Mongoose Traveller 1st Edition (Interest Check)

[LizzieV]

I have a pile of ideas I need to refine into getting an actual game together but the issue I have currently is which to work on and get something going as soon as I can. I'm scratching running my fantasy itch but I also have my sci-fi itch that needs more attention. I would like you to respond to the ideas below, some or all, rate them or don't if you want as to what is more or less interesting. I'd like to know why you prefer or don't prefer different ideas as well since some things might be addressable if needed and some are just a matter of taste.

As a side note, before pressing on, as a sentient coffee cup who will have to play all sorts of NPCs anyway I do not care what your tag is. If a writer tag matters to you during a game then you may become uncomfortable in the game since I will not cater to those concerns or be taking them into account when doing things.

This section will be edited if more questions come up or people have interesting ideas that might need to be addressed just so I can check a single post area for my convenience. If you think something isn't listed that is important to discuss tell me and I can add it to the list.

Themes

The themes listed are based on the skill packages in the traveller book but aren't necessarily the one that would be chosen. These can be mixed up together or explored in different depths. What themes do you like? Which ones would you want to mix and match and how? Is there something you don't like about the sounds of certain themes?

Exploration - There are unexplored or forgotten planets on the edges of known space. This theme would center around travelling to unexplored star systems and exploring the planets there. This can go in several ways, sort of science focused with time spent researching, scanning, analyzing, and dealing with unusual readings/events/samples, on the boots focused where it's exploring unusual old ruins, lost cities, or unusual geological features on foot to get a proper survey of the area, it could also go with needing to get samples, land, and explore more habitable areas in the case of a search for colonization locations or resources that would be useful for future exploitation.

Colonization - These would focus on getting colonization locations cleared, working with the colonists to get an area set up, buildings constructed, local politics, and any issues weather or wildlife might cause with getting the place up and stable on a schedule.

Mercenary - Muscle and Minds for hire. This can vary between military to bodyguard operations depending on what is needed being either focused on ship or personal combat. Possible hires for any odd jobs or investigations but the premise would be the characters are always working for patrons rather than themselves in typically dangerous jobs.

Trading - Money, money, money. A game focused on trading would go into a bit more depth than the typical trading in the book, focused on making contacts, negotiating deals, finding and offloading goods legal or not. This could also be the characters working on a trading ship rather than owning it themselves if that's desired but regardless the main focus would be acquiring and offloading cargo.

Travelling - This one focuses on travelling around space, on your ship or others, visiting different worlds and getting to know the other people on your trips. In this game it's about learning of other cultures and then also talking to and meeting other travellers. You'll spend one to several weeks aboard a ship with people, get to know and talk to the crew and other passengers.

Pirates - This one is the players are Pirates or heavily involved on a pirate ship somehow. This would deal with the criminal side of things, attacking ships, evading the law, and trying to keep your ship together in one piece while you try for that score to set you up in luxury for the rest of your lives.

Sandbox or Directed - This is a big part of how the game flows. In a more directed mode I will be telling you what you are expected to do, such as 'go explore the planets in this order and report back in case of X or Y'. Player freedom is more of how to accomplish the mission than a question of being able to select what to do. In a more sandbox style game I provide the setting, discuss character goals and motivations, and then set an array of options up for people to pursue for mini-adventures or ignore if they want and just start moving about the universe.

The likely desire is some sort of combination of the above elements, anything from pirates who attack ships and steal cargo then have to find a way to offload it and deal with trading for supplies all the way to a group of traders who love dealing in cargo and getting to know the passengers on their ship between deals or a set of frontier explorers who discover new worlds, return, and then help a colony get up and running enough to be reasonably off the ground then heading to the next planet or even a mercenary group exploring new worlds and claiming them, trying to fight to form their own empire in unknown territory and needing to barter/fight/deal their way into getting planets and industry set up so they can be a self-sufficient military force with their own economic hub to form a mini-empire as part of the imperium.

Rules and Books

I need opinions on the following or alternate suggestions.

