Jayne: I’ll kill a man in a fair fight, or if I think he’s gonna start a fair fight… If he bothers me, or if there’s a woman… Or if I’m gettin’ paid. Mostly only when I’m gettin’ paid.
@@MonkeyJedi99 Traveller diversifies your character types, but some of the less brainy ones, maybe ex-military, will be...uh...Public Relations, just like Jayne was.
5:20 In the Mongoose 2nd-ed. Updated edition of 2022, they have scaled back the effect of Leadership! Instead of the Effect of the Leadership roll granting a number of Boon dice-rolls to their teammates (approximately a +1.46 modifier), it now only gives individual +1 DM bonuses which are NOT called Boons any more.
@@jaybadhorse5096 I recently had the chance to buy old JTAS magazines from the Classic Traveller. Dude I envy you, to have the chance to have lived those days with the CT books around, the quality of those books and it's contents is crazy, and back in the day Traveller was truly Hard Science Fiction.
Your videos make my day whenever they come out. You may not be curing cancer or solving world hunger, but your content can really lift my mood on a seriously bad day. You have my thanks and gratitude for all you do both on screen and behind the scenes. You are much appreciated, and I thank you kindly!
When I teach people Traveller combat I say it's more like "Gears of War" or "Mass Effect" combat on the ground because cover is so important. I want them to realize it's not Doom or Wolfenstine 3D where you can just run around really fast, you gotta take cover!
Unless you're wearing really, really good armor compared to the other side's guns, anyway. You can get away with a little more risk when you're in battle dress.
@@gameon_ct i don't intend on giving my players battledress either, but they certainly do have a hankering for it regardless. quite frankly they have armored up like nobodies business, it's a good thing that that is one of the first things to go on a lawful world, keeps em vulnerable.
My house rule on the shooting/attacking someone you are not in close combat with is giving the player an option: Option 1) Take a Bane to your attack, or 2) give the person(s) attacking you Boon. Basically, it lets them decide how much effort they are putting in their attack vs their defence.
Good idea, man. Doing some math, a Boon pushes up the average roll by 1.46, from 7 to 8.46. A bane does the opposite, pushing it down to 5.54. But rolls at the extreme ends are not made impossible. Plus-or-minus one is a big deal already in Traveller, you want the characters to dive for cover and do the other things to get those sweet, sweet attack and defense plusses.
That bit about implants making it harder to heal if in a lower tech level medical facility is really interesting. It makes it so there's a real disadvantage to becoming a cyborg, other than price. It's not just a straight upgrade. It also means players will need to pay attention to different tech levels, and keep track of what kind of medical help they can expect if things go south.
One more thing about that "death spiral", Encumberence is calculated STR+END+ athletics (STR+END). So loosing enough END will cause bane (penalty die) on character.
A buddy once told me how his trigger discipline was so ingrained that he unconsciously did it when holding a bottle of Windex. I laughed, but then next time I picked up a spray bottle realized that I did it too.
@@SSkorkowsky not only you. i think pretty everyone who has held a real weapon does that out of habit :) i'm doing that too, and i've only been drafted in the german army 20 years ago.
@@SSkorkowsky Windex, power tools, airsoft guns, prop weapons that are SOLID RESIN...my finger is always off the trigger :) BTW, great series. I've been involved with Traveller for a VERY long time, and also did a lot of artwork and covers for GURPS:Traveller. Some friends and I are just getting into MT2E, and this series has been a big help. Also, as a prop maker (see Alchemy Arms dot com, I do 95% of the props there), I'm curious where you got the helmet and pistols :)
@@wyrwolff That's true for me in everything but drills/impact drivers where upon picking one up I will immediately, 100% of the time, pull the trigger. No idea why, and everyone I've worked with does the same.
Or setting up your enemy squad like an RL infantry squad. Most everybody has an AR and a couple of hand grenades, but one has a grenade launcher, another an AT rocket, and one a light machine gun. Make the officer (if present) have a pistol and the comms to base/artillery/air support.
@@MonkeyJedi99 That's a bit heavy for what I am used to in Traveller. But, if you are playing in the Rebellion Era (Megatraveller) then it fits perfectly.
Okay bro I'm really damn sick right now so I was not prepared for Jack's opening gunfight and line XD That kicked me into a coughing fit. I think Jack and I would get along lol
One thing I noticed while flipping through the book. There is a sidebar in the section where they show aliens where it gives some suggestions, like animals might run at half hit points, 1/4 hit points they might be incapacitated, and dead at 0 of course. So for stunning I’d use that 1/4 number.
Could vary that a lot based on the size of the animal (bigger ones probably notice wounds from human-scale weapons less), how familiar it is with firearms (if loud noises doesn't = ouchies yet, gunfire is less likely to scare one off), and how aggressive or territorial the critter is. Also maybe some tech considerations - a stunner built to deal with humans or vargr or aslan might not work as well on something the size of a horse, and maybe not at all on a rampaging xeno-dinosaur - but you could likely buy or modify weapons specifically designed for big game, or to make sure you don't accidentally kill tiny animals if you're trying to collect live specimens. Old editions of Traveller used to be weirdly fond of "hunting expedition" adventures, which generally went horribly wrong at some point. Ship crashes, unexpected weapon failures, ambushes from eerily intelligent fauna, and the ever-popular "our noble patron turns out to have taken The Most Dangerous Game way too seriously" twist.
A little late to the party, but I'd say maybe not the 1/4 number considering that humans get incapacitated when two of their stats are at 0, whereas they get stunned only when endurance is at 0, I'd say maybe 1/2 hits might be better.
It's been a LONG TIME since I saw PHOTON guns. I used to have a couple of sets of those with the vests and the stand-alone targets. Best "laser tag" ever. That's pure '80s game tech right there! :)
This is right up there with your Call of Cthulhu series. *Extremely* helpful for getting to know the system, especially for those of us who may have been out of Traveller since the rules came in three mini-books.
I just realized something. "Jack Miller" is a name of an NPC I first created "Star Trek The Role Play Game," and then transferred him to "Battletech." I named him after my birth father, who passed away some time ago.
Loving this series, I'm really liking traveller and will likely buy the corebook and companion after I finish the series! Thanks for doing this review!
Yeah, definitely want to join your Traveller games! Love the sound of your house rules - not being able to use a rifle within 2m *is* kinda silly and a Bane makes sense as a rifle is not the most manoeuvrable item in tight confines...
The criticism of the lack of action illustrations in Traveller reminds me of Jim Holloway’s illustrations for the Paranoia RPG which are so outstanding they permanently flavored that game for me.
Thank you for this series. Im running Traveller in full on TL13 Battle Dress ground combat mode tonight. So Im watching this on repeat today. Again thank you 🙏
Just as the notification popped up, i went on to see your video. Very nice content Seth, love it! Looking forward to the last episode of the series in order for me to get to know Traveller better and start playing with my friends.
You could always use the injured character's unmodified (original, non-wounded) Endurance DM value to calculate daily healing. If getting negative results annoys too much. So that the healthier characters heal a bit faster, and there isn't stunted or back & forth declination during a long healing period.
You could also use the negative END modifier as the base of a fraction that stretches out how long it takes to recover. E.g., if healing rate is 1D6 + END DM _per day_ (natural healing, light wounds), and END DM is -3, then recover 1D6 _per 3 days._ A potential drawback, this would mean END DM of -1 and END DM of 0 recover at the same rate, even though the DMs differ.
Your videos are great! I’d love to have you do a sample battle that plays all these rules out. Jack the NPC in a three round firefight with some baddies. Seeing all this rules in action would be fun and informative.
I find traveler to be very reminiscent of the video game Mass Effect; which is funny considering that I'm doing a play through of that franchise right now.
As far as I know, there are two rpg related to ME (Mass Effect d20 and Mass Effect 5e). I'm evaluating the latter as a choice for my first scifi rpg campaign (been DMing D&D for many years and I want to try scifi now), but (like you) I can see that Traveller could be used to run a campaign in the ME universe as much as a dedicated title rpg. Will have to study more these videos, they are full of info.
Keeping track of the ammo was our problem, especially for those with the full-auto weapons. As a GM I tend to be pretty strict about "Hollywood" weapons with inexhaustible magazines.
Happy to help. Out of curiosity, what makes you start deciding against Traveller? I mean, I fully admit Call of Cthulhu is still my favorite overall system, so if there's other games you simply prefer to Traveller, I totally get that. I'm just curious what the turn-off is.
@@SSkorkowsky I think that the core problem is that Traveler is *too* generic. As I play the game, I'm forced to come up with each and every planets society and ecosystem. (I'm playing classic Traveler.) I'll admit that it's fun for awhile, But I'm forever guessing what the players are going to do. On one planet they land do their trade and move on. The next they go camping. And as you well know players are insatiable. They always want more. I also have problem with the scenarios. Every one I've come across has been very sketchy in its details or worse happily says: "The referee will need to work out the events". WHAT? I paid good money for this. Why not just have an empty booklet that says: "Plan and run adventure". Still, I enjoy the "feel" of Traveler. And I really want it to work. And I blame you for this. You keep talking me into giving it one more chance.
There's definitely a balancing act with the scenarios. Some are super-generic and almost like a loose framework that asks you to supply your own screws and instructions. Others get super-specific in details and then you're feeling trapped because it's just so much and you know 95% of it will never be used, but you don't know which 95% in the fluff. It's not really possible for them to give you every detail about multiple worlds, but at the same time, you want more than just the UWP code and a planet name. What I've found helpful are the Sector books. Pirates of Drinax covers everything in the Trojan Reach and gives a lot on the politics and history. Next week we'll be starting the Rift. I've been working out an adventure chain following the Island in the Rift adventure as the backdrop with a bunch of mini-adventures thrown in as they're having to pilot this janky spy ship back to the Imperium. That one will allow me to really get into the planets in those 2 subsectors without overwhelming me with 300 systems I might not ever use. Depending on how they'll do it, I might not use some of the mini-adventures and encounters, but there are a couple set ones at both the beginning and end. One old Travller vet gave me some of the best advice when I started out. He said to get 1 or 2 subsectors and only play those. Yeah, the whole galaxy is out there, but if you try to take on the galaxy you'll feel lost and disconnected from the world. So he said to just run in a limited area of planets, get into their ins and outs and show how the PCs are changing the worlds there. As I've played more, I tend to agree with him.
@@SSkorkowsky If you can get hold of it, Hero System has a game called Justice Inc. The source book is the best roleplaying aid I've ever come across. It breaks down how to run any adventure. Also I got a lot of inspiration from an old TV show "Tales of the Gold Monkey". Granted its a cargo plane flying to islands, but the basics are there. As far a limiting the area of adventuring, I give plusses to players who trade with the same planets. That gives them incentive to stick to one area.
There's an argument to be made that it takes a certain kind of resilience to be able to continue operating while injured. Most folk, if they get shot, are out of the fight even if they aren't dead, from shock or pain or simply not having the will to continue. So beyond a certain threshold, a "Mook" type character really is done.
@@Bluecho4 Doesn't even have to be getting shot, or knifed, or even anything life threatening at all. Some folks just can't take a punch without curling up in a ball, others can soldier on (for a while, anyway) when they're holding their guts in place with their free hand. You could also look at it as having more flight than fight in your response options.
@@SteveSwannJr I usually adjust it depending on what i think would be a good challenge for my players. Obviously traveller isn't DnD so I usually keep it up to 15 (at the very maximum) if you include armour with the hitpoints aswell.
Seth, thanks so much for these videos. I've watched this series twice - first time just for fun, which got me into Traveller; and now it is to learn the rules. I was a bit overwhelmed with the rulebook's rules and confused, and you just cleared all the dark spots out
Thank you for making these videos, I recently bought the core rules and your content is helping me make sense of everything. I’m looking forwards to more!
Seth, you do a superb job of distilling the mechanics down to their essence. Your visual aids highlighting pertinent stats further drives the point home. Thanks for such excellent presentation!
I did not know you were an author. I wish you mentioned it in your videos more. Just got your first book on Audible and am looking forward to getting them all.
Thanks for the helpful review! Been playing D&D for a long time and we're gonna try traveller, I chose to be the 'muscle' for the crew so I want to learn the combat rules really well. It's a good thing too, cus if we played this like D&D we'd be dead in our first battle XD
Anyway, great series, Seth! I screwed up my courage and introduced my own Traveller Mongoose 2 campaign in an original setting. The long-time teleconference Traveller group I'm in ended up reaching 8 players, and I told them they should GO TO SCHOOL about Traveller and watch your video series, particularly the crucial personal and space combat videos. That, and excellent on-line character sheet on Roll20 (which figures in Characteristic DMs automatically and changes them automatically if the character gets wounded), will help things go smoothly. Of course I provide lots of handouts for the rules and GM screen-type charts.
More please, Seth! For me, these videos are so much easier to learn from than reading rulebooks alone. Thank you so much for your content of all kinds!
Great work. I wonder about Leadership rule as described by you ( 5:24 ) , it’s based on boon and banes, while 2022 core manual applies it as DM+1 or DM-1 modifier. What is your view?
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Never played the game and I'm gonna run a pretty dauting campaign in a year or so. These videos are superb stuff to get this first contact with the game
Hey Seth! Just wanted to thank you so much for these videos. My long time gaming group just stumbled onto traveller and I am so very thankful for your videos. Now I've just been tearing through the rest of your videos and am waiting with bated breath for the space combat vid. You've also definitely convinced me to take a look at call of Cthulhu as well. And dang does todd hit my funny bone. All that to say that you have a great channel and have made a fan out of me!
Great, i love this series and this Game so much X3 My player don't like learing systemes ... but traveller it so easy even they got the hang of it in no time (sort of) XD Also to Jack: the lack of action-pic encouraged my players and me to think of scenarios other then "guns balzing" and we treat combat as fun but very deadly. My players loved it and we ended up biting our nail in the final of our campaing XD
Mongoose has the first Traveller rules with Tactics and Leadership skills that really made sense to me. I prefer the weapon ranges used in Traveller: The New Era. Each weapon had a Short Range. Medium Range is double that, Long Range is doubled again, and once more for Extreme Range.
Love your work man! Just ran a modified version of Traveller where players thought they were playing another fantasy game as barbarians but they've been scooped up by Octomorph aliens, this video was a big help.
