JupiterIndustries
Mongoose
I was always wondering why he was so sweaty during that, besides all the jumping around.
How to make Traveller more popular with TTRPG players
- Thread starter MarcusIII
- Start date
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Hopefully people are over the angst and misplaced anger about a new setting for Traveller. So, let's press on.
A long time from now in a galaxy
not far away…
So Traveller could make a Star Wars type setting. It’s just about two factions of Wizards in space. Good vs. evil with rogues thrown in. It’s not about commerce so ships are cheap,
"Ten thousand? We could almost buy our own ship for that!”.
Emphasize the psionics rules, make hand blaster, et al. They can drop the Jim Henson characters. May just a Can Can Blinks. Or, a bloated Kermit the Frog as a smuggling mob leader. Lighting katanas instead of sabers because Jap stuff is cooler.
Hell, make the artwork anime for the setting.
A long time from now in a galaxy
not far away…
So Traveller could make a Star Wars type setting. It’s just about two factions of Wizards in space. Good vs. evil with rogues thrown in. It’s not about commerce so ships are cheap,
"Ten thousand? We could almost buy our own ship for that!”.
Emphasize the psionics rules, make hand blaster, et al. They can drop the Jim Henson characters. May just a Can Can Blinks. Or, a bloated Kermit the Frog as a smuggling mob leader. Lighting katanas instead of sabers because Jap stuff is cooler.
Hell, make the artwork anime for the setting.
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Those are all in the 3I pretty much which IS the setting. They are different editions of the rules not differnt settings.
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Mindjammer isn't a Traveller product. 2300 IS set in the same space as the 3I. Pioneer is also set in the Sol system which is part of the 3I setting. It would be like WotC putting out an edition set in a small part of Greyhawk like the Iron hills 3,000 years before the published timeline of Greyhawk. Same setting different era.
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
so true
Studio Cat
Banded Mongoose
No, because you have a Gross Conceptual Error going on.
Studio Cat
Banded Mongoose
And this is it. This statement demonstrates how little knowledge you have of 2300AD, the OTU, and Pioneer. Yes, Sol system is in all of them, but it is a different interpretation of Sol system in each one because they are different settings.
Now, are you interested in making Traveller more popular and attracting more Players or do you just want people to agree with your Gross Conceptual Error?
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Ya know most health insurance covers psychiatric care. Take advantage of it.
Grognardia
Emperor Mongoose
Reported for member conflict.
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Make sure you avoid hypocrisy by reporting the other guy too.
Grognardia
Emperor Mongoose
Why? He's correct. They're all different settings using more or less the same rules.
What makes Traveller be Traveller to me and why I play it and not something else is threefold:
1) It is a specifically science fiction game that is NOT designed around a specific setting, tone, or playstyle. Yes, Charted Space exists but it derives from the Traveller rules rather than the Traveller rules being derived from how it works. I can use Traveller to play mercenaries, naval officers, deep space explorers, wandering vagabonds, trade pioneers, or anything else. I can play on a single planet, a solar system, or a sprawling galaxy without fighting the game's assumptions. I can play space horror (see the Hostile variant) or I can play space fantasy (Ancients Trilogy) or anything in between.
2) Character Creation. Traveller's character creation system is distinctive to the point of near uniqueness. Yes, it gets expired memes about dying in chargen, but the fact that you are playing adult characters with built in histories and not 18yr old prodigies with a creative writing assignment attached is a core feature of Traveller, imho. Like all things that are distinctive, that does mean some people don't like it. Lots of games roll 2d6+a number and have six stats. Basically none of them create characters the way Traveller does. Optional rules for other ways to do it don't bother me, but prior career chargen is a core reason I play this game and not something else.
3) It gives you tools without requiring you to use them. I can make entirely unique ships for my setting OR I can use the standard designs. I can make planets for planet of the week skim-visits or dive into weeds of the World Builder's Handbook. Or I can just be like "whatever, gimme a pre done setting".