Allowed Books - Typically I start with the core book only and slowly introduce extra equipment and rules as needed, both so I can describe the effects of just different things, and to keep people who do not have all the books able to play. The SRD does have high guard and mercenary rules in there so I'll consider adding those in or other books if everyone involved wants to further expand (equipment catalog and so forth). I don't have all the books so the hard limit is what I have available as well as everyone else. The goal is to not exclude people because they are missing part of the rules.

On Connections - I can be hands on or off with this depending on player interest. With a hands off approach you all form your own connections as part of the character process with a restriction that there must be a way to link every character to every other one through some number of steps. In other words if I have six players I do not want two isolated groups of three all using the connection links. I also want to have some sort of story (a few sentences to paragraphs if you like) as to why the connection exists and why you learned the skills that you did when you got the connection.

The hands on approach would be I would assign all the connection links and possibly even which life events were related to them and then the players have to figure out how it happened. This adds some randomness to the process since you won't be planning who to get connections to and I can include link ups that I think might prove interesting.

Starships - This is really theme dependent but depending on the theme I often find the starship mortgage to be worthless one way or another if it's not done carefully. Either it's paid off trivially or it's an insurmountable obstacle. Depending on the theme I'll be discussing and/or altering this to match what is appropriate. The same with aged ships. For some themes I may assign a ship to the party or the party might not have one they own. What do you think about that? What themes would you want or not want to deal with a lot of the hassle of a ship with?

Aliens - While I'd prefer to see more humanoids I have no issue with alien races, even new ones not in a book. Mechanically they'll be using the normal character creation system rather than worry about side alien race specific books and so I can more easily balance things out by adding or subtracting different options to keep races roughly on an even footing. So, Vargr, Aslan, Space Tentacle Monster, Hiver, Human, Uplifted Anthro, or whatever. Go ahead and pitch the idea. Making your own race might require more talking than a pre-existing one since I'll have questions about

Character Creation - So default I tend to favor the typical random character creation. Alternatives though, are something where you could either pick the skill on the list you roll on or something to keep a bit of the randomness where you can optionally add or subtract 1 each time or a limited number of times for rolls made during the process. In the case of a limited number of rolls it would probably be something like 'any non-stat 2d6' roll could be modified using an expendable pool of points making it a resource you'd want to decide to use with any given roll. I'm not sure what the career limitation would be yet but I usually put it at somewhere from 4-6 as the maximum.

Regarding Anagathics - In an effort to ensure that players don't have to find a zillion different photographs and can play characters that look like they want as well as be able to travel the imperium without aging out of the game I like to make Anagathics a thing that is not illegal. They may be expensive, depending on the theme, but purchasable at any A or B class star port. It ensure if I need to time-skip I don't age everyone ten years out of no where and people aren't playing the character they envisioned or die out from age.

Regarding the RP Location - I could see things going anywhere from the Bon to the EX board depending on what people want. It's hard to do some military games or adding horror to exploration without including gory bits. I'd need player buy in if they wanted to have things like pirates and NC content or whatever else on a group and individual basis to ensure people can participate in some or all of select types of scenes.

Regarding Hobbits - I couldn't resist.

Naughty Bits

Sexual Content - I tend to like to have sexual content in a seperate thread from main rp threads in games that do not stay in a single location (single location being games where you'd have threads for rooms people move between rather than rp and sex threads). Typically this means a total of three threads, or more as needed, with an ooc thread, a main rp thread, and a sex thread to ensure that some content doesn't interfere with others.

Sex or Gender - This is less a commentary and just a declarative. Pick your sex and/or gender as you wish for your character within the confines of what that race can do (which can be a lot considering the amount of science available). If you want to be male, female, shemale, hermaphroditic, asexual, spore based, or a mass of tentacles or whatever else just talk it over with me and I'll try to accommodate you so long as it's not something overly distracting. Basically the difference between 'Yeah, sure I have non-standard organs. So?' and 'The game is now about me because I'm a constantly lactating multi-dicked satyr nudist with nuts so large I need help to walk who culturally is always masturbating at people'. One is fine and doesn't cause me to have NPCs blast you into oblivion and the other requires steps because it's clearly trying to alter the theme of what is going on. On the off chance it matters, you can very much play nudist PCs if you want but you will be expected to adhere to the laws of the planet you are on regarding that and I'd recommend taking safety precautions when appropriate as consequences are a thing. Being a nudist does not mean I won't describe your inevitable demise for going on a space walk without a suit because you deserve to be free or that the local police/other party members won't take steps about the situation.

