I've done many videos on the subject. In a nutshell though, Mongoose Traveller rules are re-booted, polished, and in production.
I know, huh.
What needs fixing in the Mongoose version?
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Why Mongoose?
- Thread starter tim_manley
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I'm afraid you're going to have to define what you mean by "decent" if I'm to understand what it is you're looking for.
There are fewer skills in CT, and many of them are not applicable in a given situation, so looking them up is not as hard as it sounds....
I'd say MgT is more complicated because of the initiative sequence and armor rules, not its task system. Though CT's "apply damage dice individually" system is a bit hard to explain to people who are used to hit points, so maybe it's a wash.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
It's a lot quicker to just say 8+ is your target number, now lets haggle over DMs (DMs which usually include a +1 if they role play the situation really well)...
it's been the core of my homebrew CT (plus stuff) game for years
it's been the core of my homebrew CT (plus stuff) game for years
There are fewer skills in CT, and many of them are not applicable in a given situation, so looking them up is not as hard as it sounds....
I'd say MgT is more complicated because of the initiative sequence and armor rules, not its task system. Though CT's "apply damage dice individually" system is a bit hard to explain to people who are used to hit points, so maybe it's a wash.
CT's wound system really isn't that difficult.
CT as a game suffers from few issues -
- lack of a consistent task system (but some consider this a strength)
- Very low number of meaningful choices in CGen
- the Bk2/bk5 incompatibilities
- the added skills in supplements.
- Book 6's fundamental system generation mode.
- Neither Bk 2 nor Bk5 being particularly good for roleplaying space combats
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
All of which could have been fixed in the '81 revised edition.
task system - use the 8+ system that was the most common house rule at the time
add a pre career option to basic character generation and the option of switching careers, and add CotI careers (all of an extra 6 pages)
scrap LBB2 and redo using HG percentages to build modules
include LBB4 and 5 skills in core
there was no fix for the last one
task system - use the 8+ system that was the most common house rule at the time
add a pre career option to basic character generation and the option of switching careers, and add CotI careers (all of an extra 6 pages)
scrap LBB2 and redo using HG percentages to build modules
include LBB4 and 5 skills in core
there was no fix for the last one
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
HUGE STRENGTH!
Also, one of it's pluses is the various value of a skill level. It's relative to the task at hand, depending on how much experience counts for a task.
I've not heard of Battlestations before - it sounds great! I now know what to put on my Christmas list!
And that sounds similar to how I was thinking of running starship combat - not an original idea of mine though, I once read somewhere on the internet of someone who had the players' ship's deck plan in the middle of the table, with counters for the players positions within and moved counters for enemy ships around it. Haven't yet decided whether to use MgT, Book 2 or Starter Traveller rules for ship combat yet.
Anyway, to answer the thread's question: I like MgT's character generation and task system. I may use some bits from CT though - I'm going to use book 6 system generation.
Ok, mostly because when I decided to go back to an actual Traveller engine from the CP2020 engine MgT seemed to be a decent enough update from CT that I would enjoy it. Add it that it is actually a game supported by releases and was much better at creating a home brew setting other than simply supporting some version of the OTO and it went to the front of the list rather quickly.
D.
D.
tim_manley
SOC-12
I bought the core rules PDF a long time ago. Never bought anything else. Never ran it... but then my traveller running days have been rather far and few between for a few years.
Last traveller version I tried to run was T20 and that game died pretty quickly as no one liked the system.
Last traveller version I tried to run was T20 and that game died pretty quickly as no one liked the system.
And so by the magic of synchronicity, I was just reading through some old threads and came across it here: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showpost.php?p=243474&postcount=34
I adopted it because:
- it was for sale in a store (easier to pitch to players)
- I had near zero experience with CT, and zero with other versions
- it seemed reasonably back-compatible with CT adventures & supplements
- I'm a huge fan of random chargen and the lifepath system, and the extra details in Mongoose made all careers at least as potentially rewarding (backstory-wise) as High Guard or Mercenary characters of CT. I think this may have been the biggest push over the edge for me.
As it is, I have since bought the reprints of CT from FFE, and appreciate that as a bare-bones system, and I use that to inform referee decisions from time to time.
- it was for sale in a store (easier to pitch to players)
- I had near zero experience with CT, and zero with other versions
- it seemed reasonably back-compatible with CT adventures & supplements
- I'm a huge fan of random chargen and the lifepath system, and the extra details in Mongoose made all careers at least as potentially rewarding (backstory-wise) as High Guard or Mercenary characters of CT. I think this may have been the biggest push over the edge for me.
As it is, I have since bought the reprints of CT from FFE, and appreciate that as a bare-bones system, and I use that to inform referee decisions from time to time.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Over on rpgnet whenever the question of which sci-fi game to get comes up I recommend getting the MgT core rulebook and the CT cd from FFE.
The answer is easy, it's in print.......
No that really wasn't it, it was Mongooses take on character generation, around the table with the group, all the bits that make your crew and ties them together.
Then add in the damn near transparent integration with CT and a fair amount with MT. It made the huge box of index cards that is my old campaign so very much useful again.
That and the 8+ system was back.... The most common thing I have ever said as a Gamemaster is "Roll and tell how much you beat 8 by"....
An added bit of gravy is that Mongoose has put out a number of not 3rd Imperium specific books than wander across the breath of SF. Heck in conjunction with ADB we get to see a flavor of Trek under the Traveller rules umbrella (Which will please a certain unnamed cousin of mine).
All of the above should be viewed in the light of my 21 year old Traveller gaming group has play each edition to some extent or another (except T5, but that may change here in the future).
tim_manley
SOC-12
Flavor of trek? ADB?
Could you elaborate? Share links?
Thanks
Could you elaborate? Share links?
Thanks
Baron
SOC-12
Flavor of trek? ADB?
Could you elaborate? Share links?
Thanks
That would be the new Prime Directive rpg using Mongoose Traveller rules, no? Not out yet?
Yes in conjunction with ADB as yet another game system for Prime Directive...
The most open place that has talked about it is a topic on the Mongoose forum which has devolved to a "are we there yet" sorta discussion with/at the author. http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=55547&hilit=prime&start=200
tim_manley
SOC-12
I ran a group of 16 year old who had only ever played pathfinder and they understood it pretty quickly. They realized how brutal it can be after the first combat round, but they liked it.
Doh! I didn't realize that you meant Amarillo Design Bureau.
I didn't realize they were doing a Prime Directive in MgT...
okay... something else I have to convince the wife I must buy...
There's a few things. Adding an attribute increase system to the experience rules for once play has started and adjusting the TL of a few items (e.g. a 350,000 cr, 3.5 kg bioscanner is TL 11, not TL 15) for example.
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