u/-stumondo-

My Traveller journey started in the early days of MgT 1e, though I'd been roleplaying for years prior, so I missed comparisons to earlier versions.

I wanted to talk about the changes Mongoose have made since 1e, what people like, dislike and ignore.

I've played and run quite a bit of 1e and 2e, and am about to run my first 2.5e, but I've a longer run into session 0 than usual, so I'd like to polish the ruleset I'm going to use.

For the most part, I think the rule changes have been fairly minor in general, but also good for the most part.

I liked the Boon/Bane system brought in in 2e, but after lots of 1e I forget about it 90% of the time, so I put it on the players to ask for it.

Following from that, I thought the Leadership skills ability to hand about Boons (or Banes) was great, but I don't know if I ever saw it used (our games were usually low powered, so not many people were rocking high Leadership). 2.5e have changed this to a +1 I think. Maybe it's better for balance, but doesn't have the same sense style.....on paper anyway.

The other big one for me is Autofire. 1e, roll dice equal to Auto rating, pair as you want. I liked the tweak to the usual flat 2d role, but admittedly it had potential to be extremely lethal.

2e and 2.5e, Auto numbers hare halved and you get a number of attacks. A little less pazazz, but probably a better rule.

The bit that gets me is both cost Auto x3 ammo. Mag sizes haven't changed. With a regular assault rifle,1e that's 2 Full Autos and then decision time, 2e it's 5 and reload. Maybe it's the style my groups usually play, but it's rare to have combat go 5+ rounds.

I'll just change the above to suit my groups, but if people have thoughts to make my brain say "ah, now I get it," that's awesome too.

What rules do you tweak or use an older version of, even if going back to pre-MgT.

I've asked about Character Creation before, so let's exclude that.

Curious what people think about this and their experience if they did it. I think 2e did a good job dropping the Pistol specific specialties for example, the 3 remaining feels right.

Mechanic has a nice distinction from Engineering, but for the sake of an rpg, would it be simpler to make it a specialty of engineering?

Profession has its place in certain kinds of games, but I'd argue it's generally useless, and you know that before the game starts. Plus if it's suddenly needed, other skills can easily sub in.

I like Diplomat, but it seems niche. I found myself wanted to allow it when a player asked, but it usually just didn't fit. Great when it works though.

These are just some random thoughts. What would you change, if anything, and what would you put on the skill table in it's place, if needed?

This is something that was pointed out to me in MgT 1e, and has seemed to have persisted through 2 and 2.5. Maybe someone can make sense of it for me, or maybe it's a persistent oversight.

Athletics 0 does nothing. Since Athletics adds to Characteristic rolls, you don't need training to avoid the usual -3. There are some references to things like, Throwing, Zero-G, gravity acclimation is Athletics(Str/Dex), but this just seems to be the way Mongoose has written characteristic checks.

I wouldn't say this is an issue, some other skills have no use at zero, except Athletics appears in the background skills and in almost half of basic training, which is a real trap/dud.

Edited for clarity

Edit 2: Turns out I asked this (along with 39 other questions) 8 years ago on the Mongoose forum and had them all answered. I was wrong, specifically Athletics skill for throwing grenades, and by extension Zero-G etc

I've gotten my group together, in the next few weeks we shall be rolling up characters and designing a ship for a sandbox game.

In most games I've run before, I've put a 3 term limit on Character Creation. Once or twice I allowed 4 and it felt like a big jump in power.

I've only done ship building once, no limits. I don't remember the details, but I don't think the guys went too crazy on tonnage, but bought the best of everything, that caused struggles later.

I'm thinking of putting a TL12 limit, which from research seems normal. I don't want to start putting limits on certain systems (I saw a thread where a max tonnage on powerplant or something was considered), but a cap on ship tonnage seems a good idea. Does the game fundamentally change after a certain size of ship?

I just read Marches Adventure 1: High and Dry, which I picked up years ago. Thought it read well and looked into the following ones. I can get number 2 no problem, but then 3 to 5 can only be gotten in a bundle to 1 to 5.

Am I missing something, or are Mongoose just being dicks?

I'm planning to run some Traveller after a while away. Last time I ran straight traveller, 2e had just come out. I remember feeling the need to edit a lot of rules due to what I assumed were printing errors and some nonsensical rules.

I'm curious what people use or and works for them that isn't standard core rules.

Okay, let's be honest, I doubt we'd get consensus on the colour of an orange in this sub, but let's aim high.

Different games, different groups, different styles, most advice is pretty conditional / situational. Can we come up with a few bits that 90%+ can agree is good for 99% of situations.

My own thought, don't roll or ask for a roll unless it's meaningful.

Edit: Summary:

Pleased to report that the most popular pieces of advice are:

1. Don't be a dick.
2. Gaming should be fun for everyone.

Honourable mention: The tastiest shape of dice shaped sweets / candy is a super divisive subject.

I'm coming back to run some Traveller after a break. I've a pile of MgT2e books sitting there and doubt I'll fork out for more.

That said, I was aware the update editions exist, and I'm wondering if there's any value to getting them? From what I've been able to glean online, very little changed except they've swapped sections between books. Has anything been improved or fixed.

What are people's experience with them?

You wake up on a ship / in a forest / in prison / on the side of the road, with no memory.....

I feel most GMs have had this thought for a game. I feel initially like a great idea, destined to be a terrible game.

It's popped back into my head recently. The characters start to explore their surroundings. Keys around their necks open different personal lockers, inside they find....I hand them a list of options and each pick one, and I note the changes to their skills / abilities etc.

They pass a mirror and notice a tattoo of a .....I hand them a list....and so on and so forth.

I'm thinking 1 shot. A story unfolding while they discover these things.

I was planning on using a system they are very familiar with, as I'm keeping the adjustments to myself until they try to use skills / abilities, and they'll have a good idea what success and failure means their skills look like.

Anyone run a game like this, and how did it go? I like the idea, but expect a disaster, so I'll probably never run it.

I picked up NWN2 EE recently on Xbox after enjoying the first. Played both on PC many many years ago.

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I've now racked up a few hours on NWN2EE just by looking at the class list. After playing a Sorc through the OC and HotU and not realizing until the end that there's not much benefit to staying Sorc past 20, I don't want to make the same mistake again.

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I'm looking for suggestions for the fun builds to play (all the way, not just max level). Sorc with Arcane Scholar seemed solid, with the bonus of being able to Cha(t). That had me thinking, am I missing out on Red Wizard though, or is it even worth it, def prefer Sorc to Wiz.

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I've also enjoyed Weapon Master before, focusing on crit either with Scythe or dual Kukri. I've always loved Monk, but it's a bit weak, and I remember Sacred Fist doesn't count as Monk for access to whatever challenges were available in your keep, so that kind of thing is worth keeping in mind.

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Thanks in advance.

I feel so many campaigns are a race to save the world / planet / universe. Every day, hour, second could matter, what do you do?

But in reality there's no clock, no mechanical penalty, and the BBEG will be waiting for you after you rest or, travel backwards 2 days to upgrade your gear.

Are there any campaigns, adventure paths, over even systems that handle this well. As GMs, we could always say, well it's day 22, the world ends, but that's a little anticlimactic.

What are the rules do you see ignored 90+% of the time? Cross system and system specific.

For me, carrying capacity. Specifically D&D and PF games, usually ignored either mostly or completely. And when it's occasionally enforced, the 50gp = 1lb, definitely forgotten about.

Beyond those, unless it's an integral part of the game, like post apocalyptic and resource hoarding, or is majorly simplified, like Dragonbane (and others) bulk system, it's generally ignored, beyond the ridiculous.