First published in 1977, a total of seven publishers over the years and 10 editions (11 if you could Mongoose 2nd)Where the fuck do you even start if you want to read up on this game and try to play it?Had anyone had an experience running or participating in a space man game?
Read one of the versions? Cepheus Engine is free so that's an easy place to start, but the others are easy to find.Not T5 though.
>>92719814>Oh yeah just read one>Except not that one Cattiness aside that at least helps narrow things down.
Mongoose 2e, classic, or cepheus engine are the ones people play, with M2E probably being the most popular
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>>92719788Get Classic Traveller or Mongoose 2e, they’re the most popular editions and I think the core books for classic traveller are free on Drivethrurpg.
>>92719788You can find most of the stuff online for freeI got a sizable chunk of mongoose 2nd contented that way
>>92719788>Start with either Classic Traveller or Mongoose (2E is a bit more modern feeling). You only need the CRB at first, some people say High Guard is needed, but you don't need it.>Generate characters, even if just to see how they work.>Get a ship together, use a Free Trader.>Generate a sector using https://zhodani.space/stuff/generators/random-subsector-generator/ or use https://travellermap.com or just use the Traveller Adventure to get started.All you need to do. Just read the core rules of Classic or Mongoose, or Cepheus Engine. Despite its age I actually think Classic is a bit easier to get into, though Mongoose feels more modern in a way, so that might actually be easier to get into instead. So mileage may vary, but I'd just pick one.Just be warned, Traveller is not like D&D, even the newer editions like Mongoose 2E, you play 30-40 year olds with space jobs, not chosen heroes.But it's a very based game and the world would have been better off if Traveller took off instead of D&D.Oh and don't worry about the Third Imperium or anything setting related. The game is meant to take place in a subsector and be about local issues, not large scale problems.And if you're particularly intimidated by it (not a slight, some people can be confused by it) try Stars Without Numbers, it's a more simplified version of Traveller with AD&D combat.
>>92720587Yeah, this is a good guide. The best part about Traveller is just finding out what works best for you.
>>92720702>if you're particularly intimidated by it (not a slight, some people can be confused by it) try Stars Without NumbersIts 'Stars Without Number', without numbers makes it sound like a simple RPG for people who can't add up.
>>92719788https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/filename/getting%20started%20with%20traveller/
>>92720786lol, that's what my group kept calling it because we're dyslexic.
>>92720801Excellent pic Anon, SWN is fun because it can handle everything from Firefly and Alien to spooky space ghosts.
>>92719833It's not cattiness. It's an honest warning. Look at T5 and you'll understand why the warning was given.
What are some good Traveller blogs? I like:https://ancientfarfuture.blogspot.comhttps://spacecockroach.blogspot.comhttps://talestoastound.wordpress.com/traveller-out-of-the-box/https://travellerrpgblog.blogspot.com
>>92720723>The best part about Traveller is just finding out what works best for you.Definitely--it simply has legs, you can go so many different ways with it. >>92720702>the world would have been better off if Traveller took off instead of D&DThe new book on the history of the game has a sidebar of brief descriptions of games that GDW considered but never produced, including:>Companions of the Road. A fantasy RPG built around the>conceit of the ‘Ancient Imperial Highway’, which would twist>through a hex-based countryside and constantly open up onto new>adventures. The system would have been Traveller-based, with its>classless, XP-less system.Holy-guacamole I would love to see that game and what might have followed it instead of D&D, or at least in addition.Has anyone ever done Western version of Traveller, something with good setting-creation procedures?
I tried doing a traveller campaign, but it fell apart after one session. Coming from bx/ACKS sandbox type games, I didn't really know how to do a sci fi game at all. Any tips for running this?
>>92719788Mongoose 2E is what I learned on and it seems fine. I have a couple suggestions:>Intelligence- and Education-based skills are more common than skills tied to other stats, so either houserule them as working with a couple different stats, or let the players know their skill options may be slightly limited if their INT and EDU aren't very good.>The splatbooks for different "classes" are completely broken, and a character made from one of the splats will be overpowered compared to a similar character made using the core rules. Either make everyone use the splatbooks for chargen, or don't let anyone use them.
>>92721169>Western version of Travellerhttps://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/345383/rider
>>92721413Thank you.
