The T5 Line (Draft)

[T. Foster]

I've been thinking recently what products I'd like to see in a hypothetical T^5 line, and looking back to this thread realized I'm pretty close to Marc/Avery's proposed line, with a few alterations. Please note that this is my 'Ideal dream-line,' I make no claims towards realistic costs, feasability, or marketability:

1) Traveller: Core rulebook, essentially consisting of a revised CT Books 0-7 (or, rather, MT + Ref Companion), including all necessary rules for play, but very light on background except by way of examples and 'flavor' text. Hardbound, thick (300-400 pp); professional design and layout with color illos on glossy paper, traditional stark black cover with color dust-jacket (like The Traveller Book); including a CD with software automating many of the mechanical processes and a link/sample to something like GRIP to let people play online. Presumably a CD-less version would also be available.

1a) Traveller Starter Edition: A quick-start edition of the game, including simplified rules for char-gen, combat, and tasks, and a couple of sample adventures; something that anyone could sit down and understand in a single evening. Softbound, thin (32-48 pp), b/w illos, cheap!

2) Imperial Encyclopedia: Introducing the OTU setting, history, races, and milieux, providing enough info to allow campaigns in 3 different eras: the Early 3I (circa 200), the Classic 3I (circa 1100), and the Future (circa 1300). Hardbound, thick (300+ pp); b/w illos with color sections illustrating races, uniforms & insignia, etc (like a real encyclopedia). Including a CD with searchable Library Databases by era.

3) Imperial Grand Survey: Maps and data for every sector on the original 1979 Charted Space map. Detailed UWP info and Library Data (bug-checked and modeled for logic and consistency) for the 49 sectors of The Imperium (from the MT-era maps); Atlas of the Imperium-style position maps for other sectors. Including UWPs for Imperial 1st & 2nd Surveys and guidelines for adjusting the numbers for other Eras. Hardbound, thick; b/w (minimal artwork) with full-color poster-sized map of Charted Space (with pixel-sized system placements). Including CD with database of UWPs for all systems (including those not detailed in the book itself).

4) Technical Architecture: Super-detailed Gearhead design sequences for everything including the kitchen sink, as well as all manner of alternate-universe technologies (mecha, warp-drive, matter transporters, FTL communicators, nanotech, etc). Hardbound, thick, technical-schematic drawings but no real illos, looking like a college engineering textbook; including a CD with software automating the design sequences.

5) Compleat Book of Gear: Sears-catalog type book chock full of weapons, vehicles, ships, miscellaneous gear, lifestyle info, and flavor text divided by TL from 5 to 16+. Softbound, thick (200+ pp), color illos on glossy paper, like a store catalog.

6) Compleat Book of Characters: Advanced options for character generation, including Book 4-7-style extended sequences, details for pre-career childhood, sample homeworlds, contacts/friends/enemies, advantages/disadvantages, and all manner of other trivia to keep players busy and add color to campaigns. Softbound, 64-128 pp, b/w illos; possibly including a CD automating some of the mechanics.

7) Adventure 1 - The Epic: Detailed epic-style campaign game (in the tradition of The Traveller Adventure) which can keep a group occupied for months and at the end they feel like they've really accomplished something. Softbound, thick (200+ pp), b/w illos but including cool player handouts and probably a poster-sized foldout of some kind.

8) Adventure 2 - Anthology: Similar in size to Adventure 1, but with a dozen or more short adventures rather than one huge one. New anthologies could be produced for each Era, or each style of game (Mercenary, Free Trader, Diplomacy, Scout, etc).

Games:
Snapshot (small scale man-to-man)
Striker (moderate to large-scale man-to-man)
Mayday (small to moderate size ship to ship)
Theater of War (strategic scale, compatible with Imperium)
All of these games would be dual-format, including the necessary rules and parts to play on a tabletop, but also including software to play on a computer, either solitaire or online.

Sundries:
Imperial sunburst Traveller-dice
Traveller miniatures (to-scale ships, 25mm characters, 15mm (or smaller) troops & vehicles)
Fiction (novels and/or anthologies)
Hats, t-shirts, patches
Coffee-mugs, mousepads, binders
Posters, calendars
etc.

