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Traveller (role-playing game)
Encyclopedia
Traveller is a series of related science fiction
role-playing game
s, the first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop
and subsequent editions by various companies remaining in print to this day. The game was inspired from such classic science fiction stories as the Dumarest saga
series by E. C. Tubb, the Foundation
stories of Isaac Asimov
, H. Beam Piper
's Space Viking
, Larry Niven
's Known Space
, Jerry Pournelle
's CoDominium
, Poul Anderson
's Polesotechnic League and several other works of science fiction literature
.
Characters typically journey between various star systems and engage in activities such as exploration, ground and space battles, and interstellar trading. Traveller characters are defined less by the need to increase native skill and ability and more by achievements, discoveries, or obtaining wealth, gadgets, titles and political power
.
Originally Traveller was intended to be a system for playing generic space opera
-themed science fiction adventures in much the same sense that Dungeons & Dragons
was a system intended for generic fantasy
adventures. Marc Miller, one of the original designers of the Traveller RPG for Game Designer's Workshop, said that the idea for creating Traveller came about when he said "I want to do Dungeons & Dragons in space." Most published supplements for Traveller deal in some way with a default setting called the "Third Imperium", (sometimes referred to as the Official Traveller Universe (OTU)), but the main rules are generic enough so that a campaign can be played in any setting the referee chooses.
Human-centric: The background of the OTU features a human-dominated universe. As such, the core rules primarily focus on development of human characters touching only briefly on a few non-human species. There are numerous Traveller publications however, with rules and extensive information on playing members of other races.
Cosmopolitan: Despite the dominance of humanity, a large number of aliens was always implied to exist, inside and outside of Charted Space. The number of aliens per sector is estimated to vary from zero (in "barren" sectors) to eight or more (for example, in the Spinward Marches sector).
Interstellar travel: Interstellar travel
is facilitated, and limited, by the use of a technology called the jump drive
. These drives are capable of propelling a spacecraft between one to six parsec
s depending on the individual drive's specifications. Regardless of the distance of a jump, the duration required for the trip is approximately one week, thereby recreating an "age of sail
" feel to the game.
Limited communication: A central theme to Traveller is that there is no form of faster-than-light information transfer – meaning no ansible
, subspace radio
or hyper-wave
communication technology is available. Most interplanetary communication is handled by courier ships, most commonly "X-boats", which are small Imperial vessels with long-distance jump drives that travel between systems transmitting and receiving vital data. Systems not on an X-boat route must rely on mail runs brought in by visiting ships.
The new feudalism: The restraint on the speed of information leads to decentralization and the vestment of significant power in the hands of local officials. This isolation causes entire wars to be fought, won, or lost on the frontiers before a message gets to any remote administrative capitals to let them know the war has even begun. This means that all kinds of agents, from merchants to generals, must show initiative and be reasonably independent from their corporate or political overlords. Since local rulers cannot be directly controlled by central authority, affairs are managed by a class of independent nobility, who make use of classic titles such as Baron, Duke and Archduke. This decentralization of authority is one means of coping with the difficulties imposed by size and limits of speed of transportation technology.
Non-utopian future: In the OTU, the human race never evolves into a superior state
. People remain people and continue to show courage, wisdom, honesty and justice, along with cowards, liars, and criminals. Tension is vented regularly in small conflicts before they have a chance to reach Imperium-shattering proportions. Thus, planets are allowed to fight out internal wars, and capitalism
is the major driving force of civilization.
No prime directive: There is typically no prohibition
on contact or interference with other races protecting them from advanced technology. Economics and other factors that applied to exploration and colonization on Earth are the same factors that shape the Traveller Universe. However, governments may interdict planets with native primitive intelligent species. These interdicted worlds are commonly known as "Red Zones" based on the Imperial designation for such a world. 'Red' (or the less restrictive 'Amber') zones are often to protect the interest of an interstellar government, not the native population.
system which helps it stand out from other role-playing games. Traveller characters get their skills and experience in a mini-game, where the player makes career choices that determine the character's life up to the point right before adventuring begins.
Characters range from "everyday Joes in space" to crack mercenary teams, and often draws from pulp science-fiction for its aliens (the Aslan are similar to Kzin
, the Hivers to Puppeteers, and so on). Some character "classes" are military-oriented, while others are civilian. A character can be human, robot, alien, or of a genetically engineered species.
In character generation, players take their characters through a career where the player rolls randomly on various tables that provides assignments and life events from which new skills, ranks and benefits are gained. There was also a risk that a character suffers injury (or even death) during the course of a career.
A character can be a young cadet or a tried-and-true veteran, each with strengths and weaknesses. Keeping a character in service longer leads to more skills and benefits, but could also mean that basic attributes (such as strength and dexterity) begin to degrade with old age
.
Characteristics are written down using the "Universal Personality Profile" code (or UPP) which was a series of hexadecimal
numbers used as a shorthand way of gauging a character's primary characteristics at a glance, with numbers 0 to 9, and the letters A thru F used for 10 and above (A=10, B=11, C=12 and so on). Thus, a person with the UPP code 675AB6 would have STR 6, DEX 7, END 5, INT 10, EDU 11 and SOC 6. This would indicate a person who is smart and educated, but lacking in physical conditioning and has a below average place in society. The "average" is considered 777777.
Players roll randomly for these characteristics (typically on 2d6) during character creation. The scores can be raised or lowered by choosing a particular race (if playing non-humans) and through events during the course of their careers. Characteristics modify task rolls, thus higher values represent more capable individuals.
An additional, optional characteristic, PSI, measures a character's psionic strength.
Classic Traveller, MegaTraveller, and Mongoose Traveller
In these systems, two six-sided dice (2d6) are rolled against a target number set by the referee — and usually the roll must be equal to or higher than the target number in order to succeed. Dice Modifiers (DMs) either provide a bonus or penalty to a roll (the + and – sign precede the number in such cases (+2 means add 2 to the roll, -4 means subtract 4 from the roll)). Target numbers and DMs are determined by situation and vary per skill and attribute score.
In Classic Traveller, a roll of 8+ is typically seen as a success, but there is no standardized table of DMs. For instance a character might get a +2 bonus on an Acrobatic skill check if their Dexterity was 10 or more. Classic Traveller later formalized a Universal Task Profile (UTP) — a standard set of target numbers with Difficulty Levels, such as Routine (7+), Difficult (11+), and Formidable (15+).
MegaTraveller (MT) expands upon the UTP, and allows the referee to codify tasks into a shorthand formula for how hard the task was, what skill and characteristic is crucial to the task, how long the task takes to perform, and what the risks of failure are. Characteristic levels are divided by 5 (dropping fractions) and the result added as a DM also. A roll of 2 is a fumble.
Mongoose Traveller (MGT) standardizes the DMs provided by characteristics being used for the task. The relevant skill level is also counted directly as a DM. A roll of 8+ is typically a success.
Both Classic and MegaTraveller also included occasional "roll low" tasks. For example, to avoid being harassed by local law enforcement, the group would have to roll the world's Law Level or lower on 2d6.
Traveller: The New Era
Traveller: The New Era (TNE) used a modified version of the Twilight 2000
rules. The six abilities are Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, Education, Charisma, and are generated with 2d6-1. Social Standing is relegated to a secondary ability only. Target Numbers were determined by adding Ability level + Skill level and multiplying or dividing that number by a factor determined by the task's difficulty; if the task is Easy multiply Target Number result by 4, Average multiply by 2, Difficult use the number as normal, Formidable halves the number (drop fractions), and Impossible quarters the number (drop fractions). The player then rolled a twenty-sided die (d20) (or ten-sided die (d10) and a d6 [with 4,5,6 meaning add 10 to the d10 result] to simulate a d20 roll) to equal to or less than the target number to succeed.
Traveller4 and Traveller5
In both these versions, the number of dice rolled represents task difficulty ("Average" is 2D, "Difficult" is 3D, etc.), and the target number to roll under is Characteristic + Skill + situational modifiers. A roll of all 1's results in a Spectacular Success, while a roll of at least two 6's results in a Spectacular Failure.
