Author Topic: 2300 AD and Aurora  (Read 3553 times)

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Offline Garfunkel (OP)

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2300 AD and Aurora
« on: January 15, 2019, 04:45:45 PM »
Back in the hazy days of the previous millennium, there was a surprisingly hard sci-fi RPG called 2300 AD. It was basically the sci-fi response to the space opera Traveller, both being published by GDW. It was also a sequel for Twilight 2000, the RPG about WW3, which was in the 1980s at least, the most "realistic" tabletop game about modern small unit combat.

Anyway, 2300 AD was great but far too "hard" for most RPG nerds, so it never became really popular. It did include rules for space combat in addition to the usual ground combat. The rule books are a fantastical read on their own and if you want to have a more personal element to your Aurora AAR/LP games, 2300 AD will provide a framework and setting that fits pretty neatly with Aurora. It's probably not a big surprise for anyone that Steve used 2300 AD as inspiration for the Colonial Wars campaign.

Thanks to waresky, I found a website that has most, if not all, the national ship designs used by the various countries of 2300 AD. The site is a mirror of an archive, so make a local copy of everything you want before it vanishes completely:
http://www.oocities.org/area51/9292/2300/
If you're ever inspired to follow the example of Colonial Wars, or make a 2300AD game, or just get some ideas for flavour, those are great.

If you want to get your hands on the original rule and source books, they are available on DriveThroughRPG and probably also on eBay and your local second-hand book store.
 
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Offline Arwyn

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Re: 2300 AD and Aurora
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2019, 08:36:16 PM »
Great game. Played it through its several iterations.

VERY hard sci fi game. No anti grav, Newtonian physics, and very very lethal combat system. At the same time, the aliens WERE alien. Not just guys in dog or cat suits (Vargr and Aslan from Traveller). The Kafer, as an opponent were scary, and hilarious, but always dangerous and very alien in thought and demeanor.


The ship combat system, Star Cruiser, was very binary. Stealthy "subs in space" or big bricks of metal slugging it out. Colonization and politics were also believable, realistically messy, and a bit gritty. Great source material.

Still have all my originals. Fun game.
 

Offline Garfunkel (OP)

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Re: 2300 AD and Aurora
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2019, 12:14:09 PM »
It's a shame my local group couldn't get into it back when we were teenagers. Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun were far more popular.