The Essentials

[CatKnight]

Hi folks!

As you can see I'm new here, though I've been lurking for a few days quietly reading. Back... many years ago... I had the original Books 0-3 and had a lot of fun with the character generation system. I never got to play though, and in time my interest wandered elsewhere.

The other day I was thinking about game systems though, and fondly remembered CT's simplicity. I made the.. decision ..to pick up the T4 main rulebook at my game store and wasn't entirely happy with the editing or some of the other changes that appeared to creep in over the years. I decided my best bet would be to return to Classic, and that's how I wound up here.

I checked FFE's website and ... well, the amount of Classic material that apparently saw the light of day is rather intimidating, so I'd like to ask:

What are the essentials? What does a reasonable and competent GM NEED to run/play? Obviously Books 0-3. How about 4-8? Or the supplements? Or the TAS journals? Assume I'm completely new to the game, because you won't be far wrong.

Thanks!

 

[CatKnight]

Hi folks!

As you can see I'm new here, though I've been lurking for a few days quietly reading. Back... many years ago... I had the original Books 0-3 and had a lot of fun with the character generation system. I never got to play though, and in time my interest wandered elsewhere.

The other day I was thinking about game systems though, and fondly remembered CT's simplicity. I made the.. decision ..to pick up the T4 main rulebook at my game store and wasn't entirely happy with the editing or some of the other changes that appeared to creep in over the years. I decided my best bet would be to return to Classic, and that's how I wound up here.

I checked FFE's website and ... well, the amount of Classic material that apparently saw the light of day is rather intimidating, so I'd like to ask:

What are the essentials? What does a reasonable and competent GM NEED to run/play? Obviously Books 0-3. How about 4-8? Or the supplements? Or the TAS journals? Assume I'm completely new to the game, because you won't be far wrong.

Thanks!

 

[Merxiless]

Depends on how much you embrace the 3rd Imperium, crossed with what setting you are looking for, and how much time you want to spend managing it / generating it / etc.

Decades ago, when the ship I served on went to sea, I brought along The Traveller Book and 2d6, and that was all.

That got me through a near 7 month deployment, running games 4 nights a week, after working hours, for a group of 6 guys playing in a "We are the hunted / chased, with Naasirka as the antagonists type game."

The TAS journals or best of are not essential, but are really nice to have, as they make it gritty. Some articles in there are the best ever done for any sci fi game. Hard to find sometimes, and some are near impossible to find.

Books 4-8 are okay, especially if you have the flavor of the specific book: If you are running a merc style game, book 4 is essential. High guard, etc. same deal on the navy. Book 6 scouts is almost a requiremnt, just for the worlds you will do. (but see also Leroy Guatney's updates / erratta for scouts on the web.

If you are going with a strange new worlds / exploration / scouts book, Grand survey, by DGP, though very hard to find, is excellent. Grand census a bit less so, unless you have a social / first contact type campaign, without so many environmental hazards.

Merchant prince, if you have a trading game or free trader style is very good, but a lot of referees get along find without it, if you just use the trade tables that classic has, with some storyline behind it.

Robots, I got to just fill out the collection, but I never used it, I just used Star Wars d6 style robots, sort of converted over, with no real system, or data behind it.

I'm not a real gearhead, per se, more of a storyteller / dramatist, so needing a spreadsheet to design a ship is to me, a waste of time, if it can be used in game as "The cruiser is a mile long, and has a number of guns to match..." And then the party moves on.

But some players and referees want numerical data, and in fact I suppose there are many Traveller players that can't play without it...just not my style, which is more star wars d6, action...not rolling on trade tables.

If you can't get grand survey or grand census, world builder's handbook is the more recent version. Just really nice to have any of those.

The supplements, it depends on what you seek.

The best deal is to get those as the reprints / collected in one volume for about 25.00 on eBay, or Marc himself still sells them, I THINK.

