[Closed Recruiting] Mongoose Traveller Update 2022

We are looking for a few more players to join a soon-to-be-starting game of Traveller. (What is Traveller?)
• System and books: Mongoose Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022
‣ • Available from DriveThruRPG, Mongoose Publishing, and currently in Bundle of Holding

• We are set at the tail end of TL9 (Tech Level, see Page 6).
• I will not be using any of the official setting(s). I don't have them, but I also don't often use pre-made settings. We will make the worlds and systems as we need them.
• Character Creation is random and does a lot of the heavy lifting to shape the world. See the Description above and check out the existing discussions and ask as many questions as you need to get a feel for the world, but the world is subject to change as more characters are made.
• Players are expected to be proactive and to take an interest in- and ownership of- the world.
• I have not played or run Mongoose Traveller, nor really looked at any Traveller since the 1981 edition. So this is new to me too. As always, I welcome input from players no matter their experience level.
• Recruitment is not first come first served. Preference will be given to those wanting to learn the system.
• To keep things alive and interesting, players are expected post most days.

I definitely would be interested. The original black book(s) Traveller was one of the first Sci-Fi games I played...

Hi, I am interested too.

I played a bit of classic Traveller a long time ago. I have the Mongoose 2 and Traveller 5 rule books but haven't played either of those versions.

I also haven't played by post before and am not entirely sure how that will go, but in my current situation I do have the time for a post-per-day game if you are willing to take on a beginner.

I have only Traveller Explorer's Edition - would I be eligible?

Not surprising, I believe it was the first sci-fi RPG, and one of the first RPGs ever, coming out a mere two years after grandpappy DnD. :)

We had one player running off of mT2 and only found one place where their book contradicted/clashed with the 2022 Update. We can make sure you have what you need.
I really did not like Traveller 5 from the little bit I looked at it. I don't remember the details.
Not a problem. Always happy to take on beginners. We will teach you what you need.
Because you are new to PbP (don't worry about that), or because Traveller has some rules that could be a bit clunky in PbP?
My games tend more towards the narrative, so the fiddly rules don't come up as much, but most of the rules work well enough with only a little fiddling to cope with out-of-order responses. I think it will be fine and can adjust things as they come up.

That will not be a problem. I have not read the Explorer's Edition but it seems to have the basic rules you need to play and we will provide you with what you need to make characters from Careers other than the two in the book.

So the thing with me is like this:
- I just ended one Star Wars adventure here - it was good one. And I'm looking for good "hard" sci-fi system to play IRL with my two sons. Previously I was considering Genesys, Savage Worlds, Stars Without the Numbers, Spacer and maybe others. I'm especially interested in ship combat that should be narrative, cinematic but still interesting = having some tactical choices. (apart from that I'm looking for good stealth rules, and possibility for interesting mechs mechanics in this system of choice). I watched some videos about Traveller and I generally like it's systems and ship combat with those range bands -> it seems as system that was looking for. So I really like to learn Traveller in practice. Are you planning some ship combats?
- I play from Mon-Fri most of the days, but I don't play at weekends.
- I like world creation, but I'm afraid that I won't have time and knowledge to build whole segments of it. But will be glad to participate in the process with others. Recently I discovered this PbtA paradigm in the one of the PbP forums and I love it - I think it was the way I wanted to play RPGS from the beginning! I mean "play to find out what will happen". But still I like good crunchy rules placed in critical places, but prefer not too much complicated system.
EDIT: - I also like that character will be rolled/random, I'm curious what I will got and I'm always open for new RP challange.

If all above would be OK, please count me in! I would really like to "feel" how playing Traveller is :)

Traveller might be that system. The biggest downside with Mongoose Publishing is their ridiculous prices. $30 for PDFs of an update!? Even if it does contain all the rules.

The fact that the Core Rules (and some others) are available for $13 on Bundle of Holding right now spurred me to start the recruitment when I did, in case people wanted to take advantage of that.

