Mongoose’s Traveller 2e makes space travel serious business 🚀 RPG Review & Mechanics
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- čas přidán 13. 03. 2019
- Traveller (with 2 L’s) is a serious, details-oriented scifi RPG that originated in 1977. It has changed hands multiple times over the years, and Mongoose Publishing picked it up in 2008. Mongoose then put out a second edition. This video covers that edition.
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My first and favourite RPG was original Traveller. Had the boxed 1981 rule set for Christmas in 1983. Had Mercenary and High Guard plus the three original books. I still have them.
Your boxed set should have had 4 books, as there was a Book 0, which they started including in the set from late '81/ early '82, as well as 1 through 3. I got the LBB box set, along with Book 4 : Mercenary for Christmas 1982, along with the recently released Warlock of Firetop Mountain :)
@@thelastmotel That was DELUXE Traveller. It was a bigger box and also came with Adventure 0 and the Spinward Marches map. The Basic set was still just the 3 LBBs.
@Sticky Wicket: Classic Traveller was first published in 1977 as a boxed set containing the first three LBBs (Little Black Books). It was out of print by the time I bought my first copy of CT, "The Traveller Book" that was published in 1981 and replaced the LBBs boxed set. Deluxe Traveller came out later. Other LBBs (Books 4-7 and Supplements 1-13 IIRC) were published before and after TTB. 🤔
Edit: The LBBs also included several Adventures and Double Adventures, some of which have been updated for MgT (Mongoose Traveller).
@@pablohammerly448 Yes I bought them all at the time. The LBB first, then the two extras. Mercenary and High Guard. I did not know about Book 6 "Scouts" until many years after I stopped playing. My friend had a program on his ZX Spectrum that allowed you to design ships using the High Guard rule set for things like Trillion Credit Squadron. I developed a (not very good) system for solo play using my Spectrum and dice rolls. I had loads of the Supplements, Adventures and Double Adventures. Classics like Twilight's Peak and Marooned (with Marooned Alone) The Kinunir, Space Station Alpha.
Interesting that the game wasn't about levelling up. You didn't level up in Traveller. Your creation was your career path. By the time you set foot in the world you were as good as you were ever likely to be (Cybernetics and some chems aside) You actually declined with age
Loved the whole experience. Great days,
This video was so concise and useful, I sent it out to my party that is starting a 1st time Traveler campaign to explain what it is all about. Well done!
Me too!
Thanks to a "Humble Bundle", I found my way back to Traveller after some 30 years.
Watching this video four years after its release, I realized just now, how much the dark fantasy rpg "Forbidden Lands" is influenced by Traveller. It has hex-crawl exploring, character creation steps with relationships between characters, one-major-one-minor action resolution, rolls 6-sided dice, damage reduces attribute scores, tables for fast creation of settlements and enccounters, rare powers/magic, collecting and trading goods, ... You could even compare the Traveller's crew's ship to Forbidden Lands' strongholds.
Love your channel!
Very impressive video. I didn't know anything about Traveller and this vid was a perfect introduction to the basic concepts.
Tightest summary of the game I've seen on CZcams. Well done!
Great review and explanation of Mongoose Traveller ! Thank you !
This is a very well done introduction to the game. I've recently seen Seth Skorkowski video series on Traveller, 10 videos where he goes deeper into each part of the game, although briefly. Those videos are wonderful to better understand what game you are buying/playing, but your video is great to get a general presentation of Traveller and it would probably be the one I'd show my friends to see if they are interested in playing it.
Also, a brief question for anyone that has ever played Traveller: has anyone ever made a Mass Effect supplement?
This is a great overview and I like the production values in the video. It looks good and sounds great. I'll tune out in seconds if a video is hard to hear or sounds like they're on the can down the hall.
Another amazing review!! How great! Can't wait for more content!!
Keep up the grind. You have concise and easily understood explantations on top of a quality production. Bigger RPG channels could learn a thing or two from your audio levels/mixing and scripts. I have loved every video you put out :)
Thanks! Yeah, I just keep trying to make content that *I* would want to watch, not necessarily what's easy to produce.
