Question about character generation and one shots

[FredrikVladimir]

I'm getting closer to running Traveller sometime in the next few months. Gotta feel more comfortable with the software, etc. But I'm working on it.

But before I launch a real campaign, I want to stick my toe in the water with a couple one shots. (Maybe the same one shot with different players a couple times until I get it right. Who knows.)

At any rate, as you know Traveller character generation is a bit more involved than most RPGs. Well, more involved than D&D and C&S at least. So I was looking for recommendations.

Option 1: A one shot that involved both character generation and the actual adventure. This seems like it would take a while, maybe five or six hours. That's a lot to bite off in one day.

Option 2: A one shot with pregenerated characters. Easier for me, but I should be going through character generation with players at some point. Also, the players might want some input into their characters. Maybe give them a choice from 10 to 20 pregenerated characters.

Option 3: Run two separate sessions on two days. Day one is character generation, while day two is the actual adventure. And if someone wants to bring their own character or use a pregenerated character, they can do do. (And I suppose that if a player doesn't want to go on the adventure, they get a new character by just showing up for the first session.)

Right now I'm leaning towards option three. But you have a heck of a lot more experience than I do. Do you have any thoughts?

[anstett]

For me I call them Stepping Stones.

Stepping Stone 1 is character creation.
Stepping Stone 2 is a basic adventure to show how the rule set works.

Stepping Stone 3 is the traditional start of the campaign.

So for your one shots I would separate out to #1 for one session. Then do a second session with #2 using either those characters or pre-gens so they get a taste of game play.

That way you can test out which styles of play gel between you and potential players over a couple of one shots.

Then do a "reboot" when the full campaign starts.

[Trenloe]

If the players aren't familiar with Traveller then I usually do a one-shot with pregens first - this gives them a chance to get to know the system before they can step through the character creation process. It gets people playing straight away and then when they do character creation they'll have a better idea of how the skills and characteristics work which that helps them with their decisions during character creation as they'll have a better idea of what the "on-paper" data maps to in play.