Combined with the adaptable material from GT and T^20, as well as other theoretical Trav-licensees (each of whom could be given an Era, like the original CT sector-grab), we'd have as much Traveller as we'd ever need.

Now all we need is someone to finance, and people to write and/or code all of it. Coming up with pie-in-the-sky ideas is easy, executing them's the hard part. After all, the proposed T4 line from early '96 looked a lot like this.

 

[William]

My own preference would be to see a cross between the presentation of MT and CT.

From CT take the LBB format as it is quite nice - I got reminded of that by the recent Hero Wars game. The small paper back sized book drops into many places that a traditonal sized game book won't - from BDU trouser pockets to student backpacks to brief cases. For that same reason I prefer dead tree format over pdf's or (shudder) html. A cd of the material included with the books or available for separate purchase is much better in my mind.

The thing to learn from MT (aside from how not to proof read

) is the split of the material between player, referee, and milleau. (Again, the recent Hero Wars did this very well.) It's a good thing in my experiance to tell someone to only risk a smaller amount of money on an untried game.

So I'd love to see three 256 page LBB's as the basic set:

1) Players Handbook:
Intro, characters, skills, tasks, combat, psi, listings of goodies: equiptment, vehicles, star ships with the usual suspects (Beowulf, Marava, Suliman) having decent deck plans. (But not the equiptment/vehicle creation rules.)

2) Referee's Handbook:
Detail for the task & combat system. Perhaps a mass combat system. How to: systems, vehicles, critters, and hiring of Jim MacLean for a real trade and economics system (IOW to backport GT:FT to T5).

3) Basic Milleau Book:
History of the Imperium - from Grandfathers birth to what ever is the absolute latest you've ever hallucinated. Say at least as far forward from the 3I as the 3I is from Grandfather. Library data - perhaps from M200 since that's been bandied about as the basic T5 milleau. Outline of the Imperiums structure. Some of the myths (secular primarily) that the people believe and keep them struggling for what they believe.

These are just rough ideas.

Another, quite serious possilbilty is a LBB sized reprint of The Traveller Book (using T5 rules) and The Traveller Adventure as a single volume. Guh knows, I'd pay good money for that. The only thing that keeps me from being as gung-ho for CT as most of the rest of "The Lifers" is the lack of a task system. Plug in T5 and I might even forget that $%#%@ half-die...

But quite seriously, the epic of the March Harrier has given me more success in hooking new players than anything. A running battle - that you can actually win - against a megacorp that makes IBM or Exxon look like pikers - There's something very powerful in that story for most modern Americans. Give that to us again in some form and the rules are bleaking near irrelevent.

William
--
You better watch out What you wish for;
It better be worth it So much to die for.
Courtney Love

 

[Ben W Bell]

I'd think it would definitely be best to produce a detailed thick milieu book for Classic,MT era. And maybe a smaller one for Milieu 0.
After that how about one largish history of the imperium book covering these other eras in enough detail to run a campaign and provide details, but small enough to fit several into one book.
Also who currently owns the rights to the old DGP supplements which contained much good information on Aliens.

 

[TCHarrison]

I propose that you make stuff available for Palms. Make your own viewer program that will read the files. You can mark files as secure, and make it so they can't be beamed to anyone else, only HotSync'd to the Palm. This way, there's less chance of someone getting it without permission.

For one thing, the Palm IIIc HotSync cradle has messed up my father's computer good and has caused me problems. The only solution seems to be to rarely have it on, and only when you're going to use it.

------------------
-J. Jensen

[This message has been edited by TCHarrison (edited 01 July 2001).]

 

[Blue Ghost]

Myself, I don't want to spend gobs of money just learning all the ins and outs, and other intricate details, of the neo-Traveller incarnation. I know this is how Traveller has always been marketed, but I find it annoying that I have to buy a supplement to get rules on how to solve something like "Bow and Arrow" weapons, or some other obscure thing.

I want Adventures more than anything else. A system like D&D, in its early and middle aged AD&D incarnations, relied on adventures to keep a player base. I remember dozens and dozens and dozens more of D&D and AD&D moduals being published by TSR and other companies, but I only recall a few basic books. Later as D&D expanded they added more books, bu I was turned off by the system because I had to spend more money.

