The only thing I will say on Traveller : Prime Directive is that it's been mooted for a long, long time now, and while I do recall someone saying they were holding back for the new edition (a couple of years ago) I'm not going to hold my breath waiting.

In the case of Star Wars, I don't really know if Lucas and co. really knew their own tropes when the original came out, but the whole spectacle of it really took sci-fi into a different era of mass interest at the time. So it did change sci-fi, and what people thought of the genre. For me, I like having a slightly more 'grounded' scifi, as preference, but Star Wars-style space opera is totally doable within the ruleset. To make Star Trek work, you need some different assumptions (like the Prime Directive as an obvious example) and probably use troupe-style play for larger ships and crew.  

But honestly, you can do most types of Scifi with Traveller, with an open mind at least. Its a generic system.

Quote from: TrippyHippy;975865The only thing I will say on Traveller : Prime Directive is that it's been mooted for a long, long time now, and while I do recall someone saying they were holding back for the new edition (a couple of years ago) I'm not going to hold my breath waiting.

In the case of Star Wars, I don't really know if Lucas and co. really knew their own tropes when the original came out, but the whole spectacle of it really took sci-fi into a different era of mass interest at the time. So it did change sci-fi, and what people thought of the genre. For me, I like having a slightly more 'grounded' scifi, as preference, but Star Wars-style space opera is totally doable within the ruleset. To make Star Trek work, you need some different assumptions (like the Prime Directive as an obvious example) and probably use troupe-style play for larger ships and crew.  

But honestly, you can do most types of Scifi with Traveller, with an open mind at least. Its a generic system.

You can, but like you said above, there is a difference. Traveller is better suited for written or hard science fiction. d6 Star Wars is better suited for science fantasy or the Star Wars genre. Star Trek is best done with FASA or Far Trek (TOS or movie eras including Abramsverse) or LUG (TNG and onwards). Why? Because those systems best emulate the particular genre, subgenre, and franchises you wish to play in.

We did both back in the day. AKA, before either FASA or West End made their games.

The result? Meh. We were really happy for both FASA Trek and WEG's SW to arrive.

My better result was using Gamma World (pre-WEG) to run a SW game in the SW universe (plus we had the Marvel comics and the Alan Dean Foster novels). That was cool. Mutations easily got revamped to be alien species or force powers and the high HP worked fine since there wasn't much armor.

If only FASA Trek was still in print, or at least PDF.

Quote from: Celestial;976079If only FASA Trek was still in print, or at least PDF.

No legal PDFs, but there are pirated PDFs easily found online of every single module and the rules plus some supplements.

I'm not sure that Star Trek would have fit well with Traveller anyways.

Quote from: Dumarest;975853So...did the Traveller Star Trek game mentioned and shown in this thread ever come into existence?

Nope. Mongoose Traveller announce its 2nd Edition rulebook being playtested in June of 2015. So Traveller: Prime Directive was cancelled. They didn't want to be stuck with a bunch of PD books for 1st Edition MgT, which happened to them before when GURPS 4e was announced.

So I told Matthew at Mongoose to put my T:PD pre-order money (from 2011?) towards the MgT 2nd Edition book instead. The person working on the T:PD rulebook was taking too long (a 5-year-mission maybe?). She spent more time posting animal pictures on the company's Facebook page, and blogging, rather than working on the game. No one in the company even played Traveller, or was interested in playtesting the rules written so far. That went on for many years after the game's announcement, and they were accepting pre-order money from folks.

Quote from: Dumarest;975857Is Mongoose Traveller backwards compatible with original Traveller?

PCs in Classic Traveller are basically at NPC level now in Mongoose Traveller. You can bring most of CT into MgT. Not the reverse though.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;976706PCs in Classic Traveller are basically at NPC level now in Mongoose Traveller. You can bring most of CT into MgT. Not the reverse though.

What is "NPC level" supposed to mean? PCs are more skilled and powerful now?

Quote from: Dumarest;978257What is "NPC level" supposed to mean? PCs are more skilled and powerful now?

PCs in Mongoose Traveller generally have more skills, and allocate a range of 0-level skills with each career, regardless. In Classic Traveller, you only specify a small range of key skills learned and it is a bit vague as to what you can do with the Characteristics on their own too. If you converted Classic Traveller to Mongoose, you would have to add the basic training idea to even it up.

Quote from: Dumarest;978257What is "NPC level" supposed to mean? PCs are more skilled and powerful now?

There is more to a character now in Mongoose Traveller. NPCs that MgT Referees quickly create for their games tend to be the equivalent of what a player would generate for their CT character.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;978268There is more to a character now in Mongoose Traveller. NPCs that MgT Referees quickly create for their games tend to be the equivalent of what a player would generate for their CT character.

Thanks...so in addition to skills and various mustering out benefits, what is the more?

Quote from: Dumarest;978271Thanks...so in addition to skills and various mustering out benefits, what is the more?

You probably would need to look at the character sheet used in each game to compare differences. MgT characters are fleshed out more, can't fit them on an index card like players do with CT characters.

In the end, it all comes down to how abstract do you want your character to be. And will they primarily be on a square grid for combat rounds. In other words, what is the purpose of the Traveller game session for your group.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;978318You probably would need to look at the character sheet used in each game to compare differences. MgT characters are fleshed out more, can't fit them on an index card like players do with CT characters.

In the end, it all comes down to how abstract do you want your character to be. And will they primarily be on a square grid for combat rounds. In other words, what is the purpose of the Traveller game session for your group.

Incredibly vague answer, but okay. Anybody else?

Quote from: Dumarest;978271Thanks...so in addition to skills and various mustering out benefits, what is the more?

The characteristics can tend to be slightly higher due to bonuses accrued. Otherwise, not much - although the additional skills are significant. The game is functionally backwards compatible, insofar that you can run Classic adventures with little difficulty.

Is Prime Directive alive in any form anymore?