|
|
Post by Bandersnatch on Jun 14, 2017 14:24:49 GMT -5
Has anyone ever run OD&D with Traveller Style CharGen? Say starting out at 16 and taking the Character to 24 an 8 year period to start him off at level one on the verge of becoming level two, but seasoned instead of raw wide-eyed youth.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 14, 2017 22:28:08 GMT -5
Do you have any proposals in mind? It does sound like an interesting idea and I like the idea of leaving them just short of 2nd level and not being wet behind the ears.
|
|
|
|
Post by erisred on Jun 16, 2017 16:44:25 GMT -5
Has anyone ever run OD&D with Traveller Style CharGen? Say starting out at 16 and taking the Character to 24 an 8 year period to start him off at level one on the verge of becoming level two, but seasoned instead of raw wide-eyed youth. Begging your pardon but, that's not Traveller Style CharGen. That's just starting your OD&D PC with some XP. Just start them at Level 2 (or Level 2-1XP) if you'd rather. Yes, I've done that, starting PC's in a party at level 2 or 3. In my Adventurers! rpg one of the "boons' a player can start with is "More Experienced" which means they start at 500XP instead of 0XP. I have one player in a game I ran who took it three times so his PC started at 2nd Level at the beginning of the game. He was the "the old hand" guiding a party of "youngsters", until he bit off more than he could chew and got his PC killed.  For a real Traveller Style CharGen fantasy game, you're talking about the mythical Wanderer.  Wanderer has never actually been created, but we've talked about it since Traveller first came out. I know I talked about it with friends and fellow players from 77 until now, first ftf, later on Fidonet, AOL and Genie, and now on the internet. I guess we all sort of were waiting for GDW...Marc Miller...to create it, so we only talked and made beta level attempts at it. Wanderer would have a proper Traveller style CharGen. Your PC's would have a Career ( forex. Mage, Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Trader, Mariner) with appropriate Skill and Mustering Out Tables and Continuation rolls. You'd go through the "creating a PC game" until your PC mustered out after some number of 4 year terms and then start the game proper. You'd need a Magic system with a Spell List or a way of doing "spells on the fly." That could be Psionics, but I'm in the dump psi camp myself. I'd use spells from the SRD, but how is the question...that I don't have a clean handle on. You'd also have to have Bestiary with fantasy creatures and demi-humans. You could probably just do some modifications to the Animal Creation system in CT for creatures. Demi-humans might need their own tables, or just be NPC only. There are a few other things I think would need to be dealt with. I think, you'd have to incorporate XP and character advancement to keep xD&D folks happy. I think an HP stat would need to be decoupled from STR/DEX/END when it comes to damage/recovery. Equipment and Weapons lists/costs would need to be created (or stolen) from somewhere. Over the years, Aldreth is the closest I've seen anyone get to a real Wanderer, but it's just a beginning and isn't really where I'd like Wanderer to end up anyway. It's more MT than CT and the author tied it to one world. Dang it! I should do this! |
|
|
|
Post by Bandersnatch on Jun 16, 2017 22:06:15 GMT -5
For a real Traveller Style CharGen fantasy game, you're talking about the mythical Wanderer. Wanderer has never actually been created, but we've talked about it since Traveller first came out. I know I talked about it with friends and fellow players from 77 until now, first ftf, later on Fidonet, AOL and Genie, and now on the internet. I guess we all sort of were waiting for GDW...Marc Miller...to create it, so we only talked and made beta level attempts at it. Wanderer would have a proper Traveller style CharGen. Your PC's would have a Career ( forex. Mage, Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Trader, Mariner) with appropriate Skill and Mustering Out Tables and Continuation rolls. You'd go through the "creating a PC game" until your PC mustered out after some number of 4 year terms and then start the game proper. You'd need a Magic system with a Spell List or a way of doing "spells on the fly." That could be Psionics, but I'm in the dump psi camp myself. I'd use spells from the SRD, but how is the question...that I don't have a clean handle on. You'd also have to have Bestiary with fantasy creatures and demi-humans. You could probably just do some modifications to the Animal Creation system in CT for creatures. Demi-humans might need their own tables, or just be NPC only. There are a few other things I think would need to be dealt with. I think, you'd have to incorporate XP and character advancement to keep xD&D folks happy. I think an HP stat would need to be decoupled from STR/DEX/END when it comes to damage/recovery. Equipment and Weapons lists/costs would need to be created (or stolen) from somewhere. Hmmm, that doesn't look mythical unless you are saying those books are blank on the inside. |
|
|
|
Post by mormonyoyoman on Jun 16, 2017 23:32:06 GMT -5
It's sort of hit or myth.
