FASA and OTU
- Thread starter sekalo
- Start date
kinnerc
SOC-6
No! No, Sekalo! You've officially started something that will take on a life of its own and perhaps outlive you! This is now part of your legacy! (Not bad, actually!)
coliver988
SOC-14 1K
and in 10 years, someone will re-read and add a comment for the wonders of thread necromancy!
as there is a LOT of really great stuff here, so it is always great when new people show up and start digging and find those goldmines some of us have forgotten about.
as there is a LOT of really great stuff here, so it is always great when new people show up and start digging and find those goldmines some of us have forgotten about.
Hairy Jim DeGriz
SOC-12
Not an update, but rather a history lesson of the Interstellar Wars. Not an endorsement or review, just saying this is...
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
Wow- a bit jarring seeing classic 3I iconic art repurposed to the nth Interstellar War story, but sweeping nonetheless.
Hairy Jim DeGriz
SOC-12
For the benefit of our younger compatriots: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_Soup_(1933_film)
Black Vulmea
SOC-12
You may be thinking of Reaver's Deep, which was a sector Gamelords used for its modules. They published A Pilot's Guide to the Drexilthar Subsector for Reaver's Deep and a sector book was later published by Cargonaut Press.
You've mentioned Traveller Hero in this context before, what makes it stand out do you think?
It covers from IW through M1200... in typical Hero System excellent summary. It also discusses the specific tropes of the OTU.
It also is a very system neutral view.
Moreover, unlike the other sources I listed, it is speaking in an authoritative way, not an in-setting view.
For much the same reasons, GT is a strong candidate; it's my fourth pick, even tho' I detest most of the changes it wrought as a line. (I feel much the same about TNE and the mechanics of T4 - save the psionics.)
HT was intended to stand alone, and to allow all eras then in print. I can't speak to the conversion quality mechanically - I've not bothered with the mechanics due to players who are math averse. If I had a group of Hero fans to run for, I'd run it.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
FASA's involvement with the Traveller setting was very much a shotgun approach. They started rather generic, with the ship folios, then partnered with the fanzine crew who had done the first two issues of High Passage in Old Expanses. That lasted until, I *think*, the Old Expanses guy moved on. Then the magazine was more widely focused for a few issues before turning into Far Traveller, helmed mostly by the Keiths, which moved to Reaver's Deep.
At some point Dale Kemper approached FASA with a writeup of half of Far Frontiers, and most of FASA's attention moved there (Sky Raiders, etc). The Keiths kept working on Reaver's Deep as well, starting Gamelords to do so. After that ran out of steam, they still had written work, and Cargonaught started up to publish that, run by Paul Sanders. Paul was shattered by the death of one the brothers, and I haven't seen any signs of him since.
As for FASA, after a lengthy set of licensing experiments (Star Trek, Dr. Who...) they launched Battletech (nee Battledroids) based on one of their in-house Traveller campaigns. That became so successful they dropped all of their external properties and moved on to become quite successful. They did make an effort to nab Star Wars, which would end up going to West End. The FASA effort morphed into Renegade Legion.
Some of the timing of the above may be off. It's been a while.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
It was Renegade Legion that was adapted from FASA's Traveller game...
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Maybe later. Battletech (1984) has the same skill system, albeit for only two skills, as Classic. it's just notationally flipped. The Pilot and Gunnery numbers are the result of Skill and Dex modifiers on a base competency, and are rolled on 2d6 in an era when only Traveller used 2d6. Then there is the setting. One of only two during that period with an active in-game calendar. Guess what the other one was...
Renegade Legion is five years later, and has no mechanical relationship to Traveller whatsoever. The Star Wars connection was open industry scuttlebutt at the time. The setting may have arisen from an in-house campaign, certainly. That's hardly unusual.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Ah you are referring to the original Mechwarrior rpg rules, yup they were definitely a Traveller rip off.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Yes.
All those lengthy hit modifiers and piloting checks are already compatible, if perhaps a bit excessive. In Traveller terms, the Pilot and Gunnery table for mech pilots assumes an 8+ success modified by the two skills and Dex, both of which are baked into Pilot Quality, followed by play-determined situational modifiers. It's why the rookies have higher numbers; your task goal gets lower on 2d6 as you get better. BT *is* Traveller stripped of everything not required to maneuver and shoot with a 30' clumsy legged war machine.
The issue is that you would likely need to pick your vehicle rules and lock out the others. The BT universe has its own baked in assumptions, just like default Traveller does, and that has significant effects on craft design and play.
The fragility of the BT combat system that became evident when the timeline dragged in higher tech is its main weakness. It shows off how easy it is to blow out 2d6, lose any semblance of balance, and overwhelm a design system.
The 80-odd year span of the "main" BT story packs in two standing multi-front wars, a map-wide terror plot (that succeeds), and at least a two TL roller coaster ride from a Traveller perspective. Scale wise, the whole of the Inner Sphere and Clan space is the rough equivalent of a Solomani feudal state being invaded by the Vegans. You could almost pack the whole story into the Long Night before the Aslan show up.
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Black Vulmea
SOC-12
With art from both Jim Holloway AND Dave Deitrick - that's an embarrassment of riches.
They were as much of a GURPS ripoff... well, maybe. I don't recall what months they released, but the similarities with GURPS and that both were 1986 releases... it may not be a rip-off
To be honest, it's more a hybrid of the two.
☑︎ indicates a mode that's the same as the game in the column
☒ indicates a concept that's in that column's game, but not figured the same way
| Element | Trav (CT) | GURPS | Battletech | Other |
| Rolling Direction Low | ☑ | ☑ | ||
| Point Build, single pool | ☑ | |||
| Attributes: 4 Body Dex Lrn Cha | ☑ | |||
| Attribute Range 2-12 | ☑ | |||
| Skill cap by attribute | ☑ (TTB and Bk7) | |||
| Damage to hp by location. | ☑ | |||
| Has saving rolls as a mechanic | ☒ | ☑ | ||
| Experience Points System – not just additional character points | ☒ | ☑ | ||
| NPC generation as part of group generation | ☑ | |||
| Nobility with power | ☒ | ☒ | ☒ |
It's second ed that moves more towards Traveller, with 6 atts, but it's a move to a priorities system with separate pools.
I was shocked BITD when Mechwarrior looked so much like GURPS.
