Traveller 5E

[MarcusIII]

I take it you were not visiting these forums during the histrionics then. There are CE authors to this day that have removed all traces to Mongoose and refuse to have products reviewed by those that still support Mongoose.

Naw, CotI occasionally but not here. How strange

 

[Endie]

That doesn't explain why Mongoose took so much flak.

Ill-informed mobs are, in the main, fairly stupid.

 

[Hootenheimer]

Then why the collective apoplexy among the TTRPG community when they thought WotC were coming for them? Mongoose took a lot of flack from the C.E. crowd and there are some of them that will have nothing to do with Mongoose ever again.

All a misunderstanding?

The WotC OGL debacle is multilayered and it's partly about history (TSR, They Sue Regularly), memories, and risk appetite. Case law in the United States has established that you can't copyright "rules and mechanics" but that comes with some crucial caveats:

1) There just isn't that much established case law on the matter. There's DaVinci Editrice SRL v. Ziko Games, LLC and that's it. I maybe wouldn't take bets on it holding up in... say.... the Southern District of Texas with the current U.S Supreme court.

2) The state of what's called anti SLAPP in the United States is patchwork, and litigation that's expensive but has no basis in established law is a time honored tradition to silence individuals who don't keep lawyers on retainer (i.e., normal working class folks). Game mechanics probably wouldn't be covered under anti SLAAP anyway, which is chiefly concerned about civil litigation suppressing American First Amendment speech rights anyway.

Mongoose took flak and continues to take flak because it's current license terms aren't acceptable to some third party producers in the context of what WotC pulled back in 2023 with attempting to revoke and change its OGL. Mongoose has the right to have its license terms, but 3rd Party Publishers can nowadays point out that the largest TTRPG on the market has an SRD released under one of the most permissive license structures ever conceived, Creative Commons.

That leads to an interesting bit that, as it stands, Traveller 5E will have a more permissive license structure than what Mongoose currently offers because of that, assuming 3rd Party content producers use 5E SRDs to make their content and avoid using Mongoose IP (such as Charted Space and directly referencing Traveller).

 

[Endie]

The WotC OGL debacle is multilayered and it's partly about history (TSR, They Sue Regularly), memories, and risk appetite. Case law in the United States has established that you can't copyright "rules and mechanics" but that comes with some crucial caveats:

1) There just isn't that much established case law on the matter. There's DaVinci Editrice SRL v. Ziko Games, LLC and that's it. I maybe wouldn't take bets on it holding up in... say.... the Southern District of Texas with the current U.S Supreme court.

2) The state of what's called anti SLAPP in the United States is patchwork, and litigation that's expensive but has no basis in established law is a time honored tradition to silence individuals who don't keep lawyers on retainer (i.e., normal working class folks). Game mechanics probably wouldn't be covered under anti SLAAP anyway, which is chiefly concerned about civil litigation suppressing American First Amendment speech rights anyway.

Mongoose took flak and continues to take flak because it's current license terms aren't acceptable to some third party producers in the context of what WotC pulled back in 2023 with attempting to revoke and change its OGL. Mongoose has the right to have its license terms, but 3rd Party Publishers can nowadays point out that the largest TTRPG on the market has an SRD released under one of the most permissive license structures ever conceived, Creative Commons.

That leads to an interesting bit that, as it stands, Traveller 5E will have a more permissive license structure than what Mongoose currently offers because of that, assuming 3rd Party content producers use 5E SRDs to make their content and avoid using Mongoose IP (such as Charted Space and directly referencing Traveller).

Agreed. It is worth saying that the approach taken by Mongoose is highly restrictive. They talk a great game in terms of right-on, liberal politics but when it comes to a closed infrastructure and lack of openness they may be the worst and most restrictive of all of the (sort-of) major TTRPG companies*. Matt has made the excuse that it was intended to obfuscate the change of ownership from Marc to Mongoose but there's no excuse now that that secrecy has passed. They're just restrictive, and my own feeling, having seen the growth since 3e that an open approach has offered in the major companies, I also think it is foolish as well as unpleasant.

*OK, except GW.

