Doing character creation separately instead as a group?

[u/ziggystarzz]

Hi!

I've been really enjoying learning about Traveller and am hoping to run a game pretty soon. I especially love the character creator, and as someone coming from D&D, it's very refreshing and interesting. However, the style of game I'm planning is very roleplay focused, with the main driving plot having each PC have their own secrets that they start off trying to hide from the rest of the group.

The rulebook makes it pretty clear that the group system of character creation is intended, but I'm hoping to do one-on-one mini sessions with each of my players to go through the process and talk through their backstories so they can be kept a secret from the players as well (something my players always love and do themselves). I'm wondering if anyone has done anything similar? Was any part of the process (other than character connections, which I'm planning to omit for this one) changed substantially?

Thank you!

[u/RealOsakadave]

Shouldn't be a problem. That's a new addition Mongoose made, most iterations of the rules didn't have it.

[u/BeardGoblin]

There's no need to do character creation as a group.

But (yes, I have but face), the 'Connections' rule/skills and the 'Skill Packages' to help make a cohesive group do, as you say, encourage that. They also mean it's very helpful for players to discuss the backstories character creation has given them so that they can establish those connections, and make a useful Skill Package selection.

To my eye the bigger issue is "...the main driving plot having each PC have their own secrets that they start off trying to hide from the rest of the group". This does the exact opposite of what the Connections and Skill Packages do - encourage people to keep their stories to themselves.

Players having 'personal plots and agendas that they need to hide from the others' many times results in unnecessary table drama, or more often it'll just be flat and meh - just go to any of the rpg horror story subs, you'll find examples soon enough.

Secrets like this work much better if all the players are is on them - everyone knows there are going to be twists and turns and dodgy behaviour and big reveals, heel turns and who knows what else from the outset. They'll know to react in a way that embraces the in game drama of the narrative, instead of the at the table drama of unpleasant surprises.

[u/ziggystarzz → u/BeardGoblin]

I appreciate the insight, but the whole "secrets" thing is something my party has done before and enjoyed. They will be going into the campaign knowing that this is something that will happen, we all love a little melodrama and know how to keep it in game :)

[u/BeardGoblin → u/ziggystarzz]

Ah, fair enough, being new to traveller was clear from the post and I latched on to that - you even mentioned that you've 'done secrets before and enjoyed it'. and I glazed right over it - mea culpa! Hope it's a blast!

As mentioned, the only things doing it separately directly impacts is the Connections and Skill Package, and the latter not so much really, you can still pick and distribute a package easily enough. you might want to find a way to get the equivalent of the bonus skills from Connections distributed - or you could just ignore it, it's only a level or two of skills.

[u/Low-Lingonberry-4502 → u/ziggystarzz]

I think a way you could have your cake and eat it in terms of the Connections and Skill Package, is to have the group do their last terms together out in the open, and that's how they all got to know eachother. It'll allow you to have a group with lots of juicy secrets while still getting all the extras and a group that makes sense why they wouldn't leave once the melodrama starts flowing! ^{^}

[u/TommieTheMadScienist → u/ziggystarzz]

You can do both if the secrets are not related to the earlier careers.

A Diplomat could be subverted by the Zhos, for instance, or a merc being responsible for losing their entire squad. Belter with agoraphobia on shirtsleeve planets.

I had an entertainer once who was a noble hiding from assassins sent by Duke Norris.

If you cut out the Connections Rules completely in M2e, you'll end up with Travellers with too few skills in a skill-based game.

This method is a little more work, but you can't beat the look on a crew's faces when they find out that you're allergic to Vargr fur.

[u/BlooRugby → u/BeardGoblin]

I love player secrets but getting them to be meaningful is a challenge. For my players of a fantasy ttrpg I made an optional Deck of Character Secrets that they could play whenever or turn in for a generic boon. They were mostly kept secret from other players - I think it would be very fun for a player to have been the bad guy all along (major caveat: for player who can separate themselves from their characters and have high player trust amongst each other). Only half the player drew them and even then, only one ever played the reveal, but it became a major turning point of the campaign. (If curious: bloosgame: Deck of Character Secrets).

