newbie - looking for trading and planet design sourcebooks

[briansommers]

which sourcebook has more detailed rules for the trading aspects of the game?
and I'm looking for one that would offer more detailed rules for planet design

I want something that would really promote planet exploration/colonization etc.


thanks
bs

 

[The Chef]

trading will be covered in the up coming Merchant Prince book due out in the next couple of weeks.

there is a link here http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/travmerchantpre.pdf for a sneak preview

as for planets, if you want pre-generated planets try the Spinward Marches supliment, otherwise its quite a good days work to develop your own sectors. If you really want to there is a bit of the Scout suppliment that covers indepth system building.

Chef

 

[AndrewW]

Should be a World Builders Handbook sometime, but we don't know when this might be released.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Older versions of Traveller had detailed system design books.

I would recommend World Builder's Handbook from MegaTraveller (if you can find it) or GURPS:Space 4e which had a nice system, although it is not particulary suited for Traveller (uses english measurements instead of metric).

Classic Traveller had Book 5: Scouts with a more detailed design system, but it was VERY inaccurate and glitchy.

 

[AndrewW]

Classic Traveller had Book 5: Scouts with a more detailed design system, but it was VERY inaccurate and glitchy.

Book 6: Scouts.

Book 5 is High Guard.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Thanks Andrew... I thought 6 and typed 5.

Either way, it shouldn't be used for anything close to realistic designs.

 

[Techno-Guru]

which sourcebook has more detailed rules for the trading aspects of the game?
and I'm looking for one that would offer more detailed rules for planet design

I want something that would really promote planet exploration/colonization etc.


thanks
bs

Merchant Prince should have options for a more Elite-style game. however, from the sound of it, something similar to M.U.L.E. would be more suitable to your needs. Unfortunately, I think you're on your own at this point in time. Perhaps fudging something from Merchant Prince and Scout? At least until Mongoose comes up with Frontiersman/Proleterian...

 

[Jump 6]

I hope that when the World Builders’ Handbook is released, it will be scientifically realistic in terms of the formation of systems, planets, and their life forms. As mentioned upthread, the one in GURPS Space (4th Ed) is very good (IMHO), as is the one in Star Hero (5th Ed).

Until the WBH is released, I would tend to design systems/worlds etc, under either of these two systems, and then back port them into Traveller, finding the nearest match for their UWP stats.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Personally, I don't think it will.

If Mongoose has to use the system approved by Marc, then it will look something like the T5 version of planetary system development, which looks amazingly like the original Book 6: Scouts.

I have given up on expecting Traveller to build a realistic (or even semi-realistic) world building system and have started making using one of my own combining Traveller, GURPS and some other odds and ends that I collected through the years.

 

[Matian]

For designing planets, I just decide on the basic details I want a planet to have and then work the UWP backwards, using the rules in the Core Book to fill in whatever aspects I don't care about or don't feel like dealing with at the moment.

What are you looking to expand on, specifically?

 

[Fovean]

I have given up on expecting Traveller to build a realistic (or even semi-realistic) world building system and have started making using one of my own combining Traveller, GURPS and some other odds and ends that I collected through the years.

Same here. GURPS First In (Stellar & System data) + MGT (Trade Class & Govt/Law definitions) + T5 (nuggets) + real-world data from the interwebs = awesome house rules for world building IMTU. More work of course, but gives me what I want.

Realistic? Not sure, but it feels nice and more sensible than some canon UPP listings... if I have a world on my map, I also have what stellar orbit it's in, it's gravity, what other companion planets/belts are there and their locations, travel times to Safe Jump or to subordinate worlds, etc. Of course, MTU is much smaller than the OTU....

But yeah, to the OP - what specifically is missing for you?

 

[impala]

Once upon a time, a little publisher called Digest Group Publications printed some licensed traveller sourcebooks; Grand Survey looked at the physical characteristics of a planet, and the companion volume Grand Census was a guide to defining the social characteristics of the planet. I saw Garnd Survey on E-bay for $225 USD, so they are a little hard to come by. But they were some great books...

 

[briansommers]

what is missing?

can't really say, I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment,

I just love little picky details, but I did get First In so I do think I'm good to go with that for now anywho..

 

[Nuclear Fridge Magnet]

Classic Traveller had Book 5: Scouts with a more detailed design system, but it was VERY inaccurate and glitchy.

Book 6: Scouts.

Book 5 is High Guard.

The Book 6 system was - for the time - a concise & useful engine.
Still, it's been 25 years since I've seen it. The only copy I saw was my first GM's, and he was seriously OCD... I could only touch it if I'd washed my hands first. :roll:

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Not to rehash this old argument, but even when it was published it was factually wrong about a lot of things.

The luminosity charts are CRAP, not even close to the real world.

Fixed orbits using the old Titus-Bode "Law" everywhere was perhaps acceptable for the time and lack of knowledge about any extrasolar planets, but it laughable now. But, it totally screwed up the temperature of supposedly habitable worlds.

One thing I did almost immediately was to adjust the fixed orbits by mutliplying them by the square-root of the mass of the star. That gave some variation at least and tended to move the orbits around such that orbit 3 was closer to the habitable zone.

 

[tjoneslo]

which sourcebook has more detailed rules for the trading aspects of the game?

For trade rules you want CT Book 7: Merchant Prince, or more likely MGT Book 7: Merchant Prince. For other sources, look at GT:Far Trader. Like GT:First In it has an entirely over the top rule set for establishing trade systems.

Two other books you might be interested in would be World Tamers Handbook which has rules for developing worlds from scratch (colonization). The other is Pocket Empires, which has the rules for building your own empire, through your family dynasty.

 

[Dave Chase]

Something else to consider if you want to aid in what the players see or precieve the world to be like;

Buy the graphic or photographic books of different regions/areas of the world.
Buy the SciFi and/or fantasy books that show worlds of books or movies.

These books can inspire what the other world looks like or feels like.
Even consider buying the bird's eye view or from the air books (a bit harder to find but there are some.)

Nothing help sets the atmosphere like a picture (or dozen) compared to just reading out loud the conditions and what the player sees.

Dave Chase

 

[SSWarlock]

And don't forget that Google is your friend.

Look up:
"extrasolar planets"
"the planets"
"planetary exploration"

and other such terms.

 

[Techno-Guru]

And don't forget that Google is your friend.

Look up:
"extrasolar planets"
"the planets"
"planetary exploration"

and other such terms.

thanks, I like that idea

 

[briansommers]

[/quote]For other sources, look at GT:Far Trader. Like GT:First In it has an entirely over the top rule set for establishing trade systems.[/quote]


so do they compete with one an other? in other words do the rules kind of repeat themselves or do these source books compliment each other?

thanks
BS