My thoughts on Traveller RPG (Mongoose 2nd Edition)
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Having run a weekly Traveller game for the past 12 weeks or so, I thought that I'd share my impressions on the game.
Thanks for watching.
#rpg #rpggames #scifirpg #roleplayinggames #roleplaying
The thing I love the most about Traveller is that it has no baggage. Star Wars has the force and the battle of good vs evil. Aliens have corporations and xenomorphs. With Traveller you can do literally anything. You can be space truckers who do side gigs to try and get the scratch to pay the mortgage, you can be mercenaries fighting in the endless interstellar conflicts, or you can be explorers on the edge of charted space literally exploring new worlds, you can be space pirates plying the trade lanes looking for an easy score, you can be spies involved in either interstellar conflicts or internal imperial conflicts, space smugglers with lots of shady characters and lots of dirty deals where every name is an alias in case somebody squeals. The possibilities are as endless as space itself. And the lifepath system prevents people from optimizing skills. You end up with a smattering of skills some of, which you may never end up using as intended, and some critical skills that you may have to learn along the way. And every new world you visit is a new environment, culture, and experience. You could be sitting in a dive bar on a tech 3 world where everybody around you thinks that ball and shot rifles are pretty badass, then three weeks later sitting in a floating castle with people who use plasma generator rifles and powered armor. And lastly, I love the moral ambiguity of the game. No alignments, no force dice. Your morality is what you make of it. Sometimes you do good things for bad reasons, and sometimes you do bad things for a greater good. Sometimes you steal a bunch of nerve gas from some people and inadvertently start a strategic nuclear exchange. I have played RPGs for 40 years, started playing AD&D when I was 12 years old. This is my favorite system by far.
I agree. It feels more like a blank slate. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts!
If you want a more pick-&-choose method, try to get the Traveller Companion. It has a couple optional character creation methods. I would also recommend Highguard, Central Supply Catalogue, and Vehicle Handbook.
I appreciate the recommendations. I can certainly see myself adding more Traveller books to the collection.
Thanks for watching!
I second that recommendation. It is much quicker & easier to create the type of character you want using the Companion systems.
@@wylde_hunter Thanks!
I tight also be worth looking into Cepheus Engine. It’s a bit of a mess, but it is supposed to have an easier career system. I think the key is that so long as you meet the prerequisites for a given career, you automatically get it.
The pick-and-choose method is good for a one-shot. For a campaign, you really need to use the character generation tables.
It’s one of the best systems for making PCs that feel like real people.
True. Characters feel like they have believable histories.
It prevents you from gaming the system and optimizing but allows you to make choices and steer the development. You can still learn new skills that may become important if you are playing a campaign game.
@DanielMcGillis-f3w my players took advantage of learning more skills as we played through the campaign. Going through the life path system together was enjoyed by the players.
With lifepath you have to be willing to accept what you roll.
There is an alternate way to take packages, its faster but less life-detail as a result.
I love Traveller, it's my fave
It's a great game. I can see why you like it.
I only ever got the same book as you have, the 2022 update of the Mongoose 2nd edition. And I got that quite recently. "Lifepath character creation" and "easy to play, difficult to master" were selling points to me, and I understand the lifepath system all too well. I envisioned myself as a teacher first, when that failed as a computer tech second. Yet I ended up in prison. Fortunately, on the right side of the doors, with the keys in my hand, still working there after 24 years and enjoying myself, but still. When I looked at my own 'lifepath' you might understand I laughed, and somehow I got to a place where I am getting close to having worked for a quarter of a century.
Interestingly, Star Trek Adventures
I can't say I have played this game much, yet. The amount of sessions we had was 1. Of character creation. For the fun of it while we were waiting for something to arrive. However, I do intend to play a couple of one-offs to get the hang of the system, expecting the hype to be true up to a certain point. If we like it, I may start the hunt for the Companion and The High Guard, which seem to be quite valuable extra resources for this game. The High Guard for everything about ships, and the Companion for all manner of rules variants and extras. Stuff like Luck and Sanity stats, for example. The latter seeming interesting for a Sci-Fi horror setting. And I heard that the alien species splatbooks are of quite a high standard too, with regards to their content.
I hope that you enjoy it when you start playing it in earnest. The lifepath system does feel very believable. As others have commented, it creates believable characters with varied stories rather than "builds."
Thanks for the comment!
Great review!! Thank you.
This was a genuine review instead of someone selling me on a game that seems like they’ve never played, and then telling me why a different version is better.
Thank you so much
Thanks for your comment!
😂 I think that the "pink monstrosity" thing is a constant among people owning this book. Regarding some rules you may like or not, view Traveller as a tookbox from which you pick the tools you like. Companion is, IMO, a must-have. I haven't mastered a play at the moment, but I intend to let my players automatically qualify for the first career they choose in order to mitigate the frustration of not rolling what they want.
Glad to hear that I'm not alone regarding the pink monstrosity! Thanks for watching.
