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Pick your favorite version of Traveller. Heck, use the comments to rank them all in order, if you want.
You can pick multiple options, but please limit yourself to three choices to not skew the results. Thanks!

For me:

Mongoose Traveller
Classic Traveller
New Era
Gurps Traveller
MegaTraveller
Traveller d20
Traveller 4th edition

I have no opinion on the new 5th edition, as I have not seen it.

I came along to Trav too late to have seen the T4 and earlier editions, but of the ones I have seen I'd say:

MongTrav
GURPS Trav
T20

No official opinion on T5, but based on what I skimmed for 15 minutes at a recent game store trip, it might be 2-3.

There is Hero Traveller as well.

• Classic Traveller
• Gurps Traveller
• MegaTraveller
• Mongoose Traveller
• Traveller20
• Traveller: the New Era
• Traveller4
• Traveller5

Quote from: estar;668495There is Hero Traveller as well.

The five people who own it are very happy with it, I'm sure.  ;)

What communist chose T4?!  :hand:

Top: Mongoose Traveller, the refinement and perfection of Classic Traveller.

Then:
Classic Traveller - original and, until recently, the best.

(A large gap goes here)

Megatraveller - a decent enough consolidation of CT with the best of the supplements, but they made some outright bizarre design choices (why expand the basic careers but only provide advanced progressions from a subset of them in the core books?). Still, some absolutely fabulous supplements came out around this time and the Rebellion was the only post-CT development of the timeline I could get behind (at least at the point when it was about expanding the possibilities of adventure rather than shutting them down).

(A LARGE gap goes here)

GURPS Traveller - Decent setting material if you want the Third Imperium, but when I'm in a Traveller mood I want the Traveller system.
T5 - impressive ambition but requires too much work to run out of the box and arguably works better as a supplement to any of the above.
T4 - a horrible botch, though at least it forced Miller to admit that maybe licencees were a way to go.
Traveller D20/Hero Traveller - Same "if I'm in a Traveller mood, I want the Traveller system" problem as GT except the setting material isn't remotely as interesting.

And the bottom:
Traveller: the New Era - Same "if I'm in a Traveller mood, I want the Traveller system" problem as GT except the setting material shits all over everything and shows a radical misunderstanding of the tone of the Third Imperium stuff. I don't really dig the Third Imperium myself - hence the large gap up top between CT and MegaTraveller - but I find weird botchings of a setting written by people who clearly don't grasp the basic assumptions and the intended hard SF basis of the setting to be outright obnoxious.

Quote from: danbuter;668510What communist chose T4?!  :hand:

I can only assume someone who just looooooooooves errata and bad editing and thought that Megatraveller didn't have enough of either...

Quote from: Warthur;668519I can only assume someone who just looooooooooves errata and bad editing and thought that Megatraveller didn't have enough of either...

There's always one in every crowd.

I voted traveller tne and mongoose traveller. The first one because it was the 2nd english language rpg I owned and the group was a tech oriented one so we had a blast. I recently bought mongoose version and I like it a lot. I did buy T20 and T4 but both of them failed to catch my interest long.

Mongoose Traveller
Gurps Traveller
Classic Traveller
Megatraveller
Traveller: New Era
Traveller 4th edition
Traveller 5th edition (the newest version)   


Have not played Traveller d20, so can't rate it.

This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone . . . Mayday, Mayday . . . we are under attack . . . main drive is gone . . . turret number one not responding . . . Mayday . . . losing cabin pressure fast . . . calling anyone. . . please help . . . This is Free Trader Beowulf . . . Mayday . . .


Everything else is fucking window dressing.

The one I'll choose to play is the best one, obviously.

Quote from: nitril;668543I voted traveller tne and mongoose traveller. The first one because it was the 2nd english language rpg I owned and the group was a tech oriented one so we had a blast. I recently bought mongoose version and I like it a lot. I did buy T20 and T4 but both of them failed to catch my interest long.

That I can understand.

Quote from: danbuter;668510What communist chose T4?!  :hand:

That would be me, though nobody's ever mistaken me for a communist before.  I'm flattered I guess.

I'd go

T4
T5
TNE
CT
MT
MongT

Yeah, I really don't like Mongtrav.  And it's not like Megatraveller didn't have pages and pages of errata it just didn't get published or become available until after TNE was announced and then only in Megatraveller's Digest by DGP.

