Traveller Starter Set - RPG Review

Taking a look at the Starter Set for Mongoose Traveller, a sturdy box that exceeded my expectations.
Pick it up at Mongoose here: www.mongoosepublishing.com/tr...
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Guest starring Jack the NPC.

[@haktorson]

Great video Seth, and a great system! ! If you want a scenario to run with the system, check out “Murder on Arcturus station”. Written back in 1983, it is still one of my favorite scenarios, for any system.

[@SSkorkowsky]

I'll check it out. Thanks!

[@Panicagq2]

@@SSkorkowsky lol And so it begins!

[@SSkorkowsky]

@@Panicagq2 Wow. I'm kind of amazed at how Jarle's casual suggestion ended up working out. Thank you, Jarle, for a fantastic recommendation. And thank Colonel Panic, you for finding this little artifact buried in the comments.

[@Panicagq2]

@@SSkorkowsky My pleasure - I don't generally comment zombie threads but I'd recently re-watched both of your Arcturus reviews and thought this one warranted a poke with a stick...

[@haktorson]

@@SSkorkowsky Hi Seth, I am very glad how this turned out! I’ve bought the new Mongoose edition and are really looking forward running it!

[@JonTorresconceptartist]

I'm the artist that did the character designs for this starter set. Pretty cool to see this reviewed and that you liked the game!

[@digitalmoonbooks]

Where is your portfolio at, and do you do private commissions or gig work?

[@jaybadhorse5096]

Great artwork, thank you.

[@ts25679]

I'm always hoping for more dramatic retellings of the campaigns, like the Two Headed Serpent, though I'm sure they take a lot of work.

[@randyman410]

Oh boy, oh man. I love Traveller. The first game I played was so clunky because none of us really knew what we were doing. Once we got the hang of it though the game became a favourite of mine.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

I think i’ve played more Trav than any other RPG

[@randyman410]

@@Tony-dh7mz A fellow man of taste I see 👍

[@Tony-dh7mz]

@ Randy Man I played a ton of Trav when I was a kid, it was the second RPG I bought after basic DnD, and Trav started me on the path of game designing (mostly due to necessity, there was a typo in the rules (which at the time I didn’t know was a typo) and that forced my hand in to house ruling, and that lead to...) The two most influential games that lead me to what I do today were Runequest, and Trav, Randy, you would be welcome at my table anytime

[@magicshoemonkey]

May players I've played Traveller with has said they were reluctant to try the character creation system, and every one of them has talked about how awesome it is afterward. It's so great.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

That’s a really nice set, and smart move on Matts part, “Hang on Travelers” Wash, Firefly

[@SSkorkowsky]

I kinda rolled my eyes on the fan theory that Firefly was inspired by Joss Whedon's playing of Traveller in the 80's (assumed it was Traveller. He's never specified other than it was a major scifi game in the UK). After reading and playing it now, I'm on board with the fan theory. When I pitched it to my players to see if they wanted to try it out, my pitch was pretty much, "It's Firefly. It's EXACTLY like Firefly, but with aliens and jump technology. Also we have light-sabers, skin-job androids, and Ripley's sweet power loader." It wasn't a difficult sell.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

Well, Seth in fact he did mention Traveller by name in one interview that was hastily removed for his site soon after, Legal,

[@jamesward9499]

I loved this game back in the 80's. So glad it has come back.

[@thelastmotel]

It never went away. There are even two companies putting Traveller out these days... Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises. Mongoose are on their 2nd edition, and FFE are on v5.1

[@Tony-dh7mz]

Yep, never went away, Classic LBB’s Mega New era Marc Millers Gurps D20 Then Mongoose, They all use different systems

[@stevekillgore9272]

BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ... discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV

[@recorddeepness709]

"Nothing of note with these, they're just regular d6." Serpent person confirmed.

[@goodlookingcorpse]

The sample characters look quite young, considering that Traveller is famous for having older beginning characters (at least it used to be).

