I know that the Mongoose line suffered from an inability to retain authors that knew the setting and could also deliver the goods, and I know why that happened in my case and at least a couple of others. This led to a need to bring in other talent, not all of which was well suited to the task at hand.
Ideally, the line needed to be written by proven Traveller writers and managed by someone who could both give new talent a chance to prove themselves (small projects are good for this) and also retain the central vision if the writers decided to go fanboy and start slipping in their favourite 'fixes' or whatever.
The reality was rather more complex, and created some rather odd situations. For example, I recently offered to rework Gateway 993 for the 1105 setting, which was accepted. Gateway 993 was agreed as canon when published, so all later material should follow it. But when I put the manuscript in, I was told that it could not be published because it contradicted some other materials published later that changed some aspects of the Gateway setting.
I don't understand how that happened, but it does mean that Gateway 1105 was a bust and I'd wasted my time.
Conversely, the materials published by QLI for T20 were internally consistent because they were almost all written by one person (me) or overseen and project-managed by the same individual (me again). Others contributed but central control was retained.
I'm not aware of what the plans for Traveller at Mongoose might be, but it seems that recently there's been a lot less mainstream/OTU traveller and more other-applications.
As an aside, whilst I'm not totally opposed to non-mainstream-Traveller material in core rulebooks (eg some of the weapons in Mercenary), I do think that books need to be written by someone who understands that artillery does not have a range measured in tens of metres, and that a submachinegun is a thing, and I'd maybe like to see non-OTU stuff separated or flagged.
In short, my feeling is that Mongoose Traveller needs a single person at the helm as their main job, which might also include writing the majority of the books. If that someone knows Traveller and can produce good work, we'll have a consistent product line that keeps expanding.
Ideally, the line needed to be written by proven Traveller writers and managed by someone who could both give new talent a chance to prove themselves (small projects are good for this) and also retain the central vision if the writers decided to go fanboy and start slipping in their favourite 'fixes' or whatever.
The reality was rather more complex, and created some rather odd situations. For example, I recently offered to rework Gateway 993 for the 1105 setting, which was accepted. Gateway 993 was agreed as canon when published, so all later material should follow it. But when I put the manuscript in, I was told that it could not be published because it contradicted some other materials published later that changed some aspects of the Gateway setting.
I don't understand how that happened, but it does mean that Gateway 1105 was a bust and I'd wasted my time.
Conversely, the materials published by QLI for T20 were internally consistent because they were almost all written by one person (me) or overseen and project-managed by the same individual (me again). Others contributed but central control was retained.
I'm not aware of what the plans for Traveller at Mongoose might be, but it seems that recently there's been a lot less mainstream/OTU traveller and more other-applications.
As an aside, whilst I'm not totally opposed to non-mainstream-Traveller material in core rulebooks (eg some of the weapons in Mercenary), I do think that books need to be written by someone who understands that artillery does not have a range measured in tens of metres, and that a submachinegun is a thing, and I'd maybe like to see non-OTU stuff separated or flagged.
In short, my feeling is that Mongoose Traveller needs a single person at the helm as their main job, which might also include writing the majority of the books. If that someone knows Traveller and can produce good work, we'll have a consistent product line that keeps expanding.
