Traveller

[Whill]

[Chaosmeister]

I don't think Star Wars was the inspiration. They both released in 77 so it could be but is highly unlikely. It seems much more inspired by classic Sci Fi of the 60s and 70s. Here is an interesting post about it I think explains a lot well.

There is a OGL version of it called the Cepheus Engine, SRD is pay what you want.

I did play it once many years back. Back then you could still die in character creation... it uses a lifepath system and if you you push too far your character could die before the game even began. Yea.

The core resolution is easy and quick, 2d6 vs TN. I did like it but it was just not for me, didn't like the flavour. Too militaristic maybe? Not fantastic enough? I don't feel its that great for Star Wars but when you had no alternative it was probably awesome.
_________________
Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at!

[StarPadre]

I loved Traveller. It was my first ever RP game, and I GMd for all the kids in the street, playing in our garage. I'm talking around around 1979 - 1983 though. I was the oldest kid, leader of all the game, and we used the Traveller rules, being the only rules I had, for all sorts - Post Apocalypse Mad Max type games, WW2 tech level games, and, don't ask me how, the Traveller rules were even the basis for the rules for out 54mm scale Napoleonic soldier battles in our gardens and driveways!

I only vaguely knew things like D&D existed!!

We messed about with the rules to create a generic 'Sci Fi' wargame, which was very Star Wars influenced. I had a polystyrene package box, for example, that became a floating 'death-star' type thing, with the actual grav-tanks and and fighters inside it (all converted model kits). And I painted my 15mm Laserburn figures to look like stormtroopers, rebels and sandpeople etc.

If we were doing all that, that definitely someone will have been using the rules as the basis of Star Wars, and most likely earlier than us. In 1977 I was just 10 and the kids in the street were younger so I don't think we were quite ready to attempt to use the Traveller rules for anything then! Some of those rules were very mathematical! I used my calculator a lot making new ships and planetary systems. In true 1970s hard sci-fi style the ships' computers weighed tons, and it all had to be accounted for (weight, fuel, space, computing power, back-up). And that was just putting a computer in!

Also, some of my Star Wars campaign material was converted from the work I had done for Traveller RP scenarios and campaigns. But I soon realised it was more fun just (and easier to make it feel 'Star Wars') to start from scratch!

[StarPadre]

Sorry, I let nostalgic thoughts run away with me. Here are your questions answered in order ...


1) Was Star Wars the inspiration for making this RPG?
Chaosmeister hit the nail on the head re: this question.

2) What in the game is like Star Wars?
It's set in a universe where you travel from planetary system to planetary system using jump-drive. Technology levels are all over the place, from primitive to very advanced. It has 'psionics' which are a bit like force powers. It has an Imperium, but also various other realms.

3) Have you played it, or do you still play it?
I stopped playing it during University when I started playing Star Wars instead.

4) Did or do you like it?
Star Wars was more 'fun' because of the inspiration of the films, aiding imagination of GM and players. Star Wars was more 'space opera' in style, allowing a more story-like flow, and PCs could seemed like heroes. Not many people seemed heroic in Traveller. I would say Serenity and Firefly were an almost exact match for the feel of Traveller. When I watched them (and I loved them) I immediately wondered if the creator (Whedon) had played Traveller in his youth! I liked Traveller, obviously, but given a choice I would run Star Wars D6.

5) If so, have you played it for its published primary setting, Star Wars, and/or some other setting?
We bent it into all sorts. Mad Max, alternative history, time travelling.I even remember a Traveller crew landing on a Lord of the Rings world!

6) What is the game system like?
Very clunky in places, with noticeable absences. We always found incorporating vehicles into combat was not at all easy.

7) Is the game system a good match for Star Wars?
Not really. But we just forced it to be so.

8) Is there anything good in the game, setting fluff or rules, that would be good to incorporate/house rule into Star Wars D6?
We had to make up all our own fluff. Fluff did come out for it, but was often in the form of stat lines for planetary systems etc. It was well supported, with lots of extras coming out for it. I had (have) load of stuff. Nearly all the original supplements, plus Striker (the wargame version - very rules heavy - we never played!) but then it kept changing form/editions and became Mega Traveller, then Traveller 2300, then Traveller the New Era, etc etc, each with a mish mash of improvements and problems.

9) Is there anything else you want to say about Traveller?
It got me into RP and rules based wargaming. Just the covers make me feel tingly. When I ran games for kids from age 8 to age 14 (myself the oldest) they lasted hours, and informed even out bicycle games and hiking. We used Traveller as a rules basis for all sorts of toy and imagination based games. It was at the time as important to us as computer games are to modern kids.

[Whill]

Thanks, Chaosmeister.

[TauntaunScout]