I was 10 when my mother bought me my first rpg, D&D (Basic, red box). Did that for several years... (
warning: D&D tangent)(...albeit poorly, since my friends taught me how to play, and what they taught me had nothing to do with the actual rules. I was quite shocked one day when I was bored so I started reading through them, and discovered we were doing everything wrong, like adding a dead monster's hit points to our own when it was slain, and ignoring rules like encumbrance and those little percentages in the treasure tables. We hence all became immensely wealthy, and powerful, carrying vast hoards of treasure anywhere we went, usually going up 2-3 levels per adventure, necessitating the new box set after only a single scenario. The game made so much more sense after reading the rules, and was more fun.
), (
resume Traveller story)
...but then my oldest brother started role playing too. Not with me though, he is 15 years older than me, so he had an adult group (that let me play D&D
once with them, and none of us liked that experience). Still, he would come home and regale me with tales of his rpg adventures...
in space! Yes, it was Traveller, and I always loved sci-fi more than fantasy. So I drooled, I day-dreamed, I hung on his every word (about Traveller anyway). Sometimes I would be lucky enough to get a little look at a rulebook, or listen to a conversation he'd have with his best friend about it, like them hypothesizing about about the destructive power of 100-ton jump torpedoes, and using them to destroy a BatRon, with the left-over torps destroying the star, and that igniting the local gas giant.
(Yes it was silly, but to a 12 year old it was simply awesome!) I think it was from him where I picked up my liking for the Solomani, and SolSec (he made them seem pretty cool with the stories of his SolSec general).
Finally at 14 I got a paper-delivery job so could afford my own rpg stuff. I got two rpgs that year, but I can't say exactly which one I got first: FASA Star Trek (Trek nerd that I was), and Traveller (Starter Edition). I loved my version, it was the same Traveller as the one my brother played, but with pictures, and maps! I also liked the separate table book too. Made it a tad more work to learn, but once you did it streamlined things considerably. I could also afford the odd supplement from time to time (AM6: Solomani was a high priority), but it wasn't long before MT came out (so I didn't have time yet to get into the whole CT High Guard/Mercenary/Scout stuff), and it was so much more sophisticated, and integrated, I was in love and it's been my favorite rule-set ever since (not realizing how much of it was based on advanced CT stuff
). The whole assassination/rebellion thing just drew me in; it was the closest I'd seen to a metaplot and thus made Traveller seem like an active place where things were happening, and I didn't want to miss out (most game worlds seem like static pools where nothing happens until the PCs get there, thus this added to the realism for me) (one of my favorite things still is the broadcast lecture quote on page 5 of the Referee's Companion). I guess I didn't have CT long enough to get really hooked on it, especially since, as it was for most of us, finding players was hard. I spent a lot of time doing solo stuff, chargen, ships, worlds, etc. Half the time when I saw a new movie I liked I'd make a character like one in the movie. I made Traveller ships out of Lego, or Lego ships that I designed I made Traveller stats for. Etc. etc.
Since then I've played dozens of rpgs, own over 20 myself (counting Traveller and GURPS as one each), and CT, MT, T4, GT, and MgT (and T5 on the way). Traveller was always my favorite of them all, until Trinity, which I now let share first place with Traveller. Rarely got to play Trav though, mostly GMed because no one else would, and never any long-running games regrettably. For the last few years my gaming group has been confined to my two room-mates, and one of them says he doesn't like Traveller.
o:
:nonono: Still, he says he'll try T5 when I get it, in case its just the rules he didn't like. I'd better not blow it!
