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What to expect from MegaTraveller?

Yes, you read right...MegaTraveller.

I played CT in the late 70's and early 80's; and, while I later purchased both TNE and T4, I never actually played them.

Now, I've finally ordered MegaTraveller--but it won't arrive for nearly two weeks!

In the meantime, would anyone care to elaborate on what differences I can expect (particularly wrt CT)?

Thanks, and sorry--guess I've been corrupted by the "instant gratification" generation
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[This message has been edited by Farstrider (edited 22 March 2002).]
 
MT is basically what AD&D is to D&D. It is all of the CT rules and sourcebooks put together in a more unified and complicated form.

Char gen - lots of professions to chose from with the advanced methods from books 4,5, etc.

Combat - much more realistic but also more complicated than CT. All the weapons from book 4 included.

System gen - really complex methods from scouts book.

Ship Design - much, much more complicated than book 5. Too complicated for me to ever sit down and attempt. The beginning of the slippery slope to the headache that is FFS.

It is also set in the rebellion period which is a problem if you like a nice orderly Imperium. Personally, I find the rules to be too complicated to make the switch from CT, but then again I'm not too bright.
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[This message has been edited by mshensley (edited 22 March 2002).]
 
I also bought MT for the first time a few weeks ago. My initial impressions from a CT perspective are posted here, along with interesting replies from other forum members.

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Wendell (IMTU tc++ tm !tn !t4 !tg ru+ ge+ 3i+ c+ jt- au ls+ he)
 
Thanks for the replies
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And, WendellM, thanks for the link--I missed that topic when I scanned the board.

The combat system sounds promising and, from the comments on the other thread, it seems they can be ported into a CT campaign. Is this true?

As for the background story, I'll probably try my best to ignore that--as I (unsuccessfully) attempted to with TNE.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Farstrider:
The combat system sounds promising and, from the comments on the other thread, it seems they can be ported into a CT campaign. Is this true?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The MT combat system is essentially AHL/Striker, but with AHL's detailed movement/AP system replaced by a bizarre system of 'Interrupts' (explained briefly in WendellM's post) and the return of Range Bands. A lot of people like the separation of weapon penetration and damage, but I don't think it's worth the extra complication (too much in-game multiplication and division) and have returned to the simpler AHL/Striker system.

And that's one of the beauties of MT: since it's almost completely compatible with CT, you can mix and match component systems to your heart's delight. Lots of people tack MT's char-gen and task systems onto otherwise CT campaigns, and lots of MTers (including me) still use CT ship design & combat rules.

All in all, even if you end up sticking almost entirely with CT, I think you'll like having MT, if for nothing more than to see another way of handling things, and there are at least a couple of areas (char-gen, tasks, improvement) that are (IMO) clear improvements over CT.

And, lastly, it's very easy to ignore the 'Rebellion' storyline -- it's only brought up a handful of sidebars in book 1, and IIRC isn't mentioned at all in book 2; only the Library Data in book 3 and the fold-out Spinward Marches map (with Aslan and Vargr incursions marked on it) are really affected.
 
I especially liked that the MT character generation rules updated all of B4-7, and made them more cohesive. For instance, the poor souls in the army can now go to college. MT is the ultimate CT character generation system, and if that is all you use out of the system it will be money well spent.

The ship design system did go the wrong way. High Guard, of course, had already approached perfection; it would have been nice if MT had just added sensor rules and the like. Unfortunately, in order to make the ship and vehicle rules compatible, they watered down the CT vehicle rules (Striker) and made the ship rules much more complex.

I always found CT's combat system cumbersome to use, because you always had to refer to all those tables, and nonsensical, because armor made it more difficult to hit someone rather than reduce the damage they suffered. I was using AHL/Striker for roleplaying even before MT came out.

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"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." - Mao
 
Ahh, I'd forgotten about Striker--guess I'll have to dig those little "green"(?) books out next time I'm over to my parents...

Speaking of green books, I'll have to look for my old Snapshot! as well.

A couple of you have mentioned the Azhanti High Lightning(AHL?) rules--I never picked-up a copy of those. Would it be worth buying the latest CT Reprint Book just to get them?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Farstrider:
A couple of you have mentioned the Azhanti High Lightning(AHL?) rules--I never picked-up a copy of those. Would it be worth buying the latest CT Reprint Book just to get them?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Azhanti High Lightning is Striker's combat system done as a boardgame, or, more accurately, Striker is AHL done as miniatures (since AHL came first). If you combine Striker's combat system with Snapshot's movement rules you'll have something pretty close to AHL.

But yes, you should buy the Games reprint volume anyway. Having Mayday, Snapshot, AHL, and Striker all in one volume (not to mention Imperium, FFW, Invasion: Earth, and Dark Nebula) is incredibly convenient, and next to the Books reprint this is by far the most valuable entry in the series thus far.

