BACKWATER [Classic Traveller] [WAITING LIST]

[atpollard]

People snickered behind her back … like she was some crazy cat lady … for living alone in the wilderness in a home-made house salvaged from some abandoned wreckage. The fact that she was always scrounging parts from one scrapyard or object saved from the trash or another didn’t help.
Her “Franken-scooter”, cobbled together with mismatched parts from no fewer than seven different scooters … seven was a lucky number … rattled along the dirt path towards home with her latest “find” Bungee-corded to the back. Around the last bend in the path, she crossed the plank that bridged the little stream … little, except in the spring when the rain swelled it to over-top the bridge and cut off her access to town for several weeks. She was home. The clearing in the forest, with a small vegetable garden, two milk goats and a half-dozen chickens roaming about.
Oh yeah, and the hulk of an old, crashed scout ship, covered with vines, that she called a house. That ship was why she lived way out here away from town … and why people snickered behind her back.

There were a few problems with that story …
One: It wasn’t a scout Ship … the 100 dTon elongated flattened sphere hull with small winglets at the trailing edge was an old “Micro-Trader”. Hull Number A13120. She had researched the hull and the ship was originally sold to a Corporation to serve “feeder operations” along minor routes. After 40 years, it was sold and operated as a “Free Trader” by multiple owners for another 40 years. After that, banks would no longer mortgage the ship and it was used for prospecting and salvage operations for another 10 years before it landed here. It was stripped and left abandoned for 35 more years … until I found it and filed paperwork for a “salvage title”. Now it belongs to me.
Two: It never crashed … the cost of maintenance for parts no longer in production on an obscure model became cost prohibitive. It was landed, stripped, and abandoned.
Three: After three years of work on it, the ship is not a hulk. The repairs are almost to the point that she will fly again. First, she needs “Navigate” software and that costs Cr 100,000 and 1 dTon of fuel for another Cr 200. I guess she will need Life Support supplies as well … but not until she is flying.

[atpollard]

April 6, 2022 ... that was when I stepped back from RPGs to deal with a very dark time in my life. Over 20 months later, I am ready to ease back into RPGs. This is the first post of an old school [roll 8+ on 2d6] Classic Traveller game. Nobody NEEDS to join. If anyone remembers any of my unusual games and wanted a simpler "old school" game ...

It will be a small game with a small group. More "side adventures" on worlds than "Grand Plots" or "Planet per Week". More ROLE than ROLL.
If that sounds like you ... give a shout of interest.

[TheMyth]

Do you take newbs who only ever played once and barely remembers the rules?

[shaidar]

What sort of posting rate are you expecting?

[Leitz]

Do you take newbs who only ever played once and barely remembers the rules?

In general, atpollard's games are rules light, and he helps newbs along with pleasure.

[Leitz]

What sort of posting rate are you expecting?

Historically, once or twice a week. atpollard is a pretty relaxed DM, and he comes up with some interesting scenes. Here's an example.

[atpollard]

Do you take newbs who only ever played once and barely remembers the rules?

Sure … newbs are not a problem and I am a “rules ultra light” Referee (Traveller DM).

What do you remember about the available classes?
Any idea what career you want to be exiting as you start your new life?

[TheMyth]

Do you take newbs who only ever played once and barely remembers the rules?

Sure … newbs are not a problem and I am a “rules ultra light” Referee (Traveller DM).

What do you remember about the available classes?
Any idea what career you want to be exiting as you start your new life?

I have been messing around with the Character Generator program I found online....

I think I like the results from the "Rogue" class. If you're not using Supplement 4 classes, then maybe "Merchant."

[atpollard]

Some general information about what to expect and what NOT to expect.

• Don’t worry too much about the “manage the ship” skills. That will take care of itself.
• Most of the game is the adventures that happen during the time you are on the planet BETWEEN interstellar trips. So whatever class and skill you want will have room to shine. (Hence the non-emphasis on making sure we have the balance of Pilot, Navigator, Engineer & Gunner skills).
• Posting will aim for twice per week. (More if players and events and real life permit, but TWO is the expected rate).
• In keeping with the “rules light” theme, characters are from LBB2 (or the Traveller Book) or Citizens of the Imperium (S4) … no expanded class rules to create super “Navy” or “Merchant” or “Marine” characters … with skills from the core rules (LBB2) list where ever possible.

[atpollard]

I think I like the results from the "Rogue" class.

A “Rogue” is fine.

