Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;972253Far less restrictive than CT's (this is how you will do ADMIN rolls) system.

That's... not how Classic Traveller works. The skills descriptions are guidelines -- not restrictive in any way.

I am beginning to suspect you don't know what you're talking about.

1: Stars Without number.  I've been running it for some years now and I still love it.   It has a load of depth. Huge amounts of background material, much of it free.
Now 2nd edition is coming up, it looks like I'll be liking it even more.
I also use Other Dust with it for the Post Apocalyptic stuff and Silent Legions for the Horror aspects I use in the game.

2: Space Master (not Privateers) .  I loved the crits, stories, the setting, skill system etc..      

Regarding Traveller... I WANTED to like it, but I really don't like the D6 system it uses or the setting really (I have played it several times with different DMs).
I get it's the Grand Daddy of Scifi though and I DO realise SWN takes a lot from Traveller, but for me I just prefer the SWN takes on Scifi.

For me:

1. GURPS, w/Space and Starships: ticks all the boxes for me, I can run it in my sleep, and I LIKE being forced to decide all the stuff (I like going through the skill lists to figure out what is and isn't groovy; same for Ads/Disads).

2. Classic/Mongoose Traveller: as others have already said. I tend to mash the two up anyways these days.

3. Burning Empires: ran my absolute best, most successful campaign in it. The tight focus is really, really something. If I can get my current group there...one day, one day again...

It funny about the debate between Classic Traveller and Mongoose Traveller emerging here. Our group, who have been playing Mongoose Traveller for a while, had an addition of a new player a couple of months ago or so that turned up with his Classic Traveller book and insisted on playing with it's rules. This was even with everybody else around him, and myself running the game, running with Mongoose rules.

It was slightly disruptive as I think he was on an evangelical mission to convert us all and he occasionally tried to push in game decisions onto the rest of the group, etc. But anyway, we managed to keep it going for a surprisingly long while (he ooh'd and ahh'd at my own Classic collection, including a 1977 Traveller box in pristine condition), before he eventually left the group to go back to board gaming or something.

The games are definitely different in certain aspects, but they still mostly mesh in my own experience with a degree of flexibility on the part of the referee.

Quote from: TrippyHippy;972277It funny about the debate between Classic Traveller and Mongoose Traveller emerging here. Our group, who have been playing Mongoose Traveller for a while, had an addition of a new player a couple of months ago or so that turned up with his Classic Traveller book and insisted on playing with it's rules. This was even with everybody else around him, and myself running the game, running with Mongoose rules.

It was slightly disruptive...

That it was only slightly disruptive points to you being a kind and patient soul. I don't know how I'd respond to someone showing up with that kind of behavior.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;972253If you don't want to debate, that's fine. Crushing Traveller 1.0 is too easy anyway.

Why do you have to piss on other games? So you prefer a more "modern" system. Some of us are exploring the original games, and discovering that actually they are very fine games. New is not always so much better that it must sweep out all the old.

I'm sure Mongoose Traveller is a very nice game, and I'm glad it's out there (and it's certainly a bonus that it was released with OGL so something like Cepheus Engine could also be published), and I'm not surprised it gets about the same number of votes for Traveller versions on Citizens of the Imperium, but it's also very interesting that the only other version that gets a significant number of votes is "other/hybrid". And I have a copy, and I've borrowed from it.

But as Christopher says, I LIKE all those things that he has pointed out about Classic Traveller. I have gone the path of universal resolution systems, and in the end, I have often found them bland. Far better to have resolution systems that may be just a bit quirky here and there. I have also really found skill bloat to detract from a SF game. It's too easy to fall into a trap of trying to characterize everything as a skill, but it's an impossible task. There's no way you could completely define a real person in a set of skills. So Classic Traveller's short list of broad skills that helps create a focus of "this is what this game is about" and "this is where this character shines" makes for an interesting game for me.

Frank

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;972249Really? Because both Clarke and Asimov said it was nonsensical to suggest such a thing.

And Clarke and Asimov are the exclusive, definitive and infallible oracles of SF? Asimov was a pompous, conceited ass.

Wasn't the question "What is your favorite RPG? And why?"

My favorite RPG has nothing to do with RPG's I *don't* like. Much less making aspersions about those that DO like those games. Calling people "man-babies" (which I admit I kinda chuckle at the idea of grown men in diapers, shitting themselves with pacifiers... oddly with those old "bonnets" they used to put on babies, kinda hilarious. But now I realize this is getting weird) - for liking something you don't, seems silly at best. I'll go with that.

I never realized the Nerdzerkers had made it to SPAAAACE!

The Traveller Nerdzerker Wars begun they have!

I forgot all about Buck Roger 25c. Lovely lovely lovely game!

CP2020 for me, as far as favorites go.

Quote from: ChristopherKubasik;972243Listen, full disclosure: In my little Classic Traveller black box you will find hardcopies of:

• Book 0-An Introduction to Traveller
• Book 1-Characters and Combat
• Book 2-Starships
• Book 3-Worlds and Adventures
• Book 4-Mercenary
• Supplement 1-1001 Characters
• Supplement 2-Animal Encounters
• Supplement 4-Citizens of the Imperium[/I]
  

That is almost exactly the contents of my box; you just need to take out Book 0 and include 76 Patrons. I also only use Book 4 for additional equipment I may need.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;972256Riot! I read it on the Internet, so it's true. All of it.

Right, that would be as silly as saying Isaac Asimov said it, therefore it's true.

Quote from: ChristopherKubasik;972261That's... not how Classic Traveller works. The skills descriptions are guidelines -- not restrictive in any way.

I am beginning to suspect you don't know what you're talking about.

You're being too generous. He clearly has no idea what he's writing about. Just wait for the "real roleplayers" and "real RPGs" nonsense he'll pull out from where the sun don't shine.

Quote from: danskmacabre;972262Regarding Traveller... I WANTED to like it, but I really don't like the D6 system it uses or the setting really (I have played it several times with different DMs).

I understand you might not like the dice-rolling method it uses, but Traveller doesn't come with a setting. Do you mean the optional 3rd Imperium?

Quote from: tenbones;972307The Traveller Nerdzerker Wars begun they have!

It isn't a war if only one man is wailing at people who have no concern about what game he plays and don't denigrate the games he prefers.

Quote from: tenbones;972307Wasn't the question "What is your favorite RPG? And why?"

My favorite RPG has nothing to do with RPG's I *don't* like.

This is the Internet. Anytime anyone says he likes something, someone else has to tell the first person how stupid he is and how what he likes is crap.