My Trial of MGT
So to preface, I started with Traveller in 1978...LBB era.
Played CT, MT, New (silly) Era, T20 and GURPS.
I have an almost complete collection of every CT and most MT items printed...including the DGP books and some rare Keith brothers adventures.
I like MGT because it harkens back to the beginning, CT was first and will always have a warm spot for me. I like MGT because now, there is a resurgence of interest in Traveller.
Also:
1) I can use CT and MT (and GURPS and T20) adventures, supplements, gear, ships characters and vehicle with little to no conversion.
2) I can still play in my beloved Spinward Marches, the setting remains unchanged. (Boo MT and Silly Era..Boo Boo!)
3) The character generation system is much better in some ways..see below.
4) The task resolution system is simple and easy to adjudicate.
5) Great support from Mongoose
6) OGL! Hurray!
7)You included non 3I gear. Thanks, I can add or not as I see fit!
8) Auto/Burst fire rules. Simple. (not as simple as GDW house rules, but fairly realistic)
What I dont like: (nitpicking, I know)
1) Character Gen lost the advanced options like military college, flight school, and higher education options. I really liked the flavor of rolling a Marine or Navy character and living through the military life....skills and EDU bonuses for going to college or flight school.
2)Sig vs minor actions. I prefer action points from snapshot. How long does it take to do something? quicker because I spend a sig action?Im not sold.
3)Combat is not tactical. I like a crunchy detailed strategic combat system, HOWEVER, the MGT system works great for Roleplaying....and my group and I are slowly becoming comfortable with a more stylised combat system.
4) As in CT/MT, there is no advancement/reward system. Im not super fond of xp either, but at least thats a tangible way to reward players. Im afraid that MGT as written, like CT/MT before it, will turn into a Monty Haul, where once the group has too much money and gear, the game dies. As a player, I look for a reward, or advancement potential. Again, MGT requires a paradigm shift as to how we play the game. MGT really relies upon character development, rather than the traditional adventure/reward/advancement paradigm. Works well if you have the right players. (And Im not sure I do)
5) Many authors, artists and game designers have given us tons of material for Traveller and the 3I. Please dont disregard it. I see many crazy questions and responses on the boards that could easily have been avoided if MGT has laid out their ASSUMPTIONS regarding the Trav universe up front. We saw this when CT went to MT and M drives no longer used fuel. (Then why did the Kinunir get stranded if the PP can run for decades, and the M drives dont need fuel?) Lets be consistent, at least with our own assumptions, especially since MGT has the opportunity to REWRITE the rules, to make them better. Please dont just reprint broken rules for the sake of speed.
6) I think a blurb about technology in 3I is needed. For those new to Traveller, I always hear about how the TL is broken, and clunky and the Imperium should have more efficient this, or smaller that. Remember your history! The Vilani Empire conquered the universe and was technologically stagnant. This is 3I future history (written in 1970s) not OUR future history.
7) Bad redesign of familiar spacecraft.
8) Poor (cheap?) artwork.
9) Trade and commerce rules totally suck. Id like to see the design notes on this...because it seems way too easy to get rich.....quick.
10) Biggest issue of all: I hate it when we separate personal combat and vehicle/starship combat in order of magantudes, rather than keep a single progression. A handgun and a ship laser should never both do 1D6 damage. Boo. All weapons should be rated using the same system and scale. Math is not hard, everyone has an app on their iphone.
Overall I like MGT, but since skills are fairly minor in the game, do we really need the huge diverse character generation options? Really? Other than fluff, I dont see the need. And I cant make the character i want without being senile and ancient anyway.
House rules/Suggestion:
1) Pre gen terms are 2 years, not 4, but only roll to re-enlist/events every other term. This adds more variety in assignments.
2) Ignore the MGT vehicle and starship design sequences and use Striker/MT/FFS/GURPS to design them.
3)Use all published gear/ships/vehicles as written and hand wave the performance differences.
4) Use Snapshot/AHL rules for combat/movement in Zero-G
5) Use Striker/AHL values for bulkheads, and interior features.
6) Pile on as many task modifiers as i can think if to assess. The target (8+) is the same, yet characters generally have more skill levels AND attribute bonuses AND Gear bonuses AND action bonuses. Its much to easy to accomplish many tasks.
7) Rely heavily on the time increment from MT. This really should have been included in MGT's rewrite. Often, its the TIME, not the skill level, that convinces our intrepid adventurers to attempt or not attempt a given task. (And adding more modifiers when hurrying helps too.)
8) Where are the Robots?
I hope this post does not come across negatively.
I like MGT and look forward to the future.
No game is ever perfect and MGT is pretty easy to tweak.
Its simple, yet playable. Its a trade off that I am willing to make.
