Quote from: jeff37923;958194Damnit! I see this thread just as I have to go to work!

Tell me, have you done a comparison between Traveller 1977 and Traveller 1981?

More later....

Oh, ...actually just picked up an original Traveller boxed set for $35 last month, and it is the first time I have owned the original edition since since 1977. They changed much sooner than 1981, cause I picked up a second boxed set in 1980 that no longer had the jump routes tables included...

Quote from: Dumarest;958198I don't know how qualified I am to intelligently discuss games or the hows and whys of it all. I just play them....

Opinions are like assholes. Everyone's got one.

And mine is the only one that smells great!

Please feel free to let your freak flag fly. If you say something smart or stupid, we'll pounce on it either way.

BTW, the fact that YOU PLAY RPGS set you apart from too many people who played, not play, the games they love. We love to hear about cool stuff from your table and we also have plenty of posters whose first language isn't English.

We call them Canadians.

Quote from: Dumarest;958213Or could be I'm just old and not hip to the new breed. Or too cheap to buy new stuff.

There is a crapton of free stuff on the web.

There are loads of 3rd party creations too available on DriveThruRPG and RPGNow.

BTW, its not for the Traveller system, but Stars Without Number gets a lot of love from Traveller fans. Here's a link to the free PDF.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition

Quote from: Black Vulmea;958238Welcome to the adult swim.


Have you looked at Dark City Games?

BV's right in Dark City. They have a whole line of TFT compatible games under the "Legends of" titles now and a bunch of solos too.
Legends of the Ancient World is the fantasy version with 14 adventures.
Legends of Time and Space is the SF version and has the second most adventures out at 5.
Legends of the Untamed West is the last one and has so far the least at a mere 1.

The core rules for each are free and all except Untamed West has a 2 free adventures too.

There have been a few threads and discussions on TFT or Melee/Wizard in the last few months so if you do a search you might find them.

Quote from: ChristopherKubasik;958237I don't care much about dull, really. (It can only be so lengthy, right?)

I am more interested in this: People often make Classic Traveller too complicated: Too much background; to much politics out of the gate; too much information for the Players to digest even before they begin margin a character; too many options; too little clarity on what they might do.

I'm curious about how people set up CT games that work.

Not sure how much detail you are I interested in, so if you want more just say so...

I start by rolling up a subsector at random. I take the random results and then alter anything that I think could work better but not until I think about various planet/star system results and what the could mean on their own and also in conjunction with each other. I try to make sure there are reasonable opportunities and means to travel from one system to another, as well as reasons you might want or need to. I try to see if there are any relationships or ties, trade or otherwise, that might make sense between the various planets. I prefer to have pretty much no central government at all, so it's more like E.C. Tubb's Dumarest stories. Basically independent planets with their own governments and cultures. It makes for good episodic gaming and ways to pick up new and different PCs if anyone dies or needs a backup. Yes, I steal institutions from Tubb as well, although it may not be the Cyclan or the Universal Brotherhood there will be nefarious and religious sects. I also think up and steal and randomly generate rumors the PCs may hear at various locations. I try to have at least three per locale, plus possible (and possibly competing) patrons or employers. Then we roll up characters and extrapolate backgrounds based on their scores and skills and ages, of course taking the setting into account. That is, there is no Galactic Navy, so maybe you were in the Navy of Planet X while this PC was a merchant working trade routes between Planets X, Y, and Z. I like to establish that they've either retired or been fired and have them tell me why they are out here in the fringes of civilization. Sometimes I give them some information or rumors about the subsector to spur the whys and how-comes of their characters being there. If someone scored a ship in character generation, I'll get that written up and named and figure out who they owe money to (bank? guild? mafioso? etc.) and see how that affects what the PCs will do. I steal a page from the West End Games Star Wars game and ask the players to come up with their connections to each other, and again the scores and skills and backgrounds help with that. Two guys both in the Scouts? Maybe they know each other from that. Maybe that Merchant is your cousin or former brother-in-law. I don't know, you tell me.  Then I usually plop them down on whichever planet seems a good starting point and away we go. I don't worry about much else until it comes up in play or looks likely to do so. If there's something the PCs would know about a person or place or thing, I just tell them. Otherwise they find out about as soon as I do. I don't set up encounters or scenarios as set pieces; instead I roll up random stuff and try to make it coherent (as in it makes sense whether the PCs know it or not, as stuff happens in the background whether they are aware or not) and let the players choose what they want to do. One nice thing about Traveller is you can always go somewhere else if where you are isn't fun or interesting. I don't think I've ever needed more than one or two subsectors so I've never had to generate a galaxy or empire or any of that stuff. It's more like the Wild West and boomtowns and mining operations and pony express and cattle barons in space, at least that's what I like. I just wish I got to be a PC more often; I have the misfortune of being the reliable person who is willing to put in the work and read books so I nearly always end being the ref. Which is fun too.

Quote from: GameDaddy;958239Still one of my favorite games, actually. Played often and very recently lucked into a game with Marc Miller at GaryCon this year.

