Imagine I am a new Traveller referee, excited to get started on a game.
I read up on character creation, combat, encounters and dangers, starship operations, and think, woah that's a lot to deal with.
I'm going to run a published adventure / campaign, so why bother reading the world and universe creation chapter for now, as I won't be doing any creating. Also the second paragraph of the chapter: "However, some referees will prefer to create their own universes. This chapter will show you how." really implies I don't need to bother with this chapter if I am not doing any creation.
I think this could be a common situation. In fact, that is exactly what I have done in this Playtest - I know I am not creating worlds in my already established game group with an already created universe, so I have subconsciously not bothered to read this chapter. I know there is a lot of useful info in there, but I just get gloss over it due to the name. And the 2nd paragraph told me I don't need to bother reading this if I don't plan to do any universe creation.
This chapter contains so much useful information, it really should be read. (What is a tainted atmosphere? What does law level 7 mean?).
Perhaps a better chapter title would be something like "World and Universe Information and Creation" (I am sure there is someone out there can make a better title). And those intro paragraphs should be re-worded slightly to make sure I know that there is essential stuff in here for the referee, even if I'm not creating worlds.
If you do, maybe I'll decide to read this chapter after all...
I read up on character creation, combat, encounters and dangers, starship operations, and think, woah that's a lot to deal with.
I'm going to run a published adventure / campaign, so why bother reading the world and universe creation chapter for now, as I won't be doing any creating. Also the second paragraph of the chapter: "However, some referees will prefer to create their own universes. This chapter will show you how." really implies I don't need to bother with this chapter if I am not doing any creation.
I think this could be a common situation. In fact, that is exactly what I have done in this Playtest - I know I am not creating worlds in my already established game group with an already created universe, so I have subconsciously not bothered to read this chapter. I know there is a lot of useful info in there, but I just get gloss over it due to the name. And the 2nd paragraph told me I don't need to bother reading this if I don't plan to do any universe creation.
This chapter contains so much useful information, it really should be read. (What is a tainted atmosphere? What does law level 7 mean?).
Perhaps a better chapter title would be something like "World and Universe Information and Creation" (I am sure there is someone out there can make a better title). And those intro paragraphs should be re-worded slightly to make sure I know that there is essential stuff in here for the referee, even if I'm not creating worlds.
If you do, maybe I'll decide to read this chapter after all...
