Post by Finarvyn on Aug 6, 2010 8:22:33 GMT -6
A guy named CaptainJack on the Citizens of the Imperium forum created something that is "fantasy done with Traveller."
I believe that his basic premise is along the lines of "what if Gygax and Arneson worked for GDW and Traveller was the first RPG instead of OD&D..."
He calls it Adventurer and has put his system into PDF. Check it out!
I believe that his basic premise is along the lines of "what if Gygax and Arneson worked for GDW and Traveller was the first RPG instead of OD&D..."
It’s a simple premise that started this: that Gygax and Arneson had different inspirations than the one(s) that became D&D. From it (so far) has come at least two variants I really like: Mazes and Minotuars and X-plorers ; these ask “what if the font of inspiration was greek myths, or Science fiction". Really well done, check em out.
This, then, is that, but spun thusly: what if the first RPG wasn’t D&D at all, but rather Traveler ? I’m not even going to get into the possibility of this actually happening, I hasten to add, but rather just follow the idea up. Specifically, what if, as a result of TSR never having been formed or successfully launched, “the fantasy game” as it was called languished in a box in a garage for many years, and the it’s designers ended up at GDW – which IIRC, predates TSR. For a variety of reasons, the genre was born with Traveller (probably via Star Wars to popularize it), and Fantasy becomes the red-headed stepchild of the industry . Adventure Simulations Games (as they are called) cater to an endless variety of SF settings and adventures all ultimately derived from Traveler. Assume then that Gygax and Arneson finally convince GDW to try a new approach to travelling: something like that Robert E. Howard/Lovecraft genre , but the swords and sorcery version more than the pulp horror of Seeker (by Chaosium games); like in Fritz Leiber's stuff ? or, heck, Anderson's fantasy stuff...... Low tech, ya' know ? C'mon Marc, pleeeeeeze ?
And so, in 1977, following the phenomenal success of book 8 (Droidbots), The Adventure game is dragged out, dusted off, and months later, Book 9 Adventurer is released. What might that look like ?
This, then, is that, but spun thusly: what if the first RPG wasn’t D&D at all, but rather Traveler ? I’m not even going to get into the possibility of this actually happening, I hasten to add, but rather just follow the idea up. Specifically, what if, as a result of TSR never having been formed or successfully launched, “the fantasy game” as it was called languished in a box in a garage for many years, and the it’s designers ended up at GDW – which IIRC, predates TSR. For a variety of reasons, the genre was born with Traveller (probably via Star Wars to popularize it), and Fantasy becomes the red-headed stepchild of the industry . Adventure Simulations Games (as they are called) cater to an endless variety of SF settings and adventures all ultimately derived from Traveler. Assume then that Gygax and Arneson finally convince GDW to try a new approach to travelling: something like that Robert E. Howard/Lovecraft genre , but the swords and sorcery version more than the pulp horror of Seeker (by Chaosium games); like in Fritz Leiber's stuff ? or, heck, Anderson's fantasy stuff...... Low tech, ya' know ? C'mon Marc, pleeeeeeze ?
And so, in 1977, following the phenomenal success of book 8 (Droidbots), The Adventure game is dragged out, dusted off, and months later, Book 9 Adventurer is released. What might that look like ?
He calls it Adventurer and has put his system into PDF. Check it out!