What appeals the most to you about Traveller?

[plazman30]

I'm curious what appeals to people the most about Traveller. Is it the 2D6 game mechanic and rules? Is it the lore (charted space, 3rd imperium, etc).

If Traveller as you know if was no longer here, would you choose to play a Cepheus product with it's own lore, or play something like GURPS Traveller or HERO Traveller?

 

[Spinward Scout]

Starships.
2d6 mechanic.
The Setting.
Gauss weapons.
The Tech.
Psionics.
Space Exploration.

 

[mike wightman]

Likes:
life path character generation
limited number of skills
CT situation throw resolution
TL scale for weapons, armour, equipment from 0 to 20+
world design system
animal encounters

As a toolkit to build my own settings I have found no better game.

 

[Ildefonse]

The rules framework for sure: it's succinct, flexible enough to enable a wide range of games (within a certain scale, delimited by the coarse 2d6 mechanic), and game play starts with character generation. I freely mix in Cepheus material to my CT game, but my game is still fundamentally CT.

 

[Condottiere]

Spacecraft and setting.

Default player character generation leaves much to be desired, though great for non player characters.

 

[aramis]

The late third imperium.
Lifepath character gen.

 

[Muad'dib Pendragon]

Simple foundational system.
Comprehensive, flexible toolbox.
Useable for any campaign style.

 

[Dragoner]

The system is familiar like an old flannel shirt. Spacecraft, and the 2d6 mechanics; I like how malleable it all is.

If Traveller was no longer here, I have my own Cepheus setting, Solis People of the Sun:

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[whartung]

Starships.

The soldier at the front of book 4.

Gauss rifles.

I like the "physics-ish-ness" of TNE and FF&S.

GT:FT and GT:ISW

 

[bookwyrm]

Although I got into Traveller through CT, I got back into it with T20. T20 rocks!
Gateway to Destiny!
Aliens!
Robots, Starships, & Legged Vehicles!
I can go OTU, MTU, or a mix.
Citizens of the Imperium & Freelance Traveller.
Traveller Map!
Psionicist Class!

https://www.travellerrpg.com/threads/psionicist-core-class.13148/

 

[coliver988]

it was the 1st RPG I bought (and then took almost 2 years before I could play and actually understand what I had bought!) I like that it offers so much value for even solo play: character development, spaceships, worlds. The classic LBBs have an entire universe in a few short pages that can, as mentioned above, recreate a lot of different kinds of games and universes.

I also like that the community around it, though sometimes argumentative, is also very supportive of a wide variety of views and interpretations of the rules. This forum brought me back to running and playing Traveller but also showed me so many different ways of looking at the same game with a different approach.

 

[infojunky]

I'm curious what appeals to people the most about Traveller. Is it the 2D6 game mechanic and rules? Is it the lore (charted space, 3rd imperium, etc).

Ok, the simple answer is that in the late 70's RPG scene Traveller was the only Science Fiction game commonly available... I.e. on the shelf in the local game shop that was on my way to the bus stop coming home from school. Couple that to a used bookshop with very healthy SF section and a liberal trade in policy in the same route, I had all the settings I could possibly want and very plastic rules system to play them in.

If Traveller as you know if was no longer here, would you choose to play a Cepheus product with it's own lore, or play something like GURPS Traveller or HERO Traveller?

DUDE, Dude... Dude, rolling your own is one of the oldest part of Traveller, in that the Settings, the specific rules (Minigames) have always been part of the ethos.

Also remember Traveller hasn't always been here, there was a sizable Hiatus after GDW went out of business, but even then Traveller persisted.

This topic runs very close to the "What is Traveller?" topics we have had collectively over the years. It's still a ripe topic for conversation.

"We all play Traveller, every game is different, yet it is still Traveller."

 

[MichaelSTee]

it was the 1st RPG I bought (and then took almost 2 years before I could play and actually understand what I had bought!) I like that it offers so much value for even solo play: character development, spaceships, worlds.

Same here. My first RPG, it showed me how I could build my own fictional background with consistent rules and technology, and the implications of different tech. The Third Imperium was simply too large for my liking, with no open frontiers to explore; but it contains a lot of interesting worlds, creatures, ships, societies, etc. that can be, er "borrowed" for my own backgrounds. Also, the various "makers" and tables of events or encounters is great for solo play, or even just for story writing.
I spend more time playing with Cepheus rules now, as I want a different feel for my tech and background, and I've imported rules from other games as well as using something from most versions of Trav. But Marc's Traveller is always in the back of my mind, guiding my humble efforts.
In short, even though I'd read lots of science-fiction before finding it, Traveller opened up my imagination in directions I might never have gone towards.

 

[kilemall]

All the flexible mechanics plus the shotguns and starships vibe. Laser rifles with big ol power backpacks, sandcasters instead of shields, it’s definitely its own thing.

 

[atpollard]

Hexadecimal strings.

 

[The Pakkrat]

Trade and Commerce
All aspects of the Vargr
Taming Virus
Seeing the myriad of Psionics
I'd miss T5.10

 

[aramis]

DUDE, Dude... Dude, rolling your own is one of the oldest part of Traveller, in that the Settings, the specific rules (Minigames) have always been part of the ethos.

Despite that, given the 1979 introduction, by 1981, the OTU was firmly a thing, and was dominating many groups' play. The deluxe box included an overview (book 0) and a sector (The marches, in A0). The 1982 version of the rules (TTB) included the OTU info from B0 and the Regina subsector.
For many of us starting in the early 80's, Traveller was the OTU. It came with our core rulebooks. It was in all the adventures. It wasn't "roll your own," despite that being available.

(It was much the same with Space Opera. But without a nifty acronym for it.)

 

[kilemall]

Hexadecimal strings.

Loved that JTAS cartoon with the naval programmer discovering the hexadecimal digit Q.

 

[Takei]

The 2d6 mechanics and rules. Prior service lifepath. The way technology is handled; I enjoy Star Wars and Star Trek but prefer the more grounded technology of Traveller.

Whenever I've played or run Traveller it's always been in the Third Imperium but I'm not married to it. I'll happily play/run HOSTILE or Clement Sector or even create a new setting using the Near Space map and a bunch of rolls. And let's face it, if Traveller disappeared tomorrow but we still had Cepheus, we'd still have Traveller

 

[casquilho]

There are lots of things I like about Traveller, but if I had to select the #1 reason I like Traveller is that I have yet to see a better toolbox of game mechanics that allowed me to run a game in my setting that felt good. The core of Traveller allows me to play in and experience what I want to experience. They way I can tweak things and adjust them to give the feel and overall game. As for Cepheus based settings, I think they prove my point. Cepheus is based, for the most part, on Traveller and yet they have produced many different settings and genre games. The toolbox allowed them to create something other than just 3i/chartered space.