Marc Miller: Traveller is in good hands

[lkh]

Since this is already making the rounds over on Reddit, I'm taking the
liberty to forward Marc Miller's email here:

Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2024 16:14:04 +0000
Subject: Upon The Occasion of the Emperor's Birthday, 2024.
From: Citizens of the Imperium <***@community.forum>

[This particular announcement comes to you as a member of COTI.]
[By the way, the Emperor's Birthday is August 29, (or 241-2024 in the
Imperial notation). ]

Some years ago, fellow game designer Greg Stafford died, and I was
impressed that his company announced almost immediately that he had
a succession plan in place, and that his legacy and his designs would
live on.

His example was an inspiration to me, and I resolved to emulate him. It
would be a terrible loss if Traveller were encumbered, or somehow
restricted in its outreach to present and future fans.

With that in mind, I have worked to make Traveller an asset to
science-fiction role-players... with our user-friendly Fair Use policies,
with the Travellers’ Aid Society programs, with the Cepheus editions
of Traveller, and with Mongoose as a primary publisher of their edition
of Traveller.

Over the past several years, I have turned over more and more
responsibilities to Mongoose, and I have collaborated actively with them
as they work to realize the Traveller dream. Earlier this year I passed
full ownership of Traveller to Mongoose in order to secure its future.

With that in mind, I point out that, following the example of Greg
Stafford, I have a succession plan in place: day-to-day decisions about
the Traveller game system are already being made by Mongoose Publishing
(with my co-operation and approval), and if anything should happen to me,
they would carry on with my full knowledge and blessing.

That doesn’t stop me from speaking my mind: expressing opinions about
Traveller, writing stories and lore, and even revealing secrets about
the universe.

But Traveller is in good hands, now, and far into the far future.

And I thank you for your (continuing) support for Traveller.

Marc

[Alex Schroeder]

Post by lkh
Since this is already making the rounds over on Reddit, I'm taking the

And, what are your thoughts on it? I am of two minds. Mongoose has been
good for Traveller, I think. I liked Mongoose Traveller 1st ed., which I
ran for a bit, and I have no reason to doubt that the current Mongoose
Traveller 2nd ed. is as good a system the many other Traveller editions
out there.

I also have my doubts regarding Mongoose's quality in terms of editing
-- but who am I kidding, these days people are cutting corners all over
the place and sometimes they're cutting corners in editing. It happens.
It's the Zeitgeist. I guess in the world of quality assurance Mongoose
wouldn't actually be all that bad because I'm assuming they fix all the
typos in later printings. :)

Also they based a lot of follow-up products on the Traveller system and
what's not to like about more 2d6 systems! :D

This at least ensures that they remain comitted to the basic idea. And
maybe that means that the PDFs will remain around for much longer.
That's certainly better than ending up being managed by kids or being
sold off to the highest bidder after Miller's passing. It's not the
greatest plan (wouldn't a real TAS be great, that had a board elected by
the community... an association based on Swiss law, like FIFA, or the
ICRC... anyway, that's a dream and it wouldn't be clear whether it would
work in the long run so perhaps passing it on to Mongoose was the best
idea) but it's a plan.

I wonder if Mongoose has a better succession plan, though. Looking at
State of Mongoose 2023, it seems that the whole company is owned by
Matthew Sprange. Is he so much younger than Marc Miller? What's the long
term plan, here?
https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/state-of-the-mongoose-2023.
124344/

Anyway. Thinking about what happens to our games when we die is a
good idea.

Perhaps Miller should have slapped a CC-BY-SA 4.0 or a CC0 onto the
products he owns and said: On the day he dies, these licenses go into
effect immediately.

But that's not how these things go. I suspect some money changed hands
and that's probably for Miller's best.

[Kyonshi]

Post by Alex Schroeder

Post by lkh
Since this is already making the rounds over on Reddit, I'm taking the

And, what are your thoughts on it? I am of two minds. Mongoose has been
good for Traveller, I think. I liked Mongoose Traveller 1st ed., which I
ran for a bit, and I have no reason to doubt that the current Mongoose
Traveller 2nd ed. is as good a system the many other Traveller editions
out there.

While MgT Traveller 1st ed. is my favorite Traveller version, I have
found no actual reason to switch to 2nd edition. There are a few nice
scenarios around, but altogether I find it quite unnecessary to switch,
because I have been using CT, Gurps Traveller, and other stuff in my
Traveller games without any problems beforehand. Also they changed the
licensing terms for 3rd party producers, and the new art style feels
somewhat grating.
Not a fan.

Post by Alex Schroeder
I also have my doubts regarding Mongoose's quality in terms of editing
-- but who am I kidding, these days people are cutting corners all over
the place and sometimes they're cutting corners in editing. It happens.
It's the Zeitgeist. I guess in the world of quality assurance Mongoose
wouldn't actually be all that bad because I'm assuming they fix all the
typos in later printings. :)

Mongoose always had issues with editing.
There was no time when people didn't complain about that.

Post by Alex Schroeder
Also they based a lot of follow-up products on the Traveller system and
what's not to like about more 2d6 systems! :D
This at least ensures that they remain comitted to the basic idea. And
maybe that means that the PDFs will remain around for much longer.
That's certainly better than ending up being managed by kids or being
sold off to the highest bidder after Miller's passing. It's not the
greatest plan (wouldn't a real TAS be great, that had a board elected by
the community... an association based on Swiss law, like FIFA, or the
ICRC... anyway, that's a dream and it wouldn't be clear whether it would
work in the long run so perhaps passing it on to Mongoose was the best
idea) but it's a plan.
I wonder if Mongoose has a better succession plan, though. Looking at
State of Mongoose 2023, it seems that the whole company is owned by
Matthew Sprange. Is he so much younger than Marc Miller? What's the long
term plan, here?
https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/state-of-the-mongoose-2023.
124344/

Yes, but it's at least a company and not the single person of Marc
Millar who had a lost of issues getting his own products to the market
(cough T5 cough)

Post by Alex Schroeder
Anyway. Thinking about what happens to our games when we die is a
good idea.
Perhaps Miller should have slapped a CC-BY-SA 4.0 or a CC0 onto the
products he owns and said: On the day he dies, these licenses go into
effect immediately.

Eh, I bet there would be some rights issues. I don't think you can do it
that easy. I bet it's not possible to make changes to licenses like
that, as you would be dead and not able to do proper contracts anymore.
So now you would have a mess where the rules and rights are caught up in
the deceased's estate, and that would mean that it now depends on the
people who are executing the estate. And sometimes they might be more
interested in selling these rights than doing something like open
sourcing them.
That idea sounds like a giant headache just waiting to happen.

Post by Alex Schroeder
But that's not how these things go. I suspect some money changed hands
and that's probably for Miller's best.