Chris Goodwin

Car Wars is fast if you're talking about in-universe time. Six hours to play out a ten second long duel!

Maybe the captain should be an NPC, and the decisions the helm player, the weapons ops player, the engineering player, and so on, make at the table can be assumed to be based on orders given them by the captain. Back In The Day there were a couple of SF-nal Danger International games my group did. One of them was an original (to the GM) hard science campaign called Near Earth Orbit (NEO), and one was based on the Chaosium's Ringworld licensed RPG. In one of them there was some space combat; vague memory tells me it was NEO, but I'm not a hundred percent certain. The GM had us calculating orbital plots, in character via skill rolls, and taking time to generate a firing solution and then more time for the ... missile, I'm guessing... to hit. I'm thinking it might have been based somewhat on the dogfighting rules that are still around in one of the APG's.

As far as computer parts, higher tech doesn't have to be more fragile. Most if not all of what I've worked with are either prototype server grade or production consumer grade equipment, so I would agree they're not meant for being exposed to micrometeroids or unfiltered solar radiation. I know that there are "ruggedized" versions, but I don't know what makes them ruggedized. In the Traveller universe, I would imagine that warships do go on six to twelve month deployments, during which they're parsecs away from replenishment. Most trading ships of the sort the PCs would likely have are usually not more than a couple of weeks away from a starport or parts depot, and are probably seldom to never involved in extended combat operations. And TL 9-12 ships probably have TL 9-12 computer equipment that is probably as rugged as needed for its intended duty. (Misjumping, running out of fuel, and "Oh look, the passengers are attempting to take over the ship, again," are the more likely hazards.)

As far as rules go... This is correct. A weapon with this Advantage would indeed have an Explosion between 17 and 32 meters in radius. A 12d6 Blast with this Advantage would do damage out to a 25 meter radius from the central point of the explosion. As for the rest, I'd recommend starting a topic on the Star Hero board for further discussion.

Probably V&V or Marvel FASERIP. In practice, no. Attacks do a flat amount of damage, so if you're comparing attacks vs. defenses, it's possible to be up against an opponent whose defenses you can't get through. As with Champions, that means you have to get creative. Blast the ground under his feet, or blast the tree behind him and knock it down on him, or something else.

From a Traveller standpoint, TL5 computers were vacuum tubes. We're at approximately TL8 now. I'll admit to not knowing what computers modern US Navy vessels have on board, but... does it help if I point out that the actual computers used in the Apollo space program did not in fact use vacuum tubes? Granted, their interface was switches and lights, but still. And the Boeing 787 is entirely fly-by-wire, with modern electronic linkages between the cockpit and all of the flight systems. (The internal saying among Boeing engineers is "If it's Boeing, I'm not going," but I digress.)

As Mind Control is an Instant Power, the target would take damage only on the first Phase after failing the Breakout Roll. To damage the target further would require an additional MCV Attack Roll and an additional Mind Control Effect Roll. As always, the GM may decide differently. Unless the controller specifies otherwise (such as with a control worded as "Do nothing but die" or similar), or unless the target actually falls unconscious or dies, the target would be able to take actions afterward.

Why not treat Ship Shares as a few points spent toward the Vehicle perk?

Per 6e1 p. 294, a character with Telekinesis can throw an object the same distance as a character with the same STR could throw the object with a Running Throw.

Ghostbusters was not a comedy movie! They were dealing with serious problems with serious consequences. Except that the arguable protagonist (Pete Venkman) takes nothing seriously and lives his life cracking wise, and since he's portrayed by a brilliant actor (Bill Murray) with impeccable comic timing, who makes us laugh multiple times in every scene, we think it's a comedy. Hence, the original licensed Ghostbusters RPG, while brilliant, slightly missed the point of the movie.

I'm not even sure I'd make it an RKA. Side Effects: Lots Of Property Damage, maybe. If you shoot a living person with a proton pack, my response would be "Nothing happens." (rolling some dice behind screen) "Yet."

