Since miniatures games are incredibly expensive to produce and support, the likelihood of anything like Warhammer for Traveller is slim to none.
Anything they do try will probably be small, limited, and not terribly successful.
The State of the Mongoose
- Thread starter RossWinn
- Start date
Since miniatures games are incredibly expensive to produce and support, the likelihood of anything like Warhammer for Traveller is slim to none.
Anything they do try will probably be small, limited, and not terribly successful.
Have to respectfully disagree, there. I started picking up 2000AD again after a decade hiatus, shortly before the Rebellion buyout, and while it was already very good it only sustained and improved. Between 2003 and 2007 it's been as good as it's ever been, including it's early 80's golden age. Very recently it has gone a bit less interesting for me, but I'm going to hold out til hopefully the slight fallow period passes.
The word is Rebellion give the editorial team more creative control than the comic's ever had and sales figures seem to have almost doubled over the Rebellion period (I remember reading that somewhere, but can't for the life of me find it).
The Meg has changed quite a bit, admittedly. But I like the articles in it, even if the movie reviewer doesn't know what he's talking about.
It's potentially interesting because Rebellion is a games company. Just a pity that they don't seem to have done anything original in years, just port other games to the PSP. The Rogue Trooper game was enjoyable enough, back in 2006, but the prior Dredd vs Death was, frankly, embarrassing. They did do the original Alien vs Predator game, though, which was well recieved. Long time ago now, however.
But then again, the prospect of a Traveller video game is closer than it has been for years.
Rebellion is a pretty successful company, all told, and seems to have a commitment to genre. Their Abaddon Books imprint of fantasy and horror is also doing alright.
So while any merger like this is fraught, their past record doesn't show much to worry about.
(Nothing like the EA takeover of Bioware in the worry stakes, though, touch wood, that's looking ok so far...)
kinnerc
SOC-6
Mgt
Just wanted to chime in here.
I've seen MGT on the shelves, but I've not looked into it much. For years I've had a "love/hate" relationship with the gaming industry that largely turned to hate with the introduction of D&D V3.5. I've seen more and more companies simply "update" or change their rules not for any improvement, but just to keep sales figures going. And that just pisses me off to no end. You get used to a system, you use a system, and then the company reboots everything and it all goes to hell. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Traveller, oddly, seems to have been in a somewhat different boat in that its multiple versions haven't been (at least lately) attempts to just reboot the game to make a buck, but more to keep the game alive in some way.
As far as I'm concerned, that happened with GURPS Traveller. And I almost cried with happiness when Marc republished Classic Traveller. The rest in my mind - D20, MGT - just serve to fractionalize an already fatally fractionalized industry.
Part of the problem with gaming these days is that there are TOO MANY choices, even within the individual genres. I want to play Traveller. You want to play B5. Jon wants to play Space Opera. Etc. This affects individual games as well. I want to play D&D. Which version? In this case, due to the constant reboots, you're almost forced to the most recent version because that's what new players can get. With Traveller, the versions fractionalize the game. I want to play Classic. You want to play MGT. Jon wants to play GURPS.
By the way, "you" is a generalized you, not specific.
So, I've stayed away from MGT, but I'd be interested in hearing what folks think of as its concrete advantages.
Just wanted to chime in here.
I've seen MGT on the shelves, but I've not looked into it much. For years I've had a "love/hate" relationship with the gaming industry that largely turned to hate with the introduction of D&D V3.5. I've seen more and more companies simply "update" or change their rules not for any improvement, but just to keep sales figures going. And that just pisses me off to no end. You get used to a system, you use a system, and then the company reboots everything and it all goes to hell. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Traveller, oddly, seems to have been in a somewhat different boat in that its multiple versions haven't been (at least lately) attempts to just reboot the game to make a buck, but more to keep the game alive in some way.
As far as I'm concerned, that happened with GURPS Traveller. And I almost cried with happiness when Marc republished Classic Traveller. The rest in my mind - D20, MGT - just serve to fractionalize an already fatally fractionalized industry.
Part of the problem with gaming these days is that there are TOO MANY choices, even within the individual genres. I want to play Traveller. You want to play B5. Jon wants to play Space Opera. Etc. This affects individual games as well. I want to play D&D. Which version? In this case, due to the constant reboots, you're almost forced to the most recent version because that's what new players can get. With Traveller, the versions fractionalize the game. I want to play Classic. You want to play MGT. Jon wants to play GURPS.
By the way, "you" is a generalized you, not specific.
