Lethality in Traveller

[Stan Shinn]

I've run multiple campaigns with Mongoose 2e Traveller, and I've found a few things that need consideration when adapting to the Star Trek universe.

(1) Lethality

Traveller is very lethal, and you can easily get killed in a single shot. Star Trek Red Shirts die easily of course, but named crew like Kirk and Spock are heroic. Here are the house rules I'm using in a FrontierSpace campaign (a Star Frontiers retroclone) that I've also used in D&D and other games. I suggest these be added as an optional rules system for people who want a more pulpy game (vs. the very gritty Traveller death probability).

Death and Taken Out Rules

When your character hits 0 BP they immediately make a STR check (unlike the default rules which wait till after the encounter). If your character fails their STR check and mechanically dies, the GM gives you a choice: your character can die or they can be Taken Out.

Death: If you choose to die, your character is marked for death and you'll cross the threshold soon. The GM will tell you when. Generally your character will stabilize and become conscious but with a mortal wound that cannot be healed. The GM may allow you to play your character until the end of that game session or whenever your GM determines makes the best narrative sense, after which your character dies with no chance of being revived.

Taken Out: If you choose to be Taken Out, this means you give the GM temporary extra narrative control over the scene which supersedes other rules. The character doesn't die but is knocked unconscious and dragged off by space monsters, mind-controlled by a psionic and flees as an ally of their new master, incapacitated by disease and powerless to move without healing, or other similar outcome. The surviving ally characters cannot intervene to prevent this from happening; it simply happens, and with the character off-scene, the surviving characters have a new quest: to save or heal the affected character. Note that being taken out doesn't mean there is no consequence. The character may lose their possessions and return forever changed by their experience.

Total Party Kills: In some cases, your ship is destroyed or a giant alien creature has swallowed your entire party in one gulp. If your entire party is about to be killed, the party then makes a group decision: should the entire party die or should they be Taken Out? Dying works as described above. Taken Out again means the GM has special narrative control. For example, if your crew's ship is destroyed, the GM will generally allow players time to reach your escape pods (if you have any) before the ship explodes or breaks into pieces. If your ship didn't have enough escape pods, the crew's ship may be boarded and your characters will find themselves prisoners on a pirate ship or other similar fate.

[Steve Cole]

Your post appears to have been truncated, perhaps at a point you used a curly quote.

[Stan Shinn]

Your post appears to have been truncated, perhaps at a point you used a curly quote.

Oops! That was it. Fixed now!

[Albiegamer]

I've run multiple campaigns with Mongoose 2e Traveller, and I've found a few things that need consideration when adapting to the Star Trek universe.

I've posted elsewhere about SFU/PD vs Star Trek. Short version: SFU is based on original ST but only what we've already used.

(1) Lethality
Traveller is very lethal, and you can easily get killed in a single shot. Star Trek Red Shirts die easily of course, but named crew like Kirk and Spock are heroic. Here are the house rules I'm using in a FrontierSpace campaign (a Star Frontiers retroclone) that I've also used in D&D and other games. I suggest these be added as an optional rules system for people who want a more pulpy game (vs. the very gritty Traveller death probability).

I've been running Traveller since the early 80's, and *tons* of MGT1 at conventions and home games. Many game systems are like Traveller - lethal, MGT no more than any other (except maybe during character creation).

The suggestion is a clever one but, IMO, more a group/GM table rule than something that needs to be in the rulebook.

[kehrer1701]

In my groups testing so far, I've leaned more towards the exploration and mystery type of adventures with more problems to solve.