I'm not broke, nor poor, I just think this is a really poor commentary to on the authors to have to parse out the rules in a kind of "Pay to Play" format (not unlike some online RPGs I know).

I know I don't have to buy every single modual, but it'd be nice to be able to go to a friends house and not have to spend an hour or so looking up the "Newest, hottest, and latest" rule-book/supplement so I can play tonight's adventure.

I like people's thoughts regarding Mega-Traveller. For myself that system had huge potential, as tasks and combat were kept clear, but still had a level of detail and complexity that didn't detract from the game, nor caused one to contstantly flip through the rulebook.

Additionally Mega-Traveller had a higher degree of simulation in terms of task and interpersonal combat resolution (i.e. a hit with a weapon didn't mean damage to the opponent, it just meant the opponent had been struck, damage being resolved independently).

But getting back to adventures: Adventures I'd like to see;

Adventures set in the "South East" and "Eastern" portions of the map. A.K.A. Hiver/K'Kree country. It seemed like during my high school days most of our gaming group spent our time in Regina, or near Vargr space. We never had a chance to deal with a K'Kree or Hiver. Zhondani and Vargr, on the other hand, were abundant.

Adventures with tension;
Annic Nova was a real snorer, as were a couple of other of the Clasic Adventures. Myself, I like a good puzzle, but Annic Nova and others of the ilk, didn't offer much of any challange. "Across the Bright Face" was another adventure that seemed to lack umph. And by umph I don't neccesarily mean combat either, although I will admit that my particular group could be blood thirsty from time to time.

Adventures that take the group to unique places;
So like I'd tell my gaming group, when I ran the adventure; "So here you are, at Efate in the Regina subsector....yadda yadda yadda..." I tried getting my group to go other places, and we did, but there simply weren't enough adventures to keep our interest. Particularly when I tried to cajole them into travelling to the Imperial Capital; "Law level what?!?!? You've got to be kidding me! Why are we jumping around civilized space again?" And so it went.

Adventures with color;
I always thought there was a real bland flavor to CT and MT. What do I mean by that? It was left up to the referee to create the flavor and feel of a planet on occasion; i.e. how things looked, the architecture, fashions, weather, traffic and such. This verse a generic Fantasy Role Playing game modual which often goes into great artistic detail to describe the environment in terms of asthetics. Traveller could use a more little of this, but in moderation.

Things I don't want (or rather won't buy);

Large games; things like "The Fifth Frontier War" or "Invasion Earth". I'm actually a wargamer by trade, so it seems illogical that I wouldn't like these types of publications, but unless my characters are admirals or generals, I don't see the use for them. And on that note I regret buying Invasion Earth for this very reason.

Ancillary Products; key chains, buttons, t-shirts (well, maybe one t-shirt). I'm just not that hardcore a gamer or fan.

That's about all I have. I look forward to the classic Alien Modual reprints and Traveller's new incarnation.

 

[MT++]

LBB's!
LBB's!
LBB's!

Small, portable.
Sell 'em as individual books and in a deluxe set. Include a map of the new domain

 

[Shadow Bear]

LLB is the preferred format for any Traveller rules. I also wish to see CD-ROMs for starship design, character/NPC generation, sector and world generation.

Take devlopments taht have been good for AD&D (lots of adventures and source books, CDs) and forget the massive hardcover books and massive rule changes (like 3rd edition).

Starship designs should be available in an eletronic format as well as in the normal paper format. Profantasy has great software for starship design and a free downloadable viewer/printer. This would greatly encourage design and modification allowing for a rich variety of vessels.

The Fifth Frontier War was glossed over much to quickly. It would be a rich source of combat adventures.

Stay with one time period rather than try to support several.

NO VIRUS!!!! What ever time period you choose to support do not include the vampire virus.

 

[Artikid]

LBB's and Psionic Suppressions as Milieu

 

[kafka47]

It looks great but I don't think we are likely to see it soon. Look at the nightmare of the reprints. Presumbly, Marc has everything in his library or at least could borrow it from Swordy. Yet look at how long it takes to get them out.

