Yeah, that's what I meant. When characters well within the reasonable results of the char-gen system were able to succeed at "impossible" tasks more than 50% of the time something was definitely wrong. IIRC there was also a botch/crit flaw (common in dice pool systems) where it became easier to crit a task the harder it was. Also, stats being worth more than skills towards success felt "wrong" and not-Traveller to me -- and Marc's proposed fix (where if the difficulty level was higher than the skill level you add extra dice) while interesting conceptually, seemed like a lot of extra work and in-game calculation.

Having playtested it, the final public playtest draft was a more interesting game, with a couple glitches in tasks that were fixable, but they kautowed to a handful of screaming haters. It was fixable, but not without going to a roll low. They changed combat, ship combat, tasks, and several other items rather wuickly and without public playtest. (It feels like without in-house playtest, too.)

It failed to meet the pre-release hype. The pre-development was that it was supposed to be a subset of T5; MWM didn't have T5 to a sufficient point to do that. It didn't have an innovative task system, because their innovation was mathematically mildly broken, but fixable. (as noted above.) They opted to ditch it rather than fix it.

It's pretty solid, but very uninspired. Some good stuff. My "special thanks" was for a different perspective on trade, that, while not the one used, was credited for changing the direction he went with the trade system. I like what he came up with. It works rather well. GTFT may be more realistic, but other than GTFT, it's probably the best T&C in a Traveller edition.

Constantine Thomas was special thanks'd for his contribution of the realism options in world gen.

If you prefer the MT Task system, it can be swapped in

Simple 3+
Easy 5+
Routine 7+
Average 9+
Difficult  11+
Very Difficult 13+
Formidable 15+
Very Formidable 17+
Impossible 19+

If you want more stat influence, up difficulties by 1, and use stat/3. I do so, and keep the +8 DM limit, but some friends up the limit to +9.


Koltar: the reason it avoids in universe references to the OTU is because they wanted to distance it from the OTU.

Quite literally, they don't like the OTU. It's no longer, according to Mongoose, the "Official" TU, merely the "Original" TU... but, given that only one ATU has been published as an ATU...  And the design blog at one point implied strongly that they didn't consider the OTU at all in the design process. Their response to several criticisms in the playtest was more succinct: a couple items that are incompatible with the OTU remained in. Specifically: the LL collumn changes in worlds, the steward rates, and the changes in J1/j2 pricing. (quite literally, this revalues the credit, and makes higher jump commercial shipping far more viable, but it also renders J1 ships practically impossible to operate without efficient speculative trade.)

To answer a question left unanswered up stream....

We have several versions that can be considered current, as they are all in print at this time.

Mongoose Traveller, which is a cleaned up version of traditional traveler, with clarifications on the original processes.  Some of the editorial changes (called re-imagining by some) to the setting, are an attempt to clear up continuity issues that have occured over 30 years of writing and editorial changes.  The system is set up to be independent of Third Imperium (Traveler Standard).  

GURPS Traveller is the classic traveller setting with all its bumps and oddness, utilizing GURPS mechanics.  

Traveller 20: The D20 version of Traveler. Same odd setting with its bumps, but using

Traveller 5th:  The mythical heir to the Traveller Crown, evolving from Traveller 4th or Mark Miller's Traveller. It is written by Marc Miller, the original designer. Traveller5 or "T5" is the fifth edition of Traveller has been playtested and kicked around the net. It was supposed to be released in febuary of this year, but did not quite make it. The system consists of a Core Rules Set, with chapters arranged in sections reminiscent of the original 3 Traveller rules booklets (Characters and Combat, Starships, Worlds and Adventures), and separate, supporting materials. It is currently available on a CD with the informations in a roughly correct format.  

To be honest, IMO, go with Mongoose Traveller.  It is the most like the original system. It makes the most sense.  You can run any Traveller millieu you like with it or other things.

T5 is not yet in print. Not even close. The CDRom for it is just playtest materials. Yes, pay-to-playtest. And it's not even to standalone-playable yet.

Quote from: MoonHunter;323530Mongoose Traveller, which is a cleaned up version of traditional traveler, with clarifications on the original processes.

'goose Trav' is not 'cleaned up' Traveller. It is it's own edition of the game, with some very different features from the original game: some new, some either drawn from or similar to variant rules published in the original run.

This 'cleaned up Classic Traveller' stuff is misleading and inaccurate.

I'm always good with classic or Mongoose. They're not 'the same' but its an easy switch. Hack them anyway. Or everyone'll die all the time.

Quote from: aramis;323397It failed to meet the pre-release hype. The pre-development was that it was supposed to be a subset of T5; MWM didn't have T5 to a sufficient point to do that. It didn't have an innovative task system, because their innovation was mathematically mildly broken, but fixable. (as noted above.) They opted to ditch it rather than fix it.

