official vs unofficial rulesets

[creativehum]

Keep in mind my ruleset is the original Traveller rules -- the boxed set of Traveller Books 1-3 found in a little black box. The game was published as a stand alone game in 1977 (with a revised edition published in 1981) requiring no other materials apart from:

• Traveller (Books 1, 2, and 3)
• Dice (six-sided, minimum of 2; 2 to 4 dice per player, including the referee, is much more convenient. Multiple colors for the dice are also useful)
• Paper (including notebook paper, graph paper and scratch paper)
• Writing Instruments (pencils, pens, erasers, colored markers)

By definition of the rules found in Traveller Books 1, 2, and 3:

• The rules are a framework from which to build an infinite universe
• The text offers itself as a guide for the Referee and Players to use, alter or ignore as situations found in play dictate
• The Referee creates his or her own setting using the setting-creating materials within the rules

There is no OTU in the box, and so there is no way to vary from it. There are implied setting details in the rules, however, that will help aid the Referee create adventure-rich RPG settings. By definition the Referee must create a setting of some sort.

I use the game as described above, so I voted "100%" as I use the ruleset as written.

 

[nobby-w]

[ . . . ]
I have run every version of the game rules as written bar Hero edition; I have used Aftermath, [ . . . ]

Oh, dear. I've played that, although I suspect there are quite a number of grognards here who are old and crusty enough to remember it. Gotta love the combat system flowchart.

[ . . . ]EABA,[ . . .]

What's EABA?

 

[creativehum]

What's EABA?

A Wikipedia Entry on the EABA RPG

 

[aramis]

What's EABA?

BTRC's "End All Be All" generic rules system.

1E can run traveller rather easily - just use the MT Target Numbers and tasks.

1E playtest was RIGHT at the end of T20's.... I took my T20 campaign, and ported everyone over.

System is stat+skill in d6's, keep 3, beat TN.

Atts on an essentially 2d6 scale, but point buy - and the roll for a raw att is (round(att/3))d6+(att modulo 3); skill levels add 1d each.

Greg Porter, who wrote it, also wrote Emperor's Vehicles for T4.

2E, I never got into.

 

[Gardensnake]

elsewhere we read:



what say you? how much of your game is official rulesets and materials, and how much is your own rulesets and materials?

Where do published variants fall in this poll? I prefer Clement Sector which uses Cepheus Engine? Which option would this be?

William

 

[flykiller]

Where do published variants fall in this poll?

heh ...

yeah, there's kind of a gray area there - the official way, vs not-official-but-common ways, vs your own personal way. tell you what, make the dividing line between what someone else does, and what you do.

 

[Timerover51]

Character generation rules, about 100%, but include additional career options in Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium, and also The Traveller Book. I am working on expanding the Wet Navy options in that rule set.

Shipbuilding rules for Jump Drive, I use the 1977 set, and assume a reaction less maneuver drive, and add a Hyperdrive option. The Hyperdrive option uses the tonnage table for Jump Drives. The main difference is a major rework of the computer table. They are much more compact, much cheaper, and much more capable at Tech Level 7 and higher.

World building rules, not quite 100% as I generate the planet first before generating the space port, giving considerations to the surrounding systems. I also put a planet where I want one with the characteristics that I want. I do follow the sub-sector generation rules, with some exceptions.

For Trade rules, I adjust the prices and to a degree decide what products are available based on the World characteristics. A Desert World is not going to have a lot of Sea Food for sale, a Vacuum World is not going to be exporting a lot of food, while a World with "B" or "C" atmosphere is going to have to have something exception for export. Smoked Salmon sells well in exclusive restaurants on Arid/Desert Worlds.

The animal generation rules I use as a starting point. I generally will look at Earth's Biomes and get creative from them.

For Personal Combat, I use the rules from Skirmish Wargaming. For Space Combat, if it ever occurs, then break out Imperium. For any other combat, get out a set of appropriate miniature rules.

With respect to costs of things, I tend to go with my own data.

And then my setting is far out in the Rim, as far away from the Imperium as I can, within reason, get. For ideas of my planets, see Piper and Norton, with a bit of A. Bertram Chandler and Christopher Anvil thrown in.

 

[infojunky]

Where do published variants fall in this poll? I prefer Clement Sector which uses Cepheus Engine? Which option would this be?

Since the variants are all based on Traveller thought, shouldn't they be Traveller?

CE is one of the donor rules sets that I hack for rules. I am currently using it's Character Gen with hacks from MT and skill name changes... And yet it is still Traveller.

 

[creativehum]

Since the variants are all based on Traveller thought, shouldn't they be Traveller?

CE is one of the donor rules sets that I hack for rules. I am currently using it's Character Gen with hacks from MT and skill name changes... And yet it is still Traveller.

Absolutely. If every edition of Traveller is still "Traveller" -- no matter how much the systems vary -- then CE certainly is "Traveller."

 

[ffilz]

I chose 75% official, it's probably better than that, but not 100%.

I mix and match a bit between the various versions of Classic Traveller. I have my own skill charts for Citizens of the Imperium careers. There are or will be other deviations from the published rules.

Like Christopher, since my foundation is 1977, there is no OTU to be ignored, so the fact that I have rolled up my own subsector is not a deviation...

Frank

 

[sfchbryan]

Character generation rules, about 100%, but include additional career options in Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium, and also The Traveller Book. I am working on expanding the Wet Navy options in that rule set.

Terry McInnes did an expanded Wet Navy Character generation system It's HIWG document #2128. It was submitted, but not published in Challenge Magazine.

I whipped it into MT trade dress a while back.

I've got it here somewhere in my Nautical Force Command book.