New books

[nats]

So I was wondering which of the new books from the Mongoose New Traveller line are really worth getting if I am on a tight budget?

I like the idea of the Supply Catalogue and High Guard but cant really get both and dont have any idea what those books are like not having seen them for real. Are they as good as the Core Book in terms of presentation, writing and information quality?

Reason I ask is because Ive owned a lot of Mongoose books and sold them all because I thought the bulk of them were pretty useless for 99% of the games I play - except for a select few which I still have kept - V1 Core RB, Spinward Marches and the Ref Screen pretty much is all I have left I think. I dont want to start getting a load of new books unless they are very good quality and worth keeping and actually using ie not just sitting on a shelf. I like the idea of building ships but I could probably forget the Supply Catalogue and the Vehicle Book.

And is there anything on the cards that might be well worth getting? I cant see anything in the release list that I honestly would buy. The only thing I would love to see would be a world creator book but nothing like that is coming by the look of it.

 

[aramis]

HG is the ship design system. If you want ships that's the book.

 

[MongooseMatt]

If you want to build ships, High Guard is your book.

I would (strongly) recommend Central Supply if you are actually playing games, though, and your players will thank you for it.

Oh, and at least check out the preview of the forthcoming Vehicle Handbook (http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/vhbpreview.pdf). If you like tinkering, there is a lot to this book...

 

[dmccoy1693]

If you like to build your own ships and feel you can make up your own equipment (or feel the equipment in the core book is good enough) get High Guard. Having said that, the core rulebok has 11 ships that are 100-999 tons and 8 ships that are <100 tons. High Guard has 13 ships that are <100 (8 of them are from the core book, so 5 new) and 21 ships that are 100-999 tons (11 of which are in the core book, for 10 new), and 7 ships that are 1,000-10,000 tons (all new), and 12 ships that are 10,000+ tons (all new).

The most valuable thing for my games in High Guard is the space station rules. Where there aren't any examples of space station in there, I can make my own space stations with the space station variant section in the book.

You also might want to check out the Community section on DriveThruRPG for Traveller. That is the Traveller Compatible for the current version. We make some excellent material at very reasonable prices. Like Rusted Fang Station (written and published by me and my company, respectively). Its a fully detailed space station with many plot hooks for you to create your own adventures. Or the Caennai Class Merchantman, a nicely created ship by a young publisher and is a nice addition to any game.

If you want what I consider to be the best GM aids, get yourself the d66 Compendium and the D66 Compendium 2. Both of these books give you endless names of people, places, companies as well as ideas for many many situations. These are some of the most helpful books for any Traveller GM out there.

 

[lego zhodani]

It's dependant on what sort of games you play. Our group has found that the CSC is well worth having for fun kit gadgets.

Basics are Core rulebook and CSC.
Highguard is a bonus but not vital.
Also some of the downloadable supplments and adventures are worth a good look.

 

[DickNervous]

The presentation in High Guard and Central Supply Catalog are just as good as the core book, from the layout to the quality of the paper.

I had started to use the Core and CSC in my campaign with 1st Edition ships because HG wasn't out. Since the ships are completely separate from characters it isn't hard to do. Also, the new HG does NOT have any additional careers in it like the old one did. So if you are on a budget you should get the Core and CSC first. You can still use the old HG to create/upgrade ships until you can afford the new one.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Also, the new HG does NOT have any additional careers in it like the old one did.

For the record, it was going to - we were looking at a system of 'advanced careers', high-end careers that had to be qualified for through career progression, but it ended up going nowhere. Trouble was, they were not really adding anything to the game and the core careers already covered so much ground.

Maybe something for a TAS publisher to look at!

 

[Thanos]

I know HG2E was changed quite a bit but what about the CSC? I have the 1st edition of it, do I really need to but a new one?

 

[MongooseMatt]

I know HG2E was changed quite a bit but what about the CSC? I have the 1st edition of it, do I really need to but a new one?

There is a lot more balance to it, and we removed a lot of the 'almost the same but a bit different weapons'. Everything just... flows a lot better now. And, of course, everything is updated to the new edition, with traits and so forth.

 

[herr_phil]

Like everyone said it's really about the kind of game you want to play. I have core, high guard, central supply, and the vehicle handbook and out of the group I would say get central supply first as it has the most things you can use immediately. The ship design stuff is good in high guard, but it's nothing you can't do a lot of on your own or find elsewhere. Vehicle handbook is interesting but it's a lot more niche for the games that I typically run.