[RPG]: Megatraveller Players Manual, reviewed by Lev Lafayette (2/3)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12741.phtml

Lev Lafayette's Summary:

The expanded and revised edition of Traveller, the classic science fiction roleplaying game. Simulationist and detailed character generation with a military emphasis. Great task resolution system. Convoluted combat system. Style and organisation is not always the best.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Dropkicker]

Wow, what a wonderfully dismissive review. I feel there's a lot more good stuff in this book than the review might suggest, and I'm not one of DGP's biggest fans. It does a good job of consolidating ten years worth of Classic Traveller material which appeared in a variety of sources, not all easily obtainable when this book came out. My sense is that the reviewer went into this one with a preconceived notion of describing how inadequate this product was.

[Asmodai]

Assuming that one with can handle the improbable setting with just a slight wince, a grain of salt, and a wry smile at a bygone era when Star Wars really was the cutting edge of sf, one is ready for character generation.

This isn't fair to either the game or the sci-fi of the period.

There was quite a bit of good hard sci-fi by this point.

Traveller isn't hard sci-fi though, it's space opera. To criticize it because its sci-fi isn't also plausible as Gibson or Vinge is rather missing the point. I don't think any of the Traveller games have cited 'realism' as a key selling point. They happily bend or break the laws of physics to make an interesting setting that can accomodate a variety of campaigns.

It may not be to your taste, but I don't think it's a fair point. It would be like criticizing D&D because there weren't actually dragons in medieval Europe.

[Pierce Inverarity]

I wouldn't say Traveller is either just hard sci-fi or just space opera. Its system is hard scifi, and some elements of its setting (most aliens, the Imperium ruled by an aristocracy) are operatic. But these latter can be shed easily enough, and often were in actual play.

The artwork definitely doesn't help to promote the "hardness," true enough. But if you can wrest your eyes away from that, and instead check out something like this...

http://kemkem-web.hp.infoseek.co.jp/hukkou/hukkou.html

...you're golden. That's the kind of world in which the task resolution system feels just right, even today.

[Lev Lafayette]

Originally Posted by Dropkicker

My sense is that the reviewer went into this one with a preconceived notion of describing how inadequate this product was.

Your senses are incorrect ;-)

I skimmed through the Megatraveller rules in the late 80s and but purchased my own copy only several months ago. Following a request to review it I started running a game about a month ago (indeed, the next session is in thirty minutes). I have gone through the rules with the proverbial fine tooth comb without any preconceived notions.

Now, is there anything actually incorrect about the review?

[Lev Lafayette]

Originally Posted by Asmodai

It may not be to your taste, but I don't think it's a fair point. It would be like criticizing D&D because there weren't actually dragons in medieval Europe.

No, it's like that at all (and besides, dragons are recorded in medieval history - and quite a lot of them <a href="http://www.genesispark.com/genpark/history/history.htm">according to some</a>*).

What it would be like is a D&D world with mobile phones, ICE vehicles and assault rifles. These would be anachronistic. Likewise I consider an SF game, movie or book that has unaltered humans 3,000 years in the future to be equally anachronistic.

Not that Megatraveller's anachronisms it had any particular influence on my ratings; about 0.5 on a style issue, if that.

* The people in question are wacky, but the references are interesting.

[datainadequate]

Originally Posted by Dropkicker

It does a good job of consolidating ten years worth of Classic Traveller material which appeared in a variety of sources, not all easily obtainable when this book came out.

Hmm, I'm a bit of a Traveller fan, but actually I found MegaTraveller to be a disappointment in this regard. They chopped out way too much of the Classic Traveller material to make it fit in the MegaTraveller books. A lot of the time they chopped out the descriptive material and kept the rules, which makes it less useful than the old books if you want to adapt it to another system. As you say though, at the time, the old books were hard to get hold of.

[E.T.Smith]

Originally Posted by Dropkicker

It does a good job of consolidating ten years worth of Classic Traveller material which appeared in a variety of sources, not all easily obtainable when this book came out.

So? Thats only of value to an existing Traveller fan. For anyone else, like the reviewer, coming to the game for the first time, its perfectly legitimate to judge the game on its systems and presumptions, and further to find them lacking. From a modern perspective, its hard to deny that Traveller is creaky and dated.

[adaen]

I would be interested in the reviewers and others ideas as to a good SF game to run instead of Traveller. Back in the day, we played Star Frontiers. Though we had fun then, I find it hard to forgive the "bolted on" spaceship rules that came with set 2 (Knight Hawks)....Becoming a spacer really felt like achieving a D&D Prestige class....

[Mr Jack]

Originally Posted by Lev Lafayette

* The people in question are wacky, but the references are interesting.

Some of their references are to known frauds, btw.