[@d36class]

Man, shame they don't make this anymore this video sold me on it

[@Natakupl]

I kinda like having 2 books instead of 1. Just so I don’t have to scan through 200 page book to find the rule I need. I just grab the book that I think has it.

[@smjsuperscott]

I genuinely assumed this would be a standard starter set. If your whole system review impresses me as the system seems to impress you this will totally be my in for the system.

[@greystorm9974]

Hehe, following your Channel a lot recently, plowing through your traveller videos, it's fun to stumble on this video and get a feel of "this is where it all began"

[@bjimenez88]

Traveler looks great, cant wait to see a full review of the game

[@orinmayer1276]

I use to play old Traveler back in the early days when characters did die in character creation, it was pretty amusing at the time. but those days are long gone with the newer rules, but good times.

[@Horse2021]

Those are not the official dice that I remember from the classic Traveller back in the early 80's (when we had to carve our jump drives from mammoth tusks). For anyone wondering what the official Traveller dice looked like, they were black with bright red pips and had rounded edges and corners.

[@Colouroutofspace4]

You technically can die in creation if you experience an aging crisis (stat reduced to 0 through aging) and can't afford the 1dx10000 credits for medical care. I think that may also include injuries. It's hard to die, but it is still technically possible, but only if you don't know when to stop pushing your luck. (I am so close to being a batbarian warlord and I'm not going to stop! Not wasting this 12 str even if my character has to die of arteritis!)

[@shawngillogly6873]

Not nearly as hard as it was in the old days, though.

[@Andrewza1]

I mean just put that cost in to medical debt. Having insane medical Bill the reason your corprat drone becomes a crew on a merchant ship to make cash is interisting. All so if you making a 80 year old charter you doing some thing wrong

[@bedeodempsey5007]

Starter Set is out of print, so expect to pay well above MSRP if you can find it at all.

[@Liveforfilms]

Recently got into your videos and I am loving them. Your Call of Cthulhu videos have been fantastic and I am starting that this evening with my group. Played Traveller years ago so glad to hear what this is like.

[@Madkingstow]

You sold me on Traveller. I'm going to order the starter set this weekend

[@devonsharkey414]

Contraband baggie. Lol.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

I know, right? Psychology works by “association” What has Seth been exposed to? Questions, so many questions...

[@JurgenBoes]

my thought exactly hahahah

[@andreaferrini99]

This system seems awesome even to just use for Worldbuilding, with all the stuff to create planets and whatnot

[@Marvin-sj9lr]

Yes, I wonder how the tools for sector creation compare to the tools of Stars without Number (which is my favorite part of SWN).

[@NefariousKoel]

Yes, it is! I also highly recommend the FrontierSpace (on DTRPG) for similar, and even more involved, system creation. The Referee's Handbook has great and even more detailed generators. It's a d100 system which reminds me of a mix between the classic Star Frontiers with Traveller style generators for systems, creatures, etc. And, of course, the Stars Without Number RPG for it's government and megacorp creation & conflict rules. Super sandbox-y stuff!

[@Tony-dh7mz]

Matlz “Impressive. ...They can make planets” Star Trek III

[@stevekillgore9272]

BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ... discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV

[@Gaffa3007]

Just discovered you. Have had a great weekend down memory lane of all my old Traveller days. I’m OG Traveller. Got the original 3 booklet set back in the 1970’s and went all the way through to Shattered Imperium. So many good times and memories. My favorite home brew rules were a mish-mash of FASA and my own design. Favorite things I still remember include 15mm to scale Scout Ship and Broadsword Mercenary transport one of my players created. Always said they would have been good enough for Star Wars practice shots… just beautiful. I also have very fond memories of the fight I had my players do to help retake a damaged Ashanti High Lightning battle ship in the middle of a larger fleet combat. Ended up like something out of a James Bond movie. Now I’m spending waaay too much of my time looking through the wiki.

[@darthjoel6357]

Ty Seth! I was waiting for your review b4 I pick this up. Awesome review! I’m gonnna order the starter set now! 😊

[@PaulGaither]

This looks like a fantastic product. I hope you do more videos about it. I love your characters, video editing and style. Keep up the fantastic work Seth.

