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Post by kaemaril on Jan 17, 2010 0:39:44 GMT
I may be having a late night brain fart here, but ... what does Time Traveller give you, mechanically?
I assumed it negates the differing tech levels penalty, but looking through the PDFs right now I can't actually find where it says this. Can some kindly soul point me to a page saying what - mechanically - this trait gives you?
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Post by BadCatMan on Jan 17, 2010 3:00:04 GMT
Time Traveller is in the Good Traits sections. It just gives one Tech Level that the character is familiar with and can operate devices at that level without penalty. The penalties are described at the ends of the rules sections of each book (p80 of the PG, p66 of the GMG).
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Post by kaemaril on Jan 17, 2010 3:52:17 GMT
Time Traveller is in the Good Traits sections. It just gives one Tech Level that the character is familiar with and can operate devices at that level without penalty. The penalties are described at the ends of the rules sections of each book (p80 of the PG, p66 of the GMG). Er ... yes, I know. There's only one teeny tiny problem with what you've got there: It just gives one Tech Level that the character is familiar with and can operate devices at that level without penalty.Where does it say that? It does NOT say that in the trait description (GMG, pg 14) or the penalties (as you say, pg 65/66 of the GMG). You can certainly infer it, which is what I've been doing, but it does not actually say that if you have Time Traveller for a particular tech level you don't suffer any penalties. I was just wondering if it's explicitly mentioned anywhere else and I've missed it. edit: Crikey, post 400 and I'm a time agent. Wahoo. I hope my vortex manipulator is in the post, mods? ;D |
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Post by allivingstone on Jan 17, 2010 4:20:16 GMT
The advantage of Time Traveller is that it effectively gives you more than one 'home' Technology Level. Any modifier is figured using the 'home' Tech Level that gives the smallest penalty.
E.g. A TL5 character in a TL7 setting has a penalty of -4. If they also have Time Traveller (TL8), they only take a penalty of -1 when using a TL7 device.
There was a much clearer example in the playtest document, with Captain Jack in the 18th century. This example has been replaced with one that involves Donna instead, so the nuance is missing.
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Post by kaemaril on Jan 17, 2010 4:49:14 GMT
The advantage of Time Traveller is that it effectively gives you more than one 'home' Technology Level. Any modifier is figured using the 'home' Tech Level that gives the smallest penalty. E.g. A TL5 character in a TL7 setting has a penalty of -4. If they also have Time Traveller (TL8), they only take a penalty of -1 when using a TL7 device. There was a much clearer example in the playtest document, with Captain Jack in the 18th century. This example has been replaced with one that involves Donna instead, so the nuance is missing. That makes perfect sense, thanks. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be written down anywhere. Ah, well. One for the Matt Smith version, then  |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 17, 2010 18:30:35 GMT
Here's another question related to the Time Traveller trait though....
Do you get the same benefits as you get from your Home Tech Level relative to the Tech Level that you gain in Time Traveller?
For example, a person from Tech 5 is -2 for Tech 6. If they then took Time Traveller for Tech 7, does their Tech 6 penalty become -1 or does it remain at -2?
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Post by Rel Fexive on Jan 17, 2010 18:51:42 GMT
I think in that instance -1 would make more sense. If the difference was greater e.g. between home at 5 and TT at 9 then it would be down to the GM to decide as you could argue the case either way.
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Post by allivingstone on Jan 17, 2010 19:21:08 GMT
Do you get the same benefits as you get from your Home Tech Level relative to the Tech Level that you gain in Time Traveller? Yes. It would be -1. Figure the penalty from the Tech Level that works to the character's best advantage. |
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Post by kaemaril on Jan 17, 2010 19:28:27 GMT
Here's another question related to the Time Traveller trait though.... Do you get the same benefits as you get from your Home Tech Level relative to the Tech Level that you gain in Time Traveller? For example, a person from Tech 5 is -2 for Tech 6. If they then took Time Traveller for Tech 7, does their Tech 6 penalty become -1 or does it remain at -2? The way al described it, it would be -1 because he now has two 'home' technology levels: TL 5 and TL 7. e.g. Jeff, in the good old 21st century, is an electronics engineer. He hops on board a TARDIS and travels to a TL6 world/period. He tries to figure out some FTL drives, but has no luck (-2 modifier). Six weeks later he ends up stuck in a TL7 world for two years before being rescued. During that time he picks up Time Traveller (TL7). A week later he's back in the TL6 world, and this time (his luck is dreadful) he winds up on a ship with a malfunctioning hyperdrive. This time he takes a look at it, and compared to the stuff he was using just a few weeks ago it's a bit of a dinosaur. It's still a bit tricky, but he'll have better luck this time working on tech that's a generation older than the best he's used to. That's how I'm going to be interpreting it, anyway |
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Post by azimerthemad on Mar 29, 2010 6:03:32 GMT
My players are very happen with the Time Traveller levels they've bought. The Time Agent made sure to buy a lower one, remembering that TL 7 PCs would get a -4 to rolls involving things like catapults.
