Whats the verdict on the supplements?

[weasel_fierce]

So theres a couple of books out. Whats the verdict so far on the line as a whole ?

 

[dmccoy1693]

Its a keeper?!? What exactly are you asking?

My take:
760 Patrons: Good, useful, but not patrons
Merc: Good, but not perfect
Spinward Marches: Good jumping off point for a campaign setting, fun read.

 

[Delerium]

760 Patrons: Versatile, big. 8/10

Spinward: Very nice work 9/10

Mercenary : Character options are nice. Equipment far too limited and far too underpowered at high tech levels. Some of the skills have poor explanation (eg instruction) 3/10

 

[Libris]

I liked them.

The 760 Patrons book is quite useful and the Spinward Marches is pretty good as well.

I was disappointed in Mercenary. The character generation stuff is good but the rest of the book lacked the "here's the future" impact of the original and the weapons are more Mercenary 40K (as mentioned in another post). Still bought it though .

However, I'm was never happy with the original combat systems and Mongoose's is a huge step up from GDW's. So, I'm 2000 words into writing my own variation and equipment list.

 

[zanwot]

Disapointment.

Mongoose made very little effort to modernise Traveller, in the contents but also the presentation. Only nostalgia keeps me interested.

Unfortunately at the same time came out if France another SF RPG game (Polaris, not at all the same as the one available in english), and to put it simply: Traveller is nowhere near the level of quality of modern games, I mean we are talking about comparing a bicycle and a sportscar. I get the impression Mongoose did it on the cheap.

That being said, it is still Traveller, and fun and all, and it allways gets me going. Just does not compare to modern games.

 

[Travellingdave]

Core rulebook 9/10: Some small omissions and gaffs, but generally an excellent revamping/updating of Classic Traveller.

Spinward Marches 8/10: Great intro to the OTU and an excellent tool for any new GM.

760 Patrons 7/10: Not bad stuff (w/uneven art), but not as useful to me personally.

Mercenary 4/10: What Delerium and Libris said. Good character stuff, but the technology sections often felt poorly researched and conceived.

Overall the line is quite good with an excellent core set (Rulebook and Spinward Marches). I'm looking forward to High Guard -- as the next big core book, it will go a long way towards determining the quality of the line as a whole.

 

[aspqrz]

Mercenary 4/10: What Delerium and Libris said. Good character stuff, but the technology sections often felt poorly researched and conceived.

I agree. The other books are all very good (TMB) to OK (760 Patrons), but Mercenary was a severe disappointment. Not useless, per se, but not what was (unreasonably?) expected based on it keeping the title of the original LBB Mercenary.

I'm not sure of the utility of the Base rules, as they make assumptions that seem ... unlikely ... and assume the (IMO) silly limitations of Traveller tech are unchangeable (like the minimum 8000 Cr for stateroom space ... and the accepted impossibility of shipping troops in barrack style accommodation much more cheaply, which I find downright ... silly. YMMV of course :wink: ).

Likewise, while the mission generator seems to work, I believe that the economic underpinnings and assumptions are ... unlikely ... Mercenary work is just far too economically unrewarding. You'd get a better financial return putting your money into Imperial Bonds ... and it'd be safer, too :shock:

(It seems to be based on the Mercenary economics of the 1960's and 1970's rather than that of the 1990's and 2000's ... it accurately enough represents the former, but doesn't come close to the latter).

That my 2 centicredits worth, anyway 8)

Phil

 

[collins355]

Agreed. The ticket system in MGT Mercenary seems geared to small units of mainly infantry (who might have one vehicle or heavy weapon). The profit margins are so miniscule that no sensible mercenary would risk losing a vehicle or other expensive piece of equipment (and certainly not a small craft or spaceship) in a combat action as that could well bankrupt the unit. This seems an unnecesarily narrow range.

 

[Allensh]

Core Book: 9/10. The only thing I don't like is the lack of power rules for starships and a few components (like bays) that have had needed restictions removed.

Spinward Marches: 10/10. Really like this book and the wealth of info it presents.'

760 Patrons: 8/10. Difficult to rate because I really like the wealth of adventure ideas it presents...but as noted, these really aren't patrons in the Traveller sense, especially given that there were such patrons given as examples in the core book.

Mercenary: 8/10. Again, hard to rate, primarily because I don't really run military campaigns so the flaws mentioned by others don't affect me that much. I do think that maybe there should have been a "harder" approach to some of the military tech and that non-OTU stuff needs to be more clearly labelled as such (maybe even its own section). But the stuff in there that I can use is quite good.

High Guard: not out yet, obviously...but this one NEEDS to be well edited and very useful. Hopefully the delays in getting it out are due to bug quashing and spiffing it up. I am willing to accept "late but done right" over "on time but with numerous editing errors".

