Buy Mongoose Traveller or stay with MT

[Dank Nyland]

Hi all!

So I'm sitting here with a ruler, pen and the Consolidated Errata for MT.
Page for page I'm writing down the Errata in my books.... :CoW:

While taking a break, I saw that there is a Traveller (Mongoose) Sale at
DriveThruRPG. It is tempting, but I have no idea if it is worth the money
or if it is better to stay at MT?

Therefor some advise would be really great. If I like MT, would I also like
the Mongoose Traveller? Could I save a lot of time and buy the new stuff
instead of sitting there and try to fix my MT books?

Thanks for your help!

 

[infojunky]

Therefor some advise would be really great. If I like MT, would I also like
the Mongoose Traveller? Could I save a lot of time and buy the new stuff
instead of sitting there and try to fix my MT books?

Six of one half a dozen of another sorta question there.

At least with MT you know what the Errata is. Mongoose is pretty much clueless when comes to that.

I would like to be able to point out the significant changes Pro/Cons of each, but echa has their strengths and weaknesses, often in the same places.

So the real question is how big is your budget?

For Mongoose you would probably want the Core rulebook, High Guard for Ship construction and the Central Supply catalog for Stuff. Totalling around $30 during the sale for PDF's.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

The new Mongoose Traveller is more like CT than MT.
It has a task system, but is much less detailed than MT.

I would certainly consider Core + High Guard worth $20.

 

[Supplement Four]

My answer? Go back to CT, baby! :rofl:

 

[flykiller]

I have no idea if it is worth the money or if it is better to stay at MT?

are you happy with your existing game?

 

[Dank Nyland]

are you happy with your existing game?

Yes and no.

Yes, I like the rules, the background is ok (we'll start some years before the Fifth Frontier War ) and the supplements
are great (Worldbuilders, Starships...)

No, the Errata is killing me. Right now I have spent more time to write the Errata down than actually playing the game.

Therefore I'm really undecided about the whole matter.

 

[Dank Nyland]

Six of one half a dozen of another sorta question there.

At least with MT you know what the Errata is. Mongoose is pretty much clueless when comes to that.

I would like to be able to point out the significant changes Pro/Cons of each, but echa has their strengths and weaknesses, often in the same places.

So the real question is how big is your budget?

For Mongoose you would probably want the Core rulebook, High Guard for Ship construction and the Central Supply catalog for Stuff. Totalling around $30 during the sale for PDF's.

Well, the budget is there to buy at least the book you recommended and perhaps a little bit more.
The point you made about the Errata is very important to me. I've took a look at the Mongoose Errata thread and it looks... very impressive.
I don't want to change one Errata orgy with the next one....

 

[Dank Nyland]

My answer? Go back to CT, baby! :rofl:

:rofl:

I have some CT stuff! Perhaps when both options fail I come back to mommy.

 

[mike wightman]

MgT and MT are similar enough that in play you will hardly notice the difference.

Both have a bloated skill list, both grant more skills per term than CT , and the task resolution systems are very similar. Damage resolution is easier to figure out in MgT.

The main benefit for getting MgT is it is a living system for which stuff is still being written.

 

[Dank Nyland]

The main benefit for getting MgT is it is a living system for which stuff is still being written.

A few days ago, while making his character, a friend of mine and I talked about how much life is left in MT. We
came to the conclusion that we'll have to do much on our own, if we want new stuff. Scan other stuff for Traveller
and try to port it into the MT system and so on. It could be fun, but it will be very time consuming.

If MgT is that close to MT perhaps we should really consider it an option. But on the other hand the Errata thread for MgT... :CoW:

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Before you make a final decision and the sale is over pick up three free/pay as you want products. Now. Right Now
Mongoose Traveller Development Pack
Cepheus Engine
Cepheus Engine Vehicle Design System

This allows you to get a feel for Mongoose Traveller 1e and 2e for free. Except for some aspects some aspects of ship and vehicle design 1e/2e/Cepheus are fairly similar.

