payn
Glory to Marik
Greetings,
So, if you don’t know by now, I’m a big fan of the TTRPG Traveller. About 12 years ago I was looking for D&D/PF alternatives. Traveller appealed to me since it had a long history (nearly as long as D&D) and was still alive and kicking. I thought that must mean something if the game had such long legs. I hit up my local gaming store and they had a pile of the original “little black books”. I snatched them up and immediately started planning a new campaign. This would be the “classic” Traveller edition the OG of the family. My gaming group enjoyed it, but we only played for about 6 months before returning to Pathfinder.
With my interest in Traveller stoked, I decided to check out Mongoose 1E Traveller. A pretty close brother to classic Traveller with a few modern updates. I would say the differences are not significant and on par with the edition changes of Call of Cthulhu. Other folks might have differing opinions which I cant wait to hear. I managed to get a gaming group together for some MGT1E. This game lasted about the same 6 month period.
I jumped immediately into Mongoose Traveller second edition. This one had some more significant changes, but all of them seemed to be conducive to a smooth running Sci-Fi game. I have been running some co-workers through a sandbox campaign for over a year now. They are loving the chance to try a classically inspired TTRPG and get away from the fantasy genre for once. Many of them are first timers outside of D&D/PF.
That’s my Traveller journey to date. I love the hard sci-fi element of the system. I prefer a lower fantasy feel to all my games, and Traveller hits the sweet spot. Combat is fast and fun with just enough rules to be interesting without being overwhelming. The working as team spaceship combat is fun and a good twist on traditional TTRPG combat. The lack of leveling and focus on skills helps keep the players interested in the character’s interests instead of their abilities. The slow pace of interstellar travel gives the game an age of sail feel, which leads to long planning on the characters part. As a referee I really enjoy seeing the players put their minds to use on skills and exploration.
I intend this thread to be the first in a series looking into Traveller the TTRPG. I am a big believer in journeys are often more important than destinations. I really want to hear folks experience with Traveller. Particularly for this discussion around the editions in a broad and general sense. I will dive further into the parts of Traveller in additional series, but feel free to discuss what you love about Traveller!
The editions rundown:
Classic Traveller 1977-1986 Games Designer Workshop (GDW)
Mega Traveller 1986-1991 (GDW)
Traveller: The New Era (wow never heard of this anybody use it???) 1992-1995 (GDW)
Marc Miller’s Traveller Imperium Games 1996-1998 (Love to hear about this era!)
GURPS Traveller 1998-2004 Steve Jackson Games
Traveller20 Quicklink Interactive D20 version 2002-2008
Traveller Hero 2006-2008 Comstar Games
Mongoose Traveller 2008-2016 Mongoose Publishing
Traveller 5 Far Future Enterprises 2013-
Mongoose Traveller 2E 2016- Mongoose
So, if you don’t know by now, I’m a big fan of the TTRPG Traveller. About 12 years ago I was looking for D&D/PF alternatives. Traveller appealed to me since it had a long history (nearly as long as D&D) and was still alive and kicking. I thought that must mean something if the game had such long legs. I hit up my local gaming store and they had a pile of the original “little black books”. I snatched them up and immediately started planning a new campaign. This would be the “classic” Traveller edition the OG of the family. My gaming group enjoyed it, but we only played for about 6 months before returning to Pathfinder.
With my interest in Traveller stoked, I decided to check out Mongoose 1E Traveller. A pretty close brother to classic Traveller with a few modern updates. I would say the differences are not significant and on par with the edition changes of Call of Cthulhu. Other folks might have differing opinions which I cant wait to hear. I managed to get a gaming group together for some MGT1E. This game lasted about the same 6 month period.
I jumped immediately into Mongoose Traveller second edition. This one had some more significant changes, but all of them seemed to be conducive to a smooth running Sci-Fi game. I have been running some co-workers through a sandbox campaign for over a year now. They are loving the chance to try a classically inspired TTRPG and get away from the fantasy genre for once. Many of them are first timers outside of D&D/PF.
That’s my Traveller journey to date. I love the hard sci-fi element of the system. I prefer a lower fantasy feel to all my games, and Traveller hits the sweet spot. Combat is fast and fun with just enough rules to be interesting without being overwhelming. The working as team spaceship combat is fun and a good twist on traditional TTRPG combat. The lack of leveling and focus on skills helps keep the players interested in the character’s interests instead of their abilities. The slow pace of interstellar travel gives the game an age of sail feel, which leads to long planning on the characters part. As a referee I really enjoy seeing the players put their minds to use on skills and exploration.
I intend this thread to be the first in a series looking into Traveller the TTRPG. I am a big believer in journeys are often more important than destinations. I really want to hear folks experience with Traveller. Particularly for this discussion around the editions in a broad and general sense. I will dive further into the parts of Traveller in additional series, but feel free to discuss what you love about Traveller!
The editions rundown:
Classic Traveller 1977-1986 Games Designer Workshop (GDW)
Mega Traveller 1986-1991 (GDW)
Traveller: The New Era (wow never heard of this anybody use it???) 1992-1995 (GDW)
Marc Miller’s Traveller Imperium Games 1996-1998 (Love to hear about this era!)
GURPS Traveller 1998-2004 Steve Jackson Games
Traveller20 Quicklink Interactive D20 version 2002-2008
Traveller Hero 2006-2008 Comstar Games
Mongoose Traveller 2008-2016 Mongoose Publishing
Traveller 5 Far Future Enterprises 2013-
Mongoose Traveller 2E 2016- Mongoose