[@christopherkearney6477]

Great review, always Seth. Looking forward to the actual game review. I haven’t played Traveler since the 80’s. So I’m very tempted to get this before you review it. You are an evil man...

[@mikehill9806]

Stunning. Looks like they were aiming for the LBB set. They've hit the mark.

[@kiruppert]

It's cool that you can't die in character creation in Traveller anymore. ...I'm still gonna make jokes about it. ;)

[@bigtastyben5119]

I wish they releases this box set for the 2022 update mainly because I like box sets

[@jasonrobertson9618]

I saw Jack's space helmet in the last video on the shelf so I was waiting for some space fairing action this time.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

This is a great review with important information, particularly the point about the box set having essentially the entire contents of the main book (less a sub-sector). I play Rolemaster and recently picked up the starter sets for D&D and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. Both of those are trimmed-down rulesets in flimsy boxes, so the Traveler box set is a call back to olden days when the box was a BOX. Ah, nostalgia.

[@NefariousKoel]

I've been debating picking up some HARP Fantasy & Sci-Fi POD books. I'm familiar with Rolemaster and MERP, from back in the day. Just wondering if you have experience with HARP, which is reportedly a bit lighter version of Rolemaster. Thoughts?

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@NefariousKoel I have not played any HARP. I have been playing Rolemaster through two or three editions and Spacemaster: Privateers for about three decades. - I will admit that the rules seem like an insurmountable hurdle at first, but if you have at least one person who understands them well you can get into play fairly pain-free. - I like Rolemaster because your class only determines what is easier or harder for you to learn, but does not otherwise limit you from anything.

[@audiewilliams3417]

Index sections are the bane of many roleplaying games.

[@KuyVonBraun]

Do I need another sci-fi game? No. Has this review whetted my appetite so I’m going to buy Traveller? Yes. 👩🏻‍🚀👽

[@SSkorkowsky]

I would say Traveller is a lot like Firefly, but really, Firefly is a lot like Traveller. It's the kind of game where you have a crew of world-weary characters with rich backstories who pick up a used ship and have to keep her flying by smuggling and occasionally picking up passengers. Sometimes those passengers are fugitives, rogue psions, or undercover agents. Sometimes you neglect your regular ship's maintenance and things break. Now you gotta get help from some crew that might be friendly, or just a bunch of jerks who will shoot you. Other times that ally you made during your backstory of being in the army shows back up with a torso full of black-market organs and a pissed-off Imperial... I mean Alliance... officer on their tail. You never know. It's a weird game.

[@KuyVonBraun]

Sounds like my kind of game. Funny you should mention Firefly, because my first thought was actually running something more akin to Babylon Five. I quite like the idea of the military in space, especially in the backside of beyond where the players are far from help.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Ah, then you might want to check out their Naval Adventures. With those, you're the crew of large military ships.

[@KuyVonBraun]

Seth Skorkowsky sounds perfect! I’ll check it out 👽💜

[@Tony-dh7mz]

🤫 Joss use to play RPG’s Wash says “Hang on travelers” in the first Ep, It’s considered an Easter egg, 🤫 or Marc might sue... And no one gets along with sue... Yeah it’s Traveller, Btw Kaylee do you have the Firefly and Serenity RPGs? Cuz you should, and the prices are only going to get more crazy,

[@charlesgrybosky1916]

The most fun character creation ever? I don’t know. It’s going to be really hard to top the latest edition of Paranoia.

[@johnzorklunn4854]

I love your reviews. I'll watch reviews of games systems I don't play just because I enjoy your work so much. Thank you.

[@CyborgPrime]

Cool! I like the blank sector map idea..and I'm glad to see it's a complete set of rules and a starter campaign. Looks like an easy way to get people into Traveller. THanks for this video.

[@jays.8621]

Thanks for the review Seth! I purchased myself a copy and am looking forward to playing. I am really enjoying the Renaissance of some of these classic systems such as runequest and traveller.

