Traveller Followup: Freebies

Per yesterday's discussion of Mongoose Traveller's Book 0: Introduction to Traveller, I am sorry to say that it looks like both the print and the pdf will set you back at least a fiver (unless you were lucky enough to pick it up at 2008 Free RPG Day). That's a shame--I like a good, free quickstart product as much as anyone. Perhaps in the future, they'll offer the pdf for free. I'd be more apt to pick up Mongoose's pdfs in general if the prices came down. (Think Paizo. Think about the fact that I'm a lot more likely to buy the print copy of a book I enjoy in pdf form).

All is not lost, however. Mongoose does have an SRD and Developer Kit you can download (warning: direct zip link) from their downloads page that might give you a bit of an idea of what it's all about. Not as good as a product purely designed for an introduction, but better than a stick in the eye.

Here are a few introductory Traveller products (of differing quality) on DriveThruRPG that are free (none of them for Mongoose Traveller, mind):

-Understanding Traveller: The New Era

-Traveller20 Lite (I still think that's Randy Quaid on the cover)

-DTRPG Guide to MegaTraveller

My advice, no matter what version you choose, is always the same: don't let someone else define your Imperium for you. Traveller is the ultimate space sandbox; take advantage of that. The game you want to run is somewhere in Traveller; you just have to find it.

(Hello to Jon Brazer Enterprises, a company making Traveller products who I just met yesterday!)

Traveller Followup: Freebies

Introducing Traveller

The Traveller RPG can be a confusing animal, can’t it? There are multiple versions available, multiple milieus in which to set a campaign, and for every option, there is a healthy dose of partisans and implacable foes, ready to shout down or up any choices you might make.

I wish I could help, but Traveller Grognard (Junior Ranking) I am, I bounce between Traveller editions myself. I really enjoy Classic Traveller and Mongoose Traveller at the moment, but MegaTraveller, T20, and Traveller: The New Era have their charms as well.

I’m kicking around doing a Traveller game this fall (I’ve been promising this gaming group forever I’d get around to one), and my biggest consideration is going to be learning curve. For that, I think Classic Traveller or Mongoose Traveller would be best. Mongoose Traveller has the edge of being clearly inspired by the original and pretty close to it in a lot of places with a more modern layout. Right now, Mongoose Traveller is the front-runner, but things can change. T20 would be easy for a group that’s played a lot of d20, but I don’t entirely like how combat works in that game, and I fear there’d be some “unlearning” to do. No, best to start fresh, I think.

Besides, I admitted how wrong I was about Riki-Tiki-Traveller. I think I sort of owe it to them, especially since Mongoose has been doing a very un-Mongoosian solid editing job on the line (for the most part). Some of our group also has the Free RPG Day Introduction to Traveller from Mongoose, which should be a nice introduction indeed.

Ready my H. Beam Piper. We're gonna make this happen.


(By the way, do you guys ever visit/read The Zhodani Base? You should, if you dig Traveller).

Introducing Traveller

Warhammer Fantasy 3e Rumors

Dice Pools? Really?

Hat Tip to theRPGsite. Not much info to go off of, I know, but interesting nonetheless. I'll reserve judgment until I hear more.

Warhammer Fantasy 3e Rumors

A Quick Crit Rule

My friends and I usually like games where crits have at least a chance of sudden death. In our worlds, the stable boy needs at least some sort of shot against the Dark Knight, even if it's the slimmest of hopes (call it the Rolemaster School of Crits, I guess).

We've played a lot of games centered around a d20 combat roll (from D&D to Palladium Fantasy) where a crit does 2-3x damage at best. Our quick n' dirty solution in days past was to roll a d6 after any crit to determine the damage multiplier the critical hit did:

Critical d6 Multiplier Roll
1-2: Double Damage
3: Triple Damage
4: Quadruple Damage
5: Quintuple Damage
6: Sextuple Damage

Besides the fun of saying "Quintuple Damage!" at the gaming table (seriously, try it sometime), this often sped combat up, made it more lethal, and added an element of luck to the whole thing that we enjoyed. It let your 1st-level fighter have a snowball's chance against that evil warlord without letting get too hopeful. Just a silly little houserule, but one we enjoyed. If you don't have a critical hit deck, a book of charts, or a system that's doing critical hits how you'd like, but you don't want to put too much thought into it, you might give it a whirl.

A Quick Crit Rule

Wherein We Ring Up A Near TPK

There was a very-near TPK in my current online game (Castles & Crusades) this weekend. There was a 25% survival rate--3 out of the 4 characters (all 2nd-level) are no more.

This was sort of a unique one, and I'm left wondering if perhaps I didn't broadcast something as clearly as I should have. But then, the players let themselves be tricked into thinking that this Evil NPC had a Dagger of Dragon Slaying, when all he had was a +1 dagger. Without getting it checked out, they went directly to the lair of the local scourge, a Green Dragon, and and attempted to engage him. That right there is likely enough to warrant a TPK, I suppose.

I’ll give them credit, though—for a bunch of 2nd-levels, they didn’t go down without a fight. This was a young dragon, and the fighter and cleric put some hurt on him before dropping. The illusionist really didn’t utilize as I thought she could have, and was an early out regardless (not much HP and acting like a warrior will have that effect). The fighter was perhaps most effective, using the terrain, confounding the dragon, and attempting to make a covered, fighting retreat when things turned south. But he didn’t make it out in time.

The only one to survive was the thief, who bungled the approach to the lair and fled. Not the most popular person at the virtual gaming table right now, I warrant, but the only one with a live character.

I know the players were at fault for so easily believing something is a major artifact without proof or checking it out, but I do think perhaps I should have broadbast the Green Dragon’s danger level a bit more clearly earlier on. Then again, in whatever state of mind they were in, I don’t know that would have helped. A peril (feature?) of sandbox play is you can set out as many warning posts as you want, and nothing short of character death will serve as notice. It's an extreme form of organic boundary, but it happens.

Wherein We Ring Up A Near TPK

Episode 2 of RPG Circus Now Available!

I'm pleased to announce you can now download and listen to Episode 2 of RPG Circus. In this episode, we discuss Savage Worlds, ask if D&D is a product of the Midwest, and ponder if we're making adventures wrong!

Plus, news on Paizo, Dragonlance (I get in a cheap shot), Traveller, and more!

Enjoy!

Episode 2 of RPG Circus Now Available!

Palladium Week Postponed!

I want to make sure Palladium Week at RPG Blog 2 is something really special, filled with plenty of exclusives and solid content.

In order to ensure that happens, I need to give some of my interviewers and contributors a bit more time, so I’m going to go ahead and postpone the start of Palladium Week from July 6 to July 13. Don’t worry!—it should be worth the extra wait!

I’ll see everyone next week, as I’m going to take some family time this weekend and hang out with my wife, son, and girls. We’ll be part of that time-honored American tradition of “blowing stuff up to celebrate telling the British to stuff it because we didn’t like taxes”.

Palladium Week Postponed!