Traveller Tuesdays - T5 has arrived

I ordered a copy of Traveller 5th Edition (T5) through the Kickstarter campaign that Marc Miller started up to get this latest (and impressive) version of the game going. The finished product is fantastic. It is a bulky hardcover, weighing in at over 600 pages, chocked full of Traveller goodness. Here is a copy of the table of contents (note: no index):

Introductions Absent Friends 10 Traveller Is About... 11 Traveller is a Role-Playing Game 12 The Galaxy 14 A Brief History of the Universe 15 Foundations of the Universe 18 Basic Information Dice 22 Ehex 34 The Ton 35 Range and Distance 36 Benchmarks 48 Costs 52 Values 53 Size 54 Hot and Cold 55 Money 56 Humanity 57

Characters and Life Characteristics 58 Characters 68 Careers 78 Craftsman 83 Scholar 84 Entertainer 85 Citizen 86 Scout 87 Merchant 88 Spacer 89 Soldier 90 Agent 91 Rogue 92 Noble 93 Marine 94 Functionary 95 Life Pursuits and Experience 110 Genetics 112 Clones 118 Chimeras 122 Androids and Synthetics 124 Tasks 128 Skills 142 Personals 184 QREBS 190 The Senses 197   Combat Personal Combat 210 The Armory 236 GunMaker 240 ArmorMaker 261 VehicleMaker 280

Starports and Starships Starports 304 Starship Design 312 ShipSheets 352 Adventure Class Ships 358 Fuel Benchmarks 360 How Starships Work Maneuver 363 Jump 366 Power Systems 376 Sensors 379 Weapons 386 Defenses 394 Starship Combat 404 Stars and Worlds Sectors and Subsectors 418 Charting The Stars 420 Star Systems and Worlds 426 Mapping Worlds 444 Trade and Commerce 477 Technology 497 Computers and Consoles 514 Personalities and Brains 522 Adventures Psionics 527 Sophonts 537 Robots 560 BeastMaker 574 BeastMaker Events 586 The Beastiary 588 ThingMaker 596 ThingMaker Equipment 608 Adventures 631 EPIC Adventures 635 The Travellers’ Guide To Starships 641

It is quite an impressive offering.

picture of the book, from the Kickstarter site

I have not played this edition of the game yet, but I have created some characters.  It feels very nice, close to original 1977/1981 Traveller, but with some improvements.

I do like the new skill resolution method, but I don't know if I like it better than the original version of the game.

The original version of the game had skill resolution based on rolling 2d6.  If you got 8+ you had a success.  The GM would apply modifiers based on the difficulty of the situation, and you got to add in your skill levels for the appropriate skill, plus (sometimes) modifiers for extraordinary (either good or bad) stats.

The new version has the GM assign a difficulty to the task at hand, which determines how many dice the player is to roll.  Note that (appropriately, given the history of the game - other than that horrid New Era version) all dice are D6 dice.  So a reasonably easy skill will have the player rolling 2d6. Slightly harder might result in 3d6 or 4d6.  Very hard will result in 6 or 8 d6 and so on.  There is a formula for determining this, but I suspect a good GM will be able to eyeball it.  Now, the target number for your roll is your appropriate Characteristic number (such as Dexterity or Intelligence) plus your Skill level (such as Piloting, or Stealth).  If your total dice roll is below the sum of these two numbers (Stat plus Skill) then there is success.  Most of the skill descriptions in the book give a basic roll for common situations.  For instance, under the skill Acting, it reports that performing a role in a play is based on Acting skill, and requires a 3d6 roll, trying to get below the sum of (Education + Actor).

There are some special dice consideration (open ended dice, meaning those that you get to roll again if you get a certain result), and also some special results considerations - such as spectacular success and spectacular failure.

I like it (the skill system).  Much better (to me) than the old Task System from the Digest Group, that got rolled into Mega Traveller.  And also better than the Traveller: The New Era version of the game (which was based on D10, and honestly always felt like I was playing Twilight:2000 in space - probably because it was the same system!).

I will probably try my hand at some of the creation sequences in upcoming installments of Traveller Tuesdays.  I'll report back on each section of the rules as I try them out.

My version of the game came with a wonderful set of embossed Traveller dice (which I ordered as an add-on through the kickstarter campaign), as well as some really nice 25cr coins from the Third Imperium Traveller universe.  I also got a really nice Patent of Nobility id card with the name of a made-up nobel from the same universe, that was created just for me (neato!).

First glance: Lots of very good information, even if you don't play this version, it will give a GM loads of info for their Traveller games.  I give it a Gaming with Chuck thumbs up!