LBB Book 1-3 Edition

[JustinInOz]

Hello,

I am the proud owner of a boxed set of Traveller LBB 1-3. I bought them on ebay.

How can I tell what edition they are? What are the textual differences? The numbering on the front page would indicate the 12th printing.

Thanks for your help.

Justin.

 

[aramis]

They should be CT-81 rules... 2nd edition. But note that a few minor things may differ from printing to printing.

Easy check: 1st ed CT (AKA CT-77) has modifiers to damages (EG: 2d+2) and 2nd Ed does not.

 

[JustinInOz]

Ok, then what I have is CT-77.

The body pistol does 3D-8 damage.

They are in beautiful condition for 30 year old gaming books.

 

[aramis]

Keep in mind, they might be 1980 printing. There are some differences in the early printings with things disappearing and reappearing; the big difference with the "81" edition is the damages being truncated to whole dice. But the 81 edition runs through 1987 for printings... when MT finally was released. CT 81 was "in print" (in distribution new) through about 1989... and more stable than pre-81 CT.

 

[far-trader]

Hello,

I am the proud owner of a boxed set of Traveller LBB 1-3. I bought them on ebay.

Congrats (envy )

The numbering on the front page would indicate the 12th printing.

Note that Traveller used the (less common as I understand it) method denoting print run where the lowest number (not the highest) in the string indicates the print run. For example if your numbers were "9 10 11 12" your's would be a 9th print run and not 12th. Basic Traveller (LBB1-3 Boxed 1977) did have 12 print runs though, while Basic Traveller Revised (LBB1-3 Boxed 1981) only had 9 print runs. Just fyi.

 

[Icosahedron]

Hmm. I was sufficiently curious to check my own boxed set.

Mercenary, High Guard and Scouts all have the numbers 1 - 15, so presumably they are first printings, but my LBB 1-3 don't have any print run numbers at all.

One day I'll get 7&8 just to complete the set. I've got the info in the floppy book and on CD, but...

 

[mmbutter]

I have several sets of LBBs. I know exactly which one one of them is: 1st edition, 1st printing, copy #7. Signed by Marc.

 

[Kakistocrat]

Note that Traveller used the (less common as I understand it) method denoting print run where the lowest number (not the highest) in the string indicates the print run. For example if your numbers were "9 10 11 12" yours would be a 9th print run and not 12th. Basic Traveller (LBB1-3 Boxed 1977) did have 12 print runs though, while Basic Traveller Revised (LBB1-3 Boxed 1981) only had 9 print runs. Just fyi.

To my knowledge, the lowest number in a printer’s key always represents the volume’s print run (presuming that the printer’s key uses numbers rather than letters), but where the variation occurs is in the order of the numbers. In some volumes they’re in ascending order, e.g. “9 10 11 12 13 14”; in some they’re in descending order, e.g. “14 13 12 11 10 9”; and in some they alternate, e.g. “10 12 14 13 11 9”. I think that all Classic Traveller volumes only used printer’s keys in ascending order.

My 1977 boxed set was from a 13th print run, since its printer’s keys are in ascending order from 13 through 25 inclusive.