New Traveller - "Permisson to Board?"

[Amra]

Hello Travellers. Here's my first post.

I recently found myself interested in sci-fi gaming. I've been gaming since the early 80's but never did more than dabble in sci-fi and have never played Traveller.

Looking into good sci-fi games led me to Traveller (of course) and then I found myself faced with deciding which edition to get.

My first thought was to go with Mongoose's new Traveller. I figured that I could get into MGT at release and not have to play "catch-up" with the Traveller universe and I could buy the books as they were released, instead of hunting for OOP books to build a collection (been there, done that with CoC).

I downloaded the MGT play test document and didn't like the Timing/Effect thing they are using, especially for combat. From my internet research I discovered that this was not part of CT (which begs the question of why they are introducing such a radical, and awkward in my opinion, rule to a system that is being marketed as modernizing and streamlining CT). I'll leave off here on MGT, it's not my intent to bash MGT. After all, I may have been drawn into researching Traveller due to all the excitement being generated by Mongoose picking up the license.

Anyhow, I just ordered the Classic Traveller CD ROM and am now eagerly awaiting its arrival. Although I much prefer hardcopy to PDFs the CD was just too good to pass up. A complete collection of official CT for $35 - wow. Of course if I get bit by the Traveller bug after reading the PDFs I'll probably be scouring the net for hard copies.

I'm looking forward to learning about the system and the background. Feel free to give insights and advice for an old time gamer, brand new Traveller.

Amra

 

[Jame]

*Salutes* Permission NOT denied! Welcome aboard!

 

[Supplement Four]

Hello Travellers. Here's my first post.

Classic Traveller is still the most popular version of Traveller, in terms of people. It's the largest faction of people, but the faction is not larger than all other versions combined.

It's definitely my favorite version.

But, I understand T20 is a damn good version, and GURPS Traveller is supposed to be pretty good, too (never played either). If you like d20 games or GURPS based games, you might want to look at those.

(There's also the HERO version of Traveller, and the out of print editions of MegaTraveller, Traveller The New Era, and Marc Miller's Traveller.)

As you noted, MGT is about to come out, but there are several of us who, like you, were excited at first to hear about Mongoose Traveller but have been subsequently disappointed in what we saw.

Don't forget, there are two new versions of Traveller coming out: MGT and T5. We haven't seen a whole lot on T5 yet, other than its supposed to be a better version of T4.



But, I think you've picked the best version to play (if you like quick-n-easy games, down-n-dirty, and doggone fun ).

If you have any questions about CT, then fire away. I pretty much play CT straight out of the book without house rules (but I've used extensive house rules in the past).

You may want to read the two threads linked in my sig. Rule 68A will help you GM task rolls using the original Classic Traveller method (my preferred method).

If you want a little more structure to your task system, then you might want to try out the UGM link in my sig. It's a formal task system designed specifically for use with Classic Traveller.

Any other questions, just fire away. You'll get lots of help here. Whenever I'm running a CT campaign, this forum is invalubale--lots of great ideas and comments here.

 

[Amra]

Thanks for the welcome, and the for the links Supplement Four.

I think I'm going to go with the UGM 8+ for now, it'll be easier for the players to wrap their heads around.

Quick and Easy, Down and Dirty is exactly my type of game, I've got a lot of BRP and CoC in my background.

I came to CT via GURPS. I bought GURPS 4e and picked-up GURPS Interstellar Wars when I started to get the sci-fi bug. ISW was interesting, but it got me curious about the 3I setting of Traveller, so off to the internet I went, and wow... is there a lot of information and enthusiasm for this game.

Based on the amount of material for CT, I decided that I'd rather give the game a go with RAW CT instead of trying to convert GURPS 3e Traveller to GURPS 4e rules (I don't like GURPS 3e - GURPS 4e is very good). The $35 CT CD had a major impact on this part of the decision making process.

As for MT and TNE, I figured that I couldn't go wrong with starting at the ground level and moving on later if I felt it was necessary.

