Second Look - Boardgame reviews in depth. Check out that cat.Just an initial look at the book itself had me interesting in Traveller 5 as soon as I saw it. That, combined with a highly successful Kickstarter, had me excited to give the book a read through and see what it was all about.

When the book arrived, I was amazed on how big and sturdy the thing was. At 656 pages full of text and tables, the book takes a while to read through. Unfortunately it’s not just the amount of content that makes it difficult to get through.

Here’s the deal. Traveller 5 feels like an incomplete product. Information is disorganized, over-detailed, or just not well explained. Typos, grammar errors, and contradictions fill the pages. Everything feels like it was rushed to print without much thought put into layout and editing. I feel like there’s a good game hiding in there somewhere, but it’s bogged down by all the above problems. Not only that, but you’re paying a lot of money for a sub-par product. $75 to be exact. At that price, it’s insane that you’re getting something so unrefined.

travellerThe book needs a LOT of editing. There’s plenty of information that could be cut out and released as supplemental material. It’s expensive. Overall it’s just not a smart buy.

Can it be fixed? Yes.

Hopefully it will be. There’s a good game buried in those pages screaming to get out.

A copy of Traveller 5 was provided free for review by Far Future Enterprises.