RPG Story: My Failed Game Attempt

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  • čas přidán 23. 08. 2018
  • This RPG story comes from a game of Traveler I tried to get the players to play. After trying to go through the game's quirky character creation, all the players quit and I decided to drop it because I could tell they weren't happy. Hope you guys enjoy!
    Music Credits:
    "Game Plan" from the CZcams Audio Library
  • Komedie

Komentáře • 2,4K

  • @MrTohawk
    @MrTohawk Před 5 lety +2646

    The noble one does sound like a normal RPG character though. Noble blood, check. Dead parents, check. On the run, check. Pirates, check.

    • @McSenkel
      @McSenkel Před 5 lety +64

      Booring? Check!

    • @Scarletraven87
      @Scarletraven87 Před 5 lety +41

      It's cool IF it's not a mary sue

    • @bigbadbob7070
      @bigbadbob7070 Před 5 lety +90

      Doran Martell which let’s be honest, that guy was no where near a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu

    • @randomwizard2971
      @randomwizard2971 Před 5 lety +7

      I'm considering using that as a backstory for a D&D Fighter or Paladin, with some slight modifications.

    • @johnwestensnorris6391
      @johnwestensnorris6391 Před 5 lety

      @@bigbadbob7070 BigKlingy fan!

  • @bucketheadgaming9451
    @bucketheadgaming9451 Před 5 lety +889

    Asks them to pick occupation: “You think you can just pick an occupation?!?”

    • @Nyghtking
      @Nyghtking Před 5 lety +68

      Yeah, why would I play a game that tries to simulate life when I could just live it instead?

    • @nathananderson1550
      @nathananderson1550 Před 5 lety +65

      why would you play viscera cleanup detail when you could clean your own home? because sometimes you just want something different. albeit that is kind of a lame way to start it. maybe as a "hard core mode" but not for your first time

    • @davidmichel6550
      @davidmichel6550 Před 5 lety +2

      Nathan Anderson I love viscera cleanup detail

    • @nagash2731
      @nagash2731 Před 5 lety +37

      "Hahaha! You think you can just [do the thing that I, the only one who knows the rules of this game, told you to do]? How utterly foolish of you!"

    • @nathananderson1550
      @nathananderson1550 Před 5 lety +3

      @@davidmichel6550 as do I. It's one of my games that I both love and hate at the same time. Like warframe

  • @LunchThyme
    @LunchThyme Před 4 lety +109

    Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down, and I'd like to take a minute just sit right there, this is how I went from being a prince to being deaf in one ear.

  • @weckar
    @weckar Před 5 lety +856

    "I played a pilot for two years"
    "That was the one time I tried to play Traveler"
    WHICH IS IT??

    • @TheDalaiLigma
      @TheDalaiLigma Před 4 lety +183

      Maybe he meant this was the first time he played it as a GM

    • @richlight
      @richlight Před 4 lety +86

      He also says he cant imagine playing as a pilot and thr next breath he says let me tell you I played as a pilot for 2 years.
      Great story either way and that's why I'm here. I was gonna bust his stones for a laugh but yeah. Why? He does this for our entertainment

    • @Alex-yl8dz
      @Alex-yl8dz Před 4 lety +27

      weckar he has played Star Wars before

    • @fidly4
      @fidly4 Před 4 lety +26

      He was taking on a character when he said "I played as a pilot." He was just imagining what it would be like to do so, but thought it would be more entertaining present from a pilot player's perspective than as a hypothetical. I agree it was kind of a confusing way to go about it, and could have been phrased better.

    • @richlight
      @richlight Před 4 lety +9

      @@fidly4 I love this channel and Ben's stories . I say kind of the same thing in my comment but thought it was funny because he presents it matter of factly way with to much detail . Yes it was for the story but funny he contradicted himself between breaths was all. I know when someone puts 100 on 10 lmao. I love busting balls and teasing to though. Just hear and everywhere else on CZcams to learn, be entertained, and tease and have fun

  • @IslanKleinknecht
    @IslanKleinknecht Před 5 lety +971

    Am I mistaken, or did the characters just have amazing adventures before the game even began?

    • @Usernamesdontmatter1
      @Usernamesdontmatter1 Před 5 lety +169

      The characters.....not the players.

    • @MCEvans66
      @MCEvans66 Před 4 lety +76

      The players could have also if they had been warned
      Could have been a very cool session 0

    • @davidlewis5312
      @davidlewis5312 Před 4 lety +103

      my question is after being handed this character by the game what would be the motivation for any of the characters: the fucked noble and fucked scholar would probably just wnat to find a quiet corner of nowhere to hide from the world in and the rich merchant... why would he want to risk anything on another adventure. He would be trying to find an island somewhere to cash out

    • @robertnett9793
      @robertnett9793 Před 4 lety +41

      Nope. It's not amazing adventures. It's rolls on tables.

    • @PhotriusPyrelus
      @PhotriusPyrelus Před 4 lety +26

      @@robertnett9793 You just described *all* of PNP RPGing; you realize that, right?

  • @themocaw
    @themocaw Před 5 lety +51

    One of my favorite pastimes to play when bored was, "A Traveller's Life in Chargen." You start with a 16 year-old Traveller, play through the normal Lifepath process, and keep going until they die or retire.
    All the fun of playing Traveller in two hours.

    • @hariszark7396
      @hariszark7396 Před 4 lety +7

      That could give you great ideas seeds for writing your own Sci-Fi novel imo.

  • @thatguy2642
    @thatguy2642 Před 5 lety +64

    Not gonna lie, character creation in traveler is one of my favorites. You never know what will happen!

  • @ls-501templar8
    @ls-501templar8 Před 3 lety +278

    I literally just had my first character creation for Traveller. I tried to make a medic, so he went to college.
    He got kicked out for cheating and over the next 30 years, went back and forth between drifting and trying to get back into school (which never worked).
    His loved ones died, others betrayed him, he suffered an injury which brought his strength down to 1, and when his nephew died he just broke.
    After his injury, he began to see the flesh as weak and life as meaningless, craving the cold certainty of steel. He got every augment he could get: combat arms, extra robotic arms, a shriekerbox, implanted weapons, and many other things. He became clinically insane with achieving a body free from the frailty of the human flesh and satiating his bloodlust.
    I tried to make a good natured medic and came out with a freaking Skitarii Ruststalker from Warhammer 40k... I’m really excited to play him.

    • @raynmanshorts9275
      @raynmanshorts9275 Před rokem +33

      "Your character gets caught cheating."
      "Wait, what? But he'd never cheat. He'd rather fail the most important class of his degree than cheat."
      "It's funny you think you have any choice in this."
      That said... yeah. It can create some interesting opportunities if you're flexible about the kind of character you will play.

    • @Papercut337
      @Papercut337 Před rokem +5

      I’m stealing this concept for an antagonist in my game

    • @Ornithopter470
      @Ornithopter470 Před rokem +6

      It does work out like that sometimes, but at the end of the day, if you wanted to play a medic, you didn't get that.

    • @josephbracero4652
      @josephbracero4652 Před rokem +7

      I recently rolled up a guy from a military family who failed to get into the marine academy he wanted, then he enlisted in the marines. Met his future wife. Got captured and tortured. Went through physical therapy. Enlisted in the army. Had a fruitful career. Retired. Became a cop. Was a badass. Married his wife. Retired. Decided to try and better his life by making money as a merc and consultant with his experience.

    • @dx3217
      @dx3217 Před rokem +1

      I am still confused on how char creation works because i couldnt find a pdf of that game but i think this char creation system is quite good if you make a session 0 where you rp your failures or the player and gm agree on how things go south if you fail.

  • @Audiotrocious
    @Audiotrocious Před 4 lety +388

    This character creation is awesome for generating OCs.

  • @ShiftyMcGoggles
    @ShiftyMcGoggles Před 5 lety +472

    It's why when doing Traveller, I have 2 house rules:
    1 - You get 3 rerolls during creation. They can be rerolling anything, but you have to stick with the reroll.
    2 - Each term is 2 years instead of 4, so my players can have a bit more backstory before being old as balls.

    • @aandredaandred3378
      @aandredaandred3378 Před 5 lety +43

      Naaah, shortening the terms makes no sense IMHO. That's the whole point - you're either experienced and interesting but ailing and wrinkly or young, beautiful, boring and incompetent - just like in real life. ;)

    • @ShiftyMcGoggles
      @ShiftyMcGoggles Před 5 lety +42

      True, but I tend to be a lot more lenient on my players when creating characters. Halfing the Term-time makes it so they can get a more rounded character...And it also allows for more crap to happen to them.

    • @raphaelalexandreyensen6291
      @raphaelalexandreyensen6291 Před 5 lety +13

      I usually take a point allocation system when hosting RPG's, Take Mean Average of the possibilities of the dice, multiply by the number of dice then round to nearest whole number, then allow the points to be spent in place of dice rolls as if they were dice rolls.

