Quote from: SettembriniI prefer Megatraveller. It´s the SciFi Gamers RC!
Took me three hours to work in all the errata, and the system loved me back with four years of great gamig.

The design sequences scare me from afar.  I like plugging in class B engines and zooming off to adventure.

Actually, I use Software for MT design sequences. But the skill, chargen and especially combat rules are a far superiour for my sci-fi bogus verisimilitude tastes.
The penetration rules are the penultimate tool in modern warfare emulation, they have a place in my heart right next to the Harnmaster melee rules.

Go MT!

Let me just mention that as of now, I would like to run a game of Cold Space using Traveller.

RPGPundit

What is cold space?

Quote from: RPGPunditLet me just mention that as of now, I would like to run a game of Cold Space using Traveller.

RPGPundit

I could see that.

-clash

Quote from: RPGPunditLet me just mention that as of now, I would like to run a game of Cold Space using Traveller.

RPGPundit

Where does the line form?

Quote from: droogI understand all that, but the point I'm making is that neither D&D nor Traveller are, in fact, at all 'generic'. Both represent highly specific views of these genres, and it's a historical accident that both of them became so representative in the world of roleplaying.

Two things to consider.  First, I don't think it's an accident.  I think both D&D and Traveller did and do some things very well, even if not everyone likes things that way or appreciates it.  While not generic, both were very flexible.  Second, even the games designed to really be "generic" often fail to be entirely generic, too.  GURPS, Hero, and every other game with a claim to being generic handles some things better than others, and when dealing with fantasy or science fiction, as soon as you define a spell system, magic items, starship technology, or technical equipment list, you've made the setting less than generic.  

Star Wars doesn't have phasers.  Star Trek doesn't have blasters.  The only alternative to remain generic is a very low-level toolkit which, in return for flexibility, requires a many choices and often a lot of work on the part of the GM before you they can use it.

Traveller was generic at the start.
Generic from a golden age of sci-fi angle.

Quote from: SettembriniTraveller was generic at the start.
Generic from a golden age of sci-fi angle.

What are good examples from this era?  I'm woefully innocent of stuff like that.  I tend to either find hard scifi, really old pulp stuff (like Lensmen) or new Space Opera (Peter F. Hamilton).

Quote from: RedFoxWhat are good examples from this era?  I'm woefully innocent of stuff like that.  I tend to either find hard scifi, really old pulp stuff (like Lensmen) or new Space Opera (Peter F. Hamilton).

Larry Niven, Isaac Azimov, Poul Anderson, Cordwainer Smith, H. Beam Piper.

That should take a few years for you to plaw through...

-clash

Hmm, only one I've read regularly is Azimov, and that was from those little SciFi digest books.

Quote from: RedFoxHmm, only one I've read regularly is Azimov, and that was from those little SciFi digest books.

For Azimov, read his Foundation series: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. I'm not a big fan of Azimov's - I am of the others I listed - but that's his best work, and a lot of Traveller is based on it.

For Niven, read anything set in Known Space, including Ringworld.

For Anderson, his Poleisotechnic League novels - like The Man Who Counts - and his Flandry of Terra series are best for inspiration.

H. Beam Piper was a major influence on Traveller. I think almost anything he wrote would work, as he had a short writing career.

Cordwainer Smith is mostly a short story writer, but his one novel Norstrillia is usually available somewhere. He also had a couple of collections.

This is all off the top of my head, BTW. I hope I got the names of the books correct...

-clash

Another cool but more obscure Trav source is E.C. Tubbs' Dumarest of Terra series.

Quote from: jrientsAnother cool but more obscure Trav source is E.C. Tubbs' Dumarest of Terra series.

I've heard of that, but never read it... May have to do some library diving! Oh to be able to visit the Boston Public Library when I feel like it again! I hate suburbia! :O

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceI've heard of that, but never read it... May have to do some library diving! Oh to be able to visit the Boston Public Library when I feel like it again! I hate suburbia! :O

-clash

They're very cool.

Also, don't forget the Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium universe.  I could see porting The Mote in God's Eye to Classic Traveller without a problem.  They even have black globes (the Langston Field)!  And I see an affinity with how CT depicted starships in those books, as well.