Allen

 

[Jeff Hopper]

So theres a couple of books out. Whats the verdict so far on the line as a whole ?

They are all guilty of being delicious and fill the mind in the same way a choice cut of beef and good whisky fills the stomach.

My only real gripe is that Point Defense rules couldn't be found in Mercenary.

 

[captainjack23]

So theres a couple of books out. Whats the verdict so far on the line as a whole ?

I'd have to say, for the core rules, excellent. An excellent rebuild of the original classic traveller rules -with just enough updating to not kill that odd sort of hard science sort of Space opera feel that traveller has maintained. Good set of rules for most non cyberpunk trancenedence and crunchy posthumanism setting -which is fine, since the latter and arguably all genres are not about people doing stuff (rather posthumans or superhumans doing stuff) which is not Travellers focus: "people doing stuff".

Caveat: I was pretty involved in ther playtest, and by and large, feel pretty satisfied with the result -both as general set of traveller rules building off of CT, and interms of feeling like the playtest provided useful input to the final product.
Note: While sales are no guarantee of quality, they do at least suggest that you won't be buyiing a soon - to-be orphaned line. And, honestly, the respnse hasn't looked like that of a "fashionable piece of crap thats new and flashy " that one can get in this market.....Despite all the RPG pundits denouncing MGT for catering to the grognards and nostalga markets; not moving beyond traveller; not updating the (fill in the blank with personal bugbear as regards science, social functioning, rules sytems, dice sytems, combat systems); having Boring retro-CT covers; and "on the cheap" looking art, it really has succeded, and has clearly broken out of just apealing to the "backward looking" type gamers.

For the suppliments, pretty good.

760 patrons is possibly misnamed, possibly, but seems lots more usefula than the original CT supplement;

Caveat: I've always had a much easier time generating unique (and I hope) interesting patrons - it's the constant need for encounters which often is my bottleneck ; and the encounters can mostly be turned into patrons by a brief thought about the motivations of the subject. Again, YMMV - I my gaming stlye (running them at least) asumes that I'll need to customize or complete most stuff -a habit from the old style RPG's like.....wee about everything in the first couple of generations of games - (Chivalry andSorcery and Space opera possibly excepted..)

Merc is -well a bit disorganized, and some of the Milspec gaffes are a bit jarring, but basically a good suppliment for a campaign style I played to death in the eighties and late seventies. And am not really interested in playing now. But, it does have some cool toys, and is a bit more generic in terms of travellerizing other games sytems (WartyK) and all. Solid for its intent, shows some rough edges due to being early in the production and support of new rules.

Caveat: My opinion (at this distance in time) of the Original Merc, is a lot less shiny than it was when it came out. It really gave us big guns in an environment where Boot hill was state of the art for gun bunnie research, and Gamma world was the main alternitive to Traveller. On the whole, what it really did lwas to bring traveller out of a basic two-fisted tales l1940's early 50's kind of combat mentality into the late 20-century Fulda-gap cold war level of Military technology. No, that isn't a typo, Plasma and fusion guns aside, it really came across to me as a primer on (then) ultramodern squad level combat, with modern military organization and merc tickets thrown in. So.......I really can't see where Mongoose Merc fails to shine in comparison to the real product of blessed memory.

 

[Travellingdave]

<snip>No, that isn't a typo, Plasma and fusion guns aside, it really came across to me as a primer on (then) ultramodern squad level combat, with modern military organization and merc tickets thrown in. So.......I really can't see where Mongoose Merc fails to shine in comparison to the real product of blessed memory.

Well, I won't argue about the old Mercenary, but I still feel the new one fell well short in the technical department. The new tech/ ironmongery just didn't seem well researched or thought-out. I don't mind them trying to expand the tech beyond the OTU; I just don't think they did a very good job of it. A TL15 two-man AT Plasma Gun that does less damage than a TL13 man-carried PG? Disc-firing railguns? A heavy-lift helicopter at TL 10 when grav vehicles are predominant? A lightly-armored tracked gun platform at TL15? I just don't get it!!

Okay. Okay. I'm better now ... I'll stop talking about it. Time to move on. Oh, look: High Guard!

 

[Paladin]

Core Book: 9/10. The only thing I don't like is the lack of power rules for starships and a few components (like bays) that have had needed restictions removed. The only complaint I have is the 2d6 based events tables should be d66 for greater variety as done in Mercs. 2d6 skews results to the center of the distribution curve. The equipment section is a little light but should be filled out nicely overtime.

Spinward Marches: 7/10. Conceptually it's good. Provides an wide range overview which helps you set the mood of a campaign. But it's a little light on content for the planets. You can get more info from the wiki. Leaves a good bit of work for the Referee to fill out content. Reference tools/tables would be helpful.

