How many editions of MegaTraveller were there?

[Ahmad Romanov]

I just cracked the shrinkwrap on a new box of MegaTraveller and was surprised to see the three books each had different printings (if I understand it right, the row of sequential numbers under the ISBN gives the printing information). This is what I got (in the order they were stacked in the box):

Referee's Manual: 2nd printing (2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9)
Players' Manual: 3rd printing (3 4 5 6 7 8 9)
Imperial Encyclopedia: 3rd printing (3 4 5 6 7 8 9)

So I have two questions: Is it normal to have different 2nd and 3rd printings in the same box? Also, what was the last and latest printing of each book? I noticed some of the corrections in the 70+ page consolidated errata PDF are included in my books, but not all of the changes.

 

[aramis]

So I have two questions: Is it normal to have different 2nd and 3rd printings in the same box? Also, what was the last and latest printing of each book? I noticed some of the corrections in the 70+ page consolidated errata PDF are included in my books, but not all of the changes.

Yes, it was common, and I don't know.

 

[mike wightman]

Third print run is the latest and last.

 

[Ahmad Romanov]

Third print run is the latest and last.

Ah, interesting... Was there a third print run of the referee's manual, or did that only get 2 printings?

 

[Ahmad Romanov]

I asked Marc and this is what he said!

Players Manual

GDW printed
10,235 1st printing Nov 1987
10,000 second printing Jan 1988
5297 3rd Printing. Nov 1988
4900 4th printing Sep 1989
5000 5th printing Dec 1991

Referee’s Manual,

GDW printed
10,200 1st Dec 1987
10,044 2nd Feb 1988
5116 3rd Dec 1988
5000 4th Oct 1989
5180 5th Dec 1991

 

[mike wightman]

I've got five sets of MT - none of them are past print run 3

 

[Ahmad Romanov]

I've got five sets of MT - none of them are past print run 3

Interesting... now that you mention it, I don't think I've seen a printing later than 3rd for the Players' Manual and 2nd for the Referee's Manual, at least going by the printer's key. It is possible that later printings didn't update the printer's key and so are indistinguishable from 3rd printing in that respect (I mean, there were typos and omissions throughout the books... why not in the printer's key as well?).

If we take the printer's key at face value, though, we have the following timeline (printings in bold and errata compilations in italics):

November to December 1987: First printings of PM and RM
January to February 1988: Second printings of PM and RM
April 1988: First errata compilation published
October 1988: Second errata compilation published
November to December 1988: Third printings of PM and RM
September to October 1989: Fourth printings of PM and RM
September 1990: Third errata compilation published
December 1991: Fifth printings of PM and RM
April 1993: Consolidated MegaTraveller Errata published

That tells us a few things... 1st and 2nd printing are the same (and incorporated no errata), 3rd and 4th printing are the same (and incorporated the first two errata compilations) and 5th printing incorporated the final errata to be printed (the 1990 errata).

So I am guessing 3rd (and therefore 4th) printings are largely complete, at least in MegaTraveller terms, with the most onerous corrections accounted for.

 

[aramis]

So I am guessing 3rd (and therefore 4th) printings are largely complete, at least in MegaTraveller terms, with the most onerous corrections accounted for.

Not really. There's still more errata to apply even then. The next official errata issue was much later - post 2000.