Name E-mail Subject Comment File Password (Password used for file deletion) • Supported file types are: GIF, JPG, PNG • Maximum file size allowed is 3072 KB. • Images greater than 250x250 pixels will be thumbnailed. • Read the and before posting. • - File: -(40 KB, 650x497, daily_4.jpg) New Year MegaShareThread Soldier of the 71st 01/01/12(Sun)05:26 Happy New Year /tg/ Want something to read over the holidays? I have some things for you. Some of it has already been floating around on /rs/ for a while but there's a bunch of new goodies in there too.
I've done each entry by company/title. Where possible I've supplied a little blurb. If you're curious check out BoardGameGeek or Google the title. Everyone else is welcome to share too. This is a general thread.
Traveller General Anonymous 12/25/13(Wed)00:48 Docking Complete. Freight 4 weeks late fucking pirates Ship maintenance Due definitely not paying that Ship Mortgage Due not paying that either Living costs Due can I afford to eat this month? If I want that Beam Laser, I better eat cheap. 400 Cr for living costs Have you Paid Your Crew? Totally forgot about them. I guess I'll just pay the marine, that way if the others mutiny, at least He'll be there to stop 'em.
Price of Refuel: 37,000 Cr Shieeeeeeet. Well boys, looks like we're gonna have to skim fuel again. Jumping's gonna be dicey. What is Traveller? Traveller Folder and Pastebin: 8br7g7ux9q/Traveller Music to Explosive Decompression to; >Old Timey Space music SnJNP-4&list=RD02FH8lvwXx_Y8 >Slough Feg JqiYonw&list=PL8DECD4 >Goldsmith - Alien Soundtrack rhUdgOI&list=PL75A961 >Herrmann - The Day the Earth Stood Still iVqeF5U. File: -(270 KB, 1440x900, Homeworld.jpg) I've been thinking about that anons idea to do Homeworld with Traveller rules. All the attack craft could be done, but the Mothership seems to break it a bit, According to homeworld1 stats, the Mothership is 5,000,000 tons.
The High Guard supplement only goes up to 1,000,000 tons. I was thinking that you could just ignore the Mothership and resource gatherers, and instead focus on the combat end of the interceptors, bombers, and missile frigates.
I could see the PCs being part of an interceptor squad, then slowly working their way up to heavier and heavier crafts, A Homeworld campaign might be all about 'leveling up' to the next ship, and causing/taking more damage So any thoughts or ideas on this? Anonymous 12/25/13(Wed)01:33 Depends on the larger context. Would this be in the context of a larger war or campaign, where the PCs start as noncombatants or lightly armed with interceptors and scouts, being forced into a hostile universe that's determined to fuck with them (ie, the general structure of the two good Homeworld games)?
White Dwarf Traveller Articles Compilation – over five years and 250 pages of all things Traveller related - Old FASA Articles for CT. A fantasy RPG/wargame. The awesome RPG firm of Chaosium was founded originally just so this game could be published!
Would they be warlords, pirates or mercenaries, determined from the very start to hurt people and break things (but for a good reason, maybe)? To me, Traveler is less Homeworld and more Elite. Wing Commander, Freelancer, etc. File: -(106 KB, 526x359, 9spooky1me.jpg) I imagine the PCs control a Mothership, are thrust into enemy/hostile territory, and have to build/improve to survive.
Game would play pretty like the introduction and first few hours of Homeworld 2. Athough I agree that Traveller is more for 'a couple of ships', and that if each PC has their own vessel. Shit can get complex. Still, If the Mothership pays for your mortgage and maintenance, then gameplay would be dead easy; Do what the mothership says and try not to die. >listening to radio waves translated into our hearing range.
File: -(368 KB, 1280x1601, taikonaut_by_0800-d5q3uuz.jpg) Hey, got a question regarding ambiance for you guys. I'm trying to set up a scenario involving spaceship junkers, deep space hulks and horrible alien monstrosities, but the Alien soundtrack seems to be a bit too obvious for my group, and I won't use any Dead Space because the third act pissed me off too much to use. Does anyone have any recommendations for backround music that has a good horror vibe for what I'm doing?
