Traveller (roleplaying game)
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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 1st & 2nd Ed.) Far Future Enterprises (Traveller5) |
| 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 science fiction role-playing game, 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:
Traveller uses a lifepath-style system for character generation. 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.
Characters are described by six primary characteristics: strength, dexterity, endurance, intelligence, education, and social standing. These characteristics are typically generated with a roll of two six-sided dice. Other general characteristics also exist, such as psionics and sanity. There are also variant characteristics, such as charisma and caste, which replace a primary characteristic, to add nuance to alien characters.
Extra-sensory perception, telekinesis, telepathy, and other psychic mutations abilities are organized and standardized into "psionics". Depending on their choice, characters can be psionic.
Each rule system has its own task mechanic for resolving character actions. Some systems use two or three six-sided dice, while others use multiple six-sided dice or a twenty-sided die. Target numbers are typically determined by the referee, who takes into account task difficulty, skill level, and a characteristic. Situation and equipment used can provide a bonus or penalty to a roll. Depending on the task, a success may require rolling above or below the target number.
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