CT Errata Compendium

[daryen]

On a completely different note, I do have one addition that I know will never get acted on because the Errata maintainer is no longer with us.

The Other Book 2 career should get two skills per term, just like Scouts.

If you look at the rank-less careers in the CotI from Spinward Marches Campaign, and look at the rank-less Vargr careers in The Traveller Adventure, you see that there is an updated standard of two skills per term for rank-less careers. That this is a change is made starkly clear when comparing the CotI careers given in Supplement 4 and given in SMC. In Supplement 4, this is not the case, but it is the case in SMC. So, this appears to have been an evolution of how that type of career works. But, for some reason, the Other career is the one rank-less career that was missed or skipped.

The Other career should not be an exception and should instead get two skills per term.

 

[chalimacos]

I know this is no longer maintained for sad and mournful reasons, but I post it just for the record. IMHO this cannot possibly be an errata:

WORLDS AND ADVENTURES (Traveller Book 3, 1977 edition)
Page 4, Hydrographic Percentage (correction): The formula should be 2D–7+atmosphere, not 2D–7+size.

Formula 2D-7+size generates around 3.75% of Ice-capped worlds. Formula 2D-7+atmosphere around 0.70%. I calculated the percentage of IC worlds in iconic sectors (data from Traveller Map):

Core 3.29%
Spinward Marches 4.32%
Solomani Rim 4.75%
Deneb 3,62%
Trojan Reach 4,89%

All these sectors were generated with the formula 2D-7+size. It was the formula used by GDW official software for Apple II and supported by the following sources:

A) Sources for the formula: 2D-7+size

1977 LBB: Text and Checklist
1981 LBB: Checklist
1982 The Traveller Book: Checklist
1983 Book 6 - Scouts
1985 Sector Gen and Sect.Gen 2.1 by GDW (software)
1986 Challenge Magazine 26 Article by Marc W. Miller (Applesoft Basic program printed)

B) Sources for the formula: 2D-7+atmosphere

1981 LBB Text
1982 The Traveller Book: Text
-----------------------------------

A Scan of the formula 2D-7+size in the Basic program from 1986 (Challenge Magazine):

https://imgur.com/a/yCp3gm6

 

[daryen]

For the record, I have found several items in the various Alien Modules that was never addressed in the Errata Compendium file. Does anyone care? Just curious.

 

[Spinward Flow]

For the record, I have found several items in the various Alien Modules that was never addressed in the Errata Compendium file. Does anyone care? Just curious.

If no one point them out, the odds of them being recognized as something in need of fixing drops to near zero ...

 

[daryen]

Sure, but they are literally contradictory.

Honestly, I figure no one has ever actually read those words. Like ever. Since everyone knows what they should say, they just didn't read them.

Like I said, if no one cares, it's fine with me. We have a modern version of the game that's probably better anyway, so it's probably just not important at this point. I just thought it was pretty funny that they were never caught. That's all.

 

[Garnfellow]

Sure, but they are literally contradictory.

Honestly, I figure no one has ever actually read those words. Like ever. Since everyone knows what they should say, they just didn't read them.

Like I said, if no one cares, it's fine with me. We have a modern version of the game that's probably better anyway, so it's probably just not important at this point. I just thought it was pretty funny that they were never caught. That's all.

I use the Aslan and Hiver books a lot and would certainly be interested in any errata you have found.

 

[Axe]

For the record, I have found several items in the various Alien Modules that was never addressed in the Errata Compendium file. Does anyone care? Just curious.

I still play CT several times of year. I actually write confirmed errata directly into my books *watches several folks pass out after hearing of someone defiling actual classic books*. I have complete paragraphs written in the margins or on a following blank page.

I'd appreciate it if any errata you find was posted.



Thanks,
AXE

Hmmm. Actually, I found two more errors a few months ago, but what they were escapes me right now. I knew I should have posted them when I identified them.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Errata Chasers

Round 1
FIGHT!