@@DaveThaumavore I definitely have to commend you on your selection for reviews, too. I've been eyeing Coriolis, Mouse Guard and The Legend of the Five Rings, and your videos convinced me that I had to check them out and read them for myself. Anyway, just wanted to give you some encouragement after seeing those negative comments that nitpick on small details instead of looking at the great job you do as a content creator. Looking forward to seeing you coverage on more unique systems and games in future. Cheers!
Supposedly, the Traveller rpg system was what Ty Franck used to originally run his homebrew setting for the Expanse. One of his players was Daniel Abraham, they wanted to come up with a novel story inspired by Franck's sci-fi universe and rpg sessions. The rest is history.
Edit: As x pointed out, it was indeed a heavily homebrewed D20 modern system that Ty Franck used when he made his RPG for the Expanse almost 20 years ago. I stand corrected.
Very cool!
The inspiration for Firefly also reportedly came from Traveller sessions long ago in a UK college.
I heard it was d20 Future, not Traveller
@@user-gj7lp5iz6k You're right. I misremembered. thanks for correcting me!
Even in 2022 this video still is just as helpful and relevant as ever. Thank you for this. It really helped me understand the game system a lot better.
Great job on the review
Thanks for the review.
Space trucking is definitely one way to play Traveller, but by no means the only way. I actually prefer running planetary adventures where space travel is merely a backdrop. Traveller can work well for space horror if that is what interests you.
Traveller is adaptable and to do the system justice, I think players, especially referees should be creative and not just rely on the tables, however tempting that may be. Be bold. Take Traveller beyond to a place no one else has gone.
I think if you don't make use of the tables, the space ship rules, and trading, you're not making full use of the game, because those are the interesting parts of the book. The underlying rules regarding skill checks, combat, damage and so on are very basic and nothing special. This is fine because that also means that the rules are very easy to grasp, but they don't make for an interesting game if that's all the rules you use.
Also, i'm frustrated that everyone who reviews Mongoose 2nd edition leaves out all the problems of the book of which there are plenty. Grammatical errors, bad layout and layout errors, and unclear rules are everywhere. Even the cover is poorly photoshopped in the lower right corner if you look closely. I do like the game, i think it's the best sci-fi game there is (in theory), although in part that's also due to how few options there are, but the quality of the core rulebook is very questionable. In fact, i've decided to correct the issues with a pen directly in the book. Normally, i'd never do something that extreme, but it's still better than having a huge separate Errata or an edited pdf but no physical book.
Very much agreed. One constructive criticism of this review is that you basically reviewed just one way of playing a Traveller game.
Good work Dave.
Open question - best overall sci-fi RPG out of 1) Traveller 2E, 2) Alien, 3) Mothership
Good review and explanation.
Another great overview/review. I have a couple of my players in my group interested in running a one-shot of Blue Rose. Any chances you'll ever do a review of the AGE system?
I love Traveller. One of the best RPGs ever and it can adapt to any setting - Star Wars, Star Trek, The Expanse, Doctor Who anything. It's so quick to learn and play and the gameplay is really quick and flows well.
I think Mongoose Publishing did great job to make Traveller more accessible than Classic Traveller.
Hey! This Feels very close to the anime "Outlaw Star". Hell, it makes me want to make a Fan Campaign of that!
Awesome!
I love this channel
You only ever roll 2d6 for checks, adding and subtracting modifiers, trying to be a target.
Mr. Dave, what's your take on Stars Without Number vs. Traveller ?
I was wondering what music you were using for this thank you
In the original Traveller, your character could die while you were rolling them up... Aaah, the good old days.
Could you do the Shadowrun corebooks
Yesssss
intellect is wisdom and/or intelligence. education is education i.e. formally learned knowledge. and social is more social class division based and is about being able to communicate more efficiently with similar soicial class and nothing to do with charisma.
In what is essentially a galactic feudal system, social status equates to influence - which, given its methods of use, might as well be charisma.
