Essential books?
- Thread starter nats
- Start date
Depends lot on the setting/style you want to play. I'd say only the core rules are really essential! But maybe if you have something specific in mind, another book, e.g. a career book, might be useful.
Back in 1985 I had the Traveller Book, which was essentially core rules plus two short adventures, and that served me fine. At one stage I got Mercenary and High Guard, spent days trying to work out what was the point of them, before deciding they were useless.
Back in 1985 I had the Traveller Book, which was essentially core rules plus two short adventures, and that served me fine. At one stage I got Mercenary and High Guard, spent days trying to work out what was the point of them, before deciding they were useless.
Jak Nazryth
Mongoose
I would include at least one of the source books depending on what part of the cannon universe your campaign is set. As DFW pointed out, you can use the Spinward Marches, or Vargr, or the Reft Sector for instance. You get the map, enough details for each sub-sector to help you plan adventures, or sand lot for your players, plus there are scores of adventure modules dating back to the late 70's that you can "plug and play" anywhere into the setting. Of course, you can always pick a sector and create everything for yourself with a LOT of help from this great link... http://www.travellermap.com
Otherwise Torus is correct. If you have a tight budget you don't want to load up on books your players will ignore. I personally find Psion, Cybernetics and Robot helpful because my campaign setting will be leaning that direction. I'm building several major encounters and an overall "theme" using those books. As far as players are concerned, I think most my players used Rouge, Agent, and Merchant Price the most to help build their characters. Although the core book allows your players to create anything they wish, the individual booklets go much farther in character development, plus their are many useful chapters for the GM.
Oh I almost forgot. IMO I think the Central Supply Catalog is a must. It gives you a huge list of additional weapons, armor, and lots of great specialized equipment not listed in the core book.
So here is my list of musts
1st
Core book
Central Supply Catalog
At least 1 sector book (spinward marches, Reft sector etc...)
2nd
If you love to design your own ships then get High Guard
If you want a selection of pregen ships, get either traders and gunboats or merchants and cruisers.
3rd
Any others to customize your game depending on the direction and flavor you want.
Otherwise Torus is correct. If you have a tight budget you don't want to load up on books your players will ignore. I personally find Psion, Cybernetics and Robot helpful because my campaign setting will be leaning that direction. I'm building several major encounters and an overall "theme" using those books. As far as players are concerned, I think most my players used Rouge, Agent, and Merchant Price the most to help build their characters. Although the core book allows your players to create anything they wish, the individual booklets go much farther in character development, plus their are many useful chapters for the GM.
Oh I almost forgot. IMO I think the Central Supply Catalog is a must. It gives you a huge list of additional weapons, armor, and lots of great specialized equipment not listed in the core book.
So here is my list of musts
1st
Core book
Central Supply Catalog
At least 1 sector book (spinward marches, Reft sector etc...)
2nd
If you love to design your own ships then get High Guard
If you want a selection of pregen ships, get either traders and gunboats or merchants and cruisers.
3rd
Any others to customize your game depending on the direction and flavor you want.
far-trader
Mongoose
Essential? Just one, the Traveller Core Rulebook. It's pretty much got it covered.
If I were to fault any one glaring omission, and I must, it would be in the vehicles. No aircraft? No watercraft? wtf? Other than that nothing jumps out at me as missing. So when the new and improved Vehicle design book comes out that would be added to my essentials list.
The rest is optional expansion, details, colour, etc. None of which is essential, but may be useful and/or desirable depending on the individuals involved.
If I were to fault any one glaring omission, and I must, it would be in the vehicles. No aircraft? No watercraft? wtf? Other than that nothing jumps out at me as missing. So when the new and improved Vehicle design book comes out that would be added to my essentials list.
The rest is optional expansion, details, colour, etc. None of which is essential, but may be useful and/or desirable depending on the individuals involved.
Essential would be the main rulebook (MRB) and maybe (if like me you forget the UWP and want a few charts to hand) the Referee's Shield...