[@kennethdickinson2591]

I picked up the Traveller Starter Set from Mongoose a couple of weeks ago or so. My kids (ages 15, 12, and 8) and I had been playing 5e D&D, and I wanted to introduce them to another, updated, RPG from my own youth. I was expecting a watered down, simplified version of the rules, like the 5e D&D set is. I hadn’t seen the MGT 2nd ed. core rule book, but as I was going through the starter set, I wondered what they could have possibly left out. The answer, apparently, is “hardly anything.” I feel like it was well worth the money spent, and the kids have already created characters and they are ALL stoked to get started. We’ll begin Fall of Tinath this weekend.

[@danmorgan3685]

The price point is up there but it would seem the contents and production values are worth it.

[@imushavem7504]

I remember getting this in the 80s, but I remember there being several races, no just 2. One was a cell like alien that could divide in two and shape shift to make like ladders and bridges. One was insect like mantis, human and I think there were 2 more. Man, wish I had saved it parents like to throw out things. I may have to try this again. Thanks for the review.

[@NefariousKoel]

You're thinking of TSR's Star Frontiers RPG. It didn't have all the intricacies of Traveller, but was still a nice, light rules system. The box also came with grid maps, and counters to represent characters on them, which was a rarity for RPGs. I thought it had some of the most interesting alien sci-fi races. Too bad TSR never did much to expand on it.

[@YuriPRIMErpg]

THIS is Starter SET?! :O Hats off, Mangoose... Hats off. Other publishers should learn from you guys. What a quality product!

[@Reewen]

I have had no idea that tabletop ish rpg's like this exist. This video is the first time I've heard of this and now I am intrigued. I got no idea how those work but I will get into those thanks to this video. Thanks :)

[@jackleg2007]

Played many games using the earlier editions. Glad to see pc death during creation is gone.

[@youcantbeatk7006]

What made them think that was a good idea?

[@jackleg2007]

@@youcantbeatk7006 You have to remember it was one of the first sci rpg's. You were building a character that was already experienced(provided they survived creation). It was also a kind of mini game within the game. Trying to see what the dice would give you. All up to chance, no point buy at all.

[@kennethdickinson2591]

It’s not gone entirely, but it’s a LOT more uncommon than in classic Traveller.

[@magicshoemonkey]

@@youcantbeatk7006 It was a wager. I'm betting that I can make it through one more round of character creation, and if I win my character will become much more powerful. You gain skills by going through a term of a career, and skills in Classic Traveller were more powerful than in later editions. Some were more like D&D class abilities (just one level of Jack of All Trades was equivalent to 3 levels in Mongoose). Thus, the Scout, the career that gains two skills per term instead of one (and most likely to get Jack of All Trades), is the most likely to fail a survival roll. Design-wise, allowing characters to die in such a system deters munchkins and power gamers. With the unified skill system and other modern game design mechanics, though, it would be pretty awkward to retain.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

magicshoemonkey is correct, It was meant as a balancing system, It was Russian Roulette,

[@deujales6029]

I whole heartedly agree with you Seth. Character creation in Traveller is just the freakin' best.

[@dmchuck2575]

Thanks for the review, this is an awesome product. I have been considering upgrading from Mongoose 1st edition to 2nd edition, and this is an attractive product.

[@griselame]

Bang on job as always. And Traveller is a killer game

[@Grummar]

Yes! I was waiting for this!

[@AlluMan96]

I actually do need to pick this up. Out of all the different settings for adventures, sci-fi is a very persistent blank spot on me. I have rulesets for fantasy, post apocalypse, contemporary and future-earth, but none for science fiction. I'm also always a fan of sturdy boxes. When I start buying figurines and miniatures for games, I'll definitely need something reinforced to keep them in. A small thing I really like about this starter kit is how, considering most of the info from the books is present in it, the book is split in 2 between player-relevant and DM-relevant information. That shit can help sort information immensely and for a beginner's package, it's appreciated that it's been accounted for.

