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Traveller Resources

Information on the traveller rpg and its official setting, the third imperium..

We’re not the only ship on the mains!  Since its introduction in 1977, the Traveller universe has been developed in RPGs, computer games, novels and board games.  There are a lot of great resources for learning more about the Third Imperium.  Here’s just a few:

Far Future Enterprises is run by Marc Miller, the original author and creator of Traveller.

The Citizens of the Imperium is the largest Traveller community on the internet, and a great place to learn more about the game and its official setting, The Third Imperium

An excellent resource compiled and maintained by Joshua Bell, the Traveller Map is the easiest way to navigate the Third Imperium. There's no better way to appreciate the scale of Traveller.

Mongoose Publishing produces a flexible and popular version of the Traveller rules set, and their "Third Imperium" product line further expands the official universe.

The Imperial Encyclopedia is a wiki-style compilation of Traveller information. Articles are submitted and maintained by individual users, and cover both the official canonical universe as well as alternate setting or unofficial materials.

The Freelance Traveller Magazine is a long running, bi-monthly fanzine. Each issue features excellent articles on a wide variety of subjects, alternate rules, new settings and product reviews.

Have a resource for the traveller community drop us a line.

Long read: How TikTok's most intriguing geolocator makes a story out of a game

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What's Traveller? An introduction to the sci-fi tabletop RPG that inspired Starfield

Narrative character creation, skill-based progression and hard sci-fi - could we see all these in Bethesda's next epic?

From Baldur's Gate 3's revival of the legendary Dungeons & Dragons series to Warhammer's fantasy football spin-off returning in Blood Bowl 3, 2023 looks to be a year defined by video games rooted in classic tabletop games both explicitly and more indirectly - and Bethesda's sci-fi adventure Starfield will be no different.

Starfield creative director Todd Howard openly cited the influence of tabletop RPG Traveller on the hotly-anticipated release last October, saying that the upcoming video game is "hearkening back to those old roleplaying games that we loved". There's an especially personal connection for Howard too, as he recalled programming a Traveller game for the Apple II computer as one of his earliest coding projects.

When it comes to old roleplaying games, there are few older than Traveller. Released in 1977, only a few years after Dungeons & Dragons revolutionised tabletop roleplaying, the sci-fi RPG has evolved over no fewer than a dozen editions in the last 40-plus years, changing hands along the way from original creator Game Designers' Workshop to current-day studio Mongoose Publishing.

The game has also jumped between different gameplay systems, with the 1977 game's reliance on two six-sided dice being replaced temporarily by the d20 familiar from Dungeons & Dragons - D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast itself released a Traveller D20 in the early noughties - and seeing a spin-off for setting-agnostic system GURPS before returning to its original rules for Mongoose's latest edition.

Among the elements that made Traveller so unique at the time of its release - and still held up as one of the best sci-fi RPGs today - is its narrative approach to character creation. In contrast to D&D's use of rigid classes to define characters' skills and abilities, Traveller uses a lifepath system that simulates a character's past experience.

This lifepath system works like a mini-game in its own right, with players choosing a career for their character - typically a military path, or life as a merchant - before rolling to see what successes and mishaps they encountered in their past. This defines their starting equipment, money and more. In the harshest of cases, characters in classic Traveller could even die during character creation.

Instead of having conventional levels hit with a certain amount of generic experience points, characters' progression in Traveller is tracked by their improvement in individual skills, which can be improved by engaging in specific training. Achieving higher levels in skills requires longer training, making it a slow process - but one that can pay off with powerful character builds. This influence can arguably be seen already in past Bethesda games like Skyrim, where actually using skills is needed to improve your character's ability in them. Rather than skill advancement being the only focus in Traveller, characters also improve by obtaining improved equipment, money and social standing, which puts them in a more secure place in the vast universe.

