What Rules do you _really_ use?

[William]

Just looking at the Rules thread and it got me to wondering.

I have a binder that has as it's starting point a copy of The Traveller Book. The Character generation and skill list are the T4.1/T5 play test version. Tasks are pure MT with Aramis' web posted adjustments (4,8,12,16,20,24 levels on 2D6, max DM +12, attrib/3 round down.). Personal combat is either T4 or ACQ depending on how important to the story the fight is. Travel and Economics are TTB. Ship design and combat are MT. The rest is mostly TTB with bits from literally every other version, plus house rules, thrown in.

So what do you use ?

William

 

[Vorlanth]

I use a homebrew system with Fudge Dice (though the system itself is not truly fudge). 8 Aptitudes (Alertness, Knowledge, Social, Technical, Physique, Reflexes, Firearms, Melee) ranging from -3 to +4 (usually -1 to +2). And a mixed skill list from GT (mostly) and CT (some) with a range of -2 (untrained), +0 (novice) - +6 (Master). I allow point buy characters or a career progression with random rolling (though I'm still tweaking it). A Task roll is made against Aptitude + Skill +4dF vs a Difficult Chart (-1, Automatic to +10, Impossible). Combat is fairly straightforward with most damage doing full Body (how much punishment until you die) and 1/2 Stun (how much punishment until you pass out). Stun is always less than Body so you invariably go unconscious before you die (but you can do both simultaneously). Combat is fairly deadly with one good gunshot enough to put someone on the ground.
My players like it as it is easy to learn and understand. I like it as it gives enough detail to be interesting, but leaves room for narrative interpretation and doesn't slow things down. You can check out some of the rules pages I've posted at http://www.tiltedworld.com/games/traveller/xml/index.xml (but be warned, they're XML rendering with XSLT, so I'm not sure if browsers other than IE 6 can view them properly).

 

[Ron]

I like to run with Megatraveller rules, adapting pre-career educational choices from T4 (I prefer to give skills instead of EDU) and High Guard starship rules.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Character generation LBB
Combat Stiker/AHL
Ship building Book 5, with "computer" renamed "Sensors"
Space combat Mayday for choice, Book 5 if the playes insist.

 

[Takei]

Character generation is MT but with the one skill per year from T4 for basic characters.
Skills are CT.
Combat is basically Striker.
Ship design is Book 2 and 5.
Ship combat is straight Book 5.

 

[T. Foster]

Char-gen: fully hybridized mix of MT/TNE/T4 -- background skills, higher education, and Entertainer career from T4 (mostly), contacts from TNE, everything else from MT (except for a little bit here and there from the T4.1 draft, some home-made bits, and perhaps (IIRC) even a couple little things from T:2300). Oh yeah, I've also reformatted all the rolls to match the task system.

Tasks/Skills: Tasks are pure by-the-book MT (IMO still the best, most robust, task system ever published for an RPG). Skill-list is MT, with additional Science types and the Performance cluster added from T4, and a couple other minor tweaks.

Experience/Improvement: Straight MT, but I've expanded MT's near-throwaway concept of 'Browine Points' into an additional 'reward' system to recognize exceptional/heroic efforts (a weaker version of the 'fate points' various other systems use).

Personal Combat: AHL/Striker with tasks & injury rules rephrased to match MT format

Psionics: MT (almost never actually used)

Worlds: MT, with stellar type fixes from TNE. Still vaguely considering going to something more 'scientifically accurate' (GT First In?) but for simplicity's sake probably won't

Animals/Encounters/Interpersonal Tasks: All by-the-book MT (though the first rarely comes up and I usually just wing the second)

Trade & Commerce: MT, including additions from Knightfall, but with per-parsec rather than per-trip rates (concept, but not details, lifted from GT Far Trader). I also make liberal use of the Exchange Rate Table from JTAS4/TCS/TNE (also in Striker, but with different values).