>>92719788My group liked "The New Era" ruleset best, which uses GDW's house system from the 90's instead of the other editions 2d6 system. (Same system as Twilight 2000 2nd ed) The gameplay is great, but the book layouts aren't. Setting is interesting (especially if you love Piper's "Space Vikings") but the system for making gear is a lot more involved than other editions. We did tone down the AI virus so the vampire ships were very very rare, sort of a digital mutation from a virus that crashed all digital technology instead of making bajallions of sentient machines. Same apocalyptic effect but a little less "out there".
>>92719788Why does traveller have this problem, but dungeons and dragons doesn't? No one starts a thread and goes "there have been so many versions of d&d, which one so I play?"
>>92719833Marc included an awful lot of stupid stuff in T5 because other people asked him for it, people who would be better served by switching to GURPS. They're not useful, it's things like a formula for atmospheric turbulence. There's a ton of stupid shit that you have to pick through and ignore.
>>92722657Because everyone and their dog knows what DnD is, and everyone but the most green of greenhorns knows at least vaguely what the differences between the major eras are (1-2e=grogshit, 3.x era=charop ship, 4e era=boardgame MMO shit, 5e=ELI5 dnd). And everyone has their preferences, so there's no point asking unless you are trying to start a religious flamewar.If you go asking about any other RPG with major reworks between editions (not just refinements), you will get a bunch of nuanced explanations of the pros and cons of each.
>>92722657>clear line of succession from version to version>A LOT of discussion comparing all versions that you will find if you ask at all>A LOT of people who started because of streamers so they do what their favorite streamers do *cough*criticalrole*cough*acqinc*>if you're branching out from d&d then you get experience with other systems and realize there's a lot of variety so you ask about them
>no land travel rules or proceduresMy biggest gripe with traveller and its variants
I've looked at the different systems several times, especially for mongoose 2e. I'd love to play it but I'm a perma GM and that shit looks a bit of a pain to run. It's already tough enough to find people who are willing to play something NOT dnd.
>>92723005The pithy answer to that is speeders go 1000 kph and fly.The serious answer is that the game gives speed of vehicles in kph and also various rules and encounter tables for land travel, including weather, planets and even generating animals.
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>>92719788>Had anyone had an experience running or participating in a space man game?Yep. I ran 4 or 5 sessions.>two players, roll up characters, get free trader>I roll up a Jayne-type ex-marine who is, in D&D terms, extremely "lawful">game begins, they start loading up their free trader>find encrypted link for some suspicious looking cargo>go to fake travel agency, to back room>talk to rebel agents who want them to ship illegal weapons to insurgents on nearby planet>they strap poison-injecting ankle monitors on a 1 month timer, tell the PCs that removing the monitors will set off the poison and it's lethal neurotoxin, and that the rebels on the other end will unlock them and pay them>ask PCs how much they'll charge for the smuggling>ship captain says 3x the normal rate>they barely conceal shock, and hurriedly agree>they set off, also take on some passengers>some kids start poking around in the cargo hold, one accidentally knocks down a case and it breaks open>they manage to convince the kids the guns are waterguns and that if they touch stuff again their parents will be charged thousands of credits and won't be able to continue their vacation>after some more close calls, they decide to come clean with the marine, since they realize they aren't gonna be able to hide it from him when they fly down to some secret underground base on the planet>he gets mad and says they need to turn themselves in and hopefully get leniency
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>they go to some random electronics guru who manages to disable the ankle bracelets for 5k each>manage to get it undone, barely misses killing one PC since he almost set it off (it was difficult work, well made)>they then spend like 20k on a lawyer and go to court>are told they can get out of this with a deal, they will participate in a sting operation to take out these insurgents and will get off with a 50k fine>they were only getting like 30k to ship 10 tons of illegal weaponry>they agree>pay fine, pay lawyer, go to sting operation>fly to secret location, manage to delay things long enough for gunships to show up>they have to fight one soldier with an SMG bare handed, one runs and gets his gun, eventually shoot him>have to spend money healing>lost like 2 weeks of ship time and overall like 40k credits when everything came together>marine quits the crew since he's realized they're not like him>do some more small adventures>a few months later, word spreads, and some insurgent agents notice the ship arriving and get rooms (this was the really contrived part, that this would even happen)>they try to capture the ship as "revenge" for the PCs being snitches>one PC gets killed after trying to stab one with a syringe of poison>the other PC and the 2 crewmen NPCs he hired kill the rest of the hostage takers>fly off into the black, and we end the campaign thereOverall I loved it, but I would really love a long-term Traveller game where the PCs save up for a fat trader, then later amass so much they get their own trading company going, and become true sigma male octillionaires and we can use the Merchant Prince rules if they ever do an official 2e version.It's just so hard to make adventures for Traveller, I don't know why.