[Triggvi]

I have not play traveler in a long time. It would be alot of fun to play. I tend to like sand box style play more than directed. I am good either way as long we have flexibility to be creative about how we do stuff.

Mercenary, merchant or even pirate would appeal to me, but I am open fun alternatives.

I do have all the traveler books somewhere so if people need any I might be able to help.

[wander]

I am in so deep you'd need surgery to get me out.  ;D

I'm pretty cool with most of the concepts, my greatest love is for exploration, so being on a ship and jumping from system to system and checking out what each world holds would please me greatly. As such I enjoy Scout play, though really free trading and mercing works just as well. Having a mix of Trek and Firefly styling would be pretty neat.

I'd like to think I'm pretty chill otherwise and I'm glad for the random character generation, as I think it brings a bit more fun to the game.

I have a shedton of the 1st edition books in pdf myself, though I understand limiting it to the corebook at the start (which is fine, the corebook has a shedton of stuff on it's own, before bringing the others in).

[National Acrobat]

Exploration would be high on my list, then maybe trading. I love exploring and finding ruins, etc and trying to figure what they mean and who created them, plus there's just something about discovering a new system and getting to map it out, etc.

I've played a lot of classic traveler, but for Mongoose all I have is the 194 page core book, which is fine with me.

I'm not much into the non-con stuff though, so I'd probably not be interested in a game where that happens.

[Guancyto]

And here I was just hankering for a sci-fi game.

All for random character generation, and I like sound of exploration, traveling and trading.

[Phaia]

Traveller is a game I played way back in junior high with my uncle as the GM. He had way of teaching us how to think out a plan and make it work and not just rush shooting like we did in our D&D games. It was tough but I have fond memories.

I have copy of 1st Mongoose and I am interested in this. My preferences would be Mercenary, Trading, Exploring. I did have an idea... Bounty Hunters or troubleshooters!

I have a character idea. How do you want us to build the characters. Standard 2d6 x6 any order... one thing we did way back was rolled 2d6 x8 and took the 6 we wanted.

Phaia

[LizzieV]

Part of the interest check is not only to see preferences but also for other things like what you are asking about character generation. By standard my thoughts are 2d6 x6 but other suggestions are welcome. Some of this interest check is to also see if enough people are interested in it that I should do a more carefully constructed single party adventure or if I'll be tossing people together with a sandbox and juggling subgroups around.

In addition I'm trying to keep some things separate, like NA doesn't want any non-con so I'd have to keep any references to that out in places that he'd be in or in a thread that he'd be posting in to maintain comfort levels with everyone. From what I'm seeing so far what it looks like is EX for horror plot stuff (gore desc) and something more akin to bon-exotic for naughty bits based on what players have expressed interest thus far.

Actual recruitment and hammering the details down for character creation haven't quite happened yet since this is to figure out if enough people are interested to build a game towards a particular direction or if I should build a sandbox for people to play in.

[Triggvi]

I am good most anything except hard core horror which I tend to get bored of quickly. I am not a fan if underage.

Exploration, mercenary, trader, Firefly type ideas and such are all good.

[wander]

I am fine with all manner of things including Extreme, things I wouldn't want are against site rules. I'm not a fan of the glorification of organised crime, I dislike stories which make being in a street gang or involved with the mafia something that is awesome. I am fine though if the crew works for a patron involved with such, if that makes sense.

