When I set out to run a game based on Battlestar Galactica, Classic Traveller was my first place to go to find a system that I could use to enable the setting. I’d never run CT, only dreamed about it back in 1978 as I read through the Little Black Books. With no experience, I turned to the Internets for some advice and quickly stumbled onto Chris Kubasik’s Tales To Astound blog.
From 2015 – 2019, Chris wrote a series of blog posts called “Traveller Out of the Box” outlining his discoveries and thoughts on how to run Traveller. Interestingly, although he says that he was only looking at the LBBs, he talks at great length about the mega-module The Traveller Adventure and the nuggets of Traveller refereeing found within.
These blog posts inspired me greatly to lean towards a “Free Kreigspiel” approach to running my game. While most Traveller players who play today seem focused on the “roll” playing, I wanted to put my players into a game where they focused on the BSG Universe and not the mechanics.
So I set out to do the following:
— Take a FKR approach to Traveller – the players would make very few rolls made per game, but behind the scenes, I would be doing alot of the heavy lifting. While nobody complained (much), I do recall that early on, it seemed surprising to some of the more experienced players. But as we went along, it seemed like folks didn’t mind that they rolled when it was absolutely important, and not for every thing.
— Use 26d in when I had no idea, or when I wanted to see the general “feel” of the situation. I’ve written about this before (1, 2) and I’ve come to see the 2d6 as a great way of figuring out if the Great RNG wants the situation to be in the PCs favor or against. As part of refereeing the game, I am almost constantly doing this if I don’t have something already planned out. And I should note that the “plan” is just how things are set up as the players encounter it. No plan survives contact with the players and when needed, I’m checking to see how the world might react to what the players are doing.
The more I do this, the easier it is and it’s almost like I’m discovering the world along with the players.
For example – when the PCs encountered the pre-Colonial woman on the planet, it was completely open ended how the situation would go. I didn’t know how it would go! So a series of reaction rolls, when the players did something to try to contact the woman, told me that at first she was frightened, but ultimately was curious enough to reapproach the shuttle. I didn’t predetermine her reaction, so it was wide open! Ultimately, I think it made for a satisfying cliff-hanger – she had just shown positive reaction and then the Cylons show up!
— Using Traveller as toolbox, not as comprehensive all-encompassing. It was obvious that some things fit well between what was presented in CT77 and the Battlestar Galactica universe. Chargen, in particular, had to change, including how the Social attribute works, the types of services and ranks and what expertise and mustering out benefits the players would have.
Other things, like space combat, also had to change – not that Traveller space combat wouldn’t have worked as-is, but rather because non of players expressed an interest in vector-based space combat. As it turned out, though, we only had one situation where space combat was a thing, and the players were far more interested in getting away, versus engaging. Smart players!
So what about expertise and using them?
— Embrace the minigames of expertise (not as a task/skill) One of the complaints that I’ve heard about Classic Traveller is “no unified task system”. I really see that as a feature, not a bug!
Most of the time, players in my campaign use their expertise to get an answer. I see this as a resource, something that can be used and 80% of the time, it’s an automatic success (unless a random situation throw tells me otherwise…) – they are EXPERTS on the things that they’re trying to do. And as the players saw how this went, they went with it quite easily.
When expertise was required and the situation was perfect to run a mini-game for that expertise, I would do so. I wish I had done it far more, but that was my unfamiliarity with all of the various minigames. Next season, I think I will make it a goal to dive into them more and use them more when the situation calls for it (which is about 20% of the time…)
— Combat as abstract range bands works best as narrative-driven, not “visual/miniatures.” For the most part, combat was not a part of our sessions. It happened during the playtests, and it happened during the game when the players boarded a Cylon basestar.
I utilized the band approach of CT77. For the playtest (on Roll20) and convention games (in person), I used a band layout and put down tokens to represent the combatants. For the Basestar combat, though, I managed the bands on my own on paper and just described what was happening.
I liked that much better! Rather than the players focusing on the visual of the bands and trying to translate their actions to bands, they just told me what they wanted to do. I’d describe the areas they were in, what they were seeing, the ranges involved and let them do what they were going to do. I think it worked out very well!
— NPCs as the pilots, depend less on PCs being pilots and more as the “captains.” We had a player who had the expertise of “ships boat” which translate in BSG to shuttles, Raptors, space fighters and other small craft. He ended up leaving the campaign suddenly, but I slotted in an NPC to serve as the pilot and really, it ended up working very well.
The players avoided space combat, since their shuttle is currently unarmed, but they had no problem directing the pilot through various space encounters, including the flight towards the crippled basestar. If space combat does happen in the future, I’m tempted to go with a more abstract approach as found in this neat CT supplement by a guy named Paul Elliott/Zozer.
I loved refereeing Season 1. By no means do I think I’ve got expertise at running Classic Traveller as probably 80% of other folks run it, but I definitely feel like I’ve got some chops in running it my way that gave (for the most part) a good game. I believe one player left because he didn’t enjoy the way I run Traveller (and AD&D, for that matter) but I also see gaming together like relationships – sometimes people don’t match and it’s totally OK to say “this isn’t working” and move on. Life’s too short, yannow?
So what to expect for Season 2?
Well, the players are definitely moving out into uncharted space, which means that things are wide open. I’ve got the other half of this map to fill out.
They’ve found what they believe to be a remnant of the refugees from the planet of Kobol – and there might be some interesting implications of that. They’ve also found Cylons on this side of the Veil! What does that mean for the future of the fleet? And what about the alien ships and technology they found in the Veil? Where are they at?
All things that I hope the players will want to explore in Season 2 … now I just have to start filling it all in! Ha!
I know this post was extremely long, so as a thank you for sticking it out, I have a surprise for you.
I’ve collected some of the odd bits and pieces that I used for the basis of starting this campaign. My overrides and adjustments to the three books, if you will. I even made a “cover” similar to the old Classic Traveller books. This is totally a fan-made thing, I’m not asking for payment, it’s totally open for you to look at and use, if you should ever want to do so.
And if you have questions or comments, let me know!
Saga of a Battlestar – Traveller Science Fiction Adventure in the Battlestar Galactica Universe
@chgowiz I liked that simple starship combat system you'd found. That's what I'd use if I ran a Traveller game.
Neat to hear the range band combat worked so well in theatre of the mind. I think it would work well with DragonQuest as well, even though it's hex based and detailed.
The 2d6 reaction table is a sweet social mechanic. It has been suggested in a blog post way back as the old school solution for lots of things. Might be something to it.
Thanks for sharing!
@AndreasDavour Thank you for the kind comments!
We'll see how it goes, like anything else, tweaks and adjustments to fit the table and setting, if needs be.
The 2d6 pattern definitely lends itself to all sorts of situations. All I have to remember, lower is woe for the players, higher is weal. 🙂 Pretty easy
@chgowiz@chgowiz-games.etinerra.com