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Ian
United States
Berkeley
California
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First and foremost, I love sci-fi. It is my favorite genre of (lighter) fiction, and dominates most of my free reading list. However, I've never played a sci-fi RPG for lack of enthusiasm from others. I'm not the most experienced RPGer, mostly confined to D&D 3.x and some 2nd ed before that.
I have, however, played Battlestations, which I have enjoyed immensely while my game group whined and refused to play it again. Why? Not enough board game, and not enough RPG, apparently. They chimed in, "why play it at all, when you can just play Traveller (Classic)?"
Alright, so now I ask. I've seen this name all over the place, and it seems to be one of the premiere sci-fi RPG's. What is it that sets Traveller out from the rest? What is the main focus? Space combat? What is the universe like?
I'm interested, but could probably never get a game together. Anyone have fond memories to share?
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Brett Christensen
United States
Dickinson
North Dakota
Bad touch!
Rub the wizard!
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I'm not surprised to hear your friends say that since I had a similar feeling towards Battlestations after I played it, even though I liked it it's certainly missing something compared to Traveller. I like Traveller because it has a transparent rules set and is easy to run, even on the fly. The main focus is of course whatever you want it to be since it is very universal
 The types of different campaigns you could run are overwhelming to say the least. It covers combat from the smallest bar brawl to an epic deep space battle not to mention a huge economic system for interplanetary trade. The original Traveller universe is pretty sweet so if you don't have your own setting in mind there is an astonishing amount of material to draw from.
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DMSamuel
United States
Ithaca
New York
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Well, I can't help you with the Mongoose version of Traveller, because I have never played it. But I can tell you that classic Traveller is one of my favorite RPGs of all time.
I like the system, it's crunchy where needed, but leaves room for GM fiddling where necessary. I like the races and worlds provided. I like the career system and the opinions and views that the PCs inevitably get about the universe in which they live (e.g it's frikken dangerous!!).
Also, it's the only RPG I have ever played in which you can die during character creation - that's harsh!! Classic Traveller holds a special place in my heart.
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Paul Dale
Australia
Moggill
Queensland
2.219531669
You are only as old as you feel. How old is soft and squishy?
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Mongoose Traveller is very similar to classic.
Just like seeing an old friend anew.
- Pauli
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Ian
United States
Berkeley
California
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I should have been clearer in my original post. I'm not targeting any version in particular, as I don't know the differences between them. I'm just curious about the game in general.
So it's a tool-box system like D&D, where I can make up my own setting? That's more what I'm interested, as I don't need to memorize many details about a world and can build it in progress as a campaign progresses.
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Ryan Manes
United States
Chico
California
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I have Mongoose Traveller and it is chock-full of mini-games / tools. I don't have the core book on hand at the moment, but as I recall, there's:
Character Creation
Ship Design
Subsector/World Creation
Random Adventure Generation
Character/Vehicle Scale Combat
Starship Scale Combat
Interstellar Trade Rules
Psionics
Creature Creation
The setting itself is present in the rules, but only nominally so. Very much like D&D, if I recall. However, the setting itself meshes very well with the rules set.
I was really excited about Battlestations' How Much For Your Planet expansion before I found Traveller. The idea of having your own ship and the freedom that brings, but also the responsibility (re: How to pay for it) really intrigued me. But I have to say Traveller has scratched that itch just fine. Which is good since How Much(...) is taking it's sweet time getting here!
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Andy Leighton
England
Peterborough
Unspecified
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Yeah definitely a toolbox.
In addition to the normal Traveller setting you can (or soon will) buy other settings - Reign of Discordia, Hammers Slammers, Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog - all of which require the main rules. So it can be seen that the system is pretty flexible.
However you don't have to buy any setting. There is enough to do your own thing.
However the main rulebook is just the core rules. Traveller has many other books which expand on things in the main rulebook - for example Book4: Psion gives far more in depth rules and character creation for psionics and Book 6: Scoundrel does the same for rogues and drifters. It is quite possible to pick and choose the extra books that interest you and ignore the ones that don;t.
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