So, I've stayed away from MGT, but I'd be interested in hearing what folks think of as its concrete advantages.
dmccoy1693
SOC-13
I believe this is a faulty assumption. They are owned by Rebellion, a company that makes video games (Call of Duty, AvP, Harry Potter OotP), they own a comic book and fiction companies and make graphic novels. All decidedly geeky. So I don't believe this is going to be as bad as Wizards being bought by Hasbro. Heck, White Wolf got bought by CCP (owners of EVE Online) and with the exception of the forthcoming Vampire MMO, the EVE RPG and the existing EVE CCG, you can't tell much.
dmccoy1693
SOC-13
The old edition still plays just as fun as it use to. There's nothing stopping you from ignoring the current edition and playing your old stuff. That's my plan with D&D. I like 3.5, I have all the books I want for it and I can play for a lifetime with them. I don't like 4E and I have not intention of playing 4E. Ever. Hell, I've had a hankerin for 1E AD&D for a while. As long as you can still find gamers for the old edition, there's nothing wrong with just going your own way and ignoring the current edition.
I agree with that. I stuck with 2nd ed AD&D for years because I really do not like the 3rd edition. Now I sometimes play 4e which I like quite alot.
I stuck with CT up until MgT. I just never really could get into any other version of traveller and only play MgT because it seems so similar if somewhat updated to CT.
Play what makes you happy should be the whole of the law.
I stuck with CT up until MgT. I just never really could get into any other version of traveller and only play MgT because it seems so similar if somewhat updated to CT.
Play what makes you happy should be the whole of the law.
saundby
SOC-14 1K
Thanks to outlets like rpgnow and drivethrurpg, needing to go with the newest because that's what players can get isn't really the case any more. I still use the original D&D rules for my campaign (3 book set +Chainmail, Greyhawk, Blackmoor, etc.) My players mostly don't bother with knowing them all, and I usually don't encourage them to have to learn how to use the original books.
My daughters run their campaigns out of the Rules Cyclopedia, which is a nice compendium of BECX/O/D&D rules. They tried 3.x first, on the recommendation of a friend who was a playtester, decided it was too "kewlio" for them (you can imagine what they think of 4.0) and decided to start reading all the crusty old rulebooks dad had on the shelf to see what was the most fun to build a campaign with.
Fractiousness has always been the name of the game with RPGs, to a large degree. Attempts to perform Grand Unifications have only ever done the opposite.
I think Mongoose is taking a pretty good tack with making a new Traveller release that's so compatible with CT while having something new to offer as well. It lets me blend the two and take the best of both. I also like the expansion into things like B5. It gives more bits that can be used with the core, while also avoiding the problem for players of buying into a one-shot-deal media license game system.
That's where I see the diversity as a problem. Everquest RPG, WoW RPG, movie of the week rpg, manga X rpg, etc., etc. That's fractiousness at its worst, IMO. I don't mind the numbers of the "genre" games so much.
My daughters run their campaigns out of the Rules Cyclopedia, which is a nice compendium of BECX/O/D&D rules. They tried 3.x first, on the recommendation of a friend who was a playtester, decided it was too "kewlio" for them (you can imagine what they think of 4.0) and decided to start reading all the crusty old rulebooks dad had on the shelf to see what was the most fun to build a campaign with.
Fractiousness has always been the name of the game with RPGs, to a large degree. Attempts to perform Grand Unifications have only ever done the opposite.
I think Mongoose is taking a pretty good tack with making a new Traveller release that's so compatible with CT while having something new to offer as well. It lets me blend the two and take the best of both. I also like the expansion into things like B5. It gives more bits that can be used with the core, while also avoiding the problem for players of buying into a one-shot-deal media license game system.
That's where I see the diversity as a problem. Everquest RPG, WoW RPG, movie of the week rpg, manga X rpg, etc., etc. That's fractiousness at its worst, IMO. I don't mind the numbers of the "genre" games so much.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
I've been playing Traveller on and off for thirty years and I've never found the different versions to be a problem. Admittedly, I'm currently playing pbem and the rules tend to take second place to the description of the action. If you trust your GM & players to be fair and honest, the rules don't matter.
Three pirates force the hatch on your ship and you fire your snub pistols at them. The GM asks you to roll 3x 2D6. He tells you that one of the pirates falls to the floor clutching his chest, one takes cover and the third drops to one knee and returns fire.
Which rule set are we using?
It doesn't matter. We're having fun.
The rules only come to the fore when someone wants to argue about them...
Three pirates force the hatch on your ship and you fire your snub pistols at them. The GM asks you to roll 3x 2D6. He tells you that one of the pirates falls to the floor clutching his chest, one takes cover and the third drops to one knee and returns fire.
Which rule set are we using?
It doesn't matter. We're having fun.
The rules only come to the fore when someone wants to argue about them...
