Remember that Traveller grew out of board games like Imperium and En Garde
(not really a boardgame, but a pre-RPG), so some of it is an artifact of
that. It was also a play-balance issue, in that assignments with a greater
chance of promotion and skills came with a greater chance of death.
Everybody each got only one PC in Imperium, and they weren't essential to
play, so the death during chargen probably wasn't the "obstacle" there is
was in a pure RPG. But every character generation was like a little novel
being written, and the chance of death added to that interest. Face it,
most things in life that are easy end up looking like they're not worth
much anyway.
And it's not like the "you died" thing prevented us from playing (but it
did make the first night when everyone created characters run a little bit
long, and scare off the people who probably didn't want to play an RPG
anyway), it's not like when we hit a rule we disagreed with we all
blue-screened out and sat there inertly for six hours until our parents
got home and rebooted us. We dealt with it, and said, "okay, you were
severely wounded and instantly mustered out right then," or whatever other
work-around we used. Death during chargen gave far more to us than it took
away. For example, we all still remember that. How many other things you
did during those years do you remember that clearly?
Nonetheless, the conventional wisdom was that it was stupid, off-putting,
and not desired by the mob, so we naturally had to get away from it.
> I never quite understood the mentality behind killing players during
> chargen, I liked the, Special Duty and Wounded, bits during chargen.
> Those always spoke to me of something cool I needed to figure out when I
> was writing up my 10 page short story background.
>
> So I had a special duty when I was a marine and I was injured, what was
> that all about.
>
> I had a 4 term character who had 3 special duties, was injured twice and
> never got promoted. That spoke volumes about a lack of respect for
> authority.
>
> Derek Stanley
> Sent from my iPhone...
>
>> On Mar 2, 2015, at 16:57, [Traveller_TNE]
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> I always loved the way characters died in character generation.
>>
>> First, it game me lots of NPCs to use later (they were already dead,
>> right? Just postponing it a bit)
>>
>> Second, it gave a lot of flavor and insight into the game's universe
>>
>> Finally, it gave the game a lot of color and attitude compared to the
>> other weenie RPGs. Any cry-baby can play a game where your characters
>> are
>> guaranteed to survive chargen.
>>
>> > It still kind of ticks me off when I see characters with a UPP like
>> that.
>> > So you're telling me you never rolled anything below a 10?
>> >
>> > We used to do 2d6 x 7 and scrap the lowest roll. I think of the total
>> > added up to less than 20 something we could add in a few points. I
>> forget
>> > though.
>> >
>> > Derek Stanley
>> > Sent from my iPhone...
>> >
>> >> On Mar 2, 2015, at 16:29, [Traveller_TNE]
>> >> <> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> A most misunderstood rule.
>> >>
>> >> How else are you meant to regularly roll 9ABCBA characters?
>> >>
>> >> It was pretty much stated in the book that if you didn't like a
>> >> character, you could "enlist" him in the Scouts, and roll up another
>> one
>> >> when he died. (It didn't always work, since they sometimes
>> survived.)
>> >>
>> >> Sure, it took up a bit of time, but it was a viable alternative to
>> D&D
>> >> style "roll three dice and pick the best two". Nobody gave D&D
>> players
>> >> grief about that.
>> >>
>> >> It's surprising how many people never picked up on that.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> ---In , <nightrim@...> wrote :
>> >>
>> >> I thought most trav meme's had to do with death during character
>> >> generation.
>> >>
>> >> Derek Stanley
>> >> Sent from my iPhone...
>> >>
>> >> On Mar 2, 2015, at 14:34, alanbgam@... c[Traveller_TNE]
>> >> <Traveller_TNEyahoogroups.com> iwrote:
>> >>
>> >>>
>> >>> It's their choice. ;)
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> ---In , <dcndcn13@...> wrote :
>> >>>
>> >>> "Where the PCs would fit in would be up to them."
