traveller rpg fiction

What D&D is to fantasy roleplaying, Traveller is to sci-fi RPGs - and its influence has never been greater, from Coriolis to Starfield

Venturing into the classic tabletop RPG that inspired Starfield.

Like Dungeons & Dragons, the original Traveller rules came in a small, digest-sized box containing three booklets. That’s about where the comparison ends.

Up to this point in 1977, all RPGs have one thing in common: in some way, they emulate or derive from the original Dungeons & Dragons design. Bunnies & Burrows rearranges the rules to portray a different power dynamic; Boot Hill introduces guns; Tunnels & Trolls works to make the core rules of D&D easier to use. For all of their tinkering, though, they remain D&D-esque.

Traveller is the first RPG that feels like a distinct game, free of D&D’s direct influence on its design. Traveller’s first booklet establishes character creation as a solo game unto itself, less interested in attributes (though it does establish them) than it is in creating the broad strokes of a fictional history. This grows out of the character activity mechanics established in Game Designers’ Workshop’s (GDW) earlier Musketeers-themed game, En Garde!

The player enlists the character in branches of the Imperium’s military, or for terms of service with the merchant fleet. Dice rolls then determine the results of that service by awarding and increasing skills, abilities, ranks and salary. In rare cases, a character can even die before ever being played in a group game! The player can repeat the process, with the character re-enlisting or changing careers, so long as they want to pay the numerical penalty for aging four years each go around.

Traveller is the first RPG that feels like a distinct game, free of D&D’s direct influence on its design.

Once the character musters out to find adventure, the player has a good idea of what the character has been up to and where their personal interests lie. This knowledge changes play in some important ways. The backgrounds convey a sense of the universe before the game even starts - there is an interstellar empire, a robust military, intergalactic trade and so on - and establishes the character’s place within it.

Compare this to D&D, where a character is defined by predetermined, abstract class characteristics; little, if anything, of the world, or the character’s connection to it, is conveyed. Traveller’s character creation mechanics represent a significant step in shifting the idea of an RPG character away from a sheet of numbers into something that more resembles a person who might have interests outside of crawling around underground tunnels, killing critters and stealing treasure.

Traveller’s career generator paves the way for approaches to character like Call of Cthulhu’s (1981) professions and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay’s careers (1986), or even the optional rules in Pendragon (1985) that allow a player to establish the history of their character, their father and their grandfather in order to put down truly deep cultural roots. Cyberpunk’s life path system is also direct descendant. All of these examples show how the original iteration of Traveller sits at the head of a long line of design developments that emphasise the role in roleplaying, pushing the hobby toward storytelling and away from simulation-preoccupied wargaming.

This push continues into the second booklet, Starships. The second chapter is called “Starship Economics,” and it winds up teaching as much about the universe as it does the rules for space travel. The chapter boils down to the idea that starships of any size are incredibly expensive to build, buy and operate.

The original iteration of Traveller sits at the head of a long line of design developments that emphasise the role in roleplaying, pushing the hobby toward storytelling and away from simulation-preoccupied wargaming.

That expense centers the Traveller experience - a character can’t just go off gallivanting; fuel costs money, and so do empty staterooms and cargo holds. Characters have to marry adventure with a little bit of commerce, and that’s in the unlikely event that a space bank trusted a player’s character enough to extend credit to buy a ship. More likely, a character is part of a larger crew, working for wage or passage and subject to the whims of a captain, or their boss, the actual owner of the ship. All of these layers of fiscal responsibility create narrative friction and sketch in more detail about the universe before players can start plotting their own goals: who are these other crew members? Is the captain a jerk? What’s an interstellar bank like and how serious are they about getting paid on time? Isn’t time relative in space?

Again, there is nothing like this in official D&D products at this point - no wider world and no pressures of responsibility. Because there is no experience point system or real incentive to fight, Traveller opens vistas of potential to explore.

Unlike nearly every other RPG ever, Traveller imbues its sense of excitement and mystery through text alone. It has almost zero artwork in the core box set or the majority of the subsequent sourcebooks. Instead, the black box cover has words:

This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone...Mayday, Mayday...we are under attack...main drive is gone...turret number one not responding...Mayday...losing cabin pressure fast...calling anyone...please help...This is Free Trader Beowulf...Mayday... Who is attacking the ship? Why? Is there time to save them?

The ship’s desperate message, printed in stark white letters on a flat black background, does more to excite the imagination than a hundred space battle paintings could.

