Traveller: which is best?

[Kax Tuglebend]

Also, T20 is set a little over 1,100 years prior to the Classic Era -- during the start of the Solomani Rim War -- and in another section of the Imperium not fully developed in other versions of the game. Basically it's on the other side of the Imperium from the Spinward Marches, the setting for much of Classic Traveller.

er, what? are you sure? okay i confess i havent scoured the setting section but i could have sworn it was set in the 970's, putting it about 40 years before the Classic Era

as for rules.. i like what i've read of T20, i also like GURPS Traveller (tho it bugs me that they sort of removed the UWP from the setting.. but then included some in-character forms in at least one of the suppliments that required them..)

as for MT vs TNE, setting wise i used to prefer MT hands down, but the post-apocalyptic scavenging & rebuilding of TNE has recently begun to appeal to me (tho i would still like to see an alternate end to the Rebellion) ~ ruleswise i could take either, however i LOVE the TNE ship acquisition rules and wish to god they would reprint them somewhere (instead of each character rolling to see if he got a starship of his own, you would add up Dice Modifiers for the whole party and then roll on a chart ~ the more DM's the better the ship, eg: a ex-Spacehand with 4 years service and a pair of civilians who applied to the bank for a loan for a Warship would probably get a Scout Courier with an extra gun, whereas a retired Admiral and his Adjutant would probably get a state of the art Mercenary Cruiser)

 

[lordbasl]

MT or TNE?

I'm a TNE fan all the way. MegaTraveller has the most fan support and is the version most played by the denixens of the infamous Traveller Mailing List, but I was as put off by the Imperium and its dissolution as the TNE detractors were by the AI Virus.

MT's closer to Original Traveller, streamlined and rationalized. For the classical "space trucking" Trav merchant campaign, hard to beat MT. TNE's a very different system entirely different and very well suited to groundside military operations. Wanna play a merc company, get TNE.

 

[Psion]

I'm curious what you think makes T20 unplayable.

An odd defninition of unplayable, considering I ran a game of it locally, and several games of it at 2 cons, and at all sessions, participants volunteered that they had a rip-roaring time.

Also, T20 is set a little over 1,100 years prior to the Classic Era -- during the start of the Solomani Rim War

That's not 1100 years, dude... The classic era is ~1100 Imperial, the rim war starts in 990.

 

[painandgreed]

I'm all for Classic Traveller and that's what I'd play if I was to start a game. Not in the least because I think more people will join that game than any other Traveller variant. I'd also be prepared to start compiling a notebook of new rules and expansions on things that the classic books didn't cover or needed to be redone, but I like my games that way.

I ran Megatraveller a bit and didn't find anything wrong with the system except that all the characters ended up so high in social status and wealth that I had to make it a "You are one of the secret conspiracies that rules the Imperium" setting.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Classic is the only way to go, go buy:

You can get it at a good price from here.

 

[SWBaxter]

Once again, I have the opportunity to pick up some older used manuals at a cheap price, and among them are some traveller books. There are 2 Traveller: The New Era books and a Megatraveller book.

Just one MegaTraveller book isn't much use, there were three in the box set way back when. But anything you can't find in hardcopy will be available fairly cheaply on drivethrurpg.

I personally use the classic Traveller rules for ships (Book 2, not Book 5 - I like my ships small), and MegaTraveller for most everything else. The MegaTraveller character generation and task resolution systems are basically cleaned up versions of what's in classic Traveller, while MegaTraveller combat is a bit more complicated but generally better, IME.

Edit - I notice some folks are talking about setting as well as system. I recommend coming up with your own setting. All versions have a star system generation system, create your own slice of the galaxy and have at it. You can assume it's in GDW's Third Imperium if you like, or just use what you've got as a replacement.

 

[Psion]

And T20...Does EVERYTHING have to be ported over?

I'm not sure what exactly you mean here.

For good or bad, T20 is almost plug-and-play with CT and MT star system statistics and vehicles. Characters require more conversion. But its not like you NEED to convert anything; most of the basic elements that you find in the basic books of CT are provided in the massive T20 core book.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Check it out!

MegaTraveller for free at DTRPG.

 

[Stone Dog]

Sometime this year we should be looking at GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars. Hopefully, as with many GURPS setting books, it will have such an amount of setting material vs GURPS system rules that it will be a good buy regardless of the system you want to port it to.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Systemwise I like The New Era - Fire Fusion and Steel rocks! I prefer the classic Traveller setting though. Or better yet, use FF&S to create your own setting from the ground up, it gives a lot of options that weren't used in the Traveller Universe.

2300AD is also cool, I managed to get the PDF while it was free on DriveThru, a good thing, since the covers have come off of my originals. (GDW used paper rather than cardstock for their covers for the line.) I still miss GDW.

The Auld Grump