I’m kinda thinking out loud here, rolling some ideas around in my head, so be patient with me…

There’s been a lot of discussion and feelings about Mongoose Publishing’s announcement on Thanksgiving of a third party working on a licensed version of Traveller based on the D&D 5e mechanics

There have a been a lot of licensed versions of Traveller before. And by before, I mean before a global communications system (social media) provided a means to instantly express your feelings to the entire world.

I myself responded to the post on the Mongoose Facebook page with a one-word comment. “Barf”. Immature? Yes. Honest? Also yes.

While there have been many editions of Traveller since it came out in 1977, and many versions (GURPS, d20, Hero System), I think that in most people’s minds Traveller is still a 2d6 RPG with essentially the same structure as the original Little Black Books contained. I say that as a veteran and fan of both Hero and GURPS.

So really, I don’t see this new 5e-based version of Traveller as much of a threat to the “real” game. Honestly, if you don’t use the same 2d6 system, and you don’t use the setting (which I don’t think is really integral to Traveller), do you even still have Traveller? I suppose if you make some of the same in-universe assumptions like no FTL communication, Jump Drive, etc, it might be, but I’m not convinced. Traveller is a game of scarcity and limits in both the economics and character abilities. It remains to be seen what this new version will be.

There’s a tendency to really ridicule people who “hate” new things like this. I don’t think that’s necessary. I think that the haters are not really upset about the mechanics. They are upset because they fear an influx of Traveller players who embrace the “heroic”, or nearly super-heroic, feel of D&D 5e rather than (as Omer Golan-Joel put it) “ordinary people doing extraordinary things” feel of Traveller up til now.

For a lot of people, stuff like this is more than a game. There is a whole culture built around the game, and a shared understanding of what the game is. Maybe they are overreacting, but Traveller is coming up on its 50th birthday, so we have people who’ve been playing for almost 50 years.

Ultimately I don’t think this is going to amount to much. A few people will try it then run right back to D&D 5e. There will be a few who really dig it. That’s fine. A few of those might discover “real” Traveller and try it out and stay. Hopefully, as the new owners of Traveller, whatever revenue Mongoose gets from this will strengthen the company and thereby strengthen 2d6 Traveller. They need to do a lot more to bring in new, young Traveller players. I’m not a marketing guy. I don’t know what that is. That’s their job.

I will still be running our Classic Traveller 1981 campaign. If I started anything else, it would use the Cepheus Engine System Reference Document (the Cepheus Engine Roleplaying Game in paper form). That gets the job done for me, but there’s not much future for a gaming company selling a 50 year old version of a game to 61-year old people.