I have some strong recommendations. Use the APG's. Specifically, for: Social Combat Possession Extradimensional Space The Ghostbusters will likely never have a reason to engage in physical combat with other humans. They will need to engage with them socially for finding information, getting funding, avoiding governmental audits (IRS, EPA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission...), managing their reputations. I wouldn't try to "build the spoon" with proton packs and other equipment. Ghostbusters are Heroic level PCs, with no special abilities of their own, so proton packs can have a basic writeup of what they do. Drain, 1d6, all ghostly Powers, one at a time, recovers per month. They're big and bulky and need to be recharged back at base after heavy usage (say, an hour). The "jobber" ghosts (the one-and-done mook types, the spud, Slimer, etc.), all of their Powers are built with Unified Power, so they drop hard and fast when proton beams are applied. If they need to recover from them, they can buy Regeneration, all ghostly Powers, one at a time, however much they need. Any Desolidification they have automatically has proton beams as the SFX that it doesn't protect against. The mid-range, Shubs and Zuuls, demonic dog critters, have enough Power Defense that they can ignore a proton beam, and Gozer and the Traveller are boss-level entities that need a lot of research to defeat, and likely crossing the streams. Speaking of, crossing the streams will never happen by accident; technobabble here, but basically, proton packs put out a stream of positively charged particles. Take two magnets, try to push the positively charged (north) poles together, and what happens? They repel one another. Crossing the streams is something the Ghostbusters have to do on purpose, and they have to fight the packs to get them to do that. And when they do? Each pack provides 25 Active Points worth of a Variable Power Pool that the GM gets to use for whatever they want. If there's an extradimensional cross-rip, they'll typically create some kind of explosion to close that. If there's not one, then the GM gets a minimum of 50 Active Points worth of whatever.

If I recall correctly, ammunition is not exactly durable. It does have expiration dates. Using it can alter your economy. It's more of a trade good (barter) than a currency. People who know more about it than I do, answering it better than I can.

They're also very, very difficult to counterfeit using presumed post-apocalyptic levels of technology.

I asked someone who does layout work a couple of years ago. He quoted around $4 a page, assuming we had high DPI scans of the artwork (2400 is best). I'd expect that figure to be higher now.

Sure, but the basic martial arts system -- the idea that you buy the maneuvers individually as part of a package -- that got used for 4th edition first appeared in Danger International.

Whichever the GM wants. In Gamma World, I assume that domars are pre-war coins that are denominated in 5, 1, .25, .10, .05, and .01, and are approximately the sizes of our current coin equivalents. If I were running a game in post-apocalyptic America I'd probably use pre-war American coins. But that's me. Everyone's game is their own.

Star Hero for third was the very last third edition product published. Ninja Hero for 4th was published sometime after the BBB and I think after Fantasy Hero. The current martial arts system first appeared in Danger International. Allston used it with his Strike Force group, and apparently liked it well enough to expand in Ninja Hero. I think he put martial art forms in Mythic Greece as well.

Pre-war coins, as long as they're not radioactive.

Star Hero for 3rd edition might actually be a better 3rd edition book for Traveller than Robot Warriors. I would probably pull in RW and DI and even parts from JI and FH though, to be honest.

GameStorm 22 has already happened, from March 24-27 of this year. GameStorm 23 should be happening next year! I don't know the dates yet.

