I like T5.1 very much - but we need a ‘Starter Traveller 5’ to summarise the core rules - that would make 5.1 a much easier proposition to get running. I guess you could make such a book by cut and pasting from the CD Rom.

Very good work, amazing channel. I have no idea how I missed it for so many years. I am. In the M2 side since I prefer my rules in the lighter side.

Great and honest review of T5. I backed the 5.0 version and, as you said, it's NOT a usable system. I stopped trying to note erratas and fixing it after a while. The forum didn't help as the mere mention of it being broken resulted in you being kicked out! I saw the 5.1 Kickstarter and, like about half of those who were burned the first time around, I passed. I haven't looked into Traveller since then, but your review made me reconsider checking out 5.1. Thank you for that and for the detailed review.

I must mention Willy that this video made me take a new look at the 5.10 version. After backing the 5.0 edition and being vastly disappointed by it (after trying very hard to make it work) I had given up on T5. Years later I came back to Traveller and initially went for Cepheus Universal, but I found myself often going to T5 for missing things (missing for _me_). After watching your video I decided to give 5.10 a fair test. I must say it's a bit like trying to learn someone else's short hand... But once you do make the initial effort to learn how it's written, and take the time to read it _all_, making sure you cover everything (because some things are defined after they are used), then it starts to make sense. And then it starts to shine! It's not without its shortcomings (what game doesn't have those?), but it's a very elegant system that is not as complicated as it appears. Yes it's crunchy, but most of what you get is either modular (meaning you can opt out) or used outside of the game night (for the GM to work prepping the game). Once you get to a certain amount of understanding, you start to see the beauty of many of its subtle nuances. So, thank you for this video!

I actually like traveller t5 a lot. It's like deciphering physics, once you understand it, it's genius. Literally can do anything.

Great and intelligent overview. IMO T5's strength is the "maker" tables.

The ultimate review of the ultimate edition. Happy new year, Willy.

Thank you for this awesome review and overview for T5!

My god, T5. What a cluster****. I'd forgetten that I actually owned this and... well, thankfully got rid of it! Watching this brought back some (un)welcome memories! LOL. Enjoyed the video though, Will. Thanks for doing it - always a good watch and informative and hope you had a great Christmas. All the best. 🙂

FINALLY, will watch it now. Thanks in advance!! You're the best 😊

very informative!

Thank you very much Ian, I enjoy your video-essays a lot and appreciate your thoughts and "ramblings" very much! I myself know and use the classic traveller books and the 5.1 ones and I really cherish them. What I've never looked into, are the Mongoose 2E books. Do you think that they'd be worth the time and money to invest, coming from where I am, knowledge- and predispostion-vise?

Traveller was an interesting RPG when I was40yrs younger. Even then, there were a couple of variants. I may have them tucked away in players handbooks sorts of stuff. I never came across gammaster edition. For me, tinkering with shipdesign was interesting although parameters for doing this was only 15-20 pages and had nada for genning up a character. IIRC, some authors wrote some storys using much modded form of Traveller. All were shortstorys as I recall. Any oldfarts like me have a similar recollection???

The main issue I find with T5's layout at this point is the whole C1-C6 stuff - it's useful as a reference because the various types of alien might have different named stats, but it does make them feel more complex - especially if you're showing them to players who are new to the system.

bro... i want you as my gm :)

I bought both T5 and T5.1. I don't think the rules are complex. The large number of pages are mostly for the various makers. The actual rules for play are remarkably simple. My only real beef with the system is combat. Gun combat nearly always results in automatic hits - I fixed this by having a modifier that halves the target number when the firer is under fire - that seems to result in more pleasing numbers and simulates easy hits on unsuspecting targets vs harder hits under combat conditions. Alas, I never figured out how to fix melee combat - that is something I'm still looking at. There are also a few arbitrary rules that I drop altogether. The one where damaged armour becomes no armour at all and NPC's needing a minimum of 9 points(? It's been a while!) of damage to be affected. Both of these seemingly arbitrary rules break a lot of things so I drop them. I love the starship combat, BUT.... the ref has a lot of work to do creating the hit location details for the various starships. Despite the dodgy combat, there are a lot of mechanics in T5 that I really like. The lack of materials for T5 is problematic, though one can easily use T4 adventures with the system with little modification. One thing Marc should do, is release a Third Imperium book for T5. This would be a book full of pre-created equipment and starships for the Third Imperium. It would also contain maps, history and scenario seeds. I think that would sell pretty well :) If I'm honest, I play a lot more Mongoose Traveller than T5, though there are various materials in T5 that are handy for use in Mongoose Traveller. It's a shame that the two systems are not really compatible as T5 is dice based roll under a target number, whereas Mongoose is 2d roll over 8 mostly... I can only hope that Marc starts to support T5, but it has been a while now, so hope is fading.

Thank you for the review, I loved the cinematic 3D segments in between. In your honest opinion, what ruleset do you find more suitable for the ultimate gearhead? I'm leaning more towards TNE with FF&S than to T5. I'd like to make a more hardish sci-fi setting such as the Expanse.

So, is this thing actually playable without a physics doctorate?

Quite in impressive but again try CataclysmDDA