Player's Book: What's needed?

[KDLadage]

If DriveThrough had a way where I could say...

"I'll take items {B}, {C}, {E}, {G}, {L}, and {R}. Please POD those into one hard cover book and ship that to me."

I would agree. I *loath* working with PDF files, or having to spend $100 in ink after I have my material... But that is just me and the world is quickly speeding past me.

 

[robject]

I would say that that level of flexibility is unrealistic at this moment in time as far as I know for DriveThruRPG.

 

[KDLadage]

I would say that that level of flexibility is unrealistic at this moment in time as far as I know for DriveThruRPG.

Right. So for now, the idea of "you can publish a bunch of small PDFs, just pick the one's you want!" is not a solution for me.

 

[KDLadage]

In my opinion...

In the edit/re-org/re-design/re-package of the Big Black Book, if you were to divide the book into a logical flow of six sections...

• 1. Core Rules
  • Dice; types of die rolls
  • General assumptions (e.g., all charts assume the game master will be applying modifiers that may or may not be presented with those charts)
  • Tech Levels
  • Basic Task Resolution
  • Attributes (human stats and the alien analogs; how they interact)
  • Skills
  • Combat
  • etc.
• 2. Characters
  • Generating attributes
  • Determining Home World
  • Careers (and how they work)
  • Mustering Out
  • etc.
• 3. Stars and Worlds
  • Star Mapping
  • System Generation
  • World Generation
  • World Mapping
  • etc.
• 4. Starships
  • Starship basics
  • Starship creation
  • Starship operations
  • Starship combat
  • etc.
• 5. Makers
  • Basic concepts for makers
  • Assumptions involved
  • The various maker systems
  • etc.
• 6. The Third Imperium
  • General background on the Third Imperium
  • How to use the setting
  • How to create your own setting (e.g., adjusting the careers to reflect your setting's assumptions)
  • etc.

Note: each section and sub-section should include examples of how that area of the rules work.

At this point...

• Player's Guide is section 1 plus section 2 packaged together with some equipment examples from section 5.
• Game Master's Guide is section 3 plus section 4 plus section 5.
• The Third Imperium Guide is section 6 packaged along with standard/common elements used in the setting from section 4 and section 5.

Just my thoughts.

 

[robject]

I'll go you one further. A full set of POD PDFs, with the potential for batch printing for the ones with the most interest.

Quickstart - free PDF with pre-generated characters, basic rules and a couple of small adventures.

T5 Deluxe Book 1 (96pp) - Player's Guide. Character generation, personal combat, travel, equipment, starship ops (just enough to get by). The whole thing is just enough to get by. FOR EXAMPLE: T5CR pp 58-111, 210-235, a couple pages on travel, a couple pages on starships, and ten pages of shopping lists.

T5 Deluxe Book 2 (106pp) - Starships. Full starship operations rules, design, economics, space combat. Starports. FOR EXAMPLE: T5CR pp 312-417.

T5 Deluxe Book 3 (107pp) - Referee's Book. Worlds, starports, animals, trade, equipment and vehicles, psionics. FOR EXAMPLE: T5CR pp 304-311, 426-443, 477-496, 527-536, 588-595, 608-640.

T5 Deluxe Book 4 (96pp) - Advanced Player's Book. Costs, tasks and skills, personals, genetics (and etc). FOR EXAMPLE: T5CR pp 52-56, 110-197, plus 3 more pages.

T5 Deluxe Book 5 (115pp) - Craftsman's Companion. All the makers. FOR EXAMPLE: T5CR pp 240-303, 537-587.

T5 Deluxe Book 6 (96pp) - Scouts's Companion. Sectors, stars, technology and world mapping. FOR EXAMPLE: T5CR pp 36-47, 418-425, 444-476, 497-513, 514-526, plus 15 more pages.

 

[robject]

Alternately...

Alternately:

Fit T5 content into the Liftoff! format.

Chill and serve.

 

[KDLadage]

Liftoff!?

Not familiar. Can you elaborate? A google search keeps pulling up some strange Euro TV show...

 

[atpollard]

Liftoff!?

Not familiar. Can you elaborate? A google search keeps pulling up some strange Euro TV show...

LIFTOFF is a boxed starter set for Mongoose Traveller.
I think that 13Mann was the publisher who proposed it.
Something went wrong with the kickstarter and I think it was abandoned (or at least put on hold) ... but I could be very wrong about LIFTOFF's production status.


LINK TO 13 MANN LIFTOFF WEBPAGE

 

[robject]

There's all kinds of options here.

Despite Craig's vehemence, a subset of Traveller5 can fit into the form factor of The Traveller Book. Imagine that.

 

[KDLadage]

It looks like they were going to MgT Lite... but it is interesting.

 

[Daddicus]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say publish via PoD at about 100 pages each. Guess at what's going to fit, then focus on it until published.

After the first is released, release new editions for basic errata (typos and such). Leave the big errata for later expansions.

Once the first book is out (I recommend character generation), start working on the next one, but farm out the errata to a trusted team. Make errata changes on something of a regular schedule, perhaps quarterly?

My reasoning is that the current errata has been 2 years in the works, but unless a massive publishing effort is made, it's never going to see daylight. My idea is to break it into more manageable chunks, so we get something on the market to maintain the customer base.

 

[robject]

LBB format, perhaps 6 x 9.

New art, some of which is 'retro' new art.