There is also Cepheus Deluxe for a cheaper option, and Cepheus Light for a free option. While I chose not to use Cepheus Deluxe, I don't regret buying it, there are a few rules that I might steal from there later (Social Engagements and and Space Battle Positioning (I forget what they call it)).
The fact they they removed this is my main reason for rejecting Cepheus.
Indeed. There are many PbtA sci-fi games, and PbtA's flexible rules allow for as 'hard' a sci-fi as the group chooses.

My go-to is probably Impulse Drive, but I often devolve back to just using Apocalypse World for my space stuff.

Last Fleet looks really interesting for a Battlestar Galactica style game.
I definitely favour more narrative systems, and Traveller is much more crunchy than my normal fair these days. But I have always run all game in a narrative focused, fiction first style. PbtA was not a revolution for me, my reaction was more akin to 'yeah, that is how it works, no?'.

I do worry that the mechanics will get in the way, but I am happy with Traveller's mechanics on paper.
When I run Star Wars it is usually in Impulse Drive, or in Star Wars World (which is just Apocalypse World with (unlicensed) Star Wars skins).
The existing group decided that they did not want to put space combat as the main focus of the game, but were interested in having some. New players will bring new priorities so that may become a bigger part.

The scope of space battles (rounds lasting minutes, missiles taking hours to get to their target) allow for a lot of interesting roleplay opportunities in the midst of a battle, which is useful in PbP where it could otherwise drag if it were all mechanics.

I particularly like that Traveller's rules cover having roles in ship combat even if one is not a 'fighter' or 'pilot' or 'commander', I have visions of an all engineer group, dealing with the technical stuff while a crew of NPCs run a space battle in the background. This is not that game, though (so far).
The Core Rules do not cover 'mechs', but you may be able to use the comprehensive Vehicle rules to simulate that. I don't have any connection to that genre, so players would need to bring that into the game if they wanted. There are probably (almost assuredly) splat books that cover that, but we are only using the Core Rules in this game (although I did pick up High Guard 2022 Update).
Traveller is OK at 'stealth', but nothing special. Most of that is RP anyway. One could do interesting things here given the 'stats as HP' model that Traveller uses, this makes it flexible in all sorts of situations since those customarily more-detailed rules are 'not just for combat'.
That should not be a problem. I held off on posting the recruitment on Friday specifically because weekends can be weird for many people and I did not want to attract the wrong sort. :)
My players can contribute as much or as little as they like, but tend to get more out of it the more they put in.

We will probably build the worlds or systems as we need them, you tell me what sort of planet you are going to, based on what the players feel like dealing with next, and we can work out the details along the way. This is particularly easy in PbP where taking ten minutes to roll up a planet would not even be noticed.

The only downside of this is that is does not allow as much realm for Speculative Trade, as presented in the book, but if players are wanting that we can create enough for that to work at each stage.
Indeed. We do it together.

---

I am liking what I am hearing. Consider yourself on the short-list. :)

When it comes to actually playing the game with a group, I can see the mechanics of the core classic or Mongoose rules are a lot more practical to work with. But I like a lot of the world building stuff I have seen in T5, it looks like it would be great for fleshing out the character's origins, creating adventure settings, and maybe also for solo play. Perhaps there are supplements for Mongoose to help with that though, I haven't looked that far yet.

Just for example, what sort of star or stars does my homeworld orbit? What other planets and moons are in the local system? In the same way I enjoy the Traveller approach to character generatation of rolling the dice and creating a person to fit the results, it could be good to use T5 to generate more information about the homeworld and then work out a story to fit.
Because I haven't played this way before, and because I am not very fluent when it comes to writing. I love thinking about what the characters are doing or thinking, but putting that into words that others would find interesting is another matter. I like that play by post will give me time to think about what I write, but it is still not something that I expect to come easily.

That might well be true, and does show my prejudices. I don't tend to use or care about world building or setting stuff from RPG books, I make my own, possibly because I work with a wide variety of systems, themes, and genres, and can not devote the time to learning any one of them in the detail needed to stay in that 'setting'.

