Players Guide: Equipment Packs

[cym0k]

From this thread: Player's Guide: Stock Guns and Armor

The idea (as I imagine it) would be like D&D 4E Treasure Parcels. Standardized blocks of kit that can be listed in an appendix and dished out during character creation or during employment on a mission so that players can hit the ground running.

We do this while playing OD&D to save time picking rope, crampons, oils, bags, tinder etc etc etc. A bit like the ships locker, but actually listed rather than "if it seems reasonable, it is probably in there". (don't quote me on that! Though MgT p.110 is what I am thinking about when I mention this).

It (the equpiment grab bag) can obviously be tweaked by groups. Players and GMs can then be weaned off the idea as they become more familiar with operations in the universe.

Rather than create a list of what you'd find in a locker or on the equipment page, perhaps an approach to this would be by TL, cost or even mission type as well as character type?

A bag might include:
Clothes, boots, vacc suit, communicator, hand held weapon, first aid kit(??). Almost like a preppers bug out kit for the imperium!

How would you approach this, am I looking at this from the wrong angle? The idea really is about how to get a green, freshly minted Traveller player into the game with as little fuss as possible: "Okay you rolled a character. Now, you'll need these (hands equipment) now go kill things in space and make money (or other space related task as appropriate)".

 

[robject]

Character Role or Mission sounds most useful.

However: note that some equipment is already granted via mustering out. So, our final "equipment packs" only account for extraordinary weapon situations. In other words, equipment packs are auxiliary to character generation. Think about that.



Nobles are likely to have an expensive high-tech comm, but equipment-wise, I think the rest depends on their role.

An active Explorer, whether Scout or not, is going to have survey equipment, a hazardous environment suit, shoot-the-natives equipment, it's all ruggedized, and it's all going to be tried-and-true, no fancy new stuff.

Typical crew are going to have a comm, a vacc suit, and sometimes cool sunglasses. Also, Engineers are going to have a toolkit. Medics are going to have a medikit.

 

[SanDragon]

A good place to start might be the knowledges and skills you get at level-0 based on homeworld.

Grav vehicle-0? You have a grav car. Gun-0? Probably a pistol. Computer-0?

I think you get the idea.

 

[robject]

I just had another source for inspiration: ship mission codes.

1. Commercial crew (trader, liner, merchant, freighter, packet, barge). The Nostromo.
2. Non-commercial crew (lab ship, medical ship)
3. Naval/martial ship crew (cruisers, escorts, SDBs, frigates, monitors)
4. Medical ship 'personnel'.
5. Seeker crew.
6. Safari ship and Yacht crew.
7. Safari and Yacht passengers.
8. Lab / scientific passengers.
9. Corsair crew.
10. On-duty Scout/Courier crew.
11. X-boat crew.

 

[robject]

A good place to start might be the knowledges and skills you get at level-0 based on homeworld.

Grav vehicle-0? You have a grav car. Gun-0? Probably a pistol. Computer-0?

I think you get the idea.

Medic.

Or, put them at a threshold: skill level 2 or better and you get a piece of equipment from a select list.

 

[robject]

I just realized we have something not unlike this already in T5, in the equipment chapter under "Toolkits".

 

[cym0k]

Good point. It looks more abstracted than my initial "D&D" thinking.

 

[robject]

So when culling the equipment list into a "player's shopping list", I found two ways in which this sort of thing works itself out:

(1) Toolkits for skills. Certain skills assume and/or require toolkits or tool sets as enablers or helpers. A locksmith kit, a medic's bag, and tools for a craftsman, mechanic, or electrician come to mind.

(2) Gear for environments. Cold weather and underwater exploration are clear examples of this, but even breathers and combination masks sort of fall into this category.

There is a third, weaker working out of this sort of thing: the multiple-purpose tool. I found that some equipment naturally sort-of combined into a single device. For example, the proximeter/sentry kit has more uses than just proximity alerts. Similarly some discrete devices batch together naturally, such as the radiation detector with the atmospshere tester, and so on.

 

[lostscout5]

In SWG ( MMORPG, star wars galaxies) we called them Noob kits. A bag filled with a set of basic armor, a decent weapon (usually a carbine), some food and drinks, plus a medkit. It was just enough gear to get a new player started. But it wasn't career specific. A ship's locker should have enough vac suits and weapons for all the crew. Beyond that, I would give my traveller players a budget based on ship size and let them buy what they wanted. The survival kit from Marooned/Marooned alone is pretty helpful.

 

[robject]

*Thread Resurrect*

After reading the last post, I just had an idle thought about this. If we did it "the Traveller Way", wouldn't we just have the player roll a few times on a "random gear" table, and then let the players sort things out among themselves? Kind of like a "random ship's locker contents" table?