[@wolf1066]

Ah, Jack in Space. Good to see! And an Executive on a Weyland-Yutani ship, too. Of *_course_* you liked Traveller! How could you not? I played Traveller back when it was the collection of thin black books by GDW and most of my fondest RPG memories come from playing Traveller. Given a choice between D&D and Traveller, I'd pick Traveller every time - not just because of the SF/Space Opera genre, but because it's a Skill-Based RPG. I note Mongoose has made some really good changes to the system without ruining it in the process.

[@azunthewise4914]

Great review as always Seth. I might have to check this one out, one of my CoC groups is almost finished with our campaign and I'm not sure what to do with them yet. Look forward to seeing more traveler.

[@jokertim777]

I must have a different perspective about RPGs and how their rule sets change over time. To my group, including the possibility of death in character creation in the original Traveller game was a feature, not a bug. It had zero negative connotation to us, but perhaps people place more emotional attachment on their fictional avatars now than they did back in the early 1980s. Not sure how they can get so attached to an incomplete character they've never even played a single session as.... but, whatever. Playing your way through character creation was a mini-game and it set Traveller apart from other RPGs. We thought it was cool, and it would be a turn off if it has been removed. D&D's Thac0 is widely viewed now as a disastrous mechanic and is heaped with ridicule. What many people (but not Seth) lack today is context and the realization that Thac0 was actually an IMPROVEMENT over the way the game was previously run. Having a universal formula (but admittedly still not very user friendly) instead of having to look up every attack on a set of charts was a step forward. One of the main pieces of information on the DM screen were those charts that took up the majority of the available real estate. It was either that, or keep a DMG opened to pages 74 & 75 as a reference manual. I think of Thac0 as the Pupa stage of D&D. It started as a caterpillar (crawling through charts), then wove a formula around itself (Thac0), and finally emerged as a beautiful butterfly (by inverting the AC scale). It's still formula based, but now much more intuitive thanks to AC counting up, not down. Without the designers taking the Thac0 step, we might still be looking up rolls on charts in 5e. Do people consider Pupa to be disasters and heap them with ridicule? Because that would be weird. I wasn't into Call of Cthulhu back then, so I can't comment on the "resistance table" issue. Thanks for your review of the product... helpful as always.

[@edlaprade]

It isn't that death during character creation so much has negative connotations, as it slows the game for no good reason. (Ok, everyone has their character ready... oh wait, Bob's character just died, so we have to wait half an hour or so for him to roll up a new one. Hope he doesn't die as well!)

[@davidlewis5312]

Not sold, I don't care for the unnecessary and nonsensical gimbling and gimping of the character before the game ever starts. If I want to play a washed out drifter with an addiction and a bad rep, I will play that. If I want to play a systems engineer I will play that. I don't want to start with the illusion of choosing to play a systems engineer and end up with the other. The 'you will play and you will like it' isn't a selling feature, its a reason to go play Edge of Empire.

[@jokertim777]

@@edlaprade You're exaggerating. Felbrigg's Videos has a CT Traveller Character Creation video where he dies and restarts and completes the process with a playable character in 9 minutes. The death added about 3 minutes to the process, so "Bob" isn't holding up your game. Besides, isn't it his game too? "Slows the game for no good reason" also assumes that you don't use that incident as part of your new character's backstory... an older brother who died in the Navy might provide some good RP opportunities. It's all a matter of perspective, and it's okay with me if yours differs from mine. Happy gaming!

[@jokertim777]

@@davidlewis5312 I see. You prefer to get exactly what you want, when you want it. In your games, does the auto-success stop when the adventure begins, or does it continue all the way through until you get bored of winning? CT Traveller explores another philosophy: life is what happens to you when you're making other plans.Their philosophy of character creation is to find out exactly who your character is through the process provided. You may end up with a character that's even more interesting and fun to play than you originally planned. After all, we are shaped by the choices we make and the corresponding consequences that go with them. Luck plays a role in our successes and failures along side other factors (talent, persistence, etc.). But, you have to be open to the process and not so rigid about the exact specifications required to be able to have fun. You certainly aren't stuck playing any resulting character that you are not interested in running. If you get an "undesirable" outcome, you can always turn them over to the GM so that they can be worked into the upcoming story as an NPC while you try again. He's probably that surly guy you meet on that inhospitable planet working a dead end job who's bitter about how unfair life has been to him.