As a down payment, have some pics. File: -(98 KB, 531x697, cyberape_by_laemeur-d4parym.jpg) (continued from previous post) The basic plan is to have the players find a reason to go to a spaceship graveyard floating in the trojans of an outer system rockball planet. Ideas included needing parts for their spaceship, finding a haul of salvage for sale and needing to stake a claim, working with the IISS to gather some data from a shattered Type-S that crapped out, hiding from the Imp Navy after a pirate raid, or just looking in the shattered hulls for leftover cargo or ship weaponry to snag for free.
Stuff like that. While the group is floating around in zero-g, shit will indeed hit a fan at a relatively high speed and the players will need to, of course, fix it or die horribly. Anonymous 12/25/13(Wed)23:39 >This was the kickoff free-trader campaign, Expeditions Ltd's first experience with Traveller, held in Don's apartment, with starship miniatures from Valiant's Stardate:3000 line. It ended up giving both the character and starship combat systems a workout and set some kind of record for the most cinematic scenes per session -- remember, Star Wars had premiered less than three months before, and was still fresh in everyone's mind. Sometimes I forget how old Traveller is. File: -(361 KB, 1013x788, planning_the_manipulation(.).jpg) I'm a bit late for the music recommendations, but this is my Traveller soundtrack: >Jarre QqIPaGg >Vangelis NHNo1LA >Tangerine Dream bdsuWSg >Brian Bennett qPPugEI >SPK L0e7498 As you can probably tell, I think electro/industrial stuff from the earliest period ofTraveller was first made (say 1977-83) is the best.
It has the retrotech feel I love to use in my Solomani games. Also, this is really creepy: >the sounds of Jupiter: E01YYWs. File: -(246 KB, 819x278, 373.png) Okay, One thing I always was disappointed by.there's rules that say if your shit get decompressed you just die outright(paraphrasing, it is in the armory section of the mong rulebook) but there's no situations in rules as written that decompress your ship other than doing it intentionally yourself. If you get a hole blow in the ship the rules say it fixes itself nearly instantly. Did I miss the part where there are rules for getting sucked out into space or otherwise killed in ship to ship encounters in other ways than crew hits, boarding deaths, or your whole ship being destroyed?
File: -(4.53 MB, 3375x2625, 679.jpg) Here's how i do misjumps: Jump Roll (2D6): (+Effect of Engineering roll, -2 per jump drive hit, -2 unrefined fuel, -8 within d-limit) >Result: 0 or less: Misjump -scatter D6 parsecs from the intended system in a random direction. Also, roll 2d6. If the result is 2 (snake eyes) Roll for a GAME CHANGING EVENT GAME CHANGING EVENT: Roll 1 D6: 1 Jump into star. Crew and ship survive on a 4+, taking Heavy RADS and damage (lets say 2D6 X 100 RADs, and 2D6 X D6 damage on the ship) 2 Jump into deep space: D6 X 100 Sectors off the side of known space. 3 Jump into Parallel Time: a different timeline, perhaps the Ancients are still around?
Perhaps Vargr Rule the Galaxy? Perhaps Robots rule the galaxy? Perhaps Coke-a-cola Rules the galaxy? Perhaps everyone is John? 4 Jump into alternate Universe: Chaos, Complete Alien species, Completely foreign architecture and building layout, Perhaps small beings that serve drinks through body-generated force fields, using robotic arms to grasp and serve beverages, a small pile of feces builds up in the bottom of the force fields, etc.
5 Into Matrix/Werid Death 2001 Space - its so spooky?! What is real?!? 6 Absolutely nothing around.
Only hope is to freeze everyone and wait it out. Found floating in space in: D6 1-3: 100-600 years, 4-6: 10-60 years. 1-4: Innacurate Jump - Dumped in the system 2D6 AU from the mainworld 5-7: Close Jump - Dumped in the system, D6 AU from the mainworld 8 or higher: Precise Jump - Exit jump exactly on the D-limit of the mainworld. ********************* JOIN THE CONFEDERATION NAVY TODAY! File: -(397 KB, 1280x1024, ahl_wip_5.jpg) Ah, the Azhanti. The Imperium's Fuck-Off Brick.
