Why don't new people play Traveller?

[Malenfant]

I think it's pretty relevant. The idea is that you get people to read the guide and want to play the game, not put it down because it sounds like everything they've ever heard about the game's blandness is true.

What are the selling points of the classic TU, that are actually unique to it? Why not think of it in terms of "How is Traveller better than the other games on the market? What does Traveller offer that the other games don't? Why should you play Traveller?" rather than merely listing what the game is about. Make the OTU actually sound exciting and compelling! Push these points into people's heads, don't make them figure it out for themselves (or give up trying to do so).

Maybe it's not even worth trying to do this for the classic OTU because it isn't really going anywhere, and the Big Push should be made for TNE:1248 instead?

 

[signless]

The more I think about it, the more I also a8 seems to be the best hope at attracting new players to the game. As long as the DEFINED setting remains small, as long as there are PLENTY of wilds which no-one plans to "officially" develop, and as long as the door remains open for the logical reflection and extrapolation of technology, 1248 should be an attractive setting.
Again, I think a key is to soothe the anti-TNE grognards with massive shots of lithium, and constantly repeat the phrase "we're not taking the OTU away...we're not taking the OTU away...".
I was also pleased to note that a sales professional had posted to the boards, and echoed what I've been yammering about. Market the game effectively, and you'll get new players.

 

[Michael Taylor]

Quote: "Maybe it's not even worth trying to do this for the classic OTU because it isn't really going anywhere, and the Big Push should be made for TNE:1248 instead?"

I would agree with this. An "intro to 1248 Traveller universe" would indeed be helpful, with a map of the TU, and a small amount of art. No UWPs though (well, perhaps for 1 subsector of a border of the 4I perhaps?).
But concentrate not so much on the grand sweep, but on what advrenturing possibilities there are in 1248 (heaps) and the various types of characters availABLE IN THE T20 1248 UNIVERSE.

Almost a selling tool for the 1248 sourcebook and T20, but make it real cheap (hence LBB format) to produce.

 

[spank]

Expense could be a factor too. I mean $44.95 for the base book is pushing it a bit. Especially just to try the game.

 

[Malenfant]

To be fair, you do get 442 pages of material for that price. Plus there's always the T20 Lite PDF, which is free.

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by spank:
Expense could be a factor too. I mean $44.95 for the base book is pushing it a bit. Especially just to try the game.

Funnily enough it sells well at that price

Hunter

 

[Evo Plurion]

Hunter, can we have your opinion? QLI must have done some homework on its existing and potential markets for Traveller. What say you?

 

[signless]

That's another interesting point. This has become a BLOODY expensive hobby. I mean, the original boxed set of CT wasn't anywhere in the same price range (even in adjusted dollars, I'd wager...).
I mean I can intellectually understand why a core book is priced that way...but, man...that's killin' me.

 

[flykiller]

Maybe in LBB format like CT Book 0 - and written in a prose style, not an encyclopedia style.

a book.

up against the star trek and star wars movies.

that's asking a lot of a book.

 

[Michael Taylor]

I'm only talking about an introduction to a universe which has only ever been defined in print. So what if people are seduced by sci fi movies - we can't do any much about that, although I am talking to my producer (who co-produced the star wars trilogy) about a traveller movie. So at least I'm using the avenues available to me to see if something can be done in that area.

 

[Michael Taylor]

Traveller can never hope to compete with the star wars and trek brands which have had billions of dollars spent on them over the last 30 years. If we are treating traveller as a brand, and the exercise is to build that brand, that takes years and lots of money. We do not have the later, but it would be great to create collateral material like film, novels etc etc to build the brand.
It's a long shot, but one day it might happen. After all, they did a Judge Dredd movie based on a strong comic brand (even though the film was a flop).

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Can I ask one thing? If you do make a Traveller movie, please do it good, and don't use focus groups...

The D&D movie was embarrassing, even more than Judge Dredd.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
The D&D movie was embarrassing, even more than Judge Dredd.

So embarrassing, they're filming another one.

 

[BetterThanLife]

Aside from making sure the books are on the shelves and given wider availability the next step to increasing sales and introducing new people to Traveller is up to us. That is right us. It may be up against Star Trek and Star Wars and a bunch of other games, but if we, the dedicated fan base run games, invite new people in, get them involved, that is how this is going to grow. Instead of running a game with a few friends at home, run it at your local game store. Break out the cool deckplans, the cardboard heros, the computer with the cool graphics, software and appropiate sound effects. If each of us gets two people playing that have never played before....

