Customer Reviews

2300 AD - Man's Battle For The Stars [BOX SET]

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GDW's 2300 AD game milieu takes place is the same game universe as Twilight: 2000, but after 300 years of rebuilding civilization after the Twilight War, then reaching for the stars.

Traveller: 2300, released in 1986, was a promising disappointment. The background, though tantalizing, was a bit thin. And the rules, well... much like GDW's MegaTraveller -- released in the same time frame -- the rules set was still in the experimental stage, with much errata to follow.

2300AD, the second edition released in 1988, cleaned up the rules, expanded the background, and dropped the confusing "Traveller" prefix. (The game has absolutely no relation to Traveller, except that they were both developed by GDW.) Both Traveller: 2300 and 2300AD are basically cross-compatible.

2300AD has a good, playable rules set. The game makes extensive use of the formal task system seen in Megatraveller, with some slight variations. The combat system is quick, but the damage system lends itself to metagaming by players.

But really, you're buying this game for the lush background. The Near Star Map is gorgeous. The worlds are original, and make sense: Aurore, the tidally-locked moon of a gas giant, is breath-taking. The weapon section is great, with nicely-done line art. The aliens are inventive and consistent: the Kafers are probably my favorite alien race of any I've seen in the RPG world.

Of course, there are about a dozen accessory books needed to get much of this detail, but the 2300AD core set has plenty to get you started.