What next?

[kafka47]

I am glad that T20 is doing so well, as it feeds interest back into Traveller that maybe people turned off by the SJG enterprise will start returning.

My only beef is the complete lack of background and storyline. I trust that future supplements are being prepared to address this problem. I see that a Gateway Sourcebook is being prepared. But, I would not like to see just another book describing the worlds of the Gateway Sector with Library Data. There has been discussion of Epic Adventures to cover different aspects but they have yet to appear even the remote corners of being "In Development".

I say all this not as a critic but as a friend to the Traveller endevour. For all that I have been telling people to get T20 as opposed to another SFRPG is because of the richness and history of the Imperial Campaign. I hope that in the near future (if you can forgive the pun) we will see more background, something akin to a Rebellion Sourcebook that would begin to colour in the Traveller universe.

So Hunter & MJD... What's Next?

 

[phydaux]

I seem to recall a post from Hunter some time back that all setting info was taken out to make more room in the main book for core rules.

I belive a T20 setting book is due some time in the near future. Accounting for production delays, 2005?

 

[Tom Schoene]

Pardon me, but I take umbrage at the implication that GURPS Traveller was a bad thing for Traveller. While some folks may not have liked GT, there were also plenty of people who got into Traveller (or back into it, as in my case) specifically becuase of the GURPS connection. If you want to point fingers for "turning people off of Travller," I submit that Imperium Games and T4 are a far more suitable targets. Or TNE, for that matter. (That's when I got out of Traveller.)

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

have to support Tom here.

I have very little use for GURPS generally. And most of the credit for getting me playing traveller again goes to my Local Gaming Club.

BUT... Seeing "This is Free Trader Beowulf..." on a familier black and red cover was.... nice.

and I do use and intend to purchase some of the Gurps products that are less rule intensive. IE deck plans (they work for me.), maybe a planetary survey, if it happens to coincide with a type of planet/region of play that I'm using.

 

[phydaux]

Being the kind of player who HATES ramdom character generation, I LOVED GURPS: Traveller.

If only I could ever get anyone to play...

sigh...

 

[labete]

Im inclined to agree - GT is my current traveller fix - and you could say they ketp the flame

. In fact it's the only type of traveller I've played since TNE in 97(?) Looking forwards to getting my mitts on T20 tho.

That said, you dont really need more setting info immediately - I mean how much stuff is already out there

 

[themink]

I love GURP character gen - But couldn't get anyone interested in playing GURPS traveller.

I don't think d20 will help either. Looks like I'm stuck with PbEM - Oh well, it's not the same, but it's fun in a different way.

 

[Tom Schoene]

Originally posted by La Bete:
That said, you dont really need more setting info immediately - I mean how much stuff is already out there

If the goal is to attract new Traveller players, I think you DO need more setting info right up front. You can't expect mew players to adapt old CT material, and it's dangerous to make them wait several months before they have T20 setting info.

I think there should have been at least one subsector of immediately playable setting in the Traveller's Handbook, even if that meant sacrificing some other content. One candidate, IMO, woudl have been to shift the computer and vehicle design system to a supplement and just leave sample designs and starships in the core book.

 

[Ozric]

I disagree...I think the book is fine as is. There's a wealth of Traveller info currently available, both for purchase and for free. Also, there's that free .pdf download of the Linkworlds cluster available on this very website, which gives new players a few worlds to play with.

Although, another similar .pdf download or two might not be a bad idea.

 

[phydaux]

Most of the people who buy T20 off the shelves will be old Grognards anyway. I know I could run a Spinward Marches campaign off the top of my head, at least for a FEW months. And that's WITHOUT G:T or the Classic Reprints. With that stuff available to GMs, anyone can do whatever they want. So what if the Gateway setting book is a ways off?

 

[GBoyett]

Originally posted by Tom Schoene:
I think there should have been at least one subsector of immediately playable setting in the Traveller's Handbook, even if that meant sacrificing some other content. One candidate, IMO, woudl have been to shift the computer and vehicle design system to a supplement and just leave sample designs and starships in the core book.

I found the including the vehicle and starship design systems perfect. They could have dropped the computer design, and included some library data and/or the Psionicist.

 

[Nearside]

I would, at least, like to see an official map of Ley Sector along with basic UWP's so I can at least give my players a context.

I've started them in the Linkworlds Cluster, and it's going well so far- but they can't stay there forever...

 

[Tom Schoene]

If it's true that mostly or only old grognards are buying T20, that defeats one of the principal purposes of releasing the game as a d20 product. As with GT, T20 can only be a viable product line if it brings in new players as well as old. T20 seemed to be aiming to bring in some recruits from the d20/D&D3 crowd, but doing so with only a a few pages of background is very hard. The linkworlds material is a definite imprtovement, nbut there are still lots of gamers who don't use the web extensively for game material. (we tend to forget this, since we are by definition online ourselves.)

