Heh. I already have the reprints. Bought them today. I hate pdf's.
I'm not that crazy about pdf's either. I bought the books, too.
I had a buddie in college who was a Traveller freak and he used to go on about its greatness. I hope he and the millions of CT fans are right.
By most guestimates, there are still more people playing CT than any other version of Traveller.
Says something about the rules/game.
Mostly, I guess I'm concearned that certain technologies/sci fi sub-genres may not addressed. I am interested in cybernetics, transgenics, nanotech, and quantum wierdness (but not freakin' time travel. I am f'in' sick of time travel. IT! IS! NOT! POSSIBLE! Grrrr...). Of course, if the rues set is flexible enough, I'll just house rule it to death.
CT is made to house rule. Look at Book 0. There's a section that discusses it!
CT is meant to be a framework--a guideline. It's old school gaming before d20 came into existence and brainwashed everyone into believing that if a rule was written down in an official book somewhere, it wasn't a real rule.
Look at the From the Management section of JTAS #2. LKW shows GMs how to make a laser pistol out of the rules already presented.
Ya, see. That's CT's thing. It's extremely flexible. It was designed that way. As Whipsnade said above, CT was originally developed as a generic set of rules. The setting of the Third Imperium grew up later.
Now...as Far Trader said...the bad news. CT doesn't hit a lot on what you're looking for in the way of new "tech". CT has a decidedly "classic science fiction" feel to it--again, by design. It goes with the science fiction of the 1960's-1970's.
But, the good news, as you, yourself, said, is that you can house rule it. Grab a Mongoose Traveller supplement that allows some of that tech. Or, grab another version of Traveller and convert to CT. Or...grab something from another game and convert to CT.
Or, even, make it up yourself! That's what was originally intended for CT.
Let's say you read about some neat tech in the latest novel you're reading. No problem. Slap it into CT!
I would caution you to read Book 0, though, as it discusses the impact of changing certain things, like slapping in Star Wars hyperdrive for Traveller's Jump drive. Sometimes you will fall victim to the rule of unintended consequences, so be careful.
I even got some old "environment" books by a non-GDW company. Desert, Underwater, and Mountain environments.
Those are great. I think they're a little too "grognardy", though. The Mountain one, especially. Creating a mountain template is a chore. It's like designing a vehicle. It can be cool if you like that sort of thing (and I do love planet building when I have time), but if you're strapped for time, those rules don't lend themselves to quick-n-easy gameplay.
Another, side thing, that you'll find evident in those rules are the neat way they suggest substituting certain skill during character generation. Keep note of that if you want to customize a career for a specific place (say, for Tukera Merchants or Regina Naval personnel). Also keep it in mind if you just want a certain type of skill to be available to the players before the game starts. You can give them a chance to get it, without forcing it on them, during chargen.
This is a nice way to include skills that you invent yourself as well (especially if you're going to introduce new tech).
As good as it is however, CT has it's issues. You really should get hold of MT's task system and use that with CT's rules. That task system will allow you to cut down on the dozens of die roll modifiers that all too easily creep into CT's "Roll 8+" system. The task system is easy, fairly intuitive, and - if you ignore the time increment portion - very rapid.
Howardfanatic,
I'm a fan of CT's free flow system. It's a non-structured task system that allows the GM to customize a throw based on the situation.
To get youself comfortable with this old school style of task system, you might want to peek at the article I wrote, linked in my sig, called Rule 68A. I think you might find that useful.
Still, if you want to use a task system, the MT task system that Whipsnade speaks of was originally designed for use by DGP for Classic Traveller. When they wrote MT, they brought forward the, then optional, task system they had written.
It's a good task system.
I think a better task system, designed especially for CT, is the Universal Game Mechanic. You'll find that linked in my sig as well. I wrote it long before Mongoose Traveller came out (and MGT's task system is very similar). But, I think you'll find that the UGM fits with CT much better than either the MT task system or the one used in MGT.
On task systems, my advice is to:
1 - Use the original CT task system, if you understand it (many people think they do but really do not).
2 - Second choice is the UGM, linked in my sig.
3 - Third choice is the MT task system (officially known as the UTP). You can find a copy of it on the net.
4 - Fourth, you can go with the MGT task system, the T4 task system, or the T5 task system. This is a distant fourth choice, though. I strongly suggest you evaluate choices 1-3 above first.
BTW, one of the best discussions you'll find about the non-structured original CT task system is in the early pages of the Traveller Adventure. Flip through that...there's about a full page where MWM describes how throws can be handled. I touch on some of them in the Rule 68A thread, too.
PS - Howardfanatic....
Means you're a Robert E. Howard fanatic?
If so, we share two passions, Traveller and Howard.
