Hey I’m new GM and I’am planning on making a campaign for my friends using the traveller 2e and I was wondering how others run their games.
>Would creating your own sub-sector be worth it?
I looked at rules and I certainly liked it but I was wondering if it would be too much effort for something they would only be using a little
>How much combat should there be?
I understand that combat was supposed to be punishing so I wonder how many fights I should put in
>Whats a reasonable term limit for charter creation?
I also want to make it less confusing for my friends so I wonder what would be a good limit
Any other tips would be appreciated
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>own sub-sector
Always worth it just so you don't have to check back to official lore for what's in a system.
>how many fights I should put in
Combat favors the well prepared. Many non-combat skills can be used to prepare for combat. So, "but the bandits were waiting for you!" is really punishing, but if the PCs are given time and information, it's not nearly as bad.
>term limit
But why? If your players want to try for geriatric nobles, let them.
>other tips
NPC interests matter a lot. Prepare them or prepare to improvise them.
Sometimes the PCs don't get good skills. Generate some stock professional profiles for people they can try to hire. Note that some skills still need the implements in order to work and tell your players to buy those. In short, don't let your players start the adventure with their pants down.
>own sub sector
Unlike that other anon I'm gonna say that, through the sheer volume of planets in this you will invariably find something that you're looking for without having to create it yourself.
Why retread walked step you know?
Nah just let him make his own. It will help him learn the system and also be a bit more fun. It only takes 2 or 3 hours to do and you can roll up the UPPs in like half an hour.
>Would creating your own sub-sector be worth it?
Yes but it's a lot of work, that might not pay off and without experience you might frick it up. I'd recommend running something from an established sector and then branching off from there.
>How much combat should there be?
As much combat as the situation considers reasonable. If they are picking fights they get in fights, if they are avoiding fights they shouldn't get in fights. Let them be the driving factor, and only use pre-determined combat encounters as a way to force them out of a comfort zone, for example as a threat in a closed environment. Boarders want your money not your life, mercenaries will allow you to surrender, but both will shoot you if you don't cooperate. Let them decide whether they want to cooperate.
>Term limit
None. Let them keep rolling until they die. This is their characters.
Thank you all for the tips
This helps
Never forget the most useful advice:
Have fun 🙂
Does anyone have any recommendation for adventures/campaigns?
I ran Flatlined for two groups, one enjoyed it a lot, one enjoyed it less a lot but was still happy with it. It starts off in a way that means you don't have to worry about TL, codes, or general world lore. Very self-contained.
I'll try giving it a look
thank you
Clarification: I ran Flatlined for two groups *as the start of their experience with Traveller. One group fell apart shortly after, the other is an on-and-off group.
The Aramis Campaign...which is the Mong 2E version of the Red covered Book Traveller Adventure for Classic Traveller.
>UWP codes
I get that it’s a good way to get an overview of a planet by holy frick is it awkward to take 5 minutes and cross reference different charts and shit to figure out how to flavor the planet
>holy frick is it awkward to take 5 minutes and cross reference different charts
Once you've done it for a while you end up able to read the UWP straight off without looking it up.
It's easier than it looks:
X234567-8
Starport |Size |Atmosphere |Hydrosphere |Population |Government |Law Level |Technology Level
It's mostly in order of importance for Travellers, most of the time the Starport (Highport, lowport, and Startown) are the only parts that Travellers will be interacting with
Think of it separated out: X 234 567 TL
X(Starport) 234(Planet traits) 567(Social Traits) TL
The traits are generally in order of importance for Travellers: First the Starport, then the planet: Size, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere. Population size, Government type, Law. And finally the TL separated off the end for easy visibility
How many planets are you going to use for your first adventure? Players start at one, go somewhere else to do the adventure, maybe via a third place en route?
Will they even have their own ship? An adventure like that could be done by booking passage on a freighter or two. Lots of exciting stuff could happen on the way, like the freighter could be boarded and searched by a customs crew, or could be diverted to investigate a distress signal.
tl;dr you probably won't visit many planets per session
Subsector Creation - For a new GM not a good idea. It is a lot of work and can be very rewarding but if you are just starting out there is a lot of room to screw it up.For a new GM I recommend using a published sector if you want to use the 3rd Imperium. Specifically the Spinward Marcheshat sector as that has the most background for it through the years. If you are just running your own Space game then building your own subsector is a good idea.
Amount of combat - Depends on players and your desires.Combat is pretty deadly compared to most other RPGs. There is no level system in Traveller so there is no way to get more HP after character creation.There are no healing potions. Surviving combat with wounds will result in recovery time that can be weeks and months. Just something to keep in mind.
Term Limits - I believe that players shoud have the option of have their characters staying in service as long as they want. However long term chaaracters pose some problems. Ideally 3 to 5 term characters are well rounded. Less characters may not have enough skill More than that you can have characters with high levels in a skill or Rank that can make some situations unchallenging. While I don't have a hard cap on terms I do discourage folks from going past 7. This keeps Rank especially in playble range, After all why would a Retired Admiral or Duke run around on a Tramp Freighter? It also keeps characters alive. Combat is deadly, a Characters HP are based on the total of Physical Stats which go DOWN with age, and that process does not stop with character generation. Each Jump takes a week. A week to "adventure" on planet And you get 2 jumps and minor missions per month. Before you know it several months of game time have passed in a few short sessions. Those older character still have to make age checks for their stats.
-Creating a subsector can be a lot of work, only do it if you're having fun doing it
--Consider looking up the Stars Without Number faction rules (I think they're in the free version) and running faction turns between sessions if you want to add some dynamism with structure behind your sector
>How much combat should there be?