Also, if you can find them cheap on ebay and you have a new group, the Introduction to Traveller book (it's basically a condensed version of the MRB (only 32 pages, but concentrates on character creation, skills, combat and has a character sheet in the back - only the basic Army and Navy careers though (would like to have seen Drifter in there too, but hey). Useful for not having any GM stuff in there (I'm a bit old-school in that I like seperate books for GMs/Players (partly so players don't lecture about the GM specific stuff, but also to help maintain the surprise). The only things a player will want with these is the career books or a few printouts of the careers from the MRB. I bought two of these to save squabbling over rulebooks and I'm glad I did - they're pretty useful books.
Highly Useful:
* High Guard (Ship Design and military careers, as well as Capital ships).
* Merchant Prince (If using the trading rules, they're re-written in this book to a much better standard than before).
* Central Supply Catalogue (bugged in places, but very useful for all those little pieces of equipment you may need and for keeping power-gamers quiet during roleplay segments of the session).
* 760 Patrons/1,001 Characters - useful for having on-tap stats for NPCs, especially when trying to learn the system. Could start to transfer these to a cardfile or a database for more easy storage and personalisation. Would be essential, but the MRB has enough information for you to make your own. Would recommend giving both books a quick read through if possible though, just to help get a feel for the stat levels that you want to aim for in your own NPCs.
Highly Useful if you want a setting:
* Reft or Spinward for the setting (I'd suggest Spinward if you want access to more alien cultures, but it's always possible to move settings later if you buy the other book and decide that you'd like to try the other... Other sectors in the 3I are in the Zhodani, Aslan and Vargr books with more detailed sections of Spinward in the Darrian and Sword World (presumably, haven't got the SW book yet) books.
* The alien books, specifically: Aslan and Vargr, if you want to accurately roleplay the aliens in the 3I. Darrians, Zhodani and Sword Worlders are less common outside their borders, I think, so would be more on the "desirable" list.
* Starports. Players spend all their time in ports and the descriptions and encounter tables in here are too useful to pass up, particularly if you can get the book in PDF format - it's cheaper and you can print off the encounter tables and anything else you may need if you can't read the PDF at the playing table. Vast majority of the book is background and a starport design system, so it's useful even if not playing in the 3I, although much less so.
*Career books: Aside from HG and Merchant Prince, I'd say that all the career books are about equal in desirability. If you can afford the larger books, then I'd suggest getting them - the sidebars are useful to have sometimes, but not essential. Having the Referee have the full-sized books and the players the LBB (Little Black Book) versions is a good comprimise (my advice, as in AD&D 2E and the Complete books, don't let players use books that you don't own yourself - it's too prone to abuse if you can't check the rules or stats in your own time.)
If you've got everything else or if you specifically need the information, I'd suggest:
* Military/Civilian Vehicles (although there is a replacement book on the horizon, so I'd hold off on these unless you need them).
* Fighting Ships, Traders and Gunboats (possibly Merchants and Cruisers (but I don't own that book).
Also, if you can find them cheap on ebay and you have a new group, the Introduction to Traveller book (it's basically a condensed version of the MRB (only 32 pages, but concentrates on character creation, skills, combat and has a character sheet in the back - only the basic Army and Navy careers though (would like to have seen Drifter in there too, but hey). Useful for not having any GM stuff in there (I'm a bit old-school in that I like seperate books for GMs/Players (partly so players don't lecture about the GM specific stuff, but also to help maintain the surprise). The only things a player will want with these is the career books or a few printouts of the careers from the MRB. I bought two of these to save squabbling over rulebooks and I'm glad I did - they're pretty useful books.
Highly Useful:
* High Guard (Ship Design and military careers, as well as Capital ships).
* Merchant Prince (If using the trading rules, they're re-written in this book to a much better standard than before).
* Central Supply Catalogue (bugged in places, but very useful for all those little pieces of equipment you may need and for keeping power-gamers quiet during roleplay segments of the session).
* 760 Patrons/1,001 Characters - useful for having on-tap stats for NPCs, especially when trying to learn the system. Could start to transfer these to a cardfile or a database for more easy storage and personalisation. Would be essential, but the MRB has enough information for you to make your own. Would recommend giving both books a quick read through if possible though, just to help get a feel for the stat levels that you want to aim for in your own NPCs.
