Running Star Trek and Star Wars in Classic Traveller

Shawn Driscoll · August 22, 2017, 11:37:07 AM

Quote from: Jeffrywith1e;985257Is Prime Directive alive in any form anymore?

You can buy the books still.
http://www.starfleetstore.com/roleplaying-c-90/?zenid=a9874e77ca7e68bb460dcc1f8269e1a7

christopherkubasik · August 22, 2017, 07:45:52 PM

For what its worth (and probably not worth much, and utterly pedantic) Star Wars had no influence on the original Traveller Books 1, 2, and 3.

Traveller Books 1, 2, and 3 were at the printer when Star Wars was released. Both Marc Miller and Loren Wiseman have told this story across the decades in several interviews.

So there was no "polish" because of Star Wars. No influence from Star Wars. None at all. The influences are printed (as opposed to cinematic or televised) SF stories from the 40s through the 70s.

Now once Star Wars comes out... well, that's after Stars Wars comes out. Things change then.

RPGPundit · August 27, 2017, 09:36:56 PM

I guess any similarities, then, can be attributed to things that were "in the air" at the time both Trav and SW came out.

Dumarest · August 27, 2017, 11:47:48 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;987234I guess any similarities, then, can be attributed to things that were "in the air" at the time both Trav and SW came out.

What similarities? Aside from being in space...they are like chalk and cheese.

christopherkubasik · August 28, 2017, 12:12:47 AM

Quote from: Dumarest;987257What similarities? Aside from being in space...they are like chalk and cheese.

As far as I have observed from the folks who keep somehow thinking there are similarities between Star Wars and the original Classic Traveller rules, people have conflated memories of Star Wars with the original Traveller rules with the later Classic Traveller material.

It isn't a big deal, of course. But like you, I'm baffled by it.

TrippyHippy · August 28, 2017, 01:05:38 AM

It's probably worth noting that, when Star Wars originally came out in 1977, there wasn't a massive backstory to it. To the viewing public, is was just a melange of ideas taken from a variety of fantasy, wartime pulp adventure, samurai movies and so on. One of the major influences, albeit not the sole one, was the classic science fiction of the post-war era, that also inspired Traveller. Similarly, Traveller didn't have any established backstory either, really. At the time it was a generic science fiction system, with an implied setting.

When new gamers of 1977 wanted a quick reference to what the Traveller universe might look like, Star wars was the most ready, spectacular representation.

christopherkubasik · August 28, 2017, 01:50:02 AM

Quote from: TrippyHippy;987273It's probably worth noting that, when Star Wars originally came out in 1977, there wasn't a massive backstory to it. To the viewing public, is was just a melange of ideas taken from a variety of fantasy, wartime pulp adventure, samurai movies and so on. One of the major influences, albeit not the sole one, was the classic science fiction of the post-war era, that also inspired Traveller. Similarly, Traveller didn't have any established backstory either, really. At the time it was a generic science fiction system, with an implied setting.

When new gamers of 1977 wanted a quick reference to what the Traveller universe might look like, Star wars was the most ready, spectacular representation.

Without doubt. This is what I meant with my word "conflate" above.

And as a toolkit you can certainly drive down with the rules and build out a Star Wars setting from the rules. (Many have done so!)

But if you look at the rules, and the implied setting details the rules prompt, you really find very little that directly feels like Star Wars at all. Again, with some spit and elbow grease you can take the rules found within those three booklets and extrapolate out to something new (exactly as GDW did to build the Third Imperium setting). But there's very little connection between the two. One could easily say, "There's all this overlap with Dune" as one could say "There's all this overlap with Star Wars."

Shawn Driscoll · August 28, 2017, 03:12:17 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;987234I guess any similarities, then, can be attributed to things that were "in the air" at the time both Trav and SW came out.

Star Wars and Traveller both borrowed from what came before them (space pirate/smugglers walking around with respirators while shooting cave mites, trying to avoid bounty hunters orbiting their planetoid hideout, etc). And of course, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica totally influenced the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society magazine issues. Star Wars forever froze a certain SF style, and popularized it so much, that we are all stuck with it now. Thank the gods, Traveller's setting is more than just Jedi with laser swords.

RPGPundit · August 31, 2017, 03:23:50 AM

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;987283Star Wars and Traveller both borrowed from what came before them (space pirate/smugglers walking around with respirators while shooting cave mites, trying to avoid bounty hunters orbiting their planetoid hideout, etc). And of course, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica totally influenced the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society magazine issues. Star Wars forever froze a certain SF style, and popularized it so much, that we are all stuck with it now. Thank the gods, Traveller's setting is more than just Jedi with laser swords.

Yes, quite right.