"T5 or Traveller LBBs?" Topic

After doing a bit of research, I've determined that it appears many think the T5 rollout was a bit premature, and could have benefited from a bit more editing, and the addition of an index.

However, many also seem to think that some of the new additions to the Traveller universe are pretty good, e.g. more detailed development of some areas, like creating aliens (I too hate that stupid "sophont" name), weapons, vehicles, etc.

So, my question is, are any of you using it, either as a replacement for the LBBs, or alongside them, as a supplement, picking and choosing data and rules that you find useful.

Obviously, the book is rather thick, so appears to me there's probably a lot of useful content there. Using something that large, and thick though, especially without an index included, seems to me to be a rather daunting task.

The LBBs are actually quite nice, and convenient to carry around, and to read.

I suspect T5, being as thick as it is, is not.

From what I've read, they are working on release 5.09, in order to address some of the above issues.

Of course, with the CD, you can do a bit of searching, which would be helpful.

So, just curious to see what others that have seen, read, or are using T5 think (not trying to start a flame war here), and how you'd rate it, on a scale of 1 – 5, with 5 being best, if you care to do so?

Any info on T5 topics that you especially like would be of interest too, if you care to elaborate on that.

I mix Mongoose Trav, LBBs and T5 for my own variant.

I flipped through a copy of T5 in the store one day. Gently put it back on the shelf and never looked back. I'll stick with the LBBs personally, although as you say, there do appear to be some useful things in it. I had Megatraveller for a while as well, but sold it off while keeping the LBBs.

what is LBB?

Little Black Books, my choice

LBBs. The only thing I really want to supplement those is the DGP Grand Survey and Grand Census, which I have missed terribly for the last ten years.

I use Megatraveller but have a lot of fondness for the LBB's.

I'd suggest for someone starting out, to grab the Mongoose book instead. It's nice, cleaned up, they have some good ideas and it covers all the bases.
Also easy to get nowadays.

5.09 is out and it fixes many things. Never the less, I suspect Classic Traveller is a better point of entry. Just don't go saying "Traveller can't do this and doesn't do that" before having a look at T5.

One top tip for 5.09 is that the first page of combat is before the chapter heading. That first page helps a lot.

Traveller 5 is awesome in its depth and completeness. But you almost have to have played every previous edition to truly appreciate it. It's the trap of the ultimate omnibus edition. Now we just need the 700 page companion volume detailing the Imperium.

T5 is a brick of a book that seems to add nothing to its Traveller heritage other than a huge pile of unecessary additional rules. Don't get me wrong, i'm a HUGE Traveller fan. I've collected it and played it for over 30 years. I have nearly every Traveller book ever produced, but T5 is just bad… really bad.
Sorry, had to rant.
Mongtrav is good, but the LBB's would be my recommendation.

I started with the boxed Traveller Starter Edition and moved on to MegaTraveller. I never looked back. I really like how it handled armour and damage.

You can also mix up MegaTraveller and Classic Traveller very easily.

We often use a bit of a mixture, depending on mood.
(One long campaign was Classic Traveller character creation, MT task system and trading, Striker combat. Good times but got a bit confusing :-) )

LBB along with Citizens of the Imperium.

Thanks for the info.

I really appreciate it.

I only have the LBBs with the High Guard and Mercenary supplements.

Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium is easily the most important volume after books 1-3. It gives you a dozen new careers.

I should note that Classic Traveller also has Striker :-)

thanks! i enjoyed it the lbb's. lost interest when the different variants came out. will revisit t-5. thanks!

For anyone that's interested in the LBBs, or their supplements, I just got a notice that they'll be offering a PDF special, for $6.95 USD, I think, of the original LBBs, and some of the supplements (which is a great deal – a single, supplement book cost that much, eons ago).

There's another package deal on offer too.

Check out the Citizens of the Imperium website/forum for more info.