Highly Useful if you want a setting:
* Reft or Spinward for the setting (I'd suggest Spinward if you want access to more alien cultures, but it's always possible to move settings later if you buy the other book and decide that you'd like to try the other... Other sectors in the 3I are in the Zhodani, Aslan and Vargr books with more detailed sections of Spinward in the Darrian and Sword World (presumably, haven't got the SW book yet) books.
* The alien books, specifically: Aslan and Vargr, if you want to accurately roleplay the aliens in the 3I. Darrians, Zhodani and Sword Worlders are less common outside their borders, I think, so would be more on the "desirable" list.
* Starports. Players spend all their time in ports and the descriptions and encounter tables in here are too useful to pass up, particularly if you can get the book in PDF format - it's cheaper and you can print off the encounter tables and anything else you may need if you can't read the PDF at the playing table. Vast majority of the book is background and a starport design system, so it's useful even if not playing in the 3I, although much less so.
*Career books: Aside from HG and Merchant Prince, I'd say that all the career books are about equal in desirability. If you can afford the larger books, then I'd suggest getting them - the sidebars are useful to have sometimes, but not essential. Having the Referee have the full-sized books and the players the LBB (Little Black Book) versions is a good comprimise (my advice, as in AD&D 2E and the Complete books, don't let players use books that you don't own yourself - it's too prone to abuse if you can't check the rules or stats in your own time.)
If you've got everything else or if you specifically need the information, I'd suggest:
* Military/Civilian Vehicles (although there is a replacement book on the horizon, so I'd hold off on these unless you need them).
* Fighting Ships, Traders and Gunboats (possibly Merchants and Cruisers (but I don't own that book).
Seems surprising to me that people are recommending High Guard as amongst the most useful books. It's useful if you want to have a naval campaign with High Guard rules. But it's not like the MRB doesn't have rules for starship combat and operations and naval careers.
Perhaps the Mongoose version is very different (in which case I'd be interested to hear more), but the original HG presented rules for ship design and combat representing a very specific set of constraints appropriate to the OTU. Don't get me wrong - I had some fun playing with these rules back in the day. But in general I'd say if you want to design a ship for your game, a perfectly valid way do do it is:
Perhaps the Mongoose version is very different (in which case I'd be interested to hear more), but the original HG presented rules for ship design and combat representing a very specific set of constraints appropriate to the OTU. Don't get me wrong - I had some fun playing with these rules back in the day. But in general I'd say if you want to design a ship for your game, a perfectly valid way do do it is:
1. describe/draw it
2. come up with game stats that fit your description
3. (optional) design deckplans
The primary pair of reasons I recommend it are these:
1) The Navy will be the reoccurring theme in the game for the vast majority of us - seen in passing, chasing down smugglers and pirates (so may be a saviour or a threat, depending on the group) and will form the background to at least some characters who get drafted (the career choice ranges from "Crewman" to "Naval Intelligence" or "High Command" for the Navy, for example). It also has designs for a decent range of ships ranging from Pinnaces all the way up through escorts (the most likely to be encountered of the Capitol Ships to the Battleships and Carriers.
2) The Small Craft design rules - this allows the custom design of ships that are under 100 tons and which have no jump capability, but can fill a whole host of jobs that a starship would be too expensive for - including as carried craft on board a Starship...
HG also expands the combat rules for all ships, if you need them, as well as introducing more building options for the starships (including TL affecting P-plant and drive sizes/abilities). You will almost certainly need the rules in HG also for understanding some of the ship designs that use components from the book (Spinal mounts spring to mind, but there are others).
I do point out after each book why I consider them important, though... so if you don't feel you need any of the aspects, don't buy the book...
1) The Navy will be the reoccurring theme in the game for the vast majority of us - seen in passing, chasing down smugglers and pirates (so may be a saviour or a threat, depending on the group) and will form the background to at least some characters who get drafted (the career choice ranges from "Crewman" to "Naval Intelligence" or "High Command" for the Navy, for example). It also has designs for a decent range of ships ranging from Pinnaces all the way up through escorts (the most likely to be encountered of the Capitol Ships to the Battleships and Carriers.