>>92723136>It's just so hard to make adventures for Traveller, I don't know why.Use the dozens of patron generation, adventure seeds, and event tables the game has. It's more in the vein of OSR in that it's meant to be more random table centric. Part of the fun of Traveller is the randomness of it all.
>>92719788I ran CT from 1978-1984, and 2004 - 2018Played CT from 1987-1992TONS of fun.I have a unique setting sitting around I worked on when I was working a job that was 90% waiting for a call.>How to start?the flat easiest is roll up a random sector/grab one of the bazillion free ones floating around and start a merchant/explorer game where you fly around like BJ and the Bear looking for cargo>>92719814This - Cepheus is an excellent version
>>92723153true. I just like to set up a particular table for each adventure with random encuotners and stuff and that can be hard to do.
>>92721169That sounds amazing, and I'd honestly love a decent fantasy version of Traveller. Sword of Cepheus comes close but they have no world generation tools which is honestly half the game to me.
I’ve been bashing my head trying to stat out this cruiser for a game and it’s making me realize how bad I am at using Excel
>>92722716>1-2e=grogshit, 3.x era=charop ship, 4e era=boardgame MMO shit, 5e=ELI5 dndB/X=Chad Thundercock edition, OD&D=Ascended Galaxybrain edition>>92723005There are rules for all that stuff in Classic, though some bits like vehicle combat are in modules.
Do you add more aliens in your setting or do you keep it more human centric?
>>92723848What are you trying to do? And what version of Traveller are.you running?I made a Google sheets template for building out ships, it's not sure automated but it helps me keep track of the tonnage, power draw, cost of components especially when certain components modifying one another. Also hps me figure out the default crew complement.Is that what you are looking for?
>>92724300MgT2eTrying to have this with the partner mercenary carrier for a merc group that would be around the spinward marches before the fifth frontier war kicks off. Two ships seem good for a mercenary company to make some money from the tension
>>92724355So what exactly is the issue you are facing, just figuring out the stats for the two vessels? If they are going to be central to your game then there really isn't a way round just fully building them out in detail. I only have experience running Mongoose 2nd.
>>92724375The carrier is already stated out in one of the books, but the cruiser is weird since I’m trying to figure out the tonnage before adding all the stuff. But it’s also my first time making a shipAt this point I might just use premade ships rather than homebrew this ship since they won’t see these mercs for a while
>>92724388well hopefully this provides inspiration. I had to jump on my laptop to share this as g drives mobile ui is ass>captcha: A0NYhttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yboDbp6bRbLmjSPUb6qHMNy94ppEmpAk0ylcyzJgr8E/edit?usp=sharing
Anyone gave a good look to Cepheus Universal yet? Came out a few weeks ago, by Zozer.>>92719814>>92723285Yeah but now there's more and more versions of Cepheus floating around.There's the original SRD, Cepheus Engine, Deluxe, Light, and now Universal. I'm not sure if Hostile would count, it's definitely a stand-alone built up on Cepheus but it's more tied to its specific setting and themes, rather than being Traveller-ish. There's also the one-page Quantum and the Faster Than Light that's like 50 pages.Now sure Engine is rather close to the original SRD but there's still some differences, I'm sure some nerds would get hung up on some of them.
Wasn't there a name-only edition of Traveller that was an entirely different and unrelated game just using the name?
>>92725497Traveller: 2300.
>>92724952What even is Cepheus?
>>92726219An open source version of Traveller, basically. iirc it was made during the MgT1e days, at a point when Mongoose was being a pain to small 3rd party publishers?Anything published for Cepheus should be compatible with Trav, and vice-versa.
>>92727262What Cepheus edition do you recommend for use with Mongoose 2nd Traveller?
>>92727262It was made when Mongoose released 2e with terrible licensing terms that made all the third party publishers give them the finger and jump ship. It's a clone of Mongoose 1e, with some small changes. (More depending on which Cepheus edition you get, since there are a lot of revisions by different people. Starting to think we need a pdf comparing the different Cepheus variants, there are so many now, lol)
>>92729236Yeah it is a bit confusing with all the different variants, didn't another one just release recently?
