9:37 PM Traveller: Information from Answers | ||||
1977 (Classic Traveller) 1987 (MegaTraveller) 1993 (Traveller: The New Era) System(s) From the key features derived from literary sources grew the detailed specific background of the stellar governments and alien races of the Traveller universe: Human-centric The background of the OTU features a human-dominated universe. As such, the core rules primarily focus on development of human characters touching only briefly on a few non-human species. There are numerous Traveller publications however, with rules and extensive information on playing members of other races. Cosmopolitan Despite the dominance of humanity, a large number of aliens was always implied to exist, inside and outside of Charted Space. The number of aliens per sector is estimated to vary from zero (in "barren" sectors) to eight or more (for example, in the Spinward Marches sector). [ 2 ] Interstellar travel Interstellar travel is facilitated, and limited, by the use of a technology called the jump drive. These drives are capable of propelling a spacecraft between one to six parsecs depending on the individual drive's specifications. Regardless of the distance of a jump, the duration required for the trip is approximately one week. Limited communication A central theme to Traveller is that there is no form of faster-than-light information transfer – meaning no ansible. subspace radio or hyper-wave communication technology is available, thereby recreating an "age of sail " feel to the game. Most interplanetary communication is handled by courier ships, most commonly "X-boats", which are small Imperial vessels with long-distance jump drives that travel between systems transmitting and receiving vital data. Systems not on an X-boat route must rely on mail runs brought in by visiting ships. The new feudalism The restraint on the speed of information leads to decentralization and the vestment of significant power in the hands of local officials. This isolation causes entire wars to be fought, won, or lost on the frontiers before a message gets to any remote administrative capitals to let them know the war has even begun. This means that all kinds of agents, from merchants to generals, must show initiative and be reasonably independent from their corporate or political overlords. Since local rulers cannot be directly controlled by central authority, affairs are managed by a class of independent nobility, who make use of classic titles such as Baron, Duke and Archduke. This decentralization of authority is one means of coping with the difficulties imposed by size and limits of speed of transportation technology. Non-utopian future In the OTU, the human race never evolves into a superior state. People remain people and continue to show courage, wisdom, honesty and justice, along with cowardice, deceit, and criminal behavior. Tension is vented regularly in small conflicts before they have a chance to reach Imperium-shattering proportions. Thus, planets are allowed to fight out internal wars, and capitalism is the major driving force of civilization. No prime directive There is typically no prohibition on contact or interference with other races protecting them from advanced technology. Economics and other factors that applied to exploration and colonization on Earth are the same factors that shape the Traveller Universe. However, governments may interdict planets with native primitive intelligent species. These interdicted worlds are commonly known as "Red Zones" based on the Imperial designation for such a world. 'Red' (or the less restrictive 'Amber') zones are often to protect the interest of an interstellar government, not the native population. Classic Traveller introduced a 'lifepath'-style character generation system which helps it stand out from other role-playing games. Traveller characters get their skills and experience in a mini-game, where the player makes career choices that determine the character's life up to the point right before adventuring begins. Characters range from "everyday Joes in space" to crack mercenary teams, and the game often draws from pulp science-fiction for its aliens (the Aslan are similar to Kzin. the Hivers to Pierson's Puppeteers. and so on). Some character "classes" are military-oriented, while others are civilian. A character can be human, robot, alien, or of a genetically engineered species. In character generation, players take their characters through a career where the player rolls randomly on various tables that provides assignments and life events from which new skills, ranks and benefits are gained. There was also a risk that a character suffers injury (or even death) during the course of a career. A character can be a young cadet or a tried-and-true veteran, each with strengths and weaknesses. Keeping a character in service longer leads to more skills and benefits, but could also mean that basic attributes (such as strength and dexterity) begin to degrade with old age . In most versions of Traveller. characters have six primary characteristics which range in level from 0 (nonexistent) to 15 (superhuman). The characteristics are:
