Does Mongoose Traveller leave you cold?

[spinwardpirate]

Hey, we need a miniatures forum to discuss this!


This month I've been jumping all over the GZG bandwagon! Their 15s totally rock!

As for the fleet boxes... yeah, I want them. But c'mon, they priced them beyond most gamers' reach. What good is one Imperial fleet? You need someone to fight, so that means you need to buy the Zhodani fleet too, so the price has just doubled. It's a shame, too, because most of them look really, really good. Hell, if given the chance to buy them as individuals, I would have bought at least $20 in AHLs alone.

 

[jericson]

Part of it for me is that the fleet box was the only form those ships are available in. What if I want another Lightning?

Apparently, you can call them and order singles. Don't know the price.

They have some phobia about putting singles on the store, for some reason.


Someday I might do that. I'd like to have a three or four AHLs, too.

 

[Rev Round]

Mongo cold doppler effect.

I just had a great, no, GREAT idea... Declare all printed/published Traveller universe as non cannon Except for the old Judges Guild supplements...

You can build your own Trav Universe round that....

Ha! costs a lot less too. Bye bye Mongo and hello new universe.

Non cannon the new cannon. lol

 

[aramis]

Apparently, you can call them and order singles. Don't know the price.

They have some phobia about putting singles on the store, for some reason.

DoW explained why they didn't go blisters with BattleLore: Retailers and Distributors didn't want them!

Blisters tend to have higher shrink^† rates than boxed minis.

Blisters also tend to result in large back-stocks, while a small, popular subset sells out.

Plus, it's more time spent on inventory, and thus a higher per-mini cost.

And finally, blisters take about 10x the space per mini.

---

^† Shrink: losses to employee and customer theft, and damage in shipping and shelving.

 

[GypsyComet]

DoW explained why they didn't go blisters with BattleLore: Retailers and Distributors didn't want them!

Blisters tend to have higher shrink^† rates than boxed minis.

Blisters also tend to result in large back-stocks, while a small, popular subset sells out.

Plus, it's more time spent on inventory, and thus a higher per-mini cost.

And finally, blisters take about 10x the space per mini.

---

^† Shrink: losses to employee and customer theft, and damage in shipping and shelving.

All of which are good reasons not to do blisters for distribution. Not offering singles in a webstore, on the other hand, makes no sense at all.

 

[Britti_Lover]

Hmmmm...................

There is no nice way to put this really.......

Gurps Traveller was THE version in print from 1998 thru 2006. Great game period. However, nothing published for the game in three years!

Mongoose Traveller - which is an updated version of Classic Traveller has had many, many releases in the last three years - and they are quite good too.

I'll play Gurps Traveller myself because I'm a GURPS kinda guy. However, Mongoose Traveller is a class act and has excellent support - a very good edition of the game by any standard.

To me, the rule is:

If you are a GURPS player and fan - play GURPS Traveller.

If you are a true Traveller fan - play Mongoose Traveller.

P.S. GTIW is indeed a fabulous Traveller book - Gurps Traveller went out with a bang!

 

[Merxiless]

I'm currently running a hombrew way variant from canon Mongoose Traveller game online.

Only 2 of the 5 players have ever played Traveller before.

The three non-Prior fans really seem to enjoy the simplicity of the rules, and skill-based game.

I used parts of Gurps Space 4th, and Gurps Interstellar Wars, along with Starships, Far Trader, and Spaceports to generate the sector we're working with.

So for me, It's a success.

 

[Icosahedron]

I'm still waiting for a copy to evaluate. I placed an order for the Pocket Edition with Amazon after Xmas and got an email back after a while saying they were having problems getting a copy, and I've heard nothing since.

Dunno whether the difficulty lies with Mongoose or Amazon. Anyone else had problems?

 

[drnuncheon]

I'm still waiting for a copy to evaluate. I placed an order for the Pocket Edition with Amazon after Xmas and got an email back after a while saying they were having problems getting a copy, and I've heard nothing since.

