One positive thing T5 did for MTU was make legitimate multiple drives working together in the same ship to increase power, maneuver and jump. Long overdue. There are some other gems in there too, but you have to dig.
I think it was a rational thing to do (and it's what prompted Marc to change the 'A' maneuver drive to 2 tons, by the way, for both T5 and Mongoose Traveller).
I'd pay again to get a re-edited, errata-free copy of the book. Hell, I'd buy a few copies so my players can have one handy!
You're generous. I totally understand buying copies for players. And I can understand paying for an edited hardcover book. But as a backer, well... I kind of want an edited PDF for a very nominal fee, or on media if Marc still does it that way (JumpDrive preferred of course).
This probably belongs in its own thread, but I see T5 as CT without the baggage. By baggage, I mean both good and bad. CT's lethality: good. CT's continuous addition of skills through 8 rules additions: bad. Etc.
The thing I really like about T5 is that it's basically complete. Much could be added, but it's completely playable as is. (Minus errata, that is.) It's like CT in that you can pick and choose how to play, but it has the advantage of all being in one package. (Not that it's one book, but the system is essentially complete.)
This is more or less how I see the T5 core book. Not just the basic rules, but also major supplemental rules, sucked into one volume. A reference.
But, what I would like most of all is adventures. I'm not so creative that way. I can referee with the best of them, but creating that universe? Not so easy for me. And I'm having a tough time "translating" the CT adventures to T5.
Marc and I have talked and emailed about bringing the CT adventures into T5. And right now that's all it is: talk. But it's something I want to see, as well.
Note that Greg Lee has been dragged, kicking and screaming, back into the Traveller world, with his
Cirque adventure for Traveller5. He's a good writer and a fun read (he has three sci-fi books out over the past few years that are worth reading, with a grittiness level similar to 2300AD. I recommend them).
From what I've seen so far, of all the folks on CotI, Robject seems to have the best grasp of T5. He does confine himself to ships for the most part though.
Maybe he'll write something or collaborate with others to get something out. His posting ship designs was what made me stick with T5 as long as I did. He was a one man ambassador for T5 when TPTB abdicated. (For awhile I thought he was one of the undead and didn't require sleep. I'm still not certain he isn't.
)
For me, being partly blind, T5 is a nightmare with no index. I need a new CD but haven't ordered a replacement. Just to easy to go back to CT and look at the BBB on the shelf. (Trying to shift around the volume and only so much fits on the screen anyway. Just to much bother.)
People need examples, and by Strephon that's what I can give them.
T5 is not kind to the blind. That said, Marc showed me a prototype list of keywords last week (the sort of list that has candidate entries for an index); it was in a large font and is in the process of being pared down, but at that time it was over 100 pages long. Suffice to say that it is getting trimmed back "a bit", to say the least.
Regarding me and T5: I spent most of my time in the "maker" tools -- if you've seen my website, I wrote programs for building weapons and armor, as well as starships. But I've also spent time thinking about robots, animals, and of course robotic animals. Finally, I've thought about sophonts, going so far as to draft T5 versions of "Alien Modules" (if the module exists, though, it's better to just publish the T5 stats for the aliens -- we don't need more duplication of material).
Regarding adventures etc. I've encouraged Craig Glesner to get his
Herald-class ship design and associated adventure/setting published; he has a nice set of deckplans and knows starship design as well as I. Greg Lee has
Cirque of course. There are other things being discussed, which don't need Marc's oversight, and some which do.
