T5 status

[MichaelSTee]

As others have said, thanks very much for this info, for those of us who do not FB. Please keep posting any more FB news in this thread.

Also, if the errata is done, and Marc is looking to re-print, does that mean that a new PDF might be ready for those in the Moot or who signed up to play-test? Just to look thru and see if more errata didn't sneak in?

 

[Ackehece]

As others have said, thanks very much for this info, for those of us who do not FB. Please keep posting any more FB news in this thread.

Also, if the errata is done, and Marc is looking to re-print, does that mean that a new PDF might be ready for those in the Moot or who signed up to play-test? Just to look thru and see if more errata didn't sneak in?

I'll see about mirroring comments from Facebook to here. I might just have to cut and paste.

As for errata/ early PDF... Robject would have to answer this.

 

[Ackehece]

Marc Miller posted June 22 2018
xxxLatest postxxx


"In the annals of military history, June 22, 1941 is an important date. As the Summer Solstice, June 22 was the longest daylight of the year (16 hours and 44 minutes), and for the German armies invading the Soviet Union, strategists wanted every possible minute of daylight for their first day.

That was 77 years ago today, and I mention it because 45 years ago today, GDW Game Designers’ Workshop began as a publisher of military simulation wargames: specifically the Europa Series starting with Drang Nach Osten (later Fire In The East) and Unentschieden (later Scorched Earth). These award winning titles reproduced the Russian Front of World War II in the first of the monster game genre.

I remember fondly those days (and nights) of game design, and testing, and production in offices in Normal Illinois. The legacy of Frank ChadwIck and Rich Banner remains as big, well-researched, spectacularly produced, and truly fun to play games in the military simulation vein, and I am proud to have been part of that time, even if my participation in the Europa Series was only at the fringes.

The legacy continues, however, as Frank Chadwick is now publishing Thunder In The East, redoing the Europa Series, albeit at a somewhat smaller scale."





Xxxxcccccccccxxxxxxxxxcccccc

Previous posts in last two months.

Triplanetary
Gognard
T5 can you survive character creation speed character generation rules for conventions.

 

[Ackehece]

New Marc Miller post on T5 today

"Traveller5 (the logical extension of Classic Traveller) talks about Benchmarks: understandable basic principles for size, and distance and value. It goes beyond the simple equivalent 1 Credit equals 1 Dollar.

First, it defines what money will buy: less than a credit will buy a snack; 10 credits will buy a meal. 100 credits will buy basic clothing. 1000 credits will buy a device of some importance.

Also a person can expect to earn (and spend) 100x Social in a month. A Soc=2 homeless person somehow gets about Cr200 in a month, and spends 60 for housing, 80 for meals (about Cr2-3 a day) and about Cr2 per day on other stuff. A Soc-7 person gets and spends about Cr700 a month on living. A Soc-12 person is spending about Cr1200 a month.

The Benchmark thing is also intended to help the referee: when players want to know how much for rent, or a meal, or some “thing” they need, then the Benchmark principles help him figure it out."



He is definitely posting guys, and definitely (see first line) sees T5 as core.

 

[robject]

New Marc Miller post on T5 today

Thanks for propagating the posts here, Ackehece.

Facebook is very easy to post to, and its reach is shallow and wide.

Now to summarize what Ackehece has already summarized. Marc has incorporated the Big Pile Of Errata, and is now working on how to reprint this monster.

As Marc incorporated errata, the monster grew. So as impressive as T5.00 is, Marc is talking to printers about a three-volume set in a slipcase.

Yes, we always seem to come back to Three Books. In this case, Three Big Black Books, rather than three very slim Little Black Books. It is what it is.

T5.10 is on Marc's radar finally; I suspect he has finished Grognard and other projects, and is taking a break from his second novel. The goal is to keep him on task, then. So the priorities are:

1. Finalize the logical text divisions.
2. "Get them printed" (what could possibly go wrong?)
3. Publish single-source PDF alongside three-book hardcover print set.

I don't know what you call it ("single-source"), but what I mean by that (just to be pedantic) is that Traveller5 will be ONE single PDF, but will be printed in THREE books. Theologians, you may begin to formulate your Traveller creeds now.

I'll post a separate reply on the Handbook, because I have less knowledge there.

 

[robject]

But first, a note on something Ackehece mentioned. "Marc sees T5 as core."

