Traveller: Which Books Next?

So I've got the core book, The Spinward Marches and the Universe of Babylon 5. Next month I am purchasing High Guard & Central Supply Catalog.

Beyond those books, which books are 'absolute must haves' for building a Traveller campaign? Just to note Strontium Dog is on my list of purchases for October.
 
Agent and Scoundrel add lots of incredibly useful rules for investigations, breaking entering, being tracked, tracking, fencing found/stolen goods, organised crime, terrorists, cults, agencies, corporate wars, hacking, piracy, and more. All the kind of stuff players get up to.

You can run solitaire games with these rules as well.
 
Note that I'm looking for supplements to BUILD a campaign not run one.

I do appreciate your input as sourcebooks to run a campaign will be on the agenda after I get what I need to start building my Traveller campaign.
 
There is a heck of alot of background info in there too. Ministry of Justice, the Ine Givar, organised crime in the Spinward Marches, and a load of Patron Encounters.
 
I was surprised at how much info Agent had in it as well, it's not just a character book. Really helpful stuff on Law Levels, Agencies etc...
I don't have Scoundrel yet, so I can't speak to it. I'm also planning on getting Reign of Discordia when it comes out. Are you looking at doing your own setting? Mixing/matching stuff from Bab 5, Spinward and Strontium Dogs? Sounds cool. :)
 
Honestly I feel that you should eventually pick up all the different books that have been put out so far as they all add to the collective knowledge and resource for any GM for their game. Trust me on that, the more resources one has as a GM the better options a GM has to draw on and build from. I understand on a limited budget one has to be selective, but look at all the books put out so far and see what you need for your campaign, and buy them first. Then selectively purchase the rest as back fill as time goes on.

Penn
 
Twin Dragons said:
Note that I'm looking for supplements to BUILD a campaign not run one.

I do appreciate your input as sourcebooks to run a campaign will be on the agenda after I get what I need to start building my Traveller campaign.

I guess the question is really what sort of campiagn do you want to run? Though I agree with Bygoneyrs...
 
Aslan might be a good one to pick up as well. It gives you another Sector to play with and has info on an Alien race. You can use that info to build your own aliens if you like.

If you want to allow Psionics in your game, PSION is a good resource. It has many new careers as well as additional psionic powers.
 
Ultimately, it's going to depend on the type of campaign you're planning on, and how in-depth you want to go. At a minimum, I'd probably consider the "green books" - i.e., the rule books, like High Guard, Mercenary, Scout, Scoundrel, et cetera - as 'must-haves', so that you have the flexibility of character type for your campaign. Beyond that, you'd have to look at your needs, and make decisions - if you want to campaign in the official Traveller setting, I'd get The Third Imperium: The Spinward Marches. If you'd prefer to do a 'hard' Merc campaign, Hammer's Slammers might be a better choice. Want a touchpoint of familiarity for your players? It's a good bet that Babylon 5 won't be unfamiliar to them, so your book of choice would be The Universe of Babylon 5. Pure homebrew? None of the extant setting books is ideal, but any or all of them could provide inspiration for your own development - and so could plenty of commercial SF, as well. And some (lots of) high-quality examples of the latter are easily available, free, courtesy of Baen Booksand a gentleman named Joe Buckley.

tl;dr summary: It's ultimately up to you, and depends on your needs. Without knowing more about your needs, nobody can make a sensible recommendation.
 
Yes, let's start from the beginning. What kind of game do you plan on running? Will it be put into an established campaign setting or are you homebrewing it?
 
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