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Is Traveller Dead?

>And looking at online shops the main cash cow seems to be wargames

As a wargame designer/publisher and ex store owner let me just say .... you seem to misunderstand, totally.

the only drivethrurpg equivalent for wargames is tiny. there are more non-mongoose traveller items in pdf than all the wargames Im aware of

the next closest thing to drivethrurpg is several sites that help setup email games where there are a lot of titles .... possibly 5% of all titles. Wargames rarely get 2nd / 3rd/ 4th editioned but printruns are steadily dropping along with the aging demographic. Also very old games increase in value .... totally the opposite to rpg's

the (online) stores I talk to eagerly anticipate the next D+D 4th Ed type RPG release because they know they'll sell X almost immediately .... rainy (month) day money
 
I think several people have hit the mark with recent Traveller marketings "defects" though .... no miniatures, mostly rehashing the same ground, no alternate media support (RPG computer games etc) for a long time

I really thought Mongoose was on the right track when they put out the Hammers Slammers sourcebook (even though I couldnt talk myself into buying it) and see encouraging signs with other peoples efforts as well (the calendar, the other group doing their setting in traveller even Sturns efforts at making a Terran sourcebook) but in most cases you gotta know to look

So overall I dont agree that Traveller is dying but it certainly seems to be stagnating
 
As a relatively new inductee to the Traveller hall of geekery (:D) going on about a year and a half of actual ownership of the game now, I'm going to have to say that I don't think that Trav is dying or dead. It's a relatively strange property, to be sure - the various versions and its history are pretty convoluted and hard to sort through, but the information is all there and pretty readily available through Google-fu. And while it may not have the market coverage enjoyed by the larger games, it certainly still has a following - certain boards I visit that I'm fairly certain have a decent age spread have had long Traveller discussions. Infrequently, but the threads were long when they appeared. I think that's a good sign, at least. Of course, I can't verify whether all the people posting in those threads were also spread along the generations or if they were collections of old hands, but eh.

As some background, I've been into Traveller as a concept for... going on four or so years now. I'm 18 now and I first encountered Traveller through music, as it were. (The Lord Weird) Slough Feg's Traveller album enraptured me (I've got it playing at the moment even) and I did a bit of wiki digging once I found out it was based on a game. Still, I didn't really know how to get into it or whether it was still alive, so I wrote it off as a thing that a geek like me, stranded in the middle of the rural wasteland (no offense meant to other rural dwellers by that - I'm just miles and miles away from any game store or gaming group). Then Mongoose comes along with Mongoose Traveller, and I'm hooked. Completely. I've got proof in front of me that Trav is alive and well, has been taken on by somebody and is printing now.

Fast forward to now and I'm houseruling the system extensively in preparation for a game I'm eventually going to get off the ground, have a full sector in various states of being finished and am considering doing a detailed write-up of a small collection of worlds to maybe release on this forum. I've got a solid concept of MTU and am trying to learn some astrophysics basics in order to better design my setting.

And all this because I happened across a metal album with an astounding story to tell. I used to be a fantasy buff before then - now I still enjoy fantasy but sci fi is my passion.

So I don't think the massive backlog of systems or the system turnover is really that big of a problem - because given the way (for lack of a more delicate way to phrase it) the Traveller franchise under GDW exploded into conflagaration, the history of the game requires an existing interest and a lot of digging to do. For the most part, I think, gamers are going to see the current system on the shelves, and that's what's going to capture their interests.

Granted, this is just my perspective, and maybe I'm out of touch with other young gamers myself, I'unno. I've had friends tell me I'm in my mid-thirties at heart. But I'd say the way to increase the number of Traveller players would be to support the current edition and try and get it out there however you can - an official marketing plan in addition to this would be absolutely great, of course, but I think that lies in Marc's (and Mongoose's) hands.

One thing I think would be great would be for the FFE site to get a remodelling - if I knew more HTML/CSS I might offer to redesign the site a little bit myself, if Marc was willing to let other people muck with it. Because, and I don't mean this in a truly insulting way, but... the site is ancient. It's an absolute design fossil and really looks out of place on a modern internet.

...Okay, I rambled there a bit (a lot) but I hope I at least got my thoughts out there. As an aside, the Traveller album by Slough Feg is really, really incredible if you're into that sort of music - I'd heavily recommend anyone who didn't know about it before to go and check it out. :D
 
>And looking at online shops the main cash cow seems to be wargames

As a wargame designer/publisher and ex store owner let me just say .... you seem to misunderstand, totally.

the only drivethrurpg equivalent for wargames is tiny. there are more non-mongoose traveller items in pdf than all the wargames Im aware of

the next closest thing to drivethrurpg is several sites that help setup email games where there are a lot of titles .... possibly 5% of all titles. Wargames rarely get 2nd / 3rd/ 4th editioned but printruns are steadily dropping along with the aging demographic. Also very old games increase in value .... totally the opposite to rpg's

the (online) stores I talk to eagerly anticipate the next D+D 4th Ed type RPG release because they know they'll sell X almost immediately .... rainy (month) day money


Okay should have stated that "physical delivery" online shops not PDF sellers are what I mean with online shops. Bit difficult to deliver wargames/colors etc. as download.
 
