Reading the UWP (one page)
- Thread starter robject
- Start date
Tech levels merit more detail, as that's harder to extrapolate.
I like it, Rob.
I would however add some details such as full population rating explanations...
Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.
This is awesome. Perfect for a newbie.
I'm not sure how much extrapolation is required here. I see this as a "get the newbie playing" list, with more detail to follow. What would you add?
For the pop table, I think changing pop 0 and adding pop 4 will help get the point across.
0:0-9
4:10,000 - 99,999
Cheers,
Baron Ovka
I'm not sure how much extrapolation is required here. I see this as a "get the newbie playing" list, with more detail to follow. What would you add?
For the pop table, I think changing pop 0 and adding pop 4 will help get the point across.
0:0-9
4:10,000 - 99,999
Cheers,
Baron Ovka
Calling out atmospheric taints seems important. eg
0 vacuum
1-9 thin - dense (2,4,7,9 tainted)
A+ exotic
0 vacuum
1-9 thin - dense (2,4,7,9 tainted)
A+ exotic
Lots of worlds are TL 9+, but presumably there is a meaningful difference between TL9 and TL15. To a newb "sci fi" basically means "Star Wars" (or insert popular franchise here). Is conveying the range important? I guess even the traditional materials do a lousy job of this, and it's a matter of quality/cost rather than fundamental breakthroughs - so perhaps not.
Suggest: 1=Antiquity, 2=Renaissance, 3=Industrial Revolution, 4=Steam, 5=Diesel, 6=Atomic, 7=Transistor, 8=Computer, 9=Anti-Gravity, 10+=Starships
(Updated attachment with pop digits 0-A inclusive).
I can most sympathize with expanding out population digits, and will probably do so.
As you can probably tell, I struggled mightily on what detail was meaningful for the newbie player.
While a referee needs to know exactly what each digit means, and some players will eventually want to know too, the new and/or beer-and-pretzels player doesn't, and can't, process it in one sitting, and may never have to know or care.
But yes, it almost physically hurt to not mention atmospheric taint and the higher tech levels.
It started, however, with the definition of the starport codes. I started out with the T5 text, then thought to myself "the casual player doesn't care about repair facilities, and in fact isn't even interested in fuel, and will never truly care about either of those." Those items will be easy to pick up as needed, anyhow.
Atmosphere was more difficult. However, taint makes the atmosphere code non-trivial. Adding notes about the taint would make it an obstacle to someone casually glancing at that page for the first time. So, forget it.
But argue with me some more. Joshua, do you still think that's a problem?
I can most sympathize with expanding out population digits, and will probably do so.
As you can probably tell, I struggled mightily on what detail was meaningful for the newbie player.
While a referee needs to know exactly what each digit means, and some players will eventually want to know too, the new and/or beer-and-pretzels player doesn't, and can't, process it in one sitting, and may never have to know or care.
But yes, it almost physically hurt to not mention atmospheric taint and the higher tech levels.
It started, however, with the definition of the starport codes. I started out with the T5 text, then thought to myself "the casual player doesn't care about repair facilities, and in fact isn't even interested in fuel, and will never truly care about either of those." Those items will be easy to pick up as needed, anyhow.
Atmosphere was more difficult. However, taint makes the atmosphere code non-trivial. Adding notes about the taint would make it an obstacle to someone casually glancing at that page for the first time. So, forget it.
But argue with me some more. Joshua, do you still think that's a problem?
I suppose it depends on what other resources are provided to the newbie. If there is an adventure on world xyz, and the description in the adventure indicates that the characters need a filter mask, then adding the taint information to the one page UWP description doesn't add anything. If the newbie needs to interpret the UWP, then it would add flavor for them to know that travellers on that the world need a filter mask.
Cheers,
Baron Ovka
Left click the link, don't right click to open in a new tab/window.
Probably tried to get at it as I was updating it. Please try again...
Yep.
And Your Excellency, whulorigan, I am on an iPad so there is tap and there is hold, but no left or right clicks.
And I was tapping it. But as Rob noted above he was messing with it when I tried to see it.
Oh and Rob, I agree TL-9+ should be fleshed out as well as law level, there are some nice one line descriptions right there on the page for it in the RAW.
yeah, worked that time.
And Your Excellency, whulorigan, I am on an iPad so there is tap and there is hold, but no left or right clicks.
And I was tapping it. But as Rob noted above he was messing with it when I tried to see it.
Oh and Rob, I agree TL-9+ should be fleshed out as well as law level, there are some nice one line descriptions right there on the page for it in the RAW.
Let's nail down the use case.
* What is the player's background? Are they >20, 20-40, 40+? It matters for context, e.g. "Transistor Age" is probably meaningless to anyone < 40.
