Very beautiful graphics that seem to have no practical use. I can think of no use of these photos other than either admiring the work of the artist (who is very talented) or as a subject of lust ot affirmation of the ideal woman. I do use woman characters in my games, but I was surprised to find out that these "graphics" were meant as visual aoids for a role-playing. The high-quality of the scanning gives the file most of the value. Other than that, I am curious about this set of artwork. I highly recommend them if you have trouble visualising the things that make a female much different figure than the typical human male.

By the way, why aren't there any "hot male Sketches?" I could not recommend these images enough for their quality and usefulness. For the price, this product is a steal.

After a strangely written Vehicles and Starships, the authors finish off this excellent series with what I thought was the best writing since book 1. As a text it is complete and delivers what it promises and more. Of all the Traveller books in my collection, this portion of the three-book set is compelling, full of well-organized data and gives the referee an almost limitless bank of information.

Referees will have it easy here to create adventures featuring work (characters, vehicles and creatures) produced from the first two books. Still, since it is written using the rather (I thought) unrealistic d20 engine, it suffers where other versions of Traveller have succeeded. T20 comes with no specific milieu. Unlike TNE, MT and Classic Traveller, the referee has nowhere to go but down. At least TNE provided a realistic post-cataclysmic new-age along with the most detailed vehicle creation system ever. T4 gave Traveller rules specifically written by Miller along with a milieu that explained the origins of the universe.

With as many supplement as can be written, T20 will always be a great framework for battles and conflicts. Unfortunately, since the authors never created a thought-provoking milieu (like many past versions hsve), there is very little "Buy me now1" feeling about this game. That is, if the player/referee enjoys spicy settings and revolutionary new warships and perilous planetary missions. Traveller seems to be most at home using its own "house rules" In this case. those rules are the ones that were created by Marc Miller and Frank Chadwick to keep Traveller unique and challenging.

M

The second book of the venerabl Traveller20 series leaves a few things unsolved in both content and writing style. As I read through this book for the first time, I noticed that the author's knowledge of d20 far outweighed his understanding of the Traveller game. It seemed to me that the writers had a much firmer grip on low tech weapons, equipment and technology than they did in the ultra-modern world of the Imperium. I have to be veryu harsh on this issue because it concerns the general play of the game. Only in Thaveller: The New Era were low tech worlds and equipment valuable and common. I felt that these authors need to reach beyond the natural tendency of the DnD player to stick with low-tech, muscle-powered, visceral combat. Computer and vehicle design are influenced more by DnD than they are by a SF environment. In this d20 system, the authors chose to list personal robots and vehicles at the beginning of the vehicles. Ships and watercraft are listed second with appropriate tables for costs, weight and cargo area. What is the problem with this? Nothing if the sheer number of pages in the book are no object. In MT, TNE and, indeed, Traveller 4 and 5, all vehicle creation steps are combined into one common flowchart: Hull/chassis powerplant weapons/armor cargo space, crew accomodations, computers, commo Unfortunately, here is one place where MegaTraveller, Traveller 4 and TNE are much easier and logical to deal with. I say that with caution because this system is very good and the authors did have the consideration to allow the easy creation of ground cars, robots and breaking the prices down so that the average user could createthings in as easy a fashion as possible.

The verdict: Because it is always hard to apply universal rules to any specific game or situation, this game system is rather bloated. In addition, it is arguable that the authors have slidden downward in their use of the clearly DnD rules for Traveller. Much of the charm of the first book is not conveyed here. The result of straying away from the "traditional" format of vehicle creation has creeated a mess of pages and pages of supplementary text and tables to keep the designs true to life. On the other hand, the treatment of battle dress armor as a vehicle in itself was interesting and shows strong thinking on the part of the designers. I did not like like the treatment of weapons and technology. I do tend to run economics-based, non-combat campaigns so I had hoped for a tighter section on weapons and perhaps a more detailed, but still cogent treatment of robots and vehicles. When all is said and done, I was disappointed with this book because I found it to be inferior to the first work.

Asa a great fan of both Megatraveller and classic Traveller, I was happy to see that this product continued in the spirit of both. As a new, larger, gaming supplement (over 300 pages) it has the dificulty of balancing sheer longwindedness over actual substance. In my opinion, the narrative sections of the book really add to the rules portions. Unlike, T4 and the Megatraveller, the referee will not find pages and pages of numbers, "flow charts," tables and deckplans. Instead, The book provided well-written narrative to support its rules portions. As a large, clumsy book, it is a bit hard to navigate from a rules standpoint, but the narratives allow referees plenty of material for the creation of new adventures. Unlike many other Traveller versions, TNE includes information on all species of aliens in charted space. In order to get this level of quality in CT, GURPS or MegaTraveller, one must buy many alien supplents. Combine this fact with the ever changing technology in modern versions of the game like T20, T4 and/or Traveller 5, and you will find that a complete Traveller system (with aliens, supplements and starship designs) does not exist except in the original game.

That was a tragedy for MegaTraveller and GURPS, but TNE doesn't have that problem. All the rules are here. The PDF quality is outstanding and the gaming engine is as approachable to newcomers as it is to fans of all of the other incarnations of the game. Whether or not Virus was a good idea is irrelelevant here. reviewers who don't like the product should not buy it. I felt that TNE was a game that was the natural progression of Twighlight 2000, 2300 A.D. and StarMercs 2000. TNE is a refreshing new bent on the old GDW tradition of uniting games under a common gaming system. I recommend this alongside of Classic Traveller and I challenge the new player to unite the two in a way that fans of both games will enjoy it. I think its greatest weakness is its length and amount of narrative between actual gaming stats.