2) The Small Craft design rules - this allows the custom design of ships that are under 100 tons and which have no jump capability, but can fill a whole host of jobs that a starship would be too expensive for - including as carried craft on board a Starship...
HG also expands the combat rules for all ships, if you need them, as well as introducing more building options for the starships (including TL affecting P-plant and drive sizes/abilities). You will almost certainly need the rules in HG also for understanding some of the ship designs that use components from the book (Spinal mounts spring to mind, but there are others).
I do point out after each book why I consider them important, though... so if you don't feel you need any of the aspects, don't buy the book...
I'd say just the Core Book is essential.
I'll say it twice because I'm going to ramble about other products but they're very much secondary. It's really a toolkit for building your own game. They don't give you starships, they tell you how to build them. They don't give you a setting and worlds to explore, they give you systems to do it yourself. Tables for everything from generating creatures to patron (mission) encounters. Around it all is wrapped the campaign theme of merchant trading and mechanics for that are included. Firefly, really. But before there was a Firefly.
What jumps out at me as being missing are systems to create alien races. You've got a handful of stock races from the OTU but many simply aren't interesting, to me, or aren't what I'm looking for. Ever since the Cantina scene I think many roleplayers want serious variety when they think alien.
Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation from Samardan Press is a third party product but it seems to work pretty well. The GM can eyeball traits and qualities to create a particular alien race or use a random system that works with the concepts of the animal generation/traits system in the core book to 'evolve' a new race of your very own. Some details are left blank, detailed cultural traits for example, but you'll have a basic idea to work with that is a nice mechanical fit.
I've got the Robots and Cybernetics books and like Flynn's Guide they do seem to fill in some big "sci fi" gaps. I haven't spent enough time with them to vouch for quality and there seems some debate on that. Likewise, as mentioned, the new Vehicle book will probably be quite practical and handy.
The Central Supply Catalog feels too weapon fixated to me, I'd like a more interesting variety of goods and services held out to the players and not just upscale killing devices and body armor, but it does give players things to want. And that can motivate them.
After that, if you're wanting to double down on the Firefly/freetrader feel of the core book, I'd go with Merchant Prince (for reasons mentioned above and many more) and Scoundrel (because this is the fun, non-spreadsheet, side of things like theft and smuggling and piracy along with a colorful list of odd jobs folks might do) and 760 Patrons (tons of adventure seeds). Voila.
1001 Characters is also handy but creating NPCs isn't super hard. You can eyeball career tables and get an idea of what a typical grunt or goon might be able to do. We're not talking D&D stat blocks here. The advantage, though, is that they'll be ready to go with skills, gear and even a touch of biography if you want to improvise some RP around them.
Also I'd bet that the upcoming Campaign Guidebook will focus on the core freetrading and adventuring mechanic of the core book. In fact, that will be the book that defines which titles are and aren't essential. If it's referenced by the CG, you probably want it, if not it's optional. This is supposed to be a tool that all but automates adventuring (to the degree a GM wishes).
If you want to do something else, well, that's what books like High Guard, Agent, Mercenary and Scout are for. They offer alternative ways to structure a campaign instead of the freetrader/adventuring model. How well fleshed out a job they do of it varies from what I've read. I haven't actually used any of them yet. A truly nonessential, but fun, variation is Dilettante. Seriously. A whole campaign model around the rich and famous, too much money and lots of intrigue and decadence. I can easily imagine a campaign. One part HBO's Rome, one part Entourage, and lots of Caprica on the side.
As for settings? Spinward Marches is good, only thing better is making your own of course, and if you really want to stick with it there are many other products that slot right into it. I'd also get the standalone sector map. It really helps visualize how everything fits together. Sector Fleet is also very useful here too. After that, Spinward Encounters and Starport both have good stuff to offer. Two campaigns are set here as well, Tripwire and Secrets of the Ancients. I can't vouch for the latter as I don't have them yet though.
