What is Proto-Traveller?
- Thread starter RavenWyrd
- Start date
Take CT Books 1-3, Adventures 1-4, and supplements 1-4. Bk 4 is optional. Ignore everything else. That's "ProtoTraveller."
Maybe also include the Judges Guild sectors, and maybe Supplement 10.
It's a small ship Traveller universe, with a fairly dark looking Imperium, which may or may not be the "Third Imperium".
Maybe also include the Judges Guild sectors, and maybe Supplement 10.
It's a small ship Traveller universe, with a fairly dark looking Imperium, which may or may not be the "Third Imperium".
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Pretty much agree with that definition.
ProtOTU is pretty much the small ship dark Imperium suggested by the early adventures - the intro to LBB4 actually does a pretty good job of summing it up. The library date sections in the early adventures and the rumours/side adventures paint a very different picture of the Imperium from what it developed into with the hindsight view of MT.
You can also use just about every supplement and adventure from the CT line, with the exceptions of S5 (AHL), both Library Data supplements and under no circumstance use the ship building or combat rules from HG
It's what I use as my default MTU...
ProtOTU is pretty much the small ship dark Imperium suggested by the early adventures - the intro to LBB4 actually does a pretty good job of summing it up. The library date sections in the early adventures and the rumours/side adventures paint a very different picture of the Imperium from what it developed into with the hindsight view of MT.
You can also use just about every supplement and adventure from the CT line, with the exceptions of S5 (AHL), both Library Data supplements and under no circumstance use the ship building or combat rules from HG
It's what I use as my default MTU...
Last edited:
Sould the extended Star System Generation from Bk6 be also ignored?
It can become handy if you try to develop a system further than Bk3 allows you (e.g. if the players are stranded on a system, or treating with a minor colony in one).
It can become handy if you try to develop a system further than Bk3 allows you (e.g. if the players are stranded on a system, or treating with a minor colony in one).
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
I'd ignore it because it's pants
GURPS Space is a better way to generate an extended system.
GURPS Space is a better way to generate an extended system.
It can be used, but it is not Official Proto-Traveller Cannon. [just kidding]
The key point of 'proto-traveller', as I understand it, are the lower skill levels of 'basic' CharGen, Small Ships and no Third Imperium 'official timeline'.
Characters with roughly 2 skills per term use ships under 5000 dT to explore a home-made setting.
Anything that supports that (like 'Citizens of the Imperium' [Sup4] or generating a complete Star System [LBB6]) should be fine. As an unofficial designation, proto-Traveller has no 'official' list of books; it is more about capturing the original 'feel' of the game before Big Ships, Advanced Chargen and The Spinward Marches changed things.
At least that is how I understand it.
[just kidding]The key point of 'proto-traveller', as I understand it, are the lower skill levels of 'basic' CharGen, Small Ships and no Third Imperium 'official timeline'.
Characters with roughly 2 skills per term use ships under 5000 dT to explore a home-made setting.
Anything that supports that (like 'Citizens of the Imperium' [Sup4] or generating a complete Star System [LBB6]) should be fine. As an unofficial designation, proto-Traveller has no 'official' list of books; it is more about capturing the original 'feel' of the game before Big Ships, Advanced Chargen and The Spinward Marches changed things.
At least that is how I understand it.
I'd ignore it because it's pants
GURPS Space is a better way to generate an extended system.
In this way I liked probably more 2300 AD...
But we're talking about proto-traveller here
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
LBB6 is very much a product of the later Imperium setting. If you want to develop extended systems then you can use it, GURPS Space, T2300, anything you like. Just ignore the stuff at the front
Proto OTU is senators locked up in prison ships, corrupt nobles, brave freedom fighters, small ships, tramp traders.
Proto OTU is also 1977 rules rather than 1981 revised - jump drives with no power plant, jump torpedoes .
Proto OTU is senators locked up in prison ships, corrupt nobles, brave freedom fighters, small ships, tramp traders.
Proto OTU is also 1977 rules rather than 1981 revised - jump drives with no power plant, jump torpedoes .
As most of us who have original Traveller material (or the FFE reprint) have not access to the 1977 rules, IMHO you're asking too much here
...
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
The 1977 version of the rules are included in CT cd these days aren't they?
not last I saw. the 79'HG is, though.
As for 81 rules being ProtoTraveller - I'd say there's no issue with using the 1981 core.
I'll note that with the 79 drive rules, a J2 ship can turn a tidy profit on freight alone, as it only needs P1. A 200Td J2 M1 P1 ship needs 50 tons of fuel instead of 60, and that 10 tons extra and reduced fuel cost makes a significant difference on the bottom line.
And a steadfast determination to ignore the ramifications of the existence of high-population worlds completely.
Hans
I know this is probably going to be opening a can of worms, and may or may not apply to MTU (a Proto Traveller setting), but I'm going to ask anyways, as I really would like to know.
How so Hans?
By coincidence another thread that bears on my remark recently started, so we can avoid opening that can of worms in this thread.
Hans
Thank you Hans.
pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
Still no answer though.
He did answer, and the answer was what I thought it would be.
And he is correct, for how it is handled in published materials. For my own games, I take it in to account.
DangerousThing
SOC-13
Mine had the 77 editions of B1-3 .
pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
So do I.
Similar threads
