> From: [email removed]
> Subject: Some problems...
> I have mastered two TNE sessions on a Con here in germany this weekend,
> and I had some troubles. I would like to get some assistance for those
> problems:
> 1. I collected a group of 5 players, 2 of them familiar with the old
> Traveller rules, three of them unfamiliar with the rules. It took
> 4 (four!) hours to create the charaters. Any ideas how I can do this
> faster (I mean other then giving out perfabricated character...that's
> the solution I will use on the next Con if no better idea arises)
For a con, I recommend prefabs, both to save time and to insure the
characters have a mix of skills appropriate to the scenario you are running.
For any other use, try making up your own checklist of the generation
process, with all notes or page references in one place. I know the book
has a worksheet, but by putting together your own you will help yourself
learn the mechanics of the procedure better. After that it's simply a
matter of experience. Once I'm "up and running" with a system, I can crank
out characters in fairly short order. Newbies, however, will slow things
down by any method, with any system, so plan for that.
> 2. One of the 5 players choose the profession of a belter and got his
> Strike in the second term. According to the rules he got a Seeker
> and 2D6 times 100 KCr of money. Okay, No big problem though I'm not
> sure, where in the RC you can find a TL 15 Shipyard to build the ship.
> But the other players accumulated 22 Ship DMs. They decided to get
> a ship for them. And rolling 11 on the Trader column and then 12
> on the ship table they got a Far Trader with a very good wear value.
> Now the group has two ships...and of corse they choose to sell one
> of them. As a result they got 30 MCr for the seeker, which they choose
> to sell. Too much money for a starting group. Once again: Any ideas
> how I can stop the players to get so much money?
Again, for cons, prefabs eliminate this problem, as _you_ have already
determined their resources.
In other situations, I got around this problem by choosing the campaign
setting myself (with player input as to what sort of things they wanted
to p[lay). For instance, I might give them a trading ship, stock the
ship's locker, set basic ship's funds, and then let the players crew it.
I'd also give them d6 years in the Free Traders in the enhanced generation
system, under the assumption that they didn't all just muster out of their
previous service, but have been running the ship for a while, with the
campaign starting when their lives got more interesting than usual.
Monetary muster out benefits were limited to 1, 2, or 3 rolls, depending
on several factors. Total rolls were reduced by 1/3 to 1/2, since I
already gave them quite a bit of equipement, and the remainder rolled
n the material benefits table. Things they wouldn't be allowed to keep,
like another ship, gave them a related skill level instead.
So far no player has complained about what they "were supposed to get
according to the rules" since they knew up front that if I was GMing, I
wanted to be able to plan ahead of character generation and the random
assortment of resources it gave.
Then again, my group never really went for the "galactic vagrants" kind
of campaign where they'd bum their way from starport to starport doing
odd jobs. They tended to prefer those as sidelights to some major
continuing storyline.
NEVER NEVER NEVER let the players simply sell a ship they get during
character generation. Or at least make it years before they see a credit
of the money, thanks to assorted red tape and legal delays :-)
The RC has NO TL15 shipyards. Just use the TL15 stats for the scout until
the Architecture book lets you design apropriate TL ships.
> 3. Any ideas about the availability of High Tech Weapons in the RC?
> Exspecially Combat Armor and Battledresses together with Plasma
> and Fusion Guns are the weapon of choice for some of the players.
> Because these weapons were of no use to the adventure I gave the
> weapons to them for a price of 500% of the listed, just to get some
> of the money back.
Availability? Probably pretty poor, since most of the working ones likely
belong to the government. Auction at 10X or more of list price is not out
of the question, though.
> I had no such problems using the old charater rules because it was
> much more difficult to get a ship then. With the TNE rules there is a
> large probability to get a ship especially if you have at least one
> Navy and one Scientist character. Together these two characters can
> easy collect a +30 Ship DM.
Characters need a ship in TNE because the bumming from 'port to 'port
routine just doesn't work too well outside the Regency. Consider my
suggestion of setting up the basic situation yourself, and then allowing
the players peronalise the smaller details.
> I hope to get some comments,
And you got them.
> Juergen
John H Bogan
[email removed]
> P.P.P.S.: Any idea why I got seven Digest V58#4?
The Virus is "waving the flag" on TML?