Starting a new Trav campaign - tips on what system to use...

[anders lager]

I'm starting up a new Traveller campaign in the 1248 setting. I have the ideas and the players, but I can't decide on which rules set to use...

I have MT, TNE and T4 and I like them all... I've read the rules, but never actually played them (well, I played CT LBB1-3 and MT as a player aeons ago...in the 80s).

Please, could you help me in discussing the pros and cons of the various systems. Ultimately I would like to choose a core system to use, and then I can borrow stuff from the other version if needed.

So - we're not discussing setting/milieu here - just rules...

 

[Commander Drax]

undoutably the best traveller rules set ever to existed was MegaTraveller (although you need to use the erratta), oddly enough it's also the most least supported rules set in existence next to T4, probably because of it's association with the Rebellion era of the OTU. TNE is good but adds extra complexity to some aspects of the game such as vehicle and starship design/combat. Classic Traveller is too simplistic for me, though in essence a very good system. At present this leaves either gurps or T20, I like the ship design system in T20 though think that the science could be a bit harder, as for gurps, fantastic background materials and great rules additions, but it's gurps and I've never really liked the gurps system.

In short I would say use the system that gives you the most fun, or use a basic system that can easily take the rules and ideas of other systems and integrate them with a minimum of fuss for me this boils down to CT, TNE & T20, my favourites being T20 & TNE, 80% of which is T20.

 

[Spinward Scout]

I have MT, TNE and T4 and I like them all...

Ultimately I would like to choose a core system to use, and then I can borrow stuff from the other version if needed.

I'd choose MT as the core system - it's the most detailed of the three that you have. T4 seems to go pretty good with it with few modifications from what I can tell. The TNE system isn't compatable with either if I remember right.

Make sure you get the Errata for all of them, tho.

 

[ChalkLine]

What a question!

You'll get many parochial replies, based on bias, personal preference and backed by long debate focussing on individual tastes.

Don't listen to them.

Use the MegaTraveller rules though

 

[Droyne668]

Please, could you help me in discussing the pros and cons of the various systems. Ultimately I would like to choose a core system to use, and then I can borrow stuff from the other version if needed.

CT. You can plug pretty much anything into it with a minimum of effort. Task system is simple. Chargen is simple. Speeds up the process of bringing characters into the game.

Best,
Will

 

[aramis]

I, too, would recommend MT as the base, since the combat mechanics are the most flexible (though poorly written), the character generation is easily retconned to CT standards by ignoring bonus skills and special duty, it includes all the GDW and DGP added skills, and includes a task system, and well laid out tables in most rules sections.

T20 is my secondary recommendation, since most of the stuff I pull in to MT is T20 (Vehicles, T&C, Revised World Gen); I also pull T4's psionics.

CT is 3rd for me... most of what I want from CT is in MT or T20 anyway.

TNE ... well, at least it's not T4... Seriously, it's a very different game. Not a bad one, but a very different one. It doesn't feel like Traveller to me, but it could easily use the MT task system (or the 2300 one), which would make it feel much more like Traveller to me. Average skill levels are higher than MT, character generation can be mixed fairly easily with Twilight 2000 2d ed and Dark Conspiracy. Ship design is complex, neé, convoluted, but more realistic than CT, MT, or T20.

T4: I dislike the excessive numbers of skill receipts, the high emphasis on Attributes when coupled to the ease of raising attributes, and the task system. The ship design is the same as TNE, so that's no source for recommendation. There really isn't much going for it, except the higher rates of skills, and the roll-low mechanic... and those are VERY subjective (things my players rejected, in fact.)

GURPS Traveller is, as a ruleset, completely incompatible. If you like GURPS, it's a great rules choice. If not... The rules-based supplements are hard to adapt, but a lot of the text is transferable.

 

[Commander Drax]

Like I said, it's all about which rule set gives you the most fun!

 

[anders lager]

Thanks all of you Travellers

Looks like MT is in favor here - I too, am quite fond of MT. And the ease of using CT material without too much fuss is also appealing. CT is out of the question, since I have very little material for that version of the game, and I'm (and my wife) not so keen on collecting that game also. It's also a little too simplistic for me (at least in its basic form - I have bought the Traveller book out of nostalgic reasons). I like the rules to be quite simple, but not too simple. Actually I think I prefer quite detailed rules, and then I can choose not to use the ones I dislike.

TNE is actually one of my fav rules sets. I find it very complete and somehow appealing (must be my previous career as GM in a long T2K v1 campaign and also in some T:2300/2300AD games). But as someone said - it's not quite Traveller. And it's very detailed in some areas...

The reason for having T4 on the list is that I quite like the chargen and the combat rules. Starting up a new campaign for (like myself) old roleplayers that haven't played in years I reckoned that using a rules light system might be easier in the beginning.

T20 is out of the question - I dropped AD&D when it was 1st ed (in favor of RQ), and i certainly doesn't want to go back to level-based role-playing now.

As for GURPS, I've used it for several types of games - my home-brew fantasy world (where we actually "ported over" the PC:s from my AD&D game in mid-adventure), for a Cthulhu campaign and for a 2300AD game. Back in those days we played a lot of RPG:s and as I GM:ed a lot of them I was attracted by the prospect of using one rules set for different games. But there was a drawback. Suddenly all games felt the same - the unique flavor of each system was lost, and I abandoned the idea after some time. So, while I like GURPS, it might not be my cup of tea now...

Please come back with more tips/suggestions - it's always nice to hear what others think!

/doc.