Just had a notification of an update for backers of Classic 1st ed Pendragon reprint. I think the only new thing is the keep cut away poster from The Nobles Book, but most of the files have been revised. Anyone know why?
BTW I had to use the Lore tag as no flair for 1st Edition or 3rd Edition listed? They probably need adding?
When I read a new Traveller product I often share my thoughts, but I normally play it at least partially first. So full disclosure: with two Traveller campaigns on the go I have not yet tried to run this NEW adventure for Classic Traveller by Mongoose Publications. In fact I bought it almost entirely out of a sense of nostalgia for the era of LBB adventures and double adventures (of which Twilight's Peak and Shadows/Annic Nova were my favourites, if that helps!).
You get a 48pp booklet with a colour card cover in Classic Traveller trade dress for your money; and a quick calculation suggests the price is notably lower now than 1985 adjusted for inflation. ;) (If only I'd put all my rpg expenditure into a mortgage deposit back then! I'd be duller but wealthy ;) ). Anyway no complaints on the price or production values, but what of the adventure?
Well actually there isn't one. This is the exact opposite of Cluster Truck, an adventure so tightly scripted it feels like a movie (and that may be by design). This is a sandbox adventure - more like Twilight's Peak than Shadows or Annic Nova to use CT examples.
The ref is given a number of possible ways to get the characters to a star system in Corridor Sector just outside the Imperium close to two warring Vargr states. This is a bold setting choice - I doubt many people run campaigns set in Corridor sector, and the temptation to set it in the Spinward Marches must have been high. It would be fairly simple to relocate there if you so wished, Llaekag at Gvurrdon 3040 being an obvious choice just on the border of the Marches?
I'm not going to name the system where it's officially set because spoilers are bad. Suffice to say it's a Red Zone for a reason and while outside the Imperium so not interdicted there are very good reasons to take the warning seriously. Still the referee picks a reason and the characters go there, and then well stuff happens! It's just that stuff will depend on why they go, who they ally with, and what they encounter. Essentially they explore, encounter the aforesaid "travel hazards" and get out if they can. There are mysteries, secrets, dangers and opportunities, but no set path. This is both wonderful and a challenge. I suspect most players will welcome the freedom - but if you are used to running more linear adventures it might take some getting used to.
The best thing about the adventure is the real hazards of space and a highly dangerous system. There is some great description of unpleasant worlds, plenty of details on orbits etc (inevitably I built an html orrery) and a lot going on. It has a wonderful alien species to encounter; also a potential new player character race (uplifted Ursines) a few ships (more narratively described than statted and no deck plans) and a brief note on seven worlds in the vicinity.
You absolutely could run a short CT campaign with this book alone, but you probably need to know at least the basics about the Vargr. To be fair Wikipedia might be enough, but Classic aliens module Vargr or any subsequent publication will definitely make the referees job easier, and mixed human/vargr crews would make perfect sense here.
Overall: extremely imaginative well thought out star system and plenty of scope for adventure, but how it plays out will be down to player choice. I was a little confused by who knew what and when at some points in the text but honestly it makes no difference. If you own (or download the free pdf) of Classic Traveller you could explore the system solo I think; and its so mechanically generic you could play with MGT2 or some other Traveller version converting on the fly and hardly notice? A fun detailed look at a dangerous system where unusual physical aspects and imagery persist longer in the mind than the plot(s). Recommended.
So I'm nine months into running the new MGT2 campaign Singularity and maybe 15 to 20% through Act One; there are three Acts. Now admittedly Act One has huge amounts of gm creating planet details and adventures week after week as the ship travels around the Core Sector, and occasionally stumbling on one of the scenarios from the book. I'm going to avoid spoilers entirely here because honestly this campaigns spoilers make "Luke I am your father" look like an anticlimax, small potatoes.
This is probably the largest, most intricate and dense rpg campaign I've ever run, and it makes my three and a half year run of Pirates of Drinax look very mundane. I've run Masks of Nyarlathotep three times -- in three different editions - and it feels very lightweight in comparison.
Now I was not a huge fan of Deepnight Revelation: this is nothing like that, but it is way more audacious. I picked up Traveller in 1979 - Singularity seems to touch on almost everything written in the games history. It gives answers to huge questions that have been around almost half a century now, and much more - it's Traveller turned up to 11. No, it's Traveller turned up to 23 and then some.
So far the players have seen little of that. They are crewing a ship, being travel reps, escorting tourists. When they find out how this deals with the setting they might bounce off it as hard as we did the Rebellion in 87 or the Virus and TNE. No way of knowing. It's a campaign - you can accept the premise, or reject stuff. SotA was kind of like that?
My greatest regret is I'm running not playing - it feels like a worthy culmination to a life spent playing Traveller, grandiose, definitive, original and very 21st century. I'm running weekly and I don't know how long it will take - the players might choose to nope out at various points, but the sandbox runs on and they might choose to swap sides-- but I'm thinking we might finish in five years of weekly play.
Is Singularity worth it? Undoubtedly - but don't read it unless you are about to play. There is no going back. It is utterly epic, and in scope about the breadth of maybe the original nine Star Wars movies. The price is incredibly low for what you get and the author deserves every cent. (At the time of writing I've only seen the pdfs though).
Would I recommend it? Not necessarily. I mean yes, and you could probably skip all the stops on the way ("three months later you arrive at Farhome") but that might not be how you play Traveller. It's not how we play! So it's big, and you are going to have to decide how long you want to spend on week by week play (and how many real years you can commit: I did look up tables to see me and my players chance of living long enough to complete). If you decide to play episodically , this week our heroes find themselves at X when Y happens - it's going to be way easier than my old school simulationist jump by jump approach. It can support either.
So why my reservations? This feels like an insidrs kind of campaign, with nods to themes from the whole history of Travelller. For the Travcon faithful, people who have strong opinions on Dulinor or the Epic of Twilight's Peak or what to feed a groat, even though Core might be unfamiliar you will feel at home. If, however, you are just starting out, play Pirates of Drinax or Secrets of the Ancients or any CT double adventure - or indeed any Traveller - first. You don't need to know the deep background to enjoy Singularity, but I think the more you've played the more you will enjoy/be enraged by/utterly hate what it does to the setting. :)
These are my personal thoughts -- and I have tried VERY hard to avoid any spoilers. I'd be very very interested to see what others think of the campaign, but please do avoid spoilers...
OK I'm just interested because I really like the Traveller Worlds map generator but almost always it creates planets that are tidally locked with one side hot and one cold and no rotation? Is that actually extremely common in reality? I'm assuming with type M stars the inner system might see reduced spin ocer time and hence one face pointing to star eventually; I'm less convinced it will produce the bright face/dark face division because of atmospheric circulation?
Anyway is there anyway to change it if you regenerate the system?
Heya! I feel very stupid but I'm trying to get my head round the chart on High Guard (revised) p.123. I understand how movement works but what's the range between say a ship in D6D and a ship in D5D? I'm assuming Distant, same as aa ship in A11D??? Am I wrong?
What about A3S to A2C? I know there positions relative to the Space Station at the center of the diagram, but between each other???