Best Traveller like computer RPG

[kafka47]

Just went into my local electronics store and I notice that Computer RPGs are getting better and better. Is there any game that resembles Traveller? Not so much in terms of First Person shooters or Strategy Games or Space Combat but in terms of being a RPG with a fairly diverse set of plots...

Or is that still asking the impossible from a computer.

Ideally, I would want to see something like the Temple of Elemental Evil but for Traveller. I am rather surprised that nothing really appeared after the MegaTraveller Computer Games...

 

[vutpakdi]

I don't know of a recent game which is Traveller like in the sense of having individual characters in scenes ala Temple of Elemental Evil or Baldur's Gate.

The closest game that I know which is currently available is Escape Velocity Nova which concentrates on the ship combat and trading aspect. Basically, EVN has you starting off with a small ship. To earn money, you run missions from place to place or do trading. Eventually, you can buy upgrades for your ship or buy new ships. With an armed ship, you can eventually play pirate, pirate hunter, or privateer. My personal favorite is pirate hunter (aka pirate the pirates).

There are multiple factions and plot lines. Attacking the ships of one faction will annoy that faction and those allied with it, but earn you points with the opposing factions. For example, attacking a ship of one of the various pirate groups will make you more popular with the more stable governments.

Very fun game, but it's not Traveller, and there are no individual characters (your character is named, but there isn't any "character in port" portion of the game nor does your character gain levels in the D&D sense.

Ron

 

[Morte]

There's nothing really like that (closest might be Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic) and the CRPG market is heading the other way, i.e. towards games that lead you though a fixed narrative with lots of voice acting and cut scenes but little player choice. It's what CRPG players want.

 

[Tikon2000]

The only game I can remember is the very old Starflight game.
Man, my friends and I loved that game.

 

[Badbru]

I've heard someone is doing a sci-fi mod for Neverwinter nights. Players host their own persistant worlds. Not quite the same as a MMORPG but could be close. I've only actually looked at the Neverwinter nights game once at a friends though...

 

[Malenfant]

Remember Elite?! (OK, it's a bit dated now, but it's a classic! You could shoot up pirates, trade with different planets, upgrade your ship, or even *be* a pirate.)

 

[savage]

Single Player RPG:

1. The megatraveller games ere very traveller like. They're dated too.
2. Michael Dorn's Mission Critical from Legend Entertainment. Every one leaves the ship to surrendering except you. Instead Dorn rams the
enemy ship with the lifeboats...etc. You must stop the enemy re-enforcements from taking the planet. Your the only ship in the area and the only crewmember left. Get the ship operational and defeat the enemy single handed.


Savage

 

[kafka47]

So if all I am gathering from above...we are well overdue for Traveller to be translated into a Computer RPG context whereby a party could be assembled and play in an expansive universe.

Does anyone know if Marc has sold the idea to any big names? One would think with the excitement around T20 and D20 there would be more interest from the Computer Industry...<sigh>

Maybe we have to wait until the Delta Green game comes out to see a new crossover...

 

[clementk]

a previous thread
another previous thread on this

done by a global search on this site using 'traveller computer games'; subject only so there may be more

Casey

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by kafka47:
Does anyone know if Marc has sold the idea to any big names? One would think with the excitement around T20 and D20 there would be more interest from the Computer Industry...<sigh>

Maybe we have to wait until the Delta Green game comes out to see a new crossover...

Well don't hold your breath on the Delta Green game. DG was put on the backburner for a Pirate MMORPG despite having a fairly 'hip and original' setting, some good game ideas, and John Tynes, the original DG creator and ex-top pen and paper RPG designer, on board. ;_;

Oh well at least Rifts is coming to the N-Gage

.

Personally if there were to be a Traveller game either set it on the extreme fringes / outside of the Imperium if set during a "stable time" like CT Golden Age or during an unstable time. Yeah okay my current choice would be for during the Rim War. Another possible would be up the noble/intrigue aspect of Golden Age for a different type of game. Nothing original so far in the above which are just base concepts using extant material.

Casey (who hasn't bought a CRPG since he got into IRC online RPGing)
[EDIT]added last paragraph[/EDIT]

 

[kafka47]

It is rather odd that Traveller was never picked up. The grand old Traveller Adventure was pretty linear and well written for a Computer RPG. This would make a perfect template.

I too would like to see something for the Rim War but more on the Intelligence front whereby a Free Trader is recruited by a shadowy patron to move items across the border. The cargo is a human being loaded with all sorts of webwear midway through the journey...the cold sleep fails and pulls the trader into the Shadows.

 

[Morte]

Think cost and market share.

Most fantasy RPGs are about the same -- a relatively narrow range of scenery, mechanics, weaponry etc will do the job. In Sci-Fi, everything happens. Broad, Traveller style Sci-Fi (unlike Fallout) would cost more to make. And fantasy outsells skiffy pretty heavily.
And computer games are expensive -- say five or ten million dollars to develop a modern Traveller CRPG -- so they go after the big market.

It's not like PnP RPGs are a big market. They're a (dying) niche of a niche, while computer gaming is four times the size of the film industry. Neverwinter Nights is strictly middleweight by computer game standards, but it outsells DnD by five to one and DnD is half the PnP market.

So to a software house putting "Traveller" on a computer game box is worth basically nothing, and it costs you by tying your hands. You'd be better off avoiding anything to do with PnP, since it doesn't always translate well to CRPGs. Instead, you build a game that's designed to work on a computer rather than around a table. Look at Bioware -- after Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights they've just told WOTC to stick the DnD license (with its morality clause and twelve stage approvals process and game rules requiring human interpretation). They're building their next big RPG ("Dragon Age") with their own rules and setting.