I think the biggest takeaway I have is that this game is designed for science fiction that has nothing to do with Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke, the 'Big Three' of science fiction. It's got more to do with Star Wars, Dune, and E.E. "Doc" Smith than those guys, actually. The focus so far has been, of course, character creation and how to beat people up. It's not quite 'two-fisted' pulp action, but it's close. I love the idea of space pirates boarding an interplanetary passenger liner with cutlasses and revolvers. In fact, that's about as pulp as it gets.
The emphasis on skills isn't as high as it is in more modern games; with only a 2-12 range for rolling, modifiers don't need to be big to be significant. A +1 improves the odds quite nicely; a +3 makes you basically an Olympic-level expert in whatever the skill is. Contrast that with d20 skills, where characters have modifiers of +10 or more at low levels. Maybe that's why, at first, the Traveller characters look rather wimpy, even ones with multiple terms and a dozen skill levels in total.
No aliens so far, which makes for a nice, humanocentric game. I know, Traveller eventually added a bunch of aliens, but I'm not talking about what came later, I'm looking at the game as it originally was. And it's humans. So it would work for a military SF setting like David Weber's Honor Harrington series, although the tech is a little past revolvers and cutlasses. Still, the idea of humanity colonizing the stars without encountering much in the way of competing intelligences is a fun one. It doesn't always have to be about aliens, folks.
So, that wraps up my thoughts on the first book of the original Traveller boxed set. Tune in this week to find out more about my own efforts in science fiction writing.
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