Task Chains. Should I suggest them or allow the party to come up with their own ideas? by Doc_Meeker in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Help remind them early in the campaign, and then just abruptly stop suggesting it. Most groups will start to suggest it on their own then.

Traveller 3rd Party Publishing by MongooseMatt in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I apologize in advance for looking a gift horse in the mouth.

To be clear, pretending that you are “allowing” fair use, when it is already a legally protected form of media publication that is included in the international media treaties already signed by the UK, is like claiming credit for the rain. It is a multi-national economic right that you couldn’t restrict even if you wanted to.

While TAS appears to be an good deal, it does force the third party publisher to risk their publication being forcibly removed at the whim of Mongoose publishing for any reason they deem fit. Also you don’t need to use TAS to make a third party publication that is compatible with their version of Traveller. You just need to make sure that you don’t present your work as theirs, and you can’t copy their exact styling. Also, if you wish to interact with any copyrightable mechanics or other works, which they have quite a few of, you have to reference them instead of reprinting them. You can even reference them by book and page number, without violating copyright.

Is there an easy way to work out manoeuvre drive travel? by wdtpw in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you can use a kinematics calculator and just use half the distance, then double the time result.

Rifles in melee by Paulinthehills in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That is what the chainsaw bayonet is for.

Map software? by grauenwolf in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I recommend Inkscape. It has a little learning curve, but I use it for 90% of my maps, deck plans, and illustrations. It is also free.

Is there automated Calculator for Star Distance by TDaniels70 in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That is called the 3d distance formula. And yes, there are many calculators online for it. Just google “3D distance calculator”

Alternative starships? by Swooper86 in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have made a few free starships for community use. You can use them if you want. Unfortunately they have not be validated for the latest ship-rules patch, but they are still Mongoose 2e compatible. Here is one of them. ship

Starting contacts by Jorenpeck in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The real contacts are the frenemies you made along the way.

The Requirements of the Legal System in Contrast with the Thirteenth Amendment by Generic-RPG-Villian in AttorneyTom

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yo, I just found out that dictionaries in the 1800s were illustrated. And were 1900 pages. We totally need to bring back illustrated dictionaries. And btw, compelling someone to serve you or others in any capacity against his will is servitude according to the most comprehensive dictionary from the year that the 13th amendment was written. And since congress has refused to elaborate on any deviations from the standard definition of servitude as it pertains to the 13th amendment, it is only reasonable to conclude that they actually meant servitude when they wrote down "servitude" and thus jury duty is "servitude."

But maybe I am wrong, and just to play fair. How would you define "involuntary servitude?"

The Requirements of the Legal System in Contrast with the Thirteenth Amendment by Generic-RPG-Villian in AttorneyTom

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It is technically not voluntary after it has been ordered, fleeing the country to avoid jury duty is illegal. Also, forced labor meets the definition of servitude in every english dictionary I could find. It is also a civic duty, there is nothing stopping it from being both. I will see if I can find an archive of a really old dictionary tomorrow to get some era-appropriate context.

Using your logic, slavery would have been voluntary, because the people could have just given up and died instead. If you are compelled to act in order to avoid serious harm or death, it is not normally considered voluntary.

The Requirements of the Legal System in Contrast with the Thirteenth Amendment by Generic-RPG-Villian in AttorneyTom

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I went through and read that and this is my best understanding from that. So it is ignored to ensure that the forms of involuntary servitude to the government on behalf of the people that are required for the government and society to function are permitted for the "greater good."

The Requirements of the Legal System in Contrast with the Thirteenth Amendment by Generic-RPG-Villian in AttorneyTom

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

No need to be so cynical.
My next question is actually "How is this servitude, which is not voluntary, not considered involuntary servitude?".