    • @oooooooooorly
      @oooooooooorly Před 5 lety +16

      This is a really sensible modification, if you want to end up with characters who are a bit stronger than the unmodded system is likely to give you. It all comes down to what kind of scenario you want to run, really.

    • @joriandrake
      @joriandrake Před 5 lety +4

      Aandred Aandred - That's not how real life works

  • @aidiotjr8128
    @aidiotjr8128 Před 3 lety +35

    The idea behind traveler is so so so awesome, I got the rulebook and then found this and it's an absolutely amazing concept. I wish I had a group that was willing to play and would enjoy it lol.

  • @banditsix2870
    @banditsix2870 Před 5 lety +72

    When I ran my Traveller Campaign, I ran four character creation instances for my players. Then, they had four characters to choose their favorite from while retaining that interesting randomized backstory.

  • @ShaunJS
    @ShaunJS Před 5 lety +850

    What's interesting is that from the outside, at least to me, the characters they ended up with sounded *super* interesting. Like you get a whole bizarre backstory written for you. They actually *sound* like a rag tag team of space adventurers!
    I expect PF likely realised this in hindsight but I think probably if the idea these things Could and Would happen to the PCs was clearer up front, I can imagine players getting really into it. Being that they knew to not invest in whatever path they selected and be more interested in whatever comes out the other side of the rollercoaster. and if they really didn't like the sound of it, cut that chunk of the rules out or bypass it, assuming players just got to be what they wanted.
    I haven't played Traveller but it sounds very odd and interesting!

    • @JustinTK416
      @JustinTK416 Před 5 lety +16

      I agree, and actually posted a comment about how I'd swing tieing their various stories together for an awesome and daring escape adventure. I actually did something similar for a small RP group I lead some years back, except I had them draw numbers that determine what lead to them ending up in the town where their characters would meet. One was about to be executed for a crime they didn't commit, and the other washed up on shore after being kicked off a bridge by an evil clone. I also had a few other really interesting ones. Like I remember one had them basically be chased their by a phantom dragon that only they could see, and I think one had them having been saved by a local huntsman after being ambushed or injured or something. The idea was to not only have a spontaneous element affect their starting situation, but also potentially introduce an ongoing situation that would affect the character's journey until they found a way to deal with it. Unfortunately, the session was cut really short, and one of the people was kinda hard to get a hold of, so it never got continued. Really sucks too, 'cause I had an awesome arc planned where a prince would request their aid, and even try and romance one of them, but it would turn out that they were really being used to do his dirty work, and after he turned on them, I was planning a really twisted engagement where they'd have to use one of their somewhat prophetic/ESP abilities to lead the other (the one who the prince had been trying to romance) through illusions that the prince had cast.
      Damn, just thinking about it makes me both kind fired up, and a little sad. Really wouldn't mind DMing or something. Not sure if I could manage the intricacies of D&D's systems, but maybe RP with some basic mechanics or systems to help balance everything.

    • @christopherwilson4724
      @christopherwilson4724 Před 5 lety +6

      Players should be writing awesome backstories anyway. XD Down with 2d paper cutouts!

    • @GalliadII
      @GalliadII Před 5 lety +21

      who would want to have their backstory written FOR them?
      if you are into RPGs you write it yourself. If not, you don't care.
      This system is garbage. If you are going to do something like this, do a fallout style.

    • @JustinTK416
      @JustinTK416 Před 5 lety +8

      @@GalliadII I agree in the sense that this particular system is a bit over the top (and the entire game seems a bit overbearing in several departments), but I do think it could be fun if A) the players know beforehand that the game will throw some kind of spin on whatever backstory they have in mind (and are okay with that), and B) the alteration is designed to have relevance in the game's storyline, although this kinda system would probably be better suited for individual modules since the details of the random aspects could be tailored for set events, rather than just randomizing their backstory in ways that they'll be expected to accommodate throughout the game, but aren't guaranteed to have anything to do with whatever storyline or sub-setting the GM is using. Of course, a good GM would probably try to work with it in some way to get the players better invested, but then it's just loading extra work and consideration onto everyone involved and... yeah, I guess it is pretty garbage the way they do it.

    • @reddytoplay9188
      @reddytoplay9188 Před 5 lety +1

      JoJo's bizarre adventure

  • @Micolino9878
    @Micolino9878 Před 5 lety +469

    Rolling randomly to determine your character. . . Sounds like something *I* would do. It might have gone a little better if you told them that ahead of time, and made sure they were cool with it. It does have a certain appeal, but only if you're expecting it.

    • @Jonsoner
      @Jonsoner Před 5 lety +62

      Exactly my thought. Creating a new character in a new system and potentially a whole new genre? A game that comes with a "kinda backstory and life" self generation seems extremely useful to me to be honest.

    • @FarrTheFox
      @FarrTheFox Před 5 lety +8

      This is Puffin your talking about. Remember that. x3
      But more then likely told them still ahead of time.

    • @mortendreier4446
      @mortendreier4446 Před 5 lety +11

      Reminds me of Warhammer RPG 2ed. While everything at times was random in the creation phase you could still aim for what you wanted the character to be in game.
      And truly it is a breeze of fresh air to play this type of game every now and then.

    • @petersenior5432
      @petersenior5432 Před 5 lety +10

      The first thing that Puffin did was show them the occupations, which was a mistake. If they were going to roll to determine if that all worked out then they shouldn't have gotten their hopes up for being a scholar or noble or etc.

    • @Shadesoftheshadows
      @Shadesoftheshadows Před 5 lety +13

      @@petersenior5432 well the way it actually works is you pick your occupation, and eacg occupation has its own tables for things that happen, you just might not end up in the occupation you wanted but you still have to pick one

  • @Woodthorn
    @Woodthorn Před 5 lety +714

    Character creation is part of Traveller's elevator pitch, not something you spring on the players like it was a trap. Sounds like your group miht do better with Stars Without Number which is like a blend of Traveller and early D&D.

    • @kevinsullivan3448
      @kevinsullivan3448 Před 5 lety +17

      Stars Without Number is a cool game, but a little simple minded for experienced games. Then again, look at all the D&Dtards whining about Puffin Forest being a mean GM. They have obviously never played a real ROLE playing game, just meta rules players.

    • @Woodthorn
      @Woodthorn Před 5 lety +45

      @@kevinsullivan3448 What? Why would D&D not be a real role playing game?

    • @alelpot2
      @alelpot2 Před 5 lety +8

      Woodthorn D&D is pretty much Babys' Fist RPG, it can give you an idea of what you can do, but it's not nearly as in-depth and role-playing heavy as a lot of others out there, and the second one there is pretty important in my view to, you know, an rpg.

    • @Woodthorn
      @Woodthorn Před 5 lety +64

      @@alelpot2 D&D is very mechanically driven and oftentimes employ a mechanics-first style of play. This does not make it any less of a role playing game.

    • @angolin9352
      @angolin9352 Před 5 lety +15

      alelpot2 You need to specify which D&D. Basic is not anything like AD&D2, nor are either of them anything like 5e (maybe a little like Basic), and while 5e shares a lot of mechanics with 3e the design philosophy is totally different so you don't play either of them anywhere near the same as each other.

  • @jccusell
    @jccusell Před 3 lety +37

    Protip: Traveler, and in particular the latest version from a few years ago(2019?), is AWESOME. Pick it up, try it out. You will never forget your first character creation in that game. Freakin genius.

  • @hogarthgaint6949
    @hogarthgaint6949 Před 5 lety +450

    After watching you for months, I finally got to play in my first D&D campaign.
    Long story short, 3/5 players died and we managed to fail both options for our quest. I lived though : D
    I've learned a lot from you clearly

    • @_.sleepyghost._659
      @_.sleepyghost._659 Před 5 lety +3

      Hogarth Gaint lol

    • @Crybaton
      @Crybaton Před 5 lety +47

      That's not toooo bad actually... When I played my first game we were supposed to save a planet from a infectinous liveform... Well... We ended up having to burn and bomb the entire solar system to pieces because we fucked up... But heyyyy... For the Emperor... Wuhuuu...

    • @wilhelmrk
      @wilhelmrk Před 5 lety +33

      That.. is a pretty realistic end for the 40K Universe

    • @jackielinde7568
      @jackielinde7568 Před 5 lety +11

      Hogarth Giant: Sooooooo.... You guys won, right? Actually, you win if you came back with some epic stories, like the ones Puffin and Zee tell on their channels.

    • @MrTapkomet
      @MrTapkomet Před 5 lety +16

      It is fairly unusual for the players themselves to die. Are you okay there? Should I call the police?

  • @GoldenPenHD
    @GoldenPenHD Před 5 lety +861

    So basically the Game of Life.

