Time Limit to Traveller License?

[BenTOGS]

It was brought up in another topic about Traveller being licensed for a limited time period. How long does that License have to run?

I have given up on Dungeons & Dragons, with it's endless new editions & dumbing down, and don't want to get into this Edition of Traveller if it's going to go the way of the dodo soon.

Now, while everybody was going out in 1978/79 to buy D&D on our trips from a small town college to a game shop, I was over in the corner with the first Traveller box set, so this is not a new infatuation, but after the collapse of GDW I was just not enthused untill MGP 's version came out. But I WILL NOT throw money down a spinning black hole!

By the way, I bought that game shop 15 years ago, so Traveller reallly influences my life in a Great Way.

Dear Freinds at Mongoose, give me a clew, please.

 

[apoc527]

I believe it lasts 10 years, and there's probably an option to renew, but I have no idea if that's true or not (it would make sense).

 

[AndrewW]

Even if the license expires the already done books don't suddenly turn to dust or the pages blank. Still useful after that time.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Mongoose got the license in 2007 and they have it for 10 years from that point (IIRC).

 

[Treebore]

One of the reasons I liked Traveller is I never felt a need to move to the new versions. So I have liked the fact that I had only a finite amount of Classic and Mega Traveller to buy, and is why I stayed away from most of the GURPS stuff, even though I do own a fair amount of that as well.

I am guessing that Mongoose asked for a 10 year license because they figured that would be how long it would take them to make everything they are going to make. Plus another reason I like Mongoose Traveller is because it is so easy to use my Classic and Mega Traveller stuff with it.

So if in 10 years Mongoose does not renew the license I will still be happy with what they will have done. which is already a heck of a lot.

 

[Golan2072]

Also remember that while the Mongoose license is time-limited, anything released as SRD under the OGL stays that way forever. So, even if the license expires, people can still publish MGT-compatible material, even commercially!

 

[Bense]

Personally I buy games because they are good, not because people are still producing material for them. I usually prefer to produce my own material anyway.

 

[DFW]

Personally I buy games because they are good, not because people are still producing material for them. I usually prefer to produce my own material anyway.

True. Take AD&D. If you started playing today it would take you a LONG time to use all material available.

 

[kristof65]

Also remember that while the Mongoose license is time-limited, anything released as SRD under the OGL stays that way forever.

This is a key point, not so much because of the ability for people to continue to publish, but for the availability of the core book.

My friends and I enjoyed WFRP 1e for a long time after it went out of print, but we found it harder and harder to recruit new players to the groups because of the lack of availability of the core rules. Same with Classic Traveller, at least until the reprints became available.

With the SRD available under the OGL, the bulk of the core rules will be easily available for a long, long time.

 

[aspqrz]

Also remember that while the Mongoose license is time-limited, anything released as SRD under the OGL stays that way forever.

This is a key point, not so much because of the ability for people to continue to publish, but for the availability of the core book.

My friends and I enjoyed WFRP 1e for a long time after it went out of print, but we found it harder and harder to recruit new players to the groups because of the lack of availability of the core rules. Same with Classic Traveller, at least until the reprints became available.

With the SRD available under the OGL, the bulk of the core rules will be easily available for a long, long time.

Indeed, a number of publishers of DnD 3ed stuff actually reprinted bookmarked and/or reformatted versions of the DnD SRD as PDFs which were generally available and which, as PDFs, will remain available pretty much forever on the 'net.

That was before Print on Demand became so accessible and affordable with operations such as Lulu and Guild of Blades - it is perfectly feasible these days for a gaming group to take the Traveller (or any other) SRD material, format it, illustrate it, add house rules etc. and make it available not just as a PDF, but as a fully printed rulebook. And its easy to do quite a professional job even with quite cheap, or even free, software!

In effect, any SRD based game has become immortal.

I wonder if anyone has actually realised this on the publisher's side? Or realised the possible and likely consequences?

Phil

 

[DFW]

In effect, any SRD based game has become immortal.

I wonder if anyone has actually realised this on the publisher's side? Or realised the possible and likely consequences?

Phil

Yes, WotC realized it and thus, "D&D" 4 isn't SRD'd...