I always look for stuff at his onlooker1 store first, before I go anywhere else. He sometimes selss neat other stuff, too old wargames, or a book on winemaking... things like that. I prize my recent hardback of The Traveller Book that I bought directly from him in mint condition last year. It sits in plastic on the gaming shrine.

Or you can pick and choose betweena half dozen auctions a day. Look for a month and you might find most of the supplements for pennies on the dollar.

It really depends on your setting, and how much work you want to do yourself, vs. how much you want to have handled by the GDW staff of the 80's.

Some of the Classic Adventures are very, very good, some are so tied in to 3rd Imperium, if you aren't doing that, they won't help you.

If you are willing to generate your own campaign, there are a lot of tools out there with software that regardless of the rules are pretty much MUST have, if you want to save yourself work and effort.

I run win 98 SE, and I use the following:

Gal 2.4c

Heaven & Earth

Convert.exe - a program that converts measurements, such as ly to Parsecs, on the fly.

Universe 1.62 by Diardsoftware.com (for space art)

A bunch of stuff from over a dozen websites on the internet.

But really for a basic game, books 1-3, and 2d6.
Book 0 is good to show players how to play, and as a teaching aid.

Also if you can find it (it's long out of print) Heroes for tomorrow by Task Force Games is a good jump start for character background, which Traveller itself does an *okay* job, with the career system, but since the 70's Gaming technology / styles have advanced to where players need more...the history, the motivations, etc.

Of course a competent player / GM team can work all of that out, but HfT is really good for giving ideas.

Also Gurps space, for Gurps 3rd ed has a LOT of great ideas, and can be had for 5.00 + shipping on eBay, about once a month.

This week, I was introduced to Atomik Aliens, a pdf that is around 5 or 6 US, downloadable, that discusses aliens in space, it was well worth the money and 3 minutes it took to get it.

I've been refereeing Traveller in one form or another since 1977. It was my first RPG, and still my favorite, although now I play T4, as I like the char gen better. (but I've played every version in print) I moved to T4, after playing MT a bit, and feeling unsatisfied with the space combat.

So, if you have more questions, I lurk here nightly, while I set up my upcoming January GRIP Traveller game on my website.

I'd be interested to see what your campaign plans are.

What kind of game are you planning to run?

Best of luck with it.

 

[Merxiless]

Depends on how much you embrace the 3rd Imperium, crossed with what setting you are looking for, and how much time you want to spend managing it / generating it / etc.

Decades ago, when the ship I served on went to sea, I brought along The Traveller Book and 2d6, and that was all.

That got me through a near 7 month deployment, running games 4 nights a week, after working hours, for a group of 6 guys playing in a "We are the hunted / chased, with Naasirka as the antagonists type game."

The TAS journals or best of are not essential, but are really nice to have, as they make it gritty. Some articles in there are the best ever done for any sci fi game. Hard to find sometimes, and some are near impossible to find.

Books 4-8 are okay, especially if you have the flavor of the specific book: If you are running a merc style game, book 4 is essential. High guard, etc. same deal on the navy. Book 6 scouts is almost a requiremnt, just for the worlds you will do. (but see also Leroy Guatney's updates / erratta for scouts on the web.

If you are going with a strange new worlds / exploration / scouts book, Grand survey, by DGP, though very hard to find, is excellent. Grand census a bit less so, unless you have a social / first contact type campaign, without so many environmental hazards.

Merchant prince, if you have a trading game or free trader style is very good, but a lot of referees get along find without it, if you just use the trade tables that classic has, with some storyline behind it.

Robots, I got to just fill out the collection, but I never used it, I just used Star Wars d6 style robots, sort of converted over, with no real system, or data behind it.

I'm not a real gearhead, per se, more of a storyteller / dramatist, so needing a spreadsheet to design a ship is to me, a waste of time, if it can be used in game as "The cruiser is a mile long, and has a number of guns to match..." And then the party moves on.

But some players and referees want numerical data, and in fact I suppose there are many Traveller players that can't play without it...just not my style, which is more star wars d6, action...not rolling on trade tables.