Traveller, version 4 (T4), published by Imperium Games, also has intermediate levels of difficulty which call for "half-dice" to be used; for example "Difficult" is 2.5 dice and one die result (rolled as a different color die from the rest) must be halved when counted. Traveller, version 5 (T5) does not use a half-die.
Using number of dice to set a task difficulty approximates fixed target numbers without needing to recall those numbers, thus streamlining actions requiring fast play (combat). An interesting feature of using multiple dice for task rolls is that the probability curve starts to look somewhat linear, in the center ranges, when rolling more than 4 dice.
GURPS Traveller and Traveller HERO
GURPS Traveller (GT) uses the GURPS
character creation and task resolution system developed by Steve Jackson Games
, and Traveller HERO (TH) uses the HERO System
developed by HERO Games for character creation and task resolution. Both use three six-sided dice (3d6) which are rolled equal to, or below a target number. The target numbers are usually set by the character's relevant skill they are using, plus any situational modifiers.
Traveller20
Traveller20 (or T20) is the d20 System
-version of Traveller, developed by Quicklink Interactive. In T20, characters are built using a class and level system (like most other d20 games). The established classes are based on popular career paths in other versions of Traveller. Characteristics (called Abilities) are the usual six from most other d20 games; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, plus Education and Social Standing are added as extra attributes. Education is used for Knowledge-based skill checks (instead of Intelligence), and Social Standing simply indicates a character's place in society. A twenty-sided die (d20) is rolled and the result is added to any modifiers for task checks against a standard difficulty target number (referred to in d20 games as a "Difficulty Class" or DC).
To some degree, political intrigue is also a part of Traveller, so espionage-related equipment is also present, such as concealable armor, devices, and firearms, bugs and bug detectors, and so on.
While there are energy weapons in Traveller, there is also a strong presence of slug-thrower weapons such as rifles and pistols. The prevailing theory is that (usually) the most efficient way to stop someone is with kinetic energy (e.g. bullets).
Likewise, high-tech equipment mixes freely with sensible low-tech or appropriate-tech tools.
At the other, extreme end of the spectrum is fantastic-tech equipment that is hard for the typical person to comprehend; this includes artifacts left over from extinct cultures as well as the product of current, highly advanced cultures.
Typical Traveller starships consist of control space (i.e. one or more bridges), a central power plant, a maneuver drive for in-system travel, a jump drive for interstellar travel, and payload space (weapons, living areas, etc.). The power plant and jump drive together require significant amounts of fuel. Alternate power plants, realspace drives, and interstellar drives exist for modelling different settings.
All of this equipment is fit into an armored hull of a given volume, and all ships in Traveller are measured in the 'ton' as the unit of volume, which represents 13.5 to 14 cubic meters.
Computer programs have been created to more effectively model and predict starship combat, with one such program named Eurisko
winning Traveller TCS national championship in 1981 and 1982, the program's maker retiring it from the game only after the officials threatened to abolish the competition.
The world generation system in Traveller is geared to produce a random mix of worlds. Extensions take solar system generation into account, and modify the process depending on the fecundity and history of the targeted area of space.
Merchant Free Traders:The players travel the stars trading and adventuring along the way in their very own starship
Struggle against Nature:The players are pitted against an alien environment to survive, with or without the help of locals or others.
Rescue:People are stranded on a world, and the players are tasked with recovering them.
Infiltration:The players have to recover (or steal) information or goods for someone else.
Mercenary:The players have to train a local cadre, or guard an installation, or alternately assault an installation.
Exploration/Enigma:Something unexplained is going on, and the players are sent to find out what it is.
Within a short time, however, a default setting was crafted to take advantage of all aspects of those rules, which has come to be known as the Official Traveller Universe (OTU), also known by the primary political entity in the setting, The Third Imperium. The starting point for this appears to be the board game Imperium
.
The OTU details a small piece of the galaxy, known as Charted Space. Within this space once lived a race called the Ancients, who died out in a massive war 300,000 years ago.
More recent history details the Third Imperium, which is the largest and human-dominated interstellar empire in Charted Space. Logically, it was preceded by two previous human-dominated empires. The Third Imperium is a feudalistic union of worlds. Local nobility
operate largely free from oversight, restricted by convention and feudal
obligations.
The concept of the Imperium is directly inspired by the history of the Roman Empire
and the Foundation Trilogy
of Isaac Asimov
.
Most Traveller adventures take place between the Imperial years 1100 and 1125, in or near the Third Imperium. Some adventures take place in the "New Era" years of 1200 to 1248.
on their own) and dozens of detailed minor races (races that never developed FTL independently).
The Aslan are a bipedal species of vaguely feline
appearance, slightly larger than human. Aslan society is organized into competitive clans, has a strict code of honor
and very strict gender role
s.
The Droyne are a short-statured, winged bipedal race of reptilian appearance. Their caste
-based development is dependent upon a combination of ritual and biology. The Droyne diaspora
is scattered across independent communities on worlds throughout known space, their homeworld unknown even to them.
The Hivers are a race based on sixfold symmetry. Despite their name, Hivers actually have a highly individualistic society. They avoid where possible direct violence and war, preferring instead to work behind the scenes via covert manipulation and psychohistory
.
Humaniti is the spelling used for human beings in the Third Imperium. Many variant human species exist, though most are interfertile and have few or no differences. Three human species are considered "major", and at least 22 others which are considered "minor".
The K'kree are a race of massive individuals having 2 arms and 4 legs, reminding humans somewhat of Centaur
s. Their homeworld is Kirur, far to trailing of human-dominated space, from which they rule a large interstellar polity known as "The 2,000 Worlds". K'kree psychology is evolved from herding instincts, thus they are rarely found alone and fear enclosed places. They are a society of hierarchical, reactionary, militant and often aggressive herbivore
s with a disdain (often carried to genocidal extremes) for meat-eating of any kind.
The Vargr are from canine stock, uplifted by Ancients.
Some of the minor races with a significant amount of background material include the Ael Yael, which appear to resemble humanoid pterodactyls; Bawapakerwa-a-a-awapawab, Bwaps for short, or simply Newts, which are bipedal amphibians; Ithklur, an aggressive race of warm-blooded, humanoid reptilians that exist in Hiver-space; Shriekers, a race resembling furry spiders; Vegans, which are humanoid in shape, but appear to be made up of ropey muscular tendrils that twist together forming flexible legs and arms; and the Virushi, a race of large centauroids from a heavy-gravity world.
while the same format was used for early support material, such as the Adventures, Supplements and further Books. Currently these LBBs are available in collected reprints from Far Future Enterprises. Later supplements and updated versions of the main game system
introduced full sized booklets, complete re-writes of the game system and significant changes to the Third Imperium. The second edition of the game, titled MegaTraveller, was published in 1986 and attempted to collect and collate the various rules of the system and offer new political twists in the Third Imperium, such as the assassination of the emperor and the rebellion which followed. The last GDW produced version of Traveller was the third, Traveller: The New Era, which broke completely with the previous rules system and presented a setting in which interstellar civilization had been completely destroyed by the rebellion. GDW went out of business before this iteration was completed.
Subsequently, in 1997 Imperium Games published Marc Miller's Traveller, often referred to as T4, which returned to the classic setting and game system, though not without some major alterations. For instance the default setting was "Milieu 0", set about 1200 years prior to the time period laid out in the original Traveller. It was intended that other "Milieux" would be described in following supplements, but T4 proved to be a failure both critically and financially before this could happen. The game was left briefly idle until the publication of GURPS Traveller. Once again the game system was replaced, this time with the GURPS
system from Steve Jackson Games
, but the setting was returned to the one laid out in the original Traveller, albeit as an alternate history
in which the assassination and subsequent fall of the Third Imperium never happened. To confuse matters further there was another version of the game being published simultaneously with the GURPS edition, Traveller 20 or T20, which used the same setting but integrated into the popular D20
roleplaying system and was set a century earlier than either Classic Traveller or GURPS Traveller.
each rule book, supplement, and adventure had a black cover with the title Book X, Supplement Y or Adventure Z each in a distinct color, numbered in the order in which they were produced. The system is often referred to as CT.
