How do you get your "Traveller fix"?

[robject]

So I got on the discussion boards and stayed with them from when I first found Traveller. I started on Xboat Mailing List, then a year or so in we got folded into the then-TNE-leaning Traveller Mailing List (TML), then I took a break around 1999. Then joined COTI in 2003 or so, and stuck with it.

But from TML through COTI, I would phase between active posting and neglect. These forums take energy a bit, and they always have.

And that's okay, because the forums are not how I get my "Traveller Fix".

I get it through playing Traveller; that includes online interactive gaming, conventions, in-person gaming, and using the toolsets (generating characters, ships, worlds, sophonts, robots...)

It has the toolset to engage my left brain, and the format and genre to engage my right brain.

 

[bookwyrm]

same for me.

I discovered CotI after I found Traveller T20, about 12 years ago? happened to be there when Gmail became a problem and had to make a new one. after a few years, left CotI for a bunch of years, then came back, ended up getting Gateway to Destiny and finding some great PDF materiel.

in my younger years, I was introduced to Traveller with the LBB 81 version, I think. I was collecting lots of stuff, especially the Alien Modules. don't have any of that anymore, and then a bunch of years later, found T20.

really like CotI for the discussions, ideas, sharing.

I really like the G2D setting, and have had thoughts of continuing adventures up into the TNE 1248 setting through all the stuff with the Rebellion & Virus along the way.

and of course, building ships, vehicles, robots, and characters! and trying to figure out what to do with the different systems out there.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Playing, obviously.

 

[Spinward Scout]

I can't remember which year The Traveller Book came out. But when I got it, I was hooked. It was the only Traveller book I owned until MegaTraveller came out. And I grew up in the country and didn't have a lot of people around to game with to begin with. Through all this time, I mostly played D&D, FASA Star Trek, or Marvel Superheroes when I got to hang out with my friends in town. Nobody else really knew about Traveller back then.

So I'd make characters, ships, story ideas. I'd go through the checklist in the back of MegaTraveller Imperial Encyclopedia and "launch a ship". This was way before I found there was Solo Roleplaying.

Now, I'm at over 60 Traveller books, the CT CD, RPGSuite. And I come up with ideas all the time to try out. And some of the good ones get posted here and over to my blog (link in my Sig). I really like MgT2. I don't know if it's just the way it's presented or what, but I find it very easy to use.

And I'm starting to get better at Solo Roleplaying, which pandemic lockdown helped a lot with.

 

[aramis]

I get it by some of the discussions here, and running games with similar settings but different mechanics. I could easily run Edge of the Empire as a Traveller OTU game, for example. Or Alien, which if you squint just right shows a good bit of Traveller influence (d66 tables...)

It's been 3 years since I last ran Traveller itself, but I've provided setting context for 3 other groups in that time.

 

[Spinward Flow]

It's been almost 40 years since I last got to play Traveller as a Player ... but even back then, the way I got my Traveller fix was by building stuff.

Starships.
Vehicles.
Robots.

... stuff ...

 

[Leitz]

I do Play By Post on another board, write fiction set in a non-OTU universe (just published book #4!), and write computer code to build characters or handle the data I already have.

A few of the games I've run have turned out well, but it's still a 50/50 bet.

 

[Spinward Flow]

I do Play By Post on another board

There's another Traveller board doing Play By Post??

 

[Diveguy]

I get mine through here, or the quality products some of the companies are putting out these days.

Due to my travel schedule, in-person gaming hasn't been a thing for a number of years unfortunately

 

[atpollard]

PbP Online gaming.

Sometimes I play ... usually a colorful character just for the fun of being someone different than the typical TROPE hero/adventurer.

• Fred: A wealthy Craftsman that traveled around using his Artist and Mechanical skill to build high-end Firearms to sell and support himself. So Fred was happy to take passage on any ship going anywhere and do anything ... all he was looking for is inspiration for his next work of art.
• Vinnie: A 70 year old retired Criminal with no combat skills and lots of "people" skills that just had to keep moving.
• Igber (fantasy, not Traveller): An apprentice Gemcutter with a nimble hands and poor business skills that has to steal (Thief) to keep from going hungry.

More often I Referee ... I really enjoy creating worlds that are just a but different and seeing how the Players interact with the world.

• BITER: Here on COTI, I ran a world where the characters were a Black-Ops team inserted to a world on the brink of Civil War and Economic Collapse located a strategic distance between two hostile Star Empires with 30 days to neutralize the Deep Meson Gun before a Navy Invasion.
• BYDDOR: On Unseen Servant, I run a "Traveller" game on a TL 4 Waterworld. I placed Traveller in quotes, because it has NOTHING to do with SPACE. We mapped all of the CT Traveller Classes and Skills over to 19th Century Steamships. So the rules are CT, and the world is Victorian Steam-punk and the Characters are the Pilot, Navigator, Engineer, Doctor on a Steamship that travels from one island or floating community to the next having adventures. They have survived a Privateer attack and sinking of the passenger ship they were on. They uncovered a plot to seize control of a village by terrorizing the citizens and buying up all of the businesses. Now they are off to rescue a kidnapped member of the Nobility from a band of slavers.

 

[Grav_Moped]

It's been almost 40 years since I last got to play Traveller as a Player ... but even back then, the way I got my Traveller fix was by building stuff.

Starships.
Vehicles.
Robots.

... stuff ...

Yep. Which was one of the really clever aspects of the game: you can still do "stuff" (shipbuilding, worldbuilding, chargen/NPC chargen) without a gaming group handy.

