Wanderer: A fantasy version of Traveller and 3 questions

[ghashsnaga]

There are several version of this kickin around on the internet. So I am creating my own version (Book 1 mostly done) under the OGL.

One of the things I am adding to the beginning is the three questions. But I need help. So how would you answer these questions for Traveller?

What is the game about?
How does it go about doing that?
What behaviors does it reward?


The start of my take on it for Wanderer:

What is the game about?
The game is about people (even whole societies) that are wanderers by choice, by fate, or by force. It's about creating an atmosphere of loss, treading on older failed civilizations, wondering where did everyone go, and grim adventure.

How does it go about doing that?
Traveller (that game this is based on) does not really address this directly. Some of this is encoded in the random tables but most is up the methods used in play.

What behaviors does it reward?


And I could use some help with answering these questions. Especially #3. My memory of #3 was survival and growing old. But I think there is a better answer.

I think I am on the right track.

Thanks,
ara

[Abkajud]

I'm intrigued by:

loss, treading on older failed civilizations, wondering where did everyone go, and grim adventure.

- it reminds me of Adventurer mode in Dwarf Fortress and the "In Decline" mechanic in the recent board-game release, Smallworld.
A world like this deserves to have monsters - we're focused on places where the glory days are over, and wild beasts roam the land. Cool!
Rewards for behavior can be a tricky thing to answer - it depends on CA quite a bit, even just to define what constitutes "reward". Living long enough to see more pathos-filled, failed societies could be a reward in itself (Sim, arguably, uses Exploration itself as a payoff), but that asks the question, "What's the behavior?"

In that kind of situation, I suppose a really pure Sim agenda could create a pleasant feedback loop - you keep Exploring, and doing so in a certain way (pushing the plot forward, or simply surviving) rewards you ... by letting you Explore some more!

If mechanics are strongly centered around the effects of loss, crushed pride, dead dreams, or even kindling a spark of something new, then you can get into more Narrativist territory. But be careful here - if the PCs themselves are designed to focus on what their characters are running away from/avoiding/trying to deal with, then you can (at one extreme end of this design path) go all Wraith: the Oblivion, with each PC having a somewhat-to-very exclusive, individualized storyline thingy. A few factions or big story threads, interwoven between whom you encounter and who the PCs are, could keep things fairly tight while still getting the players to care about each others' characters.

As an example of going Wraith, PCs might have a Dead Dream - a cause, homeland, culture, or faction they were attached to, and now have the chance to go out in a blaze of glory for the sake of honoring that Dream. The "Wolverines" in the movie Red Dawn are, arguably, an example of this. But this is only one way you could go with Wanderer, and I'm mentioning it more as something to be wary of, or not to do, rather than a suggestion per se.

Your concept sounds like tons of fun! Neat!