 

[laning]

This thread seems to have developed into something it probably wasn't intended to be. But I'll go with the flow.

As long as people are commenting on the quality of old adventures, yes I think they were too thin on local information. It's fine to leave the details of plot for the referee to handle. In fact, that's good, because if an adventure is too scripted then it's almost certain that players will deviate from that script quite a lot. The referee should have the latitude to improvise responses to the players in a way that will still allow them to remain within the parameters of the adventure. But the lack of description of local settings and cultures takes a lot away from the sense of having Travelled to somewhere alien and different. When each new adventure came out, I was filled with hope, only to be disappointed in this regard. Illos and maps would help, too, but I realize how that can eat into production costs.

The other big problem with published adventures as they were usually approached was what I call the "Star Trek Syndrome".

Each planet in Star Trek seemed to be inhabited by one populace. The mining planet. The resort planet. You get the idea. Each planet seemed to have one town (two, if there was a war), one culture, and one government. The climate was the same all over. Flora and fauna were the same all over. One language and one dialect for everybody. For Star Trek, not only lack of imagination was the excuse, but also lack of funds for sets and FX. Adventure writers have more forgiving deadlines and effectively and unlimited budget for sets and FX.

The one thing that the active referee needs most when trying to provide players with a full and believable universe is an abundant supply of ideas to describe alien places, people, things, and events. In fact, it's not humanly possible for even Harlan Ellison or Isaac Asimov to spawn ideas at a fast enough rate and in sufficient detail. More than plot ideas, I look to adventures to provide fleshed-out settings. Ninety-nine percent of referees get their plot ideas from class or not-so-classic movies, books, and comics anyway. Although it was well done for what it was, we didn't really need a John D. McDonald mystery as a published adventure. Annic Nova was a little more like what we needed, because it provided something new and alien. (Unfortunately, we fans have uncovered some major continuity problems between what is implied in Annic Nova and the rest of the rules, but that can be avoided in future by running the adventure past a critical editor and playtesters for awhile.)

I'd like to see an entire source book describing Regina. That would be a great start. Also, other key places. Most Travellers want to make a beeline for Darrian as soon as they learn there's a place with ubertech. That place could use major fleshing out.

A good sourcebook on Starports would be nice, as well. Something comparable to the Starship Operators Manual, but describing starport operations and administration, with maps of typical Class A, B, C, etc. starports.

There is still an amazing amount of guesswork and speculation out there about how legal jurisdictions and political authority are divided between local and Imperial governments. I'd like to see a good sourcebook/adventure that explains and shows how those things work. It should probably include visits to an archduke's capitol, a duke's, and so on.

8.5 by 11 not LBB. Less page-flipping involved when looking for something. I do have a sentimental attachment to LBB, but practicality outweighs that by a lot. Besides, the bigger format uses less shelf space, and we're already drowning in books around here. Color-coded stripes down the outside edge of pages might help too. Tables of Contents should definitely indicate page numbers for charts, tables, maps, and illos.

Anytime a description of a rule or procedure goes on for more than a paragraph, there should be a quick-reference, checklist summary of the rule at the beginning of that rule section, also.

As for the structure of the line, pretty close to what I'd like to see. Unfortunately, after clicking the Reply link, I'm unable to view the original post without going back, and probably losing everything I've typed already.

All combat rules should be in the players' manual. Construction rules should be there also, or be in their own manual, but should definitely not be in the referees' manual. The referees' manual should be things like creating worlds, creating encounters, etc. Referee-only material, in other words.

Go ahead and offer a fairly simple ship design system as well as a more complex one, both in the player's manual (or their own standalone manual, whatever). Use CT ship design for the simple one, not QSDS! Just redo the computer rules. I know several people who would definitely be Traveller fans but they literally could never get past the hulking big computers with no computing power and ridiculous price tags. Use pretty much MT ship design for the more advanced stuff. Tweak the ship construction and operation rules a little so that both large established shipping lines and small, independent tramps will make economic sense. I don't fully agree with the critics, but there are a lot of people who feel that the existing rules don't provide any economic incentive whatsoever to interstellar trade. Just tweak the rules a little, it won't take much. The folks who halve jump fuel requirements may have implemented sufficient tweakage already.

