Mongoose Publishing's version of Traveller

[hopeless]

Anybody heard anything about this?

It sounds like a take on classic traveller and they seem to be converting some of their settings over to it due to the 4th edition gsl.

Was wondering what others thought about it?

[Bluenose]

hopeless wrote:

Anybody heard anything about this?

It sounds like a take on classic traveller and they seem to be converting some of their settings over to it due to the 4th edition gsl.

Was wondering what others thought about it?

It's out some time in April, though you can get hold of some material from the Mongoose site to test it out. When it does I'm going to be playing it once the GM has got familiar with it. Till then I'm not really inclined to comment, but what I've seen makes me think that the rules are more TNE than CT like. It's had a lot of comments on the Traveller Mailing List, both positive and negative.

[gurps]

hopeless wrote:

Anybody heard anything about this?

It sounds like a take on classic traveller and they seem to be converting some of their settings over to it due to the 4th edition gsl.

Was wondering what others thought about it?

Though I play my Traveller with gurps rules for years (4 years before gurps traveller was published), I am very interested in the new traveller - couldn't buy it, but it should be at my flgs these weeks, so the tension rises. Found no time to use the playtest at mongoose, so I'm quite blank in my opinion about it.

[Dale McCoy Jr]

I playtested it. Its fun. Mind you, I never played any previous version of traveller so I can't tell you if it has that CT feel or not, but I've heard other playtesters say it pushes their nestalga button. Mongoose is releasesing an SRD with it which will be OGL. Several companies already announced compatable products (including Avenger, by the great MJD, and Flynn, as in Stellar Reaches Flynn, has his own company).

[gurps]

have it now - it's a nice, black book :-) with ONLY the rules in it, no world/history/flavour/third imperium or whatever. Rules seem to be quite classic with some addenda, but as soon as I know more of them, I will give a note.

It looks quite complete (except the flavour) - world building, ship building, etc. all in it.

[hogarth]

Can you die during character creation?

[Kamelion]

hogarth wrote:

Can you die during character creation?

Yes, but the rule is now optional ;-)

I playtested the rules a few months back but haven't yet picked up the rulebook. It was a lot of fun - fast, enjoyable and largely simple to grasp. I particularly liked the character generation process - the careers gave you a well fleshed-out character by the time you started play.

Plus the binding was good and it wasn't labelled as "Travellar" or something like that on the cover. (Yeah, I know, cheap shot...)

[Dale McCoy Jr]

One of the biggest differences between the playtest and the final versions is that they got rid of the timing die during combat. They went to a more traditional "combat round" approach, much closer to CT then the playtest version.

[Lensman]

The best part of the old Traveller was the character building. It was a mini game in itself.

[Darkjoy]

DMcCoy1693 wrote:

One of the biggest differences between the playtest and the final versions is that they got rid of the timing die during combat. They went to a more traditional "combat round" approach, much closer to CT then the playtest version.

Hey DMcCoy,

Have you written something for the system yet? Or are you still waiting for a SRD?

[Dale McCoy Jr]

Lensman wrote:

The best part of the old Traveller was the character building. It was a mini game in itself.

Mongoose's version has that as well. Its alot of fun.

Darkjoy wrote:

Hey DMcCoy,

Have you written something for the system yet? Or are you still waiting for a SRD?

Waiting for the SRD and finishing up a current project. I've already talked to Flynn and I'm going to do something for Stellar Reaches July/August-ish (provided he likes the finished product, of course). What about you?

[Darkjoy]

DMcCoy1693 wrote:

Lensman wrote:

The best part of the old Traveller was the character building. It was a mini game in itself.

Mongoose's version has that as well. Its alot of fun.

Darkjoy wrote:

Hey DMcCoy,

Have you written something for the system yet? Or are you still waiting for a SRD?

Waiting for the SRD and finishing up a current project. I've already talked to Flynn and I'm going to do something for Stellar Reaches July/August-ish (provided he likes the finished product, of course). What about you?

Just ordered it, so within a month I should get the core book. Then if I like it and get some inspiration, who knows?

Meanwhile, Sunday publication no. 2 will be available. Kind of excited if it survived editing. Fluff is hard.