[ateno]

Which books? 1-3 I assume. Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium?

[atpollard]

Which books? 1-3 I assume. Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium?

Yup. Or The Traveller Book (which is the hard copy version of LBB 1-3).

I just don’t want to get into the whole “schools” and “special duties” and inflated characters of Book 4+.

For Skills, I use an even simpler system: 2 skill levels per term with no single skill higher than the number of terms.

A 2 term character would have 4 levels of skills with no skill higher than skill-2.
A 3 term character would have 6 levels of skills with no skill higher than skill-3.
A 4 term character would have 8 levels of skills with no skill higher than skill-4.
A 5 term character would have 10 levels of skills with no skill higher than skill-5.

In addition, the character gets every skill on any of the tables that they can roll on as a skill-0.
I also tend to lump weapons together into broad groups, so the skills become: Handgun, Rifle, Machine Gun, Blade. (Any one-handed ‘point and shoot’ is a Handgun. Anything with a sharp edge is a Blade.)

[shaidar]

I'm intrigued. I have limited experience with traveller, two games here on US.

I have the entire Classic Traveller CD, I always find the book naming convention a little confusing. I've located S04, so I'm assuming I can also use B01 or 'The Traveller Book' as they are the same.

If we have someone interested in rogue, then a merchant would be an interesting addition.

EDIT: I just realised that LBB means Little Black Book, it's becoming clearer. I assume we are using the 1981 (rather than 1977) versions?

[atpollard]

[LOL]
Yeah ... Traveller was created by a Wargamer Navy Veteran at the dawn of the Programming era ... it THRIVES on acronyms and Hexadecimal codes.
LBB = Little Black Book (a reference to the original rule books that were numbered with clever names like Book 1, Book 2, Book 2 ...) to distinguish them from the "Supplements" (called S1, S2, S3 ...). or the "Adventures" (called [wait for it] A1, A2, A3 ...).


A merchant would be nice.

Yes, 1981 rules are more streamlined. I personally lean towards The Traveller Book [TTB] since it has all the rules you need under one cover and nicer page layout (it was letter size instead of those little half-page size booklets with a staple).

However I am not a "rules heavy" game person. 90% of the time the game mechanics stay hidden and most of the time you need to "roll" for a task it is "Roll 8+ on 2D6 for success".

• With a Skill-1 in something, that means success on 7-12 on 2D6 or about 58.3% chance of success.
• With Skill-2, that goes up to a 72.2% chance of success.
• With no skill bonus that is a 41.7% chance of success.

So "skills and rolls" don't really drive the game as strongly as in ... say D&D.

[shaidar]

OK, I'm going to roll up a merchant. (I've already started). The Traveller Book does seem to be laid out better and has everything for character creation all together with better clarity.

I did have one question on your modified skill rules. Do we still get an additional skill roll for a successful commission and for each promotion?

[atpollard]

I did have one question on your modified skill rules. Do we still get an additional skill roll for a successful commission and for each promotion?

The short answer is no … all characters start out on a simple, level field of two skills (skill levels) per term.

The long answer is a little trickier. There is a LOT of detail that can be gained in the CharGen (Character Generation) rules. That is especially true of the Advanced Rules available for some classes (I think it is Book 6 that details MERCHANTS). So anyone that WANTED TO, could create a character using the advanced rules and record all those details like “Assignments” and “Promotions” and “Branches” and “Special Assignments” and “Education” to create more background detail. Then go back and edit the skills down to two skill levels per term. This places the character on equal footing whatever system of generation is used and there are no “better” and “worse” classes.

It is also worth noting that the bonus of getting EVERY skill on all of the LBB2 (or S4) tables for that class at Skill-0 is more skills than you would have likely gotten by rolling the Rules as Written. So you traded potential Levels of skill for a guaranteed greater variety of skills with my alternative rules.

[TheMyth]

I see the forum is up!

Will you be posting a CharGen thread there?

[Gorethirster]

Is there room for one more? No clue what I'd play yet, I'll have to look over the books and see what options there are. Playing something other than an ex-military type in Traveller is usually a blast though, so leaning that way.

[atpollard]

I see the forum is up!

Will you be posting a CharGen thread there?

As soon as I remember HOW ... it has been almost 2 years.

[atpollard]

Is there room for one more? No clue what I'd play yet, I'll have to look over the books and see what options there are. Playing something other than an ex-military type in Traveller is usually a blast though, so leaning that way.

Sure welcome aboard.

We will see who shows up to play, now.