    • @GoldenPenHD
      @GoldenPenHD Před 5 lety +1

      Canada ball exactly

    • @lauravturner
      @lauravturner Před 5 lety +7

      The Derp Chaos Now I am just thinking about the Robot Chicken sketch. "Fucking Spinner"

    • @Fearior
      @Fearior Před 5 lety +4

      IIRC in Cyberpunk 2020 you also had a "Game of Life" at the begining.

    • @dagaminking8272
      @dagaminking8272 Před 5 lety +1

      Sadly

    • @Prinny_421
      @Prinny_421 Před 5 lety

      In SPACE :D

  • @TheBronf
    @TheBronf Před 5 lety +444

    you messed up puffin. those type of games you have to explain to new players on how creation works. tossing them into the deep end like that always results in a salty player.

    • @dmitriygryaznov9210
      @dmitriygryaznov9210 Před 4 lety +39

      I guess he counted on them being someone like me, who would consider this as an awesome surprise. Sounds more of a bad IRL character judgement than a faulty strategy.

    • @JoeRoganful
      @JoeRoganful Před 4 lety +33

      Puffin sounds excruciating to play with, TBH. He's a total "that guy", both as DM and player. Entertaining videos, though.

    • @PapaBear_Gaming
      @PapaBear_Gaming Před 4 lety +21

      @@dmitriygryaznov9210 It's important to go in with the right attitude, if you really particularly want to play a certain character out and the DM gives you a choice at character creation to pick your choice.... and then the system is set up to be functionally truly random... that's a bad disconnect there

    • @dmitriygryaznov9210
      @dmitriygryaznov9210 Před 4 lety +2

      @@PapaBear_Gaming I get your point but I do not think you got mine exactly. Personally, I have lost count of computer games where I would dive in excited about a certain playstyle only to realize it does not play/feel as well as I thought and either changing it into something else or restarting altogether. As a result, whenever I try some new game I realize botching my character/macro strategy is a possibility and I need to be ready to let go of it. This outlook is the reason why, as I said earlier, I'd be likely to consider Puffin's random character generator reveal a highly refreshing surprise even if it scraps some of my choices. My point is this is what Puffin may have been counting on.

    • @PJKP82
      @PJKP82 Před 4 lety +12

      Yeah, I don't think Puffin is a very good GM. Or maybe his stories have an odour of a click baiter; less truthful RP stories, more dramatic convenience.

  • @tach5884
    @tach5884 Před 5 lety +62

    "Maybe someday I'll be able to explore the stars" sitting in a broken ship on a No Man's Sky planet...

  • @PowahSlapEntertainmint
    @PowahSlapEntertainmint Před 5 lety +2588

    I like to think this channel is an alternate timeline where Cartman got into D&D.

    • @jeffer746
      @jeffer746 Před 5 lety +3

      Hi again

    • @celestedoesstuff
      @celestedoesstuff Před 5 lety +4

      Definetly

    • @TV-jn4dh
      @TV-jn4dh Před 5 lety +42

      They already did the fantasy larping thing, though. Cartman as a DM would be even worse than Ben.

    • @ivohansen4730
      @ivohansen4730 Před 5 lety +3

      why are you everywere????

    • @viator_eagle5936
      @viator_eagle5936 Před 5 lety +3

      Interesting, but it's not that bad of a crash and burn

  • @NimhLabs
    @NimhLabs Před 5 lety +284

    This sounds like a case where you should have given them a bit of a heads up... have a "test play" day where you expect them to rage quit... then ask them back after like... a month of them stewing over the system.

  • @huruey
    @huruey Před 5 lety +648

    Those characters all sounded awesome. The flaws and trials offer motivations. The player disparity was a good thing as it could create interesting dynamics in the party.
    You just needed to let your players understand and agree to this method of character generation ahead of time. xD

    • @endorsedbryce
      @endorsedbryce Před 5 lety +36

      Yeah, players need to have the right expectations. also players that have mostly only played dnd tend to often been more roll play orientated than role play orientated.

    • @aggressiveaquamarine7522
      @aggressiveaquamarine7522 Před 5 lety +60

      That’s not true at all. It’s just people like playing the character they want to play, not a character that is forced upon them. People can say “but that’s not how real life works.” And while that is true, this isn’t real life. It’s a game. Games are games because they’re supposed to be fun and real life ain’t fun.
      I’ve met many, many good Roleplayers in my time playing DnD, it’s really just up to each player. Most “roll players” are only there because it’s their first System and they aren’t very experienced in tabletop gaming yet.
      Or that’s just their play style and that’s okay too, there’s those people in every system.

    • @LunaGoreTV
      @LunaGoreTV Před 5 lety +14

      @@aggressiveaquamarine7522 Not everyone has that mindset, there's plenty of D&D DMs that start their homebrews this way with no issues. If people wanna play something a certain way they let the DM know but he wanted to try something different with it's own systems for characters, skills, classes/occupations and the players weren't up for it. I'm sure the parts we're missing is why his attempt failed but I would greatlky enjoy this game so long as the crdeits system isn't too math related in terms of needing to purchase 100% of everything.

    • @Darleer
      @Darleer Před 5 lety +4

      Agree. Players should always know what they're getting into

    • @johnbiggsify
      @johnbiggsify Před 5 lety +13

      Generally agreed and I love Traveller *because* of its character generation process, not in spite of it. But GMing it is the same as any other system, you've got to set your players' expectations well and, arguably more importantly, be receptive to their feedback and needs. If they don't like the way their character is shaping up, intervene. They're the one who's got to play the guy, after all, and nobody really wants to play a burnout drifter with no skills or assets and multiple addictions.

  • @SirGamingScotsman
    @SirGamingScotsman Před 5 lety +35

    Letting your players know in advance how Traveller character generation works would have been a good thing. That way their expectations would have been reigned in and they could have had more fun with it, since character creation for Traveller is a gaming session in itself and helps if it's roleplayed through.
    I just started running a Traveller game and one player wanted to become a Grav Racer after having served as a pilot. In his first term at the Military Academy a war broke out and he got drafted into the military, which is what he wanted sorta, but got sent to the army and then into cavalry. He ran with it and ended up retiring as an Army General, ready to start his new life as a Traveller. This game also has a former Marine medic, Director of a spy Agency, Preacher/Conman, and a Nobleman who had sponged off his family all his life.
    Traveller is a great game but the players need to know how cruel it can be making your character, but then being able to have a ton of fun with what they get and having a roleplaying experience that can take them out of their comfort zone/normal perception of more typical RPGs.

    • @hariszark7396
      @hariszark7396 Před 4 lety +2

      The problem with most players is that they don't role play. They just roll play dice....

  • @brycevo
    @brycevo Před 5 lety +424

    1:21
    Looks like Firefly.
    Curse your Sudden but inevitable betrayal.

    • @kabob0077
      @kabob0077 Před 5 lety +8

      Bryce Mckenzie I think we should call it Your Grave!

    • @FlyingDominion
      @FlyingDominion Před 5 lety +4

      It really doesn't though. Fireflies look fairly bulbous and that was rather tube-and-fin.

    • @MrSpartanspud
      @MrSpartanspud Před 5 lety +2

      ...

    • @meowfulsoul2450
      @meowfulsoul2450 Před 5 lety +4

      Oddly enough, there is a Firefly RPG handbook...

    • @Dracopol
      @Dracopol Před 5 lety +12

      Joss Whedon was known to have played a SF tabletop RPG in college. Given that the selection of RPGs was sparse at the time, it was probably Traveller (the first edition was ramshackle and distributed into 3 little booklets and supplements, but if people loved SF and forming their own setting, Traveller was the likely choice.) A self-reliant ship crew ensemble, not teen farm-boys from Tatooine but seasoned people with prior careers, supplementing trade with adventurous and maybe not very legal jobs, was an idea that carried over into Firefly!

  • @zacharyhawley1693
    @zacharyhawley1693 Před 5 lety +194

    Just like life. One guy gets everything and the others gets screwed.

    • @DasKame
      @DasKame Před 5 lety +13

      Yeah thats why we play RPG's... to escape the real life we play... just like real Life? :(

    • @Alexander-gb4rr
      @Alexander-gb4rr Před 5 lety +2

      This is exactly what I was thinking.

    • @mestre12
      @mestre12 Před 5 lety +7

      That is why we play actual games.

    • @honos4838
      @honos4838 Před 5 lety +3

      You folks don't play to see or explore particular character concepts?

    • @Dragonlover553
      @Dragonlover553 Před 5 lety +1

      Imagine if the players decided that their characters should play an RPG. It would be the most meta game ever. Even if it would be torture trying to figure out if it was the player of the character calling for OoC. At least till they figured out a code.

