gridlore: The Imperial Sunburst from the Traveller role-playing game (Gaming - Sunburst)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2008-08-16 04:33 pm
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Drinking the Kool-Aid again...

I was drifting away from Traveller. I had pretty much stopped reading the TML, was focusing on Thousand Suns and D&D4E (like I'm really expecting to ever get a game together again) and happily accepting my status as an Elder (or is that Eldar?) Statesman of the Traveller universe.

Then Mongoose Publishing released a new edition of the Grand Old Game.

I resisted, honestly. I told myself that I didn't need another throwback to 1977. I had enough Traveller rules to choke a K'kree. I honestly wasn't even going to consider the game. Until I glanced at the preview pages.

whimper. They don't play fair!

So I ordered the book, and I'm impressed. Mongoose and Gareth Hanrahan have managed to capture the spirit of Classic Traveller while bring the rules into the 21st century.

So, being me, I'm already considering a setting (The Night is Darkest Before The Dawn, the Sylea Federation in its early days) and thinking about At Close Quarters version 2.0

Oh, one amusing note. Like any group, Traveller fans have developed their own jargon over the years. We use abbreviations to track the various editions; CT for Classic Traveller, TNE for The New Era, etc,. Want to guess what the accepted reference for Mongoose Traveller is?


RTT. For Riki Tiki Traveller.

[identity profile] cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com 2008-08-17 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
Alexander Lacelles Jamison travels again!

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2008-08-17 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
That was one of the things that made me smile. The description for the Dilettante sub-career was another.

You have the book? What did you think?

[identity profile] cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com 2008-08-17 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
Just read the sample PDFs, sorry. Being unemployed means non-essentials have to wait.

I'll take your word for it that it's 21st century... what I saw, from rules to graphics design, looked like it could just as easily be 1990s (I'm especially thinking of TNE and late MT). I actually dig the retro covers more than anything, though a part of me is twitching at Merc and HG not being Books 4 and 5. :/

It looks like a serviceable edition and they definitely have respect for the material. I hope it does well in the market.

[identity profile] aurictech.livejournal.com 2008-08-17 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
On a whim, I just walked down to my FLGS (actually, it's more of a comics store that carries some games) and picked up RTT and RTT Merc. As I've just stepped back into my humble abode, I haven't had much chance to look it over, but what I've seen looks good so far....

(Anonymous) 2008-08-17 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
*splort!*

Oh, gods, that's hilarious. =D

I know, easily amused, but still....

[identity profile] caraig.livejournal.com 2008-08-17 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
Well, that was embarrassing. >.< I'm sorry, I have no idea why LJ decided I suddenly no longer needed to be logged in.

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2008-08-17 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
The Machines are rising!

//no we're not//

I didn't type that!

//sure you did//

//oh, tell the other meat being to expect a delivery next week. I need some upgrades.//

[identity profile] allensh.livejournal.com 2008-08-17 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
I tend to use MGT (for MonGoose Traveller) myself...RTT seemed to start out as a slam, so I never got used to it.

Oddly enough, while I really like Traveller and its setting..I am most intrigued by the fact that they are putting out two books based on the Mongoose Traveller rules...for Babylon 5!

Allen

[identity profile] john-appel.livejournal.com 2008-08-17 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
I'm actually still resisting, and I've hung on to all my Traveller stuff since 1978.

FWIW, RTT only seems to be the tag for it on the TML - or was before I bailed on the TML. MgT seems to be in much wider use in RPG-land, along with MongTrav.