Re: Nukes in Traveller

A thread of 2 messages, 6 November 1989 to 10 November 1989, in the order they were sent.

#683 Re: Nukes in Traveller

Hello everybody! Mr. Perkins hasn't put me on the mailing list yet ( soon
though ), but I couldn't resist tossing in my two cents on this subject
anyway.

     As a referee, in my Traveller campaigns I severely restrict civilian
access to nuclear weapons, ESPECIALLY civilian player characters.  My
reason for this is simply that I feel giving PCs nukes makes for poor
game balance.  I most emphatically DO NOT want a bunch of PCs with a
subsidized merchant taking on squadrons of Vargr corsairs, Imperial
cruisers, or whatever.  Believe me, some of my players would do it too!
Unfortunately, some of the people I have refereed were of a somewhat
militant mindset ( who hasn't refereed someone like that? ), so such
restrictions were necessary to the type of campaign I was attempting to
run.

     Basically, if you are going to permit the players to acquire heavy
weaponry, be it nukes, battle dress and FGMP-14s, or whatever, you have
to provide them with appropriate challenges to overcome.  The players
have to be challenged as players, to keep them interested. Most players
would get bored knocking over cargo ships with a battlecruiser after a
while, or at least I'd rather play with players who would...

     Anyway, that's some of my thoughts on the subject.  I'd really
like to hear any comments on it.

Chris Bartlett


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#696 Re: Nukes in Traveller

> ...		I most emphatically DO NOT want a bunch of PCs with a
> subsidized merchant taking on squadrons of Vargr corsairs, Imperial
> cruisers, or whatever.  Believe me, some of my players would do it too!

Well, as Imperial cruisers are about the only ships legall allowed nukes,
the PC's life expectancy is rather short.  Vargr corsairs aren't allowed
them, but since when do they care what they're allowed?  They might have
problems getting them, though - even Vargr worlds are going to be careful]
who they allow to buy such weapons.

>      Basically, if you are going to permit the players to acquire heavy
> weaponry, be it nukes, battle dress and FGMP-14s, or whatever, you have
> to provide them with appropriate challenges to overcome.

Like opposition similarly armed.  That's the real problem with such things;
combat tends to be lethal.  At least if you get hit by a gauss rifle, you
can survive to pay the doctor.  By contrast, even a near miss from a FGMP
is dangerous, and a hit is fatal even if you're wearing the best armour.

 "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   [email removed]

All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
Submissions: [email removed], or [email removed]
Administrator: [email removed] (James Perkins)
The TML is made possible by facilities provided by Tektronix, Inc.