Here's my opinion of the new (cough) HBB (huge black book)
First Impressions - It's big! Very big! I'd say a solid inch of information. Information was touched upon in here that has been discussed before (such as running a power plant on standby, or my, what does xxx type of gun look like?). It's chock full of tables, and forms and illustrations. And boy would someone feel it if they got whacked with it!
Now on to the critique:
The Good - It's overwhelmingly full of data. Three new types of jump drives (more, actually, if you take into account some of the other options), the ability to design new items, guns, etc without the high-powered formulas from Striker. There's a number of interesting bits of data scattered through out the book that will keep many entertained with the detail. Finally some visuals about what some of these hull forms can look like! Yay! There are some interesting additions to help you figure out things like "just how bulky/mass is my G-carrier?" There is a grid/box type system you can use to put your vehicle images on to help figure that out.
The Bad - It's a great reference book for many things Traveller. But it's not what I would consider to be a player-friendly version. It's hideously complex for even the simplest of things. The odd thing is that it can be both complex, and overly simple at the same time. Some of the explanations for very detailed items take up a line or three. Not enough details in my opinion for some of the topics at hand. The text layout is, well, atrocious for a gaming supplement. Most every page is dual-columned. The GURPS books (still what I consider to be THE standard for Traveller) put this to shame. There aren't any interesting sidebars with stories or adventure ideas, let alone actual explanations for how in the hell you use the design systems. Explanations for various tech and systems is rudimentary for the most part. Again we have a table-style system for drives and hulls, but instead of making it better, the design system has made it worse. Sample starships for players are overly simplified, and no deck plans exist. Though in all fairness, if you don't know what a Scout or Free Trader deck plan looks like by now... And remember that grid vehicle system for estimating mass/bulk? It's great in theory, or when you are dropping an image on top of the grid in a computer program. But if you are using paper images... um, well, unless you happen to print your vehicle images on see-through printouts, its not a practical item to use with regular printouts (though maybe if you cut out the vehicle from your printout and put it on a printed-out cube...)
Bottom Line - I'm glad I have it. I doubt I'll ever use the rules to make anything, run an adventure, let alone generate a character. I recall from the original LBB days it was fun to sit there and roll the dice and see if you could get a 'toon to survive a full set of tours in the Marines or Navy or Scouts. Now... geez, I'd be like "can I start out without any skills?". I think this iteration of Traveller is going to be good for the folks that like a nice reference book with some interesting ideas. But sadly I think T5 is going to be a disappointment for players or those who would have hoped it would have been the next step in Traveller gaming. It just isn't there. It's too unworkable from a fun point of view. I don't mind tweaks, but when you take something that was relatively simple and make it so damn complex, I think you take away from the fun aspect of gaming. Some of the concepts are great in though, but badly executed. One would have thought with all the page-space available in a massive tome like this that you could have made the important things great! But alas, that's not the case. Scattered throughout the book are interesting nuggets, but unfortunately you gotta sift through a lot that's not so great to get to what's good.
I think Traveller players who like to collect the material will be satisfied. Or if you are nostalgic for some things, you'll be happy with supporting the product. There's tons more good/bad to talk about, but I don't think it would sway anyone one way or the other. The people who should buy this book (or pdf) are the ones who are dedicated to the game. I just don't see anyone but a masochist trying to squeeze gaming sessions out of this. There are other supplements out there that do a far better job of providing superior background material, or alternate tech than T5.
At least lanthanum is back!
First Impressions - It's big! Very big! I'd say a solid inch of information. Information was touched upon in here that has been discussed before (such as running a power plant on standby, or my, what does xxx type of gun look like?). It's chock full of tables, and forms and illustrations. And boy would someone feel it if they got whacked with it!
Now on to the critique:
The Good - It's overwhelmingly full of data. Three new types of jump drives (more, actually, if you take into account some of the other options), the ability to design new items, guns, etc without the high-powered formulas from Striker. There's a number of interesting bits of data scattered through out the book that will keep many entertained with the detail. Finally some visuals about what some of these hull forms can look like! Yay! There are some interesting additions to help you figure out things like "just how bulky/mass is my G-carrier?" There is a grid/box type system you can use to put your vehicle images on to help figure that out.
The Bad - It's a great reference book for many things Traveller. But it's not what I would consider to be a player-friendly version. It's hideously complex for even the simplest of things. The odd thing is that it can be both complex, and overly simple at the same time. Some of the explanations for very detailed items take up a line or three. Not enough details in my opinion for some of the topics at hand. The text layout is, well, atrocious for a gaming supplement. Most every page is dual-columned. The GURPS books (still what I consider to be THE standard for Traveller) put this to shame. There aren't any interesting sidebars with stories or adventure ideas, let alone actual explanations for how in the hell you use the design systems. Explanations for various tech and systems is rudimentary for the most part. Again we have a table-style system for drives and hulls, but instead of making it better, the design system has made it worse. Sample starships for players are overly simplified, and no deck plans exist. Though in all fairness, if you don't know what a Scout or Free Trader deck plan looks like by now... And remember that grid vehicle system for estimating mass/bulk? It's great in theory, or when you are dropping an image on top of the grid in a computer program. But if you are using paper images... um, well, unless you happen to print your vehicle images on see-through printouts, its not a practical item to use with regular printouts (though maybe if you cut out the vehicle from your printout and put it on a printed-out cube...)
Bottom Line - I'm glad I have it. I doubt I'll ever use the rules to make anything, run an adventure, let alone generate a character. I recall from the original LBB days it was fun to sit there and roll the dice and see if you could get a 'toon to survive a full set of tours in the Marines or Navy or Scouts. Now... geez, I'd be like "can I start out without any skills?". I think this iteration of Traveller is going to be good for the folks that like a nice reference book with some interesting ideas. But sadly I think T5 is going to be a disappointment for players or those who would have hoped it would have been the next step in Traveller gaming. It just isn't there. It's too unworkable from a fun point of view. I don't mind tweaks, but when you take something that was relatively simple and make it so damn complex, I think you take away from the fun aspect of gaming. Some of the concepts are great in though, but badly executed. One would have thought with all the page-space available in a massive tome like this that you could have made the important things great! But alas, that's not the case. Scattered throughout the book are interesting nuggets, but unfortunately you gotta sift through a lot that's not so great to get to what's good.
I think Traveller players who like to collect the material will be satisfied. Or if you are nostalgic for some things, you'll be happy with supporting the product. There's tons more good/bad to talk about, but I don't think it would sway anyone one way or the other. The people who should buy this book (or pdf) are the ones who are dedicated to the game. I just don't see anyone but a masochist trying to squeeze gaming sessions out of this. There are other supplements out there that do a far better job of providing superior background material, or alternate tech than T5.
At least lanthanum is back!