From what I have seen of the Traveller settings (mainly Third Imperium) it does look impressive and slightly tempting, but I would need a group to push real hard for using a setting before I engage.
That is sometimes a benefit of an existing world, though it can also shackle players to the options given (though any setting --including a homebrew one-- does that, technically).
Dozens. There are a few massive settings from Mongoose, a lot of them taken from the old Traveller stuff that I assume exists in T5. I don't know much about this topic though, so don't listen to me. :)
You might be able to use the T5 tables and lists as inspiration in MgT, just discard anything that does not fit the group's established lore.
Thus far, your writing has been excellent.
We are not writing books, here. Simple clear statements about what your character is doing or feeling, and what you are wanting to happen, is all we ask for. People don't want to read walls of text about backstory with every post, if it is not relevant to the current action --or foreshadowing for a soon-to-come one-- focus on the thing at hand and keep it simple.
At first it can be hard, but, with practice, it gets easier and more and more rewarding.

We are patient and willing to help.

For this I'm a little lost. As this Cepheus seems like a copy of Traveller, but indeed without this random generation. Can you tell me - in few words - how do you see relation between those two systems? I will google for longer explanations but wanted to hear a few words from the practician?
I think I have seen somewhere an official expansion(probably even free) that adds this random generation back to Cepheus.
Impulse Drive was on my "to check" list - so thanks for confirming that. I'm huge Battlestar Galactica(best show for me, so far) fan, so will defiantly check this one too. Thanks!
Yes, I don't expect it to be the focus, just wanted to try it and feel how it works. For my taste those ship fights should be in special moments of the adventure not all the time.
That was for my IRL campaign with my kids (in some time in the future), not meant as any expectations for our adventure here on GP.
Again - was thinking more about my IRL campaign, but of course would like to try it in Traveller. I'm reading Black Seven rules right now, that are supposed to be aimed at stealth - but we will see how they will come out.
Also I have my own ideas to implement stealth in some abstract way for any RPG(system independent), but will have to work on that some more before publishing anything.
I'm glad:)

Traveller's history is complicated, which is not surprising since it has been in 'active' development since 1977.
I see that Cepheus is not mentioned on the Versions of Traveller page (possibly because it does not call itself 'Traveller'?).

From what I gather, Cepheus is based on the Open Gaming License (OGL) from Mongoose Traveller 1e. When Mongoose changed the license to a less open one for 2e, people made Cepheus. This is similar to the relationship between D&D and Pathfinder and their OGL. I have not read Mongoose Traveller 1, so I don't know how close it hews to that product.
It is a constant problem that PbP makes the most logical answer to many questions be a link to something that already exists. Since the asker has to read the answer anyway it makes less sense to write things again. At the table telling someone to read an article would be rude. :)

I don't have a good answer. Google would be your best bet, but feel free to bring any results here if you want to discuss them further. Cepheus Light is free and includes a short bit about the origins (or the license), but did not seem to answer in enough detail.
That would not surprise me. There are many, many Cepheus addon books.

Some people don't like random character creation. And it can be a problem in games that are intended to run for a long time, so I tend not to use it outside of one-shots where options are given. But I always found Traveller's way of doing it to be one of the best things about Traveller.

Removing the random character generation can be a lot of work to do right. Having someone put the effort into doing it properly is a good thing. Adding back the randomness is easier than removing it, especially since the process and tables already exist.

Thanks for all explanations. I will google that indeed.

When do you plan to make decision who you will take in for this game? No pressure - just wanted to know from when I will have to eventually look for other game? Or maybe be ready for character creation?

And last question: do you consider GMing this game/campaign for long time? What I mean: you are talking about world creation and so on. And my ultimate plan is to have max 3 long ongoing RPG games in my life that will explore the whole worlds and will be a place to live for my character(s). I think I have one like that in Dungeon World system. Travaller seems a perfect fit for that in Sci-Fi settings. So how do you see this game? As ongoing, living world or more like longer system test?

Maybe end of this week or beginning of next week? And applications can stay open while we play with character creation, which is its own mini-game.
We will walk you all through character creation individually, at your own speed. If you want we can do a dummy/test character to get the process ironed out first.

