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Thread: Traveller: The New Era:: Play By Forum:: Traveller TNE - 2026 Campaign - IC Thread
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 18:23:35
The first instalment will appear here on Friday morning; from then on, it is up to you!
Chris
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 18:23:35
by blackbirdetx
HI everybody, welcome to the game!The first instalment will appear here on Friday morning; from then on, it is up to you!
Chris
Thread: Traveller: The New Era:: Play By Forum:: Traveller TNE - 2026 Campaign - OOC Thread
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 18:18:10
From here on in, all OOC chat to be posted here, so that we don't keep alerting the folk who are watching the PBF thread for new games!
A little about me by way of introduction...
I have been a high school English teacher of one sort or another for 32 years. Unfortunately I suffered a heart attack just over a month ago so I will not be completing year 33. It has worked out ok though, as I am basically on recuperation leave until the end of the calendar year and then will be getting a severance. As from the start of 2027, I plan to start working again, but not at the sort of pace that I have done for the last decade or so, I am going to look after myself a bit more effectively. But that means that I have the next couple of months with more time to spare than I have for a long time, so naturally my thoughts turned to gaming!
I am 56 and live in North Norfolk, UK, with my wife and youngest daughter. Not very far from the beach. My son and elder daughter have left home and are living independently in Norwich and London respectively. I board game with friends every Monday or Tuesday evening and am in serious danger of setting up a RPG group to meet in Norwich on Wednesday evenings. Unsurprisingly for a former English teacher, I am a massive literature and theatre fan. Also a lifelong devotee of motorcycles, and we own a house in rural southern Spain where we retreat every summer; maybe more often now, here's hoping.
As I might have stated already, I am quite happy to discard dice rolling if actions or speech seem to take this more naturally. No reasonable request within the confines of the TNE universe is refused; please do feel free to ask about this OOC before committing to an action if unsure, especially in the early stages of the game. The description here is a good starting point: https://boardgamegeek.com/rpg/493/traveller-the-new-era and I find that the wiki is often helpful, and so is the core rules online here - https://www.traveller-srd.com/core-rules/ - it isn't exactly the TNE rules, but as we are playing fast and loose in the interest of pace and hopefully fun, it gives a good flavour of what Traveller is all about. TNE is my personal favourite because it is so varied and frankly anarchic.
I will create an IC thread also, and players will shortly be receiving a personalised geekmail with character details.
Regarding character details - the attribute scores are on a scale of 1-11. 6 is considered about average. The total of the scores adds up to 42; you may adjust these if you wish, but of course any increase on one attribute will have to be compensated for by a reduction elsewhere. Likewise the specific skill sets I have assigned characters - if you would like to swap any in or out, feel free to do so.
This article may be helpful in this respect: https://www.cyborgprime.com/traveller-rpg-blog/traveller-rpg...
Please do also feel at liberty to alter, add to or correct the backstory; we don't need absolute depth here, but I do realise that often players like to craft more detail in to the character they play and I completely respect that.
Finally, the secret that your character has - you are at liberty to share this or not, as you feel fit. Or reveal it later if the direction of play indicates that it may become relevant. I like to give characters a secret in the interests of depth and character building but this is not intended at all to set players against each other, rather to give some signpost for roleplaying a character as a distinct personality.
That is enough for now - I will post the starting point for the game in the IC thread on Friday morning. As always, feel free to ask if anything is unclear or needs more detail.
Chris
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 18:18:10
by blackbirdetx
Welcome to the OOC thread for the latest game of Traveller TNE.From here on in, all OOC chat to be posted here, so that we don't keep alerting the folk who are watching the PBF thread for new games!
A little about me by way of introduction...
I have been a high school English teacher of one sort or another for 32 years. Unfortunately I suffered a heart attack just over a month ago so I will not be completing year 33. It has worked out ok though, as I am basically on recuperation leave until the end of the calendar year and then will be getting a severance. As from the start of 2027, I plan to start working again, but not at the sort of pace that I have done for the last decade or so, I am going to look after myself a bit more effectively. But that means that I have the next couple of months with more time to spare than I have for a long time, so naturally my thoughts turned to gaming!
I am 56 and live in North Norfolk, UK, with my wife and youngest daughter. Not very far from the beach. My son and elder daughter have left home and are living independently in Norwich and London respectively. I board game with friends every Monday or Tuesday evening and am in serious danger of setting up a RPG group to meet in Norwich on Wednesday evenings. Unsurprisingly for a former English teacher, I am a massive literature and theatre fan. Also a lifelong devotee of motorcycles, and we own a house in rural southern Spain where we retreat every summer; maybe more often now, here's hoping.
As I might have stated already, I am quite happy to discard dice rolling if actions or speech seem to take this more naturally. No reasonable request within the confines of the TNE universe is refused; please do feel free to ask about this OOC before committing to an action if unsure, especially in the early stages of the game. The description here is a good starting point: https://boardgamegeek.com/rpg/493/traveller-the-new-era and I find that the wiki is often helpful, and so is the core rules online here - https://www.traveller-srd.com/core-rules/ - it isn't exactly the TNE rules, but as we are playing fast and loose in the interest of pace and hopefully fun, it gives a good flavour of what Traveller is all about. TNE is my personal favourite because it is so varied and frankly anarchic.