If each of us does this then the fan base will explode and QLI won't be able to keep up.

Originally posted by flykiller:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Maybe in LBB format like CT Book 0 - and written in a prose style, not an encyclopedia style.

a book.

up against the star trek and star wars movies.

that's asking a lot of a book. </font>[/QUOTE]

 

[flykiller]

if we, the dedicated fan base run games

how much of the fan base actually plays? I think they're mostly collectors.

 

[BetterThanLife]

Then, it is time the collectors start playing too.

That brings people back to playing Traveller without introducing new players. Perhaps both at once.

Originally posted by flykiller:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />if we, the dedicated fan base run games

how much of the fan base actually plays? I think they're mostly collectors. </font>[/QUOTE]

 

[Malenfant]

Forget Star Wars and Star Trek, Traveller can never compare to or compete with those. Those are waaaay out of Traveller's league.

There's already a perfectly good visual vehicle with which to introduce people to Traveller - it's called Firefly. A lot of gamers have seen that. It gives them an instant picture of the sort of thing you can run in the OTU, even though the details are different.

It's got all the right tropes. It's about surviving on the Frontier (though the OTU doesn't really HAVE a frontier to speak of. I guess you could use those crummy low-tech worlds with the D and E starports off the main jump routes instead), getting to the next paycheck, and (most importantly) about the interaction between the characters who are on the ship. Heck, most of the crew and passengers are even all ex-somethings - Mal and Zoe are ex-grunts, the Shepherd appears to be an ex-... something, Jayne is an ex-thug (or maybe not "ex..."), Simon is an ex-doctor, and even River is an ex-experimental test subject

.

Use that to sell the OTU to people, and then it may be getting somewhere.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

It would be like Traveller, if it wasn't cowboys in space. Not everyone is Solomani, or even human for that matter. To me, its more mediocrity passing for good. It's still a bunch of people on a ship, but (GASP!) this time, they're messed up with shady backgrounds... Having everyone a f**k up is almost as boring as having everyone be the "Best of the Best". I don't know why moderation is so foreign to most scripts.

 

[Malenfant]

It doesn't matter if you like it or not - fact is, it's quite probably the closest thing out there in TV land to Traveller, and that's what matters when you want to give people a reference. Can you think of a better thing to use as a TV/Movie example of what the game is like? If so, I'd like to know what it is.

As for the characters - their backgrounds make them interesting, and drive a lot of the plot. I'd say they're absolutely typical of any PCs in any game I've ever encountered (or played, for that matter). Are the character interactions among the crew in your average a Traveller game that varied and interesting? Do you get crews that don't get on very well, or hold grudges against eachother, or fall in love or keep secrets from eachother? Or does nothing like that usually happen in a Traveller game because it usually focusses on a mission or merc ticket or whatever the crew are doing for the Patron Du Jour?

 

[bryan gibson]

It would be like Traveller, if it wasn't cowboys in space. Not everyone is Solomani, or even human for that matter. To me, its more mediocrity passing for good. It's still a bunch of people on a ship, but (GASP!) this time, they're messed up with shady backgrounds... Having everyone a f**k up is almost as boring as having everyone be the "Best of the Best". I don't know why moderation is so foreign to most scripts.

actually, its nothing of the sort, and as you have your opinion, please remember critiques of the movies haven't a place here...take it to random static where your opinion on such matters is not only well known but is more appropriate.

Now, if you have CONSTRUCTIVE input, then by all means, please do so!

While I agree we require no more mediocrity, the fact is that many of the shows you routinely lambast are anything but...enough on that subject, my point is that they bring a new level of awareness to our hobby, and like it or not Firefly was in everyway damn near a paradigm of Traveller, it's "western" air aside.

The Serenity movie as well as the series is almost a spot on example of the classic traveller adventuring group in action.As a filmic venue it couldn't help but enhance the exposure to Traveller - Treks virtue as an RPG when I ran it at conventions was that EVERYONE knows Star Trek...same for Star Wars.Traveller would be helped immensely with that sort of thing, and QLI, SJ Games, Jeff over at FreeTrav would all benefit even as the hobby would...but, like you say, only if the movie was a good one.Oscars? likely not, but enjoyable would be nice - look at the way interest in pirates and the game Seven Seas spiked after a movie about a Disney Ride hit the screen.

As to venues, Traveller is SF, and I'd love to see a film based on it. Regrettably, D and D will be made, and we can only hope Cory Soloman's involvement won't include the directors chair!