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
The noble one does sound like a normal RPG character though. Noble blood, check. Dead parents, check. On the run, check. Pirates, check.
Booring? Check!
It's cool IF it's not a mary sue
Doran Martell which let’s be honest, that guy was no where near a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu
I'm considering using that as a backstory for a D&D Fighter or Paladin, with some slight modifications.
@@bigbadbob7070 BigKlingy fan!
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.
I see what you did there... :-)
if you say ear a certain way, it still rhymes
"I played a pilot for two years"
"That was the one time I tried to play Traveler"
WHICH IS IT??
Maybe he meant this was the first time he played it as a GM
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
weckar he has played Star Wars before
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.
@@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
Am I mistaken, or did the characters just have amazing adventures before the game even began?
The characters.....not the players.
The players could have also if they had been warned
Could have been a very cool session 0
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
Nope. It's not amazing adventures. It's rolls on tables.
@@robertnett9793 You just described *all* of PNP RPGing; you realize that, right?
Asks them to pick occupation: “You think you can just pick an occupation?!?”
Yeah, why would I play a game that tries to simulate life when I could just live it instead?
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
Nathan Anderson I love viscera cleanup detail
"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!"
@@davidmichel6550 as do I. It's one of my games that I both love and hate at the same time. Like warframe
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.
That could give you great ideas seeds for writing your own Sci-Fi novel imo.
Not gonna lie, character creation in traveler is one of my favorites. You never know what will happen!
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.
So basically the Game of Life.
Canada ball exactly
The Derp Chaos Now I am just thinking about the Robot Chicken sketch. "Fucking Spinner"
IIRC in Cyberpunk 2020 you also had a "Game of Life" at the begining.
Sadly
In SPACE :D
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!
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.
Players should be writing awesome backstories anyway. XD Down with 2d paper cutouts!
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.
@@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.
JoJo's bizarre adventure
This character creation is awesome for generating OCs.
Used it for sci-fi ones myself actually. Works GREAT.
Killer Orca same
OC?
@@leonardoraele original characters
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.
"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.
I’m stealing this concept for an antagonist in my game
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. ;)
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.
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.
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.
Aandred Aandred - That's not how real life works
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
Hogarth Gaint lol
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...
That.. is a pretty realistic end for the 40K Universe
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.
It is fairly unusual for the players themselves to die. Are you okay there? Should I call the police?
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.
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.
@@kevinsullivan3448 What? Why would D&D not be a real role playing game?
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is Puffin your talking about. Remember that. x3
But more then likely told them still ahead of time.
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.
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.
@@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
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.
"Maybe someday I'll be able to explore the stars" sitting in a broken ship on a No Man's Sky planet...
🤣
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.
1:21
Looks like Firefly.
Curse your Sudden but inevitable betrayal.
Bryce Mckenzie I think we should call it Your Grave!
It really doesn't though. Fireflies look fairly bulbous and that was rather tube-and-fin.
...
Oddly enough, there is a Firefly RPG handbook...
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!
I like to think this channel is an alternate timeline where Cartman got into D&D.
Hi again
Definetly
They already did the fantasy larping thing, though. Cartman as a DM would be even worse than Ben.
why are you everywere????
Interesting, but it's not that bad of a crash and burn
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.
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.
Puffin sounds excruciating to play with, TBH. He's a total "that guy", both as DM and player. Entertaining videos, though.
@@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
@@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.
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.
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
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.
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.
@@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.
Agree. Players should always know what they're getting into
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.
Just like life. One guy gets everything and the others gets screwed.
Yeah thats why we play RPG's... to escape the real life we play... just like real Life? :(
This is exactly what I was thinking.
That is why we play actual games.
You folks don't play to see or explore particular character concepts?
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.
That noble guy got a Char Aznable start and that's pretty rad.
Also this sounds like it'd be great for outlaw star.
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
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.
The problem with most players is that they don't role play. They just roll play dice....
Knowing what to expect going in makes this game sound absolutely incredible
I love how the character gets depth, and forces you to play something different.
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
scoots291 awesome!!!!!!
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.
Wow, imagine dying in the middle of character creation
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.
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...
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.
Wow, that went horribly... that is painfully bad, but at least you had fun.
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
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.
A bad back story is a challenge. Can be lots of fun to play.
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.
OK your idea is good but you know characters can work in big organisations with ships and money as employees right?
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!
Sounds like way too much effort, that's why I play Fate.