It's pretty solid, but very uninspired. Some good stuff. My "special thanks" was for a different perspective on trade, that, while not the one used, was credited for changing the direction he went with the trade system. I like what he came up with. It works rather well. GTFT may be more realistic, but other than GTFT, it's probably the best T&C in a Traveller edition.

I like it, as it is solid; my only complaint is that the equipment-to-tech ratio is very poorly thought out: for example the main book has bioscanners - which are introduced at TL 15, and at that TL weighs 3.5 kg and costs 350,000 Cr. If the average income is only a few credits a day, then noone is going to buy these.

upkeep is roughly Cr50 per day for soc 7...

Quote from: aramis;324695upkeep is roughly Cr50 per day for soc 7...

And that means that someone of Soc 7 isn't going to be buying a bioscanner!

Quote from: Jame Rowe;325040And that means that someone of Soc 7 isn't going to be buying a bioscanner!

What it means is  that we don't know their income, but it is at least Cr50 per day bare minimum; salaries are going to be around KCr2 a month or more for soc 7 (corresponding to Cr500 clear per month above upkeep, which said upkeep is housing, energy sources, food, and clothing) if  most people spend about 2/3 of their income on upkeep.

I know that, in my area, most people are spending 90% plus on upkeep, but that in the wealthier neighborhood my parents live in, it's closer to 50%... but the financial advisors restrict housing to about 50% of income for purchasing.

In any case, using the more conservative $3=Cr1, that's $4500/month for soc 7... I'm not even close. Using the more realistic $5=Cr1, that's $7500/mo upkeep for Soc 7... or roughly €2=Cr1 and €3=Cr1, for €3000-€4500 for soc 7...

Quote from: brettmb;323149Softcover would have been cheaper. Also look at the paper stock they used in the book compared to something like Conan. It's not even 60lb stock - it's 20/50lb, or simply put, copy paper. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but with the scarcity of art, black and white interior, and basic paper stock, I would prefer a much lower price. Granted, there are probably licensing fees that attribute to the cost, but still...

Just an FYI, Mongoose put out a Pocket edition of the ruleset (updated with errata) for $19.99. It's exactly the same content as the big rulebook.

Also, I love MongTrav. I think it's one of the best games to come out in a long time.

I have no experience with any previous edition of Traveller.

Quote from: aramis;325168What it means is  that we don't know their income, but it is at least Cr50 per day bare minimum; salaries are going to be around KCr2 a month or more for soc 7 (corresponding to Cr500 clear per month above upkeep, which said upkeep is housing, energy sources, food, and clothing) if  most people spend about 2/3 of their income on upkeep.

I know that, in my area, most people are spending 90% plus on upkeep, but that in the wealthier neighborhood my parents live in, it's closer to 50%... but the financial advisors restrict housing to about 50% of income for purchasing.

In any case, using the more conservative $3=Cr1, that's $4500/month for soc 7... I'm not even close. Using the more realistic $5=Cr1, that's $7500/mo upkeep for Soc 7... or roughly €2=Cr1 and €3=Cr1, for €3000-€4500 for soc 7...

The point that I'm trying to make is that the bioscanner, as presented in the MGT TMB, is something that someone, even a doctor, of Soc 7, won't buy - it's simply too expensive for its function.

Quote from: Jame Rowe;325344The point that I'm trying to make is that the bioscanner, as presented in the MGT TMB, is something that someone, even a doctor, of Soc 7, won't buy - it's simply too expensive for its function.

Most doctors aren't soc 7... most will be soc 8-A. And most will be making more than their soc would indicate. Ship's doctors, IRL, generally make less than stable practitioners, but have fewer work related expenses and almost no liability issues... from the docs I've talked to, about 1/3 to 1/5th the income, but almost all of it is take-home, and being aboard, lifestyle expenses are much reduced, too... so a reasonable estimate is a doc in private practice should be taking home KCr6-10/mo... but the average doc also has tools exceeding his annual salary in value. He'll purchase it on a 5-10y loan, in his practice, and charge Cr50 per visit, 20 visits a day (KCr1/day) or more... Assuming he puts 10% into equipment, that's about Cr100/day or Cr500 per week. KCr 2.5/week, or KCr10/month. That beastie, financed at 5%APR compounded weekly, works out to approx KCr10.5/mo.
At 20% towards equipment... He's still clearing a good bit, but that doodad is readily affordable. Especially considering it's going to make his diagnostic work both more accurate and faster.  It's the equivalent of a portable X-Ray, MRI, Sonography and CAT scanner...

Oh, and the MegaTraveller equivalent is KCr12, TL12, 2L, and 1kg...

Quote from: aramis;325358Oh, and the MegaTraveller equivalent is KCr12, TL12, 2L, and 1kg...

Which is why I object to the MG version being TL 15, 3.5 kg and 350,000 Cr. Even if it were introduced at TL 12 (it wouldn't be, we've probably got them already), it would get smaller and cheaper by TL 15.