Someone was asking for submissions on errata for TNE a while back, I
found this on GEnies, thought it might be useful.
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Games RoundTable
Category 11, Topic 4
Message 30 Sun Jun 13, 1993
M.GELINAS [Geo] at 04:04 EDT
I previously sent the following to a number of people by e-mail. I
post it here for the benefit of all.
Comments on Traveller: The New Era
Opening comments:
Overall, Traveller: The New Era (TNE) is an excellent product. The
writing is well done, information sections are concise and
informative, and the rules are remarkably detailed. The artwork if
very good overall. Some of the art is mediocre, and some of the art
was borrowed from previous products, but most of the work was good,
and there were a number of excellent pieces, including both the front
and back covers.
I have made this overall observation up front, because the remainder
of this review will be general comments intended to improve an already
excellent product. It is ever my intent to offer constructive
criticism to make Traveller a better game. Therefore for each item
which I feel is a problem, I will offer a solution. Since most of
these solutions will be similar, I will summarize them here and use an
abbreviated form in the text to save space.
My recommended solutions area:
Errata sheet - it is extremely difficult to produce a product the size
of TNE without some errors creeping in. I recommend that an errata
sheet be published and made available to players. This sheet should
also be printed in Challenge magazine and included in the TNE Deluxe.
Chart book - I recommend that some of the more important charts be
reprinted in a small (16 page or so) booklet form and include in TNE
Deluxe or be included in a TNE Screen. (I know that GDW is no longer
doing folios, but I think the demand for a TNE screen would warrant
the production of this product)
Revised Character Generation Worksheet - I recommend a few things be
added to the Character Generation Worksheet. It could be included in
Deluxe TNE or printed in Challenge.
Page 17 - Homeworld Random Generation Table: the DM chart is on the
next page making it easy to overlook and difficult to use.
Recommendation - put on the same page in Chart Book.
Page 18 - Homeworld DM Table - with a DM of +9 for characters in the
wilds, it is not possible with a 2D6 roll to get a starport class D.
This will result in a lot of starport class X for characters in the
wilds. While this is probably representative of the types of
starports there, it is probably not representative of the types of
worlds that the PC's will come from in the wilds. Recommendation -
add a statement that the referee can lower the DM for the wilds or
mandate a specific starport. Errata Sheet.
Page 18 - Homeworld DM Table - The DM for Old Expanses is HIGHER than
for a Pocket Empire. Recommendation: This should be reversed. Errata
Sheet.
Page 18 - Homeworld Characteristic Description Table - while specific
descriptions for specific numbers can be found in the world building
section, no such correlation can be found anywhere for government
Type. Below is my supposition:
Description Code Normal Code Wilds
Low Gov 0 - 3 0 - 3
Mod Gov 4 - 5 4 - 5
High Gov 6 - 8 6 - 7
Ext Gov 9 + 8 +
Since the only difference between Normal worlds and Wilds worlds
occurs at 8+, a uniform table could be built by making the Wilds
descriptions correspond to the normal description.
Recommendation: Errata Sheet.
Page 19 - Homeworld Effects on Attributes - buried in text.
Recommendation - Table in Chart Book and Note on Revised CG Worksheet.
Page 23 - Background Skills - not noted on Character Generation Sheet.
Recommendation - Note on Revised CG Worksheet.
Page 24 - Default Skills - buried in text. Recommendation - Table in
Chart Book and Note on Revised CG Worksheet.
Page 57 - Table of Ranks - Military Ranks - At only 1 promotion per
term, it will take a significant number of terms to achieve a higher
rank in military. While this may be reasonable for officers, it is not
for enlisted. Recommendation - Use shorter enlisted rank structure as
per T2K2. Errata Sheet.
Page 94 - Wilds careers - Recommend adding a Psionic Priesthood career
and a Survivalist Career. The latter at least is one a PC in the
wilds would probably be interested in. Publish in Challenge or in
Deluxe TNE.
Page 172 - Ershur Data - the TPPG data for Towering has been shifted
to the left. Recommendation - Errata Sheet.
Page 186 - Step 4 - The planetary density table is way over on page
190. Recommend adding a note. Errata Sheet.
Page 186 - World Size 2D6? Have you dropped the -2? Recommendation -
Errata Sheet (if appropriate).
Page 186 - Tech Level DM tables - From B on down, some of the columns
have been shifted. The DM's for Atmosphere appear under World Size.