It’s like those characters lived my real life.
Which one? The young nobleman turned grizzled, half-deaf, familyless veteran, or the disgraced scientist who spent years stranded on an alien planet?
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.
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.
These stories always make me want to play some D&D.
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.
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
Work pretty much the same way in Mongoose Traveller. Injuries from military mishaps reduce attributes by a couple of points.
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.
Twilight 2000 was a great game. I remember playing it with my buddies in the Army in the late 80's.
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.
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
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.
Thank you! Couldn’t have said it better myself
that sounds like han solo
That moment where you have never played D&D or any other roleplay board game but for some reason you subscribed to puffin forest
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.
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!
@@ninjabluefyre3815 why the hell would you want to gatekeep? Might not be your cup of tea but it's definitely someone else's
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.
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.
My brother and sister both have it. In high school my sister would do homework assignments and forget to turn them in.
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
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.
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.
That sounds like an epic start for those two. Plenty of character quirks and backstory to show up during play.
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.
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.
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..
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.
my bad. docking fees.
@@thorhaugan2660 I sincerely hope so.😂
@Maintenance Renegade maybe those starships are more fragile than we think. Wouldn't want to ride in one of those.
@@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.
I don’t play many rpg but I still watch all your videos
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.
"It's a GREAT game."
ten seconds later.
"It can kill your character before you even make them!"
I see no problem here.
@@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
@@demonslayer6267 I'm assuming that homebrew also means that if they "die" they still have to stop CC?
@@CyberBlastoise nope
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!
This sounds like so much fun! It definitely makes interesting stories
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.
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.
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 :)
@@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.
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 :)
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)
Ah, Traveller and its quirky character creation. All competent characters are scarred geriatrics, one step away from dying of old age.
is your photo the thief from that one game were he kept stealing from the party?
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.
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.
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.
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.
You are yet another person in the RPG community who doesn't know what the term 'agency' actually means.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I remember a gamer quote from way back, "You haven't lived until you have died during character creation in Traveler"
Your animation has gotten much better!
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.
Man, I remember how many TONNES of computer space had to be allocated!
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.
Hi your vids inspired me to start playing d and d. Just wanted to say thanks
And other rpgs in general but d and d is my favorite
Same
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.
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.
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. :)
Love your channel, and I LOVE Traveler so glad you did an episode on it!!!!
Yes another episode of puffin forest
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.
Your character is definitely showing up in my Tanith campaign!
@@frankmueller2781 lol go for it.
Your videos make my day tbfh. They get me through my homework without offing myself from the bugs in my code ^^
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.
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.
love the content
This channel was part of my inspiration to start my channel telling the stories of our adventures.
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. 🙃
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.
It's not for everyone!
O think this game looks amazing! The problem was diferent expectations. This sistem looks really cool
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.
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!😁
Two words: GURPS Traveller
Sure, if you've like 2.5 x the normal play time.
Buying a share in a ship is actually how overseas long distance trade got started between Europe and India...
Never heard of Traveller, but it sounds amazing to me, I hope some day I'll get to play that :'D
You. Are. Brilliant! Never stop
*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 )
Traveller: The 1 Game where you can Die in the Character Creator! XD
I thought that was only in 1st edition.
I mean you can also die in character creation if you critfail your health roll.
@@faceoctopus4571 It's back in.
Shadow of the Demon Lord, and several other games, can kill you in chargen
I remember one of Spoony's stories having a character die in character creation for something, perhaps World of Darkness?
I'm loving the updated art style
I would play this system with you, puffin.
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.
Happy birthday!
I loved playing Traveler back in the 80s. I always went imperial scout best all around jack of all trades profession.
Happy birthday. It's mine as well
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....
You didn't play Fringeworthy?
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.
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.
You have made me want to play Traveller, I shall buy it now!
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.
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.
How can you have personal drama over a game of MTG? Or did one player play mono-blue? In that case I can understand.
@@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.
@@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.
@@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.
I desperately need more traveler storys.
That character creation system sound like a complet game! Love it!
Damn.. sucks that happened bc all of that sounded hilarious and fun, I'd play it
Those characters sound pretty cool tbh, just maybe your players were expecting something more like D&D chosen hero type stuff.
Puffin, this video made me and 4 of my players immediately go out and buy the core book. We just made characters as a sort of test run. This game is going to be so much fun, thanks!!!
Oh my, that ending song is smooth!