My "One and Done" RPG list, Part One

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Blacksteel recently referenced MegaTraveller in a comment, which got me briefly reminiscing about the one time I played another Traveller offshoot, Traveller: the New Era.  Which got me thinking about games I've only played once, and why.  Which got my thinking about making a regular column about games I've only played once.  So, here we go...


RPG: Traveller the New Era

When: I'm guessing 1994 or thereabouts.

GM: Paul, a friend of mine

Capsule: As far as I can tell, the GM was angling for a gritty, noir-esque storyline featuring criminal underworld figures, helpless ingenues, etc.  I played a doctor (the medical type).

What happened: my PC decided the best way to get information from one of the aforementioned ingenues was to go full-on Rico Suave, backed up by some pretty impressive social skill rolls.  The GM was very uncomfortable roleplaying this, and even after some prolific hand-waving of the action never came back to this game.

Comments

  1. BlacksteelAugust 29, 2016 at 10:27 AM

    There are so many good reasons NOT to play TNE that I am shocked by yours. The break with the steady-state canon timeline, the incredible amount of errata for the construction system, the total system change ... yours was because you hit on an NPC? That's sad.

    I got very into it for a while. Heck, you could design your own guns down to caliber and propellant type - who doesn't love that? I grew out of it after about a year and I never ran that many sessions of it but it did continue the Traveller tradition of interesting little subsystems that turn into a game of their own.

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  2. WQRobbAugust 29, 2016 at 11:56 AM

    I remember being struck by the disconnect with the Traveller universe I had known from the days of owning the big black hardcover (my first Traveller RPG, and I still have it). That brief window of time gaming was one of the worst, not because the other players were jerks (okay, maybe a couple) but because we could just not keep it together.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Adam DicksteinAugust 29, 2016 at 8:58 PM

    As a huge fan of classic, and MegaTraveller, Traveller: TNE was like being a fan of peanut butter, and being handed a turpentine and jelly sandwich. Not only was it not what I wanted, not only was it not what I liked, it was disturbing to the point of WTF? Why would anyone put turpentine on a sandwich? What is wrong with people?

    That last bit could easily have been asked of the makers of TNE.

    Sure you could design your guns, and such. So could you in Traveller, and MegaTraveller. Perhaps not to the degree of Fire, Fusion & Steel, but lordy that's a lot to put up with just to be able to do basically the same thing you could do before.

    Anyway, I like the premise behind this series a lot. I'd have to do a post a day for five years to even scratch the surface of my 'One and Done's. I look forward to yours for both the entertainment value, and for saving me the trouble.

    ReplyDelete

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