Don't know if this came up since the vid was created, but I understood the modifier of -6 for the ambushed side to only apply to their Initiative. Representing the ambushers getting a brief jump on the ambushed before the latter gets into full action later in the round. I understood it that way since the paragraph only referred to Initiative throughout, and also didn't mention anything about the ambushers also getting a DM+6 to all rolls that round. Think I read something about this in a rules question on a forum somewhere, and clarification of it pertaining only to Initiative, but may have that conversation mixed up with something similar.
I think you're right. The part that I find confusing is Attackers getting a +6 and Defenders get a -6 to initiative could have been easier done by simply giving one side a plus or minus 12.
@@SSkorkowsky - Yeah, it could've been worded a bit more clearly. The GM Screen also has the +/-6 DMs listed under the Initiative header. I don't think it's mentioned in the combat modifiers. Anyway, keep up the great work. I still go back and re-watch some of your stuff. Very helpful for brushing up!
An Initiative roll is supposed to stay the same thing in all the rounds of combat, but obviously if there was surprise (an ambush), the Initiative disadvantage is extreme and should not be carried over into subsequent combat rounds. So ambush should not dictate the whole of the combat to follow but it means the sides will have to roll Initiative again for the proper Round 1 and subsequent rounds.
I know you like reviewing game systems that you've played with before in a group setting, but I was wondering; have you ever looked at the Champions / Hero System lineup? It's a bit like GURPS in that you can make it work for any system, but its combat isn't as relentless as GURPS is and it's a bit more crunchy on the character creation side of things. And if you like the Call of Cthulhu solo adventures, you should look into Me, Myself, and Die, he's got an entire series where he goes through an adventure solo using randomized tables and a GM Emulator. Stay safe man, thanks for the A+ Entertainment! Your series on Traveller made me go out and get the entire classic black book collection and I've been running a three man game since.
Wow people must hit just so much in this game. I've been wanting to play traveler for a long time but I had no idea that an average dice roll was only precisely less than what was needed to hit before you even add in any bonuses
I would homebrew an HP pool equal to one third of the character's Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance. That way, you can take a little bit of damage before you start getting weakened. 'Tis but a scratch!
Hey Seth, looking through my 2022 revised Traveller core book, I don't see any NPC stat blocks like in D&D. What do you do for npcs in a combat encounter, do you make a character sheet for each one?
I am running a group of new Traveller players in Pirates of Drinex, before doing that I decided to play a few shoot-'em-up games to teach them how the game mechanics work. I ran three one-shots with pre-made characters. The first game was a TPK. They were all D&D players and played like D&D, and died very quickly. Taking a heavily armed enemy on head-on is a great way to get killed very quickly. By the second game, they had figured out that if your enemy is shooting back you have messed up. Two of the players are real-life former vets, one USA the other is USMC. They helped the players with bounding overwatch tactics and squad movement and cover. The third was a monster hunt. They were operating far better by this point and understood the most important rule in Traveller: GETTING HURT SUCKS. Kind of like real-life combat. They have had five battles so far, three ship assaults and two shoot outs for other reasons. So far no deaths. They have learned that armor only dose so much.
I totally agree with your houses rule about shooting into or out of close combat. Having some thug or critter in knife distance from your character should make ranged combat difficult, but not impossible. I'd also add a bane die to firing into a close combat; when you want to shoot a space jaguar that's mauling your buddy, without hitting him.
Thanks! I don't understand systems that make stun better than lethal. In such a world, everyone would always use only stun weapons, and if they wanted them dead, would just slit throats after it was all over.
I think the 6 M can't use your rifle rule, is not to be realistic but to make melee more feasible. So much in these futuristic games guns end up winning out against melee and that sucks for characters who want to use primarily melee characters
I've got a question about combat armor. Why does tech level 12 combat armor cost less than tech level 10? The tech level 12 armor is superior in all aspects.
A lot of the tech gets cheaper as the Tech Level improves. It's kind of like a crappy 10MB computer in 1981 cost $1,500, while a new one costs less, or a suit of chainmail costs more than a Kevlar vest.
@@SSkorkowsky Ah. That makes sense. Thank you for the explanation. I appreciate these videos, they are so helpful. Next problem is finding local players haha.
Or maybe.... just maybe, I left it out because it's pretty simple, we've never had issues with it, and it's already a giant half-hour video on the highlights to walk people through the foundation of Traveller Combat, and not a sentence-by-sentence read-through of every minor and insignificant rule. Movement is a Minor Action. You can move up to 6m. Like any Combat Action, you can trade your Significant Action to take more Minor Actions, essentially sprinting a longer distance. It's super-simple.
@@SSkorkowsky Well, every mongoose traveller game I have played in (including Gen-Con and Origins) have only had issues with combat movement actions, like a PC sprinting 18m(12 squares or 60ft) right past armed enemies just to go around corner behind them, out of the line of fire or shooting and then running around a corner. I WAS hoping you had some real and productive advice about it not sarcasm.
As I said, we've never had an issue with it. My not discussing it in the video was not due to some intentional leaving it out due to problems with the rule, as you implied. Which is what earned the sarcasm.
I know this video is old but I had a question about Energy weapons and energy armors. Do energy weapons go through all armor but anti-energy armor or is anti-energy armor just supposed to be used as an under armor for main armor.
All armor works against all weapons up to whatever the Armor Rating is, but some anti-energy armors have better Armor Rating against energy weapons, such as reflective. Most armors can't be stacked. A few can, where you put on an armor undershirt sort of thing.
From the standpoint of a GDW Traveller veteran, "Natural Melee" - claws and fangs - vs "Unarmed Melee" looks like a continuation of the old Vargr "Infighting" skill, which uses teeth and claws, in contrast with the human "Brawling" skill, which involves no "natural weapons" (like humans don't bite and gouge in a serious brawl! C'mon, this isn't bloody _Marquis of Queensbury_ fisticuffs, here.)
From the standpoint of a novice of armed and unarmed combat, the movements and biomechanics to effectively punch or kick someone versus biting or clawing is very different. As a simple way of putting it in perspective, if you're going to combine unarmed and natural weapons because you don't see how they're different, I'm going to insist you also combine the skills for blades and blunt weapons.
@@AGrumpyPanda Depending on what blunt weapon you're using, and how, the techniques strongly overlap with certain blade weapons - e.g. if you can use an arming sword, and you use those techniques with, say, an extenda-baton, you're going to do serious damage to someone, despite the lack of sharp edge. The converse applies to a number of formalised stick-fighting techniques when used with an edged weapon instead of a stick. Besides which, the comparison I made, was with brawling - which differs from formalised fighting techniques and "Unarmed Combat" in that it's more _ad hoc_ "get the other guy with whatever you can and try not to get 'got' in return" and in that it's not _taught_ it's picked up as you go. You don't go to a class in "brawling" as you would for boxing, Aikido, Karate, Military Unarmed Combat etc.
@@wolf1066 My point is more to say that it's an oversimplification to say that they'd be so similar that trained unarmed combat and trained combat with natural weapons should be the same skill.
