PAVEWAY writes:
}kilobyte raves over this or that mathematical glitch in the
}rules? Does anyone lie awake at night worrying about where the
}energy from jumpspace actually GOES? I mean really?
} Does it matter what makes our ships go? surely the fact
}that they Go will do?
When I have played Traveller in the past, it has typically been with
people who have Engineering, Math, Computer Science, or Physics
backgrounds. These are the sorts of questions my players ask, and so I
have had to come up with answers. In many cases, the answers have
needed carefull thought, because the players will try to misuse the
technology in the *WORST* ways.
On the other hand, role-playing is really just an advanced form of story
telling. As a referee and as a player, you do what you have to to
suspend disbelief for a little while. In my case, breaking the laws of
physics brings the players jarring back to Earth in the worst way.
The people you play with may be quite different; after all, most
science-fiction novels are not so rigorous with the laws of physics as
many TML-ers are with Traveller. If your players don't care, then gloss
over these things and concentrate on the things that do interest them,
and provide detail where its needed (presumably, alien biology and
ecosystems).
You mention that the Traveller ecosystem generation system (such as it
is) is hosed. In what ways, and are there any easy (or even
not-so-easy) ways to fix it?
} In fairness tho' if TML is mainly populated by physicists
}and engineeers then parhaps it does matter to you, the same way
}the poorly thought out xenobiology gets up my nasal passages.
}But it would be nice to see some stuff about
}roleplaying.. sometimes.
Well, "role-playing" is kind of vague. Do you have any specific
questions or topics you would like to concentrate on?
As a rule of thumb, the players will tend to follow the referee's lead.
If the referee starts acting in character, the players will tend to
follow, as in the examples below:
LACK of ROLEPLAYING:
Ref: Finally find the right office; you walk in, step up to the clerk's
desk. He looks tired and irritable. He asks you what you want.
You: I tell him.
MUCH BETTER:
Ref: You finally find the right office. You walk in. There is a clerk
sitting at the desk, doing a crossword puzzle.
<looks up from table, at players, with a tired frown>
<irritably> "What do you want?"
You: We need a waiver for landing clearance at the downport.
Other techniques I have used include an AT award at the end of every
gaming session for "best role-playing", as decided by a vote of the
players (referee reserves the right to break ties or otherwise
intervene).
} Speaking of which..... Remember the alien romance thread
}from am while back? There is now a pseudobio robot in my
}party...... go figure.
Could be interesting, especially if the robot has highly advanced
emotion simulation programming. If the 'bot is a player character, I'd
probably let him or her get away with anything the player could
ratinalize to me. References should probably include the very early
science-fiction story "Helen O'Loy", some of Isaac Asimov's robot
novels, and of course, "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
[email removed]
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Science-Fiction Adventure
in the Far Future