Dear Santa,
I've been a good boy this year and have a few requests that I don't think
are too outrageous...
"Volume 1: Atom bomb through Grenade Launcher" -- Calvin
What I want in a new traveller rule set.
Adventures
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MegaTrav suffers from a lack of them. How many are there? Flaming Eye,
Knightfall. That's it! There are some other things out there that are
in the corners of Challenge, Trav Digest and The Rebellion Sourcebook,
but THAT'S IT! Zilch! Nothing! Zero!
The two adventures above... Well, I won't run Knightfall, and there's
little in there that is useful for inspirations for other adventures.
Flaming Eye? Well, I liked it better. There is more that is useful
for inspiration, but again, I doubt I'd use the adventure as published.
The best adventure put out so far in MegaTrav is Nail Mission at the end
of Rebellion Sourcebook. It has the most potential, the neatest premise
for a mission. Go out through hostile territory, under cover and get
the missing piece of a disintigrator that will help save the Domain.
The other adventures put out so far are pretty much run from the fleets
and TRY to stay alive.
Unfortunately, it is not given more than a few pages, and you need the
star maps of the Domain, which I don't have. So I doubt I'd run it as
set. I might use the idea, but not as set.
Rules
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There are too many F**KING RULE BOOKS! You have a million different
sections scattered in half a million different places and NO thought
given to organization.
When running a game, I don't have time to root through a million different
books to find the 'Correct' rule. Hmmm was that section on zero gravity
environments in the Ref's guide, the Players handbook, the starship
operator's manual, the encyclopedia or the rebellion sourcebook?...
Generally, I wing it, as all refs probably should, but imagine for a moment
that I haven't been playing trav for years? Ok, I'm a new gamer, never
seen this Traveller before. I've got a million different rules... I have
to remember them... Right?
Lets see, weapon performance is in the player's hand book, but their cost and
weight is in the encyclopedia??
They need organization.
How about one book devoted to character development, one book for design and
performance rules, one book for combat, one book for trade and commerce...
Later, when new ideas get incorporated, you could put out a suppliment for
that book. (Classic trav fans: Sound familiar?)
That way at least when you have a question you need to look up, you can
narrow down the books you need by their subject. If a book comes out on a
topic you never use, Don't buy it!
I agree there should be a basic set. But don't come out with stuff on a
million different subjects and pack them in a book called 'miscellaneous'!
Miscellaneous junk always gets LOST!
As it is now, the MegaTrav rules should be listed as Miscellaneous Player
junk, Miscellaneous Ref Junk, and Miscellaneous Encyclopedia Junk! After
that came Miscellaneous volume 1, and 2. The only organized book to come
out was COACC. It took on one subject and stuck to it!
I know, some of you might be saying, well, if the player doesn't want to
use a book, then they won't buy it and GDW/GDP are after all out to make
Money! You can't make much money selling things that fewer people will buy!
Well, my argument to this is that you won't make ANY money trying to sell an
unplayable game!
Vehicle Design
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I LIKE being able to design my own stuff.
I agree with whoever said it first. We don't need a single system for
construction, we need a Consistant system for construction. You can't
design a car and a plane to use the same engine. If you do, you will
either overheat at the side of the road, or crash from an overweight
engine. That's why we don't have flying cars today.
There are similar problems involved in trying to make a system that is
used to design a car and a boat. Or a car and a spacecraft. etc.
Robots: The old book 8 is inaedequate. It needs updating. Robots are
popular in Science Fiction and trav doesn't have a decent system to use
them. I would also suggest it be a system by which LARGE robots may be
built. Sure! Capture some of the BattleTech crowd! Sell the stuff!
Keep the company in business!
Spacecraft: I don't like reactionless drives. Anti-Grav and Jump drives
are ok, We need Faster than light stuff to keep the Imperium intact.
Anti-Grav? Well, It's one of the meats of science fiction. It's too fun
to leave it out.
What I'd like to do with Trav drives? Scrap the Thrusters. Put in Fusion
rockets as drive sysems. Ok, that makes take off and landings tough.
The ships would burn through the tarmac with their jets. Ok, so how 'bout
this: Close to the ground, a ships internal gravitation field can provide
a small amount of thrust. Enough to lighten ship so that it can take off
at powers that don't burn through concrete.
