CT Only: Since I can't leave well enough alone, LBB Remastered

[plazman30]

Something I'm tinkering with that I obviously could never release. But I thought it would be interesting to create a "remastered" version of the Traveller LBBs.

I mocked up one page of Characters and Combat


It's some work putting this together. The big deal is doing the tables. I tinker with 3-5 pages a day, as I have free time. With Christmas coming up, my free time is less and less now.

 

[aramis]

Something I'm tinkering with that I obviously could never release. But I thought it would be interesting to create a "remastered" version of the Traveller LBBs.

I mocked up one page of Characters and Combat

View attachment 5675
It's some work putting this together. The big deal is doing the tables. I tinker with 3-5 pages a day, as I have free time. With Christmas coming up, my free time is less and less now.

Marc beat you to it by over a year. The whitebook version on Drivethru is a remaster with errata referenced in the margins.

 

[plazman30]

Marc’s version is still scanned.

 

[Ildefonse]

Would the latest Classic Traveller TAS arrangement from Mongoose allow you to release it?

 

[RossWinn]

Marc beat you to it by over a year. The whitebook version on Drivethru is a remaster with errata referenced in the margins.

Actually, no Mark‘s version is still scanned, and the text has not been reflowed, nor has any of the errata been entered.

 

[RossWinn]

Something I'm tinkering with that I obviously could never release. But I thought it would be interesting to create a "remastered" version of the Traveller LBBs.

I mocked up one page of Characters and Combat

View attachment 5675
It's some work putting this together. The big deal is doing the tables. I tinker with 3-5 pages a day, as I have free time. With Christmas coming up, my free time is less and less now.

This is fantastic, as long as you incorporate the unified errata. All of that work has already been done for you and is freely available online. Personally, I would cite the source.

 

[mike wightman]

And what if you consider the errata to be wrong?

I prefer the choice to incorporate or not.

 

[whartung]

Well, if the source of the errata is the back of the LWB, is could be considered authoritative.

What software are you using for your formatting?

 

[RossWinn]

And what if you consider the errata to be wrong?

I prefer the choice to incorporate or not.

Most of that errata isn't in dispute and includes pretty glaring errors in my opinion. Some is even in the "white book" and so considered canon.

 

[mike wightman]

If it fixes an obvious error fair enough. But if it changes the game then no thank you. The Int+Edu skill limit is one I will ignore (and is contradicted by canonical NPCs).
Also there is still stuff missing.

How many initial skills do Scouts and Others get during the first term? How many do they get on subsequent terms?

What is the g-rating and endurance of a missile?
How are critical hits different to normal hits in ship combat?
What is the effect of a crew critical hit?

The answers for these can be found in other CT canon sources but should be in this errata.

 

[plazman30]

Well, if the source of the errata is the back of the LWB, is could be considered authoritative.

What software are you using for your formatting?

I started doing this in Scribus and then switched to Apple Pages because it has better support for tables.

Original table:



Remastered table:

 

[plazman30]

Cleaned up the aging table a bit

 

[RossWinn]

great work!

 

[plazman30]

The goal here is to keep it a LBB, insert the errata, and clean up some things visually. Also, keep the entire book greyscale. except the cover, obviously.

 

[whartung]

I started doing this in Scribus and then switched to Apple Pages because it has better support for tables.

i tried to replicate one of the pages (like Page 1 of LBB1 or something) using Apple Pages, and it was close, but not perfect. There was definitely some fiddling in the original to get things to wrap properly.

 

[plazman30]

i tried to replicate one of the pages (like Page 1 of LBB1 or something) using Apple Pages, and it was close, but not perfect. There was definitely some fiddling in the original to get things to wrap properly.

That's why this is a "remastered" edition. It's not meant to be a perfect match. It's meant to contain the same information with a cleaned up layout.

The problem with getting an exact match is going to be the font. The 1981 Traveller Books were done before computer desktop publishing existed. Word processors existed, but were very primitive by today's standards. And even if they did exist, the font choices were primitive. These were probably done using a Linotype typesetting machine and manually cut out and glued onto paper to lay out the books.

Old typesetting machine fonts don't match 100% with digital computer fonts.

The original Traveller books used the font Univers. In 2024 there are at least 4 versions of Univers that I know of: Univers, University Ltd Standard, University Next, and a number of Univers clones. I'm sure there are more.

Unless you're willing to sit there and tweak each line by adjusting kerning, you're not going to have a 100% match. Better to simply get "close enough" and update some visual elements such as tables and headers to make things easier to read.

My sample page uses a free font called Perun, which is a close match to Univers. I also used 10 pt size, when it looks like the original 1981 books used 9pt. size.

 

[RossWinn]

I think it’s as close to the perfect mix for me.

 

[plazman30]

I'm going to post another page in a few minutes. Tinkering with it now.

I should have gone into desktop publishing instead of IT.

 

[plazman30]

Ok, here is what page 10 looks like by my numbering system.

 

[spank]

Looks good.
CT is a fine game, but the presentation could use alot of work.

You're probably not there yet.
But when you get to book 3, there is a typo in the Facsimile version.
In the world generation checklist on page 12, step D, it says:
D. Planetary hydrographics: 2D-7
+ atmosphere. If planetary size is 0, then
hydrographics must be 0; if atmosphere
0, 1, or 1+, then apply DM -4.

should be 0,1, or 10+