Enaknomolos
Banded Mongoose
It was a Digest Group publication, but Vilani & Vargr details Vland. It's in a very compressed way, but it does have all the Rebellion-era UWPs
Why is there no Setting Guide book that explains the whole setting without going deep into each sector?
- Thread starter apoapostolov
- Start date
IanBruntlett
Emperor Mongoose
That would be helpful because at the moment, a player could ask about parts of the 3rd Imperium - things their characters would know - and me, as a Referee, would be unable to answer...
nats
Banded Mongoose
In the old days of Classic Traveller the original rules didnt actually have a setting just some assumptions on the universe. The lore came later which I just gradually picked up from the adventures and library books, but wasnt a massive fan of a lot of it (especially most of the aliens which seemed daft to me). I never used the 3rd Imperial setting other than as a vague backdrop. It's always been cooler anyway to design your own subsectors and worlds.
But you can find 3rd Imperium setting info online dead easy and the online travellermap.com will give you all the maps you will ever need. All you really need for playing Traveller is the core rulebook. You could always get the old CT library books as pdfs on the Mongoose site or as books on Ebay and they will give you plenty of overview. The lore has never really changed over time, at least not in most of the Traveller game versions, although Mongoose are now taking the game into the future of CT with the Fifth Frontier War.
But see this for a potted history to start you off:
But you can find 3rd Imperium setting info online dead easy and the online travellermap.com will give you all the maps you will ever need. All you really need for playing Traveller is the core rulebook. You could always get the old CT library books as pdfs on the Mongoose site or as books on Ebay and they will give you plenty of overview. The lore has never really changed over time, at least not in most of the Traveller game versions, although Mongoose are now taking the game into the future of CT with the Fifth Frontier War.
But see this for a potted history to start you off:
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
My browser doesn't like the link or site, sadly.
InexorableTash
Banded Mongoose
An excellent OTU setting explanation was included as an insert in the later editions of the GDW Imperium board game, maybe 8 pages long. This text was re-used in the GURPS Traveller core rulebook in sidebars, which is where I first encountered it.
Perhaps that could be dusted off and released as a "freebie"?
CordwainerFish
Emperor Mongoose
That and a Grand Tour campaign would be like chocolate and peanut butter. I'm just saying.
apoapostolov
Mongoose
I am glad the message came through. Such a book would probably be best made now when you have much of the sector writeups set into stone and would have been a major project when the lineup started. Now it is much easier to explain the timeline, to put together those ready texts from 5-6 books into a single book, with also some precursor coverage for upcoming sector books, i.e., covering he Vargr. The book could be multi-tome, with the first tome covering what exists now, and another tome when more sectors are released and can be easier referenced and summarized int he grand whole.
I like the way they do with Harnworld, for example. You have the bigger Harnworld and Harndex books which describe the world at large and all the main kingdoms, but in a broader high-level detail. Then if you want to go deeper in one of them, they have a book for each of the kingdoms that goes into more details on it.
So yeah, I think Traveller is missing that “Harnworld” broader main book to at least summarize each bigger section of space so players have a better knowledge which sector book they should buy next.
actionman
Emperor Mongoose
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
wintertraveller
Cosmic Mongoose
A Charted Space setting guide would be a product that I would buy.
Although, the combined content of The Third Imperium, Behind the Claw, The Borderland, the Pirates of Drinax materials, the Spinward Extents is working.
I understand the desire for clarity regarding what are core game rules and what content is setting. However, for me, Traveller will only be played in the Charted Space setting on the Spinward frontier of The Third Imperium.
Spinward Marches was the sector that dominated my Classic Traveller play, but now the Trojan Reach has become the new center of game action. Sometimes play takes the action into near by sectors (Reft, Marches, Deneb, Beyond) for brief sojourns.
Although, the combined content of The Third Imperium, Behind the Claw, The Borderland, the Pirates of Drinax materials, the Spinward Extents is working.
I understand the desire for clarity regarding what are core game rules and what content is setting. However, for me, Traveller will only be played in the Charted Space setting on the Spinward frontier of The Third Imperium.
Spinward Marches was the sector that dominated my Classic Traveller play, but now the Trojan Reach has become the new center of game action. Sometimes play takes the action into near by sectors (Reft, Marches, Deneb, Beyond) for brief sojourns.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Wild(west)space will likely be rimward of the Confederation.
Pocket empires trailing of the Imperium.
Pocket empires trailing of the Imperium.
actionman
Emperor Mongoose
What a time it was, CT LBBs and District 268.
To Tha Moon!
Cosmic Mongoose
There's a 'Guide to the Traveller Universe' chapter in The Traveller Book.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
There is indeed, and look where it comes - after all the game rules and how to design your own setting and how to play Traveller with barely a mention of the Imperium up to the final chapters.
As to the other final chapters -
BASIC TRAVELLER ACTIVITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
First Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Starship Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Adventure Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Play Traveller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
REFEREE'S GUIDE TO ADVENTURING . . . . . . . . 123
An Adventure Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Traveller Adventures .... . . . . . . . . . 124
Traveller Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . 125
then you get the typical short adventure formats
INTO THE SUBSECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Patron Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Casual Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Amber Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
next come two sample adventures Shadows and Exit Visa, and then you get
TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE . . . . . . 147
The Imperium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
The Structure of the lmperium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
The Megacorporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
The Spinward Marches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
REGINA SUBSECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
LIBRARY DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Library Data Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
As to the other final chapters -
BASIC TRAVELLER ACTIVITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
First Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Starship Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Adventure Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Play Traveller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
REFEREE'S GUIDE TO ADVENTURING . . . . . . . . 123
An Adventure Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Traveller Adventures .... . . . . . . . . . 124
Traveller Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . 125
then you get the typical short adventure formats
INTO THE SUBSECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Patron Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Casual Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Amber Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
next come two sample adventures Shadows and Exit Visa, and then you get
TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE . . . . . . 147
The Imperium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
The Structure of the lmperium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
The Megacorporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
The Spinward Marches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
REGINA SUBSECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
LIBRARY DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Library Data Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Sorry, a little bit of a tangent, but is there any relationship between GDW's Imperium from back in the day and Twilight Imperium currently available (apart from the title there's a lion-like alien on the cover that screams Aslan to me)
