You've read one alien module you've read them All?

[soloprobe]

I've Just finished reading the three alien module from Mongoose publishing. then I started reading the FFE reprints of the original CT alien modules . except for mongoose traveller's descriptions of the Gvurrdon and Trojan reach sectors the information seems pretty much the same. I've also read the first three G.U.R.P.S. traveller alien books my question is:
Are all versions of Traveller alien modules the same, but packaged differently, such that I could Use for example MGT Aslan and Vargr in a CT universe?

 

[far-trader]

Pretty much it seems, yep.

Not a bad thing, necessarily...

 

[McPerth]

Well, I can only talk about CT vs MT alien modules, as are what I've readed.

Not readed alien modules from any other version.

CT and mt alien modules have more or less the same information.

CT modules had better developed ChrGen system, allowing you to use advanced system, while MT didn't.

MT, on the other hand, had some roleplaying examples showing how those characters acted in several circumpstances. They were quite interesting (IMO).

Of course, hardware was adapted to the new system (mostly starships) and a little more of it was shown in MT than CT (in CT alien modules there were only ships as hardware.

Also the millieu was adapted, as you can expect. As tree of the races described on MT Alien modules are at war with the remains of the imperium and one has independized, the millieu changes quite a lot, and exsplanations of its war against the Imperium is also told.

 

[aramis]

MegaTraveller's have some extra information. Still some of the best written stuff ever.

Mongoose's have bad art, and only a little change from the CT material, but the Vargr has added subraces in a very comic (and IMO, piss-poor) manner; there are additions that don't always fit with the MT versions.

The CT ones were pretty well done; the more schematic versions elsewhere (JTAS, TTA, A3) were not as well done.

The one TNE one we have was done so tongue in cheek that it's almost useless.

 

[E.D.Quibell]

You have to pick and choise IMO.

Not all the aliens are covered in all Traveller versions.

The most exstensive coverge of them is in GURPS, however note that you might want to drop the David Pulver's "additional" races and just stick to the canon Traveller ones. YMMV thought.

GURPS covers nearly all of them, from the Acheron through the K'kree and onto the Vilani, and don't forget to pick up the Sword Worlds and the Rim of Fire for the Swordworlders and the Solomani. Interstellar wars is about the only place you'll be able to get info on the Vilani, because Cogs ans Dogs from DGP is worth its weight in gold even at current prices!

Best regards,

Ewan

 

[robject]

GURPS Sword Worlds is very well done, so I've heard.

I tried to read it, but the text is just too ... well it reads like a history text to me. Dry? But as far as I can tell it's excellent and consistent with the OTU, and that's what I'm hearing from others, so it's canon as far as I'm concerned.

I'm hoping Mongoose's Zhodani book will be the same way, since it was written by our own Don McKinney.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

They're describing the same things, so obviously there's some similarity.

IMHO the CT ones are okay, the MT ones are brilliant, and the GT ones are somewhere in between.

 

[Jame]

GURPS covers nearly all of them, from the Acheron through the K'kree and onto the Vilani, and don't forget to pick up the Sword Worlds and the Rim of Fire for the Swordworlders and the Solomani. Interstellar wars is about the only place you'll be able to get info on the Vilani, because Cogs ans Dogs from DGP is worth its weight in gold even at current prices!

Best regards,

Ewan

I actually like Pulver's races for AR1, but I could also accept if someone (Pulver himself maybe?) rewrote them slightly, so they're more optional races or are different from it - e.g. the Clotho being taken out of the Addaxur reservation and put in another part of the Consulate, and the Drakarans being moved slightly to another part of the Vargr Extents. So keep, and convert for CT/MT/MGT, but rewrite slightly.

I'm hoping Mongoose's Zhodani book will be the same way, since it was written by our own Don McKinney.

At some point I will get this (maybe if I can talk my parents into helping pay for it as a birthday present) and write a review. Even though I don't expect it'll match my expectations exactly, I DO expect that Don'll do well with it.

 

[McPerth]

You have to pick and choise IMO.

Not all the aliens are covered in all Traveller versions.

