Why You Should Play... Traveller 2E

Jeff discusses Traveller 2E from Mongoose Publishing and how it makes an excellent addition to your collection if you're looking to play a science fiction RPG. Traveller 2E can easily slot into nearly any genre of SF roleplaying too. For a dollar you can check out the 74 page Traveller 2E: Explorer's Edition in PDF at www.drivethrur...
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#Traveller #Mongoose #TTRPGs

[@KabukiKid]

One of the features of Traveller that was always amusing to me is that you would sort of "press your luck" as to how far you wanted to develop your character, and at the end of the day, you had a 62 year old character all seasoned and ready for adventure. lol Very different than in D&D when you started out with a 19 year old kid or something. ;-)

[@timgoodwin4649]

If you survived. 😁

[@theprincipledtransformatio6152]

Thanks for covering this game I am passionate about. To explain the confusing editions thing: Traveller has been licensed to and published under a few different forms over the decades of its existence. GDW published the original Traveller. Their "2nd Edition" was called Mega-Traveller and was an update of the first version. Mega-Traveller was replaced by Traveller: The New Era. Finally, GDW published T20 which was a D20 version. For a time Traveller was licensed to Steve Jackson Games and appeared as add-on material for the GURPS base game. Marc Miller, the game's creator founded Far Future Enterprises and put out Traveller 4 and now Traveller 5. It was also licensed to Mongoose Publishing which put out their Traveller which is now known as Mongoose Traveller 1st Edition. Mongoose's Traveller 2nd Edition is their second edition. The Third Imperium setting is vast covering over 1100 star systems. Over the years it has developed a large cannon of lore. Describing the Third Imperium as dry is, I think, not looking at it closely enough. The Imperium does not rule the worlds, but the space between them. Each world is a member state of the Third Imperium but has its own culture, government, laws, and technology. This is a fertile field from which the "Referee" (as Traveller calls its GM) to create all sorts of cool and interesting things. There are tons of cool online tools on the internet which are free to use, including a vast interactive map of the Third Imperium, a Wiki for the lore, various generators, language generators, and tons of other things.

[@thedorklylionchannel415]

So which traveller would you recommend, Mongoose 2E or T5?

[@theprincipledtransformatio6152]

@@thedorklylionchannel415 Personally, I like Mongoose 2E for ease of play and being true to the original Classic Traveller. I own T5 and it is difficult to even read. An alternative to Mongoose 2E is Cephus Engine. Cephus is less expensive, but character creation among other things lacks in my opinion. Cephus and Mongoose 2E play in similar ways, but imho Mongoose 2E is the better version.

[@thedorklylionchannel415]

@@theprincipledtransformatio6152 Thanks so much for the help! I'll get my group on Mongoose 2E and see how they get on :)

[@wylde_hunter]

Still one of best roleplaying games ever. Easy to learn, easy to play and can be adapted to ANY sci-fi setting (and also,with a bit of work, any other setting)

[@shawnsears7590]

⭐ Firefly is actually based on Joss Whedon's Traveller campaign from college.

[@GymbalLock]

I have seen a character die in 2e Traveller creation. A player made a space pirate. He was about to retire and muster out, but rolled a 12 for his survival roll and was compelled to serve one more term. On that term, he failed the survival roll and was thrown into prison. He failed his release roll term after term, and always ended up on the wrong side of a prison riot. sixteen years later, his character was missing a limb, had lost several attribute points due to injury, and then had aging effects hit him hard. A crippled, elderly convict would be unfit for any kind of space adventure so we decided he died in prison of health complications.

[@Thegaminggang]

The rules didn't force the death on the character, although they led to a completely unplayable character. :) ~ Jeff

[@HectorStratford]

Thanks for covering one of my favorite tabletop RPGs! I wish every game had Traveller's character creation system. It is very good at grounding your character in the setting.

[@Thegaminggang]

Thanks a bunch for the donation!

[@blazingangel623]

Just got a Traveller bundle on Humble Bundle, so excited to dive in!

[@ScipioAfricanusI]

Traveller GDW is my all-time favorite RPG. That was the 2nd RPG (after ADD) I played. Great review. Your enthusiasm really shines through. What I missed from this review is how would you rate this version of Traveller next to all the other versions (and the original one).

[@Thegaminggang]

I haven't experienced all the previous editions (as well as all the current incarnations) of Traveller so I wouldn't be able to break down the differences. Also keep in mind this isn't an in depth review but part of a monthly series where I discuss TTRPGs worthy of your attention. You can check out my review of the starter set here on the channel though. ~ Jeff

[@JamesEck9095]

Been looking forward to this one, Traveller has a place at my table.

[@TheLordCrass]

Had classic, now have MG2E! Love it!

[@RedDiceDiaries]

Very much enjoyed the video, I picked up a copy of the Traveller facsimile edition from Drivethru a while back (in addition to having the Mongoose 2E version) and this has made me want to revisit it 🙂👍

[@lockedlake]

Currently, Humble Bundle has a good bundle for traveller rpg, ending 23th of august 2023

[@fightingfortruth9806]

In my last game my character spent 19 years in prison during character creation. By the time he got out he had 0 Social and could kill anything with his bare hands.

[@Thegaminggang]

Pretty wild!

[@joenapalm4841]

Not sure why you'd stress Traveller -- which is an iconic SF game unto itself -- for kludging together to play other settings that have their own very capable systems already but cheers for anything that brings attention to Traveller

[@BanjoSick]

Love the album Traveller by Slough Feg, based on the singers Traveller campaign.

[@paulnolin862]

Traveller!! Thanks Jeff for a great video.

