Mongoose's New IP: Traveller is BACK

[S'mon]

Sounds pretty awesome. I wasn't taken with T20, and Classic is by far the best of the Traveller versions (Classic, TNE, T20) I'm familiar with, others suffer from being over-complex.

 

[Cam Banks]

It seems very appropriate to me that a British company be at the helm of RuneQuest and Traveller, given all of my fond memories of 1980's White Dwarf before it turned into a Games Workshop advertisement. Together with their existing d20 stuff, it's as if the folks at Mongoose are trying to capture that spirit of British gaming from that era. I hope it works out well for them!

Cheers,
Cam, ex-pat New Zealander

 

[pogre]

If you cannot die in chargen I have no use for this version.

 

[Garnfellow]

This is really interesting to me. I've never played Traveler, but I've always wanted to -- and after seeing so many execrable conversions to d20, like Adventure! d20 and Deadlands d20, I went nowhere near T20. If Mongoose does a good job, I'll definitely buy it.

Your wariness was certainly warranted (I can add Chaosiums' awful "Dragonlords of Melnibone" to the pile of failures), but T20 was, IMHO, a rather successful d20 conversion. And T20 was one of the very first games to win that distinction.

 

[Garnfellow]

I am rather ambivalent about this news. On one hand, in the abstract I am always psyched to see another classic RPG system become open, as with RuneQuest. This is a very cool move by Mongoose.

But on the other hand, I was very disappointed by Mongoose's first round of RuneQuest products, so I am somewhat wary of the new Traveller. I'll definitely be holding back to see what the reviews are like before I buy anything.

(Fortunately PirateCat reminded us of the excellent Paranoia XP, which is a great example of Mongoose nailing a product the first time out.)

I also suspect that the aim to "halt the fragmentation of the Traveller game" is total folly and probably not that worthwhile a goal, even if it were possible. But we'll see.

 

[jdrakeh]

On one hand, this is pretty cool. On the other hand, I can't believe this is the Holy Grail that Mongoose has been talking about (of all the companies who have published the game, I think that Traveller can only be considered a huge success for the original GDW).

 

[bolen]

It seems Mongoose must be as large as Wizards or Games Workshop now. They have so many Licenses.

Conan, Starship Troopers, Paranoia, Runequest, .... and now Traveller (the sci fi equivalent of D&D). I always thought of them as a small company like Green Ronin or Kenzer . Are they bigger then White Wolf? Where is all this capital coming from to buy these big licenses?

 

[Cam Banks]

On the other hand, I can't believe this is the Holy Grail that Mongoose has been talking about (of all the companies who have published the game, I think that Traveller can only be considered a huge success for the original GDW).

This isn't the Holy Grail they've been talking about. It's the "popular gaming IP" they've been talking about independently of the Holy Grail, which will be using the RuneQuest rules Mongoose released last year.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Korgoth]

I was going to lament how the product will inevitably contain foolish, broken mechanics that render it a complete waste, like so many other Mongoose products (that I've purchased), and then I remembered T4. My Classic Traveller books didn't immolate as collateral damage during that disaster, so there's no reason to think they will during this one.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

It seems very appropriate to me that a British company be at the helm of RuneQuest and Traveller, given all of my fond memories of 1980's White Dwarf before it turned into a Games Workshop advertisement. Together with their existing d20 stuff, it's as if the folks at Mongoose are trying to capture that spirit of British gaming from that era. I hope it works out well for them!

Cheers,
Cam, ex-pat New Zealander

That's an interesting take on it. Both games always struck me as quintessentially American, especially Traveller. Traveller especially, in large part due to the support it got in Dragon magazine in the early to mid 80s. Warhammer was the game I always saw as being the British RPG.