Why no career books?

[Old School]

First, thanks for adding me to the forum.

Second, I LOVE Mongoose’s New Traveller. The best version of the game hands down, IMHO.

I see in one of the old blog posts that Mongoose has moved away from Career books for the new edition of traveller. Why is this? While there may be a couple of areas that missed the mark or were a bit too much of a change from the core rules, for the most part I greatly enjoyed and extensively used the career books for Mongoose 1st edition. I’ve entertained the thought of redoing the skill tables myself to better fit the new edition and drop a couple of the new rules included, but I would love to see (and quickly buy) updated career supplements. Why the decision not to update these books? Is it lack of sales, lower priority, or a game mechanic decision? Just curious. Thanks!

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

First, thanks for adding me to the forum.

Second, I LOVE Mongoose’s New Traveller. The best version of the game hands down, IMHO.

I see in one of the old blog posts that Mongoose has moved away from Career books for the new edition of traveller. Why is this? While there may be a couple of areas that missed the mark or were a bit too much of a change from the core rules, for the most part I greatly enjoyed and extensively used the career books for Mongoose 1st edition. I’ve entertained the thought of redoing the skill tables myself to better fit the new edition and drop a couple of the new rules included, but I would love to see (and quickly buy) updated career supplements. Why the decision not to update these books? Is it lack of sales, lower priority, or a game mechanic decision? Just curious. Thanks!

A career is nothing but a background for determining skills, initial starting funds and equipment, after a character is established, it no longer matters.

 

[paltrysum]

Mongoose's offerings haven't been nearly as prolific in MgT2 as they were in MgT1. They've increased the graphics quality, but cut down on the quantity. In Matthew's "State of the Mongoose," he explicitly said, "We wanted to avoid ‘career’ books in the new edition, unless they actually added something truly worthwhile to game play." They had planned this year on releasing updates to Psion and Mercenary, but given that we're more than halfway through the year and have seen very few new releases it seems unlikely.

 

[MongooseMatt]

We have looked at this and we believe that, in and of themselves, the careers in the Core Rulebook pretty much cover everything.

That said...

There will be some variant careers in the Traveller Companion, and we are currently working on a Psion book because, well, there is plenty to expand upon there.

We are also due to commence work on a new Mercenary book, but this will be concentrating more on running merc companies as a campaign rather than the career itself - much like the forthcoming Naval Campaigns Handbook in the Element cruiser box set.

There are other areas we are looking at - there is plenty we can do with nobles (and dilettantes!) beyond the actual career, and we are currently assessing whether we can get a decent book out of mining alone (possible as a new campaign type, possibly as a 'bolt-on' to existing campaigns).

What we won't be doing is a book for every career just because they look pretty in a set - each new book will very much add something to the game or get you playing in different ways. I hope you will see there is a lot more thought going into the structure of Traveller books these days.

 

[Old School]

Matthew, thanks for the reply. I think the expanded events tables, and some of the career tables added flavor to the game. Particularly adventurer, the scoundrel options, and the different progression options and challenges in the Navy for higher ranks (more reflective of an actual high ranking military career). But I understand there’s a tradeoff between the value they bring to the game and the effort involved. And Some of this can be used with minimal effort in the new edition. Overall I love what you guys are doing. Thank you!

 

[Old School]

A career is nothing but a background for determining skills, initial starting funds and equipment, after a character is established, it no longer matters.

I disagree. A career can be limited to that, but it can be much more as well. A good referee can work in the experiences, allies, enemies, etc. of the players’ careers to bring a much more vivid campaign to life. Players leave their careers behind, but life has a way of catching up with you, even in the Trojan Reach.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

A career is nothing but a background for determining skills, initial starting funds and equipment, after a character is established, it no longer matters.

Not a role-player, apparently. The career books were far more than just that besides.

 

[paltrysum]

The career books are fun. Lots more detail and thought put into each of the careers in the Core Rulebook. That kind of material is valuable for players and referees alike. I'm really looking forward to that Mercenary book. I've been pondering running another merc campaign some day and it would no doubt be a valuable resource.