Ship Design: MT with fuel-usage rates changed back to match HG. Where exact crew/price/cargo values don't matter I'll usually just use HG to get something 'close enough'

Vehicle Design: MT as current default, but still exploring alternatives (maybe T20?)

Starship Combat: see Vehicle Design above

Travel: MT (but see Trade & Commerce above)

Equipment: MT as baseline, but willing to fudge just about anything, and have 'officially' declared CrImp1 = $5 US @ 2002 values (and see also Trade & Commerce above).

Large-Scale Combat: haven't decided yet; maybe MT, maybe Mercenary, might just wing it (almost never actually comes up)

Research: MT (does any other ruleset even have a system for this?)

Robots: haven't decided between JTAS2-4 & Book 8; also curious to see what T20 has (once again, something that almost never comes up).

Setting: Various -- CT-era Spinward Marches, Far Frontiers, & Reaver's Deep; MT-era Gateway Sector (from MTJ4) & semi-canonical home-brewed Massilia (AotI & Knightfall as baseline, with various minor & semi-major tweaks); very much looking forward to M:1248 and Interstellar Wars era (the latter not-yet-announced outside of my dreams).

 

[Antony]

Well I now use the TNE rules for everything except world generation. I now use First In for this. I like world-heading as well as gear-heading and this combination of rules I found more internally ocnsistant than any other version I have so far used. This includes CT, MT and T4. I have GT but so far I have not played in or run a Traveller game using Gurps.

 

[halofgazal]

Originally posted by halofgazal:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by William:
Just looking at the Rules thread and it got me to wondering.

I have a binder that has as it's starting point a copy of The Traveller Book. The Character generation and skill list are the T4.1/T5 play test version. Tasks are pure MT with Aramis' web posted adjustments (4,8,12,16,20,24 levels on 2D6, max DM +12, attrib/3 round down.). Personal combat is either T4 or ACQ depending on how important to the story the fight is. Travel and Economics are TTB. Ship design and combat are MT. The rest is mostly TTB with bits from literally every other version, plus house rules, thrown in.

So what do you use ?

William

</font>[/QUOTE]I am presently using the CT rules with the DGP task system, a slightly modified Striker for combat, and numerous little additions to character generation.

I will take a look at T20 to see what changes have been made in Starship and Vehicle Design. This is one of the areas in Striker and High Guard that now looks very dated. Some of the concepts in T4 were very interesting (such as Fusion+). Hopefully in any future edition of Traveller, we wont have to throw away all of the vehicle listings in the basic book once the vehicle design rules come out.

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by halofgazal:
Hopefully in any future edition of Traveller, we wont have to throw away all of the vehicle listings in the basic book once the vehicle design rules come out.

Every vehicle and starship in T20 has been built using the T20 design rules. There have been no 'exceptions' made that violate the design rules as written. That was a must. Every effort was made to have the final designs match the original specifications for a given vehicle or starship from Classic Traveller (non-Striker) as much as possible, but if it was a choice between keeping to the design rules or matching the original, we went with the design rules.

Hunter

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

Well, It depends on when I was playing but since we are using the present tense I have to say my current rules set is a mildly patched T4 (t4? is that the Imperium Games version? the one set around +900?)

With a very conservative setting. (usually around 1100 in the spinward marches.)

Generally in the past I've used whatever the current rules version was with a couple of patches for things I Really liked about previous systems. CT was probably the one with the most homebrew rules and house rulings on grey areas. Most of my patches to T4 had more to do with making it fit the classic continium (ie equipment and equipment names) than actuall rules mods.

At this rate maybe T20 will be playable without patches at all. Al though I'll probably still run a spinward marches adventure.

 

[jalberti]

I use the complete MT rules from the boxed set and my games are set in the Rebellion Era. I do use TNE material for ideas and as references on occasion.

 

[tim_manley]

I haven't played in some time; but when I did play last I used a full hybrid from MT, CT and Space Opera with my own home-grown stuff thrown in quite liberally and the Phoenix Command combat system.