@@AGrumpyPanda Having one skill - "Melee (Unarmed)" to cover all forms of unarmed fighting from "experienced bar brawler" to Capoeira is *already* an oversimplification. Separating out "teeth and claws" is a strange, arbitrary distinction when the base Melee skill gives you basic ability to use *_any_* non-ranged means of taking down your opponent from your knees, elbows and teeth to a sword or a baseball bat. Specialisation to unarmed, blade etc then gives you proficiency in an entire subset of melee combat - anything from a limited fighting style like boxing that only uses punches to complex forms of martial arts that use various strikes, kicks, grapples etc or anything from a single knife to complex dual-wielding dagger/epee techniques. Similarly, "gun combat" gets broken down to "slug" and "energy" etc in which the distinctions between pistols and rifles are completely ignored - and having fired both pistols and rifles numerous times, I can tell you that they're completely different skills - I'm willing to bet that there's more similarity between firing a plasma rifle and a projectile rifle than there is between firing a pistol and a rifle of any type. I personally find it weird that a distinction is drawn between using hands, feet, elbows, forehead, knees etc and "biting/gouging" when distinctions are not drawn between pistols, rifles, submachineguns or between melee forms that differ wildly in scope/technique/complexity.
the dice modifier mechanic is nice and I like having the player agency of being able to decide what pool to take the wounds to. As long as it's still fast and tight of course. And probably for most npc's that the players are going to be fighting it probably won't be too relevant. But for more noteworthy npc's you'll definitely want to prepare.
Worth noting that they updated the Auto rating on guns so they can't take advantage of aim anymore. I still think Auto is a little OP. In Mongoose v1, i think you could only get a +1 for each roll when doing auto (but you could roll all the dice and match them how you wanted, or maybe that was our house rule... can't remember).
The first session of my Traveller campaign was tonight, and it was great to have this come out on the same day. Thanks for the inspiration to finally try system out. Now I have to rework the start of Arcturus station because my players already messed that up by demanding to see a contract for the set up adventure and promptly rolling box cars on the Admin roll and riding the diplomacy and persuade skill chain to profit.
I’m pretty sure your house rule on rifles being fired at a penalty up close is just like the Call of Cthulhu rule on firing in or into a melee and I think the Star Wars Rpg has something like that too. Great video as always.
@@SSkorkowsky After getting into CoC because of your videos and playing Dnd for a while, I saw things both lacked that I enjoyed and stole them just like you say.
I love your videos, and your coverage of traveler is why I have now bought the books. Before I only heard tale of its unique character creation method which turned me off. However the rest of traveler is amazing and the closest to what I want out of an rpg.
AP and Zero-G weapons are pretty straightforward. AP weapons ignore however many points of armor their AP rating is at. So an AP3 weapon ignores up to 3 points of armor. Zero-G weapons allow a Traveller to fire without requiring Athletics(Dexterity). Firing a non-Zero-G weapon in microgravity requires an Athletics(Dex) check or the weapon automatically misses and the Traveller begins spinning uncontrollably until they can make an Athletics(Dex) check. Vacuum has no effect on slug guns.
Seth thank you so much!! I agree that Traveller Combat is cool but I want to ask one of your interpretations, especially since you have experience with this game. 1) Is armor an ever present damage reduction for each attack? Or is it destroyed once those points are gone? 2) does the armor bonus of cover only apply when some one is hiding behind it or is it the if that person is shooting from behind cover? I get that its probably referee discretion but like I said I'd like to get input from ppl who played. Thank you so much for the vids...and YOU have YOURSELF a great day for a change! 😁
All case-by-case, and no standing house-rule on it, but Armor normally stays intact when hit, but I'll wear it down if the PC is just getting hammered with something crazy. Or an Effect of 6+ I'll drop the armor's Protection Level by 1pt (that's the mostly likely reason I'll chew down armor). But outside some rare circumstance, armor stays intact. If the PC is totally hiding behind cover, then the cover's Armor bonus is used. If they're half out and shooting from behind cover, it's only a +2 to their armor. Again, I might case-by-case it in some weird circumstance, but can't recall ever having to yet.
@@SSkorkowsky Re: Cover armor mods, I could see giving the full (or maybe full-2) bonus to someone firing from a gun slit or something similar, or using a cyberoptic-linked gunsight to do the Cyberpunk trick of just barely poking the firearm around a corner when shooting. Fusion and plasma guns are great justification for wearing down cover armor values too - I'd say personal armor as well but you can barely live through being hit once so it hardly matters. :)
Traveller is the game where if you find yourself in a fair fight, you obviously blew your tactics roll ;)
Jayne: I’ll kill a man in a fair fight, or if I think he’s gonna start a fair fight… If he bothers me, or if there’s a woman… Or if I’m gettin’ paid. Mostly only when I’m gettin’ paid.
@@MonkeyJedi99 Traveller diversifies your character types, but some of the less brainy ones, maybe ex-military, will be...uh...Public Relations, just like Jayne was.
This is Traveller I didn't come here for a fair fight. Is one of my favorite sayings.
5:20 In the Mongoose 2nd-ed. Updated edition of 2022, they have scaled back the effect of Leadership! Instead of the Effect of the Leadership roll granting a number of Boon dice-rolls to their teammates (approximately a +1.46 modifier), it now only gives individual +1 DM bonuses which are NOT called Boons any more.
Oh my god, "Recon check." My whole world just changed. That's getting house ruled into everything.
I should talk to my group about playing traveler. Because you make it look epic.
It's an amazing game, In my top 3 RPG's along Cyberpunk 2020 and Call of Cthulhu.
I am running a Traveller game via Discord
Been playing Trav since the 80s. It's one of a kind.
@@jaybadhorse5096 Me too and I agree.
@@jaybadhorse5096 I recently had the chance to buy old JTAS magazines from the Classic Traveller. Dude I envy you, to have the chance to have lived those days with the CT books around, the quality of those books and it's contents is crazy, and back in the day Traveller was truly Hard Science Fiction.
Your videos make my day whenever they come out. You may not be curing cancer or solving world hunger, but your content can really lift my mood on a seriously bad day.
You have my thanks and gratitude for all you do both on screen and behind the scenes. You are much appreciated, and I thank you kindly!
This^
This^^
When I teach people Traveller combat I say it's more like "Gears of War" or "Mass Effect" combat on the ground because cover is so important. I want them to realize it's not Doom or Wolfenstine 3D where you can just run around really fast, you gotta take cover!
Unless you're wearing really, really good armor compared to the other side's guns, anyway. You can get away with a little more risk when you're in battle dress.
@@richmcgee434 I don't give my PC's battle dress XD
@@richmcgee434 Plus it doesn't stop a tank round haha. But you're right as well!
@@gameon_ct i don't intend on giving my players battledress either, but they certainly do have a hankering for it regardless.
quite frankly they have armored up like nobodies business, it's a good thing that that is one of the first things to go on a lawful world, keeps em vulnerable.
You can actually run around really fast and not get hit ...
My house rule on the shooting/attacking someone you are not in close combat with is giving the player an option: Option 1) Take a Bane to your attack, or 2) give the person(s) attacking you Boon. Basically, it lets them decide how much effort they are putting in their attack vs their defence.
I dig that approach.
Or both? Bane for the PC, boon for the enemy. That would really make you want to attack the dude in front of you.
