Crazy Opinions: Bloo

2d6SF - Crazy Opinions started it.

Then Ross Winn Crazy Opinions: A Response

I'll throw mine in:

• Classic Traveller, chargen skill accumulation is too unbalanced. Talking average skills per term. Especially true if you include Supplement 4: Mercenary and Supplement 5: High Guard (and why wouldn't you? They're neat). An example I just came across looking at Leviathan, the pre-generated characters range from an average of just over 1 skill per term to 3 skills per term. For me, that's lame. I like 2/term as a minimum.
• Zero level skills are a lame crutch. Over-relied upon in Mongoose Travellers, creeped into CT by at least Leviathan. I understand how and why they came about, but I think it's an inelegant fix.
• GURPS Traveller has a lot of great setting material. I like GT: Behind The Claw a lot.
• Many canonical deck plans are horrible inefficient and impractical. Great, there's an air raft dock - sure hope you don't have to move an injured person out of the raft and into the ship proper! Look at most any deck plan and imagine trying to move a large human-sized patient through corridors, even with a contra-grav gurney, around corners, through doors and locks - with an attending EMT or two? Good luck. 
• While I'm at it: most ships should be designed along their thrust vectors.
• And also while I'm at it, most ships should be capable of 2-3G Thrust minimum.
• Iris Valve doors don't work. I'm not a physicist but I've had engineers explain to me these would never be an acceptable choice: wouldn't seal well, take up too much internal space, strength, etc.
• Air Rafts are dumb. Is it a convertible flying car? Cool. Say that. It can achieve orbit?! That's a flipping min-shuttle (and flight traffic control nightmare). 
• The effects cheap contra-grav would have at most levels of an interstellar society are largely ignored. It seems mostlyto exist to hand-wave getting into space.
• Low Passage is bad. If you want them so dangerous only the most desperate would use them, you're saying a great deal about your setting that I don't think much, if any, of the rest of OTU material actually supports. You're playing Dumarest of Terra. Are they suspended animation tubes or not? I think as presented they basically are. The implications of that are also not dealt with in setting, though there is probably room for a wealthy class of people who skip forward in time with these.
• The distributions of Tech Levels in the OTU works better if the UWP is treated at the average and not the max TL. Later versions of Traveller might say that and I missed,
• Every A and B starport should have high ports as the primary entry and exit point for most travellers.

In response to Bob at 2d6sf (who've I've had the pleasure of playing with once): 

• Unifed task system not that important. Agree.
• Read more Sci-Fi: Agree.
• Small motivated group best. Agree.
• CT can be used as is: .... eh, mostly. (See my gripe above).
• Mongoose versions are really good. Sure. Not a crazy opinion IMO.
• GURPS Space as an alternative to those who want to change CT a lot, Ehh, GURPS can be a lot. I can appreciate it, I even beta tested GURPS at a con many years ago (and co-authored GURPS Traveller: Far Trader).

In response to Ross Winn (where he raises ones not mentioned by Bob)

• MT1 preferable, more cohesive, easier to read style. Agree, though, there are a lot of classes and specialties once you get into Mercenary, High Guard, and so on. Probably too many.
• MT2 Setting Creep: Agree. I kinda glad they have made a lot, but I've only bought one and don't use it, I'm sad to say.
• All travellers should know how to use a vacuum suit. Hard agree. I don't think CT or any subsequent version has ever explained the meaningful distinction between incremental improvements in Vacc Suit skill. A Cargo Handling skill would be more useful. "Are you grav fork lift certified?"