Indeed he does; that's why T5.00 is 650 pages, and T5.09 750 pages... and T5.10 850 pages. From the get-go, he wanted to bring in resources that GDW produced as supplemental but rather more important than just being an add-on.

Consider MegaTraveller as an evolution of the LBBs. It brought in Library Data, charts and forms, and gathered in rules scattered about. Even GDW realized that they had been filling in little (and not so little (Mercenary, High Guard, Scouts, Merchant Prince, Robots)) gaps all along.

LBB1-3 were intended to be all you needed to run science-fiction adventure. In a different way, T5 Core is intended to be all the tools you need to build your science-fiction setting. Yes, the Third Imperium is an implied default, but T5Core is a RPG toolset.

It's not a wargaming toolset, nor is it a Grand Strategy toolset, although maybe some of it sort of overlaps into those spaces.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Good news!

Is this just incorporating errata, or does T5.10 also complete previously incomplete systems such as the ship combat system?

 

[robject]

NOW the Player's Handbook.

Marc's radar is currently on T5.10. The Player's Handbook is not directly part of that, *I think*.

Partly Marc is still deciding WHAT the T5 Player's Handbook should be.

There are AT LEAST three schools of thought, and subdivisions within those schools.

1. Declare Book 1 to be the Player's Handbook.
2. Reorganize the T5.10 chapter order, to better set up a Player's Handbook, THEN declare Book 1 to be the Player's Handbook.
3. Build the Player's Handbook from SELECTED chapters from T5.10.
4. As #3, but with plenty of GLUE TEXT added to make the presentation good for newbies and players.
5. The Player's Handbook is a COMPLETELY NEW THANG that is written FROM T5.10.

They all have great arguments pro and con. I admit that #4 is an ideal that would consume the most time. My "Proof Of Concept" Player's Handbook shows that Routes #4 and #5 are doable... and I am conceited enough to think that sections of it are usable as-is in Marc's PH.

Here's what I DO know about the T5PH:

* smaller format, i.e. not 8.5x11. 6x9 is the number I think I heard.
* 200 pages.
* new illustrations.
* geared for Players: chargen, skills, tasks, combat, and equipment.

 

[robject]

Good news!

Is this just incorporating errata, or does T5.10 also complete previously incomplete systems such as the ship combat system?

I'll check.

1. The format has been altered significantly.
2. There's a flow on the first page that reminds me a bit of High Guard (defenses try to deflect before pen is rolled) and a bit of T5 personal combat (hit task, pen, damage), procedurally.
3. The Battery Rule is still there (GOOD!)
4. The section feels shorter, which is a good thing - it doesn't ramble. Looks like it gathered itself up into a better organization. 7 pages, perhaps 8. I suspect it relies on other sections (ship design) to explain how damage can be tracked, but these rules now seem to me to be more clearly geared for role-playing rather than wargaming.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Sounds good, thanks.

 

[Reban]

T5.10 is coming: YAY!!

It's 850 pages: YIKES!!


Thanks everyone for the updates.

 

[jcrocker]

Thank you very much for the updates!

... and T5.10 850 pages.

My poor mailman...

 

[Spenser TR]

Truly awesome news... thank you everyone for gathering the intel and posting it here.

 

[robject]

Thank you very much for the updates!

[re 850 pages]

My poor mailman...

Three printed hardcover 8.5x11 books, appx 250 pages each, probably omitting forms and charts for example.

Still a lot for the mail.

And one huge integrated PDF, which of course still weighs very little.

 

[lordmalachdrim]

Indeed he does; that's why T5.00 is 650 pages, and T5.09 750 pages... and T5.10 850 pages.

If the errata increases the page count by ~200 pages then T5 was precisely what we are not allowed to say.

 

[Adam Dray]

You can say it. Just not in Marc's house.

 

[Ackehece]

Updates sometimes just because you don't hear anything for a while doesn't mean things are not being completed. Hopefully this lot of updates encourages many


I will continue to repost Marc here as it is easy for you lot that are facebookphobic. Rob of course will chime in time to time... usually with special effects

 

[whulorigan]

I will continue to repost Marc here as it is easy for you lot that are facebookphobic. Rob of course will chime in time to time... usually with special effects

Thank you very much for your effort to do this.
@Admins: Would it be possible to make this thread a Sticky in the T5 Forum?

 

[PVernon]

Another thank you.

 

[Ackehece]

*stickied* thanks