Quote from: T. Foster;377465AD&D is my second favorite rpg

(In case you miss it elsewhere)

This might be a personal issue, but I was overwhelmed with what I perceive to be too many skills with too much overlap.  It raises questions for the novice (me) like: I'm using a computer to find treatment for this alien disease...Am I using Computers, Medicine, Research, or Space Science (xenobiology)?  Again, I don't blame Traveller as much as my own prejudice against long skill lists.  I hated this about Alternity too.[/QUOTE]

This is a strength, IMHO. Like in the real world there are multiple ways to do something like finding a treatment for a disease. For example, I personally know next to nothing about medicine, but when my wife was diagnosed with oral cancer, I used my computer and Internet skills to find out all sorts of info on it in medical databases. Someone trained in medicine or biology or library science (research) probably would have gone about things differently than I did, but would have ended up with similar info. I like games that allow for this. It means you don't have to be sure the characters have some specific skill or risk the adventure failing.

Quote from: T. Foster;377465AD&D is my second favorite rpg

RuneQuest first?

Quote from: Benoist;377491RuneQuest first?

It was this morning (in case you couldn't tell from that series of posts I made), but I think this thread may have pushed Traveller back into the #1 slot :hmm:

From what I've seen in the boxed set and what I've heard from you guys I'd love to play Traveller.

I just want someone else to run it.

I'm tired of running games.  When my current AD&D saga ends...I'm putting down the DM's hat for a long time.

This is probably kind of lame, but I think of AD&D as EGG's OD&D- which is great; i just prefer my OD&D- vastly.

Quote from: T. Foster;377502It was this morning (in case you couldn't tell from that series of posts I made), but I think this thread may have pushed Traveller back into the #1 slot :hmm:

LOL We need to talk about RuneQuest some more!

Quote from: Aos;377507This is probably kind of lame, but I think of AD&D as EGG's OD&D- which is great; i just prefer my OD&D- vastly.

No, no no. I actually utterly, completely, 100% agree on this. I happen to love what EGG's done with OD&D, and that's AD&D. When I want to run EGG's D&D, I go for it, but if I want something more tailor-made for me and my gaming group, I'll go with OD&D first, and houserule from the ground up. To me, these two games are the paramount of what D&D has to offer. To me, myself, and I concur.

The Traveller Book is my desert island rpg.

Quote from: winkingbishop;377368This might be a personal issue, but I was overwhelmed with what I perceive to be too many skills with too much overlap.  It raises questions for the novice (me) like: I'm using a computer to find treatment for this alien disease...Am I using Computers, Medicine, Research, or Space Science (xenobiology)?  

In GAMERS, I resolved this by simply saying that you decide what approach your character will take, that's the primary skill, and others come in as support of that.

For example, if you say, "I have no idea about treating this disease, I'll just look it up," that's Computers. If you say, "I look through my extensive library and consult with colleagues," that's Research. If you say, "based on my experience, I consider a treatment of..." that's Medicine. Which approach does your character take? Well, probably whichever is their highest skill

But I as GM am going to set different difficulties for those skill checks. Someone with Medicine might only need to roll 10+, someone with Research 12+, and someone with just computers 14+. Maybe I'll tell you those difficulties, maybe not, depends on the situation. So you as a player get to weigh it up, which is my character's best skill, which will be the easiest way to do it.

Other skills can come in as "complementary skills." What I say is that if you roll 10+ on your skill check, then that skill complements your primary skill, and gives a DM+1. You can bring in as different many skills as seem relevant. Other PCs can add their skills in, too - but the skills have to be different, my Computers can help your Medicine, but my Medicine can't help your Medicine, there's too much "shut up, I know what I'm doing!"

But as soon as you fail one roll, you have to make that primary roll.

So the doctor with Medicine, Computers and Research will be better off than the doctor with just Medicine. But some doctors will rely more on Research than their own knowledge of Medicine (ie the ones with higher Research skill...)