 

[daryen]

Here we go:

Missed Issue 1:

In Alien Module 3 (Vargr), on pg 8, under Optional Rule following Survival, it states that "The short term is not counted for mustering out benefits." This is likewise the rule from Book 1, TTB, and Starter Traveller. However, in Alien Module 4 (Zho), on page 24, under Optional Rule following Survival, it states that "The term of injury counts for mustering-out benefits, but the character does not receive a eligibility for a skill for that term of service." It would appear that Alien Module 4 then served as the template for the following Alien Modules, as Alien Modules 6, 7, and 8 all use the exact same wording as Alien Module 4. This is almost guaranteed to be an error, as it directly contradicts the rule from Book 1, TTB, ST, and AM3. (Alien Modules 2 and 5 don't count because they completely changed how Survival works on a fundamental level.)

My guess as to why this was never caught is that no one really needs to read the AM4 rules on how the optional survival rule works, so they just used what they already knew.

Missed Issue 2:

In Alien Module 8 (Darrian), on page 29 the Advanced Education Table has the note "(only available to Social Standing A + 1)". Besides the "A + 1" part not meaning anything, this is an obvious copy error from Alien Module 4 (Zho), where the Advanced Education Table is specifically the Noble/Intendant Table, where Social Standing A really is required. The note should be like every other table and restricted to Education 8 or greater. (Which, incidentally, is what the text rules say on page 26.)

Side note:
While the Consolidated Errata says that the stated attribute generation is wrong because Strength and Endurance are at 2D instead of 2D+1, I prefer to think that this was NOT a mistake and that it represents how the Darrian Aslan have drifted from the main group of Aslan. Instead, I think the errata should be that the Education score for Darrian Aslan should be 2D+1 (like the racial Darrian), rather than 2D, because the focus on education is a cultural trait, not a racial tendency. As such, any member of the Darrian culture will also tend to accentuate education and gain the 2D+1 generation attribute, not just racial Darrians. As a result, I think the Darrian Aslan attribute rolls should be Strength: 2D, Dexterity: 2D-1, Endurance: 2D, Intelligence: 2D, Education: 2D+1, Social: 2D.

Again, this one item is not a hard errata (like the two above), but it is still what I think was intended and makes the most sense.

Also note that Darrian careers do NOT gain default skills like most other careers. I assume this is to compensate for the automatic +1 to Education all Darrians (cultural Darrians, not just racial Darrians) are expected to be receiving.

 

[GypsyComet]

The Darrian book had issues well beyond that, IIRC.

 

[pesco]

A) Sources for the formula: 2D-7+size

1977 LBB: Text and Checklist
1981 LBB: Checklist
1982 The Traveller Book: Checklist
1983 Book 6 - Scouts
1985 Sector Gen and Sect.Gen 2.1 by GDW (software)
1986 Challenge Magazine 26 Article by Marc W. Miller (Applesoft Basic program printed)

B) Sources for the formula: 2D-7+atmosphere

1981 LBB Text
1982 The Traveller Book: Text

Given that 2D-7+atmosphere has found its way into another official source with the Facsimile Edition, it seems that it would warrant a look/clarification from Marc/FFE themselves.

 

[pesco]

Hi,

After recently finishing my three "Little White Books" and marking any errors/uncertainties I came across, I have started compiling them. Given that the source for the Consolidated Errata appears lost, I took a bit of care and, well, one night wrote a program to convert my list to HTML, slapped some CSS on it and even "printed" it to PDF with Firefox.

In the spirit of the Consolidated Errata as a "living document", I uploaded the whole thing to Github, so feel free to play around with it. I can't promise to look after it in the sense of maintainership, but one can always send pull requests, or fork it for that matter.

GitHub - pesco/traveller-errata: Errata for the Traveller role-playing game

Errata for the Traveller role-playing game. Contribute to pesco/traveller-errata development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I have (obviously) only focused on the book that I have (the Facsimile Edition of CT '81), but things are set up to accomodate more. I have already included (and attributed) things from this thread that concern the LWB but were not incorporated in the book. So far, I have typed up the items for LWB1 -- book 2 and 3 will come next. I figured this would be a good point to share my work.