If you can't get grand survey or grand census, world builder's handbook is the more recent version. Just really nice to have any of those.

The supplements, it depends on what you seek.

The best deal is to get those as the reprints / collected in one volume for about 25.00 on eBay, or Marc himself still sells them, I THINK.

I always look for stuff at his onlooker1 store first, before I go anywhere else. He sometimes selss neat other stuff, too old wargames, or a book on winemaking... things like that. I prize my recent hardback of The Traveller Book that I bought directly from him in mint condition last year. It sits in plastic on the gaming shrine.

Or you can pick and choose betweena half dozen auctions a day. Look for a month and you might find most of the supplements for pennies on the dollar.

It really depends on your setting, and how much work you want to do yourself, vs. how much you want to have handled by the GDW staff of the 80's.

Some of the Classic Adventures are very, very good, some are so tied in to 3rd Imperium, if you aren't doing that, they won't help you.

If you are willing to generate your own campaign, there are a lot of tools out there with software that regardless of the rules are pretty much MUST have, if you want to save yourself work and effort.

I run win 98 SE, and I use the following:

Gal 2.4c

Heaven & Earth

Convert.exe - a program that converts measurements, such as ly to Parsecs, on the fly.

Universe 1.62 by Diardsoftware.com (for space art)

A bunch of stuff from over a dozen websites on the internet.

But really for a basic game, books 1-3, and 2d6.
Book 0 is good to show players how to play, and as a teaching aid.

Also if you can find it (it's long out of print) Heroes for tomorrow by Task Force Games is a good jump start for character background, which Traveller itself does an *okay* job, with the career system, but since the 70's Gaming technology / styles have advanced to where players need more...the history, the motivations, etc.

Of course a competent player / GM team can work all of that out, but HfT is really good for giving ideas.

Also Gurps space, for Gurps 3rd ed has a LOT of great ideas, and can be had for 5.00 + shipping on eBay, about once a month.

This week, I was introduced to Atomik Aliens, a pdf that is around 5 or 6 US, downloadable, that discusses aliens in space, it was well worth the money and 3 minutes it took to get it.

I've been refereeing Traveller in one form or another since 1977. It was my first RPG, and still my favorite, although now I play T4, as I like the char gen better. (but I've played every version in print) I moved to T4, after playing MT a bit, and feeling unsatisfied with the space combat.

So, if you have more questions, I lurk here nightly, while I set up my upcoming January GRIP Traveller game on my website.

I'd be interested to see what your campaign plans are.

What kind of game are you planning to run?

Best of luck with it.

 

[jappel]

Welcome aboard, CatKnight!

It sounds as if you don't have your original CT books. In that case, I recommend purchasing two FFE reprint volumes: "The Books" covering books 0-8 and "The Supplements". Those certainly contain everything you need and then some! The other volumes - the Alien modules, the games, the adventures and the JTAS reprints - contain many useful and terrific additions, but you don't absolutely need them.

But if I had to pare it down to the absolute minimum, here's my Cr .02:

- Books 1-3. Obvious.

Available from QLI, the fine folks who host this site (click on the Classic Traveller link way up at the top of the page for their book 1-3 reprint volume).
- Book 4, Mercenary. The single most popular CT book outside the original 3, greatly expanding character generation for Army & Marine characters. Lots of nifty toys too.
- Book 5, High Guard. Expanded character generation for Naval characters, and new ship construction rules that also allow for truly big ships.
- Book 6, Scouts. Expanded chargen for the Scout service. Unfortunately, the expanded star system generation turned out to be flawed scientifically. The MegaTraveller-era "World Builder's Handbook" from DGP fixes the worst of these problems if you can find a copy, or the GURPS Traveller product "First In".
- Book 7, Merchant Prince. Expanded character generation for merchant characters, and some expanded trade rules if memory serves.

From the Supplements:
- Supplement 4, Citizens of the Imperium. 12 more careers including Belters, pirates, scientists and rogues, along with a bunch of pregenerated characters.