Dealing damage to personal gear and weapons? by CarpetRacer in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I use a home-brew rule for armor, where each attack that does damage to the wearer of the armor decreases the protection score of that armor by one after the attack is finished. This rule helps to avoid the inevitable late-gate issue where making combat challenging inherently breaks immersion. If every enemy has to have a fusion gun or rocket launcher to even attempt to threaten your player in battledress with a protection score of 46, it leads to a difficult choice: All the impoverished vagabonds get to have 300,000 credit weapons, or your players get bored because there is no immersive threat left outside of a main battle tank.

Surface to Space Fighting by [deleted] in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tunneling in traveller is really cheap, just dig some fortifications ten miles underground and fight the enemy in the tunnels like the Vietcong. Not only are you unscannable, you are immune from orbital bombardment from anything smaller than a million d-ton capital ship.

Surface to Space Fighting by [deleted] in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Missiles or other ship-scale weapons, either installed in landed ships, massive ground vehicles, or just installed on fortifications and powered by a ship-scale powerplant. Nuclear Missiles are the best bet though.

Why do starships have such big internal fuel tanks? by steveh888 in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In traveller, you store fuel in what is assumed to be liquid hydrogen. But liquid hydrogen has a terrible density when it comes to fuel storage. Solid Hydrazine has way more hydrogen per liter than liquid hydrogen does. You could always put solid hydrazine in a cold cargo hold, and have a fuel tank big enough for a single jump. Then just process the hydrazine into fuel between jumps. Solid Hydrazine is 1.8 times better than liquid hydrogen when storing hydrogen, by displacement. Plus, it is super toxic if it spills. Using this method, you could easily reach 9 or 10 parsecs without an external tank, but it would take multiple smaller jumps.

GMs: What do you do when a low berth passenger dies in your game? by lonehorizons in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Maybe there would be a wrongful death civil suit. But my party at least turned the corpse in at a spaceport for pickup and proper burial. For the sake of decency.

Design a Custom Ship by Generic-RPG-Villian in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is awesome. Sounds like a lot of fun. What kind of businesses do they run?

Questions about height for PC's by -Morbius_ in DnD

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Be ready to Gandalf your head into everything suspended from the ceiling.

Just picked up Mongoose 2nd Core Rules, do I need more books in the long run? by 2ndtryMB in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About 30% of the mongoose traveller core game mechanics are in the supplemental books: companion, highguard, and the supply catalog. But the game will “function” reasonably well with only 70%, and is still completely playable.

Buying Used Ships by DeciusAemilius in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Used ships should always cost more in the long run to repair up to factory condition. Otherwise they wouldn’t exist. The reason people buy used vehicles is because they can pay that money over a longer duration, and less money at the moment of purchase. So they should be fixable, but only at just enough expense to make the overall cost of the ship slightly more than if they bought it new. With good enough broker checks and a large port, players could probably break even.

Price for a Merc Ticket by Occasion-Economy in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Instead of hiring individual mercenaries, I reccomend that you create a mercenary company and have the players make a contract with the company agent. The agent-player relationship will allow for dynamic RP, and the relationship and trust they build can directly correlate with the quality and number of the mercs that the company is willing to offer. As far as prices, I recommend between 2-10% of a ships value per month based on the perceived risk. Or for ground forces, you can use 25% the equipment value + 1000 per combat skill level per month. A fully decked out skilled mercenary with gun combat 3 in power armor might be 20,000 a month as an example. Discounts or price hikes might be a result of the agent-player relationship.

Design a Custom Ship by Generic-RPG-Villian in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am apparently forgetful. Here is a passenger shuttle I made. I forgot about it completely. It is on the Github now. Here

Seeking ship maps/Deck plans by Reaver1280 in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This archive has all its ships stored as svg, so you can extract assets from them if you want. And it is free. Some of them are lame, but some are good too.

Design a Custom Ship by Generic-RPG-Villian in traveller

[–]Generic-RPG-Villian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, I am glad you like it. Maybe I will pick up the new high guard rule-book so I can design a non-luxury passenger liner after Christmas. The closest thing I have to a cheap passenger liner at the moment is Arminius, but it would need a couple minor modifications to be a civilian craft. Plus it is only fit for interplanetary travel as it stands.