If I were a D&D3 player looking for a new sci-fi game (and I decided I didn't want to play Star Wars), I'd be very hard pressd to pick up T20. Right now I would have to buy a GT book like Behind the Claw or Rim of Fire, or a couple of collected CT Supplement books to get the background (library data, planetary infomration, etc.). Then I'd have to invest the time to decifer and convert those unfamiliar rules sets into d20. If the point of the d20 licence is to make Traveller accessible to gamers who don't like learning multiple rules sets, this is a problem area.

Look, I'm not saying T20 is a bad product becuase of this omission, but I think it could have been much better, especially for hooking new players, if it had included more setting information. I think a game that intends to be a draw for new players ought to have "out of the box" play potential. (There's a reason GDW added Book 0, An Introductory Adventure, to the boxed set.)

PS: I left out a couple of words in my last post. I shoudl have said "leave the sample vehicle designs and starship design system in the core book." I certainloy don't believe a Traveller game ought to be sold without a starship design system.

 

[themink]

When I started playing CT, I made up my own sector.

When I plotted my Gurps traveller, I made up my own sector.

When I started planning my d20, I made up my own cluster.

I am happy that the t20 rulebook concentrates on rules rather than background - I tend to make up the background anyway.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Originally posted by Stephen Herron:
I would, at least, like to see an official map of Ley Sector along with basic UWP's so I can at least give my players a context.

I've started them in the Linkworlds Cluster, and it's going well so far- but they can't stay there forever...

_______________________________
Uhmmmm Stephen, Have ye tried the Star Map on the CoTI page here under Star Maps? I used that one, and the Gateway sector one for the merc Unit i did for AA's "Armed forces of Gateway".

Jus' askin'...

 

[Shadowdancer]

Originally posted by Liam Devlin:
Uhmmmm Stephen, Have ye tried the Star Map on the CoTI page here under Star Maps? I used that one, and the Gateway sector one for the merc Unit i did for AA's "Armed forces of Gateway".

Jus' askin'...[/QB]

Liam: Exactly. I can't believe how many people have overlooked the sector star maps on the website. The maps are great. Just click on a system, and the basic planetary stats pop up. Everything a ref needs to start playing in the Gateway Domain is right there, free for the taking. This should be able to tide over any T20 ref or player, newbie or veteran, until the Gateway Domain supplement is released.

 

[AllenS]

I read the message boards at EN World a lot, and a good number of the D20 fans over there seem quite excited about T20. Many of them are planning to use it in place of Alternity, or for their own science fiction setting, and some even as an adjunct to Dragonstar. They don't seem too bothered by the lack of background material.

Allen

 

[Liam Devlin]

Paraquat Johnson:
Thank you sir, yer too kind! There are other pages besides the discussion boards folks. That Merc unit I cranked out in 1.5 hrs on the computer, and never signed out of CoTI. Just using the UWP's and government types of subsector M/Gateway, I "created" several possible client worlds for the unit, and one where they are part of the "occupation force" of this Type 6 govt world (renaldo).

AllenS-welcome to SOC-12! ALternity background might not be bad for an ATU. Certainly critters like the Illithids put the ZHodani to shame for conniving and psionic threat! If anyhting, it gives you a host of "minor alien races" to modify and utilize. ANd a dozen or so neat ships.

 

[GBoyett]

Originally posted by phydaux:
Being the kind of player who HATES ramdom character generation, I LOVED GURPS: Traveller.

If only I could ever get anyone to play...

sigh...

I know how you feel.

Luckly I been able to do some phone gaming with a friend. It's not quite the same but it's fun.

Fellow GURPS Traveller GM

 

[kafka47]

It was not my intention to say that GURPS Traveller killed Traveller or point the finger at SJG. I think they have done a wonderful job, in keeping the memory alive (where I have my beef, is the solid lack of new material and rehashing of CT in GURPS form). But, I think that GT has not swayed many newbies into their fold.

And, yes, all editions after MT* possibly killed Traveller, as the open-ended system that most people fell in love with in the 70s. But, I love all forms of Traveller that advance the imagination forward. So therefore, it is not the rules that matter as much coming up with something original and grabs you in. What does this?

1) Solid rules
2) Excellent Art
3) Great Milieu

Now Traveller has all this in course of 25 years of development, what I hope for in T20 is this reflected, not merely the golden years of CT.

*Even certain purists would deny MT, even though I view the rules as a consolidation effort to place some sort of background, however flawed the conception may have been.

ps Don't you guys think that I deserve a higher rating, as my posts seem to generate more discussion than others Or maybe I am just an evil troublemaker...