I was playing D&D when a friend got the two book boxed set of Traveller for Christmas. I still have them. Owned all the "small" books, Mega, TNE and 2300. Even still have my copies of Twilight 2000 and its various incarnations. Absolutely, adored Space 1889. Unfortunately, 1889 occured WAY before the current Steampunk movement...
Much like AD&D, Traveller seemed to suffer as they added to its universe; but I loved the suppliments. I remember rolling up Aslan names for the hell of it! Still waiting on the Basic expansion of Rogues... The "updated" versions of Traveller helped.
There were other SF games; but I really loved the basic concept of Traveller. It was gritty SF were the super high tech "future" never really materialized was great. It wasn't the Star Wars RPG that I though of when I first watched Firefly!!! I couldn't imagine at the time that Wheaton had not played Traveller.
If you have never played Traveller, T4 could be a rough start. The original 3 books summed up everything and was completely playable from characters, planets amd startships. T4 covers characters and worlds pretty well; but is completely sloppy with starships. I don't mean building them. I mean basic information. It does provide a ship generation system. It is poorly explained and even the sample ships lack important details.
That all being said, I feel it was worth the price from Drivethru. I am reluctant to pick up any of the T4 supplements; although they may have the missing information. Likewise the equipment section seems minimal and sometimes contradictory. It does provide enough examples that one could calculate up some equipment from the examples given.
Combat retained the old school feel with a few simple updates that helped with the original very lethal to sometimes ineffective of the original. (In the original rules, a hit from an SMG did as many dice of damage as a player had during generation. This meant likely death and almost guarnteed incapacitation. I also remember a fight where a player with a Body Pistol battled an unarmed guard. The player finally won after 4 minutes or so of game time because of the depletion of the guards endurance from exhastion and multiple wounds.)
I have read some criticism of the skill resolution system. Its not perfect; but it works really well. One complaint was with the use of "half die". I recommend a six sider broke into three sections.
Some of the "new" ideas for Traveller is the notion that players could set a "target" age for generation and a much more flexible system for generating skills and attributes. It still doesn't make "super" characters except with the "Traveller Luck"; but does make much more playable ones.
Setting wise, they did not try to make one, so a favorite one or original can be used. This can be handy for those who aren't interested in reading vollumes of Imperial history! It can also be cool for someone who wants the old "there is an Imperium, don't worry about it".
I would have probably given this a 4 star; but the typos abound and the organization of some parts a little confusing. It is a solid game, especially if you are comfortable with using rules as guidelines and building from there. I also thought of a 2 star; but it works and they didn't break anything...
Bottom line, it could be useful if you are playing another set of Traveller rules or if you have never played and want a taste to see if the Traveller universe is for you.
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