Review - Traveller (Mongoose 1st and 2nd Editions)

Review and overview of Mongoose Publishing's editions of Traveller, from 2008 to the present (as of August 2023).
Links to previous Traveller videos:
View over the Milieu: Third Imperium: • View over the Milieu 0...
Deepnight Endeavour Core Unboxing: • Unboxing - Deepnight R...
Classic Traveller (CT/T1): • Review - Classic Trave...
MegaTraveller (MT/T2): • Review - MegaTraveller...
Traveller: The New Era (TNE/T3): • Review - Traveller: Th...
Marc Miller's Traveller (T4): • Review - Marc Miller's...
Traveller "Interregnum" (GURPS, D20, Hero): • Reviews - Traveller (G...

[@EskeAndersen]

thank you for all of your videos. You are one of my favorite channels on KZbin, particularly when you do these Traveller videos. I could listen to you talking about Traveller for hours - and I have!

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Thank-you! Traveller is the RPG I've played longest, so has a special place in my heart. I'm glad you and others get something out of my ramblings!

[@Craig-xw9jq]

Yet another gem - thanks for the advice!

[@WillyMuffinUK]

I'm glad you found it useful, 🙂

[@qsviewsrpgs4571]

Thank you for the educational and informative video. I've loved Traveller in all of its iterations. IMO Mongoose has done a stellar job, sure some things have been better executed than others, but overall, they're excellent in my book.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Totally agree. Despite the hit and miss of some of the supplemental work, the core rules and their presentation is an excellent job.

[@johnherkert9895]

Deep space research crew is a fun scenario when playing Traveller. Airlock, corridors, view screen, navigation, infrared, couriers, etc. Players are given trail bars and juice boxes for a space food meal.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Ooh, I'd take thst further! A lot of hike meals resemble astronaut fare these days.

[@TheKorath]

Thanks for the video, I'm a very long time GM but a new Traveller GM. It's nice to know where all the old editions fit in.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Traveller is one of the more convoluted histories!

[@billsfish2522]

Thank you for your review. I am going over the rules for the second time. I am planning on running a T5 game at TravellerCon USA 2024. Your video has got me looking forward to this task.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Glad to have inspired you in some small way 🙂 All the best for the Con! Tell us all how it goes!

[@Muzzlepaint]

Fantastic video... thanks

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Thank-you!

[@TheLordCrass]

Thanks for this

[@WillyMuffinUK]

You're welcome.

[@jacoblingwall6767]

Excellent video!

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Thank you!

[@twossock]

Great video. Fantastic breakdown of the different editions, era and history of the best (in my opinion) table top rpg.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Thank-you 🙂 I somewhat share your opinion 😉

[@steveyoungwork]

Great overview!

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Thank-you!

[@NatsSt]

Very good review of Mongoose Traveller you cover the good and bad sides well. I've pretty much given up on buying new MT books now and sold most of my previous ones keeping a limited set. I might consider getting the World Building Book though after your recommendation. But it's the illustrations and graphics that I dont like the most- a few are great but some are very poor compared to the D&D books - especially the images of vehicles and people are very unimaginative and just poor images - too colourful, too glitzy. The floorplans are nothing special either compared to the old great CT Traders and Gunships Supplement 7. Classic Traveller was a gritty realistic setting. Wish they would just hire a couple of very good artists and people who can create good floor plans. A lot of the other information inside the books also pales in comparison to the superb Classic Traveller books with their detail and feeling of authenticity. Like you say they are just rushing stuff of low quality out and now its difficult telling what will be good from bad. Best just not to buy as they are very expensive as well now, £42 a book is not cheap.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

That £40-ish mark seems to be par for the course these days, unfortunately. I suspect it's down to economics - equivalent price D&D book is going to turn a very much larger bundle of dosh, so WotC can afford to throw more dosh at the production of a book, while a Mongoose book of equivalent price is going to rake in less dosh, so not so much spare dosh for art etc. I do agree a bit with the "couple of artists" perspective. Some of the best periods of various games were when a particular game used a small number of artists. It provided a consistency in feel. Prime one that comes to mind is in the BattleTech technical readouts. They were consistent, and - since around TR3055, and especially in revisions - are now all over the place. Then again, BattleTech book covers are much improved from the random quality. However... I still maintain that I'd play a solid game with crap art over a crap game with amazing art. Art isn't my first go-to - and, in fact, the current D&D mode of making "DM consumption only" maps as artistic as to look pretty, but be functionally awful annoying! I don't want to have to squint to see where the bloody walls are!

