MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Me wanting writers to feel free to create additional or changed mechanics is whining? Aren't there reviewers and editors to rein in the egregious abuses you mention? Let's not take it to extremes. Is the pod thing that extreme?
This is from @phavoc from another thread, but I think it applies here as well, so I will quote him here.
"I got started with Traveller in the very first LBB's and one can see how things got continually bolted on to the game system since it's origin. Unfortunately it was also one of those game systems that never really got around to going back to the beginning and taking all that was learned and fixing things with the next edition. One would almost swear Traveller is an RPG that illustrates the classic Peanuts scenario where Lucy continually reassures Charlie Brown that she's NOT going to take away the football this time when he tried to kick it."
This is what I am talking about. He has a good point.
Edit - What Pod thing? The kindof like Module Pod things? It is apparently still in the rules according to @MongooseMatt, it is just no longer actually in the written rules. Whatever the hell that means.