Hi all,
Summary of last few weeks of TML:
####### ###########
############# ___ ___ ###############
##### _ _ \ | 3 | | 4 | / _ #######
### \ / | --Scoring-- \/ #####
## o o | --by Seiko- /o ####
### \ | / ###
## == | == ###
\ __ | |__ ##
\ | | / BLAH BLAH | |
| \_/ / BLAH BLAH _/ /
/ --- \___ /
_/ \__ | |
\ / \
T N E \ /T N E \
R U L ES | |SU C K S |
Only joking - please don't bother to reply, I just happened to have a slow
day at work... :) :) :)
TNE?
I don't give a monkey's either way because I refuse to shell out my hard-
earned (?!) cash for TNE - when a friend gets it I'll copy any _bits_ I
find useful (possibly character generation and the use of d20s for combat,
etc.) but I don't want the complications of teaching my relatively new
group of players a new rules system AND background AND redetailing all the
equipment on their character sheets AND announcing that their beloved
characters are all 105 or older in this new game (probably 120+ since the
Rebellion hasn't yet happened in my universe)... etc.
And FF&S... well, I've not seen it (cash problem again). And I openly admit
that there's nothing I like more than designing the odd starship or robot.
But I don't want it any more complex than MT's rules - anything more and you
seem (guessing here) to need a computer program or a free weekend to generate
one ship and a new pistol (and you still can't build robots unless you've hung
on to the old CT, etc. stuff...)
BACKGROUNDS
Okay, TNE's got a new background. See my post earlier this week for why you
don't need a new background - CT or MT could provide every possible adventure
you ever dreamed of.
'SOFT' SKILLS
There's been some discussion about non-combat skills and increasing their
usage. I get my players rolling for skills such as Carousing, Liaison, Admin,
Interrogation, Broker, Legal, Trading, etc. almost every time they speak to
someone. Some people are born bright and come up with brilliant conversation
that means any NPC will reveal information to them. Some people are verbally-
challenged and have to rely purely upon these Traveller skills. Either way,
unless the player really knows what's going on (impossible in my games) he
may get an answer but still no understand its implications. Okay, so the
NPC said the Volcans would be in startown now. So what? I don't volunteer
information unless it would be naturally obvious, but if he says ok, what
does my character know, he gets a Trader roll. Ah, so the Volcans always turn
up at this time of year with huge shipments of semi-precious gems...
Isn't that what's sitting in our cargo hold?... So prices will fall, eh?
Time to sell (start rolling admin for the paperwork, Broker to find a suitable
buyer, Trader to get a good price...)
There's a use for all the skills, you just have to force your players to use
them... if you always tell them everything, then they won't bother.
Perhaps a trade with the Volcans? Anyone get Xenobiology or possibly Scout
survey skills? Ah, they particularly like orange-flavoured chocolate and the
scent of rose petals. Achmed, buy 10 kilos of rose petals and shove them in
the air filters. Pauline, shove the remaining petals down your blouse - oh,
sorry, flak jacket - and go invite the Volcans aboard. Janis - buy up every
bar of orange chocolate in the starport... Let's talk business...
COMBAT SKILLS
Combat IS dangerous. Okay, so the players are the heroes - they have to be
to have a chance of surviving. After all, take Predator, Terminator, Total
Recall, etc. There are good guys, bad guys and heroes. The bad guys gun down
the good guys and are, in turn, gunned down by the heroes. Unless the players
want to change characters regularly, there is no other way of running things.
As I've pointed out before, there's no reason why players should expose them-
selves to to much danger anyway. The majority of planets in the Imperium
seemed to have pretty high law levels anyway, so the majority of the time
guns shouldn't be involved.
Not that players shouldn't die! If Gumbo, unarmed and unarmoured, wants to
take on the gook with the SMG, use him as an example to the other players.
But even then you needn't kill him...
Janis dived into cover behind a parked vehicle, but Gumbo charged the man,
head down, roaring ferociously. The gook's eyes widened for a
fraction of a second and Janis tensed, waiting for the withering hail of fire
but instead there was just a short burst, scream and thump. She peeked out,
nervously, expecting lead death to meet her. But the gook was standing,
ignoring her, watching Janis writhing in agony at his feet. Blood spurted
from the man's lower leg and he clutched at the wound in a futile attempt to
staunch the bleeding.
The gook looked up, just smiled at Janis. He knew she had no gun, no armour.
The SMG wiggled, inviting her out of her hiding place. She acquiesced, having
nowhere to run to; walked slowly toward him, gauging the distances. Still some
metres away he signalled to her to lie down. She did so, sprawling at a
calculated angle. He would deal with her in a second, but for now he would
enjoy his victim's pain. The snub-nosed SMG rested against Gumbo's forehead...
but his eye was distracted by Janis' ample figure, exposed as she lay nearby.
The fool could wait - the SMG swung and knocked out Gumbo. Time for a little
enjoyment.
He lay the SMG down out of the woman's reach, pulled a knife from his belt and
held it ready in one hand. "Don't try anything, love, or it'll go badly for
you..." She whimpered, barely moved as he rolled her onto her back and spread
her legs apart from slow, deliberate movements.
The pain in his groin after her kick was as nothing to the whiteness which
exploded in his eyes when the dual knife-hand thrusts to his eyes and throat
drove him into unconsciousness. Janis rolled easily to her feet, pulled the
knife from his twitching hand and slit his throat.
Checking that there were no passersby, she picked up the SMG - that would
come in handy as she hadn't managed to smuggle any weapons onto the planet.
Gumbo groaned... she thought for a moment about leaving him, after all he'd
spent most of the previous week saying how her unarmed combat skill would
never help her - she should rely on his handgun expertise and concentrate on
cooking, etc. on the ship...
Oh, what the Hell, she decided and helped the barely conscious grunt to his
feet. No point calling the cops, perhaps a private hospital would deal with
his wound without asking too many questions... given sufficient cash...
She dropped Gumbo unceremoniously floor and turned back to the corpse. Good,
a full wallet...
... OK, so some referees might just make the bad guy panic fire at Gumbo then
roll a couple of grenades at Janis. Does this ever happen to Harrison Ford,
John Wayne or Arnold Schwarzenegger? Nope, the bad guy would always fall for
the meek beautiful woman approach, guaranteed, every time (that's why all
my players have Charisma as an attribute after Social Standing; "God, he's a
handsome man!" "Yeh, but he eats like a Vargr and washes once a year..."
IF all your players want to do is heft weapons, then they should be
Mercenaries - and that doesn't tend to be a long-term career. If they want to
develop their characters then they need to learn the 'soft' skills [and you,
the referee need to make sure they thave the reason, and opportunity to use
them].
Time to stop warbling...
Andy Lilly
Commander, PITS Team (Political Intelligence Team, Scout)
"We are never out-gunned..."
Nothing I say or do here in anyway reflects the views of my very kind,
understanding and generally wonderful employers