T20 : a ct perspective

[hirch duckfinder]

i am a ct diehard . i like the system and it works well for me . however , the quality of the recent releases by qli is very high .

this leads me into t20 temptation ....

.... so the questions are : what is t20 like from a ct perpective ? levels in traveller , do they really work ? are there other issues of difference that a ct player would particularly notice ?

thanks in advance to anyone who can answer ....

 

[Flynn]

It has been my experience that the feel of the game play has a very strong CT feel to it, with the subtle familiarity of the D20 system for mechanics. It does play out a lot better than one might expect, coming from a CT perspective.

I highly recommend it,
Flynn

 

[vutpakdi]

Originally posted by hirch duckfinder:
i am a ct diehard . i like the system and it works well for me . however , the quality of the recent releases by qli is very high .

this leads me into t20 temptation ....

.... so the questions are : what is t20 like from a ct perpective ? levels in traveller , do they really work ? are there other issues of difference that a ct player would particularly notice ?

thanks in advance to anyone who can answer ....

I would say that there is considerably more detail/complexity in T20 when compared to CT. In CT, you can have a fairly experienced character represented by 5-10 skills from 1-3 levels being common. In T20, an equivalently experienced character might have 5-15 skills + 5-8 feats with skill levels ranging from 1 to 18. CT skill levels tend to be fairly broad in range while T20 skill levels tend to be fairly narrow (Gunnery 1 in CT might be anywhere from Gunnery 1-8 in T20 (just guessing, I could do the math if I weren't sleep deprived)).

Levels in Traveller do work.

CT is more elegant of a system, but the Referee and players have to fill in the gaps. T20 has more detail, but requires more knowledge and page flipping or at least chart referencing.

I like both in different ways.

Ron

ObDisclosure: I'm running a T20 PBEM game that happens to have Flynn playing a character.

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by Ron Vutpakdi:
CT skill levels tend to be fairly broad in range while T20 skill levels tend to be fairly narrow (Gunnery 1 in CT might be anywhere from Gunnery 1-8 in T20 (just guessing, I could do the math if I weren't sleep deprived)).

Rule of thumb is either 3 or 5 ranks in a T20 skill for each skill level in CT. I use 5 ranks for example to represent basic engineering knowledge (certification). That's ranks only before any other mods so the end modifier very well could be around 8.

Casey

 

[mike wightman]

In actual play T20 feels a lot like CT, in my experience so far.
OK, your character is a bit different, with feats as well as skills, and the prior history is a bit more complex (but more satisfying in the way you can mix classes within a term of a particular career etc.). But in actual play all you have to do is roll a die (instead of 2d6 it's a d20) and get over a target number made up by the referee (very CT ).
The combat system, while based on D20 mechanics, is sufficiently deadly to discourage random violence, just like CT.
So, IMHO, T20 captures a CT feel really well.

 

[clementk]

As an example:
CT Asu
T20 Asu

The T20 version is a tad more fleshed out due to actually being played (CT Asu was created for a PBEM that never took off). Keep in mind Asu is a jack of all trades (or at least several) type of character so has more numbers of skills in T20 than some.

Believe me, with a Fortitude: -1, Stamina of 20, and Lifeblood of 7 the original T20 Asu was fearful of wet towels on Ursula. (especially Wet Towels of DOOM

)

Oh and if you don't like rolling d20s, there is a 3d6 variant in Unearthed Arcana.

If you haven't downloaded T20 Lite and some of the other freebies on this site I suggest you do so.

Casey