One thing about the games and documents available here at "DriveThru" is the fact that errata and extra material is actually written on the PDF.There is no need to cycle back and forth between numerous errata shteets. That makes these PDF's much more valuable than even some of the books.

One thing that really irritated me was

In true MegaTraveller tradition, this book is massive in scope. The authors set out to define every ship in the post-rebellion era without placing too much emphasis on ships of any one faction. In truth, these are all Imperium ships painted with the faction of the rebellion. Strangely, there are no data write-ups for Aslan-owned ships. Also, the authors have arbitrarily picked the most "interesting" ships and chosen to give full stats on only those (pictures, charts and more data). The ship illustrations seemed rather box-like and, with the exception of the escort class, look kind of unrealistic or just plain silly. Despite what others may say about this volume, it is an invaluable reference for the referee using the MegaTraveller (or any other) universe. I highly recommend it to all players of Traveller and most especially to those in the TNE and T4 camps. One way to make a better list of ships is to get a copy of Fire, Fusion and Steel. I just took one point off because I thought that the drawings could have been a little better

In a single phrase, I would say that T20-lite is complete accurate and easy. One thing that I did find a little poor in this system was the combat system. As many people will attest, Traveller is not a combat-heavy game and so the simple and effective combat rules seem to go to waste here. Everything else is a shining example of how one author, Hunter Gordon, can assemble a unified, realistic and faithful rendering of the Traveller universe using a slightly different game engine. I say 'slightly' because the d20 system adds a dimension to Traveller that other systems have not First of all, Character creation is simple and easy using a T20 system. Combat is also simplified by differentiating flesh wounds from body blows. The addition of the statistics of stamina and lifeblood create a wonderful pairing of data that completely re date the historic combat system of all versions before. One reason I would not recommend this game as an introduction to the traveller universe is the fact that it uses the familiar multi-class system of most d20 gaming systems. I think that half the charm is taken away from the game when players are allowed to "level up" into new skill sets and more bonus feats. It just doesn't make sense for a game that has been based on career choices and natural courses of learning and experience. That fact alone reduces Traveller to just yet another d20 system among whom Dungeons and Dragons is the greatest. I hate to see Traveller brought to the point where it needs to mimic products of Wizard of the Coast or other cash-cow gaming companies. Having said that, this rule system is a complete rendering of Traveller into the d20 system (actually, it was created before 'd20' was a trademark of WotC). By all means check out MegaTraveller, TNE or T4 before trying this out. The additional history of the Imperium will really enrich the game and its uses. On the other hand, this work is a stroke of genius. Having multiclass characters and persons wqith the social standing of dukes and duchesses is a wonderful addition. There needs to be something special about Traveller that discerns itself from mere dungeon crawling or fight-the-enemy/take-the-treasure gaming. I believe that this work achieves that. Hopefully the full game is as rich as the preview.

This book is good for the referee who wishes to run any campaign in charted space. System data, UWP and information about various sectors of the galaxy provide color to what would normally be ,any days of system creation just for known space. If the referee wanted to invent new sectors outside of the limits of space, the book could be usefu, too. All the player needs to do is roll a modifying number for each one of the world numbers that are not listed and then the full full details are reached.Not only does this system cover the rules for world creation in T4, but it also covers the time-tested method used in Classic Traveller for creating a UWP and detailing the surface of a planet. Since this book is a survey of all known space, from the Vland Imperium to the Spunward Marches and beyond, it value as a resource is invaluable. I recommend this book to referees who are serious about realistic world creation and are not afraid to through a few dice per planet in the subsector where the game is being held.

Lazy referees should steer clear of this one because is a more serious type of work.

In a word. I would say that this book is overwhelming. The length and breadth of the topics covered in this one ( rather small) book caused me to rethink my idea of trying to play MT at all. The book has everything: spacecraft design, maps of the galaxy, sectors, subsectors plus all of the information needed to understand the universe and the communication and administration of the shattered empire. Task resolution is resolved to a science in and of itself. In a way, this book isd a disappointment because of the responsibility thst it pots on the referee's shoulders. Referees and GMs need to be interested in the gamre before they propose to entertain friends with a game of this magnitude. Gaming with this system really grows on you. There really is no other version of Traveller that covers all of the civilizations.

This is indeed a book designed for those who would like to dessign ships with the freedom that comes from a universal vehicle generator. Unlike the ships laid out in MT, the ships designed with these guidelines are completely governed by the creator's wish and the laws of science. The pages do carry a watermark that shows the symbol of the imperial seal. I don't blame them for using a watermark ( all material downloaded from here shows the watermark of drivethrurpg.com. It would be nice if the watermark would alternate between the various empires and civilizations *i.e. a Falcon for Empress Margaret, a swirl for Dulinor or a cross in a circle for the Solomani.

I guess all I have to say is that this is pretty lightweight material but it is a unified, organized system. One of the best features about this book is the presence of equations throughout the text. Unlike other other T4 books which have a lot of beautiful illustrations, this book has only the occasional drawing. It's almost as if the author thought he had to include at least one piece of art per chapter

This book was especially good for me after playing "classic Traveller" for years and then being overwhelmed by the complexity and realism of Megatraveller. This book seems to bring all of the branches of Traveller (even GURPS) into one recognizable form. That fact that this work was completely written by one person has allowed it to be more organized than previous versions. The GURPS and T20 systems really suffered when they got rid of the UPP and the UWP. T4 not only brings these back, it also brings in a complex ship designing system (that is something that would have ve been nice if there was such a resource for MT. I give this game my full support, but I still wonder why a product compiled by a team ( MT, TNE, T20) can be bested by a single work written by a single designer.