A long time have I searched for a proper Science Fiction setting to suit my needs and, call me what you will, I wanted it to be d20. The SWRPG put out by Wizards of the Coast, while good, was too heavily ingrained in the setting, and was more Space Opera than Science Fiction. Dragonstar had a similar problem: It seemed to be that it was a wonderful product whose strength was taking existing Dungeons and Dragons material and grafting it into space. Perfect for a DM who already has a D&D campaign and wants to take it somewhere else, or the player with a stack of adventure books that could hide a small child, but still not what I was looking for.
And than I found Traveller T20. Traveller T20 is rooted in a long and glorious line of Traveller games, and I feel captures much of the original spirit of a science-fiction adventure game. More rooted in reality than either Dragonstar or Star Wars, it delivers a solid set of mechanics that can be used in its own universe, or very easily adapted to the worlds of Clarke, Heinlein or David Weber.
General Impressions: Coming in at 442 pages if one ignores the ads in the back for further Traveller material, and costing$44.95, the book is certainly expensive, but is printed exceptionally well. The thick, durable hard cover survived four plane flights across the country without a dent, and the spine is holding up much better than my copies of Spycraft, 7th Sea and Star Wars, all of which are coming undone. The front cover is a large graphic that did make me chuckle, as the artist appeared to be attempting photorealism, and instead got a man clutching a laser pistol in a pose that had elicited a small laugh from everyone who has seen it. The interior art is extremely well done, exclusively black and white but clean and attractive and most importantly, fits with the context of the text around it. Nothing annoys me more than random pictures. The pages are glossy, the text laid out well and all in all, it’s an easy read. Fake “advertising inserts” for the Traveller world, full-color multi-page spreads, give a good deal of insight into the world of Traveller, and are a very nice touch.
Chapter 1: A short chapter after the introductory fiction blurb, the introduction gets everyone up to speed on what Traveller is and is not. A well-written introduction with some setting material, but no more inspired than what is in the front of all games.
Chapter 2: The beginning of the character creation section, “Characters” introduces two new abilities, Social Standing and Education, which characters must have, but which the designers didn’t seem to think fit within the sweeping “Intelligence” and “Charisma” statistics. I don’t much mind more stats, and have actually used Education in another game, I’m all for these two. The races presented in this book are mostly a large variety of Homo sapiens subspecies, as well as the classic anthropomorphic Wolf and Lion aliens. Others are mentioned, but are presumably not given, as they would be difficult, if not impossible, for a human to play. Several other minor species are presented as well, most of them with ECL modifiers, called “Alien Levels”. My one concern is that, especially with the minor races, major physical benefits are offset by a hit in Social Standing, a trait that in a properly played game is critical. However, like Cha before it, SS may be the munchkins dumping ground, relying on poor DMing to enjoy the benefits of these classes with little of the penalties.
Also included are the beginnings of the characters prior history, such as the tech level of the world they come from, and skills and feats characters from Very Low Tech, Low Tech, Mid Tech, High Tech, Very High Tech or Asteroid Belt origins automatically gain.
Chapter 3: Classes. Traveller has 9 core classes, the Academic, Barbarian, Belter, Mercenary, Merchant, Noble, Professional, Rogue and Traveller. These classes all seem well balanced, and from the names are mostly obvious. Belters are asteroid prospectors, which Traveller’s are the classic jacks-of-all-trade characters. There are almost no set class abilities, instead each class receiving bonus feats from a preset list. This idea allows for almost infinite character variety, and prevents characters from being pigeonholed, as is so common with the class system. Multiclassing is actively encouraged, and there are an additional 4 “service classes” which, while presented in this chapter, I will discuss later.
Chapter 4: Skills. On my count, 63 skills are available to characters, the most notable of them being the Technical skill, which works like Knowledge or Profession, but for fields such as Astrogation, Sensors or Computers. The skill descriptions are well written, and a much heavier emphasis is placed on Knowledge and Profession skills than in most games.
Chapter 5: Feats. Traveller T20 contains 106 feats, some of them from the SRD, many others being entirely new. As mentioned above, the classes get a number of bonus feats from a list, hence the huge number of feats, many of which are highly class specific. There are however many useful ones, all the way from the classic two-weapon fighting to fleet tactics, which gives characters advantages in ship-to-ship engagements.