  • @scook9999
    @scook9999 Před 5 lety +11

    I would play Traveller with you, and I could probably round up 2 or 3 other people. Yes, old skool hardcore players who are all familiar with this system. We actually loved it.
    Edit: We all rolled, I think, 6 or 7 character each, then picked what we wanted out of that. If you just roll one character playing this, you will be severely disappointed in the game. Pick one, keep all the rest as backups, or give to the GM so he doesn't need to roll NPCs. It worked very well. Yes, we made a day of just doing characters, then we sat as a group, and figured out who would play what so we have most or all bases covered. You really need to do this in Traveller, lest your group is stranded on a primitive planet with now way off, then you might as well break out the D&D rules as the planet is Tech 0 and you start a campaign in the Bronze age. Good luck!

    • @avian68tb
      @avian68tb Před rokem

      Sounds like way too much effort, that's why I play Fate.

  • @devilsadvocate.
    @devilsadvocate. Před 2 lety +3

    The adventures of the first two soundlike the adventures of standard action movie heros, interesting injuries and mishaps and everything. The third sounds like a prime example of the phrase: Life isn't fair, to everyone but me.

  • @scoots291
    @scoots291 Před 5 lety +38

    I remember the first time I played traveller. Me and one of my friends decoded we were going military. He rolled to be an officer. So he said we were friends my first roll for years and I didn't make my first term and was dishonarably discharged. Tge gm asked me what happen. I told him my CO told me to move some atvs and I kinda got drunk and had an accident. My friend rolled he was dishonorable discharge to. My gm turned to me and asked was my friend the jr officer in charge to which i said of course where do you think i got the booze from. And the other guy died in character creation

  • @matthewcoyle4131
    @matthewcoyle4131 Před 5 lety +24

    That noble guy got a Char Aznable start and that's pretty rad.
    Also this sounds like it'd be great for outlaw star.

    • @davidlewis5312
      @davidlewis5312 Před 4 lety +3

      true but does that backstory fit with the campaign the GM wants to tell
      if yes--- then joy fun will be had by all
      if no--- well I am glad I have this psychological trauma disadvantage for some reason

  • @boberttheguy9372
    @boberttheguy9372 Před 5 lety +15

    I run an online space TTRPG, and what I did was give players a budget, and let them construct their own ship/space station(and also they're not absurdly expensive). It gives players a sense of freedom and they aren't encouraged to sell the ship/station. I'd say it's working pretty well so far.

    • @hariszark7396
      @hariszark7396 Před 4 lety +2

      OK your idea is good but you know characters can work in big organisations with ships and money as employees right?

  • @enddorb
    @enddorb Před 5 lety +2

    Knowing what to expect going in makes this game sound absolutely incredible

  • @nuadathesilverhand3563
    @nuadathesilverhand3563 Před 5 lety +537

    Those sounded like pretty amazing backstories. Shame the players werrent on board with them. Reminds me of something...
    A year ago, I made a character in DnD who was a dwarvish immortal mystic named Nolir Galhmar. He was a sworn mute who wore a mask and spoke with telepathy. When I rolled the stats, my strength was higher than the barbarians' and I had the charisma to bluff a god, but everything else (in other words, all of the stats I ACTUALLY depended on) bombed. I crunched the numbers and discovered that my average modifier was the same as everyone else's, so I couldn't make a case for re-rolling. An armorless magic mask wearing mute with nothing but strength and charisma. The. Irony. Hurts.
    Then I discovered that the setting we were in was incredibly prejudiced against anything magic. Which I very clearly was. So I was the mute and faceless unintentional face of the party and nobody outside of the party liked me. Welp.
    Looking at how I gained my powers, it was determined that I had begged a reluctant master who now treats me like dirt and forces me to do things contrary to my ideal, alignment, and personality. Great. Just great.
    In order to figure out why I was so desperate, I consulted the DM, and he suggested that I was cursed to become and atropal on death, hence seeking the path of immortality. We fleshed it out by devising a curse that reduced my hpm on a failed con save every day, (I got it back on successes,) along with causing bouts of uncontrollable insanity. No upsides, just madness.
    This character was so affected by his more than a decade of desperate servitude before attaining level 1, that he actively sacrificed his interests to make sure everyone was safe and happy and had clean gear. This resulted in me playing the character like a tank, even though he had no AC or hit points.
    And you know what?
    THAT WAS THE BEST CHARACTER I HAVE EVER PLAYED.
    Being so beholden to the other characters caused a lot of interplayer interaction. The druid in particular made a habit of taking care of me during my bouts of madness, and we grew rather close.
    I had a blast roleplaying, because the charisma prompted me to find ways to be expressive despite being mute and not having access to facial expressions. I have actually never had a character as expressive as poor Nolir, especially when he started using his mystic abilities to share emotions through touch. That got real deep on a regular basis.
    The abusive master thing gave him an unbelievable character arc, though we never got far enough to see him outgrow his master.
    My overall weakness combined with my devotion to force me into vulnerable situations, both physical and emotional.
    That is not an experience I will soon forget, I'll tell you that. I wish I could play him again... Good times...

    • @benbailey3106
      @benbailey3106 Před 5 lety +19

      Or you could have a paladin with NO good stats and 35 HP at level 8. Loved roleplaying him, but eventually I begged to re-roll my character.

    • @cvernon5256
      @cvernon5256 Před 5 lety +6

      Wow, that went horribly... that is painfully bad, but at least you had fun.

    • @sivabalanretnasamy650
      @sivabalanretnasamy650 Před 5 lety +17

      I share your joy in the discovery of playing something other than what you had planned. Letting your character grow organically and filling in the fluff to explain his stats/ situation. Good for you bro

    • @wiledwiredweasel560
      @wiledwiredweasel560 Před 5 lety +11

      It's good that you enjoyed it. Me, I'm there to play my character that I created. The background maker has neat ideas, but using it as the standard character maker creates characters who have zero reason to travel or operate together. It makes something that's already a problem into a much larger problem- party cohesion.
      It's not that I haven't tried to RP randomly generated characters. It's that doing so always killed it for me. And if your players aren't having fun...
      Why the heck would they keep playing, yanno?
      I feel like puffin probably should have considered whether or not they would have enjoyed starting the game off as cripples. I'd've flat out told him no, but most players probably won't. Something something social skills.

    • @RandolphCthulhu
      @RandolphCthulhu Před 5 lety +2

      A bad back story is a challenge. Can be lots of fun to play.

  • @canisroot8727
    @canisroot8727 Před 5 lety +3

    I love how the character gets depth, and forces you to play something different.

  • @Mepholar
    @Mepholar Před 5 lety +12

    That sounds like an epic start for those two. Plenty of character quirks and backstory to show up during play.

  • @thomashearne4670
    @thomashearne4670 Před 3 lety +7

    Wow, imagine dying in the middle of character creation

  • @willfish2586
    @willfish2586 Před 5 lety +22

    I personally think travelers character gen system is really cool! It really helps give your character a detailed history and place in the world! But yeah... not the best if you already have something specific in mind. Definitely should'a warned players beforehand.

  • @christopherg2347
    @christopherg2347 Před 5 lety +66

    Ah Traveler. Perhaps the only game that can give you a TPK during Character *Creation*
    I did a number of Charater creations for one game that never got off the ground (with allowances from teh GM). I ended up with Seven Cycles. Several of those in the highly dangerous "Scout" profession. My Character kept saying "I am to old for this bleep" way to often.

    • @fairystail1
      @fairystail1 Před 5 lety

      There's another game that can kill you during character creation but you kind of have to be aiming for it
      its Twilight 2013 (not related to the book/movie franchise)
      as your character gets older you roll at certain points to see if your attributes decline. the older you get the more often you roll and the more likely they decline. once an attribute reaches 0 you die.
      Again you kind of have to be an idiot to get your character killed but its possible

    • @Alric66
      @Alric66 Před 5 lety

      Work pretty much the same way in Mongoose Traveller. Injuries from military mishaps reduce attributes by a couple of points.

    • @xjdhdr.
      @xjdhdr. Před 5 lety

      There is another Tabletop RPG called DeadEarth that has this feature. Basically, you accumulate "radiations" during character creation and then have to roll for the effects of those accumulated radiations. A lot of those effects are deadly or crippling.

    • @blondknight99
      @blondknight99 Před 5 lety

      Twilight 2000 was a great game. I remember playing it with my buddies in the Army in the late 80's.

  • @Gnarrkhaz
    @Gnarrkhaz Před 4 lety +35

    I like the tough-luck-git-gud attitude that comes along with the Traveller generation system when something doesn't pan out the way you want. Still, in my experience, Traveller gives you enough options to steer the character in a direction you want.

  • @about37ninjas
    @about37ninjas Před 5 lety +10

    This has actually sold me on playing Traveler. I'm going to look for the source books and see if I can get a DM.