Characteristics are written down using the "Universal Personality Profile" code (or UPP) which was a series of hexadecimal numbers used as a shorthand way of gauging a character's primary characteristics at a glance, with numbers 0 to 9, and the letters A thru F used for 10 and above (A=10, B=11, C=12 and so on). Thus, a person with the UPP code 675AB6 would have STR 6, DEX 7, END 5, INT 10, EDU 11 and SOC 6. This would indicate a person who is smart and educated, but lacking in physical conditioning and has a below average place in society. The "average" is considered 777777. Players roll randomly for these characteristics (typically on 2d6) during character creation. The scores can be raised or lowered by choosing a particular race (if playing non-humans) and through events during the course of their careers. Characteristics modify task rolls, thus higher values represent more capable individuals. An additional, optional characteristic, PSI, measures a character's psionic strength. Skills modify task rolls. Skills are rated by number, from 0 (familiarity only) up. The number of skills supported in the game varies by ruleset, ranging from 30 to over 100. In many cases, attempting a task without a related skill imposes a penalty. The various incarnations of Traveller each have a task system which was used whenever a character encountered a task that required a random resolution to determine success or failure. Classic Traveller. MegaTraveller. and Mongoose Traveller In these systems, two six-sided dice (2d6) are rolled against a target number set by the referee — and usually the roll must be equal to or higher than the target number in order to succeed. Dice Modifiers (DMs) either provide a bonus or penalty to a roll (the + and – sign precede the number in such cases (+2 means add 2 to the roll, -4 means subtract 4 from the roll). Target numbers and DMs are determined by situation and vary per skill and attribute score. In Classic Traveller. a roll of 8+ is typically seen as a success, but there is no standardized table of DMs. Instead, the referee may declare ad-hoc bonuses to task checks under certain situations; for instance a character might get a +2 bonus on an Acrobatic skill check if their Dexterity characteristic was 10 or better. Classic Traveller later formalized a Universal Task Profile (UTP) — a standard set of target numbers with Difficulty Levels. such as Routine (7+), Difficult (11+), and Formidable (15+). MegaTraveller (MT) expands upon the UTP, and allows the referee to codify tasks into a shorthand formula for how hard the task was, what skill and characteristic is crucial to the task, how long the task takes to perform, and what the risks of failure are. Characteristic levels are divided by 5 (dropping fractions) and the result added as a DM. Mongoose Traveller (MGT), (so-named for Mongoose Publishing), standardizes the DMs provided by characteristics being used for the task. The relevant skill level is also counted directly as a DM. A roll of 8+ is typically a success. Both Classic and MegaTraveller also included occasional "roll low" tasks. For example, to avoid being harassed by local law enforcement, the group would have to roll the world's Law Level or lower on 2d6. Traveller: The New Era Traveller: The New Era (TNE) used a modified version of the Twilight 2000 rules. The six abilities are Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, Education, Charisma, and are generated with 2d6-1. Social Standing is relegated to a secondary ability only. Target Numbers were determined by adding Ability level + Skill level and multiplying or dividing that number by a factor determined by the task's difficulty; if the task is Easy multiply Target Number result by 4, Average multiply by 2, Difficult use the number as normal, Formidable halves the number (drop fractions), and Impossible quarters the number (drop fractions). The player then rolled a twenty-sided die (d20 ) (or ten-sided die (d10 ) and a d6 [with 4,5,6 meaning add 10 to the d10 result] to simulate a d20 roll) to equal to or less than the target number to succeed. Traveller 4 and Traveller 5 In both these versions, the number of dice rolled represents task difficulty ("Average" is 2D, "Difficult" is 3D, etc.), and the target number to roll under is Characteristic + Skill + situational modifiers. A roll of all 1's results in a Spectacular Success, while a roll of at least two 6's results in a Spectacular Failure. Traveller. version 4 (T4), published by Imperium Games, also has intermediate levels of difficulty which call for "half-dice" to be used; for example "Difficult" is 2.5 dice and one die result (rolled as a different color die from the rest) must