Traveller role playing game

[Matthew]

Hi:

I was in my local gaming store the other day, and I managed to find a
reprint of the one of the alien books. This reprint used the old d6
system.

I had since stopped playing Traveller, and started playing things like
Alternity. I have been thinking
about GURPS Traveller for some time.

I had two basic complaints about Traveller:
1. It was tied too tightly to the Imperium. The first 6 books
let you play a more or less generic game. Latter versions such as
MegaTraveller and Marc Miller's traveller were too closely tied to the
imperium.
2. There was no reasonable experience point system or method for
character improvement.

So I am in a state of confusion, and I have some questions, which may
not be answerable, but here goes ...

1) What is the official Traveller game these days? I guess I am
asking, what are people playing now, what has market share, and when
gamers build fansites and resource pages, which game is it targetted
to ?

2) Does GURPS Traveller provide a decent character advancement
policy?

3) Is Traveller 5 a realistic possibility ?

Thanks

Matthew Harelick

[Erol K. Bayburt]

Post by Matthew
2) Does GURPS Traveller provide a decent character advancement
policy?

IIRC GURPS Traveller uses standard GURPS character advancement. Anyway
advancement rates in GURPS Traveller should be easy enough to salt to
taste.

IMHO GURPS and Traveller are an excellent fit, but I say that as
someone who was never a Traveller fan and is no longer a GURPS fan.

Because I'm not a Traveller fan, I can't really answer your other
questions. But if you want a Traveller-like game that isn't strongly
tied to the Imperrium, then GURPS is worth taking a look at.

[JR Mapes]

Post by Matthew
1) What is the official Traveller game these days? I guess I am
asking, what are people playing now, what has market share, and when
gamers build fansites and resource pages, which game is it targetted
to ?

GURPS Traveller is what has the most current published support. However
amongst the community Classic Traveller and MegaTraveller are the most
active.

Post by Matthew
2) Does GURPS Traveller provide a decent character advancement
policy?

It's Gurps, it's gurps advancement. Classic Traveller had character
Advancement. However it was published in Traveller Digest and later was
incorporated into MegaTraveller. There are a few really good character
advancement systems for CT, some derived from the Traveller Digest version
others are independednt but work very well and IMO are better than even the
Digest and derived version.

Post by Matthew
3) Is Traveller 5 a realistic possibility ?

Considering Marc just released CD compilations of the Classic Traveller
books and the MegaTraveller Books, i personally don't see T5 happening very
soon. However I think it is a real possibility and from Marc's indications
it will go back to the Classic setting and be closer to the Classic
ruleset.


As you said the later games did tie in more to the Imperium where Classic
really was geared towards you creating your own sectors and story
background. There have been many additions to the Classic game over the
years. The TRaveller Journal via Andy Slack of Digest Group Publication
really helped round out the vague and missing rules. MegaTraveller ended up
being a compilation of the classic rules with all of the Journal additions,
plus new material. MegaTraveller could have been the greatest edition
however in the rush to get it ont he shelves care was not taken and that is
why there are 30+ pages of errata each for the Players book and the GM
book.

What I suggest is that you head over to Citizens of the Imperium (CotI) at
http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi

Check out the various Traveller systems boards and see what all is going
on. I can honestly say that the Classic Traveller board there completely
revitalized our dead in the water CT games. One of the best things you will
find there is that there are some brilliant GMs that have over the years
taken the missing or unclear bits and have created some great plugins for
the CT and MT systems. What I find most useful about this is that the new
rules made to fill the gaps are made as simple as possible without reams of
new rules editions/definitions. THe slide into the game flawlessly.

The biggest advancement has been the addition/over haul of the Task
Resolution system. They took what Mr. Slack created and what is standard
for MegaTraveller (He created the TRS for CT via the Digest Group
Publications suppliments, it became the standard TRS for MegaTraveller) and
streamlined it, made it very understandable, easy to use, and requiring
minimum dice rolling. They have also delved into fixing the sector/system
creation system which had its flaws as well.

I guess I could go one for pages about how far along the CT game has came
and the mods that have been introduced which have been incorporated to the
original rules and have become the standard ruleset for many of us in the
community. I suggest just heading over to CotI and take a look see.

So I guess you could say CT and to some extent MT are still very alive and
supported and CT along with Gurps are the main and current rules sets.

Oh I guess I should mention T20. I really havent heard much about T20 in
general and I have yet to get a copy myself. AFAIK not many people play it
but most everyone I have talked to online and otherwise use it as a
resource since it was very CT Compatable. Personally we still play Classic
Traveller around here but other GMs and I use the other versions
(especially Gurps in my case) as source material. We all prefer to stay in
our own setting loosly based around the Imperiem. However, quite a few have
made the FireFly/Serenity setting thier most used setting.

Enough ramblimg from me.
Hope to see you at the site.

JR