Any possibility of T20 being updated?

[« Spinward Scout »]

Does anyone know if there's a possibility that Traveller 20 could be updated under the Pathfinder license? Pathfinder (and now Starfinder) is compatible with D&D 3.5 which is the last iteration of the D20 licensing.

[mike wightman]

If T20 were to be updated I would go with 5eD&D rather than Pathfinder/Starfinder.

[aramis]

Originally Posted by Spinward Scout

Does anyone know if there's a possibility that Traveller 20 could be updated under the Pathfinder license? Pathfinder (and now Starfinder) is compatible with D&D 3.5 which is the last iteration of the D20 licensing.

Would require Marc and Hunter's son to agree to let someone do it.

It's not "beyond possible"... but at present, it would be easier to simply submit to Marc a proposal for PathTraveller

[Garnfellow]

T20 was one of the first non-D&D d20 games that actually worked well. There were a lot of failures in the beginning of the OGL period and even some of WotC's early efforts, like the Wheel of Time RPG, didn't quite pan out.

So for its time T20 was pretty remarkable.

But that said, after T20 was released designers learned A LOT about the d20 system and made numerous mechanical improvements, as seen by 3.5e. Initial skill lists, for example, were soon considered far too narrow and as the system evolved were consolidated into fewer but broader skills. d20 Modern in particular was designed around a flatter power curve that would better fit a Traveller paradigm. 5e, with even more tightly bounded accuracy, might work even better still.

I dig Paizo's work, but if Starfinder is similar to Pathfinder, then the game models something much more heroic than Traveller.

I think another run at a d20-based Traveller would be very cool, but I think I'd build it from the ground up using a d20 Modern (or maybe 5e) engine, and look backwards to T20 and "sideways" to Pathfinder for discrete pieces. Some of the open mechanics from Mongoose Traveller -- most notably skills -- could also be used.

So that said, the tools are all out there to build a very tight d20 Traveller game.

[savage]

Didn't pan out? There were a lot of products.

MgT put T20 out of business. Hunter was going to produce SciFi20 and passed away.

It has been said there were financial issues with the production as well.

There is competition.;
MgT is now mature
T5
Mindjammer: Traveller
Cepheus Traveller discussions
and all the earlier versions

[Nathan Brazil]

I agree for it's time T20 was a good product. Since then a few things were put in other games that could improve T20.

The one that comes to mind for me is Lifeblood and Hitpoints. Very Star Wars D20. Could have gone like Babylon 5 where you get a bunch of HP at 1st lvl and then only 1 or 2 or 3 Hitpoints per level after that. Puts a more deadly Traveller-esque spin on combat.

Reputation is a mechanic in d20 Modern which could have been useful.

As far as non-successes, yes WoTC also had d20 Cthulhu. T20 was not a failure, based on the variety of products made. I still have my copy of 2320AD which I bought from this website...

[Garnfellow]

Note that my comment about games not panning out was explicitly referring to d20 games NOT named Traveller 20. Big difference.

T20 was quite good for the state of d20 design at the time, but that state evolved rapidly after T20 was released, particularly with regards to emulating low-heroic and science fiction genres.

[Tikon]

I have my copy of 2320 as well. Printed out and everything

[Qstor2]

I agree that any new version of T20 should use D20 Modern/Future as the basis. I'd be interested in that for sure.

[Supplement Four]

I've never played it, but I've heard nothing but good things about T20--that it does do a great job of meshing Traveller with the d20 system.

If that's true (and I tend to believe that it is), then why would you want to mess with that?