If Mongoose wanted to do a big book of setting prompts with a few pages on customizing Traveller to a variety of settings, I'd find that interesting. If they invested in pumping out books for an off brand (or even officially licensed) commercial setting, I'd ignore it. Whether faux-Star Wars would draw any Star Wars fans to Traveller instead of them just playing the official Star Wars games, I have no idea. I don't think you'd get many Traveller players that way, but Mongoose get some Star Wars dollars.
1) It is a specifically science fiction game that is NOT designed around a specific setting, tone, or playstyle. Yes, Charted Space exists but it derives from the Traveller rules rather than the Traveller rules being derived from how it works. I can use Traveller to play mercenaries, naval officers, deep space explorers, wandering vagabonds, trade pioneers, or anything else. I can play on a single planet, a solar system, or a sprawling galaxy without fighting the game's assumptions. I can play space horror (see the Hostile variant) or I can play space fantasy (Ancients Trilogy) or anything in between.
2) Character Creation. Traveller's character creation system is distinctive to the point of near uniqueness. Yes, it gets expired memes about dying in chargen, but the fact that you are playing adult characters with built in histories and not 18yr old prodigies with a creative writing assignment attached is a core feature of Traveller, imho. Like all things that are distinctive, that does mean some people don't like it. Lots of games roll 2d6+a number and have six stats. Basically none of them create characters the way Traveller does. Optional rules for other ways to do it don't bother me, but prior career chargen is a core reason I play this game and not something else.
3) It gives you tools without requiring you to use them. I can make entirely unique ships for my setting OR I can use the standard designs. I can make planets for planet of the week skim-visits or dive into weeds of the World Builder's Handbook. Or I can just be like "whatever, gimme a pre done setting".
If Mongoose wanted to do a big book of setting prompts with a few pages on customizing Traveller to a variety of settings, I'd find that interesting. If they invested in pumping out books for an off brand (or even officially licensed) commercial setting, I'd ignore it. Whether faux-Star Wars would draw any Star Wars fans to Traveller instead of them just playing the official Star Wars games, I have no idea. I don't think you'd get many Traveller players that way, but Mongoose get some Star Wars dollars.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
And the problem with the Mongoose Traveller Third Imperium is that they keep adding stuff to it that has no business being in that setting.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
Correct in that it is not a Mongoose product, but very wrong in that it is a licenced Traveller product.
No, you are wrong, Traveller the OTU version is set in the future history that leads to the Third Imperium.
Terra discovers the jump drive, finds out there is an empire near by, fights a war, takes over the Imperium. It all collapses. A new Imperium rises following the long night.
T2300 is set after the events of the twilight war as recounted in Twilight 2000 (doesn't happen in the OTU), after a century or recovery or so the stutterwarp is invented (a completely different FTL paradigm and no gravitics in the setting at all). Individual Earth countries spread out into the nearby space, with the French being ascendant since they recovered from the twilight war. Countries have fought a couple of wars in theri colony worlds, and a couple of alien races have been discovered (no Aslan, no Vargr, no Hivers)
In the Traveller setting the future history has already diverged from real world history, which Pioneer is an extension of.
Completely wrong.
The OTU , 2300 and Pioneer (and the forthcoming Dark Conspiracy setting) are completely different settings, with different technologies, different future histories and different alien races.
2300 is not a historical setting for the Third Imperium.
Pioneer has no twilight war so it doesn't lead to 2300, and there are no gravitics or fusion power which there would be according to the Third Imperium history.
The better D&D comparison is with Dark Sun, Forgotten Worlds and Grayhawk - same rules different setting with different paradigms.
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MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
Valid points. But you already play Traveller. As do I. Those products wouldn't be aimed at existing players. That is the entire point of the thread. Attracting new blood. It's not a thread about what new products do existing players want for the 3I Traveller. I don't want hyper drives, Jedi, etc, either.
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
One reason why I like the original Mongoose Trav better than 2nd Ed.
MarcusIII
Cosmic Mongoose
No, correct. Both are set in THIS galaxy. In this part of this galaxy. Same setting, different period.