-Try to plan situations, not encounters. Try to keep your npcs goal-oriented, most of the time they're in a place to do a thing. Folks will fight if they have to, but will usually run unless trained or zealous. Let the party use their tools, the environment, and any reasonable idea they come up with to negotiate an outcome.
>Whats a reasonable term limit for charter creation?
-Most groups I've played with have done 4 to 6 as a limit. Age can rapidly deteriorate a character, combined with the benefits from long careers can make the character a poor fit for an adventurer
>Any other tips would be appreciated
-Ship combat is an incredibly deadly, expensive, and attritive affair, and almost no canon designs are terribly good at it. Long range high accuracy attacks tend to be the winners of fights through causing critical hits, note that large ships are immune to crits from smaller starship weapons. Also using a big hexgrid is easier than using the range band, Mongoose 2e combat treats thrust as it does ground movement, just little bursts of velocity, there are acceleration rules in the companion, but most folk don't use them.
-Don't stress too much about keeping the party poor. The Imperium hands out those 40 year Starship loans to washed out folks in their midlife crisis not out of sympathy, but because they are the red blood cells of the Imperial Economy.
It may start like Firefly but eventually transition to Starsector, eventually they'll need a lot of money for mercs and starships as their company becomes a faction unto itself
Speaking of Mercs: Don't buy the Mercs Boxed set, or any of the books within, it is pretty well unanimously agreed to have been a poor publication.
If you have acquired them: keep a salt shaker on hand, you'll need more than a grain
I started small and builded upon before each session, picking more obscure rules on the way
>Death Station scenario (as it is basically dungeon crawler), players start on one planet, make some rough draw of nearby town/country in case they want to explore some first
>they wanted, so do most planet, main factions, some ideas were born and used in session
>exploration went on and on, at some point had to remaind them of main objective (each char got tasks from outside, like corpo they worked for, so it had to be done, I would not mind them for exploring more, it is sandbox basically)
>check star system plan, grok it for some ideas
>they went on station, finish written adventure
>post adventure exploratory of star system, starship combat
>combat
combat IS deadly, though I did picked battle of Aslans attacking Napoleonic era village and it worked out well; just do not be hell bent on killing players, leave some way out. How much? depends on setting and campaign, even how your players are capable.
>creating own subsector
If you are experienced, sure; I would rather pick some from ready internet map resource and grok it out, mining for ideas; 2ed have actually some region as book IIRC
>term limit
ban antiaging drugs and it will work out self
with them one could theoretically indefinitely roll out, but seems characters deteriorate from events faster than gain stats from terms anyway; more importantly you should create characters for all players in one session to make connections
>other tips
it is, as I mentioned, a sandbox, be prepared mentally players go anyway they like; good thing you can always improwise as mechanics is basically roll 8+ on 2d6 plus modifiers
Has anyone used Sectors Without Number for a Traveller game?
So, I’m planning a intro for a self made sector with this as the spark notes for the session planned
Job giver offers them the pieces to unmothball the ship from a scrap yard owned by CeDeCo (Celestial Development Corporation).
- The party meets the job giver in the hanger which they will return to with the ship.
- The hanger is on Turalo a water world
- CeDeCo holds an iron grip on 7 systems. They use debt slavery and restrictions on technology to prevent any uprising and unrest and secrecy to prevent retaliation.
- The crew will have to sneak into the ship lot and find the ship model, then reinstall the parts without getting caught by the guards
- They will fly out and due to it being both unregistered and not fully calibrated it would be mistaken for space debris by sensor, thus the only obstacle is to avoid actual line of sight with any ships in orbit
- After getting to Verjun, a agri world, for the cargo pickup they will find both their employer and his entourage dead, with successful investigation they will see that some bodies have been removed and a faint radiation signature.
- The pair of pocket nukes (6DD,Cr 250,000 each) are in the hands of the Lavender Militia, a collective of farmers who are tired of the Corporate tyranny and plan to destroy both the base of the space elevator and the space port station above with each nuke or to trade for better equipment
- If the party does join the farmers they’d have to choose which plan to go with
- The party can either ignore this and fly away with their ghost ship, find and help the farmers to stick it to the man, or report it to the authorities for leniency and free ship registration+contacts.
This is both a starter to ease the players and ease me into GMing the system. Is this good or should I go with an adventure module instead and do this at a later time
You run your setting like you want to, but there are some weird implications and missing parts here.
Why does the ship need to be stolen? Where's its fuel come from? Why can't it be tracked from the unauthorized take-off onwards, that is, what is flight control doing? How come radars in orbit aren't going to recognize it as something that moves with its own power? Is anti-collision based entirely on active friend-or-foe identification? How do they get clearance to land it? What about the paperwork at their destination?
There's also some breaking points, even supposing your players are co-operative. Sneaking and investigating aren't very reliable, and this adventure requires a lot of skills (Engineer and Pilot to get the ship off the ground, at the very least).
The idea of down-on-their-luck fools trying to navigate their stolen and refurbished junk ship out of a totalitarian sub-system is romantic, but the set-up needs some work, I think. You could start when they land it and have their portside contact (bribed by their employer but they don't know if the full payment's been made) check their papers and say 'ok'. Then they find out their employer was killed. How they got the ship off-world to begin with can be left shrouded in mystery. If no one has Pilot you can say they got it to orbit on autopilot and took a shuttle down.
Dang, I’ll try and hammer out a more comprehensive first job then
In the meantime I’ll run the fall of tanith since that seems like the perfect adventure for wetting your beak into the mechanics before getting into the lore and world building
What’s the approach to war in the traveller system? Some ground skirmishes or full on ship to ship combat
Being careful, because death is just right there?