The core rules were available as three booklets in a boxed set (compare to the original Dungeons & Dragons
format). Later, these three booklets were packaged together in one volume called "The Traveller Book", and was available in hardcover and softcover. Subsequent rulebooks added "advanced" character generation for Army and Marine characters (Mercenary), Navy characters (High Guard), Scouts (Scouts), and Merchants (Merchant Prince). Mercenary also added rules for fleshing out ground battles; High Guard introduced rules for large starships and big naval battles; Scouts added rules for detailing star systems; and Merchant Prince added a new set of trade & commerce rules.
Eight separate boxed games were released as tie-in products: Striker
, a game of tabletop miniature warfare, added very complex rules for vehicle design & combat, Mayday concentrated on small ship vs ship space combat, Snapshot and Azhanti High Lightning
featured small-unit battles on board spacecraft, while Fifth Frontier War, Invasion Earth and Dark Nebula were wargames based on selected interstellar conflicts from the Classic Traveller (though in the case of the later this was not the case on its publication, but they were used as the basis of parts of the 'imperial' background) future history
.
Most of the Classic Traveller books are available in compendium volumes from Far Future Enterprises, which is the current copyright and trademark holder of all forms of the Traveller game. Far Future Enterprises also sells a CD-ROM
containing scans of all the canonical Classic Traveller material in PDF format, including the rules, counters and maps from the boxed games.
Traveller was inducted into the Origins Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997.
). The system is often referred to as "MT".
The game was set during the Rebellion era which shattered the Imperium. Supplements and magazines produced during this era detailed the progression of the Rebellion from the initial assassination of the Emperor in 1116 to the collapse of large-scale interstellar trade in roughly 1124 (the beginning of the supplement Hard Times).
Digest Group Publications also produced a number of MegaTraveller supplements, including alien modules detailing the Aslan, Vargr, Vilani and Solomani for MegaTraveller and the World Builder's Handbook, which expanded greatly on the world-building system found in the main rulebooks.
Where MegaTraveller left the Third Imperium in its death throes, The New Era let the Imperium die, effectively "rebooting" the setting. The TNE setting is one in which players make the difference between the survival and destruction of their worlds. And for those who wish to keep a vestige of the old setting, a pocket of the original Third Imperium was partially preserved. The rest of the galaxy is essentially a wild frontier, with dead or regressed worlds, worlds run by dictators controlling caches of high technology, self-aware but insane spacecraft and computers, unanswered engimas, etc.
TNE used a more realism-centered approach to science fiction, doing away with reactionless thrusters, shortening laser ranges to a reasonable distance, etc. This changed the "feel" of the game to some degree. The starship combat resolution system was fairly well detailed, supported by two published modules: Brilliant Lances for small battles and Battle Rider for large battles. Additionally, Striker 2 provided ground combat rules for use with miniatures (based on GDW's Command Decision rules for 20th-century warfare), and Fire, Fusion, and Steel collected design rules for spacecraft, other vehicles, and weapons in one volume.
Several supplements were published for TNE covering most if not all of what the year 1201 was like, but before any of the meta-events could start to advance the timeline, GDW fell on a string of bad luck
and finally was forced to close its doors, after twenty two years in which it had published one new product every 22 days on average (not counting magazines).
In 1994, Traveller: The New Era won the Origins Award
for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1993.
Marc Miller has stated that he believes "Traveller: The New Era" to be the "most controversial" edition of Traveller to date, due to that version's use of a different rules system and the radical changes to the setting.
of Steve Jackson Games
." The game uses the GURPS (Third Edition)
system and takes place in an alternate timeline in which no Rebellion occurred and the Virus was never released. Steve Jackson Games produced numerous supplements for the line, including details for all of the major races, many of the minor races, interstellar trade, expanded world generation, the military forces
of the Third Imperium, and starships. The game is often referred to as "GT".
GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars is the second GURPS
-driven version of Traveller. It concentrates on the 22nd and 23rd centuries, much earlier than the usual Traveller setting, at the time when Earth first started to send out interstellar ships and had just encountered the Vilani Imperium. This setting book uses the 4th Edition of the GURPS rules, and hence is referred to by some as "G4T" or "GTIW." The Interstellar Wars book features extensive notes on period Earth society, Vilani culture and values, and updated spaceship construction and combat rules.
version is set at the time of the Solomani Rim War around year Imperial year 990, about a century before the era depicted in the original game. The preferred setting is the Gateway Domain region of the Imperium.
, produced under license by Comstar Games.
produced a major revision of the original Classic Traveller game, offering it both in a traditional format and as an open-source SRD
around which other games may be built. It largely stems from, and rewrites, Classic Traveller, using a form of the 2D6 task system, and updating the careers, aliens, and technology found there. The basic starship design system, while resembling Classic Traveller, actually has more in common with Traveller5, even to the point of sharing the basic drive systems.
The core rule book was released in April 2008, with a regular series of supplements following, including setting-related resources for the classic Third Imperium, Babylon 5, Hammer's Slammers, Judge Dredd, and others. Mongoose Publishing holds the license for ten years.
.
The motivation for developing Traveller5 evolved out of the failure of Traveller 4 to live up to most people's expectations, including the designer's. Marc Miller stated in an interview that his goal in creating T5 was to do what he always wanted to do with Traveller: a game that can account for (nearly) every situation in the Traveller setting.
The core rules include integrated mechanics and several focused design systems, with enough depth to support Traveller's "OTU". All support a common set of benchmarks and share a common design process; as a result, things such as aliens (sophonts), genetic engineering, world environments, robots, weapons, equipment, armor, vehicles, smallcraft, starships, and animals are not only consistent and compatible with each other and the game system, but also are used as test cases to ensure that results are consistent with Traveller's assumptions about such things. This in turn means that many things from T5 are usable in Classic, Mega-, and Mongoose Traveller, and vice versa.
Computers and robots are consistent with each other and the rest of the rules.
The personal combat model is straightforward, accounts for environment, animals, robots, and vehicles, and scales up to starship combat.
The full span of technology is supported by the rules and design systems.
alternative to the looser space opera
of Classic Traveller. Presented as a future extrapolation of the speculative World War III
of GDW's popular military role-playing game Twilight: 2000, in which the various nations of Earth were only just beginning to explore and colonize the 50 light year sphere of surrounding space. Some buyers mistakenly thought the game was intended to depict the year 2300 in the standard Traveller universe using Traveller rules; to disambiguate it from Traveller, the 2nd edition of the game was retitled to 2300 AD and this second edition introduced some cyberpunk
rules and adventures.
A third version of the setting, 2320 AD was released as a supplement to the Traveller T20 ruleset.
2300AD is planned as a release within the Mongoose Traveller product line.
produced two computer games based on the Traveller universe: MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy
(1990) for Amiga, Atari ST
and MS-DOS
operating environments, and MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients (1991) for Amiga and MS-DOS.
Several novels have been specifically set in the various Traveller universes:
In addition, Jefferson Swycaffer has written several novels set in the "Concordat" fictional universe he originally developed for his Traveller campaign.
Heavy metal
band Slough Feg issued a Traveller based concept album
, appropriately titled Traveller
in 2003.
Gaming magazine White Dwarf
ran a comic strip called The Travellers by Mark Harrison
from 1983 to 1986. The strip spoofed Traveller and other space opera settings.
In March 2011 IngZ Inc announced the upcoming release of Traveller AR in Summer 2011. Traveller AR is an iPhone based port of the Traveller RPG brand.