[@frankmueller2781]

@@jokertim777 We used to call those *"Monty Haul"* campaigns. Your monstrously suave and powerful character just sidles up to the stage, kills the villainous assassin, or the raging alien beast with a rubber band and a paper clip that just *happened* to be in her pocket. Then she just opens Door#1; Door#2, or Door#3 to claim her prize: an invincible weapon of the Acients, an Imperial 80,000 ton Battle cruiser, (fully automated so no crew necessary) or a crate of live chickens.

[@Toyall1]

I cant wait for the full review

[@GunmadMadman]

I wanted to get the starter set, but was disappointed to find that it’s now very hard to find in my country.

Wow this set looks impressive.

[@VassTheKeeper]

Seth, I want you to know that because of your DAMN REVIEW I am now a happy owner of a Traveller Starter Set. I was happy with all my money going to Call of Cthulhu, I did not need another RPG product to get hooked on! Thanks for nothing!

[@SSkorkowsky]

Enjoy it, sir. Mongoose Traveller is a lot of fun. The Traveller Companion is a great add-on book for it. I like the expanded pre-career packages and we use the Experience Point system from it. Also Highguard is good. ...and the Central Supply Catalog. Oh and I just got the JTAS books, they're great! You know....just go ahead and mail Mongoose your Credit Card. It's easier that way.

[@VassTheKeeper]

@@SSkorkowsky Will check em out! Thanks!

[@kyleharder3654]

Very well articulated

[@hothe65]

I need this review. I am just about to dabble with Traveller.

[@stevekillgore9272]

BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ... discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV

[@jewelpickard9716]

Very nice review!!!

[@jasonshortt7]

Lol. When you are playing the correct D&D, it has THAC0. 👍

[@stefanreindel9888]

Hey Seth, I just got this start kit and I'm looking forward to your review of it. Hopefully I can convince my players to change RPGs after a bit to play this. I thought I'd share that the Athwa subsector and the Calidan Sector are FAR away (2-3 years of constant jumps?) from 3rd Imperium and known space like Sindal Subsector. I found on Reddit while looking for this module that, in a version of the traveller universe, there is a secret wormhole guarded by the 3rd Imperium that leads to the Calidan sector, but there is not mention of this in the book as far as I know. It seems like that might be something to link known space to this uncharted area for established characters, maybe getting security clearance to transport information via wormhole to the distant sector.

[@Susrek]

Please do a full review of Fall of Tinath.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Haven't played it.

[@scottp2112]

Guess I will be spending some money..thank you 😀

[@Arcboltkonrad13]

Now I know what my next RPG is!

[@randym5824]

Engaging content but nothing I didn't know. Waiting for your full critique of the system!

[@anthonyragan2696]

"Starter Set" seems a real misnomer here, though the boxed set looks pretty darned good.

[@adamwelch4336]

I always wanted to play traveller I think the starter set is the one to start with for once!🎊🎉😮🤔

[@fredricknoe3114]

My players and I know how we're celebrating new years 2020 at 6pm were gonna meet up and play cyber punk 2020 until 2020. None of us have played it and I am the oldest one at 17 with the others being 12 and 13. I don't know what I need to run it, all I know is that we need our googlebots to play 80s rock because it's an 80s game that I explained as 80s fallout. Might not be the most accurate but I just wanted to sell them before doing any serious research.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

Look for a channel called The prime Thanatos,

[@fredricknoe3114]

@@Tony-dh7mz thanks

[@RVR121]

The whole potential for death during character creation thing is one of those optional hardcore things like that pokemon Nuzlock challenge but i did see it in the core book pdf so maybe traveler players are masochist types.