But Traveller's character creation is rather 'simple', you just pick a Career, follow the instructions step by step, and hang on as best you can. :)
Yeah, the talk about random character creation in shorter games reminded me I did not specify and just assumed everyone knows my preferences. :)

I 'plan' for this game to run for a long time. Though who can really tell. Space games are particularly well suited to replacing players if people want to drop out, so there is no pressure to commit for the long-term. All my games have an 'Open Door Policy' safety tool, we just ask that players tell us if they are leaving, but we don't demand explanations as to why; it also helps to know if people are planning on leaving after a short time and are just testing the system.

I have also seen some games here mention that they are LGBT+ friendly and open to minorities and disabilities. It seldom occurs to me to mention that since that is also my default assumption. I am not convinced sci-fi is the best arena to explore such topics, but characters are welcome to be whatever they are, and the group can decide (on a case by case basis) how much prejudice they face on various topics (there are backwards societies out there that we can choose to find ourselves in from time to time).

I definitely am interested in doing some Travelling when it comes down to it. :)

@Knighthawke: Do you think you will be able to keep up with the expect posting rate?

I should be able to manage 4-5 days a week at least...

So not one per day. I understand that things happen and sometimes people can not manage posting every day, but it sounds like you are expecting that to be your usual pattern. I don't want to slow down the game that much, so I don't think you are on the list. I hope you find a game that suits you.

If you still have room, I can post once a day during the week (but my weekends are dodgy). I'm an old hand with Mongoose Traveller.

I haven't filled any places yet. You are on the list.
That is a common enough situation. The game will probably slow down on the weekends, though we will try to keep it moving without needing everyone onboard.
Cool. You happy with us not using the existing setting material?

Absolutely!

Invites have been sent to Pedrop and WhtKnt.

Jump into General and ask any questions, then take a look at your Character Creation threads in the Setup subforum to get started whenever you are ready.

I will leave recruitment open for a while still --probably through Character Creation-- but four is a good number to be playing with.

I’ve been curious about trying out Mongoose Traveller after listening to some actual play podcasts last year. Since this recruiting thread has been active for a bit, I took the time to skim the Game Forum and clearly you have put a lot of thought into getting this adventure off the ground. It seems like you have four committed players who are developing some interesting characters. If you are still looking for more players I’d be interested in pitching a character who is a daughter of parents of modest means (and boring jobs) who dreams of getting off world and traveling amongst the stars. She sees two options for her: signing up for military service or joining exploritory service as a scout. She believes, with the uninhibited conviction of youth, that either path will lead her to a life of adventure. This is a very generic idea but so much of a character’s backstory is influenced by the dice rolls in character creation. Also, the party already has a spy, maybe two medically focused characters, and an engineer? So, depending on where they go I could try to fill in some gaps (maybe a scout with piloting/astrogation…)
I have the core rulebook and have reviewed character creation - I think I understand how to do it but things always crop up when you get started with an unfamiliar system.
No worries if you don’t want more players.

I'm new to PbP. I do not own any of the Traveller guides so I'm not sure if that would complicate the game pacing. Posting daily is a reasonable expectation for most days. Narrative driven is very desirable.

Let's maybe handle the existing new character's creations and then come back and see if others are still interested.

Six is definitely getting to larger numbers than I want on one crew, but if there is enough interest I could be persuaded to run a second, semi-independent ship and crew at the same time.

That sounds like a good plan.

You have a very generous definition of the word 'plan'. :)

If it does not take away too much from your time having a secondary crew could add a bit of extra flavor to your story. I'll keep an eye on the game and will be available. just let me know if you need anything from me!

They would not 'secondary' I would play both crews as equals. With this sort of thing I usually keep them far enough apart that they don't affect each other in the short-term, this can be tricky in games with technology, but Traveller does not have faster-than-light communications, so even if you are in neighbouring sectors it will take over three years for messages and updates to get through (unless someone makes the Jump and brings news).

We do have to integrate the lore generated between the disparate crews, but that can be fun if everyone embraces it. That is a primary reason we don't just run two games, that and the ability to merge the crews if we lose people, or to move players to the crew that best matches their pacing and story desires.

