Pirates of Drinax | Open-World Sci-Fi | Beginner Friendly

Creating your character

In Traveller, character creation is a fun group activity, frequently referred to as "the best part of the game." I'll walk the group through the process during Session 0. You'll each end up with a developed character who is fun to play and has a built-in backstory that connects them to the other characters—you can focus on who your character is, instead of trying to optimize stats. For players joining the game in progress, I'll take you though character creation one on one—ideally some time before the session begins, but if that's a problem, I can be flexible. The first thing we'll do in your first session is define your character's connections to the other party members so you can smoothly join the party.

Preparing for the session

• You'll need free accounts at both Discord and The Forge (forge-vtt.com). If you need help setting those up, message me. • You'll need some way to participate in voice chat on Discord—a headset mic would be perfect. • We won't be using webcams. • You'll need a desktop or laptop computer to access the game on Foundry. The only software you'll need is whatever web browser you prefer. • If you're new to Traveller, I'll provide links to tutorial videos.

What Call Me Gary brings to the table

• The massive, 600-page Pirates of Drinax campaign—full of enough possibilities that you can take this game in any direction you please • My own original adventures to make this campaign fully unique • The Traveller core rules and a bunch of supplements • Rules tutorials to get players new to Traveller up to speed quickly and easily • Experience playing Traveller going all the way back to the 1980s • Discord and Foundry servers • Star charts and encounter maps • A relaxed, easygoing atmosphere • A commitment to making sure you have fun. Traveller is a roleplaying-first game, so I'll be using a lot of Theater of the Mind except when combat or exploration is involved. This is a long-term, open-world game, and the party will have a great deal of agency in deciding where they go and what they do. But whatever the party decides, I'll be sure to prepare an interesting adventure to accommodate it—there will be no aimless, boring sandbox wandering. Fun is the highest priority. If the rules are slowing things down or making the game less fun, we'll break them. For those unfamiliar with Traveller, it leans toward the harder, more realistic end of the science fiction spectrum. The characters are less over-the-top than in some other RPGs. The style has been called "ordinary joes in space." It's a bit grittier than a run-of-the-mill RPG, but it isn't grim or horrific. New players will be able to learn the rules as we play—they aren't very difficult to master.

Homebrew rules

Most of the rules original to the table are little tweaks to existing rules, to make things easier on player characters and provide a little variety. All house rules will be on the campaign's Obsidian Portal page for easy reference. I also use a bunch of official variant rules from the Traveller Companion (most notably Luck and Broad Skills). All of these rules will also be posted to Obsidian Portal, so everyone will know exactly what rules we are using and how they work, whether they own the books or not.

How Call Me Gary creates a safe table

This is a long-term campaign and could encompass many kinds of stories. The content warnings below list elements that will absolutely be included, but if there are specific things that make you uncomfortable, make sure you discuss them with me—I want to make sure this becomes the right campaign for you, and not one you'll regret playing.