How to make Traveller more popular with TTRPG players

[Endie]

It's matching the Adobe InDesign templates that's a pain.

I gave @MongooseMatt a version of the templates for word updated to include working versions of all the templates (including vehicles etc) that currently work for InDesign, but in Word format for The Rest Of Us.

Their own Word templates lack a ton of stuff at present. Technically it's their own IP and I can't share it directly but if he is OK with it I can do so.

 

[MarcusIII]

As for creating pdfs, I was thinking more about the desktop publishing aspect of preparing an rpg product, like layout, and so on.

Exactly. How to assign a cover page & a back cover, type of image format to use, size, margins, etc.

 

[mavikfelna]

As for creating pdfs, I was thinking more about the desktop publishing aspect of preparing an rpg product, like layout, and so on.

I would love more help in knowing how to format stuff. But, to help you all out, I got this from Don Headrick on Facebook. It's been a huge help. I still need to figure out how to do the text on the front cover better. Right now I just erase my title line in Paint and then try and match where it was with the new title. I know there should be a way to do a text layer and just adjust that, but I have no idea how to do it, and I think I would need something different than MS Paint.
But, DriveThru does accept this format, I've used it twice now for PWYW TAS books there. They are not pretty or professional looking, but they work if you don't mind that.

 

[Endie]

Exactly. How to assign a cover page & a back cover, type of image format to use, size, margins, etc.

It's really a lot easier with the working Word templates.

With the adobe version it is a lot harder for the amateur - like you're easier with LaTeX! - and you have to give money to one of the most immoral companies in the realm of software, which I am sure you know is competing in a very strong field.

 

[MarcusIII]

I made a PDF of my Cepheus Deluxe house rules for my players (not a commercial product) as allowed under Stellagama Publishing rules rules. It's a complete rule set if anyone wants to see a PDF made with LibreOffice Writer

 

[RogerN]

I gave @MongooseMatt a version of the templates for word updated to include working versions of all the templates (including vehicles etc) that currently work for InDesign, but in Word format for The Rest Of Us.

Their own Word templates lack a ton of stuff at present. Technically it's their own IP and I can't share it directly but if he is OK with it I can do so.

I would love to see those as im trying to create something similar to use for my own writing and its not looking too great at the minute

 

[mavikfelna]

I would love to see those as im trying to create something similar to use for my own writing and its not looking too great at the minute

Same here

 

[rinku]

Coming in a little late to the thread, but I actually don't think a generic rulebook would sell that well, or bring in new players. That was a thing that was tried in the late 80's and early 90's, and has never really resulted in stellar sales or increased customer base over and above rules plus setting corebooks, IMHO.

GURPS became a setting and splatbook generator rather than a system many people played.

HERO tried to become a core system, but really only remained Champions.

Customers WANT a setting with their game, and honestly, a one-size-fits-most core rulebook like MG2e22 in an attractive colour hardback (or reasonably priced PDF) is far better at bringing in curious players than a "core generic rules" plus "Chartered Space" plus "Aliens" plus "Starships". Mongoose did make a tactical error by leaving basic ship construction out of the original 2e handbook, but that was corrected.

One thing that GURPS DID do with some success was the free GURPS Lite, letting the splatbooks be their own product line. Mongoose have offered the $1 Explorer's edition etc. Possibly that could be refined and better publicised?

 

[MarcusIII]

Customers WANT a setting with their game

That depends. I've and tons of other people have been buying D&D type RPG game core rule books for decades with no setting info.

 

[mavikfelna]

Coming in a little late to the thread, but I actually don't think a generic rulebook would sell that well, or bring in new players. That was a thing that was tried in the late 80's and early 90's, and has never really resulted in stellar sales or increased customer base over and above rules plus setting corebooks, IMHO.

GURPS became a setting and splatbook generator rather than a system many people played.

HERO tried to become a core system, but really only remained Champions.

Customers WANT a setting with their game, and honestly, a one-size-fits-most core rulebook like MG2e22 in an attractive colour hardback (or reasonably priced PDF) is far better at bringing in curious players than a "core generic rules" plus "Chartered Space" plus "Aliens" plus "Starships". Mongoose did make a tactical error by leaving basic ship construction out of the original 2e handbook, but that was corrected.