Definitely one of the signature vessels, certainly the only one to get a whole game to itself. >i5j4ne1650vq9b6/Game%2003%20-%20Azh anti%20High%20Lightning.rar Ship Type / Class Cruiser / Azhanti High Lightning Class Displacement 60,000 Tons Jump 5 Manuever 2 Crew / Passengers 62 officers / 333 crew / 75 pilots / 150 troops / 320 frozen watch Hardpoints 24 + Spinal Mount Manufacturer Varies Hull Type Rectangular Closed Streamlining Non Atmospheric Cargo Tonnage 400 The Azhanti High Lightning was originally conceived and built to be a Fleet Intruder class ship back during the Solomani Rim war of the old Imperium. Although it was not technically a capital class ship in the days of the Imperium, the Azhanti ships of the Republic are the largest class of warship still in regular operation, and have been promoted to role of Heavy Cruiser within the High Guard, who operates six of these formidable vessels within the combined fleet.
Azhanti class ships carry a wide array of weapons and defense systems, including a spinal mounted weapon (usually particle accelerator), twenty-four 50-ton weapons bays, meson screens, nuclear dampers, and a compliment of fighter craft of up to 60 fighter craft organized into 10 ship squadrons. Small weapons systems such as laser turrets, repulsors, and sandcasters cover the external surface of it's heavy pierced plate hull structure. Anonymous 12/26/13(Thu)19:18 He definitely wasn't pulling one on me. I walked each of them through character generation, it's just that I hadn't (and still haven't - fucking Christmas) finished reading the rulebook.
So I was pretty much skipping around the rulebook to relevant parts when I needed them, inevitably missing things. Things such as that line - shit, you'd think it'd just be 5 shares towards the ship called 'Smuggler Ship'. I'm gonna let them have the Smuggler Ship on mortgage, because that's more interesting and it's more in line with the benefits in the core rulebook.
Smuggler Ship, pg.89 of 'Book 6 - Scoundrel'. It's a refitted Type A Free Trader. Anonymous 12/26/13(Thu)23:18 A small one, yes.
Much above 100 tons and you'll need a crew, though. Download Lagu Starlit Story In My Heart Versi Galau more. One solution is to assume a LOT more automation, but damage control becomes problematic. Another is to just move the tonnage decimal one place to the left on everything except staterooms. Now anything bigger than 10 tons can jump, and you can build a lot of variety in small packages. Alternately, just cut *fuel* to 10% of normal. This gives you either a lot more range or a LOT of room for variation in a 100-ton hull.
If you want more interaction between fights, either shorten jump times or hook everyone together to go places so they can talk to each other. File: -(38 KB, 336x336, Sexy-Pilot-Concept-336x336.jpg) Don't worry friend! There are always crews for hire One of my PCs runs a 400 ton Corsair by himself, along with an NPC crew of 4; >Pilot: Ensign Jameson: Solomani Female (8/10) A54595, 26, attracted to Aslan PC (on the other PC ship.) >Navigator: Commander Riuni: SC Male 65B82B, 40, Borrows money. >Steward: 3rd officer Sheffram: Zhodani Female (10/10) 98758A, 30, Good on the Ships guns. Wants to hire the PCs >Engineer Johns, SC male, 28, ex-scout, good mechanic. Will betray the PCs.
Total cost per month for this crew is only 17K swear to the void I rolled all this up, even the attractions to the PC, I rolled the trait, then randomized who the NPC would be attracted to. They almost never get to hang out, because the captains of both ships are ruthlessly following their mission and pretty strict. In fact Ensign Jameson has made some mistakes in the past (damaging the sensors during an atmospheric entry) and has been yelled at by the PCs Droyne Captain.
NPCs have feelings too! File: -(129 KB, 800x999, 266.jpg) One of my all time favorite Traveller stories involves tax - the funding of an AHL-class cruiser called 'Children of the March'.
A fleet intruder (later frontier cruiser) of the Azhanti High Lightning -class. Tail number 6355. Laid down 095-994. First flight 117-997. 60,000 tons and heavily armed. The Children of the March was unusual in this class of ships primarily for its method of financing. The boost to subsector economy created by the award of starship construction contracts is always important enough to make all areas of the Imperium vie for the privilege.
