Anytime a successful “space scoundrels adventure in a beat up ship” story takes the high ground in pop culture, there’s always a rumor that it originated from the creator’s long running game of Traveller. (The one exception being The Expanse, which the creators have explicitly stated began as a homebrew d20 Modern game). Traveller did a lot to cement how the typical science fiction game framed their stories. In the same way that early Dungeons & Dragons focused on the cycle of exploration, combat and cashing in loot in town, Traveller took the Han Solo route. Players took on jobs and dangerous cargo, explored strange new planets to sell futuristic widgets, and tried to stay one step ahead of their creditors. You think Jabba the Hutt is rough? Try paying off a space mortgage to a galaxy wide bank.

Traveller also turned the minigame of character creation into an actual game. This is where the old school joke of dying in character creation comes from. Rolling up characters offered a risk and reward from one of the first lifepath systems. A character’s skills, abilities and equipment came from their previous experiences in life in the military or drifting around the galaxy. The more terms the character served, the more times they had to roll to see if they survived the experience. This meant Traveller characters usually started as the middle aged Harrison Fords to the fresh faced hopeful Mark Hammils of D&D. Even if you couldn’t find other kids to play Traveller, there was still some lonely fun to be had with those three little black books deciding to see if this recent awesome character could survive one more celestial craps roll.

Mongoose Publishing has kept the fires of Traveller burning with a modern edition since 2008, though the game has come in multiple forms including GURPS, d20 and even a recent “Fifth  Edition” from original creator Marc Miller.(Those curious about the original books can find them on Miller’s website in a massive digital download). Traveller remains on the harder end of the sci-fi scale focusing on the same hexcrawl expiration and space buck making of the original. Mongoose did add a few modern touches. Failed survival rolls during character creation now lead to the mishap table which provides enemies and story points to haunt the character in the present. It also encourages players to come into the game already connected by offering extra skill points if they connect their backstories ahead of time. This makes sense, given that the lifepath system can often feel like early levels on fast forward.

The company recently released an updated core book for 2022 that includes errata and a few rules from the 2016 edition that brought the game into the full color core book era. It also brings back one of the other minigames beloved by Traveller fans: ship creation. Players looking to jump into adventure could always pick up a Type-S scout ship and go, but there’s something that scratched the LEGO part of the brain trying to fit just the right amount of equipment in a certain tonnage. Most of this experience had been exiled to the High Guard ship book, but it returns here with just enough to whet the whistle of budding engineers waiting for the updated version of that book to come out later this year. This book is a great choice for players that have never had the Traveller experience, but for those who already picked up the last core book, take a moment to see how important building a ship is to the table.

Mongoose also returns to a curious chapter in Traveller history. The original publisher, Game Designer’s Workshop, was home to two successful RPGs in the 80s: Traveller and the military apocalypse game Twilight:2000. It tried to spin off a third line tying these two vastly different games together with Traveller: 2300  which eventually became 2300 AD. The game tells the story of the middle era between the established hits. The world nearly ended after the limited nuclear exchange of Twilight: 2000 but survived long enough for mankind to launch a new space race. The settlements are split between the Americans, the French and the Chinese and the tech level takes a click or two beyond Traveller’s harder outlook.

This new edition comes as a boxed expansion to the modern Traveller rules set, featuring a players guide, setting guide and equipment guide, though you will need the core rules to play. While Traveller tends to encourage settings focused on the little guy scraping by in the big space empire, 2300 AD offers something a bit more like The Expanse. National factions, giant corporations and even philosophical debates between how to conquer space mix intrigues and twists to the standard Traveller formula.If worrying about engines that can poison characters and the finer ethical points of genetic adaptation to space sound like a great counterpoint to the usual space adventures, this setting may be for you.


Published by Mongoose Publishing


This feature originally appeared in Wyrd Science Vol.1, Issue 3 (Oct '22)

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