D
DFW
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Currently, I don't use Traveller M-drives nor Jump Drives. I use my "space translation" drives in my game. 
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Keklas Rekobah
SOC-14 1K
Psionics. If I want über-ninja-cyborg-mutant magic in my game, I'll switch to AD&D or WoW. Otherwise, I either downplay or eliminate any psionic-based events and emphasize the characters' "real world" abilities and skills instead.
leo knight
SOC-12
Right now, my regular gaming group is in the middle of a long term D&D campaign, so I don't use any parts! 
But back in the day, I seriously stripped down the Classic trav rules.
Parts of Classic Traveller I Did Not Use:
Character death during chargen. After the first time, I said, "Lame!' and made it an automatic discharge. This was back in 1977-78 before that became a semi-official rule.
Positive DMs to hit for poor armor. I never liked that some armor made you an easier target. I only used the negative DMs. Of course, this made jack and mesh pretty much useless, but made unarmored NPC civilians much more likely to survive.
Most of the computer programming rules. Why have a weapon that can't fire without a particular program? Why have a special program just so your pilot and gunner skills actually mean something? I assumed all those programs were hard wired into the equipment from the start. Only specialty programs (Auto Fire, Anti Hijack, etc.) were not.
Vectors. Not once, ever.
Most of the OTU. I used Regina subsector as the start of my first real campaign, tried using the Spinward Marches for another, then made up my own cobbled together setting. Any published adventures I used had the names, serial numbers, etc. filed off.
Vilani names. I still remember introducing the major villain in the "Sky Raiders" trilogy, a tough, Sidney Greenstreet/ Jabba the Hutt mobster, destined to hound the PCs for three exciting adventures. His name? Enerei Kalamanaru. Say it out loud: Eh-neer-ee Kal-uh-man-uh-roo. Doesn't it just say, "I'm a rough, tough gangster, don't mess with me, or you'll be sleeping with the space mantas?" No? My players didn't think so either. They laughed and laughed, and laughed some more. No more Vilani names.
Most of the expanded character books (Mercenary, High Guard, etc.). I liked the simplicity of the original rules so much. I liked that you could roll up a character in a few minutes. I hated most of the heavier weapons in Book 4 (FGMPs, PGMPs, especially). Only Citizens of the Imperium got use from me.
To me, this was the strength of the original rules. They were so simple and straightforward, you could tinker away and almost never break them (not that we didn't try :devil
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But back in the day, I seriously stripped down the Classic trav rules.
Parts of Classic Traveller I Did Not Use:
Character death during chargen. After the first time, I said, "Lame!' and made it an automatic discharge. This was back in 1977-78 before that became a semi-official rule.
Positive DMs to hit for poor armor. I never liked that some armor made you an easier target. I only used the negative DMs. Of course, this made jack and mesh pretty much useless, but made unarmored NPC civilians much more likely to survive.
Most of the computer programming rules. Why have a weapon that can't fire without a particular program? Why have a special program just so your pilot and gunner skills actually mean something? I assumed all those programs were hard wired into the equipment from the start. Only specialty programs (Auto Fire, Anti Hijack, etc.) were not.
Vectors. Not once, ever.
Most of the OTU. I used Regina subsector as the start of my first real campaign, tried using the Spinward Marches for another, then made up my own cobbled together setting. Any published adventures I used had the names, serial numbers, etc. filed off.
Vilani names. I still remember introducing the major villain in the "Sky Raiders" trilogy, a tough, Sidney Greenstreet/ Jabba the Hutt mobster, destined to hound the PCs for three exciting adventures. His name? Enerei Kalamanaru. Say it out loud: Eh-neer-ee Kal-uh-man-uh-roo. Doesn't it just say, "I'm a rough, tough gangster, don't mess with me, or you'll be sleeping with the space mantas?" No? My players didn't think so either. They laughed and laughed, and laughed some more. No more Vilani names.
Most of the expanded character books (Mercenary, High Guard, etc.). I liked the simplicity of the original rules so much. I liked that you could roll up a character in a few minutes. I hated most of the heavier weapons in Book 4 (FGMPs, PGMPs, especially). Only Citizens of the Imperium got use from me.
To me, this was the strength of the original rules. They were so simple and straightforward, you could tinker away and almost never break them (not that we didn't try :devil
.