[Dale McCoy Jr]

Darkjoy wrote:

Meanwhile, Sunday publication no. 2 will be available. Kind of excited if it survived editing. Fluff is hard.

Good luck with it.

The Traveller book is definitely one of the best books I've bought in a while (IMO, tied with Classic Monsters Revisited and Exalted 2E Core book).

[Mactaka]

I liked the preview that I saw of this book, but currently am running a Trav game (with an old megatrav dgp adventure) using the HERO Traveller rules that just came out.

I am disappointed that the first sector book is yet another Spinward Marches book. Geez..how many of those do we have? Can't someone do Old Expanses, or Antares, or even Core? Well, hopefully Mongoose will at some point, then I'll add to my collection...

[Bluenose]

I’ve now had a chance to play a couple of sessions with the new Mongoose Publishing version of Traveller with a group including people who have experience with the original version, Classic Traveller (CT). The rule book is a nice solid hardback of 192 pages, which personally I feel is very well presented. I’m fond of some of the little sidebars, which are one of the few places where the common setting of the Third Imperium gets much consideration. The one on page 102 is well worth a read.

A lot of the book is almost entirely compatible with CT or MegaTraveller (MT) versions of the rules. If you own the original material, picked up the FFE reprints, or have bought any of the CT compatible material from companies like Avenger or BITS, you should be able to use it with Mongoose Traveller (MonT? - we Traveller players love our acronyms, but this one will be hard). This should be true with most equipment including CT (but definitely not MT) spacecraft, with worlds, with creatures, and with many other things.

Character Creation is very similar to that from CT and for that matter to the Megatraveller (MT) version. They have changed a few things and they’ve added some careers that weren’t in the original CT rules. Characters now have a number of background skills at level-0 selected from those appropriate for their home world and/or education, similar to the MT rules. Available careers are: Agent, Army, Citizen, Drifter, Entertainer, Marines, Merchants, Navy, Nobility, Rogue, Scholar and Scout. Each has three specialities that show what branch of a service or type of individual you are. Characters gain all the skills appropriate for their career at level-0 during their first term, which is a new feature. While it was previously possible to die during character generation, that’s now an optional rule replaced by a mishap table for each career that explains why and how you left the service. It’s also now possible to try to enter a second career during character generation, though you don’t get as many benefits as you do with your first career. There may be some errata needed with the mustering out tables, as it appears there’s a problem with the Ship Shares benefit, but it hadn’t appeared when I was writing this (In a thread on the Mongoose Forums it's confirmed at 1%). I was able to create characters from alien races using old CT rules without them seeming out of place among characters generated using the Mongoose Traveller rules, although a few skills have got different names. Mongoose characters will have more level-0 skills than most characters generated using CT rules and early supplements, but probably not total skills. They will have less skill ranks than a MT character.

Mongoose elected to use the task system introduced in the later CT days and used in all later editions, but they haven’t done so in quite the same way. It’s actually altered from the original version as the target number is a static 8+ but with a modification based on the difficulty of the task rather than a target number that gets higher as the task gets more difficult, but the effect is the same. They have however put in a larger amount of gradation, with 7 levels of task difficulty (which vary by 2) compared to the 5 of CT/MT (varying by 4). This seems likely to make a GMs job noticeably harder. Identifying a task as Routine (7+), Difficult (11+) or Formidable (15+) is one thing, but giving it a level that feels appropriate when the options are Routine (6+, it being 8+ with a +2 bonus), Average (8+), Difficult (10+), or harder is a much finer judgement and one some players will be inclined to argue. Peculiarly, they haven’t used the task system for combat skills.

The main problem I have with the task system is that Mongoose have given a greater roll to you characteristics. That’s new, and in previous editions it was often the case that characteristics had no effect on a character’s ability to perform a task. The problem is that since skills are rolled for at random, a character may end up with skills that match up well with the characteristics they have, or ones that match up poorly. Fortunately its not a pronounced effect until characteristics get unusually high or low, but it’s still something I think could have been handled differently.

