I'm running my first Classic Traveller session today. Wish me luck!
I'm quite excited about this. Until now, the only RPGs I've run are old-school D&D-likes, so I'm happy for the opportunity to explore a totally different game.
I've read the '77 ruleset and that's the one we will be using. I found its style quite refreshing; these are very terse and precisely written books, unlike the D&D editions from the '70s. At the same time, my experience with OSR games gives me already a bit of confidence that I'll be able to handle situations as they arise.
I prepared for this session by first generating a subsector. Drawing all the trade routes has been... fun... especially since I've used the 3:6 chance for a world given by the rules, which has resulted in 44 worlds and consequently many more potential routes to check. The system I found that worked for me is to check all potential 1-jump routes first, starting with 'A' worlds and going down the alphabet; then all possible 2-jump routes, etc. This means that I can save checks if for example a 2-jump route is already covered via two 1-jump routes.
I generated world codes for each world and then did one of these worlds in detail, including potential patrons and their assignments/missions, animal encounters, and normal encounters. I've put quite some time into it but I still feel unprepared! Traveller doesn't seem much dependent on maps like D&D is, and being without a terrain map feels unusual to me. I hope that what I jotted down will suffice for one session :)
So yeah, just wanted to report a bit about my experience. If there is interest, I will report back how it went.