The 3 Toadstools : Classic Traveller Links

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Classic Traveller Links

As is typical, I couldn't sleep last night. I started thinking about Class Traveller, I have the book but haven't ran it yet. Of course A.D.D. Gamer kicked in while I was tossing and turning. At one point I thought "Just get up Shane, and go and grab the damn book".

I've been invited to play the game online, but my scheduling didn't work out well at the time. I generally like having read thru the book a few times before I jump in though.

Quick little overview from here.

Characters typically journey between various star systems and engage in activities such as exploration, ground and space battles, and interstellar trading. Characters are defined not by the need to increase native skill and ability but by achievements, discoveries, wealth, titles, and political power.

Key features

Key features derived from literary sources are incorporated into Traveller in all its forms.

Human-centric but cosmopolitan: The core rules focus on human characters, but there is ample support for using and playing aliens.
Space travel: Interstellar travel is through the use of the faster-than-light (FTL) jump drive, which moves a ship through "jump space" a few light-years at a time. Each jump always takes about one week. Normal-space travel is accomplished through relatively efficient and powerful gravitic drives. Newtonian physics tends to be followed.
Limited communication: There is no faster-than-light information transfer – meaning no ansible, subspace radio or hyper-wave. Communication is limited to the speed of travel. Decisions are made on the local level, rather than by a remote authority.
Conflict resolution: Planets fight out internal wars, and commerce is a major driving force of civilization.^{[citation needed]}
Sociological: Interstellar society is socially stratified (high, mid, and low passage; SOC (Social Status) is a primary character attribute). Affairs are often managed by independent nobility, who make use of classic titles such as Baron, Duke and Archduke.
Diversity within Limits: Career options, ship design, subsector design, and decisions made during character generation limit and frame reality. The definitions create a diverse space (hence library data and anachronistic/ atavistic worlds), within limits.
Morals and mortality: People remain people and continue to show courage, wisdom, honesty and justice, along with cowardice, deceit, and criminal behavior.