# New Traveller Campaign



## Blackrook (Aug 24, 2010)

I've been wanting to start a science fiction RPG campaign for a while and considered different alternatives: GURPS, GURPS Traveller, d20 Future, d20 Traveller.  All I found to be deeply flawed and overly complicated.

So I looked again at Classic Traveller, which is now published by Mongoose and includes new careers, such as Agent, Scholar, Noble, etc.  No longer are characters forced to follow a military career in character generation.

This weekend, I started a campaign with my daughter, my son, and two of my sisters.  I pretty much made things up as I went along, but it worked out pretty good.  They are eager to play again.

Traveller has two advantages:

1) The Core Rulebook is very comprehensive, including rules for everything you need to do: character generation, planet generation, starship stats, trade rules, encounters, equipment, etc.  There are many supplements but you really don't need them.

2) The combat rules are very simple compared to other games, which makes it much easier to play.

The big drawback to Traveller is that there really is very little in the way of character advancement.  Characters can train skills, but it is a very slow process requiring many weeks of game time.  There is no "leveling up" in power and there is no gaining more hit points.  The only real way to improve is to gain in wealth and acquiring the things that wealth can buy: starships, weapons, armor, etc.

I encourage all to return to this game and give it another try.


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## Dave (Aug 25, 2010)

Blackrook said:


> So I looked again at Classic Traveller, which is now published by Mongoose and includes new careers, such as Agent, Scholar, Noble, etc.  No longer are characters forced to follow a military career in character generation.


You could do that with one of the supplement books in 1981. I've forgotten which supplement but it included a quiz where you had to guess fictional characters from their skills and skill levels - Luke Skywalker, Jim de Griz. It might have been called 'Citizens of the Imperium'.

Anyhow, I agree with everything else you said.


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## Blackrook (Aug 26, 2010)

It occurred to me that I made a mistake with my OP.  I am not playing Classic Traveller, which is the first game published by Games Design Workshop.  I am playing Mongoose Traveller, which is currently published with rules that have been modified from Classic.

Right now, I am debating with myself whether to use software available on the internet to create random subsectors, or whether to use dice and colored pencils and make subsectors the old-fashioned way.

The advantage of computers is you can get vast amounts of material very quickly.  The disadvantage is I don't really feel a subsector is "mine" if a cold impersonal computer has created it for me.


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