Latecomer

[Synch]

Hello all.

I'm new here to CotI and new to Traveller as well. I was introduced to T20 a year or so ago when I made a character for a campaign that never took place. Since then I have always been intrigued by the system (I was hooked by the concept of rolling up a life path, a past for a character.)

I snagged a copy of GURPS Traveller. When that failed to be enough (I didn't want to buy new copies of the GURPS Basic Set) I snagged T20. Then I went out and found a copy of T4 Milieu 0 on sale for half off and grabbed it just for the interesting background.

At first I was considering using some elements of Traveller to spice up a game of Star Wars D20 that I'm supposed to be running for a group of friends, but now I'm beginning to think I want to explore this a little deeper. I'm a nut for game systems, I like looking at and dissecting them to see what makes them tick. I know you probably get this question constantly, but I'm wondering if I'm doing the right thing starting with T20?

I really want to get the "flavor" for Traveller, and I was wondering if T20 is the system to start with? Should I be looking into getting Classic Traveller, or maybe Mega Traveller? I'd really appreciate some opinions if you wouldn't mind. I admit I'm also a little tired of the way D20 seems to be swallowing every other gaming system out there. It was innovative and interesting when I saw it the first time, but it's really gotten out of hand I do believe. If I still had my D6 Star Wars stuff I'd run that instead of the D20.

Anyway, sorry to ramble. It's nice to meet all of you and I'm looking forward to enjoying a new(old) game.

 

[far-trader]

Welcome aboard Synch

Well met and all that

Sorry to hear your first Traveller game didn't come off but you might be able to find one through the site. There's play by post and e-mail and possibly you can find someone close for a ftf.

I think T20 has the flavor of Traveller right, no need to start collecting the CT edition. But then I have a hard time putting my brain in "fresh to the game" mode. So much has slowly built up over the years that I'm not sure how much of a sense of Charted Space and Traveller in general is covered by any one book or rule set.

One thing, if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask them, it's a very friendly forum here and answers are generally quick. Just be ready for several different answers

And as for MegaTraveller, it's not for the faint of heart being a bit all encompassing and heavy on errors.

That said, if you are tired of D20 and have a hankering for a different system (what a relief, someone who isn't afraid of actually knowing more than one way to game

) then CT might not be a bad way to go. It's all d6 and pretty open in the core rules. You could even do a StarWars universe type game with it and a little work. Just the basic books (combined volume available through QLI) is all you need.

Rambling?! That's not rambling, why just get me started, er, but not now, it's late here and I tend to lose track of my train of thought

Sorry to cut this answer and welcome short but I'm fading fast and have to get some sleep. I will try to add to this when I have more coherence, and I'm sure a few more friendly folks will be by before that.

 

[DElrick]

Hi Synch,

Welcome to the club.

GURPS - You know you can get a cut-down version of the GURPS rules free, don't you? Try http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG82-0106 for 3rd edition GURPS Lite (which is what GURPS Traveller uses), or http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite/ for the 4th edition of GURPS. That and the GURPS Traveller book should be enough to get you started, if that's the rules set you want to use.

But you can play Traveller using almost any modern/SF rule set - I know one guy who is converting BRP (Call of Cthulhu) for use with Traveller. The setting is pretty much independent of the rules, so go with what you are comfortable with.

You could always go out and buy the Classic Traveller reprints, but you already have two rulesets, both of which are well supported. The advantage to using T20 is that a lot of players are familiar with the D20 mechanic, but if you want something simpler, the GURPS mechanic is just roll 3D6 and get below your skill rating (if you have the GURPS book, there is a lot of extra stuff you can add to make it as complicated as you want).

If you do go down the GURPS route, I'd suggest picking up the alien books first, then seeing how you want to proceed before you decide which other books to pick up (Far Trader, etc.). All that stuff is set about 1100 years after Mileu 0, but you shouldn't have much trouble working out what to change.

Good luck and don't forget to let us know how you get on...

All the best

David

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Welcome!
I have been looking over some of the T20 stuff, and I like it (for the most part). It is a lot of bookkeeping, though, compared to CT. And, I am not a fan of levels - one of the reasons I liked Traveller to start with (back in the early '80s). (And, why I loved The Fantasy Trip!)

There are also all those dice to keep track of. With CT, you can buy a cheap Yatzhee set, throw away the score-keeping pad (keep the pencil, though), and you are set. With the cup, you can even keep the dice from going everywhere.

But, as Dan said, you will get a lot of different answers around here, as everybody has their favorites. (Check out the Traveller code at the bottom of some people's posts.

)

And, again, Welcome!

 

[Jame]

Well, I generally go with my group's house rules, but then again I haven't really had any exposure to other rules.

So I guess all that I can say is Welcome!

 

[Chuck Anumia]

I also start with a "Basic" set of rules.
It is the "Role Playing" that hooks me. I find myself desiring to become something greater in the universe than I am currently and here I can be whatever I imagine myself to be (head of a Mega corp, ruler of a planet, sub sector, sector, the man in charge of the Imperial Time Police, etc.).

Welcome, sit back and ask all the questions you can come up with. We all have an opinion about whatever topic is brought up (and most of us are not too shy to express them!).

 

[Rossoneill]

Hi and Welcome Synch
CT is good but remember that there is no character change or skill change once you start playing .
Or if there is it is very miniscule .
At least that is how my First CT books were .