Edu-Ware Services
for infringing upon Traveller's copyright. Edu-Ware admitted to using Traveller as the basis of its role-playing video game
Space
, and in an out-of-court settlement
, removed the computer game from the market.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s, the first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop
Game Designers' Workshop
Game Designers' Workshop was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers.-History:Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973...
and subsequent editions by various companies remaining in print to this day. The game was inspired from such classic science fiction stories as the Dumarest saga
Dumarest saga
Dumarest of Terra is a 33 volume series of science fiction novels by Edwin Charles Tubb. Each story is a self-contained adventure, but throughout the series, Earl Dumarest, the protagonist, searches for clues to the location of his home world, Earth....
series by E. C. Tubb, the Foundation
The Foundation Series
The Foundation Series is a science fiction series by Isaac Asimov. There are seven volumes in the Foundation Series proper, which in its in-universe chronological order are: Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, and...
stories of Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
, H. Beam Piper
H. Beam Piper
Henry Beam Piper was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.He wrote under the name H. Beam Piper...
's Space Viking
Space Viking
Space Viking is a science fiction novel written by H. Beam Piper and is set in his Terro-Human future history. It tells the story of one man's search for his wife's murderer and its unexpected consequences...
, Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
, Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
's CoDominium
CoDominium
-The CoDominium series:*A Spaceship for the King *He Fell into a Dark Hole *The Mote in God's Eye...
, Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
's Polesotechnic League and several other works of science fiction literature
Science fiction themes
-Overarching themes:*Cosmology*Creation of the Universe*The future *History **Alternate history **Historical cycles: history repeating itself **Scientific prediction of the future **Secret history*Language...
.
Characters typically journey between various star systems and engage in activities such as exploration, ground and space battles, and interstellar trading. Traveller characters are defined less by the need to increase native skill and ability and more by achievements, discoveries, or obtaining wealth, gadgets, titles and political power
Political power
Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...
.
Originally Traveller was intended to be a system for playing generic space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
-themed science fiction adventures in much the same sense that Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
was a system intended for generic fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
adventures. Marc Miller, one of the original designers of the Traveller RPG for Game Designer's Workshop, said that the idea for creating Traveller came about when he said "I want to do Dungeons & Dragons in space." Most published supplements for Traveller deal in some way with a default setting called the "Third Imperium", (sometimes referred to as the Official Traveller Universe (OTU)), but the main rules are generic enough so that a campaign can be played in any setting the referee chooses.
Key features
From the key features derived from literary sources grew the detailed specific background of the stellar governments and alien races of the Traveller universe:Human-centric: The background of the OTU features a human-dominated universe. As such, the core rules primarily focus on development of human characters touching only briefly on a few non-human species. There are numerous Traveller publications however, with rules and extensive information on playing members of other races.
Cosmopolitan: Despite the dominance of humanity, a large number of aliens was always implied to exist, inside and outside of Charted Space. The number of aliens per sector is estimated to vary from zero (in "barren" sectors) to eight or more (for example, in the Spinward Marches sector).
Interstellar travel: Interstellar travel
Interstellar travel
Interstellar space travel is manned or unmanned travel between stars. The concept of interstellar travel in starships is a staple of science fiction. Interstellar travel is much more difficult than interplanetary travel. Intergalactic travel, or travel between different galaxies, is even more...
is facilitated, and limited, by the use of a technology called the jump drive
Jump drive
A jump drive is one of the speculative inventions in science fiction, a method of traveling faster than light .Related concepts are hyperdrive, warp drive and interstellar teleporter. The key characteristic of a jump drive is that it allows a starship to be instantaneously teleported between two...
. These drives are capable of propelling a spacecraft between one to six parsec
Parsec
The parsec is a unit of length used in astronomy. It is about 3.26 light-years, or just under 31 trillion kilometres ....
s depending on the individual drive's specifications. Regardless of the distance of a jump, the duration required for the trip is approximately one week, thereby recreating an "age of sail
Age of Sail
The Age of Sail was the period in which international trade and naval warfare were dominated by sailing ships, lasting from the 16th to the mid 19th century...
" feel to the game.
Limited communication: A central theme to Traveller is that there is no form of faster-than-light information transfer – meaning no ansible
Ansible
An ansible is a hypothetical machine capable of instantaneous or superluminal communication. Ansibles occur as plot devices in science fiction literature.- Origin :The word ansible was coined by Ursula K. Le Guin in her 1966 novel, Rocannon's World...
, subspace radio
Subspace (Star Trek)
In the Star Trek fictional universe, subspace is a feature of space-time which facilitates faster-than-light transit, in the form of interstellar travel or the transmission of information. Subspace obeys different laws of physics...
or hyper-wave
Ultrawave
Ultrawaves are a concept used in science fiction to represent transmissions or signals that may propagate faster than light through either normal space, or alternate space, such as hyperspace or subspace...
communication technology is available. Most interplanetary communication is handled by courier ships, most commonly "X-boats", which are small Imperial vessels with long-distance jump drives that travel between systems transmitting and receiving vital data. Systems not on an X-boat route must rely on mail runs brought in by visiting ships.
The new feudalism: The restraint on the speed of information leads to decentralization and the vestment of significant power in the hands of local officials. This isolation causes entire wars to be fought, won, or lost on the frontiers before a message gets to any remote administrative capitals to let them know the war has even begun. This means that all kinds of agents, from merchants to generals, must show initiative and be reasonably independent from their corporate or political overlords. Since local rulers cannot be directly controlled by central authority, affairs are managed by a class of independent nobility, who make use of classic titles such as Baron, Duke and Archduke. This decentralization of authority is one means of coping with the difficulties imposed by size and limits of speed of transportation technology.
Non-utopian future: In the OTU, the human race never evolves into a superior state
Transhumanism
Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...
. People remain people and continue to show courage, wisdom, honesty and justice, along with cowards, liars, and criminals. Tension is vented regularly in small conflicts before they have a chance to reach Imperium-shattering proportions. Thus, planets are allowed to fight out internal wars, and capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
is the major driving force of civilization.
No prime directive: There is typically no prohibition
Prime Directive
In the universe of Star Trek, the Prime Directive, Starfleet's General Order #1, is the most prominent guiding principle of the United Federation of Planets...
on contact or interference with other races protecting them from advanced technology. Economics and other factors that applied to exploration and colonization on Earth are the same factors that shape the Traveller Universe. However, governments may interdict planets with native primitive intelligent species. These interdicted worlds are commonly known as "Red Zones" based on the Imperial designation for such a world. 'Red' (or the less restrictive 'Amber') zones are often to protect the interest of an interstellar government, not the native population.
Characters
Classic Traveller introduced a 'lifepath'-style character generationCharacter creation
Character creation is the process of defining a game character or other character. Typically, a character's individual strengths and weaknesses are represented by a set of statistics. Games with a largely fictional setting may include traits such as race and class...
system which helps it stand out from other role-playing games. Traveller characters get their skills and experience in a mini-game, where the player makes career choices that determine the character's life up to the point right before adventuring begins.
Characters range from "everyday Joes in space" to crack mercenary teams, and often draws from pulp science-fiction for its aliens (the Aslan are similar to Kzin
Kzin
The Kzinti are a fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of cat-like aliens in Larry Niven's Known Space series....
, the Hivers to Puppeteers, and so on). Some character "classes" are military-oriented, while others are civilian. A character can be human, robot, alien, or of a genetically engineered species.
In character generation, players take their characters through a career where the player rolls randomly on various tables that provides assignments and life events from which new skills, ranks and benefits are gained. There was also a risk that a character suffers injury (or even death) during the course of a career.
A character can be a young cadet or a tried-and-true veteran, each with strengths and weaknesses. Keeping a character in service longer leads to more skills and benefits, but could also mean that basic attributes (such as strength and dexterity) begin to degrade with old age
Old age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
.