What's with the 6-G limit? Why is it there? It serves no purpose.
Fusion rockets can put out as much thrust as you can pack into the ship.
Come out with one book.
Chapter 1: Space and Star Ships
Chapter 2: Grav Vehicles
Chapter 3: Robots
Chapter 4: Aircraft/Helicopters/Airships
Chapter 5: Ground Vehicles
Chapter 6: Water Vehicles etc. etc.
Provide Clear Examples!
Sure some of it might be redundant! Who cares! If each section is clearly
explained, it won't matter! If it can be used easily then people will buy
it!
Computers
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Trav computers need updating. The basic ideas haven't changed since they
were introduced 15 years ago in book 2. A lot has been done in the past
15 years with computers. New ideas thought of, new capablities imagined.
Trav computers are too vague to deal with it. We need something that will
allow the incorporation of Cyber Punk type stuff. This will make traveller
appeal to a broader base. Sell more games! The more games they sell, then
maybe they can get around to putting out some GOOD stuff again!
There is no explanation of what a 'Model 1' is. I remember there was an
article a long time ago, which called the Apple II the equivalent of a
model 2. Well, I rather doubt that. I don't think an Apple II has the
power to control a two parsec jump!
So is it a Cray or what?
As to the power shown by them, a model 1 can provide a +1 for hitting
targets at space craft type ranges, but only provides a +1 to hit targets
at tank to tank ranges. The thing can carry a starship across a parsec,
but hardly provides any extra targeting power for a tank a hundred meters
away! Something is very wrong here!
Another problem is that they come 'off the shelf' no modifications really
possible, no explanations, and no tech level effects past TL 8. Come on!
A TL 11 hand computer is supposed to have the same power as a model 1!
But even a TL 15 model 1 weighs/costs the same as the TL 8!
Possible solution: (Hold on to your hats!) How about a computer design
system? Take the Book 8 robot brain system, it is inaedequate, but it's a
start. You could build a computer from the ground up. Install CPU units,
programming, memory as desired. (A grav tank hardly needs programs for a
jump drive!) Computer power could be devided up for different tasks. What
is needed is someone to decide, Ok, a 'model 1' computer has such and such
a capability. To build a computer to provide a +1 die modifier for
performing task Y, you need X amount of CPU, storage, etc.
Also incorporable would be tech level effects. At TL 9 Silicon Carbide
will step in making computers more radiation hard. At TL 10 Diamond
semiconductors will take over making them MUCH more so. You could add
electronic circuit protection to make them more so, and at high TL, these
will be competative with the fiber optic models in terms of radiation
hardness.
Now you can still have 'off the shelf' models for lazy designers who don't
wanna worry about it, you could even optimize such systems by making them
cost a little less or weigh a little less.
(was anything like this discussed in TDR?)
Star Viking
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Now it's ground combat? Is there still an imperium eating virus out there?
I think folks are forgetting a few things. If these Star Vikings are to
be travelling around somehow, they're gonna need a computer to travel from
star system to star system, and even from planet to planet. Jump drives
won't work without a computer! Hell, fusion power plants won't work without
one either! (not to mention fusion/plasma guns... particle/meson accelerators)
I don't think you can come up with a believable explanation that all the big
computers failed leaving us with the big computers that are necessary for the
story! (sounds like a very selective virus to me) How is Anything high
tech gonna work without computers?
If you ask me, I think trav needs MORE emphisis on computers. There are a lot
of young gamers out there who are into computers. If you wan't them to put
their money down you can't eliminate the computers!
Twilight 2000
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Never played it. Have heard there are problems.
Converting over to the system? Well, I said before I LIKE designing my own
vehicles! Perhaps if they want they should convert the T2K vehicle system
to the Traveller system. I turned out traveller versions of the Abrams,
M-60, T-72, T-80 and others. Admittedly the versions I came up with weren't
perfect, but that is due to problems with the design system as it is now.
That could be corrected in a future re-write. Especially with a computer
design system.
Ok, that's enough rambling and moaning out of me.
Thanks,
Scott S. Kellogg