I think you would enjoy D20 Traveller, to me it has the charm of CT with the ability to learn new skills and feats to grow your character as you want while you play and not just in the service .
Dont get me wrong i Loved CT and played it for many years.
I tried MT and found it so bugridden i could not get my friends to play it and i could not really figure it out very easy myself .
Marc Millers Traveller is good too but fairly complex .
I bought Gurps Traveller .
What i read i liked,
but im not sure if i want to learn another game system .
I like D20 Traveller because most of my players have 20 to 30 years Exp with D&D Traveller and many other RPGS ,and all my players already know 3rd and 3 1/2 version D&D so no more learning a new system ,which btw is why i think D20 is swallowing up the other systems or at least partially , its easy to adapt to any system and most people already know how to play if they play D&D.
But irrespective of my comments above, i think you woud enjoy equally CT or D20 Traveller or Gurps ,it just depends on what you and your players want out of the game and how much effort you are willing to put out .
Sorry i rambled on so long ,
Sometimes i tend to pontificate a Tad too much on Games
But again Welcome
BTW i am starting a Milieu 0 Campaign adapted to D20 Traveller because i like the idea of rediscovering the universe and being in on the start of the 3rd empire and i really like D20 Traveller .
Rossthree
Marquis of the 3rd Imperium
Duke ,Baron and Fleet Admiral of the 2nd Empire
(Long story behind The Duke ,Baron and Admiral part)

 

[Synch]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I'm going to stick with the T20 rules for now since it's what I have. I may pick up CT at some point, since I want to get my players away from thinking about the game in terms of their character level. I'm breaking in a group of players who have really only played D&D before. Their previous experience has taught them to worry about their levels and their loot, which I would like to break them from.

Until I can get them convinced to play Traveller, I think I will spend some time generating a star system, which looks really interesting. I like crunching numbers in a game, makes me feel like I've accomplished something.

If you guys have any other suggestions, by all means please keep them coming! I'm enjoying reading them.

 

[far-trader]

Yep, if you want to keep them in a single interesting starsystem for a while don't give them a starship

You could start them out with a modular cutter or something. Running errands in system and such. Then when you are ready to let them loose on the galaxy they can take part in a rescue and/or salvage of a small starship and either join the crew or operate it themselves while they work out the ownership transfer (which could be many adventures in it's own).

When generating your own systems and worlds from scratch (noble endeavor) remember the dice rolls should be (well imo at least) a guide and inspiration for your imagination, not a hard requirement. That way you can avoid too many strange worlds. Like small hell worlds with billions of people living at TL2 right next to comfy garden worlds with nobody to speak of and a high tech class A starport

for example.

 

[DElrick]

Alternatively, give them a starship with a worn-out or broken jump drive. This will give them an incentive to take jobs to earn the money for repairs, etc.

Cheers

David

 

[Andrew Boulton]

"I like crunching numbers in a game, makes me feel like I've accomplished something."

Get yourself a copy of Fire, Fusion & Steel. It'll keep you happy for weeks.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
"I like crunching numbers in a game, makes me feel like I've accomplished something."

Get yourself a copy of Fire, Fusion & Steel. It'll keep you happy for weeks.

WEEKS!? You youngsters and your short attention spans. That book* has kept me busy for years even without actually playing TNE much

* FF&S1 that is.

 

[far-trader]

Oh, say, as a new to the fold citizen Synch you might find this link interesting:

The Illustrated Traveller Bibliography

 

[Rossoneill]

If you start a mileu 0 campaign you could have them be crew on a space ship in a system with no jump drives and they could salvage a scout ship or a merchant and be sent out by planetary authorities from the home planet to get parts to repair the life support or power plant that keeps the planet liveable .
In this scenario they know there is other life out there.

Another scenario is the planet has lost all knowledge of other lifeand jump drives and they are the crew of the first jump ship the system sends out to explore .
I have used both of these or played in them ,
they are nice as the dm has control of when they leave the system and if its a jump one drive just develop all the planets you want at jump 1 and at jump 2 are your expansion systems for later in the game
Another way to go is they develop the ship using a restored relic (A jump 1 engine that is unreliable and needs lots of jury rigging to make it work
Anyway good luck on your game

Marquis of the 3rd Imperium
Duke ,Baron and Fleet Admiral of the 2nd Empire
(Long story behind The Duke ,Baron and Admiral part)

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Originally posted by Rossthree:

Marquis of the 3rd Imperium
Duke ,Baron and Fleet Admiral of the 2nd Empire
(Long story behind The Duke ,Baron and Admiral part)

I'm sure that this is the place for long stories if you can break them up into bite sized pieces...LOL

 

[Synch]

Thanks for the adventure ideas everyone! I ran the idea of the Traveller universe by them, well as far as I know it anyway. They were intrigued by the concept, and we've decided to dip a toe into it at least. I'll keep you posted on the progress if you're interested.

I think I'm going to create an arkship and have the characters be the descendents of voyagers who set off in a sublight only trip not long into the Long Night. The races and worlds of the Rule of Man will be the subject of near-myths. I'll be able to gauge how much they intend to roleplay by the amount of culture shock they have their characters expose. I think if they play right the first people they encounter well be godlike in some ways.

Man, I haven't been this excited to ref a game in years.

 

[flykiller]

I'll keep you posted on the progress if you're interested.

well I for one would like to hear it, sure.

 

[Elliot]

There is always a benefit in NOT allowing your players a starship - make them crew, that way they dont waste skills on shipboard things that could be used for adventuring and you have a command structure of NPCs to stop them from acting like D&D characters.

 

[Lord Iron Wolf]

An Arcship...does anyone remember the Sky Raiders trilogy by FASA and the brothers Keith?

Lord Iron Wolf

 

[Rotters2]

G'day Synch. And a belated welcome

I was going to suggest to grab some of the old CT stuff if you can, but BlackIrish56 pretty well summed it up.

My group is pretty much keeping clear of the T20 system - too close to all the other games, but each to their own.

Anyway - welcome to the boards, mate.