It's Here!
- Thread starter Border Reiver
- Start date
casquilho
SOC-13
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Having largely stayed out of the playtest cycle, I picked up the MGT book yesterday with some trepidation. First was the price. That's a high price tag for this size book, or it was a couple years ago anyway. Not *too* worried, I paid for it and headed off to an afternoon's distraction at the Maker Faire 2008, not really sitting down to look at the book until today.
Alright, then.
First pass is the cover. The typeface threw me, but the cover is solid and dangerously un-ornamented (in this market). The binding looks and feels good.
Flipping through the pages I was greeted by a fairly accessible layout and typeface. Score 2 for Mongoose.
Okay, *some* of the artwork is painful, but most of it is at least acceptable.
Deckplans for everything? That's a pleasant surprise, even though a couple of them are only vaguely related to the related art. Case in point would be the Scout and Seeker, which are deckplanned much closer to the T20 wedgie-slab than the depicted arrowhead.
Sorry, but the Corsair is another one of those "who builds these?" hulls. If it ain't useful in a legitimate pursuit, there is no legal population of similar hulls to hide amongst...
I noted with some amusement that there is a picture of the Sommerset Type M, but no stats or plans.
The reduction of the basic ship-building rules to a 2000 ton cap is interesting, and not unappreciated given the size steps provided.
I'll have a go at character generation and combat in a bit, but so far this book is in contention for the best first effort to come out of Mongoose in several years.
Alright, then.
First pass is the cover. The typeface threw me, but the cover is solid and dangerously un-ornamented (in this market). The binding looks and feels good.
Flipping through the pages I was greeted by a fairly accessible layout and typeface. Score 2 for Mongoose.
Okay, *some* of the artwork is painful, but most of it is at least acceptable.
Deckplans for everything? That's a pleasant surprise, even though a couple of them are only vaguely related to the related art. Case in point would be the Scout and Seeker, which are deckplanned much closer to the T20 wedgie-slab than the depicted arrowhead.
Sorry, but the Corsair is another one of those "who builds these?" hulls. If it ain't useful in a legitimate pursuit, there is no legal population of similar hulls to hide amongst...
I noted with some amusement that there is a picture of the Sommerset Type M, but no stats or plans.
The reduction of the basic ship-building rules to a 2000 ton cap is interesting, and not unappreciated given the size steps provided.
I'll have a go at character generation and combat in a bit, but so far this book is in contention for the best first effort to come out of Mongoose in several years.
The biggest difficulties we've had with the character sheet, incidently, is there is no alloted space for recording damage to the physical stats. Secondly, the space alloted for career path development is a little small, while the skills section is actually too big (if you consider that you will probably record about only 12-16 skills on a list of over 60).
None of these are major issues - we'll probably type out the characters on 'files' with supplementary 'ID cards'- but people who like to design pdf sheets, please take note.
None of these are major issues - we'll probably type out the characters on 'files' with supplementary 'ID cards'- but people who like to design pdf sheets, please take note.
But you can record your damage on the stats bar-chart itself. I think that is the reason they have presented it in this way, so that as your stats decrease, you can easily see how your DMs have changed. Not a bad idea really, although I'm not so sure why the area is so large. And personally, I would record my damageon a seperate sheet, so I don't keep marking my character sheet.
casquilho
SOC-13
For me, the Character Sheet is not a big deal. I have almost never used the sheets given to me by a game. I almost always do my own in Excel so I can automate some stuff and reprint out sheets after I update them etc.
I understand how it might be an issue for someone else. But it is not something I worry about.
Daniel
I understand how it might be an issue for someone else. But it is not something I worry about.
Daniel
I agree. The price of the book is to high for the size and paper quality. I am wondering what happened to the Table of Contents. The one they have is small and not very helpful. Oh well maybe the second printing they will use glossy paper that does not bleed through and have a better Table of Contents.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
It has an Index. That makes up for a multitude of uncommitted sins right there.
The use of the bottom margin for the occasional "sidebar" is an interesting layout choice (since they only barely qualify as footnotes in the classic sense), though I find the typeface a bit small for some of the topics covered.
Yeah, that did seem a bit strange, given all the work EDG put into creating a fixed system, producing no unrealistic results, and the fact he gets a big thank you in the credits.....
BTW, the artwork isn't bad - it's competent enough, but there was obviously not a lot of money for it, so it's all quick stuff, of the kind "I'm only being paid for 10 minutes work on this drawing..."
The painted stuff looks good but it's obviously in colour, so it'd be nice to see it eventually printed/posted in colour.
All the deckplans seem to suffer from the discrepancy between the scale and the square size.
Not had chance to look at it in detail yet, but it seems most of the problems in the basic (ie non-design sequence) stuff is minor or just a quibble.
It's a nice basic lean rp system. If there's any disappointment it's that apart from a properly fixed and balanced chargen, with some innovations, it is a little like a repackaged CT with updated language and themes, all collected in one book not dozens. I was hoping for MGT to tread a little more new ground.
Oh well, lets see what the supplements are like.
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dmccoy1693
SOC-13
Yesterday, I surrendered and ordered a copy off EBay. I am not going to cancel my Amazon pre-order but give it to my girlfriend as a present (she's also a gamer).
It's a nice basic lean rp system. If there's any disappointment it's that apart from a properly fixed and balanced chargen, with some innovations, it is a little like a repackaged CT with updated language and themes, all collected in one book not dozens. I was hoping for MGT to tread a little more new ground.