Chapter 6: Final Details is the usual collection of all the other character information, such as aging, height, weight and carrying capacity, that couldn’t fit in any other chapter. Nothing much to see…
Chapter 7: This chapter is one of the best in the book, and makes Traveller a unique game. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons and other games, most characters are assumed to be well into the “adventuring ages”, rather than being 18, and have a vivid prior history, determined in 4-year chunks. Characters may choose between attending University and earning a degree, or entering several career paths. Each has the interesting trait of having random incidents, such as an on the job injury, or promotion and the chance for bonus XP or items in the coarse of the four years. Here is where characters can also take levels in the “service classes” of Army, Navy, Marines, or Scouts, all of which are tempting classes with many benefits. Finally, the character ends their “prior history” and makes some final rolls for ending rewards, such as a bonus weapon or even a ship, as well as money and XP. All in all, it makes for a very organic character generation system, and the presence of service classes makes multiclassing very tempting, as these four can only be taken if the character is on active duty.
Chapter 8: Combat is part of most games, and Traveller follows the fairly standard d20 combat rules the Wound Point and Vitality point system that is becoming popular, as well as Damage Reduction armor. Interestingly, Dex is the primary statistic for melee attacks rolls, which makes this reviewer concerned that, in a game dominated by ranged attacks, Str will become even less valuable, and unmuscled characters will populate the world, making Str the “low stat dumping ground”. The rules for starship, vehicle and rules like spotting are well written, perhaps erring a little bit towards complexity, giving combat a more wargame like feel, rather than cinematic.
Chapter 9: The book provides a few prestige classes, the Big Game Hunter, TAS (Traveller’s Aid Society)) Field Reporter and Ace Pilot. The Big Game Hunter feels like a Ranger, while the TAS reporter runs the line between UN Peacekeeper and BBC Reporter, and could be a lot of fun to play. The Ace Pilot is a similar specialized class, which will appeal to games where piloting is commonplace. All in all, I would have liked to see more, but with the flexible core classes and the service classes and active multiclassing, prestige classes aren’t really needed at all.
Chapter 10: A short section on Psionics, for which almost every character has the potential for some small amount of Psionic ability, especially young characters. These rules look balanced, with psionic abilities grouped in Spheres, much like Spell Schools. The powers are useful but not overpowering, but I have always believed that Psionics detract from the feel of science fiction designed to have a classic Space-Opera field, which always emphasized characters that strive to excel without much help beyond their own abilities. Psionics feels a bit like the invisible hand and puppet-strings magic of many fantasy games, and when I do get a group together to play, this section will not be used.
Chapter 11: The equipment section is well thought out and, as the Traveller game is designed to allow players to encounter opponents ranging from barbarian cavemen to ultra-modern space fleets, covers the range of equipment from clubs to 1990’s era firearms to futuristic powered armor. There are no “ray guns” in Traveller, most of the high tech weapons being highly improved projectile weapons, although there are laser guns. Detailed rules on medical care in the field are provided for those times when the hostile environment…or unfriendly natives…decides to make the characters hurt a little. The equipment provided will cover most of ones adventuring needs, and also includes rules for cybernetic enhancements.
Chapter 12: With the odd name of “Design Sequences”, this 56 page section includes the rules for ship and vehicle creation, and goes into a great deal of depth. The rules are very complex, but well thought out, and will give players who can afford starships and vehicles a great deal to do between sessions.
Chapter 13: The good designers of Traveller step in to save the Referee (DM) here, providing standard designs for most of the starships and vehicles to be used in the game, leaving the complex design rules of the previous chapter to the most customized of ships. The spec sheets helpfully provide a breakdown of all the information, so if the players or Referee wants a slightly customized ship, like an armed merchant, they can pick up from the templates.
Chapter 14: Simply titled “Travelling”, this section is an excellent background for players in the realities of life among the stars, such as the cost of ships passage, salvage rights, trading and the bread and butter issues of ship maintenance.
Chapters 15-21: These chapters, when grouped together, may be thought of as the “DMG” of Traveller. They contain the rules for random starship encounters, how to run Traveller campaigns and adventures, and the development of new worlds. These sections, as the rest of the book, are well written, and the art and writing within them give the reader a good feeling of the atmosphere of adventure, danger and opportunity that Traveller T20 was designed to be played in. Finally, statistics for common NPCs are given, once again allowing Referees to thankfully skip over complex character creation.
Overall: An excellent book, it would have been nice to see perhaps a quicker, simpler version of the ship construction rules, which are complex, and have been since Traveller was made, giving rise to whole books of deck plans for old versions of the game. Also missing are more specific setting information, which one gets the feeling were left intentionally vague, and monsters, which the Referee must find in other d20 books. All in all, a worthy successor to the Traveller title.
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