Mongoose carries on its tradition of unearthing older games...

QuoteAfter a near 10-year gap in which only reprints of the Traveller game system have been available, Mongoose Publishing becomes the centralised resource for Traveller titles with the publication of their core rule book Traveller: Science-Fiction Adventures in the Far Future, in February 2008. On this foundation, Mongoose will produce a supporting line of supplements, adventures, and sourcebooks detailing the official and original Traveller universe of the far future.

The materials published by Mongoose will be placed in and part of the canonical Traveller universe.

It is our aim to halt the fragmentation of the Traveller game, and reintroduce one solid system (based on Classic Traveller), with one source for the official Traveller universe.

But that is not all. . .

Mongoose Publishing Science Fiction RPGs
Mongoose will also be using Traveller in its licensed science-fiction properties (each featuring a Traveller logo).

We have pioneered this concept already with Runequest, publishing a rules set and supporting adventures and sourcebooks, then using the Runequest rules as the basis for other alternative fantasy role-playing settings, such as Hawkmoon, Elric and Lankhmar.

The first licensed setting to be produced using the Traveller rules set (and available in early 2008) will be Starship Troopers, a welcome return to bug-blasting action across the galaxy! Hot on its heels will be Strontium Dogs, based on the hit 2000AD comic strip. After that, who knows. . ?

To the greatest extent possible, we intend that there be a transportability of characters, concepts, and even equipment between the various systems. So, it will be perfectly possible for your Strontium Dog Bounty Hunter to land on a planet in his Scout/Courier, only to find him battling for his life against waves of Warrior Bugs – with no conversion needed between the games!

All games and settings will therefore be able to utilise the core supplements, such as High Guard, Mercenary, and 760 Patrons, while retaining their own character.

Open Gaming License
Once the rules for Traveller appear, we plan to make them available under the Open Gaming License (OGL). At the same time, we will issue a Traveller Logo License (TLL) which makes the Traveller logo and titling available to licensees.

Far Future will Publish T5
Far Future is proceeding with plans to produce the long-heralded Traveller5, initially as an extensive CD ROM package (estimated at 1000 pages) by the end of 2007, and a distilled 350-page Traveller5 Core Rules book in the first half of 2008.

T5 will be a superset of the Mongoose Traveller rules, providing detailed coverage of rules, concepts and history not available elsewhere. There will be cross-compatibility between Traveller and Traveller5, allowing you to use rules and supplements from each.

Traveller will be faithful to Classic Traveller, with an upgraded task and combat system. Traveller5 will be a superset of those rules, providing greater detail and more insight into resolving situations in Traveller.

(link)

I'm intrigued, but not overly confident. CT was a nice ruleset in the day, but it needed to move forward. If they are just aiming for the dogged CT fanbase, they are missing the mark with me. If I can take "faithful to Classic Traveller, with an upgraded task and combat system" to mean something akin to MegaTraveller, it might work out okay.

If not, guess I'll just keep playing MT and T20. :shrug:

I expressed my reservations in the other thread. Other than that, I'm with you, except that I'd play both CT and MT. The real question will be: Given they say T5 and New Trav will be compatible, just how T4-esque will New Trav be?

G'eh...

My ultimate reaction will depend on how closely the final product resembles the T5 playtest documents that were released online.

Another implication of this is that my MARINER project may rely on a Mongoose-related OGL, which I find distasteful.

I believe I am now officially holding my breath.

!i!

If they don't fuck this up, and half-ass it like they did MRQ, this is about the only thing that could redeem that shit factory in my eyes.

I loves the classic Traveller.

I think the split between T5 and a CT-based core, is actualyl a pretty decent way of hedging their bets.  T5 to me seems like much more of a gamble, so sticking with a more traditional core as sort of the "official" version, while making T5 sometihng of a spin-off product, is really the best option.

Traveller was, once upon a time, a big fuckin' deal, and if they put the push behind it, I think it could be a big fuckin' deal again.  It's a damn good game, has that nice blend of generic+implied setting.  It did damn well with that formula in the early days, offering a nice alternate genre to D&D, and I tihnk it could be that again if done right.

Mind you, this is Mongoose we're talking about so, while my excitement is almost forcing me to give them a greater benefit of doubt than I otherwise would, we must still consider that this company has a massive history of shovelware.

I figure their mis-steps--questionable release strategy on MRQ, problems with the new press, problems with the pre-painted plastics--are all teaching them things. Hopefully, if they're learning as they go, they'll be a boss outfit pretty soon. I hope so, because they have RQ, Eternal Champion, SpyCraft, CthulhuTech, AD 2000, Paranoia, Conan, now Traveller. I want them to do well.

If a decent set of prepainted Traveller figs comes out of this, that's a good thing to me no matter how the game turns out.

If I had a choice between Mongoose and Green Ronin - I'd buy Green Ronin.

If I had a choice between Mongoose and SJG , I'd buy SJG.

Their books are the only ones that have arrived at our store "damaged" before our distributor ever got them. Not a little daage or mispinting....but every 4th or 5th page was blank and whole page were missing out of the sequeunce.  We had to damage out the book and do it as a claim. (Think it was OGL CYBERNET)

 I'd rather have knowlewdge that 8 NEW GURPS:TRAVELLER books were coming ont in the coming year - than hear that Mongoose had the license.


Only possibele good/ Maybe, maybe we might get pre-painted 25mm miniatures out of the deal that are compatible with the TRAVELLER universe. If they are in scale with the BATTLEFIELD EVOLUTION figures it could get interesting.

- Ed C.

The BE figs are on indefinate hiatus until they can get quality issues worked out.

I agree that Mongoose has serious quality control issues, but I'm determined to be optimistic that they will sort them out eventually. They could be a powerhouse if they do.

Quote from: KoltarIf I had a choice between Mongoose and Green Ronin - I'd buy Green Ronin.

If I had a choice between Mongoose and SJG , I'd buy SJG.

That sums it up for me.  I don't have any hopes for this.

Mongoose has been acquiring lots of licenses.  In the past this has generally been catastrophic for rpg companies.

i'm trying to picture classic traveller design in a hardcover format

possible?  probable?

This is their Holy Grail license? My imagination must have been too active, because yet another Traveller version wasn't among my guesses. :raise:

GOOD NEWS!!!  (For some of us )

Posted at the SJG Forums site :

QuoteGURPS Exempted under the Mongoose License


Ok just talked to Marc and I was in error. GURPS Traveller is specifically exempted under the Mongoose Traveller license.

I apologize for any confusion this may have caused

here is link-thing:
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=29611


- Ed C.

Could you maybe ease up on the B text?

Quote from: AosCould you maybe ease up on the B text?

Sorry Aos, gueuss it comes from past association with a fan group where the phrase  "to boldly go ..." was said pretty often.


 Plus I like to show in some way thats its exciting.


- Ed C.

eh, forget it, and in general, pay no attention to me, I'm in the middle of my thrid day of being an unsmoker and just about everything is annoying me on some level.