I'll say it twice because I'm going to ramble about other products but they're very much secondary. It's really a toolkit for building your own game. They don't give you starships, they tell you how to build them. They don't give you a setting and worlds to explore, they give you systems to do it yourself. Tables for everything from generating creatures to patron (mission) encounters. Around it all is wrapped the campaign theme of merchant trading and mechanics for that are included. Firefly, really. But before there was a Firefly.
What jumps out at me as being missing are systems to create alien races. You've got a handful of stock races from the OTU but many simply aren't interesting, to me, or aren't what I'm looking for. Ever since the Cantina scene I think many roleplayers want serious variety when they think alien.
Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation from Samardan Press is a third party product but it seems to work pretty well. The GM can eyeball traits and qualities to create a particular alien race or use a random system that works with the concepts of the animal generation/traits system in the core book to 'evolve' a new race of your very own. Some details are left blank, detailed cultural traits for example, but you'll have a basic idea to work with that is a nice mechanical fit.
I've got the Robots and Cybernetics books and like Flynn's Guide they do seem to fill in some big "sci fi" gaps. I haven't spent enough time with them to vouch for quality and there seems some debate on that. Likewise, as mentioned, the new Vehicle book will probably be quite practical and handy.
The Central Supply Catalog feels too weapon fixated to me, I'd like a more interesting variety of goods and services held out to the players and not just upscale killing devices and body armor, but it does give players things to want. And that can motivate them.
After that, if you're wanting to double down on the Firefly/freetrader feel of the core book, I'd go with Merchant Prince (for reasons mentioned above and many more) and Scoundrel (because this is the fun, non-spreadsheet, side of things like theft and smuggling and piracy along with a colorful list of odd jobs folks might do) and 760 Patrons (tons of adventure seeds). Voila.
1001 Characters is also handy but creating NPCs isn't super hard. You can eyeball career tables and get an idea of what a typical grunt or goon might be able to do. We're not talking D&D stat blocks here. The advantage, though, is that they'll be ready to go with skills, gear and even a touch of biography if you want to improvise some RP around them.
Also I'd bet that the upcoming Campaign Guidebook will focus on the core freetrading and adventuring mechanic of the core book. In fact, that will be the book that defines which titles are and aren't essential. If it's referenced by the CG, you probably want it, if not it's optional. This is supposed to be a tool that all but automates adventuring (to the degree a GM wishes).
If you want to do something else, well, that's what books like High Guard, Agent, Mercenary and Scout are for. They offer alternative ways to structure a campaign instead of the freetrader/adventuring model. How well fleshed out a job they do of it varies from what I've read. I haven't actually used any of them yet. A truly nonessential, but fun, variation is Dilettante. Seriously. A whole campaign model around the rich and famous, too much money and lots of intrigue and decadence. I can easily imagine a campaign. One part HBO's Rome, one part Entourage, and lots of Caprica on the side.
As for settings? Spinward Marches is good, only thing better is making your own of course, and if you really want to stick with it there are many other products that slot right into it. I'd also get the standalone sector map. It really helps visualize how everything fits together. Sector Fleet is also very useful here too. After that, Spinward Encounters and Starport both have good stuff to offer. Two campaigns are set here as well, Tripwire and Secrets of the Ancients. I can't vouch for the latter as I don't have them yet though.
GDW or Mongoose:
Core
Scouts
Merchant Prince
Digest Group:
Starship Operator's Guide
Grand Survey
(if you are doing contact missions) - Grand Census
Judges' Guild:
101 Starports
------------------
When we were on a cruiser in the navy, we deployed with one red d6, one white d6, some pencils, paper, some graph paper, a few xeroxes of hex paper, and the three LBBs. Served us for a year, almost nightly, on the messdeck. I think we hit over 40 systems. It was a blast.
Core
Scouts
Merchant Prince
Digest Group:
Starship Operator's Guide
Grand Survey
(if you are doing contact missions) - Grand Census
Judges' Guild:
101 Starports
------------------
When we were on a cruiser in the navy, we deployed with one red d6, one white d6, some pencils, paper, some graph paper, a few xeroxes of hex paper, and the three LBBs. Served us for a year, almost nightly, on the messdeck. I think we hit over 40 systems. It was a blast.
