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Mass Effect and Traveller

Started by Spike, May 27, 2010, 09:53:50 PM

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Spike

I've been playing absolutely stupid amounts of Mass Effect since ME2 was released, and as my other thread reveals I've been also on a mad Traveller kick of sorts the last few months. (damn my fantasy only players! Damn them!!!)

On thought that occured to me, stupid as it sounds, is that the Mass Effect 'universe' is eminently suitable to traveller.  Mechanically anyway.

the main character in ME is, essentially, a Marine. Technically a navy person (XO of a frigate? Yeah, the alliance military winds up being somewhat muddled. Think about it: you meet no less than three admirals (Kahoku, Hackett and Maskikiavilli or whatever) but only one Captain and a ground pounder is second in command of a warship... yeesh.)

You wear battle dress. you run around shooting stuff. remove the heavy weapons from the game and swap all weapons for gauss and you are right there.

As far as space technology goes, you wind up swapping jump drives for jump gates (Mass Effect Relays), and you have to add in (if you really want) heat dispersion as a factor in space fights... but the starships of ME are relatively similar to Traveller. More fixed guns, spinal mounts on the big ships, missiles and fighters.

The problem could very well be that careers and age doesn't translate well, but then again that could be a personal issue rather than a systemic issue.

'Tech' powers may be a problem. Biotics are clearly Psionics, focusing on telekinetic powers.

One might be tempted to argue for a 'Spectre' career, but I think it should be obvious that this is essentially 'code' for 'Adventurer', joining the spectres, even as an auxillery, is when you start doing cool shit!

Not that you have to play just like the game. The reason the thought occured to me is that the world we are shown is relatively complex enough to fully support free merchants and grit eyed settlers and so forth.   Strangely, the Spectre angle actually allows the game more freedom to showcase the variety of the setting than the ostensible military focus would suggest.
For you the day you found a minor error in a Post by Spike and forced him to admit it, it was the greatest day of your internet life.  For me it was... Tuesday.

For the curious: Apparently, in person, I sound exactly like the Youtube Character The Nostalgia Critic.   I have no words.

[URL=https:

Benoist

I think Mass Effect would work pretty well with Traveller, actually. I'm not sure how much work it'd take to retrofit biotics into the concept of Psionics in the game, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Is it?

Love to play the game on 360, by the way. I'm more of a Halo fan, though. Which incidentally would work great with Traveller as well (not playing Spartans, but UNSC operatives, a Halo Traveller game would rock on toast!).

jeff37923

Quote from: Spike;384207On thought that occured to me, stupid as it sounds, is that the Mass Effect 'universe' is eminently suitable to traveller.  Mechanically anyway.


Halo and Dead Space work with Traveller as well.
"Meh."

Spike

I can definitely see Halo, but for the singular problem that (at least in one and two) we don't really get any true sense of the surrounding culture. Great if you just want to adapt Traveller into a table top 'run around and shoot motherfuckers' sort of game, but you are having to make up way too much shit to really play a sandboxy sort of RPG. That said: the battle dress is  more explicitly battle dress in halo than it is in Mass Effect.

Dead Space I can not comment on.  Thus I am an expert on it and I can safely dismiss your claims. Kidding...
For you the day you found a minor error in a Post by Spike and forced him to admit it, it was the greatest day of your internet life.  For me it was... Tuesday.

For the curious: Apparently, in person, I sound exactly like the Youtube Character The Nostalgia Critic.   I have no words.

[URL=https:

Benoist

Quote from: Spike;384269I can definitely see Halo, but for the singular problem that (at least in one and two) we don't really get any true sense of the surrounding culture. Great if you just want to adapt Traveller into a table top 'run around and shoot motherfuckers' sort of game, but you are having to make up way too much shit to really play a sandboxy sort of RPG.
I'm kind of lucky that way, because I own the Halo Encyclopedia, the novels written for the game and am fairly acquainted with the universe. Halopedia is a fantastic resource as well. You could start there for instance, start clicking around on links about the Sol system and the like, and you start getting a pretty good picture of what's been going in the verse.

