[TML] Munchkin talk was RE: Who here is paying attention to Mongoose Traveller?

[Richard Aiken]

On Nov 12, 2007 2:11 PM, Michael Taylor <michaeltaylor1329 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I'll have to take another look at it. I LOVE Firefly/Serinity, I'm just not sure I'd want to play in the verse....

I'm not going to use the 'Verse as they've written it up.  I'm melding
it into Traveller, instead.  The result won't really be either, but
what I think is the best of both.  I'm calling this hybrid "Serene
Travelling."

>> Someone I play online games with said it
>> best: "That chapter looks like the last thing they did, when the
>> deadline was close and they were in a real hurry."
>
> Yikes! That's too bad. So why would you use the Serinity rules rather than modify Traveller?

Because I like their core mechanic.  I didn't at first, mind you.  I
was a CTer until New Era happened.  Then I switched to GURPS in
protest, only coming back to Traveller with GT (which said the
Rebellion was just Strephon's bad dream . . .).  I briefly tried T20 -
and I still like how that system handles damage - but didn't stay with
it long.

But after reading over Serenity a few times and then ruminating on it
for a while, it kinda grew on me.  It's sorta like old Star Wars, in
that it rates each attribute and skill with seperate dice.  Most
action rolls in the game are made against a set target number.  You
roll your Attribute and Skill dice together, plus any you may have
bought with Plot Points.  If you roll the target number or higher, you
succeed.  In contests against other characters - such as during combat
- whoever gets the highest result succeeds.

But unlike old Star Wars, each Attribute or Skill is represented by a
different *kind* of die.  The progression runs: d2, d4, d6, d8, d10,
d12, d12+d2, d12+d4, etc.  A dead average character with a
professional level of competence would be rolling a d6 for his
Attribute and a d6 for his Skill.  His naturally talented but
inexperienced young buddy might roll a d8 + a d4.  A worn-out but
skilled old geezer might roll d4 + d8.

The min, max and average results of all the above examples are the
same.  But the "feel" of each one is quite different.  Plus, Serenity
lets players who might be coming in from d20 games use all their old
dice . . . except for their actual d20s.  :-)

-- 
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein