Now that our second Pathfinder campaign is wrapped up, we turn our attention to the start of our proposed Traveller/Shadowrun combo game. The setting is the Traveller universe – it is well developed and expansive and grounded enough in reality to have a reasonable awareness by the group. Plus, we can limit the exploration rate naturally, so that the players are not overwhelmed. To this, we are using the Shadowrun 6th edition rules mechanics, though after our play testing, it will likely utilize a few hold overs from Shadowrun 5 – most notably in the implementation of Edge and the way Armor functions.
We had previously tried this combo in a short one-shot adventure back in December, and overall, the group was open to the approach. I found the game fluid enough and detailed, with a solid combat system (excepting the above notes), and the setting is easily workable and adjustable to most any system. Traveller brings the semi-realistic sci-fi, while Shadowrun brings the fantasy element, and both can work together as a grim and dirty setting for character and story challenges.
We will be continuing to use Foundry VTT for the game, though it will be limited to private communication and references – since there is no pre-configured game system for this combination (and I have no desire to dig into that level of coding), there isn’t really a good option otherwise. And our players have expressed that they missed rolling physical dice instead of staring at a screen. This helps, much of the adventurers will likely be more theatre of the mind format rather than battle maps (I am sure they will come out at times), which also helps minimize the amount of prep work that I have to do.
Our current cast is for 6 players, focused on our adult players who had interest. I do not have much interest in expanding that group, but it likely will happen anyway with our typical players.
Session 0 for character and background development is scheduled for March 17. Now my focus comes down to finalizing the lifepath mechanics, and populating any house rules adjustments we will be making. Be sure to check back to this space for our updates, and of course watch our YouTube channel for live-play game sessions.