One thing that GURPS DID do with some success was the free GURPS Lite, letting the splatbooks be their own product line. Mongoose have offered the $1 Explorer's edition etc. Possibly that could be refined and better publicised?

I don't know. My group played the hell out of GURPS in the 90's BECAUSE it was a generic system. We bounced around alot and played with supers and starship and vampires and what not all jumbled together at once or hopped from milieu to genre as the whim took us. Having a generic system that meant we could do it all without having to learn a new system for each was the draw.

 

[rinku]

Obviously I'm talking in broad strokes here. Particular players will have their own groove.

But I do think that in general terms, new players are going to look at a shelf or a site product listing and shy away from a product that is too expensive or too big.

Sure, if they're in a group where that one guy wants to get everyone playing Traveller, they may get hooked and go out and buy a bunch of stuff. But is that actually happening? Traveller is NOT the RPG market leader, so it can't rely in the way D&D or even Pathfinder do things. On the other hand, while Mongoose is not a small press indie publisher either, their products are more likely to be grouped with those guys. It generally goes "shelf for D&D", "shelf for Pathfinder", maybe "half a shelf for Cthulhu", and "shelf for all the others".

They want someone to try out a Traveller book instead of a Savage Worlds one.

And one last point... the old player base is shrinking. I got into Traveller young (1980), and I'm 59. There's a limited percentage for Mongoose in catering to us old guys too much. 15-20 years and most of us will be gone. If they're lucky some of the grandkids will occasionally play Traveller instead of D&D, from that cohort. They NEED to bring in players that get a version of Traveller that speaks to their generation. Maybe Pioneer will help. Maybe a version that's more like Star Wars, or like Star Trek, or like Fallout might take off. But I think it's best that they do continue to make self-contained products. Although nothing does bring in the punters as much as Free... SJG boiled GURPS down to a 16 page PDF and never regretted making it $0.00.

 

[Vormaerin]

And one last point... the old player base is shrinking. I got into Traveller young (1980), and I'm 59.

Do we actually have any demographics on the Traveller player base or are we just assuming that we are old that everyone else is also old? This is a forum, a pretty antiquated communication system by the standards of youth today And a tiny tiny percentage of the players are actually active here. How many of those 900 people who kickstarted Pioneer are 60ish?

I'm 20 years older than the oldest player in my Traveller group. Are they Traveller hardcore like I am? No. They don't have the financial wherewithal to be either. But they love playing Traveller.

 

[MongooseChris]

Two gaming sessions at Dragonmeet might not constitute a proper demographic study, but here are a few details about my experience:

• One female, eight male players.
• Three in the 20-30 age bracket, six probably 45+.
• Two were long-time Traveller players, and two others had played before, but not for some time. The others knew of the the game, but had never played it before nor purchased any products.

Not really an important demographic at a British game con, but kind of a funny anecdote. Eight were British, one was American (our female player). As we were getting started, she noticed my accent and said something to the effect of "Hey, you're American, aren't you?" Yes, I am. When she spoke her second or third sentence, I noticed her accent, too. "Hey, you're American, too, aren't you!" I don't meet a lot of Americans over here. I was surprised to encounter one at the con.

Hopefully we made some converts.

 

[Micky]

Coming in a little late to the thread, but I actually don't think a generic rulebook would sell that well, or bring in new players. That was a thing that was tried in the late 80's and early 90's, and has never really resulted in stellar sales or increased customer base over and above rules plus setting corebooks, IMHO.

GURPS became a setting and splatbook generator rather than a system many people played.

HERO tried to become a core system, but really only remained Champions.

Customers WANT a setting with their game, and honestly, a one-size-fits-most core rulebook like MG2e22 in an attractive colour hardback (or reasonably priced PDF) is far better at bringing in curious players than a "core generic rules" plus "Chartered Space" plus "Aliens" plus "Starships". Mongoose did make a tactical error by leaving basic ship construction out of the original 2e handbook, but that was corrected.

One thing that GURPS DID do with some success was the free GURPS Lite, letting the splatbooks be their own product line. Mongoose have offered the $1 Explorer's edition etc. Possibly that could be refined and better publicised?

yeah. I made that suggestion early on in the thread. Slipcases rule. Just put in for the preorder on that awesome looking CoC 50th anni slipcase.