be halved when counted. Traveller. version 5 (T5) does not use a half-die. Using number of dice to set a task difficulty approximates fixed target numbers without needing to recall those numbers, thus streamlining actions requiring fast play (combat). An interesting feature of using multiple dice for task rolls is that the probability curve starts to look somewhat linear, in the center ranges, when rolling more than 4 dice. GURPS Traveller and Traveller HERO GURPS Traveller (GT) uses the GURPS character creation and task resolution system developed by Steve Jackson Games. and Traveller HERO (TH) uses the HERO System developed by HERO Games for character creation and task resolution. Both use three six-sided dice (3d6) which are rolled equal to, or below a target number. The target numbers are usually set by the character's relevant skill they are using, plus any situational modifiers. Traveller 20 Traveller 20 (or T20) is the d20 System -version of Traveller. developed by Quicklink Interactive. In T20, characters are built using a class and level system (like most other d20 games). The established classes are based on popular career paths in other versions of Traveller. Characteristics (called Abilities) are the usual six from most other d20 games; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, plus Education and Social Standing are added as extra attributes. Education is used for Knowledge-based skill checks (instead of Intelligence), and Social Standing simply indicates a character's place in society. A twenty-sided die (d20) is rolled and the result is added to any modifiers for task checks against a standard difficulty target number (referred to in d20 games as a "Difficulty Class" or DC). Equipment in Traveller typically emphasizes wilderness exploration, hazardous environments, and combat. As a result, equipment lists are heavy on vehicles, sensor equipment, communicators, rations, personal armor. and weapons. Since primitive worlds exist near technological worlds, primitive weapons are also typically included, such as swords, shields, pikes, bows, and so on. And since high technology is available, cybernetic implants and non-sentient robots typically also show up in equipment lists. To some degree, political intrigue is also a part of Traveller. so espionage-related equipment is also present, such as concealable armor, devices, and firearms, bugs and bug detectors, and so on. While there are energy weapons in Traveller. there is also a strong presence of slug-thrower weapons such as rifles and pistols. The prevailing theory is that (usually) the most efficient way to stop someone is with kinetic energy (e.g. bullets). Likewise, high-tech equipment mixes freely with sensible low-tech or appropriate-tech tools. At the other, extreme end of the spectrum is fantastic-tech equipment that is hard for the typical person to comprehend; this includes artifacts left over from extinct cultures as well as the product of current, highly advanced cultures. Traveller' s rules for starship design and combat are like games unto themselves with a complex balance of ship components fitting within certain hull volumes, technology levels, and modifiers based upon characters' skills. It is complex enough to be able to generically represent most starships used in role-playing games, and flexible enough to support custom add-ons to the system. (GDW published several board games allowing Traveller space battles to be played out as games in their own right - Mayday using the Classic Traveller rules, Brilliant Lances and Battle Rider using the Traveller: The New Era rules.) Typical Traveller starships consist of control space (i.e. one or more bridges), a central power plant, a maneuver drive for in-system travel, a jump drive for interstellar travel, and payload space (weapons, living areas, etc.). The power plant and jump drive together require significant amounts of fuel. Alternate power plants, realspace drives, and interstellar drives exist for modelling different settings. All of this equipment is fit into an armored hull of a given volume. Starship volumes are measured in "displacement tons" (also "D-tons" or just "tons"), equal to the volume of a metric ton of liquid hydrogen. or about 14 cubic meters. This unit is used for convenience in calculating jump drive fuel usage; a ship with volume D tons using a jump-N drive uses 0.1?N ?D metric tons of LH2 fuel per jump (i.e. the fuel tank is N ?10% of the ship's volume). Computer programs have been created to more effectively model and predict starship combat. The most famous case involved Douglas Lenat applying his Eurisko heuristic learning program to the scenario in the Classic Traveller adventure Trillion Credit Squadron (TCS), which contained rules for resolving very large space battles statistically. Eurisko discovered exploitable features of the starship design system that allowed it to build an unusual