[@MrElliptific]

Thanks for the review. I have just rediscovered West End Games' Star Wars, and its retro-clone D6 Space (much cheaper than used copy of WEG's SW!). I"d play happily traveller, but D6 Space or Stars without Numbers seem more appropriate for my to go system (T2 being an excellent system on its own right). SWN for hard sci-fi (Expanse, Star Trek) while D6 Space will definitely be my SW fix! Thanks again for your reviews and taking the time to share your thoughts!

[@Thegaminggang]

Have fun!

[@kathyevans3251]

It is one I may check out.Thank you for the review.

[@Thegaminggang]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@InnerProp]

You were in HS in Chicago in 81,so was I! What HS? We went to the game store at Harlem Irving Plaza. I never played Traveller back then. I was scared away because I didn't want my character to die in creation. We played Space Opera back then. Ever play that? How would it compare?

[@Thegaminggang]

Good old Gamers Paradise at the HIP! We spent a lot of money there! I went to Lane Tech. I owned Space Opera and a lot of the other FGU RPGs but never played. ~ Jeff

[@InnerProp]

@@Thegaminggang My Dad went to Lane in the 50's. A couple of my good friends, the McCormick brothers went there in the 80s!

[@Thegaminggang]

If one of them is Mike McCormick, he was part of our gaming group at Lane. ~ Jeff

[@InnerProp]

@@Thegaminggang Yep. Good friend of mine, just retired from the CFD. I'm trying to get him to start DMing a campaign for us.

[@user-ci1wg5gh2t]

New sub here. Great stuff!

[@Thegaminggang]

Welcome aboard!

[@jessenichols9618]

$20 humble bundle right now

[@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.

[@cwsojourner]

I would say it's a Medium/Light system (assuming you are talking about technical stuff in the rules). As is mentioned in the video, the basic mechanic is 2d6 + modifiers with a target number of 8 or higher being a success so a GM can wing it. As for the settings you mention, you could use Traveller. In order of easiest to hardest of the examples you mentioned, it would be Firefly (which was supposedly based on Joss Whedon's Traveller campaign), Farscape, Babylon 5, Star Trek, then Star Wars. Star Wars is last because of the Force. That said, Traveller has limited "scifi magic" via psionic powers that are extremely rare in the default setting (the main setting is in the Empire and their chief enemy are humans called the Zhodani, who have a Psionic ruling class). You'd need to make a LOT of house rules for something like the Force. IMO, you'd be better off just using the multitude of games created for Star Wars. Another example from the entertainment world that constantly reminded me of a Traveller campaign is The Expanse. The Traveller system is more "realistic" rather than "heroic fantasy in space" systems such as Star Wars. For example, there's no experience/leveling system. There are no hit points to increase; combat damage effects stats such as Endurance/Dexterity/Strength. You can improve your character's skills via training (usually while traveling through Jump Space, this setting's Faster Than Light mechanic) and gather loot, but that's the only formal character advancement. Using the default rules, player characters will never become godlike superbeings like you might find in D&D at level 20, but they can purchase cybernetic upgrades to become badass if they want. The system also indirectly encourages non-combat solutions to problems, considering that many high tech weapons can reduce unarmored life forms to greasy scorch marks on the ground in a single shot. So, that's another way Traveller is different from D&D: it's not unusual at all to go multiple game sessions without any combat. Being a game that was originally developed in the late 70s/early 80s, it is not a "storytelling" focused system like some more modern games. The setting roughly comes down to "if there's a penalty for failure or in high pressure situations, the characters should roll the dice" rather than talking it out. That said, there's a Bane/Boon mechanic at the GM's discretion for good role playing so like in any other RPG the actual play style is ultimately up to the GM. TL;DR version - You can use the core rules for almost any setting, but it's more Hard SciFi (Firefly) rather than Heroic Fantasy in Space (Star Wars). There is a LOT of source material to draw from, so if you want to really lean into things like large scale ship combat, or robots, or transhumanism then there are supplements for that.

[@Classic_DM]

It's an incredible system, but almost impossible to get anyone to play due to 5E and MTG.

[@timbuktu8069]

I had a weird thought that somebody might have an answer to. There are some careers that there is no reason to retire from, careers like Diplomat or Dilettante or even Doctors and Scientists. I could even make a case for Drifter. I'm thinking there should be a rule where a character could take a hiatus from their job for a term to adventure and then return to it. Any thoughts?

[@Panicagq2]

I don't see why not! It sounds worth a try...

[@travisewart4551]

So, there's kinda a thing for that with the Naval Campaign concept, (they flesh it out in the Elements class cruiser book, I think, it might be a different book) But basically it's, you roll up characters to a certain point, and then start the game from there with the internal dynamics of there career carrying over, there's really only been detailed stuff for Navy characters (and tangentially Marines, because there's usually some stationed on larger Vessels AT least as far as the 3rd Imperium goes), but you could apply the concept to any of the classes, it'd just take some work to adjust it. Also the concept of Detached Duty for the Scouts, could probably be tweaked to achieve something similar, for less involved carriers.

[@Scanner9631]

I've been thinking that the characters adventure is just a new career and they should get skills and such the same way over each 4 years. You may have retired from your career in the Merchant Marine to run your own Far Trader but that too would be a career even if you accepted "side missions" doing "adventures" for pay, speculation, benevolence or fun.

[@Enforcer_Hound1]

Did anything come out for this system in 2024?

[@Paraboxify]

Yes

[@foreshame7370]

Wot, MegaTraveller?

[@Exeter1705]

Have you ever played a game called "Mechanoid Invasion?" .... from Palladium Games? would love to see a review on this game.

[@Thegaminggang]

Palladium is a company I avoid promoting. You just have to know a little about their Robotech fiasco from back in the day to understand why. ~ Jeff

[@JohnDretired]

These books are terribly expensive.