I just got the pocket edition from Amazon (US) - it shipped almost immediately and got here in 5 days.

 

[Commander Drax]

Mongoose does leave me a little bit cold, there's some aspects of it that I like, but others like the artwork around the character generation rules really puts me off. Intellectually I understand that I shouldn't care about this, but emotionally it makes a big difference and is one of the main reasons why I don't use the book. The same can be said for my copy of the TNE rules, the career portraits in those rules don't seem to reflect the Traveller universe all that much, even though the Traveller universe can be anything I want it to be. Good artwork is an aid and even an inspiration to the person viewing it, crap artwork is just that... Crap usually stuffed in to fill space. I'd rather have no artwork at all than bad artwork.

Also the Fair Use Policy doesn't seem that fair, i.e. no previous version of Traveller has had any issue with fan created submissions appearing that reference the OTU. yes I understand we've got foreven sector as a preserve but that region of the OTU has never interested me that much, possibly because the region behind the claw has been overdone.

I also feel pretty strongly that Hunter has been treated badly with the sundowning of the T20 licence. Even though it shouldn't it does prejudice me against mongoose in general as when Hunter and MJD where active partners in QLI the quality and utility of the products was excellent.

Also Mongoose Traveller is not a complete game, the core rules should contain everything you need to play, If I purchase a published adventure that supplies npc's created with the rules in Mercenary and I don't have a copy of Mercenary then it leaves me disadvantaged. MegaTraveller didn't have this problem, neither did TNE or T4. Clearly CT did have this problem though this can clearly be forgiven as it was the original ruleset which was gradually evolved over time through the addition of supplements and other books, hence the need for a revision which gave us MegaTraveller.

It's not all bad with mongoose, there are some good ideas in the ruleset, but not quite enough for me to overcome this inertia and change into a raving fan

 

[GypsyComet]

Also Mongoose Traveller is not a complete game, the core rules should contain everything you need to play, If I purchase a published adventure that supplies npc's created with the rules in Mercenary and I don't have a copy of Mercenary then it leaves me disadvantaged.

In what way? Characters are self-contained once written. The weaponry in Mercenary or ship fittings in High Guard I could see a case for, and those rare added skills, but the characters are otherwise independent of the book they came out of. Even with the above cases, they are not even close to being tied to supplements as strongly as any D&D character in the last 30 years has been. If you've been playing long enough to cite those prior editions, you don't really need a description for a supplement skill, really. You already know what it does.

And how exactly does a company that has admitted to having a ten year license fill that time if the first release covers every rule, skill, or piece of hardware the game will ever need? Adventures only sell for so long, even for Traveller, unless they have things to bring to the long term game. That means, yes, careers, skills, and toys.

I agree that an adventure should not leave you stranded for lack of, for example, Mercenary, but there is a limit to how much reprising an adventure should be required to do.

I am in full agreement regarding the forced sunsetting of other licenses. Particularly since it has been presented as a broad ruling but, when all is said, done, and examined, it really only affected T20 and the 1248 project. That doesn't mean I want the exempted parties to lose their licenses (SJG, Loren, and BITS all do good work that would be criminal to wipe out), but rather that it gives the appearance that the sunset clause was couched in broad terms to cover other motives. That does not sit well.

 

[rust]

I am in full agreement regarding the forced sunsetting of other licenses. (...) That does not sit well.

True, but this was a Marc W. Miller decision, not a Mongoose decision, and
I suspect that it has at least as much to do with Traveller 5 as with Mon-
goose Traveller. Blaming it on Mongoose would be rather unfair, I think.

 

[Garyius2003]

Whatever Marc Miller used to be, and he did a darn nice game with CT, I think the proof has been made that he lacks the ability or business sense to make a good product now.

T4 was the first time I felt stupid for buying a traveller product--and I buy the Judge's Guild stuff as it comes up.

