I had previously tried to run GT for the inner core of my group (Mr
Sweep, Eddles, dingus and I) back around 2005-2008, and ended up with a
distinct impression that Traveller, in all its forms, was something they
would go far out of their ways to avoid.

Thus, when Herr Sweep pinged me on Discord and asked me about me running
Traveller a few weeks ago, he signed for and received one Look, Dubious.

That didn't break his stride, as he pointed me to Seth Skorkowsky's
reviews/walkthroughs of MGT2 on Youtube, which had apparently already
two-thirds convinced him.  (Thank you, Seth!).

And watching those videos set some wombat to reflecting on his previous
mistakes, and tactics to use going forwards.

One of the biggest (for this mob at least) mistakes I made was the
cultural-shock equivalent of the uncanny valley delivered by the Golden
Age setting (whether CT, or GT's remix).  Fantasy settings are no
problem, as there's no uncanny valley analogue, but the 3I's default
culture is close enough to be alien.

The obvious tactic is to set the game in the Interstellar Wars era and
restrict the PCs to being Terrans.

    Reading through GT:IW, I found the "default present", 2170, just
before the 4th IW kicks off, to be a bit too far away and also too
constrained - too much had been filled in.  I thus moved things back 46
years, to 2124, just before Interstellar War II cooks off.  Terra is not
yet as totalitarian as it becomes in 2170.

Another tactic is to swipe from action movies, and start the game in
medias res - as the MGT2 core books also recommend. (This one is
addressing more a shortfall in my own skills, preferring to let the PCs
soak up the background first).

Embrace and facilitate rational knowability - you're running a game
rooted in classic sci-fi, so the particular game you run should be able
to cash the implied cheque.

Don't mindlessly stick to what "da roolz" say.  In PA:VT, I've bent
rules in favour of Rule Of Funny / Rule Of Awesome multiple times
already (not to mention short-circuiting rules lawyering - if that had
gone on much longer, Easy Frag would have GROWN HAIR).  But, absent
ROF/ROA, keep it consistent.

Remix game-mechanic concepts into forms your mob is more comfortable
with - cutting down the cognitive friction pays off, even for veteran
software developers.  As we'd been on a D&D5 kick for a while
immediately beforehand, I've borrowed from there.  Bash it into whatever
shape you need, but keep applying it consistently.

Admit your own relative newbieness.  I'm the nearest thing us mob has to
a veteran Traveller GM (see my previous email), but I'm as new to MGT2
as everyone.  Soliciting feedback after each session - and making it
obvious that you're acting on some of it - pays off bigtime in social
capital.

Having Herr Sweep already onboard under his own steam made the sales job
to everyone else far easier, as the game came together with a loud
ringing crash.

"High-tech Firefly" worked before in 2010 when I ran a GT game aimed at
a later-than-Cold-Y group, and it worked again here.

I explained the broad campaign options, and said very simply that as I'm
learning a new Trav edition, I was going to avoid novelty elsewhere,
thus it was broadly going to be a merchant game.  Ethically-challenged
was almost a given with the types of characters my mob end up with under
their own steam, let alone after a randomised-lifepath approach.

So what in blazes do you do when everyone lobs for chargen in a
satirical mood?

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