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Errata: The game doesn't use a dice pool.
If you love Traveller and want a decent analogy on PC - Try Stellar Tactics.Of course it is not Traveller. It's sort of a cross between the Traveller spin off "Snapshop" with trading. levelling, ship combat and the developer is adding more all the time. If pure space combat with RPG /astro political elements are your thing then StarSector is a brilliant game.
I played the original Traveller through school in the early 1980's Had all the play books I can afford. Mercenary, High Guard lots of mission books and supplements (and the lovely back to back missions like Marooned and Marooned Alone).
These are both early access. Stellar Tactics is on Steam's early access and StarSector is sold through its own (rather old looking) website. Both are cheap for PC games. About £15 UK each
How have I never heard of Stellar Tactics and why am I not playing it already?!?
Would make a cracking TV show.
The TV show Firefly is very close in tone to what a classic Traveller campaign is like. (Traders/mercenaries on the frontier of space just trying to make a living so they can keep on "flying.")
I recently bought the 2e MgT book, and where the pages and everything else are sleeker in physical presentation, the game feels more aimed at a younger crowd than the first issue of the game by way of the little black books. As little art as there was in the original version of the game, I prefer that art and the sleekness and simple presentation of both ships, weapons and even battledress over the current art in this version. And character generation was pretty straight forward comparatively. You rolled your stats, selected a career path, then went down the chart to roll up skills. With this game you apparently have to keep checking various criteria. I don't understand why.
MgT 2e also says that Vargr are "canine", but they're uplifted wolves, "lupine", and the rules go on to designate a chapter on "Spaceship Operations" when it's starships that players are interested in, not so much ground to orbit nor interplanetary travel.
The old original "classic" system had some shortcomings, but it was more thought out and adult oriented in spite of a starter edition that catered to pre-teens. The lack of "sexed up" and overly detailed starships was part of its attraction, and yet whoever the artist for this version of the game seems to have wanted to add do-dads and goo-gahs to every vehicle, vessel, weapon and armor available in this game. I don't know why, and it is very unattractive, or just downright ugly and unappealing.
The other thing about the old game was that it was, or seemed to be in hindsight, a kind of test of how people interacted in security situations, hence the lack of a task system and emphasis on person to person interaction. And for me, for all of Traveller's generic overtones, I never heard nor saw anyone use another setting to run a game. I never saw anyone run a Star Wars' game, nor a Star Trek RPG session with Traveller, nor anything else. I only ever saw other people's takes on the generic setting.
I wish I could have written for the old original system, because I'm hard pressed to get into this somewhat bastardized version of the old game that I loved. Oh well.
A great review. Do you play/GM Traveller?
Charles Turnitsa I don’t, sorry.
Dave Thaumavore give it a try. It is a great mix of rules and the rich, rich background of the Third Imperium setting.
Thanks - mostly a good video, but I'm sorry to report you got skill resolution wrong. You only ever roll 2d6, not a pool. You get to add or subtract modifiers, typically a stat modifier, and your skill level. New to this version, there are times when the GM gives you a boon or a bane on your dice roll. In those cases (only) you will roll 3d6. If it is a boon, select the highest two, and if a bane, then the lowest two. But eventually you will still only use the total of 2d6 (and mods).
New Sub.
very good presentation. thanks
There are still some great third party supplements available. While designed for the classic 1977 edition they are easily compatible with MgT's 2nd edition offering. I would suggest checking out this link. www.diffworlds.com/gamelords_traveller.htm
With 40 years of playing this game under my belt I can tell you with 100% accuracy that the 3I was not created to be a logical setting. Thus the trade rules would never make sense in a real econ sense. (this includes MgT) You either have to accept that or just drop that part of the rules and wind it using en knowledge if you had an education in it.
If there's one thing I've learned in 40 years of gaming, especially in the Internet era, it is that gamers have _no_ understanding of actual economics. They toss about principles without any true understanding of their applicability, their practical manifestation, or meaning. :D
@@HeadHunterSix yes, most never took econ at a major university. Fortunately I took my courses 40+ years ago.
