Does Traveller (Mongoose) supports a space-opera type campaign?

[Manzepio]

I've bought Mongoose Traveller about a few months ago and it's since been sitting in my shelf, because I'm a sad fuck with no friends to play with, so I had time to think about what kind of game I want to run if by some sort of miracle I actually get to play it one day.

I've read around that the system is built to facilitate one-shots or small scale adventures more than grand campaigns with complex storylines that span through the galaxy (aka space operas). So instead of a space epic about clashing empires, it's more focused on the group trying to survive in the cold, unforgiving void of space, bounty hunting and merchanting, at least that's the vibe I'm getting from it.

I know a system can be stretched as far as the DM's ingenuity and creativity goes, but I'm asking specifically if the system fully supports that type of play, or if it requires some fiddling to make it fit within the confines of the system.

For the sake of broadening discussion in the thread, what does the Codex think of Mongoose Traveller?

Any interesting stories created with the system? any experience similar to space operas?

 

[Lord Rocket]

People tend to get hurt pretty badly in Traveller during a fight, and character generation is intended to produce people who are more-or-less entrepreneurs of the sort you describe, I guess about 2nd or 3rd level in D&D terms, but if you want big goofy adventures you could just give the characters more resources at the start of the game, without the usual bank loan, and toughen them up a bit somehow (give them some HP or something) so they're not spending all their time worrying about how much money they're spending on having their shot-off cocks grown back.

That said I don't have that much experience with Traveller -- I tried to run a Hammer's Slammers type mercenary campaign recently but my players weren't really into it, so we stopped after only a few sessions -- so you can probably ignore the first part of this post. I will say, with absolute certainty, that the vehicle combat in 1st ed. MongTrav is a half-baked piece of shit and if that's the version you're using you should stick to infantry and space fighting.

 

[Mangoose]

No.

 

[Mangoose]

And spell my name right.

 

[Manzepio]

So I guess I'm in for a lot of shit if I want to run a space opera in this system.

I'd guess something like Stars Without Numbers would be more ideal for this type of play?

the vehicle combat in 1st ed. MongTrav is a half-baked piece of shit and if that's the version you're using you should stick to infantry and space fighting.

Fuck. I like the idea of using vehicles to explore planets and shit , didn't read the vehicle combat stuff but at least the spaceship stuff seems fine.

 

[Lord Rocket]

Basically with vehicle combat there's a lack of detail compared to the other two systems. There's nothing, for example, about how far vehicles or turrets can turn in a combat round, which does matter because of the firing arc rules, and the missile rules are spotty compared to those in the spaceship chapter (iirc, which I probably don't at this remove, they don't even have proper lock-on rules). If you use the sanctioned vehicle creation rules -- which at least will produce sane results compared to the example vehicles in the core rulebook, and is a fun and easy system to use -- there's no easy conversion between the maximum speeds given and hexes/round in a fight. And I'm not sure if terrain effects and acceleration were ever covered anywhere, but, again, it's been a couple years and I might be misremembering.

So, yeah, be prepared to do some work if you want vehicles to be a major part of your game. A lot of it you could import from the spaceship chapter but this is all work the designers should have done for you. The new edition may have sorted all this shit out but it's a fucking expensive book, so bollocks to it.

 

[Galdred]

So I guess I'm in for a lot of shit if I want to run a space opera in this system.

I'd guess something like Stars Without Numbers would be more ideal for this type of play?

the vehicle combat in 1st ed. MongTrav is a half-baked piece of shit and if that's the version you're using you should stick to infantry and space fighting.

Fuck. I like the idea of using vehicles to explore planets and shit , didn't read the vehicle combat stuff but at least the spaceship stuff seems fine.

Stars without number allows you to do just that indeed.
I have not tried it so I cannot comment on it, but you can get the free edition here.