Starting Up With 2300AD

[Dropbeartots]

Now that 2300AD is appearing for MGT2, I am curious as to which books from core Traveller I should be getting along with it, besides just the core rulebook itself.

Do the companion, vehicle handbook, high guard, central supply catalog, and robot handbook add anything significant for 2300? Are the others books mainly for charted space?

 

[Dropbeartots]

I’m relatively new to MGT2E so forgive me. I’m looking over the thread on future releases and seeing a few things listed there.

Sounds like Tools for Frontier Living and Vehicles of the Frontier cover the CSC and VH for 2300AD, cool. And High Guard is pretty much covered by Ships of the Frontier and Aerospace Engineers’ Handbook.

So how about the Companion and Robot Handbook?

In any case, as a long time fan of the 2300 setting, I’m looking forward to getting this collection and getting a game going!

 

[Azgulor]

From what I can tell and have observed with my purchases thus far, any of those books can enhance your 2300AD collection. Robot, High Guard, and the Vehicle handbook give you the tools for building the relevant gear. There may be additional subsystems, components, or tech introduced in the 2300AD line, but they all build off of the frameworks provided by these books. Additional rules such as expansions to space combat, etc. would be relevant, but depending upon the tech being described, everything isn't applicable. Many of the sample ships & vehicles would not be canonical to a 2300AD game.

The primary factor for these considerations is gravitic tech, which doesn't exist in 2300AD. So any grav vehicles would be non-canonical but anything that isn't grav and is of the appropriate tech level can slot into a 2300AD game. Same holds true for Central Supply Catalog, although I believe some of the items skew towards the space opera side of things. Tools for Frontier Living is supposed to fill the role of the Central Supply Catalog for 2300AD, but I expect a lot of it is compatible if one avoids grav tech and follows 2300AD tech level guidance. Higher tech level items from the CSC could even provide prototype designs/mcguffins for a 2300AD game, if desired.

Companion is definitely worthwhile as it provides options and expands subsystems with broad applications. Alternate character generation options, advancement options, etc.

 

[Dropbeartots]

From what I can tell and have observed with my purchases thus far, any of those books can enhance your 2300AD collection. Robot, High Guard, and the Vehicle handbook give you the tools for building the relevant gear. There may be additional subsystems, components, or tech introduced in the 2300AD line, but they all build off of the frameworks provided by these books. Additional rules such as expansions to space combat, etc. would be relevant, but depending upon the tech being described, everything isn't applicable. Many of the sample ships & vehicles would not be canonical to a 2300AD game.

The primary factor for these considerations is gravitic tech, which doesn't exist in 2300AD. So any grav vehicles would be non-canonical but anything that isn't grav and is of the appropriate tech level can slot into a 2300AD game. Same holds true for Central Supply Catalog, although I believe some of the items skew towards the space opera side of things. Tools for Frontier Living is supposed to fill the role of the Central Supply Catalog for 2300AD, but I expect a lot of it is compatible if one avoids grav tech and follows 2300AD tech level guidance. Higher tech level items from the CSC could even provide prototype designs/mcguffins for a 2300AD game, if desired.

Companion is definitely worthwhile as it provides options and expands subsystems with broad applications. Alternate character generation options, advancement options, etc.

Thanks! How about the Field Catalogue, basically same as far as utility but mind the tech levels?

 

[TrippyHippy]

The robots in 2300AD have some minor alterations described in their own rules, but otherwise seem compatible with The Robot Handbook. I intent to use this book for players to be able to play them in my 2300AD campaign.

 

[ottarrus]

Any changes to the main sourcebooks are mentioned in the 2300AD books. For example, the few changes in the Robots Handbook are already in the 2300AD main rules. When considering OTU sourcebooks, it's a good idea to keep the main technological points of 2300 in mind, no anti-grav for example.
Also, you don't need High Guard for ship design. The 2300AD Aerospace Engineer's Handbook handles that.