There are already more products in the pipeline. Mercenary and High Guard will cover the same ground as the books of the same name in the original system, hopefully with a character generation system that doesn’t leave them with quite such a marked superiority as the old versions. High Guard should contain more spaceship construction rules, and personally I intend waiting till it’s out before involving the group I’m GMing for to get involved in space combat -although if I could find my old Mayday rules I’d probably feel differently. There’s also another Spinward Marches supplement, which if I’m right will be the 8th version to see print. I hope give us either somewhere new or at least a reprint of a less over-exposed region like the Hinterlands or Glimmerdrift Reaches - Trojan Reach would be OK. 760 Patrons is one I probably won't be buying considering the number I've already got from previous editions, but it might give ideas to people new to the game. Traders and Gunboats is another I won't need, unless they make alterations to the ship plans or add a lot of new ones.

I suppose this review is fairly critical, which it probably shouldn't be. I think it's the best version of Traveller currently available. It's a great sandbox game too, and it would be perfectly possible to use it for settings that differ from the Third Imperium - the rules support this by giving alternatives in planet generation and equipment. It could certainly be used for a Firefly game, or with modifications for Star Wars or Star Trek. There's lots of support planned, and an adventure that at least reads well (although I haven't played it) appears in Signs and Portents 57. I'm going to be looking through my old DGP material, so once the current adventure I'm running is finished there may be a professor, a journalist, a scout, and an anthropomorphic robot getting into trouble with a Zhodani spy ring.

[Dale McCoy Jr]

Bluenose wrote:

Mongoose Traveller (MonT? - we Traveller players love our acronyms, but this one will be hard

MGT is the abbrivation.

[Tensor]

I was just at my FLGS, saw this new version and bought it immediately. As I sit here reading it I am very happy with my purchase.

I can't wait for more new stuff.

[BabbageUK]

Aww, man. Just when I thought it was safe they go and bring out Traveller. Now I'll have to buy all that as well! :(

[Shelbrune88]

Bought it. Love it. I have most of the original classic Traveller line, and the Mongoose edition pushes all the right nostalgia buttons for me.

[Kirth Gersen]

Lensman wrote:

The best part of the old Traveller was the character building. It was a mini game in itself.

Agreed! I had the old boxed set; it was great. We even converted the prior service charts for D&D use at one point.

[Mactaka]

haven't seen it at the FLGS. Might add to my big Traveller collection...

too bad I DONT need another Marches book though..lol

[Thoth-Amon the Mindflayerian]

Cant wait to pick up a copy.

Thoth-Amon

[Darkjoy]

Thoth-Amon the Mindflayerian wrote:

Cant wait to pick up a copy.

Thoth-Amon

I have it!

It's on my to read list after the Inquisitors Handbook and Conan.

[Richard Pett]

We've been playing it recently and it's very cool - although our GM is amazingly into traveller which may help:)

[Bluenose]

The System Rreference Document for RTT is out. Go to the bottom of this page and click the link.

[Darkjoy]

We played it 2 weeks ago and I think we'll play again.

My players liked the character generation (I hope) and the few combats I ran. I messed up the trading aspect of traveller but that was some impromptu stuff anyway.

I am looking forward to running it again.

[Dale McCoy Jr]

Bluenose wrote:

The System Rreference Document for RTT is out. Go to the bottom of this page and click the link.

I should point out that RTT is considered the (derogatory) joke name for MGT by the CT crowd that did no want to believe that since it was made by Mongoose it was going to be destroyed. I should also point out that few outside of that crowd know what it means.

[nblade]

hopeless wrote:

Anybody heard anything about this?

It sounds like a take on classic traveller and they seem to be converting some of their settings over to it due to the 4th edition gsl.

Was wondering what others thought about it?

It is hard to say. I took a look at it at my FLGS, but it seemed rather light for the price they were asking IMHO. Of course, I've been waiting for the T5 set of documents from Marc Miller. Those are sadly way behind schedule (to the point that they no longer trying to predict when it will be out).