Characteristics
In most versions of Traveller, characters have six primary characteristics which range in level from 0 (nonexistent) to 15 (superhuman). The characteristics are:- C1: Strength (STR) - the character's raw muscular power
- C2: Dexterity (DEX) - the character's physical coordination and agility
- C3: Endurance (END) - the character's resistance to physical stress and damage
- C4: Intelligence (INT) - the character's mental prowess and intuition
- C5: Education (EDU) - the character's experience and knowledge
- C6: Social Standing (SOC) - the character's ability to influence others and their place in society (high scores indicate nobility)
Characteristics are written down using the "Universal Personality Profile" code (or UPP) which was a series of hexadecimal
Hexadecimal
In mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen...
numbers used as a shorthand way of gauging a character's primary characteristics at a glance, with numbers 0 to 9, and the letters A thru F used for 10 and above (A=10, B=11, C=12 and so on). Thus, a person with the UPP code 675AB6 would have STR 6, DEX 7, END 5, INT 10, EDU 11 and SOC 6. This would indicate a person who is smart and educated, but lacking in physical conditioning and has a below average place in society. The "average" is considered 777777.
Players roll randomly for these characteristics (typically on 2d6) during character creation. The scores can be raised or lowered by choosing a particular race (if playing non-humans) and through events during the course of their careers. Characteristics modify task rolls, thus higher values represent more capable individuals.
An additional, optional characteristic, PSI, measures a character's psionic strength.
Skills
Skills modify task rolls. Skills are rated by number, from 0 (familiarity only) up. The number of skills supported in the game varies by ruleset, ranging from 30 to over 100. In many cases, attempting a task without a related skill imposes a penalty.Task systems
The various incarnations of Traveller each have a task system which was used whenever a character encountered a task that needed to be resolved randomly (to determine whether they succeeded or failed).Classic Traveller, MegaTraveller, and Mongoose Traveller
In these systems, two six-sided dice (2d6) are rolled against a target number set by the referee — and usually the roll must be equal to or higher than the target number in order to succeed. Dice Modifiers (DMs) either provide a bonus or penalty to a roll (the + and – sign precede the number in such cases (+2 means add 2 to the roll, -4 means subtract 4 from the roll)). Target numbers and DMs are determined by situation and vary per skill and attribute score.
In Classic Traveller, a roll of 8+ is typically seen as a success, but there is no standardized table of DMs. For instance a character might get a +2 bonus on an Acrobatic skill check if their Dexterity was 10 or more. Classic Traveller later formalized a Universal Task Profile (UTP) — a standard set of target numbers with Difficulty Levels, such as Routine (7+), Difficult (11+), and Formidable (15+).
MegaTraveller (MT) expands upon the UTP, and allows the referee to codify tasks into a shorthand formula for how hard the task was, what skill and characteristic is crucial to the task, how long the task takes to perform, and what the risks of failure are. Characteristic levels are divided by 5 (dropping fractions) and the result added as a DM also. A roll of 2 is a fumble.
Mongoose Traveller (MGT) standardizes the DMs provided by characteristics being used for the task. The relevant skill level is also counted directly as a DM. A roll of 8+ is typically a success.
Both Classic and MegaTraveller also included occasional "roll low" tasks. For example, to avoid being harassed by local law enforcement, the group would have to roll the world's Law Level or lower on 2d6.
Traveller: The New Era
Traveller: The New Era (TNE) used a modified version of the Twilight 2000
Twilight 2000
Twilight 2000 is a role-playing game set in the aftermath of World War III . The premise is that the United States/NATO and the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact have fought a lengthy conventional war, followed by a nuclear war with all its consequences...
rules. The six abilities are Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, Education, Charisma, and are generated with 2d6-1. Social Standing is relegated to a secondary ability only. Target Numbers were determined by adding Ability level + Skill level and multiplying or dividing that number by a factor determined by the task's difficulty; if the task is Easy multiply Target Number result by 4, Average multiply by 2, Difficult use the number as normal, Formidable halves the number (drop fractions), and Impossible quarters the number (drop fractions). The player then rolled a twenty-sided die (d20) (or ten-sided die (d10) and a d6 [with 4,5,6 meaning add 10 to the d10 result] to simulate a d20 roll) to equal to or less than the target number to succeed.
Traveller4 and Traveller5
In both these versions, the number of dice rolled represents task difficulty ("Average" is 2D, "Difficult" is 3D, etc.), and the target number to roll under is Characteristic + Skill + situational modifiers. A roll of all 1's results in a Spectacular Success, while a roll of at least two 6's results in a Spectacular Failure.
Traveller, version 4 (T4), published by Imperium Games, also has intermediate levels of difficulty which call for "half-dice" to be used; for example "Difficult" is 2.5 dice and one die result (rolled as a different color die from the rest) must be halved when counted. Traveller, version 5 (T5) does not use a half-die.
Using number of dice to set a task difficulty approximates fixed target numbers without needing to recall those numbers, thus streamlining actions requiring fast play (combat). An interesting feature of using multiple dice for task rolls is that the probability curve starts to look somewhat linear, in the center ranges, when rolling more than 4 dice.
GURPS Traveller and Traveller HERO
GURPS Traveller (GT) uses the GURPS
GURPS
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...
character creation and task resolution system developed by Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
, and Traveller HERO (TH) uses the HERO System
Hero System
The Hero System is a generic role-playing game system that developed from the superhero RPG Champions. It is used as the underlying mechanics of other Hero Games role-playing games such as Dark Champions, Fantasy Hero, Star Hero, and Pulp Hero...
developed by HERO Games for character creation and task resolution. Both use three six-sided dice (3d6) which are rolled equal to, or below a target number. The target numbers are usually set by the character's relevant skill they are using, plus any situational modifiers.
Traveller20
Traveller20 (or T20) is the d20 System
D20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
-version of Traveller, developed by Quicklink Interactive. In T20, characters are built using a class and level system (like most other d20 games). The established classes are based on popular career paths in other versions of Traveller. Characteristics (called Abilities) are the usual six from most other d20 games; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, plus Education and Social Standing are added as extra attributes. Education is used for Knowledge-based skill checks (instead of Intelligence), and Social Standing simply indicates a character's place in society. A twenty-sided die (d20) is rolled and the result is added to any modifiers for task checks against a standard difficulty target number (referred to in d20 games as a "Difficulty Class" or DC).
Equipment
Equipment in Traveller typically emphasizes wilderness exploration, hazardous environments, and combat. As a result, equipment lists are heavy on vehicles, sensor equipment, communicators, rations, personal armor, and weapons. Since primitive worlds exist near technological worlds, primitive weapons are also typically included, such as swords, shields, pikes, bows, and so on. And since high technology is available, cybernetic implants and non-sentient robots typically also show up in equipment lists.To some degree, political intrigue is also a part of Traveller, so espionage-related equipment is also present, such as concealable armor, devices, and firearms, bugs and bug detectors, and so on.
While there are energy weapons in Traveller, there is also a strong presence of slug-thrower weapons such as rifles and pistols. The prevailing theory is that (usually) the most efficient way to stop someone is with kinetic energy (e.g. bullets).
Likewise, high-tech equipment mixes freely with sensible low-tech or appropriate-tech tools.
At the other, extreme end of the spectrum is fantastic-tech equipment that is hard for the typical person to comprehend; this includes artifacts left over from extinct cultures as well as the product of current, highly advanced cultures.
Starships
Travellers rules for starship design and combat are like games unto themselves, with a complex balance of ship components fitting within certain hull volumes, technology levels, and modifiers based upon characters skills. It is complex enough to be able to generically represent most starships used in role-playing games, and flexible enough to support custom add-ons to the system.Typical Traveller starships consist of control space (i.e. one or more bridges), a central power plant, a maneuver drive for in-system travel, a jump drive for interstellar travel, and payload space (weapons, living areas, etc.). The power plant and jump drive together require significant amounts of fuel. Alternate power plants, realspace drives, and interstellar drives exist for modelling different settings.
All of this equipment is fit into an armored hull of a given volume, and all ships in Traveller are measured in the 'ton' as the unit of volume, which represents 13.5 to 14 cubic meters.