The most exstensive coverge of them is in GURPS, however note that you might want to drop the David Pulver's "additional" races and just stick to the canon Traveller ones. YMMV thought.

GURPS covers nearly all of them, from the Acheron through the K'kree and onto the Vilani, and don't forget to pick up the Sword Worlds and the Rim of Fire for the Swordworlders and the Solomani. Interstellar wars is about the only place you'll be able to get info on the Vilani, because Cogs ans Dogs from DGP is worth its weight in gold even at current prices!

Best regards,

Ewan

I was quite disapointed when MT left unpublished the aline modules 'Psionic Races' (Zho's and Droyne) and Strange Races (K'Kree and Hiver).

I cannot talk about GT, as i said, i'd never tried, nor readed it.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

The GT books are worth getting even if you don't play it.

 

[McPerth]

The GT books are worth getting even if you don't play it.

I'll take your word i I have the opportunity to buy them

 

[soloprobe]

Thank you all !!

 

[soloprobe]

I loved GT's take on the Droyne ! I even used the COYNS , When I played Droyne characters!

 

[robject]

I loved GT's take on the Droyne ! I even used the COYNS , When I played Droyne characters!

I remember those. I had my own take on Droyne glyphs, but then their stuff is published, so I think they have the upper hand...

 

[rancke]

I remember those. I had my own take on Droyne glyphs, but then their stuff is published, so I think they have the upper hand...

But keep in mind that the GT coyns represent a modern set. Not to be confused with the ancient 38-coyn set found in Ancient sites or the old coyn set minted some 75,000 years ago by an as-yet-undiscovered Droyne world and distributed to numerous other Droyne and Chirper worlds[*]. (Which is the reason why the Droyne are considered a major race). The ancient and the old coyns have pictures on them, not the glyphs used on modern coyns.

[*] Or so people believe. Few Imperial scientists have even heard about Grandfather and fewer still -- if any -- believe in his existence.​

Hans

 

[Starviking]

I actually like Pulver's races for AR1, but I could also accept if someone (Pulver himself maybe?) rewrote them slightly, so they're more optional races or are different from it - e.g. the Clotho being taken out of the Addaxur reservation and put in another part of the Consulate, and the Drakarans being moved slightly to another part of the Vargr Extents. So keep, and convert for CT/MT/MGT, but rewrite slightly.

I didn't like the Spacemaster Aliens myself - felt very tacked-on, and not suited to the Traveller setting at all.

 

[Hyphen]

Dear Folks -

Hans wrote:

But keep in mind that the GT coyns represent a modern set. Not to be confused with the ancient 38-coyn set found in Ancient sites...

Detailed discussion (dating back to 1996!) is available on my site here:
--> The Best of the TML
----> Background
------> Background - Ancient Coyns

Berka also has a beaut set at his Zhodani Base...

 

[FreeTrav]

I didn't like the Spacemaster Aliens myself - felt very tacked-on, and not suited to the Traveller setting at all.

Some of them I could see as usable in the Traveller milieu; some not - the Tezcat {makes warding signs}, for example, were just ... no. OTOH, I didn't like the Clotho-as-Addaxur, but as a separate race, I didn't have any serious objection to them.

I felt much the same way about the aliens from GURPS Aliens; some of them were OK if marginal (Sparrials? The vaguely vulpine kleptos...), others just went a little too far into "space fantasy" for me (Sidi - the hamster-sized ones, and Purulu - the rude octopi).

 

[Keith418]

The GT books are worth getting even if you don't play it.

Do you mean "Gurps Traveller"?

 

[far-trader]

Do you mean "Gurps Traveller"?

I'm pretty sure that's what he meant

There is a lot of shorthand used here, some of it confusing...

CT (Classic Traveller, aka the first Traveller rules), MT (MegaTraveller) confused with Mongoose Traveller at times which is more clearly MgT (or more interestingly RTT for Riki-Tiki-Travi(ller) after the mongoose Riki-Tiki-Tavi), TNE (Traveller - The New Era), T4, T5, T20, and more.