Character generation is fine to me as described in the corebook, no real issues there. I do kind of expect if I really roll a duff character up (low stats across the board, very few skills, won't be a help in any way to the party) that maybe the GM can offer a reroll to something fairly awful rolled. That would of course be GM fiat though for those special cases where the dice really do hinder a character.

I'd have a preference for some sort of adventure thrown my way, sorta... I'd be happy with 'You're on a scouting mission, check out that system over yonder' and then nothing else. I figure as my character forms I can figure out who they are, how they relate to the others in the game and what their motivation(s) and aspiration(s) might be.

[Phaia]

I am good with most any of the sexual aspects of the forums. Most standard no no's apply like underage toilet etc. Of course the Traveller ships are small and are at least a week in jump. One has to be able to handle all modes of under dressed in a situation like that. Just because a character might like to be very skimpy dressed or nude when in jump...you know how those scouts are after all..
<<looks innocent>> O:) O:)

Phaia

[Triggvi]

That is a good point about having lots of time in jump space. Lol

[Triggvi]

The amount of interest this old game has created is encouraging. I used to play this with my dad when I was a kid.

[Dream Lover]

Do you mind Psionic characters?

[wander]

About interest; It does look very hopeful.  :-)

Looks like people seem to be more or less on the same page for wants, theme-wise, also.

Oh and above mentioned Bounty Hunting... I really dig that idea. :) Reminds me of Strontium Dog, which used the Mongoose Trav rule-set.

[Chanticleer]

There seems to be a very strong inclination towards Exploration/Trade expressed so far, with some Mercenary sidelines. That suits me just fine, particularly if the exploration is less 'We are official scout service members on active duty' and more 'we're a tramp freighter going off the charts in hopes of finding new markets' (shades of the opening scenes of Nate & Hayes...Be careful who you run guns to!).

I do want to second Phaia's ideas about bounty hunting/troubleshooting...Of course, these can be classic sidelines of the popular 'Keep the ship out of debt' kind of plot which made 'Tales from the Golden Monkey' and 'Firefly' so delightful. It encourages a certain amount of whitish-grey-hat scoundrelry...I think that's a word? It will suffice for my purposes, you know what I'm saying, so it's effective communication!

Not really interested in Colonization, since it tends to stick you on one frontier world with a very limited set of neighbors. Similarly, not that enthralled by dedicated piracy (as opposed to *COUGH* opportunism) because if it's pursued as a primary occupation it tends to prevent engaging in many other forms of encounter.

In any case, a little exploration, a little trading (preferably of legal, insured goods but whatever the market will bear), a little legal salvage operations, perhaps, maybe some passenger trips, "salvage," bounty-hunting, smuggling...Anything to stay one step ahead of repossession and impound or outstanding warrants.

At risk of pushing us into Ex territory (but hey, if we go there I'm confident everyone will respect everyone's choices), I'm tempted to chuck an Irilitok Vargr into the mix. Why Irilitok? Because GIANT PUPPY EYES.

System-wise, I'm fine with 2d6*7. Otherwise I'd at least advocate for letting 1s be rerolled.

I prefer mission-style games to sandboxes, personally. In my limited experience, sandboxes are more likely to result either in a tug-o-war between players about where to go/what to do, people feeling their focus never gets addressed, or people not having any idea where to go (regardless of clues). Missions don't necessarily mean working for some organization or government as peons; I'm very, very fond of the free-trader struggling to stay afloat motif (in case that weren't already obvious!). I suppose sandboxing some of the time with occasional missions is an option, also? Not many people have said much about this part of your query.

The Connections question is very interesting! I'm half inclined to ask if you'd be willing to do the hands-on approach and then let us tweak/modify anything anyone's really not comfortable with. It sort of suits the whole 'random chargen' that Traveller is justly (in)famous for.

One way around the starship mortgage problem is to instead make it a starship upkeep problem. Debts here and there, frequent repairs to try to keep systems in top condition (with gradually mounting problems if they aren't maintained). There are really limits to what an engineer can do between ports, no matter how good your machine shop is...Keel replacement and engine overhaul are not the kind of thing you do at sea.