Here is a 100% optional scheme I've just jotted down in a Google doc for randomizing terms for Traveller Hero characters. I have no idea if this will work; use it at your own risk! I've also provided options for characters from every edition from first through sixth. It's certainly not pure Traveller, and assumes you have Danger International for the brownie points rules on pages 124-125. Enjoy! Starting Character Creation Start with your basic character. Edition Points 1st-3rd Base 60 + up to 25 Disadvantages* 4th Base 60 + up to 25 Disadvantages 5th Base 60 + up to 25 Disadvantages 6th 100 Total Points with up to 25 Matching Complications** * At the GM's discretion, use the higher Champions values for Disadvantages, or double the corresponding DI/RW point value, rounding to the nearest 5 points. Don't use the diminishing returns rules for Disadvantages. ** These are absolutely Matching Complications. Minimum of 75 points, with up to 25 additional points from Complications. You don't get the points if you don't take the Complications! Build your character as a normal. Normal Characteristic Maxima are in effect, and it's very likely you won't even approach those. (Effectively: Primary Characteristics should have a maximum of 15, and Figured/Secondary Characteristics should have a maximum equal to 75-80% of Normal Maxima.) Enlistment We're assuming you try for a career of some kind; "enlistment" is the term we'll use for getting into that career. We are assuming terms of four years each, as with standard Traveller. The GM can assign minimum Characteristic values to qualify for a career, or can assume that the first term's points will be assigned to bring them up to the minimum. Any character that, for whatever reason, doesn't meet the qualifications for reenlistment, will be discharged. Upon enlistment in a career, the character gains the initial skills package for that career. For military careers, this will often be a basic training package plus one or more MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) packages. For non-military careers, this will include a basic training package plus one or more advancement packages. At the end of each term, a character should gain +20 total points; +10 of those points will be added to the character's Base Points, and an additional 10 points worth of Disadvantages or Complications. (If using 6th edition, increase the award to +15 base points and +10 points worth of Complications, for +25 points total.) These Disadvantages/Complications will most likely be suggested by the character's service record during the term, or the player may choose from a list suggested by the GM or as desired. Service Record We will use the "brownie points" system from Danger International or Robot Warriors to represent a character's service record. At the end of every service year (not term), the character will roll one positive die and one negative die (reading a 6 on the negative die as a 0). Subtract the negative die from the positive die; the result is the amount of brownie points the character gains (or loses). Note that this is not necessarily a net gain or loss; the GM and player may optionally look at each die on the brownie points table on DI p. 125 to assign them to actions. The negative die will likely be one action, though it could be broken up and assigned to smaller ones. The positive die will likely be the result of a number of smaller actions. Either way, record the character's brownie point total for the year. At the end of the first service year, and at the end of every service year in which the character reaches a breakpoint on the Agency Roll Modifiers table (DI p. 125), the character may attempt promotion. The character should make their agency roll, which has a base roll of 8-, modified based on their brownie points total as shown. Characters can attempt to modify their agency roll as noted on DI p. 125, using any of the listed Skills, or others at the GM's discretion, with the potential for brownie point losses as noted. At the end of each four year term, the character may either reenlist or leave the service. If the character has at least as many brownie points as years in service, reenlistment is automatic if the character wishes. If not, the character needs to make an agency roll, as modified by the table on DI p. 125. Success on the agency roll means the character may reenlist; failure means an honorable discharge, if the character has a positive value in brownie points, or a different type of discharge if not. (Alternatives are general discharge, discharge under other than honorable conditions, and dishonorable discharge.) A character who chooses not to reenlist, and has a positive brownie point total, receives an honorable discharge. Combat It's assumed that characters will see combat, especially in military oriented careers; in any given term, there is an 8- chance during peacetime, or 11- during wartime, that the character will see combat. (Each career will have its combat chances listed.) The player and GM can optionally play out a combat, with the other players taking over NPCs in the character's unit. The combat should be treated as an action on the brownie points table on DI p. 125, and the character may be promoted (or potentially demoted) based on how they acquitted themselves during combat. If the combat is not played out, the character may roll one positive die and one negative die as above for brownie points, potentially modified by a Skill Roll (decided by the GM with the player's input, but usually their highest career-related Skill); on a successful Skill Roll, the player rolls two positive dice and one negative die, while on a critical failure (18) the player rolls one positive die and two negative dice! (These negative dice still read 6 as 0, so it's possible for the character to critically fail this roll and still receive positive brownie points.) Characters may receive Impairing or Disabling wounds during combat! (Note also that characters will likely be assigned armor of some kind, and this will reduce the severity of wounds received.) These may result in Characteristic losses. At the end of a term, if a character has remaining Characteristic losses from wounds, and has not received high tech treatment to improve things, the character may take a point rebate on lost Characteristics to spend those points elsewhere. The character should also take their Disadvantages or Complications for the term as Physical Limitations/Complications! It is also possible that the character might not survive the combat. If not, the player should feel free to start over with a new character. (Note that this takes the place of a survival roll under Traveller rules.) Switching Careers If a character does not reenlist in a career, they may attempt to enlist in another career. The character must meet any minimum Characteristics qualifications required by the new career, and must have at least 80% of the skills provided by that career's basic training package. If both the previous and new careers are military, the character will carry over their previous brownie point total, ignoring the highest negative brownie point die. For the first year of service in the new career, the character will be at a one rank reduction from their previous service, receiving an automatic promotion to their previous rank at the end of the year (unless brownie point losses drop them below a breakpoint). Additional brownie point gains and losses are as above. Aging Aging is optional, determined by the GM. Once a character reaches the age of 40 (not 34 as in standard Traveller), and are still in the service, the character may take the Age Disadvantage as one of their end-of-term Disadvantage choices. If they do, they must refigure their Characteristic costs, using points gained from the Age Disadvantage to offset any additional physical Characteristic costs; the character may also reduce their physical Characteristics to the maxima provided under the Age Disadvantage. Points gained back from this reduction may be spent on mental Characteristics, if desired. Character Point Totals The GM may set a maximum number of terms served for characters, or a maximum number of total points. Once a character has reached either of these milestones, they are done with pre-adventuring careers and must enter play! After four terms, a character in 1st through 5th editions will have gained +40 base points, and +40 in Disadvantages, bringing them up to 100 base points and 65 points in Disadvantages; a 6th edition character will have gained +60 base points and +40 in Complications, making them 200 total points with 65 points in Matching Complications.

