SteelSpyder Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 I was thinking of picking up the Traveller Hero PDFs from the online store, but I’m confused. What is included in the Traveller Hero Sourcebook? In other words is it separate content from Vol 1 and Vol 2 or is it a collected volume? If so are any of the other volumes included? I want to get all the books but I don’t want to buy redundant material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 If you are referring to book 2 (minty Green cover), it's essentially a setting and equipment book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJackBrass Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 Well, now I'm confused too 😁 I have the Traveller HERO CD-ROM from FFE which includes Traveller HERO Book 1: Adventurers in Charted Space and Traveller HERO Book 2: Adventure in Charted Space. There's no Traveller HERO Sourcebook in that collection. The Traveller HERO Sourcebook listed in the Hero Games store doesn't appear to be either of the two core volumes, or at least not as they were originally presented, and there's too little information provided to work out if it's a revised or combined edition. How very odd! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 I'll look when I get home and provide a disambiguation. My phone is full of pre-5 HERO. My desktop is full of 5+ HERO. And Traveller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 The Traveller Hero Source book contains conversion data on the Traveller setting. It not only does the Hero standard genre explanations and then an intro to the Traveller universe, but also provides conversions of everything from race templates to equipment. It also has a Traveller to Hero conversion notes chapter. I attached a word doc with a fast copy of the table of contents which should give you a solid view of all the information packed into this 305 page source book. If you want to play in the Traveller setting without doing all the conversions yourself, this is the book. Traveller Hero Sourcebook Table Of Contents.docx BigJackBrass 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelSpyder Posted May 16, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 That’s helpful, but it still doesn’t answer the question about whether that info is repeated in the two volumes or not. Can you give me more information about that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 16 minutes ago, SteelSpyder said: That’s helpful, but it still doesn’t answer the question about whether that info is repeated in the two volumes or not. Can you give me more information about that? oops... Let me look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJackBrass Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 The table of contents mentions Templates, so does that suggest that this is actually a 6th rather than 5th edition book, despite the cover? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 Here are the ToC's for 1 & 2 Traveller Hero Book One ToC.docx Traveller Hero. Book Two ToC.docx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted May 16, 2020 Report Share Posted May 16, 2020 Okay, your promised disambiguation: The book listed in the store as the Sourcebook is what "Book 1" should have been-- and honestly, probably was. If you have the CD collection from FFE, then you have _almost_ all of it. While the paper copies (Thanks again, Shadowcat! ) are amazing, I was always bugged by the lack of certain "core Traveller" bits: the career path skill-building (yeah; harder to do with HERO fans, but not impossible), world generation, starship generation, and psionics. In the final cut, psionics was touched on oh-so-lightly, but the rest just kind of "fell out of the book." If you have the FFE CD collection, then you have no doubt been just as befuddled as I have been by those three mysterious "chunks of books" that don't match any of the other PDFs (or the paper copies, if you're also lucky enough to have those-- and again: Bless you, Shadowcat! I will _never_ forget the guy who got me the paper books that combine my two favorite RPGs! ). They are finished pages, numbered even, but higher than the 163 page count of either Book 1 or Book 2. The Sourcebook available in the HERO store is the book those excerpts came from: It is Book 1, complete with Shipbuilding, psionics, and world building (which-- I can't remember if that's included int he FFE collection or not, but I'm not recalling it off the top of my head. And no; it's not a 6e book. 6e does not own the word "templates;" it simply uses it so excessively as dilute the meaning. The "templates" are essentially packages or pre-encouraged build types. "Six e did away with Packages! We use templates now, which is a totally new, revolutionary, unlike-packages kind of thing that provides chunks of good and bad things together....." Eliminating a bonus doesn't really mean it's not a package, no matter which hot and trendy buzzword you want to stick on it. At any rate, if you're _serious_ about Traveller, then this is really a must-have book. It was the first book I really wanted to pony up for to have printed, as it really is a "more complete" version of one of the books I already own in print. Why was all this great material cut? I don't know. Shadowcat _might_ know, but doesn't visit regularly. I've quit the bulk of the board (and once I'm done with