Were you making aging rolls? Its hard to make it to middle age without taking some serious hits to your stats. My players usually fail one and stop.
You are right that the only reason to play a young adult is for RP.
We sure were, and one character had a very rough aging roll result. That made the last player to create a character choose a slightly younger than the rest. He was eager to stop while he was still ahead.
Thanks for leaving a comment!
One thing I'm thinking of doing (if I can ever get a campaign going) is have aging delayed to varying degrees based on home world due to long term genetic engineering. Defects have been weeded out and old age has been compressed on most worlds (except those that rejected it of course).
The idea is to have an extended maturity before things start to take their toll and then once the rolls start coming each one comes quicker than the predecessor. It may not lengthen the characters life but would extend their years of virility before debilitating aging occurs.
Characters from worlds with longer history of hi tech (Patrons?) could have even better genetic engineering lengthening the total life time even more and of course anagathics come into play.
Interesting idea.
@@Scanner9631 I was also thinking of that. Higher-tech worlds would have better medical care and if they live most of their lives in high-tech they are going to age slower than a person from a place like Gor T3.
Excellent video. I just recently 'discovered' Traveller this last spring. Always loved Sci-Fi.. one of those who saw Star Wars at the theater many many times with your view count being badges of honor (saw it 7 times during the first run), grew up with Asimov books in hand and started RPG's back in the with the Red Box D&D but never did Traveller. And it wasn't just being a TSR only player, I even played GDW, T2000 at least. Just not Traveller which looking back, makes absolute no sense. I love everything that Traveller is about. I had heard of Traveller even back, who hadn't with the killer intimidation rep/meme of dying in character creation that didn't need a internet to propagate to legendary status.. but never for whatever reason tried it myself or played it in a group.
Finally a couple of months ago I decided to try it and man oh man.. it has become an addiction. Some UA-camrs have joked about needing to miss some house payments if you really get the Traveller bug and it is true, there is SO much out there, even just by Mongoose alone, and so much is so well done.
The lifepath system was always a fun mini game. You do get well rounded characters that have ties to each other, but it makes for longer character generation.
It feels like a character history/backstory engine which I like, but I don't think I want it everytime.
I do love a long session zero with plenty of time for people to chew over their character's events, connections etc, but the Traveller Companion has several faster alternate character generation options - point buy, skill packages, etc. Sometimes we just want to run a one-shot with disposable characters...
I didn't know about the Traveller Companion. That would solve one of my dislikes for when I want a character fast. Thanks for telling me about it.
@@Panicagq2 You have to do the life path if you are running a campaign game though.
For ship mortgage, subtract all ship shares from the price, then divide the sum by 240. That is the total price you must pay over 40 years. How you get that money is up to you. Most folks use trading, passenger travel, and whatever jobs a patron gives them, but the need for money is one of the best things you can have in an RPG. It answers the questions “why are we doing this dangerous thing,” “what do we do next,” and “what do I do with all the money we have.” I cannot stress enough that being able to consistently answer that last question is so useful.
I was even more strict than that with the mortgage calculation. Borrowing secured by the depreciating asset, the ship itself, at an interest rate commensurate with the risk to the lender. It was a huge pressure on the captain which I understand is the intent. It also helped that most of the party had an interest in the ship as well. I even toyed with what the insurance premium could be, but figured that no underwriter would touch that within several hundred light years! But I like the simplicity of the divide by 240.
I also introduced an NPC captain who was on the run from the bank to show just how nasty that can be.
I can’t remember where I heard this, but someone once described Traveller as a space debt simulator.
@@JohnCarneyAu That's Spacehips and Spreadsheets.
@@Tablerunner, the way you can also handle paying the mortgage is that by taking an older ship, it picks up quirks, some are good some are bad, but because it's older it's cheaper.
@@DanielMcGillis-f3w, spaceships and Spreadsheets was more EVE Online... but getting into speculative trading might require the spreadsheet.
As far as experience is concerned to improve characters I use a system inspired by Seth Skorkowski. (Spelling) Where I give characters one experience point heard venture and any skill they successfully rolled an 8 plus on or higher without the expenditure of lock they get to make A1D6 −1 roll on. If they roll higher than their existing skill or they roll a 5 they get to add 1 experience point to that skill. At the end of each adventure all experience points must be spent towards skills.
I like that. Thanks for telling me about it.
Great review. I recently played Traveller for the first time. The table didn’t work out for me, but I did like the system.
Just bought this myself as one of my two game groups mentioned enjoying it in the past so I had to go see what all the hype was. Just got it a couple days ago and as a gm I can already see ways I can 'use' the career system to create a game motif. Think something like, on the last pass through, make all the players take the prisoner career and just like that you've set yourself up for a 'Far Scape' type of game of players always on the run after escaping. But so far, from what I'm reading, I do like the character creation system more than either DnD or Pathfinder, because it feels a bit more 'real' and with the game it is trying for 'real people put in extra ordinary situations' which I think can potentially create the best stories.
