Wow! It appears I came to the right place.
Thanks!
Some specific comments:
I never bought Heroes of Tomorrow (Task Force Games), but I do have Heroes of Legend and Heroes of Today. I agree, those books were incredible and I relie on HoToday for any modern character I generate.
I also have GURPS: Space. I've certainly found easier and still satisfying ways of generating solar systems, but Space's system generation 'feels' the most authentic. They also have great ideas on future technology.
As for what kind of campaign I'm running, I'm thinking pretty much custom - though surprisingly close to the 'canon' Confederation/Vilani wars of 2089+. I have Starfire and Imperial Starfire (also TFG.) Imperial deals with system generation, economics, ship construction etc. for playing a campaign...but the rules set is... well, number intensive is a nice way of putting it.
So one day I started a TL 2 (probably about TL 8 or 9 in Traveller) war between Earth and Mars just to get a feel for the campaign system without worrying about multiple solar systems. While this was going on one of the Terran ships went exploring, found a jump point (a specific breach in space between two systems, vs. Traveller's jump engines), and went to a neighboring system. I rolled it up. TL 6 aliens (about TL 11 in Traveller.) Hostile. Chased the explorer back into the Sol system and attacked.
That's when I stopped, but I always wondered what would have happened next... whether the two warring factions could have unified against the common threat and overcome the severe tech gap. I think it'd make an interesting campaign, though obviously the campaign focus changes since everything's happening in one solar system and you need to tweak the careers and equipment for a TL 8/9 society.
Ptah: Thanks for the link you provided! I followed it and randomly picked up on what appeared to be a three year old debate on marines and cutlasses - that alone was an interesting read. Just from the feedback in this one thread I think you're right: If I look around and ask questions I should find all I need.
Books 1-3 are obvious, though there seems to be a strong consensus for 4-7 as well. I think I'll go the 0-8 route, since I like the idea of some expanded character generation and yes, my original 0-3s are gone. Similarly Supplement 4 appears to be high on my list for the extra careers. (I also know there are many home brew careers at various sites online.)
I did notice that eventually colleges and military academies joined the creation rules. Was that at any point in CT? If so, what book/supplement? I don't remember them from Book 1. (Or is my memory failing?)
Supplement 2 (animal encounters) looks useful - perhaps not for my above mentioned campaign idea, but certainly for a more general exploration campaign.
So I think it's the books, make sure I still like the system as much I remember, then the supplements, followed later by the TAS, the adventures and some aliens in that order... and ripping out the OTU stuff unless I start running in the Third Imperium. If I recall correctly one of the classic games actually dealt with the Terran/Villani war, but I think I still have that...somewhere.
