Game Mechanics & House Rules

[Hvalreki]

This area is for me to post Game Mechanics and House Rules.

[Hvalreki]

The below is a wall of text (sorry, not sorry ) and only part of the full article (minor edits and formatting) from the Tales to Astound blog which I encourage you to read or re-read if you haven't. It's great stuff.

In my opinion I think this post from Chris Kubasik nailed how the game was designed to be played when it hit the shelves in 1977.

This is how we'll play our game -

The game is a conversation between the Players and the Referee. The Players have their characters do things, the Referee has the world and the non-player characters respond. In general, things simply move along. Even moments of crisis can often be resolved without referring to a Throw. If a character has a shotgun and out of the blue announces he’s going to fire the weapon at someone standing right in front of him, I might well have him roll damage (or simply kill the NPC outright) rather than have a Throw for a hit.

Other matters, from doing daily repairs to hacking into a civilians computer if one has Computer-1 or greater, often will require no roll. The Referee adjudicates whether a roll is required. He does this by thinking not in terms of “story” or what would be interesting, but honestly trying to be impartial judge of the elements of the world, reflecting back to the Players the forces and logic of the fictional setting already established.

The Referee can also decide certain actions are impossible, and not even a Throw can make it happen. Some Throws will be impossible because a PC lacks a needed expertise, or a high enough expertise. In the same way, if a Player declares, “I jump to the moon!” it is in the Referee’s realm to prohibit a roll for it. It’s the Referee’s job to set the bar of “reality he wants for his game.

Notes on the expertise of the Player Characters:
I use the term “expertise” rather than “skill.” The term expertise was used in the 1977 edition of the Traveller rules, and I think it better reflects the power and strength of any trained character.

Expertise means a character is an expert in whatever skill is at hand, whether it be rifles or medical ability. It means they can be hired at better rates because they are very, very good at what they do. Remember that DM+1 on a 2D6 bell curve is a very big deal.

A Rifle-1 doesn’t mean you can handle yourself on a shooting range; it means that in a combat situation, with that rifle in hand, you are above the average soldier. (The average soldier in the original Traveller rules will have an expertise of 0. He does not suffer the DM-5 of the untrained man using a firearm, but he gains no bonus either.)

Player Characters are not limited to doing the skills listed on their character sheet.

If the Referee decides the outcome is uncertain, or he cannot determine what the result should be, he calls for a Throw of the dice.
The Referee determines the Throw based on the circumstances of the fictional situation at hand. It is, for example, easier to perform CPR than surgery.
Various positive and negative DMs might be applied. Here are qualities that might provide DMs:
– possessing a pertinent expertise
– lacking a pertinent expertise
– having the proper tools for the job
– possessing a high or low characteristic that might provide a -DM or +DM
– any other factors the Referee or Players deem important in the situation

It is important to note that for me this part of the Throw (sussing out the fictional details involved in the Throw) is a continuation of the conversation mentioned above. This is not “stopping” the game for me, this is the Players and the Referee focusing on the Player Characters, their actions, the details of the environment, the specific actions being taken. It’s like a movie, where the camera is pointed at the pertinent details, revealing their importance to the audience.

It makes the game (for me at least) richer and more real as we say, “Well, my guy is really strong (STR 10), and I think that’ll help him use the crowbar to leverage the wheel on the bulkhead door as the air is being sucked out of this section of the ship.” And then I say, “Right. Take a DM+1 on the Throw to get this door open before all the air is gone.”

A key point of play for me is providing Players choices and then seeing how they handle them. (I call this “Providing them with Opportunities and Opposition.”)
2D6 are rolled. If the roll is equal to or greater than the value of the Throw, then success occurs. If not, then not.

The short version: 2D6 +/- DM ≥ Saving Throw Value equals success

The reason I don’t consider this a Skill System is because not every Throw involves a skill. A character might try to bluff his way into a fancy party, with his Education or Social Standing (if very low or very high, as appropriate to the situation) as a DM.

Or the Referee could use the number of terms a character served in a service as a DM in a case where his is trying to influence members of that service to bend the laws for him, and so on.

In this way, original Traveller seems very similar to me to the Braunstein rules. That is, anything on the character sheet is fair game for a DM.

Moreover, even things not on the character sheet could come into play. If the Player Characters have been hanging around on a world for a while learning its language, and then travel to another world where they see some ancient inscriptions in an alien language on an old temple wall, the Referee might give them a roll to understand the langue because they had learning a similar language on the other world. In the same way, an NPC Reaction Roll might suffer a -DM if the Player Characters interacting with citizens of a world that the empire they are from recently conquered.