The mechanics are simple for the time, as well. There is complexity, no doubt - space travel calculations require figuring out square roots and seeing that checkmark symbol in an RPG rulebook evokes the memory of traumatic summer school sessions of algebra class for a certain subset of players (or maybe just me). But the core is an easy roll-to-beat system - roll two six-sided dice, add or subtract the appropriate modifiers, and hope the result beats an eight. This feels featherlight and straightforward compared to Dungeons & Dragons; in fact, it has more in common with modern storytelling RPGs than any of its contemporaries.

Helping all of world building and approachability along is the fact that Traveller is the first RPG that lines up with the popular conception of science fiction as laid out in Foundation, Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey and the just-released blockbuster Star Wars; there are spaceships to fly, planets to explore, aliens to encounter and adventures to experience, with plenty of mechanical tools to facilitate their creation.

In truth, though, while Traveller appealed to fans of space opera, its own inspirations are more firmly rooted in classic 1960s science fiction, like H. Beam Piper’s Space Viking (1963) and E. C. Tubb’s 33-novel Dumarest saga, which began in 1967, among many others. Piper’s novel (its importance to the game clearly signalled by the later New Era sourcebook, Star Vikings, 1994) gives Traveller its Sword Worlds, which are named after legendary blades. A number of the game’s features spin out of Tubb’s novels, but the most notable is the idea of High, Middle and Low passage, a key concern for space travel. High Passage is luxurious and reserved for the upper class; Middle Passage is for working crew, and Low Passage is a risky trip asleep in a cryotank, which has a 15% chance of resulting in character death!

Any game since that involves exploring the stars or interacting with complex technology builds on a foundation established by Traveller.

For the next few years, Game Designers’ Workshop released expansions in a series of little black books. Through these and the quarterly Journal of the Travellers Aid Society, GDW gradually filled in the details of their galactic empire. Soon, imperial military personnel were joined by mercenaries, scouts, merchant princes, robots, a variety of aliens and more, each accompanied by life paths and modular rules expansions. Individually, these expansions allowed players to mix and match options to find a level of complexity that matched their comfort level.

In 1983, however, GDW compiled many of those rules into the Traveller Starter Edition box set, a decision that proved to be the first step on a road that led GDW to focus on increasingly complex rule systems, starting with the notoriously fine-detailed military RPG, Twilight: 2000 (1984).

Subsequent editions of Traveller were mired in problems. The rules grew dense, and books were riddled with errors, requiring lengthy errata to be playable. Worse, there were narrative missteps. MegaTraveller (1987) tried to shake up the setting with the assassination of the emperor and the subsequent splintering of the Imperium into warring factions. Traveller: The New Era (1993) pushed the timeline further forward, past the collapse of intergalactic trade and a tentative re-establishment of the Imperium.

Both of these advances in the metaplot are interesting, particularly to newcomers, but tended to alienate players who loved the version of the Imperium they were already playing in (witness the success of GURPS Traveller, 1998, which consists of more than three dozen books that pretend as if the rebellion never happened).

Reactions among remaining Traveller players for The New Era were particularly mixed, but by then West End Games’ Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game was the top-selling science-fiction RPG. By 1996, financial issues forced GDW to close.

The original Traveller still stands as one of the most significant traditional sci-fi RPGs , thanks, in part, to its proximity to the dawn of the hobby, but also to both its scope and the crisp simplicity of its systems.

Any game since that involves exploring the stars or interacting with complex technology - Stars Without Number, Coriolis (2017), MechWarrior (1986), Rifts (1990), and more - builds on a foundation established by Traveller, including contemporary versions of the game, of which there are at least three! Mongoose Publishing (since 2008) and Far Future Enterprises (since 2013) both produce official versions of the game, while Samardan Press released their Traveller clone, Cepheus Engine, in 2016.

Away from the tabletop, Traveller is cited as being a key inspiration behind video games including this year's blockbuster release Starfield, with creative director Todd Howard acknowledging that the video game attempts to capture the harder science-fiction elements and cosmic exploration of the pen-and-paper RPG.

Traveller even has a ripping heavy metal concept album - The Lord Weird Slough Feg’s Traveller (2003). How many RPGs can boast that?

This is an edited extract from Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground: A Guide to Tabletop Roleplaying Games from D&D to Mothership by Stu Horvath. Copyright 2023 MIT. Reprinted with permission of The MIT Press.

