OOC:

[Snapper]

[Mr. Handy]

I hope you both are better soon too! I believe I had it in March of 2020, and it's not fun.

[Snapper]

Definitely on the mend, thank you!

[kabukiman]

I hope you get better soon.

[jp1885]

I’m getting there, thanks all. Last couple of days were not nice.

[Snapper]

Definitely over the worst, thanks.

[kabukiman]

The question I always do in the game: are you having fun? Anything you dislike?

[Mr. Handy]

Yes, I'm definitely enjoying it! I can't think of anything I dislike.

[Philulhu]

Ota would like an APC to ride around in but apart from that we’re all good

[Snapper]

I'm loving it! Last time I played original Traveller was in the 1980s.

My only request is you don't stop.

[jp1885]

Yep, what they said

[kabukiman]

Well, my personnel opinion: the rules of traveler are not very good to an investigation game. I can imagine lots of rolls you could have done with coc rules. But this means the game is more "acting" and less "dice".
Well, I'm glad you are all liking the story (full of clichés, I know )

[Snapper]

The original rules hail from the very early days of role-playing, when war-gaming was a big influence on rules design I think. So combat was a big part of the rules along with trade.

My recollection of playing this as a kid was that the party rarely had any great number of skills, much like us in this game now. A lot of the time, players would say what they wanted to do and make a save against the relevant stat, like INT or EDU, to see if they succeeded. Quick and dirty. That may have been a "house rule" though.

It is fun to play it again after all these years though. Even the newer versions of Traveller have a much greater emphasis on investigation and intrigue, let alone CoC which is if anything anti-combat. I don't mind playing a game that is more acting and less dice for a change.

And full marks to Mr H for heroically role-playing a PC with 1 skill point for all they're worth.

[Mr. Handy]

Thank you! I can fly a ship - and that's about it. I do have great physical stats, so I'm not too bad in a fight either, even with 0 skills. Luck has helped there, of course.

[kabukiman]

Never had the chance to play traveller. Nobody wanted to play science fiction. Even cyberpunk 2020 or stat wars were hard to convince people to play.

[Mr. Handy]

I've played Traveller before at a convention, but my first exposure to it was in the 1990s, when I played the computer game MegaTraveller 2. I'm old enough to have played Traveller in the 1980s, but I hadn't discovered it yet.

[Philulhu]

I'm old enough to have played Traveller in the 1980s, but I hadn't discovered it yet.

Same here, although I didn’t actually play until lockdown!

[Snapper]

On a related note, the Characters and Combat Book, p.23 had a list of skills the GM may allow as automatic skill 0 for all PCs, besides weapons:

Air/Raft
ATV
Forward Observer
Steward
Vacc Suit

[jp1885]

I have a copy of the 2022 Mongoose edition. Haven’t played it apart from on here though.

[Dave Syrinx]

Hi guys! I´me switching work places and will be dropping out of the games here on PLAY@.
I´ve enjoyed this Traveller scenario, Kabs!
See you on the other side, when things have settled.
/Dave