I would think it is where you want to be with the gaming "scene" as it were. The reality of MT is that it is only fan-supported. It does not seem likely that anything new will be published. If you liked the Rebellion setting, you will have to make new things up. if you are going to be picking up new stuff you are going to have to do all the work converting which is harder as Design Sequences are more complex in MT.

MgT and Cepheus Engine are where things are being published, at least if/until Traveller 5 moves forward. If you are playing in a wider community of gamers or in a city, the younger they are the more likely they have heard of MgT. More products are generally available and IMHO it s easier to translate things MT or TNE to a less complex system.
If you go this route I would recommend in buying the Big Sale Items in this order:

• Traveller Starter Set - You get the rules and it has an Official Traveller Universe campaign that takes place elsewhere in the same galaxy. With The Core Rules You get a few pages extra pages on the Sindal Subsector which you get pretty much if you purchase Drinax and you do not get The Fall of Tinath campaign found in the starter set
• High Guard - Neither the Core Rules or the Starter Set have ship design rules. Here they are.
• The Pirates of Drinax - 600 pages on campaigning in the Trojan Reaches Sector. New terrain, but next door to the Spinward Marches!
• Aslan Ships - yea ok if you are in Trojan Reach you might be fighting Aslan so here is their stuff.

 

[Dank Nyland]

The reality of MT is that it is only fan-supported. It does not seem likely that anything new will be published. If you liked the Rebellion setting, you will have to make new things up. if you are going to be picking up new stuff you are going to have to do all the work converting which is harder as Design Sequences are more complex in MT.

Thank you very much! I'll take a look into the Cepheus System.

The Rebellion setting is quite interesting but, at least for me, Rebellion on a smaller level would have done it.
I'm with you in regard of converting stuff into MT. As mentioned before, I have no idea, how much life is
still left in MT. And if fewer and fewer fans are supporting MT it could be a dead end for our group.

Tomorrow evening my group will meet and we'll discuss which way to go. We'll see...

 

[Dulinor]

Stay with MT !

 

[Quint]

Thank you very much! I'll take a look into the Cepheus System.

The Rebellion setting is quite interesting but, at least for me, Rebellion on a smaller level would have done it.
I'm with you in regard of converting stuff into MT. As mentioned before, I have no idea, how much life is
still left in MT. And if fewer and fewer fans are supporting MT it could be a dead end for our group.

Tomorrow evening my group will meet and we'll discuss which way to go. We'll see...

I'd second the suggestion for Cepheus Engine. I'm currently in the process of tweaking it to give me what I like from MT and MgT, and what I also like from CT - so I can run a PT game and not have to worry about the errata from anything, but can steal from any even semi-compatible edition of Traveller and use it in my setting.

I love the Imperium, but I'm tired of trying to sort through the various versions of canon.

D.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

If I like MT, would I also like
the Mongoose Traveller? Could I save a lot of time and buy the new stuff
instead of sitting there and try to fix my MT books?

I'm not much of an errata person. What is it that you like about MegaTraveller? Maybe that is a reason to stay with it?

If MgT is that close to MT perhaps we should really consider it an option. But on the other hand the Errata thread for MgT...

That's not errata. Just someone's home-brewing is all.

You don't need Cepheus Engine if you already have Traveller.

 

[flykiller]

We came to the conclusion that we'll have to do much on our own, if we want new stuff.

eh? eh? what's that, sonny? why in MY day you had to do most of it on your own if you wanted anything at all. working it out and then working it into the game, that was up-hill both ways.

seriously dude, there's nothing quite like doing it yourself and then seeing it all come together.

 

[Fovean]

That's not errata. Just someone's home-brewing is all.

I second this. I suggested some ideas and some of my own house rules then I realized how far that thread had gotten from actual errata.

Official MgT 2e Errata does not exist to my knowledge but there is this thread on the MgT forum:
http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=120907&p=925059&hilit=2e+errata#p925059

It covers quite a bit of the new 2e core rules with answers from the author himself.