 

[Condottiere]

There are associated third party publishers who have obliged.

You can create your own career paths, dungeon master and party acquiescent, but the official and semi official ones tend to keep potential megalomania in check.

An easy variant to permit the exchange of skills acquired at the time of dicing, usually if you can spin a good tale to said dungeon master and party explaining the acquisition of such, while going through one of the official character creation paths.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

There are associated third party publishers who have obliged.

You can create your own career paths, dungeon master and party acquiescent, but the official and semi official ones tend to keep potential megalomania in check.

An easy variant to permit the exchange of skills acquired at the time of dicing, usually if you can spin a good tale to said dungeon master and party explaining the acquisition of such, while going through one of the official character creation paths.

Careers aren't the same thing as character classes in D&D. Character classes have unique abilities, careers are just packages of skills and equipment, the only career with unique abilities is Psion.

 

[NOLATrav]

I found the 1e career books to be very defining of the milieu and background for a campaign, mainly because of the expanded events tables but clearly the career paths themselves and flavor text dictated what sort of universe you were in (not everyone uses the 3I but the career books made my three different 1e campaigns feel very similar to one another).

These days I prefer more of a home brew proto-Trav universe so the core rules are fine for me but I have yoinked Events tables from various and sundry places to give more variety to PCs with similar backgrounds. And also to open up the Draft/Drifter options.

 

[torus]

I have quite a few of the 1e career books. What would be the main obstacles in simply using the tables there for character creation? Is it the skills?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Careers aren't the same thing as character classes in D&D. Character classes have unique abilities, careers are just packages of skills and equipment, the only career with unique abilities is Psion.

Psion career skills are only unique when a Referee doesn't allow Travellers to have them.

I have quite a few of the 1e career books. What would be the main obstacles in simply using the tables there for character creation? Is it the skills?

None.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I think having career based books is not as much a problem as it is for making a book for the purpose of fulfilling a series line rather than the actual utility or need in the game itself.

For me, the more pressing 'gaps' in the Traveller line are to do with having playable Alien and Robot books, rather than careers stuff which is already pretty well catered for in the corebooks and current support. They could add a few extra careers in the Companion of course, like the Missionary or Belter, or whathaveyou.

 

[Linwood]

Expanded events can add a lot of depth and flavor to a campaign and can provide more ideas and opportunities for role playing and subplots. I’m a little less enthusiastic about adding more careers; there’s a point at which new careers starting looking like older ones, only with a few new wrinkles. Having said that there’s definitely some room for a few more. And I am definitely looking forward to the alien supplements to fill some of those gaps.

(And a supplement focused on mining - or better yet, life in orbit or the belts - would be one i’d Buy in an instant)

I’m actually more interested in some of the little side additions to character generation. An awards and honors system for example, or maybe a home world generation system? There are 3rd-party supplements out there that cover that but Mongoose might want to look into it.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I’m actually more interested in some of the little side additions to character generation. An awards and honors system for example

What kind of awards and honors system? How would they be used in a game?

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

Did not High Guard cover the Navy Career? There was a book called Scouts which also covered System generation.

 

[AndrewW]

Did not High Guard cover the Navy Career? There was a book called Scouts which also covered System generation.

The 1st edition did.

 

[Baldo]

(And a supplement focused on mining - or better yet, life in orbit or the belts - would be one i’d Buy in an instant)

Do you have THIS? Rated it 5 stars, it's *good*.

 

[steve98052]

The way I'd like to see careers covered in expansion volumes is by what they can do in adventure time, not so much in character generation.

Books I could see as worthwhile are:

Mercantile campaigns (I'd include mining there)
Mercenary campaigns
Military campaigns (distinct from mercenary because the characters are subject to orders, not clients)
Naval campaigns
Exploration campaigns
Mystery and police campaigns
Espionage campaigns
Political and noble campaigns

It would also be nice to have ideas for what out of type characters could do, for example, a section like "Merchants in war" or "Scientists in a mercantile campaign".