These comprise what I consider to be the core of the CT rules system. I must point out that the official Third Imperium setting, often called the 3I or "OTU" (Official Traveller Universe") began to creep into the rules, starting in a minimal sense in Book 4 but in varying amounts in books 5, 6 and 7.

From a straight rules-engine and generic play-aid standpoint, the next items would be:
- Supplement 2, Animal Encounters. Very handy when you've got your characters on-world.
- The rules from Azhanti High Lighting (available in the game of the same name, or the FFE "Games" reprint volume). An improved character-level combat system for Traveller.
- Supplement 6, 76 Patrons. A collection of adventure seeds sometimes now known as "76 Felonies" because many of the tasks involve break-ins, intrusions, smuggling and the like. Just remember that That's How It Was Done back in the '80s.

- Supplement 7, Traders & Gunboats. This one is iffy, but it includes some new ships you might find handy.

If you want to set a game in the Third Imperium setting, a few others will be needed:
- Supplement 3, The Spinward Marches. The frontier sector where Traveller was born and probably the single most popular part of the OTU.
- Supplement 10, The Solomani Rim. For a long time this was the only other sector on which we had official data. A highly-developed and more technologically advanced area.
- Supplemnts 8 and 11, Library Data (A-M and N-Z). Lots of useful information about the OTU.

Also highly recommended (regardless of whether you play in the OTU or not) is the set of miniatures rules, Striker. Striker also contains a vehicle construction system and a bunch of heavier weapons. Often available by itself on e-Bay and the like, or in the FFE "Games" reprint volume.

Unless you've got an easy source for all of these, though, I stand by my original statement - spring for the "Books" and "Supplements" reprint collections from FFE.

Nothing else in CT is really neccesary. The JTAS reprints have a lot of great stuff in them, though, things like variants, explanations of technology, additional information about many of the alien races, adventure ideas, etc. I give these a slight nod over the Adventures and Short Adventures reprints, but those are full of nifty things as well (and some of the adventures are classic for a reason).

You might want to check out some of the threads in this forum and the "In My Traveller Universe" forum for many nifty house rules created by our fellow participants, particularly the ones with "CT+" or "Modern House Rules" in the title.

EDIT: Websites! At the very least check out Freelance Traveller (www.freelancetraveller.com). There are many, many more with tons of useful and interesting stuff.

Still Travelling after 27 years,

John

 

[jappel]

Welcome aboard, CatKnight!

It sounds as if you don't have your original CT books. In that case, I recommend purchasing two FFE reprint volumes: "The Books" covering books 0-8 and "The Supplements". Those certainly contain everything you need and then some! The other volumes - the Alien modules, the games, the adventures and the JTAS reprints - contain many useful and terrific additions, but you don't absolutely need them.

But if I had to pare it down to the absolute minimum, here's my Cr .02:

- Books 1-3. Obvious.

Available from QLI, the fine folks who host this site (click on the Classic Traveller link way up at the top of the page for their book 1-3 reprint volume).
- Book 4, Mercenary. The single most popular CT book outside the original 3, greatly expanding character generation for Army & Marine characters. Lots of nifty toys too.
- Book 5, High Guard. Expanded character generation for Naval characters, and new ship construction rules that also allow for truly big ships.
- Book 6, Scouts. Expanded chargen for the Scout service. Unfortunately, the expanded star system generation turned out to be flawed scientifically. The MegaTraveller-era "World Builder's Handbook" from DGP fixes the worst of these problems if you can find a copy, or the GURPS Traveller product "First In".
- Book 7, Merchant Prince. Expanded character generation for merchant characters, and some expanded trade rules if memory serves.

From the Supplements:
- Supplement 4, Citizens of the Imperium. 12 more careers including Belters, pirates, scientists and rogues, along with a bunch of pregenerated characters.

These comprise what I consider to be the core of the CT rules system. I must point out that the official Third Imperium setting, often called the 3I or "OTU" (Official Traveller Universe") began to creep into the rules, starting in a minimal sense in Book 4 but in varying amounts in books 5, 6 and 7.

