Scoping for Interest - Mongoose Traveller

UPDATE: Timings for games are now once a month on Sundays starting at 11:30 (+10:00 GMT) Cheers Hey There! Names Dave and I am just scoping the interest in a Mongoose Traveller game. I am in Brisbane Australia and am looking to start up a campaign possible timings are Friday nights on a fortnightly basis start about 1830 run till whenever. I will start up the game but was hoping to also change rolls with others in the group so that I could have a play. I am 45 and generally prefer to RP with mature age gamers, nothing against all you young bucks(does) out there just being honest that's all. I have table topped since high school both gming and playing a plethora of systems and genres but I always had a soft spot for traveller (CT) so all the stuff for MgT started a table top with old friends and found (with family life as it is) that its really difficult to get together so figured I would Tech Up and give VTT a go some of them may join in as well. But its always been nice with 4 to 6 players so here we are! SCOPIN!! Happy gaming All! ADDON please read! Hey there everyone again! BTW I am new to this site and new to VTT Role-playing, I am however a well seasoned player and GM of RTT Role-playing spanning a plethora of systems and genres. I have noticed, with my Gming in-particular, over the last say 10 years that I have incorporated up and coming tech into my role as GM creating a multimedia experience to enhance the game for players and not to mention give me the creative enjoyment. So I hadn't played CT Traveller since back in the 80's then we stubbled over MT for awhile. A year ago now I found a lonely LBB which lead me to enquire and find Mongoose Traveller. Wow! What sort of a game experience you could create with this I thought (Not just this but any scifi setting!). So the current group I was with doing RTT started doing more Modern Day Horror which I experimented with in the media experience and it went quite well. But you know Traveller was always sitting there in my mind, so in my down time from Dungeon Mastering (as the group were and still are fantasy buffs) I decided to throw something together in the hope that I would get to give it a run. Unfortunately, all accept two of us, in the RTT group I have been with for the past 6 years had ever played Traveller. Consequently it was impossible to convince them to change their D&D ways and hey that's fair enough I still game with them once a fortnight, they are good friends despite their fantasy fetishes! Lol. But myself and the other once would be Traveller decided hell lets give it a go. So needless to say its nigh on impossible to find players for Traveller in our immediate geographical situation we found out. So here we are biting the bullet doing the VTT thing (I have to tell you I have been set in my RTT ways “Who will I chink my beers with and share the cost of the pizza”, just damn unnatural I thought it was to play without a Real Table between you all”) I could still do all the MM things that I would do at the tabletop! Time to step out of my comfort zone! So here we are scoping the terrain looking for others of our ilk. So the plan as I see it would be that as the group members formed up and we all decided to step into jump space together as it were, that the game would run as follows: All play would be done via Roll20 each member of the group would be given entry and access to a private google+ community which I have already set up, Mongoose Traveller: Galactic Roamers. This community is the site and access to all the rules(g+Drive), past and present game synopsis and data (g+ Drive), links to various essential sites, a place to chat about the games etc etc. Sort of like in the galley while you are in jump space! It will act in tandem with Roll20 as a support for it. Now once we had played for awhile and got to know each other I would really like if I could tag out and be a player, all Gming and no Playing makes jack a dull boy! I would hope we could keep some older ways going though and all have our character sheets in front of us on paper and maybe even roll real dice?? I think with mature gaming there has to be an air of trust, and beside half the fun is watching your character come through adversity not unscathed. Lets see what we can make! Thanks again for reading and happy gaming.

I just had to google traveller rpg, it looks like an incredible amount of fun. Unfortunately being on the other side of the globe 18:30 for you is early morning for me. Hope you find your players.

Hey Emil. Thanks for replying. Just for interest what time zone are you in. Our times may have to change to make it available as others from elsewhere have shown an interest. Thank you I will keep you posted none the less. Cheers Dave

Hi Dave. I´m in GMT+1. I would suggest you post this on google+ ; Roleplaying Games, G+ Tabletop Roleplaying Games and G+ RPG Hangouts

Hello I may be game, though I believe that would be 4:30 Am Eastern USA time ;) I really enjoy Mongoose Traveller.

Hi, Dave. I'm interested, but I must warn you - I never played Traveller before (read some books though) and I'm new to Roll20 (a bit confused by the interface). So think for yourself if I'm suitable. Friday 18.30 (UTC+11, if I'm not mistaken) looks acceptable.