the store, will quit the rest of it, at least for what I hope is an extended period), and I'm here more regularly than Shadowcat. If I were to take a SWAG at it, I'd go back to a comment Shadwocat made a very long time back, that the licensing agreement meant you couldn't include lore / world building stuff in your conversion product, making it necessary to buy at least one "true traveller" sourcebook to get the actual setting. This stuff may have been cut for fear of getting too close to some perceived line. Again, I _don't_ know; I'm just WAGging. Still, there is stuff in there that relates to all kind of of pieces of the Traveller universe, and it is nice to see this stuff in HERO form. _However_, as I said, there isn't much in _any_ of this stuff that will allow a new Traveller player to really glean the published universe of any era: you _will_ need some actual Traveller material for that if you don't actually know it already; totally unnecessary if you're just completely uninterested in someone else's sandbox, of course. Your mileage and opinions may vary or differ, but to me, even if you have the FFE collection, it's totally worth having if you're serious about doing Traveller HERO-style. It's worth it even if you have the FFE collection (which is great, but also a disjointed mess of things you really don't need or want, but still....), since there is at least one section (I think it was world building, but I don't recall specifically) that wasn't in that collection either. Please note that in Traveller terms, "world building" isn't a campaign-related or setting-related term; it's the systems with which you create new planets, ecosystems, star systems, etc-- actually populating the stars with places to find or to adventure. The one thing that never did come to pass-- probably because of the almost-total incompatibility between the two systems-- that I would _love_ to have seen was a HERO-ized version of FFS (even though that was for TNE). But to get back to the original question: Sourcebook is a meatier, more in-depth and feature-filled version of Book 1; it is the Book 1 that Book 1 should have been. If you have to choose between the two versions, Sourcebook is the Book 1 that you will kick yourself for not getting. If you're like me, you'll get them both, just because-- because _Traveller HERO_, Dude! I _can't_ not support that! Duke Korgoth and BigJackBrass 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelSpyder Posted May 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 Thanks a lot you guys! I assume then that the other books (besides the three we have been discussing) are all new material, please let me know if I’m wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted May 17, 2020 Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 I will help as I can (again: I can't not help spread the warmth that is Traveller HERO), but now I need a little help: "New" in what way, exactly? All-new, freshly-thought up ideas? New conversions? Stuff unavailable before or at a certain moment? Not being dunny; something isn't clicking here for me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted May 17, 2020 Report Share Posted May 17, 2020 52 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said: I will help as I can (again: I can't not help spread the warmth that is Traveller HERO), but now I need a little help: "New" in what way, exactly? All-new, freshly-thought up ideas? New conversions? Stuff unavailable before or at a certain moment? Not being dunny; something isn't clicking here for me.... Ditto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelSpyder Posted May 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2020 Oh, sorry, I meant new as in material not contained in the three main Traveller Hero books we have been discussing. In other words I don’t mean it has to be new to the Traveller system, just new to the Hero system and not included in the above books. Tasha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted May 20, 2020 Report Share Posted May 20, 2020 Ah; yes. In that case, yes: the other books are conversions of actual old-school Traveller stuff: various ships and descriptions and maps, adventures, etc. I wish the team had been able to go through _all_ the old Little Black Books and adventures, but well-- life happens, and all that. What the _did_ accomplish, though, was truly wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eodin Posted April 6, 2022 Report Share Posted April 6, 2022 There was a point in time when I was writing the thing that I got feedback that (1) we were including material that licensing would not allow and (2) Comstar would prefer 2 smaller books (hence book 1 and book 2) instead of 1 big book. So that's why big chunks of stuff went bye-bye for what became books 1 and 2. I haven't seen the single version contents, but I assume it was one such version before the change, or a version after I gave Comstar all my InDesign files. Joe Walsh, shadowcat1313, BigJackBrass and 2 others 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted May 9, 2022 Report Share Posted May 9, 2022 Be aware that on Far Future's website they sell a CD that has EVERY book that was produced for Traveller Hero, including all the Starship books etc that was developed and released by Comstar Games. For under $25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.