I personally really like the MgT 2e version. It feels old school in it's simplicity, yet it addresses the new generation with some tweaks to the starkness of Classic.

I should say I was not a fan of MegaT because I found it very rules-intensive for a lot of what should be (IMO) simple things, mainly task resolution and combat damage. And of course - the massive errata. Designing a ship and then finding out it didn't work was frustrating, to say the least.

I haven't played any real games with Cepheus Engine but I have the rules and vehicle supplement and they are very good. I've made some characters and some vehicles and so forth and I feel like you can't go wrong with this route.

MgT 2e greatly simplifies vehicle design and I think it's a better system and much faster to design with (versus MgT 1e / Cepheus; I would never design a vehicle in MegaT). It also seems more in the spirit of T5, where small spacecraft and vehicles are designed more with size and useable traits rather than exactly detailing components, requirements and capabilities and making sure it all fits/works. It works from the get-go, it's just the more you add, the more expensive/bigger the craft gets. There are a few trade-offs you might have to do so that keeps it interesting.

Personally I would go with Mongoose 2nd Edition. It's alive and there are adventures/supplements being published right now. I suppose there are errata concerns with both Mongoose versions but quite frankly they haven't hindered me personally. CE is alive and well but is fan supported/OGL.

Last, Mongoose have been doing a lot of interesting and fun work with the pre-Rebellion 1105 era Third Imperium; that has breathed a lot of new life into the setting. Since you're starting your campaign pre-Rebellion you can just roll right into it when you're ready.

I can't think of any rules in any version that are rebellion-specific, except maybe adjusting some UWPs.

 

[jcrocker]

As mentioned before, I have no idea, how much life is
still left in MT. And if fewer and fewer fans are supporting MT it could be a dead end for our group.

Yes, it's a pain to go thru and incorporate the errata, but once that's done, it's done. MT can just be the rules system, the rules don't tie you into the whole Rebellion thing, most material ports with a little bit of work. You could spend that $30 on adventures instead of more core books.

It really depends what you want to do with it. Every so often I still pull it out and design a ship or two and bless the spreadsheets that make it so much easier these days.

 

[kilemall]

I don't know whether this will help or not, but you might consider an alternative course.

I am CT and stick with CT/mutant Striker. But.

I also dearly adore many of the more nuanced 'human skills' such as Deception, Investigation and Persuasion from later editions.

So I use a variant of UTP like resolution, but I don't bother with laundry lists of task resolution rules, the point of a task system to me is being able to quickly define the variables and difficulty and adjudicate quickly for the roll.

Approaching rolls like saving throws is persuasive to me, so only rolls for drama or difficulty or combat.

Striker is the initial mothership of the fidgety gearhead side of Traveller rulesdom. It's great for what I use it for, nuanced personal combat play, but vehicles take forever to build.

That's why I am looking to use the CE/MgT1E vehicle design system. Fast modular design, then for relative armor values I just translate into an equivalent Striker armor number, and I am set.

So that's what I'm suggesting- pick a base Traveller that suits you, then import whatever you like from other formats and ruthlessly ignore what doesn't work for you and your players.

That approach could help you quite a bit if you want to retain MT. Review the errata by all means, but if it's something you don't use or can extrapolate quickly, it's not worth the time or being held hostage to the rules.

Probably a 1970s RPGer attitude, which I am, we did not have the benefit of high production values or 4 decades of development of the field.

I can understand starting out and seeking to hew to the rules, but at a certain point they should be suggestion and development resources, not chains to entertainment delivery or a professional sports referee manual.

Oh, and whatever you do, buy the Central Supply Catalogs when you can . You can never have enough clever gear in your setting, and translating them into whatever system is usually very easy.

 

[aramis]

Note that MGT 2E seriously reduces combat skills... to under 6 of them. It's very possible to generate really combat heavy characters who make rambo look inept and narrowly focused.