Re: Mongoose Traveller or Cepheus Engine

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote:

On 6/21/2024 12:52 AM, Kyonshi wrote:

On 6/20/2024 10:07 PM, Alex Schroeder wrote:

I have run Mongoose Traveller, the first one; years later I ran Classic
Traveller and it felt similar but also a bit weirder because the civil
careers aren???t there. But that betting element during character
creation is
there, of course. I don???t know if many people play that way, however.
People click on generators until they get a character they like, I fear.
>
I started thinking about a short Traveller replacement based on
conversations with Frotz. I never had any concrete plans and so it never
went anywhere.
>
https://alexschroeder.ch/pdfs/Halbardier.pdf
>

 
Yeah, I have to say the character generation system really is one of the
best parts of Mongoose Traveller, as it gives you a fully-fledged
backstory. It's not quite OSR though, as it involves too much investment
into the character at the beginning.

 

It does work as a sort of party game though: everybody sits around the
table and tries to create their character, and sometimes you manage to
get connections with the other players. That's all very neat and easy,
and I think it would be a great way to spend a first session.

 
 
I only played Traveller once (if you don't count Megatraveller CRPG
which I enjoyed too) and the session consisted of making a character.
Never actually did anything.  I found it fun anyway.
 

There's this distinction now that crpgs are not actual rpgs. If people in
the elder times (the 80s...) had known that. A lot of early attempts at
computer games were attempts to get the DnD experience into a solo format
with the computer playing the role of the DM.
Even Colossal Cave started out like that.
Nowadays people will of course say those aren't real roleplaying games.

I used Heroes of Legend in 2e AD&D quite a bit which has a similar
background generation (no betting though, and no chance of death,
unplayable characters yes) for fantasy.  I eventually found it a bit too
complicated and long and affecting character power and pared it down
considerably.  I stopped using it sometime in 3e altogether, but
occasionally fondly reminisce about 'session 0' where we'd spend a good
portion of the first session making backgrounds with it.