Payn's Ponderings Traveller Editions

[aramis erak]

I meant "were" as in "liked them in CT, and saw them change in MgT".

Until Mongoose (2008), Mega was the second best selling edition. If we split CT by the two mechanical major variants, we get CT2 as 1st, and CT1 as third, MT in the middle.... and GT was climbing.

MT fans can find most of MT in CT.

The number of choices in character gen is really about double to quadruple that of CT, on a term by term basis. It varies by career and how combat heavy is.

Almost everything in MT was in CT first... including the task system. (DGP got their start doing 3rd party stuff for CT, and the task system is developed for CT and in their CT products.)

 

[aramis erak]

Own many LBBs (sold all once, re-bought recently). I believe I have the 1977 version, but would have to check.

Easy test: if your weapons had dice+adds (such as 2D+3), it was 1977. If they all had integer dice, it was 1981.

While that's far from the only difference, it's the most memorable.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Easy test: if your weapons had dice+adds (such as 2D+3), it was 1977. If they all had integer dice, it was 1981.

While that's far from the only difference, it's the most memorable.

I did the simple thing and walked over to my shelf and opened the box set. Copyright 1977, 7th printing. Sadly whomever used to own it wrote in fat sharpie his name and phone number. I'm tempted to call him today and say "Why dude... Why?!?"

 

[Mezuka]

Question: do the characters gain experience points in Traveller? Unless I misread, there is no mention of character progression after Chargen in the rule book.

Answer: Yes, I found the Post-Career Education section.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Until Mongoose (2008), Mega was the second best selling edition. If we split CT by the two mechanical major variants, we get CT2 as 1st, and CT1 as third, MT in the middle.... and GT was climbing.

MT fans can find most of MT in CT.

The number of choices in character gen is really about double to quadruple that of CT, on a term by term basis. It varies by career and how combat heavy is.

Almost everything in MT was in CT first... including the task system. (DGP got their start doing 3rd party stuff for CT, and the task system is developed for CT and in their CT products.)

That doesn't mean there wasn't considerable amount of reduction in randomness and an improvement in consistency of process between CT and MgT. Which was the point in the exchange.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Question: do the characters gain experience points in Traveller? Unless I misread, there is no mention of character progression after Chargen in the rule book.

Answer: Yes, I found the Post-Career Education section.

One of the thing most incarnations of Traveler did was have virtually no learn-by-doing experience. Even if they wanted it to be slow (which could have been managed by simply having slow accumulation until you made enough to actually make a bonus) that never seemed particularly sensible. I don't know about everyone else here, but even after my formal education was done, I learned quite a bit about my field(s) over time, even if the numbers in Trav are such they should have changed slowly to represent that. It didn't require taking time off to get more training.

 

[Mezuka]

This may sound heretical but has anyone made a fantasy rpg using a Traveller-like chargen and 2d6 task resolution system?

 

[Thomas Shey]

This may sound heretical but has anyone made a fantasy rpg using a Traveller-like chargen and 2d6 task resolution system?

Look up "Sword of Cepheus".

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

This may sound heretical but has anyone made a fantasy rpg using a Traveller-like chargen and 2d6 task resolution system?

Back in the day there was a polyvalent Thieves' World splatbook, and one of the systems it supported was Trav.

 

[dragoner]

This may sound heretical but has anyone made a fantasy rpg using a Traveller-like chargen and 2d6 task resolution system?

Barbaric! and Sword of Cepheus by Stellagama are the most recent, though Zozer Games (makers of Hostile) have a couple as well, with a new setting, that is about Atlantis.