[@SSkorkowsky]

They do have it as the "Iron Man" alternative option in the Traveller Companion book, but it's no longer standard (at least in Mongoose Traveller). A significant number of people seem to only remember creation death when they think of Traveller and any time I've talked about playing it, I always get some, "Have fun trying to survive character creation Yuk Yuk. Yuk." comment.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

That’s what it was like in the Ol Dayz, No schoolin, by the age of five had to walk 12 miles every day just to get to work, to spend 27 hours working down a mine/up a chimney/Chinese sweatshop/MacDonalds Just to come home to pump water by hand and chop wood, for heatin your eatin, If you weren’t married with four kids by the age of twelve that’s because you were dead, Yeah, no internet sucks

[@melbeasley9762]

I'm playing Twilight 2000, I use an A4 blank book. I write up the characters in the back and record the adventure in the front. It would probably work just the same.

[@allluckyseven]

Yeah, I guess they could have used one of those magnetic, tome-like boxes. Those would sit better in the shelf. But they might not last as long as this one... Although probably nothing in the world will last as long as this one. Please do a full review whenever you can, Seth!

[@DaveTheGM]

I've got The Traveller Book and Mongoose Traveller 1e, but that sector map poster is making me want this set too.

[@SSkorkowsky]

There's a really great Sector map in the Pirates of Drinax campaign. Same size, but shows the Trojan Reach.

[@DaveTheGM]

@@SSkorkowsky The blank side was really what I was interested in, I love to generate my own subsectors. If I get a good deal of money anytime soon I'll have to check out the pirates of drinax though, I saw that it was pretty highly reviewed on amazon.

[@MaxWriter]

Nice. Looks excellent.

[@Susrek]

I much prefer the Starter to the Core. The Fall of Tinath looks great except for the hook - should have used a hook similar to High N Dry. I ordered it without knowing much and expecting less. I can't believe how beautiful the starter box is. I don't care for the box design however it does stand on it's side just fine. The ribbon is perfect and adds some elegance.

[@musiclistnerable]

really like Jacks outfit for this series

[@meatguyf1375]

I have to admit that while I've always enjoyed the world and the rules of Traveller, the character creation has always been a huge turnoff. I've yet to come across an entire group of people in my gaming circles who enjoy that aspect of the game, as there's always at least one person in a campaign who starts out with a character who is kind of gimped, or at least not what they intended to build. I know plenty of people enjoy that kind of randomness, but it's just one of those things I can never really enjoy. It's great you can't die anymore, but it still takes a little too much control out of the player's hands for me. Still, it's good to see a classic RPG going strong after all these years. Great review and glad to see you and your group are digging it.

[@jameshenderson4876]

If you get the Companion book, there is an alternative point buy chargen system there.

[@meatguyf1375]

@@jameshenderson4876 That's a good change of pace. Never been a fan of taking too much control out of the player's hands with their character creation. I've seen too many campaigns fall apart at the creation stage because people got annoyed at how their characters turned out totally different from what they wanted to actually play.

[@JurgenBoes]

would love to try a game like that.

[@Pioootr]

Now I want this thing :O

[@jayteegamble]

I'm having a lot of fun just creating characters. Don't know if I'll ever actually get to play!

[@shanelorrison5224]

Sweet

[@iPuzzlePirate]

Since you guys already play Traveller, I'd love to get your take on the Starter Set adventure.

[@frankmueller2781]

Amen! It's been a while, ready to review the adventures in "Fall of Tinath"?

[@Danmarinja]

Looks interesting, I’ll definitely add this to the infinitely long list of games that I want to show my players

[@Tony-dh7mz]

I feelz U

[@LifestyleEmpowerment]

Thank you for a very well made review :) Would be cool if you also did a video on the rules. ;) Keep up the awesome work! :)

[@arjunchoong8012]

Pirates of Drinax! Pirates of Drinax! Oh and we're almost at 41K subscribers!

[@NefariousKoel]

Would be interesting to hear the retelling of that campaign, if he ever takes his players through it.

[@mistaecco]

I'm a fan of the reviews of starter sets, thanks! Any plans to review the cyberpunk Red one once it's widely available? Haven't played Red yet, but I'm working through reading the PDFs right now, and I'm excited for the changes they've made to netrunners.