Good idea, man. Doing some math, a Boon pushes up the average roll by 1.46, from 7 to 8.46. A bane does the opposite, pushing it down to 5.54. But rolls at the extreme ends are not made impossible. Plus-or-minus one is a big deal already in Traveller, you want the characters to dive for cover and do the other things to get those sweet, sweet attack and defense plusses.
The section on medical aid really makes you realize how great stuff like Health Potions, Stim-Packs, and TF2's Medi-Gun are.
That bit about implants making it harder to heal if in a lower tech level medical facility is really interesting. It makes it so there's a real disadvantage to becoming a cyborg, other than price. It's not just a straight upgrade. It also means players will need to pay attention to different tech levels, and keep track of what kind of medical help they can expect if things go south.
The combat is extremely streamline. The hardest part for me to understand was character creation. Thank you for your help and your great videos
@Fred Freddy thanks for the info. I'm going to try this out before I run my first Traveller game
One more thing about that "death spiral", Encumberence is calculated STR+END+ athletics (STR+END). So loosing enough END will cause bane (penalty die) on character.
Who knew that blood was a load-bearing structure?
11:08 Nice trigger discipline
A buddy once told me how his trigger discipline was so ingrained that he unconsciously did it when holding a bottle of Windex. I laughed, but then next time I picked up a spray bottle realized that I did it too.
@@SSkorkowsky not only you. i think pretty everyone who has held a real weapon does that out of habit :) i'm doing that too, and i've only been drafted in the german army 20 years ago.
@@SSkorkowsky Windex, power tools, airsoft guns, prop weapons that are SOLID RESIN...my finger is always off the trigger :) BTW, great series. I've been involved with Traveller for a VERY long time, and also did a lot of artwork and covers for GURPS:Traveller. Some friends and I are just getting into MT2E, and this series has been a big help. Also, as a prop maker (see Alchemy Arms dot com, I do 95% of the props there), I'm curious where you got the helmet and pistols :)
@@SSkorkowsky Yeah, things like that follow you but for good reason. It's a good habit to keep.
@@wyrwolff That's true for me in everything but drills/impact drivers where upon picking one up I will immediately, 100% of the time, pull the trigger. No idea why, and everyone I've worked with does the same.
I love your idea on personalizing a mustering out item. STEAL!
Or setting up your enemy squad like an RL infantry squad. Most everybody has an AR and a couple of hand grenades, but one has a grenade launcher, another an AT rocket, and one a light machine gun. Make the officer (if present) have a pistol and the comms to base/artillery/air support.
@@MonkeyJedi99 That's a bit heavy for what I am used to in Traveller. But, if you are playing in the Rebellion Era (Megatraveller) then it fits perfectly.
Okay bro I'm really damn sick right now so I was not prepared for Jack's opening gunfight and line XD That kicked me into a coughing fit. I think Jack and I would get along lol
Nice subtle movement of the star field behind Jack when he's on the bridge. Nice touch.
David Moore - Whoa! I never noticed. Good eye!
One thing I noticed while flipping through the book. There is a sidebar in the section where they show aliens where it gives some suggestions, like animals might run at half hit points, 1/4 hit points they might be incapacitated, and dead at 0 of course. So for stunning I’d use that 1/4 number.
Could vary that a lot based on the size of the animal (bigger ones probably notice wounds from human-scale weapons less), how familiar it is with firearms (if loud noises doesn't = ouchies yet, gunfire is less likely to scare one off), and how aggressive or territorial the critter is. Also maybe some tech considerations - a stunner built to deal with humans or vargr or aslan might not work as well on something the size of a horse, and maybe not at all on a rampaging xeno-dinosaur - but you could likely buy or modify weapons specifically designed for big game, or to make sure you don't accidentally kill tiny animals if you're trying to collect live specimens. Old editions of Traveller used to be weirdly fond of "hunting expedition" adventures, which generally went horribly wrong at some point. Ship crashes, unexpected weapon failures, ambushes from eerily intelligent fauna, and the ever-popular "our noble patron turns out to have taken The Most Dangerous Game way too seriously" twist.
A little late to the party, but I'd say maybe not the 1/4 number considering that humans get incapacitated when two of their stats are at 0, whereas they get stunned only when endurance is at 0, I'd say maybe 1/2 hits might be better.
It's been a LONG TIME since I saw PHOTON guns. I used to have a couple of sets of those with the vests and the stand-alone targets. Best "laser tag" ever. That's pure '80s game tech right there! :)
Thanks - I was going to ask where those zappers came from ... although I note that Jack's appear to have short rails added to the sides, too!
This is right up there with your Call of Cthulhu series. *Extremely* helpful for getting to know the system, especially for those of us who may have been out of Traveller since the rules came in three mini-books.
Yes yes yes! Im beginning a traveller game next month(im the rep) and these videos are invaluable!
*raises Space Whisky* Good luck and have fun.
How's it going ?
I just realized something. "Jack Miller" is a name of an NPC I first created "Star Trek The Role Play Game," and then transferred him to "Battletech." I named him after my birth father, who passed away some time ago.
I thought Jack Miller was the name of one the original creators of Traveller, but I could be wrong.
@@ProfBoggs That would be Mark Miller
@@jamest39 Marc W. Miller to be exact
Best UA-cam channel in the sector!
Loving this series, I'm really liking traveller and will likely buy the corebook and companion after I finish the series! Thanks for doing this review!
Yeah, definitely want to join your Traveller games! Love the sound of your house rules - not being able to use a rifle within 2m *is* kinda silly and a Bane makes sense as a rifle is not the most manoeuvrable item in tight confines...
6:04 "...Kinda like that lieutenant in ALIEN..." (ALIENS!)
Yes! More Seth and more Traveller! Thank you for these videos mate. You’ve helped me understand so much about running rpgs.
The criticism of the lack of action illustrations in Traveller reminds me of Jim Holloway’s illustrations for the Paranoia RPG which are so outstanding they permanently flavored that game for me.
If you’ve never read it or played it, pick up the module “The Apocalypse Stone”. I would love to see your opinions of it
Just in time! We start our own game very soon.
How's it going ?
Thank you for this series.
Im running Traveller in full on TL13 Battle Dress ground combat mode tonight. So Im watching this on repeat today.
Again thank you 🙏
Hope you all have fun
Just as the notification popped up, i went on to see your video. Very nice content Seth, love it! Looking forward to the last episode of the series in order for me to get to know Traveller better and start playing with my friends.
You could always use the injured character's unmodified (original, non-wounded) Endurance DM value to calculate daily healing. If getting negative results annoys too much.
So that the healthier characters heal a bit faster, and there isn't stunted or back & forth declination during a long healing period.
You could also use the negative END modifier as the base of a fraction that stretches out how long it takes to recover.
E.g., if healing rate is 1D6 + END DM _per day_ (natural healing, light wounds), and END DM is -3, then recover 1D6 _per 3 days._
A potential drawback, this would mean END DM of -1 and END DM of 0 recover at the same rate, even though the DMs differ.
Seth, thanks for all the great videos, appreciate you! I can't tell you how good it is to see Traveller getting some love!
Your videos are great! I’d love to have you do a sample battle that plays all these rules out. Jack the NPC in a three round firefight with some baddies. Seeing all this rules in action would be fun and informative.
