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Hello, new to the forums

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scubamatt

SOC-3
Hi, I just discovered these forums and registered, and I'm kind of overwhelmed at the options on the FFE main page. Overwhelmed but excited!

I played the original Little Black Books version of Traveller, many years ago, and it remains the standard by which I judge all other sci-fi games I encounter. I played the boxed games (Snapshot, Mayday, Azhanti High Lightning, Striker) and I even ran a High Guard PBM campaign for a year or so with some military buddies. I loved the entire game and the original campaign setting, especially since I was a history buff and recognized the whole 'age of fighting sail' flavor of the Imperium. What a perfect setting for adventuring, but I digress. As is often the case, real life conspired to destroy my game collection, and eventually I lost my little black books to wear and tear, divorce, and house pets.

I know there have been various versions of the game released (2300, Mega, etc) but never really had an opportunity to try any of them, and to be honest when I heard they were set in different eras (before/after/elsewhen) it dampened my enthusiasm for them. Over the years I managed to hang on to only one book (Book 4: Mercenary) which is now in an embarrassing condition, so I was thrilled to find out the original books were available again in one fashion or another.

So, having said all of that...the questions begin:

There is a new version of Traveller coming out? T5? Where can I find out more about this? Will it be set in the same background as the original books, or will it be some time/place else? Is it a d20 system, or the old d6 system, or something else? When will it be released? Should I begin extorting the fat guy at the North Pole for it, or what?

I now know that I can get the original game books in electronic format (and the JTAS, woohoo!) but I'd like to know if there is any more material I should consider buying. I prefer the original setting (3rd Imperium) rather than anything way earlier/later/far away. Should I buy the Judges Guild stuff? I've only seen one or two things of theirs over the years (both were printed on newsprint type paper, a million lifetimes ago it seems).

I guess it can be boiled down to "I want to acquire as much of the Traveller material as I can, if its related to the original campaign setting...what do you recommend?"

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings...
 
Welcome!

Hail and well met fellow Traveller fan. :)

You will find many of us have stories very similar to yours.

I have the Classic Traveller, FASA, T5 and JTAS disks and have the MegaTraveller, Judges Guild/Paranoia, TNG, and TNG+ disks on order, they are a great deal, esp with the 443 sale.

-Robert
 
T5 is part of the YARS* disease... it will be a different system from any other previous system (close, but definitely different).

There was Traveller (now called Classic Traveller),
MegaTraveller (came out in 1986 with some changes, mainly in a rebellion breaking the Imperium apart, now out of print),
The New Era (wholesale changes to things, especially the ship-construction rules... civilization nearly destroyed by an interstellar intelligent computer Virus, now oop),
T4 (still another version of ship-construction, the rebellion & Virus never happened, now oop),
Mongoose Traveller (the newest and fairly close to CT, but still different, also no rebellion/Virus), and soon
T5 (which won't be fully compatible with any of the previous rules systems, also no rebellion/Virus).


Then don't forget GURPS Traveller (for the Generic Universal Role Playing System),
T20 (D20 Traveller, now oop), and
Hero-Traveller (for the HERO system, the same one as the Champions superhero game, now oop). All 3 of these were without an independent setting... you used the setting you liked best.


Traveller 2300 was a totally different game set in a totally different version of the universe.



* Yet Another Rules System
 
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Hi

BlackBat242 said:
T5 is part of the YARS* disease... it will be a different system from any other previous system (close, but definitely different).

There was Traveller (now called Classic Traveller),
MegaTraveller (came out in 1986 with some changes, mainly in a rebellion breaking the Imperium apart, now out of print),
The New Era (wholesale changes to things, especially the ship-construction rules... civilization nearly destroyed by an interstellar intelligent computer Virus, now oop),
T4 (still another version of ship-construction, the rebellion & Virus never happened, now oop),
Mongoose Traveller (the newest and fairly close to CT, but still different, also no rebellion/Virus), and soon
T5 (which won't be fully compatible with any of the previous rules systems, also no rebellion/Virus).


Then don't forget GURPS Traveller (for the Generic Universal Role Playing System),
T20 (D20 Traveller, now oop), and
Hero-Traveller (for the HERO system, the same one as the Champions superhero game, now oop). All 3 of these were without an independent setting... you used the setting you liked best.


Traveller 2300 was a totally different game set in a totally different version of the universe.



* Yet Another Rules System
Click to expand...

Hi,

I had thought that T4 wasn't necessarily that the Rebellion and Virus never happened but rather it was just set in an earlier era (Year 0), before all that other stuff (sometime after Year 1100).

Though now that I've actually put this in writing I can see that maybe I'm just getting tripped up over semantics, since in Year 0 it would be correct to say that "the Rebellion and Virus never happened" or at the very least it hasn't happened yet. :)

Regards

Pat
 
Virus is in the timelines for T5, and Marc has noted in various places over the years that Virus is in the official TU timeline for all non-GURPS editions to date... starting in 1125 or so.

It's generally irrelevant to T4, but it will (and the Cymbeline Chips do) exist in the T4 universe.
 
Run while you still can! Save yourself!