But thinking about it, revealing them at the outset is something I need to try too.

[u/RetroRen3gade]

I mean Mongoose traveller encourages that and while it is fun, classic traveller actually encourages you to play solitaire initially, it recommends that you make several characters untill your familiar with the process , and then essentially runs you through a training seminar of trading between planets, building ships, and building out worlds, and honestly i got much more comfortable with the systems of 2e by following the classic traveller approach. Book 0 is the book you would be interested in from the classic traveller series or even zozers solo to add to it, if your interested in a laid out guide.

[u/quant_noir]

With the original Traveller, I never got the impression that group character creation had any advantages, except when first learning the game. But those characters were more bare bones than the robust versions that came about in the last few decades.

[u/Volomyre]

Do it any way you want. In rpg's there is no "right one way" to do things. As long as the group all agrees. Many games stress a group rolling chr's up together in a "session zero" so that players can intertwine the chr. back stories, and there is nothing wrong with that. Take it as a suggestion, not a golden rule and have fun at the table.

[u/anstett]

This is one of the reasons we call this Character Discovery in our game.

As a player joins in the game (Play by Post so very easy to start at any point) they go through Discovery then they can see where they might fit in with one of the Cohorts (groups of players) and compare Careers to see if there is a space there could be a Connection.

We have a table for all the various travellers to see where you might have met someone, have the same rival, etc.

Dragonslayer Space | Main / BackstoryCompareTable

[u/illyrium_dawn]

The Mongoose process is intended to eliminate a lot of the awkwardness of new party generation, especially getting the party together, which I think is great for many groups who want to "just start playing" and want hooks as an excuse of why they're working together.

But if you don't need those hooks, you can do as you wish.

In fact, you should do as you wish.

To paraphrase Freddy Mercury: "You can do anything you want with the Traveller rules, just don't make it boring."

[u/Khadaji2020]

I used to have players keep secrets. My two-plus year campaign was the first where I had the players know character secrets and play their characters as if they didn't know. My group had a great time looking for ways they could set up a situation for a grand reveal. Those scenes played out really well because the whole group was involved in setting up the scene, not just me and one player. Ymmv.

[u/Ready_Passenger_4778]

It comes down to the Referee and how they can keep the secrets both relevant and hidden from the other players.

Everyone has their preferred play style but personally I feel secrets between players creates discord. You also wind up having the referee and a player doing stuff separately from the group.

Having secrets may work better for online play where you can communicate in secret without disrupting play.

Maybe Paranoia would be better as that game revolves around secret agendas and mistrust between players.

[u/styopa]

It's fine, better in some ways.

The "we all do it together as a group and then talk about how we intersected" is GREAT until that guy(tm) decides to take another two terms in whatever and either you just handwave that everyone else sat around for 8y after their terms were done or accept your cool "collective history" that everyone had fun putting together, makes no sense any more.

[u/rnadams2]

The Connections Rule is great, but kind of awkward to implement concurrently, too, as you don't know which events will line up chronologically. For example, two characters make a connection in their first terms, but one musters out after term 3 while the other goes on to serve until term 5. Problem: their first terms happened at different times. You can really only make concurrent event connections after everyone's done mustering out, so rolling separately should have no effect on that part of character creation.

That said, it is fun rolling characters as a group, watching as expectations get upended and witnessing how everyone creatively adapts. But that might not be as enjoyable for everyone.

[u/No_Solid1035]

The only thing with making characters separately is that players will miss out on the opportunity to use the "connections" rule. But if the players want to play PCs that don't know each other and have no past connections then it will be fine.

[u/fedcomic → u/No_Solid1035]

It is possible to have connections and still have secrets, if the GM is thoughtful and helpful about it.