Another key influence that Traveller could have on Starfield is its depiction of a sci-fi setting that hews a little closer to what the future could actually look like, rather than a more fantastical interpretation. In acknowledging the RPG's inspiration, Howard noted that "Traveller has a little more 'hard' science-fiction" - using the term typically used to indicate sci-fi rooted in real-life science and technology, even if it's with a forward-looking optimism.

While Traveller does include some more out-there ideas - such as psionics and telepathic powers - the universe also grounds itself with realistic rules such as the effect of Newtonian psychics on ships during space combat and the presence of more traditional firearms in the place of rayguns or blasters. Howard has previously confirmed that ship combat in Starfield will require players to manage systems such as shields, power output and weapons, adding to the sense of a more simulationist-flavoured experience.

How deep Traveller's influence on Starfield runs remains to be seen, but early looks at the game already hint at an adventure that may feel very familiar to fans of classic sci-fi roleplaying. It could be that Howard has finally managed to craft his love letter to the tabletop RPG after all these years.

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My Traveller Universe

a fan blog supporting the Traveller RPG

Traveller resources

Traveller blogs.

A few random Traveller blogs I enjoy. I might rotate these every now and then, but I try to list ones that feature interesting content and that are updated on a regular basis.

CyborgPrime Games

Traveller High Society

Yet Another Traveller blog

Traveller out of the box

Spinward Scout’s Way Station

Traveller – CT

Ancient Far Future

Alegis Downport

utility websites

The traveller map.

An amazing, canonical, interactive atlas of Charted Space . Views are adjustable and almost infinitely printable, although the learning curve to do anything but poke around on the map is significant. This datasource is constantly under review and hands-down the best overall reference on systems and worlds for the Third Imperium setting

The Traveller World Builder

Another awesome software resource, the TWB applies the T5 world design ruleset and generates maps for any world , from any of the canon worlds on the Traveller Map to a world you input the UWP for. The builder can also build out the entire system, providing a link to map each world and moon. Definitely a must-visit.

The Traveller Wiki

In its own words, the Traveller Wiki is “… the AAB Imperial Encyclopedia, a Traveller Starship Library and game resource database where you can contribute to the 40 years of Traveller history.” It’s is a living reference document that undergoes constant revision and update by Traveller scholars and fans. It is the definitive resource for researching items of interest about Traveller or the Third Imperium.

Far Future Enterprises

This is Marc Miller’s company , ( newer site here ) the producer of the currently-active Traveller5 and copy write holder of a staggering amount of historical Traveller material. The look is unapologetically old-school and the process to buy can feel a little clunky, but everything Traveller except the DGP content or Mongoose’s current works are on offer here. You can use PayPal to purchase CDs, but if you drop a note to FFE and ask nicely they’ll be happy to send you your purchases on a thumb drive… just on the off-chance you don’t happen to have access to a functional CD-ROM drive.

periodicals

Imperiallines.

Imperiallines is the current live online “‘zine” supporting Marc Miller’s Traveller5. In the last few years it has produced 2 issues( #6 and #& ) on an as-we-can schedule. The content is 100% canon, either coming directly from Marc or approved by him. It’s only available for a fee; I get mine at DriveThruRPG .

Freelance Traveller

This is an excellent bi-monthly-ish online periodical featuring non-canon fan content. Editing, layout, and copy are all well done and range over a wide variety of types including Patron and Amber Zone adventures, gear write ups, reviews of supplements or conventions, and much more. FT is free to the masses easy to submit to.

CT Journal of the Travellers Aid Society ( JTAS )

The very first periodical-based source of canon material supplementing the game, JTAS was published to add depth and increase the fanbase for Classic Traveller. Much content and thinking from the articles during the run have been incorporated into subsequent versions of the game. You can purchase a set from #1-34 from DriveThruRPG or from the FFE website on the “Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society” CD.

