Best and worst Mongoose Traveller product to date?

[nats]

I am just interested to know what everyones favourite or the most impressive Mongoose Traveller (or other recently published Traveller) product is that you could recommend getting. I am just formulating my christmas list for this year and have a few ideas but dont know if they are worth putting on it or not! I have the Core Rule Book so you can forget that one as that is probably likely to be most peoples first choice but otherwise....

And I suppose the flip side as well - what is your least favourite or least useful MGT product you have got?

For myself I would say the Central Supply Catalogue is the best thing I have for the sheer choice of equipment and the illustrations are great. And that the worst product would have to be Scout which although providing a reasonable chargen for scouts doesnt include detailed planet generation which I was hoping it would, and the scout info provided is likely to be least useful in any campaign I do.

 

[simonh]

The problem here is that if I just give you two lists, the chances of that being actualy useful to you or anyone else is pretty low.

Suppose I am only interested in Merchant campaigns, I'm going to mark up any useful supplements to do with trade and jobbing adventurers goign from starport to starport, and mark down scout and military stuff. If you're gonzo about military and exploration campaigns my recommendations are going to be highly missleading to you.

For this kind of discussion, context is everything. A supplement that is useless to me could be priceless to you.

Simon Hibbs

 

[nats]

The problem here is that if I just give you two lists, the chances of that being actualy useful to you or anyone else is pretty low.

Suppose I am only interested in Merchant campaigns, I'm going to mark up any useful supplements to do with trade and jobbing adventurers goign from starport to starport, and mark down scout and military stuff. If you're gonzo about military and exploration campaigns my recommendations are going to be highly missleading to you.

For this kind of discussion, context is everything. A supplement that is useless to me could be priceless to you.

Simon Hibbs

I am just trying to gauge what products to avoid and which ones to think about getting. Obviously everyone will have certain likes specific to what they like playing, for example I particularly like spaceship and military combat. But then those books wouldnt be most useful to me in a campaign with my family who would be more intersted in playing a dungeon type adventure. Its swings and roundabouts.

Ive heard for example that Tripwire isnt very good, thats the kind of thing I want to know. I am interested to hear about things like how good Spinward Marches book is and whether theres any point buying the present Patrons book when another is being planned. I suppose I should have asked specifics but I left it open out of interest as I am sure many people who look at all these books wonder just how good sme of them are. The previews arent all that useful.

For example I happen to think that Fighting Ships is a practically useless Supplement in that the massive ship plans that are impossible to decipher provide no possible use for anyone in a campaign I could imagine playing. But there again someone might mention a use for is that I hadnt thought of.

 

[pittel]

I recomment Alien #1: Aslan

You get insight of an aggressive, high tech Alien Culture and the bad ass subsector of the Trojan Reaches. I like it more than the "friendly" and "civilised" Spinward marches.

Also take a look on Alien #3: Darrians. Playing cruel space elves which are going to destroy the whole galaxis sounds fun (from my terran point of view).

I dont like the Supply Catalog because there is only hardware and rules which I dont really need to run a game.

 

[kafka]

Tripwire, I regret to say, although the premise was fine. And, in fact, I could even go along with it...the supporting cast of NPCs were very juvenile. If you want to see an example of it done right - check out Knightfall or even The Traveller Adventure.

Mercenary which was done in haste suffered as a result and similarly the B5 sourcebook.

On the whole, as an old grouchy grognard, I am very impressed with Mongoose Traveller. For what I see is constant improvement and yes products sometimes contradict one another...but anyone who has been a veteran of Traveller flamewars know that Traveller fans are rarely happy.

So, I really, look forward to the next published Campaign that can set beside Tripwire.

 

[Colin]

For a Third Imperium game, Spinward Marches is invaluable. Reft Sector can be quite useful as well. Aslan and Vargr are both quite good, giving the flavour of a couple of races in the vicinity of the Marches.

The Supply Catalogue is useful, and so is Civilian Vehicles. For a Naval campaign, or for any large ship campaign, you pretty much need High Guard. Beyond that, it depends on what flavour of campaign you want.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I thought the Careers in Mercenary were pretty good, but I found the rest of the book of no use to me. Many of the weapons were later superceded by CSC, so that part isn't needed any more. I don't do mercenary campaigns, so the who section on mercenary tickets was worthless.

I have taken some of the career stuff and rolled it into Army and Marine careers as Specialties.

I find that I use HG more than just about any other book besides the TMB. The sector books are all good in my opinion as are the race books. Even if you don't run an OTU game, there is a lot of inspirational stuff to be mined from them.