>>92729277Cepheus SRD was the original release. This was cleaned up and formatted into a usable (but dry) rulebook, "cepheus engine." All the other cepheus rulebooks are authors' house rules, variants and additions to the core rules etc. Some are quite good I've heard.
>>92721399>Any tips for running this?Traveller, like any good sci-fi, is ultimately about spaceships. The ship is central, give it a map, stat it out, make sure the players are familiar with it and let them give it a name.From there it's the player's home, their #1 tool, and let them use it anyway they want. It's their ship, even if it might be just a loaner.Once you have a ship down, it just becomes a matter of going from planet to planet having adventures. Sometimes it's just moving cargo (roll for complications) other times it's a patron wants something weird salvaged from an alien ruin or to escape a world being hunted by bounty hunters.The defining aspect of any fun sci-fi game is the players are unique in they have access to something that gives them the freedom to go where they want: a spaceship.Also tables. Use those.
>>92729708>like any good sci-fi, is ultimately about spaceshipsThere's a mountain of great science fiction which either has no spaceships, or where the spaceships are incidental. And a shipless game can be a ton of fun.
>>92724262Idiran? Ah, clearly you're an anon of Culture. Or perhaps that post had zero gravitas.
>>92730105They’re who I plan on adding if the crew has a catastrophic misjump. Already have them stated outIdiran+2 to Recon rolls when their sight based. +2 to Investigation rolls.+2 to Flyer, Driver, Seafarer rolls. +2 to natural healing and +2 when its difficult to breath. EG suffocation, diving. +5 Natural Armor. +2 for any time balance or being knocked over happens.-2 when operating seated equipment not meant for Idirans. Conversely a -2 for Sophonts when operating vehicles or equipment that takes advantage of Idiran headThinking of making Medjel simple animal stats thought to save on the headache.I’m trying to find out how big of a scout fleet they should have though, so I’m thinking 1 Cruiser and 2 adventure class on the large end
>>92719788Ok been playing this since 78. Going old school with Classic Traveller is okay but to be honest the game has evolved past that. Your best bet is Mongoose 1ed and 2nd Ed. The mechanics between the 2 do not differ all that much. Cepheus is a version of Mongoose 1ed and much of that easily transfers over. A LOT of the source material coming out for Mongoose 2ed is actually regurgitated from earlier editions. I've seen reprints for GURPS Traveller, and some Web Content. The mechanices are also pretty easy to learn for the game.
>>92723545>I'd honestly love a decent fantasy version of Traveller. Sword of Cepheus comes close but they have no world generation tools Blogger docgrognard.blogspot.com has a playtest version of a fantasy Traveller game called Adventurer. It's Book 3 Races Realms and Riches has setting creation rules.>>92729236>Starting to think we need a pdf comparing the different Cepheus variantsThat would be great. I was going to post to ask if anyone has yet made such a doc, or a forum or blog post.
>>92731618Found this, which has some discussionhttps://www.reddit.com/r/traveller/comments/qklthl/differences_between_cepheus_versions/Apparently Deluxe leans more toward Mongoose 2e, uses stat arrays and different chargen rules, and slightly different sector gen. Also lol at Shawn Driscoll being a cunt, dunno when something crawled up his butt and died, he used to have some interesting stuff to say way back when I'll probably have to sit down with the various versions and read 'em and take notes one of these days
>>92719788>Where the fuck do you even start if you want to read up on this game and try to play it?get the booksread the bookswa la
Hey guys, I want to run a campaign that would feature a lot of space combat and I'm not sure what would work best for my situation. I am looking at SWN and MGT2E, mainly. The issue is, I want to have actual ship minis on a grid (can be hex or square), and probably things like asteroids and such. Which system would translate better? Is there another apart from those two that would be even more appropriate for my needs?
>>92736727MGT2E high guard has alternative rules for space combat using vectors and hexes. Probably worth checking out.
>>92737113>>92736727sorry the alternative rules for space comabt are in the Companion book, not high guard. HG has rules for fleet on fleet combat which also features vectors
>>92738673Classic also has vector combat for ships by default.
>>92738673I'll check, both of them out, thanks.
