Is the Players Guide a cancelled or shelved project? It would be nice to have a streamlined intro to T5 with all the basic concepts. Much less complicated RPGs have quick start guides, and a book which focuses on examples and how-to would be a great asset. Rolemaster Standard System and Chivalry & Sorcery 1st Ed are fuzzy kittens compared to T5.
T5 Player Guide
- Thread starter Sicarius
- Start date
It is still getting nudged, but after 8 years (my 1st Kickstarter was T5!) not sure if/when it will actually get done and delivered. It was a stretch goal, and out of 200 projects I've backed, 2 failed to ever materialize and this one is missing that one stretch goal.
The idea was after the 5.10 release (backed that as well, so I have some expensive books!) it would get started. I *think* Rob Eaglestone had something in one of the forums here, or perhaps in the Moot, but it is was not the players guide per se, just a lot of ideas that could get into a players guide.
So while I remain optimistic, that has been tarnished by almost a decade of no word of the final fulfilment of that Kickstarter campaign promise.
The idea was after the 5.10 release (backed that as well, so I have some expensive books!) it would get started. I *think* Rob Eaglestone had something in one of the forums here, or perhaps in the Moot, but it is was not the players guide per se, just a lot of ideas that could get into a players guide.
So while I remain optimistic, that has been tarnished by almost a decade of no word of the final fulfilment of that Kickstarter campaign promise.
Backers of the T5.10 Kickstarter were told we would get a pdf copy of the Players Guide. Maybe we will. I'm not holding my breath.
I bought two copies of the 5.1 3 book set. One for use and one for the collection and to help keep T5 afloat. If a PG is printed I'll buy that as well but right now it seems that T5 is a favored child who was orphaned in his teens. Perhaps Marc should appoint a couple talented and willing members of the Moot as godparents with the express permission and obligation to raise his child to a functional adult. That would be nice for the community and he could still retain rights to the final say and get royalties. As it sits now I would tell anyone this latest printed version is a clunky tool kit best used to expand most polished versions of Traveller.
We were told the same for the original KS as well. 8+ years ago. And I know I can't hold my breath that long
Still hoping something comes up, but as it stands, those pretty books just sit on the gaming shelf. They come down once in a while as they are, as per my sig, a great tool box. Just not a game without a lot of work. A players guide would significantly help with that.
And heck I've not checked for the latest 5.10 PDF. Guess I need to recheck my DriveTrhu library (and back, and it does not appear to be there like I thought it was; now to figure out where those are as I assume I should be able to get the latest version)
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Since my digital copies of both T5.09 and T5.10 are fully searchable as well as copy and paste, I do not see that it would not be possible for someone to produce his own player guide. They just need to have the time to do it.
The time and patience yes. You can do that with any set of rules: distill it down for a smaller subset of rules to make introduction to the system easier. An official publication of sorts would carry more weight as to the validity of the rule set (i.e., this is not a homebrew set of rules) and make it a standard.
Honestly, I think if/when they do have the players guide they really need to make it available for free. They already do that with Starter Traveller, so something similar would be nice for Starter Traveller 5.10. Or 5.2 or whatever version it gets to be by then. Throw in some stuff similar to what Rob Eaglestone is doing with the XBoat to help give a little idea about the Galaxiad era and it may help bring more people in.
(note: now that I've read a bit more about the Galaxiad, I am seriously thinking of moving my next game from the traditional 1105 time period to 1900 or so (time period for the default T5 setting). There is more potential there than I thought)
This exactly. Although I would pay fair price to make my current investment more usable. Even with the PDF's I am still left with confusion and that is why I need someone else to make sense of certain points.
in reading through the 'sell T5 to me' thread, there was mention of a Starter Traveller5 here so my assumption (and this is purely an assumption) as that this would essentially be the players guide.
that must have stuck in the back of my head somewhere as I said that a starter set would be good! Perhaps senility has not taken over yet.
that must have stuck in the back of my head somewhere as I said that a starter set would be good! Perhaps senility has not taken over yet.
It sounds like there are people that think a Player's Guide (and starter set) would be a good idea. Additionally, it seems like some amount of complexity present in the BBBs might be eased out of some sections in the Player's Guide.
What are some topics you'd hope to find in a Player's Guide for it to make sense to you?
I'll say Character creation.
What else?
What are some topics you'd hope to find in a Player's Guide for it to make sense to you?
I'll say Character creation.
What else?
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I'm still working through Character Creation and I will second that. Mainly examples for each type with various failures and successes would be great as each type has different methods to get to a similar result.
the things most players are interested in (or what I think most players would be interested in):
- character generation
- combat
- equipment lists
Basically - how do I play in this world / universe? I need my character, the stuff I need to do things, and how do I resolve / avoid conflict as the core of that.
Proneutron
SOC-13
And, if the entire group is new a section for the GM to orient on the basics they need beyond the above.
for Starter Traveller, possibly. A good chunk of Book 0 would probably still apply. Heck - now to dig out my copy & re-read it as it is a good resource if I remember it correctly.
For a players guide, no.
I'd really like at least a players guide, but a starter kit with the players guide and the referee guide would be nice. I have the deluxe boxed version and it had everything you needed. But it was not a starter kit as it was the complete game. With nice maps. But if we're going to talk about a starter set that probably should be in its own thread as I'd prefer to keep this thread on the players guide. Perhaps with with enough comments we'll get some official comments eventually.
Soooooooo what would you want to see in a Player's Guide?
per the post yesterday (here)
- basic character generation: stats, going through the career process. perhaps a detailed example walk-through of one of the careers; how stats apply to the basic game mechanics
- basic game mechanics: how to count the dice needed to roll, basic combat, probably a sample combat; how equipment is used
- equipment lists: basic gear, weapons, vehicles, ships
- indices of where to look for the core rules for all the above if hey want more details
The equipment list should also expand out one thing from each group to explain how the stats apply in the game.
The builders (world, vehicles, weapons, etc) stay in the core books. Explaining how to play RPGs in general is in so many places now not really needed.
I am ambivalent about the "how to play Traveller" being in the players guide. If there were to be a starter set, yes, put back Book 0 with updates for T5 as it does play differently (all those dice!) but the basic feel is still the same.
But maybe a blurb or something as SF does play differently than fantasy RPGs. And Traveller does, or at least to me, have a different feel than most other RPGs. Possibly because I always start out middle aged
And when I started, that was old! Now it is young to me! So perhaps why it feels different to me. Though other games I play now I often start as older people as well, so it is not only Traveller.So now I am leaning to having a "how to play Traveller" in the PG: I think it is different enough from most RPGs that it could be useful. Book 0 covers this in about 2 pages, so if we could maintain that sort of high overview it would help.
We need to remember the intended audience for this sort of thing: it is not us (though the character creation would be nice as I only tried once with the BBB and got lost; may be time to try again with 5.10). It is for people who have not played Traveller, or at least Traveller 5.10. Assume nothing about their knowledge of Traveller, but you can assume they have the basic understanding of an RPG.
