Alternative settings

TrippyHippy

Emperor Mongoose
When MgT 1st edition was released it explicitly had the goal of being a generic sci-fi setting that any sci-fi setting could be hung onto.

I am wondering whether this time around the approach is slightly different - with more explicit references to The Third Imperium setting within the core rules.

I am not critical of this, actually, but I would argue that it may be the case of less is more anyway - notwithstanding third party settings.

For example, I would seriously consider making any new Judge Dredd RPG entirely stand-alone (maybe borrowing the lifepath chargen system) so that it can have it's own skill list and combat engine, be self contained and more directly compatible with the miniatures game. While being able to use a lot of Traveller systems and supplements seems cool, a lot of them (space stuff) are barely used in the JD game at all.

So, for me, I'd like Mongoose Traveller to focus much more on the Third Imperium and 2300AD settings, and occasional books for other settings being mainly instigated by 3rd party publishers. (These would hopefully include Prime Directive as an aside....)

Thoughts?
 
As much as I'd like to see Traveller become the go to sci-fi RPG I think the number of years its been going have joined it at the hip to the Third Imperium or sectors/settings that tip their hat to it.

I think it would need to be rebranded to separate itself from the setting.

Whether that would be a good or bad thing I don't know.
 
hiro said:
As much as I'd like to see Traveller become the go to sci-fi RPG I think the number of years its been going have joined it at the hip to the Third Imperium or sectors/settings that tip their hat to it.

I think it would need to be rebranded to separate itself from the setting.

Whether that would be a good or bad thing I don't know.
What kinds of star maps and world generation should it have for 3rd-Imperium-less sci-fi settings? I haven't been using any 3rd Imperium stuff in most of my sci-fi games.
 
Not sure whether this offends anyone to say it, but The Third Imperium is basically to Traveller what Forgotten Realms is to D&D. It's mostly a vanilla setting, and eclectic enough in it's influences to incorporate a wide variety of different ideas and indeed settings.....you actually travel to different worlds after all.

Unless people have a particular emphasis of sci-fi they are after - like the hard sci-fi of 2300AD, for example - the Third imperium does tend to cater to most tastes.
 
TrippyHippy said:
Not sure whether this offends anyone to say it, but The Third Imperium is basically to Traveller what Forgotten Realms is to D&D. It's mostly a vanilla setting, and eclectic enough in it's influences to incorporate a wide variety of different ideas and indeed settings.....you actually travel to different worlds after all.

Unless people have a particular emphasis of sci-fi they are after - like the hard sci-fi of 2300AD, for example - the Third imperium does tend to cater to most tastes.
For the most part, I agree with this assessment. One minor point: Traveller's Third Imperium is much better because it does not have Drizzt or Elminster. :lol: :mrgreen:
 
-Daniel- said:
For the most part, I agree with this assessment. One minor point: Traveller's Third Imperium is much better because it does not have Drizzt or Elminster. :lol: :mrgreen:

But it has grandfather.
 
AndrewW said:
-Daniel- said:
For the most part, I agree with this assessment. One minor point: Traveller's Third Imperium is much better because it does not have Drizzt or Elminster. :lol: :mrgreen:

But it has grandfather.
Ok, but a grandfather is not as annoying in my book.
 
I like the Shattered Imperium myself, but that's in part at least nostalgia from the fact that my first Traveler was Megatravler. 2300 is also top quality, but I see that as a sequal to Twilight rather than a prequel to Travler.
 
The Hammer's Slammers background is nice.

Also, the Fall of the First Imperium period shown in GURPS: Traveller is good, too.

I think that a generic setting, perhaps an expanding human one, in an 3D coordinate system, would be interesting--perhaps something like the Expanse novels?
 
thesmiths4 said:
The Hammer's Slammers background is nice.
I love the stories, but I have never bought the Mongoose book. I should get it at some point. I wonder if it will get the 2nd edition treatment.
 
I don't think so. The whole product line has been removed from Mongoose's website in printed format. The PDFs are still available in a different section.
 
Bar-en said:
I don't think so. The whole product line has been removed from Mongoose's website in printed format. The PDFs are still available in a different section.
So PDF it is. :mrgreen:
 
ShawnDriscoll said:
What kinds of star maps and world generation should it have for 3rd-Imperium-less sci-fi settings? I haven't been using any 3rd Imperium stuff in most of my sci-fi games.

Is there any kind of Empire at all in your games? Do you swap out Social Class for something like "charisma" or "personality" or something?
 
Matt Wilson said:
ShawnDriscoll said:
What kinds of star maps and world generation should it have for 3rd-Imperium-less sci-fi settings? I haven't been using any 3rd Imperium stuff in most of my sci-fi games.

Is there any kind of Empire at all in your games? Do you swap out Social Class for something like "charisma" or "personality" or something?
The careers are not changed. Players end up with standard MgT characters. But the planet they are on is almost always a made-up one. Then I make up other planets if they decide to leave the one they're on. The society and government stuff they run into is local to just the planet they're at.

I never tell players about the history of their universe. I keep them busy (and/or they keep themselves busy) to not even concern themselves about such stuff. I'll use an alien race from Traveller once in awhile. But not mention at all about the history of them to the players. My games are just 3 (at the most) sessions long. I don't do campaigns.
 
TrippyHippy said:
So, for me, I'd like Mongoose Traveller to focus much more on the Third Imperium and 2300AD settings, and occasional books for other settings being mainly instigated by 3rd party publishers. (These would hopefully include Prime Directive as an aside....)

Dude. 2300 is already a Alternative setting. Now one mind you that came out of the same base company that brought out Traveller, but always it was a much different thing.

Right now as it appears, the core book will be largely plain vanilla 3rd Imperium Traveller, while the Traveller companion will be all the odd stuff for other flavors of SF.

I would for one like to a broader selection of Wargame like materials for the Traveller line using similar/compatible rules. This is one of the strengths of the Classic Traveller line.
 
Infojunky said:
Dude. 2300 is already a Alternative setting. Now one mind you that came out of the same base company that brought out Traveller, but always it was a much different thing.
I didn't say it wasn't. I just feel that the Third Imperium along with 2300AD, for me, is where Mongoose should concentrate their resources.
 
TrippyHippy said:
Infojunky said:
Dude. 2300 is already a Alternative setting. Now one mind you that came out of the same base company that brought out Traveller, but always it was a much different thing.
I didn't say it wasn't. I just feel that the Third Imperium along with 2300AD, for me, is where Mongoose should concentrate their resources.

If I come across as a little strident over the split between the two is the differences in so many minor ways. 2300 has only 3 tech levels, being one of them.... A lot of those probably need to be folded into a exterior book.
 
There are already 3rd Party settings for MGT1. Outer Veil and Clement Sector come to mind immediately, but there are others as well.

I also know of at least one new setting being worked on with ideas of publishing under the MGT2 rules next year. There may be a lot more.

I agree that Mongoose should probably concentrate on 2300 and the 3-I settings, but these are already different enough that the rules have to be a bit generalized to fit just those two (different FTL drives for example).

Both "official" settings offer a lot of variation and there are HUGE amounts of Charted Space that have never been detailed. Don't want to play with the 3-I - Just set your game on the Rimward side of the Solomani - the central government is pretty week out there, after all they are concentrating on the Coreward side. You could play just about any type of game you want and ignore all the 3-I political stuff if you want to.
 
Back
Top