Oh well, lets see what the supplements are like.
I think the new ground that MGT was trying to innovate, outside of the chargen, was in the timing/effect rule. And we all know about what happened with that....
I think the pricing issue, cited by a few people is being exasperated somewhat from the exchange rate of the UK£ to the US$. I dunno, but I was not shocked at all about the £20 pricetag for a hardback core book. Some people have queried the page count, but surely having the rules being concisely presented is part of what Traveller is all about - and they are complete, after all. In my view, it just bucks the trend of enormously, impractically bloated rpg books that we keep seeing these days. When I tsarted playing, a typical core rulebook could be 120 pages, let alone 190.
So, in all, it's a really good, concise system - that should allow for all sorts of innovative settings and build-on games to be developed on from it. Bring 'em on, I say.
Thunderbolt
SOC-12
I didn't skip a beat handing over £20 for this neat hard back book, seems a reasonable price to me, but then I'm not a poor student like I was twenty five years ago
Only two things bug me so far, the strange lowering of starship sizes on the drive performance by volume table (not reflected in the hyperspace portal size table), and the thoroughly broken deck plans.
OK I lied, three things bug me, why are Model 7 computers now TL 15, does this mean Model 9s aren't available to TL 17?
The deckplan discrepancy reminds me of the real life problem that occurred on the Mars Climate Orbiter mission, one team worked in metric, the other imperial (no, not that sort of imperial). Consequently the probe slammed into Mars (oops).
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The Hinterworlds Rambler
SOC-14 5K
Just got the book. Only problem is the price ($40.00 US!)
and some of the "scratchiness" of the art. The K'kree looks like Joe Camel. There, I said it.
System looks good. I like the Main Class and then the three sub-class sort of distinctions. Gun art is underwhelming compared to todays market. Nice to see a return to more traditional deckplan types, but the actual maps in the books are a little small, and probably could have been laid out a bit better.
Alex Jamison got even fatter! He was sort of toadish in the Traveller Book, and now he's a total slob.
Then again, Ive only had it for three hours or so, but I am psyched.
and some of the "scratchiness" of the art. The K'kree looks like Joe Camel. There, I said it.
System looks good. I like the Main Class and then the three sub-class sort of distinctions. Gun art is underwhelming compared to todays market. Nice to see a return to more traditional deckplan types, but the actual maps in the books are a little small, and probably could have been laid out a bit better.
Alex Jamison got even fatter! He was sort of toadish in the Traveller Book, and now he's a total slob.
Then again, Ive only had it for three hours or so, but I am psyched.
I haven't checked the deckplans all that thoroughly, are they the wrong scale or something? I have never actually used deck plans in game, so I generally just look at them to get a general feel for each ship.
Thunderbolt
SOC-12
If you compare the Broadsword mercenary cruiser plans from Adventure 7, you can see how the dimensions as suggested by the 1.5 metre squares have drastically changed.
Another one would be the 50 ton cutter, which now appears to be only 25 tons!
Another one would be the 50 ton cutter, which now appears to be only 25 tons!
Gallowglacht
SOC-12
The artist made a mistake and assumed that 1.5m x 1.5 m x 3m = 1 dTon, not half a dTon.
If you assume each square is 2x2x3.5M then the plans work in the 1 square = 1 dTon way the artist intended.
If you assume each square is 2x2x3.5M then the plans work in the 1 square = 1 dTon way the artist intended.
Thunderbolt
SOC-12
You have to assume this will get fixed in due course, maybe a PDF download or something, and to think the original plans were almost certainly used as a guide when the new ones were made... crazy.
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GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Some of the deckplans are close, some aren't.
The Scout/Seeker is actually not too bad if you ignore the art on the previous page, assume its a "wedgie slab" like the T20 Scout, and put another iris valve on the rear corridor. You could also use the drone garage to enter and exit, I suppose.
The Type A is also not bad, once you recall that most prior sets of plans are too large by twice.
The A2 seems too small, but I don't have the book handy.
The plans for the Lab Ship are muddled in presentation to the point that I'm not entirely sure what shape its supposed to be.
The 1000 ton freighter is cute, but definitely too small. Giving everything higher deck heights would solve the problem, given that its a bunch of big cargo bays.
I'll use my own Corsair, thanks. The MGT version is a better mining ship.
The Scout/Seeker is actually not too bad if you ignore the art on the previous page, assume its a "wedgie slab" like the T20 Scout, and put another iris valve on the rear corridor. You could also use the drone garage to enter and exit, I suppose.
The Type A is also not bad, once you recall that most prior sets of plans are too large by twice.
The A2 seems too small, but I don't have the book handy.
The plans for the Lab Ship are muddled in presentation to the point that I'm not entirely sure what shape its supposed to be.
The 1000 ton freighter is cute, but definitely too small. Giving everything higher deck heights would solve the problem, given that its a bunch of big cargo bays.
I'll use my own Corsair, thanks. The MGT version is a better mining ship.
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
Well, in CT book 7, the Empress Marava class Far trader deckplan is drawn out so that 4 squares = 1 dton (and only 1.5m high)*, so they are just keeping that CT "WTF is up with these deckplans" feel.
* this is the only way to get it as a 200 dton ship... if you assume 2 squares = 1 dton, then each of the 2 decks is 200 dtons... count the squares, you'll see.
* this is the only way to get it as a 200 dton ship... if you assume 2 squares = 1 dton, then each of the 2 decks is 200 dtons... count the squares, you'll see.