From a straight rules-engine and generic play-aid standpoint, the next items would be:
- Supplement 2, Animal Encounters. Very handy when you've got your characters on-world.
- The rules from Azhanti High Lighting (available in the game of the same name, or the FFE "Games" reprint volume). An improved character-level combat system for Traveller.
- Supplement 6, 76 Patrons. A collection of adventure seeds sometimes now known as "76 Felonies" because many of the tasks involve break-ins, intrusions, smuggling and the like. Just remember that That's How It Was Done back in the '80s.

- Supplement 7, Traders & Gunboats. This one is iffy, but it includes some new ships you might find handy.

If you want to set a game in the Third Imperium setting, a few others will be needed:
- Supplement 3, The Spinward Marches. The frontier sector where Traveller was born and probably the single most popular part of the OTU.
- Supplement 10, The Solomani Rim. For a long time this was the only other sector on which we had official data. A highly-developed and more technologically advanced area.
- Supplemnts 8 and 11, Library Data (A-M and N-Z). Lots of useful information about the OTU.

Also highly recommended (regardless of whether you play in the OTU or not) is the set of miniatures rules, Striker. Striker also contains a vehicle construction system and a bunch of heavier weapons. Often available by itself on e-Bay and the like, or in the FFE "Games" reprint volume.

Unless you've got an easy source for all of these, though, I stand by my original statement - spring for the "Books" and "Supplements" reprint collections from FFE.

Nothing else in CT is really neccesary. The JTAS reprints have a lot of great stuff in them, though, things like variants, explanations of technology, additional information about many of the alien races, adventure ideas, etc. I give these a slight nod over the Adventures and Short Adventures reprints, but those are full of nifty things as well (and some of the adventures are classic for a reason).

You might want to check out some of the threads in this forum and the "In My Traveller Universe" forum for many nifty house rules created by our fellow participants, particularly the ones with "CT+" or "Modern House Rules" in the title.

EDIT: Websites! At the very least check out Freelance Traveller (www.freelancetraveller.com). There are many, many more with tons of useful and interesting stuff.

Still Travelling after 27 years,

John

 

[daryen]

What do I consider "essential"?

That's easy: The Traveller Book and The Traveller Adventure.

Unfortunately, they are long, long out of print. Assuming you can't find them for something close to reasonable on eBay (I have not looked in a long time), then that's not a real option. But TTB+TTA is what I consider "Quintessential Traveller".

[The Traveller Book is equivalent to Books 0-3 plus a couple short adventures. The Traveller Adventure is a full merchant campaign plus Vargr racial rules.]

For in-print options, either buy the Books 1-3 reprint mentioned above, or the Books 0-8 reprint you found. I recommend Books 0-8 because you get all of the old Books. Just because you have books 4-8 included in the full reprint doesn't mean you have to *use* them, but they are there if you so desire.

Whichever you get, read it and play around with it. You should get a feel for whether you like CT or not with just that book.

After that, everything is optional. Just pick what you like. Personally, I have bought all of the Classic Reprints volumes, but that was over a period of time. Buying them all at once would be quite an expense.

What order to get them in is purely a personal choice.
- Supplements is a grab-bag of items. It includes additional Book 1 style character careers, two volumes of library data, two volumes of sector information, two volumes of deck plans, and some other stuff of questionable value.
- Adventures gives thirteen adventures. Keep in mind that these are from the "PCs = criminals" time period, so they may or may not fit the type of adventures you are looking for. The significant thing about the Adventures is that much of the setting is actually contained in these adventure backgrounds.
- Short Adventures are another dozen or so shorter adventures. Oddly, despite these being shorter, they are more often than not better than the ones in Adventures.
- Games is a collection of Traveller related board games. Quite frankly, unless you are a completist, you can safely ignore this one, or at least keep it for last.
- JTAS. These are compendiums of the old Journal of the Travellers Aide Society magazines. The first two are verbatum copies, including all of the ads! (This is actually a good thing.) These volumes are where you get to "see" the development of the Traveller Universe. Honestly, even though I love them, you can probably save these for later, unless they really tickle your interest.
- Aliens. Each of these two volumes detail four major (well, except the Darrians; they are minor) races in the Traveller universe. The value of these purely depends on how you want to run your Traveller.

