"Personal Weapons of Charted Space" is the first in a series of PDF publications produced by Quicklink Interactive to support its upcoming D20 Traveller line, as well as providing new material for the recently reprinted Classic Traveller game.

The layout is nice. There?s a decent cover illustration and a number of good line drawings of some of the weaponry described (with page number references). My one complaint is that colored background of the pages while looking great, slowed down my Lexmark personal printer. On the other hand when I printed it off at work on the b&w laser printer there was no problem.

The first half of the 45-page book is taken up with background description on Imperial Weapons permits, and the description of the various weapons themselves (largely free of game-rule material).

Then the game stats for all the weapons described are given both in terms of d20 and in terms of Classic Traveller. (10 pages total).

The last ten pages or so are taken up with descriptions of various Imperial Weapons corporations and specific variants and special versions of the weapons already described. A "Catalogue" describing what company sells what model under what brand name follows this.

Finally, there are a handful of variant game rules covering area and suppressive fire and sneaking weaponry past security.

The broad range of personal weaponry provided should also be useful in any d20 modern or sci-fi game since the stats are compatible to d20 norms.

According to Hunter Gordon of Quicklink Interactive "The very basic versions of the weaponry presented in the Traveller's Aide PDF will appear in the core T20 book (along with other weapons ranging into basic heavy military gear). The expanded versions of these weapons, the new non-lethal stuff, etc., do not appear. The additional combat rules material presented are new, or variants of the upcoming T20 rules."

On the whole I am well pleased by the product. I?d recommend it without reservation to any player or GM who is playing Classic Traveller or any modern or science fiction d20 game.

I for one am looking forward to the release of the upcoming D20 Traveller line

(Accidentally posted this before as Quiklink Interactive after following a link from their discussion board that logged me in as them. They did not write this review and I am not associated with them in any way)

If you want generic Sci-Fi guns and go for bigger is better then this is not the product for you.

If however you are looking for detail, background, and additional rules for personal weapons for your Classic Traveller game (or Traveller D20 when it is released) then there will be something for you in this supplement.

A sensible Ex-Scout or Free Trader captain will always keep their Gauss Pistol or Snub Pistol handy as no-one knows when a Vargr pirate will come calling, and a retired Marine colonel had better have his or her Assault Rifle or SMG loaded when out in the wilderness searching for the secret Ancients base.

This supplement provides descriptions, stats and (in some cases) good line drawings for any weapon that a typical adventurer will be carrying (or will be allowed to carry on most worlds). It also provides details of melee and low-tech weapons, non-lethal weapons, and related equipment, rules for hiding weapons and getting the past security etc.

It is not a fully-fledged supplement but its more than worth the five bucks (or less with a subscription to the PDF series) and it is a good first offering from Quiklink.

Assuming they keep up the high standards of this product I will buy more of their PDF supplements in the future as well as their printed rulebook and supplements.

I scanned through the Traveller?s Aide #1 when I first downloaded it last week. This book blew me away in terms of its professional style and detail. For a $5 pdf, it looked more like something I?d pay $10-15 in my FLGS (favorite local game store).

After a week a reflection, I have read it in more detail, and am still very positive on the product for several reasons:

1) This is a great example of what we can hope for in future Traveller books, including the upcoming T20 main rulebook.

2) It is a great introduction to adapting the Traveller setting to D20 by including Classic Traveller (CT) rules along with the D20 stats. This will help transition those remaining CT die-hards (maybe) to the D20 system.

3) This book is more than just another list of guns. There are sections detailing the companies that manufacture these devices, as well as societal controls (gun permits) and their application in a game. This adds richness to the game by providing the background information to give the reader a true sense of the setting. It reminds me of the flavor text and sections included in old FASA Shadowrun Sourcebooks.

4) Only $5 for 40+ beautiful pages is a steal in this hobby.

Now, IMHO, there are a few downsides to this product depending on how you intend to use the information inside:

1) The color layout is murder to print out. If you intend to look at this on-screen, then it isn?t an issue. But if you are intending to print out the book to share with your gaming group, be prepared. The publishers have acknowledged this issue and are looking into options for future issues.

2) This is a Traveller book. While d20 stats are listed, the feel is somewhat unique to the hard science fiction nature of the Traveller setting. Readers may be disappointed if they are looking for something to drop into their Dragonstar or Star Wars games.

SUMMARY: I think this a great product and a MUST for any Traveller player. I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in a sci-fi game, but hasn?t committed to as specific tone or flavor ? the background material, even if not directly used, is wonderful seed material for other ideas. If you are looking for a simple gun list or a more cinematic flavor, you may want to pass. The background material (which I feel is the products greatest strength) just may not fit.

I've given this supplement a good read and I'm impressed. The quality is very high and the content is excellent. It does a great job of covering all aspects of personal armament. The persona paragraphs are great and the rules are pretty clearly explained. You get tables and explanations for both the forthcoming Traveller20 (T20) rules set and good old Classic (LBB) Traveller.

There are a few new weapons, some new insights in their use and a good description of Imperial Weapons Permits. There are even some new ways to use your guns, like "Panic Fire" and "Two-Gun Kid" style.

Of course if guns aren't your style they've got you covered with a full selection of lethal and not so lethal melee weapons to chose from.

Scattered throughout the text are over a dozen (13 to be exact, no doubt just so I could say over a dozen in this review) examples of some of the weapons in nice line drawing style, reminiscent of the DGP Equipment Sheets from MegaTraveller.

The whole thing wraps up with a brief look at who makes and sells all the goodies and what happens when you get caught with one you shouldn't have. It promises to be a good series of supplements, I can hardly wait for coverage of armor and military weapons.

You can buy one issue at a time (released every month or two), subscribe to 6 issues of your choice each year at a reduced price or sign up for your pick of 12 issues over two years for greater savings and a free print version Best Of annual issue. Its available now for download or check out the free 5 page sampler at www.travellerrpg.com/PDF/ta0001.html

If there is one major fault with this product (and the biggest reason I can't give it 5/5) is the background color on the pages. While fine or even preferable for electronic media it is a problem when printing it out. This has been pointed out by other reviewers and the publisher is looking at changing it for future editions.

I was very disappointed in this as a d20 product. It should be a flyer for all it's worth. Basicly it seems they took a couple of old supplements and stripped them down to the bare bones, then threw in about a page of d20 stats that aren't even in a chart-format for easy reference (i.e.

"LASER WEAPONS Pistol: TL: x Cost Cr x Weight xg Range xm Damage xdx (Laser) Size: x"

is all one entry and is in no means blocked off). There are 3 pages of this and the remainder (42 pages) is filler (manufacturer descriptions and the ubiquitous weapon descriptions). The CT Traveler stats are interwoven throughout the book and it's hard to quickly reference something for T20 stats (much easier if you're looking for the CT stats though). The OGL material in it is the usual ol' "how many ways can you use a firearm" which we see in all the new modern supplements i.e. Auto-fire, suppression fire and panic-fire rules. If you need a CT sourcebook - I have no idea of it's value but it seems like that's what the main material is for. If you need a sci-fi weapons source, I'd suggest converting Star Wars d2o weapons or picking up Dragonstar from FFG.