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Science Fiction 40 Years in the Making: The Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022 Reviewed

Publisher: Mongoose Publishing

Author: Matthew Sprange

Artists: Xavier Bernard, Sergio Villa, Anderson Maia, Mark Graham, Nikita Vasylchuk, Douglas Deri, Ian Stead, Ankit Yadav, Cassie Gregory, and Alessandro Rocco

Genre: Latest edition of the Traveller roleplaying game corebook

Pages: 264 pages

MSRP: 59.99 in hardcover or 30.00 in PDF at DriveThruRPG

Traveller has existed as a roleplaying game since 1977, but this reviewer has no personal experience with any previous versions in which to compare the 2022 edition. Traveller is a d6 game. The book is in full color and is written clearly with colored boxes to highlight ideas or rules. It has a mixture of good classic science fiction art reminiscent of the hard science fiction cover art from the 1960s and 1970s and some weaker 3d images images for ships and vehicles. The base system tries to be universal using tech level to determine the type of game you will run.

The life path system allows players to make more experienced characters. Players will roll to see if they have mishaps, life events and promotions. They can make older characters by risking stat loss, debt, or gaining enemies. Those who want balanced characters or a balance between characters will find this off putting, but those who like randomness and backstory will enjoy creating characters from a snot nosed youth to a veteran space captain.

The corebook has three races, Aslan, Human and Vargr. The Aslan and Vargr each get a one page description, but there are no unique life paths provided with the races. Players looking for non-humanoids will be disappointed unless they get other supplements. The system assumes characters will be human by default in the Imperium.

The book has plenty of skills, which will vary in usefulness depending on the type of game played. The characters are limited to their total skill points, which is based on a characters intelligence and education. Skills are combined with a statistic that makes sense for the task. The rules basically follow a 2D6+ skill + a characteristic dice modifier + other dice modifiers. The final calculated roll must meet or exceed the difficulty number varying from routine (6+) to Impossible (16+). The margin or success or failure then determines its actual effect. The system gives examples for time frames for each task.

The corebook includes simple rules for poisons and diseases, but include more detailed effects of radiation poisoning. Environmental effects such as gravity, temperature, weather, etc are briefly described.

The encounter section briefly describes alien creatures. Creatures are given hits, behaviors, size, speed, attacks and skills. The rules recommend driving off or causing an animal to go unconscious. It is refreshing to see monsters do not always fight to the death in a system. The tables for intelligent NPCs are sufficient to quickly develop a decent character for the players to meet. Those looking for detailed NPCs and an extensive beastiary will be disappointed.

The equipment tables are fairly long. The armor table should have included traits (similar to the weapons table) to determine the protection it provides rather than requiring the a reading of the description to determine what it protects against. The augmentation section is brief so those looking for a cyberpunk style game will not be happy with the selection in the corebook.

Vehicle and space combat get fairly detailed. Movement, firing angles, etc are included in the rules. This is where the game delves into wargaming and would probably be better if they spun a separate supplement/game much like Star Frontiers did with Knight Hawks for vehicle combat.

Rules for psionics is provided in the game, but only with gamemaster permission. The powers are more subtle in line with Babylon 5 psi-corps rather than a superhero game. Psionic characters will be required to go through their own life path. These type of characters are not integral to the game and can be removed without issue if they do not appeal to the group.

The last few sections of the book include rules for trade and world creation. The book recommends the players handle the trade section, while the gamemaster focuses on the adventure. The world creation tables can get complex, and GMs are strongly suggested to memorize what each code on a world means.

Overall, the system will appeal to groups looking for a science fiction experience rather than science fantasy with relatively simple rules. A session zero is highly recommended to create the characters and ships before delving into play. Gamemasters will have no issue with finding supplements should they delve deeper into the game.

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This game have always made interested in it because of the spacefaring feel it has, and it have had it all the way since the seventies. What also makes me glad is its life path system. Especially since it recommends generating characters with a group of players all at once. This makes for drama and cool connections between the player characters before the game has even started. I don’t have time to go into more detail here, but since the game itself is connected to the Foundation space lore, it is something special, at least for me.

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Now is a great time to get into the legendary traveller rpg.

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The Free Trader Beowolf has been under attack for over 40 years.

Science-fiction fans to love the idea of wandering the cosmos in a beat-up but reliable ship, rubbing elbows with all sorts of scum and villainy, enjoying the contrast of amazing discoveries and scenery with the realities of scraping out one last score to pay off a crime boss. Variations of this theme run through sci-fi stories like Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Firefly and more. They are also at the hear of one of the longest lived space exploration RPGs currently on the market: Traveller. Say that name to an experienced gamer and you’ll probably get a story about some awful job that went from bad to worse all in the name of making one more spaceship mortgage payment.