 

[kristof65]

Yes, WotC realized it and thus, "D&D" 4 isn't SRD'd...

Software developers are watching how the market plays out here because of WotC's decision to close it off. Was the djinni already out of the bottle when they closed it off? How would software products fare in similar circumstances?

The emergence of a product like Pathfinder was pretty much predicted in those circles when it first became rumored 4e would be "closed."

D&D's dominance in the market may still wind up prevailing. But I don't see Traveller having the same issues - all the OGL will do is ensure that the material remains available for MGT. Unlike D&D where you have 4 basic editions/variations, and most players abandon the previous edition for the current one, Traveller fans have had far more choice of editions for a long time. What other role-playing game has multiple editions available at the same time?

 

[MongooseMatt]

I wonder if anyone has actually realised this on the publisher's side? Or realised the possible and likely consequences?

Or maybe they planned it that way...

 

[dmccoy1693]

In effect, any SRD based game has become immortal.

I wonder if anyone has actually realised this on the publisher's side? Or realised the possible and likely consequences?

We've pretty much seen the entire OGL cycle play itself out over the past 10 years.

New Base Game -> Variant Support Material -> Spin Off Games -> New Base Game

The same thing happened to the Fudge system (who's New Base Game is the Fate system) and the same thing will happen with Pathfinder eventually. The new base Pathfinder game maybe Pathfinder 2E (most likely) or something else should Paizo go under or abandon the current basics of the game (highly unlikely in the near future).

The same can (and probably will) happen to Traveller. I mean JBE is already making variant support material. If we get a (wild example) Space: Above and Beyond license, we'd probably release a book with system and setting in one. By the time the Traveller license has expired (and if Mongoose decides to go a different direction then the Traveller OGL system), we might try our hands at creating our own Traveller variant system.

But we have plenty of years before giving serious consideration to an option like that. Still, it is possible.

 

[DFW]

Unlike D&D where you have 4 basic editions/variations, and most players abandon the previous edition for the current one,

That rule seemed to hold true until D&D 4. Of the 40 or so players I know around the world, only 2 stayed with D&D 4. The rest, after years of playing skipped 4 and went with various OGL substitutes...

 

[Bense]

That rule seemed to hold true until D&D 4. Of the 40 or so players I know around the world, only 2 stayed with D&D 4. The rest, after years of playing skipped 4 and went with various OGL substitutes...

Why should I go with an OGL substitute when I still have all of my D&D 3.5 books? They work perfectly fine for what I want them to do, thank you.

The only other RPGs I can think of that had multiple systems available at the same time are games that had a GURPS supplement released, like Deadlands or some of the White Wolf stuff.

 

[DFW]

Why should I go with an OGL substitute when I still have all of my D&D 3.5 books? They work perfectly fine for what I want them to do, thank you.

I have no idea why you should. Why do you ask?

 

[dmccoy1693]

Why should I go with an OGL substitute when I still have all of my D&D 3.5 books? They work perfectly fine for what I want them to do, thank you.

If you and your group are fine with the edition of any game you are playing, there is no need to switch. There are however many good reasons to switch, to a different game:
-you can't find a group
-you're not entirely happy with your current game and the new game fixes those areas you're not happy with
-something about the game excites you
-the gm refuses to run anything else

just a few off the top of my head.

 

[kristof65]

That rule seemed to hold true until D&D 4. Of the 40 or so players I know around the world, only 2 stayed with D&D 4. The rest, after years of playing skipped 4 and went with various OGL substitutes...

Among the people I play with, that holds true as well - most didn't move to 4e. Among the much larger D&D community in my area, it seems to be a 50-50 split - 50% moved on, while 50% stuck with 3.5 or Pathfinder.

The fan base for Traveller seems much different though. New editions aren't really spat upon by the majority, nor old editions entirely abandoned. It helps that it's been licensed out to multiple publishers at the same time, so we get a broad choice of what system to play, and other systems to mine material from.

 

[DFW]

The fan base for Traveller seems much different though. New editions aren't really spat upon by the majority, nor old editions entirely abandoned. It helps that it's been licensed out to multiple publishers at the same time, so we get a broad choice of what system to play, and other systems to mine material from.

Agreed. We take what we want from the newest version & make the game better.