T5: Can old CT adventures be converted?

[Daddicus]

I am falling in love with Traveller 5 (even though my spell checker says it has too many L's. ) It really seems as though the creators did a good job of being "real Traveller".

However, there is a dearth of adventures available for it. So, I want to open a discussion on what kinds of steps need to be performed to convert the old adventures and double adventures into T5-compatible ones.

At first, let's stick just to generic changes (ones that will be used for most of the adventures).

 

[aramis]

CT adventures:
Convert the various rolls listed to T5 Tasks
Recreate the NPC's and beasties presented with stats using T5 stats.

MT adventures:
Recreate the NPC's and beasties presented with stats using T5 stats.
Convert 2-skill based tasks to stat plus skill T5 tasks

 

[Draconian]

CT adventures:
Convert the various rolls listed to T5 Tasks
Recreate the NPC's and beasties presented with stats using T5 stats.

MT adventures:
Recreate the NPC's and beasties presented with stats using T5 stats.
Convert 2-skill based tasks to stat plus skill T5 tasks

But what IS the conversion factor? Since T5's mechanic has multiple dice-rolling, I would expect the skill numbers would double at least, in compensation, to allow experts to do the Difficult, Formidable, etc. tasks? We would need more specifics.

 

[aramis]

But what IS the conversion factor? Since T5's mechanic has multiple dice-rolling, I would expect the skill numbers would double at least, in compensation, to allow experts to do the Difficult, Formidable, etc. tasks? We would need more specifics.

Keep the attributes, age, and the Service, and the promotions. Reroll everything else. May need to reduce attributes for obvious CT/MT improved attributes, in which case, just regenerate those points of att with the first X skill rolls in T5. Ignore reenlistment.

 

[Original_Carl]

I started converting Legend of the Sky Raiders for fun, and did what Aramis said. I kept UPP age and terms and just redid all the career resolution. It was kind of a fun exercise.

 

[Licheking]

I have been running the adventures straight but adding 2 to each skill level to represent Knowledges and the improved skill levels of T5. Attributes don't need to change from what i have seen and the adventures run really well. The only thing that doesn't work is the spacecraft and vehicles you will need to do some work to recreate them and fill out the right forms, but other than that the adventures work as written.

Obviously you use the T5 task system instead of the older ones but that doesn't really require any work you can do that on the fly.

 

[Draconian]

Keep the attributes, age, and the Service, and the promotions. Reroll everything else. May need to reduce attributes for obvious CT/MT improved attributes, in which case, just regenerate those points of att with the first X skill rolls in T5. Ignore reenlistment.

Okay, thanks, but suppose you wanted to convert a character without redoing the generation of skills in the Terms. There are obviously more skill-rolls made in the character generation in T5 (4 skills per term plus commissions, promotions, and rank awards), compared to previous versions (1 skill per term plus extras), to account for rolling using more dice than 2D for difficult tasks. Also the skill-list in T5 is bigger, which dilutes the skill-levels more, but I'm not so familiar with prior editions. It is clear that, as a currency, the skill levels in T5 seem to be of smaller worth on rolls than the skill levels in CT or MT or Mongoose.

Is there a simple conversion factor, for example Astrogation-1 becomes Astrogation-2 or -3 in T5? Can you just go to each skill and double the skill-level and add 1? Would this be an acceptable quick conversion, or would it unbalance the web of skill progressions in T5?

Just thinking out loud!

(Some allowance must be made to distribute skill points within particular Knowledges: first point goes to one Knowledge, second point goes to another, then only the third point increases the general skill applicable to all knowledge categories, e.g. Wheeled-1, then Tracked-1, and only then general Driver-1 covering all categories of vehicle driving.)

 

[robject]

Okay, thanks, but suppose you wanted to convert a character without redoing the generation of skills in the Terms. [...]

Is there a simple conversion factor, for example Astrogation-1 becomes Astrogation-2 or -3 in T5? Can you just go to each skill and double the skill-level and add 1? Would this be an acceptable quick conversion, or would it unbalance the web of skill progressions in T5?
[...]

No mapping is perfect.

"Double and add 1" sounds good. Give it a try.

Wil suggests 1 MgT skill level = 3 T5 skill levels. That's simple.

If that one feels wrong, mine is like yours, but more complicated:

  MGT          T5       Definition      
   0            1       Dabbler; Amateur
   1         2 and 3    Capable
   2         4 and 5    Professional
   3         6 and 7    Good
   4         8 and 9    Specialist
   5        10 and 11   Exceptional

...and so on.

Note 1. Mongoose characters generally have lots of 0 and 1s, a few level-2s, and maybe one or two at level 3. There's a rare 4, and I might have seen a 5 once only. So the range seems to be okay. However, Wil has seen very high skill levels, so caveat emptor.

Note 2. Where T5 has two possible values, I suggest the player allocates half of his skills at level X to the lower number, and the other half to the higher. For example, if MGT Eneri has Rifle-2 and Pilot-2, in T5 he could have Rifle-4 and Pilot-5.

As in all rules of thumb, don't let players abuse it.


(Other helpful T5 stuff of mine are aggregated here: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=30549)

 

[robject]

what kinds of steps need to be performed to convert the old adventures and double adventures into T5-compatible ones.

At first, let's stick just to generic changes (ones that will be used for most of the adventures).

1. Take the eight most representative player characters from all of the adventures, and upgrade their skill levels: multiply skill levels by 3, and then turn level zero skills to level 1. Refer to this list as a resource from which all adventures may point.

2. Upgrade tasks.

3. Keep the animal encounter tables, but map the speed rating to T5 speed ratings, and map the "Armor" to the appropriate AV using the armor list on page 271.

4. Defer chargen to supplemental work.

 

[Draconian]

...As in all rules of thumb, don't let players abuse it.


(Other helpful T5 stuff of mine are aggregated here: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=30549)

Thanks for the suggestions.

Hahaha, just let my players try to abuse a conversion. They will be faced with converted NPCs for T5 who went to (roll dice on Education page) the Buzz Lightyear Laser Beam University and as instructors have Beam-11 or -12.

 

[Daddicus]

Sounds good. Thanks, all!