Mgt = T4?

[Andrew Boulton]

Am I the only one having flashbacks? Like IG, MG are full of enthusiasm, and they're churning out lots of books, but they're full of bugs and inappropriate art, and there's the nagging feeling that they simply don't understand Traveller.

 

[Echo]

Well, it's selling well enough. It works well enough. There are plans to do new stuff, including new settings. There are alternative editions, readily available, if you don't like it.

To be honest, I don't understand some Traveller fans.

 

[Colin]

Buggy text and inappropriate art have been hallmarks of many, if not most, versions of Traveller. Personally, MGT seems to be the least buggy version since original Traveller. MGT, unlike some version of Traveller, including T4, is playable the moment you crack the book. MegaTrav, T4 and TNE had books of errata. MGT, not so much.

As for the quality of art, yeah, much of the line art in MGT doesn't make the cut for me. Some of it does, though, and the shaded/painted art, for the most part, is very good.

Classic Traveller had the advantage of not actually having much in the way of art, so what they had was good. MGT actually has a great deal of artwork in it. TNE featured quite a bit of dodgy art, MT got around that by recylcing the best art work created for OT, and Treveller:2300 was all over the place as well. 2300AD cleaned that up nicely, though.

I've been hearing bad things about Mercenary, to be sure, but I haven't seen it myself, so I'll reserve judgement.

Otherwise, I like MGT. I like the mechanics. The books feels fine. Not exceptional, but fine. With two exceptions, the illustrations don't offend me. Could it be improved? Sure. So could 2320AD...

As to the charge that Mongoose doesn't seem to get Traveller, well, I don't think they are trying to. That is, they are not setting out to cater to long-term Traveller fans. They are trying to bring in new blood. Judging by their sales figures, they have been successful in doing so.

 

[aramis]

T4 was noted for not only inappropriate art, but poor rules, while having a moderately good grasp of the Traveller "feel".

MGT core is no worse (and no better) than T4 core... however, what I'm hearing on the various products is that Mongoose really doesn't understand Traveller, in the same sence that WOTC/Ryan Dancey didn't understand D&D: The Look is close enough, but the feel of play isn't.

The complaints about the ironmongery in MGMercenary are telling: it's fantasy stuff, not realistic.

My own experiences with the RQ line indicate Mongoose really doesn't treat their lines well, and doesn't have a strong sense of editing, and does piss-poor playtesting and/or layout.

THe Core rules are workmanlike; the supplements, well, they are not looking too good for Mongoose.

T4, the Rules sucked, but the setting stuff was good. MGT, I've yet to look at setting stuff, but they don't even follow the definitions THEY created.

 

[Allensh]

Ok we've had (so far) one book that wasn't exactly what people were expecting and one book that appears to have some bad stuff in it. (I haven't yet seen it so I don't know myself). I think it might be a tad early to start the IG comparisons.

Also Mongoose is trying to do something that IG did not...make Traveller into a generic sf brand. (yeah, I know...CT was suuposedly generic yada yada yada...funny, I have my CT books right here and I don't see any other kind of FTL besides Jump Drive...doesn't look too generic to me...). There's probably going to be some issues with that along the way.

"realistic" is in the eye of the beholder too...especially for science fiction.

Allen

 

[Border Reiver]

Ignore the art, plenty of bad art elsewhere in Traveller. The bugs are just that, not come across a single Traveller version that didn't have them. As to not understanding Traveller, well I can see some similarities to IG in that perhaps at the highest level they were not au fait with the Traveller idiom but they both had/have Traveller "Journeymen" working for them. Timothy Brown and all the CORE folks at IG whilst at Mongoose you have Martin (and all the Avenger crew) and a few others less well known. I do feel they could do with a Jon Harshman to keep the continuity in order.

At the moment a lot of the stuff feels like it has been rushed out, good but needing a bit of a polish. I think we'll only see things improve, especially as we see more OTU products appear as well as other settings.

 

[rust]

... but they're full of bugs and inappropriate art, and there's the nagging
feeling that they simply don't understand Traveller.

"Full of bugs" is quite an exaggeration, "inappropriate art" is simply a matter
of taste, and I am convinced that MJD and others who work for Mongoose
do understand Traveller at least as well as anyone of us here.

I understand that you are disappointed because your expectations were not
met by Mongoose Traveller, but perhaps the expectations caused more of
the disappointment than Mongoose did.

From my point of view Mongoose delivered a very good generic science fic-
tion RPG that has no more problems than any other RPG's first edition. In
fact, there are many with more and much bigger problems.

