T5 Intangible

[Supplement Four]

You know, as much as I decry some of the messed up rules in T5, I cannot deny this: T5 has a magical quality about it.

It's the way it looks. The way it feels. No other Traveller edition has, in my opinion, quite nailed that specific Traveller atmosphere the way this Big Black Book does. It's almost as if the thing comes with a Zhodani modulator that pervades the owner's psyche, subconsciously inducing an attraction to the game: It's black, simple cover. The clean print and typeface. Stark white pages filled with technical details that, combined as they are, are uniquely Traveller.

Yes, there are problems with T5. And, that tends to break the book's spell. If you go back and look at my first posts about the game--those I wrote just after I received it--you'll see that I too was enamored a bit with this game. I can see the same when I read other people's posts who have just made the purchase.

I'm telling you. There is something freaky about this book. It makes you want to like T5.

There is...something...I know not what...something intangible...something that pervades the pages...about this book that speaks: THIS is Traveller. THIS is Traveller. THIS is Traveller.

Maybe the pages are chemically treated with some TL C pheromone that we smell when we're flipping around--a drug that makes us remember that original feeling we had when we first discovered Classic Traveller and recognize the same feeling here.

Could be....

 

[robject]

I call it the Marc Miller/Classic Traveller Effect. It seems to leech a set of pheromones that are somewhat similar to Classic Traveller. At least that's the effect on me -- and the disclaimer is that I never was much of a details person, so my impressions are typically more general than specific.

 

[SpaceBadger]

If pheromones, they are very advanced, because they work through my PDF copy as well...

 

[mike wightman]

It's memetic warfare at its best - who says there is no room for transhumanism in Traveller

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Ah, yes, the most dangerous weapon.

It's memetic warfare at its best - who says there is no room for transhumanism in Traveller

I go with memetic warfare, though I tend to try and not use it too much, the Law of Unintended Concequences can really mess a plan up. Look at the Supressions.

 

[Draconian]

T5 has a "technical manual" look in places, certainly.

I think the advantage is that the wider RPG community with their fantasy hardcovers like Pathfinder or D&D won't take you seriously if you have only softcover non-perfectbound books for your game.

T5 is of imposing size and you will ALWAYS win a drop-books-on-each-other's-toes contest with it. :rofl:

It's all about the look. And respect. And "face." And toes. :rofl:

 

[cym0k]

Maybe each page was hugged and kissed by MM as it was printed out, imbuing it with that certain "je ne se quois"?

But yes, it is awesome to leaf through and engage with!

 

[Nerhesi]

Yeah I was going to say.. it has the feel of my old-world 70s/80s university level science text book to it. That technical manual feel as someone put it.

Unfortunately, that magical feel is actually a "cursed" feel - like picking up that Spear - Cursed- Backbiter or whatever it was called. I would love the feel, and that intangible quality of the product.. was of some quality. I do wish it was though, because if you do like/can stand what is inside, then I totally get you.

 

[Hanson's Roughriders]

It has that old world feel where as a teen I used to get game manuals and almost always they would have bits that I had never read before. T5 has this amazing new horizons ability a book no matter how thoroughly I go through it there is always more.

 

[cym0k]

"Here's some stuff. Go play in space".

I am glad it is like that, as long as the "stuff" is consistent and works.

 

[Lapthorn]

I generally have the opposite reaction entirely, although there are some gems in there that make me want to roll dice and actually play - particularly, Personals. What a brilliant little subsystem. So much more interesting than "roll a Persuade task".

Otherwise, mostly I feel it's all been done more to my taste elsewhere previously.

 

[Supplement Four]

I was just talking about this intangible hold T5 seems to have over me. I've been very vocal that I think the rules in the game are screwed up beyond belief. It's probably the worst set of roleplaying rules I've ever seen.

Yet, the damn game still calls to me--whispers in the night.

That...whatever it is....I can't explain it....Traveller feel.

 

[Lapthorn]

It's probably the worst set of roleplaying rules I've ever seen.

Damn your eyes, sir - I won't stand for it! There was this one other game...

Only joking, although I wouldn't go nearly as far as to say it's the worst rules I've ever seen (names spared to avoid sparking off any flames).

QREBS weirdly appeals to me as well, although it's the kind of fiddly detail that I thought I hated.

Still, to those saying it's this amazing do-anything toolkit: where are the rules for reaction drives; solar sails; FTL by hyperdrive, warp drive or wormhole; waste heat management (for harder-SF settings)?

How can I roll up, say, one of Alastair Reynolds' Conjoined as a character (from Revelation Space)?

There is an awful lot of detail for Classic Traveller style play. And that's fine. But GURPS, it ain't. I'm not criticising T5 for not being what it doesn't try to be. I'm just saying it's misleading to portray it as a toolkit that can handle all kinds of SF.

If I put a hell of a lot of work in, I could reproduce a CT, OTU (or basically very similar ATU) campaign in a great deal more detail. That is the T5 offer as it stands, from where I'm sitting.

 

[Supplement Four]

QREBS weirdly appeals to me as well, although it's the kind of fiddly detail that I thought I hated.

Oh, I like QREBS too! There's lots of neat-o bits in T5. I was talking as a whole. When I search, I find lots of individual little things about T5 that I do, indeed, quite like.

For example, the size modifier in combat is brilliant. Instead of some chart to look at, you subtract range from target size to get a modifier on your throw. Brilliant. Excellent little mechanic.

But then, there's all these friggin' problems...

 

[Lapthorn]

For example, the size modifier in combat is brilliant. Instead of some chart to look at, you subtract range from target size to get a modifier on your throw. Brilliant. Excellent little mechanic.

I'm not punting other games here, but I can't let that pass without saying, if you liked that mechanic, you might love EABA. It's structured around a Universal Chart that does what you've just described for about everything - such as, how long does it take a person of a certain intelligence to read a book of X thousand words.

 

[ThornPlutonius]

I'm not punting other games here, but I can't let that pass without saying, if you liked that mechanic, you might love EABA. It's structured around a Universal Chart that does what you've just described for about everything - such as, how long does it take a person of a certain intelligence to read a book of X thousand words.

What is "EABA"?

 

[atpollard]

What is "EABA"?

A RPG [LINK]

 

[aramis]

What is "EABA"?

Greg Porter's second universal system. (His first was CORPS, which he has recently licensed to a 3rd party.)

If you want more detail, ask in "Non-Traveller Gaming"... I was one of the playtesters.

 

[ThornPlutonius]

A RPG [LINK]

Thank you!

 

[Draconian]

Still, to those saying it's this amazing do-anything toolkit: where are the rules for reaction drives; solar sails; FTL by hyperdrive, warp drive or wormhole; waste heat management (for harder-SF settings)?

Traveller 5 uses the term NAFAL (Not As Fast As Light) drives, so maybe the mechanism to make those things can be derived from there. Wormholes are not mentioned except maybe you can achieve that at a high tech-level, and in fact I want to set up my own super-tech entity to haunt the characters in my proposed game, but it won't be Grandfather or anything from the OTU. It'll be [redacted!] from the movie [redacted!]