Traveller Chronicle

This was the ongoing magazine produced by DGP in the late 80s/early 90s when MegaTraveller was active, and the content focuses exclusively on the Rebellion and Hard Times settings. You can get issues from DriveThruRPG or directly from Far Future Enterprises  as art of the offerings on the “Apocrypha 3” CD.

Dragon Magazine

Particularly in the earlier years of its run, Dragon Magazine hosted many articles about Traveller. An index to those articles, authors, and page numbers can be found here , while PDF issues of Dragon Magazine are ( as of this writing ) available for free online at Annarchive ( you’ll have to find/search for this yourself; I’m not certain about the legality of this repository. )

Currently hosted on the Traveller Wiki, the description from there – “…was a fanzine put together by Jae Campbell and J. Duncan Law-Green and published in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The primary objective was the mapping of the Dagudashaag and generation of the complete library data. Each author was allowed to cover different eras with their articles, with the hope that the reader could adapt to their own preferences.” Complete editions of issues 1-13 are available for free.

Steve Jackson Games resurrected the idea of the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society as an ongoing source of all things GT while they had an active license. This content is currently no longer offered by GURPS in any form ( sniffsniff ), but you can grab it from FFE under “GURPS #2 CD-ROM”

Mongoose JTAS

The latest incarnation of the Journal of the TAS is produced by Mongoose Publishing to compliment and extend their 2nd edition Traveller game. There are currently 6 issues that were successfully kickstarted and sold as a set, but at present you can only buy them one at a time on the Mongoose website. Here’s a link to Issue #1

Robert Eaglestone successfully Kickstarted this fanzine “with most of the material suggested by fans who love Traveller. It’s about discussion, example, and bold ideas.” It is T5 centric, though the material could generally be used in any version. Though the publishing schedule is a bit long Mr. Eaglestone is clearly committed to delivering quality content. The  first two issues are available on DTRPG; here’s a link to the first one.

communities

Citizens of the imperium.

Official forum for the Traveller brand, Citizens of the Imperium supports conversation about all versions but shows a distinct favor towards older versions, CT most of all. Lively discussions, profoundly pedantic and out in the weeds about most any detail. Moderation is active and opinionated. Definitely not a safe space and possibly off-putting to a new gamer, definitely fertile ground for the opinionated grognard. The forum itself has a very old school look and feel which reportedly is not a bug, but rather a feature. CotI is the place to connect with the “inner circle” of Traveller. CotI features robust repositories of fan-created images, fiction, and game aids as well as play-Traveller-by-post support.

Mongoose Traveller

Mongoose Publishing hosts its own forum to discuss both of its editions ( 1st and 2nd ) of Traveller. Threads are not organized beyond most-recent-topic-as-highest, moderation is almost non-existent. Movers and shakers for the Mongoose versions frequent the board, and getting most questions answered by people in the know is easy.

GURPS Traveller

GURPS hosts a subforum on its boards for Traveller, despite its own license for the game no longer being active. Threads are organized simply, as in the Mongoose forums – most recent at the top. Certainly the focus is on the GURPS version of the game and conversation there is done almost universally by fans. The tone is friendly, but the board is not as active as the other communities listed here – in the last month there have only been active conversations in 5 of the topics.

Reddit – Traveller subReddit

Most frequented by Redditors who also happen to be gamers, this community is moderately active and almost always cordial and helpful. Discussion about recent versions of Traveller is slightly more common, but discussion of any topic relevant to Traveller is encouraged. The Traveller subReddit occasionally hosts design contests for ships, etc.

Facebook – Traveller-RPG

The FB closed ( you have to ask to be admitted ) Traveller group is an active, eclectic range of commentary questions, and random thoughts about the game in all its versions. Memes and posts about outside content that could be relevant to a Traveller game are common. Occasional version warring happens here, but moderators are active and work to maintain a friendly space. The FB group is not a great place to easily connect with Traveller movers and shakers – those in the inner circle or that regularly produce content – although a few of those people monitor the group on occasion. In my experience the FB group is most easily-approached, value-for-your-time Traveller online community. Quality of responses can vary considerably, but there will be no shortage of responses.

