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Which computer games make good Traveller Adventures?

*opens video game cabinet*

Metal Gear Solid with spaceships would be an interesting idea. The PC's are in some covert agency, and are tasked with retaking a government facility that's had a rebellion/mutiny, and on-board they find some super weapon. Maybe some kind of escort frigate with reverse engineered ancient tech that is as has armaments that make a battleship cry. Outnumbered, they'd have to make their way about the station/ship without being caught/ detected or else have the crew bear down on them. Its a bit cliché I suppose, but kinda neat. In my mind at least.

If your characters are navy guys, or mercs you could have them be some super fighter squadron that shows up and wins a dramaticly losing war, Mobius 1 Style. Just had AC4 sitting in my lap.

Maybe have them be a bit like the folks in This War of Mine, and have them be forced to survive on a planet plagued by civil war as shuttle flights into orbit halted due to the escalating violence.

If the PC's are mercs, then they could be strung along a Spec Ops the Line type story where they have a relatively simple task and then see a bit of interesting secret that they could get strung along in trying to unravel it and end up becoming a major player in the whole scenario that's going on.
 
Elite: Dangerous is a fairly Traveller-like game (though the spaceflight mechanics differ greatly).

Star Citizen will be very Traveller-like when it comes out... around the time that the Traveller universe is a reality.

I'll call back to one of my favorite games: Sundog. Played it on my Atari ST back in the day. I would LOVE for them to do an updated version of this.

Privateer was one I really liked. Freelancer (Privateer's spiritual successor) was good, too.

The upcoming No Man's Sky will likely have some Traveller elements.
 
While never a computer game, but it would make for an interesting Traveller campaign, would be Metamorphosis Alpha by TSR. Your ship comes out of Jump Space near a planetoid slower-than-light generation ship.
 
Oh man, Mines of Titan - that takes me back.

Of course the Starflight series and Elite are classics. I might also throw in Privateer, at least for the over-arching structure of the game.

But another "Moldy Oldie" that hasn't been mentioned yet is "Sentinel Worlds" and it's sort-of-follow on, "Hard Nova". HORRIBLE UI and graphics, but a great story (and strangely compelling pre-soundblaster sound track) that in many ways seems like a non-trader based Traveller game. You're part of the "space patrol" and you have to investigate some piracy in a system.
 
For a good classic trav vibe I would heartily recommend FTL Faster than light on steam and iOS. It's a random trip through numerous sectors jumping from system to system in a deck planned spaceship encountering whatever is in system. It's hard though ...!
 
Oh man. Well, there is always "Starship Traveller" which was just re-released as sort of choose-your-own-adventurer book on Steam. It's pretty cool!

Of course being the huge fan of Mass Effect that I am, that can easily be adapted into a Traveller adventure. Though as others have noted it would take a very liberal interpretation of the Psionics rules to emulate Biotics in the ME universe.

Any of the Fallout games could provide inspiration for a huge planetside adventure on a world that has been bombed to hell. And I am sure you could find ideas in the Dead Space series, System Shock, and even the Star Wars games.

For story, plot, or just seeds to create your own adventure you could use pretty much any good story-driven game. Of course as the source material gets father from a sci-fi setting there will be more work to make it fit, but that is half the fun of creating your own universe.
 
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Starship Traveller is by the other Steve Jackson, the UK co-founder of Games Workshop; it was published first as a Puffin Book in the early 1980s; that Steve Jackson is nothing to do with Steve Jackson Games.

It did allegedly cause some rancour at the time (SJG not then publishing Traveller; it was GDW that didn't seem keen on a book using the Traveller name, though amicability returned soon as Games Workshop printed GDW materials under license in the UK).
 
That's interesting as "traveller" according to Websters, is the alternative (optional) spelling of "traveler". Meaning that, to me at least, copyright issues over the name is one of the hazards of picking a noun for your product title. Having said that, it does make one wonder if the move was intentional to capitalize off of either US based company's name.

I enjoyed the Fallout series (including Wasteland), and where there did seem to be some Travelleresque influences there, and where those games do indeed make great mining for post-apoc adventures in Traveller, I'm hard pressed to think of them as ripoffs.

The Dark Forces series were great games, but mostly very Star Wars heavy in terms of weaponry used and theme; i.e. choosing between "good" and "bad", a kind of spiritual "force" oriented theme. Even so, some of the maps and story elements would make for extraordinary Traveller adventures.
 