Thanks man for keeping it interesting in these troubled times, keep up the great work
With this series you provided me with invaluable aid. Thanks!
Well done explanation. Thanks, and stay safe.
I find traveler to be very reminiscent of the video game Mass Effect; which is funny considering that I'm doing a play through of that franchise right now.
As far as I know, there are two rpg related to ME (Mass Effect d20 and Mass Effect 5e). I'm evaluating the latter as a choice for my first scifi rpg campaign (been DMing D&D for many years and I want to try scifi now), but (like you) I can see that Traveller could be used to run a campaign in the ME universe as much as a dedicated title rpg. Will have to study more these videos, they are full of info.
Keeping track of the ammo was our problem, especially for those with the full-auto weapons. As a GM I tend to be pretty strict about "Hollywood" weapons with inexhaustible magazines.
Jack's trigger discipline on his laser is god damn remarkable. Who cares that it's fake.
Every time I start deciding I don't like Traveler, you produce a video that pulls me back in.
That's a good thing.
Happy to help.
Out of curiosity, what makes you start deciding against Traveller? I mean, I fully admit Call of Cthulhu is still my favorite overall system, so if there's other games you simply prefer to Traveller, I totally get that. I'm just curious what the turn-off is.
@@SSkorkowsky I think that the core problem is that Traveler is *too* generic. As I play the game, I'm forced to come up with each and every planets society and ecosystem. (I'm playing classic Traveler.) I'll admit that it's fun for awhile, But I'm forever guessing what the players are going to do. On one planet they land do their trade and move on. The next they go camping. And as you well know players are insatiable. They always want more.
I also have problem with the scenarios. Every one I've come across has been very sketchy in its details or worse happily says: "The referee will need to work out the events". WHAT? I paid good money for this. Why not just have an empty booklet that says: "Plan and run adventure".
Still, I enjoy the "feel" of Traveler. And I really want it to work. And I blame you for this. You keep talking me into giving it one more chance.
There's definitely a balancing act with the scenarios. Some are super-generic and almost like a loose framework that asks you to supply your own screws and instructions. Others get super-specific in details and then you're feeling trapped because it's just so much and you know 95% of it will never be used, but you don't know which 95% in the fluff. It's not really possible for them to give you every detail about multiple worlds, but at the same time, you want more than just the UWP code and a planet name.
What I've found helpful are the Sector books. Pirates of Drinax covers everything in the Trojan Reach and gives a lot on the politics and history. Next week we'll be starting the Rift. I've been working out an adventure chain following the Island in the Rift adventure as the backdrop with a bunch of mini-adventures thrown in as they're having to pilot this janky spy ship back to the Imperium. That one will allow me to really get into the planets in those 2 subsectors without overwhelming me with 300 systems I might not ever use. Depending on how they'll do it, I might not use some of the mini-adventures and encounters, but there are a couple set ones at both the beginning and end.
One old Travller vet gave me some of the best advice when I started out. He said to get 1 or 2 subsectors and only play those. Yeah, the whole galaxy is out there, but if you try to take on the galaxy you'll feel lost and disconnected from the world. So he said to just run in a limited area of planets, get into their ins and outs and show how the PCs are changing the worlds there. As I've played more, I tend to agree with him.
@@SSkorkowsky If you can get hold of it, Hero System has a game called Justice Inc. The source book is the best roleplaying aid I've ever come across. It breaks down how to run any adventure. Also I got a lot of inspiration from an old TV show "Tales of the Gold Monkey". Granted its a cargo plane flying to islands, but the basics are there.
As far a limiting the area of adventuring, I give plusses to players who trade with the same planets. That gives them incentive to stick to one area.
I give 'mooks' a hit point pool rather than the rest
Best idea Tweet & Heinsoo ever came up with, whether you call them mooks, minions, or cannon fodder. Feng Shui's an underrated game.
Is your pool the END+ STR/DEX, or about 10 health?
There's an argument to be made that it takes a certain kind of resilience to be able to continue operating while injured. Most folk, if they get shot, are out of the fight even if they aren't dead, from shock or pain or simply not having the will to continue. So beyond a certain threshold, a "Mook" type character really is done.
@@Bluecho4 Doesn't even have to be getting shot, or knifed, or even anything life threatening at all. Some folks just can't take a punch without curling up in a ball, others can soldier on (for a while, anyway) when they're holding their guts in place with their free hand. You could also look at it as having more flight than fight in your response options.
@@SteveSwannJr I usually adjust it depending on what i think would be a good challenge for my players. Obviously traveller isn't DnD so I usually keep it up to 15 (at the very maximum) if you include armour with the hitpoints aswell.
7:40 I appreciate the trigger discipline here, even though it's a "toy". Well done sir!
Seth, thanks so much for these videos. I've watched this series twice - first time just for fun, which got me into Traveller; and now it is to learn the rules. I was a bit overwhelmed with the rulebook's rules and confused, and you just cleared all the dark spots out
Numenera also use a system with 3 pools. I think it's a interesting way of doing hit points as it also adds opportunity for some roleplaying flavor.
Thank you for making these videos, I recently bought the core rules and your content is helping me make sense of everything. I’m looking forwards to more!
Seth, you do a superb job of distilling the mechanics down to their essence. Your visual aids highlighting pertinent stats further drives the point home. Thanks for such excellent presentation!
I did not know you were an author. I wish you mentioned it in your videos more. Just got your first book on Audible and am looking forward to getting them all.
I swear at first I thought I heard you say "Jack wears plot armor which earns him the protection value of 8". XD
Thanks for this vid, Seth! Great break down on Traveller combat.
Thanks for the helpful review! Been playing D&D for a long time and we're gonna try traveller, I chose to be the 'muscle' for the crew so I want to learn the combat rules really well. It's a good thing too, cus if we played this like D&D we'd be dead in our first battle XD
I appreciate your videos, +Seth Skorkowski. Always have a concise, friendly way to get the points across. 🙂👍
20:39 Cloth Armour that absorbs 8 points is at Tech Level 10, not TL 8 like you showed.
Whoops.
Anyway, great series, Seth! I screwed up my courage and introduced my own Traveller Mongoose 2 campaign in an original setting. The long-time teleconference Traveller group I'm in ended up reaching 8 players, and I told them they should GO TO SCHOOL about Traveller and watch your video series, particularly the crucial personal and space combat videos. That, and excellent on-line character sheet on Roll20 (which figures in Characteristic DMs automatically and changes them automatically if the character gets wounded), will help things go smoothly. Of course I provide lots of handouts for the rules and GM screen-type charts.
More please, Seth! For me, these videos are so much easier to learn from than reading rulebooks alone. Thank you so much for your content of all kinds!
Great work. I wonder about Leadership rule as described by you ( 5:24 ) , it’s based on boon and banes, while 2022 core manual applies it as DM+1 or DM-1 modifier. What is your view?
Never played the game and I'm gonna run a pretty dauting campaign in a year or so. These videos are superb stuff to get this first contact with the game
Hey Seth! Just wanted to thank you so much for these videos. My long time gaming group just stumbled onto traveller and I am so very thankful for your videos. Now I've just been tearing through the rest of your videos and am waiting with bated breath for the space combat vid. You've also definitely convinced me to take a look at call of Cthulhu as well. And dang does todd hit my funny bone. All that to say that you have a great channel and have made a fan out of me!