 

[AndrewW]

I am just trying to gauge what products to avoid and which ones to think about getting. Obviously everyone will have certain likes specific to what they like playing, for example I particularly like spaceship and military combat. But then those books wouldnt be most useful to me in a campaign with my family who would be more intersted in playing a dungeon type adventure. Its swings and roundabouts.

For spaceships High guard of course. For Imperial Navy in general Sector Fleet may be a good choice.

Ive heard for example that Tripwire isnt very good, thats the kind of thing I want to know. I am interested to hear about things like how good Spinward Marches book is and whether theres any point buying the present Patrons book when another is being planned. I suppose I should have asked specifics but I left it open out of interest as I am sure many people who look at all these books wonder just how good sme of them are. The previews arent all that useful.

The Spinward Marches is good material if you are using that area of space and would like information on it. Also contains a bit of information on the Third Imperium.

For example I happen to think that Fighting Ships is a practically useless Supplement in that the massive ship plans that are impossible to decipher provide no possible use for anyone in a campaign I could imagine playing. But there again someone might mention a use for is that I hadnt thought of.

Well since you asked... Large ships that are derelicts floating in space, or perhaps crashed on a planet, maybe partially or completely burried under sand or something are useful for dungeon type adventures.

 

[Gee4orce]

Best: the core rulebook (especially the pocket edition)

Worst: (sadly) everything else.

 

[Treebore]

Conversely we had a lot of fun when I ran Tripwire, and I don't remember changing much. The only changes I remember making were to account for how the players actually did what they did, since Tripwire didn't take all possibilities into account, and how could it??

In fact I was surprised at how closely my group actually followed how it was written out, and they never complained about feeling rail roaded either.

 

[DFW]

Spinward Marches, Reft = Very good.
HG for that type of ship design (also small craft)
Main Rule book of course is required.
Both "vehicle" from a designing perspective are totally unusable.

 

[hdan]

My take:

Get Aslan for sure for the interesting chargen and RP opportunities for a purely Aslan player group. The subsector included is an intriguing place as well.

I was a die-hard Vargr fan in my youth, but I like MgT's Aslan better than their Vargr book. Still, there are some fun rules that would make playing a purely Vargr party a lot of fun, with players in friendly competition to be top-dog (so to speak) of the crew.

Dilettante is surprisingly interesting, but it will stretch your concept of what a Traveller campaign can be. Even reading through the various mishaps and evens in the character generation part is amusing. This book takes you way further into the realms of a setting like Star Wars, Tomb Raider and Flash Gordon, where the players are "Important People trying to Save the Realm" rather than Firefly's "Everyman trying to keep his ship from being reposessed". You could easily take it into the realms of comedy as well, with pop stars, sports heroes and misunderstood playboys galavanting around the subsector seeking thrills, fame and the next epic party. ("What do you mean, I don't have launch clearance? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?")

If the idea of that sort of campaign interests you at all, grab this book.

Merchant Prince is a mixed bag, and will prove useful if you are running a heavily merchant based campaign. There are tons of rules for buying and selling and determining what's in the box you're transporting. If your players aren't into that level of detail though, and consider the commerce just a "necessary evil" to owning their own starship, you won't need this book. I do chuckle every time I see the picture of that, um, "prosperous" Vargr and his den Darrian slave girls though.

Scouts, though I sincerely wanted to love it, didn't really grab me for some reason.

Something that is a recurring theme in the various Alien books, as well as Dilettante (which is almost an Alien book in its own right) is that they add rules for rewards beyond money. This allows a group of similarly "booked" characters to have adventures that won't be like the standard Traveller adventure. Dilettantes will be primarily seeking Fame (Social Standing) and maintaining (or even losing!) their Fortunes. Vargrs will still seek money, but more importantly they will try to increase their personal power by one-upping their peers. Aslan males will go to crazy lengths for Honor and Land, and females will seek out science and technology while still supporting the wild actions of their males. Is it stereotyped? Sure, but it can still be fun.

In summary, the MgT Alien books (haven't seen Darrians yet, but Pete Nash did us a solid with Dilettante, so I suspect it rocks too) give you more than just a way to add aliens to a standard Traveller game. They really give you a whole new sub-setting to campaign in, or at least an alien sphere to send your players to to show them that not all of the galaxy is a lawless frontier where fortunes are won and lost in speculative trade, guns for hire and mysterious artifacts.

