There was a list posted up by 'Mugwump' (full credits & respect for finding it as well) on the TMP site that I give to players new to Traveller - apparently it could be found on www.travellerrpg.com at one time:
1. Three words: "Shotguns in space".
2. Light dimmers can be used to simulate jump drive activation.
3. 'Cuz "Traveller GURPS" sounds like another name for motion sickness.
4. Very few cascade skills.
5. T20 sounds like a toothpaste ingredient.
6. Three more words: "Little Black Books".
7. The minimum required gaming materials for playing CT are cheaper than any winning Yu-Gi-Oh deck.
8. Strephon who?
9. Lack of minute details, thus encouraging creative play.
10. Two little dice decide everything.
11. Swords on starships.
12. Drugs in RPGs.
13. The Journal (of the Travellers' Aide Society).
14. Space in 2-D.
15. Characters who die before they are "born" (or actually before they enter play).
16. 76 Patrons – how good is that?
17. The animal system – MAKES you use your imagination.
18. Hex(idecimal)
19. The low passage lottery.
20. There will always be another LBB soon …
21. The versatile scouts are just as useful, if not more so, as the specialized Navy and Marines.
22. What other game system will give you 30 MCr worth of starship for one lucky die roll?
23. What other game system can elevate you to the powerful nobility with a couple of lucky die rolls?
24. The simplest task resolution basic system: "beat an 8". Everything else is just interpretation and extrapolation.
25. "Other" as a career, how simple is that?
26. Keith Brothers artwork. You may not love it, but it sets the look of Traveller.
27. Gunboats and Traders.
28. Paranoia Press and FASA got their start with Traveller.
29. T20 won't ever be interesting until after Arnold Swartzenegger finishes T4 – T19.
30. Gurps is what you get when you eat too many onions and drink club soda too fast.
31. All Marines learn how to swing a Cutlass.
32. Pirates!
33. "Vaccuum" (One presumes, given the presence of Vacc Suits.)
34. Computers from the 1970s!
35. Characters who start knowing a thing or ten and don't need to 'gain levels'.
36. Jump Drive – As fast as it gets. Period.
37. UWP : How to describe a world in eight easy characters!
38. Low Passage… aw… that's a sucky thanks for twenty years in the service….!
39. Psionics!
40. Computer Programming: How to write your own fatally flawed software instead of buying someone else's.
41. Carousing is a skill? You mean I didn't waste all those years at University?
42. Because there isn't anything Forbidden about THIS canon…..
43. Aliens: more than just humans in furry suits.
44. T4? No thanks, I just managed T3, and now he's gonna be Governor….
45. What exactly is a "Blade"?
46. BATTLE DRESS!!!!!
47. TAS – Because Membership has its Priviledges.
48. FGMP-15's
49. Perfidious Zhodani
50. Dogs in Space
51. Militant vegetarian centaurs. How cool is that?
52. Jack-of-all-Trades.
53. Because some of us like to figure out how a Luna-sized planet could have a Terran-standard atmosphere.
54. Psionics are illegal (wink, wink)!
55. When you shoot someone, they don't "just lose hitpoints", they're worm food.
56. "My Other Car Is A Tigress DN"
57. Azhanti High Lightning.
58. Guys named Enerei.
59. happy fun balls
60. feudalism in space
61. the boss is always far away
62. The second 'l'.
63. (Why we love Traveller) What, you mean there's an alternative?
64. With creative use of grav technology, you can actually make the old exaggeration about it raining cats and dogs factual!
65. You can be a bureaucrat. What other game would offer you that?
66. A ground car was affordable back then….
67. Law Level 0…. Startown…. the ref didn't even have to have an adventure prepared….
68. Social Status as a major attribute. And people calling you "Sir" or "Your Grace".
69. Guns that shoot =through= planets.
70. Bombs that blow =up= planets.
71. Ancient aliens that =make= planets.
72. Striker – Multi-tech level miniatures / wargaming rules for the serious mercenary
73. Last ditch defence of Terra from invading Imperial scum! (Invasion:Earth)
74. Arguments over the Kinunuir's Imperial Warrant (or perhaps this doesn't happen until MT period? If not, substitute the magic words 'Jump Torpedos' for 'Imperial Warrant').
75. Lasers that weigh a ton and slug throwers that don't.
76. The word 'Canon' didn't mean much back then and it didn't start flamewars or gunfights.
77. A Solomani Rim that you could play a Terran in without needing to take a bath before AND after…
78. How else could you have so much fun with a few little black books, a couple of normal dice, and a few friends?
79. You can impress newbies like me with all your "good old days of Traveller" knowledge.
80. TAS
81. Deckplans
82. The parsec
83. The Octagon Society
84. Andre Norton, Jack Vance, Larry Niven, Issac Asimov, Edgar Rice Burroughs, et al; I can adventure in or steal from their universes as I please and Classic Traveller has the flexibility to adapt their visions to adventures!
85. You could show your mom the space travel time formula and claim that you were using it to help study your algebra.
Ok, it may be written a while back, and before MonTrav but some of it's still good...
