I don’t know if Traveller’s
combat system is considered “deadly”, but it has carried an air
of complexity around it by those who have never played. I’ve had
the pleasure of running six-seven sessions of Classic Traveller and I
find the combat system amazingly plain, but with oft overlooked
features which make it really sing!
Look at the combat turn order,
nothing there any regular rpg’er hasn’t seen. The surprise
mechanic is simple, and interesting. To hit is 8 or better on 2D6,
and wounds are applied to your Physical attributes; Strength,
Dexterity and Endurance. Range is simplified and the list of actions
a character can take is boiled down into 4 actual combat
actions. So where does this notion of an opaque, killer combat system
for Traveller come from?
The
reason Traveller combat is considered deadly and/or complex is
because of at least two rules never used by regular players and
referees. Rules so important it changes the whole relationship of the
PCs to the game universe. They are the rule on weapon skills and the
use of endurance attribute in melee.
The
weapons skill rules are the most significant. Ranged combat takes on
a completely different dimension when not used properly. The lack of
this rule makes PCs less
competent and easier to kill. On page 36 of the LBB’s is the entry
Untrained Weapon Usage.
“Any character using a weapon in which he or she has no training is
subject to a penalty of 5 when attacking and +3 when def[i]nding
(defending). While you let that sink in check out the next few
sentences; “All player-characters automatically have an expertise
of zero (0) in all weapons shown in this book.”
Not
only does the average NPC have a 5 to their ranged weapon attack, the
average PC suffers no disadvantage. A minus five swing in Traveller
is a BIG deal. It makes most NPC’s the players interact with are
“mooks”, adversaries which they can brush
aside quickly. Add in proper
use of cover and the surprise mechanics, any experienced combatants
run effectively will roll gangbangers, grumpy
miners, thugish dock workers, enraged bureaucrat; the PCs are
designed to be Bruce Willis in Die Hard.
A cut above the rest of the folks trapped in the tower. This is where
you get to swing from the cable with auto rifles blasting the poorly
paid and trained security guards! In a flat-footed straight out draw
a PC should be Clint Eastwood to every one of those “lucky” punks
out there.
My
test was a poll on the Mewe Classic Traveller group and it looked
like this:
Your
average Traveller player and referee doesn’t play with these rules
at all. This is what I mean about swinging the combat game against
the PCs. They are playing the game with one arm literally tied behind
their back. Unlike weapon speed in AD&D, the -5 for untrained
weapon usage is an essential mechanic for the Traveller game. Remove
it and the way players play Traveller significantly changes. Further,
this small sampling shows most referees and players have never
considered this rule and its effect on combat.
Myself,
I’m stingy with zero level weapon skills for NPCs. The weapon is
deadly enough. Anyone can squeeze a trigger. But who can keep their
heads about them when multiple people are firing guns, at short range
no less?! Pandemonium is what happens. A character trained to be cool
and deliberate during fire brings your game to movie-level action.
Like in Heat, and Den
of Thieves. The tattooed,
ipod-wearing street hood goes down in
a street fight with one spray from the trained PC.
In
conclusion, there are some assumptions placed on Classic Traveller
which change game play away from superior PCs, and therefore the game
is going to be played differently. If you implement RAW I believe you
will find players enjoying the game more.
Besides a large dungeon the book includes 5 pages of
useful tables, a DM’s traditional tool which has come of age. Ordered in a
sensible method these pages are there to squirt out hirelings and NPC’s with
personality and information. The duplication and addition of maps, another sign
of OSR haute couture, is present throughout the book, including the end cover
pages. The addition of interior end cover pages with the castle’s map is something
you cannot get from a Drivethru POD and gives a traditional publishing house a
reason still for living; providing a print run tailored to a ttrpg adventure
book. Castle Xyntillan has been designed for the Swords & Wizardry game and
is suitable for 1st to 6th level characters. Castle Xyntillan has been designed
to be versatile, open-ended, complex, and accessible. This module should
provide ample opportunities for exploration, confrontation, and subterfuge.
Whether you would like a dungeon for one-off expeditions and convention play,
or repeated forays and full campaigns, this book should suit those demands.
The last session was a continuation of coming to grips with the denizens of the Pale Knight's Palace. They had indeed returned to the Aticorn with the 8 threads from the vampire lord’s cloak, and the creature of Faerie did release the party from the peculiar geas laid upon them. But they had left the young Violet behind in the nightmarish palace. None of the warriors could look each other in the eye if they left their potential meal-ticket lost and uncashed. So instead of pushing on to the realative safety of Le Freniae, the party turned around and marched back to the ruined structure which just last night held an alien conclave and was racked by terrible explosions. The daylight did little to relieve the gloom saturating the steep, forest hollow. Once inside they wasted little time plowing to the room of dragon eggs and the broken throne room. The 3 eggs which were left behind last night appear now to be gone. The throne room was appropriately barren, but the unbelievable events which overtook the group last in this room left behind signs of the awful reality which had transpired. 
Clues
wrapped in a dropped communique hinted at deep conspiracy on now a
cosmic scale. But nothing yet seen prepared them for the colossal
marble snake coiled in the center of it’s room of rampage. Not a
hallucinatory dream after all. Stone it was made and still it
breathed and slumbered. Above the beast, as if suspended like an
acrobat, the silvery beauty, the alien and powerful Aladonia floated
like a billowing cloud over the rubble. Her advisory, the grotesque
talking hair-skin thing, was no where in sight. An unoccupied alchemy
lab provided insight on the child-snatching which they were bearing
witness to. Their
bowels turned to water as a closing, suffocating trap threatened a
TPK
and
still no sign of the lovely Violet. Questions dogged their every
step; what with the stealing of children? What was the significance
of multiple dimensions filled with strange beings? And how was all
this going to pay? 
is my online game and I have been enjoying the taping and recording of these sessions. But with the crash of G+ and YouTube I cannot seem to get a reliable audio (or video) recording of these sessions. These recording issues
have forced my hand once again to write in review of the games held
in Rom’Myr Dying Earth Campaign. This current blog post is a quick
summation of Sunday’s game...
These tables are system agnostic enough to rip from the rulebook and plug into that dirty shit-hole you call a downport;
Is NOW released in PDF form from Peryton Publishing for the holidays. Not an overtly complicated miniature/P&P wargame, it is heavy on theme! A commissioned piece (yes I take paying work blind, unquestioned and with enthusiasm), the publisher seems to be really pleased with the game because they really delivered on adding commissioned art for the game cover.