I'm an old Traveller grognard (sort of), having followed it since the 80s, and would have loved to play Traveller, but I'm on the other side of the globe from you. My time zone is GMT+2, which I think is about 8 hours of time difference from Brisbane, making live play really difficult (1830 would be 0230 for me). *Sad panda*

Emil H. said: Hi Dave. I´m in GMT+1. I would suggest you post this on google+ ; Roleplaying Games, G+ Tabletop Roleplaying Games and G+ RPG Hangouts Hey Thanks Emil much appreciated cheers Dave

Reynard said: Hi, Dave. I'm interested, but I must warn you - I never played Traveller before (read some books though) and I'm new to Roll20 (a bit confused by the interface). So think for yourself if I'm suitable. Friday 18.30 (UTC+11, if I'm not mistaken) looks acceptable. Hey Reynard. Thanks for the reply. You say you haven't played traveller before but you are old school revival so that's ok! lol. We will be be new to Roll20 as well so thats ok too! Just as another option of interest how would sunday 1000 (+10:00) suit?? What Time Zone are you in by interest? Cheers Dave

Mimdalf said: Hello I may be game, though I believe that would be 4:30 Am Eastern USA time ;) I really enjoy Mongoose Traveller. Hey Mimdalf! Thanks for the reply. So for interests sake what would 1000 (+10:00) on a sunday put you at time wise?/ Cheers Dave

I played Traveller back when it first came out, not much since then. Also, I don't have access to Skype, voice, or video. My best advice is that you go ahead and make a Traveller Campaign, do all your prep (maps, character sheet formats, tokens, etc), and then invite people.

Hi Merle M. Thanks for the reply and sage advice. I suppose given the outlay I was thinking that I would just make sure that there was interest there first and have found there is so I am converting and have had converted (4 so far) module/adventures into VTT format. I haven't ported them over to Roll20 yet as I have been just going over utube how to and why fors just so I don't have too much mucking around when i do. This may sound strange but I suppose for me too (maybe its an age thing!? not really sure!) but I don't think I am up for casual roleplaying affairs as they were lol, I like the idea of a stable group of like minded individuals sitting around the Virtual table chinkin their virtual beers and consuming their virtual pizza, shootin the breeze and settling down to some fun immersive roleplaying if that makes sense? So by me doing this I am starting a dialogue with individuals like yourself and others that have replied, getting tips and general undercurrents etc Building the foundations as it were! Foundations are so important I have found. Anyway enough of my meanderings! Thanks again mate. Cheers PS Sorry if this question sounds lame but you would still have audio wouldn't you so you could hear the group conversation you would just be using the chat window to have you say that's right isn't it? You are better than me if that's the case, by the time I have finished typing my character is dead and the groups moved onto the next encounter! lol ;o)

WarHamster: It's the other way round. When it's 1830 at UTC+10, it's 1030 at UTC+2. Still problematic, unless you have flexible schedule or an evening/night shift (like me), of course. Dave: I might pull 1000 Sunday off once or twice, but I don't really think it would be good as a permanent time. I would prefer Friday (or Monday/Wednesday) evenings. Timezone is +2

Well, it does sound fun. I recently got involved in a GURPS campaign where the creator not only wanted a foundation of people who were interested, he wanted us all to create characters before any real game data was available. We did, and we actually began to interact to some extent. He still dragged his feet about making the campaign data available, even though he said he had run this whole campaign three times before. So, the campaign stalled, and then suddenly was deleted. No warning, no courtesies. So, now I'm once-burned about the whole 'join a campaign before its ready to play' thing. Sorry to alarm anyone.

Hi Merle M. Thanks again for your input. Your feelings are justified because of your experience I feel. Thats a bugger that it happened that way for you and the others involved in the GURPS campaign. I am new to VTT rping and the campaign I am trying to get off the ground is a TT one that a little has been played of so I am converting it to VTT just for shits and giggles I did convert 4 other modules/adventures from various sf settings to MgT then to VTT just to see if you could and how compatible it is. I have had varying interest across the board and have some players up and ready in the same time zone. As I am new to the VTT I am starting small and adding as we go and i find my feet. After much forum skimming etc and advice from others more experienced than me with VTT we have decided to go with skype for audio due to less problems. My reasoning for doing this the way I am is two fold firstly I truly believe what I said in my first reply to you and the second is I am more likely to get a game as a player with the same group that we start out with if the foundations are there. Won of my pet peeves in RPG circles is DM/GM Mongers! You know the ones who never want to give up the reins!? This to me is a travesty as I truly believe, and it is the case in my experience, that what you get personally from GMing and being a Player are two completely different things and both are needed to appreciate the other. Or in fact be good at either of them. PS I am also a bit of a Scrooge! and didn't want to spend the money on Roll20 if it was going to lead to nothing. Sorry about that just being honest. Thanks again Merle M. All the best. Cheers Dave

Hi hi, I’ve been looking into Stars Without Number but I hate the stuff from DnD like hit dies going up every level, armour counting towards avoiding instead of negating damage so I guess some Traveller version would be better? I’m 9 hours behind you so I could make it evening your time but probably only on Sunday. It’s difficult to make the times fit, I have another game with an Australian on Saturday so for Europeans it’s morning, for him it’s evening and for Americans it’s well after midnight x)

BTW I'm not sure about the quality but the Mongoose version pdf is on sale right now: <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/56586/Traveller-Main-Rulebook" rel="nofollow">http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/56586/Traveller-Main-Rulebook</a>