To tie this in with the 5E Traveller thread. Let's just say if.... if that Frankenstein monster comes to life and it actually sells. Then what?

Isn't the goal to try to bring players over to Mongoose Traveller by getting younger 5E D&D players who get introduced to the Traveller setting but then might come to find. You know, perhaps we should try out the original.

For the 50th I'd strongly encourage Mongoose to split the corebook into two books and slipcase it with the bitchin' art. A player book which can remain setting neutral. Perhaps do up some expanded character creation. Add some stuff from the supplements. Bounty Hunters, non human character creation for the major alien races. a quick robot build rules set akin to shipbuilding. Throw a quick build for vehicles as well. Perhaps tackle a more robust benefits section that is less generic and tailored for each career (the 1% article from JTAS 13 is a great start in expanding the fun of character creation to its finalizing part and determining benefits.). The 2nd book, a Referee's guide and in that you hit the setting and give new Referee's help in taming the vast monster of Charted Space. Perhaps even something akin to what Free League has done so well (especially with T2000) and a quasi-solo rules section which fits the 'hex crawl' series of random encounters travelling aspect of this game well.

I think many of us existing players would be all over it, and Mongoose would be well set up to benefit from any bump and surge of popularity in its 'Charted Space IP' that might come from the 5E Traveller.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The forums at rpgnet are, as far as I can tell, frequented by younger gamers.

The most common Traveller related questions I see are some variation on - " I have an idea for a sci fi game, what games will do this" - someone suggests Traveller - at which point the conversation goes as I have posted before but by far the most common reason for rejection of Traveller being able to run their bespoke setting idea or media rip off is that Traveller only does the Third Imperium.

Occasionally there is an "I'm interested in Traveller, tell me about it thread" and people push their favourite game, SWN get mentioned, and Traveller is drowned out in conversation.

 

[Jet_Black]

The youngest players in my two regular gaming groups (about a dozen people, all in all) are in their late thirties, the oldest in their late fifties. Myself, I'm 52.

There is a monthly roleplay event at one of the public libraries here in Munich. Around 80 to 100 people of all ages are in attendance each time, and there is always one table running Traveller!

 

[Sigtrygg]

What are the others running, those are the target audience, not people who will buy the Traveller 50th anniversary revised updated revised updtated core rule book, this time with gold sticker, regardless (I know I will be getting them all assuming I am still alive in two years)

 

[Studio Cat]

Two gaming sessions at Dragonmeet might not constitute a proper demographic study, but here are a few details about my experience:

• One female, eight male players.
• Three in the 20-30 age bracket, six probably 45+.
• Two were long-time Traveller players, and two others had played before, but not for some time. The others knew of the the game, but had never played it before nor purchased any products.

Not really an important demographic at a British game con, but kind of a funny anecdote. Eight were British, one was American (our female player). As we were getting started, she noticed my accent and said something to the effect of "Hey, you're American, aren't you?" Yes, I am. When she spoke her second or third sentence, I noticed her accent, too. "Hey, you're American, too, aren't you!" I don't meet a lot of Americans over here. I was surprised to encounter one at the con.

Hopefully we made some converts.

This illustrates the point I was making up thread about playing the game in public. Over half of the people who played had heard of the game, but hadn't played it before. I really believe that if we provide a way for people to satisfy that curiosity for Traveller by running games in public spaces, then more people will play the game.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Their own Word templates lack a ton of stuff at present. Technically it's their own IP and I can't share it directly but if he is OK with it I can do so.

We will get round to posting that, promise!

 

[collins355]

The forums at rpgnet are, as far as I can tell, frequented by younger gamers.

The most common Traveller related questions I see are some variation on - " I have an idea for a sci fi game, what games will do this" - someone suggests Traveller - at which point the conversation goes as I have posted before but by far the most common reason for rejection of Traveller being able to run their bespoke setting idea or media rip off is that Traveller only does the Third Imperium.

Occasionally there is an "I'm interested in Traveller, tell me about it thread" and people push their favourite game, SWN get mentioned, and Traveller is drowned out in conversation.

Actually what I commonly see, in many different social media outlets, is that pretty quickly people come along slinging the usual hackneyed anti-Traveller tropes...

"You'll die in character generation!"

"Get ready to play an aging boomer, because this is a game system that only generates retired characters!"

"The computers are the size of rooms! Like in the 1950s!"