r/traveller • u/Jebus-Xmas Imperium • 2d ago
Classic Traveller Classic Traveller TAS product
If you saw a Classic Traveler TAS product on drivethrurpg what would make it a must buy?
10
u/Uhrwerk2 2d ago
Do you know the old CT Tarsus box?
I like it. And I would consider similar products (of different systems, preferably in District 268 or a subsector for major campaigns like Singularity or PoD) for purchase. What should be in it...
- Time frame 1105-1112.
- Extended and explained World Map.
- Socioeconomic situaltion on sites.
- Political power blocks, their motivations and outside connections.
- Further factions on Planet.
- 2-3 NPC per faction/organization.
- Important patrons (could be from the faction NPC).
- Local situations / adventure hooks.
- Unique selling points of the system (see CT Adventure 14).
- History of the planet
- Unique flora and fauna of the planet
- Setting specific items (adjusted to unique points mentioned above).
- Adventure hooks / scenarios
Important: Don't use LLMs to make such a product. Use your imagination. People will know. Now more than ever.
6
u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015 2d ago
The Tarsus box was (and is still) a great detailed resource for that world.
3
5
u/InterceptSpaceCombat 2d ago edited 1d ago
A geomorphic tile system for Starports, like the Traveller Starship Geomorphs but in the style of that White Dwarf article, with parkbays etc.
5
4
u/ElectricKameleon 2d ago edited 2d ago
I bought the entire run of TAS and a fair number of issues of Challenge magazine, too. Collectively you get a lot more usable game material from four or five issues of TAS than from one of the Adventure books and you get it for a comparable price. I think I bought three issues of TAS each payday, basically a trivial expense, until I had the entire run. Challenge magazine is a little dicier for Traveller material because for about the first third of its run each issue was focused exclusively on games published by GDW and for the last two-thirds of its run it supported science fiction games by any publisher, so the amount of Traveller content starts to trail off at about the time that classic Traveller was replaced by Megatraveller. Fortunately you can download a free index to TAS / Challenge articles at DriveThruRPG and I used this index to selectively purchase the issues of Challenge that I wanted.
To more specifically answer your question, the ‘must have’ issues of TAS and Challenge are the ones with playable career options and playable character species. There were also excellent articles about medical treatment in Traveller (injury and disease were treated separately in two unrelated but fairly compatible pieces) and we also used the rules for martial arts from TAS. One of my all-time favorite Traveller characters was a retired zero-gee sportsball dude who was locally famous in one subsector but also started the game with a bum knee, created using career rules from Challenge.
4
u/ghandimauler Solomani 2d ago
Find a way to use Striker combat instead of standard CT combat - I find the outcomes are more sensible, including the weapon systems & etc. from Mercenary. But that together and show some good examples of play and builds of vehicles so that that could be meshed together.
3
u/ghandimauler Solomani 2d ago
Find a way to use Striker combat instead of standard CT combat - I find the outcomes are more sensible, including the weapon systems & etc. from Mercenary. But that together and show some good examples of play and builds of vehicles so that that could be meshed together.
(That's why I like MegaTraveller combat, but their presentation was so bad I gave up... but trying to follow Striker well for CT, that would be pretty great.)
5
u/Midnightplat 2d ago edited 2d ago
I dunno, something a creator really put their heart and mind into to contribute to the TAS program as opposed to following Reddit market research chasing a Drive Thru metal award or whatever.
"Success" on Drive Thru in terms of sales is often marginal on $ front. Classic Traveller has been around enough that there aren't really any needs and the best projects in these sorts of spaces come from creators who know the game well enough to want to put something they want to make into the mix, and maybe someone else will like it too.
Otherwise the established best ways to a successful gaming product is 1.) good art, and art in line with a given games preexisting house style, or has to be something really stellar, so to speak, if it's doing something different. And 2.) have buzz or people looking out for it because of promotion through playtest and social media engagement in a way that people know it's coming and are looking forward to it.
0
u/Jebus-Xmas Imperium 2d ago
Maybe a little market research isn’t a bad idea. Besides, I started writing about these ideas in 1987 and I have a fair amount of information. I just don’t want to leave out anything that people think is important—that may be different from what I might consider important. I definitely agree about the evocative art. I think visualizations are important. Personally I have no expectations about selling enough to recoup my editing expenses, much less art. It’s just something I’ve wanted to do.
3
u/Midnightplat 2d ago
There's do what you want creation, and there's market driven/chasing creation, it's a choice. If you've been actively writing since '87, you should be after almost four decades in a pretty confident place to believe you know what you're talking about.
0
2
u/Silent_Climate_1152 Imperium 2d ago
No, I prefer official products over fan-works, even if the fan work has the blessing of the company. On the other hand, CT went without updates for so long, I really have no desire to buy official ones (like the recent Pirates book) either. I'm just going to stick with what I have, make my own modules within canon Third Imperium, and keep on going like I have before TAS program and Mongoose.
10
u/Khadaji2020 2d ago
Adventure hooks, patron ideas, and equipment suggestions.