Outside of price, it look like a solid piece of work and at some point, I'm likely going to pick it up. I just have way to many other purchases in mind first. (including the Comstar version of Traveller for the Hero System)

[crosswiredmind]

I picked it up but I'm not sure it is going to replace CT (with the Digest Group task system) as my preferred Traveller rules set. I am waiting to see where they go with the supplements etc. before I can really judge.

[cwslyclgh]

I recently started playing in a Mongoose Traveller game, and am having a very good time.

[BobSlaughter]

nblade wrote:

It is hard to say. I took a look at it at my FLGS, but it seemed rather light for the price they were asking IMHO.

I'm finding MGT to be a lot like Mongoose Runequest: similar to the original, different in a few key areas, riddled with extensive errata and lack of playtesting, and a lot of fairly lightweight books so I feel like I'm being nickle-and-dimed. As much as I love Traveller, I think I'll have to give the Mongoose version a pass.

nblade wrote:

Of course, I've been waiting for the T5 set of documents from Marc Miller. Those are sadly way behind schedule (to the point that they no longer trying to predict when it will be out).

I think I'm going to get the Classic Traveller reprints for resources, and then use some other system, hopefully Spirit of the Far Future (link here, a FATE variant derived from Spirit of the Century.

nblade wrote:

Outside of price, it look like a solid piece of work and at some point, I'm likely going to pick it up. I just have way to many other purchases in mind first. (including the Comstar version of Traveller for the Hero System)

Be sure to check out the errata discussion on the Mongoose forums first before picking up MGT. I was about to go in for it, then when I saw all the issues and concerns, I backed off and I'm still reconsidering.

[Qstor]

I picked it up a few months ago. I played an adventure at GenCon. The rules are pretty simple. I haven't played Classic Traveller in years but enjoyed it. I was a big fan of GURPS Traveller and enjoy that but now I think I'll get some more of the MGT books. I got Mercenary at GenCon.

The rules are based off of CT. They've fixed a few things like death during PC generation that I didn't like and added armor to basic ships and also added rules for radiation damage that could get past a ships hull. So now ships do have to watch out for solar flares.

Mike

[hopeless]

Just picked up a copy of the new Introduction to Traveller, have to admit it looks good have any of you picked up this?

What do you think?

[Dale McCoy Jr]

I assembled a group and gave it an initial run yesterday. I gotta admit, I haven't had that much fun running a game in years. I like it ALOT. What's more amazing is that I was the only one at the table with no prior traveller experience.

[hopeless]

DMcCoy1693 wrote:

I assembled a group and gave it an initial run yesterday. I gotta admit, I haven't had that much fun running a game in years. I like it ALOT. What's more amazing is that I was the only one at the table with no prior traveller experience.

How did it go, I've been thinking of running a game of Traveller but thought the original black book version might not be the way to go.

The introduction made me think again, what kind of adventure did you end up running?

[Dale McCoy Jr]

hopeless wrote:

How did it go,..., what kind of adventure did you end up running?

It went great. Ran into a few snags (like one of the players wanted to fire the ship weapons at the BBG (not the ship the BBG was in, just the person) and we couldn't find the rules on how much more damage/less accurate that was, but the Mongoose boards helped with that afterwards) but on the whole quite well. Very clean rules with a simple unified mechanic. Works very well.

Game was kinda standard. Players were bringing in a cargo of legal and illegal goods. They sold the legal good and happened to run into their archenemy (the BBG) and exchanged some retort back and forth. They went to deliver their illegal cargo but their contact got picked up before they arrived. After some interactions with various guards, they managed to hide the cargo to complete the sale the next day. By this time, I was running out of time (the meeting location we were at was closing) so I picked a fight with the players with the BBG and some guards. The players handily won (gernade launchers tend to do that) and sailed away into the rising sun for another day of smuggling and trading.

[hopeless]

DMcCoy1693 wrote:

hopeless wrote:

How did it go,..., what kind of adventure did you end up running?

It went great. Ran into a few snags (like one of the players wanted to fire the ship weapons at the BBG (not the ship the BBG was in, just the person) and we couldn't find the rules on how much more damage/less accurate that was, but the Mongoose boards helped with that afterwards) but on the whole quite well. Very clean rules with a simple unified mechanic. Works very well.