If you're going to monkey starship rules, give serious consideration to dramatic price changes in some areas. Perhaps it should be relatively commonplace to afford a ship hull, slow maneuver drive, and basic control and navigation gear enough by at least TL 12. And not that much more expensive to get jump capability. Perhaps orders of magnitude cheaper than the existing rules. But, to get anything more than basic performance should start getting expensive. And weapons even more so. Or, perhaps not. It's just something to think about.

Thanks for listening, everyone. Including Marc, I hope. :->

--Laning

 

[Takei]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by laning:


I'd like to see an entire source book describing Regina. That would be a great start. Also, other key places. Most Travellers want to make a beeline for Darrian as soon as they learn there's a place with ubertech. That place could use major fleshing out.

A good sourcebook on Starports would be nice, as well. Something comparable to the Starship Operators Manual, but describing starport operations and administration, with maps of typical Class A, B, C, etc. starports.

There is still an amazing amount of guesswork and speculation out there about how legal jurisdictions and political authority are divided between local and Imperial governments. I'd like to see a good sourcebook/adventure that explains and shows how those things work. It should probably include visits to an archduke's capitol, a duke's, and so on.

Thanks for listening, everyone. Including Marc, I hope. :->

--Laning<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Have you looked at any of the GURPS: Traveller books? There is a series of 32 page 'comic' sized books called Planetary Survey. Each one deals with just one planet or system.
There is also the excellent Starports book, dealing with lots of starport operation details. This is just about my all time favourite Traveller book, just nudging GT:Far Trader into second place.

------------------
Paul

[This message has been edited by Takei (edited 12 October 2001).]

 

[Gallowglass]

The Planetary surveys are really rather good. I've got several, and they are to my mind about the right level of information with some nice touches, like the suggestions for adapting to "darker" and "lighter" campaigns.

 

[kafka47]

Here is another vote for the Planetary Surveys. However, in keeping with the Traveller tradition, I would prefer if they were system surveys rather than simply the main world. The best so far is Glisten which is written by seasoned Traveller writer James Mazenski. They form a nice bridge between the sector guides, unlikely we are going to see more of those until T20 and the regular rules. What I would really like to see is a supplement on the Third Imperium itself.


All those interested in getting Marc to write a Planetary Survey add your vote to the thread located elsewhere.

 

[TheDS]

LBBs are out.

Here's why:

Have you looked at any of the other books, like what came with MT, TNE, T4, GT, etc? Have you noticed that at 8.5x11 they're pretty big? The TNE book alone encroaches on 400 pages and 3/4 of an inch thick! You want to make a LBB 3/4" thick?

The LBBs were so conveniently small because there was not much in them. Each succeeding version of Traveller has more and more information to put out. (GT assumes you already own Gurps Basic Set, making the two together pretty darn big!)

Now maybe some of this stuff could be trimmed down a little; after all, part of the reason the LBBs were small was because there was hardly any background info; you had to invent the Imperium yourself!

A 256 page LBB would NOT be a convenient size. You think those Battletech Technical Readout books are annoying to stack in your bookshelf or carrying case? They're not even half as thick.

8.5x11 is the only way to go.

CDs:

Must have. The Atlas can have every world anyone has ever appeared in canon, and can have them selectable by timeframe. Playing in the Hiver Federation during M0? Can do. Playing Solomani Rim War and wanna see what those Vargr extents are up to? Can do. Wanna watch the ebb and flow of empires or worlds over the course of 10,000 years? Can do.

And on top of that, the map should be scrollable, like you would do any decent wargame. Dune2000, Civ, Total Annahilation, you get the idea. (If you don't, go to www.mapstream.com for a clue.) No longer should we have to look cross-eyed at maps to see whether two stars in adjoining sub sectors or sectors are within jump range.

Library data works the same way. Each entry has a timeframe that it's accurate for. Looking up Terra in 1100 and -1100 will give you two fairly different library entries.

