Though, like most people, Dungeons & Dragons was my introduction to the hobby, Traveller became (and remains) my favorite RPG and the Third Imperium my favorite imaginary setting. I didn't discover the game until around the time The Traveller Book was released in 1982 – the same year TSR released Star Frontiers and just a year before FASA released Star Trek. I played and enjoyed them all, but it was ultimately Traveller that won my heart for its simple, flexible rules and serious tone reminiscent of so many of the sci-fi books I loved.
My first professional writing credits were for Traveller when I was still in college. Through Traveller fandom, I met some of my oldest and dearest friends. And of course some of my best gaming memories relate to playing Traveller. Consequently, I'm inordinately fond of this roleplaying game and think the day of its release is every bit as worthy of celebrating as that of D&D.
Happy Birthday, Traveller! Just three more years till your golden anniversary ...
I started with the LBBs in 1978 - which would be about the time FGU's Space Opera started development leading to its release in 1980. Space Patrol came out in 1977 as well, but I didn't see it until the 1980 boxed set when it changed to Star Patrol.
ReplyDeleteEven back then I recall getting both SO and SP and wondering why they'd even bothered with Traveller already well-established and clearly more playable right out of the gate.
My elementary school days alternated pretty evenly between fantasy and science fiction. With RPGs, I started with blue book D&D but quickly 'graduated' to AD&D, then through a friend's brother (our DM) I was exposed to the Traveller books - particularly the alien races handbooks, but never beyond that - I never got to play it. I loved how detailed they were in comparison to the lore presented for D&D races (which got away with relying on popular exposure from outside sources to some extent). You played an entire pride of Aslans? WOW! Traveller created a lot of it whole cloth, which I appreciated and have always tried to emulate. The production value was top-notch to my pre-teen brain.
ReplyDeleteShocked to see that Origins took place in State Island! I lived there as a child circa 1976. Didn't discover RPGs and Traveller until about five years later in Virginia. Had a great time with my buddies engaging the Maneuver Evade program during starship combat and then donning my vacc suit to board the enemy vessel with my Gauss (sp) rifle. Back then being 38 years old (like Jameson) seemed way far off. Now it's way in the rear view mirror.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely certain at this point, but I think Traveller was my first contact I had with the idea of RPGs, and may have been the first RPG I ever actually played as well -- would have been late '80 or early '81, IIRC. Since then, my Travelling has been a lot patchier than other games/settings, with bigger gaps and generally shorter campaigns, but it's always been on the menu, and a huge favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to play Traveller. I had the starter boxed set, but never got my group to play it, mainly because we were all too young to know and appreciate its sources. I hadn't read a whole lot of sci-fi at 12, though I did have some Asimov and H. Beam Piper Fuzzy series under my belt! I was attracted to its more cerebral tone and presentation, but I was intimidated. I haven't looked at the rules in 40 years, but I remember something about the spaceship movement rules involving MATH that pretty much made me close fold up the map and close the box for good. I wonder if I could understand them now!
ReplyDeleteThey fairly rapidly changed the vector-based space combat to "range bands" in the Starter Set and later editions, which made everything a lot simpler - no math required!
DeleteTraveller was my second favorite RPG (after Gamma World) because of its planetary escapism and mix of high and low adventure, yet I always found it kind of dry. I loved it when it was going well, but it took a long time to get into it, even after leaving aside questions of "vectors" and so forth.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to imagine someone deeply steeped in the lore and mythos of D&D or AD&D to find Traveller preferable. Yes, it is a 3-D game, versus a 2-D game, but the scenarios GDW put out lacked the color and complexity of the best TSR and even Judges Guild adventure modules, and you needed to subscribe to JTAS to get any favor of the campaign settings. The cosmos of Traveller seemed strangely earthbound to me, more realistic and enjoyable, yet the magic of D&D offered something more.
I never got into it the way I did into Traveller or Gamma World, but I figured that was on me for not putting in the extra work necessary. If played well, I always figured AD&D the one RPG that beat real life.
There's a history of Traveller called "This is Free Trader Beowulf" by Shannon Appelcline that just came out from Mongoose Publishing. It's available for PDF download now at https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/products/this-is-free-trader-beowulf and a print on demand variant is in theory forthcoming. Her 2011 Designers and Dragons was well received so there is the potential that this same approach to Traveller will be good.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will be POD, but the hard-cover printed version should be out in a couple of months. I have the PDF from pre-ordering the printed version - it's definitely an interesting read.
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