In the Twilight Sector a Role Player's Dream Comes True

I am an old school RGP'er. For me, it is about the role playing. I have been lucky enough to find and grow a group of friends who feel the same way and a couple of times a year we get together for a weekend long gaming session that both satisfies and leaves us hungry for more. We play a variety of games, from D&D , ShadowRun, Cthulhu, Hollow Earth, Traveller and others. The ones we latch onto longest tend to be the richest settings and the most imaginative stories that the DM puts together. Although we are enamored with the concept of Traveller, it tends to not get as must traction because the ( very old) manuals and supplements we have access to tend to be full of mechanics, but not as much story. When I was given the opportunity by @ephealy to review a new setting for Traveller, I was both excited and hopeful, but also cautious- wondering if I was going to get another book full of lots of tables.

When my link to The Twilight Sector Sourcebook by Michael J Cross and Matthew Hope arrived, I downloaded it quickly and did a quick flip through before work. I was intrigued by the subtitle "Space Opera" and encouraged by the parsity of tables and the number of beautiful interior illustrations. I could not wait to have time to sit down and read through the entire 131 pages. I was not at all disappointed.

The first 30 pages are back story. Not dry, historical Old Testament style "begats" but rich storytelling that quickly builds a Universe in your mind. There are 17 pages of "things to consider when playing and new rules, but much of this is due to the introduction of mutants. The are two types of mutants in the setting ( Scientifically Induced and Natural) and there was a need to explain them further and describe the powers, combinations and possibilities of these character classes. This is followed by 44 more pages of narrative description of the 7 main systems in the Twilight Sector and its 2 stations. Again these include illustrations, stories, history and maps. The last 28 pages are the beginnings of an Encyclopedia Galactica, which the state up front will be expanded in every supplement. I am crossing my fingers that they will take this feature and put it online, not requiring the purchase of every supplement for a "full encyclopedia" - that comes across as slightly manipulative.

The best thing for me was that after reading the sourcebook, my mind started spinning possibilities. I have already contacted our biggest Traveller enthusiast and we are going to co-GM a round of Traveller in this setting during our Dec 11 weekend gathering. I think it could turn things around for our group. The writers are very clear in pointing out that you could spin any genre in this setting, from mystery to horror, but the truth is, as rich and diverse as the setting is, you could run many different games in this setting as well. I can easily imagine playing with Mutants & Masterminds ( with modifications), Cthulhu or even a modified ShadowRun in this captivating setting. That would of course, break way too many rules for most gamers,so we will stick with it as a Traveller setting for now.


Want to learn more about Twilight Sector? Read on...

• Atomic Array: href="http://atomicarray.com/twilight-sector-aa034">Twilight Sector
  (Atomic Array 034)


• Game Cryer: href="http://gamecryer.com/2009/11/02/twilight-sector/">Review by
  Chris Perrin


• The Zhodani Base: href="http://zho.berka.com/2009/11/02/twilight-sector-a-new-tu/">Twilight
  Sector - A new TU


• Apathy Blogs: href="http://www.apathyblogs.com/2009/11/02/twilight-sector/">Something
  New For Traveller


• Rogue Puppet: href="http://roguepuppet.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-twilight-sector-role-players-dream.html">A
  Role Player's Dream is Discovered


• Examiner.com: href="http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7763-Chicago-RPG-Examiner~y2009m11d2-Review-Twilight-Sector-campaign-setting">Review
  by Michael Shorten

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