RPG: Mongoose Publishing Now Has Ownership of ‘Traveller’ “In Its Entirety”
Marc W. Miller has passed ownership of Traveller “in its entirety” to Mongoose Publishing who will shepherd the game into the future.
Mongoose Publishing is now the new owner of the Traveller RPG, which is the longest running sci-fi RPG, developed by Game Designer Workshop back in 1977. It was on the scene with D&D during the earliest days of roleplaying, and won over the hearts of players with its imaginative sci-fi setting and deep rules that allowed for customizable characters that could handle everything from spaceship combat to planetary exploration and beyond.
It’s a good game, and is still worth checking out in its latest edition today, is what I’m saying. And now, Mongoose Publishing, who, as the name suggests, publish the current iteration of Traveller (the 2022 update), have been given ownership by Marc W. Miller, one of the original creators of Traveller.
Mongoose Publishing to Take Traveller Into The Future
Of course, as news started breaking about the transfer, many fans were surprised, as there had been no official statement from either Miller or Mongoose. That changed yesterday when Mongoose explained more details on their forum.
News has begun breaking of Marc Miller passing Traveller, in its entirety, onto Mongoose. With so much invested in the game and universe, it is only natural that you may have an awful lot of questions. In this thread we will try to answer as many of your queries and concerns as we can – nothing is off the table, be it game-related, edition-related, what was happening behind the scenes, or anything else.
– Mongoose Publishing
The post begins by outlining some of what has been going on behind the scenes, notably when the changeover happened and why there has been no official announcement yet.
We had been discussing what would happen to Traveller and its succession, as Marc called it, for a few years. We started ‘formally’ talking about how this would work in terms of a purchase a little more than two years(ish) ago. Took about a year to draw everything together (given Traveller’s long, long history, things can get a bit complicated!), and the final agreement was signed in January this year.
Marc requested that we made no announcement about this until his passing, which we were happy to do – the only reason to shout out about it was ego, and we were not really interested in that. However, I did point out that the chances of keeping this a secret for that long (for decades, we hope!) were… not great. So, Marc suggested that the announcement was made on Traveller’s 50th anniversary in 2027 and, again, we agreed.
For those curious about the state of T5, that work will continue. Mongoose “let Marc know” they wanted him to keep working on the game and fiction, and that he will not only get to do it as long as he’s able, but that he will “benefit fully from [Traveller] projects.” And the “fair use” policy will be updated to reflect the transfer.
You can read the full details on Mongoose’s forums – and how amazing to have such an active forum community in anno domini 2024, when everyone goes to, like, three websites, if that. But let me leave you with this last bit from Mongoose:
There is, and always has been, a continuing line of communication between us [Mongoose and Marc], and this will not simply end. For example, we are currently working on a ‘Traveller-adjacent’ project that is very close to something Marc was looking at doing back in the day. Marc provided his notes to us and we are incorporating a lot of those into the new project.
Seriously though, you should give Traveller a try!