Computer programs have been created to more effectively model and predict starship combat, with one such program named Eurisko
Eurisko
Eurisko is a program written by Douglas Lenat in RLL-1, a representation language itself written in the Lisp programming language. A sequel to Automated Mathematician, it consists of heuristics, i.e. rules of thumb, including heuristics describing how to use and change its own heuristics...
winning Traveller TCS national championship in 1981 and 1982, the program's maker retiring it from the game only after the officials threatened to abolish the competition.
Worlds
Worlds represent a wide spectrum of conditions, from barren planetoid moons to large water worlds, from uncolonized territory to planets with tens of billions of people. Most worlds tend to be only modestly colonized, though some worlds may in fact be dangerously overcrowded.The world generation system in Traveller is geared to produce a random mix of worlds. Extensions take solar system generation into account, and modify the process depending on the fecundity and history of the targeted area of space.
Adventures
Adventures in Traveller tend to come from a few key themes:Merchant Free Traders:The players travel the stars trading and adventuring along the way in their very own starship
Struggle against Nature:The players are pitted against an alien environment to survive, with or without the help of locals or others.
Rescue:People are stranded on a world, and the players are tasked with recovering them.
Infiltration:The players have to recover (or steal) information or goods for someone else.
Mercenary:The players have to train a local cadre, or guard an installation, or alternately assault an installation.
Exploration/Enigma:Something unexplained is going on, and the players are sent to find out what it is.
Setting
Originally, Traveller had no established setting, and was promoted as a rules system for running general science fiction role-playing games. It was published at a time when role-playing games did not typically feature a well-defined fictional universe, but instead offered rules appropriate to the conventions of a particular genre. Each role-playing group used and altered published rules to suit their setting and play style.Within a short time, however, a default setting was crafted to take advantage of all aspects of those rules, which has come to be known as the Official Traveller Universe (OTU), also known by the primary political entity in the setting, The Third Imperium. The starting point for this appears to be the board game Imperium
Imperium (board game)
Imperium is a science fiction board wargame that was published in 1977 by the Conflict Game Company and GDW. It was designed by Marc W. Miller and developed by Frank Chadwick and John Harshman. The game came in a cardboard box illustrated with a space battle on the exterior...
.
The OTU details a small piece of the galaxy, known as Charted Space. Within this space once lived a race called the Ancients, who died out in a massive war 300,000 years ago.
More recent history details the Third Imperium, which is the largest and human-dominated interstellar empire in Charted Space. Logically, it was preceded by two previous human-dominated empires. The Third Imperium is a feudalistic union of worlds. Local nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
operate largely free from oversight, restricted by convention and feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
obligations.
The concept of the Imperium is directly inspired by the history of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and the Foundation Trilogy
The Foundation Series
The Foundation Series is a science fiction series by Isaac Asimov. There are seven volumes in the Foundation Series proper, which in its in-universe chronological order are: Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, and...
of Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
.
Most Traveller adventures take place between the Imperial years 1100 and 1125, in or near the Third Imperium. Some adventures take place in the "New Era" years of 1200 to 1248.
Intelligent species
Despite the dominance of the human race, the Traveller universe is cosmopolitan, having several major races (races who developed FTLFTL
- Science and technology :* Faster-than-light, a speculative concept in physics and science fiction** Faster Than Light , a British video games company...
on their own) and dozens of detailed minor races (races that never developed FTL independently).
Major races
A major race is defined as one that developed jump technology independently, and thus got an early start on establishing itself in interstellar society. In the setting it is generally agreed there are 6 major races, but how they are defined varies a little. The standard list includes Aslan, Droyne, Hivers, Humanity, K'Kree, and Vargr.The Aslan are a bipedal species of vaguely feline
Felidae
Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the thirteen terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, although the three families of marine mammals comprising the superfamily pinnipedia are as carnivorous as the...
appearance, slightly larger than human. Aslan society is organized into competitive clans, has a strict code of honor
Honor code
An honour code or honour system is a set of rules or principles governing a community based on a set of rules or ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people can be trusted to act honorably...
and very strict gender role
Gender role
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
s.
The Droyne are a short-statured, winged bipedal race of reptilian appearance. Their caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
-based development is dependent upon a combination of ritual and biology. The Droyne diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
is scattered across independent communities on worlds throughout known space, their homeworld unknown even to them.
The Hivers are a race based on sixfold symmetry. Despite their name, Hivers actually have a highly individualistic society. They avoid where possible direct violence and war, preferring instead to work behind the scenes via covert manipulation and psychohistory
Psychohistory (fictional)
Psychohistory is a fictional science in Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe which combines history, sociology, and mathematical statistics to make general predictions about the future behavior of very large groups of people, such as the Galactic Empire...
.
Humaniti is the spelling used for human beings in the Third Imperium. Many variant human species exist, though most are interfertile and have few or no differences. Three human species are considered "major", and at least 22 others which are considered "minor".
The K'kree are a race of massive individuals having 2 arms and 4 legs, reminding humans somewhat of Centaur
Centaur
In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...
s. Their homeworld is Kirur, far to trailing of human-dominated space, from which they rule a large interstellar polity known as "The 2,000 Worlds". K'kree psychology is evolved from herding instincts, thus they are rarely found alone and fear enclosed places. They are a society of hierarchical, reactionary, militant and often aggressive herbivore
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
s with a disdain (often carried to genocidal extremes) for meat-eating of any kind.
The Vargr are from canine stock, uplifted by Ancients.
Minor races
Any species which was contacted before it could independently develop Jump Drive is considered minor. Such species wield much less power than the Major Races, and most are subject to the whims of the established interstellar powers. Numerous minor races exist, some have been fully developed, some only briefly mentioned in the Traveller background material. Listed here are only a few of the minor races.Some of the minor races with a significant amount of background material include the Ael Yael, which appear to resemble humanoid pterodactyls; Bawapakerwa-a-a-awapawab, Bwaps for short, or simply Newts, which are bipedal amphibians; Ithklur, an aggressive race of warm-blooded, humanoid reptilians that exist in Hiver-space; Shriekers, a race resembling furry spiders; Vegans, which are humanoid in shape, but appear to be made up of ropey muscular tendrils that twist together forming flexible legs and arms; and the Virushi, a race of large centauroids from a heavy-gravity world.
Publishing history
Overview
The original Traveller gamebooks were distinctive half-size black pamphlets (the so-called "Little Black Books" or "LBBs") produced by Game Designers Workshop (GDW). The main rules were detailed in three such booklets, sold as a boxed setBoxed set
A box set is a compilation of various musical recordings, films, television programs, or other collection of related items that are contained in a box.-Music box sets:...
while the same format was used for early support material, such as the Adventures, Supplements and further Books. Currently these LBBs are available in collected reprints from Far Future Enterprises. Later supplements and updated versions of the main game system
Role-playing game system
A role-playing game system is a set of game mechanics used in a role-playing game to determine the outcome of a character's in-game actions...
introduced full sized booklets, complete re-writes of the game system and significant changes to the Third Imperium. The second edition of the game, titled MegaTraveller, was published in 1986 and attempted to collect and collate the various rules of the system and offer new political twists in the Third Imperium, such as the assassination of the emperor and the rebellion which followed. The last GDW produced version of Traveller was the third, Traveller: The New Era, which broke completely with the previous rules system and presented a setting in which interstellar civilization had been completely destroyed by the rebellion. GDW went out of business before this iteration was completed.
Subsequently, in 1997 Imperium Games published Marc Miller's Traveller, often referred to as T4, which returned to the classic setting and game system, though not without some major alterations. For instance the default setting was "Milieu 0", set about 1200 years prior to the time period laid out in the original Traveller. It was intended that other "Milieux" would be described in following supplements, but T4 proved to be a failure both critically and financially before this could happen. The game was left briefly idle until the publication of GURPS Traveller. Once again the game system was replaced, this time with the GURPS
GURPS
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...
system from Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
, but the setting was returned to the one laid out in the original Traveller, albeit as an alternate history
Alternate history (fiction)
Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
in which the assassination and subsequent fall of the Third Imperium never happened. To confuse matters further there was another version of the game being published simultaneously with the GURPS edition, Traveller 20 or T20, which used the same setting but integrated into the popular D20
D20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
roleplaying system and was set a century earlier than either Classic Traveller or GURPS Traveller.