* What do you want them to have learned by reading this?
* When are they likely to refer to it in the future?
* What other context exists? Is this in the context of an actual play session with an actual world? Or an abstract "here's the concept of a UWP, don't worry about the details"
* What do you want them to be able to do without the reference handy when faced with a UWP in the future?
* If you can only provide one example, use contemporary (21st Century) Earth (B867979-8 - or thereabouts). If you can provide some other examples that might be handy. Perhaps a UWP and capsule description.
...
IMHO, in order of importance to learn:
* The order, which is why MWM highlights the StSAHPGL-T pattern.
* Then: Starport codes which are a simple scale (ABCDEX)
* Then the idea of eHex, and that most fields are a scale: S/A/H/P/L/T
* > A is usually "exotic"
* G is an outlier, get used to looking it up
Thank goodness, some sanity injected into the process. Excellent questions. Here's the use case:
Sharik was born in 1995. She is a gamer, but this is her first time playing Traveller. She just bought the Player's Book, and can roll up a character and buy some basic equipment. Some notes about adventuring are in the book, perhaps including a mention of the UWP and what it means.
She's doesn't know the word "transistor". She knows the word LED, but not the acronym.
Your list is helpful, and using Earth is helpful, but I suspect:
* That the casual player may never learn more than the Starport and the TL. (I think they're on the ends for that reason) (And that's why Loren and Frank used to separate the starport from the body with a dash, before Marc updated the format).
* That the casual player may not look up the "UWP decoder page" in order to decode one. The casual player may never see a UWP. Besides, it's easier to ask the referee "so what's important about this world?"
Maybe the UWP is not the right way to present data to the player. Maybe what's needed is a page talking about worlds in general terms (many worlds based on size, atmosphere, surface water, government, and so on), and only specifically mentioning starport codes and tech levels.
In this form, tech levels would be listed out to TL 17, without using eHex. Starport codes would still be quality-based rather than facility-based ("Excellent"... "Poor"). But codes for worlds' physical and social characteristics might be omitted. In other words, no UWP.
Technological Levels
0 Neolithic
1 Bronze age to Middle Ages
2 Age of Sail
3 Industrial Revolution
4 Mechanization
5 Automobiles
6 Nuclear Fission
7 Moon Landing
8 Cell phones
9 Gravitics; Jump-1
10 Civilian Space Transport
11 Jump-2
12 Jump-3
13 Robots; Cloning; Jump-4
14 Geneering; Jump-5
15 Anagathics; Jump-6
16 True AI; Jump-7
17 Hop-1
In this form, tech levels would be listed out to TL 17, without using eHex. Starport codes would still be quality-based rather than facility-based ("Excellent"... "Poor"). But codes for worlds' physical and social characteristics might be omitted. In other words, no UWP.
Technological Levels
0 Neolithic
1 Bronze age to Middle Ages
2 Age of Sail
3 Industrial Revolution
4 Mechanization
5 Automobiles
6 Nuclear Fission
7 Moon Landing
8 Cell phones
9 Gravitics; Jump-1
10 Civilian Space Transport
11 Jump-2
12 Jump-3
13 Robots; Cloning; Jump-4
14 Geneering; Jump-5
15 Anagathics; Jump-6
16 True AI; Jump-7
17 Hop-1
Last edited:
I love Traveller, but it is far too heavily laden down with codes and acronyms. I find that a real challenge when bringing in new players to the system.
I have been building out the Wiki partially as a way for the players to access information from their phones or other devices without a pile of books. We own the books, but the Wiki and Internet are quicker and more likely to be used by younger players. Most of my younger players now have a solid grounding in Traveller lore thanks to their books, my books, and the Wiki.
Whenever possible, I explain and teach the acronyms first and then we start using them. It might sound a little funny, but it works.
Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.
Last edited:
I get that.
I don't know how many years it took before I learned all of the parts of the UWP without needing a reference (and I still don't know all of the government codes by rote). And it's still dense: in order to find the population digit I still have to take it slow and count the places.
I don't know how many years it took before I learned all of the parts of the UWP without needing a reference (and I still don't know all of the government codes by rote). And it's still dense: in order to find the population digit I still have to take it slow and count the places.
So far, my highly informal and unofficial poll indicates that the Starport Code is the single most important piece of information about a world.
Which is reasonable.
And that informs my current mood: starport and tech level descriptions go into a Player's Guide, but UWP can be omitted.
Which is reasonable.
And that informs my current mood: starport and tech level descriptions go into a Player's Guide, but UWP can be omitted.
Similar threads
For Use With Mongoose Traveller:
Has Mongoose thought about...?