Hope this all helps.

 

[daryen]

What do I consider "essential"?

That's easy: The Traveller Book and The Traveller Adventure.

Unfortunately, they are long, long out of print. Assuming you can't find them for something close to reasonable on eBay (I have not looked in a long time), then that's not a real option. But TTB+TTA is what I consider "Quintessential Traveller".

[The Traveller Book is equivalent to Books 0-3 plus a couple short adventures. The Traveller Adventure is a full merchant campaign plus Vargr racial rules.]

For in-print options, either buy the Books 1-3 reprint mentioned above, or the Books 0-8 reprint you found. I recommend Books 0-8 because you get all of the old Books. Just because you have books 4-8 included in the full reprint doesn't mean you have to *use* them, but they are there if you so desire.

Whichever you get, read it and play around with it. You should get a feel for whether you like CT or not with just that book.

After that, everything is optional. Just pick what you like. Personally, I have bought all of the Classic Reprints volumes, but that was over a period of time. Buying them all at once would be quite an expense.

What order to get them in is purely a personal choice.
- Supplements is a grab-bag of items. It includes additional Book 1 style character careers, two volumes of library data, two volumes of sector information, two volumes of deck plans, and some other stuff of questionable value.
- Adventures gives thirteen adventures. Keep in mind that these are from the "PCs = criminals" time period, so they may or may not fit the type of adventures you are looking for. The significant thing about the Adventures is that much of the setting is actually contained in these adventure backgrounds.
- Short Adventures are another dozen or so shorter adventures. Oddly, despite these being shorter, they are more often than not better than the ones in Adventures.
- Games is a collection of Traveller related board games. Quite frankly, unless you are a completist, you can safely ignore this one, or at least keep it for last.
- JTAS. These are compendiums of the old Journal of the Travellers Aide Society magazines. The first two are verbatum copies, including all of the ads! (This is actually a good thing.) These volumes are where you get to "see" the development of the Traveller Universe. Honestly, even though I love them, you can probably save these for later, unless they really tickle your interest.
- Aliens. Each of these two volumes detail four major (well, except the Darrians; they are minor) races in the Traveller universe. The value of these purely depends on how you want to run your Traveller.

Hope this all helps.

 

[Maladominus]

Here is "The Essential" for CT:

http://www.nobleknight.com/searchresults.asp?search=Traveller%20reprint

Just buy the FFE Reprints called "Books 0-8" (product number FFE001).

It includes the original Books 0-3, plus Mercenary, High Guard, Scouts, Merchant Prince, and I think Robots. You get all that in a single tome, which costs you about $24.95 at NobleKnights Games. Possibly even less if you really wait and hawk around for a bargain on eBay.

For the non-essentials, you can buy the other reprint volumes too. But then again, I only answer your question. You wanted essentials. I tell you only the essential.

Welcome back to the fold, fellow CT-monger!

 

[Maladominus]

Here is "The Essential" for CT:

http://www.nobleknight.com/searchresults.asp?search=Traveller%20reprint

Just buy the FFE Reprints called "Books 0-8" (product number FFE001).

It includes the original Books 0-3, plus Mercenary, High Guard, Scouts, Merchant Prince, and I think Robots. You get all that in a single tome, which costs you about $24.95 at NobleKnights Games. Possibly even less if you really wait and hawk around for a bargain on eBay.

For the non-essentials, you can buy the other reprint volumes too. But then again, I only answer your question. You wanted essentials. I tell you only the essential.

Welcome back to the fold, fellow CT-monger!

