Traveller 5 Kickstarter!

[kesher]

Go here to learn more!

And, weirdly, Marc Miller looks a LOT like my uncle...

[vargr1105]

Seems like everyone is doing kickstarts these days.

[owlorbs]

Only $200,000 for galactic shipping!

[Deleted]

I saw this on FB and became a backer. I've interacted with Marc a few times online (and met him once upon a time) and he's always been a great guy. I think Traveller is a great game and I'm glad to see its creator giving it an update.

[vargr1105]

I meant to cast no aspersion on Traveller by my mention of how common kickstarts are becoming. I am a Traveller aficionado myself and hold Marc Miller in high regard, swear over Grandfather's grave and may the SORAG take me if I lie.

[Deleted]

I figured, from you screen name and all, that you were a fan and didn't read your post the wrong way.

[Mike]

For me Traveller went downhill with the publication of Book 4: Mercenary. Suddenly a bit too complicated for my tiny brain. I love the 3-book classic Traveller for it's simplicity and flexibility. A huge book of rules is probably not what I'm looking for. Of course, as a collector, I'll buy one!

[Deleted]

Jun 3, 2012 20:37:09 GMT -6 Mike said:

Of course, as a collector, I'll buy one!

This made me smile. Have an exalt!

[Alex]

I really like Traveller and 3LBB is a very good size RPG for me. I've been through the HERO and d20 eras. 1,000 page RPGs failed. Smaller books are surging in popularity. I won't find this brick good news for Traveller. I have 3LBB, Starter Edition, and recently bought MG Traveller (which I have yet to crack open). They are all the perfect size. I actually like the Starter Edition best so far.

Good for you collectors and Traveller supporters. For those of us who just want to play, more usable formats already exist.

[Deleted]

Thanks for your input, Alex. It's always good to hear from you.

[eris]

Jun 4, 2012 13:05:51 GMT -6 Alex said:

I really like Traveller and 3LBB is a very good size RPG for me. I've been through the HERO and d20 eras. 1,000 page RPGs failed. Smaller books are surging in popularity. I won't find this brick good news for Traveller. I have 3LBB, Starter Edition, and recently bought MG Traveller (which I have yet to crack open). They are all the perfect size. I actually like the Starter Edition best so far.

Good for you collectors and Traveller supporters. For those of us who just want to play, more usable formats already exist.

I agree with you on every point. However, I'll still buy T5 when it comes out, if for no other reason than to show support for Marc and Traveller. I'm in the beta test, so I'll get a pdf when it comes out, but I'll also buy the book.

OTOH, it is very likely that when I run Traveller, I'll use a subset of the LBBs (the Big Floppy Book with B1 through 8 in it, really). Steal ideas from other editions...you bet!...but keep playing the first one.

[Finarvyn]

I love Classic Traveller (I still have my old black box set from the '70s) and don't play as much as I used to but still have fond memories of the game. I recently picked up the CT DVD and softbound reprints. Good stuff.

What I can't really figure out is how much an original Traveller player will recognize in the new edition. Is it a "return to the roots" game or something more modern and updated, or what?

[coffee]

I'm torn on this one. I probably have all the Traveller stuff I'll ever need (including the core '77 rules, core '81 rules, Traveller Book, Traveller Adventure, and Starter Traveller, as well as supplements and adventures).

But on the other hand... Dude, I got an email from Marc Miller himself!

So, y'know. Torn.

[ffilz]

I'm slightly torn, but leaning against it.

If the reviews show it's got stuff that could be pulled back into Classic Traveller maybe.

But honestly my Traveller leanings are towards using a few bits of the core, and a few bits from elsewhere and rolling my own thing. I do like Classic chargen, or rather Classic Expanded chargen (ala Mercenaries, High Guard, etc.) though I'd be up for some way to use both quick style chargen and expanded chargen together. But dunno where T5 is going to be in that extent.

Frank

[Finarvyn]

Jun 14, 2012 18:44:59 GMT -6 coffee said:

Dude, I got an email from Marc Miller himself!

I know. Kinda cool, right?

I'm also torn. I just don't play Traveller much any more and when I do play I'm more likely to default back to the Black Box. It's hard to justify putting up big bucks for a game I may never use.

But to get an e-mail from Marc.... ;D

[eris]

IIRC, there isn't a NDA about this, and besides it's "all between friends here." Unless Marc has made big changes to Traveller 5 since I got the beta CD last year I can tell you a few things about it.

1. The background and assumptions are Classic Traveller, but there is little in the *book* to tie it to the classic Imperium. It looks like you can run it in any ficton you want.

2. Character generation is similar to CT/MT, ie. career based, but support for aliens (Vargr, Droyne, Aslan & AI/robot) are built right into the book. Yes, it looks like you could play an AI...what was its name from the Traveller Digest adventures...Abie?

3. Tasks are T4 style (no 1/2 dice, yay!) with Ken Bearden's "It's Harder than it Looks!" added on. Basically, the harder the task the more d6's you have to roll under with your skill+characteristic, but if the task is "harder than it looks"...ie. requires more dice than you have skill points in that area...it becomes one level (1d6) harder. This actually works pretty well. The scale is something like Easy=1d6, Routine=2d6, Difficult=3d6, Formidable =4d6, Staggering=5d6, Hopeless=6d6 and Impossible=7d6. You roll the appropriate number of dice for the task and if that number is less than your skill+characteristic you succeed.

4. System gen is similar to CT.

5. Trade is similar to Book 6.

6. Weapons and ships are created from table...looks pretty simple...and seems to work. New is a rating for equipment and parts rating their quality, reliability, ease of use and something else I've forgotten. I really like the idea of "I got it cheap!"...but it's going to break soon and is hard to use, "I paid extra for the best!"...and it's going to last longer and is easy to use, or "I got it!"...and I don't know how long it's going to last, how reliable it is but the Ref does!

7. It feels very much CT...Books 1 through 7 CT, though, not 3BB.

As I've posted, I'll run 3BB CT (getting a PBEM started now in fact), but I'll buy and support Marc's latest version, too.

I hope *all* Traveller fans support him, too! Please, consider kicking in a buck, even if you never plan to get T5.

[Deleted]

Abie Wan-Owen ... AB101.

And that's SIR Wan-Owen, if you'll recall!

[owlorbs]

*sigh* I caved in and bought the book the last week of the campaign. Anyone else loose their willpower at the last minute?