Last Friday, I ran my first Traveller adventure in 20 years, using the new Mongoose rulebook. Our group has been playing pretty regularly for almost 30 years (since Traveller first came out). The evening started with chargen, then right into an introductory adventure.

Since I'm still learning the rules, and a little rusty as ref, we took it slow. We decided to take turns at each step of chargen. First, everyone rolled stats. I used 2D6, but any '1s' added in and rolled again, giving better than average characters. Then each player rolled a term of service, with me explaining things as we went along. They decided to each create 3 term characters, so they'd be on a par with each other, but not incur aging penalties.

Dan decided on a Corporate Agent. Most of his skills are in Computer, Investigate, and Streetwise. Rubin started in the Scouts, but had a mishap (failed survival roll). He wound up as a Pirate, and failed his last survival roll as well! One of the things I like about this new edition is the Events/ Mishaps tables, that give even more color to the lifepath. Rubin's forte is Piloting. Our third player, Ben, rolled up a Star Marine. Guess who the party gun bunny is. All in all, a well rounded group.

I had rolled up a subsector, and they all rolled randomly the same homeworld. I started them on the most forgiving world, a law level 0 freeport I named Lazar. They equipped ("Guns. Lots of guns.") and met their patron, a Hot Scientist Babe named Ayla Varesh. Much discussion ensued as to who would play her in the movie. She believed she had uncovered evidence of a crashed alien spacecraft in the system, and wanted the party to help her get to it and lay claim to its secrets. She had chartered a launch, but her two assistants were science types, and she expected trouble. Other parties had been sniffing around, and some of them didn't play nice.

They set off for the moon of a gas giant, which I hadn't named. I had planned on setting the adventure entirely on Lazar, but at the game table, it seemed silly that an alien spacecraft could crash on a planet with a class B port, a navy base and scout base, and not be found. So I decided on the fly that the crash happened farther out, and 60 years ago. Ayla had been sifting through old sensor records to pinpoint its location.

At 1G, they would take about a week to get to the moon. I couldn't come up with a name on the fly, so we digressed coming up with silly names for the giant and the moon. they used their sensor skills to monitor traffic, and Dan used his Computer 3 to sort through it to find any traffic headed their way. Of course, there were other interested parties. Dan wondered why something could lay hidden for 60 years, and now everyone knows about it, and the race is on. I froze for a second ("Illogical, illogical! Please explain!"), then said that oters knew of Ayla's interest, and had probably hacked her files. Thinking about it now, I have other devious thoughts ... heh, heh.

More soon.

I'm at work, you know, that thing that gets in the way of gaming?

To continue, the PCs found an NPC party with a ship's boat already at the site. They decided to land a bit away, and proceed by ground. They had one of Ayla's two assistants Able and Baker, drive a small ATV (on Lazar, they call them bubble buggies) toward the site as a diversion. Dan and Ben approached from another direction, while Rubin sneaked up the far side of the Ship's boat (I had sketched airlocks on both sides of the boat).

I described the site as looking like Tycho from "2001", 5 guys in vacc suits with big klieg lights all around. Another was in the boat. A shadowy form was barely visible beneath the ice, a la "The Thing". One NPC was setting thermite charges to melt the ice. Dan hacked their computers, and set off the charges prematurely. NPC #1 blowed up real good. The rest broke for cover, the leader kangaroo-hopping tpward the boat. Ben shot him with a PGMP. Talk about overkill! Fortunately, no one was behind him to use the "serious firepower" rule on! Dan shot two more with his shotgun (I ruled that ammunition has oxidizer built in, so yes, firearms can shoot in vacuum). Rubin pretended to be wounded so he could gain entry to the boat, and wounded the pilot. The last NPC surrenderd on the spot.

They gave first aid to the wounded, then checked sensors to see if anyone else was headed their way. Another boat and a cutter, on slightly different vectors were indeed incoming, about 7 hours out. Ayla wanted to drill a test bore to check the composition of the hull before trying thermite (she had seen "The Thing"). The unwounded NPC, Charlie, when asked if he could rig explosives, gave a hearty 'Yessir!", and that's where we called it a night.

I'll post more when I get a chance.

Howzzit different from, you know, CT, chief?

Howdy Doc! I used your Adventure Funnel a lot during prep, and tried to maintain a "pantsless" attitude!:cool:

The new game is very similar to CT. Task resolution is 2D6+ skill, only instead of setting the target higher, 8+, 10+, etc. they set a minus for harder tasks. Same diff. Character generation is the same, but careers are slightly changed. Each career has 3 specialties, each giving a different set of skills. You get more skills to begin, background and basic training, plus you choose a skill "package" at the end of chargen, so every PC starts with a good array of skills. My favorite additions are the Events and Mishaps tables. Every term, you roll an Event, like, "Crimelord takes an interest in you career. Get Bribery1." When you fail a survival roll, you get a Mishap. A nice extra jog for player imagination.

Combat is similar, only now armor absorbs damage. Initiative is 2D6 now. Oh, and bonuses are on a regular schedule for all stats. 3-5 gives  -1, 6-8 gives no bonus, 9-11 gives +1, 12-14 gives +2, etc. This adds into the regular skill roll. You tend to get a lot of level zero skills, which keep you from having a -3 penalty for utter lack of skill.

Basically, think of it as CT Plus. All the basics are there, with a little added gravy, like the D66 table of Cultural Oddities they put in the Planet Creation section. You get things like, "Starport: the port is a focus of local culture, perhaps an object of veneration, or a focus of protest". All my PCs come from the planet Job (the guy from the Bible, long "o", not "take this _ and shove it"). The cultural quirk was food. The planet is crowded, tainted, and poor. Soylent Green, anyone?

I first picked up Traveller in 1977, but lost all my stuff during a move. I had high hopes for this edition. It's close enough to CT that I can grasp everything quickly, with enough of the subsequent expansions that it doesn't feel cramped, but not so much it's overwhelming. Some of the layout is clumsy, but overall, I'm loving it!

Dammit, some of that stuff sounds aces but my kid already laid down the law.

Thanks, Leo, but you may have to talk it over with her.

She Who Must Be Obeyed!;)

Fortunately, aside from damage, everything else is so close to the original, you could pick up any of the informational supplements they're coming out with, and use them with only minor tweaks. They are, of course rebooting Spinward Marches, Mercenary, High Guard, etc., but more exciting, they're working on material outside the Third Imperium.

According to their blog, David Drake is working on a "Hammer's Slammers" expansion, a "Babylon 5" book is in the works, too. Could be fun!

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!;220938Dammit, some of that stuff sounds aces but my kid already laid down the law.

Thanks, Leo, but you may have to talk it over with her.

DOC,

You could always buy a copy of Mongoose TRAVELLER - then give it to her as HER first copy of Traveller.


- Ed C.