13Mann's Robot book

[Infojunky]

So any opinions?

I am building miniatures and would like better rules for supplying statistics than exist in book9 robots.

 

[dragoner]

It's great, more in depth crunch of building robots, with a lot of examples; book 9 is interesting for it's over all sociological view.

 

[Infojunky]

Cool, I was hoping for something more like vehicles 5-6 with Robots book 9, and I have been hemming and hawing over getting it for a whiles....

I am in the process of writing a new campaign and robots, rogue robots and their relatives keep popping up.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

It's not bad. An OK approach to robotic design (different in subtle details from Book 9... but very good nonetheless).

A different way to skin the cat.

 

[mechascorpio]

I bought it about a month ago, and here's what I posted over on the Google+ Traveller Community about 13Mann's ROBOTS (tl:dr = get it!):

Although it's for Mongoose Traveller, this is not Mongoose's Book 9: Robot ($11.99, 100 pages), which primarily focused on robots as Player Characters and had (IMO) a disappointing and flawed design system that still needs errata. ROBOTS ($19.47, 125 pages) is a completely different book with a different approach. The best way to illustrate this is to detail the contents:

• Full Table of Contents (PDF is fully bookmarked)
  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ROBOTS (Robots in the 3I, outside of the 3I, Zhodani, Ancients, Solomani, Corporations, Hiver, 2000 Worlds, etc.)
  3. CAREERS (Three related careers for PCs: Robot Specialist, Cyberdoc, and Programmer)
  4. HOW TO BUILD A COMPUTER/ROBOT (one page outlining the steps of the Computer and Robot Design Sequences)
  5. COMPUTERS (everything related to designing your hardware and software, networks, digital personalities, AI, Hacking etc.)
  6. ROBOTS AND DRONES (Difference between Robots and Drones, and the descriptions, TLs, prices, functions, etc. of all the components)
  7. SAMPLE ROBOTS (37 sample robots over 30 pages, everything from Hiver Translator, Zhodani Combat Robot, Construction Robot, Survey Drones, etc.)
  8. NANOBOTS (Construction, Abilities, etc.)
  9. CYBORGS (Creating, Complications, Aging, etc.)
  10. CYBERNETIC AND BIOLOGICAL AUGMENTS
  11. DESIGNING ROBOTS & COMPUTERS (Suggestions for types of robots and considerations)
  12. ROBOTS AS CHARACTERS
  13. INTERESTING NPCs related to robot-oriented storylines, including a Hiver!
  APPENDIX (Equipment/component reference tables organized by TL for Computers, Robots and Augments)
  Full 2 Page Index

A few points:

I have only been reading through it, I have not tested the mechanics or the construction system, so I can't say "Unlike Book 9, this works." But based on a read-through, it does appear to be solid. (UPDATE: I did give it a spin, have not run into any problems)

There's a lot more content here than in CT Book 8, MegaTraveller Robots, or Mongoose Book 9: Robots. And as you can see, by dealing with nanobots, cyborgs, computers, augments, etc., it's covering a lot more territory.

Yes, it has been translated from German to English and chances are, if no one had told you that, you wouldn't even know. The translation is impeccable and eloquent.

It is packed with references to the place of robots throughout the Third Imperium, and not so much a generic approach. I do not commit 3I minutiae to memory so I have no idea if it is all based on pre-established canon, or fits with canon. It reads well, though, and I doubt the writers (Rouven Weinbach and Tobias Freund) were making much, if anything, up. Based on the Introduction, the authors know their Traveller. At the same time, as someone who does not play in the 3I, I would not hesitate to use these rules as my guidance for robots in any period.

Art is minimal but serviceable, as is the layout. Choice of fonts and the overall two-column layout is readable, but a bit boring. Fortunately, this is really the only bad thing I can say about it so far. It was $20 very well-spent, and I wouldn't be at all disappointed if Mongoose scrapped their previous release and replaced it with this (if for no other reason than to have it in print!)

 

[Wil Mireu]

Where does this book fit in the grand scheme of things? Is it a licensed product? Do we have someone else producing OTU material now?

EDIT: It's available on DTRPG - http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/112590/Traveller-ROBOTS

Is any of it OGL?

 

[Infojunky]

Good Questions.....

 

[rust]

Where does this book fit in the grand scheme of things? Is it a licensed product? Do we have someone else producing OTU material now?

13 Mann has the German license for the Mongoose Traveller material.
They publish both German translations of the Mongoose Traveller stuff
and (some) original Traveller material. Their robots supplement is the
first of their original products that was translated into English. At least
for the Traveller players in Germany all of the 13 Mann's Traveller pub-
lications are "OTU canonical", but I am not sure what the status is el-
sewhere.

 

[Wil Mireu]

Thanks - what other original material have they published (in German) that could add to the setting?

 

[rust]

Thanks - what other original material have they published (in German) that could add to the setting?

Until now about a dozen adventures, world descriptions and
thelike as free downloads, and they will (probably) soon pub-
lish a major adventure, "Hephaistos".

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Although the '3rd Imperium' OTU as a setting is not for me, I liked this book (I just ignored any mention of OTU stuff).

It is, as far as I can see, a reasonably solid set of mechanics. There probably is some minor issue somewhere lurking, but as yet, I have not found it.

It is a different way of approaching the subject, and for me, using this and MGT 'Robots' together seems to be the way to go (one book chiefly for flavour and minor material, the other... this one... for the majority of basic mechanics).

 

[Infojunky]

Guys thanks for the answers I will now just have to pony up my cash and see for myself....

 

[Trantor]

13Mann is going to produce more and more own adventures for Traveller - and we will also translate them one by one for the english-speaking Traveller players.

Grüße

Chris, product manager Traveller @13Mann

 

[dragoner]

Great news.

Thanks!

 

[Prime_Evil]

13Mann is going to produce more and more own adventures for Traveller - and we will also translate them one by one for the english-speaking Traveller players.

Grüße

Chris, product manager Traveller @13Mann

Awesome - Robots was a really good book and I look forward to seeing more

 

[Infojunky]

Man, I really am now feeling my cash-flow issues.... I am such a geek...

 

[Burocrate]

I tired a 'loose' google search to view book covers and followed the link provided below; obviously more going on here on Terra than I was aware of, such as Vargr press confrences.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japan_Expo_13_-_MAN_WITH_A_MISSION_-_2012-0705-_P1400915.jpg