Egil Skallagrimsson
Mongoose
OddjobXL said:
Yeah, very much agree, the Core book is the only one you need, though you might like any of the others. Decide what type of campaign you want, then buy any career books that you think might fit that outline. The 3I is not to everyone's taste, if you are not keen it is easy to start your own setting. Even with 3I all sorts of MTU changes can be added easily (my Spinward Marches has already become pretty unique). I am not a fan of CSC (see various other posts), but even the weaker books contain material that is interesting, even if I write different stats for the equipement etc.
If I had to get rid of most of the MgT books, I would keep the ones I use most, but that reflects the type of game I am running, so
1. Core book, of course
2. Spinward Marches book
3. High Guard
4. Trader and Gunboats (its just a convenient source)
5. The various Alien modules
But, my list tells your more about my campaign than what might be useful to you (exept the core book!)
Egil
nats
Banded Mongoose
Thanks for your comments you lot. I got the core book but I am really wondering what else is worth getting as the core book does have pretty much everything in that I need, unlike Classic Traveller where you had to get the other books to get the better rules enhancements - but here MgT core book has it all pretty much.
I can see getting Spinward Marches, Alien Encounters and the Ref Screen being worthwhile along with perhaps the new vehicle book when it comes out and High Guard for capital ships even though I will never play navy game - but I will probably fight a few battles. Also I love LAGs for some reason so Mercenary might be worth buying but I known I will never play a Merc game - perhaps a few one off battles may be intersting though I didnt like the look of the abtract system to much - too much empty space between full blown combat and the abstract system. Robot could be good for massive enemy robots - I could see that happening.
The rest of the books I dunno cant really see any reason to get them. Perhaps Starports could be worthwhile. But I wasnt impressed with Scout (no star system detailing), Merchant Prince (boring by the look of it - as was CT Merchant Prince actually), or many of the other character books - too much detailed explanation or things I will never need to know. Funnily enough Dilettente could be fun as I like the idea of playing a safari game with a hunter. Perhaps for the same reason Agent could be good - but most of it (except bounty hunting) looks pretty useless unless you are into spies (I'm not).
The rest I could live without I think.
Mongoose need to do a Grand Census book badly - its always been one of the most interesting elements of Traveller - first contact, new alien races, new planets, exploration, creation of star systems, etc and its just not anywhere in Mongoose Traveller at all!! Its a massive gaping hole that needs to be filled.
I can see getting Spinward Marches, Alien Encounters and the Ref Screen being worthwhile along with perhaps the new vehicle book when it comes out and High Guard for capital ships even though I will never play navy game - but I will probably fight a few battles. Also I love LAGs for some reason so Mercenary might be worth buying but I known I will never play a Merc game - perhaps a few one off battles may be intersting though I didnt like the look of the abtract system to much - too much empty space between full blown combat and the abstract system. Robot could be good for massive enemy robots - I could see that happening.
The rest of the books I dunno cant really see any reason to get them. Perhaps Starports could be worthwhile. But I wasnt impressed with Scout (no star system detailing), Merchant Prince (boring by the look of it - as was CT Merchant Prince actually), or many of the other character books - too much detailed explanation or things I will never need to know. Funnily enough Dilettente could be fun as I like the idea of playing a safari game with a hunter. Perhaps for the same reason Agent could be good - but most of it (except bounty hunting) looks pretty useless unless you are into spies (I'm not).
The rest I could live without I think.
Mongoose need to do a Grand Census book badly - its always been one of the most interesting elements of Traveller - first contact, new alien races, new planets, exploration, creation of star systems, etc and its just not anywhere in Mongoose Traveller at all!! Its a massive gaping hole that needs to be filled.
GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
Essential:
The Core book in either full sized or pocket edition (depending on your eyesight and whether you go to the game pr it comes to you).
Short List (Ignoring Imperium specific stuff):
760 Patrons
Scout
Central Supply Catalog
Scoundrel
Agent
Psion
a vehicles book (wait for the revision unless you are in a hurry)
Why that selection?
