terryocarroll
SOC-1
How easy (or hard) would it be to use supplemental materials developed for MgT with T5? Has anyone had experience in trying this?
Traveller 5 vs Mongoose Traveller comparison
- Thread starter terryocarroll
- Start date
ABout as hard as CT-T4 or MGT-T4.
Well, they use different task and skill systems, so that would have to be adapted. I don't know about their spaceship rules, and whether and how they conflict.
Spaceresearcher
SOC-12
Which is Best?
The big question I've got to put forward, is which is best/better?
Personally I haven't stepped on the Mongoose band wagon due to the fact that Marc is still actively involved in Traveller and I found it a bit weird that with the actual Classic and all the great material now available from Farfuture, why anyone would try and re-invent the wheel.
The last Traveller I purchased(and got a few of the books too) was the T4 books, which I thought were terrific(yes there were the odd rule quirks but for crying out loud, I'm sure most players can simply modify those rules that don't tie in with classic back to classic. The important aspect is THE GAME and having fun. Everyone wins in an RPG when everyone puts there all into it and has a great adventure in the process).
Thinking about it I thought to myself "Why re-invent the wheel and who would know Traveller better than Marc???". I'm also loving the fact that this next edition looks set to be the ultimate version. If there's one thing that's annoyed me through out the years, it's copy cats. I shunned D20 and Gurps traveller because once again it's re-inventing the wheel. I'm all for other companies putting out official sanctioned adventures and supplements for a game but why change from a standard that everyone knows???
In some ways that's why I like 'Star Frontiers'. The rules are the rules, there's been a lot of add ons(there still coming) and it's an all round fun scifi game. What distinguishes Traveller from Star Frontiers for me is that it's far more expansive and surprisingly the rules pose limitations which help to pin down aspects like starships and space travel in a defined way leaving plenty of scope for your own creativity while also preventing the chaos from what can quickly end up an out of control nightmare when the scope of the game gives good character detailing but thins out on the details of the universe and it's make up. Star Frontiers is terrific for laid out adventures, but if I was going to have a game with a lot of planet hopping(piracy attacks on the way), charts to make it more ordered and crazy bars amidst asteroid fields in the middle of nowhere, then Traveller would be the system I would choose. Why? because it's had the mechanics to handle these things and a lot more, for years and does them well.
Possibly the only thing I would change is the D6 system, to a D10 system(the only reason I can fathom as to why it started and never changed was because that's all that was really readily available at the time and if it aint broke don't fix it philosophy). For myself I always find straight percentage systems such as that in Star Frontiers for example with just 2D10's so much easier. But hey, tables and D6 will do the job too and at the end of the day, the dice used are but an aesthetically pleasing thing. Some of us like metric others use imperial it's really that minor an issue. What matters is the system and Traveller to me has always been a real quality SciFi RPG system and the inspiration for many ideas and creativity which to me is what RPGing is all about. Traveller is a SciFi rpg and that excites me as someone who despises fantasy games. It promoted thinking about technology and surviving in space, something which one day will be something many more people than just enthusiasts and professionals will be thinking about.
Please share your thoughts fellow Travellers, I'd love to know what you think on this? Is T5 going to be THE standard and ditch the rest(keeping the adventures and campaigns only) or is there forever going to be flavours of traveller polluting what to me should be a collaborative internationally supported system.
Rehyrdrated Food for thought,
Sean A. Curtin
Spaceresearcher
The big question I've got to put forward, is which is best/better?
Personally I haven't stepped on the Mongoose band wagon due to the fact that Marc is still actively involved in Traveller and I found it a bit weird that with the actual Classic and all the great material now available from Farfuture, why anyone would try and re-invent the wheel.
The last Traveller I purchased(and got a few of the books too) was the T4 books, which I thought were terrific(yes there were the odd rule quirks but for crying out loud, I'm sure most players can simply modify those rules that don't tie in with classic back to classic. The important aspect is THE GAME and having fun. Everyone wins in an RPG when everyone puts there all into it and has a great adventure in the process).
Thinking about it I thought to myself "Why re-invent the wheel and who would know Traveller better than Marc???". I'm also loving the fact that this next edition looks set to be the ultimate version. If there's one thing that's annoyed me through out the years, it's copy cats. I shunned D20 and Gurps traveller because once again it's re-inventing the wheel. I'm all for other companies putting out official sanctioned adventures and supplements for a game but why change from a standard that everyone knows???
In some ways that's why I like 'Star Frontiers'. The rules are the rules, there's been a lot of add ons(there still coming) and it's an all round fun scifi game. What distinguishes Traveller from Star Frontiers for me is that it's far more expansive and surprisingly the rules pose limitations which help to pin down aspects like starships and space travel in a defined way leaving plenty of scope for your own creativity while also preventing the chaos from what can quickly end up an out of control nightmare when the scope of the game gives good character detailing but thins out on the details of the universe and it's make up. Star Frontiers is terrific for laid out adventures, but if I was going to have a game with a lot of planet hopping(piracy attacks on the way), charts to make it more ordered and crazy bars amidst asteroid fields in the middle of nowhere, then Traveller would be the system I would choose. Why? because it's had the mechanics to handle these things and a lot more, for years and does them well.
Possibly the only thing I would change is the D6 system, to a D10 system(the only reason I can fathom as to why it started and never changed was because that's all that was really readily available at the time and if it aint broke don't fix it philosophy). For myself I always find straight percentage systems such as that in Star Frontiers for example with just 2D10's so much easier. But hey, tables and D6 will do the job too and at the end of the day, the dice used are but an aesthetically pleasing thing. Some of us like metric others use imperial it's really that minor an issue. What matters is the system and Traveller to me has always been a real quality SciFi RPG system and the inspiration for many ideas and creativity which to me is what RPGing is all about. Traveller is a SciFi rpg and that excites me as someone who despises fantasy games. It promoted thinking about technology and surviving in space, something which one day will be something many more people than just enthusiasts and professionals will be thinking about.