Traveller was primarily designed by Marc W. Miller and released by Game Designer’s Workshop in 1977. Players built characters as the crew of a spaceship exploring, trading and taking on odd jobs to pay off, repair and improve their ship. The game originally came in a boxed set with three distinctive little black books. While Dungeons & Dragons stayed in house at TSR and then later at Wizards of the Coast, Traveller found its harder sci-fi setting and focus converted to several other systems over the years.

The most distinct element is the character creation process, where players roll up characters by setting them on four year career terms to gain resources while also defining elements of their back stories. A character might have served some time in the military then signed up to joint the scout service before trying their hand at being a space merchant. This process encourages a risk vs. reward behavior, as every term runs the risk of the character dying during character creation. The process also makes characters that stand as a huge contrast to their D&D contemporaries. Rather than young, inexperienced heroes hoping to become legends and gods, Traveller protagonists are middle-aged, well versed in the skills they needed to survive, and working class heroes just trying to keep the lights on.

The game also expanded the concept of sandbox gaming. Think of it like an early version of an open world game series like Grand Theft Auto or Assassin ’s Creed. Rather than a specific plotline, Traveller gives game masters tools to create their own universes. Random rolls on charts build worlds, sectors and other places for the players to explore. The stories told emerge from the actions of the players and the inspiration of the game master. Two worlds who share the same export, for example, are likely rivals of one another, which gives players a chance to exploit that tension for their own profit. The official setting, the Third Imperium, has helped define the game over the years, but tables have used the system to play unofficial versions of their favorite settings for years.

The most recent version of Traveller is available from Mongoose Publishing. It keeps most of what makes the game a classic RPG with a few nods to modern game design. Rather than the risk of dying, an unlucky roll during character creates a mishap, which could be anything from a lingering injury to a career ending mistake that creates rivals that will hound the character during play. The game also encouraged players to tie events from their lifepaths together for bonus skills to give the crew a shared history. Perhaps that rival also screwed over another person in your crew, and you are both ready to take them on. Fans looking to dive in to this version can check out a Bundle of Holding running through June 21st featuring several PDFs for a discounted price.

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The classic edition lives on as well. Although Game Designers’ Workshop closed its doors in 1996, Far Future Enterprises offers digitized versions of the original books. They can be purchased through the usual digital storefronts but the best value is, in itself a bit of a throwback: the company offers a CD-ROM of all the original books for $35.

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Traveller Explorer's Edition

The Explorer’s Edition provides all core game rules for Traveller, plus a universe creation system that allows referees to create new star systems on the fly for their players to visit and explore…

Traveller is the science fiction roleplaying game of the far future. The Traveller Explorers’ Edition is an introduction to the game for newcomers that provides all of the tools you need to create adventures or even an entire campaign. Create bold scouts and intrepid scientists who travel into the unknown aboard their trusty Type-S Scout/Courier, a rugged exploration ship perfect for the job.

Dock your ship at advanced starports, visit strange worlds, encounter alien beings and animals, and take on the challenges that the galaxy sets before you.

The universe awaits. Welcome to Traveller!

Mongoose Publishing is completely dedicated to your total satisfaction. If you have any suggestions or comments please email us at [email protected] .

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Traveller - Science Fiction Adventure RPG - New Campaign

I've decided to start a short RPG campaign. We'll be playing Traveller , the original science fiction role-playing game.

Players will portray a small band of rag-tag adventurers making their way through a vast galaxy. Imagine something like Firefly or the Expanse .

No experience is required. All rules will be taught.

We'll start with a session zero, where we can create characters and discuss what we'd like to see in the campaign. I can accept up to six players. The game will probably run for a few weeks.

We're going to have the first session at Black Harbor Games, which we've never used before. We'll see if it works for us.

You can see more information in our Discord channel, specifically in the Traveller section - https://discord.gg/5yVqCuaaB6

SPACE COMBAT IN THE FAR FUTURE

Squadron Strike: Traveller

Full Thrust Based Traveller Space Combat

RPG-scale and Fleet Combat Scale miniatures

Traveller is one of the earliest roleplaying games on the market, and the first widespread hard science fiction RPG settings in gaming. We're pleased to announce the availability of Power Projection: Fleets (which contains the rules for Power Projection: Escorts) and the upcoming Squadron Strike: Traveller product, which is in active playtesting.

Come explore the space combat of Marc Miller's Traveller Universe, defending the Imperial frontiers against the Zhodani Consulate, and exploring the remnants of the Ancients.

Power Projection: Fleets

Ideal Scale: 3-12 ships per player

Recommended Ages: 12 on up

Time to Play: 2-3 hours

Time to Learn: 1 hour or less.