At the time of the bidding invitations, the Solomani Rim War (990 to 1002) was burning on the other side of the Imperium; there was little chance that the Spinward Marches would receive a contract. The Duke of Regina, speaking for the Marches, proposed that the Marches fund one additional ship from its own resources, on the condition that the Marches receive a contract to produce a portion of the total run. The school children of the worlds within the Marches contributed their lunch money, at a quarter credit each, for the ultimate funding of one ship, and it was named Children of the March in their honour.
File: -(39 KB, 600x480, 3603225-600x480.jpg) At least, that is the story available to the casual reader. But that sort of activity is very cost-ineffective, and has a great potential for graft, or at least inattention.
Instead, the sector government came up with the idea, and implemented it at the highest levels. Given a population of 783 billion in the Marches (under direct Imperial rule), children in school amount to about 10% of that population. Assuming a contribution of a quarter credit per student, the campaign could produce the sum of 19.575 billion credits. The bureaucracy simply deducted this sum from funds budgeted to education; the responsibility for replenishment fell upon educational administrators, who could solicit donations from students (or others) for the shipbuilding campaign. Aside from the initial notification from the sector government, no further effort was necessary, no further credit transfers were needed, and the campaign was allowed to go on for however long was necessary. Reportedly, some backwater districts still collect for the 'Starship Fund'.
Source: CT Library Data book. Anonymous 12/27/13(Fri)06:03 Why not? The 3I has something like 11,000 inhabited worlds in it. You are going to find anything somewhere in something that size. Dippy tax regulations on one world would mean most ships get flagged elsewhere, just as occurs here and now on Earth. If your PCs roll up too much ship during chargen and you need to rein gem in some, tell them the ship is registered on Redtape-II and let them go through the hassle of transferring that to New Liberia. As any old time Trav GM can tell you, the key to controlling your players is keeping them POOR.
File: -(234 KB, 610x799, GURPS Traveller aliens.jpg) Yep pretty much everything can be quick referenced in game, as long as you know how the shit works, all you need is a table or two for each section (Trade, ship combat, personal combat etc. I have heaps of Quickref documents here; k37waqict6t/Traveller%20Referee%20D ocs The other option is to just have the CoreRulebook open in a pdf or something on a laptop on the table. I also like to utilize a 'personal combat chart' that I have up on the wall. An A3 page showing actions/reactions and cover. That's just me though.
Anonymous 12/27/13(Fri)18:44 Yeah. Ms Office 2003 Free Download Full Version With Product Key For Xp. Mongoose is pretty much the new Classic though. Don't bother with most of the Mongoose supplements unless you really need them. The Campaign Guide is especially bad, but Mercenary was written by someone who apparently saw the word 'traveller' once, a lot of the books have illegible deckplans (which look like crudely and repeatedly resized bitmaps) and generally it's a wonderful illustration of Mongoose Quality (tm). Sometimes they publish something awesome (MgT core qualifies), then they slip back to being the company best known for killing D20 third party content by pumping out utter shit. Anonymous 12/27/13(Fri)18:52 There are reasonably-available reprints.
Last I checked it was £20 for a reprint containing all the core books (1-3, the basic set, and all five further books), the same for other reprints of adventures and supplements. They're in a slightly weird format (you can see the covers here: tml - each page has two pages from the original book on it side-by-side) but they're perfectly usable. They're not all available there, but I've seen them in various stores.
File: -(486 KB, 1373x812, Aoa'iw Light Trader.png) Docked at C class starport in the Amonchomchu system, Solomani space. Stopped by Solomani officials while unloading passengers. Managed to talk my way out of it, but they weren't happy to see me or the rest of my Aslan crew. Next destination is the Mcmanus system, 1 parsec away. Looking at the readout from the ship's library: Ice-capped Non-agricultural world with decent population and low law.
Also very thin atmosphere. Anyway, I spent 5 hours arranging passengers for the trip, then another day arranging Cargo and freight.
