Traveller D20

[Plane Sailing]

Just noticed on the T20 (nice abbreviation) site

Humaniti and its offshoots and alien species like the warrior Aslan, the mysterious Wanderers and the genetically engineered Vargr.

I wonder who the mysterious wanderers are? I don't remember them from Traveller.

K'Kree would make great "main enemies" and poor PCs because IIRC you would have to play an entire "herd" because of their specialised duties. I loved the extra-aggressive vegetarian angle to them.

My favourite race was always the Hivers though. Gotta love people who think that it is unethical to club someone to death but perfectly fine to nuke them from orbit.

Cheers

 

[mhensley]

I mean, have you SEEN the detail in those GURPS Traveller books? They're awesomely researched and incredibly detailed. Whatever level of detail you want, you can do, right down to every nut and bolt.

I have a couple of the Gurps Traveller (GT) books and I like them a lot. The problem with Gurps is that I hate the character generation system. Yes, the templates make it easier to do but it seems very bland. Just looking at a Gurps character sheet makes my brain hurt. Too much detail for me.

The beauty of the Gurps books is that you can easily use them with whatever system you want. Actually, I expect that a majority of the buyers of GT books are using CT rules. That's also part of the beauty of the T20 books, you can use the soucebooks with CT too.

The CT rules have a few holes that I am hoping T20 will fix in an easy to use manner. The main weak points of CT is that the combat system has some bugs, the character creation is too random, and that there really is no experience system. If T20 can cure these problems with uncomplicated rules and still keep the flavor of Traveller, it should be successful.

 

[Hawkshere]

On the subject of the GT (GURPS Traveller) books, I'll also chime in to say that they are generally fantastic supplements, no matter which ruleset you're using - including T20 no doubt. Even if you ignore the GURPS mechanics, there's still plenty of usefull content in most of the GT supplements. Have y'all seen the world booklets that SJG is printing? Plus, the deckplans they've released have hex on one side (GURPS) and square grid on the other, because SJG darn well knows a lot of their GT customers are using other rulesets. Totally portable stuff.

What remains to be seen is how T20 looks at "high level".

 

[Darkcross]

T20 Cover Art

Can we get back to Dave Mattingly's cheesy un-Traveller cover art? Who do I have to kill to get this thing off the cover of my most highly anticipated D20 purchase?

While I agree that Mattingly's cover may be more attractive to newbies, I shudder at actually owning a Traveller book with that cheese-ball cover art.

Here's an idea: How about a limited edition version of T20 with the classic Black-with-Red-Stripe artwork for us old school Travellers? Anyone?

-- Darkcross

 

[Psion]

Re: T20 Cover Art

Can we get back to Dave Mattingly's cheesy un-Traveller cover art? Who do I have to kill to get this thing off the cover of my most highly anticipated D20 purchase?

While I agree that Mattingly's cover may be more attractive to newbies, I shudder at actually owning a Traveller book with that cheese-ball cover art.

Here's an idea: How about a limited edition version of T20 with the classic Black-with-Red-Stripe artwork for us old school Travellers? Anyone?

Okay, guys, the old little black books where great.

But does anyone here remember (excellent) CT books like the Traveller Adventure and the Spinward Marches campaign, as well as the alien modules. Not to mention the outstanding MT books, which IMO brought Traveller into its own. (Unlike TNE, which doomed it to a choking death.)

I think a colorful splash is perfectly consistent with the history of the game. I'm not really fond of that picture... the Vargr looks cheesy and the picture looks too reminiscent of SW:TPM, but its not bad, really.

 

[Zenon]

At least it's better than MegaTraveler's artwork on the cover of the player's manual.

You know, the one that was draw by the same artist that did the covers for Paranoia!

Whenever I see the MT cover of the Player's guide it always start thinking "Send in the Clones!!!" (this all comes from my intense dislike of the whole MT storyline of Strephon assasinated by Dulinor, and then the whole New Era thing (The Virus, etc.)

Seriously, it's the same reason that the 3E PHB doesn't have the same picture of the idol with the thief prying out the gem eye on it. New game system, new look.

I'm just glad there back to the CT style, and personally like the new cover. (And yes, I still have a set of LBB's, supplements, adventures, Striker, etc.)

The posters on Far Future's boards kept petitioning for a new cover like the old ones.

Just be glad it's a nice painting by Mattingly and they didn't go with their original art <shudder>.

 

[Psion]

At least it's better than MegaTraveler's artwork on the cover of the player's manual.

You know, the one that was draw by the same artist that did the covers for Paranoia!

That cover was great! There were characters hiding behind an airlock while battle dress armored troops where closing in. That so typified that "in over our heads" type of wild adventures that we played in those days.

The posters on Far Future's boards kept petitioning for a new cover like the old ones.

Sooner or later, there comes a time to say "screw it." I am more concerned about getting the book into print in a reasonable time frame than going through a dozen cover iterations, none of which will make everyone happy.

 

[V-2]

Personally, I would be willing to pay an extra $5 for a book without a cover illustration. Just for the perversion of it.

Meanwhile, thanks to all who posted Traveller history links.

 

[Zenon]

That cover was great! There were characters hiding behind an airlock while battle dress armored troops where closing in. That so typified that "in over our heads" type of wild adventures that we played in those days.

I still couldn't look at the battledress trooper without seeing Vulture Troopers!

They are having some delays getting it out, but I have no problems with delays if it's as good as I hope it will be.

 

[mhensley]

The scary thing is that there have been more posts in this one thread here than there have been on their whole messageboard at farfuture.com in the same time period.

Here's the link-

http://www.farfuture.net/cgi-bin/Trav/ixs/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro