(sic) And if we instead judged by the nine other books that have been released for the game?
Matt, I have the Pocket Rules, Mercenary, High Guard, 760 Patrons, and Traders and Gunboats. If I were to rank them in order of overall quality:
1) Pocket Rules
2) Traders and Gunboats
3) 760 Patrons
4) Mercenary
5) High Guard
In order of artwork quality:
1) Pocket Rules
2) Traders and Gunboats
3) High Guard
4) 760 Patrons
5) Mercenary
In order of usefulness to my game (the thing I really care about):
1) Pocket Rules
2) Mercenary
3) Traders and Gunboats
4) 760 Patrons
5) High Guard
I'm sure that you're showered with advice about what you should do to improve the books, the game, your haircut, et cetera. However, this is a public forum designed for that kind of thing, so I'll cast restraint to the wind and tell you why I bought into Mongoose Traveller after having last played Traveller (Classic) in 1985 and never really looked back at it since with anything other than nostalgia until the day I saw your Pocket Rules edition.
I saw a Little Black Book that said
Traveller on the cover on "New Releases" shelf of my friend's comic and game store. I said, outloud, "Holy sh*t! Did GDW put out a new print edition of Traveller?!" My friend quickly set me straight and said, "No, Mongoose did that. They put out a rule book about a year ago and just published that pocket edition." At which point, I picked it up and started looking through the little book. I could not shut up about how cool it was. The career summary chart -- the sidebar -- hooked me. Each career, neatly laid out with three specializations, qualification rolls, survival rolls and promotion rolls. I flipped forward to the careers and I was impressed by the layout, organization of information and the artwork. Then I noticed that the little book was $20 US and I said, "This looks fanstasic! This is so cool! I'll take it!"
This was on New Year's Eve. I had made reservations for dinner at a nice restaurant with my wife and our friends and I had no intention of buying anything other than a few bottles of wine that night. We had stopped by the store because that's where we were meeting before going out. That book, its size and its presentation really hooked me. I abandonded an ongoing, 5 year continuous D&D campaign
that night to switch systems and play Traveller because of your little black book.
After running one session I bought Mercenary because of the Mercenary Ticket rules. They have been an invaluable contribution to my game. I use them for everything from mercenary contracts to planetology contracts to diplomatic consultation contracts. They are an excellent framework to hang patron-driven missions upon. In my last session we used them to negotiate a salary for a new (player) crew member. The large-scale combat rules have potential, but I haven't used them yet, nor have I done more than skimmed the section on bases. I don't know if my current campaign is going to go in that direction, but we'll see.
I bought High Guard at the same time as Mercenary because it was in-stock at the store and it had capital ship rules and expanded space combat rules. I haven't used either of them yet, but High Guard was a long-term investment. The character creation rules and the presentation of them in this book leave a lot to be desired.
I bought Traders and Gunboats because my players and I wanted more "standerd' ship designs and I wasn't ready to create a shipbuilder application yet. My group and I are very happy with this book.
I bought 760 Patrons to supplement the Mercenary Ticket rules and give greater depth to starport and planet-side encounters. I find myself wishing for more from this book. The patron examples in the Pocket Rules are what I was hoping for from this book rather than a collection of random NPC types arranged by category with random personality quirks. The book is useful, but not as useful as I'd hoped.
If I had not seen the Pocket Rules first, but instead the Core Rulebook or one of the supplements other than Traders and Gunboats, I would have had a tough time taking Mongoose's Traveller seriously and would likely still be playing D&D at home and wishing for a worthy Sci Fi role-playing game system.
That's my judgement of the quality of the books based on the 5 of 9 that I have. I'll be buying Scout soon. I'll be buying it because my game has a lot of momentum right now -- not because of the quality of the other books -- and I'm hoping Scout will add to the depth and believability of My Traveller Universe.
I hope you find this information useful.