What's to like?  Well, more skills in a unified character creation system.  No more Advanced / Standard chargen imbalance.  The nd task system doesn't bother me because I like point for point stats much better than stat bonuses and half dice I can live with though I believe whole dice is better.  If your players are running into 2d tasks you're being too generous.  The damage system was simple and clear.  The combat dice pools were fine, a little better than the T5 attempts to cover the same ground on fatigue, dodging, etc.

Central Supply Catelogue gave us good vehicle design rules and Emperor's Arsenal was excellent, Pocket Empires, Psionic Institutes, and Aliens Archive were all great.  The setting stuff was pretty dry but it was well thought out as a situation that focused on getting out there and exploring.  

Also, the Terran Trade Authority books gave me a soft spot for Chris Foss art.

So yeah, I'm that one guy.

1. Classic Traveller
2. Stars Without Number
3. MongTrav

Quote from: Spinachcat;6686261. Classic Traveller
2. Stars Without Number
3. MongTrav

Trololololololololololol. 0/10. Not even imaginiative.

You could have said something like "I don't have a favorite version of Traveller because all of my characters have died during generation." and it would have been funny.

Classic Traveller
Mongoose Traveller
Traveller 4
Traveller, The New Era
GURPS Traveller
d20 Traveller
Megatraveller

I'm still working through Traveller5, so no real opinion yet.

Classic Traveller has some great stuff and out of the box is everything you need to play for decades. Mongoose Traveller comes a close second to that and while it has cleaned up some of the sluggish parts of CT, also lost some of what really attracted me to CT.

Traveller 4 has issues, but with the errata and some QSDS houserules adapted from Fire, Fusion, and Steel it works pretty good and still has the flavor of CT. Traveller TNE has a stupid interstellar apocalypse backstory and is only good for supporting Traveller 4.

GURPS Traveller has a system I dislike, but like most of the GURPS line, has got splatbooks/supplements that are absolutely golden.

d20 Traveller kept most of the compatability to past versions of Traveller and advanced the usefulness of the game. I love to create and use archaic rockets in my games, which I can thanks to the Avenger Enterprises contributions. Yes, it has the d20 familiarity and also advances d20 systems, but it also adds a layer of complexity on them.

Megatraveller has the unique distinction of being the only version of Traveller that I find useless besides the Cinematic Nugget style of adventure creation.

I voted Mongoose as I think by far it is the best for making a My Traveller Universe, not only for the sourcebooks which go outside the Traveller box, but also all the different licenses which give you lots of options and ideas on how to tinker with the rules.

Classic would be next for me.

I'd have to say TNE is next because that's the only other Traveller I've played besides the first two.

T4 gets props for the cover art.  Chris Foss rocks.

GURPS Traveller as a sourcebook.

I think it is a hard and brutal choice between classic traveler and mongoose traveler.

MongTrav: clearer rules, good ideas for task resolution.
Classic Traveller: perfectly valid game, full of class.

Don't know about the others.

Classic is easily the best, and continues to inform my design even now.

Megatraveller was a pretty cool update but not something I'd reach for quite as quickly, though now I'm sad I didn't check that box because no one else seems to have voted for it. :(

Mongoose just ... no.  

Trav5 I might've loved a decade ago but I'm too lazy for that much work in my old age.

If I ever ran Traveller again, I'd probably have them create characters with Mongoose Traveller and then convert everything to BRP.

Of the ones I know? Classic.

CT

I like the idea of Gurps Traveller, the continuing on as if MT and TNE never happend. I just hate GURPS.

TNE I actually liked, sort of. I didn't like the setting, but I was a fan of the rules (which were the same for Dark Conspiracy and I think the last version of Twilight 2000). Completely unbalanced in the favor of the PCs, but I liked the skill system.

MegaTraveller I could never figure out. Never bought Mongoose Traveller because I've owned too many crappy Mongoose products. Maybe this was one of the few exceptions, but they have enough of my money.

Quote from: JeremyR;668984CT

I like the idea of Gurps Traveller, the continuing on as if MT and TNE never happend. I just hate GURPS.

I'm in the same boat.

QuoteNever bought Mongoose Traveller because I've owned too many crappy Mongoose products. Maybe this was one of the few exceptions, but they have enough of my money.

I heard their Traveller uses an improved system over their 2nd edition of Babylon 5.

