Quote from: rgrove0172;1038968Ive been toying with a run at MGT2 as I was a big fan of CT way back. With a perception tainted by more modern and innovative mechanics however I see the characters in Traveller as somewhat dry. Im wondering if there is room for a Special Ability house rule addition. Special traits or whatever that give characters small roleplaying or functional advantages/disadvantages in specific circumstances. (ie. Intimidating - Your character has a look in his eye or perhaps a scar or something that gives people the chills. He gains a +1 when attempting to intimidate or threaten someone.)

Does that sort of thing have any place in Traveller or should I just leave it alone?

MGT2 does add traits to things. Weapons and animals have traits, for example. I don't see why Travellers can't also have traits. Just a simple thing like "Cyber-Eyed" or "Synth-Skinned" could be a trait. Just be careful that traits don't change your game's setting too much. No more than two Traits allowed for a Traveller.

You can also go the Barbarians of Lemuria route, which has character Boons that allow a 3d6-choose the best 2d in certain situations with certain skills.  It's been done, and long before 5e.

Quote from: Heavy Josh;1039148You can also go the Barbarians of Lemuria route, which has character Boons that allow a 3d6-choose the best 2d in certain situations with certain skills.  It's been done, and long before 5e.

Stars Without Number Revised has this mechanic, in the form of "Foci" (i.e., Feats, or the OP's "Traits"). Things like "Gunslinger", "Sniper", "Authority", etc. It could fairly easily be ported to Traveller.

In Traveller20 the life path generated XP which leveled  your character over the course of character generation. This meant at some point you were able to obtain a feat.

For 2d6 Traveller you can make a list of gifts/boons/advantages/aspects and allow each character to pick one every term or two terms (tailor to taste) this would emulate what Traveller20 did with feats.

I recommend looking at Fudge Gifts for ideas. While Fudge uses 4dF, a +1 modifier has the same significance due to the steep peak of the 4dF bell curve.

Quote from: estar;1039185In Traveller20 the life path generated XP which leveled  your character over the course of character generation. This meant at some point you were able to obtain a feat.

For 2d6 Traveller you can make a list of gifts/boons/advantages/aspects and allow each character to pick one every term or two terms (tailor to taste) this would emulate what Traveller20 did with feats.

I recommend looking at Fudge Gifts for ideas. While Fudge uses 4dF, a +1 modifier has the same significance due to the steep peak of the 4dF bell curve.

One possibility here is that the "gift" need not provide an across the board +1 for a skill, it could be +1 (or even +2) in particular circumstances. That would actually make them most interesting. Also interesting might be +1 in circumstances that cut across several skills, so it really is distinguishable from skills.

But honestly, I don't think Traveller really needs an advantage/disadvantage system.

Frank

Think that was called GURPS: Traveller.
Pretty sure its still doable.

- Ed C.

For reasons stated above, if I were to do that at all, I would look for abilities that could be expressed without a +x bonus.  So "extra shot on the first round of combat" is one, what else?  Bonus to End for purposes of taking damage, maybe a +3, bonus of some kind to encumbrance, +1 bonus to initiative (that's potentially pretty powerful).  Or if you do like bonuses, I'd prefer automatic boon on certain rolls over a plus; boon is arguably worth more than a +1, but at least it doesn't stack, so it doesn't push the math out of bounds.

Quote from: ffilz;1039282But honestly, I don't think Traveller really needs an advantage/disadvantage system.

Frank

Well you don't need anything but a referee, players, dice, pen, and paper to run a tabletop role playing campaign. However hobbyists have preferences how things are adjudicated and represented. In the case a 2d6 system similar to many editions of Traveller. More than a few hobbyists like having things about their character be represented by the mechanics rather than notes on a piece of paper. And rgrove may feel that having a list of gifts and flaws better represents the setting he has in mind.

You make the rules fit the setting and campaign not the other way around.

Quote from: Koltar;1039288Think that was called GURPS: Traveller.
Pretty sure its still doable.

- Ed C.

It is an excellent system but it is overkill as a solution to rgrove's issue.

Quote from: ffilz;1039282One possibility here is that the "gift" need not provide an across the board +1 for a skill, it could be +1 (or even +2) in particular circumstances. That would actually make them most interesting. Also interesting might be +1 in circumstances that cut across several skills, so it really is distinguishable from skills.

Sure, magic items in Adventures in Middle Earth do something similar to make them feel like part of Middle Earth.

What I forgot to mention that the first step is to write in plain English the list of added character details and they are acquired. The figure how to represent that using the 2d6 system.

You certainly can integrate 'traits' into Trav, but I don't feel it would add the right sort of element to the type of Traveller games I like to run.

Trait: Will only use his favorite weapon, and no others in combat.

Done with traits for my character.

Quote from: rgrove0172;1038968Ive been toying with a run at MGT2 as I was a big fan of CT way back. With a perception tainted by more modern and innovative mechanics however I see the characters in Traveller as somewhat dry. Im wondering if there is room for a Special Ability house rule addition. Special traits or whatever that give characters small roleplaying or functional advantages/disadvantages in specific circumstances. (ie. Intimidating - Your character has a look in his eye or perhaps a scar or something that gives people the chills. He gains a +1 when attempting to intimidate or threaten someone.)

Does that sort of thing have any place in Traveller or should I just leave it alone?

I would do that just based on description and roleplaying, so why not?

Quote from: rgrove0172;1038968Does that sort of thing have any place in Traveller or should I just leave it alone?

What did you decide on?

Quote from: rgrove0172;1038968Ive been toying with a run at MGT2 as I was a big fan of CT way back. With a perception tainted by more modern and innovative mechanics however I see the characters in Traveller as somewhat dry.[...]

Does that sort of thing have any place in Traveller or should I just leave it alone?

Leave it alone. The real story in any book can be read between the lines. Roleplaying happens in the gaps in the rules and the blank spots on the character sheet.

As an experiment, show two players the same CT sheet, and ask them to write 100 words about the character. You'll get two very different 100 words. Now take them through a few adventures - remembering they're unlikely to have their stats or skills change - and see how differently they come out. Taken from a blog, here is an example character,

67C997 Merchant 4th Officer, 3 terms, age 30, Vacc Suit-2, Pilot-1, Navigation-1, Admin-1

What do we make of her? Well, one player called Sigourney made Ellen Ripley... Veronica Cartwright - who ended up playing Lambert, the navigator, read for Ripley's role twice (and in fact Weaver originally wanted the Lambert role). Helen Mirren read for it but didn't want it. Meryl Streep was talked about but, from memory, had some loss in her family. And of course all the roles had been written gender-neutral - can we imagine Ripley as a guy? How about Al Pacino as Ripley? Lee Majors? John Wayne? Or how about some of the actual actors, like John Hurt, or how about Harry Dean Stanton as Ripley? Would that have been different?

If they very same script played by different people makes for a different character and role, how much more so if the player can write their own script - as can a player in a roleplaying game? Now if you write down everything about the character on the sheet... there's less freedom.

Leave the gaps on the character sheet, and let the players fill them in by roleplaying.