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Traveller ROBOTS

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Traveller ROBOTS
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Traveller ROBOTS
Publisher: 13Mann Verlag
by Evyn M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/01/2015 16:00:03

If I had to choose this is the book I would use to build Robots for the Mongoose edition of Traveller.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Traveller ROBOTS
Publisher: 13Mann Verlag
by Robert S. J. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/13/2013 10:00:13

Although it's for Mongoose Traveller, Traveller - ROBOTS (125 pages) by 13Mann is not Mongoose's Book 9: Robot (100 pages), which primarily focused on robots as Player Characters and had (IMO) a disappointing and flawed design system that still needs errata. ROBOTS is a completely different book with a different approach. The best way to illustrate this is to detail the contents:

Full Table of Contents (and the PDF is fully bookmarked!)

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ROBOTS (Robots in the 3I, outside of the 3I, Zhodani, Ancients, Solomani, Corporations, Hiver, 2000 Worlds, etc.)
  3. CAREERS (Three related careers for PCs: Robot Specialist, Cyberdoc, and Programmer)
  4. HOW TO BUILD A COMPUTER/ROBOT (one page outlining the steps of the Computer and Robot Design Sequences)
  5. COMPUTERS (everything related to designing your hardware and software, networks, digital personalities, AI, Hacking etc.)
  6. ROBOTS AND DRONES (Difference between Robots and Drones, and the descriptions, TLs, prices, functions, etc. of all the components)
  7. SAMPLE ROBOTS (37 sample robots over 30 pages, everything from Hiver Translator, Zhodani Combat Robot, Construction Robot, Survey Drones, etc.)
  8. NANOBOTS (Construction, Abilities, etc.)
  9. CYBORGS (Creating, Complications, Aging, etc.)
  10. CYBERNETIC AND BIOLOGICAL AUGMENTS
  11. DESIGNING ROBOTS & COMPUTERS (Suggestions for types of robots and considerations)
  12. ROBOTS AS CHARACTERS
  13. INTERESTING NPCs related to robot-oriented storylines, including a Hiver! APPENDIX (Equipment/component reference tables organized by TL for Computers, Robots and Augments) Full 2 Page Index

A few points:

I have only been reading through it, I have not tested the mechanics or the construction system, so I can't say "Unlike Book 9, this works." But based on a read-through, it does appear to be solid.

There's a lot more content here than in CT Book 8, MegaTraveller Robots, or Mongoose Book 9: Robots. And as you can see, by dealing with nanobots, cyborgs, computers, augments, etc., it's covering a lot more territory.

Yes, it has been translated from German to English and chances are, if no one had told you that, you wouldn't even know. The translation is impeccable and eloquent.

It is packed with references to the place of robots throughout the Third Imperium, and not so much a generic approach. I do not commit 3I minutiae to memory so I have no idea if it is all based on pre-established canon, or fits with canon. It reads well, though, and I doubt the writers (Rouven Weinbach and Tobias Freund) were making much, if anything, up. Based on the Introduction, the authors know their Traveller.

At the same time, as someone who does not play in the 3I, I would not hesitate to use these rules as my guidance for robots in any period.

Art is minimal but serviceable, as is the layout. Choice of fonts and the overall two-column layout is readable, but a bit boring. Fortunately, this is really the only bad thing I can say about it so far. It was money very well-spent, and I wouldn't be at all disappointed if Mongoose scrapped their previous release and replaced it with this (if for no other reason than to have it in print!)



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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