[Reviews] Alan "Psion" Kohler to preview T20

[Psion]

For those interested in the upcoming d20 science fiction RPG, Traveller d20 (or "T20"), I have been provided with a draft version of the T20 rules to preview. Sometime today I'll put up a "review" on the d20reviews page ( www.enworld.org/d20reviews.asp ) covering the basics, character generation, and some details of combat. As time goes on, I'll add more details and snippets. The preview will skip layout and presentation details as my copy is not complete, but I will revise the review to reflect the final product when I get it!

 

[hunter]

Thanks! Looks like the first part has been posted now. I did notice that there seems to be some formatting problems in the text.

How soon do you think you get the other parts posted up?

Hunter

 

[hunter]

Overall, I like how flexible the classes are, and I like how the prior career system works. I have a few concerns about the specific nature of some classes. The skill and feat selection makes the classes fairly flexible, but I am less comfortable with the way that BAB works with these more specific classes than in d20 system games with more "building block" type classes.

What is it that you are uncomfortable with on the class BABs?

Hunter

 

[hunter]

Oh also, price will be $44.95, final page count will be 448 pages (I noticed these were missing from the bottom of the review page)

Hunter

 

[Psion]

Originally posted by hunter:
What is it that you are uncomfortable with on the class BABs?

Well... I am not as uncomfortable as I was (and I posted a mini-update to that effect.) I had a misconception about how the prior careers worked. I thought that while in a prior career, you ONLY took class levels corresponding to that career.

Were that they case, BAB would be the one major factor of character creation that you wouldn't have a capacity to "tweak"... unlike skills and feats, which are fairly flexible.

However, the way I am reading it now, you can multiclass while in a career so long as you meet the multiclassing requirements stated under the class. That improves the situation considerably. I could, for example, make Hudson from Aliens (a marine with electronic skills) by starting out as a marine class in the marines in prior career but picking up levels in professional. That works pretty neatly and addresses half of my problem.

However, there is one area that I am still concerned about here. One thing that struck me immediately was how I couldn't really replicate an old merchant that was handy with a handgun. Similarly, in the text, you refer to a merchant with security training... okay, sounds good. How would you do it? You can't enter mercenary without having served in the Army, Navy, or Marines. There's not a way for me to create a merchant with security training, so to speak.

I think t20 would have been a good candidate for taking to bold step of making combat skills a skill vice using BAB. I can understand why you wouldn't want to -- familiarity and all. But it seems like if you are going to rely on multiclassing to give characters a modicum of combat ability, you should make it available to them.

 

[Psion]

Originally posted by hunter:
[QB]I did notice that there seems to be some formatting problems in the text. [/b]

Frickin-frackin !@#$ word processor special characters!

How soon do you think you get the other parts posted up?

I wouldn't count on another update until next weekend... unless things get really slow at work this week.

 

[tjoneslo]

Originally posted by Psion:
However, there is one area that I am still concerned about here. One thing that struck me immediately was how I couldn't really replicate an old merchant that was handy with a handgun. Similarly, in the text, you refer to a merchant with security training... okay, sounds good. How would you do it? You can't enter mercenary without having served in the Army, Navy, or Marines. There's not a way for me to create a merchant with security training, so to speak.
[/QB]

Commentary from the peanut gallery: Were I to roll up such a character, I'd probably multi-class into Rogue. The BAB progression is almost as good as the Mercenary or Marines and it allows access to a number of additional feats and skills which may be very useful as a merchant.

 

[Psion]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
Commentary from the peanut gallery: Were I to roll up such a character, I'd probably multi-class into Rogue. The BAB progression is almost as good as the Mercenary or Marines and it allows access to a number of additional feats and skills which may be very useful as a merchant.[/QB]

I had that thought. But speaking as a potential Traveller d20 GM, I think I'd relax the multiclass requirement for mercenary so that it could represent corporate goons and the like.

 

[DrSkull]

Did the "Martial Training" feat (or whatever it was called) make it into the final draft? I don't remember if it did, but it might be the ticket for your merchant-secuirty specialist. IIRC it allowed your BAB to jump up 1 category (or did you need to have Military experience to take this feat? I don't remember).

 

[Psion]

Originally posted by DrSkull:
Did the "Martial Training" feat (or whatever it was called) make it into the final draft? I don't remember if it did, but it might be the ticket for your merchant-secuirty specialist. IIRC it allowed your BAB to jump up 1 category (or did you need to have Military experience to take this feat? I don't remember).

Nope, it's there. Good catch; hadn't read that one. That certainly does seem to be the type of thing I was hoping for.

At any rate, it does seem as if I am spreading the good word. On RPGnet, a poster spake thus:

Actually, I have problem with the RATE of hp inflation, not with the amount of hps available. However, I'm always on the lookout for d20 games that tries to push the envelope rather than merely parroting Wotc. Traveller certainly looks like the former, and Alan, you've just gotten me interested. And I didn't even know what the original Traveller was!

And on ENWorld, a poster spake thus:

I have to say - with the tidbits you gave out that this is now firmly on my 'must-buy' list of d20 games (along with Mutants and Masterminds due in October).