2 - Fusion Still
3 - LI Goggles
4 - Toolkit (select)
5 - Life/Atmosphere/Chem Multi-sensor
6 - Blade (select)
7 - Gun (select)
8 - Vacc Suit
9 - Medikit
A - EM/Rad Tester
B - Cold weather gear
C - Cool Sunglasses

 

[Timerover51]

From this thread: Player's Guide: Stock Guns and Armor

Rather than create a list of what you'd find in a locker or on the equipment page, perhaps an approach to this would be by TL, cost or even mission type as well as character type?

A bag might include:
Clothes, boots, vacc suit, communicator, hand held weapon, first aid kit(??). Almost like a preppers bug out kit for the imperium!

How would you approach this, am I looking at this from the wrong angle? The idea really is about how to get a green, freshly minted Traveller player into the game with as little fuss as possible: "Okay you rolled a character. Now, you'll need these (hands equipment) now go kill things in space and make money (or other space related task as appropriate)".

I have a fair number of suggested equipment sets for late Victorian period explorers, war correspondents, and military, that could be adapted to more advanced technology. I am working on something for Marc on that line.

 

[pendragonman]

*Thread Resurrect*

After reading the last post, I just had an idle thought about this. If we did it "the Traveller Way", wouldn't we just have the player roll a few times on a "random gear" table, and then let the players sort things out among themselves? Kind of like a "random ship's locker contents" table?

2 - Fusion Still
3 - LI Goggles
4 - Toolkit (select)
5 - Life/Atmosphere/Chem Multi-sensor
6 - Blade (select)
7 - Gun (select)
8 - Vacc Suit
9 - Medikit
A - EM/Rad Tester
B - Cold weather gear
C - Cool Sunglasses

Necromancer

And wouldn't it be 4 tables of 1 thru 6? Three for regular people (Athletic Equipment, basic gear and weapons, mechanical and electrical toolkits and weapons), and one for those with more education (medical kits, electronic toolkit, engineering toolkit, tablets and com gear)?

 

[Timerover51]

*Thread Resurrect*

After reading the last post, I just had an idle thought about this. If we did it "the Traveller Way", wouldn't we just have the player roll a few times on a "random gear" table, and then let the players sort things out among themselves? Kind of like a "random ship's locker contents" table?

2 - Fusion Still
3 - LI Goggles
4 - Toolkit (select)
5 - Life/Atmosphere/Chem Multi-sensor
6 - Blade (select)
7 - Gun (select)
8 - Vacc Suit
9 - Medikit
A - EM/Rad Tester
B - Cold weather gear
C - Cool Sunglasses

For some things I can see that, but some things should be pretty much standard in every kit. And some items might mean different things to different people. I worry about cold weather gear when it gets Below Zero Fahrenheit, while my daughter in law, who grew up in Djakarta, Indonesia and now lives near San Francisco starts thinking of cold weather gear as soon as it goes below 50 degree Fahrenheit. My experience is a lot of Chicago winters and a couple of Alaskan ones, including a month at Fort Greely in the middle of the state.

 

[Timerover51]

I came across the following equipment list for a Japanese sniper in the South Pacific in the Military Intelligence Publication Tactical and Technical Trends No. 35, dated 7 October 1943, pages 38-39.

Equipment Carried by the Sniper

Japanese snipers in the Pacific have been reported to carry the following items of personal equipment:

Respirator
Green combination mosquito net-camouflage hood (this covers the helmet, head and shoulders.)
Green net to camouflage body
Green eye screen
Coil of rope
Small sack of rice (5 in long)
Small bag of hard biscuits
One-half pound of hard candy
Package of concentrated food
Tin of field rations
Small tin of coffee and vitamin pills
Tin of chlorine (to purify water)
Mess tin
Water bottle
Antidote for mustard gas
Quinine
Stomach pills
Gauze pads
Roll and triangular bandages
Spare socks
Tooth brush
Electric torch
One-half dozen spare lenses for eye holes of respirator
Medical supplies packed in nest of wicker baskets.

It is considered that these items would make the sniper independent for two weeks to one month, requiring only a minimum of food and water from the countryside. It is obvious, of course, that not all snipers are so equipped, but only those required to remain out "on their own" for considerable periods.

Since the discussion involved equipment packs, this seemed to be quite pertinent.

 

[robject]

For some things I can see that, but some things should be pretty much standard in every kit. And some items might mean different things to different people.

This is so true. In CT, essential gear was in the Ship's Locker. And T5, I suppose, but also I believe characters with particular skills are assumed to have portable gear necessary to use those skills in appropriate contexts.

This doesn't remove the usefulness of gear lists, but it does prevent gear from becoming a "gotcha" to players.