I would like to get thoughts on my half-assed plan to coordinate a GM-less Traveller game for myself and two of my buddies.
Context:
- Our experience with Traveller is limited but not zero. I have never played Traveller but have read many of the books (mostly Mongoose Traveller, Classic Traveller, and Traveller5). I have ran a handful of sessions with the same two guys as players (we played through High and Dry).
- We are old hats at other games, especially Dungeons & Dragons. The three of us starting gaming together in middle school, which was more than 30 years ago now (yikes!). We’ve been playing together in a group pretty consistently since then.
- We are all also experienced GMs but we don’t want to GM. I could run a game, but I would much rather play. We thought trying a GM-less system with a cooperative narrative would be a fun compromise.
- We have to play online. We live in different parts of the US so playing in person is not an option. We play via Roll20 with Discord for voice.
The Plan:
- Use Mongoose Traveller 2e for our core system. Of the Traveller systems I’ve looked at, MgT2e seems to be the most accessible and I have all the books now thanks to the recent sale. For added context, I also have all the Classic Traveller, MegaTraveller, and Traveller5 books from Marc Miller.
- Set the game in the Pirates of Drinax setting. The internet seems to love this setting and set of adventures and, from the reading I’ve done, it does look pretty fun.
- Use Mythic Game Master Emulator 2e as our referee. This system has resonated most with me and the games I like. I tried the Zozer Solo First Edition and didn’t really enjoy it – the experience was too much of a journaling game for me. However, I now see there is a Second Edition, which I may have to check out.
- With these components in place, we’ll make characters (which is scheduled for the 30th), establish a starting premise, and jump into our sandbox.
That is my basic plan. What do you think? Are there any pitfalls that I will undoubtedly fall into? Is there something that I absolutely must try? I would be interested in hearing any feedback.
Just a few ideas. First of all, I think using Pirates of Drinax is an excellent idea because it’s a great sandbox. Second, I think it’s a great opportunity to collaboratively run your game between the three of you. You can say, “I want to do this.” One of your friends can say, “I want to do that,” and somebody else can say, “I want to do that.” Using those three things, you can build a concept. I’m really interested to hear regular updates, Maybe even a blog that each of you writes an entry into in sequence; so you write the first, the second person writes the second, the third person writes the third, so that we can really get a multiple perspective view of what’s going on and how it works. Also consider documenting by either audio recording or YouTube video or something so that you guys can reference it when you’re in the next session. Definitely record keeping is gonna be a big part of this.
Thanks, Ross. That is the cooperative style we are thinking. I think we’ll have one PC each as our main characters, which we can channel the decision making through when needed, and interpret the results together. I think it’s a good plan.
We’ll document our sessions for sure, and I’ll try to do the occasional update. For sure I can do a retrospect once we get into it. I’ll ask the guys about a blog or video capture of the sessions. That sounds like work to me but they may be into it.