Traveller 5e coming from World's Largest RPG in cooperation with Mongoose Publishing

[TrippyHippy]

Edit: I see that it's Mongoose going with the Traveller 5e terminology. That feels like a very strange choice to me. It implies that they're completely uninterested in existing Traveller fans and are only interested in the D&D market.

No it doesn’t. They have an entire catalogue from about 40 manuscripts coming in for publication, apparently, an ongoing release schedule throughout 2026 and a 50th Anniversary that is being planned for in 2027 for the regular Traveller game…..in addition to what they are aiming to do for this new version for 5E.

It’s no different to, say, Cubicle 7 releasing multiple versions of Doctor Who or Fria Ligen offering alternative versions of The One Ring/Lord of the Rings. They are just acknowledging different markets that they want to tap into.

I mean, Mongoose now owns Traveller and have staked their entire business on it. Why would they want to undermine their own brand with their existing fanbase?

 

[SableWyvern]

No it doesn’t. They have an entire catalogue from about 40 manuscripts coming in for publication, apparently, an ongoing release schedule throughout 2026 and a 50th Anniversary that is being planned for in 2027 for the regular Traveller game…..in addition to what they are aiming to do for this new version for 5E.

It’s no different to, say, Cubicle 7 releasing multiple versions of Doctor Who or Fria Ligen offering alternative versions of The One Ring/Lord of the Rings. They are just acknowledging different markets that they want to tap into.

I mean, Mongoose now owns Traveller and have staked their entire business on it. Why would they want to undermine their own brand with their existing fanbase?

To be clearer then, it implies to me that with respect to this product they're completely uninterested in existing Traveller fans and are only interested in the D&D market.

The existing success with and support of various existing Traveller products only makes this particular decision regarding the name seem even stranger to me.

I don't see this as undermining the existing products in any way. I just don't understand why they would call this Traveller 5e when there is an existing 5th edition of Traveller.

 

[Mongoose_Matt]

It’s no different to, say, Cubicle 7 releasing multiple versions of Doctor Who or Fria Ligen offering alternative versions of The One Ring/Lord of the Rings. They are just acknowledging different markets that they want to tap into.

True, except we are not the publishers of this one - it is simply a licence to a company that wants to take a swing at a 5E version.

The current Traveller (Traveller Prime?) will continue without distraction or lightening of resources, and we have a lot of material already in the works. We are coming to the 50th Anniversary and, as far as we are concerned, are good for another 50 years.

Now, if you will excuse me, I will get back to editing a book that describes how a bunch of interstellar rockstars are going to halt a coup on Amondiage...

 

[Mongoose_Matt]

To be clearer then, it implies to me that with respect to this product they're completely uninterested in existing Traveller fans and are only interested in the D&D market.

That might actually be accurate - while we are aware of some Traveller fans who collect everything with a Traveller logo on it (something we do not condone, but have personal experience of this illness), we do not expect for one minute that current Travellers will flock to this new game. However, if we can bring K'Kree and Droyne to a new realm of gamers, if we can in crease the relevance of Traveller to younger generations... I am good with that.

The full fat Traveller will be waiting for them down the road...

 

[SableWyvern]

That might actually be accurate - while we are aware of some Traveller fans who collect everything with a Traveller logo on it (something we do not condone, but have personal experience of this illness), we do not expect for one minute that current Travellers will flock to this new game. However, if we can bring K'Kree and Droyne to a new realm of gamers, if we can in crease the relevance of Traveller to younger generations... I am good with that.

The full fat Traveller will be waiting for them down the road...

Yeah, to be very clear I have no issues with this product existing. If there are people out there who want it, and someone who wants to make it, then they should go for it. I'm bemused only by the name, as it's hyper D&D-centric and easily confused with T5.

 

[Micah Sweet]

For my part, I use 5e rules for science fiction games extensively, and from several sources combined with my own homebrew, so 5e Traveller would for me be a welcome source of new mechanical ideas and inspiration, especially since I have regularly had difficulty with getting my 5e players interested in learning other systems.

 

[The Soloist]

Yeah, to be very clear I have no issues with this product existing. If there are people out there who want it, and someone who wants to make it, then they should go for it. I'm bemused only by the name, as it's hyper D&D-centric and easily confused with T5.

It's called Traveller 5e. It will be shortened to T5e. Players will figure it out. They will read wiki, articles, blogs and watch Youtubers about it. No one thinks, I hope, that T20 was the twentieth edition of Traveller...

 

[billd91]

Traveller is all about its system and it loses that by converting it to 5E. Unless they’re completely replacing 5E’s classes and levels with a new life path system in which case it isn’t 5E any more.

Well.... maybe various players have been devoted to a particular expression of Traveller and it's system, but all about the system as a whole? No. See below.

Also I feel like Traveller is one of those big original D&D competitors dating back to the 1970s. Isn’t it the first sci-fi RPG? Getting absorbed into 5E makes it feel a bit like D&D has won that 50 year contest.

I love D&D and I love Traveller. I love most that they are so different not just in design but in ethos. It saddens me a little to see this. Traveller should stand proud!

As others have pointed out, Traveller has existed through several different systems - some closely related, some... not - from the LBBs, to Classic Traveller, to MegaTraveller, to New Era (T:2000 system), to GURPS Traveller, Marc Miller's Traveller (T4), Traveller20 (d20), Traveller 5, and Mongoose, and Traveller, as a concept, has persisted even if the system has morphed into probably the most varied RPG in existence.