Traveller literally has world building as part of the game. Worlds, solar, systems, sub-sectors, sectors and pretty much everything. Fantasy world-building, on the other hand, just has, for the most part, a single world (of course we have various planes and things). Of course, it is often a world per rule set you are using.
As readers of this blog know, I really like world building. And while I was originally thinking that Traveller's was a lot larger and broader, I also came to the conclusion that that Traveller world-building is often just as in-depth as any fantasy world I create (and for me, actually, all my fantasy games are in the same world regardless of actual RPG being played). At least the way I do Traveller and fantasy world-building!
And of course, I do this world-building mostly for myself, but the purported end-goal is of course to have a place for the players' characters to interact with. Which, via my normal rambling approach, brings me to: just how much do the players really interact with what I create?
And what sparked this question this time? As I do bring it up a bit. The game my grumpy Goblin is in takes place in my friend's world. He creates worlds for each fantasy game basically: the settings are not the same. Of course, our various fantasy games that he runs are thematically different and I realize mine are mostly the same sort of generic western European classical fantasy. But as we're playing, I find myself struggling to pull in the details of the world my character inhabits: there are multiple duchies and groups, and he has renamed a lot of the various "monsters" so I also have to remember to call the Goblins Gren, and Orcs are Grendle. We've been playing for a few months, and it still is hard for me to keep it all straight (though it does not help that work the last several months has been quite horrible as I'm working pretty much every day, even over the putative vacation we were supposed to have over Christmas). It does help that our characters have lost a lot of their memories, but there is this huge world we've been tossed on. Additionally, we're all powerful in our own right: my Goblin is the last of the Goblin nobility, so is King of the Goblins. The Dwarf and half-Elf also are highly placed individuals. And so, me being me and taking the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" seriously, I have to free my Goblins from the Orc, or Grendle, that have taken over my lands. Which means I need to bring in some bigger guns than the motley group that we are. Which means I need to get used to the bigger world.
On the one hand - there are some grand quests (though we went off-script the 2nd session). On the other hand, I am not used to doing grand quests in games. I like to start small and build up. And I am pretty sure I am also in the minority here: a lot of players want to play powerful characters. Probably another reason I like Traveller so much: you usually play your everyday character against the universe.
Back to my original idea for the post though: world building in Traveller versus other games. In an abstract way, I see Traveller systems (main world and any other points of interest) being the equivalent of a town, village or city in fantasy games. Most Traveller games (okay, most that I played in back in college, and even those that I've run the last few years) tend to only briefly visit a system. They go, get fuel and cargo, have a patron encounter or two, and move on. The world is simply a relatively static backdrop to the adventure, not a particularly interactive one. Seems to me the same applies to a lot of fantasy RPGs: the town is simple where an adventure will start from and does not get any more detail than the bare necessity. You may have NPCs and things, but the majority of the time they are simply there to give you leads for an adventure.
This is neither a good nor bad thing. It all depends on the group and how they want to play. I'd like to think that, if I played the same character long enough, I may want to set down roots in a system if playing Traveller, or a town if some fantasy RPG. And some people do play that way, especially if they've played the same character and managed to accumulate enough credits or levels and gold. It is even baked into the older fantasy game rules: establishing a fort or whatever based on your class as soon as you reach a certain level.
I also realize, playing in my friend's rich world he is building, that seeing it from the player side is a lot different than seeing it from the GM's side. All the details he has that sometimes overwhelm me I realize are much more fleshed out in his mind than I can see. Though I do generate documents to help, I seriously doubt most of my players read them. And sadly, he has yet to share a larger scale map so I know how things fit together. And on my side, while I do take notes in-game, I am not taking the time later to re-read and extract out all the names and places. So that part is on me.
And this harkens back to something else that comes up a lot for me: making this world-building, while fun for me as its own thing, actually be useful to the players. Just how do they interact with a world, with a village? And as with the game I am in, the town was small enough that the Baron was holding grievances in the town square, and one of the players just walked up to him.
And I've rambled on long enough. If I had to bring in a conclusion or something, it would be that the Traveller world generation is a lot like a fantasy game city generation: you build up the big picture and throw the characters in, and let the small stuff generate itself based on the players interactions. Sounds good in theory, but I've a feeling it really depends on the group.
And, needing some sort of picture, as pictures are nice, I generated one of the caravan guards. She will be needed as I am also going to try something a bit different in this game: each player will have a secret I pass on to them before the game begins. What they do with that secret, and whether they tell anyone one, is part of the game now. And one of the characters will have some interaction with Tera Serk, another of the Guild of Feathered Guards. She is also dual-statted as that is always fun. Though I've not worked up a real character sheet for her, just the stats and the basic stuff we need. She is a 6th level fighter.
As for who she is, she is a tall and strong blond, the two-handed sword swinging on her back looks well-used. She often works the trade route as a caravan guard, usually to the west but she has also gone east, out to Fort Covenant. While about average in intelligence, she seems to have a good understanding of people. She has remarkable agility and gets up early each day and does a lot of calisthenics. And a great number of push-ups. She enjoys the tavern, but mostly to watch others, and often gets into feats of strength: she loves to arm-wrestle and oddly darts. She is good at following orders and has hired out as a private sellsword more than once. She lives in the guild barracks when in Windermere Crossing and is a trainer there as well. She is reticent about her past and has no attachments anyone is aware of. She gets along well with Rennor and has started to help train her with some swordplay.
No comments:
Post a Comment