ToolSet

A ToolSet is a Traveller game mechanic, an organized system for generating game components other than player characters.

• The player character generator is known as CharGen.
• ToolSets exist as hardcopy in-rulebook creation sequences and as automated, online utility programs.

Library Data Referral Tree

Please see the following AAB Library Data files for related information:
Traveller Core Support Sites:

1. FFE Homepage
2. Traveller Map
3. Traveller RPG Wiki
4. Traveller5 World Builder

Description (Specifications)

The T5 Core Rules contains ToolSets for the following functions:

1. ArmorMaker
2. CharGen
3. CreatureMaker (In version 5.09, "BeastMaker")
4. GunMaker
5. PlantMaker
6. RobotMaker
7. ShipMaker
8. ThingMaker
9. Traveller Sophont Creation System (SophontMaker)
10. VehicleMaker
11. WordMaker
12. WorldMaker AKA T5 WorldMaker

T4 ToolSets

T4 has ToolSets derived from Book B Fire, Fusion & Steel

1. Quick Ship Design System
2. Standard Ship Design System

T5 External Link/s

• Armor & Gun Maker at Traveller5.net
• Omni Vehicle Maker at Traveller5.net
• Plant Generator at Traveller5.net
• Robot Maker at Traveller5.net
• Traveller5 World Builder
• Traveller Worlds: Maps & Systems
• Vehicle Maker at Traveller5.net
• Word Generator at Traveller5.net
• World Builder at Traveller5.net

History & Background (Dossier)

CharGen and various simulators for making various things across a broad spectrum from NPCs to objects to armor to weaponry to vehicles to starships and more have been a consistent feature of the game since 1977.

Many ToolSets have been converted into online calculators and similar programs.

ToolSets are a major part of T5 and many were created throughout the development and playtesting of the T5 Core Rules. Not all of them made it to the final cut and not all of them are featured in the T5 Core Rules.

ToolSets, or their equivalents (which continue to be ToolSets even if not named thus), are one of the main points of divergence for different versions. For example:

• Every version has some type of CharGen. In most versions, it is possible for a traveller to die during CharGen due to random dice rolls. In Mongoose Traveller, both first and Second Edition, this is at most a choice, never forced: if the rolls would have resulted in death, a traveller can instead go into medical debt to stay alive. GURPS Traveller does not use lifepath-style CharGen, avoiding the issue entirely, instead substituting a point-buy system.
• Mongoose Traveller Second Edition allows one to designate an arbitrary hull size, with simple formulas to calculate maneuver drive and jump drive requirements for a given performance (and power plant requirements for those and other systems, particularly energy weapons). The New Era and GURPS Traveller have more complex formulas, allowing for finer detail. Most other versions require one to pick among pre-made sizes of hull, maneuver drive, and jump drive, then look up the performance on tables, and select power plant to be at least equal to those (usually with no regard for other systems, including weapons). Some find one of these approaches far easier to use, or better suited to their use cases, than the others.
• For many, deciding between versions is primarily just deciding between ToolSets.

The Perils of CharGen

Traveller is very well known for the possibility of a character being killed before it leaves CharGen. Some might say infamous... This eventuality has become the butt of Tshirts and comic strips.

Goofy Gearheadery

Starship and vehicle generation, in many cases, grew quite complex and became known as gearheadery with the self-obsessed fans becoming known as gearheads.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), 537-630.
• Robert Eaglestone. Xboat 1 (Robert Eaglestone, 2019), TBD. (Xboat 01)
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Master Scout, and former Naval Architect CRHensley of the Ministry of Science
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Technologist Adrian Tymes of the Ministry of Technology
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science