[@grit9938]

I understand your caution. I got 1st edition Mercenary in a bundle and really enjoyed it. With the new Mercenary 2nd Edition box, most of the mechanics in 1st edition have been completely left out and for me, it was so badly done that I am leery to buy any more 2nd edition books.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

For me, it's bittersweet. On the one hand, I see my favourite game - I whatever form - being supported. On the other hand, it's getting increasingly difficult to sift out chaff from wheat. Some of the wheat, though, is golden.

[@bigtastyben5119]

When I First got MGt2 its was on October of 2021..... So you can imagine my dismay when I found out when it was getting an update. Oh well here's hoping they make an update of the World Tamer's Handbook.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

That timing sucks - my sympathies! Not sure, with WBH coming out now, that a WTH would be in the works - there's too much overlap, except for WBH societal elements and WTH colony building. Would love to perhaps see a book that included WTH colonies plus Pocket Empires and Dynasty rules for some form of epic macro-level campaign.

[@bigtastyben5119]

​@@WillyMuffinUKthat would be nice, If I'm running the third Imperium I'd prefer to run in Milieu 0 cuz It feels less restrictive than the Third Imperium of CT/MgT/GT-TNE, it feels less restrictive and easier to justify why the players would help tame a planet if the Imperium is so massive without entering The Great Rift or a wormhole that lands them on the otherside of the galaxy lol, which is why I want to see an update to the WTH. Sorry if that was a bit ranty I had no other way of explaining why I want to see a WTH update :P

[@WillyMuffinUK]

@@bigtastyben5119 I like the TNE era for the same reason - there's a point to the exploits of the characters on a larger scale. It's also why my Charred Space campaigns tend to be set in largely under-detailed fringes. One of the good things about Charted Space and it's various milieus/time periods and broad regional scope is that there is room for all sorts of SF play. Heck, you can even run an entire Traveller campaign on a single world - and there are plenty of those to choose from.

[@bigtastyben5119]

@@WillyMuffinUK that's why traveller is one of my favorite RPGs, it allows for such flexibility. The homebrew campaign setting I'm working on takes place in an alternative 21st century where the space race between the US and the USSR never ended. Also I just reread my comment from and I need to stop writing while only half awake lol.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

@@bigtastyben5119 Happens to the best of us. At least half of my videos are 2am recording jobs!

[@AEGISDEFENSE]

Good video. Would love a coverage of Hostile!

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Thank-you!

[@brianjohnson1985]

Huge fan of your channel., been into traveller for just over 30 years (I got a sick collection). Thank you for this series I really enjoyed them. Is one for T5 in the works? I own the boxed set and have been threw it. I really enjoyed reading it but honestly it's very reminiscent of t4 in design I think if M.M would have just put everything from classic into it as a mega reprint it would have made a lot more money.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Thank-you! Yes, T5 is in the works. Don't forget that FFE did do compilation volumes of Classic - not sure on the sales numbers, and I don't think they're still available - but they're convenient references.

[@jesternario]

Nice review. As someone who has only played Mongoose Traveller (though I did try to get a boxed set of classic, I ordered just after someone else had bought the last copy), I find the game to be rather fun. I really want Mongoose to create a alien species book so that we can make our own species again, as I like using my own custom species. I would also like a few other FTL methods besides jump travel, such as jump gates for smaller ships, so they can go to worlds that have the gates without needing a jump drive. But the game is good as is.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

There's a T5 book on Sophonts - "Maker Book 1: Sophonts" : preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/465630/maker-book-1-beasts-and-sophonts?affiliate_id=51226 - that extracts T5's alien creation rules, that can be modded into Mongoose Trav. The two systems aren't too far removed in a fair number of areas, and the book is quite cheap. It may give you what you're looking for here.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

And... T4 or TNE Fire, Fusion, and Steel (my favourite ever Traveller book) has rules for stargates etc. T5 core has rules for additional drives - more as progressions and parallel alternatives to J-drives. You might tell that I see Traveller as one thing, and cross-pollinate editions fairly freely...

