After many many tribulations. As in, company owner was hit by a) Katrina, b) divorce, and disappeared for a year. That kind of thing.

But now it's out.

And it's 375 pages, no less.

Joy!

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=21681&SRC=TravellerRPG

Note: this is an early version of the pdf, the difference being that the final one will have a great deal more artwork (previews of which exist and are spectacular). Hunter of QLI says the update will be free of charge. A dead-tree book is planned, but the pdfs need to finance the print run.

Some relevant threads, including previews of art & text, can be found here--

http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/...ubb=forum;f=30

And if you're wondering, "What's either 2300 or 2320AD?", well, it's the hard scifi RPG published by GDW, makers of Traveller. A la Alien(s) the movie. Big guns, strange aliens, and the kewlest evar starships ever designed, evar:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dheb/2300/Admin/Index5.htm

Brilliant! One of the best games I played in secondary school was 2300AD, which we insisted on referring to by its full title, "2300AD: Man's Battle for the Stars", at all times.

Best moment: initiating First Contact with what just turned out to be a couple of geese in some reeds.

Cool, it had the best aliens of any rpg ever published, good to see it back.

Edit:  Is it d20?  Not sure about that if so, the original system needed polishing but was much closer in feel to the material than I think T20 is.

Quote from: BalbinusCool, it had the best aliens of any rpg ever published, good to see it back.

Edit:  Is it d20?  Not sure about that if so, the original system needed polishing but was much closer in feel to the material than I think T20 is.

The little blurp on RPGNow said it T20. But useable with the old ruleset.

Quote from: BalbinusCool, it had the best aliens of any rpg ever published, good to see it back.

That it did.  They weren't just people with one weird facial difference or cat people, they were well thought out.

I might have to check this out.

Does anyone know if it'll be released in print anytime soon?

Quote from: RoninThe little blurp on RPGNow said it T20. But useable with the old ruleset.

And if you always meant to, but never did, own the old ruleset back in the day?  That's a shame.

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaAnd if you always meant to, but never did, own the old ruleset back in the day?  That's a shame.

!i!

Quite, I don't own the rules so that doesn't really help me.

To answer my own question, FFE has released a reprint of the original 2300 AD (not that you'd be able to tell from their webpage, it's so badly maintained).  This, of course, raises the following question: If I buy a reprint of 2300 AD, what's my motivation for buying 2320 AD?

!i!

If it wasn't d20, I would have picked it up in a heartbeat.

Quote from: pigames.netIf it wasn't d20, I would have picked it up in a heartbeat.

ditto.  my original copy is pretty beat up and may be missing stuff.  good for cobbling together setting info, but not the mechanics

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaAnd if you always meant to, but never did, own the old ruleset back in the day?  That's a shame.

Well, at this point it's only in PDF, and the T20 rulebook is available in PDF, so if it's good enough for one, it should be good enough for the other, no?

That said... it is surprising the continuing demand I see for the T20 book, and the escalating price of it in online auctions and bookstores. The book seems to be in serious need of a reprint.

That's the thing--the owner of QLI was AWOL for a year, and lying low for longer. And these days he's seriously short of cash... the cash one needs to finance print runs, whether for the T20 book or the 2320AD book.

The 2320 pdf sales are intended to pay for the print of the book. That's why he hasn't said yet when the book will be out--he doesn't know himself.

Re. why get 2320 if one has 2300: I can't tell you at this point. I'm not getting the pdf just yet because our 2300 game starts this weekend, and I want to steer clear of spoilers. But given the previews I can say this:

a) very well written; b) very comprehensive; c) great art; d) color star maps; e) timeline has been advanced; f) new details have been added (eg info on Pentapods); g) a setting book that's low on T20 crunch.

The current PDF version of 2320AD makes use of the Traveller D20 rules, but it does contain notes on converting old 2300AD characters, and on using 2320AD with D20 Modern/Future.
It also has color maps of the core worlds and all the colony worlds, along with the alien homeworlds, and, in the final version, will have some very cool art. The current artwork is good, but limited, with much of it being my concept art that was never really intended for publication, but is serving as a place-holder for now. The book is 375 pages long, with most of it being background material, though there is some D20 crunch.
Purchase of the initial version does entitle the purchaser to the final version when it becomes available.
The final version will have several color deckplans, full page (there is one, small deckplan in the current book). I intend to later make those deckplans available in 25-30mm scale. Perfect for Disposable Heroes...

Colin Dunn
2320AD writer and planetary cartographer

Cool. I love 2300AD. Ran a huge long campaign of it years ago. All ended in flames, of course, but one of the great settings. I shall be picking this up forthwith.

Also: pictures of spaceships. Got to love them.

Cheers
Malcolm