Best MT Products

[mserabian]

Hey guys

I have the opportunity to aquire some old GDW and DGP MegaTraveller products - I am wondering which products are the best from these lines. I am particularly interested in background and adventures not so much rules and gear. I can also grab issues of Traveller Digest and MegaTraveller Journal. Which are the best issues of these two mags?

thanks

mal

 

[Vargas]

Any of the MT Journals are good but I particularly like 2 and 3.

I personally prefer the later Traveller's Digests, say 17 to 21 or so but if you have the opportunity to grab 9 go for it; it's the Core issue.

Dunno what to say about the other products, other than to stay away from Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium and, I know this will elicit protests, Hard Times.

 

[aramis]

ANything except GDW's Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium... which is just plain bunk.

TD 15 is Earth and the Imperial Marines.
The TD issues with the detailed medical rules are quite nice.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Definitely get the Starship Operator's Manual.

 

[GypsyComet]

While I might agree that Hard Times is not much of a "background and adventures" book, it is the snapshot product for the late/black war period, and does have some adventure nuggets for that period. If you have the opportunity to get it, do so.

I'll add to the noise on Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium. Most of the fleet organization material is from other sources, and the ship designs are, with a single exception, so ridden with errors as to be useless.

For all the TNS items in one place, as well as some pithy commentary, look for Survival Margin. Technically this book sits on the fence between MT and TNE, being a book about the MT era for the benefit of TNE, but it's worth it.

Similar late war coverage and closure of the era can be found in the adventures Assignment: Vigilante and Arrival Vengeance.

Early War is covered by the Imperial Encyclopedia and Rebellion Sourcebook.

Mid- to Late-War adventures include Knightfall and Flaming Eye. Knightfall is the source of the "other ancients" that you'll hear people kvetch about, but the adventure is pretty good even without that.

Traveller's Digest was a rather schitzophrenic magazine in its MT run (9 on) sometimes barely addressing the Rebellion era. The four issue run of MegaTraveller Journal was more focused. The coverage in Challenge also varied quite a bit, but adventures were fairly common.

 

[aramis]

To endorse a few books as more worthy than the general lot:

SS Operator's manual: simply the best thing ever written... inludes hohman transfer orbits, too...

Hard Times: Even if you don't use the hard times nor rebellion settings, the book includes starmerc (pirate) advanced generation, pregravitic spacecraft rules, and rules for maximum sustainable population by UWP.

Survival Margin: loads of library data, loads of GM info, lots of Rebellion Spoilers that were nowhere else... and conversions for characters from CT/MT to TNE.

Referees Companion: Referee's Manual Part II. SHould have been in the core box. Includes the large scale combat rules, research rules, and much much more.

 

[kafka47]

Signal GK is absolutely the best thing for MT. As I concur with most but I would reading Hard Times straight away, if you want to paint a bleak picture (I like Dark things) and the MJs, if want to wish the Rebellion but see the onset of the Twilight. Also, try, if you can ahold of certain issues of Challenge.

 

[DonM]

Wow, be honest and upset people, or toe the company line?

Get the boxed set and the Referee's Companion, the MegaTraveller Journals, Challenges and the Travellers' Digests...

And run in using the GURPS Traveller setting.

There -- I admitted it. I can now enter the 12-step program, because the monkey is off my back.

I love the MT rules, but the setting makes me ill. And Survival Margin makes me want to open a vein.

Things that are good in the GDW books: Knightfall has some really great encounter structures, and Diaspora is an interesting sector, even if the hell has already been blown out of it.

But for sheer depression, read Hard Times, Arrival Vengeance and Survival Margin as a trilogy.

 

[Ishmael]

ref's companion is a must have for thecombat rules alone
everything else is good, but not as needed as ref's comp
SOM for the rules/tasks in back
WBH is nice

 

[GypsyComet]

I love the MT rules, but the setting makes me ill. And Survival Margin makes me want to open a vein.

...

But for sheer depression, read Hard Times, Arrival Vengeance and Survival Margin as a trilogy.

Won't argue with that last, can't argue with the first (it being a personal reaction that I didn't and don't share), but the OP was asking specifically for MT-era setting information, which GURPS:Traveller isn't, aside from the calendar-independent stuff.

The calendar-independent stuff in G:T can be really good, or really bad. Reading the SJG TNS items is fascinating for that "Paradise Lost" feel, and the various "service" books are excellent, but "Behind the Claw" and Pulver's alien additions are dross.

 

[DonM]

For G:T setting books, Rim of Fire, Nobles, Humaniti, and Sword Worlds are all excellent.

As I've said on other forums, the best G:T book for the Spinward Marches remains "Spinward Marches Campaign".

For MT campaigns set in the Marches, the inside articles in the Travellers' Digest are excellent -- especially the Psionic Knights adventure arc.

If you want to run Diaspora campaigns, the Astrogator's Guide is ok, but you really need the related articles in The Traveller Chronicle.

Were there any fanzines that survived into the MT era? Third Imperium ended when its editor was hired by DGP; Tiffany Star was just a HIWG thing.

 

[jec10]

I'll put in a plug for "For the Union Blue" in Challenge 68 (IIRC) - awesome military adventure.

 

[jfetters]

Don't forget Arrival:Vengeance - A small folio with the deckplans of the AHL, updated to MT stats, with a rather cool Imperium-spanning adventure background, which also answered a few mysteries of the Rebellion.

On the plus side, it was the Rebellion-spanning adventure MT needed. On the minus side, it was the last adventure published.

Knightfall was also a pretty cool setting published, as was Flaming Eye on the DGP side. And a definite thumbs up on the SOM.