Traveller: Where to Start

So I've been gaming since the early 80s, and I've always been haunted by the Third Imperium setting of Traveller -- it sounded like an incredibly cool and rich backdrop for a sci-fi campaign. I've never played the game in any form, but I've read a ton of stuff in old White Dwarfs, Dragon Magazines, and other places, and it's really given me the bug. As it happens, my weekly group is on hiatus for a while, so I've got a chance to try out a couple of things.

Thanks to wikipedia, I've got a pretty good handle on the game's history and the various editions and different systems. I know I want to run a game in a setting close to Classic Traveller.

I've read the reviews of T20, and it sounds pretty good. I've ordered a copy, though I am also considering using d20 Modern or even True20 as the core system, just to keep things simpler for a short-term game. I'll need to really dig into the T20 book before making that decision.

But my big question is, what the heck to get for supplements or other books? I am completely and utterly overwhelmed by the variety of publishers and materials available -- there are reprints of Classic Traveller supplements, GURPS Traveller books, and all sorts of other books from other publishers, many of which are set in different eras or timelines.

So beyond the T20 core book, what would be good to get for a short-term campaign? I'm thinking I need something with lots of adventure hooks, but maybe not an actual adventure. Any suggestions are MOST welcome.

Garnfellow said:

I've read the reviews of T20, and it sounds pretty good. I've ordered a copy, though I am also considering using d20 Modern or even True20 as the core system, just to keep things simpler for a short-term game. I'll need to really dig into the T20 book before making that decision.

But my big question is, what the heck to get for supplements or other books? I am completely and utterly overwhelmed by the variety of publishers and materials available -- there are reprints of Classic Traveller supplements, GURPS Traveller books, and all sorts of other books from other publishers, many of which are set in different eras or timelines.

So beyond the T20 core book, what would be good to get for a short-term campaign? I'm thinking I need something with lots of adventure hooks, but maybe not an actual adventure. Any suggestions are MOST welcome.

Click to expand...

First caution I'll give you is that T20 chargen can be tedious... it's D20 plus a lifepath system layered on top. But I personally find the end results very satisfying. Drop me a line if you need help figuring anything out. The supplement 101 gunmen will keep you stocked, however.

Other books? Well, T20 has a few products out for it. The Gateway to Destiny setting book is out in PDF now, but it's originally in print, you might be able to scrounge up a copy. I personally like it as a setting quite a bit. Some T20 adventures are pretty decent too. I thought that Merchant Cruiser and Chimera both seemed like a lot of fun. One nice thing about CT and T20 adventures is that they frequently have a subsector and several world description, giving you a good chunk of setting data even without a setting book.

One advantage of T20 over GURPS Traveller is that you can port Classic Traveller or MegaTraveller books almost directly with the exception of characters. I am a bit of a MegaTraveller junkie, and think that it offers a lot of succinct material if you are looking for collections that might be harder to come by in the Classic books.

Of course, the CT adventure reprints (or originals) are ripe for plundering for a T20 campaign. Classic Traveller adventures were written with a pretty loose style. None of the heavily scripted stuff you frequently see from later gaming products.

But generally, I find the Traveller setting books rich enough that I churn out dozens of adventure ideas of my own.

GURPS Traveller does have the advantage of copious setting material, and even though I don't like the system, I occasionally found it worthwhile to dive into some setting books like Nobles and Humaniti, just for more ideas to plunder.

Definitely plunder the GURPS Traveller stuff for setting information. Much of it is pretty good. There are also CD collections of Classic and MegaTraveller versions from Far Future Enterprises (http://www.farfuture.net/cdrom/). I picked up both and that includes classic adventures like Signal GK, Twilight's Peak, and many more.

How much money are you wanting to spend?
If you don't know, then start out by checking out the web resources for Traveller available. The best one for T20 is the Citizens of the Imperium forum, its sort of a catch-all for every incarnation of Traveller out there. Then use the links section on it to check out websites like Freelance Traveller, the Traveller Downport, the Zhodani Base, and Stellar Reaches. Each one of the above mentioned sites has a ton of free stuff to use in Traveller.

If you don't mind spending about $20, get an online subscription to the Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society. It is being published by Steve Jackson Games, but serves all different versions of Traveller - including T20. For $20, you get two years of 26 issues per year of JTAS plus all of their archives for the past 7 years. Well, well worth the investment of money.

Hope that helps. Let me know if I can help further.

Garnfellow said:

So I've been gaming since the early 80s, and I've always been haunted by the Third Imperium setting of Traveller -- it sounded like an incredibly cool and rich backdrop for a sci-fi campaign. I've never played the game in any form, but I've read a ton of stuff in old White Dwarfs, Dragon Magazines, and other places, and it's really given me the bug. As it happens, my weekly group is on hiatus for a while, so I've got a chance to try out a couple of things.