    • @ninjabluefyre3815
      @ninjabluefyre3815 Před 2 lety +1

      I don't want to be rude, but...
      Who the hell would want to play this idiotic system? It sounds like the least fun RPG I've ever heard of!

    • @bigtastyben5119
      @bigtastyben5119 Před 2 lety +3

      @@ninjabluefyre3815 why the hell would you want to gatekeep? Might not be your cup of tea but it's definitely someone else's

  • @Leivve
    @Leivve Před 5 lety +7

    Honestly that kind of character generation looks really fun. Though it does seem like something you'd have to warn the players about before even session 0.

  • @kashre
    @kashre Před 5 lety +78

    TBH, my favorite game I ever played in was a traveller game where my character totally didn't get what he wanted (fighter pilot), But I had a lot of fun with him being a freighter pilot with delusions of grandeur since he failed to get into flight school.
    But having said that, I have run the game a few times since then and I always let the players choose to keep a bad roll or re-roll it. I'm not a fan of removing player agency from their back story unless they're the kind of person who *wants* to try and role play something out of their comfort zone and are willing to take the randomness.

    • @ethanbloomfield3254
      @ethanbloomfield3254 Před 5 lety

      so if you allow them to reroll bad why not just let them pc from a good or remove the ability to roll bad unless they want to

    • @kashre
      @kashre Před 5 lety +19

      It lets them see the "by the book" process without forcing it on them if it would make them unhappy, and it creates opportunities to discuss why a bad result might be more interesting, from a "role play" sense than getting exactly what you want. Especially for people who are new to gaming I think it's useful to at least try to get them to think about it as a character experience rather than a power-gaming experience.

    • @TheRollingStone11
      @TheRollingStone11 Před 5 lety +1

      Thank you! Couldn’t have said it better myself

    • @johnv5827
      @johnv5827 Před 5 lety +1

      that sounds like han solo

  • @grasmattt
    @grasmattt Před 5 lety +3

    That moment where you have never played D&D or any other roleplay board game but for some reason you subscribed to puffin forest

  • @commiedeer
    @commiedeer Před 5 lety +144

    As someone who is admittedly a biased fan... you kind of botched this up. Like, alot. The Traveller method of character gen is not something I'd just throw players in without prior warning. I mean I like it, it's very in-depth and has a diverse collection of awesome options from Soldier to Merchant. But it's something I'd house-rule to ease new players in, allowing them some measure of agency. Otherwise you'll end up with something stupid like an Imperial Marine with no weapon skills.

    • @Jebu911
      @Jebu911 Před 5 lety +9

      I think that would be hilarious to RP tho. But then again you do need to tell people that might happend and see if they are ok with it.

    • @nickmcnikc
      @nickmcnikc Před 5 lety +5

      You roll for stats like you might in any other character creation so you can kind of assign your points how you want for example a scientist will drop their highest stat in Intelect and lowest in strength that would in theory give a bonus to roll's requiring Int in the future but there is a lot of luck of the dice. I rolled up one character that i wanted to be a soldier and never progressed passed private after 3 terms so gave up on that and became a merchant, Not exactly what i wanted but it made for an interesting Character that i got to play and it had a cool back story.

    • @thelastmotel
      @thelastmotel Před 4 lety +1

      You are yet another person in the RPG community who doesn't know what the term 'agency' actually means.

    • @alecchristiaen4856
      @alecchristiaen4856 Před 4 lety

      i have no experience with the system save for this video, but i'd say that one guaranteed success to muster through a career could do a lot, or if you fail a roll, having a bonus on the next.

  • @giladpellaeon1691
    @giladpellaeon1691 Před 5 lety +82

    Haven't seen many rage quits in my time. More often I've seen campaigns just stop and never get picked back up due to life issues or ADD DMs.

    • @AdonanS
      @AdonanS Před 5 lety +3

      Attention Deficit Disorder, at least I assume that's what Gilad meant. If you don't know what that is, it basically means you can't concentrate on one thing for long, or you get bored easily. I happen to have ADD and it makes studying extremely difficult. It's initially not much of a problem in highschool (I dropped out, but I had a 90% average while I was there), but once the work requires more of your time in college it makes things difficult. So far I have one F and two incompletes, and I've only completed two semesters.

    • @giladpellaeon1691
      @giladpellaeon1691 Před 5 lety +3

      My brother and sister both have it. In high school my sister would do homework assignments and forget to turn them in.

    • @bluephoniex6356
      @bluephoniex6356 Před 5 lety +4

      I have a Dm like that....except he doesnt drop games, but stacks on to the existing game other side campaigns.
      At the beginning of the year we started up our second offical campaign after finishing the first. dm did good, no distractions except a non canon AU arc with liches and such in the first.
      Well when the second campaign started he split it into two groups and had someone else dm the other game. Lately now it's been one shots, developing the world he built and going to other continents to do one shots or " when we cant play" campaigns, hell he is even trying to bring My hero Academia into the 5e system .
      An ADD Dm is pretty bad if you only want one thing, alot worse when you have people who blindly support him on every choice as well

    • @maskedcucco4576
      @maskedcucco4576 Před 5 lety +3

      Lucky you. I’ve had a player (same one each time) rage quit games due to feeling like his char wasn’t important in the story, feeling like his char didn’t mesh well with the other chars, and because he felt like I was mocking him after he insisted on splitting the party for the up-teenth time on the guise of ‘but it’s what my char would do!’ It got to the point that whenever we want to play a campaign with that guy in it we have to force him to make a character that will get along with the others and that will fit in the setting in question. I’m about to run a campaign where the players are going to be members of an assassins guild. I told him that and he wanted to play an Asimar (angel people I believe) lawful good Paladin who despised all forms of ‘evil’ no matter what and would go out of their way to wipe it out without any provocation. The problems of a GM with literally three people willing to play with him in person I guess.

    • @giladpellaeon1691
      @giladpellaeon1691 Před 5 lety +3

      Sounds like he deliberately wants to derail campaigns. I usually set certain rules and known expectations when I run, if someone tries to play against that they were warned. I rarely have any problems but I also use my own campaign world which helps.

  • @thorhaugan2660
    @thorhaugan2660 Před 5 lety +23

    LOL. i loved Traveler. The first character i ever made was a mercenary. Well, it was supposed to be.. he died in training. The second character I made was a Navy officer.. who also died in training. The third character i made was another Navy officer, who ended up becoming a merchant captain and ended up retiring at the age of 56.. really old for that game.. lol, he was fun to may though. Ships are really expensive to run.. and once per year you need to pay for an overhaul which like 10% of the ship cost.. that with paying for fuel, dicking fees, the cost to entice people to travel on your ship, ammo, repairing damages, ect. I was thinking of going pirate..

    • @CaesiusX
      @CaesiusX Před 5 lety +6

      Thor Haugan while _"dying during character creation"_ is funny to talk about, I never allowed that to happen in my games. When they came across that during character generation I would treat it as a serious injury. We would roll it up like damage, and if it occurred while in the military, give the player a purple heart. And if the damage was severe, they might end up with a limp, a prosthetic, or something along those lines.

    • @thorhaugan2660
      @thorhaugan2660 Před 5 lety +4

      my bad. docking fees.

    • @feralchangeling97
      @feralchangeling97 Před 5 lety +4

      @@thorhaugan2660 I sincerely hope so.😂

    • @feralchangeling97
      @feralchangeling97 Před 5 lety

      @Maintenance Renegade maybe those starships are more fragile than we think. Wouldn't want to ride in one of those.

    • @ToastyMozart
      @ToastyMozart Před 5 lety +4

      @@feralchangeling97 Yeah, dicking fees. Gotta make sure your crew has an ample supply of cash and prophalactics when shore leave comes around unless you want to deal with a morale penalty.

  • @Jerricola2
    @Jerricola2 Před 5 lety +8

    These stories always make me want to play some D&D.

  • @inc0mingr0flc0pter
    @inc0mingr0flc0pter Před rokem +2

    The characters whose lives went “wrong” sound infinitely more fun to play an adventure game with. Not to mention having one person whose life went “right” gives them some operating capital to have more flexibility in the adventure. I would’ve been stoked to play after that.

  • @jorikrouwenhorst7220
    @jorikrouwenhorst7220 Před 5 lety +54

    this character creation system sounds very cool but to punishing.
    i think this is best used like a guide for people who find it hard to create a character.

    • @Stratplayer05
      @Stratplayer05 Před 5 lety +13

      I've played Traveller several times and in reality you're far more likely to end up like that third character than the first two (who are kickass characters with instantly rich backstories even before you do anything else to them). To have a character die in character creation is something that has only ever happened once, and happened to me when I tried to see just how far I could take the process by continuing to take occupations even when my guy (who started in his teens) was well into his 60s. Overall it's a very robust character creation system and a fantastic tool for enhancing your own creativity and giving you a character you're much more attached to than just one you came up purely by yourself or someone that's a Star Wars reference.
      Traveller is also a really solid system for a Sci-fi RPG in general.

