Core Book Index in Traveller Companion?

[TrippyHippy]

One common complaint from fans, myself included, is that there is no Index in any of the Traveller 2nd Edition line to date. It does, I have to say, make some rules referencing difficult from books during gameplay.

With the production of all four core books done, and their still apparently being some work still to do on the mooted Companion book, would it be worthwhile to create a detailed Master Index for all the core books to be found in the Companion? Would their be support for this from fans? Would their be a will from Mongoose to make it happen?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I never know what the thing I'm looking for is called. So indexes are useless to me. And I don't want a wall of page numbers filling up a book. A table of contents at the beginning is fine though, to remind me what each chapter is about.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Well, that's one opinion of somebody who doesn't like to use an index (in any reference book!?).

Is there anybody who does make use of indexes in reference books have any opinion?

 

[twodsix]

Indexes are hella useful, especially out of game. Instead of knowing roughly what section I want then flipping through it I can go to the index, get the page (or set of pages) it's on, flip there and scan for the heading.

I've generally found indexes useless when they're bad indexes. Sure, I might not know exactly what I want, but I know the general thing and need a pointer. I can scan down the Table of Contents and try to see it, or I can go to a nice alphabetical list of topics and know roughly where to look in it.

The other day I wanted to look up the 1e falling rules, so I flipped to the index, found page 74, and got the rules. Less than a minute. If I had to use the table of contents I'd know it's somewhere within Encounters and Dangers but not where, and even if it listed sub topics I've got no way to know where it is in Environmental Dangers. A good couple of minutes just to find a rule without using the index.

 

[TrippyHippy]

So, I'm talking about a really good index - that spans all the core books as a useful tool. Possibly akin to the indexes used in GURPS, for example.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Indexes are hella useful, especially out of game. Instead of knowing roughly what section I want then flipping through it I can go to the index, get the page (or set of pages) it's on, flip there and scan for the heading.

I've generally found indexes useless when they're bad indexes. Sure, I might not know exactly what I want, but I know the general thing and need a pointer. I can scan down the Table of Contents and try to see it, or I can go to a nice alphabetical list of topics and know roughly where to look in it.

The other day I wanted to look up the 1e falling rules, so I flipped to the index, found page 74, and got the rules. Less than a minute. If I had to use the table of contents I'd know it's somewhere within Encounters and Dangers but not where, and even if it listed sub topics I've got no way to know where it is in Environmental Dangers. A good couple of minutes just to find a rule without using the index.

AD&D 1e has every page number listed in the book. I rarely use the index though because playing the game gets you familiar with where everything is. And if it is a book I am reading for the first time, I just skim through it, or read the book if it is that interesting without first looking at an index for something I think the game rules should have.

So, I'm talking about a really good index - that spans all the core books as a useful tool. Possibly akin to the indexes used in GURPS, for example.

They border on the dreaded indexes used by the new Shadowrun.

 

[AndrewW]

So, I'm talking about a really good index - that spans all the core books as a useful tool. Possibly akin to the indexes used in GURPS, for example.

Could also be an index released as a stand alone PDF.

 

[Linwood]

.Could also be an index released as a stand alone PDF.

I like this better. Easier to update with new revisions.

 

[TrippyHippy]

So, I'm talking about a really good index - that spans all the core books as a useful tool. Possibly akin to the indexes used in GURPS, for example.

Could also be an index released as a stand alone PDF.

Possibly quite useful in itself - especially if free. I am a completist, however, so including it in a printed text as part of a set of core books would still be nice for me. Moreover, has the decisions already been made on what will be in/out of the Companion yet anyway? If there is room to put it in, why wouldn't you?