Also, vicariously by watching the Happy Jack's RPG Traveller actual play sessions (they use MgT2). 13 sessions so far in the current campaign, playlist at:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw5f8WuA_WLhc-ySaxmoDAQzrEF7NdjQv

Streamed live on alternate Mondays (should be a new session this week) at 7PM Pacific.

The playlist doesn't yet include the most recent episode, which is available on their YouTube home page:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfZ1VsVd2rxU35JRAQynGIg

 

[Enoki]

I've found it increasingly difficult to get anyone to actually play a game of Traveller. So, instead what I have found works, and actually works quite well, is use it as the basis--with some "artistic" license--for writing science fiction be it short stories or a full novel.
You really have everything you need to do it. Character generation, a ready made 'world' / universe, and all of the basics to produce a good story. If anything, it's easier than almost any other similar science fiction universe setting to do because it's more complete and designed from the start to make it happen.

So, make a ship, roll up a crew, then generate a scenario using the rules and off you go taking notes as you "play." You can take some license and 'rewind' the scenario(s) you're using if they go in a different direction. If the characters or whatever aren't working substitute ones that will and move back three steps then forward again.

The neat thing is these stories always seem to a take on a life of their own and soon you find the characters are doing things you never thought or intended them to do...

 

[Spinward Scout]

There's another Traveller board doing Play By Post??

https://rpol.net has Traveller games. I'm not sure what's current.
(rpol is Role Play On Line)

 

[coliver988]

I get my fix primarily through this site. I've managed to run a few games with my group, but Traveller for the non-Traveller fan can be a bit hard run and play (the universe can be so big and, unlike most western European based fantasy that "everyone" knows, SF universes are all different).

Though my current Fantasy Trip group (a father & his 2 sons) have mentioned they may want to try a SF game. So I may be able to introduce more people to Traveller as well (and finally got to actually play the Fantasy Trip for the 1st time as the dad ran his first game this weekend! woot!)

But also, as others have mentioned, playing with all the sub-systems. And goofing around with software (what my blog was originally for, as I had written a mostly complete trade program years ago, and then over the years have kept trying to do it all over again and never getting far. Guess it helped that the 1st time I was laid off so had 3 months of time to work a few hours a day on it...now I am lucky for an hour or two over the weekend)

 

[atpollard]

https://rpol.net has Traveller games. I'm not sure what's current.
(rpol is Role Play On Line)

So does The Unseen Servant. https://www.unseenservant.us/forum/index.php

 

[The Pakkrat]

I've found it increasingly difficult to get anyone to actually play a game of Traveller. So, instead what I have found works, and actually works quite well, is use it as the basis--with some "artistic" license--for writing science fiction be it short stories or a full novel.
You really have everything you need to do it. Character generation, a ready made 'world' / universe, and all of the basics to produce a good story. If anything, it's easier than almost any other similar science fiction universe setting to do because it's more complete and designed from the start to make it happen.

So, make a ship, roll up a crew, then generate a scenario using the rules and off you go taking notes as you "play." You can take some license and 'rewind' the scenario(s) you're using if they go in a different direction. If the characters or whatever aren't working substitute ones that will and move back three steps then forward again.

The neat thing is these stories always seem to a take on a life of their own and soon you find the characters are doing things you never thought or intended them to do...

^^^This.
I use a game system to solo-play a story. This is how I get my Traveller fix when not gaming with other players.

 

[Quint]

I get my fix here, chatting with old friends who used to play, and running the occasional Traveller game (did a 1ish year campaign about a year ago).

D.

 

[Bravesteel]

I get my Traveller fix via this forum, the Mongoose forums, r/Traveller, and several Facebook groups.

I am also getting ready to start an MGT2 solo game since I cannot find any local players and it looks like we aren't getting out of this pandemic anytime soon due to vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine groups.

 

[richard gorman]

A University friend introduced us to Traveller in 1980/81. For decades (It's aging roles all round now!) I've run regular weekend long stayover game fests for a fine group of chums. We've cycled through Runequest, Ars Magica, Trinity, Skyrealms of Jorune, Traveller (Often GURPS Traveller), my own yummy fantasy system and setting (Sulhan/Horizons available from Drive Thru for Weddings, Birthdays and Bar mitzvahs...) and many others. Currently we're neck deep in a long running Cthulhu campaign but one of the chums now runs an excellent fortnightly GURPS Traveller game by Zoom. Wonderful setting depth and detail in that Loren Wiseman inspired line. We started during lockdown, loved it and kept it going. Face to face is best but I recommend giving online a shot if you can't manage.

I currently have an absolute mountain of Traveller stuff lying in wait for action after the current campaign ends. I went completely doolally over the last few years finally writing up my own Earth centric 'Ad Astra' Traveller campaign as Cosmos: Age of Sail for Cepheus (Cue the predictable 'pick it up for free on Drive Thru' plug).

Even though I'm lucky enough to have always had a regular games fix I completely understand the craving to immerse in new stuff. Will I ever get round to running 'Deepnight Revelation' or all those old FASA scenarios? Barring the shock invention and availability of budget TL7 anagathics probably not. It's still a joy to dive into them and launch the old imagination though.

 

[infojunky]

How I get my fix… been in ongoing good Traveller game for the last 30 years or so. Before that I ran episodic games starting ‘79. I have been a member of the TML since the Early 90s and GEnie as well.

Now add in the fanatical drive for 15mm figures for Traveller or suitable for play. By play I mean both RPG and Wargames. I spend a lot time crafting worlds for my little travellers.

So my fix, checking lists and forums daily for Traveller news, actually playing the game and well figures, drawing and modeling Traveller things.