For large scale combat I have used book4's rules -- and still think they're the best having modified it to fantasy.

 

[gardclan]

I have been using a homebrewed system. I've got modified HG/T4 for ship combat, TNE character gen, and dice mechanic ported over from (formerly)LUG's Trek rules. Works nicely. I ended up just about writing a whole rule book, which I combined with equipment lists, etc.

The darned thing got so involved that I ended up making a PDF to hand out to my poor players.

 

[Secrect Cow Level]

In my next campaign I'm going to use T4 with no rules changes. I was going to use a mish mash of CT and MT but decided that a lot of what I want is already in T4 and I can add new weapons and aliens much easier to T4 than I could using a CT/MT hybrid.

 

[JeffryCrews]

I plan on using a mix of CT (High Guard and TCS) with T-4 which I got on Ebay for 7 bucks... But I want to get the whole t-4 line unless a better edited t-5 comes out. I had a mild interest in T-20 but decided that i really don't like d-20. Every sci fi d-20 game I have ever seen just doesn't work

 

[trader jim]

i use mostly "classic" rules - but rules from any other traveller set is fair game!!! if looks and feels good i will adapt it!!! needless to say my "working" rules collection lokks kinda strange - AND i cant fully explain them to any one - nothing is carved in stone!!

 

[wrandrews]

We use the TNE rules, but without virus. We run military campaigns, with the players actually in a military service. Most of the equipment, vehicles, and spacecraft were designed by players. We are more psionic and cybernetic in nature, as players like both of these traits. This leads to the opposition being rather nasty. As a result, the players do a lot of special ops (they seem to like this).

 

[Traveller]

I've not played in quite a long time, but I don't really go for mixing and matching rulesets that much, though it's easy to do in my case when I own every GDW edition and T4. But nothing competes with Classic Traveller. All systems go through Traveller. There is no mixing and matching.

 

[TWILIGHT]

I use Chaosium's BRP system (Cthulhu, RuneQuest etc). It's a simple but accurate system that is just perfect for role-playing and counteracts nicely GDW's TECH-heavy info. Anyone with the Cthulhu rules and any edition of traveller who wants a copy of the character sheet then please e-mail me at steffj@worthington72.freeserve.co.uk and I'll try and send it as a JPG, GIF, or BMP (I use illustrator 10)

 

[doomhunk]

I find myself in almost total unison with T Foster's post (earlier on this thread). My choices match pretty much up with his.

I would add that the way our group's play style evolved was heavily influenced by four things:

1. Character generation narratives - whether we choose or randomly roll, we like to have a fleshed out history of how our character got here.

2. Starships - should be characterised and individualised. We are very influenced by what Dream Pod 9 did with Heavy Gear, and you'll find a lot of quirks in our starships. It is *so* much more interesting for gaming. Things we used to skip over, like travel in-system from jump point to starport, we now have great fun with.

3. Troupe style play - it took a while but gradually we're getting there! We each have an area (of space and of gaming style) so we get to experience the best of all worlds. I run political and intrigue games that the players christened 'Social Warrior' games, where there are recurring characters, complex rivalries etc. Another guy runs the mercenary adventures 'Guns Guns Guns!' Yet another guy loves running the space combats and fleet engagements.... I retain overall GM status and butt in when needed (so I interrupt a fleet battle to announce hidden ships inside the gas giant are now emerging etc).

4. Flashbacks & other devices - the one thing we did like & borrow from the White Wolf Storyteller stuff was the usefulness of having little cameo sequences, flashbacks etc. One of our group used to GM TORG and he used to run it like it was a TV Series, so we'd get a lot of commentary on camera angles & what was going on 'off-camera'... we use a lot of this now. If you've played Jagged Alliance 2, the little cameos you see with Deidrianna and her generals is a great example... only we play it out a lot more.

But it's horses for courses, YMMV.