[@SSkorkowsky]

I've read it, and we've done some trial runs with the combat mechanics (haven't tested out the new netrunning yet). Hopefully in a month or so we can do a real game or two of it. After all that is done, I'll be ready to give it a thorough review.

[@mistaecco]

@@SSkorkowsky Awesome!

[@wolf1066]

3:03 - and the "dying during character creation" for Traveller had - right from the *old black books* - the following to say about the "Survival" roll for your term in service: "Optional Rule: If the referee or player so indicates prior to character generation, then a failure of the survival roll can be converted to injury. The character is not dead, but instead is injured, and leaves the service (after recovery) having served only two years of the four year term." So you didn't *have* to die during character creation at all. Failing your survival roll just meant you got fewer skills/mustering out benefits due to an incomplete term. Also, if your Referee's not a total twat and you failed your survival roll within the first couple of terms, you never know, they might get a case of sudden-onset-temporary-blindness and claim they "didn't see that roll, please roll again"...

[@ziggwam]

I don’t remember if it was mentioned, but if purchased from mongoose directly you get the ebook for free.

[@jiggler1-1]

I think my dad has a really old traveller hardcover bok somewhere! I don't know if you're the sort to even want it, but hey, gimme a PO box or whatever and I can send it to ya!

[@Dorian_sapiens]

Contraband baggy 😲

[@corywilson532]

If you guys are a fan of Traveler, Seth, you should check out the Heavy Metal album “Traveler” by The Lord Weird Slough Feg. It’s a concept album that tells the tale of a Rogue Miner who crashlands on a desolate planet where a scientist is making Mutants from Vargr and other Alien DNA and He becomes a Vargr Mutant.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Love that album! I'm wearing my Slough Feg Traveller shirt in one of my videos (the GM Screens video, I believe)

[@krisbowling9681]

Another video! Another like!

[@Skeleton_Raven85]

Just watched your where to get miniatures video. The godfather boardgame from cmon. 19 unique minis 3 of which are ladies and 1 of which is 15 Tommy gun gangsters, also mansions of madness se had expansions with minis from first game that average about a buck fifty a mini. Love your vids

[@mauricewalshe8234]

I can see i am going to be bying this :-)

[@bluekashus2499]

You should do a review for Mekton Zeta. It is more obscure RPG but with Cyberpunk 2077 being more out in the open for the normies to be introduced to CP 2020. Maybe it's time to shed more light on the big eyed brother of the Interlock system.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

But it’s very “Anime”

[@bluekashus2499]

@@Tony-dh7mz doesn't have to be. The life path is the most anime aspect about the game and the mechanics aspect could easily be adapted to any form of mecha media.

[@jesternario]

The only issue with 2nd edition mongoose traveller is that I didn't find any rules for creating your own ships, which is something that was a major portion of the 1st edition.

[@SSkorkowsky]

That's all in the High Guard book.

[@TheOnlyMasterChef]

Huh. Always thought Traveller died with GDW, same as twilight:2000. Played a bunch of new era Traveller after they revamped the ruleset to mesh with T2k 2nd edition, which we played a ton.

[@JakeSweeper]

Wow. It sounds like a new take on the old GDW 1e Black Books, but not in digest format.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

It is, of all the different versions out there (I haz them all) This is the closest to the original,

[@Krix6426]

I guess they stopped making the Starter box in 2022? I was looking, in hopes of purchasing it. I'm new & was quickly overwhelmed by the Mongoose website for the game.

[@SSkorkowsky]

There was talk of a new one planned, but I have no idea what the expected release timeline is. I have a comprehensive rules overview series I did on Mongoose Traveller that might help walk you through the rougher parts of the learning curve.

[@iconocast]

would love to see a char creation vid

[@lc9604]

Funnily enough, the first I'd heard about Traveller was a couple of the people I game with joking about how you can die in character generation.

[@CamelotGaming]

And sadly I can't find this box set physically anymore