No, just kidding....I've been steady with Classic Traveller since it first came out in '77 and haven't seen any reasons to change. But I also mine MegaTrav for some ideas (mainly some of the ship ideas), and yo can often do the same with a little work and imagination.

If you want to play the (IMHO) "purest" version then stick with the original - Classic Traveller and get the CD's for CT and JTAS from FFE. They have all you'll ever need. The new version of the Classic Trav CD even has all the errata from the various rewrites, and the original books from '77 as well as the the '81-onward editions.

If you want the latest version that expands on the original and yet seems to inject some new life and rules without appearing to muddy it all up then go for Mongoose Traveller. Its (from what little I've seen and the talk here on the forums) close enough to the original to be easily learned by anyone who played the original and doesn't bog you down in myriad rules like a T20 version will.

I stick with CT because I've invested far to many decades in my own non-official universe to start over. But otherwise I might have gone the Mongoose route if I was just starting out again with nothing.
 
Every edition has good and bad points - many people play a hybrid of the best bits (even if you don't like GURPS the GT books are great for background info).
 
I wont comment on T5 as I dont know anything about that.

I owned Mongoose Traveller and got rid of it as it didnt seem the same as the way I remembered Classic Traveller - the character generation in that version is definitely its best feature but otherwise it is too complex for me, the illustrations leave a lot to be desired, there is a definite lack of thought, and lots of mistakes in MGT.

I have looked quickly at both D20 and Gurps Traveller and neither of those seemed to be truly Traveller to me.

I havent looked at Mega Traveller, TNE or T4 etc because they were all released when I wasnt interested in Traveller and as such I never got into them - I am pretty sure I wont like any of them anyway as I do like the 3I background setting even though I rarely use it.

I have been getting back all the black books of Classic Traveller from Ebay (there are loads on the US Ebay site and they are usually far better quality and often cheaper than the UK Ebay, which is becoming dominated by greedy power sellers). I like CT because I played it as a kid and as such I have fond memories of it, but also I feel its the best looking version and the easiest to play. I cant read stuff on computers so I have avoided the disks and gone for the books instead. However I did get Starter Traveller as PDFs and on comparing them with my 1980 version of the books it seems a lot was left out of the last version of the little black books, so I have been busy printing the missing stuff out and sticking it in my books - stuff like background info, rumours, advanced combat, many of the terrain events etc is all missing - quite lot in fact. I would probably suggest getting Starter Traveller for this reason unless you are like me and love the little books for sentimental reasons.

As for Judges Guild stuff its low quality presentation but the content is quite good and you can get it cheap. Personally I prefer the Gamelords rules expansion stuff (like The Desert Environment) and the official GDW stuff, although the Judges Guild Ref Screen is definitely worth getting (probably the only thing I would say is essential to get from them).

Finally just wanted to say welcome to a fellow Traveller who has come back from the void just as I did recently, there really isnt anything like Traveller whatever version you play.
 
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Welcome! :)
I'm a solid fan of the Classic Traveller stuff. You can't go wrong with the recently updated Classic Traveller CD-ROM from Far Future Enterprises (FFE). There are also some hard-copy reprints available.

More advice:

Shun anything by Mongoose Publishing like the plague: purge those thrusters and head in the other direction at 10G! ;)

Watch out for some of the grumpy grognards here: they have rabies! :eek:o:
 
Hey, thanks for the helpful (and friendly!) replies. I'm making myself a list of things to buy from the FFE site now. I like the idea of everything on disc, but I also love the feel of real books in hand (and on the bookshelf).

I've also gotten lost browsing thru the forums for an hour or so now (wow, I wish I had found you guys a few years back).

Next 'new guy' question...what are all of the little abbreviations and such that I keep seeing in people's signature blocks (Aramis', for example)?

They look like pc++- hp-+ eq-+ and so forth.
 
Thanks for the link to the codes, now I have to 1) decipher everyone else's codes and 2) figure out my own, cause I definitely qualify as a Traveller Geek.

After checking everyone's suggestions again, I decided to order the 443 package deal first. I got the Classic Traveller disc, Apocrypha 1 & 2 discs, and the JTAS disc.

I just place my order on PayPal, and have moved my lawn chair out by the mailbox to wait for delivery...:rofl:
 
Andrew Boulton said:
Every edition has good and bad points - many people play a hybrid of the best bits (even if you don't like GURPS the GT books are great for background info).
Click to expand...
Indeed. And in the vein of JTAS, the Digest Group magazines "Traveller's Digest" and "Megatraveller Journal" are very good if you can find them on Ebay, etc.
 
Frankymole said:
Indeed. And in the vein of JTAS, the Digest Group magazines "Traveller's Digest" and "Megatraveller Journal" are very good if you can find them on Ebay, etc.
Click to expand...
Yes, they're great. I've made a significant number of purchases on eBay (usually after watching a few auctions to judge what a good price is). But I've also acquired just as many items on rpggeek.com in marketplace purchases and trades. Just traded some boardgames for the complete Lost Supplements collection and all of the Digest Group magazine issues I was missing.
 
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