    • @Micras08
      @Micras08 Před 5 lety +2

      If you want a less brutal char generation set in sci-fi where fluff-backgrounds are everything I highly suggest Stars Without Number: Revised, you have a lot of control of the characters mechanics and fluff, but regarding fluff you have to negotiate with the GM (and maybe the other players) for it to make sense within the sector (group of solar systems) you are playing in.
      There is mechanics, but so far the system feel really free form when it comes to actual role-play :)

    • @Stratplayer05
      @Stratplayer05 Před 5 lety +2

      @@Micras08 Yeah, Stars Without Number is pretty great. I've been itching to play it for a while now. Everything I've seen of it makes it look like everything I'd ever want out of a a sort of modern, yet OSR-ified version of Traveller.

    • @Micras08
      @Micras08 Před 5 lety

      Was thinking that as well, mind; I've never actually gotten to play traveller but I've used the char generation from the system as inspiration for important NPCs and used small modules from the system and converted them to other systems (mostly Fate and SWN) where SWN was quite easy in regards to said conversion ^^
      The overall greatest thing about SWN, imho, is the faction turn as a mechanic - it's very simple from the get go, but can be modified to be as complex as you want, granting a really great GM tool for making the sector come to life :)

    • @thewhispererindarkness9117
      @thewhispererindarkness9117 Před 5 lety

      I might want to try Traveller, but there are so many editions and I have no idea which ones are better. (for comparison my main rpgs are Call of Cthulhu and the Warhammer ones)

  • @Tarquinn
    @Tarquinn Před 5 lety +89

    Ah, Traveller and its quirky character creation. All competent characters are scarred geriatrics, one step away from dying of old age.

    • @ummmhelp
      @ummmhelp Před 4 lety +1

      is your photo the thief from that one game were he kept stealing from the party?

    • @Lustvig
      @Lustvig Před rokem

      Nope. Skill level 1 is quite professional, Level 3 is one in a million, and level 6 in a skill is best in the universe. And really, again, its more about the play. Stop looking at the damn character sheet for answers and figure shit out. Like ... real life. Yeah, it is brutal, combat is deadly (I had a party surrender when two mooks confronted them with body pistols (which are .22 caliber I think) - so don't engage in direct firefights, work together (yes, the doctor can use his Education stat to help the scientist use Electronics to program a missile to hunt an ion trail), etc.

  • @Elheru42
    @Elheru42 Před 4 lety +25

    I have a theatre background from before I became a board gamer. When I look at a role playing game I am really looking for a dramatic experience. I am not trying to win. These characters sound awesome and the disparity between each of them creates a great group dynamic.

  • @Walter13200
    @Walter13200 Před 3 lety +5

    This sounds like so much fun! It definitely makes interesting stories

  • @gohantanaka
    @gohantanaka Před 5 lety +39

    It’s like those characters lived my real life.

    • @nupraptorshead3199
      @nupraptorshead3199 Před 5 lety

      We dont need you richers around

    • @firewolfandrewb
      @firewolfandrewb Před 5 lety

      Which one? The young nobleman turned grizzled, half-deaf, familyless veteran, or the disgraced scientist who spent years stranded on an alien planet?

  • @nagash2731
    @nagash2731 Před 5 lety +7

    Samurai Warriors 1 had a character creation where you had to spend a month training at a dojo. All the different things you could train would raise your stats in different ways, and how well you did in the following minigame (related to the stat you wanted to upgrade) would determine by how much that stat went up. At the end of the month there was an entrance exam, where you have to prove your worth to whatever clan's campaign you wanted to shoehorn your dumb character into. And if you failed, I think your character was just deleted.... Maybe not? Been a long time. Wish I still had that game. Anyway, that's what I thought about when you talked about THIS game's character creation. Actually sounds pretty cool to have to play some character who ended up bad at all the things you wanted to be good at. Force players out of their comfort zones.

  • @mofire5674
    @mofire5674 Před 5 lety +3

    idk why his endings always hit me like a good book and I'm just like "woah" as I sit back and look at his campfire picture and the end music. Terrific work.

  • @annuallong4336
    @annuallong4336 Před 5 lety +73

    "It's a GREAT game."
    ten seconds later.
    "It can kill your character before you even make them!"

    • @CyberBlastoise
      @CyberBlastoise Před 4 lety +6

      I see no problem here.

    • @demonslayer6267
      @demonslayer6267 Před 3 lety +5

      @@CyberBlastoise personally i do, a dead PC in character creation basically never existed, my opinion, will probably never touch traveler, and if i do somehow run it some day (outside of telling people ahead of time how the character creation works) i would probably house rule that if you get death, it's only a near death experience not actual death

    • @CyberBlastoise
      @CyberBlastoise Před 3 lety +1

      @@demonslayer6267 I'm assuming that homebrew also means that if they "die" they still have to stop CC?

    • @demonslayer6267
      @demonslayer6267 Před 3 lety

      @@CyberBlastoise nope

    • @frankmueller2781
      @frankmueller2781 Před 3 lety +6

      Actually it's almost impossible to die during CC in the current iteration of Traveller. In it's original, failing a term "Survival" check was death, but now it's a "Mishap" which means you must either stop CC or take up a new career. Personally I *Love* character generation in Mongoose Traveller. And at the end of CC there is a point where players match their characters together and create a background point and story to explain how two of them know one another. This story is also such that it creates a reason for each to generate z skill of the player's choice, just have a creative story. Each character can gain gain two 'Contact Skills' in this manner, so if you wanted an engineer but the dice dumped you in the army and you just couldn't roll any engineer skills, this is where you get them.
      In Traveller Character Generation (CharGen) your character's career isn't likely to turn out just as he (you) wanted, but that adds to the character background. But the dice are no necessarily dictators either. At the end of CharGen there is a way to get what you may have wanted but didn't. There is also a list of level 1 "Package Skills" chosen by the GM that the players pick from in round robin before play as well, so the GM is sure that the most basic needed skills for the campaign are there.
      Traveller Rocks!

  • @jellojiei6061
    @jellojiei6061 Před 5 lety +20

    I don’t play many rpg but I still watch all your videos

    • @jackielinde7568
      @jackielinde7568 Před 5 lety +1

      If you start playing RPGs (and I do recommend it). But I wouldn't recommend this one. If you have this stupid RNG crap to setup skills, you might as well just roll up a bunch of rando skills and hand that to the players.

  • @aluminatsulana
    @aluminatsulana Před 5 lety +10

    I know how this feels.
    My character once ended up as a slave. With both legs amputated... Without money...
    while the other player was a famous engineer. WIth loads of stuff.
    Not exactly my favorite campaign.

  • @johncote4055
    @johncote4055 Před 4 lety +2

    This reminds me soo much of when I ran Twilight 2000. One of the characters got 3 more terms of skills than everyone else and became the party crutch.

  • @BTG514
    @BTG514 Před 5 lety +5

    That is an intriguing way of building interesting characters. However, for those who want to foist their expectations on the game rather than the reverse it would be a hard sell.

  • @zktwo
    @zktwo Před 5 lety +6

    I absolutely love Traveller but character creation is definitely a love it or hate it type thing. Personally I love it and see character creation as a game in itself. If you ever want to try Traveller again, the Spinward marches make a good setting for a more interesting universe. Also, I’ve never had a problem with players selling the ship you give them. They want to do the adventure too after all. Just don’t go crazy and give a huge ship, just a small Far Trader or something.
    Play Traveller like Firefly or Battlestar Galactica and you’ll have lots of fun. It’s not supposed to be Star Wars ‘high fantasy’ like sci-fi with I stand everything. It’s supposed to almost be like the age of sail but in space. Jumps take 1-2 weeks, communication and news follow the xboat network and it can take weeks for info to move around. Personally, I love Traveller and it has a lot of potential given the right players and gm. Going into Traveller already upset after not getting your preferred character is not a good start.

  • @michaelcarpentier7794
    @michaelcarpentier7794 Před 5 lety +73

    Hi your vids inspired me to start playing d and d. Just wanted to say thanks

    • @michaelcarpentier7794
      @michaelcarpentier7794 Před 5 lety +4

      And other rpgs in general but d and d is my favorite

    • @_.sleepyghost._659
      @_.sleepyghost._659 Před 5 lety +1

      Same

    • @ss-oq9pc
      @ss-oq9pc Před 5 lety +1

      Make sure you find a good DM, the game will only be as good as the DM. Ask how long he's DM'd for and also if he watches the youtube channels 'web DM' and "how to be a great game master" if he's never heard or them or blows them off as if he doesn't need them, or says 'I want to figure it out for myself." Run.
      Don't just pick a random long term game off reddit or the roll20 forum or a discord server. Join a bunch of one shots and ask the good DM's if they have openings in any regular games they have.

