Four, no Five, no Six posts for understanding Classic Traveller

I started off with four, but kept finding more. Read 'em and enjoy.

http://andyslack.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/what-ct-77-got-right/
On Animal Encounters: "I still remember the PCs hunting 30-ton pouncers in AFVs. Man, that was nuts."
On Interstellar Empires: "There aren’t any. Nor do you need them."

 http://waystarhighport.blogspot.com/2012/04/to-z-t-is-traveller.html
Quote: What is Traveller? "The two consistent things about Traveller are that there is no faster-than-light communication, and that Jumps last approximately one week. The best description of what Traveller is comes from the little black box that the little black books came in, way back in 1977. Traveller is “science fiction adventure in the far future”.

http://andyslack.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/classic-traveller-skills/

Quote: "Traveller weapon expertise wasn’t a skill level in the way that we now understand the term. All player characters had expertise 0 in all weapons, meaning as a PC you could pick up anything from a spear to a laser rifle and use it. (NPCs did not enjoy this privilege, suffering severe penalties if they tried to use a weapon without expertise.) Expertise with a weapon in CT is more like D&D weapon specialization or the Savage Worlds Trademark Weapon edge; it is a statement about the character’s signature combat style and his favorite tools for the job.
However, compared to the die roll modifiers for range and target armor, the effects of expertise are quite low; the way to take a foe down was to pick the right tool for the job . . ."

http://andyslack.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/end-game/
On Character Generation: "But, the thing about character generation in the 1977 edition of Classic Traveller is this: It’s the end game.
Fresh out of character generation, the typical PC is in his late 30s or early 40s. He’s the same age as Conan was when he seized the throne of Aquilonia. He’s done the spacefaring equivalent of all that dungeon-crawling crap, served his time in the trenches, and now he is ready to concoct "daring schemes for the acquisition of wealth and power", as Book 3 put it."

http://gondica.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/traveller-the-grizzled-veteran/ 
Quote: "Traveller was designed by people that know the science of geography, e.g. Marc Miller. This academic field influences the rules for designing planets. The gamemaster starts with specifying the planet’s physical qualities (size, atmosphere, hydropgraphy), which influence its population size, which in turn influences its political arrangements and technological development level, which in turn influence its economic parameters.
When you created player characters, they existed within a socioeconomic system. They chose professional careers and got money and equipment accordingly, they aged (occasionally even died) before entering the game. This is an approach influenced by social sciences and since my academic background is political science and history, this game turned out to be the right one for me.

http://travellermerc.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/why-play-a-70s-game-in-2011-is-travellerstriker-dead/

Quote: "The play occurs within the flexible sci-fi format that allows flat out historical refights, pulp like adventures, xenomorphs vs human (a la the Alien or Predator franchises), all in addition to the laser pistol toting, vacc suit wearing space opera one might expect from a sci-fi game. Traveller’s tech levels, despite some obvious challenges, remain a great way to hold on to history, alternative history and science fiction all in the same game context. That makes for an impressively flexible tool.
Classic Traveller and its sub-games like Snapshot, Striker et al. provided a game-making toolkit rather than simply a game."