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Mongoose’s Traveller has some good assets that make it stand out. First, the game harkens back to the original Traveller line in not only looks, but in that it is written to be able to use the older products with minimum fuss. Mongoose made sure their version was a natural progression of the original without ‘stomping’ all over a game many adore. Second, this version is kept extremely simple and easy to use, but with a modular feel that allows options and more complexity if the GM and players desire. Mongoose has taken the idea of a simple base with thousands of options and ideas that are there for the picking. This works well with their fast paced and aggressive product release schedule. Finally, I find the rules to be well thought out, easy to learn, and a nice complete rules set in a small package. The rules give off a vibe of being ‘your game’ for you to tinker with and make your own. A lot claim this of the original Traveller; I do not have a lot of experience with the original, but if what they say is true than I agree that the new version sticks to this idea. The core is built as a mostly universal science fiction game waiting to be used for your own campaigns or settings.
The Traveller Pocket Rulebook is a 192 paged digest-sized soft covered book. The cover is black with the Traveller logo across it. It is the first in a Mongoose version remake of digest-sized books known as the Little Black Books from the original line. The interior of the book is all black and white with a decent amount of small pieces of art. The art ranges from a few really nice pieces to a few that do not look so great as if they lost a bit of their quality from original form to the book. For the most part the Traveller line tries to stay basic in its appearance and not flashy as some lines go. Many find this to be a pro of the Traveller line, and I have to agree with them. Traveller has less art, and going with a minimalist kind of style where the information takes center stage and the eye candy is kept at bay, adds to the old school charm of the Traveller game. What art it does have I find to be well placed and expands the ideas of the neighboring rules.
Before jumping into the rules and content I feel it is worth mentioning that if you expect to find a full blown setting in the Traveller core, you will be disappointed. The game is more of a science fiction universal system that can be used for any number of settings. The closest thing to a setting in the core is there are a few races from the Third Imperium setting (A Traveller Setting also available from Mongoose,) and the rules themselves give a feel for a basic type of setting they fit. So don’t mistake the lack of setting for a lack of flavor. The core book has a lot of personality and style going for it.
Traveller’s system uses six attributes to represent the characteristics of a PC. They are Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education, and Social Standing. Social Standing is often traded out for certain races to represent their different cultural ways, such as Social Standing becoming Caste for the Droyne race, or even an additional stat like Territory for the Aslan. Stats are generated by rolling 2d6 six times and assigning each roll to a stat. These numbers then correspond to a modifier with a 0 in stat giving a -3, 6-8 giving no modifier as average, and a 15 giving a +3. The base mechanic for almost all rolls in the game is 2d6+stat modifier + skill ranks versus 8 or higher. All situational modifiers apply to the roll and do not change the target of 8+. This includes particularly difficult skill attempts, and combat maneuvers such as the target dodging. Skills are probably the most important aspect of the game for a PC. Typically, skills in Traveller are rarer than they are in many other games. Most things a PC with be untrained in and receive a -3 penalty using them; however, all of the skills a player receives from their background and career choices they will excel at. This leads me to what many consider to be the ultimate sweet spot of Traveller.
The Life path character generating system is used to generate PCs in Traveller. It starts with a PC receiving his first few skill ranks based on the type of planet the character grew up on. Then the player chooses a career in which they do 4 year blocks in. These careers range from the military branches and the nobility, to rogues and entertainers. A PC’s first career gives them a larger group of base skills, and begins a set of events that must be decided each four year term. Characters must first make a stat roll versus a target number to qualify for the career; assuming they make it they gain basic training in all the base skills if their first career, or only one skill if not. Players then must make another stat check known as the Survival roll. This roll determines if they make it through the 4 year block of the career and whether or not they can continue in it. In the original Traveller failing this roll meant the PC was dead before play and a new PC must be started; however, in Mongoose’s version that is an optional rule. If the player fails this roll they must leave the career, and roll on a mishap table; if they succeed they can continue to do more terms in it, and roll in an event table for the term. When a PC leaves a career they must roll on the mustering out charts which give him benefits and cash for their accomplishments in the career. It is also possible to be promoted each term, which add to certain rolls such as the mustering out charts. After the PC reaches 34 in age, he has to make an Aging roll each term which could possibly lower his stats. This can get nasty if the player attempts to go too far in careers before play. Finally, when a player rolls an event, if they tie in other player characters into the story of it, both players receive a free skill rank as a sort of background bonus.