[@jesternario]

@@WillyMuffinUK I do not, I mostly stick to 1st and 2nd edition Mongoose because that's what I know. 1st edition had rules for making new species to play. I just wish they'd bring it back in 2nd edition Update.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

@@jesternario It would seem to be a no-brainer thing to do for a SF game.

[@frankmueller2781]

I GM a combined 1e/2e game and obviously prefer aspects of both. I do disagree with your dislike of "A surplus of information." I also rather like the Imperium Setting, especially the Trojan Reach setting.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

To each their own 🙂 Personally, I prefer a few good tools and freedom to create over swathes of detail - there's room for both approaches.

[@Parker8752]

I definitely prefer how 1e handles ship and vehicle damage; I’m really not a huge fan of how much more likely hull points in 2e make ship explosions compared with how 1e and classic traveller handle damage.

[@pencilmage]

the shear number of ideas running through my head over this game is the only things stopping me from playing lol... just so many ways to go. i guess I'll need a sesh 0 with the guys to see what it is I'm going to do???

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Hah - swamped with possibilities! That's a familiar one. Definitely one to put to your players to help you focus and choose.

[@pencilmage]

@@WillyMuffinUK yes sir... that is the plan :)

[@WillyMuffinUK]

@@pencilmage Good luck!

[@Escylon]

Somehow I miss the mention of the Robot Handbook in this review. In addition to High Guard, Vehicle Handbook and World Builder Handbook an essential when it comes to creating your own stuff for Traveller.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Well, being a subjective review, and the reviewer (me) seeing robots as, at best, a secondary aspect of the game - that will explain the omission of the Robots book from the core of this video. Your own mileage varies, and that is fine!

[@geoffmarchiori5672]

I agree MT2E books are a mixed bag. Just got the 5th frontier war and I don't like it at all, its all strategic lore and fleets but no useful RPG play material IMHO.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Wait for the 27 5FW adventure books 😉 At their best, they're brilliant. I just fear that their business model calls for a greater output of material than proper concept or quality checks would otherwise allow.

[@svryc]

My biggest fear is the party getting a J2... I want them to feel like they are progressing but dont want to give it to them too soon. Plus that would mean a lot more systems to plan out -.- Probably gonna have them do stuff in a J1 branch for a while so I can plan out a decent chunk of a sector or two...

[@WillyMuffinUK]

Way back when, I started my lot out with a J2 Far Trader. But then, they needed it, because the mains on the edge of the Imperium are very limiting for just J1. You can have a lot of fun with J1 in denser areas, but I do prefer the sparser feel - which correspondingly requires a higher Jdrive to get anywhere. Things really do change up a notch at J3 and higher, though!

[@svryc]

@@WillyMuffinUK Im getting ready to run a game for my group which will be our very first time ever touching this system and im starting out with PoD so, theyve got an 11 system branch to play with for now. I think I could do plenty within those for now to keep them busy while I set up for better tech. I do wonder, how do I help them feel like they are progressing outside of major ship upgrades? It seems a lot harder to manage than progressing in D&D.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