    • @alexlawson4173
      @alexlawson4173 Před 5 lety +10

      If you give up the chance to play with a DM because they are inexperienced you deny them the experience that they need to be a good DM.

  • @maggoli67
    @maggoli67 Před 5 lety +4

    Man, I remember how many TONNES of computer space had to be allocated!

  • @tmoe_ow2523
    @tmoe_ow2523 Před 5 lety +3

    Your animation has gotten much better!

  • @whade62000
    @whade62000 Před 5 lety +3

    I remember a gamer quote from way back, "You haven't lived until you have died during character creation in Traveler"

  • @standard3053
    @standard3053 Před 5 lety +3

    I played Traveller and MegaTraveller way back. Easiest character option was to aim for the Scouts, try to get as many Jack-o-Trades levels as you could and pray for a free ship. Play it by ear from then on.

  • @Jessthree
    @Jessthree Před 5 lety

    Love your channel, and I LOVE Traveler so glad you did an episode on it!!!!

  • @Blurry__Bunny
    @Blurry__Bunny Před 5 lety +2

    Never heard of Traveller, but it sounds amazing to me, I hope some day I'll get to play that :'D

  • @Littlewolfelvendar
    @Littlewolfelvendar Před 5 lety +3

    That sounds like an awesome way to start a game! I really like the chance involved with tabletops, and you get an auto-complete backstory =P I'd love to try something like that.

  • @lbannisterhammond7485
    @lbannisterhammond7485 Před 5 lety +46

    Traveller: The 1 Game where you can Die in the Character Creator! XD

    • @faceoctopus4571
      @faceoctopus4571 Před 4 lety +4

      I thought that was only in 1st edition.

    • @Usernamesdontmatter1
      @Usernamesdontmatter1 Před 4 lety

      I mean you can also die in character creation if you critfail your health roll.

    • @thelastmotel
      @thelastmotel Před 4 lety

      @@faceoctopus4571 It's back in.

    • @thelastmotel
      @thelastmotel Před 4 lety

      Shadow of the Demon Lord, and several other games, can kill you in chargen

    • @R3GARnator
      @R3GARnator Před 4 lety

      I remember one of Spoony's stories having a character die in character creation for something, perhaps World of Darkness?

  • @erichobbs4042
    @erichobbs4042 Před 2 lety +2

    I started running a Traveler game when our D&D GM decided that he wanted to take a break. Pretty much everyone got through character creation with a very interesting character and backstory .... except for one player. She started out as an entertainer, got injured in the first term and had to leave the career. Then she had this batshit insane idea to become a pirate, and wound up getting arrested and thrown into jail, starting the prisoner career. She kept getting into fights in prison and dropping physical stats until it was obvious that A) she was never going to get parolled, a B) even if she did, one shot would kill drop her in combat. It was hilarious, but at the same time completely unplayable.
    I bought her a t-shirt which was done up in the original Traveler font and read, "You haven't lived until you've died ... In character creation."
    I held a special session just for her and she started with a new character. This one had pretty much all good luck. She maxed out rank in the noble carrier as a diplomat and wound up inheriting a space yacht.
    Boy where the players ever pissed when I started them out on a campaign where all their stuff had been stolen and they'd been shanghaied by a skill jacking ring and left for dead in a sinking ship.
    So far we are really having a blast with it.

  • @Sawsgaming
    @Sawsgaming Před 5 lety

    Hey I want you to know your videos make me genuinely happy. Thanks for being around. As a dm myself someone who knows the pain feels nice. Love you man.

  • @madevilgenius7547
    @madevilgenius7547 Před 5 lety +11

    *Sigh* life path is a great system if you implement it properly but also you need to know the players that are playing it are not going to to have a hissy fit if things go pear shaped also dm delivery is more important here for example the stealing of someone's work as a scientist instead say they where framed or the players work was stolen and handed in first making the player seem like he stole it ( add a grudge npc of the ass that stole it for later it keep player interested )

  • @RVR121
    @RVR121 Před 4 lety +4

    My character is a Vargr Army Support fella. He served 16 years of his life in one career before retiring from being drafted.
    He was in cryo sleep when the frieghter taking him was destroyed and he floated through space for 200 years before being picked up by the current group. After being revived he had slightly more brain damage from being frozen for so long when the crew finished the trip a 4 week voyage they dropped out of jump and instantly crashed into a comet where my character was injured again (yet another head injury) we then limped to a station where we got some medical care after which my character wanted to go to the nearest bar and deal with everthing you know after being frozen for 200 years. Yeah that did not happen they wanted to go to the downport on Marduk...
    So yeah my poor character is a 232 year old soldier who is now scared of flying.

    • @frankmueller2781
      @frankmueller2781 Před 3 lety

      Your character is definitely showing up in my Tanith campaign!

    • @RVR121
      @RVR121 Před 3 lety

      @@frankmueller2781 lol go for it.

  • @JoyCh155
    @JoyCh155 Před 5 lety

    Your videos make my day tbfh. They get me through my homework without offing myself from the bugs in my code ^^

  • @keithemerson7662
    @keithemerson7662 Před 5 lety +2

    I would play this system with you, puffin.

  • @ecopis
    @ecopis Před 5 lety +5

    O think this game looks amazing! The problem was diferent expectations. This sistem looks really cool

  • @davewilliam1521
    @davewilliam1521 Před 5 lety +14

    Yes another episode of puffin forest

  • @Blurry__Bunny
    @Blurry__Bunny Před 5 lety

    My ENTIRE group that I play Traveller with at the moment, got into it because of THIS very video and it is the best group i've ever played with. Thanks you. :)

  • @DrewBorrowdale
    @DrewBorrowdale Před 5 lety

    My group loves traveler. the character path system is a game in and of itself and is hugely entertaining when you all roll together :D i've never had a player hate it yet and i've seen some shocking outcomes. Just be sure to hammer home that you chose your starting point and things go wildly chaotic from there and your players will love it.

  • @prophet89
    @prophet89 Před 5 lety +3

    Lifepath systems can either be really fun, or a collection of fail. I've had some really interesting ones and some where (like the players in the video) just left me broken.

  • @LordDragon1965
    @LordDragon1965 Před 5 lety +28

    Thank you SOOOOOO much for posting this episode on my birthday, I loved playing Traveller back in the early to mid '80s. I went to high school in Normal, Illinois the home of GDW, the creators of the game. Traveller is the only game I remember where your character can actually die during character creation. And if you think the basic character creation tables are deadly, try the advanced version. These characters are military (including merchant marine) only. Imperial (or sector, subsector or planetary) Space Navy, Imperial Scout Service, Imperial Marines (or other planetary defense force, including "wet" navy) or Merchant Marines. The character start is as described but then you enlist or are drafted and you have to roll to survive EVERY SINGLE YEAR of each 4 year hitch. Then your character writes up a goddess-be-danged resume for his military career. Whether it's 4 years or 60 (yes, you CAN be forced to reenlist or not allowed to retire, before most of us knew that could even be a thing...)
    The one thing about "ship shares": in the mustering out process, the first roll of whichever kind of ship gives possession of the ship with a 40 year MORTGAGE that you have to pay 1% per MONTH on. Each subsequent role pays off 10 years of that mortgage.
    I loved the complexity of the Traveller system and the GM could be very wily about how to organize things.

    • @Hammerite
      @Hammerite Před 5 lety

      Happy birthday!

    • @fafhrdkreig4739
      @fafhrdkreig4739 Před 5 lety

      I loved playing Traveler back in the 80s. I always went imperial scout best all around jack of all trades profession.

    • @CGoody564
      @CGoody564 Před 5 lety

      Happy birthday. It's mine as well

    • @mikewhitaker2880
      @mikewhitaker2880 Před 5 lety +1

      theres at least one other system where you can die making your character.. its called Roll-Master.... the game itself can be brutal.. characters have died failing a roll to flip a light switch....

    • @kevinsullivan3448
      @kevinsullivan3448 Před 5 lety

      You didn't play Fringeworthy?

  • @homebrewdndstories2824

    This channel was part of my inspiration to start my channel telling the stories of our adventures.

  • @bluecat1462
    @bluecat1462 Před 2 lety +1

    This character creation method… hits depressingly to close to home. Realism achieved I guess? Thank you for the additional fuel for my ongoing existential crisis. 🙃

  • @strings1984
    @strings1984 Před 5 lety +3

    Feels like it should be a Firefly parody, the engineer that ended up well off has some reason for hiring or rescuing the other players; the less fortunate chericters have better back stories that could come with usefull contacts and or skills or adaptations; look at Simon and rivers knowledge of high society and greater destiny, or Mal's moved nerve cluster from his war wound. Anyhoo you can then go off and have that incredible Bounty Hunter, smuggler, Fringe of the verse experience... Remember not only crime pays well but it might pay enough to get ahead and it's still a struggle to just to pay for fuel to keep flying without it, out here on the Fringe where it's even possible.