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Traveller & Far Future Enterprises

Citizens of the Imperium Forum

The Traveller Wiki

Mongoose Publishing • Forum

The Traveller Map

About the Traveller Map

Credits and Data Sources

News & Feedback • Bug Reports

Players & Referees

About Second Survey Data

Booklet Maker • Poster Maker

Custom Data • Submissions

Explore the API

Get the source code

World Characteristics

Travel zones.

The Zhodani Base

Maps and data, library data and astrography.

This library data section is not alphabetically ordered. Instead it is location ordered, so that You easier can find what is relevant for a specific planet.

GypsyComet, Dylan Lee and I have mapped the Foreven Sector . Foreven Sector is directly spinward (left) of the Spinward Marches .

The Space Atlas:

• The Classic Galaxy ( dotmap )
• The TNE Galaxy
• The T20 Galaxy

WARNING, Horizontal scrolling ahead!

Making your own subsector:

Check out the Random Subsector Generator . Make as many Subsectors as you want…

If you make your own Subsector, Have a look at this post: What makes a Subsector popular?

For the TML Landgrab , I have grabbed Cipango (Chronor 0705)

Four very good mapping programs are:

• Traveller Universe
• Galactic 2.4 (Yahoo Group)
• Heaven & Earth
• sec2pdf (Makes pdf from sector files)

Some ATU Subsectors:

• Merry X-Mas
• A Vargr Subsector
• Origo Point Subsector (Tutorial)
• Florensa Subsector (With a nebula)
• SKA-1979 Subsector
• Subsector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
• Eire Subsector (for games on the 17:th of March)
• Lancaster Subsector (for games at TravellerCon/USA)
• Chambersburg Subsector (more fun with the starship Notorious)
• Old Worlds (where you can find Lave)
• The Iron Stars (and Inonri District and Onrira Province)
• Xexedi Cluster (and Riredi Realm, Veisti Territory and Inera Realm)

Some Blank Maps:

• Sector Map made using QuickHex .
• Subsector Map made using QuickHex .
• Small Sector Map made using QuickHex . ( Spinward Marches , Foreven Sector , Solomani Rim , Ley (T20) )
• Big Sector Map made using QuickHex .
• Domain Map (4 sectors) made using QuickHex . ( Spica Domain )
• A Jump-6 radii map ( Cipango , Sheyou )
• Isodecahedron WorldMap with hexes .
• Larger Isodecahedron Worldmap .
• Even Larger Isodecahedron Worldmap .
• Big Subsector Map made using QuickHex .
• Big Subsector Map (printable) made using QuickHex .
• Huge Sector Map (printable) made using QuickHex . View it using the Chrome Browser, (since Firefox and Exploder seems to have problems showing huge image files) or you could download a zip-file with the Huge Sector Map.

Other traveller sites with library and astrography data are:

• Hyphen (Library Data, and Huge link-list.)
• Traveller in the DED Zone
• Interactive Atlas of the Imperium (SQL-based, very cool.)
• Underdeveloped Sectors (Vargr Extents mapping project.)
• The TRAVELLER Map (Scrollable Map, very cool.)
• Atlas of the Imperium (Big impressive book.)

Real astronomy maps (that doesn’t match the TU very well):

• Galaxy Map (Very useful for creating a realistic TU or for writers)

4 thoughts on “Maps and Data”

Excellent new look and the Striker Video is killer. Thank you for all the great work you do to keep Traveller alive.

I can’t see any jump-6 images…

Any idea how to get Universe these days? Not getting any response from BITS.

Peter Trevor made Traveller Universe . You can also find him at facebook .

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All your base are belong to us.

Traveller (role-playing game)

Tabletop science fiction role-playing game / from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dear wikiwand ai, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:.