The -2 for one of the governments is also shifted. Recommendation -
Errata Sheet.
Page 187 - Has Lo been changed to a population of 4-? Recommendation
if not - Errata Sheet.
Page 188 - Should Population of 0 be classified as Incidental to
coincide with the Homeworld Generation Table? This table also shows a
Population of 4 as Moderate which conflicts if Lo has been changed to
Pop of 4-. Recommendation - keep Lo at 3-, make Pop 0 incidental -
Errata Sheet.
Page 189 - World Law Level 6 - "All Firearms except Firearms"
Recommendation - change the last firearms to rad "Shotguns". Errata
Sheet.
Page 189 - World Physical Data - describes a Hydrographics of 3 as
"Dry" this should be "Wet". Recommendation - Errata Sheet.
Page 201 - Fuel - Discusses multiple fuel vehicles, but none are
listed in the book. Recommendation - if any of the vehicles in the
book can use multiple fuels, add codes by Errata Sheet. If not,
publish some multiple fuel vehicles in a future product.
Page 228 - 229 - Starship Encounters - The DM's for ship encounters in
the Wilds would seem to produce an alarming number of Vampire ships.
Recommendation - adding note to the effect that the referee should not
feel obligated to implement a vampire, but treat the encounter as "No
Encounter" if he choses. Errata Sheet.
Page 237 - There are some worlds which do not have any trade codes.
This page does not indicate which table should be used in such a case.
Recommendation - add a note that if a world has no trade codes, use
the last table. Errata Sheet.
Page 258 - Recommend creating a set of charts showing the effects of
different power levels for psionic skills - Chart Book.
Page 261 - Last paragraph in second column should probably have "Main
Armament" in italics in front of it. Recommendation - Errata Sheet.
Page 262 - Observation - I think LSP modeled their guard bot after
Zhodani Warbots.
Page 302 - Vehicle Collision Examples - (95 x 2)/10 = 19 not 35.
Recommendation - Errata Sheet.
Page 349 - Missiles are now riotously expensive. Recommend adding
standard HE missiles in Starship Combat Game and Technical
Architecture.
General Recommendation - create a supplement "Small Arms of the
Universe". Also, I would like to see the return of the 9mm ACR - it
was one of my favorite types of weapons since Mercenary.
Page 357 - Grenades - Does not list 4cm Ram grenades for use with
weapons with integral grenade launchers. Recommendation - list on
Errata Sheet.
Page 358 - Armor - Reflec has disappeared. With the new lower
penetration personal lasers, most armor will stop lasers. However, it
would be handy to have an armor specifically designed to stop lasers.
Given an armor value of 0, reflec could do this. You might lower the
price some to make it more cost effective. Recommendation - return
reflec with an armor value of 0 and lower price. Errata Sheet.
Page 359 - Armor - The combat environment suit has no associated
helmet. Such a suit should have a visored helmet which does not
appear on the table until TL 10. Recommendation add a visored helmet
at TL 9 (AV 1 is fine) for the Combat Environment Suit -or- make it an
integral part of the suit adding H (head) to the coverage codes.
Errata Sheet.
Page 368 - Free Trader Damage Tables - You have 5 - 9 listed for the
Cargo Hold, but then later you have 5 - 13 listed for Eng. Then you
have 17, 18, and 20 with nothing. Recommendation - Errata Sheet.
Page 375 - Survey Ship Damage Tables - what is area 12's internal
damage? Recommendation - Errata Sheet.
Page 376 - Subsidized Liner Damage Tables - 13 is duplicated.
Recommendation - Errata Sheet.
Page 377 - Merc Cruiser Damage Tables - 12 is duplicated.
Recommendation - Errata Sheet.
Character Sheet - has no place for Homeworld Starport. Recommend
adding to updated Character Sheet.
Character Sheet - recommending adding a back for such items as
equipment weapons, contacts. Currently, I am copying the back of the
DC character sheet for use with TNE and find it works quite well.
Note: The comments about missiles were written before Dave Nilsen
sent a comment about missiles in TNE. I have come to accept his
ruling on this.
Yours for Traveller,
Geo
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Also, I've noticed that the TNE rules only list RAM Shoot-Through
Grenades. It seems that the regular Hand Grenade variety got left
out.
Kerry Harrison
[email removed]