Well due to the limited abilities (read extreme incompetance) of the mail order company who I buy all my products through I recieved my copy of the Traveller supplement reprints but not the rules books. So while I am waiting for it to arrive I thought I would do a review.
This book contains reprints of the classic Traveller supplements. These suplements where originally 40 page booklets (and are re-printed two booklet pages on each page). These supplements cover a range of topics from characters (pre-genarated to advanced character genration) to starships (merchants and warships). From adventure seeds to descriptions of whole sectors of space. But most importantly it contains the "Library data". Which is a series of entries detailing different aspects of the official Traveller universe the Third Imperium. And is a must for any serious Traveller player.
However there are some problems with it. Firstly the format (8.5 x 11 inches) which enables it to keep itself open, but makes it difficult to read unless you have it resting on a table. Secondly there is the quality of the binding. It is only a paper back and as it is 300 pages the binding comes under a lot of strain (And I treat books carefully, I never crease or break spines). From my experience with other large paper backs (notably 3rd ed W40K which lasted a day before falling apart), I would doubt it's ability to last a few months (let alone years) of the kind of use roleplaying books need to endure. One suggestion to fix this would be to (as I did with that damned 40k book) crack the spine, remove as much glue as possible, cut the pages out and to place them in plastic folder inserts. This may seem like a lot of work but make the book much easier to use (with no fear of losing pages).
Also because this is a reprint of books last printed 20 years ago, there is a degradation of quality. This is most notable in the graphics which often suffer from fading in places. However this fading is quite patchy (In the deck plans an icon of a chair might be faded to near invisibility, yet another chair next to it is clearly visible) and insignificant. However besides the patchy graphics the layout is excellant and there are only minor areas where text is faded (I think this had something to do with how the puplishers scanned the books for repoducton). There are a minimum of spelling errors, most occuring in the first few (the oldest) books.
All in all apart from the fading it beats many new game books in style and layout, with no annoying background images that distract you from the text. Now back to the content, which is excellent. With this book and the rules, a Traveller GM has everything they need to game in the Third Imperium. There are pre-generated characters for casual encounters, pre-generated animal encounter tables and 76 patrons (adventure hooks with a number of possible outcomes) for the GM with little time.
Data on commmonly encountered starships(with deck plans) and military vessels (no deck plans). And a very extensive write up of the Azhanti high lightning class cruiser (including deckplans, production run and famous vessels). There is also data detailing the most played in sectors of Imperial space (the spinward marches and the solomani rim). And also the Library data.
Finally there is a collection of charts that are useful as play aids (blank maps, character sheets, military ID's). And a section giving a list of ex-militrary characters for use as mercenaries. Over all an indespensible aid for any GM planning to run Traveller with any of the current system (classic Traveller, GURPS Traveller and soon D20 Traveller). Presented in a easy to read minimalist style. Presentation 8/10 (loses one mark for the binding, and one for the fading). Content 10/10.
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