Leo: you've obviously not hung around with enough Samoans nor Tongans... big long vilaniish names... kalamanaru is easily an "r" away from sounding polynesian. A fun site: http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/Pacific/Polynesia/index.htm
leo knight
SOC-12
Aramis, for a while I used Hawaiian names in a fantasy setting. Aslan names always sounded Polynesian to me, too. But after my players' ten minute table-wide giggle marathon, I had to file them away. Actually, Eneri Kalamanaru is a perfetly fine name for a foppish noble, or a persnickety customs official. But for a crime lord obsessed with ancient treasure? I should have renamed him Kasper Gutman.
Unless a name highlights a culture or is convenient, or is Just That Cool, I prefer anglicized names and justify it by saying the home of my big darned heroes is predominately Solimani(in the ethnic NOT the ideological sense). This is for no particular reason other then to remember it easily and save work.
In preference I use Anglicized Jewish Names. Like Johnathan(Captain), Rachel(captain's wife and ship's officer), Aaron(captains brother and medic) and Naomi(Captains sister, medic's assistant, and clan diplomat, and on earlier episodes Girl Back Home Worrying About Her Brothers).* The reason I do this is because Anglicized Jewish names are common enough to remember and are Just That Cool**.
The IISS Chief of Station who serves as a sometimes coffeehouse comrade/sometimes worthy opponent is named Ivar Rostin. That sounds Swordie though he is Imperial, but I never made much of that. I just gave him the name because it is Just That Cool.
From all this, you might gather that I don't take names seriously. And indeed easy memory is pretty much my highest priority as regards personal names.
*Few sci-fis seem to use Folks Back Home, much even though that might humanize sci-fi a bit.
**I think France and Italy are good with female names bad with male, Germany and Scandinavia the reverse and Jews and Russians do well with both.
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Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Or, as I sometimes do, justify it the Tolkien way - these names are anglicized because they are translations, and since they are from your homeworld, they should sound familiar.
Oh and while I'm here - the OTU. And I've houseruled just about everything else in sight. The big question for me would be what parts do I use?
I noticed that I tended to overuse Anglic and Scandinavian names, so I began making up tables for my worlds to determine ethnicity of names. My table for Regina, for example, looks like this:
Ethnic composition of Reginan names:
Table 1: (D100)
1-29: Anglic
30-56: Vilani
57-58: Biblical
59-85: Solomani
86-92: Minor human
93-96: Non-human (other than Vargr)
97-00: Vargr
First name: Throw on table 1.
Last name:
(Strictly speaking I ought to subdivide the Vilani names into five groups, but I couldn't be bothered.)
For generic Imperial citizens whose origin I don't know or who come from worlds I haven't made up tables for, I use this table:
Imperial ethnicities
Table 1: (D100):
01-53: Solomani
54-80: Vilani
81-93: Minor human
94-00: Non-human
Personal name: Throw on table 1.
Family name:
Solomani subtable (D100)
01-12 Anglic
13-17 Arabic
18-25 Chinese
26-28 Ethiopian
29-33 French
34 Gaelic
35-39 German
40-42 Greek
43-44 Hungarian
45-52 Indian
53-57 Japanese
58-60 Polish
61-65 Portuguese
66-67 Romanian
68-75 Russian
76-78 Scandinavian
79-80 Slavonic
81-88 Spanish
89-96 Turkish
97-00 Other
I've also made up word generation tables for a couple of minor languages, such as Ashari, the most prominent language spoken on Forboldn.
Hans
Ethnic composition of Reginan names:
Table 1: (D100)
1-29: Anglic
30-56: Vilani
57-58: Biblical
59-85: Solomani
86-92: Minor human
93-96: Non-human (other than Vargr)
97-00: Vargr
First name: Throw on table 1.
Last name:
If first name is:
Anglic: Throw D6: 1-3: Anglic; 4-6: Throw on table 1.
Vilani: Throw D6: 1-4: Vilani; 5-6: Throw on table 1.
Biblical: Automatically Anglic.
Solomani: Throw D6: 1: Same Solomani ethnicity; 2-3: Any Solomani; 4-6: Throw on Table 1.
Minor human: 1-3: Same minor human; 4-6: Throw on table 1.
Non-human (other than Vargr): Throw 2D: 2-11: Same; 12: Throw on table 1.
Vargr: Throw 2D: 2-10: Vargr; 11-12: Throw on table 1.
Anglic: Throw D6: 1-3: Anglic; 4-6: Throw on table 1.
Vilani: Throw D6: 1-4: Vilani; 5-6: Throw on table 1.
Biblical: Automatically Anglic.
Solomani: Throw D6: 1: Same Solomani ethnicity; 2-3: Any Solomani; 4-6: Throw on Table 1.
Minor human: 1-3: Same minor human; 4-6: Throw on table 1.