I feel like I want to like this game, but I don’t really know how to do jobs in it. I know patrons are a thing but without FTL communication it feels like once you leave the planet the patron is you just gotta wrangle up work wherever like in Firefly. Problem with firefly though is my group are more “ambitious” than a single cargo ship doing transport jobs and getting into hijinks, so how do I pace it or do I just present them the sandbox and let them find their own ways of money and power
>>92739732Have subsector level factions with competeing agendas that the first couple of low level jobs put the pcs in contact with. Communication is slow, but not non-existent, larger scale polities should exist.Check out pirates of drinax. It's a pretty good example of a player really player led sandbox. Even if it isn't your cup of tea, it could give you some ideas.
>>92739732>you just gotta wrangle up work wherever like in Firefly.Yeah, mostly. Though I suppose if you take your time, your reputation will precede you by XBoat if you have those, or other traders and rumors.>Problem with firefly though is my group are more “ambitious” than a single cargo ship doing transport jobs and getting into hijinksWhat do they want to do?
>>92739732Let your players have their crazy epic adventures but also remind them that galaxy-spanning sagas like that cost credits and they might need to do an oddjob on the side or haul some cargo on the way in order to fund the main plot
They might also see some of the more primitive backwater areas of their setting.
>>92720935So many blogs are so dead bro.Alegis Downport is specifically for Traveller and 2d6 sci-fi in general, and reviews a lot of stuff or comments on new releases. The others aren't really necessarily on Traveller but I've found good posts on them.https://alegisdownport.wordpress.com/https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/https://greatdungeonnorth.blogspot.com/https://alexschroeder.ch/search/?q=%23travellerhttps://hws3.wordpress.com/https://hws4.wordpress.com/
>>92739732You don't have to play a cargo ship. Maybe they might prefer to be imperial scouts?
>>92722669I love that a whole Fifth Edition of the game was created specifically to include every single possible table or chart that somebody had requested over the years, but that Marc himself just still uses the first edition.But yeah, 5E isn't an edition, it's the most ridiculous reference book ever made; any other edition is legit as a starting place.
>>92750518"Another one of them new worlds. No beer, no women, no pool parlors, nothin'. Nothin' to do but throw rocks at tin cans, and we gotta bring our own tin cans."
>>92751256Fans kept pushing for *more* and for the tables and calculations behind the tables and calculations we already had in the various Traveller books, and 5e is what we get.And yeah, last time I read about him running games (both at home, and at a con), he barely used CT at all. He just had people rolling vs their characteristics with the caveat that once you used one, you can't use it again until you used them all, and it had to make sense.
How would you rank the adventures for the game? I hear pirates of drinax is good but I want to know if anyone has any personal experience with adventures that I might want to run by my group both to get them familiar with the system and understand how to run a traveller game
>>92744963>So many blogs are so dead bro.Yep. Thank you for the links.I'd forgotten about Schroeder's Traveller posts, and his fantasy version. His setting generation tools are pretty good for inspiration.
Has Miller ever talked about Westerns as a source of inspiration in addition to Dumarest, etc.? The men of action on the frontier theme has always connected them in my mind.
In the 1977 version, what is the practical difference between Starports of type E and X? I see that X comes with a -4 penalty to determine the tech index, but apart from that? Neither one seems to provide any facility for anything.
>>92759250E means somebody has at least cleared a spot and designated it as a safe landing site. Maybe lights and a radar beacon so you can land in inclement weather or whatnot. X means "no starport" so you don't even get that. Better scout a safe position before you set down, wouldn't want to fall into a sinkhole or get stuck in sucking mud!
looking for a good landing spot
>>92759250>>92760115Yeah. E is a spot of bedrock, it's a safe spot to land, and the locals know it and just redirect you there by radio. X is nothing at all, not even a safe spot to land as Anon mentioned, maybe they'd just tell you to land in some guy's pasture, if they even got the tech level to make or maintain radios, or care to answer on the usual frequencies used by starships. Maybe it also means they don't have laws or rules related to spaceships and their crews, no import/export rules chiefly, and that there's no starport area with different laws, no startown.
>>92726219>CepheusIt's a foreign word that means "[on] Monday is Game Night" ... the suffix "Bo" can be placed in front of the word, who means "rowdy person who hosts other rowdy persons".
Surely someone has noticed this error before. Does it matter? I don't think it does, but still.
>>92763052Self-replying. This was noticed and fixed in the 1981 edition.