>> >>>
>> >>> So carpetbaggers and opportunists it is! (Kidding...joke on the CT
>> >>> ethically-challenged merchant crew meme)
>> >>>
>> >>> > It's been a long time since I looked at it, and it's not handy to
>> >>> allow me
>> >>> > to refresh my mind, but my impression was positive. If I was going
>> to
>> >>> run
>> >>> > a Traveller campaign in the future, and it's been a Real Long
>> Time,
>> >>> the
>> >>> > Interstellar Wars period would be a serious contender.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > I'd probably set it a fair way into the wars, at a point when it
>> was
>> >>> > pretty obvious the Terrans were going to win, and the roots of
>> what
>> >>> would
>> >>> > become the Ramshackle Empire were starting to appear. So: less
>> Big
>> >>> Damn
>> >>> > Heroes, and more about carpetbaggers and opportunists trying to
>> loot
>> >>> the
>> >>> > Ziru Sirka.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > Where the PCs would fit in would be up to them.
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> > ---In , <wildcat_hal@...> wrote :
>> >>> >
>> >>> > I picked up GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars a few days ago to
>> sort
>> >>> of
>> >>> > round out my Solomani Rim collection. Initial impression is that
>> >>> quality
>> >>> > of the publication seems good, though I have some concerns about
>> some
>> >>> of
>> >>> > the background history presented.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > 1. For those of you who have purchased this in the past, what are
>> >>> your
>> >>> > impressions of it?
>> >>> >
>> >>> > 2. Whether you have purchased it or not, what have you heard about
>> it
>> >>> from
>> >>> > others?
>> >>> >
>> >>> > 3. Where do you put publications like this one on the 'Traveller
>> >>> Canon
>> >>> > Totem'? In theory, everything published by SJG is not canon,
>> >>> but...is
>> >>> > that totally true? I ask because if there are nuggets there that
>> >>> look
>> >>> > worth mining and incorporating into the CoE setting background,
>> I'd
>> >>> feel
>> >>> > more comfortable doing that if there is consensus on the issue.
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>
>
(not really a boardgame, but a pre-RPG), so some of it is an artifact of
that. It was also a play-balance issue, in that assignments with a greater
chance of promotion and skills came with a greater chance of death.
Everybody each got only one PC in Imperium, and they weren't essential to
play, so the death during chargen probably wasn't the "obstacle" there is
was in a pure RPG. But every character generation was like a little novel
being written, and the chance of death added to that interest. Face it,
most things in life that are easy end up looking like they're not worth
much anyway.
And it's not like the "you died" thing prevented us from playing (but it
did make the first night when everyone created characters run a little bit
long, and scare off the people who probably didn't want to play an RPG
anyway), it's not like when we hit a rule we disagreed with we all
blue-screened out and sat there inertly for six hours until our parents
got home and rebooted us. We dealt with it, and said, "okay, you were
severely wounded and instantly mustered out right then," or whatever other
work-around we used. Death during chargen gave far more to us than it took
away. For example, we all still remember that. How many other things you
did during those years do you remember that clearly?
Nonetheless, the conventional wisdom was that it was stupid, off-putting,
and not desired by the mob, so we naturally had to get away from it.
> I never quite understood the mentality behind killing players during
> chargen, I liked the, Special Duty and Wounded, bits during chargen.
> Those always spoke to me of something cool I needed to figure out when I
> was writing up my 10 page short story background.
>
> So I had a special duty when I was a marine and I was injured, what was
> that all about.
>
> I had a 4 term character who had 3 special duties, was injured twice and
> never got promoted. That spoke volumes about a lack of respect for
> authority.
>
> Derek Stanley
> Sent from my iPhone...
>
>> On Mar 2, 2015, at 16:57, [Traveller_TNE]
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> I always loved the way characters died in character generation.