Can you list the top facts and stats about Vargr (Traveller)?

Summarize this article for a 10 year old

Traveller is a science fiction role-playing game first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop . Marc Miller designed Traveller with help from Frank Chadwick , John Harshman , and Loren Wiseman . [1] Editions were published for GURPS , d20 , and other role-playing game systems. From its origin and in the currently published systems, the game relied upon six-sided dice for random elements. Traveller has been featured in a few novels and at least two video games.

Traveller is a tabletop game where characters journey through star systems, engaging in exploration, ground and space battles, and interstellar trading. Players assume various roles, such as humans, robots, aliens, or genetically engineered species. The game is influenced by various literary works and emphasizes commerce, sociological stratification, and a mix of low and high technology. The setting is centered around the human-dominated Third Imperium, a feudalistic interstellar empire. Despite the focus on humans, the Traveller universe is cosmopolitan and features various races, including major races like Aslan, Droyne, Hivers, K'kree, and Vargr, as well as numerous minor races. The game's history also features the Ancients, a highly advanced race that left behind ruins and artifacts scattered throughout the universe.

Traveller has been published in various editions since 1977. The original version, known as Classic Traveller, was published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW). Throughout the years, the game has evolved, with notable editions including MegaTraveller, Traveller: The New Era, Marc Miller's Traveller, GURPS Traveller, Traveller20, Traveller Hero, Mongoose Traveller, and Traveller5. The current rulesets are Traveller5 and Mongoose Traveller 2nd Ed., both of which draw from the original Traveller rules and rely on six-sided dice. Each edition presents different settings, timelines, and mechanics, showcasing the game's adaptability and enduring popularity.

Traveller is highly regarded for its production value, sophisticated character generation system, and consistent rules. It has received positive reviews across various editions, with some critics calling it the best science-fiction RPG. Traveller has won multiple Origins Awards and was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in 1996. While the game has faced some criticism, such as slow character growth and anachronistic weapons, it remains a classic in the role-playing hobby. Some video games and software have been based on the Traveller universe, including The Imperial Data Recovery System, MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy, and MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients.

Category:Traveller

Traveller began as a science fiction game written by MArc Miller and published in 1979 by Game Designer's Workshop. Although it may not technically be the first SF RPG, it is certainly considered by many to be one of the great grand-daddies of the hobby. It has undergone a number of incarnations at the hands of a variety of authors and publishers. These are Classic Traveller (CT), MegaTraveller (MT), Traveller: the New Era (TNE), Marc Miller's Traveller (T4), GURPS Traveller (GT), and Taveller d20 (T20). Traveller Fifth Edition (T5) is currently in the works.

Subcategories

This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.

• Classic Traveller
• GURPS Traveller
• MegaTraveller
• Motivational Posters: Traveller
• Traveller 4
• Traveller 5
• Traveller d20
• Traveller: The New Era

Pages in category "Traveller"

The following 18 pages are in this category, out of 18 total.

• Aleksander Berg of Tirem
• Ayeht Espihz
• Baroness Éadaoin of Mertactor
• Bridin Innes of Tierem
• Dame Sayaka Moon of New Rome
• Darion Blake of New Rome
• Doctor Irelyn Macbeth
• Igliim of Tsarina
• IMSS Scant Regard
• John Fitzhugh
• Merrick Kader
• PBP Traveller TradeAndShenanigans
• Ronnie Caststeel
• RTT Worldgen
• Scout Vargas Delaney
• Spica Sector Project:Main Page
• Tara Castillo
• The Spinward Blues

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The Traveller RPG Wiki is the Imperial Encyclopedia (Argushiigi Admegulasha Bilanidin) , a Traveller Library and game resource where you can contribute to the 47 years of Traveller history.

What is Traveller? If you have never heard of Traveller , we invite you to become part of the Third Imperium and explore Charted Space !

There is also a basic FAQ available. Traveller products are available under Copyright .

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