Traveller or Classic Traveller (1977, GDW)
(1977–1986) Published by GDW. The first rulebooks and supplements were printed in the distinctive "Little Black Book" format of 8½" by 5½" booklets. Rather than cover artCover art
Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
each rule book, supplement, and adventure had a black cover with the title Book X, Supplement Y or Adventure Z each in a distinct color, numbered in the order in which they were produced. The system is often referred to as CT.
The core rules were available as three booklets in a boxed set (compare to the original Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
format). Later, these three booklets were packaged together in one volume called "The Traveller Book", and was available in hardcover and softcover. Subsequent rulebooks added "advanced" character generation for Army and Marine characters (Mercenary), Navy characters (High Guard), Scouts (Scouts), and Merchants (Merchant Prince). Mercenary also added rules for fleshing out ground battles; High Guard introduced rules for large starships and big naval battles; Scouts added rules for detailing star systems; and Merchant Prince added a new set of trade & commerce rules.
Eight separate boxed games were released as tie-in products: Striker
Striker (board game)
The miniatures game Striker is a science fiction tactical wargame that was published by Game Designers' Workshop in 1981 as a boxed expansion to the Traveller role-playing game. It was notable for attempting to cover a broad range of technological levels and having an intricate "engineering" style...
, a game of tabletop miniature warfare, added very complex rules for vehicle design & combat, Mayday concentrated on small ship vs ship space combat, Snapshot and Azhanti High Lightning
Azhanti High Lightning
Azhanti High Lightning is a science-fiction wargame published by Game Designers Workshop. The game is a "square and counter" supplement to Traveller, similar to Snapshot. It depicts close-action combat between individuals on board a large military starship. Each turn represents 15 seconds, each...
featured small-unit battles on board spacecraft, while Fifth Frontier War, Invasion Earth and Dark Nebula were wargames based on selected interstellar conflicts from the Classic Traveller (though in the case of the later this was not the case on its publication, but they were used as the basis of parts of the 'imperial' background) future history
Future history
A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors in the subgenre of speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction...
.
Most of the Classic Traveller books are available in compendium volumes from Far Future Enterprises, which is the current copyright and trademark holder of all forms of the Traveller game. Far Future Enterprises also sells a CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
containing scans of all the canonical Classic Traveller material in PDF format, including the rules, counters and maps from the boxed games.
Traveller was inducted into the Origins Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997.
MegaTraveller (1987, GDW and DGP)
MegaTraveller (1987–1992) was published by GDW but designed by Digest Group Publications which published the popular Traveller's Digest (later the MegaTraveller Journal) Traveller support magazine. The game system used revised versions of the Classic Traveller mechanics with ideas first developed in the Traveller's Digest (and later also adapted to Traveller: 23002300 AD
2300 AD is a hard science fiction role-playing game created by Game Designers Workshop, originally offered as an alternative to the space opera portrayed by the company's leading science fiction role-playing game, Traveller...
). The system is often referred to as "MT".
The game was set during the Rebellion era which shattered the Imperium. Supplements and magazines produced during this era detailed the progression of the Rebellion from the initial assassination of the Emperor in 1116 to the collapse of large-scale interstellar trade in roughly 1124 (the beginning of the supplement Hard Times).
Digest Group Publications also produced a number of MegaTraveller supplements, including alien modules detailing the Aslan, Vargr, Vilani and Solomani for MegaTraveller and the World Builder's Handbook, which expanded greatly on the world-building system found in the main rulebooks.
Traveller: The New Era (1993, GDW)
Traveller: The New Era (1993–1995) was published by GDW. The game mechanics were changed to GDW's house rules system, derived from Twilight: 2000, 2nd ed. It introduced the Virus and described the former area of the Third Imperium after interstellar society had completely collapsed. The game is often referred to as "TNE".Where MegaTraveller left the Third Imperium in its death throes, The New Era let the Imperium die, effectively "rebooting" the setting. The TNE setting is one in which players make the difference between the survival and destruction of their worlds. And for those who wish to keep a vestige of the old setting, a pocket of the original Third Imperium was partially preserved. The rest of the galaxy is essentially a wild frontier, with dead or regressed worlds, worlds run by dictators controlling caches of high technology, self-aware but insane spacecraft and computers, unanswered engimas, etc.
TNE used a more realism-centered approach to science fiction, doing away with reactionless thrusters, shortening laser ranges to a reasonable distance, etc. This changed the "feel" of the game to some degree. The starship combat resolution system was fairly well detailed, supported by two published modules: Brilliant Lances for small battles and Battle Rider for large battles. Additionally, Striker 2 provided ground combat rules for use with miniatures (based on GDW's Command Decision rules for 20th-century warfare), and Fire, Fusion, and Steel collected design rules for spacecraft, other vehicles, and weapons in one volume.
Several supplements were published for TNE covering most if not all of what the year 1201 was like, but before any of the meta-events could start to advance the timeline, GDW fell on a string of bad luck
Luck
Luck or fortuity is good fortune which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result. There are at least two senses people usually mean when they use the term, the prescriptive sense and the descriptive sense...
and finally was forced to close its doors, after twenty two years in which it had published one new product every 22 days on average (not counting magazines).
In 1994, Traveller: The New Era won the Origins Award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1993.
Marc Miller has stated that he believes "Traveller: The New Era" to be the "most controversial" edition of Traveller to date, due to that version's use of a different rules system and the radical changes to the setting.
Marc Miller's Traveller (1996, Imperium Games)
Marc Miller's Traveller (1996–1998) was published by Imperium Games after GDW dissolved and the rights to Traveller reverted to Marc Miller, the creator of the original game. It returned to a heavily modified version of the original rules and was set in the early days of the Third Imperium (Milieu 0). It is often referred to as T4. This edition is currently available on Marc Miller's website. Miller has stated that T4 was "plagued by rush," explaining that the books were released without enough editing. He also stated that in spite of the quality issues that resulted from this, he does not believe that T4 is the least popular or most controversial edition of the game.GURPS Traveller (1998, SJG)
GURPS Traveller (1998–present) was "Created on a handshake with Steve JacksonSteve Jackson (US)
Steve Jackson is an American game designer. After working for many years at Metagaming Concepts designing such games as Ogre and The Fantasy Trip, he left to found Steve Jackson Games in the early 1980s...
of Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
." The game uses the GURPS (Third Edition)
GURPS
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...
system and takes place in an alternate timeline in which no Rebellion occurred and the Virus was never released. Steve Jackson Games produced numerous supplements for the line, including details for all of the major races, many of the minor races, interstellar trade, expanded world generation, the military forces
Armed forces
The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
of the Third Imperium, and starships. The game is often referred to as "GT".
- GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars
GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars is the second GURPS
GURPS
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...
-driven version of Traveller. It concentrates on the 22nd and 23rd centuries, much earlier than the usual Traveller setting, at the time when Earth first started to send out interstellar ships and had just encountered the Vilani Imperium. This setting book uses the 4th Edition of the GURPS rules, and hence is referred to by some as "G4T" or "GTIW." The Interstellar Wars book features extensive notes on period Earth society, Vilani culture and values, and updated spaceship construction and combat rules.
Traveller 20 (2002, QLI/RPGRealms)
Traveller 20 (2002–present) was published by QLI/RPGRealms Publishing. The D20 systemD20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
version is set at the time of the Solomani Rim War around year Imperial year 990, about a century before the era depicted in the original game. The preferred setting is the Gateway Domain region of the Imperium.
Traveller Hero
Traveller Hero was a port of the Traveller setting to the Hero SystemHero System
The Hero System is a generic role-playing game system that developed from the superhero RPG Champions. It is used as the underlying mechanics of other Hero Games role-playing games such as Dark Champions, Fantasy Hero, Star Hero, and Pulp Hero...
, produced under license by Comstar Games.
