Just joined my first Classic Traveller game today and rolled up a character and a backup character. The character building process is a whole minigame in and of itself, and I immensely enjoy that. I love D&D and I always will but it's amazing to see how you can take the same basic concept of an RPG and do so many unique and creative alternate takes with it.
It's a fascinating hobby. i'm never sure why anyone would want to stick to only one RPG - they all have their own unique flavours - beyond genre and setting! You wait until you get into the other Traveller minigames - of world building, creating starships, and... all that! I hope your future journeys in Traveller are fun and fruitful :)
Finally was able to sit down and watch the whole video…I think the best part is your analysis of the current state of role playing and how different things were with Classic Traveller. Emergent gameplay was a term I’ve heard before that I think reflects what was its strength. Hanks for the video.
Good video! Traveller was the second RPG I got into after Runequest - I think it was '81 when I started. Loved the system and the Third Imperium. I have tried to get into all the subsequent revisions: MegaTraveller, T4, The New Era and T5 - but couldn't get on with them and stuck with Classic Traveller. It's especially annoying because T5 has so many great ideas, but alas, many of the rules are just borked. I think the issue with T5 was that they tried to replace nuanced tables with singular formula which leads to some pretty crazy simulation results. I had resigned myself with being with Classic Traveller forever, but then I gave Mongoose Traveller 2 a try and was immediately sold on it. It's backwards compatible with all the material I have and has much more modern game systems and in-game-tech. Plus the rules are simple a very well put together. I still miss the simplicity of the LBBs - it's amazing how much they crammed into so few pages - but I won't be going back - they will stay as reminders of some of the great adventures I had with them :)
Kinda similar path to you (spoilers...) T5 is very, very much a toolkit, and the gear head in me loves tinkering with it. But yes, MGT2 is a far cleaner game, and Mongoose are coming out with some fantastic support for it. For example, I am very much looking forward to Deepnight Endeavour Kickstarter materials turning up on my doorstep soon!
yah bought this one in 1981 from the largest toy store in Tokyo the Hakuhinkan Toy park located in Ginza. the top floor was all RPGs and boardgames, yep bought this one plus the Imperium and Bloodtree Rebellion board games. Love em. and I found the original to be better than the later editions by GDW. However loving the current version by Mongoose.
I can easily see, using the Traveler rules, to run a fantasy campaign. Psionics and some high tech, are basically magic. There already exist alternate races and a few monsters. There are also rules for generating low tech characters. Just expand that out a little, and you have a fantasy campaign. With a potential for interactions with metal monsters and golems.
"Building the firing caps for the cartridges" T5? I do recall T5 going into that much depth, and to be honest, while the mechanics might be relatively simple in practice, the way they're explained is incredibly cumbersome. Mongoose Traveller 1e is probably my favourite edition, having a good mix of more modern sensibilities and more classic mechanics, while Classic Traveller '77 is probably my second favourite.
No - Traveller: The New Era, Fire Fusion & Steel, "Small Arms". T5 does go down that line a bit, but is more "Lego-kit". I agree with you about some of the language in T5 - but the new(ish) 3-volume version of T5 does clean up a lot. At risk of jumping ahead of myself in this series of videos, my favourites are CT, T5, and MgT2. I do like T:NE too, but it's more akin to Twilight:2000 than a direct descendent of CT. I'm interested in why you choose MgT over MgT2? To me, there's not a vast gulf between the two, but MgT2 is a lot cleaner. I'm interested to hear your thoughts there.
@@WillyMuffinUK Primarily the space combat. I much prefer the way space combat in 1e focuses on damage to ship systems over a pool of hit points like you end up with in 2e (which, incidentally, the core rulebook doesn't tell you how to calculate - you have to go into High Guard for hull points based on tonnage, and the ships in the core rulebook only tell you the tonnage; not the hull points). In 1e, a ship is far more likely to be disabled (or to surrender and possibly limp away for repairs) than be destroyed, just by virtue of how the damage system works. Admittedly, the damage system is a little more clunky (rolling dice for damage and determining how many hits were scored, then rolling for hit locations, rather than simply rolling a number and deducting damage), but it comes with the advantage of damage being a potential source of drama by itself, rather than simply a countdown to the ship exploding. In particular, the component damage (and how it impacts the ship) gives characters who aren't on guns or in the pilot seat something useful to do on every turn. I also really like how the various supplements give solid advice on (and sometimes new mechanics to support) running different types of campaign from the assumed Firefly-esque sandbox shenanigans.
