Starter Traveller

[Traveller]

I just got my most recent email from drivethrurpg.com, and I went bonkers. Because Starter Traveller is currently being offered for free.

Now...for those unaware of what Starter Traveller is, Starter Traveller is a simplified version of the Traveller rules, aimed for slightly younger players. Included in the box are three books:

Core Rules

Charts and Tables

Adventures

How does Starter Traveller differ from the full Traveller rules? The most significant difference (other than book size and organization) is in starship movement and combat. There are no vectors in Starter Traveller. Instead, combat between starships is conducted much like man-to-man combat, using range bands.

Missing from the rules are:

Archaic Firearms

Building Custom Starships

Ship Construction Formats (TAS Form 3: Ship's Papers, TAS Form 4: Ship Paragraph Description)

World Format (TAS Form 7: Subsector Data)

Expanded information on the following encounters: wirebushes, cold snap, tornado, volcano, radiation area, quicksand.

Experience

Drugs

Expanded descriptions of the following equipment: handcuffs, wristwatch, shotgun microphone, chainsaw, disguise kit, wheeled AFV, tracked AFV, dirtmover, small steamship, destroyer.

GDW also made available a deluxe version of the Starter Traveller rules that replaced the adventure book with The Imperial Fringe, included Book 0, and also included an eight page book of additional rules that don't appear in Starter Traveller. The list above was culled from my copy of that additional rules booklet, with one exception. The original starship movement and combat rules are in the additional rules booklet.
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[Treebore]

For anyone who does DL it, realize you will be given 3 DL links, which you will be able to get from the e-mail they sent, or going back to your account for the other 2.
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[Omote]

Sweet! Thanks for the HEADS UP Trav.

~O
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[Traveller]

One other point. Starter Traveller is compatible with most if not all Traveller books, adventures, and supplements.
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[Tadhg]

Haha, saw this earlier when I got that email and thought of asking you about this, Traveller!

What about all the various supplements? Are they worthwhile? Any great ones or bad ones?

Also, any input from anyone else would be welcome as well.

Thanks.
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[moriarty777]

I got the email (both from Drivethru and one from FFE telling me of this) but I wasn't aware of the differences with combat rules for the ship to ship stuff. I hadn't grabbed it yet but now I will make it a point to. Simpler doesn't mean inferior and compatibility is a very big plus.

Thanks for the clarification!

M
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[Traveller]

Rhuvein wrote:
Haha, saw this earlier when I got that email and thought of asking you about this, Traveller!

What about all the various supplements? Are they worthwhile? Any great ones or bad ones?

Also, any input from anyone else would be welcome as well.

Thanks.

Rhu, I'm a little late replying, but here we go.

First off, there were so many supplements by so many different companies that it's almost impossible to answer this question. So I'm going to limit my recommendations to stuff published by GDW. If you want to see the list, visit http://www.travellerbibliography.org.

Books: Books 4-8 are not essential to play the game and in fact I believe needlessly complicate character generation for the core classes. I never found Book 4: Mercenary to be terribly useful, with the exception of rules for battle dress. Book 5: High Guard is probably my favorite book. Not for the character generation, but the starship design system. I've actually built Star Trek: The Original Series starships with it. Book 6: Scouts expands the world generation system so detailing of the entire solar system is possible. Book 7: Merchant Prince and Book 8: Robots I never used, at all. None of these books are books to avoid, but I cherry-picked what I wanted to use from them and ignored the rest.

Supplements: Supplement 2: Animal Encounters and Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium are an absolute MUST. The former because it eliminates the need to generate world encounter tables. The latter because it provides new classes and new equipment. Most of the other supplements are all useful, though I believe the least useful is Supplement 12: Forms and Charts, since the core rules contain all the forms you really need. Three other supplements need mentioning. Supplement 5: Lightning Class Cruisers is only available in the Azhanti High Lightning box set, though the Supplements reprint volume included it. Supplement 9: Fighting Ships and Supplement 13: Veterans require Book 5 and Book 4 respectively to use or understand. If you don't use either book, then the supplements won't be of much use either.

Adventures: The adventures are specific in what they need. Some need Book 4 and 5, some need Supplement 4, but most of them don't require anything other than the core rules. I personally find Adventure 7: Broadsword distasteful due to its reliance on Book 4 character generation, which I can't stand. Of course I can adapt it to use characters made using just the core rules, but adventures should be designed without requiring optional material. Adventure 5: Trillion Credit Squadron, isn't an adventure at all but a tournament combat system for fleets of starships using Book 5 construction and combat rules.

Other: Get the compiled errata for all Classic Traveller products here. I knew there was errata for Classic Traveller, but this is the most comprehensive errata document I've ever seen. Given that I have every version of Classic Traveller possible (1977, 1981 editions of the LBBs, The Traveller Book, Starter & Deluxe Starter Traveller, and the BFB reprint), this is a must for me.
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[Breakdaddy]

I have the reprint with books 0-8 included but have never gotten to play with these rules. I also have the mongoose version. I dont know which is better.

[concobar]

mongoose version is a cleaned up CT so i guess it is better.

[Traveller]

Despite what Mongoose says it's more accurate to say that Mongoose Traveller is an updated T4, with all the charts included in the book, with the elimination of half dice, and the inclusion of life paths. I like to think of Mongoose Traveller as what T4 should have been.
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[mgtremaine]

Nice heads up! I happened upon the empty box of the starter set this summer when trying to tame the basement. These will have a nice home once printed.

-Mike

[Aladar]

Thanks for the link & info. I am an old Traveller fan from way back, and this will be nice to have, even as a PDF.

Has anyone heard anything further on T5? I heard that Marc Miller was working on it a couple of years ago, but I haven't seen anything further come out on it since Mongoose got their version of Traveller out.
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[Tadhg]

Traveller wrote:
Rhu, I'm a little late replying, but here we go.

Thanks for the info. I hope to pick up a few items and try this out with my group.

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"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

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[FredH]

Starter Traveller includes rules for customized starship design; I've used them to do so many times. What it doesn't have are the High Guard rules for customizing REALLY BIG ships, but PC-level ship design is certainly present.

Personally, I prefer Starter's approach to space combat. Just as most PCs are likely to be much better at personal combat than I am in real life, and so depend upon a simulation of their combat skills instead of mine; so are they likely to be better at actual, vector-based space piloting than I. The range-band approach doesn't limit them to my own crappy vector skills, but instead assumes that in-universe they are applying their own.

[Traveller]

You're right. I must have figured that because the forms weren't in the book, construction wasn't in there either. Not that it's an excuse, but I'm a bit spoiled, since I own a hardcover copy of The Traveller Book (with intact dust jacket) as well, which has everything in one place with a nice, sturdy binding. The only reason I have Starter is because I'm a bit of a completist.

Starter Traveller ship combat is faster than the vector combat of the LBBs and The Traveller Book. In all the years I've played Traveller though I never got around to tweaking the combat system to replace range bands with a grid system. Not that it would take much tweaking in my mind.

Until Dec. 31, Starter Traveller is once again a free download.
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[Relaxo]

Yeah I grabbed it free, thanks for the head's up!

I've heard so much good stuff about Traveller that I'm psyched to grab it for my favorite price.
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[Traveller]

Free is always good.

The two book setup does take a little getting used to, but it makes sense. The Charts & Tables book is referenced a lot more often than the rules book.
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NOTE TO ALL: If you don't like something I've said, PM me and tell me to my face, then give me a chance to set things right before you call a moderator.
My small homage to E.G.G.