How Different is Mongoose 2300AD 1e different from the latest version?

[ignus1213]

I own and really enjoyed the earlier Mongoose 2300AD and I'm looking at the purchasing latest new and improved version mainly regards to layout and color art.

I am hoping someone could help me out with some information on the differences between the two versions. Is the table of contents and content largely the same with vastly improved layout or has there been more content added and/or other sections removed? According to Drive Thru, the latest edition has 18 more pages, so it must have some extra content.

I also really enjoyed the Traits, Focus, and DNA modification rules fromthe first book. I really like having those extra options in character creation and use them in my Traveller campaign as well. Have there been any changes in regards to those rules?

Thanks for your help!

 

[vili]

The new books look great, and are generally better organised than the previous edition. They are also better aligned with the latest Traveller rules, which is nice.

In terms of a pure word count, I would guess that they may have a little less content than the previous edition (or so it feels), but I think they are much better focused and therefore work better. The main negative for me personally is that many colony descriptions have been shortened and some dropped out entirely. But that's ok, we have the previous edition and GDW's materials to fall back on. And the new full colour maps are yum yum yum.

You may be disappointed to hear that the focuses and the traits have been removed entirely from character creation. Sort of in their place, but not really, are a new path system and a homeworld leaving system. In our group, opinions about these new additions are quite divided. Body types were also removed from character creation, and I miss them a little bit.

But nothing will stop you from using the old traits and focuses, it's your game. In our group, we have actually adapted character creation into what is currently a 60-page document that is a mixture of the new rules, some old rules, some rules from the Traveller Companion, other things from here and there, as well as career tables that have been extensively re-written so that the default Traveller careers would better fit the 2300 AD universe, or at least our current GM's sadistic interpretation of it.

Other changes in the new edition include space travel rules, which I think are now a little more "gamey", but better. feld wrote a really good post about this in more detail if you are interested: it's here.

 

[ignus1213]

Thank you very much all the information in your response. It is quite helpful to me.

I am a bit disappointed to hear that Traits and Focus have been removed but that is far from a deal breaker. I can understand Mongoose wanting to bring it more in line with Traveller rules but like you say, you can continue to use the old rules and adapt them as needed, I enjoy that and do it automatically all the time anyway. Your comment about "60 page document" made me chuckle as I can totally relate to that and I bet most gamers do to.

I've decided to purchase the book, I think the layout upgrades, especially all that colour, just makes it too good to pass up.

Thanks again.

 

[Colin]

Well, something had to go. Word count had to be reduced to compensate for the much greater number (and quality) of images. Removing the Traits and focus rules seemed the easiest way to do that, and brings character generation more in line with Core Traveller. I fought to keep the full world descriptions, at least for the French Arm, but, again, some word cuts were necessary to achieve the page count.

1e tried very much to be its own thing, while 2e is more in line with Core Traveller. Except for ships. Ships are _very_ different from Core Traveller, even if they are built on the same foundation (High Guard).

 

[Bryn the 2300AD guy]

It is a completely different universe, that bears only a passing resemblance (i.e. names of places) to GDW and 4th (1st Mongoose) editions. There are even physics differences between the universes.

 

[Bryn the 2300AD guy]

As an addendum to my above; Colin recently seceded from the one remaining active 2300ad community and started his own community dedicated solely to his version. Fair enough.

However, one of his grievances was that I'd been posting on this board telling people not to buy his products. This is the closest I could to that in my 16 posts; someone asked how different 1st and 2nd Mongoose 2k3 were, and I answered. Checking back, I find that they were asking specific questions, and I have answered a different question. My apologies, and I hope I wasn't so persuasive as to stop you buying it.

PS: Note the signature. I have no official capacity here, which was another of Colin's grievances.

 

[ottarrus]

In a word, very.
A friend of mine and I tried to just generate characters with the 2300AD 1st ed and Mongoose Traveller 1st ed. books. It was a complete clown show. Neither one of us could figure out WTF to do. Even the page references were off.
The new edition, besides being 100% in color, is MUCH better organized and presented.

And Brynn, what's the link to the Colin Dunn 2300 group? Is it the Facebook group? I ask because I've completely quit FB... the utter hypocrisy of everyone after the 06 January was just too much.

 

[Bryn the 2300AD guy]

It's also facebook, and it pops up if you just search FB.

FB doesn't work very well as a medium. It certainly isn't as good as a forum or mailing list for discussion, but there's little choice. The mailing lists died, and are now actually deleted by yahoo, and fora like COTI get no traffic.

 

[Sigtrygg]

CotI only gets the traffic that goes there. if you don't post no one will reply

Over the years I have seen 2300 topics come and go, often with good levels of discussion.

 

[Bryn the 2300AD guy]

COTI doesn't respond to my password reset requests, so I can't reply to posts there...

 

[Lurking Grue]

COTI doesn't respond to my password reset requests, so I can't reply to posts there...

Bryn, there is something wonky at COTI with their password resets and account confirmation emails. For example, gmail has blacklisted COTI for some strange reason and does not receive emails from that address. So all your password reset requests might well be responded to, but are blocked by gmail. You need to whitelist COTI or use a different email to get the reset through (but to change your email at COTI, you need to be able to log in, so Catch 22). AFAIK, Yahoo mail will also block COTI, so it won't work either.