The point here is that not every roll is based on or modified by a skill. Anything from service branch, terms of service, rank, any of the six characteristics, history in play, circumstances of the situation (are they trying to track someone in the rain?), and anything else that seems pertinent, as well as skills, might influence the Throw number or DMs. There might be a expertise DM, there might not be. Sometimes the DMs based on skill rules will be positive, and sometimes, if lacking, will be negative. Sometimes a characteristic value will be a +DM, and other times, a -DM.

When we play this way we are building the imaginative qualities of the situation, with the roll made to determine, impartially and with finality, what the outcome is.

For me, this system works well as it encourages the Referee and the Players to add fictional details to the situation, the actions of the Player Characters and so on, in an effort to really determine how hard or difficult a situation might be, if a roll is required at all, and so on.

By layering these details we end up making the moment concrete and specific (and thus memorable) in the heads of everyone at the table. And that is the kind of play I like best.

[Hvalreki]

1. Scouts and Other Service Skills
Scouts and Others services do not offer commission or promotions. Players in either of these services are eligible for 2 skill rolls per term.

2. Starting Skills for All Players
I'm giving all characters

Vacc Suit-0
Air/Raft-0

Don't forget as Travellers all of you are exceptional at combat.
You have skill level 0 (i.e. no penalties) in all Book 1 weapons.
Compare that to the normal individual who has probably has skill in one weapon and gets a -5 for any untrained weapons.

3. Experience

Characters may choose to embark on a 4 year program of self improvement - Once per game year players may make a dedication throw (8+ 2d6) and choose one improvement program:

A) Improve EDU: If EDU is less than INT score - increase EDU through correspondence courses up to 2 per week at the end of 50 courses EDU increases by 1 (cost 50 per course). In a four year period it is possible to raise EDU a maximum of six levels. Education increases are permanent as they happen.

B) Weapons Training: Pick one Gun and One Blade weapon and increase their skill by 1 in each (increases are immediate) during the program. After 4 years you may engage in a second 4 year program to make the increases permanent (note that zero level skills raised to 1 by this method stay there permanently even if you don't continue for another 4 year program).

C) Skill Improvement: Increase a non-weapon skill you already know (includes Zero level skills) by 1 for 2 different skills. The increase is immediate and the permanence rules above apply here as well.

D) Fitness: Increase STR, DEX, and IND by 1 for the duration of the program (Note +2 to dedication throw if INT is 8 or less; +4 if INT is 4 or less). At the end of the program increases are permanent and a second 4 year program may be started (Houserule)

.

The pursuit of any of these improvement programs assumes the required time and materials are present. Obviously Travellers travel and downtime between jumps or time out of adventure can bet set aside each day for "training". Short breaks are allowed as long as the suspension does not exceed three months.

Players can make the dedication role for training starting from when they left the Third Imperium (before the game starts). If you make the throw you are already into year 1 of the program. The group has been travelling for 9 months from the frontiers of Imperial space to get where they are now. If you failed the throw you can try again in 3 months game time to make another dedication throw.




4. Weapon Damage
Per 1981 Rules instead of 1977

[Hvalreki]

Weapon Cards

Attached is a PDF of the Weapon Cards file from Tales to Astound.

Shows to hit by range and armor, damage and the Dex or Str bonus (or minus) as appropriate.

Here is an example.

classic-traveller-weapon-cards2.pdf

(394.91 KiB) Downloaded 35 times

[Hvalreki]

Sawed Off Shotgun





User may declare before the "to hit" roll is made if they are firing one or both barrels.
A successful hit with both barrels roll 8d6 for damage. Miss does no damage to the intended target but anyone nearby better hope...

Group Hits by Shotguns: Each shot by a shotgun may attack up to 4 individual targets simultaneously, provided they:
1) are in a group, pack or herd, and are acting together
2) are each man sized or smaller.

In all shotgun fire against flying targets (within range), a DM of +2 is allowed

[Hvalreki]

Ship's Transponders

Hulls built in this region of space have "Black Box" transponders with failsafe mechanisms integrated into the the ship's avionics and computer systems.

Players are free to attempt spoofing, hacking, changing or shutting them off all together. Being boarded and having the Ships Transponder registry not match the Master's or Owner's credentials can be problematic.

Worlds with A or B starports are expecting a continuous transmission from all ships. Running without a transponder you're assumed likely up to no good - smuggling, piracy, etc, unless you're actively squawking a distress signal. Even then expect rescue at gunpoint.