Peregrin

I've toyed around with the idea of using Traveller for these types of games, but I've also considered SBA.  The only thing that makes me wary of SBA is if it assumes too much gonzo stuff.
"In a way, the Lands of Dream are far more brutal than the worlds of most mainstream games. All of the games set there have a bittersweetness that I find much harder to take than the ridiculous adolescent posturing of so-called \'grittily realistic\' games. So maybe one reason I like them as a setting is because they are far more like the real world: colourful, crazy, full of strange creatures and people, eternal and yet changing, deeply beautiful and sometimes profoundly bitter."

Spike

I'm sorry: SBA?


Benoit: I'll have to take your word for it. I don't see 'behind the scenes' materials being as rich or evocative personally.   In two games of Halo you pretty much see a only battlefields, with a very few interpersonal scenes cut in.

Compare that with Mass Effect where you spend MOST of the game running around the galaxy, exploring colonies, mines, trade worlds and the like. There are dozens, if not hundreds of corporations that are given to you, at least one production of Hamlet going on in the background, and a good few thousand years of history for the dominant civilization and two precursor races.   That's in the first game.

If someone does or has done an encyclopedia expanding upon that, it will naturally be more likely to be a richer resource, since it doesn't have to waste as much time weaving the cloth, so to speak.

ME2, while generally a poorly done game compared to the first did NOT skimp at all on the setting development, either.  We learn a lot more about Asari and Quarian cultures and political factions, we meet several new species, all of whom have detailed backgrounds and unique cultures... though we had at least HEARD of the batarians in the first game.  Like HALO, we learn that the enemy faction (the Geth) are not as monolithic and single minded 'bad guy' as we'd thought.  We even expand greatly the culture of one of the tiny 'color' races of ME 1, the Hanar, not to mention actually seeing what life is like in the underbelly of civilized space.  

I am both impatient for ME3 to add to all this color, and afraid to see if the game play will still decline until you really are just playing Halo with more back story.  I already have Halo.

I WOULD, however, like to see them unify their upgrade and heat mechanics for equipment.  In ME 1 you go from having an infinite number of shots on your sniper rifle (say), but a nasty tendancy to only be able to fire once every minute or so, to ME2, where you can fire every 2 seconds or so, but only have ten shots for the entire 'mission'... and some missions are very very long.   That seems like a step backwards in technology.  

Reconciling the upgrades is a little harder.  One might suggest that Cerberus, as a privately funded, super wealthy organization, makes all their gear with the optimal 'upgrades' already in place, eliminating the need for the minor changes offered by the Omni-tool minifabricator, but also allows for significant permanent upgrades via research and shipboard fabrication of superior weapons and armor, I suppose... but I do miss the variety of toys and on the spot tinkering.  Of course, if you beat the heat mechanic on the assault rifle it gets at least a LITTLE silly.
For you the day you found a minor error in a Post by Spike and forced him to admit it, it was the greatest day of your internet life.  For me it was... Tuesday.

For the curious: Apparently, in person, I sound exactly like the Youtube Character The Nostalgia Critic.   I have no words.

[URL=https:

Peregrin

Starblazer Adventures.  I'm pretty sure you could take some of the gadget/tech rules and use them to craft the systems you'd need for a ME game.
"In a way, the Lands of Dream are far more brutal than the worlds of most mainstream games. All of the games set there have a bittersweetness that I find much harder to take than the ridiculous adolescent posturing of so-called \'grittily realistic\' games. So maybe one reason I like them as a setting is because they are far more like the real world: colourful, crazy, full of strange creatures and people, eternal and yet changing, deeply beautiful and sometimes profoundly bitter."

Benoist

If you want another look at the depth of the Haloverse, check out Ascendant Justice. This was the blog of two huge fans of the Halo franchise where they were basically taking apart the universe and analyzing everything in it. They ended up working for 343 Industries, which will be picking up the Halo franchise once Bungie's done with it (i.e. after Halo: Reach releases).