This comes from my view that most professions are a collection of synergistic skills, and that when teamwork actually works, it's that same synergy.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;377505From what I've seen in the boxed set and what I've heard from you guys I'd love to play Traveller.

I just want someone else to run it.

I'm tired of running games.  When my current AD&D saga ends...I'm putting down the DM's hat for a long time.

Sounds like someone might need to get a Traveller PbP set up over at the Citadel...  

The gold in Traveller is character generation. The Career system has been the biggest influence on my homebrewed games.

There are some issues.

Basic characters, just don't stack up next to characters from High Guard, Mercenary or Scouts. so I felt that was a shame as the characters from these games are almost totally superior.
I also felt that there was space for Law-enforcement or crime as careers (and indeed I made them up ) and I understand the Mongoose stuff expanded into these areas.

Lastly the dying whist making a character is daft and So i replaced that with a 'tragedy' table. When the chargen system kills you instead roll on the tradegy table and you get some other random thing, ranging from divorce to loosing a limb or developing a mental illness. (as an aside I developed a Blessings table as well so you forgo a promotion and roll on there to get anything from a kid to an inheritance to a lottery win).

But there is no doubt the chargen in Traveller is up there with the Amber auction as one of the most inovative and fun in any system.

It is suited to a certain type of Scifi. So Lensman, the Stainless Steel Rat, Starship Toopers, that era of Scifi works incedibly well.

The stuff on building star systems is excellent for sandbox play. The stuff on Ships for me is a bit too hard-fi. I don't mind the engineering or the complexity of it (put me in good stead when i was building cars in Cars Wars later on) but the ships you end up with are hard-fi ships not space opera ships. It might be accurate that your fuel takes up 80% of your ship but a suitcase sized dilitium crystal or power cells mean you can have more fun and ship combat for me was a bit flat.

Actually the more I think about this the more I feel like running a game of Serenity using Classic traveller or even looking out for the mongoose stuff..... hmmmm

Quote from: MeThis might be a personal issue, but I was overwhelmed with what I perceive to be too many skills with too much overlap...

Quote from: Greentongue;377437I consider this a strength.
It is less likely that nobody will have a skill to continue the game with. More open playing as each adventure does not have to be hand crafted for the specific set of skills the players have.

Quote from: RandallS;377480This is a strength, IMHO. Like in the real world there are multiple ways to do something like finding a treatment for a disease. For example...

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;377615In GAMERS, I resolved this by simply saying that you decide what approach your character will take, that's the primary skill, and others come in as support of that.

These are all fair and useful responses and I appreciate them.  I'm not a stranger to skill-driven games but I think I may be part of the "less is more" school of thought on the issue.  It isn't a problem particular to Traveller and not a deal breaker for me, just something that stood out and shouted at me.

Quote from: jibbajibba;377629Basic characters, just don't stack up next to characters from High Guard, Mercenary or Scouts. so I felt that was a shame as the characters from these games are almost totally superior.
I also felt that there was space for Law-enforcement or crime as careers (and indeed I made them up ) and I understand the Mongoose stuff expanded into these areas.

MegaTraveller addressed these. Basic (but not advanced) characters have an extra Special Duty roll added to the procedure which, if you succeed, grants an extra skill for that Term. Also, if a Basic character rolls 4+ more than required on a Commission, Promotion, or Special Duty roll he receives 2 skills instead of 1. This was coupled with revising the skill tables to include all the extra skills that were introduced in the later books (so even Basic characters can get skills like Carousing and Instruction). The combined effect of these changes is that Basic and Advanced characters at least theoretically don't have much disparity in terms of actual skill-points, and which system you use is mostly a matter of how much extra detail you want. They also added Law Enforcer as a career (which had previously, IIRC, appeared in a JTAS issue). Weren't criminals already a career in Supplement 4 (or, for that matter, the "other" career in Book 1)?

I lost my 3 lbbs ages ago. I have the 0-8 reprint, or whatever the fuck it is, and it is no good for reading.
I believe I will have to acquire a copy of the Traveller Book.