4th Edition Traveller

[wordserpent]

I never thought one could run a Traveller game with a Class/level based system like that used in D&D and D20. But Hunter has pulled it off. The more I read my T20 Handbook, the more I like it. I would still incorporate a few houserules, I tweak every game that I run, but I really Like T20 and I see it having a longer playable lifespan than other versions of traveller (TNE anyone?).

Now that WOC is sinking their own ship with the whole 4th ed. there may be room to make T20 into it's own entity, totally independent from the original crafters of the D20 system.

 

[BetterThanLife]

It already is, That is one of the benefits of the Traveller's Guidebook for Players.

 

[shadowdragon]

From a licensing standpoint, there is a reason for an update.

From a Traveller standpoint, the only thing broken in the T20 rules is Large ship combat.

i am sorry- but that is just not true..IMO at least. the design sequences not meshing into a coherent whole, with no reason given as to why, is a big busted spleen if you ask me. and while other areas may not be "broken" per se, the fact that one rule for certain does not exist, and is only mentioned in a feat description (one which i have been vainly awaiting some sort of answer after having posted a question about it MONTHS ago i might add- re: jury rig feat). there are enough things i consider "wrong" with the t20 book that i had to suspend my game until i can work out a reasonable method for dealing with them. I just picked up the players guide and am slowly working my way thru it so some of my issues may have been fixed, but i hold little hope for that to have happened enough to let me not have a house rule list nearly as thick as the play books themselves.. i may as well write my own system at that point..i love the concept of traveller, and i was very excited when i found T20, but the more i try to use it the more questions i find i cannot answer. That to me is intolerable both as a player and as a gamesmaster.

for all that bitching and whining tho- i hold on for the day it all makes sense in the form of scifi20.. i shall wait and see (and read and read and try to work it all out)

 

[Psion]

Besides the fact that the GSL was pretty much deliberately engineered to prevent just the sort of game T20 is:

Why? How does the 4e experience bear on the experience that Traveller is trying to create? 4e is centered around combat maneuvers. So, unless we want to see a game where the characters are doing their "zen shot move" with PGMPs, I don't see 4e providing much that T20 needs.

 

[aramis]

Shadowdragon:

The design sequences for vehicles required some rescaling to maintain the same general process as the HG derived ship system. There is an implicit conversion between the two.

It's an artifact of taking HG as the baseline, rather than FF&S or MT...

 

[Psion]

It's an artifact of taking HG as the baseline, rather than FF&S or MT...

Tru dat. And to be fair, as much as I love MT, the fact that they took Striker and extended it to starships made it a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

 

[Gallowglacht]

Besides the fact that the GSL was pretty much deliberately engineered to prevent just the sort of game T20 is:

Why? How does the 4e experience bear on the experience that Traveller is trying to create? 4e is centered around combat maneuvers. So, unless we want to see a game where the characters are doing their "zen shot move" with PGMPs, I don't see 4e providing much that T20 needs.

To be fair, there is more to 4E than combat moves. The streamlined systems are a big sell also. However, they are easily transported across to other d20 games, including T20, without need of another version.
D&D4 is purpose built to do heroic fantasy and does it well, but yeah is a bad fit for traveller. SAGA would make a better starting point for a redo than D&D4, but again, it is easier to steal a house rule of 2. It again, is too high fantasy for traveller.

T20 doesn't need a redo, so much as a few products out there and building a market for SciFi 20 to make a smooth progression when the QLI Traveller lisence ends. Stealing a few streamlined points from D&D4 or SAGA would be good from my point of view, but as always YMMV. The only D&D4 experience it needs to worry about including, is the fun.

 

[shadowdragon]

thanks aramis i will take a look at HG then- but honestly if they simply scaled it would be fairly obvious. they dont scale at all is my issue- especially the power sources. TL and size differences notwithstanding, you simply should not use the same name for things when they are not the same thing in function, re: EP for both starships and vehicles are fundamentally different things, with a nonsense scale of 450 vehicle ep to 1 starship ep, and this ONLY works for the fusion reactors (except the most advanced 3 ep per round one which is completely outside the pale).. its broken, as far as i can tell. i dont hold out much hope HG will supply the answer but i will try to find one if i can.

 

[Gallowglacht]

Despite that, the design sequences remain one of my favourite bits of the book and the one that makes it far more usefull than the likes of d20 future. Infact the design sequences virtually garauntee T20's future use by me. For example after my Traveller game ends I am strongly tempted to run a Battletech game, using SW SAGA basic systems with T20 designed Mechs, Dropships and Jumpships, powered armour etc...