Edited to add: In case you've forgotten how combat worked in Striker (and, thus, AHL) here's a quick overview: each weapon has 3 ranges: effective, long, and extreme, with a given distance and penetration value for each range (thus (made up number alert!) a Body Pistol might have an effective range of 10 meters (pen 2), long range of 20 meters (pen 1), extreme range of 50 meters (pen 0)). To hit is 8+ at Effective range, 10+ at Long range, 12+ at Extreme range. Damage is rolled on 2D with weapon pen as a +DM and target armor as a -DM, compared to a table: 2- = no effect, 3-6 = Light Wound (possible Stun, -1 DM on future tasks cumulative per LW suffered), 7-11 = Major Wound (unconscious), 12+ = Dead (note: these numbers might not be accurate, but the wound types are). Of course there are many possible modifiers to both rolls for movement, cover, visibility, special weapon types, etc., but that's the basics. Very quick, very deadly (unless you're armored or lucky or both). Some people don't like it 'cause character stats don't affect survivability; I don't mind.


[This message has been edited by T. Foster (edited 22 March 2002).]
 
This discussion sounds just like what should be done with the design of the mythical Traveller 5. Take the best parts and combine them into a game that works without all of this patching together of stuff. Hopefully T20 will achieve this goal as well. It sounds pretty good so far- HG ship design and CT mechanics for systems and critters. Now if they can deliver on the character generation and combat systems, they will have a winner.
 
T. Foster--

Yes, I had forgotten how combat in Striker worked--but your post brought it all back. I'm truly waxing nostalgic right about now
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Looks like I'll be calling my local gamestore to see if they can get that re-print in.

Thanks
 
I liked MT's task system and expanded character generation but stuck with CT ship design and comabt. The rest of MT was really just CT, sometimes slightly improved.
 
I used MT ship design for many years, and found my biggest problem (aside from the errata) was that the vehicle stuff was freely intermingled with no good indicators as to what went in which...

If you strip out all the vehicle-only stuff, MTs ship design is actually well laid out to just start at one end, finish one page and move to the next. Based on the needs of various referees, though, it isn't for everyone.

If you need LOTS of designs for MT, check into the truly old archive for the TML and search for the name "Rob Dean". Rob was a prodigious designer of just about anything under MT rules, and most of his work ended up on the TML in the late 80's. His stuff MAY also be archived on the web somewhere as the "Dean Files"...
 
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mshensley:
This discussion sounds just like what should be done with the design of the mythical Traveller 5. Take the best parts and combine them into a game that works without all of this patching together of stuff. Hopefully T20 will achieve this goal as well. It sounds pretty good so far- HG ship design and CT mechanics for systems and critters. Now if they can deliver on the character generation and combat systems, they will have a winner.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You have echoed my feelings exactly! There was basically little wrong with CT. All it needed was tidying up.
On the task front I never went a bundle on MT as it seemed to want to over-compicate things. How many pages did it take to describe how you define tasks? Too many.
Has anyone seen the Lord of the Rings Adventure Game fast play rules on the Decipher site? (The CODA system IIRC). Roll 2d6 + skill + stat mod to equal or beat a target number. CT's target numbers were mostly 8, 10 and 12+ (as per Striker). How does that needs pages of description?
Sorry. Ranting again :)

Anyway, T20 looks to be very good.

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Paul
 
The most important thing that MegaTraveller did...was add background to the Imperium Campaign. Before MT, Traveller was a sort of add/drop plots with no clear storyline. (In fact, there were multiple explainations for what was going on.)

The Rebellion, like or not, gave the definte feel to the Traveller background. One that has stayed with Traveller ever since. One could only wish that this background could have been build up in more depth with supplements and adventures like the old CT. But, alas GDW had competiting priorities as they were not longer simply about Traveller...
 
I think Megatraveller was a good development of CT. Once your players understood the (pretty deadly) combat rules, things like interrupts worked really well to give them a bit of live action gambling.

I agree the starship combat and vehicle design was too difficult - I always used High Guard (but then i'm not a gearhead!)

I agree with Kafka, the Rebellion was a good move (it would have been much better if GDW/DGP had supported properly from early on!). However, I also agree with those Travellers who prefer a setting neutral rule system like CT, wiv supplements giving the world. Hopefully T5 will follow this view.

I still play MT rules for all traveller campaigns, so for me it has stood the test of time.
 
An interesting thing would be for some new supplements that utilized the D20 system to harken back to the MT era.

I also liked the Rebellion era, but hated the lack of support for it. I think D20 has a golden opportunity to, in some part, revisit that era.
 
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