T5 equivalent of the edited Starter Traveller text + Drugs, starship ops notes similar to Traders & Gunboats or Safari Ship.
Put the equipment with the player material.
Quick pregens / NPCs, Patron encounters, JTAS-style short scenarios.
Galaxiad intro along the lines of the 3 Imp intro in The Traveller Adventure, with sophont intros similar to those from the Alien pages in MT Referee's Companion.

 

[pendragonman]

LBB format, perhaps 6 x 9.

New art, some of which is 'retro' new art.

T5 equivalent of the edited Starter Traveller text + Drugs, starship ops notes similar to Traders & Gunboats or Safari Ship.
Put the equipment with the player material.
Quick pregens / NPCs, Patron encounters, JTAS-style short scenarios.
Galaxiad intro along the lines of the 3 Imp intro in The Traveller Adventure, with sophont intros similar to those from the Alien pages in MT Referee's Companion.

For art, I suggest incorporating some of Ian Stead's stuff

 

[atpollard]

LBB format, perhaps 6 x 9.

Just tossing in my 2 cents, but three (or more) LBB format (6x9) books is just too 'old school nostalgia'.

One of the things that I remember about the original 'Car Wars' game in a box was that everything that you needed to play came in that box, it didn't take long to read it and you were quickly having fun instead of spending forever learning rules.

Along those lines, a 6x9 Book of about 40 pages (equal to about 20 pages of 8.5x11 text) that contained JUST ENOUGH rules to actually play T5 would be a great introduction to both T5 and Traveller. It should be easy to price it at $5 to $10 for DTRPG POD making it affordable and available to potential players.

Once you know how to play T5, and have enough game fun under your belt to know that you want to play T5, then the big books of Characters and Makers are a more reasonable investment.

YMMV.

 

[Quint]

I think a Player's Guide needs to have the careers (all of them), skills, combat (ground and space), psionics, and equipment - blueprints and stats for all the ships available for mustering out. The basic small craft as well.

A tech level table is probably reasonable, but a dissertation on tech levels is not needed.

Arguments can be made for and against trade tables, but I think including them is pretty reasonable. This might mean including an explanation of trade codes and the basic concept/format of the UWP

I think it should have everything in it needed for a player to create a character and play them.

So, what it doesn't need - ship or vehicle construction, world construction, Makers, and pretty much any 3I material. This means that some alternate explanations of what a high SS means would be helpful (ala what is found in MgtT's Dilettante book).

The whole thing should be as setting agnostic as possible.

D.

 

[JFGarber]

blueprints and stats for all the ships available for mustering out. The basic small craft as well.

I like this idea, but find floor plans that are small enough to fit in a big are too small for me to easily read. Put this information on a dedicated FFE website, accessible to purchasers. Having a digital tie-in will make the reboot effort more relatable to a younger generation.

Even if they are perfectly capable of reading small floor plans.

 

[mike wightman]

Best version of CT ever made IMHO was Starter Edition purely for the booklet containing all the tables.

Since getting Starter Edition on pdf (free at times on drive thru) I must have printed out dozens of copies over the years.

A T5 starter set could take lessons from this...

 

[robject]

@Mike: agreed on the "Booklet Of All Tables".


There are two directions: the Player's Guide or Player's Handbook, and "Starter Traveller5". The T5 Kickstarter promised a Player's Handbook, which is naturally contingent upon completion of the BBB's errata-palooza.


The Player's Guide (my latest opinion) should follow LBB1 and the MegaTraveller Player's Guide, with a bit of setting [FONT=arial,helvetica]also.

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130 pages?

Intro & Tasks ................   5 pp
Character Generation .........  40 pp  ?

Only uses Str Dex End Int Edu Soc.  No C1-C6.

Starship summaries (A A2 C CE E L M P R S Y):
one-page inclusion in the mustering-out area.

Character Examples TBD .......  10 pp  (three examples)
Skills pp142-175 .............  35 pp  ?
EQUIPMENT ....................  10 pp

- Guns, Armor, and Misc stuff.

Personal Combat ..............  10 pp  ?
- ranges included in here

Full Combat Examples TBD......  10 pp
TRAVELLING ...................   5 pp  

Includes how to read the UWP (incl starport and TL codes)
and some M1900 setting background.

Final Word ...................   2 pp
INDEX ........................   3 pp

[FONT=arial,helvetica]
[/FONT]

 

[Murph]

A starter edition with tables showing common starships, how to build a starship(without needing a computer do so), combat tables, with all needed common charts, tables, and examples in one place.

 

[robject]

Here's how I'm currently thinking of the Player's Book.

Probably 140 pages.

Intro ........................   ? pp
Tasks TBD a la Don/MT ........   1 p
Characteristics and Homeworld.   3 pp
Character Generation .........  35 pp 

Only uses Str Dex End Int Edu Soc.  No C1-C6.

Starship summaries ...........   1 p
Character Examples TBD .......  10 pp  (three examples)
Skills .......................   9 pp  
- (skills list 1 p)
- (skills intro 3 pp)
- (skills short descr 2 pp)
- (knowledges short descr 2 pp)

GUNS and ARMOR ...............  11 pp
EQUIPMENT ....................   7 pp

Personal Combat ..............  10 pp 
- ranges included in here

Full Combat Examples TBD......  10 pp ?
Starports ....................   8 pp
Psionics .....................   9 pp
Setting Material .............  ?? pp

Final Word ...................   2 pp
INDEX ........................   3 pp