I'm only just getting into Traveller myself. My group in the 80's didn't seem to be into it, for whatever reason. It's possible that they played it and then switched to Hero sometime before I joined. They did a lot of conversions from various systems; a number of sci-fi games, converted or otherwise. One was a conversion from Chaosium's Ringworld game, in fact. Another converted game was Twilight 2000. We used Danger International for the basis of almost all of those. Had the group intended to convert Traveller to Hero, there probably would have been a number of package deals, either gleaned from various sources (Danger International itself being a big one) or written up. Lifepath character generation would probably have been modified; you would have chosen a package deal based on your first Traveller career. Our group was mostly former or future military, so the military careers would have been heavily represented, and there probably would have been a large number of MOS's written up as additional packages. There would have been smaller skill packages for promotions, or for crossing into a career that wasn't your first, and quite possibly required prerequisites (so you'd have to already have some kind of spacecraft Skills before joining the Navy, for example). Promotion and reenlistment would have probably been done via the "brownie points" and agency rules in DI and RW. (We didn't have Star Hero yet because it didn't exist.) Events in the lifepath would have informed brownie point gains and losses, and final word on promotions and reenlistment would have been done with a service roll modified by brownie points, decorations, and possibly Luck/Unluck. Failing a survival roll would have probably gone to a random Disadvantage table one of the members probably would have written up; options on that probably would have been Hunted, Physical Limitation, Psych Limitation, Rivalry, Watched, or player's/GM's choice. Jeff probably would have said, with a grin, "If you really want your character to die during creation we can do that, but it's a waste of our time out of character, not to mention the service has spent hundreds of thousands of credits training you this far, so we're not going to do that." At least two players would have bragged about how many of their characters did die during creation, though. Replacement characters (for PCs who died in play) probably would have been written up from scratch, just because we'd all have gotten tired of rolling lifepaths for Hero System characters by then. If needed, we also had the Here There Be Tigers supplement, for Characteristic regression from having been out of the service for however many years, plus the Age Disadvantage from DI. Psionic abilities would have been taken out of Justice Inc. if there were characters who were psionic. All of that is to say: if you want to roll your character's career path using Traveller, feel free, but as with any conversions, note that one system's mechanics aren't ever going to translate precisely into another's. And you're probably going to be playing in a game without Powers, unless someone is psionic, in which case you're going to be extremely limited in what you can choose and how many Active Points you can have.

Good news! According to his Twitter, which I don't have a link for right this second, he's gone into remission! Edit to add: https://mobile.twitter.com/nyrath/status/1509944269796171782

Sure, but the article @BNakagawa linked had nothing at all to do with those sorts of technicals.