@@Parker8752 I have to admit, I do like the Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog variants Mongoose built using MgT. All editions of Traveller are fantastic bases for building any sci-fi campaigns with. :) I get what you're saying regarding the ship combat differences. It is a bit frustrating that MgT2 went down the "you need multiple books for the core rules" route. It is a source of amusement for me that old games seemed to be able to do in lower page counts that more modern days. Probably something to do with art departments ;) How did you get on (reading or using) the T5 ship damage system? That does build some role-playing drama element in, similar to what you're suggesting MgT does, and adds a quirk in that you don't exactly know how damaged a system is until you go and take a look at it. Anyway, something you might want to mix in for drama narrative!
SWON is the Traveller rules extracted into an OSR/OGL form, and using all of the "get around the copyright language by not mentioning the game directly by name" language used by many/most OSR recreations. Is Traveller still worth playing? Yes! And it is still supported. Mongoose Traveller 2nd has the feel of Classic with a glossier update. All editions of Traveller are available from FFE. Traveller 5th is one massive RPG toolkit. Many OSR games I can see the point of. A lot of D&D old edition clones came about during a time when those editions were not available, except 2nd hand. SWON came about when Classic was in print - via the FFE collections and now the PDFs. Call me cynical, but all I can see SWON existing for is to get around talking to Marc about licensing. Anyway, that's my tuppence. * Addendum/correction - Cepheus, not SWON, is the game I'm actually referring to in the above. SWON is a system unto itself, while Cepheus is extracted from Traveller.
@@deecap71 You know what, I am going to take back a ton of my rant on SWON - because, for some reason, I got it and the Cepheus Engine completely mixed up. So - apologies to SWON fans out there!
Also, love the shirt
Thank-you :)
Thank you for the review, enjoyed reminiscing
Thank-you :)
Just joined my first Classic Traveller game today and rolled up a character and a backup character. The character building process is a whole minigame in and of itself, and I immensely enjoy that. I love D&D and I always will but it's amazing to see how you can take the same basic concept of an RPG and do so many unique and creative alternate takes with it.
It's a fascinating hobby. i'm never sure why anyone would want to stick to only one RPG - they all have their own unique flavours - beyond genre and setting!
You wait until you get into the other Traveller minigames - of world building, creating starships, and... all that!
I hope your future journeys in Traveller are fun and fruitful :)
Finally was able to sit down and watch the whole video…I think the best part is your analysis of the current state of role playing and how different things were with Classic Traveller. Emergent gameplay was a term I’ve heard before that I think reflects what was its strength. Hanks for the video.
It's been an interesting life watching the medium evolve, for sure.
Great videos too come....
Absolutely well said. Classic Traveller is a gritty awesome timeless game. You really can do anything with this game..
Indeed! :)
Good video! Traveller was the second RPG I got into after Runequest - I think it was '81 when I started. Loved the system and the Third Imperium. I have tried to get into all the subsequent revisions: MegaTraveller, T4, The New Era and T5 - but couldn't get on with them and stuck with Classic Traveller. It's especially annoying because T5 has so many great ideas, but alas, many of the rules are just borked. I think the issue with T5 was that they tried to replace nuanced tables with singular formula which leads to some pretty crazy simulation results. I had resigned myself with being with Classic Traveller forever, but then I gave Mongoose Traveller 2 a try and was immediately sold on it. It's backwards compatible with all the material I have and has much more modern game systems and in-game-tech. Plus the rules are simple a very well put together. I still miss the simplicity of the LBBs - it's amazing how much they crammed into so few pages - but I won't be going back - they will stay as reminders of some of the great adventures I had with them :)
Kinda similar path to you (spoilers...) T5 is very, very much a toolkit, and the gear head in me loves tinkering with it. But yes, MGT2 is a far cleaner game, and Mongoose are coming out with some fantastic support for it. For example, I am very much looking forward to Deepnight Endeavour Kickstarter materials turning up on my doorstep soon!
Great video I love CT since I got it in the early 1980s. I feel your shelves are a bit overloaded and might soon collapse 😄
Thank-you 🙂
(Don't panic - those shelves have been reinforced over time, via fixing more than one collapse!)
yah bought this one in 1981 from the largest toy store in Tokyo the Hakuhinkan Toy park located in Ginza. the top floor was all RPGs and boardgames, yep bought this one plus the Imperium and Bloodtree Rebellion board games. Love em. and I found the original to be better than the later editions by GDW. However loving the current version by Mongoose.
Sounds like one of the shops I frequented as a kid - ground floor, teddy bears. First floor - spaceships and dragonslaying!
Great videos man.