The Patrons book will catalyze adventures a bit more than the (quite good, frankly) patrons section of the core book. Inspiration is good.
Scout provides more tools for exploration games and for "around the system" games.
CSC is more "stuff".
Scoundrel, aside from the additional careers, has rules chapters for all manner of Crime. Traveller has a long tradition of Crime...
Agent has more "stuff", a number of agencies to bounce off of, and the endlessly amusing Prototype Equipment section.
Psion has more "not the Imperium" launch points than any other Traveller book I've seen.
Vehicles are, once again, more "stuff", and even (or especially) if your players aren't going the starship route, *someone* is going to want a cool hoopty.
The other non-setting books all fall into the next category: At Need.
The Setting books are, of course, contingent on whether you intend to use it or just want a nice example to work from. The first book for that would be, as noted by others, Spinward Marches.
The Core book in either full sized or pocket edition (depending on your eyesight and whether you go to the game pr it comes to you).
Short List (Ignoring Imperium specific stuff):
760 Patrons
Scout
Central Supply Catalog
Scoundrel
Agent
Psion
a vehicles book (wait for the revision unless you are in a hurry)
Why that selection?
The Patrons book will catalyze adventures a bit more than the (quite good, frankly) patrons section of the core book. Inspiration is good.
Scout provides more tools for exploration games and for "around the system" games.
CSC is more "stuff".
Scoundrel, aside from the additional careers, has rules chapters for all manner of Crime. Traveller has a long tradition of Crime...
Agent has more "stuff", a number of agencies to bounce off of, and the endlessly amusing Prototype Equipment section.
Psion has more "not the Imperium" launch points than any other Traveller book I've seen.
Vehicles are, once again, more "stuff", and even (or especially) if your players aren't going the starship route, *someone* is going to want a cool hoopty.
The other non-setting books all fall into the next category: At Need.
The Setting books are, of course, contingent on whether you intend to use it or just want a nice example to work from. The first book for that would be, as noted by others, Spinward Marches.
nats said:
Mercs I'd say would be good if you have anyone wanting a military career (alongside the Navy in HG) since it does expand a lot into the ground-pounders careers, but could be of limited use outside that, unless you want a firefight that's larger than normal, as you say. Merchant Prince *could* actually be useful on a number of levels if you have, or want to have, trading in your game - and it also covers the slave trade too, as well as "junkers", as well as rules on word getting out and pirates actually being interested in your cargo (that's what the "dangerous" DM is on the cargo cards).
If you're not too interested in the career books, I'd just get the LBB versions and save a little cash... if nothing else, you can always get the larger versions if you decide you need them (and possibly sell your LBBs onto a player or keep them for game night and keep your full-sized versions for "home study").
I think you'll find HG amusing in another respect too - sitting down and making up ship designs means that you never NEED to buy a book for ships (although it's always good to have someone else's ideas) and is a pretty good passtime for when you get bored.
I've found that the MRB is pretty much all you need, but the expanded books make the sections so much better... indeed when Dynasties comes out, I could easily see the case for getting a cheap Introduction book and the various expanded rules books and pretty much coming up with the same set of rules as you'd get in the MRB (well, nearly). I don't think there'll be any rules in the MRB that aren't covered elsewhere anyhow...
nats
Banded Mongoose
BFalcon said:I've found that the MRB is pretty much all you need, but the expanded books make the sections so much better... indeed when Dynasties comes out, I could easily see the case for getting a cheap Introduction book and the various expanded rules books and pretty much coming up with the same set of rules as you'd get in the MRB (well, nearly). I don't think there'll be any rules in the MRB that aren't covered elsewhere anyhow...
Well this is what seems to be happening isn't it - that each book that comes out replaces the relevant section of the main core book - for example animal encounters just seems to completely replace that part of the core book as well as (slightly) expanding on it - but it puts me in a quandary as to whether its really worth the expense of buying it if I have a lot of it already? And the other books (Merc, Scout, Merchant) - they all just expand on bits of the core book. I suppose you could just get the books you are very interested in that area and use the core rules for the rest. It's not like CT where you pretty much had to have all the other books because the rules changed dramatically in each one.
