I really want to like "Traveller"... But, the rules are so dense and unnecessarily complex.

This is a free intro version, so I suppose one shouldn't expect much, but there are some glaring formatting and text registration errors in the copy I downloaded via Safari on iOS. I mention this because I haven't noticed this problems on other files I've gotten thru here, free or paid.

By my reckoning, this falls cleanly into the "basic version" category of intros rather than the "light version": I personally think 34 pages is a little more than some players are interested in reading to test a new ruleset, as some of mine have strong feelings about 'homework'.

The introduction page seems like a solid and compact overview suitable even for new players. The chargen section does a reasonable job of presenting everything you need; it's hard to make the lifepath rules sleek and simple, but it's well-explained at least.

I do think the choice to restrict careers was sensible (it saves a lot of placecount), but I'd question the choice of Army and Navy only. It's great if you want to run a fairly pulpy combat-based game, but that seems to massively limit your options. Most of my sci-fi background, even the planet-hopping stuff, is in civilian-focused stories; moreover, the primary focus NOT being on combat is one of the more interesting things about Traveller to me. I think this would be much improved by swapping out one of these (probably Army) for a sample civilian career. That way, a GM can easily have players generate characters naturally suited to and motivated for a game that's either got a combat focus, or a more exploratory and social focus. As it stands I think you could get the wrong idea here and assume it's essentially about fighting - especially as the lack of setting information means it's easy to write up a group of space pirates to fight, but hard to plan the mapping of an undiscovered planet.

The rules also omit the Draft rules entirely, but have not been adjusted - there are multiple references to the Draft, including a "see opposite" when "opposite" is a textbox about commissions - and this is likely to be quite confusing to a player or GM not already familiar with the rules.

Similarly, a lot of the pagecount comes down to quite detailed descriptions of what each of the skills does. I think a genuinely light ruleset could be created with abbreviated versions, but on the other hand, for the GM it's nice to have these.

There are some presentation glitches in my copy: bold text is misplaced so it sometimes runs over the normal text, causing some legibility issues.

I think this free version gives you plenty to run trial games of Traveller and establish whether you might be interested in turning it into a campaign where the fuller rules and expanded sections on equipment, trade, spacecraft and background would be needed. However, it does have the substantial downside of including no setting information whatsoever, no information on species, and definitely no plots. A GM with a good idea what they want to do with a crunchy sci-fi game should be fine, a GM who likes the idea but wants more support may have trouble.

A surprisingly complete set of the Traveler character rules. Unlike the original edition, where 3 out of five characters died during set up, everybody survives basic training and learning their careers. Except for space ship design and planet building, you have all you need to play the game.

Nothing wrong with the book and it's free, however the PDF is terrible, misaligned text on most pages, it makes me wonder it this was even checked before posting it to DriveThru.RPG

The fact that this PDF is FREE has to be major bonus as it covers the bulk of the gameplay rules in Traveller.

I've printed this off for my clubmates to get a good understanding of the genre and what is required for players to enjoy the whole Traveller experience ... from creating characters, skills, tasks, die rolls for tests, equipment, combat ... the list goes on!

As a 32-page introduction, this is the best Traveller notebook on the market! Get it NOW!

This book is a cut-down version of the Traveller ruleset, which enables you to take a look at the system before taking the plunge or to introduce new players to the game - at least, in terms of game mechanics and character generation. It's the sort of thing that might be quite handy to have with you at the table as a quick reference.

There's a very brief overview of what Traveller is, but a single page, before it launches into Character Creation. Here the character creation checklist is given along with the basics of generating characterists, deciding on a homeworld (to determine background skills) and then choosing a career to have pursued before the character turns to adventure and the game begins. It's all quite straightforward and would be clear apart from typo and layout issues that bedevil the entire book, at least the PDF version. Fortunately these are more annoying than actually making it impossible to read most of the time. The prior careers available are Army and Navy only, but these are presented to the same level of detail as in the Core Rulebook, so characters generated with this book will have no issues integrating with a party created using the more extensive choice to be found therein.

The next section is Skills and Tasks. Here the task resolution process is outlined, complete with a few examples and a probability chart (useful for Referees wishing to set an appropriate level of difficulty, or players interested in their chances of success). Then there's a run-through of the skills available, with notes on how and when they will be useful.

Then comes a section on Combat, which provides details of how a brawl is administered using this ruleset. It's somewhat curtailed in comparison with the Core Rulebook's treatment of the subject, but there's enough here for even a novice player to understand what is going on and make an effective contribution to the proceedings.

Finally, there's a section of Equipment. Again this is a cut-down version of what is available in the Core Rulebook, but there's sufficient to see a character armed, protected and with basic gear. There's a blank character sheet at the back once you are ready to give it a go.

As a basic introduction to the game this is all right, but it would be best used in conjunction with conversations with an established player when a newcomer to role-playing is concerned. In print, it is quite expensive for what you get (you would probably be better off just going straight for the Core Rulebook), but the PDF is free and so could be downloaded and given to someone who is thinking of joining an existing game so that they have some idea, at least from a game mechanics standpoint, of what they are getting into. Note that I have not seen the 'dead tree' version, so do not know if the botched type layout is there, but despite the PDF having been updated since its first release, they are still there at the time of writing this review - hence 3 stars, the actual content is worth 4!

excellent book. But I found some typos through out the pages. could anyone fix it?

An excellent introduction to the system. Covers all the basics that you need to know, as well as helps set the mood for what the games are to be like. Not only is it worth getting for the GM as a quick reference, I would even go as far as suggest that you get one for each of the new players the GM has in their game.

I used this to help get through a session where the players were rolling their characters - as we only had my core rule book between 6 of us. It's a cut down version of the players side of the rules and there's enough there to take care of most of the character creation process without having to refer to the core rulebook. It also gives the army and navy careers in full as well. There's other material inside as well but I didn't get to that - but it's useful to have to hand either printed or on a device. The page numbers referenced in the text won't make sense as they refer to the original core rulebook and not this cut down version but it's no big deal if you have the core rulebook as well.

A Decent Introduction to Character Generation, Skills, Combat and Combat related Items. The Text is utilitarian and the Graphics are few, leading the book to appear very dense but, the book does give a decent overview of the game mechanics although not much into the setting. Of course, as an introduction, each section is abridged (for example, there are only a few of the careers available in the Core Rule Book). It is probably enough for a decent GM to craft a basic combat encounter or one-shot, however, I doubt it would be very deep. I used it to see if my group and I would like the game before purchasing the full edition. I suppose it would also be good for new players as a quick reference for CharGen/Skill/Combat but, If you're buying the PDF, it's probably cheaper to make copies of those sections from your Core book and lend them to players.

All in all, it is a decent product, however It would be more suited as a free demo from Moongoose than paid partial rule book.

Introduction to the Mongoose era of Traveller. I would have LOVED this book back in the early 80's when I was learning to play Traveller. For a small intro price you can learn most everything you need to know about the Traveller RPG and whether it is right for you. This is a perfect example of a book doing exactly what it was supposed to do and no more or no less. If you are curious about Traveller then this is a good place to start. If you are already ready to go then skip this for Book 1; but I still think this si a good buy.