I'd like to add that there's the domestication factor to RPing and Wargaming. People settle down into lives with families, which means spouses, kids, pets and local community affairs. Some folks find time for Traveller in spite of all that.

Me, I've got loads of time, but regrettably my reputation (which hopefully will be fixed soon) precedes me. Even so, I'm pretty much out of paper and pencil gaming. If I had a good group to geek-out with, I'd be there, and pursuing my career path along with working a regular 9 to 5 job. Right now I'm one out of three as I transition from one job to another. A thing I don't want to do (yet AGAIN), but need to in order to keep my house.

Ergo, Traveller, as much as I love it as a sci-fi gaming venue, will probably not see the light of day with me again other than my continued pursuit of writing for the system and strolling down memory lane.

Gaming is a big hobby in terms of time. That time could be devoted to career paths or houe projects. So, even if you are gaming inclined, as a number of people I've known are, you still need the temporal resources to really get into the thing.

Old single grognards, like me, who have managed to tiptoe away from marriage, or youngins still in college or doing the career transition thing, are truly the only ones who have enough excess time to really engage deeply in gaming. And even then there's a limit.

Anyway, I haven't been on this BBS for a while until recently, and I'll probably take another and longer hiatus soon. But, I felt I had to share some of those thoughts.

Sorry for any repetition of concepts.
 
I don't see Traveller or game stores dying around my area, in fact they are booming like one of those huge car stereos you hear at two in the morning.
Why is this you ask? Because the shop owners, RPG clubs and game groups are out promoting their wares/interests to the non gaming public using community festivals and other public gatherings such as fund raisers as ways to get the word out. My Traveller group helped raise funds last year for several groups. All the while getting new never gamed before people into Traveller and P&P gaming.
 
the past few days have made me a lot more confident about Traveller's future ... consider:-

theres a folder here where they are talking about their progress making a Traveller CGI movie

I asked in a folder whether the 3D CGI models people have could be used to create cardboard mini's and someone posted a sample a few hours later

there are several more groups releasing traveller stuff than i realised (Jon Brazer for example)

I still see the marketing as an issue but
there is apparently work underway to tweak this website
havent looked closely at the various publishers sites but (I pray) theres a link on most of them to their "competitors" .... if not then its something that definitely needs looking into

if we could bring it to the attention of the >80% of population where english is not their first language ..... traveller's future is assured
 
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Product could be collated into a more coherent form, certainly there is enough source material, beautiful stuff really. What has hit Traveller the hardest is the various iterations of the rules has diluted the brand. Personally I would focus on developing the sectors around the Spinward Marches, to expand that milieu, not that the other stuff hasn't been 100% awesome, it just seems to lack focus.

Marketing on average for a business is about 25% of total budget, sometimes more. The TSR story seems to have tarnished other game companies in that if you aren't that wildly successful, then you aren't successful at all, which just isn't true at all.
 
...

Marketing on average for a business is about 25% of total budget, sometimes more.

Here I would agree. Of course a business wants to make a profit but until the product can sell itself one always has to market, make the public re-aware of it and then do even more marketing. Look at Pepsi and Coke. Both are very successful but when they market it, they are more successful. And if you don't keep your product in the public (or target audience) eye, another company will come along and take your place.

Also, for game companies, 25% is low if you are considering the total marketing/PR effort.

Example:
WizKids LLC, I spent close to 10% of our yearly (Company) budget on just tournaments and prizes, while marketing spent 15% to 30% of the budget on marketing and promotions (non-gaming promotions like magazines and coventions).

Once we started having some competition from other companies, we (WizKids, LLC) held their own until we started to save some money and cut back on the marketing/PR/tournament spending. (note: there are many reasons for the WizKids 'downfall' besides lack of marketing but research will show that once they stopped marketing at the same aggressive level, sales dropped.)

END example

Marketing is more than just adversting. Especially in the game hobby industry.

Dragoner said:
The TSR story seems to have tarnished other game companies in that if you aren't that wildly successful, then you aren't successful at all, which just isn't true at all.

Nah, just too many individuals grew up with TSR and it has caused many individuals to think that if you don't do it the way they (TSR/Hasbro) do it, you will not be successful. If only it was that easy. ;)

Dave Chase
 
Agreed on both points, plus today you have modern marketing strategies such as a facebook app that could make an avatar called "Be a Traveller" just as an example.
 
Ok, been off site for about 6 months.

To answer the threads opening question, YES it is much alive.

I have been playing wargames since the early 70's and got in on 1st Ed D and D and Traveller before there was a High Guard or Mercs LBB.

I still activly game though not as much as I used to. I have also gone over to Miniture games (But Not GW) more often than not.

After the CCG wave hit most of the RPG games seemed to die in this area. I saw a surge of new interest when 3.0/3.5 came out. The 4.0 moneygrab killed all of the interest because all the neat support companies got nurfed.

My only problem with the Traveller game was combat. Mayday/Highguard was sort of lame as it did not feel right. With all the action of DND Snapshot/AZL was also a bit slow and less than graphic. I liked Striker rules to the point where we converted most of the combat over to those rules with different damage dice rolls based on the type of wound.