Games? Starflight. Homeworld. Pretty much any space sim game by Chris Roberts. System Shock. Halo. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Civilization: Beyond Earth. A relatively little known Commodore Amiga/DOS RPG called Whale's Voyage. Master of Orion II. Dead Space has provided an idea here and there for a homebrewed subsector, and I'll cop to using the jobs/mission/contracts from later Elite games as starting points for adventure ideas.
 
Frankymole said:
Starship Traveller is by the other Steve Jackson, the UK co-founder of Games Workshop; it was published first as a Puffin Book in the early 1980s; that Steve Jackson is nothing to do with Steve Jackson Games.

It did allegedly cause some rancour at the time (SJG not then publishing Traveller; it was GDW that didn't seem keen on a book using the Traveller name, though amicability returned soon as Games Workshop printed GDW materials under license in the UK).
Click to expand...

Well that is a tidbit I didn't know. I edited my post, thanks!
 
Blue Ghost said:
That's interesting as "traveller" according to Websters, is the alternative (optional) spelling of "traveler". Meaning that, to me at least, copyright issues over the name is one of the hazards of picking a noun for your product title. Having said that, it does make one wonder if the move was intentional to capitalize off of either US based company's name.
Click to expand...
NOT A COPYRIGHT ISSUE!!!!!!!!!!!
It's a Trademark issue.

Also, the alternate spellings are almost exclusively British. In the US, 1 word titles in common terms are almost unenforceable as trademarks if spelled correctly in American Standard English. Spelled incorrectly, however, you get enforceability. Not much, but some.

And while copyright laws are similar in the US and UK, the trademark laws have grown rather more divergent.
 
Frankymole said:
Starship Traveller is by the other Steve Jackson, the UK co-founder of Games Workshop; it was published first as a Puffin Book in the early 1980s; that Steve Jackson is nothing to do with Steve Jackson Games.

It did allegedly cause some rancour at the time (SJG not then publishing Traveller; it was GDW that didn't seem keen on a book using the Traveller name, though amicability returned soon as Games Workshop printed GDW materials under license in the UK).
Click to expand...

This is exacerbated by the fact that Steve Jackson (U.S.) did, in fact, write material for some of the books from the Fighting Fantasy series that Steve Jackson (U.K.) also wrote. Those crazy Steves.
 
GoblynByte said:
This is exacerbated by the fact that Steve Jackson (U.S.) did, in fact, write material for some of the books from the Fighting Fantasy series that Steve Jackson (U.K.) also wrote. Those crazy Steves.
Click to expand...
Yes, as early as the 8th book (Scorpion Swamp), which the publishers made no effort to distinguish the author of, from the UK Steve Jackson who wrote the 5th book (and others)! I don't know if US SJ wrote any later ones. I quite enjoyed his first one.
 
Golan2072 said:
Which computer/video/console games would make good Traveler adventures in your opinion?
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Alien: Isolation - a simple retrieval mission, Right ..... :oo:

BioShock - [without the creepy family tie in] What happened in the underwater city where the Bio / Chemical Experiments went on.

The Fifth Day - you have landed on a planet, where the only inhabitants are murderous robots ... survive long enough to repair your ship

[Insert Zombie Survival Game / Movie] - can you survive long enough to escape / End The Apocalypse

Borderlands / B2 - you heard about this treasure .... ok

Far Cry - You were looking for that missing reporter - Opps that boat crash left you stranded.

Far Cry 3 - you and your Friends are just on vacation ....

Far Cry 4 - You just want to put dear old moms ashes in their final resting place.

Watch Dogs - State Surveillance - not necessary hacking techniques
 
UFO - Enemy Unknown, or the old X-Com games.

Start at TL-7 and gradualy increment the TL of equipment available to the PCs as they recover more equipment from the aliens. Scientist PCs get to design the new vehicles (within budget) and decide which tech to work on. Do we go for Gauss Rifles first or Combat Armour? Grav propulsion or Bonded Superdense? PGMPs or Fusion Power Plants? Should we build another orbital space station, or go directly for establishing a Moon base? Scramble! Another alien UFO has been detected over Australia!

You'd need to decide on a vehicle and spacecraft design system, perhaps one of the editions of FF&S.

I've come quite close to actualy running a game like this a few times, but something else has always come up. One of these days...

Simon Hibbs
 
You could mod the Fallout game into a Traveller game - remove the aliens and have the alien ship mod as your base - create some new followers to be your crew (better if you could create Aslan or Vargr models) - change some of the armor and weapons to suit Traveller e.g. change the hazard suit into a spacesuit with better armor rating.

The mission might be to find some item or person - which is a very Traveller-ish mission - send some dudes to an irradiated war torn planet to find somebody/thing.
 
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