1. Obviously, MegaTraveller. 100% compatibility to CT plus all the elegeant and streamlined subsystems make this probably the high water mark of non-D&D RPG rulessets.
2. goes to...T5. Actually it is unfair, because we only have seen the basic book up to now. But the slightly inflated page count (planetary grids? in jpg format? WTF?) lets it drop to second place for the time being. The world modelling and sheer elegance is promising that it might snatch first place from MT in the future, should the correct supplements arrive
3. CT, being the foundation everything that was improvement was built upon.
4. GT, having some of the best long-form verbose supplements; working as bridge betweeen Millerian brevity and regular people
5. T4, some of the best supplements, if not THE best supplements, but seriously flawed due to...KEN WHITMAN!
6. T:NE Survival margin is the bees knees, but everything else was uneven if inspired. Trouble is: ALL the other SciFi settings are post-apoc or wild west. Why should Traveller ever have to go there?
7. (empty)
8. T20, lackluster but with a seriously improved speculative trade table for the simple model. bonus points for Gateway sector
9. Mechwarrior, there I said it.
MW is to Traveller what Cthulhu is to RQ: an out of control campaign setting plus house rules.
---------------------------------------------------------
Mongoose never published anything that understood the basic tenets of Traveller. If I had to rate bizarro Traveller, it would get a 123rd place of RPGs I would ever want to play again.

Quote from: JeremyR;668984CT

I like the idea of Gurps Traveller, the continuing on as if MT and TNE never happend. I just hate GURPS.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;668986I'm in the same boat.

You guys might be interested in this article by Bill Cameron entitled Wounded Colossus (http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/othroads/woco.html) which explores the possibilty that TNE and Virus never happened.

I voted CT and MongTrav, but I have to say that I certainly to not find the mention of Stars Without Number to be trolling.  It is perhaps my new favorite "traveller" rules set.  Simple, clean and intuitive to grognards.  Also- yeah, MechWarrior 1e has a very Traveller feel to me.  I agree with that sentiment as well...

In my case, I played every version of traveller at least a little up until TNE; and I played a decent-sized campaign of Traveller T20.

Of all the versions, my two favorites were Classic Traveller and T20.  I can't comment on the two most recent versions of Trav, however.

RPGPundit

A new T5 review at http://rpggeek.com/thread/1002875/traveller5-10-years-in-the-making

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;669204A new T5 review at http://rpggeek.com/thread/1002875/traveller5-10-years-in-the-making

Wow.  I was expecting someone to comment, but I guess the thumbs up do all the commenting for it.

Honestly, T5 sounds like everything that was wrong with T4 turned up to 11.

For me:
CT
MongTrav
TNE/GT
MT
T4/T20/Hero

I do not have T5 and do not plan to; if I want to spend more money on a game it's gonna be MGT, CT or (GASPATTHEHERESYYESTHISISALLONEWORD) Pathfinder.

Quote from: colwebbsfmc;669019I voted CT and MongTrav, but I have to say that I certainly to not find the mention of Stars Without Number to be trolling.  It is perhaps my new favorite "traveller" rules set. Simple, clean and intuitive to grognards.  Also- yeah, MechWarrior 1e has a very Traveller feel to me.  I agree with that sentiment as well...

Thank you for reminding me! I would also buy MechWarrior/A Time of War. Or Shadowrun. I remember that FASA originally had a license to produce Traveller products and I think that the Battletech designers took some things from Traveller.

1. classic traveller
2. mega-traveller
3. mongoose traveller

i have not had enough experience with the other traveller rule sets to rank them.

Quote from: J Arcane;669236Honestly, T5 sounds like everything that was wrong with T4 turned up to 11.

No, that's not it.  Some of the haters think so but they haven't given either due consideration.

It does share the bad editing with Mega Traveller and T4.  It does share Marc Miller's personal vision with T4.  But T4 was fundamentally about Milleu 0 and T5 is fundamentally about Traveller as a system.  The art in T4 was better, not as appropriate perhaps but technically better.  Well, there are some lovely William Keith illustrations in T5 but we've seen those in previous editions.  T4 was easier to understand and more ready to play out of the box.  T5 is like the core rules plus the world building, alien building, vehicle and weapon building, robot building, genetic engineering books all in one place with a very limited and somewhat dysfunctional set of examples.