Thanks to wikipedia, I've got a pretty good handle on the game's history and the various editions and different systems. I know I want to run a game in a setting close to Classic Traveller.

I've read the reviews of T20, and it sounds pretty good. I've ordered a copy, though I am also considering using d20 Modern or even True20 as the core system, just to keep things simpler for a short-term game. I'll need to really dig into the T20 book before making that decision.

But my big question is, what the heck to get for supplements or other books? I am completely and utterly overwhelmed by the variety of publishers and materials available -- there are reprints of Classic Traveller supplements, GURPS Traveller books, and all sorts of other books from other publishers, many of which are set in different eras or timelines.

So beyond the T20 core book, what would be good to get for a short-term campaign? I'm thinking I need something with lots of adventure hooks, but maybe not an actual adventure. Any suggestions are MOST welcome.

Click to expand...

You will have a blast! Full disclosure: My oldest two and I playtested T20 (Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 AD).

For the settings I would do as jeff3792 suggests and check out the on-line resources as you read your T20 book. After you get a feel for where geographically you want to set up the campaign, you can go ahead and pick up the supplements specific to that region or regions. I personally prefer the older source books. In addition to Ebay and on-line stores, you can try your local used book stores to find some of the supplements.

Also, you do have the option to have the characters start at first level and progress from there, but that may be better suited to a longer term campaign.

Thanks and enjoy!
Rich

Garnfellow, missed your other question over in the other thread you posted. I responded there and copied to here:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Garnfellow
Interesting -- I've always wanted to check that out. Is the T20 psionics a feat and skill based system, or does it use class levels?



It's actually both. You take feats to get access to psionic skills. There is a psionic class as well. Not certain, I don't have the book at arms length, but I think you can progress in other classes and boost your psionic skills as cross classs skills.

Thanks,
Rich

billd91 said:

Definitely plunder the GURPS Traveller stuff for setting information. Much of it is pretty good. There are also CD collections of Classic and MegaTraveller versions from Far Future Enterprises (http://www.farfuture.net/cdrom/). I picked up both and that includes classic adventures like Signal GK, Twilight's Peak, and many more.

Click to expand...

As noted in the front of the T20 book, other Traveller stuff can be used for ideas and background. I'm a big fan of the GURPS Traveller book and they're good for ideas.

Traveller seems to have three main campaign types, free trader merchants, Scouts, and mercs. GURPS Traveller has a book for each type of camaign. The GT: Rim of Fire sector book to is good for background. The alien races books are handy. If you're considering using a era of space near a particular race you might want to pick up one of the Alien Races books. Again, the GUPRS Traveller books can be used for the background.

A lot of the other Traveller material is out of print and costly. I don't have the CD ROM's for Classic Traveller or Mega Traveller, but a lot of the old CT adventures are good too. Gateway to Destiney is good as well.

Mike

qstor said:

The GT: Rim of Fire sector book to is good for background.

Click to expand...

The Rim of Fire book is very well done, but it won't appeal to everyone. The book covers Earth's sector, and the majority of Earth-descended humans are portrayed as racist supremacists. While I admire the quality of the book, I wouldn't want to play there. The other GT sector book is Behind the Claw, which can be a trick to find. I'm not familiar with Sword Worlds, but as a subsector book it can presumably fill the same niche.

GT is also relatively cheap. In 2005 SJG marked down almost all the GURPS third edition books, including the GT books (except the 4th edition Interstellar Wars and the out of print ones) to $10 or less. Most retail outlets haven't adjusted their prices accordingly, but they're available at the new prices from SJG's online store (Warehouse 23), which has a very good rep and free domestic shipping for orders over $80, and from Noble Knights. I'd snatch Far Trader (the free trader book) first.

rgard said:

It's actually both. You take feats to get access to psionic skills. There is a psionic class as well. Not certain, I don't have the book at arms length, but I think you can progress in other classes and boost your psionic skills as cross classs skills.

Click to expand...

Well, the psionic PrC is actually in a supplement; progressing it cross class is the default.

Personally, I'm not that fond of the T20 implementation of psionics. Some psionic feats are just plain better and pack much more of a punch than others. Green Ronin's Psychic's Handbook -- using the D20 Modern advanced class variant -- snaps in pretty easy, though and has more detail.

Psion said:

First caution I'll give you is that T20 chargen can be tedious... it's D20 plus a lifepath system layered on top. But I personally find the end results very satisfying. Drop me a line if you need help figuring anything out. The supplement 101 gunmen will keep you stocked, however.

Click to expand...

How well does the Stamina/Lifeblood system work in play? I've got to say, that's the one thing about the system that sounds really wonky.