>>
>> First, it game me lots of NPCs to use later (they were already dead,
>> right? Just postponing it a bit)
>>
>> Second, it gave a lot of flavor and insight into the game's universe
>>
>> Finally, it gave the game a lot of color and attitude compared to the
>> other weenie RPGs. Any cry-baby can play a game where your characters
>> are
>> guaranteed to survive chargen.
>>
>> > It still kind of ticks me off when I see characters with a UPP like
>> that.
>> > So you're telling me you never rolled anything below a 10?
>> >
>> > We used to do 2d6 x 7 and scrap the lowest roll. I think of the total
>> > added up to less than 20 something we could add in a few points. I
>> forget
>> > though.
>> >
>> > Derek Stanley
>> > Sent from my iPhone...
>> >
>> >> On Mar 2, 2015, at 16:29, [Traveller_TNE]
>> >> <> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> A most misunderstood rule.
>> >>
>> >> How else are you meant to regularly roll 9ABCBA characters?
>> >>
>> >> It was pretty much stated in the book that if you didn't like a
>> >> character, you could "enlist" him in the Scouts, and roll up another
>> one
>> >> when he died. (It didn't always work, since they sometimes
>> survived.)
>> >>
>> >> Sure, it took up a bit of time, but it was a viable alternative to
>> D&D
>> >> style "roll three dice and pick the best two". Nobody gave D&D
>> players
>> >> grief about that.
>> >>
>> >> It's surprising how many people never picked up on that.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> ---In , <nightrim@...> wrote :
>> >>
>> >> I thought most trav meme's had to do with death during character
>> >> generation.
>> >>
>> >> Derek Stanley
>> >> Sent from my iPhone...
>> >>
>> >> On Mar 2, 2015, at 14:34, alanbgam@... c[Traveller_TNE]
>> >> <Traveller_TNEyahoogroups.com> iwrote:
>> >>
>> >>>
>> >>> It's their choice. ;)
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> ---In , <dcndcn13@...> wrote :
>> >>>
>> >>> "Where the PCs would fit in would be up to them."
>> >>>
>> >>> So carpetbaggers and opportunists it is! (Kidding...joke on the CT
>> >>> ethically-challenged merchant crew meme)
>> >>>
>> >>> > It's been a long time since I looked at it, and it's not handy to
>> >>> allow me
>> >>> > to refresh my mind, but my impression was positive. If I was going
>> to
>> >>> run
>> >>> > a Traveller campaign in the future, and it's been a Real Long
>> Time,
>> >>> the
>> >>> > Interstellar Wars period would be a serious contender.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > I'd probably set it a fair way into the wars, at a point when it
>> was
>> >>> > pretty obvious the Terrans were going to win, and the roots of
>> what
>> >>> would
>> >>> > become the Ramshackle Empire were starting to appear. So: less
>> Big
>> >>> Damn
>> >>> > Heroes, and more about carpetbaggers and opportunists trying to
>> loot
>> >>> the
>> >>> > Ziru Sirka.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > Where the PCs would fit in would be up to them.
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> > ---In , <wildcat_hal@...> wrote :
>> >>> >
>> >>> > I picked up GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars a few days ago to
>> sort
>> >>> of
>> >>> > round out my Solomani Rim collection. Initial impression is that
>> >>> quality
>> >>> > of the publication seems good, though I have some concerns about
>> some
>> >>> of
>> >>> > the background history presented.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > 1. For those of you who have purchased this in the past, what are
>> >>> your
>> >>> > impressions of it?
>> >>> >
>> >>> > 2. Whether you have purchased it or not, what have you heard about
>> it
>> >>> from
>> >>> > others?
>> >>> >
>> >>> > 3. Where do you put publications like this one on the 'Traveller
>> >>> Canon
>> >>> > Totem'? In theory, everything published by SJG is not canon,
>> >>> but...is
>> >>> > that totally true? I ask because if there are nuggets there that
>> >>> look
>> >>> > worth mining and incorporating into the CoE setting background,
>> I'd
>> >>> feel
>> >>> > more comfortable doing that if there is consensus on the issue.
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>
>