  • @WolfeNailo
    @WolfeNailo Před 5 lety +3

    0____o I am in love with that character creation system already. One of my D&D groups went through something similar and it led to one of our most rewarding campaigns, roleplay wise, until personal drama, over a game of MTG and work stress, broke our group apart.

    • @Ceracio
      @Ceracio Před 5 lety +1

      How can you have personal drama over a game of MTG? Or did one player play mono-blue? In that case I can understand.

    • @WolfeNailo
      @WolfeNailo Před 5 lety

      @@Ceracio long and short of it, competitive players and relaxed players. We had one guy who played entirely to hang out and make concept decks/enjoy the game, and another player who is tournament elite. He's chill as all, but his decks are ruthless and he plays them to win, not to "play around", couple that with two guys at the table going through divorces, one of whom has anger issues, and one working the hot casting line for Caterpillar. Things got tense.

    • @Ceracio
      @Ceracio Před 5 lety

      @@WolfeNailo That explains alot, thanks. I'm more of a casual myself, though I'm currently building a semi-competitive EDH deck. Oh and I also detest mono-blue decks, as you may have gathered from my previous comment. Anyway, sorry for bothering you.

    • @DarthSironos
      @DarthSironos Před 4 lety

      @@WolfeNailo When you play RPG's with a guy with anger issues going through a divorce... probably best the group broke apart before a fight happened.

  • @tarkushammer5009
    @tarkushammer5009 Před 5 lety

    Because of this video I ended up starting a Traveler game with my group. Used your video to introduce them to character creation. So far made it to game 5. Thanks!😁

  • @MichaelWeber5237
    @MichaelWeber5237 Před 5 lety

    Ben that sounds like a really cool system of character creation and if I lived somewhat near you I would 900% happily play it with you.

  • @Len0Grady
    @Len0Grady Před 5 lety +10

    Two words: GURPS Traveller

  • @MastertheGamerpg
    @MastertheGamerpg Před 5 lety +3

    Ok so I now officially am interested in Traveler. I have heard about it and seen people discuss it before but this video has single handedly given me an interest in it.

  • @fisherjam5182
    @fisherjam5182 Před 5 lety

    I'm loving the updated art style

  • @allorahmiles-lhote8752

    It’s really cool to see this game brought up. Marc Miller is a close family friend of mine! It’s interesting to see the feedback on this! I’ll definitely run it by him when I see him next! Til then, hope you give it another shot, Ben! 😊

  • @ericgerds3980
    @ericgerds3980 Před 5 lety +4

    Yes, I remember that one time trying to play traveler. After an hour or two I finally ended up with Space Marine and as I looked over the stats I was thinking OK, I can make this work. Then I was told to roll one more set of dice. After that roll, my character was determined to be 60 years old and with half the stats. He wasn't strong enough to lift his weapon. I was out.

  • @LadyMeiun
    @LadyMeiun Před 5 lety +6

    Beats my first attempt at a Ravenloft setting game. I'm fairly new as a DM, I play using Roll20 and Discord. I also don't have a mic. Now when I started, I had a general structure of what I wanted to happen planned out, but I had NOTHING ELSE prepared! I was way out of my depth, I was way out of my league, and I was running arguably one of the most in-depth lore heavy settings with very basic notes. I was doomed to fail from the start. I did learn something though. NEVER ROLL FOR RANDOM ENCOUNTERS WHEN YOU WANT THE STORY TO MOVE ALONG! We barely got to the gates to the town where the actual story was supposed to pick up before it was time to call it quits for the night. Nothing of any significance happened at all. I felt like a total failure and it was nearly a year before I even attempted to DM again. This time I'm using a premade module altered to fit my own needs, and honestly it's working out much better. Maybe later, once I gain more confidence, I'll sprinkle in some self-made story, and I'm even laying the foundation for that here, but that's not until way later in the distant future.

    • @davidgantenbein9362
      @davidgantenbein9362 Před 5 lety

      LadyMeiun What did go wrong? Not reaching a certain plot level is usually not that big a deal. Did the players go off into the wrong directions because they were not yet introduced to a real target? What was the issue with the lore? Did you struggle with players that knew everything better than you or did you fail to provide some expectations associated with the setting?

    • @LadyMeiun
      @LadyMeiun Před 5 lety +2

      No, more along the lines of everyone (including myself) lost interest and never picked back up on that campaign. I might return to that at a much later date when I have more time and experience, but for now it's dead in the water. Though to be fair, it is Ravenloft, the dead don't really seem too content to stay that way for too long...

    • @leo10071
      @leo10071 Před 5 lety

      Roomie did the same game mode and he quickly got bored because of how much there was. Irritated our entire play group because he got bored once again with a campaign he had begin to run. (He can never keep a game going more than like 3 months)

    • @thewhispererindarkness9117
      @thewhispererindarkness9117 Před 5 lety

      "and I was running arguably one of the most in-depth lore heavy settings" Ravenloft is probably my favorite d&d setting (it's that or Eberron), but no the most lore heavy (that I've seen) is Forgotten Realms' byzantine backstory.

    • @LadyMeiun
      @LadyMeiun Před 5 lety

      Well it's very lore heavy and VERY mechanically complex. There is A LOT you have to keep track of in that setting and most of it is very important. Especially when you have to deal with characters who have insisted on using characters and races from outside of the setting.

  • @wallycastagnir
    @wallycastagnir Před 5 lety

    Dear puffin forrest i love your contant thx to you i started playing dnd and im enjoying it

  • @garethpilcher8699
    @garethpilcher8699 Před 5 lety

    You. Are. Brilliant! Never stop

  • @copperhamster
    @copperhamster Před 5 lety +4

    If you understand what you are getting into, Traveller is a fine game. But the closest TV-movie analogs would either be Firefly or Alien. It's not Star Wars or Star Trek. TSR had a space game that would better fit that niche. I can't recall the name and don't know if there is a current in print version though. (Edit Star Frontiers! And no there isn't a 'current' version)

  • @Graknorke
    @Graknorke Před 5 lety +13

    Those characters sound pretty cool tbh, just maybe your players were expecting something more like D&D chosen hero type stuff.

  • @paintballin4real
    @paintballin4real Před 5 lety +1

    TRAVELLER! It's been so long! My father bought one of the original copies and like 12 years ago I found it and started my rpg stories with it. 6 years ago with my first paycheck I bought the disk containing all the books and travellers society card from the creator. This makes me very happy

    • @paintballin4real
      @paintballin4real Před 5 lety +1

      So I put this as a comment for anyone that's interested. If you don't like how your character is going, you can straight up say "I want to take a -x to my survival roll" if you're in the military if you pass you get a bonus to your awards roll. A sizeable bonus and awards are very nice, enough to mitigate your hate of your character in some cases. On the other hand you might die, thus having to start a new character. What we would do is we would spend a session creating characters and introducing. Creating 3 characters. You have the six stats, so we'd roll 6 times, per stat, per character. You'd then have a graph of different scores. You could then pick one score from each column, but only one. Does that make sense? So the str dex etc. Is at the top, then there's six lines of stats beneath, and you only choose one from beneath the stat, and no two can be from the same row.

    • @paintballin4real
      @paintballin4real Před 5 lety

      So once you have your three characters, you roll for each thing (survival, conplications, awards, getting into college, etc.) three times, and decide which character gets which of the three rolls. You lose a character you gotta make a new one, and at the end of it allyoull typically have 1 pretty goof character, an okay character, and a trash character that has died multiple times. (Unless you're Dave and have amazing luck. Fuck you dave I still can't believe you did that on MY DICE!)

    • @paintballin4real
      @paintballin4real Před 5 lety

      The process is incredibly time consuming, but when you're done, you hand over your unwanted characters and now you have a full starship crew! These characters are easy ally npc's or backup characters, it's personal preference, but you start to like your one character a LOT and are never really upset at them. I've had secondary characters be pretty good. I remember one time I had an EXETREMELY mediocre tertiary character, but somehow he got so incredibly wealthy he bought a starship for the group and the campaign turned into making a mercenary company and fighting on a third world erm, well, world. It got pretty intricate too, the geopolitics made by the dm were fascinating and believable. I was genuinely upset when we got a radio call saying that the 3rd regiment of militia was combat ineffective to casualties (destroyed). Then there was that slight problem of Dave committing that war crime of genocide....
      Combat is interesting! When you take damage, you apply it directly to your stats. After the initial shock each die can be taken as damage to different stats at the victims discretion.

  • @Drazex
    @Drazex Před 5 lety +1

    That chargen system sounds really interesting. I'd love to try that some time, but it's definitely something to be aware of *going into* the session (and definitely not something I would want forced onto me).