#RPGaDay - 31 - Favourite RPG of all time

I’m sure you’ve all guessed this already, even if you don’t know me that well. My favourite RPG of all time is… drum roll… Traveller.

I have loved this game in all its incarnations from that first set of Starter Edition which I finally managed to get hold of after several attempts of ordering and reordering using the old Games Workshop credit note system.

Okay, I’m lying here. I didn’t really love GURPS Traveller, although some of the source material was superb and amongst the best ever written for the game (Interstellar Wars, Rim of Fire, Far Trader, First In, Ground Forces, Starports and Sword Worlds are all excellent).

I also wasn’t partial to Traveller: The New Era, GDW’s reboot, mainly as I didn’t like the core game engine, and I was upset about the violence that the Virus did to the setting. However, I’m much more sanguine about that now as I can see that Virus was just described badly - the mistake was made to use technology descriptions from the 1990s. The pain and sadness of the obliteration of the Imperium have gone now, and in many ways I like the way forward it gave. The 1248 extension to the setting was truly epic and had far too much compressed into too short a time. There were too many collapses and recoveries and major wars to be credible, especially when the limitations of travel time by jump were added to the mix. Had it been 1448 then I’d have seen it as far more believable.

Traveller T20. Well, again this had some good material (the Gateway supplement was an excellent expansion of work done for MegaTraveller) but the Dungeons & Dragons engine being used for Traveller just left me cold.

But I have loved deeply Classic Traveller, MegaTraveller, Marc Miller’s Traveller (T4) and Mongoose Traveller. Traveller T5 isn’t on this list yet as I need to read it fully yet. Across these games the system remains recognisable and the settings remain true.

What makes Traveller stand out to me?

• Character generation that gives you a history (and could kill or maim you in early editions).
• Starship and Star System design sequences that just encourage you to play with them and create vessels and worlds to adventure in.
• The trade rules that mean you can be more than mercenary thugs looking for the next ticket or bank-job.
• A d6 based mechanic with a task engine integrated to handle different difficulties (this was revolutionary with it was introduced). Ideally this is 2d6 based, but the T4 and T5 Nd6 engine also works well. I know, I ran it a lot.
• The jump technology that means communications are limited to the speed of travel between stars.
• A system of Tech(nology) Levels that define the capability of cultures.
• Limited Psionics, with an SF feel. 
• And the setting.

It is fair to say that the setting in Traveller reflects the time that it was released (1977). The Third Imperium feels very like 60s and 70s harder SF. The tropes are there from Andre Norton, Isaac Azimov, E.C. Dumarest, Sir. Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein and many, many more. This is only natural, and the influence of Star Wars (which came out at the same time) can also be seen. As the different waves of style have washed through SF, Traveller has adjusted ever so slightly. The setting has cultural memes that explain why cyborg-style upgrades and AI are frowned upon. Nanotechnology is far beyond the Tech Level of the Third Imperium. And computer tech is more in keeping with the old ‘Big Iron’ that was seen in the 1970s and earlier[1]. This is not out-and-out Transhumanism, with the huge reaches of scale that can imply. You want a different game for that.

However, because the feel of society is similar to ours, because it is so recognisable, it makes the stories of the characters so much more believable. I play to the harder SF end of Traveller, whereas other run out-and-out Space Opera. There’s room for both in the Third Imperium and the game system is content with either.

Over the last 30 years, Traveller has given me much joy. I hope that in some little ways the work that I’ve done with BITS (http://www.bitsuk.net/) and the scenarios I’ve run and written have passed that back to others. Marc Miller, Loren Wiseman and the rest of the team from GDW have huge thanks from me for creating this game which has endured. Andy Lilly also deserves my thanks for letting me get involved in BITS.

And if you haven’t tried Traveller, coming up very soon is the Traveller: Lift Off starter set Kickstarter, or you can dive in with Mongoose Traveller, or pick up the entire back catalogue electronically via DriveThruRPG (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse.php…) or on CD via FarFuture Enterprises (http://www.farfuture.net) (the best way if you want a lot of the books). FFE also stock the Traveller T5 book.

[1]: Although personally I have never found an issue using more advanced tech like we see today and avoiding violence to the setting’s integrity.

[2] A note on the picture - I couldn't find my copy of TNE (I think it's in the eBay pile) nor my paperback T4 (well worn and stashed on a shelf somewhere) and I sold T20 a long time ago...