The closest thing I can think of is Space Master Privateers, lot's of charts and tables, terrible organization, recycled art, and poor editing.  And yet I love them both and would gladly play either over many more polished or pretty games.

Quote from: David Johansen;669895No, that's not it.  Some of the haters think so but they haven't given either due consideration.

That, and if you actually read the reviews, you find that a large portion of them are actually reviews built out of other reviews with nothing new or distinct about them. Just haters rehashing the words of other haters in a circle jerk of confirmation bias.

I thought T20 was really great; a huge book that had everything I needed to make and run a homebrew campaign.

After reading some more of T5 I am bloody excited by it. Overwhelmed, but excited. Outside of my tabletop game time I spend a lot of my hobby time farting about world building. I get the impression that T5 is speaking to people like me, with way too much time on their hands who really want to go nuts and nerd out over the system.

The thing is, I am also a near Traveller virgin. I played one session of CT about 3 years ago. We were hand held through character gen, never went off planet and blew stuff up the way we usually do in Cthulhu. I have no prior investments going on.

I still stand by my previous comments about the organisation of the book though..

Edit: couple of other points. I like the lack of art. It's a rule book/reference text not an art students portfolio. It still needs an index, but as a pdf you can add your own bookmarks and SHOCK HORROR stick post-it notes in the hardback to speed up referencing (you should see my AD&D phb...).

I'm very surprised to see the way this comes down to CT-vs-MongTrav, with other editions only picking up a few votes here and there.

I'm less surprised to see such an even split between CT and MongTrav, because honestly if you like the one you'll probably like the other and which you prefer really boils down to personal tastes and very minor differences.

Quote from: Warthur;670766I'm very surprised to see the way this comes down to CT-vs-MongTrav, with other editions only picking up a few votes here and there.

I'm less surprised to see such an even split between CT and MongTrav, because honestly if you like the one you'll probably like the other and which you prefer really boils down to personal tastes and very minor differences.

It's a multi-guess poll.  So lazy bastards are choosing CT and MgT together.  There can be only one vote, in my opinion.  On G+, it's the CT players that are running on nostalgia still.  On COTI, it's the crazed T5 players trying to get their KS money's worth.

Nice to see the derogatory nostalgia meme is still alive. :rolleyes:

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;670767On G+, it's the CT players that are running on nostalgia still.  

Wow, you sound like a D&D 4venger.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;670767On COTI, it's the crazed T5 players tyring to get their KS money's worth.

There's definitely a pony in there!

I've actually played: Classic, Mega
Own(ed), not played: T4, New Era, T20, some GURPS Traveller supplements

I guess I'd be into Mongoose Trav if I didn't already have plenty of Classic (and had cash to spare).

The New Era rules set (not setting) is something I would like to try running. I've played with similar rules from GDW's Twilight: 2000 and Dark Future.

T20 seemed like a pretty good job, based on reading.

Quote from: Phillip;670832I've actually played: Classic, Mega
Own(ed), not played: T4, New Era, T20, some GURPS Traveller supplements

I guess I'd be into Mongoose Trav if I didn't already have plenty of Classic (and had cash to spare).

The New Era rules set (not setting) is something I would like to try running. I've played with similar rules from GDW's Twilight: 2000 and Dark Future.

T20 seemed like a pretty good job, based on reading.

I've played a variant of T4; as house-ruled I liked it (though we didn't use the chargen, which I actually liked).

I would play the TNE setting but don't understand the rules. If Phillip and I were in face-to-face play range I'd offer to play it with him.

t20 had a good concept but I take issue with some of the skills (e.g. Combat Engineering should fall under Demolitions and a bit of Disable Device). That and I don't think I'll be able to get my Pathfinder and D&D groups to try it.

I would play in a CT or TNE game on G+ Hangout. But I wouldn't referee a game.

I know that the basic Classic Traveller had the level of complexity that was about right for my tastes.

My preferences, based off the versions that I have actually played and/or ran, in descending order:

Mongoose Traveller
Classic Traveller
The New Era
4th Edition
t20
Megatraveller

I have and have read all of the other versions, including Hero, and I'd say my level of interest in them would rank (falling below Megatraveller above) as follows:

GURPS Traveller
5th Edition
Traveller Hero

(the 5th Edition and Hero version are pretty much neck and neck, for my lack of interest, both of them put me into a coma trying to read them :D)