Having everyone create their characters with the system while at the table together is a great way to create interesting connections between characters. Thanks for the comment.
My house rule for terms are the first term is 4 years and each one after that is 1 year.
Interesting. I had not considered adjusting term length.
Regarding making a choice you really want to succeed in the Lifepath system, I have a suggestion.
Use the following option from the similar lifepath system in Mutant Chronicles 3e. Give each character a small & specific number of guaranteed success rolls in character creation. Just two or maybe three automatic successes they can spend on any roll they want. It is a small step and easy to implement. This way you can still get most of the lifepath backstory & brain-stirring surprises but have more control over a few specifics you really want.
I like your suggestion.
I have played almost all of the versions of Traveller, to me the Mongoose is the best for Ease of play, I started with classic Traveller back in the later 80's, and then there was Mega Traveller, which suffered from what was common of most games of the late 80's to mid 90's, overly detailed. Then there was Traveller The New Era, this took place after a massive computer virus destroyed the Galactic Imperium, Vampire starships can make for interesting encounters, a Vampire starship is a ship that has killed its crew and fly's around looking to infest other ships and kill the other ships crew.
After New Era there was GURPS Traveller, if you like GURPS then this one would be fun, I looked into this one, but GURPS has a habit of wanting you to have ten plus books to play lol.
Then there was Marc Miller's Traveller, this one suffered a short life due to so many errors in the book that it was unplayable
Next was Traveller5, this did not last long due to overpriced books. People heard that the main book was 5000 pages and close to $400 dollars ( I may be wrong on price and page count) and did not sale many
Then was 1st edition of Mongoose Traveller, Mongoose wanted to go back to classic traveler and modernize it, it had ALOT wrong with it, but 2nd Edition fixed a lot.
Thanks for the rundown! I made the mistake of asking a forum somewhere which Traveller I should try. It started an argument that likely continues to this day. So I went on the recommendation of a few people that I trust and chose Mongoose 2e. I like how the game is completely playable with just the core book.
I am one that likes life path systems in general as it helps players organically develop a character which a somewhat coherent history and not just 18 year old Mary sues that will save the world by age 18.5. Yes, very experienced or creative types don’t need the assistance to develop good bones for their character concept but the vast majority I think need a little assistance. I agree that a downside, there is no benefit to starting a character below age 34.
Most commenters agree that life path systems are a net positive.
Thanks for watching!
Moongoose art has often seen hit or miss. Sometimes it is fantastic.
I really like the vacc suits and weapons. Vehicles? Not my favourite. I get that a lot comes down to personal preference.
I love the lifepath system. The result is always a character and not a build.
I like it too.
That is what I like about it most. There is no way to optimize you get a smattering of skills, some useful some not so much. Kind of like real life.
Having players use to Class based games (cough D&D cough), and taking away any sense of choice is a huge culture shock. But here is the thing, you do start as a "level 1" character in traveller after you pick your Race and select your Edu DM+3 skills to start , with all your hopes and dreams, then you play your first adventure wich is going through the life path, ala what have you been up to since you were a hopeful young thing and life battered the tar out of.
I hope more people in the hobby (especially the D&D crowd), experience games that are less class based.
great video
Thanks for watching!
LBB's for the win
My apologies, what does the abbreviation LBB mean?
Little Black Books. The Traveller OG Rulebooks from 70s and 80s.
Thanks for decoding that for me.
I only like it cause 2d6 rules.
Your thoughts on the life path character creation?
@@Tablerunner
Personally the tables for life events should become d66 (so should spacecraft quirks) to reduce repetitive results. One NPC I generated had pretty much every term legal troubles and potential jail terms. Another kept rolling love affairs. Not enough variety.
@@Scanner9631 others have suggested the Traveller Companion. I wonder if that has more options?
The traveler’s companion plus you can find d66 tables for nearly every step (including for encounters etc) on DriveThruRPG.
@@Tablerunner
I have the older edition (just recently bought before the store finally got the current version). I haven't had the time to read it partially because where I normally read is relatively low light and the text is black on light gray, the low contrast makes it harder to read in those circumstances.
It does have more ways to develop characters and two more classes (Believer and Truther) as well as more information on various things like combat and jump drive. There are new ability characteristics, new ways to handle wealth (as a characteristic). But in my quick skim I didn't see any larger "events" tables such as I would like.
😇
What did you dislike about space combat specifically?
My players wanted to blur the lines between movement, attack and action phases more. For example, the pilot using thrust to manoeuvre, then the opponent does likewise before proceeding to the next phase. But the gunner is screaming at his console to fire while still in motion to try to box out some vectors, and the missile tech is launching a salvo as movement begins. I hope this makes sense. It is also possible that I did something wrong. I'm certainly not an expert with Traveller and I only have the core book.
The system isn't bad of course. I liked it more than the hot mess that was Starfinder.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
@@Tablerunner I am struggling with space combat myself. The movement scales and weapons ranges are a mystery to me. Also the crit table.
Yes, we ended up going more Star Wars than the Expanse when it came to space combat.