 

[Bense]

My favorite books have probably been the sector books (Spinward Marches and Reft) and the Aslan book with its detail on Trojan Reach sector.
Least favorite has probably been 760 Patrons, which I was hoping would be more like 76 Patrons, with actual patrons and adventure ideas.

 

[TrippyHippy]

My favourite Traveller book to date is the Judge Dredd book, to be honest, but as a rule I generally like the Supplements and Adventures of Traveller, but don't like the Careers books quite so much.

I am really looking forward to the updated 760 Patrons book, though.

 

[Sturn]

Both "vehicle" from a designing perspective are totally unusable.

I've used mine quite often. I've quite enjoyed it and it jumped to mind as my favorite after Core. Yes, I've tweaked a couple things that had problems, but I would hardly call it unusable since I have several vehicles I've designed as evidence.

I guess it comes down to your personal requirement for suspension of disbelief when comparing design rules to real science. An aerospace engineer from NASA might laugh and call the High Guard design rules unusable while others might find them totally acceptable and fun.

 

[DFW]

but I would hardly call it unusable since I have several vehicles I've designed as evidence.

I guess it comes down to your personal requirement for suspension of disbelief when comparing design rules to real science. An aerospace engineer from NASA might laugh and call the High Guard design rules unusable while others might find them totally acceptable and fun.

Well, given that the rules therein conflict with the main rules, I talking about internal inconsistencies. Of course one use it. I still have a few uses for a broken watch I have. LOL

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Much depends on the style of your campaign, but for what it's worth, my opinion is;

3I stuff (Spinward, Vargr etc) is good, not played tripwire but I can understand some of the reservations about characterisaton (and common sense) that some posters have indicated. However, treat it as a B movie, and I think it could be great fun to play through.

Hammers Slammers in an interesting demonstration of how the core rules can be applied to a different universe.

Careers books are interesting for ideas, and are, of course, orientated towards different types of campaign, High Guard provides useful ship creation rules, even if you are not going to use the career side of the book. Merc is the least use, the ticket system as presented doesn't make a lot of sense, and is very complicated, Scout, Merchant, Dillente, Scoundrel, Agent and Psion are books of ideas, enough different perspectives and game ideas for a lifetime's play.

On the down side, not impressed by the vehicle rules, tend to largely ignore and fudge these. CSC is a bit of a bugbear of mine, a lot of the stats seem awry and my copy is now covered in amendments and corrections.

Egil

 

[nats]

CSC is a bit of a bugbear of mine, a lot of the stats seem awry and my copy is now covered in amendments and corrections. Egil

Funnily enough Ive just spent the last few days using CSC stats to correct all the core book weapons pages which are all over the place. I havnt found anything much wrong with CSC to date other than two refs to PGMPs which should have been FGMPs. And I love the refs to SAP, AP and ST ammo and the way it treats grenades/stuns etc. Really all makes sense to me. Of course its worth its weight in gold just for the SMGs which have always been my favourite Traveller weapon for some reason.

 

[DFW]

I decided to create a character in Scouts. I noticed something a bit odd with the skill allocation. Out of all the tables for the different branches there are only 3 entries for Engineer.

If one considers that this service primarily operates; 1: In space. 2: Aboard small star ships. 3: With small or one man crews. 4: Away from support bases. 5: And, it is THE skill that determines success or failure of Jumps. It SHOULD be a commonly learned skill.

No one in the Survey Branch can learn the skill. They must have a lot of problems out in the wilds of space. :lol:

Time to redo the tables. I should look at the frequency of the other skills in order to make sure they are logical.

 

[AWu]

I Like CSC it could use few extra non killing stuff related pages but i like it as Armoury book, and i love full page artwork of Armour and guns.
(it could use better smaller artwork for some stuff (especially armor) and pair pictures with weapons better.

My favorite mongoose Traveller product is: Aslan book.

And least favorite is Spinward marches
- i liked that book really much before i bought pdf of Behind the claw - thats how sector sourcebook should look like for me - and i ve newer look inside of Spinward marches again ..

I don't like Traders and Gunboats and Fighting ships too much, but as new player to Traveler i wanted to know how ships in the OTU looks like so Ive got them, and although it could be better, I don't consider them bad with what they delivered (but art could be better again - i prefer art of ships in DGW modules and books i am slowly buying than in MGT - IMHO MGT ship art is generally steep back - except great pics in Aslan book. Ewen worse is dumbing up/ delivering much less precise info on the ships than lets say Safari ship module, and i like my SF games to be ship oriented and i like ships fluffy.