Comment on the State of the Mongoose

[tneva82]

What would be worth a Kickstarter, would be to make an all digital software version of Traveller - so that you could generate characters, starships, worlds and systems all with a computer or tablet.

If they can raise enough money, it could be made really slick and stylishly with graphics for starships and worlds created, for example.

Now, this is interesting - how many of you would go for something like this?

While I don't play Traveler, I do think this is a good idea as well, it would also be nice if character maintenance could be done in it as well. Sort of like a 'lab' for 'heroes', *nudge nudge, wink wink, Say no more*.

(A Legend character generator/manager would also be good).

+1 for legend generator. Creating traveller characters is pretty easy. Training them up is pretty easy. Legend has lot more work.

Would love to be able to generate samurai of legend characters with more automation.

[warlock1971]

Another +1 for the Legend PC Generator/PC Manager.

[FreeTrav]

In discussing what role-playing games (a la Traveller, Runequest, D&D, et cetera) are, to those who haven't encountered them before, I generally ask them if they ever played "Let's Pretend" or "Cops and Robbers" or "Cowboys and Indians" when they were kids. Usually, I get an affirmative answer. I then go on to explain that these are the same sort of "Let's Pretend" games, except that there are rules in place to prevent the arguments about "I got you-you're dead!" "No, you missed!" "Cheater!":

For players, all rôle-playing games are is an evolution of "Let's Pretend" - "Let's pretend that I'm a cowboy and you're an indian and I'm gonna stop you from scalping the women of the town and bang! bang! I shot you and you're dead -- " "Am not! You missed!" "Did not! Cheater!" "Did too! Cheater yourself!"...

All that the funny dice do is provide an impartial arbiter of whether or not you missed. All that the pages and pages of rules do is provide the information you need to understand what the dice are telling you. And all that the pages and pages of source material do is provide Imagination, collected and distilled, to establish the context in which to interpret the dice to determine whether you really did miss...

And no, none of that is trivial, else we'd never have had the "You missed!" "Did not!" arguments when we Pretended before we started RPGing. But it's still that simple.

... really. It is that simple. And it can be just as much fun now, as it was when we were six/ten/whatever. And I've never found a better way to explain it.

[Lincolnlog]

There was no mention of 'Prime Directive', should we read something ominous into this?

I'm not really into RPGs but this would be a must have. If it isn't coming I'll quit watching for it.

[Cyporiean]

There was no mention of 'Prime Directive', should we read something ominous into this?

I'm not really into RPGs but this would be a must have. If it isn't coming I'll quit watching for it.

No mention of Historia Rodentia either, but that's just because there isn't anything to report atm

[Greg Smith]

There was no mention of 'Prime Directive', should we read something ominous into this?

ADB are producing Prime Directive, as far as I am aware.

[lordmalachdrim]

Now, this is interesting - how many of you would go for something like this?

I would be willing to put money on this, if the books are cleaned up first.

[Dave Chase]

What would be worth a Kickstarter, would be to make an all digital software version of Traveller - so that you could generate characters, starships, worlds and systems all with a computer or tablet.

If they can raise enough money, it could be made really slick and stylishly with graphics for starships and worlds created, for example.

Now, this is interesting - how many of you would go for something like this?

Yes, and if you had an additional feature (or option for an expansion) of character image. Ie, you can pick out the skin, eyes, hair, color of, general shape, male/female, race, etc that could be turned into a digitial image or pdf print out, it would be a killer app/program.
The image would be tied into your stats, so a weak strenght, low endurance character would look a bit thinner than a high strength character.

Alien races could be an additional expansion (two reasons, that way if people don't want it, they don't have to get it, and it would give you more time to develop the alien races right away until you know how popular the orginal program is.)

This character image generator is so common on so many MMO and PC/Console games that it shouldn't be too big an issue to add it to the generation program.

Short answer, yes, I would be more interested in this than the additional books.
Long answer, see above

Dave Chase

[dragoner]

What would be worth a Kickstarter, would be to make an all digital software version of Traveller - so that you could generate characters, starships, worlds and systems all with a computer or tablet.

If they can raise enough money, it could be made really slick and stylishly with graphics for starships and worlds created, for example.

Now, this is interesting - how many of you would go for something like this?

I would.

[DamonJynx]

Another +1 for the Legend PC Generator/PC Manager.

And another +1

It would have to either include or have as an option mods for ALL the published settings; Elric, Wraith Recon, Deus Vault, Historia Rodentia, Age of Treason and whatever else the future may bring. I didn't mention current & future '...of Legend' books as they (IMO) are a given if there is an attempt at this sort of thing.

[IanBruntlett]

What would be worth a Kickstarter, would be to make an all digital software version of Traveller - so that you could generate characters, starships, worlds and systems all with a computer or tablet.

If they can raise enough money, it could be made really slick and stylishly with graphics for starships and worlds created, for example.

