Traveller D20

[Kichwas]

Oooo I like that.

What brought that image about?

 

[Hawkshere]

The SF "hardness" (ahem) of Traveller is a long-time subject of seemly endless debate on the TML (Traveller Mailing List). The genius of the Third Imperium is that it successfully combines a space opera underpinning with a cold, gritty facade. You can basically pick your stylistic angle, as you choose. Although its pretty conservative (even dated) in terms of the SF technology, there are operatic, dramatic themes in the setting. Its just presented with a great deal more subtlety than say Flash Gordon.

There's no light sabres, "blasters", or force shields. Kinetic energy weapons dominate most of the technology range, and computers are 1970s retro sci-fi. No significant cyber- or nano-tech. Gravitic and power generation technology, however, are way, way out there.

The 2300 AD game (initially called Traveller 2300) is set in a much nearer future (duh, heh) and is closer to being "hard sf" in terms of the the technological concepts.

Traveller, 2300 AD, and Dark Conspiracy were all ass-kicking games and settings that deserve continued attention and conversion as needed.

I sometimes wonder how many players today realize that FASA got their start printing deckplans (and later adventures & supplements) for classic Traveller. Without Traveller, a lot of other later games would have never existed. Much like D&D, Traveller is one of the "origin of the hobby" games.

Marc Miller's classic reprint series is a must-buy for any serious gaming guru, btw! www.farfuture.net Looks like he's gonna reprint 2300 AD as well...

On a side note - that dragon article for Alternity Traveller conversion was interesting. There's a lot of ideas in Dark Matter and Dark Conspiracy that fits in very well with Shadowchasers/Modern d20. A d20 conversion of Dark Conspiracy's psychics/magic system would be way cool!

 

[Hawkshere]

Another "ain't it a small world" discovery: our favorite T&A d20 publisher, Avalanche Press, currently has the license for GDW's old Imperium boardgame:

http://www.avalanchepress.com/gameI2K.php

This board game essentially offers a strategy wargame treatment of the Terran's first contact with the Villani First Imperium that was described above.

 

[Thorvald Kviksverd]

...I sometimes wonder how many players today realize that FASA got their start printing deckplans (and later adventures & supplements) for classic Traveller...

Speaking of which ...

FASA TRAVELLER

 

[V-2]

I have a couple of the FASA supplements on that list, and some of them are very cool: the deck plans, the Sky Raider trilogy (kinda like Indie in space), and particularly Ordeal on Eshaar (cloak-and-dagger intrigue against the Zhodani on an alien world). It's well worth the $6 they're charging.

On a different note, this is the only bit of info I found on Traveller d20 classes (the quote is from a post by the lead designer):

There are actually some 17 classes in total, as of the current playtest version:
9 Core Classes: Academic, Barbarian, Belter, Mercenary, Merchant, Noble, Professional, Rogue, and Traveller

4 Service Classes: Army, Navy, Marines, and Scouts

4 Prestige Classes: TAS Field Reporter, Big Game Hunter, Ace Pilot, and Psionicist.

Apparently (but I may be wrong here) the "service classes" are the revamped version of Prior Service. So I guess they stack with the core classes? Hmmm... What's a "Traveller"?

 

[Psion]

I have a couple of the FASA supplements on that list, and some of them are very cool: the deck plans, the Sky Raider trilogy (kinda like Indie in space), and particularly Ordeal on Eshaar (cloak-and-dagger intrigue against the Zhodani on an alien world). It's well worth the $6 they're charging.

On of the favorite adventures I ever ran was using the subsidized liner deckplans. I may have to see if I can get some money out of my wife to get some of those.

On a different note, this is the only bit of info I found on Traveller d20 classes (the quote is from a post by the lead designer):

There are actually some 17 classes in total, as of the current playtest version:

9 Core Classes: Academic, Barbarian, Belter, Mercenary, Merchant, Noble, Professional, Rogue, and Traveller

4 Service Classes: Army, Navy, Marines, and Scouts

4 Prestige Classes: TAS Field Reporter, Big Game Hunter, Ace Pilot, and Psionicist.

Whoa! That's news to me! Last I heard, there where only 4 core classes. It seems they expanded upon their selection to make it closer to the inspiration.
(No wonder it is taking so long...)

 

[Corinth]

I hope that it's as open to tweaking as CT was, so I can put in the transformable starfighters that I love so much. (Imagine the result of a blending of T20 and MZ: The Bendar Empire and you're on to what I dig.)

 

[mhensley]

I hope that it's as open to tweaking as CT was, so I can put in the transformable starfighters that I love so much.

They said that the starship design rules are based on the HIgh Guard rules from classic traveller, so you should be able to build pretty much anything you want.

 

[Wolfspider]

Wow! There was a lot of material released for Traveller! I never knew.

Those reprints look great. I'll have to pick some up.

Could someone tell me a bit about the CT rules?

Thanks....

 

[Corinth]

They said that the starship design rules are based on the HIgh Guard rules from classic traveller, so you should be able to build pretty much anything you want.

Rock on! Imperial VMS fighters will rule once more.