 

[Ptah]

Welcome CatKnight

I suggest Books 1-5, but then you might want 6 and 7 so Scouts and Merchants don't get left. If you are interested in the starship battle and construction aspect book 5 is a must for CT.
If you are interested in the mercs and ground combat book 4 and a copy of Striker is recommended.

[EDIT: oops, book 4 for mercs ground combat not book 5 ]

The Books 0-8 reprint suggested above is probably the quickest and most cost effective way to go.

Finally, it seems the greatest resource is this very forum. Let me share a link that was passed onto me by the freindly folks here:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001422

 

[Ptah]

Welcome CatKnight

I suggest Books 1-5, but then you might want 6 and 7 so Scouts and Merchants don't get left. If you are interested in the starship battle and construction aspect book 5 is a must for CT.
If you are interested in the mercs and ground combat book 4 and a copy of Striker is recommended.

[EDIT: oops, book 4 for mercs ground combat not book 5 ]

The Books 0-8 reprint suggested above is probably the quickest and most cost effective way to go.

Finally, it seems the greatest resource is this very forum. Let me share a link that was passed onto me by the freindly folks here:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001422

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I will second jappel's recommendations! LBB1-8 reprint and Supplement reprint - otherwise, his breakdown of each LBB and supplement.

Generally speaking, you can get the reprints from various places online (including eBay - I just got the Alien modules for ~$23 each), and you can get them for less than trying to get the originals on eBay.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I will second jappel's recommendations! LBB1-8 reprint and Supplement reprint - otherwise, his breakdown of each LBB and supplement.

Generally speaking, you can get the reprints from various places online (including eBay - I just got the Alien modules for ~$23 each), and you can get them for less than trying to get the originals on eBay.

 

[mike wightman]

Essential CT?

LBBs 1-4,
Supplement 4.

Then I'd get the short adventures reprint from FFE, and supplement 6: 76 Patrons.

After those get the long adventures FFE collection, The Traveller Adventure, Tarsus and Beltstrike.

Then everything else

 

[mike wightman]

Essential CT?

LBBs 1-4,
Supplement 4.

Then I'd get the short adventures reprint from FFE, and supplement 6: 76 Patrons.

After those get the long adventures FFE collection, The Traveller Adventure, Tarsus and Beltstrike.

Then everything else

 

[binky]

This is one of those "Ask a million people, get a million different answers" type of questions

My take:

Books 1-3 - here for the QLI reprint.

Grab the stuff from this thread and possibly the other 'Modern House Rules' threads in here. Have a look and see if any of it grabs your fancy.

After that, everything else is an extra. If you are a do it yourself kind of person, then the Short Adventures and JTAS reprints would give you a thousand and one jumping off points. If not, then probably the Adventures reprint might be better.

And as has been said before, hang around here. One of the best sources of inspiration going.

- Neil.

 

[binky]

This is one of those "Ask a million people, get a million different answers" type of questions

My take:

Books 1-3 - here for the QLI reprint.

Grab the stuff from this thread and possibly the other 'Modern House Rules' threads in here. Have a look and see if any of it grabs your fancy.

After that, everything else is an extra. If you are a do it yourself kind of person, then the Short Adventures and JTAS reprints would give you a thousand and one jumping off points. If not, then probably the Adventures reprint might be better.

And as has been said before, hang around here. One of the best sources of inspiration going.

- Neil.

 

[jrients]

Books 1-3 are quite sufficient, but I like to add Supplement 4 for some additional civilian careers.

Much of the setting material such as library data and sector maps can be found free on the web, so I'd suggest some adventures would be a next good step. The Adventures reprint has a lot of good material. And the Aliens reprints are great if you want to add some detailed alien races to your game.

 

[jrients]

Books 1-3 are quite sufficient, but I like to add Supplement 4 for some additional civilian careers.

Much of the setting material such as library data and sector maps can be found free on the web, so I'd suggest some adventures would be a next good step. The Adventures reprint has a lot of good material. And the Aliens reprints are great if you want to add some detailed alien races to your game.