>Flight Manifest for jump: Amonchomchu - McManus 15 tons Illegal Weapons (bought for 65% of standard price!) 15 tons Advanced machine parts 20 tons Medical Supplies 10 tons Basic Electronics 10 tons Illegal Weapons 25 tons Biochemicals Also 5 High passengers and 19 tons of freight. We're jumping from low law system to low law system, so there shouldn't be any problems with those weapons. As we decouple with the starport, I realize its been 6 months since I set out from the Aslan Homeworld, Kyusu.
May our ancestors guide the jump. File: -(1.21 MB, 2537x1628, K'tanaals journey, 6(.).jpg) Jump went fine, We exited near the mainworld of the Mcmanus system. As we approached the starport, we were hailed by a Solomani police cutter. Just my luck!
The one police vessel in the system and I run right into it! I managed to use my Streetwise skills to avoid a full search, and The captain was sated with our mission of establishing trade routes with the Hiver federation. Thankfully no one was around to notice the containers with 'Third Imperium Armory' stamped on the side. I really should refrain from Illegals in future. The Credits are good. Speaking of which, I sold The weapons for an excellent price, and combined with the other goods, made a total of 1,800,250 Cr from the trip. Paid my monthly ship and crew salary costs, and am sitting at a healthy 5,118,047 Cr.
Time to relax and maybe check out some of these human 'bars' that I keep seeing. File: -(1.93 MB, 2129x1301, SPACE REF.jpg) Just handwave everything. Unless you get into combat, then you gotta do it right. Solo games can be done however you like, you're the Ref, you're the PC. If you wanna trade the stars, go for it, wanna kill on endless mercenary missions? Prepare for hot LZ insertion.
Just have fun and do whatever you want. Just make sure you roll for random encounters when you're moving around, or approaching mainworlds. I've found the random encounter tables in the core book are great, combined with some of the tables from the Referees guide (Mongoose Supplement 9 - Campaign Guide) for the exact type of ship/species encountered. From then on it's like any other Traveller game. Try not to die, and try to cover your costs. Random space encounters/combat sheet. File: -(77 KB, 550x411, solfrigate.jpg) the core book covers law level and travellers.
You roll 2d6 when you arrive at a system, if the result is equal to or less than the law level, your ship is checked. Don't forget that while mainwolrds may be high law, most Imperial starports (in orbit) are Law level 1, to allow mercenaries to carry their weapons etc. As long as you don't have illegals, you wont get arrested for carrying an assault rifle on a starport. Of course, If you're carrying around a FGMP, someone will check you to see if you have a 'license' to carry that kind of weapon (If you have Gun combat(heavy weapons) you are considered as having the appropriate papers and licenses for operating a FGMP) We pretty much count that if you have a skill to use a certain weapon, you also have the paperwork to back it up. (unless the skill has been learned in game. In which case, might need to get a permit, pay fees, obtain C-class license etc.) As soon as you enter the atmosphere of a high law-level mainworld, better leave your assault rifle in the ship, and hope the tech level is low enough that the local authorities can't scan your cargo bay/ships locker. Usually Imperial starports have a Law level 1 'Imperial airspace' associated with them; the space from the d-limit to the starport and perhaps a narrow corridor to the systems gas giants, for refueling.
If you leave these 'imperial airspaces' you may well be accosted by local system authorities (depending if the mainworld is capable of space flight) who will enforce their systems laws. That's how we do it. Also read through the 'law and Travellers' section of the core book, shows you how to deal with encounters with law and the issues of prison time and fines. Mongoose Core Book: Law and Travellers: pages 173-174 Starport rules: page 178 This entire map was compiled by players and writers of Traveller, over the last 36-odd years Hell you can even map out new areas and submit them to the maps.
File: -(586 KB, 1025x747, amderstun.jpg) >One of all my-time favorite fucked-up sectors is Amderstun, way rimward of the edge of the Solomani Confederation. It's a realm of pocket empires and lost colonies. One area seems particularly bad. The forces of the Amderstun Empire and the Chromiri Alliance have reduced dozens of worlds to nuclear slag in their endless war (note all the dead red zoned worlds) in the aptly named subsector 'Warzone'.