T4 and T5 seem to be different beasts to me. From what I gather, it's moving into a d6 dice pool system. I like the simplicity of 2d6 +/- DMs: 8+ to succeed. I will keep tabs on the reactions to T5 and MGT, but I think CT should cover my needs.

One question that I have concerns MGT's Character Creation. Reading the 3.2 playtest document I was impressed with the MGT "mini-game" of character generation and the Skill Package concept - which ensures that the characters will have the array of skills necessary for the campaign concept. Is CT character generation very similar, and/or is the MGT rules compatible with CT as far as skill levels go? I may be getting ahead of myself here, as I just ordered the CT CD but I'm already starting to think ahead about generating those first PCs.

 

[far-trader]

The basic CT character generation (from Book 1 and Supplement 4 when you get the CD) works on a premise of wide interpretation of a limited skill set and (fairly) free use of zero-level skills awarded (even temporarily) as needed. The advanced CT charater generation (from Books 4, 5, 6 and 7) generates more skills and expands on the types of skills while narrowing the scope a bit on some. IMO the two are not compatible but both are good for their roles.

I like the idea of MGT's Skill Package too, as long as it's not abused. And I think it fits with basic CT character generation quite nicely. I see no problem importing that rule pretty much as is. It would probably even work with advanced CT character generation but would be less necessary.

While you're waiting for the CD to arrive you could download the Classic Traveller Utility and play with it to get some idea of the basic character generation of some of the other bits.

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=13134

 

[Icosahedron]

The JTAS CD is good value too. The Journal of the Travellers Aid Society was the CT fanzine, with lots of adventure ideas, background, and equipment write-ups.

 

[Vargas]

The Journal of the Travellers Aid Society was the CT fanzine . . .

Sorry to nitpick but JTAS was the product of GDW and professionally done so I wouldn't classify it as a fanzine.

 

[jawillroy]

Welcome, Amra! Always good to have another fellow Traveller.

You wouldn't by any chance be in NYC, wouldja?

 

[Amra]

No, I'm in the great state of Wisconsin: Home of the Packers, Harley Davidson and good beer.
Thanks for the link to the Character Utility, but I use a Mac. I'm planning on installing Boot Camp w/ Windows eventually but I'm not looking forward to learning how to use Windows.

 

[far-trader]

...I'm planning on installing Boot Camp w/ Windows eventually but I'm not looking forward to learning how to use Windows.

One does not so much "learn to use" Windows as accept that you must tolerate it

I'm an old Mac User from way back, heck even before they were Macs to really date myself. And I still prefer Macs and have a few. Windows being the dominate platform is reality though.

I have an old Mac HyperCard Traveller utility a friend did years ago around here somewheres that you might find fun. It's for MegaTraveller (MT) iirc but MT is not much different than CT so it may even be useful. I'll see if I can dig it up and post it to the file library and let you know.

 

[Maladominus]

Bwap Clerk:

"May I see your boarding pass, please? Alright then. Now I must require 2 other forms of personal identification. Please please hurry up. There are other fellow passengers waiting behind you. You must not disrupt the flow of things. This line must move in a timely and orderly manner."

 

[Maladominus]

I'm an old Mac User from way back, heck even before they were Macs to really date myself. And I still prefer Macs and have a few. Windows being the dominate platform is reality though.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I was once a subscribing member on Apple's eWorld. That was back in the Jurassic Age, tho. No one ever remembers that.

 

[Chronus]

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I was once a subscribing member on Apple's eWorld. That was back in the Jurassic Age, tho. No one ever remembers that.

I do remember eWorld and, no, I'm not ashamed that I was a subscribing member. There was a type of civility about it that now seems long lost in the internet world. (Okay, the civility was gone back then but eWorld somehow allowed me to think otherwise)

I have since switched to a Windows platform and then, in the last couple of years, back to a Mac.