I will create an IC thread also, and players will shortly be receiving a personalised geekmail with character details.
Regarding character details - the attribute scores are on a scale of 1-11. 6 is considered about average. The total of the scores adds up to 42; you may adjust these if you wish, but of course any increase on one attribute will have to be compensated for by a reduction elsewhere. Likewise the specific skill sets I have assigned characters - if you would like to swap any in or out, feel free to do so.
This article may be helpful in this respect: https://www.cyborgprime.com/traveller-rpg-blog/traveller-rpg...
Please do also feel at liberty to alter, add to or correct the backstory; we don't need absolute depth here, but I do realise that often players like to craft more detail in to the character they play and I completely respect that.
Finally, the secret that your character has - you are at liberty to share this or not, as you feel fit. Or reveal it later if the direction of play indicates that it may become relevant. I like to give characters a secret in the interests of depth and character building but this is not intended at all to set players against each other, rather to give some signpost for roleplaying a character as a distinct personality.
That is enough for now - I will post the starting point for the game in the IC thread on Friday morning. As always, feel free to ask if anything is unclear or needs more detail.
Chris
Reply: Play by Forum:: Re: Traveller TNE (The New Era)
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 18:08:09
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 18:08:09
by RxJedi
Safe Return, Silent Running
GeekList Item: Item for GeekList "Solo RPGs On Your Table - October 2026"
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:54:53
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:54:53
by Eggsandrice
An item RPG Item: Caught in the Rain has been added to the geeklist Solo RPGs On Your Table - October 2026
GeekList Item: Item for GeekList "Character Sheet Geeklist - The Astral Incursion"
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:35:44
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:35:44
An item RPG Item:
The Lich-Queen's Begotten
has been added to the geeklist
Character Sheet Geeklist - The Astral Incursion
GeekList Item: Item for GeekList "Dan's Dragon Warriors PbF geeklist"
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:30:17
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:30:17
An item Article:
A Doppelganger's Dilemma
has been added to the geeklist
Dan's Dragon Warriors PbF geeklist
Reply: General Role-Playing:: Re: QOTD OCT 20: How do you make a combat encounter interesting when the outcome is almost certain?
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:24:51
If we pick the "common" RPGs over time, D&D, Pathfinder, Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls, Shadowrun, etc., all of those games are combat-centric. True, not every campaign does combat and not every adventure circles around combat. But most do. And more people are today playing 5th Edition games than, likely, all roleplayers of all games combined 1974 - (abt) 2013. We can guesstimate that most roleplaying done, globally, involves combat centric games running combat centric adventures with character parties of combatants. Not trying to beat a dead horse, here, but aside from specialty games, concept games, and (some) one-offs, roleplaying sessions involve combats. And usually more than once in a while.
Roleplaying characters are typically considered to be durable. You play a whole campaign with one character. It's unusual to have a character die, especially after the first session or two. Players usually have characters at mid- to high-levels who have survived a dozen or more adventures, each with three or four combat encounters. I'm just being realistic, here. The typical gamer's typical characters have survived a hundred rounds of combat through scores of combat encounters over dozens of combat-focused adventures.
I don't think I'm describing anything unusual. Our own site's extensive session reports consist of durable characters being victorious again and again in combat.
Thus, my conclusion: in most campaigns, the outcome of combat pretty much is certain.
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:24:51
by ctimmins
pelni wrote:
I heard of games like that, but I don't think I experienced it...
If we pick the "common" RPGs over time, D&D, Pathfinder, Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls, Shadowrun, etc., all of those games are combat-centric. True, not every campaign does combat and not every adventure circles around combat. But most do. And more people are today playing 5th Edition games than, likely, all roleplayers of all games combined 1974 - (abt) 2013. We can guesstimate that most roleplaying done, globally, involves combat centric games running combat centric adventures with character parties of combatants. Not trying to beat a dead horse, here, but aside from specialty games, concept games, and (some) one-offs, roleplaying sessions involve combats. And usually more than once in a while.
Roleplaying characters are typically considered to be durable. You play a whole campaign with one character. It's unusual to have a character die, especially after the first session or two. Players usually have characters at mid- to high-levels who have survived a dozen or more adventures, each with three or four combat encounters. I'm just being realistic, here. The typical gamer's typical characters have survived a hundred rounds of combat through scores of combat encounters over dozens of combat-focused adventures.
I don't think I'm describing anything unusual. Our own site's extensive session reports consist of durable characters being victorious again and again in combat.
Thus, my conclusion: in most campaigns, the outcome of combat pretty much is certain.
Reply: General Role-Playing:: Re: What makes a good character?
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:12:52
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:12:52
by ctimmins
A good player makes a good character.
A Different Kind of Hex Ep. 11 - Headless
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:09:32
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:09:32
A new episode has been added to the database:
A Different Kind of Hex Ep. 11 - Headless
New comment on Item for GeekList "Solo RPGs On Your Table - October 2026"
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:08:26
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:08:26
Glitch & Fumble "Past, Present, & Furor" (Cy_Borg) S9:E6
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:06:35
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 17:06:35
A new episode has been added to the database:
Glitch & Fumble "Past, Present, & Furor" (Cy_Borg) S9:E6
