Starfinder vs Alternity vs Traveller: Which Space Game to Buy?

[Derren]

As it was already pointed out there are more than one scenario you can play in Traveller although the default one is definately a "Firefly/Serenity" kind of campaign.

Traveller is, at least compared to many other SciFi games rather hard scifi. Think thurst vectors instead of "planes in space" flight physics, etc. Also it is noticable that the setting is rather old and was created when it was "in" to use anthromorphic animals as aliens. That FTL travel takes 1 week, no stealth in space and there is no ftl communication might also look strange to people who are used to star wars/trek. If you do not want that you have some work to do with creating your own setting.

Mechanically the biggest difference between Traveller and many other RPGs is that there is not much advancement. You usually already start as experienced veteran and do not grow much in skill over the course of gameplay. The only real advancement comes from buying or obtaining better gear. So if you have players who need that levelup kick you get in D&D and similar games you should stay away from Traveller unless you want to try to "cure" them by shock therapy.

 

[Redthistle]

Mechanically the biggest difference between Traveller and many other RPGs is that there is not much advancement. You usually already start as experienced veteran and do not grow much in skill over the course of gameplay. The only real advancement comes from buying or obtaining better gear. So if you have players who need that levelup kick you get in D&D and similar games you should stay away from Traveller unless you want to try to "cure" them by shock therapy.

Heh. That is, if the slow, slow torment of water-drip torture can be described as "shock" therapy.

 

[Derren]

A bit more about the mechanics of Traveller as changing them is a bit harder than modifying the setting.
Traveller uses a d6 system. Checks are made with 2d6 + ability + skill vs 8 + modifier. (High is good). This system is also used for combat.

Which skill uses with attribute is not completely fixed. There are examples for common tasks but the players can argue to use diffetent attributes for more unusual skill uses (for example when using the athletic skill not to perform athletic feats but to evaluate the feats from other people).
There are a lot of skills, especially as most skills have specializations which are tracked independently. Although the newest Mongoose version (which you probably meant with "has just been released) has eliminated some skills (for example using power armor and using space suits are now the same skill).

Space combat is abstract (although a more detailed version is available in splatbooks) and even boarding combat can be resolved by die roll instead of slugging it out on a battlemap. It still has the problem that depending on their skills some players have not much to do during ship or vehicle combat.

One warning, Traveller is very deadly. It has no HP system. Instead your attributes are used as pseudo HP and they are also rolled with 2d6 and dont rise by much if at all. And especially high tech weapons can do a huge amount of damage (3d6 and a long way upwards). Wearing armor which acts as flat damage reduction is quite essential.
Also unlike for example D&D the system does not ensure or even encourage that the PCs have combat skills. A party of researcher and civilians with no combat training at all is a completely valid group for Traveller. So if you have a specific campaign in mind you have to not only inform your players beforehand about that but also intervene in the character creation (see below).

Traveller by default uses a life path character creation. That means the dice not only decide your attributes but also which career you can take (the player decides which one to attempt, the dice and attribute modifiers decide if he makes it or not). Even which skill you learn is random with the player only deciding which career appropriate list to roll on.
So that means that not only can the player end up with a completely different character that he intended, the PCs will also be not balanced against each other as one might have rolled a lot better than the other. In older versions of Traveller your character can even die during character creation which forces you to start over. So if you do use this creation method it will take some time and likely require several DM calls to steer the PCs into the right direction.
The Mongoose version of Traveller has also a Build Point system which bypasses the randomness of the life path character creation but I am unsure if other Traveller versions have that.

 

[JeffB]

I just ordered Whitestar and have started reading the pdf. It looks perfect for the kind of not-Star Wars Sci-Fi I was looking for. So I vote that.

It's currently PWYW at rpgnow:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/14816...-Science-Fiction-Roleplaying-Swords--Wizardry

It is a lot of fun. I have run it a bit.

It also does Star Wars just fine if you want to use it for that.

 

[S'mon]

It is a lot of fun. I have run it a bit.

It also does Star Wars just fine if you want to use it for that.

My hardcopy came yesterday. I can see why it got a lot of buzz, even though the cover makes it look like a Firefly expy. It immediately set my mind abuzz with ideas for adding SF to my 5e Wilderlands game...

 

[aramis erak]

A bit more about the mechanics of Traveller as changing them is a bit harder than modifying the setting.
Traveller uses a d6 system. Checks are made with 2d6 + ability + skill vs 8 + modifier. (High is good). This system is also used for combat.

Only 5 of the editions are 2d6 based. And 2 of those (CT) aren't explicitly 2d6 based except for combat, with some canonical adventures using dice-by-difficulty rolls.

2d6 based:
CT 1E (1977-1980)
CT 2E (1981 on CT)
MegaTraveller (MT)
Mongoose Traveller 1E (MGT1)
Mongoose Traveller 2E (MGT2)

3d6 Based:
GURPS Traveller (GURPS 3R)
GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars (GURPS 4)
Traveller for Hero (Hero System 5R)

D6's by difficulty
T4
T5

1D20 roll low:
Traveller: The New Era (TNE)

d20 system:
T20 Traveller's Handbook

Damage to Attributes:
CT (both), MT, MGT, T4, T5

Damage to hit points
All the others. TNE uses separate tracks by location. HT & T20 each have two separate HP pools - one for minor damage, one for serious damage, and in both, most weapons do lots to the minor one, and less to the major one..

Personal Armor makes you harder to hit: CT (both)

Personal Armor reduces damage: all the rest. (Noting that T20 only reduces the damage to HP, not to Stamina.