@@svryc That's because Traveller is more on the "simulationist" side of RPGs than D&D, so the progress you're looking for isn't baked into the rules. Instead, it really is up to them to take the opportunities you put in front of them to seek their own progress. It helps if you start them with some level of handicap - such as a mortgage on their ship - and/or definable goals. Progress can thus be measured against such goals - with greater understanding of markets, for example (usually by getting used to how the rules work and the nature of worlds in their vicinity), they will improve the group income, so paying the ship bills becomes easier. Things like that. It is not expected that character abilities will change much. There is no level on level escalation of power. They can improve, if the time is taken to study (usually in those quiet hours in jump), and there lie further goals that can be defined within the rules. Perhaps the de facto ship's medic, having graduated out with Med-2, wishes to improve their ability to tend to the crew by putting in the time for study and research towards Med-3. Maybe one of the crew is a species they don't have the necessary xenobiological knowledge to look after effectively - and there lies another easily defined goal. Reputation is another. If you're using patrons, at the start of their adventuring careers the characters won't necessarily attract the big ticket patrons. As their reputation grows, they will attract employment by patrons further up the ladder - socially and/or financially. Impetus to do a good job is therefore provided by the promise of better-paying, more interesting jobs as the game progresses. All of these - progress towards character goals, financial easing, gaining expertise, accumulating reputation - actually tend to be greater drivers of the game than attaining better ships, or improvements to their current ship. In many ways, the latter elements usually come along for the ride. For example, Patron X needs them to transport some living cargo from A to B, and is willing to arrange installation of cargo bay life support as part of the deal. For some reference, my longest-term Traveller campaign group have stuck with their A2 Far Trader since the start - now mortgage-free, and with all sorts of accumulated tweaks here and there. None of their goals from the outset revolved around ship upgrades - each character has evolved their own set of goals over time, many of which have served to drive the campaign in various directions. I know it's not the easiest thing for those brought up with baked-in progression, such as D&D. It is a more rewarding (in my opinion) game element to get into, though. Consider how that progression is achieved in D&D. Sure, goals can form a part of it - but because it's hard-baked in, all a character really needs to do to grow in power is to kill a lot of orcs. In Traveller, and similar games without that level-based progression, players (and referees!) need to put more thought into things. And that is a good chunk of where we get our fun from with them.

[@TheJDough1]

What is the reason that Traveller isn't the D&D of Sci-Fi? I've never played this but scifi is my genre of choice so I need help determining if I dive in. Is it a heavy system? Can it easily run settings like Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Babylon 5, Farscape? Is it mechanics or Setting, or storytelling focused? I'm grateful for any help, thank you.

[@WillyMuffinUK]

That depends what you mean "D&D of Sci-fi". It's a different game, within the broader scope of RPGs, that has been one of the staples of SF role-playing since 1977 - just a few years younger than D&D itself. Is it a heavy system? Again, depends what your base comparison is. It has a simple, task/skill-based mechanic, and sticks to six-sided dice. From that perspective, it's pretty simple. It breaks the "norm" of D&D by not having levels, classes, hit points, etc., which some people coming in from D&D find hard to grasp. Because it delves into science fiction, it has to cover a lot of ground - but you can easily pick and choose which parts of the ground covered are relevant to the style of play you wish to enact. Is it setting specific? Many people use the Third Imperium setting that has grown up with the game, but the system itself does not absolutely assume that setting.. Yes, it can be used to model most, if not all, SF settings. A lot of play is narrative, using ROAN principles for tasks and skills. Some play can get administrative, if that's the style of game (or part of) you want - traders seeking out the best deals and accounting their trades; mercenaries seeking out the best contracts; so on. If you want it to be story-based, it can do that. But, for me, the best style of play is had when the referee gives free reign to the players to figure out their own paths for their characters. The tools are there to enable a fun interstellar hex crawl of adventure.

[@TheJDough1]

@@WillyMuffinUK Thank you very much! The reply was prompt and very detailed. I am most grateful. What I meant by it being the D&D of sci-fi is, why isn’t it the vast majority of played Sci-fi? Or maybe better said, D&D is the standard choice for a fantasy based game (though personally I think there are a great many choices better) why isn’t Traveller this for the Sci-Fi genre? Heavy to me is multifaceted. Does it require constant reference to the books for tables? Do I need to by tons of setting books like Hárn? Do the players need to read and read to get great value out of this or can the Game master simply read the core book and play for years? Once again, thank you

[@Parker8752]

It probably is the most played sci-fi game, but sci-fi has always been less popular than fantasy among role players.

[@sanderhaskins2740]

What do you think of Traveller5 ?

[@WillyMuffinUK]

I will tell you when my Traveller5 video arrives :)

[@sanderhaskins2740]

@@WillyMuffinUK hype!