(My) Problems with Mongoose Traveller so far
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Bishop Odo
Mongoose
I can live with any system, but if you want me to buy new stuff it had better be good. For the most part I have decided not to buy any “new” Traveller stuff unless it’s good and supported with miniatures. If, we the miniature Traveller gamers are told, there plenty of miniatures available from old stock and makeshift conversions, then you have to ask is the same true with general Traveller gaming material.
Cleon the Mad
Mongoose
BenGunn said:Well, at least from my point, feel free to add/commment. I admit that my point of comparison for MGT is MegaTraveller and not CT. Given that MT is the collected, cleaned and updated version of CT (Characters are compatible) that is IMHO a fair baseline to compare a new Traveller-system to. So far MGT beats it in some regions (Character Generation, there it is equal to TNE) and keeps up in others (Combat, Spaceships, Trade) but some sore points have come up:
- Lack of weights for most of the equipment
This makes it hard to estimate sizes, loads carried etc. Even worse in Mercs where a weight for the AT-gun would allow an estimation of the size of an artillery battledress (Gun is anything with a bore of 20mm or more)- Lack of an "energy output/energy needed" system in ships construction
The common concept of Traveller is "reactor can power all systems for a task" i.e. Weapons, shields, engines, gravplates, sensors during combat etc. This serves as a nice balance against a ship with all huge guns AND high thrust- Some concepts not thought through
The "mortar firing balls of energy" (Q: How do these balls follow a ballistic trajectory) or the FragCanon (Q: Why not call it a howitzer and add a few ammo types)- The Fusion Gun
The Fuzion Gun emmiting radiation that is lethal to unprotected persons nearby is odd.- Lack of a vehicle design system/integrated design system
MegaTraveller had an integrated system for starships, spaceships and ground/grav vehicles- Strange Gazelle-design
The Gazelle normally is the thick-skinned, big-gunned but slow/low jump unit of the Triad (Fiery, Gazelle, Type-T) with the nice twist of drop-tanks. The current incarnation makes her "another Type-T" and kills some of her charms- No 600dton Type-M Subsidized Liner
Can't have Assignment: Vigilante without one
Small stuff and maybe already corrected in upcoming products. But stuff none the less.
I'm enjoying MGT so far, but at the same time I do understand some of your complaints. Going to comment on each one in turn:
1) Been to busy rolling up characters to actually buy a lot of equipment yet.
Although they should include more if this is the case, I agree..if you do have your copy of Megatraveller, maybe use that for weights of items until an equipment book comes out?2) The pre-High Guard LBB ship building system (if I recall right) didn't use power either, the MGT ship building system is closer to the CT LBB system then anything. Megatraveller's is more or less the CT/LBB High Guard system redone, so I expect/assume a system closer to Megatraveller will be found whne High Guard comes out next month.
3) In a weird way, I don't mind the FGMP and other man portable fusion weapons giving off lethal radiation if one isn't protected. Look at it this way, it is a built in game balancer of sorts...unless you're running a Merc/military campagin where everyone is in Battledress (or at least combat armor), then you might want some sort of limit on where and around whom or what the guy in the group with the big ugly FGMP can use it. At least the guy happy guy with that thing has to go to a lighter weapon much of the time, lest he radiatate half of his friends with his BFG (Big Fusion Gun of course.
).4) Again that's Megatraveller (and later), MGT is more of a revamp of CT. Although I did like Megatraveller's integrated "design all crafts with it" system too.
5) Kind of agree, should have called it something else. Also find it odd there's a 100 ton SDB that is the same shape as a fairly common 400 ton SDB...actually had to do a double take when I saw that craft. Then again the MGT 100 ton SDB is the Serpent class, the 400 ton if I recall is the Dragon class..so could be their way of saying (without actually writing this) that the Serpent was designed by the same Naval Archetect(s)..could even be an 800 ton SDB out there with the same hull shape for instance.
6) True, although Traders & Gunboats is a book planned for MGT, it could be it will be in that. May also answer point 5...a Gazelle closer to the original could be in it, along with the 400 ton SDB.
BenGunn said:
I do not see this problem. In the core rulebook's equipment section, all
armour, all communicators, the computers, most of the other equipment
and all weapons have weights.
There are only few items where no weight is given, and in most of these
cases weight is unimportant (e.g. for drugs).
Baron Sidur Haski
Mongoose
My problem is that all of my friends are scattered all over the world. How am I supposed to run a proper ftf game like that?
my main gripe is simple...
poor editing/proof reading before release...
dropped paragraghs
missing labels on charts
large number of typoes
and full (important) charts missing (ship combat section)...
I can understand variant spelling (honour/armour/etc..) because the UK origin.
but for the $$$, this many mistakes is unacceptable....
if I didn't like the game (as the first RPG I ever got in HS, back in '77) I wouldn't of bothered until a second printing or revised version.
poor editing/proof reading before release...
dropped paragraghs
missing labels on charts
large number of typoes
and full (important) charts missing (ship combat section)...
I can understand variant spelling (honour/armour/etc..) because the UK origin.
but for the $$$, this many mistakes is unacceptable....
if I didn't like the game (as the first RPG I ever got in HS, back in '77) I wouldn't of bothered until a second printing or revised version.
newtraveller
Mongoose
grymlocke said:
I'm completely new to the game, am I missing info needed to run ship combat?
EDG said:
that's the frustrating part that almost drove me out of gaming...it seems to be a trend in the industry to push things out the door, grab as much $$ as possible before it flops and move on...
now this admittedly isn't that bad, not by a long shot... but it does get frustrating.
I do hope the 'pocket edition' gets fixed and not just a downsized version of the core book..
BenGunn said:EDG said:
Ah come on, Mongoose has the excellent, almost error-free quality of GDW's Traveller products to live up to. Only fifty pages errata for 300 pages of rules system is a quality that one can hardly beat (MegaTraveller)
I couldn't deal with mega, or new era...mega because they started to get bogged down in mechanics, that alot of games from the 80's did (remember Iron crown games and rolemaster?) and I loathe new era for switching to the 'house' rule mechanic (same used for dark consiracy and TL2000) but mostly Virus, stupid stupid stupid...
grymlocke said:
Naw, Virus was just misunderstood...... A hardware solution to a systemic monoculture of design.
Or really A Plot device.
A way to bring games/campaigns back to PC scale. Which after MT it desperately needed.
But then again I was running 'punk games with Traveller long before it became fashionable.
Infojunky said:
both really....I could of delt with saying g'bye to 3I if they could of done it a....hmmm...another way, virus seemed a lazy way out.the one TL 17 ai planet if I remember was a red zone, somewhere inthe marches I think...or was it ley? ---ARRRGH! now I'm going to worry at it till I find out! :roll: ... old classic stuff.
grymlocke said:
I thought it was a great ending to the entire rebellion, ended by glitch...
A hardware glitch, but that is what happens when you let a vital link be monocultural.
grymlocke said:
Sambqys......
