Let me take a whack at this one.
All is of course, IMHO.
Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
I am considering to buy the T20 rulebook; however, I have some reservations. Is this version of Traveller truely worth its price, or the time I'll have to invest in order to learn it (I'm familiar with the general D20 system, though)?
And a few points I'd like to know about:
1) Does T20 ground combat feel like D&D combat, or more like CT ground combat? How well are firearms handled?
Ground combat is D20 rules at the personal level, however, and this is a big however, due to the fixed lifeblood rating there is little chance to stand up to a point blank shotgun blast without serious body armor no matter what your level is.
It isn't quite as lethal as CT ground combat but IMHO that is a good thing. (In CT if you got hit by virtually any weapon, you went down.)
As for how well firearms are handled. I spent 9 years active duty army. I have fired bows (not in the army), pistols, shotguns, rifles, submachine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, light, medium and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, missile launchers, handled explosives, trained with auto canons, and called artillery and air strikes. Everything works the way a person with experience with these weapons would expect them to work. (Though there are a couple minor glitches.)
2) Is the inclusion of Character Classes restrictive to Chargen (as it was in D&D 2E and to a lesser degree in 3E)?
I can't answer that question. I never played D&D after EGG left the scene.
3) How fighter-friendly is the space combat system? Is it a small-ship system such as CT or a big-bad-battleship system such as High Guard?
The starship combat works well at small craft level. (Less than 1000 tons. It is when you get to big ships that the system falls apart. (IMHO seriously falls apart.) Though it is fixable without throwing out the whole thing or killing the playability of small ships.
4) How modifyable are the rules? how many of them are setting-specificf to the OTU?
Like any RPG the rules are modifyable. THough if your players are going to look at the rules it is only fair to let them know the changes.
Actually the rules are pretty setting non-specific. However if you want to use starship designs that don't use jump drive or maneuver drive you are writing your own rules. Further if you are going to allow FTL comms you are writing your own rules.
They are so modifyable that the same rules will be used for the Twilight 2000, Traveller 2300, Honor Harrington, and Legacy of Aldenta backgrounds.
5) How well integrated are the design and combat systems? can you shoot a fighter with your PGMP-12, or an enemy tank with your ship's lasers? could you design ground vehicles and robots?
Very well integrated. Though there are a couple of holes with robots and a minor glitch with radiation weapon damage. You can engage all classes of targets with all classes of weapons with fairly predictable, ie expected, results. (A bodypistol is unlikely to do serious harm to a Drednaught and a Starship's weapons are very likely to kill the guy holding the body pistol.
6) Does the game have an integral "traveller" atmosphere rather than the (ultra-heroic, beer'n'pretzel) D&D3E one?
Thanks in advance.
It very much feels like Traveller. Unlike the typical level 14 AD&D character fighting appropiate monsters, combat isn't chipping away against an inexhaustable supply of hitpoints. Getting shot can, and frequently will, kill you. As will getting chopped or carved up. You can kill someone with a dagger or a single shotgun blast. So after their first combat session, win or lose , players, particularily D&D players, tend to get a little more circumspect about rushing into combat. (Especially lethal combat.)
Did I miss any?
