The Outlaw Sea is highly relevant, personally I didn't think it worked that well as a book, really it was three only barely related essays, but at least one of those essays is damn relevant to this thread.

Also, http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=311420 is an excellent rpg.net thread on a related topic which I recommend.

Quote from: CessnaEdit:  Also, have you ever seen the TV show "Deadliest Catch?"  It's about crab fishermen working off the coast of Alaska.  It isn't Indian Ocean/Pacific Rim, sure, but it does show working conditions on a ship pretty well.

I saw the ads for that and was really interested.  Having grown up in the Puget Sound region, lots of friends and acquaintences made their (almost obscenely lucrative) seasonal jobs on fishing and crabbing boats.  Of course, I also have a small handful of dead friends and acquaintences who went down in such boats.

I'll be keeping an eye open for Outlaw Sea.

!i!

Any ideas on how to get an adventure going with this setting?  There's no shortage of crazy shit to drop PCs into with this, I'm just at a loss for how to present or pace it.

Ive been lurking reading this thread. It is an awesome idea. If I didnt have a Wild West campaign going on with my group right now. I would steal this lock, stock, and barrel.
While reading this I had an adventure idea. Posibly have the characters encounter a cargo  cult. This could work for a 1930's or modern campaign. For those not familiar with cargo cults.

Quote from: BalbinusHey, feedback is always welcome.

On Ranks you have a point, and I likely shall.  I'd probably use US ranks for ease of convenience.

For this, I think the US ranks would work fine.  It's not like a player couldn't quickly look up the ranks for other armend forces if they want that as a background.

QuoteOn Mustering out Benefits, in original Traveller Blade and Gun made more sense.  In this context not so much, so I'll think on that.

And I'm not sure what to replace them with, anyone got any thoughts?

QuoteRe skills, the idea is that only those skills for which one might get paid are really covered, and skills are quite broad.  Ian addresses this quite well, were I to want to cover skills in more detail as you suggest I wouldn't actually use Traveller as a base.  Something like Gurps or Corps would be far more suitable IMO.

Well, I wouldn't rule anything out as useful skills, even money-making ones.  As I have discovered in 30 years of playing RPGs, players can come up with the strangest things and ideas!

Something you might add in is some of the career paths from Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium.  A number of those might be appropriate and possibly useful.  Mainly thinking Pirate, Doctor, Barbarian, Rogue, maybe Scientist, Bureaucrat, and Diplomat.

You are right, for better detail GURPS would work fairly well as would COC.  I'm not familiar with CORPS, but if it is the one by BTRC then it should work well also.  BTRCs first game (I think) was Timelords, which is what I feel has done the best job of allowing for the very braod skill set that is not uncommon in contemporary/modern people.

Now as to the best "trade" system, then Traveller in one of it's various incarnations is the best.

Quote from: CessnaMind if I recommend a couple of books?

Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas by John Burnett.  

[...snip...]

The Outlaw Sea : A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime by William William Langewiesche.

And I found both books, brand new and cheap at the local Half Price Books.  Looks like the pile on my nightstand just crested a foot.  Thanks for the tips.

!i!

Additional "skill" that came to mind that would be very necessary (and one that Traveller almost never brings up) - Languages!

Doesn't everyone speak English?  Damns, this may slow things down a bit.

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaDoesn't everyone speak English?  Damns, this may slow things down a bit.

!i!

I think you could wind up with a lot of comedy gold if you had the players go into business in the region under that assumption.

Sure a lot of countries teach their students English as standard curriculum now, but we in the US teach a lot of our students French or Spanish standard now, and look at the foreign language skills of the average American.  

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaDoesn't everyone speak English?  Damns, this may slow things down a bit.

!i!

You can thank my 7 year old for thinking of it!:D

Quote from: SionEwigSomething you might add in is some of the career paths from Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium.  A number of those might be appropriate and possibly useful.  Mainly thinking Pirate, Doctor, Barbarian, Rogue, maybe Scientist, Bureaucrat, and Diplomat.

I looked at those, and actually they don't work as well as I had initially thought.  Characters from the book 4 system often seem to end up with Medic 7 or Liaison 5, which doesn't fit too well with the broader Traveller chargen philosophy.

Scientists rather bizarrely don't have any scientific skills, but there may be some mileage in some of the others.

Quote from: SionEwigAdditional "skill" that came to mind that would be very necessary (and one that Traveller almost never brings up) - Languages!

Good point actually, very much so.

I'd probably do something like give the characters a free additional language for each three levels of education, or something like that.  So an Educ 8 character would have their native tongue and two other languages, an Educ 9 three other languages and so on.

Not great, but probably good enough.

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaDoesn't everyone speak English?  Damns, this may slow things down a bit.

This reminds me of Feng Shui, where every character - PC or NPC, across the whole globe and four different time periods - speaks perfect Cantonese, which has been flawlessly dubbed into English.  Any mistakes or accents are only for comic effect

Just had to post this link.  I WANT one!!!

http://www.hydroptere.com/index.php4?lang=EN

QuoteFROM 33 TO 47.2 KNOTS IN 6 SECONDS...

47 knots in a sailboat!!!

One of Jim Bob's best threads. Also, you can find sea piracy far nearer than you think. I'll see if I can find some links.