I also like the concept of the separate thread for sexual content.

[wander]

There seems to be a very strong inclination towards Exploration/Trade expressed so far, with some Mercenary sidelines. That suits me just fine, particularly if the exploration is less 'We are official scout service members on active duty' and more 'we're a tramp freighter going off the charts in hopes of finding new markets' (shades of the opening scenes of Nate & Hayes...Be careful who you run guns to!).

I do want to second Phaia's ideas about bounty hunting/troubleshooting...Of course, these can be classic sidelines of the popular 'Keep the ship out of debt' kind of plot which made 'Tales from the Golden Monkey' and 'Firefly' so delightful. It encourages a certain amount of whitish-grey-hat scoundrelry...I think that's a word? It will suffice for my purposes, you know what I'm saying, so it's effective communication!

Not really interested in Colonization, since it tends to stick you on one frontier world with a very limited set of neighbors. Similarly, not that enthralled by dedicated piracy (as opposed to *COUGH* opportunism) because if it's pursued as a primary occupation it tends to prevent engaging in many other forms of encounter.

In any case, a little exploration, a little trading (preferably of legal, insured goods but whatever the market will bear), a little legal salvage operations, perhaps, maybe some passenger trips, "salvage," bounty-hunting, smuggling...Anything to stay one step ahead of repossession and impound or outstanding warrants.

Nailed it...

One way around the starship mortgage problem is to instead make it a starship upkeep problem. Debts here and there, frequent repairs to try to keep systems in top condition (with gradually mounting problems if they aren't maintained). There are really limits to what an engineer can do between ports, no matter how good your machine shop is...Keel replacement and engine overhaul are not the kind of thing you do at sea.

Yep, whilst some parties find the ship payments and maintenance to be a chore, it can actually add some direction to a campaign... I am specifically thinking of the one episode of Firefly where Mal had to fix that one engine part whilst the crew were sent off in the shuttles. I find it also gives the engineer something to do outside of readying the ship for Jump.

Also, fast-talking on missed late though totally incoming ship payments adds some character to the party too. Though overall when I've played Traveller, if the free trading doesn't make ends meet, that's when searching out a Patron who needs some disposable ship crew to do something less than legal for them for the rest of the month's payment tends to happen (read: guided adventure outside the otherwise sandboxy free trading). ;)

[Phaia]

The thing I like about Traveller is a different feel for the galaxy at large. None of the warp drives that send ya zipping to distance planets in a very short time. Nor ignoring the basics of interstellar socaity. Here everything is still new and fresh but with old worlds as well. I always felt the closest was Firefly. But another that has the feel is Dark Matter though there they have a nasty ship [think corsiar] but travel times felt longer. [Until the last season finale that went weird]

Phaia

[Triggvi]

one thing that is nice about traveler is that all the planets are different and locally governed. Being a criminal in one system will not automatically make you criminal in another system unless the imperials are involved then things get hairy, but still local governing means bribes can be paid to ignore or handwave the characters in. interstellar politics can make you a criminal in one system and a hero in the next.

I was a big firefly fan too. I enjoyed dark matter until the last season.

[LizzieV]

Do you mind Psionic characters?

I am fine with Psionic characters. Just be aware there that a lot of worlds that are not so you'll have to be prepared to hide such activity. In addition you may or may not wish to determine with other players if you will need to hide it or not and if you all want to make that an inter-party plot point.

If you want to have as much psi strength as possible you may want to start with institute testing at the very beginning and depending on how you end up rolling you might owe some interesting people some creds :-3



I think the main thing I'm going to fiddle with is some of the speculative trading if that becomes a thing. Pure mechanics wise in every game in any sector that had planets just using the by the book speculative trading rules inside the first 8 weeks of owning a far-trader I usually end up with a ship paid off and a couple hundred million credits due to how the random stuff works. Hauling cargo or trying to sell some lower end goods to mysterious buyers (unloading the cattle herd in firefly) for a decent payday seems more interesting to me than making a few rolls and ending up with having paid like 25% market price for goods and selling them for 400% market fairly consistently with no rp involved. Trading should be an interesting job to make the scratch to keep things going rather than a few die rolls and infinite money.

