and just use the system in your own political setup. The adventures use a stated known world and system in the Imperial space, but even some of the early published adventures like Adventure 04: Leviathan give you freedom to create your own worlds close to the Imperial worlds.
Remember that a world is a large place and a solar system and subsector even bigger - it's easy to create a big area separate from the Imperium that allows you access to the Imperium later, if you want.
NOTE: Again, I'm talking about original Traveller, but this mostly holds for Mongoose, I think.
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Andy Leighton
England
Peterborough
Unspecified
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Yep.
All that the previous post mentioned is still true.
The core rulebook for Traveller is very light on settings details. In one sense it makes it easy to create your own, but it can feel kind of daunting that there isn't really a big tightly defined universe to play in. In reality there isn't much to worry about as it is fairly easy to create worlds and sketch in enough details for a good adventure. A lot of my favourite adventures are Scout based ones where you are investigating a new world anyway.
Take for example the adventure Annic Nova (recently rejigged for Mongoose Traveller and appears in Signs & Portents). The players discover a strange ship floating in deep space. You don't need much background information at all to run that.
The OTU setting (the Imperium) is fairly well plundered from old SF. So some bits of Asimov's Foundation universe (but not very much), some of Anderson's Flandry stories, but what it most resembles is E.C. Tubb's Dumarest Of Terra series.
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Medievalbanquet
United States
Wellesley
Massachusetts
And if you never have, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.
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Where do I get Signs and Portents?
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Andy Leighton
England
Peterborough
Unspecified
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medievalbanquet wrote: Where do I get Signs and Portents?
Freely downloadable from Mongoose.
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/series.php?qsSeries=1...
I think that they also put it up on DriveThruRPG these days.
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Adam Chance
United States
Brandon
Mississippi
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I'm also looking at Traveller.
Are there a lot of adventures available?
That's my preferred way to play.
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Adrian George
United States
San Antonio
Texas
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they have a full free campaign on their website, and are just starting up a second one.
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