Well having read all the comments so far I thought I would add a few more,
First when MT came out I thought I would have a look at this, yeah I
like the idea of the Rebellion (Images of the Decline of the Roman empire came
to mind) and thought that this would be a good setting to bring some new
players into the realm of Traveller, and to get some bad habits out of other
players I know, now being (as he put it) the top, Top Gun pilot of the navy
demanding instance respect on any planet (he was also a baron), he had to watch
what he say how he acted towards others, in order not to get himself killed, he
was also used to belong to the "lets block that bullet with my body" group. MT
provided the lethal combat that I like (and as it should be) in order to
encourge players to think of interesting and different ways out of trouble.
But as I read the errors were terrible and started to drive me crazy,
(I have to thank TML for providing me with access to the errata sheet as when I
first purchased MT roleplaying support in my home town was zero). So MT was
used just to provide characters and history, and this worked well. I am not
into designing ships but design planets and when the DGP produced the World
Builders handbook I loved it. Most adventures I did were planet based, with
space Traveller a small but still required part. As more supplements arrived I
purchased them and these all provided me with a better system to run my
adventures, I even purchased COACC, which I liked as a concept and it provided
more ideas, as a whole I liked MT and have put a lot of money it to it. The
task system is good, it what I had been using with the group I played with for
a long time but had never written down.
So if GDW are going to get me to spend money on the new version I would like to
see the following things (some of these have been mentioned by others, I am
just adding my weight to the course. I should just add that I have never played
TW:2000)
(1) A simple basic rules set, in a boxed set (aka classic Traveller) or a
single book providing enough to sit down and play the game if you are a complete
begineer. Simple starship construction rules, simple System construction rules
and character charaction should all be in these rules, easy to find and use.
(2) Supplements for more detailed starships and systems should come later
in order not to swap the starting GM with rule upon rule for just background
details. It is my preference that supplements considering history on background
should contain few or no new rules but a coherent source book for provide
background and ideas for adventures.
(3) Combat did not feature much in my adventures but what I used of the MT
combat I liked, it might not be the best (or the most realistic) but if you
start trying to get combat to be more like real life, most systems I have seen
fail as the rules expand and get more complex. I like my combat to fast and
deadly, just like a real life firefight. In most cases you don't know what has
happened until its over (Speak from experience in Cadet training corp)
(4) The GDW should not destory the history of the Imperium, every thing
that has happen in the Imperium should still have happened, and be coherently
linked in with the next timeline. (A jump in time would not effect me greatly
as I am not currently running an andventure, and will not be for sometime to
come).
(5) If possible the new system should allow a bit of backwards
compatabilty in order to allow me to use the rules I already have, don't change
the star system structure. I like it - IMHO it is the best method I have seen of
designing star systems I have seen in any SFRPG.
I hope this has provided some constructive comments and I will wait and see
what GDW brings out (but I am not holding my breath as I thinking about buying
a car and the insurance rates in Newcastle equal about 16 copies of the basic
MT set for just third party)
yours
Dave J
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+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| David M. Johnson | If the radiance of a thousand suns |
| c/o Electrical and Electronic Eng. | were to burst at once in the sky, |
| Merz Court | That would be like the splendor |
| Newcastle University | of the Mighty One... |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | I am become Death |
| [address removed] | The destroyer of worlds. |
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|Janet : [email removed] | |
|ARPA : [email removed] | The Mahbharata. |
|UUCP : ...[email removed] | |
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