Traveller for the Worlds Apart Fantasy RPG .... Why?

As discussed in the last post, Worlds Apart is going to use the Traveller system as hacked by me from the Mongoose OGL version. This, of course, begs the primary question of...

Why Traveller when there are so many other good fantasy systems already out there?

Primarily, because I want to avoid the bildungsroman typical of almost all fantasy role-playing games. I want the game to start with experienced characters who have a history. I really like that aspect of Traveller and want to import it into a fantasy system. Also, since I think a large part of the gaming audience is now 30+ years of age, I think it would be a nice change to play someone closer to all our ages rather than some 18 year-old, snot-nosed punk whose just mastered sword-swinging. :)

Player and GM investment into the character creation system is going to be an integral part of the first play of Worlds Apart. The first session will consist of the players discovering and determining their backgrounds together. I envision a round-robin system of character creation where first one player goes a term, than another, and then another. When events come up like contacts or such, the main player (the one who's rolling up his character at the time) can ask for input from the other players to make the event as written down come to life in the game. Also, this character creation process will serve as a world-building process for the GM. As the players create their backstories, the GM will be expected to work those backstories into his world.

My secondary reason for wanting to use Traveller is the way it handles "unknown locations" creation as well as the focus on trade. I want a game of exploration and trade and I think the system is a great one for that purpose.

My tertiary reason of using Traveller for a fantasy game is that it hasn't been professionally done before (at least to my knowledge). I am running a business and trying something new is always important. I'm hoping that there are two demographics to hit with this game; those that are intrigued by the world and the game and those that already like Traveller and would like to give it a spin doing fantasy.

And my final reason for using Traveller is that, damn it, I *like* it and I've always wanted to give a fantasy game a shot with it. :)  One of the few perks of being your own boss is following your muse. I want to follow mine.