Non-human (other than Vargr): Throw 2D: 2-11: Same; 12: Throw on table 1.
Vargr: Throw 2D: 2-10: Vargr; 11-12: Throw on table 1.
(Strictly speaking I ought to subdivide the Vilani names into five groups, but I couldn't be bothered.)
For generic Imperial citizens whose origin I don't know or who come from worlds I haven't made up tables for, I use this table:
Imperial ethnicities
Table 1: (D100):
01-53: Solomani
54-80: Vilani
81-93: Minor human
94-00: Non-human
Personal name: Throw on table 1.
Family name:
If personal name is...
...Solomani: Throw 1D: 1 = Same Solomani ethnicity; 2-3 = A different Solomani
ethnicity; 4-6 = Throw on Table 1.
...Vilani: Throw 1D: 1-4 = Vilani; 5-6 = Throw on table 1.
...Minor human: Throw 1D: 1-3 = Same minor human; 4-6 = Throw on table 1.
...Non-human: Throw 2D: 2-11 = Same non-human; 12 = Throw on table 1.
...Solomani: Throw 1D: 1 = Same Solomani ethnicity; 2-3 = A different Solomani
ethnicity; 4-6 = Throw on Table 1.
...Vilani: Throw 1D: 1-4 = Vilani; 5-6 = Throw on table 1.
...Minor human: Throw 1D: 1-3 = Same minor human; 4-6 = Throw on table 1.
...Non-human: Throw 2D: 2-11 = Same non-human; 12 = Throw on table 1.
Solomani subtable (D100)
01-12 Anglic
13-17 Arabic
18-25 Chinese
26-28 Ethiopian
29-33 French
34 Gaelic
35-39 German
40-42 Greek
43-44 Hungarian
45-52 Indian
53-57 Japanese
58-60 Polish
61-65 Portuguese
66-67 Romanian
68-75 Russian
76-78 Scandinavian
79-80 Slavonic
81-88 Spanish
89-96 Turkish
97-00 Other
I've also made up word generation tables for a couple of minor languages, such as Ashari, the most prominent language spoken on Forboldn.
Hans
Using Scandinavian names is justified in the Sword Worlds and that was one of your best volumes.
Yeah, Hans did a great job on Sword Worlds. That's one of my favorite GT books.
mbrinkhues
SOC-14 1K
- No Grandfather, no surviving Ancients stuff
- No Darrians, they killed themselfs with the Maghiz
- Ditched the "Racist" Solomanie. My version is a working non-monarchie that's why the self serving imperial nobilitie hates/fears them
- An imperial nobility based on current day nobles like the "Pissing Prince" and the "Pig Baron" of german origin or late 17th century french and british nobility - mostly decadent, self-absorbed, self-serving, inbreed and generally detached from reality. And that are the good ones
- An empire that is rotten to the core and just waits for a final touch to crumble. Or one post that touch (Dead Streppi)
- MegaCorps that act like modern companies leaving whole systems and populations to starve if they can make a profit (My reason for the TL differences in Impy space)
That is good!
It also makes it seem more like a real life culture. And it's something most sci-fi doesn't seem to handle well.
Indeed. Legends of the spaceways, dammit! Trav is inspired in some ways by the 'age of sail'- so I have no issues with drawing on old time sailors' supersitions, traditions, and legends for inspiration.
Charted Space is vast and the known worlds are many and diverse. The edges of the map are marked 'here be tygers.' There's a lot of unknown stuff out there, and people tell stories.
I'm not trying to push the 'space is the ocean' trope too far.
I don't mean that space pirates have beaker monkey pets, dress like Captain Morgan, and say ''arrrrr, shiver thy booty, wench''. Okay, maybe I do mean that, just a little.
Indeed. Legends of the spaceways, dammit! Trav is inspired in some ways by the 'age of sail'- so I have no issues with drawing on old time sailors' supersitions, traditions, and legends for inspiration.
Charted Space is vast and the known worlds are many and diverse. The edges of the map are marked 'here be tygers.' There's a lot of unknown stuff out there, and people tell stories.
I'm not trying to push the 'space is the ocean' trope too far.
I don't mean that space pirates have beaker monkey pets, dress like Captain Morgan, and say ''arrrrr, shiver thy booty, wench''. Okay, maybe I do mean that, just a little.
No, not Jack Sparrow in space. Just the assumption that people who are human will tell stories if given an excuse.
Right. People will tell stories.
On a related note, I want to develop more religious stuff for MTU. Religion gets short shrift in SF , all too often. That's a whole other thread, of course.