|
|
|
|
Post by erisred on Jun 17, 2017 0:57:40 GMT -5
It's sort of hit or myth. Oh, yeah, those books were blank on the inside. Somebody worked them up ages ago and posted the pictures. Got a lot of us excited about it, too. |
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 19, 2017 10:44:42 GMT -5
It's sort of hit or myth. Oh, yeah, those books were blank on the inside. Somebody worked them up ages ago and posted the pictures. Got a lot of us excited about it, too. Shame they are not real. Do you have any other pictures of them? Would love to read what is written on the front of each volume and the other sheets. Yes, why don't you write it, it would be a great project! |
|
|
|
Post by ffilz on Jun 19, 2017 15:11:16 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by dizzysaxophone on Jun 20, 2017 16:37:12 GMT -5
I have files that I think I remember being shared on Dragonsfoot called Traveller Fantasy. It is basically the Traveller system used to play fantasy style games. I've never actually read through them other than skimming, but I'm not sure on the legality of sharing these files. I believe it could still be found on dragonsfoot in the other games, or simulcrum sub-forum. Apparently I downloaded them in November2015, so I imagine the thread was active around then.
|
|
|
|
Post by raikenclw on Jun 20, 2017 17:14:37 GMT -5
Has anyone ever run OD&D with Traveller Style CharGen? Back in the mid-80s (was that really 30 years ago???), my group really liked playing Classic Traveller (primarily because of its much simpler - for the time - game mechanics) but at one point discovered an itch to play fantasy. So I obliged by creating a variant of CT that fit a fantasy mileau. The entire variant consisted of several handwritten tables cribbed from the Starter Traveller Charts and Tables booklet, but changed appropriately to reflect the different setting. Half of these covered random chargen [and - yes - you could die during it]. The whole thing just fit onto the front and back of a single sheet of 8.5x11 graph paper. I probably still have that original sheet . . . somewhere. But I'll be damned if I have any clue as to where. |
|
|
|
Post by raikenclw on Jun 20, 2017 18:04:26 GMT -5
Wanderer would have a proper Traveller style CharGen. Your PC's would have a Career ( forex. Mage, Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Trader, Mariner) with appropriate Skill and Mustering Out Tables and Continuation rolls. You'd go through the "creating a PC game" until your PC mustered out after some number of 4 year terms and then start the game proper. That's exactly what I did with my one-sheet variant. Essentially, I just changed skill titles (e.g. "Gun" became "Bow," "Electronics/Mechanical" became player's choice of "Repair" or "Lockpick," "Pilot/Ship's Boat" became "Riding," etc) and "Credits" became "Silver Pieces." You'd need a Magic system with a Spell List or a way of doing "spells on the fly." That could be Psionics, but I'm in the dump psi camp myself. I'd use spells from the SRD, but how is the question...that I don't have a clean handle on. We used the spells and spell rules from 3rd Edition D&D, except that in order to get "D&D Intelligence" we added together a mage's Education and Intelligence, thus giving the average "1st Level" mage a "D&D Intelligence" of 14. NOTE: I've personally never liked Vancian magic, but it was what everyone knew and the goal was simplicity, so I just went with it. You'd also have to have Bestiary with fantasy creatures and demi-humans. You could probably just do some modifications to the Animal Creation system in CT for creatures. The latter is what I did. Didn't even see any need to write a variant. I just assigned magical animals appropriate spell effects and winged it from there. Demi-humans might need their own tables, or just be NPC only. I had only elves, dwarves and orcs, so I just assigned a few stat mods. If I recall correctly, elves got -1 STR and +1 DEX, dwarves got -1 CHR and +1 END, orcs got -2 CHR, +1 STR, and +1 END. I think, you'd have to incorporate XP and character advancement to keep xD&D folks happy. That long-ago fantasy game didn't last long enough for this to be a concern. If it had, I would have probably just let everyone roll for advancement of each stat used significantly in a given session, with a positive modifier to each roll equal to the total number of sessions played since the last advance was gained. I think an HP stat would need to be decoupled from STR/DEX/END when it comes to damage/recovery. We saw no need to alter the way CT handled wounds and armor, since it's relative realism and simplicity was one of the things my players really liked about the system. NOTE: High-tech healing drugs and equipment were just re-imagined as the way clerics healed through "laying on of hands." Equipment and Weapons lists/costs would need to be created (or stolen) from somewhere. We mostly used the equipment list from 3rd Edition D&D, with weapons as defined in the CT tables, with a few created items (mainly variant bows/crossbows and polearms). |
|
|
|
Post by Admin Pete on Jun 20, 2017 20:39:01 GMT -5
I have files that I think I remember being shared on Dragonsfoot called Traveller Fantasy. It is basically the Traveller system used to play fantasy style games. I've never actually read through them other than skimming, but I'm not sure on the legality of sharing these files. I believe it could still be found on dragonsfoot in the other games, or simulcrum sub-forum. Apparently I downloaded them in November 2015, so I imagine the thread was active around then. I found the thread and the relevant part is "You can find Adventurer here- Crawdads and Dragons" which is the same thing that ffilz linked to at a different web address in his post right before yours. There was also a suggestion with replacing the tech levels with Hesiod's Five Ages of Man. |
|
|
|
Post by Irish Warrior on Jun 21, 2017 9:10:53 GMT -5
Good stuff all, love to read the posts on this forum.