Note that there is a section titled "In Need of Clarification". In it I collected things that I think are not described clearly enough in the text. I do think I understand all of these, but only after filling in a lot of blanks. In contrast, there is another section that I titled "Status Uncertain" for things I am genuinely unsure about. I want to call out the following items. Maybe the community can definitively clear some of them up.

• LWB1, p. 14: The cash table includes entries for a roll of 7 for the Navy, Scout, and Merchant careers, even though such a roll is not possible (these careers cannot yield Gambling expertise).
• LWB1, p. 15: Service Skills Table, Army career: Should "Air/Raft" be Grav Vehicle? Cf. pp. 17, 22, LWB p. 154.
• LWB1, p. 15: Both education tables are titled "Advanced Education Table". Consider text on p. 10 (second to last paragraph): "The fourth is available only through advanced education". Should only the fourth table be called "Advanced"?
• LWB1, p. 17: Should "Air/Raft" skill be Grav Vehicle? Cf. p. 22, LWB p. 154.
• LWB1, p. 18: Should "ATV" skill be Wheeled Vehicle? Cf. p. 22, LWB p. 154.

Anyway, this is all I have for tonight. Time to get the items from those other two books typed in.

 

[aramis]

Doing some quick lookups... the masses for arrows are about double what they should be... Most arrows and bolts used for huting are around 40-60 grams, not the 100 grams shown in Supplement 4.
I'd suggest changing that mass.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Hunting arrows and bolts are crafted for an explicitly different purpose than war arrows and bolts. The war types are going to want to be heavy, while the hunting types are going to want to be lighter.

As Tod of Tod's Workshop fame put it in one of his videos about warbow performance and their damage potential:

Kinetic energy is the messenger.
Momentum is the message.

Of course, this is a man who has merch T-shirts for sale that look like this:

 

[pesco]

So far, I have typed up the items for LWB1 -- book 2 and 3 will come next. I figured this would be a good point to share my work.

Aaand, LWB2 and LWB3 are typed up. Mission complete!

 

[MichaelSTee]

You asked:
LWB1, p. 14: The cash table includes entries for a roll of 7 for the Navy, Scout, and Merchant careers, even though such a roll is not possible (these careers cannot yield Gambling expertise).

Reason:
Page 11 of Book 1, under Mustering Out, 2nd paragraph: A character who has received rank 5 or 6 receives three extra rolls, and in addition may apply a DM of +1 to die rolls on the skills and benefits table.

 

[pesco]

You asked:
LWB1, p. 14: The cash table includes entries for a roll of 7 for the Navy, Scout, and Merchant careers, even though such a roll is not possible (these careers cannot yield Gambling expertise).

Reason:
Page 11 of Book 1, under Mustering Out, 2nd paragraph: A character who has received rank 5 or 6 receives three extra rolls, and in addition may apply a DM of +1 to die rolls on the skills and benefits table.

Nope. Emphasis mine. AFAICS, only gambling expertise gets you to 7 on the cash table.

But here is something else that I just noticed looking back: The Mustering Out Benefits table states "Gambling: DM + level on cash table" while the text contradicts this with "Any character who has acquired gambling skill level-1 or higher may add +1 to the die roll". So there's another one for the list.

 

[whartung]

I think there was a quote somewhere, about an exchange that went something like this:

"The fastest way to a mans heart is through his stomach."
"No, the fastest way to a mans heart is through his chest."

 

[kilemall]

Nope. Emphasis mine. AFAICS, only gambling expertise gets you to 7 on the cash table.

But here is something else that I just noticed looking back: The Mustering Out Benefits table states "Gambling: DM + level on cash table" while the text contradicts this with "Any character who has acquired gambling skill level-1 or higher may add +1 to the die roll". So there's another one for the list.

That's why I added Gambling to all the LBB2/S4 careers in my add-on skills table. Think Advanced Education but the qualifier is INT 8+, for unusual skills that aren't core to the service but can come in handy when the odd person develops it or takes special instruction.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Think Advanced Education but the qualifier is INT 8+

Education 8+ ...