When I first delved into Mongoose Traveller 1E, I was struck by the sense of community it fostered. The game felt much more 'out there' with the 1E Psionics book, which mentions time travel. There were even fantasy crossover elements in the tables. It was as if the game was searching for what Traveller meant to us, the community, and a larger market of sci-fi enthusiasts. It was a shared journey, a collective exploration of the unknown.
Despite that, the game didn't know what it wanted to be.
The second edition of Mongoose Traveller focuses more on the Imperium setting, and the 2022 revision further emphasizes this point. It turns the game into a semi-generic sci-fi setting that can absorb many sci-fi concepts. Your Imperium is yours, and you can take it however you want. Stick to canon or have your custom races and civilizations appear. This adaptability means your ideas are welcomed and can become integral to the game.
It feels much more accessible than Star Wars and Star Trek, and those games are dying a "heat death" of too much lore as it is and no freedom for your own ideas. You can never introduce your race in Star Wars without people looking at you funny and saying, "Well, then, why didn't you just use X?"
Traveller has room. And every universe is a blank slate set to a default starting point. You can even create your own sector maps and ignore canon. I feel freer in Traveller than in the licensed settings of Star Trek or Star Wars. Part of me feels I can't tell "my stories" in those universes, and they eventually devolve into guest-star appearances of licensed characters.
1E felt more like a generic sci-fi game wearing a Traveller skin. That edition had the rules, but it felt strangely divorced from the setting, and 1001 ideas were in there that were searching for a campaign setting. It is still very inspirational for a sci-fi game, trying to cover many genres and do everything.
I have the 1E pocket rulebook, and the art is something out of a cyberpunk or Aeon Flux game.
Now, Cepheus Engine drives all the 2d6 experimental concepts with community-made games, and Mongoose 2E returns to the game's roots. If you want generic sci-fi, any community-developed Cepheus Engine games are great. What I like about them is "no Imperium included." I don't need the battle-dress armor and scout couriers if I try to do a "Buck Rogers" setting. That "clean room" aspect is what I want.
If I am playing in the Imperium setting, it is Traveller all the way. I like the 2E setting; the Imperium feels like a "Greyhawk" setting, gigantic, with room for everything, and most of its ideas will be your creations. You can fall back on "what is there" if you have no ideas, but this is space, and space is infinite.
The setting has tentpole adventures and campaigns, just like AD&D, but you are free to ignore those.
Want to take a slice of the world and make it yours? That's fine. Import Star Frontiers and use a 2d6 ruleset (Cepheus Deluxe EE works best for this). If you want, put it in the Foreven sector. 2E is remarkably malleable, but it avoids over-the-top and crazy.
The 1E universe had demons and angels running around in it. Time travel. All sorts of crazy.
The 2E universe doesn't - but leaves it up to you.
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