Traveller 1977 - from the Tales to Astound! blog

[Admin Pete]

TRAVELLER: Out of the Box – Interlude: How People Played Traveller in 1977

Traveller: Out of the Box link to a series of posts

I think these links are somewhere else on here, but I wanted to make sure they were easily found.

[Traveroark]

Thank you, good reads.

[Admin Pete]

[The Master]

I thought I would link directly to these posts in the out of the box series.

Classic Traveller: Out of the Box

The premise is simple:

I examine Books 1-3 of the original Traveller rules found in the original boxed set (both the 1977 edition and the 1981 edition) and see what sort of game and play is found within.

General Musings on Marc Miller and Traveller

I had the good fortune to play Traveller with Marc Miller at Gary Con X this past weekend. He was gracious enough to sit and chat with our group for a while afterwards, and with me individually for a bit as well. As Classic Traveller lovers, I thought I’d share some observations, gleaned from this experience.

The second link is to another blog and a summary of comments by Marc Miller. The two links go together.

[The Master]

TRAVELLER: Out of the Box-The Skill System (which I don’t think is a Skill System)

When I think about how Classic Traveller I see it less as a “skill system” as we often use such systems these days (REFEREE: “Oh, you want to try something? Make this roll…”) than I see it as the equivalent of a Saving Throw from OD&D.

It only gets better from here.

[The Master]

TRAVELLER: Out of the Box-Character Creation

I have this theory that character creation is (or should be) part of play for RPGs. It isn’t the thing before play begins. It is when playing starts. I know I might be rare in this regard. But I do believe it firmly.

There are a lot of comparisons to OD&D.

[The Master]

TRAVELLER: Out of the Box–Making a Character, Playing to Find Out

I think the Classic Traveller character creation system does a lot of other neat tricks that I discuss in this post. (It teaches the mechanics of the game (the 2D6 bell curve, DMs for rolls based on characteristics, the honest risk of death (which is how I play) in pursuit of what you want, the basics of suboptimal choices (“Do I call it quits after one term? Or risk death?”) which in many ways is baked into the implied setting, working with the hand you are dealt (choosing the career based on potential characteristic DMs.)

I like how he talks about options that are in the game that no one thinks about and no one takes, but nevertheless are options.

[The Master]

TRAVELLER: Out of the Box – The Remote, Centralized Government – “Where the Adventures Aren’t”

Play will focus on the subsector map I’ll be rolling up. This is the introduction to the setting material that is off the subsector map. It is the fictional information about the Remote, Centralized Government beyond the borders of the subsector.

This is the culture and society the Player Characters are from. They gained their skills while serving in this governments various military branches.

First, some basic premise rules:

Good advice for setting up the game and keeping the focus practical and immediate.

[The Master]

Those are a few of the blog posts and there are more.

[The Master]

Here are some posts from other blogs

In Defense of Dying in Traveller Character Generation

What is Proto-Traveller?

How to make a Traveller Sandbox

Traveller: Where to start

[El Borak]

Lot of good stuff there The Master, have an exalt.

[randyb]

Aug 18, 2018 19:06:24 GMT -5 The Master said:

TRAVELLER: Out of the Box–Making a Character, Playing to Find Out

I think the Classic Traveller character creation system does a lot of other neat tricks that I discuss in this post. (It teaches the mechanics of the game (the 2D6 bell curve, DMs for rolls based on characteristics, the honest risk of death (which is how I play) in pursuit of what you want, the basics of suboptimal choices (“Do I call it quits after one term? Or risk death?”) which in many ways is baked into the implied setting, working with the hand you are dealt (choosing the career based on potential characteristic DMs.)

I like how he talks about options that are in the game that no one thinks about and no one takes, but nevertheless are options.

My favorite - skip enlistment/draft and find a Psionics Institute.

[Hexenritter Verlag]

Oh I am liking these blog posts linked here. It makes me want to print out the PDFs I have and add black & white sci-fi art for covers to save on ink. I reread the Starship travel math and other math used and it isn't as involved as I thought it was. I might create my own Traveller PbP eventually once I get a solid grasp on the rules.

[Traveroark]

Aug 19, 2018 11:19:59 GMT -5 randyb said:

Aug 18, 2018 19:06:24 GMT -5 The Master said:

TRAVELLER: Out of the Box–Making a Character, Playing to Find Out
I like how he talks about options that are in the game that no one thinks about and no one takes, but nevertheless are options.

My favorite - skip enlistment/draft and find a Psionics Institute.

That would be a fun way to go for the whole party and see what happens.

[Traveroark]

Aug 19, 2018 13:20:59 GMT -5 Hexenritter Verlag said:

Oh I am liking these blog posts linked here. It makes me want to print out the PDFs I have and add black & white sci-fi art for covers to save on ink. I reread the Starship travel math and other math used and it isn't as involved as I thought it was. I might create my own Traveller PbP eventually once I get a solid grasp on the rules.

 They are really good posts, very meaty and practical.

[Hexenritter Verlag]

Aug 19, 2018 15:37:20 GMT -5 Traveroark said:

Aug 19, 2018 13:20:59 GMT -5 Hexenritter Verlag said:

Oh I am liking these blog posts linked here. It makes me want to print out the PDFs I have and add black & white sci-fi art for covers to save on ink. I reread the Starship travel math and other math used and it isn't as involved as I thought it was. I might create my own Traveller PbP eventually once I get a solid grasp on the rules.

 They are really good posts, very meaty and practical.

That they are, I really enjoyed them and they gave me a lot of food for thought. 

[randyb]

Aug 19, 2018 15:35:53 GMT -5 Traveroark said:

Aug 19, 2018 11:19:59 GMT -5 randyb said:

My favorite - skip enlistment/draft and find a Psionics Institute.

That would be a fun way to go for the whole party and see what happens.

Oh yeah! I'd be up for that.

("But muh mortgaged Free Trader! How can I run Traveller if your characters don't have to pay the mortgage on a Free Trader!")

[Admin Pete]

Aug 20, 2018 16:20:03 GMT -5 randyb said:

Aug 19, 2018 15:35:53 GMT -5 Traveroark said:

That would be a fun way to go for the whole party and see what happens.

Oh yeah! I'd be up for that.

("But muh mortgaged Free Trader! How can I run Traveller if your characters don't have to pay the mortgage on a Free Trader!")

I've got to give you an exalt for that line!

[Hexenritter Verlag]

I think I'll scour this blog & use it to inform my future Classic Traveller campaigns.

[xizallian]

I would love to play Traveller face to face, I should get the pdfs and print them out.