As for the connections, yes I am willing to alter things people are not comfortable with when I'm doing a hands on approach there. The goal is to provide interesting options and ensure a connected group and if something is getting in the way of that then it would need to be addressed.

I do like the idea of the upkeep being a thing. I'll ponder how to make it work which might require some leeway during play as things get tweaked. If a houserule proves to be unfun then it can always be changed after all.

Regarding Irilitok Vargr, that would just be exotic not extreme from what I know of them. They are sentient creatures and as such do not qualify as animals. If that is not the case then I would need to know so I can take that into account.

I think system-wise I may go with 2d6*7 drop the lowest roll and arrange your six stats to taste with a total minimum bonus for status being +0 added together before any aging or other adjustments are done.

I suppose this brings up a particular question: In a lot of shows there is sometimes a hierarchy (firefly has mal for example) where there is someone who is a kind of captain figure even if command might get challenged occasionally (Jayne) or some missions might be on a voluntary basis ("Do you want to defend the prostitutes of this place? There's no pay in it but they really need so" "Hey, you had me at prostitutes" sort of thing). Would you want to go in where there is a person sort of designated as a kind of captain roll, a person who is the engineer, and so forth or just deal with it like a normal party and resolve it however the group wants?

Both have some advantages, in a more directed sandbox style where there are 1-3 missions presented sometimes there is a discussion but ultimately the job picked can be just selected to end the debate and move forward because time is money however such a scheme might make some people feel as though they are being told what to do and chafe at such things.

The other way works but typically that ends up with a lot of extra discussion (not that that is bad) and arguing about what to do can take a lot of extra time in some cases.

The interest level is pretty good though so I'm thinking I'll be setting people up on the edges of some known space and then generating a random sector nearby that needs to be explored giving some options for both exploration, trade, bounty hunting, and other options. I want to avoid the core worlds and more densely explored areas since those tend to be significantly more stable and I'm getting the feeling the mixture of some stable worlds but on the frontier of wild space is the feeling desired.

[Triggvi]

Here is an idea. We can have the captain as more of a job and less of a power until himself. The crew including the captain own the ship so the crew votes on major direction and the captain makes it so.

[Phaia]

During the heyday of the Pirate era. Most captains were elected by the crew. Ships were surprisingly a democracy when it came to matters of loot and various things BUT in battle the captain was the commander and his orders were followed exactly. Several well known pirates became captain by being elected by the crew!!

So That may work here!...The crew elects a captain to helm them but can at times make trades they want or seek out things...yet when the fecal matter hits the spinning blades we follow the lead of the captain.
I have played in ONE  well played military game that had clear defined officers and leadership...most people do not want to play a game where there characters has to obey certain rules...<Why can't I kick the door in and spray and pray??>>

I was reading over the races and was wondering...are there elves in Traveller [ie pointed ears, exotic slanted eyes, slender build, longer life spans ---I had to ask]

Phaia

[Triggvi]

During the heyday of the Pirate era. Most captains were elected by the crew. Ships were surprisingly a democracy when it came to matters of loot and various things BUT in battle the captain was the commander and his orders were followed exactly. Several well known pirates became captain by being elected by the crew!!

So That may work here!...The crew elects a captain to helm them but can at times make trades they want or seek out things...yet when the fecal matter hits the spinning blades we follow the lead of the captain.
I have played in ONE  well played military game that had clear defined officers and leadership...most people do not want to play a game where there characters has to obey certain rules...<Why can't I kick the door in and spray and pray??>>

Phaia

I got that idea from the pirate era. You got in one.

[Chanticleer]

I really feel that speculative trading is LOADS more fun when it's roleplayed than ROLLplayed, so I absolutely agree with your idea there, Lizzie.