The idea of running two related but not directly linked games in the same setting is a really cool concept. I can image a ton of fun scenarios:
- Two groups are on "sister ships" exploring unknown areas of space for the exploratory service (Star Trek vibe)
- Opposing military ships searching for some rumored alien technology to give their side an advantage in an ongoing conflict (The Expanse vibe)
- Colonists trying to survive on different planets in the same system etc, etc...

It would be cool to see how one groups successes/failures could affect the other group. Say, one group of explores antagonizes another civilization then the other group has unfriendly NPCs to deal with. There is potential for really unique gaming experiences BUT this sounds like an absolute nightmare to GM especially with PbP where pace-of-play has such a high variance. I guess if one group is faster than the other then they just sort of dictate the events that might affect the other group?

Anyway, this is a cool idea vagueGM. Thanks for giving me something to mull over.

I only do this where I can keep the groups separate for the day-to-day events, we don't care about pacing until we have to bring people back together and then we can deal with any time-slip. But that is seldom an issue, or not one related to PbP and posting rates.

The rate at which a group posts does not really correlate to the pace at which they get things done or at which time passes, so a fast posting group might be dealing with minute by minute minutia and only pass a few hours of in-world time while a slow posting group may be dealing with grand, sweeping issues where a day passes with each post.

Of course time-slip happens, which is why I don't do this in games where they can talk to each other all the time. There may be news about happenings, and, as you say, they may end up with enemies they thought were friends because the other group messed up the relations, but we don't care about most of that till it comes home to roost.

If we know they are heading towards a meeting, we can lose a few weeks on the trip without needing to see it in detail in the story.

They do need to come together from time to time, or at least resync their 'events' else they are not really playing in the same game, just the same setting. The more it is done the easier it is, but it still does not happen after every job.

Relative timekeeping is always fun.

I think central questions are how much crossover you want to see, what kind of crossover you want to see, and how much of an impact Group actions have on the larger setting.

If the actions of the groups are relatively local, without much crossover, and without much impact on the larger setting events, then taking the "timeline" of a group and sliding it forward or back in "absolute" time to overlap with the other group where you wish them to intersect is relatively easy and painless.

If both Groups are having significant impact on the larger setting, or their actions in one adventure are likely to impact the setup for the other - "Yeah, that would normally be easy, but we had a team in here about a month back which hit that facility, and now OmniTech security is really keyed up - getting into that zone is going to be challenging" - then tracking their timeline against some central calendar is useful. In that case, having GM techniques in your back pocket to shove one Group forward in time ( or backward - it is science fiction ), to make one group align with the other, is useful: their low passage freighter is delayed, or they need to lie low until the corporate heat is off, etc.

This makes sense. I was imagining that the actions of one group could broadly affect the tone of the other groups experience with out getting too tied up in an exact time line. For example, perhaps two groups are playing in the Starwars universe: one is a group of smugglers working with a crime syndicate in the outer rim and another a team rebel soldiers attacking an Imperial strongholds in the same basic area. If the Rebel's sessions start going well then maybe the smugglers find there are less imperial ships than normal or the storm troopers are distracted and their characters have a slightly easier time. If the smugglers do poorly maybe some of the Rebel's contacts are more paranoid or they find supplies harder to come by. Nothing big or game breaking just a little change that shows a link between the two and adds a little flavor. It also wouldn't really matter when or if any one event occurred.

Nope, nope, nope. No Time Shenanigans! This is science fiction!

Exactly. Something like that. Though I usually tend to do that on a bigger/longer scale so groups A's immediate actions don't have any affect on group B. Rather a few missions will change the general tone and readiness of the Imperials. That keeps the exact times things happened from mattering. It takes time for ships to mobilise or for the contacts to get paranoid.

Apologies to @RogertheShrubber and @Cratchet and anyone else interested. After finishing the individual portions of Character Creation we have decided to start play with just the four players and characters we have.

If you are still keen on Traveller, maybe take a look at the other game on offer? You can't take the sky from me, Traveller

Thanks for the notice. I’ll check out the other game post. Good luck with your adventure!