Double Role Playing

[Werner]

This is just a little something I'm trying out in the in-person play by post section. I've created some T20 Traveller characters and had them play Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 (sort of) on their ship's computer. The ship's computer includes a TL17 positronic brain which hosts a Ship's AI, and maybe an artifact computer of indeterminate technological level, to put it plainly, it simulates a whole world of AIs, though many of the AIs in this simulated world don't know they are AIs. The World being simulated is that classic module "Isle of Dread", I've converted it to 3.5 or replaced the various creatures with the nearest equivalent 3.5 creatures that I could find in the Monster Manuals. The ship's computer simulates the Isle of Dread with all the creatures and NPCs living on that island. To resolve combat I use T20 rules, the characters and avatars have Stamina points and Lifeblood, magic is also simulated. I use a few house rules, the damage dice of archaic (D&D weapons are treated as if they all do just 1 hit die of damage, even if they do 2 hit dice.) For example is someone uses a Greatsword, which does 2d6 plus strength bonus of damage, then Armor only deducts it AR from damage points inflicted, so if the AR of the Armor is 2 then only 2 points of damage are deducted rather than 1d6 plus 1 point from the remaining die. If an attack does more than two Dice worth of damage then the third die is deducted and damage points are deducted from the remaining two Dice of damage, this gives a more D&Dish feel to the game.

What happens when a player character's avatar gets killed in the game? Each game has different rule. The player character does not die, he is either booted out of the game, or his character respawns in the spawning area of the game, his previous dead body remains where it died along with all the equipment it gathered in its adventures. The respawned character has knowledge of what its previous character did and learned before it died, and it can try again. The T20 characters can also do metagaming if they like, no help for it, but that is part of the fun as well.

Has anyone tried double gaming in their Traveller campaign? What have your experiences been?

[mike wightman]

Yes.

On the trip to Ringworld the players had their characters spend a lot of time in simulated worlds.

I used RuneQuest, Stormbringer and Call of Cthulhu as the settings, sometimes mixing them up a bit.

[Werner]

Originally Posted by mike wightman

Yes.

On the trip to Ringworld the players had their characters spend a lot of time in simulated worlds.

I used RuneQuest, Stormbringer and Call of Cthulhu as the settings, sometimes mixing them up a bit.

You had a ringworld in your Traveller campaign?

Seems to me, you can land on a ringworld and have savages attack you with spears, just as you could on a planet. The world of Mystara upon which the Isle of Dread is based is hollow, a kind of miniature Dyson sphere with its own mini-sun in the center. I'm toying with the idea of making the planet Gaia into a hollow world as well. Maybe we can connect Gaia to Mystara with a wormhole that gives off light and looks like the Sun from a distance.

[« whulorigan »]

Originally Posted by Werner

You had a ringworld in your Traveller campaign?

Seems to me, you can land on a ringworld and have savages attack you with spears, just as you could on a planet. The world of Mystara upon which the Isle of Dread is based is hollow, a kind of miniature Dyson sphere with its own mini-sun in the center. I'm toying with the idea of making the planet Gaia into a hollow world as well. Maybe we can connect Gaia to Mystara with a wormhole that gives off light and looks like the Sun from a distance.

Ringworld ^TM was an RPG put out in the early 1980's by Chaosium that was set in Larry Niven's Known Space universe, specifically on THE Ringworld. It used the same d100 mechanic as most of Chaosium's rulesets, like Runequest and Call of Cthulhu.

[Werner]

Originally Posted by whulorigan

Ringworld ^TM was an RPG put out in the early 1980's by Chaosium that was set in Larry Niven's Known Space universe, specifically on THE Ringworld. It used the same d100 mechanic as most of Chaosium's rulesets, like Runequet and Call of Cthulhu.

Larry Niven's setting was called Known Space, the ringworld was just a part of it, it is not that dissimilar from Traveller. Does the Ringworld RPG deal with the rest of Known Space?

[mike wightman]

Yes.
The Ringworld basic game plus the Ringworld Companion covers most of it.

[« whulorigan »]

Originally Posted by mike wightman

Yes.
The Ringworld basic game plus the Ringworld Companion covers most of it.

I've also found that it is a good source to mine ideas and/or tech from for high-tech, ultra-tech, and/or alt-tech devices for Traveller.

For those who want a little more flavor in their Traveller than the simple/general 100-diameter Jump-limit, Ringworld Companion's formulae for determining the hyperspace cut-off boundaries for stars in radii can be tweaked for a number of different objects if you adjust the coefficients to yield numbers close to the Traveller norms. Gives different values for Main-Sequence stars, vs. Giant Stars, vs. White Dwarfs and/or NeutronStars, etc. You will have to interpolate from the formulae to derive equations for terrestrial and or gas giant worlds, however.

It is also a great source to mine for descriptions of alternate Hominids/Hominoids.