fleet that won the 1981 TCS national championship. This prompted GDW to change the tournament rules, but Eurisko adapted to the changes and won again in 1982. GDW threatened to cancel the tournament if Lenat entered a fleet again, so Lenat retired from competition, and GDW gave him the title "Grand Admiral" as consolation. [ 3 ] Worlds represent a wide spectrum of conditions, from barren planetoid moons to large water worlds, from uncolonized territory to planets with tens of billions of people. Most worlds tend to be only modestly colonized, though some worlds may in fact be dangerously overcrowded. The world generation system in Traveller is geared to produce a random mix of worlds. Extensions take solar system generation into account, and modify the process depending on the fecundity and history of the targeted area of space. Similar to the use of the UPP for characters, worlds are represented by an alphanumeric Universal World Profile that encodes key physical, social, and economic properties of the world. Adventures in Traveller tend to come from a few key themes: Merchant Free Traders The players travel the stars trading and adventuring along the way in their very own starship Struggle against Nature The players are pitted against an alien environment to survive, with or without the help of locals or others. Rescue People are stranded on a world, and the players are tasked with recovering them. Infiltration The players have to recover (or steal) information or goods for someone else. Mercenary The players have to train a local cadre, or guard an installation, or alternately assault an installation. Exploration/Enigma Something unexplained is going on, and the players are sent to find out what it is. This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience. Please help relocate any relevant information, and remove excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia inclusion policy. (May 2015) Originally, Traveller had no established setting, and was promoted as a rules system for running general science fiction role-playing games. It was published at a time when role-playing games did not typically feature a well-defined fictional universe, but instead offered rules appropriate to the conventions of a particular genre. Each role-playing group used and altered published rules to suit their setting and play style. Within a short time, however, a default setting was crafted to take advantage of all aspects of those rules, which has come to be known as the Official Traveller Universe (OTU), also known by the primary political entity in the setting, The Third Imperium. The starting point for this appears to be the board game Imperium . The OTU details a small piece of the galaxy, known as Charted Space. Within this space once lived a race called the Ancients. who died out in a massive war 300,000 years ago. More recent history details the Third Imperium. which is the largest and human-dominated interstellar empire in Charted Space. Logically, it was preceded by two previous human-dominated empires. The Third Imperium is a feudalistic union of worlds. Local nobility operate largely free from oversight, restricted by convention and feudal obligations. Most Traveller adventures take place between the Imperial years 1100 and 1125, in or near the Third Imperium. Some adventures take place in the "New Era" years of 1200 to 1248. Despite the dominance of the human race, the Traveller universe is cosmopolitan, and is divided into a handful of major races and a large number of minor races . Major racesA major race is defined as one that developed jump technology independently, and thus got an early start on establishing itself in interstellar society. In the setting it is generally agreed there are 6 major races, but how they are defined varies a little. The standard list includes the honor-bound felinoid Aslan. winged reptilioid Droyne. sixfold-symmetric, manipulative Hivers. various descendants of humanity, massive, vegetarian K'Kree. and uplifted wolf-hybrid Vargr . The Ancients were a major race in the distant past; their ruins dot planets throughout charted space and their artifacts are more technically advanced than those of any existing civilization. For unknown reasons, they transplanted humans from Earth to dozens of worlds, uplifted Terran wolves to create the Vargr, and undertook many megascale engineering projects before destroying their civilization in a catastrophic war. Minor racesAny species which was contacted before they could develop Jump Drives are considered minor. Most are only hinted at, or lightly mentioned. A few have significant background material, such as the Ael Yael, which appear to resemble humanoid pterodactyls; Bawapakerwa-a-a-awapawab, (Bwaps for short) which are bipedal amphibians; and the Ithklur. an aggressive race of warm-blooded, humanoid reptilians that exist in Hiver-space.
| ||||
|
| ||||
| Total comments: 0 | |