|
|
|
|
Post by dizzysaxophone on Jun 21, 2017 17:23:10 GMT -5
I have files that I think I remember being shared on Dragonsfoot called Traveller Fantasy. It is basically the Traveller system used to play fantasy style games. I've never actually read through them other than skimming, but I'm not sure on the legality of sharing these files. I believe it could still be found on dragonsfoot in the other games, or simulcrum sub-forum. Apparently I downloaded them in November 2015, so I imagine the thread was active around then. I found the thread and the relevant part is "You can find Adventurer here- Crawdads and Dragons" which is the same thing that ffilz linked to at a different web address in his post right before yours. There was also a suggestion with replacing the tech levels with Hesiod's Five Ages of Man. Woops. I honestly only checked on of ffilz links as I skimmed, and it was the the one actually labeled wanderer. Sorry! |
|
|
|
Post by Admin Pete on Jun 21, 2017 18:18:20 GMT -5
Woops. I honestly only checked on of ffilz links as I skimmed, and it was the the one actually labeled wanderer. Sorry! No problem at all! |
|
|
|
Post by randyb on Jun 21, 2017 20:50:48 GMT -5
One game that combined the two chargen styles was Mekton Zeta*. Advancement was skill based, and Rookie (D&D-style) characters advanced at roughly twice the rate of Professionals (Traveller-style).
*Honestly, I think Mekton Zeta is an underappreciated game, probably for two reasons: 1. on the tin, it was billed as an anime mecha rpg. If that's not your cuppa, you'd likely give it a pass. 2. It was overshadowed by its big brother, Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. Same game system, Interlock (MZ was a further development of the system, in fact), same publisher (R. Talsorian), and same designer (Mike Pondsmith).
|
|
|
|
Post by raikenclw on Jun 21, 2017 20:57:04 GMT -5
Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. Same game system, Interlock (MZ was a further development of the system, in fact), same publisher (R. Talsorian), and same designer (Mike Pondsmith). I rather liked Cyberpunk 2020's character generation system. It struck me as "Classic Traveller written as film noir." |
|
|
|
Post by xizallian on Jun 23, 2017 7:17:26 GMT -5
Has anyone ever run OD&D with Traveller Style CharGen? Say starting out at 16 and taking the Character to 24 an 8 year period to start him off at level one on the verge of becoming level two, but seasoned instead of raw wide-eyed youth. Begging your pardon but, that's not Traveller Style CharGen. That's just starting your OD&D PC with some XP. Just start them at Level 2 (or Level 2-1XP) if you'd rather. Yes, I've done that, starting PC's in a party at level 2 or 3. In my Adventurers! rpg one of the "boons' a player can start with is "More Experienced" which means they start at 500XP instead of 0XP. I have one player in a game I ran who took it three times so his PC started at 2nd Level at the beginning of the game. He was the "the old hand" guiding a party of "youngsters", until he bit off more than he could chew and got his PC killed. For a real Traveller Style CharGen fantasy game, you're talking about the mythical Wanderer. Wanderer has never actually been created, but we've talked about it since Traveller first came out. I know I talked about it with friends and fellow players from 77 until now, first ftf, later on Fidonet, AOL and Genie, and now on the internet. I guess we all sort of were waiting for GDW...Marc Miller...to create it, so we only talked and made beta level attempts at it. Wanderer would have a proper Traveller style CharGen. Your PC's would have a Career ( forex. Mage, Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Trader, Mariner) with appropriate Skill and Mustering Out Tables and Continuation rolls. You'd go through the "creating a PC game" until your PC mustered out after some number of 4 year terms and then start the game proper. You'd need a Magic system with a Spell List or a way of doing "spells on the fly." That could be Psionics, but I'm in the dump psi camp myself. I'd use spells from the SRD, but how is the question...that I don't have a clean handle on. You'd also have to have Bestiary with fantasy creatures and demi-humans. You could probably just