There's also no less than three prison worlds in there. The ultra-rare blue zones originally come from TNE. These systems are Technologically Elevated Dictatorships, despite the fact they have no population. Make of that what you will. Anonymous 12/28/13(Sat)05:30 The thirty-five sectors in the center (Spinward Marches is one corner, Spica the opposite corner) were mapped in low detail in the early 80s, with just high pops named. Much of that was then filled in by fans, though the Spinward Marches, Solomani Rim, Diaspora, Massillia, Deneb, Reft, Trojan Reach, and chunks of Vland, Lishun, Core, Old Expanses, Reavers Deep, and Corridor would be printed officially (as well as several sectors outside that area, such as parts of Gvurrdon and all of Hinterworlds). Subsequent fan and official work has produced the body of work the Traveller Map displays.
That work is still ongoing. That row of sectors between the K'kree and Hivers was added in 2013. Anonymous 12/28/13(Sat)09:32 Classic Trav is Classic and Old, but it's still pretty damn good. MegaTraveller & T4 added too much complexity and nonsense.
TNE has some of the issues of MT & T4, and also did Things to the setting, including Homeworld: Cataclysm- or Berserker-style 'Virus'-infected AI ships. GURPS Traveller is GURPS, and its sourcebooks are fascinatingly spergy even for non-GURPS games. There are actually two editions - GURPS 3e has Traveller and a ton of supplements, GURPS 4e basically just has one Traveller book IIRC, but it's set in a slightly different era - not that long after first contact with the Solomani (that's us Earthlings). T20 is terrible. Some good third-party fluff was published for it IIRC, but the game itself is bad. That HERO-system port is pretty bad IIRC. T5 is just a goddamn mess.
Some people have developed a sort of stockholm syndrome, especially some of the kickstarter backers, and claim there is some great insight in there, that it all makes sense if you just open your mind and study it, and that it's not terrible. It might become good eventually if they release T5.5 after a lot of extra work. Stars Without Number isn't Traveller but it's got damn good tools for a Traveller referee. I'd go with CT or MgT, maybe GURPS. Read the supplements you enjoy.
Then branch out and look at how other editions covered similar topics, eventually just read everything and take what is good. Anonymous 12/28/13(Sat)12:13 It isn't a Stockholm Syndrome thing with T5. A number of the people in the playtest crowd for it got to watch the tools grow gradually instead of having the brick delivered all in one go. They know the tools instead of having to figure them out from the mess of the book.
T4 wasn't complex except in the one spot it was supposed to be, the 'build it all' book. Since that book also suffered from the same organizational hand that gave us T5, it is even more of a mess than it should be. The rulebook for T4 is, wonky dice aside, a good edition. Just avoid the rest of T4. Hero Traveller and GURPS Traveller are Hero and Gurps first, Traveller second. There is some good stuff in GURPS Traveller, but it damn near stands in isolation.
T20 could have been good. Unlike the two other adaptions, it shredded D20 and rebuilt it for Traveller's purposes.
Unfortunately, the mix of D20s unavoidable crunch and Traveller's standard subsystemic crunch, and the author's need for certain foibles of organization, character generation is a mess. Oddly, the rest of the book is fine, and the various add-ons do not shame the franchise. TNE is, oddly, another adaption. GDW's House System, used for Twilight 2000, Merc 2000, and Dark Conspiracy, is converted to Traveller.
The resulting combat chapter is way too dense. As mentioned, it also blew up the beloved Third Imperium once and for all, and used 'impossible' things to do it. TNE's most complex moment is Fire, Fusion & Steel, the 'build it' book, and is ironically the one part of TNE that the haters tend to embrace.
File: -(523 KB, 805x885, Hivers.jpg) Legion of Vra'tha 1000 ton Hiver Scum-Runner Hull 20 Structure 20 Armor 8 Bridge 2 X Battle Bridge Jump-2 Thrust-2G 4 Model 6 Computers (rating 30 each) Advanced Electronics 8 Triple Turrets; 4 with 3 X Missile Racks 2 with 3 X Beam Lasers 2 with 3 X Particle Beams 36 Missiles (3 salvos) 1 Bay Particle Beam (6D6 Damage + Crew hit) 10 Staterooms 100 tons Cargo 400 tons fuel Thoughts? I figure this is one of those 'you need to board it to stop it' vessels. Skint crew of weak, semi-unarmed hivers. As long as PCs don't try to bash it out with this ship, they could close quick and take it by force. Anonymous 12/29/13(Sun)18:07 In my experience - running Traveller for a big chunk of the 80s and 90s - aliens as PCs are the exception and not the rule. Traveller differs from DnD and it's descendants in many ways. Deadly combat was one difference, equality between PCs and NPCs was another, and there being no real need for 'token' PCs was yet another.
