Any Traveller players out there?

[Derren]

I recently got me some Traveller books (Mongoose to be exact) and I just want to ask if there are any Traveller players out there to offer some guidance and advice for new beginners and would also be willing to answer some questions?

I already got one as when reading the Aslan book it is not quite clear to me how a character qualifies for a career after the first time with his Rite of Passage result, for example when having failed a survival roll or when switching careers after 3 terms.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I own but haven't played the Mongoose version, sorry.

 

[darjr]

The big piece of advise is that wealth IS character advancement. Yes, there is advancement out side of that, but better gear and supplies means the characters can do more, sometimes much more. So reing in wealth with, taxes, bounties, fees, bribes, licenses, breakdowns, deals gone bad, theft and just plain bad luck. They are going to make a lot of money so don't be too kind here.

I don't have the Aslan book so I can't answer this one.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The big piece of advise is that wealth IS character advancement. Yes, there is advancement out side of that, but better gear and supplies means the characters can do more, sometimes much more. So reing in wealth with, taxes, bounties, fees, bribes, licenses, breakdowns, deals gone bad, theft and just plain bad luck. They are going to make a lot of money so don't be too kind here.

Yeah, my players were weaned on 3E, so they found the lack of concrete advancement jarring. YMMV.

Also, know ahead of time what sort of campaign you want. DISCUSS IT WITH YOUR PLAYERS. Traveller is much more open-ended than most other games. There's a default sort of D&D game, for instance ("Murderhobo"), but Traveller doesn't really have that. It can encompass Firefly-style traveling merchant play, Starship Troopers (book or movie) marines versus aliens play, Star Trek style fleet-level adventures, even planet-based science fiction adventures of all sorts. Player expectations not lining up with DM expectations will kill a Traveller campaign pretty quickly.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Traveller is one of my top 3 all time rpgs, and still the best sci-fi game out there in my view. I do like the Mongoose version, although the core book could be improved by a better layout and consistent art direction. Classic is still ‘the classic’ though and while T5 and other editions are a bit of a mess, there is still a vast amount of material out there for it.

In terms of gameplay it is soooo flexible. You can do any type of sci-fi story you like, from space opera to cyberpunk or evan modern day settings, and long term campaigns are very easy to design and build. The default Imperium setting can actually handle cyberpunk-style worlds well enough too these days, although 2300AD is a personal favourite setting and more in tone (and don;t forget Judge Dredd is a Traveller setting too).

I just love the subsystems for character, ship and world design however. They are both fun to do and gives a massive variety of worlds to explore with minimal technical fuss.

 

[WayneLigon]

I would recommend finding as many Digest Group MegaTraveller publications, adventures or sourcebooks as you can - 90% of Traveller is the setting, and they defined, re-defined, or nailed-down almost everything decent and fun regarding the Traveller setting. Their sourcebooks are fun, interesting, and a delight to read unlike anything GDW produced.

Also take a look at Rob Caswell's Deviantart page and Drell-7's page for some great traditional-era Traveller art.

 

[Derren]

I would recommend finding as many Digest Group MegaTraveller publications, adventures or sourcebooks as you can - 90% of Traveller is the setting, and they defined, re-defined, or nailed-down almost everything decent and fun regarding the Traveller setting. Their sourcebooks are fun, interesting, and a delight to read unlike anything GDW produced.

Also take a look at Rob Caswell's Deviantart page and Drell-7's page for some great traditional-era Traveller art.

How compatible is the MegaTraveller lore with the Mongoose one?

 

[WayneLigon]

How compatible is the MegaTraveller lore with the Mongoose one?

It's setting material. It's as compatible as you want it to be. Only once they delve off into the Rebellion stuff does it start to conflict, but the Rebellion was pretty much the end of anyone's involvement with GDW anyway so there's not too much of it.

 

[TrippyHippy]

How compatible is the MegaTraveller lore with the Mongoose one?

Yep - it’s pretty easy to do.

MegaTraveller was an attempt to consolidate the rules of Classic Traveller into one cohesive whole, while also making the Imperium and it’s metaplot an official setting.

Mongoose Traveller was also an attempt to consolidate the rules of Classic Traveller, while opening up the game towards being a generic ruleset for any sci-fi setting.

While the rules of each are not entirely the same, they both come from the same source and use the same core ideas - which makes them as near as dammit to play a module for example.