or, _My Two Cents on TNE_
What I like most about MegaTraveller it is the way I can run a
game quite well by ignoring almost all the rules. The task system
works just fine, and with a feel for that almost anything can be
improvised readily. With the addition of a simple vector movement
system, the ship combat system works. The ship design system works.
The world/system generation system (especially as in WBH) works.
Admittedly, the man-to-man combat system is rather awkward, but with
some hand-waving and improvising tasks it can be made to work without
getting in the way of the game too badly -- it also helps that my
campaign has had little hand-to-hand combat. With some filtering
through a reality check, star system/world generation works (I
computer-generate about three systems for each one used).
What the MT system really has going for it is preserving game
flow. I very rarely find the need to look up numbers in the rules.
With an SF game in particular, it is necessary to improvise almost all
the time. My campaign is driven by the actions and motivations of the
players (and the NPCs), and it is just not possible to prepare enough
material to cover all eventualities.
The task system is (IMHO) the best thing to have ever happened to
RPGs. With a feel for it, I don't need character details for any NPC
they meet just in case that person ends up associating with the group
- -- from what I know about the person, and I can make their task rolls
with a good degree of consistency without ever needing to work out the
numbers until it becomes clear that the exact skill numbers and mix
becomes important. One NPC had a character sheet almost soon as she
joined the crew; others have done without for almost two years (game
time). I like a system where I can concentrate on the game instead of
the system.
I am glad to hear that the task system is to be retained for TNE
- -- albeit evolved, but why not refine the rules? I *love* the task
system (did I already say that?).
I am not thrilled at the concept of throwing out all the ship
designs. I have a lot of personal time invested in an interactive
starship design programme. Yes, the rules are complex. I have
designed a few ships by hand, and it is a real pain. I have designed
substantially more by computer, and that is fun -- the players of the
ship's engineer characters have even spent some time playing "what
if?" with it. Too *few* details would hurt that.
I want a free-flowing game system where I can concentrate on the
role-playing, not the rules. The task system is great for this. (Did
I say that already?)
I want a fun, detailed, ship design system. Why not provide two
levels of detail? By analogy with system generation: one to work out
the UPP quickly, and one to go into details of surface temperature and
so on. Let one ship design be workable by hand, let the other be
workable by paintaking hours of fiddling (or a few minutes on a
computer). Heck, why not sell a computer programme yourselves? I'd
gladly pay real money for the software to do that -- *if* it was well
designed, with an interface that made it easy to fiddle with the
details (preferably running under Windows). Bundle it with a star
system generator (yes, I *do* need to know surface temperature,
gravity, day length, and so on), perhaps with fifty or so
pre-generated sectors and several hundred pre-generated craft (just as
well sell your test data :-) ), plus a wealth of library data, and put
the whole thing on a CD-ROM I'd gladly pay $89.99 for. It'd be worth
easily that much to me (were I to adopt TNE rules) for the time it
would save.
I want a combat system that is relatively easy to use. Firefights
must maintain a fast flow when role-played, or the involvement is lost
too easily. "I leap round the corner, and give the first guy I see
both barrels!" It should not take substantially longer to play it
than to say it. (I like the MT concept of alternate unit moves and
task interrupting, but the way hit and damage are calculated I find,
quite frankly, tedious. I don't know T:2000, I would guess that it
has a better feel since that's it's emphasis. I mostly hand-wave a lot
and improvise.)
Ship combat can be more complex. I like many aspects of the MT
system: a twenty-minute move gives a stately feel to it -- like the
perception of surface naval battles that several people seem desperate
to emulate, quite rightly I think. That's a long time -- the rules
can work much more slowly without interrupting the game feel. There
is time for the Captain to discuss munition choice with the Chief
Gunner ("I say nuke'm, Cap'n!"); there is time for the Medical Officer
to attend those injured during the last turn by role-playing -- not
just "I go there and treat his wounds," but the need to find an open
way through, perhaps push past Jeff and Shelley fixing the junction
box in the corridor, past where a frantic Steward is trying to get the
passengers calmed down, only finally reaching the mess area where he
is needed so urgently. There's a lot of room for role-playing in this
sort of ship combat, and I'd hate to see it interrupted by the rules:
"I <we fire> say <they fire> nuke <hold it, we haven't worked out the
damage yet. OK, carry on> 'em <we turn and run> Cap'n!"
I do have one very strong negative on MT: whoever insulted our
intelligence with that space-combat movement system must have a lot of
bad karma. As written, everyone should accelerate from the beginning
of the combat until it's over, as that gives you the biggest maximum
move -- you can always move less, after all, you can use up that 120
hex move by circling in one spot! That movement system was discarded
before the campaign started, replaced by a simple vector system that
gave enough concessions to Newton to pass a basic reality check.
Enough of the rules, now on to background:
My campaign has now reached 354-1118. Strephon is Emperor. There
was no Rebellion. There are no Hard Times. Archduke Norris is a
great and honoured diplomat for preventing the Fifth Frontier War.
I hate the darkness of a perpetually miserable life in RPGs. It's
hard to have fun that way, and a solid stable Imperium has a lot of
places to have fun. The players have been snow-skiing and sunbathing
on Spirelle; some partied in a prospector bar in the Zaibon belt; some
have been inducted into strange cults on Iderati; they traded for
dried beans on Faldor and now brew whisky and coffee from them; but
they have also been far outside the Imperium, communicated with
friendly aliens, fought unfriendly aliens (on the ground and, more
often, in space), and investigated a case of sabotage. They're now
heading back towards the Imperium, not the least for a long-overdue
jump drive maintenance. They have been involved in bad times,
suspicion, and violence, but it's not a necessary way of life forced
on them by the campaign background.
There has to be room to be human.
I chose to reject the Rebellion because everything suddenly
becomes too scripted and there is too little freedom for the players.
To me, a role-playing game is all about character development, and
that blossoms with freedom of choice. All too often, the Rebellion
background seems to put characters in situations where there are no
choices and therefore no interaction and development.
So, if TNE is a good rules set, and I can convert readily from MT, I
may use it. If it has a good fast-moving man-to-man combat system
using already-established Traveller weapons (snub pistol, ACR, FGMP,
etc.) where I can improvise NPC opponents on the spot (who knows which
tavern they will invade? :-) ), it will be worth buying for me. The
background will not be useful to me, I fear, unless one of the
supplements is _We Have Always Been As We Are_ (a saying attributed to
Queen Victoria, I believe), which presents an alternate where the
Imperium never fell. I suspect an upbeat background might sell well.
..but heck, what do I know? I liked _Starship Operators' Manual_...
and _Space 1889_, come to that. I suppose I'm just weird.
Martyn
- --------------sasmjw@unx.sas.com----(Martyn Wheeler)----DoD #293--------------
SAS Institute, Inc: [phone removed] H: [phone removed] (Raleigh, NC)