 

[Supplement Four]

The advanced CT charater generation (from Books 4, 5, 6 and 7) generates more skills and expands on the types of skills while narrowing the scope a bit on some. IMO the two are not compatible but both are good for their roles.

I did some statistical analysis on this not too long ago, and I found that Advanced Characters and Basic Characters are fairly compatible if the official Survival Rule is enforced.

When the optional Survival Rule is used, Advanced Characters end up with many more skills than those created using the Basic engine.

Compare characters from 1001 Characters and Veterans LBBs to see what I mean.

I believe that Basic and Advanced chargen is more compatible than most people think (as long as the official Survival rule is enforced).

 

[Supplement Four]

The JTAS CD is good value too. The Journal of the Travellers Aid Society was the CT fanzine, with lots of adventure ideas, background, and equipment write-ups.

Absolutely. The JTAS issues are an incredible resource for a CT game. Lots of great stuff within those pages--even "official" rules that were cut out of the LBBs for space reasons (as in the advanced computer program rules).

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Oh - so that's why I've always had this sneaking suspicion that y'all just weren't quite right.....
(me: Atari User's Group in the 70/80s)

Oh, and welcome aboard Amra! I think you'll find CT to be a great game! (There are a few problems with the CD, but all-in-all it's a very good buy!)

 

[Maladominus]

Hi Amra,

if you end up liking the CT CD-ROM, then I would suggest....

IMHO, the following "Traveller Reprint" is the best bang for your buck as far as obtaining hard copies:

It's a single (thick) volume, official reprints of the original GDW "Little Black Books", but this volume is in a longer "album-sized format". $28 if you order directly from Marc Miller at farfuture.net and a few dollars cheaper if you order the same from NobleKnight games.

 

[Supplement Four]

Hi Amra,

if you end up liking the CT CD-ROM, then I would suggest....

IMHO, the following "Traveller Reprint" is the best bang for your buck as far as obtaining hard copies:

Yep. It's the way to go if you want hard copies. Also, I can't recommend highly enough that you get the three JTAS hard copies too. They'll add tons to your game.

 

[Amra]

I received the CT CD and am very impressed with the content. For those keeping tabs on the quality of the CD, there are some upside-down pages and blurry text, but it's serving my purpose as an introduction to Traveller very well. I consider it money well spent. I always knew that I would eventually purchase hard copies of what I wanted anyways (PDF will never replace the real thing for me).

Thanks for the heads-up on the FEE reprints. I'm planning on getting at least the Adventures, Short Adventures and JTAS books.

Not to offend anyone here on the CT sub-forum, but I'm not sure on the rule books yet. I'm new to Traveller, so I don't have any hard core preferences (heck, my first Traveller purchase was GT:ISW), I figured that I couldn't go wrong getting the CD of the material that started it all. However, MGT is selling itself as CT compatible and they are supposedly dealing with the T/E issues that I had with the playtest document, so I think I may wait it out a bit before committing to the core book choices and see what the final verdict on MGT is. If it really does end-up being compatible CT, so I can use all the CT supplements and adventures, with a little improvement/streamlining here and there - it may be worth considering. In the mean time, I've got a whole lot of reading to do with the CT CD.

Maladominus - I do actually get that joke, having read about the Bwap in GT:ISW!

 

[aramis]

Amra:
for some of us, yes, PDF is replacing buying dead tree. My current game (BTVS RPG) and my prior game (MoTrav PT) both arrived as PDF. For BTVS, I haven't even printed them out, except the CGen pages from the back. (I'm likely to print the screen out, too.)

For MoTrav, I ran from my aptop, and my printout was for player use.

One neat feature, if the pages are correct, of Acrobat: it wil automatically do booklet printing.... I've made nice booklets out of Mazes and Minotaurs (but won't print the RM&M Bestiary until I can find a T-50 stapler cheap, cause my booklet stapler limits to 25 sheets, and that 150p+ monster comes out to around 38 sheets.