Of course, MGT is not and will not be "canonical OTU Traveller", but for me
this is really not a bad thing.
I welcome new settings with new ideas, and I never liked the fact that Tra-
veller was "married" to the OTU setting, which led to the exclusion of many
fascinating and useful ideas (jump torpedoes, anyone ?) from the rules sys-
tem.

So, while you are disappointed, my expectations have been met, and the
number of sold copies seems to prove that I am not an exception.

 

[robject]

[...] Of course, MGT is not and will not be "canonical OTU Traveller" [...]

But in my opinion, MGT does a very good job of re-building Classic Traveller. Yes there are bugs, but the system has brought many people to Traveller, which is a Good Thing, and promises to provide me with easy access to non-OTU settings, which is a Good Thing.

 

[rust]

But in my opinion, MGT does a very good job of re-building Classic Traveller.

Yep, I agree. I should have written "canonical OTU Traveller only".

 

[jimg]

At the moment a lot of the stuff feels like it has been rushed out, good but needing a bit of a polish. I think we'll only see things improve, especially as we see more OTU products appear as well as other settings.

I agree, Mercenary feels like it was rushed out and needed a more playtesting and polish. I hope future projects get a little more love before they are sent out the door. What worries me is that MGT has so many products in the pipeline that they may not have enough time for each one.

I don't have a lot of experience with Mongoose as a publisher, so I don't know their track record...

 

[far-trader]

...What worries me is that MGT has so many products in the pipeline that they may not have enough time for each one.

I'm more curious with this rush to get so much out so quickly what they see as sustaining them through 10 years of Traveller publishing?

 

[mike wightman]

I would guess that their settings that they intend to use the MgT (magister's terrace?) rules for are what they intend to fill in the ten years.

 

[Echo]

I'm more curious with this rush to get so much out so quickly what they see as sustaining them through 10 years of Traveller publishing?

It's part of Mongoose's business model to support gamelines aggressively through lots of supplements. It seems to work for them.

 

[robject]

Yes, it doesn't do to release one title per year, especially when launching a new product. I suspect they're not at market saturation levels yet anyhow; why not release multiple products? Mongoose wants to give the impression that Traveller is a supported line. Compare to GDW's release schedule, which was apparently also brisk. Something like a new title every 22 weeks?

Plus, once you're past the core book, people can start to get choosy about which supplement to purchase... and so you get smaller returns, perhaps for smaller effort, so it's best to have three new things out, and rotate the oldest one to a lower level of hype when you start to ramp another new one up, or something like that.

 

[kafka47]

No, I do not get that vibe at all...MGT is merely not CT or MT.

For me, TNE marked a fundamental shift...away from Traveller as I knew it and now I accept it. MGT is a solid workhorse and does do the job assigned to it, if you are looking for nostegia, then GT is more your thing but if you are looking to build upon the strengths of the OTU (albeit with some stumbles that ain't your Grandfather's Traveller) then check out MGT. I get more positive feeling when I read through MGT as I can see the Traveller that I love shining through.

 

[Klaus]

Yeah, I don't really get the un-Traveller thing.

As far as Mercenary goes, the poor entries amount to 3 or 4 weapon descriptions (not mechanics) out of about 100 new bits of tech, weapons, and vehicles.

The artwork in it is the best yet, most consistent.

That there's the inclusion of a few bits and pieces that people might not expect in the OTU does not make the game a turkey.

Can anyone explain to me what is so un-Traveller about MGT?

 

[rust]

Can anyone explain to me what is so un-Traveller about MGT?

1) It is new.
2) It is not CT.
3) It is published by Mongoose.
4) It contains stuff that is not OTU canon.

It obviously cannot be good. :devil:

 

[Echo]

I'm just looking forward to getting the pocket edition, mainly. Just think, the whole game for £10 in a bonofide lbb! My players will be pleased. And so will I when I travel next month (I guess it will have to be mailed to me). It may also help to resolve the issue about unpopular artwork, because I imagine they won't have room for any.

I'm also looking forward to Beltstrike, and the alternative settings. The current stuff is OK, but I'm not really looking for military crunch in my game currently.

 

[coliver988]

Can anyone explain to me what is so un-Traveller about MGT?

It was written after 1977?

 

[Icosahedron]

I'm just looking forward to getting the pocket edition, mainly. Just think, the whole game for £10 in a bonofide lbb!

Pocket edition?

I'm only a casual visitor to this forum. I'm toying with the idea of buying MGT to mine for ideas, but at twenty quid it's unlikely. A tenner is a different matter, though. Tell me more...