Classic Traveller
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| Designer(s) |
Marc W. Miller Frank Chadwick John Harshman Loren K. Wiseman |
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| Publisher(s) |
Game Designers' Workshop (Traveller, MegaTraveller, Traveller: The New Era) Imperium Games (T4: Marc Miller's Traveller) Steve Jackson Games (GURPS Traveller, GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars) QLI/RPGRealms Publishing (Traveller 20) ComStar Games (Traveller Hero) Mongoose Publishing (Mongoose Traveller) Far Future Enterprises |
| Publication date | 1977 (Traveller) 1987 (MegaTraveller) 1993 (Traveller: The New Era) 1996 (T4: Marc Miller's Traveller) 1998 (GURPS Traveller) 2002 (Traveller 20) 2006 (GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars) 2006 (Traveller Hero) 2008 (Mongoose Traveller) 2013 (Traveller5) 2016 (Mongoose Traveller 2nd Ed.) |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction space opera |
| System(s) | Custom, GURPS, d20 System |
Traveller is a series of related science fiction role-playing games, the first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Marc W. Miller designed Traveller with help from Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, and Loren K. Wiseman.
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 not by the need to increase native skill and ability but by achievements, discoveries, wealth, titles and political power.
Key features derived from literary sources are incorporated into Traveller in all its forms:
Though nearly all older versions of Traveller are available in PDF format, Traveller5 and Mongoose Traveller 2nd Ed. are the two current rulesets. Both rely on six-sided dice exclusively, and both draw from the original Traveller rules.
The Traveller5 Core Rules contains pulls rules mechanics from Traveller adventures and toolbox material from supplements. It has a clean but "retro" black-and-white production style.
Now in its second edition, Mongoose Traveller has a modern, full color production style while resembling the original Traveller rules in scope, sans Traveller's animal creation and starship design rules. Additional supplements will flesh out rules further, including a revision to High Guard to handle all starship design.
Traveller introduced the "lifepath"-style character generation system to 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.
A character can be human, robot, alien, or of a genetically engineered species. A character can be civilian, military, or noble, a young cadet or a tried-and-true veteran, each with strengths and weaknesses.
Traveller also became infamous in that a character could die during the character creation process before the process was finished.
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Wikipedia