It's a bit annoying though because I can see me wanting all the expanded chargen bits of these books but not the rest - for example the Scouts chargen looks good but I can imagine never even looking at the rest unless I do a scout orientated adventure (unlikely). High Guard is perhaps the exception as that seems to have a lot of other stuff in I would use as well as the chargen bits.
Just means that unless you are prepared to buy the lot and spend a heck of a lot of money (these books aren't cheap) you are missing a bit of good stuff that you could use in any adventure but if you buy them you are going to get loads you probably wont use at all. I just wish they had brought out the expanded chargen separately and then added separate books to only cover the operation side of the careers themselves. That would have been better.
I think there may well be a case for bringing out a big careers compendium, with all the chargen stuff from each of the supplements (plus ancillary skill descriptions etc, as much as possible). I wuld probably buy that. I'd like to generate characters from e.g. merchant, scout or noble backgrounds, with a bit more detail, but am not really interested enough in the rest of the stuff in those books to buy them separately.
I used to want rules, rules and more rules, so I loved all the crunchy Traveller supplements. Now I find the level of rules in the MRB, e.g. for ship combat, is just right, and I'm more interested in adventures, planets and plot hooks. The most useful thing I've gotten recently was Stars Without Number, for all the great sandbox and setting ideas there. Not for the rules; I don't like D&D and never did. I also got an adventure supplement for Starblazer Adventures which was good, even though I've no interest in FATE or fudge or whatever it is.
I used to want rules, rules and more rules, so I loved all the crunchy Traveller supplements. Now I find the level of rules in the MRB, e.g. for ship combat, is just right, and I'm more interested in adventures, planets and plot hooks. The most useful thing I've gotten recently was Stars Without Number, for all the great sandbox and setting ideas there. Not for the rules; I don't like D&D and never did. I also got an adventure supplement for Starblazer Adventures which was good, even though I've no interest in FATE or fudge or whatever it is.
GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
nats said:
Traveller concentrates on a single world in each system by using the artifice that it is the most interesting spot in that system. That doesn't mean it is the *only* interesting spot, however. Scout is not simply about PCs exploring. It lets the Referee explore too.
nats
Banded Mongoose
GypsyComet said:
Except that from what I remember of the book there is nothing like that in it. It deals with the organisation of the Scout service (boring), some scout ships (unnecessary), typical scout missions (as if we couldnt figure these out ourselves) and scout chargen (the only reason for getting the book if you are not doing a wholly scout orientated adventure). For 99% of us we will never need most of this book. They missed out the best bit of the original Scout Traveller book ie the detailed solar system generation - and they didnt use the opportunity to include stuff on alien planets, exploration of planets, hazards and threats etc. They should have included a design system for fleshing out planets, animals, alien flora, alien civilisations and societies, etc. But I suppose that is a whole book in itself. Still they seems to concentrate on the boring bits of the scout service and left out the interesting bits.
Same as Mercenary in fact - they left out the best bits ie the fighting bits (armour/artillery/massed battles) passing us off with a rubbish battle generator that cant even provide a decent representation of a real war, and gave us details of recruiting and mercenary bases (boring) instead along with a rubbishly unimaginative set of equipment. Again the only reason for buying Merc is the chargen (and the LAGs/SMGs).
nats: so you didn't like the survival rules or the planetary system generation either then? MGT Scout has both of those (admittedly the latter being just two pages). The Survival guide describes first contact, physical survival and other essentials to the job.
Speaking as a GM, I tend to prefer people not to access information their characters cannot or do not know, so splitting up the information can be a good thing. If need be, you can always lend another book and ask players not to buy that particular book, but it's a lot harder to ask someone not to look at a book they own... sooner or later they'll want to.
Speaking as a GM, I tend to prefer people not to access information their characters cannot or do not know, so splitting up the information can be a good thing. If need be, you can always lend another book and ask players not to buy that particular book, but it's a lot harder to ask someone not to look at a book they own... sooner or later they'll want to.