The Life path system is extremely enjoyable and comes across as a sort of mini-game before the true game. I have had hours of fun just creating PCs for the game, and seeing what pops out of the machine. I am glad that they made the Survival death rule an option in this version because I would have had several Dead on Arrival PCs if it hadn’t been. I truly wish more games had character creation rules like this. It helps to jazz up the excitement before game and I feel endears the players to their characters before ever starting to actually play.
The core book also gives six additional races beyond human. They are the Aslan, Droyne, Hivers, K’kree, Vargr, and Zhodani. I believe all six races are from the Third Imperium setting; which, I am not very familiar with. I hope to remedy my ignorance of this setting in the future. As I stated before this is virtually the only place I really see any setting in the core other than the ship write-ups being from a specific setting. Again I am not sure of that either being unfamiliar with the Traveller settings.
One thing I noticed in Traveller that I am fond of is how Damage is handled. Damage comes directly of the Endurance stat lessening it with each hit. When Endurance becomes zero, the player may then start taking damage off of either Strength or Dexterity. When one of those two also hit zero, the PC falls unconscious, and if all three hit zero the PC is dead. I like this in it seems to emulate damage weakening a PC while not adding hardly any rules to the game for it. Also it becomes slightly strategic in the choice of Strength and Dexterity damage in that you must decide which is more important at the time. For the most part, the rest of combat handles like any other skill roll just with more options for modifiers such as aiming, dodging, cover, etc…
The book also contains a nice section to generate animals and creatures for encounters on alien planets. This system allows for the creation of plant like monsters to wild stalking cats with poisonous features. It also has random charts for NPCs attitudes and stats for a number of generic people the players may encounter. This section is a godsend for a GM. The quick generation system, the random charts, and the premade write-ups make it easy for a GM to find what he needs on the fly.
There is a chapter dedicated entirely to equipment. The equipment runs the gamut on basic science fiction gear. None of it feels like it overlaps or is a hundred flavors of pistol number one. Instead you get one basic and generic write-up for each type of item. This is not to say there is not much equipment, quite the contrary the book is full of equipment. It even goes into sections to build your own starships and several premade write-ups for spacecraft. The core book also includes rules for how things work on a ship, encounters for ship scale, and rules for space combat. For the most part all of these follow the same base mechanic as the rest of the game, though the space combat rules do a nice job of explaining what each person can attempt on a ship to be a part of the fun.
The book finishes up with rules for psionics, trading, and world creation. Psionics add a stat to the PC called Psi Strength and requires the PC to have been a part of the Psion career. The psionics range from simple telepathy and clairvoyance to mental blasts and teleportation. The trading rules offer some nice charts on rates for majorly traded goods, and prices for paying passengers. The world creation rules are basically a series of random roll charts that end up with a randomly generated world. After that the book finishes with a good index and a couple of ads.
I have to say I really like the Traveller pocket core. The size is easy to carry around, and I find the font to be easily readable; though, some have complained. The layout is nice and everything seems to go in a consistent order. Apparently, they left out some footnotes that were in the normal sized book. I would have never have noticed had they not informed me. I am giving the book a style rating of 3. Though I like the minimalist idea, and feel it fits the vibe of Traveller, the book has little and sometimes below average art. What saves the book and takes it back to a 3 is that the layout and display of the information in charts and flow. It’s nice.
Substance wise I am giving the book a 5. The book is crammed full of everything one could need to run a science fiction game. It is set to be easily adaptable to your own setting, a premade setting, or to create a whole new setting from the rules. It is a very well done game with very few, if any perceivable flaws.
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