 

[GypsyComet]

True, but this was a Marc W. Miller decision, not a Mongoose decision, and
I suspect that it has at least as much to do with Traveller 5 as with Mon-
goose Traveller. Blaming it on Mongoose would be rather unfair, I think.

I don't particularly care who started the process. The effect is that two eras of Marc's timeline are now effectively gone. Neither line saw high publication numbers, and PDFs don't have resale presence like actual books do. IIRC the Gateway book only got one print run, and half of the 1248 line never saw hardcopy publication to begin with. That puts both down close to the JTAS#1 scarcity level without the possibility of reprint. That material is *gone* from the collective memory of Traveller.

 

[rust]

I don't particularly care who started the process.

I do, for exactly the reasons you mentioned, but since this is a family
friendly board I will not write what I really think about his decision.

 

[rancke]

I don't particularly care who started the process. The effect is that two eras of Marc's timeline are now effectively gone. Neither line saw high publication numbers, and PDFs don't have resale presence like actual books do. IIRC the Gateway book only got one print run, and half of the 1248 line never saw hardcopy publication to begin with. That puts both down close to the JTAS#1 scarcity level without the possibility of reprint. That material is *gone* from the collective memory of Traveller.

Not if someone enters it in the Traveller wiki (http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page).


Hans

 

[Commander Drax]

I did mention my feelings were my own on this, and I like others don't care who started it, I do still think that hunter has been treated badly regardless of who pulled the trigger whether it was Marc or not (I don't know who it was). T20 isn't my ideal traveller game but QLI's work (with MJD) was superb, being well written, nicely presented with decent enough artwork etc. When you bought a pdf or a print product from QLI it was always worth the money, I can't say the same from what I've seen of Mongoose Traveller, having bought the rules etc...

And just for the record I've been actively role playing with Traveller since 1986 so I've seen a few things come and go, having started with MegaTraveller, then TNE, T4, Gurps, T20 and most recently buying the Classic Stuff, prior to Mongoose Traveller of all of the editions Mongoose leaves me a bit cold as it feels shoddy and badly presented. As noted these are just my feelings and I'm entitled to them.

Coming back to the art issue, have a look at this http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/travprisonpre.pdf

Check out the vargr on page 42 of the preview page, It's crap art and at this level shouldn't be included, puts me off buying the book, the picture bears no resemblence to the the stats for the vargr as given. Like I say, dont waste space with this rubbish.

I rest my case!

 

[spinwardpirate]

All I can say is, I wish I had a buck for every game I've purchased over the years that had crap art. I'd have a ton of money. Games with decent art are the rare exception as far as I'm concerned. For the most part, I think we Traveller fans have been spoiled.
Just my opinion.

 

[rust]

Check out the vargr on page 42 of the preview page, It's crap art and at this level shouldn't be included, puts me off buying the book, the picture bears no resemblence to the the stats for the vargr as given. Like I say, dont waste space with this rubbish.

Ah, well, as always with art, some will like it, some will hate it, and most will
hardly care at all, because they do not buy roleplaying material because of
the art.

 

[ThunderChilde]

Dunno, I've seen far worse art before. For the record, how does it fail to meet the racial matrix for Vargr? If its the muzzle, it fits with the other desriptions of vargr using biting and claws in close combat, if the had muzzles like a Schitzu(?) or any of the flat faced breeds of dogs, I really don't see the biting thing. If its the bare upper arm and tattoo, allow a little liscense for showing how cruel the prison is for using a depilatory on a vargr to meet human prisoner identifying standards.

Art is usually the least of my worries, poor mechanics, psychoticaly spread out c-gen through the whole book, obvious lack of using even the simplest spell checkers and mangled description all hit higher on my list of nono's.

It's always nice when the art is personally pleasing, fits the written description and isn't ridiculuse in an objective way. However, it is more often not the case, like a Sternsnacht Pistol from Battletech. The damn thing was illustrated as being longer than his thigh, and bulkier too. Everyone laughs at that picture.