Great series, this is one of the best rules explanation I’ve seen. Great job, hope to see more rules explanation like this for other games. Thanks!
Great, i love this series and this Game so much X3
My player don't like learing systemes ... but traveller it so easy even they got the hang of it in no time (sort of) XD
Also to Jack: the lack of action-pic encouraged my players and me to think of scenarios other then "guns balzing" and we treat combat as fun but very deadly.
My players loved it and we ended up biting our nail in the final of our campaing XD
Good stuff. Been playing Traveller since 81, you've inclined me to get Mongoose e2...
Mongoose has the first Traveller rules with Tactics and Leadership skills that really made sense to me.
I prefer the weapon ranges used in Traveller: The New Era. Each weapon had a Short Range. Medium Range is double that, Long Range is doubled again, and once more for Extreme Range.
Love your work man! Just ran a modified version of Traveller where players thought they were playing another fantasy game as barbarians but they've been scooped up by Octomorph aliens, this video was a big help.
Don't know if this came up since the vid was created, but I understood the modifier of -6 for the ambushed side to only apply to their Initiative. Representing the ambushers getting a brief jump on the ambushed before the latter gets into full action later in the round. I understood it that way since the paragraph only referred to Initiative throughout, and also didn't mention anything about the ambushers also getting a DM+6 to all rolls that round.
Think I read something about this in a rules question on a forum somewhere, and clarification of it pertaining only to Initiative, but may have that conversation mixed up with something similar.
I think you're right. The part that I find confusing is Attackers getting a +6 and Defenders get a -6 to initiative could have been easier done by simply giving one side a plus or minus 12.
@@SSkorkowsky - Yeah, it could've been worded a bit more clearly. The GM Screen also has the +/-6 DMs listed under the Initiative header. I don't think it's mentioned in the combat modifiers.
Anyway, keep up the great work. I still go back and re-watch some of your stuff. Very helpful for brushing up!
An Initiative roll is supposed to stay the same thing in all the rounds of combat, but obviously if there was surprise (an ambush), the Initiative disadvantage is extreme and should not be carried over into subsequent combat rounds. So ambush should not dictate the whole of the combat to follow but it means the sides will have to roll Initiative again for the proper Round 1 and subsequent rounds.
I know you like reviewing game systems that you've played with before in a group setting, but I was wondering; have you ever looked at the Champions / Hero System lineup? It's a bit like GURPS in that you can make it work for any system, but its combat isn't as relentless as GURPS is and it's a bit more crunchy on the character creation side of things.
And if you like the Call of Cthulhu solo adventures, you should look into Me, Myself, and Die, he's got an entire series where he goes through an adventure solo using randomized tables and a GM Emulator. Stay safe man, thanks for the A+ Entertainment! Your series on Traveller made me go out and get the entire classic black book collection and I've been running a three man game since.
Seth: Today we’ll be talking about…
Jack: Aaaaaaargh, sunnovabitch!
Seth: Combat
Lol perfect
Wow people must hit just so much in this game. I've been wanting to play traveler for a long time but I had no idea that an average dice roll was only precisely less than what was needed to hit before you even add in any bonuses
I would homebrew an HP pool equal to one third of the character's Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance. That way, you can take a little bit of damage before you start getting weakened. 'Tis but a scratch!
Hey Seth, looking through my 2022 revised Traveller core book, I don't see any NPC stat blocks like in D&D. What do you do for npcs in a combat encounter, do you make a character sheet for each one?
Great video! I'll have to go back and watch the others - I'm behind!
I am running a group of new Traveller players in Pirates of Drinex, before doing that I decided to play a few shoot-'em-up games to teach them how the game mechanics work. I ran three one-shots with pre-made characters. The first game was a TPK. They were all D&D players and played like D&D, and died very quickly. Taking a heavily armed enemy on head-on is a great way to get killed very quickly. By the second game, they had figured out that if your enemy is shooting back you have messed up. Two of the players are real-life former vets, one USA the other is USMC. They helped the players with bounding overwatch tactics and squad movement and cover. The third was a monster hunt. They were operating far better by this point and understood the most important rule in Traveller: GETTING HURT SUCKS. Kind of like real-life combat. They have had five battles so far, three ship assaults and two shoot outs for other reasons. So far no deaths. They have learned that armor only dose so much.
Thanks for doing this series, Seth!
I totally agree with your houses rule about shooting into or out of close combat. Having some thug or critter in knife distance from your character should make ranged combat difficult, but not impossible. I'd also add a bane die to firing into a close combat; when you want to shoot a space jaguar that's mauling your buddy, without hitting him.
Agreed. There can be other complications too. "Hang on, I'll just shoot that facehugger off your head for you."
Thanks! I don't understand systems that make stun better than lethal. In such a world, everyone would always use only stun weapons, and if they wanted them dead, would just slit throats after it was all over.
I think the 6 M can't use your rifle rule, is not to be realistic but to make melee more feasible. So much in these futuristic games guns end up winning out against melee and that sucks for characters who want to use primarily melee characters
I've got a question about combat armor. Why does tech level 12 combat armor cost less than tech level 10? The tech level 12 armor is superior in all aspects.
A lot of the tech gets cheaper as the Tech Level improves. It's kind of like a crappy 10MB computer in 1981 cost $1,500, while a new one costs less, or a suit of chainmail costs more than a Kevlar vest.
@@SSkorkowsky Ah. That makes sense. Thank you for the explanation. I appreciate these videos, they are so helpful. Next problem is finding local players haha.
My theory on a lack of action illustrations is that they're harder to draw well.
A simple houserule would be to add all 3 physical abilities for total HP. Once HP reaches 1/3, the character is unconscious. Once it reaches 0, adios.
Are the leadership and Tactics checks mandatory? I always played like they arent.
Not mandatory. But it's an option if they want to use it.
@@SSkorkowsky thanks. My players will be happy to hear that.
I noticed you left out the movement part of combat, probably because its the most wonky, especially when using a map and minis instead of free form
Or maybe.... just maybe, I left it out because it's pretty simple, we've never had issues with it, and it's already a giant half-hour video on the highlights to walk people through the foundation of Traveller Combat, and not a sentence-by-sentence read-through of every minor and insignificant rule.
Movement is a Minor Action. You can move up to 6m. Like any Combat Action, you can trade your Significant Action to take more Minor Actions, essentially sprinting a longer distance. It's super-simple.
@@SSkorkowsky Well, every mongoose traveller game I have played in (including Gen-Con and Origins) have only had issues with combat movement actions, like a PC sprinting 18m(12 squares or 60ft) right past armed enemies just to go around corner behind them, out of the line of fire or shooting and then running around a corner. I WAS hoping you had some real and productive advice about it not sarcasm.
As I said, we've never had an issue with it. My not discussing it in the video was not due to some intentional leaving it out due to problems with the rule, as you implied. Which is what earned the sarcasm.
Lol I love how you edited the first part the part after you said today we'll be covering
You should do some live streams
I know this video is old but I had a question about Energy weapons and energy armors. Do energy weapons go through all armor but anti-energy armor or is anti-energy armor just supposed to be used as an under armor for main armor.