Game was kinda standard. Players were bringing in a cargo of legal and illegal goods. They sold the legal good and happened to run into their archenemy (the BBG) and exchanged some retort back and forth. They went to deliver their illegal cargo but their contact got picked up before they arrived. After some interactions with various guards, they managed to hide the cargo to complete the sale the next day. By this time, I was running out of time (the meeting location we were at was closing) so I picked a fight with the players with the BBG and some guards. The players handily won (gernade launchers tend to do that) and sailed away into the rising sun for another day of smuggling and trading.

Well unless you run a sequel and have them run either into the BBG's identical twin or psychotic family (read Crime family).

If you had the time what would you have done instead?

[Dale McCoy Jr]

hopeless wrote:

Well unless you run a sequel and have them run either into the BBG's identical twin or psychotic family (read Crime family).

If you had the time what would you have done instead?

Well, they didn't kill the BBG, infact they didn't even knock him out. They got away.

If I was doing things to last for more then then one session, I would have done things different. Much different. That game was designed to test the rules and to gain a working knowledge of them instead of just a book knowledge.

If I did a 2 session game, I would have had some of the guards that they players bribed fight with the players, or I would have made more intrigue, had the players sneak into the facility that their contact was being held in and rescue him ("cuz he's the only one that knows where your money is hidden"). I would have tried out the star ship combat system (we didn't get to that).

[hopeless]

DMcCoy1693 wrote:

Well, they didn't kill the BBG, infact they didn't even knock him out. They got away.
If I was doing things to last for more then then one session, I would have done things different. Much different. That game was designed to test the rules and to gain a working knowledge of them instead of just a book knowledge.
If I did a 2 session game, I would have had some of the guards that they players bribed fight with the players, or I would have made more intrigue, had the players sneak into the facility that their contact was being held in and rescue him ("cuz he's the only one that knows where your money is hidden"). I would have tried out the star ship combat system (we didn't get to that).

Curious, did you consider throwing in some details that could be expanded upon in a later session had you wanted to continue this as a campaign?

What kind of ship did they have and how would you have handled a ship combat situation?

The one time I played Gurps Traveller the players all made sure their characters were in vacc suits ready to slam down the helmet visors in case we entered into ship combat, but that didn't stop one pc nearly causing the ship to fall into the depths of a gas giant's core only the ref deciding the enemy ship would dock to find out what we knew prevented that.

[Darkjoy]

The first (and still only) traveller game I ran featured everything the system offered. Ship combat (huge fun), combat (lasers are deadly) and some trading.......I really messed up the trading as it was somewhat impromptu.

I think I am going to run it again in 2 weeks time.

[hopeless]

Darkjoy wrote:

The first (and still only) traveller game I ran featured everything the system offered. Ship combat (huge fun), combat (lasers are deadly) and some trading.......I really messed up the trading as it was somewhat impromptu.

I think I am going to run it again in 2 weeks time.

I tried to run a Sol Bianca inspired game using 4e gurps rules escept I pregenerated the characters and ended up their average skills were about 11 and only one had a skill of 15 or so.

Got a load of complaints about that one since they felt they didn't have the skills to back up being in charge of a spaceship, didn't help matters that after years of them playing sci fi rpg games in the deal with it as it comes they decided to play it too safe in a 4e gurps space game...

Dealt with the trading side too except they got way too many lucky rolls.

The game was baout them trying to recover some old earth artefacts stolen from the gun collector pc except I should have let them design their own characters... probably will try this again some time but let them design their own characters.

[Dale McCoy Jr]

hopeless wrote:

Curious, did you consider throwing in some details that could be expanded upon in a later session had you wanted to continue this as a campaign?

No. These were pre-gen characters each built for one game (I tried to have every skill that I gave them points in used and none if I wasn't even considering using that skill, no contacts or rivals or life events/mishaps.) It looks like this group will reassemble to play a traveller game, but the players are going to make their own characters.

hopeless wrote:

What kind of ship did they have and how would you have handled a ship combat situation?

basic free trader with two guns. I would have put them up against a police cutter until things were looking bad and then sent in two pirate ships to rescue them if need be.