760 Patrons: 9/10. Great resource, worth buying. Would be an 10-11 if it had a bit more depth on plot hooks rather than just NPC characteristics/quirks. Not a deal breaker but upping the random numbers to consistently have 6 results per NPC instead of 3-5 would be nice (sorry Bryan, I know the sanity is slipping as is).

Mercenary: ?/10. I'm only about halfway through this one. I have to echo that some of it is a little hastily cobbled together. I've noticed more typos in it than the other books. The expanded life events are a plus. Some of the PC types are a stretch of other subtypes and a bit redundent. The contract system is "ok" but not stellar. I'd rather see more d66 based charts for variety/creativity.

 

[Bygoneyrs]

For god sakes just make modifications to your own book to what you feel the weapon should do damage wise. Your a GM so make a choice and change it for what fits in your own game.

Penn

 

[Innskip]

Basic Book - Liked it - it rekindled my interest in running a Traveller campaign.

Patrons - Okay, but I admit I was expecting a bigger version of the original LBB.

Mercenary - Liked the career options and the ticket rules, weapons dropped some as being to non-CT, just personal taste.

Haven't tried Spinward - as I already having two versions and generally set campaigns in sectors generated by me.

Looking forward to High Guard and Traders and Gunboats.

 

[JimG]

My opinion, for the little it's worth:

Core Book: 8/10, Good foundation for play, great character generation. Reminiscent of classic traveller, but updated a bit.

Spinward Marches: 9/10, Although I'm not running a campaign in the Marches, the background material on the Imperium was fantastic for getting new players up to speed.

760 Patrons: 6/10, Somewhat useful - especially for quickly generating contacts and rivals - but I tend to build my own important NPCs, and there's not a lot of detail provided for adventure hooks.

Mercenary: 3/10. Diasppointing. Distressing lack of military knowledge/focus/understanding for a sourcebook for military themed adventures. Poor editing only exacerbates these issues.

For god sakes just make modifications to your own book to what you feel the weapon should do damage wise. Your a GM so make a choice and change it for what fits in your own game.

Or do what I'm going to do, and ignore it completely and build your own from other sources. Then again, that begs the question of why you should spend money on a book if you are going to have to dramatically rewrite it...

 

[Travellingdave]

For god sakes just make modifications to your own book to what you feel the weapon should do damage wise. Your a GM so make a choice and change it for what fits in your own game.

Penn

I do and I have, but one of the things I always liked about Traveller in the past was the illusion of "realism" and research that went into its technology, especially when it came to weaponry. They made me feel like I was actually playing a bit of science fiction as compared to simple space opera (IMHO). I've chosen Traveller products in the past because I appreciate not having to do that kind of research myself, and I'd like to be able to keep buying them on that basis. YMMV.

 

[Shiloh]

For god sakes just make modifications to your own book to what you feel the weapon should do damage wise. Your a GM so make a choice and change it for what fits in your own game.

Penn

Someone asked what people thought. They're responding to that. If I wasn't a completist and I'd read Mercenary before buying, I would *not* have bought it, since it doesn't do anything useful that I couldn't do myself, unlike SM.

 

[Grognard]

Core Rules
I thought the core rules were a pretty good set in general. I do feel though that in choosing to update CT, Mongoose have to some extent thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Although the retro black-book feel is very nice, there were a lot of good things introduced in MT and subsequent editions that could have been preserved. I think it would have been good to have built on the whole of Traveller history, rather than discarding everything after CT.

In particular, I would have liked to have seen an integrated design and combat system. For me this was the best thing about MT, and the thing that made it such an improvement on CT, despite the voluminous errata. Based on what I've read, and what I heard at Continuum, it doesn't sound like this is a priority for Mongoose, which is a pity.

Spinward Marches
I thought the Spinward Marches book was excellent. It drew together a lot of material from previous sources, as well as injecting some new stuff. As an old Traveller hack, I had a lot of this stuff from elsewhere, but I was still happy I'd bought it. For someone newer to the Imperium, I thought it was a great introduction. Definitely the best book so far.

Mercenary
I can only echo what others have said. This is easily the most disappointing of the books. I think Mongoose could really do with a Frank Chadwick type person who is into the military stuff and can do the hardware side of things. Currently this is the biggest weakness in the game. It's true of the weapons in the core book as well.


I'm waiting eagerly for High Guard, since that will be a big factor in determining how I feel about MGT as a whole. If space combat and ship design are right, I'm happy to rework personal combat for myself.

 

[dmccoy1693]

I think it would have been good to have built on the whole of Traveller history, rather than discarding everything after CT.

Mongoose said they are considering to release sourcebooks on the different time frames.