I also think that connections that are uncomfortable might be a useful part of the crew dynamic. None of those 'crew of a ship' or 'people in a team' shows EVER have a team where everyone is always happy and agrees with everyone else all of the time. There's a reason for that. Low-level social conflict can drive amazing character interactions (given that this is Elliquiy I fully expect that sooner or later there'll be mutual hatesex).  But absolutely if something really looks like it'll be a problem for someone, that should be malleable. Which reminds: just like some people don't like psionics, a LOT of humaniti has reasons to utterly hate Vargr. There are definitely (many) worlds where a Vargr character might be better off staying hidden aboard ship (but where's the fun in that? And how many times have we seen 'You stay aboard ship so you don't get in trouble.' *everyone else proceeds to get into trouble* *person stuck aboard ship goes and bails them out* *EVEN MORE TROUBLE ensues*? It's a great dynamic!).

I think that upkeep might not even need to be systematized. It might just be a 'Hey, time for a new mission objective. Uh-oh. Part X has worn out and there aren't any available for sale here...NOW what do you do?' If you don't do it all the time, and have different dynamics/solutions (i.e., the 'impossible to find' is very different from 'we need money to purchase' or 'X has the only one and wants a special (illegal) favor for it') then it won't get old, especially with other sideplots in between. Put another way, if the game survives long enough for it to get old, I will be happy.

Irilitok Vargr are definitely sentient! And more 'humanish' than most Vargr. I guess as a noob here at E I just didn't correctly understand the difference between Exotic and Extreme, sorry!

Ships (and military units) have commanders for a reason: In an emergency, sometimes there's no time for debate and someone has to make the decisions and call the shots IMMEDIATELY.  Which doesn't prevent flexibility. Historically there are examples of organizations where there was a military commander and a 'peacetime' commander or 'diplomatic' envoy.

I like Phaia's note about pirate crews (Hey, Phaia! You're in Florida? Ever been to Gasparilla?). It's accurate, and it historically works pretty well in some situations. I will note for the record that, no matter how you set up the command structure, one of the things about Vargr is that they are always, ALWAYS trying to work on their place in 'the pack' (whatever they are interpreting 'the pack' to be). So depending on the current dynamics of the situation, you can expect a Vargr to be pushily aggressive (or even literally 'challenging!') or entirely meek and compliant. An elected captain is DEFINITELY going to be confusing to a Vargr...Which could make for perfectly entertaining ongoing roleplay, because while the Vargr will always be poking and prodding and trying to see if it can advance its place in the hierarchy, it will NOT do so in a way that's dangerous to other crew or the situation as a whole (you don't challenge the Alpha in the middle of a firefight or other emergency, that's just bad for everyone's survival).

(For the unfamiliar: the Irilitok Vargr are a subspecies explicitly found in and around the Imperium on worlds which were isolated with partial Vargr/human populations and where selective population pressures due to humans trended towards *COUGH* domesticated Vargr...More even-tempered, less aggressive, but also (same way it works with breeding 'domesticated' wolves or foxes) a tendency towards more 'puppyish' features: larger eyes, floppy ears, and a more human-like upright stance.). Some of these populations were slave populations, others weren't. Other Vargr tend to assume that Irilitok are weaker, punier, and usually slaves, ex-slaves, or offspring of slaves. Humans unfamiliar with the Irilitok subspecies just tend to see 'Vargr!' with the associated afterthought of either 'Run!' or 'Kill it!' depending on how recent the latest Vargr/Human conflict in the area was.)

[wander]

On space elves, there are the Darrians. They have their own supplement book and I was actually thinking myself of asking if it was okay to play one (as I don't want to rock the boat or special snowflake it up, I happen to just really dig them). Lizzie, if you need the supplement, pm me, though I know already you've mentioned this would be more pure corebook.

On roleplay v rollplay, I veer more to the latter so I'd like to have rolls be included even in the roleplay.

[Triggvi]

As far as role vs roll play, I tend to like roleplay in nfluence the dice roll. Good rp can enhance success or mitigate failure or turn a partial failure to a success and the opposite would be true for bad or no rp. It makes your characters skill important and good rp important.

Those just my thoughts.