All armor works against all weapons up to whatever the Armor Rating is, but some anti-energy armors have better Armor Rating against energy weapons, such as reflective. Most armors can't be stacked. A few can, where you put on an armor undershirt sort of thing.
From the standpoint of a GDW Traveller veteran, "Natural Melee" - claws and fangs - vs "Unarmed Melee" looks like a continuation of the old Vargr "Infighting" skill, which uses teeth and claws, in contrast with the human "Brawling" skill, which involves no "natural weapons" (like humans don't bite and gouge in a serious brawl! C'mon, this isn't bloody _Marquis of Queensbury_ fisticuffs, here.)
From the standpoint of a novice of armed and unarmed combat, the movements and biomechanics to effectively punch or kick someone versus biting or clawing is very different. As a simple way of putting it in perspective, if you're going to combine unarmed and natural weapons because you don't see how they're different, I'm going to insist you also combine the skills for blades and blunt weapons.
@@AGrumpyPanda Depending on what blunt weapon you're using, and how, the techniques strongly overlap with certain blade weapons - e.g. if you can use an arming sword, and you use those techniques with, say, an extenda-baton, you're going to do serious damage to someone, despite the lack of sharp edge.
The converse applies to a number of formalised stick-fighting techniques when used with an edged weapon instead of a stick.
Besides which, the comparison I made, was with brawling - which differs from formalised fighting techniques and "Unarmed Combat" in that it's more _ad hoc_ "get the other guy with whatever you can and try not to get 'got' in return" and in that it's not _taught_ it's picked up as you go. You don't go to a class in "brawling" as you would for boxing, Aikido, Karate, Military Unarmed Combat etc.
@@wolf1066 My point is more to say that it's an oversimplification to say that they'd be so similar that trained unarmed combat and trained combat with natural weapons should be the same skill.
@@AGrumpyPanda Having one skill - "Melee (Unarmed)" to cover all forms of unarmed fighting from "experienced bar brawler" to Capoeira is *already* an oversimplification. Separating out "teeth and claws" is a strange, arbitrary distinction when the base Melee skill gives you basic ability to use *_any_* non-ranged means of taking down your opponent from your knees, elbows and teeth to a sword or a baseball bat. Specialisation to unarmed, blade etc then gives you proficiency in an entire subset of melee combat - anything from a limited fighting style like boxing that only uses punches to complex forms of martial arts that use various strikes, kicks, grapples etc or anything from a single knife to complex dual-wielding dagger/epee techniques.
Similarly, "gun combat" gets broken down to "slug" and "energy" etc in which the distinctions between pistols and rifles are completely ignored - and having fired both pistols and rifles numerous times, I can tell you that they're completely different skills - I'm willing to bet that there's more similarity between firing a plasma rifle and a projectile rifle than there is between firing a pistol and a rifle of any type.
I personally find it weird that a distinction is drawn between using hands, feet, elbows, forehead, knees etc and "biting/gouging" when distinctions are not drawn between pistols, rifles, submachineguns or between melee forms that differ wildly in scope/technique/complexity.
the dice modifier mechanic is nice and I like having the player agency of being able to decide what pool to take the wounds to. As long as it's still fast and tight of course. And probably for most npc's that the players are going to be fighting it probably won't be too relevant. But for more noteworthy npc's you'll definitely want to prepare.
Great video!
Hope to see another one about space combat soon.
Worth noting that they updated the Auto rating on guns so they can't take advantage of aim anymore. I still think Auto is a little OP. In Mongoose v1, i think you could only get a +1 for each roll when doing auto (but you could roll all the dice and match them how you wanted, or maybe that was our house rule... can't remember).
I love that first vignette.
Any plans to address the expanded rules like martial arts?
The first session of my Traveller campaign was tonight, and it was great to have this come out on the same day. Thanks for the inspiration to finally try system out. Now I have to rework the start of Arcturus station because my players already messed that up by demanding to see a contract for the set up adventure and promptly rolling box cars on the Admin roll and riding the diplomacy and persuade skill chain to profit.
Excellent as always Seth
I’m pretty sure your house rule on rifles being fired at a penalty up close is just like the Call of Cthulhu rule on firing in or into a melee and I think the Star Wars Rpg has something like that too. Great video as always.
One of the benefits to playing various games is seeing different ways they approach stuff and then stealing the best from both.
@@SSkorkowsky After getting into CoC because of your videos and playing Dnd for a while, I saw things both lacked that I enjoyed and stole them just like you say.
Really useful. Thanks a lot.
Thanks!
I love your videos, and your coverage of traveler is why I have now bought the books. Before I only heard tale of its unique character creation method which turned me off. However the rest of traveler is amazing and the closest to what I want out of an rpg.
Can you do videos on monster/enemies for both traveler and call of Cthulhu
Thank you, Seth. Great video. Well written. Superbly acted. When does Part 5 come out? We wait with bated breath.
Tell me more about that drug that Can bring you back from death, whats the time window? Same turn? Same or next turn?
Will you covre how Armour piercing weapons work, and other weapons traits. Like Zero-G, how does vacum affect slug launchers.
AP and Zero-G weapons are pretty straightforward. AP weapons ignore however many points of armor their AP rating is at. So an AP3 weapon ignores up to 3 points of armor. Zero-G weapons allow a Traveller to fire without requiring Athletics(Dexterity). Firing a non-Zero-G weapon in microgravity requires an Athletics(Dex) check or the weapon automatically misses and the Traveller begins spinning uncontrollably until they can make an Athletics(Dex) check. Vacuum has no effect on slug guns.
Seth is correct, gunpowder works in vacuum - albeit there are subtleties of metallurgy and mechanics one's GM could invoke.
I find these vids very informative, for a couple of small projects (a character creator and a solo game I'm planning on playing with a GM emu)
Seth thank you so much!! I agree that Traveller Combat is cool but I want to ask one of your interpretations, especially since you have experience with this game. 1) Is armor an ever present damage reduction for each attack? Or is it destroyed once those points are gone? 2) does the armor bonus of cover only apply when some one is hiding behind it or is it the if that person is shooting from behind cover?
I get that its probably referee discretion but like I said I'd like to get input from ppl who played.
Thank you so much for the vids...and YOU have YOURSELF a great day for a change! 😁
All case-by-case, and no standing house-rule on it, but Armor normally stays intact when hit, but I'll wear it down if the PC is just getting hammered with something crazy. Or an Effect of 6+ I'll drop the armor's Protection Level by 1pt (that's the mostly likely reason I'll chew down armor). But outside some rare circumstance, armor stays intact.
If the PC is totally hiding behind cover, then the cover's Armor bonus is used. If they're half out and shooting from behind cover, it's only a +2 to their armor. Again, I might case-by-case it in some weird circumstance, but can't recall ever having to yet.
@@SSkorkowsky Great! Thanks!!
@@SSkorkowsky Re: Cover armor mods, I could see giving the full (or maybe full-2) bonus to someone firing from a gun slit or something similar, or using a cyberoptic-linked gunsight to do the Cyberpunk trick of just barely poking the firearm around a corner when shooting. Fusion and plasma guns are great justification for wearing down cover armor values too - I'd say personal armor as well but you can barely live through being hit once so it hardly matters. :)
Cant wait for part 5!