Humorously, yesterday the ancient Greek had to make a Difficulty 20 roll to understand a child's first science book (difficulty 6, -14 from tech levels): She plans on getting a TT level soon!
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Post by JohnK on Mar 29, 2010 15:43:42 GMT
Hullo, azimerthemad, Hi, there! Welcome to the DW: AiTaS forums! Glad to see a new face here, and that someone else out there in the wide world of gaming has discovered the game, and is enjoying it! My players are very happen with the Time Traveller levels they've bought. The Time Agent made sure to buy a lower one, remembering that TL 7 PCs would get a -4 to rolls involving things like catapults. Humorously, yesterday the ancient Greek had to make a Difficulty 20 roll to understand a child's first science book (difficulty 6, -14 from tech levels): She plans on getting a TT level soon! Just want to comment on one thing here. First off, in the example you give, if the child's science book is from our time, the concepts and the book are Tech Level 5. The Greek's culture would be Tech Level 2. Therefore, the penalty for the character should only be a -6. (Assuming the cultures I mention here.) But the way you've got the example with the Greek and the child's first science book is flawed in another way... The Difficulty of the task is not 20, as the penalty for the Tech Level difference is applied to the roll, not to the Difficulty that one has to achieve. What this means is that the character has a Difficulty of 6 (leaving that part of your example as is, and that Difficulty works fine for me, reading is relatively simple), and going on the basis that the Greek character has reading skill, the roll might be Ingenity and Knowledge versus the Difficulty of 6. So the character adds their Ingenuity and their Knowledge together,and adds 2D6 to that. But due to the Tech Level difference, the character subtracts 14! Thus with an Ingenuity of 3 and a Knowledge of 4 (not unreasonable for the Greek character), it would be a roll of 2D6 + 7 -14 and that roll would have to equal or exceed 6 (the Difficulty level). At least that's how I understand the rules to work. Just my $0.02. |
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Post by azimerthemad on Apr 3, 2010 23:30:43 GMT
Glad to be here, JohnK! First off, in the example you give, if the child's science book is from our time, the concepts and the book are Tech Level 5. The Greek's culture would be Tech Level 2. Therefore, the penalty for the character should only be a -6. (Assuming the cultures I mention here.) Sorry, it was a Children's First Fusion Physics book from the year 250,000 CE. I should have mentioned that. But the way you've got the example with the Greek and the child's first science book is flawed in another way... That sounds about right. I'll reread the rules; I almost positive now that you mention it that it is a penalty to rolls. Thatnks for the catch! |
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Post by JohnK on Apr 4, 2010 14:35:59 GMT
Hullo, azimerthemad, Glad to be here, JohnK! First off, in the example you give, if the child's science book is from our time, the concepts and the book are Tech Level 5. The Greek's culture would be Tech Level 2. Therefore, the penalty for the character should only be a -6. (Assuming the cultures I mention here.) Sorry, it was a Children's First Fusion Physics book from the year 250,000 CE. I should have mentioned that. Ah, sorry, that wasn't clarified all too well in the examples we're talking about, but that's cool. And puts those particular numbers in context. But the way you've got the example with the Greek and the child's first science book is flawed in another way... That sounds about right. I'll reread the rules; I almost positive now that you mention it that it is a penalty to rolls. Thatnks for the catch! Not a problem. Just trying to help folks out with the game rules from time to time, and answer any questions and queries about the game. |
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