Mongoose Traveller (2008, Mongoose Publishing)
Mongoose PublishingMongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing is a prolific British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, actively publishing material since 2001...
produced a major revision of the original Classic Traveller game, offering it both in a traditional format and as an open-source SRD
System Reference Document
The System Reference Document, or SRD, is a set of reference role playing game mechanics licensed under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast and based upon their Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. The SRD forms the basis of WotC's various d20 System role-playing games, including the...
around which other games may be built. It largely stems from, and rewrites, Classic Traveller, using a form of the 2D6 task system, and updating the careers, aliens, and technology found there. The basic starship design system, while resembling Classic Traveller, actually has more in common with Traveller5, even to the point of sharing the basic drive systems.
The core rule book was released in April 2008, with a regular series of supplements following, including setting-related resources for the classic Third Imperium, Babylon 5, Hammer's Slammers, Judge Dredd, and others. Mongoose Publishing holds the license for ten years.
.
Traveller5 (Beta, FFE)
Traveller5, or "T5", is the fifth edition of Traveller. The playtest release was made available in February 2009, and revisions incorporating playtested errata are made available to playtesters on a chapter by chapter basis. T5 draws concepts from previous versions to produce a consistent whole. The system consists of a Core Rules Set, with chapters arranged in sections reminiscent of the original three Traveller rules booklets (Characters and Combat, Starships, Worlds and Adventures).The motivation for developing Traveller5 evolved out of the failure of Traveller 4 to live up to most people's expectations, including the designer's. Marc Miller stated in an interview that his goal in creating T5 was to do what he always wanted to do with Traveller: a game that can account for (nearly) every situation in the Traveller setting.
The core rules include integrated mechanics and several focused design systems, with enough depth to support Traveller's "OTU". All support a common set of benchmarks and share a common design process; as a result, things such as aliens (sophonts), genetic engineering, world environments, robots, weapons, equipment, armor, vehicles, smallcraft, starships, and animals are not only consistent and compatible with each other and the game system, but also are used as test cases to ensure that results are consistent with Traveller's assumptions about such things. This in turn means that many things from T5 are usable in Classic, Mega-, and Mongoose Traveller, and vice versa.
Computers and robots are consistent with each other and the rest of the rules.
The personal combat model is straightforward, accounts for environment, animals, robots, and vehicles, and scales up to starship combat.
The full span of technology is supported by the rules and design systems.
Traveller: 2300
This GDW roleplaying game is a clear rules-descendent of Twilight: 2000 and Striker, using ten-sided dice. It was a hard science fictionHard science fiction
Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Islands of Space in Astounding Science...
alternative to the looser space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
of Classic Traveller. Presented as a future extrapolation of the speculative World War III
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
of GDW's popular military role-playing game Twilight: 2000, in which the various nations of Earth were only just beginning to explore and colonize the 50 light year sphere of surrounding space. Some buyers mistakenly thought the game was intended to depict the year 2300 in the standard Traveller universe using Traveller rules; to disambiguate it from Traveller, the 2nd edition of the game was retitled to 2300 AD and this second edition introduced some cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
rules and adventures.
A third version of the setting, 2320 AD was released as a supplement to the Traveller T20 ruleset.
2300AD is planned as a release within the Mongoose Traveller product line.
Traveller in other media
GDW licensee ParagonParagon Software Corporation
Paragon Software Corporation or just Paragon Software was a video games developer that was founded in 1985 by Mark E. Seremet and Antony Davies. Paragon released its first game in 1987 and is primarily known for their work on CRPGs based on Marvel Comics franchises and GDW role-playing settings...
produced two computer games based on the Traveller universe: MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy
MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy
MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy is a 1990 computer game produced by Game Designers Workshop licensee Paragon, based on the Traveller universe, for Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS operating environments.-Plot:...
(1990) for Amiga, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
and MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
operating environments, and MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients (1991) for Amiga and MS-DOS.
Several novels have been specifically set in the various Traveller universes:
- Death of Wisdom Book 1 of 3 by Paul Brunette. ISBN 1-55878-181-1
- To Dream of Chaos Book 2 of 3 by Paul Brunette. ISBN 1-55878-184-6
- The Backwards Mask Book 3 of 3 by Matthew Carson. (finally published March 2011 though only for Kindle)
- Marc Miller's Traveller: Gateway to the Stars by Pierce AskegrenPierce AskegrenJohn Pierce Askegren , of the Louisiana Askegrens, was an American author best known for his work in adaptations of licensed properties.-Biography:...
. ISBN 0-671-01188-X - The Force of Destiny by Dale Kemper (this book does not seem to exist)
- Diaspora Phoenix by Martin J. Dougherty
- Tales of the New Era 1: Yesterday’s Hero by Martin J. Dougherty (a 6 page short tale seemingly only available online in pdf format)
- The Road Less Travelled by Marc Miller (this book does not seem to exist)
In addition, Jefferson Swycaffer has written several novels set in the "Concordat" fictional universe he originally developed for his Traveller campaign.
Heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Slough Feg issued a Traveller based concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
, appropriately titled Traveller
Traveller (Slough Feg album)
Traveller is a concept album by the American folk/power band The Lord Weird Slough Feg. The album is based on GDW's 1977 science fiction role-playing game, Traveller.- Track listing :#"The Spinward Marches" #"High Passage/Low Passage"...
in 2003.
Gaming magazine White Dwarf
White Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
ran a comic strip called The Travellers by Mark Harrison
Mark Harrison
Mark Harrison is a British comic book artist and occasional writer. The bulk of his work has appeared in the comic 2000 AD.Harrison's fully painted style is notable for its use of strong, dark colours and computer effects, though recent series The Ten-Seconders shows him moving towards lighter...
from 1983 to 1986. The strip spoofed Traveller and other space opera settings.
In March 2011 IngZ Inc announced the upcoming release of Traveller AR in Summer 2011. Traveller AR is an iPhone based port of the Traveller RPG brand.
Copyright infringement lawsuit
In 1982 Game Designers Workshop sued software publisherSoftware publisher
A software publisher is a publishing company in the software industry between the developer and the distributor. In some companies, two or all three of these roles may be combined ....
Edu-Ware Services
Edu-Ware
Edu-Ware Services, Inc. was an educational and entertainment software publisher established in 1979 by Sherwin Steffin and Steven Pederson It was known for its adventure games, role-playing video games, and flight simulators for the Apple II family of computers.-History:Edu-Ware founders Sherwin...
for infringing upon Traveller's copyright. Edu-Ware admitted to using Traveller as the basis of its role-playing video game
Role-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
Space
Space (computer game)
Space is a text-based computer role-playing game franchise for the Apple II that was originally designed by Steven Pederson and Sherwin Steffin of Edu-Ware Services, and then expanded upon in a sequel by David Mullich, in 1979....
, and in an out-of-court settlement
Settlement (law)
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. The term "settlement" also has other meanings in the context of law.-Basis:...
, removed the computer game from the market.
External links
- BITS (British Isle Traveller Support) produces supplements & adventures including the 101 Series
- Mongoose Traveller The currently published version of Traveller
- GURPS Traveller by Steve Jackson GamesSteve Jackson GamesSteve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
- Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society official magazine of Traveller (all versions) for over 20 years
- Marc Miller's Far Future Enterprises reprints Classic Traveller books, also developing new Traveller5 game
- Citizens of the Imperium Traveller forum discussions. - has Traveller Library Data and Source material.
- Traveller Webring ring of fansites.
- Traveller Bibliography
- The Traveller Mailing List Email discussion group of long standing (c.1987) for all forms of Traveller, theoretical and technical discussions, adventure ideas, ship designs, conversation among Traveller players.
- Stellar Reaches A fanzine for Classic and D20 Traveller, set in the Empty Quarter. A wide range of articles are available, with a sourcebook also planned.
- Spica Publishing Third party OGL publisher of Traveller supplements for use with Traveller from Mongoose Publishing.
- Freelance Traveller A fanzine for all versions of Traveller, and a wealth of material throughout its website.