In DnD and it's various clones and descendants, parties seemingly always included an elf, dwarf, half-this, or half-that for various in-play advantages. Having a non-human provided certain benefits so seemingly every party included one. That doesn't hold as true in Traveller. True, aliens have some quirks which can prove useful in some instances, like language or cultural familiarity, but, unlike DnD with it class focus, an alien won't be a better engineer or trader simply by virtue of being alien. Another point to consider is the vast distances within the Traveller setting. Again, unlike DnD & Company, every alien in the setting doesn't live next door to every other alien, let alone the various branches of humanity.
The K'Kree and Hivers are sectors away from the Aslan, for example. The Vargr do share a small border with the K'Kree, but it's separated by a rift from the central K'Kree territories. The Vargr and Aslan central territories are also sectors apart. While you can plausible place both Vargr and Aslan in the Spinward Marches, finding a Hiver there, let alone the xenophobic K'Kree is a much bigger issue. Playing alien PCs seems to be on the upswing lately perhaps due to the DnD crowd entering Traveller. They learned RPGs with mixed race parties and in settings where different races lived somewhat intermixed.
While that type of play and the perception which led to it is somewhat different from the 30+ years of previous Traveller play, it isn't wrong either. Just different.
TL;DR - Playing aliens in Traveller is fine, but isn't mandatory either. Anonymous 12/29/13(Sun)18:26 Mongoose published a 3I library data book, but I wouldn't bother paying for it or for most of Mongoose's publications for that matter. All you need is the core rules book because the web has a metric shitton of free Traveller information just waiting for your browser to scoop up. People have been playing and playing with this game since Jimmy Carter was in the White House and since before there was a public internet.
Folks have been creating content for Traveller longer than most of the anions here have been alive. There's a Traveller Wiki, google it, and be prepared to spend a few hours reading and following links. Google 'freelance traveller' too. It's a webzine with web-based content and a mess of links. Starting with those two links, you can learn about the 3I setting as much as you want or need to do.
Remember, everyone always tailors the setting to the needs of their group. If your player really wants to play a Hiver, point him to the pertinent info at the wiki, and let him run with it. Good luck and have fun. Anonymous 12/30/13(Mon)01:24 >Hey Vargr-friend, your woman, she is very pretty yes? I give you six vacc-suits for her! >Hey creep, she's not for sale, I mean- >Okay ten!
Ten vacc-suits! In my culture this buy you many women! >You don't shut up now, I'm gonna punch you, you. >C'mon Dave, let's just go, he's not worth it- >Okay friend! TWENTY vacc-suits and all the Vegan pie you can handle! >Fukken sold.
Get with the alien bitch, no way am I passing up some V.P. Dave, you- ZZZAPPP!
>Shame about the 80's hair, but I can fix that! >(scoff, slurp) This is some fukken good pie you little xeno creep. File: -(162 KB, 800x584, SJG10-0103.jpg) An OGRE Mk III is approximately 19m long, 10m wide and 13m tall. It's also angry and full of nukes. The whole body isn't that height, of course, that's the sensor mast, but I don't think you can retract it.
If you can, assume the height required is more like 8m. How would you go about transporting and landing one, in Traveller? It can handle a bit of rough stuff, but it's not a Bolo and can't fly. Hot drop-zones aren't necessary; assume it's landing safely behind friendly lines and driving in the direction of the enemy.
Also assume legal issues regarding its armament are resolved. This may be relevant to a mercenary campaign two people are already rolling up characters for.
They aren't the mercenaries. The OGRE is the mercenary. They're just the hired pilot and crew. I'm thinking a custom ship might be required, but I'm not that familiar with the various transports out there and there might be something that can handle it.