Please share your thoughts fellow Travellers, I'd love to know what you think on this? Is T5 going to be THE standard and ditch the rest(keeping the adventures and campaigns only) or is there forever going to be flavours of traveller polluting what to me should be a collaborative internationally supported system.
Rehyrdrated Food for thought,
Sean A. Curtin
Spaceresearcher
Think of brands and versions as supporting Traveller, rather than competitors. If you have a ruleset you know and love, there's no reason or mandate to ditch it.
As for GURPS and Mongoose Publishing: cross-pollination seems to benefit Traveller.
And along those lines, consider that Traveller5's core book is many resources rolled into one. Its content is modular and can be useful to other versions of Traveller.
As for GURPS and Mongoose Publishing: cross-pollination seems to benefit Traveller.
And along those lines, consider that Traveller5's core book is many resources rolled into one. Its content is modular and can be useful to other versions of Traveller.
Because of the different number of task labels, and the tight integration of the T5 task system, that's not entirely true.
SmilingKnight
SOC-6
Well, if you wanted to use the T5 generation tables for worlds or spaceships, that should be easy.
How difficult translating the gunmaker or sophont maker tables is another question
How difficult translating the gunmaker or sophont maker tables is another question
None of the tools are incompatible with other Traveller rules. Animals, guns, armor, vehicles, etc -- except for damage and armor in the latter of course. True, the ranges and sizes are scaled to mesh with the Traveller 5 task system, but they are also on a known scale. Easily used elsewhere.
The major challenges I see would be in adapting skill levels, damage, and armor ratings.
The major challenges I see would be in adapting skill levels, damage, and armor ratings.
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T5 isn't going to be the new standard. We will buy it & lift whatever subsystems we like & ignore the rest of it. In my case, I'll use it about as much as I use Mongoose Traveller - 1 or 2 (Mapping & Alien generation) subsystems. 90% of this will be used once & then ignored.
I have the T5 CD & I quite frankly am not all that impressed. From my perspective, it appears to be designed for gearheads that don't actually have a a game. For example:
Gunmaker - Who cares? Really. It has no impact on the game itself - Traveller is a role-playing game, not a wargame. If a character gets shot by automatic rifle at short range, it doesn't matter if the character is shot by a 5.54 or a 7.62, they are still going down and probably dying in the process.
Shipmaker - I am NOT going back to a small-ship universe.
Too much die-rolling. I role-play, I don't roll-play.
T5 is simply gilding the lily.
The Group 1 quality artwork and left justified text doesn't help, it screams amateur.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
I forget if it's already in there or not, but IMHO the most useful chapter T5 could have is one detailing how to convert PCs/guns/whatever to and from other editions.
So let's start a thread explicitly for cooking up those conversions.
LiamKerrington
SOC-12
Sorry, for resurrecting this topic; but I prefer doin' this before I start a new topic, which resembles this to some degree.
Currently I dig through all those incredible Freelance Traveller Fanzines; and in issue 13 Shannon Appelcline shares his experiences with having played Mongoose's Traveller. On pg 13 of issue 13 Shannon is quoted like this:
So, simple and straight-forward question would be: Understanding this thread properly, would it be possible to say that T5 will be downward compatible with earlier editions of the Traveller-game? Yes, no; if neither, then why ...?
All the best!
Liam
Currently I dig through all those incredible Freelance Traveller Fanzines; and in issue 13 Shannon Appelcline shares his experiences with having played Mongoose's Traveller. On pg 13 of issue 13 Shannon is quoted like this:
So, simple and straight-forward question would be: Understanding this thread properly, would it be possible to say that T5 will be downward compatible with earlier editions of the Traveller-game? Yes, no; if neither, then why ...?
All the best!
Liam
T5 uses a very similar die mechanic as T4 does. So skill levels are scaled to that type of game system. Classic Traveller 2nd Edition and Mongoose Traveller seem to transfer characters and skills back and forth better.
Ships may be different in every version of Traveller though.
Ships may be different in every version of Traveller though.
TNE and T4 are compatible on the design but not rating system.
CT Bk5 and T20 are compatible.
MT is rating but not design compatible with CT Bk5.
MGT can use CT Bk2 designs with only minor changes, but not the other direction.
LiamKerrington
SOC-12
Hi there,
thank you, aramis. This diagram helps me understand much better and gives me a much better 'feeling' about the quoted article.
What does "Bk" mean? Is this kind of an abbreviation for "built" or synonymous for different game-versions? I thought CT would be CT ...
All the best!
Liam
thank you, aramis. This diagram helps me understand much better and gives me a much better 'feeling' about the quoted article.
What does "Bk" mean? Is this kind of an abbreviation for "built" or synonymous for different game-versions? I thought CT would be CT ...
All the best!
Liam
LiamKerrington
SOC-12
Ah. I see. Well, I only own the core-rulebook (ISBN-3-89064-100-8; German version/ translation printed in 1985) along with the "Atlas of the Imperium" (ISBN 3-89064-106-7, from 1986) and "Traders and Gunboats" (ISBN 3-89064-104-0, from 1986).
Sorry, for getting too far off-topic. Was just in dire need to understand things properly.
Best wishes!
Liam
pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
The English version of this book is referred to as TTB or "The Traveller Book". In almost every way equivalent to LBBs 0-3. Page references are different, of course.
