Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game, The Voyages of "The Hiawatha"
 

Anybody interested in a GURPS Traveller game run by your friendly neighborhood Vargr?

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

I'm interested, assuming I can make it fit my schedule. Never done a PbP, so I'm not sure how time-intensive those are.

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

I took a stab at responding to this issue in our other thread, but let me add a bit here, too: "Time-intensive" does really not apply to PbP games. You just log-in when you have time, whenever during your day that happens to be, and if there are any new posts in the game, then you can respond as you see fit, post an action for your character, or whatever. At times you'll want to post a combat action, or a skill check. Other times, it will be strictly a roleplaying situation and you'll just want to give your character's words and thoughts. I haven't seen a built-in dice-roller on these boards, so I'm guessing we'll need to roll all dice on InvisibleCastle.com and post a link to the rolls in the action posts here. It's a simple matter to get a Username and Password at IC and then you're all set. When you log-in to IC, just click on the tab that says "roll dice" and you'll be taken to a screen where you'll enter your character name, campaign name, the number of rolls, and the dice to be rolled. For most GURPS rolls, you'll just need ONE roll, of 3d6+/-whatever modifiers apply.

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

[Moving discussion from the other Thread, since THIS thread is where I wanted to discuss this stuff.]

Really, all my Traveller experience is with the post-Long Night period. But, having said that, I'm totally open to anything, although I must warn everyone that my knowledge of Traveller canon is somewhat lacking and I have been known to just make stuff up on the spur of the moment. So, if necessary, maybe somebody could give me a lesson on the period we choose beforethe game starts? Question: Is the ISW period the time that immediately preceded the Rule of Man, immediately followed the Rule of Man, or something else entirely?

(Never mind, let's just go with Post-Long Night!)
Very interesting ideas, too! So for your Reputation Disad, how were you wanting to play it? How large would the class of people be whose reaction toward you is negatively affected?
I don't know about the cargo program. I usually just make something up, and it's worked so far. But thanks.

About your character, were you guys thinking that Captain = Pilot, or will the Pilot be just another officer?
Rules: 4E

Era: let's say ISW. Everybody cool with that?

Location: How's about -- 1204 Mongo/Jewell/Spinward Marches, (Starport: Class V, Diameter: 3,201 miles, Atmosphere: Std. O2/N, Surface Water: 80%, Climate: normal, Population: 6.206 M, Gov: Civil Service Bureaucracy, Control Rating: 2, TL: 9.)

If we're going to do ISW, then we will probably NOT want to be in the marches, will we? We'll pick someplace fairly near to Terra/Sol, but not TOO close.

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

Looking for doulos05, sn0wball, and MisterJuan to continue our discussion of the premise of our game here.

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

Well, with 3 of us, we're either looking at doubling up on characters or skeleton-crewing our ship (unless we take a Scout).

Personally, I'd be in favor of taking a slightly larger vessel than the standard Beowulf/Hero class, maybe based off the Lightning class Far Trader in ISW. IIRC, that's like 14 crew members. Most of them could be red shirts, having only the occasional cameo appearance, with maybe just the officer character's being fully fleshed out. Just a thought. Hero-class ships work pretty well with 5 people, though we could do 6 for a gunner, so that would actually be perfect.

ISW is Interstellar Wars period. It's the time when the Terrans beat the Vilani. Personally, I'll start researching the Long Night.

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

I might need to do a bit of digging concerning the era, since the only book I have in my possession is the 4th ed Traveller : ISW book. If need be, I might just become a pain in the ass and ask a tone of questions ;)

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

The gist is, bad things happened and the 2nd Imperium collapsed. Thousands of years passed before a new ruler emerged powerful enough to try pulling everything back together. Everything is in flux, few people know anything about most places near them, lots of exploring and learning to do in general. You could easily explain most gaps in your knowledge as simply never having encountered it before.

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

Feel free, we welcome pains in our backsides! :-D Some of us probably have answers, too, but I do reserve the right as GM to change anything that I don't think suits the game.

Hold on with that research! Maybe ISW would be a better period to use? I found that book after all, you see....

And the Hero class 200-DTon Private Merchant has a crew of 5 officers and 3 petty officers. Since we will have 2 pcs per player, we can double-up on one officer slot, say put an Officer over the medical section with a petty officer assistant physician, or a Gunnery Officer like you suggested. That will give each Player 2 Officers and 1 Petty Officer (red shirt) to control. If that's too much, one or two of those three can be designated NPCs, but we need to have each player controlling the same number of characters.

[REVISED this below already! Looking to get by in a Hero Class Private Merchant with TWO PCs each -- keep on reading....]

Wow, I gotta read-up on this ISW period! Looks very cool, and I can't wait!

Re: Discussion for new GURPS Traveller PbP game
 

I ran a free trader in the default campaign setting suggested in ISW. It's a pretty tumultuous time period, though Long Night would work too. Ship designs are transportable to any era and so are character templates and such.