jhs (12/01/82)
I've been intrigued by the idea of role-playing games, and have generated
interest among some friends: we'
d all like to give it a go. Our leanings are toward sci-fi, but.... None
of us has ever played before, so we're open to suggestions as to a "good"
game. I've heard a lot about "Traveller," but I also read that an A.I.
researcher's program was able to develop a winning strategy, which would
dampen spirits a bit. Any ideas or suggestions? If you send me mail, I'd
be happy to post results to the net!
Jerry Shelton
Bell Labstihor (12/02/82)
#R:mhuxt:-116600:cmcl2:5300006:000:851 cmcl2!tihor Dec 1 17:53:00 1982 The AI program developed a winning strategy for Trillion Credit Squadron which uses a detailed version of the Traveller ship design system to set up duel to the death style elimination tournaments. Given the constraints and the edges on some of the curves in the system that is not that strange. However this is not a real criticism of Traveller which is creatinly one of the cleanest and more interesting SFRPGs arround. Personally I find FGUi's SF RPG second (and none too close) but others argue that they are actually closer so take my opinion with a grain of salt. That is not to say that there are not problems with the Traveller rules but if one simply ignores their "trading system" and avoids fire fights they are pretty good. Hopefully Mark Swanson will feel inclinded to summarize the MIT-SGS experience with Traveller for the net.