Citizens of the Imperium is a good website, started by Hunter who did 4e Traveller, and then taken over by FFE.
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/

The Zhodani Base is another great Traveller website
http://zho.berka.com/

Traveller Downport is really good
http://www.downport.com/

Finally I like to read, ...and every once in awhile contribute to, Freelance Traveller
https://www.freelancetraveller.com/

You'll find articles I write on Traveller once-in-awhile here in this forum, as well as over on G+ there;
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DirkCollins

The G+ group is a private RPG circle, so If I know your handle on G+ (or you PM me an email addy) I"ll invite you so you can get access to gaming articles I post over there including plenty of Traveller...

Thanks for the references. I will have to check those out. What was it like to play with Mr. Miller?

Quote from: Omega;958251BV's right in Dark City. They have a whole line of TFT compatible games under the "Legends of" titles now and a bunch of solos too.
Legends of the Ancient World is the fantasy version with 14 adventures.
Legends of Time and Space is the SF version and has the second most adventures out at 5.
Legends of the Untamed West is the last one and has so far the least at a mere 1.

The core rules for each are free and all except Untamed West has a 2 free adventures too.

There have been a few threads and discussions on TFT or Melee/Wizard in the last few months so if you do a search you might find them.

I had not heard of any of this stuff. Is it Fantasy Trip with the serial numbers files off or did they get the rights and change the name? I always thought the name sounded like a hippie band of potheads from Berkeley in the late '60s, like Quicksilver Messenger Service or something.

Quote from: Dumarest;958255I had not heard of any of this stuff. Is it Fantasy Trip with the serial numbers files off or did they get the rights and change the name? I always thought the name sounded like a hippie band of potheads from Berkeley in the late '60s, like Quicksilver Messenger Service or something.

Serials numbers filed off. It doesn't have the nuances of the original rules but the design principles and overall mechanics are the same. The same thing with Heroes and Other Worlds (http://heroworlds.blogspot.com/)

"What are you doing this weekend, Dumarest?"
"Playing The Fantasy Trip, maaaaaan!"
"Damn dirty hippie."

Quote from: Dumarest;958198Christopher Kubasik (the guy who posted above you) compared the 1977 and 1981 versions: https://talestoastound.wordpress.com/traveller-out-of-the-box/

That's some of the kind of stuff I am really looking for, plus just scenarios and other ideas.

I will try to post about Traveller, but as I stated in my original post I don't know how qualified I am to intelligently discuss games or the hows and whys of it all. I just play them....

If you play the games then you know how they work in practice and not just in theory, and that is preferable.

Don't know if you would be interested or not, but we have a Traveller RPG Group on Facebook where a lot of discussion occurs.

Quote from: jeff37923;958269If you play the games then you know how they work in practice and not just in theory, and that is preferable.

Don't know if you would be interested or not, but we have a Traveller RPG Group on Facebook where a lot of discussion occurs.

Thanks...I assume one needs to be on Facebook for that? I'm not on any social media to date. Is that like a forum or a video conference thing like Skype?

Quote from: Black Vulmea;958238Welcome to the adult swim.


Have you looked at Dark City Games?

I am looking at it now; thanks for the referral.

I also am enjoying reading the "back issues" of your swashbuckling RPG blog. I have a boxed set of Flashing Blades in my closet that I should break out sometime.

The name The Fantasy Trip is a nice little enshrining of the "hippy 70s" vibe that showed up in the early days. There were drug culture references here and there in various products, or Greg Stafford's fairly earnest interest in spiritual exploration, even things like some of the original TFT counters having some pretty cool bell-bottom wearing characters. All gone by about 1983 for the new 80s commercial marketplace.
In the early 80s, when I was a pretty young kid, I remember my family visiting some post-hippy friends in their (mud-brick?) home full of incense, beads etc. They had a couple of Dragon magazines lying around. Probably not even gamers but dragons and trippy art were the thing in those circles.

I'm a huge TFT fan. It was my first RPG, and still a sentimental favorite and influence, and it will still do, especially with house rules. I just finished a play through of TFT Grailquest last month.

Dark City Games' programmed adventures are well done, and adaptable for use with TFT. However the rules they published are like Cliff Notes version, and leave out a lot. But if you know TFT that's not much of a problem except some things are vague and want GM rulings to use them with TFT since their system is much simpler and slightly different.

The biggest group of online diehard TFT players I know of is the TFT Email List. It's often inactive until someone posts something, but new posts tend to lead to a flurry of replies. It has an archive that goes back years or decades.

I now generally prefer GURPS and modded GURPS to TFT just because I've played so much that plain TFT seems missing a few things I want. If you don't like getting points for disadvantages, there are of course ways to houserule fixes for that.

Quote from: Dumarest;958274I am looking at it now; thanks for the referral.

You're welcome.

Quote from: Dumarest;958255Is it Fantasy Trip with the serial numbers files off . . . ?

Pretty much, and compatible with all your existing TFT materials.

So enjoy a dozen-plus new modules, maps, and counter sets for your game.

Quote from: Dumarest;958274I also am enjoying reading the "back issues" of your swashbuckling RPG blog. I have a boxed set of Flashing Blades in my closet that I should break out sometime.

You might enjoy our campaign wiki as well.

Gotta give you big props for the E.C. Tubb avatar and name. Just discovered his books recently. His muscular and literate space opera adventures come close to scratching my Leigh Brackett itch.