do some modifications to the Animal Creation system in CT for creatures. Demi-humans might need their own tables, or just be NPC only. There are a few other things I think would need to be dealt with. I think, you'd have to incorporate XP and character advancement to keep xD&D folks happy. I think an HP stat would need to be decoupled from STR/DEX/END when it comes to damage/recovery. Equipment and Weapons lists/costs would need to be created (or stolen) from somewhere. Over the years, Aldreth is the closest I've seen anyone get to a real Wanderer, but it's just a beginning and isn't really where I'd like Wanderer to end up anyway. It's more MT than CT and the author tied it to one world. Dang it! I should do this! That looks so cool you really should do it! Let me add to the chorus saying, "GO FOR IT!!"  |
|
|
|
Post by Robert the Black on Jun 27, 2017 13:56:46 GMT -5
I would like to see this in action. There would be what, a 98% chance of death at 1st level? I kid, surely it is not more than 95%.
|
|
|
|
Post by randyb on Jun 27, 2017 18:52:31 GMT -5
Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. Same game system, Interlock (MZ was a further development of the system, in fact), same publisher (R. Talsorian), and same designer (Mike Pondsmith). I rather liked Cyberpunk 2020's character generation system. It struck me as "Classic Traveller written as film noir." Then you'd love Mekton Zeta. It comes across as "Classic Traveller written as mecha anime." |
|
|
|
Post by Maximum Forest Ranger on Jun 28, 2017 9:10:56 GMT -5
I rather liked Cyberpunk 2020's character generation system. It struck me as "Classic Traveller written as film noir." Then you'd love Mekton Zeta. It comes across as "Classic Traveller written as mecha anime." What does mecha anime or anime mecha even mean? The first thing that comes to mind is poorly drawn biomorphic machines. Anime is the art where everything looks like it is being electrocuted, I do not see the appeal. But that still doesn't tell me what Mekton Zeta is unless it is an art based rpg, is it about the art or is there more to it than that? Now if Cyberpunk 2020 and Mekton Zeta are "Classic Traveller written as film noir and mecha anime," then that would be biomorphic machines that look like they are being electrocuted with lots of sharp pointy edges everywhere and because of their appearance they have a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace set in a far future with space travel. Are humans extinct in this game?  Tongue firmly in cheek! |
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 29, 2017 6:54:29 GMT -5
I would like to see this in action. There would be what, a 98% chance of death at 1st level? I kid, surely it is not more than 95%. That sounds like fun, is your game like that? |
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 29, 2017 6:56:00 GMT -5
Then you'd love Mekton Zeta. It comes across as "Classic Traveller written as mecha anime." What does mecha anime or anime mecha even mean? The first thing that comes to mind is poorly drawn biomorphic machines. Anime is the art where everything looks like it is being electrocuted, I do not see the appeal. But that still doesn't tell me what Mekton Zeta is unless it is an art based rpg, is it about the art or is there more to it than that? Now if Cyberpunk 2020 and Mekton Zeta are "Classic Traveller written as film noir and mecha anime," then that would be biomorphic machines that look like they are being electrocuted with lots of sharp pointy edges everywhere and because of their appearance they have a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace set in a far future with space travel. Are humans extinct in this game? Tongue firmly in cheek! The Sage says, "When tongue in cheek, stand still, be careful." |
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 29, 2017 6:58:47 GMT -5
Over the years, Aldreth is the closest I've seen anyone get to a real Wanderer, but it's just a beginning and isn't really where I'd like Wanderer to end up anyway. It's more MT than CT and the author tied it to one world. Dang it! I should do this! Yes, yes you should! |
|
|
|
Post by Jame Rowe on Jul 1, 2017 17:09:07 GMT -5
I wrote some of the material in those. Great fun. |
|
Tongue firmly in cheek!