Most of the suggestions I'd like to make about any future
version of Traveller have already been made, and I won't waste your
time repeating them. I have two points I'd like to make.
The first is simple: the task system should remain more or
less the same, except with regards to combat. Edit that to your
hearts' content. That is the one part of the task system that needs
improvement, from what the martially inclined have said.
The second point concerns the changes in setting. I have the
impression that the reason that the powers-that-be want to change the
setting is that the one we use at present is too highly defined, and thus
too confining. I can see how one might feel this way.
The source of the problem is, however, that it is assumed that
there can only be one official Traveller universe.
Consider this: publish a basic game book that describes the
rules, and that includes an appendix describing, briefly, possible
universes in which a Traveller campaign may be set. This could include
a description of the "classic Imperium" as well as the "Star Viking" era
that has been discussed, and perhaps a few other alternatives as well.
Supplements describing these universes in more detail could be
produced, but the idea should be that they are optional supplements, not
the "official" definitions of what the universe is.
Brian G. Vaughan
[email removed]