I see this board has not been active for aboiut a year, but I'll post this anyway in case some lurkers are interested.
I played Traveller from the beginning (1977, my first RPG), and teenage me made many modifications to MT. I recently decided to go over all my old notes, apply all known errata, and generally get my setting ready for play again.
In addition to having patched MT for all of DonM's errata (RIP), here is a summary of other things I did:
1) Added an advantage/disadvantage system to the TRS: roll 3D and take the top/bottom 2D. This is actually a lot better than the d20 version, as it only adds +/-2 and has a saner probability distribution. I use it where I don't need a full Difficulty level change; e.g Advantage attacking from the rear.
2) Added a version of the Snapshot rules to MT combat. I happen to like more tactical options. I also went back to 15 second combat rounds. For example, Interrupting no longer uses a Move DM but is +1 DM per 2 AP spent. I prefer Interrupting to have some cost.
3) Added more detailed range bands by weapon from Striker, for more interesting combat effects.
4) Added an Archaic armor rating versus melee and archaic ranged weapons.
5) Added a hit location and fumble system to personal combat. Makes armor even more important.
6) Added lots of Striker detail: vehicle hit locations, nuclear weapons, tac missiles, drones as robots, other materiel. Also added the corrected version of Special Supplement 3: Missiles.
7) "Fixed" DonM's errata trying to reconcile vehicle and robot suspensions & transmissions. These mostly should not have been changed from MT, but rather robot prices should simply be much higher than vehicles.
8) Battery prices /10 is better than the /100 per DonM's errata.
9) Greatly streamlined the gun construction rules to provide only a few representative examples, can always go back to the RM for details. I also added my own rules for large wet navy CPR guns up to 450cm.
10) The control panel rules produce nothing like the old bridge volumes. I instituted a Duty Station per active duty crew equal to 1 Small Stateroom, minimum of 10 Duty Stations per starship (corresponds to the old 20 D-ton bridge requirement). I rebuilt the Type S Scout using this rule with very good results.
11) Added back starship vector movement on a hex grid (10k km), and went to 15 minute combat rounds (very close to Book 2).
12) Added back starship computer programming. This gives the players lots of fun advantages versus capital ships. Also added detailed hand computer integration and how library data works.
13) Added a flexible turret system to allow dynamic battery allocation for small ships. Another player advantage vs. capital ships.
14) Greatly expanded Psionics, including a set of rules for Special that allows for very rare but powerful psionic beings (you could conceivably generate Grandfather).
I am currently working on the character generation modules. My setting is my own, so I have different aliens and different customization.
At some point, I would like to start running my setting again. We'll see how it goes!
I played Traveller from the beginning (1977, my first RPG), and teenage me made many modifications to MT. I recently decided to go over all my old notes, apply all known errata, and generally get my setting ready for play again.
In addition to having patched MT for all of DonM's errata (RIP), here is a summary of other things I did:
1) Added an advantage/disadvantage system to the TRS: roll 3D and take the top/bottom 2D. This is actually a lot better than the d20 version, as it only adds +/-2 and has a saner probability distribution. I use it where I don't need a full Difficulty level change; e.g Advantage attacking from the rear.
2) Added a version of the Snapshot rules to MT combat. I happen to like more tactical options. I also went back to 15 second combat rounds. For example, Interrupting no longer uses a Move DM but is +1 DM per 2 AP spent. I prefer Interrupting to have some cost.
3) Added more detailed range bands by weapon from Striker, for more interesting combat effects.
4) Added an Archaic armor rating versus melee and archaic ranged weapons.
5) Added a hit location and fumble system to personal combat. Makes armor even more important.
6) Added lots of Striker detail: vehicle hit locations, nuclear weapons, tac missiles, drones as robots, other materiel. Also added the corrected version of Special Supplement 3: Missiles.
7) "Fixed" DonM's errata trying to reconcile vehicle and robot suspensions & transmissions. These mostly should not have been changed from MT, but rather robot prices should simply be much higher than vehicles.
8) Battery prices /10 is better than the /100 per DonM's errata.
9) Greatly streamlined the gun construction rules to provide only a few representative examples, can always go back to the RM for details. I also added my own rules for large wet navy CPR guns up to 450cm.
10) The control panel rules produce nothing like the old bridge volumes. I instituted a Duty Station per active duty crew equal to 1 Small Stateroom, minimum of 10 Duty Stations per starship (corresponds to the old 20 D-ton bridge requirement). I rebuilt the Type S Scout using this rule with very good results.
11) Added back starship vector movement on a hex grid (10k km), and went to 15 minute combat rounds (very close to Book 2).
12) Added back starship computer programming. This gives the players lots of fun advantages versus capital ships. Also added detailed hand computer integration and how library data works.
13) Added a flexible turret system to allow dynamic battery allocation for small ships. Another player advantage vs. capital ships.
14) Greatly expanded Psionics, including a set of rules for Special that allows for very rare but powerful psionic beings (you could conceivably generate Grandfather).
I am currently working on the character generation modules. My setting is my own, so I have different aliens and different customization.
At some point, I would like to start running my setting again. We'll see how it goes!
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