 

[CyborgPrime]

New Video Premiere: Traveller 5E — What’s REALLY Going On?**​

Hey Travellers! I just released a brand-new video breaking down the big announcement everyone’s talking about — Traveller 5E.
There’s been a lot of excitement, worry, and confusion in the community, so I put together my take on this, an explanation of:
- What Traveller 5E actually is
- What it isn’t
- Why it exists
- Who it’s for
- And what it means for the future of Traveller

If you’ve seen the discussions flying around and want a straightforward breakdown without the drama (at least as I understand it currently), this video is for you.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Until next time, my friends… happy travelling.

 

[MarcusIII]

D&D 5 engine is really written for children and PC danger adverse RPGers. They'd faint going from Trav 5E to any other version of Trav.

 

[Sigtrygg]

I just spat out red wine...

"mongooses's involvement it to oversee lore and ensure consistency"

there are not enough rofl emoticons.

The 10 min video tells me no more than I learned from the announcement and looking at the company's web site.

Until someone at mongoose or WLRPG reveal more details all we know is it will be similar to the T20 concept but for 5e.

"it has never lost its identity"

no one can define what it is

it is not the setting, Traveller rules are used for many bespoke settings, not just charted space or the wider galaxy charted space is a very small part of,

it is not 2d6 resolution, see GT, TNE, T4, T5, T20

The closest I can get is Traveller is the tools to run sci fi games:
lifepath character generation
challenging combat
a trading mini game
starship construction
starship combat
planet generation
a range of TLs from stone age to Clarketech
animal encounters based on ecological niche
equipment for each TL
options include psionics, artificial gravity, robots, cybernetics, whatever you can imagine

Traveller can be set in a single system, or with an FTL drive capable of visiting any world in the galaxy, or any lesser tier of your imagination.

 

[CyborgPrime]

I just spat out red wine...

"mongooses's involvement it to oversee lore and ensure consistency"

there are not enough rofl emoticons.

The 10 min video tells me no more than I learned from the announcement and looking at the company's web site.

Until someone at mongoose or WLRPG reveal more details all we know is it will be similar to the T20 concept but for 5e.

"it has never lost its identity"

no one can define what it is

it is not the setting, Traveller rules are used for many bespoke settings, not just charted space or the wider galaxy charted space is a very small part of,

it is not 2d6 resolution, see GT, TNE, T4, T5, T20

The closest I can get is Traveller is the tools to run sci fi games:
lifepath character generation
challenging combat
a trading mini game
starship construction
starship combat
planet generation
a range of TLs from stone age to Clarketech
animal encounters based on ecological niche
equipment for each TL
options include psionics, artificial gravity, robots, cybernetics, whatever you can imagine

Traveller can be set in a single system, or with an FTL drive capable of visiting any world in the galaxy, or any lesser tier of your imagination.

You weren't the target audience, and that's OK.

Just to clarify- the video is simply my explainer based on what we know so far.
I’m not claiming to have insider info, just pulling together the official announcement and what Mongoose/WLRPG have said publicly.

From what I’ve seen on the FB and other discussion groups, the situation really isn’t clear to a lot of people. There was a ton of confusion- some thought Mongoose was replacing the current rules, some thought WLRPG was WotC, others thought this was T5 or MgT3.

That’s the main reason I made the video: to give people a straightforward summary until Mongoose or WLRPG release concrete details- like a video FAQ.

And yeah, Traveller’s ‘identity’ is one of those discussions where every edition and every fan has a different definition. That’s part of what makes this whole announcement so tricky to read.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Sorry it was the mongoose ensuring consistency that got me, I am still laughing now. I went into it thinking you may know a little more than us plebs.

I think you video will help ease the confusion until we learn more. And you are right about the confusion, I had to read it a couple of times and then go find out about the worlds largest dungeon.

What I can say is if they release a similar amount of stuff for T5E as they did for that dungeon I better start saving now.

 

[Loconius]

Color me interested, last time I was able to convince my table to play traveller was T20, and I ran them through the Crisis at Kokulkan. Looks like I’ll be able to run a sequel!!

I love mongoose too, but my table loves dnd