Todays gamers have a much higher demand than we did back then based off all the choices they have these days. T20 had promise but fell short. The combat system was still too bulky when it came to damage. The skill sets worked fine though.

I am still trying to merge T20 characters with the LBB system though. May have to rework ship damage though.

Keep in mind I never left the LBB classic game so have no working knowledge of the later rewrites.

For Traveller to make a breakout again will take lots of marketing and support products. Avitar and Firefly show that there is a great interest in Sci Fi still.

Maybe we need a Striker Miniture game with MINIS to get people interested in the Traveller universe. Throw in some books and maybe get the ball rolling again. After a year or so rerelease the LBB's yet again. Or better yet rework T20 so the game has better flow.

D and D was a adreniline game while Traveller was a thinking game. Todays demands require more of a rush so the old system needs spicing up.

OK, Done rambling

And for the record I faithfully download my PDF of the freetrav every month.
 
Traveller will never die not whilst at least one of us clutches their preferred ruleset tightly to their chest and yells defiance at the darkness.......but seriously I think my own experiences sum up some of the main problems: small declining numbers of aging players isolated geographically from one another due to lifestage pressures unable to engage younger gamer interest in light of saturation of the genre by glossy shallower (ie quicker to play) alternatives.
I have played classic traveller almost continually for 33years only breaking from playing when house moves have forced me to re-establish myself in a new town. Our current 5 player group meets about once a week max distance apart 25 miles which means mostly we drive 10 miles to meet up. We are all married (4m 1f) and non of our partners play RPGs. We belong to 3 separate wargaming groups and apart from odd sessions now and then have been unable to recruit others particually younger players. I am very keen on the visual look of the adventures I run and whilst feedback on this part of it is often positive it is my experience that the younger players are put off by session length (anything over 1.5 hours) seems excessive to them.
The result of this is that to some extent I have gamed in isolation however recently I posted a response to a video on YouTube and as a result have uploaded some slideshows of a traveller nature, much of the feedback I have received is along the lines of " hey I remember this from when I was a kid haven't played in years" or "would love to play but can't find a game".
So in short whilst traveller may not be dead it's fans are thinly spread and have an increasing average age.
 
Exposure may be the biggest answer to Traveller woes.

D and D...Movies, An armload of books, 2 Magazines, vid games, online gaming, comics at 1 time, many support companies, and many support minis.

Battletech...Many products, A RPG, Comics, lots of books, nice Minis, and dedicated Magizines,

Warhammer....Many Books, Vid games, Monthly Publications, a RPG at 1 time, Aggressive marketing, top quality figs.

Warmachine...Quality fluff in the rule books, A Bi Monthly Magizine, a RPG, nice figs till the plastic &^% came out.

Traveller..a few old sets of rules and a book or two.

The clip I saw of a fan movie was exciting it just needs a bit of work. Maybe a Firefly tie in product. Books are a must, and some sort of TRAVELLER titled computer game. Even if it is just a space combat and trading game. Sort of like the old Elite game I played on my C64 just with planet landings and other fun stuff. Get Striker back in circulation with quality minis from someone. If they look like the old pictures friom the source rules even better. Kids will play it if they know it is there. It just has to get more exposure. I think T20 did a fair job of getting peoples attention in the game it just fell flat. Tieing into the most played RPG rules system was the answer. Maybe Marc should invite a bunch of the top SF authors to do a short story in his 3rd Imp and make a book out of it. Even Star Fleet Battles has a book out on their short stories.

I miss the old days as much as anyone, but they are not coming back. You need new product. Stop trying to sell a set of rules and try to sell a Empire out there to explore. Be it RPG's, Computer Games, Movies, or books.


Wow, that got the blood flowing..need to sit back and chill before something explodes on this old hulk...:D.....Hmm...that was a close roll on the aging dice!!
 
As one of the BITS demo referees I've been running Traveller at cons in the UK for several years now and I've seen a steady trickle of new young gamers keen to play Traveller. I can't remember the last time we had spaces in any of our demo games and there have been times we've had to put on extra tables to cope with the demand, so it is out there. So, no I don't believe it is dead.
 
Traveller could work converted into a MMOG like many others out there. But, doing something like that would take a huge investment to initialize the game. It could be like no other game on the market. One where you make virtually a custom character or two.
One where your interaction with other players is as important or moreso than what you yourself do on your own. That is, you need other players just to accomplish even many basic quests and tasks.
Adding in a player generated task / quest generator where more enriched / powerful players stop doing quests but rather generate new ones for less skilled players to do for them would add a whole new twist to the game.
Then if you add a larger dimension of starship combat, larger wars generated by players with more political and economic pull (even if they bought it within the game using real money to invest) you end up with a game where powerful players don't overwhelm the weak and weak players can enjoy the game at some lower level of play.
It could be one giant on-going RPG where the players rather than some artificial construct largely run the game in an alternate universe. Even just the "known" universe of traveller is so gigantic that no one player could ever even come close to dominating the game.
But, someone with enough drive could become the next emperor of the Imperium......
 
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