I regret giving away my back book boxed set.
Apart from the price the only main change is the amount of detail you want to inject into your game; furthermore to keep the pace of the game moving much of the detail is not relevent to the 'current situation' so the fallback is the old 3 LBB's.
Great game though.
Not a dice pool game.
Shawn Driscoll Educate me.
@@DaveThaumavore Basically, you're trying to roll a difficulty target or higher using 2D. Modifiers can be added to the roll. In some instances, Referees may ask for a Boon or Bane roll.
7:00 “reasonability”?
I actually have the original Traveler game. How much has really changed?
Long story short, Mongoose's version of Traveller uses a slightly modified form of the original game mechanics, with the original Third Imperium setting. So you would probably be able to pick up it very quickly.
How about reviewing the official reprints of Classic Traveller (CT, or as we used to call it, Traveller)? Apart from the glossy pictures that don't particularly match original stuff but are easy substitutes, and maybe 20% of added rules, CT has the same CharGen and world generation--it invented that UPP thing. I'll have to take a look, but I didn't realise this version of the game used dice pools?
It doesn't, it uses 2d6 like all the other editions.
@@DARTHPIZZAROLL Not all the other editions. Traveller: The New Era (the last version of the game produced by GDW) actually used a D20 instead of 2D6. Marc Miller's Traveller (aka T4) used a dice pool of D6. Other variants of the game, for example GURPS: Traveller, used other game mechanics (the GURPS system in that case).
CT character generation is not the same as Mongoose Traveller. The CT generation is a bare bones approach. Mongoose Traveller is much better at connecting your character to the game universe ands to the other characters. I say this as someone who started playing Traveller in 1983. The Mongoose Traveller 2 also uses only one design system for starships. So a 10 ton fighter, a 100 ton scout courier, and all the way up to a 500,000 ton Tigress use the same design systems. They also can all use the same space combat. Vehicle all are made on the same creation system so they interact correctly. All the damage and combat systems work seamlessly. Mongoose Traveller 2 is a much easier game to use then CT.
This is more complicated than a normal dnd to be honest
It is amazing that in the ’80’s, Traveller was ”soft sci fi.” Now, it is ”harder sci fi.”
We've gotten soft and weak as a species!
Traveller did not originate in the UK. It originated in the U.S. It is also does NOT use a dice pool (as Mr. Driscoll noted in an earlier comment). Details matter if you are going to put effort into a review.
Ok cool, John.
Someone bought me the orig. black boxed Traveler in 1982 or so, and I was confounded by it straight off. I had no issues learning Call of Cthulhu and D&D, but this monstrosity?
There were three books of rules and nothing else in that box. The fucking game made ZERO sense. I gave up and shelved it forever.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience; I love Traveller, even though I don't get to play it often. If you have learned CoC, then Traveller is not too much of a stretch -- it is another skill-based system. If some aspects of the game seem unusual to you and your group, you might try running some of the Traveller sub-games -- like Snapshot, Beltstrike!, or Star Trader, to get familiar with how Traveller combat, prospecting, and economics (respectively) work.
Traveller has been in eight different formats -- Classic Traveller, GURPs Traveller, Mongoose Traveller, Traveller d20 (T20), MegaTraveller, Traveller the New Era (TNE), Marc Miller's Traveller (T4), and T5. There are small differences with each -- GURPs is not metric, and uses different Tech Levels; T20 has classes and levels like D&D; TNE used a d20 for a lot of skill resolution but was not a WotC d20 'system' game; and so on -- but much of the material is compatible with whatever system you prefer.
@@39401JLB I haven't honestly gamed in years. This was my experience back in the early 80s. I really was more dedicate then to other games like D&D and Call, etc. I don't have a single friend left around here who games. I don't know anybody who is remotely interested, sadly. Gaming stores are disappearing fast. Mainly I'm a dedicated XPlane11 flight simulation guy the past three years.