Now, this is interesting - how many of you would go for something like this?

If you released it as Open Source ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software ) I would buy it

[gunner41c]

love the PDF for the SFB-CTA, updates are better and i can print the page(s) that change without a lot of editing to my rulebook. Also the PDF can be stored on my tablet for really easy use in the game. The main thing I am disappointed with is the lack of ship data for some of the miniatures coming out. I have converted old SFB ship data to the new format, which isn't too hard to do. When the new releases have ship data it's easy to use. I understand the wait for the models to be ready, the problems with the resin ones is a good example. Have you considered a cast plastic like the kind people have been building model kits with for years? Or check with other plastic casts, the Axis and Allies miniatures were very well done and may have the ability to make ship models for you. I still will purchase the metal ones happily though.

[tzunder]

What would be worth a Kickstarter, would be to make an all digital software version of Traveller - so that you could generate characters, starships, worlds and systems all with a computer or tablet.

If they can raise enough money, it could be made really slick and stylishly with graphics for starships and worlds created, for example.

Now, this is interesting - how many of you would go for something like this?

Yes, Yes, yes and yes again.

Cross platform, java or similar, open source so it can be maintained by volunteers and hobbyists into the future.

There are a bazillion people out there that would/could do it, but choose carefully.

[nerfherder]

What would be worth a Kickstarter, would be to make an all digital software version of Traveller - so that you could generate characters, starships, worlds and systems all with a computer or tablet.

If they can raise enough money, it could be made really slick and stylishly with graphics for starships and worlds created, for example.

Now, this is interesting - how many of you would go for something like this?

Absolutely! I'm sure I'm not the only one that wrote programs and spreadsheets to create starships and guns for different versions of Traveller over the years.

I actually thought your license didn't include software, but I must have been mixing you up with another company (maybe FFG/Star Wars)?

[nerfherder]

Cross platform, java or similar, open source so it can be maintained by volunteers and hobbyists into the future.

There are a bazillion people out there that would/could do it, but choose carefully.

Very wise words.

The architecture should be as open and standard as possible - java, xml, etc. - and interfaces well defined and documented so that it is easy for third parties to hook in.

A simple example - the data representing a character should be defined in an XSD. This would allow someone to write a character generator and export a character file conforming to the XSD, knowing that any other software could read that file correctly - e.g. a character sheet viewer.

[Prime_Evil]

The architecture should be as open and standard as possible - java, xml, etc. - and interfaces well defined and documented so that it is easy for third parties to hook in.

A simple example - the data representing a character should be defined in an XSD. This would allow someone to write a character generator and export a character file conforming to the XSD, knowing that any other software could read that file correctly - e.g. a character sheet viewer.

I think this is a key design consideration - cross-platform compatibility is becoming an important consideration as mobile devices become more common. One of the problems with many electronic RPG tools is that they are closely tied to the Windows ecosystem. This was tolerated when Microsoft dominated the landscape, but this approach is becoming less popular as time goes by - people increasingly want something that works seamlessly on their iPhone or Android tablet as well as their Windows PC. And tablets in particular are starting to show up at the game table in strength. Also, I suspect that the number of Mac and Linux users in the RPG community is higher than in the general community by several orders of magnitude.

Having said all of this, it would be great to see a product that integrates with some sort of virtual tabletop - but this is one area where the major players are still tightly coupled to Windows.

[DamonJynx]

Having said all of this, it would be great to see a product that integrates with some sort of virtual tabletop - but this is one area where the major players are still tightly coupled to Windows.

Umm, 2 VTT's, Roll20 and Maptool are web & java based respectively. I personally haven't any experience of the other VTT's. Something that could integrate with Maptools for Legend & possibly traveller (I don't know how many folk use maptools for that) would freakin' awesome!

[AndrewW]

Having said all of this, it would be great to see a product that integrates with some sort of virtual tabletop - but this is one area where the major players are still tightly coupled to Windows.

Umm, 2 VTT's, Roll20 and Maptool are web & java based respectively. I personally haven't any experience of the other VTT's. Something that could integrate with Maptools for Legend & possibly traveller (I don't know how many folk use maptools for that) would freakin' awesome!

I've used Maptools for Traveller before.

[TrippyHippy]

The other thing I would like to see is a Traveller miniatures game - maybe one for space combat based off Call for Arms and one for ground combat. It has been mooted before, but I really feel that these areas of the license (along with the digital Traveller concept) would actually enhance the overall Traveller experience and allow the brand to keep moving forward.

I'd buy it and play it too.

[Myrm]

The other thing I would like to see is a Traveller miniatures game - maybe one for space combat based off Call for Arms and one for ground combat.
.

There is an existing space combat game for Traveller based upon Full Thrust - so you would need to find out what the license for that said.

Ground combat there is Striker to redo, plus there are some boardgame types (Snapshot, Invasion Earth and so on)....