Traveller T20 vs Mongoose Traveller

[Jame Rowe]

The T20 rules are ...OK

But the Gateway to Destiny setting stuff is excellent... written by a certain someone

I have both GtD and T20 Core. My opinion? Well, I'm glad I went out and ordered GtD for my parents to get as a holiday present, while I'm glad I got T20 at half-price as a used book.

I wouldn't mind getting the PDFs that QLI put out but given what I've heard I'm not going to expend the effort.

 

[GamerDude]

However, the big problem as I see it is that if anyone bought GtD from anywhere, then Martin wouldn't see any money for it because Hunter's been defaulting on the royalties he owes him for it... so Martin would get nothing for it while all the money sinks into the black hole that is QLI.

Unless I missed something on the forums, this is the first I've heard of this anywhere, and definitely not from MJD.

I don't care who said it, true or not, I'm not very comfortable reading another company slammed whether this is another game publisher, or the folks making the plastic ship maps,etc.

It especially bothers me when claims are made that the company is not doing well financially.

 

[EDG]

Martin's made it public several times elsewhere (on CotI and Avenger). Um... here:

http://www.traveller.comstar-games.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1896

I also didn't make any claims that QLI isn't doing well financially - fact is that nobody knows how well they're doing at all - just that Hunter's disappeared again, QLI isn't producing new material (and appears to have lost anyone willing to write for them), and that Hunter's not paying the person that was his main author the money that he owes him. Make of that what you will.

The rest of what I said is logical progression - if Martin's not receiving his royalties from QLI material, then buying that material won't support him (materially speaking, at least). And if any money going into QLI from PDF sales hasn't made Hunter reappear so far, then continuing to give them money is not likely to make him reappear in the future.

 

[GamerDude]

Thank you for the link.

The situation is unfortunate and I am sorry to hear it.

But again, this is the MONGOOSE forums, and negative comments about other game companies at least make me very uncomfortable.

 

[rust]

But again, this is the MONGOOSE forums, and negative comments about other game companies at least make me very uncomfortable.

I understand this very well, but on the other hand it is difficult to discuss
T20 compared to MGT without mentioning the situation around QLI. It
would be unfair not to tell a potential buyer that it would be unwise to
order from QLI, and then you also have to explain why this is so, I
think.

 

[Valarian]

Personally, I like T20. It's not the best adaptation of the d20 rules I've seen. In my opinion that goes to Mongoose's Babylon 5 2nd edition, although there are recognised problems with that one around Starship design and combat. I'm afraid I'm in the minority here when I say that I don't like the new MGT rules. In my case, it's too close to the CT system - which I also don't really like.

As I see it, with the rise of d20, the T20 rules were easy to "sell" to players and introduce them to the Traveller universe. I got in to the Traveller universe through this route and bought Classic, MegaTraveller and other merchandise to get background material for T20 games.

With 4th edition coming out, the direction from the Fantasy crowd of players has moved away from the 3rd edition system. With the multitude of d20 games, people have lost interest in the system. Maybe MGT can revive some interest in Traveller in this market with a different rules system to d20. However, I won't be GMing or playing. Maybe I'll try a Spirit of the Century game of Traveller, or Traveller using the B5 rules.

Just want to say ... thank you Mongoose for making the MGT playtest public. It gave me the opportunity to read the rules and to make an informed judgement on the game.

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

I bought T20 because I felt I needed to know what people were talking about when others were discussing T20.

Let's just say I won't be buying anything from or by QLI again in the future, and I whole-heartedly support Mongoose's Traveller.

 

[Myrm]

I got T20. I liked it for what I got it for. Actually I liked in general but possibly thats helped because I got it for a reason. I recognise that there are some issues with its layout if you come to it cold, but then that could be said of any number of supplements/games based on the D20 system and license which cannot be blamed upon the makers of anyone having to operate there.

It did do exactly what it said on the tin. It took Traveller to the D20 market demographic and it succeeded (IMO YMMV AOTLA). Thats the context the T20 system should be judged by, both then and now. The corporate issues are linked and may affect decisions but they should seen separately from the system.

Given that there were reprints of classic Traveller around this wasn't a product that could really say it was trying to be 'Traveller'. It should be regarded as a specialist.

So what was it for...well I think I used it how it was best used. I had a group, two of us wanted to do Traveller, but two guys were only familiar with D20 and wanted to stick to that system. T20 was perfect for that situation. It was cross-platform enough that I used Spycraft and SG1 material from the D20 side, and material from GURPS Traveller and a couple of LBB bits as well - not to mention the Counterstrike map

Was it ideal. No, it was not perfect for Traveller. Traveller comes with a set of concepts that vary from common metrics present in level/class based RPG systems. T20 did a good job of shifting the emphasis the right way, but its did not completely replicate a dedicated Traveller system. When D20 'ruled' (for want of a better phrase), it was useful. Now? Hmmmm.

If someone came and asked 'should I use T20 now?', what would my reply be? I think I'd say on the plus side - 'If you have players who know D20 well, and are only really comfortable with d20, you have a defined story arc and can get ALL the material you need for the time you are going to play the game (and that must be defined game-wise rather than 'lets see how we go') then I would say it might work for you better than something else.'

However, I think that the above applies to a small fraction of RPGers and that fraction is likely to only get smaller. As I said before it was a specialist and I see the call for its specialisation as being on the decline.

For most people I'd say 'Get something in the current arc of the game. If need be use older stuff thats useful in its place - be that from CT, MegaT, TNE, GURPSTrav or T20'.

I can think of at least several bits I got from use with T20, or from other version for use with T20 that Ill use in the future with Mongoose's Traveller, but in general I think you'll get better compatibility with non-T20 stuff, and obviously the best compatibility with the current active product.