Thank you :)
I can easily see, using the Traveler rules, to run a fantasy campaign.
Psionics and some high tech, are basically magic. There already exist alternate races and a few monsters.
There are also rules for generating low tech characters.
Just expand that out a little, and you have a fantasy campaign. With a potential for interactions with metal monsters and golems.
Indeed. Traveller is a very flexible system.
Wow 🤩 subbed and liked. This is what I was looking for. Do you plan to do some of the individual books? Like the alien races?
Eventually. I need to hit on a format for that - there's a few doing book reviews.
"Building the firing caps for the cartridges" T5? I do recall T5 going into that much depth, and to be honest, while the mechanics might be relatively simple in practice, the way they're explained is incredibly cumbersome. Mongoose Traveller 1e is probably my favourite edition, having a good mix of more modern sensibilities and more classic mechanics, while Classic Traveller '77 is probably my second favourite.
No - Traveller: The New Era, Fire Fusion & Steel, "Small Arms". T5 does go down that line a bit, but is more "Lego-kit". I agree with you about some of the language in T5 - but the new(ish) 3-volume version of T5 does clean up a lot.
At risk of jumping ahead of myself in this series of videos, my favourites are CT, T5, and MgT2. I do like T:NE too, but it's more akin to Twilight:2000 than a direct descendent of CT.
I'm interested in why you choose MgT over MgT2? To me, there's not a vast gulf between the two, but MgT2 is a lot cleaner. I'm interested to hear your thoughts there.
@@WillyMuffinUK Primarily the space combat. I much prefer the way space combat in 1e focuses on damage to ship systems over a pool of hit points like you end up with in 2e (which, incidentally, the core rulebook doesn't tell you how to calculate - you have to go into High Guard for hull points based on tonnage, and the ships in the core rulebook only tell you the tonnage; not the hull points).
In 1e, a ship is far more likely to be disabled (or to surrender and possibly limp away for repairs) than be destroyed, just by virtue of how the damage system works. Admittedly, the damage system is a little more clunky (rolling dice for damage and determining how many hits were scored, then rolling for hit locations, rather than simply rolling a number and deducting damage), but it comes with the advantage of damage being a potential source of drama by itself, rather than simply a countdown to the ship exploding. In particular, the component damage (and how it impacts the ship) gives characters who aren't on guns or in the pilot seat something useful to do on every turn.
I also really like how the various supplements give solid advice on (and sometimes new mechanics to support) running different types of campaign from the assumed Firefly-esque sandbox shenanigans.
@@Parker8752 I have to admit, I do like the Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog variants Mongoose built using MgT. All editions of Traveller are fantastic bases for building any sci-fi campaigns with. :)
I get what you're saying regarding the ship combat differences. It is a bit frustrating that MgT2 went down the "you need multiple books for the core rules" route. It is a source of amusement for me that old games seemed to be able to do in lower page counts that more modern days. Probably something to do with art departments ;)
How did you get on (reading or using) the T5 ship damage system? That does build some role-playing drama element in, similar to what you're suggesting MgT does, and adds a quirk in that you don't exactly know how damaged a system is until you go and take a look at it. Anyway, something you might want to mix in for drama narrative!
Can travellers fans way in on use of classic traveller vs Stars Without Number? why is Traveller still worth playing?
SWON is the Traveller rules extracted into an OSR/OGL form, and using all of the "get around the copyright language by not mentioning the game directly by name" language used by many/most OSR recreations.
Is Traveller still worth playing? Yes! And it is still supported. Mongoose Traveller 2nd has the feel of Classic with a glossier update. All editions of Traveller are available from FFE. Traveller 5th is one massive RPG toolkit.
Many OSR games I can see the point of. A lot of D&D old edition clones came about during a time when those editions were not available, except 2nd hand. SWON came about when Classic was in print - via the FFE collections and now the PDFs. Call me cynical, but all I can see SWON existing for is to get around talking to Marc about licensing.
Anyway, that's my tuppence.
* Addendum/correction - Cepheus, not SWON, is the game I'm actually referring to in the above. SWON is a system unto itself, while Cepheus is extracted from Traveller.
SWON is level based whereas Traveller is pure skill based. I find SWON is better if you are looking for a more Space Opera (Sci Fantasy) type of game.
@@deecap71 You know what, I am going to take back a ton of my rant on SWON - because, for some reason, I got it and the Cepheus Engine completely mixed up.
So - apologies to SWON fans out there!
Have you ever played any Cyberpunk or Mekton?
Yes, as you have discovered! Not so much Mekton, but a good chunk of CP.