Published weapons and starships and vehicles and all that are easily updated. Remember having to put the heat back into plasma? Remember all those times you had to edit the construction examples in FFS1? If all this stuff is on a CD, people need only check for updates from time to time, and it's also real easy to update the CDs themselves on the shelves. Going to a new combat system that obsoleces everything? No problem. Put the new files on the the new CDs and mount the new CDs on the cover. (Of course, major changes like this may require the offering of replacement CDs at nominal ($10) prices.)

If the book needs errata... Wait a second, when has Traveller material EVER needed errata?.... But if that ever happens, no need to publish a whole new book (unless you've got a LOT of it), you just include it on the CDs!

The CD has the tools to construct your own devices. Joe-Shmoe won't know how to use it unless he buys FFS3, but that's ok.

Next thing you know, all those websites that have 2 or 10 ships or guns published are going to be exploding with designs. FFE will add "official" designs weekly to the website.

...

And that's the magic of CDs. Now if only I knew how to program...

------------------
Happiness is a warm Meson Gun.

 

[aramis]

LBB's:

I like the idea of smaller than 8x11. The Trade Paperback 6x10 is a nice format... small enoguh to work with one-handed, and yet big enough to not be too terribly thick.

Perfect-bind is more properly "Destructo-bind"; it has one advantage: I can slice it cleanly, and put it into comb-bindings. My MT spare is soon to find its way to rebinding.

CD: if the data is anything other than PDF, HTML, or ASCII, it rules out the non-wintel crowd... ISO9660, with Mac, Linux, and Wintel engines for the driver would be good.

T:20 and GT: Anything which successfully brings new players to the OTU is good. Anything which changes the OTU drastically is bad. GT does the latter, but at least its not OTU, but OGTTU. T20 is still OTU as far as I can tell at current... but a lot hinges on further debates in the playtest... But adapting from the GT Aliens is just begging for trouble - the races there are not always in a traveller light, and the Real Traveller needs its OWN canon for the majors, and notable minors (Which, to my mind, include the Dolphins, Virush, Newt, Seurrat, Geonee, Vegans, Chimps, Orangs, and Gorrillas; not all of which have seen CG yet).

Task System: There should be several to choose from. (I'm going to use the MT or T:2300 style of resolution no matter what is in the T5 rules: I can tweak it's stat-skill ballance, it works well, and is easy to teach people to use.

------------------
-aramis
=============================================
Smith & Wesson: The Original Point and Click interface!

 

[Gallowglass]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by TheDS:
LBBs are out.

Here's why:

Have you looked at any of the other books, like what came with MT, TNE, T4, GT, etc? Have you noticed that at 8.5x11 they're pretty big? The TNE book alone encroaches on 400 pages and 3/4 of an inch thick! You want to make a LBB 3/4" thick?

The LBBs were so conveniently small because there was not much in them. Each succeeding version of Traveller has more and more information to put out. (GT assumes you already own Gurps Basic Set, making the two together pretty darn big!)

Now maybe some of this stuff could be trimmed down a little; after all, part of the reason the LBBs were small was because there was hardly any background info; you had to invent the Imperium yourself!

A 256 page LBB would NOT be a convenient size. You think those Battletech Technical Readout books are annoying to stack in your bookshelf or carrying case? They're not even half as thick.

8.5x11 is the only way to go.

<snip>
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually, the comparison with the other versions of Traveller is probably the biggest argument in favour of LBB's... given the irritating swathes of padding, pointless guff and or bad fiction that caused some later editions to swell to preposterous size. I have always suspected that one of the reasons for some peoples dislike of TNE is the fact that it feels like such a con: a rule book THAT big, that I paid SO much for, and it contains SO little, apart from and endlessly looped catechism about how nasty the wilds are, how stupid the 3I was for allowing things to be destroyed and how only REAL men (TM, with big Guns... and preferably big muscles... and did I mention big Guns?) could create the future of Humanity...

OK that characture is unfair, but ALL the later version of Traveller IMO put too much "guff" in the core rulebook. The true beauty of most highly playable role-playing RULES is that they can be written up in very little space. Even TNE (my least favourite version of thr Traveller Rules) can be explained in only a few pages.

So I for one would rather see a set of LBB's with a coherent, clean and elegant set of core rules. Save the burglar stunning tomes for the settings.

 

[Takei]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gallowglass:
<snip>
OK that characture is unfair, but ALL the later version of Traveller IMO put too much "guff" in the core rulebook. The true beauty of most highly playable role-playing RULES is that they can be written up in very little space. Even TNE (my least favourite version of thr Traveller Rules) can be explained in only a few pages.

So I for one would rather see a set of LBB's with a coherent, clean and elegant set of core rules. Save the burglar stunning tomes for the settings.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is why my favourite Traveller book (after the Traveller Book) is the FFE 000 reprint that came with GRIP Traveller. Books 1-3 The Basic Books. There's a short story by Martin J Dougherty and then Books 1-3, all in a single volume with a nice colour cover. No background, no guff, just the simple basic LBB rules.

------------------
Paul

 

[kafka47]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>There's a short story by Martin J Dougherty and then Books 1-3, all in a single volume with a nice colour cover. No background, no guff, just the simple basic LBB rules.

[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would have to go against what seems to be a majority sediment. I seem to like Traveller for its background story. The Imperial Campaign for all its flaws seem to provide a huge canvas for adventure. I would support a basic ruleset only if it came with some called: Milieu 1110: The Antebellium of the Third Imperium.

I guess that is why I like the MT rules so much, it load rules with a milieu packed sourcebook. (Imperial Encyclopedia & Rebellion Sourcebook). The Classic Traveller was too expensive to track down (until the reprints) so I mainly relied upon the material contained within the Traveller Book & Traveller Adventure for background on the 3I. So until DGP came around my knowledge of the Imperium was pretty scarce.

 

[Takei]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by kafka47:
I would have to go against what seems to be a majority sediment. I seem to like Traveller for its background story. The Imperial Campaign for all its flaws seem to provide a huge canvas for adventure. I would support a basic ruleset only if it came with some called: Milieu 1110: The Antebellium of the Third Imperium.

I guess that is why I like the MT rules so much, it load rules with a milieu packed sourcebook. (Imperial Encyclopedia & Rebellion Sourcebook). The Classic Traveller was too expensive to track down (until the reprints) so I mainly relied upon the material contained within the Traveller Book & Traveller Adventure for background on the 3I. So until DGP came around my knowledge of the Imperium was pretty scarce.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I also like the Imperium background, but preferred CT because it kept the rules and background seperate. The Traveller Book done a very nice job of giving some background and aventure seeds that could be integrated into any campaign or used as a starting point for the Imperium. Combined with the Traveller Adventure it was even better.

------------------
Paul

 

[aramis]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Takei:
I also like the Imperium background, but preferred CT because it kept the rules and background seperate. The Traveller Book done a very nice job of giving some background and aventure seeds that could be integrated into any campaign or used as a starting point for the Imperium. Combined with the Traveller Adventure it was even better.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

back in the early 80's, I recieved The Traveller Book, and Deluxe Traveller, as christmas presents (simultaneously from my parents). For what it is worth, I was the first player in the traveller group I was playing with to actually own a copy of said rules (Rick, our then GM, was essentially forced to buy a copy at that point... his eidesis wassn't THAT good... he had been running from a hand copied dup of the CT Cgen and Combat tables.)

DT was mostly rules, but at least it included a full secotr. TTB had several good adventures. I still use my TTB as a reference; the DT books are long since lost (and replaced several times).

But for me, the best CT product was undoubtedly the Traveller Adventure, followed closely by MegaTraveller. Lots of setting stuff, some rules stuff, and a whopping good campaign (which I've reused in all editions EXCEPT GT).

I like a setting overview in the core rules, but a ruleset which covers more than just the core setting. Something which never seems to come up any more. The "White Wolf Revolution" was as bad as it was good; it caused many gamers to think more story-oriented (good) and most designers to think "Shloads of setting-specific rules" (BAD).

For what it is worth, I think the D&D3E core rules have about the right ballance.

------------------
-aramis
=============================================
Smith & Wesson: The Original Point and Click interface!