Friday Faction: This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller

“This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone … Mayday, Mayday.” are the most famous lines in Science Fiction roleplaying and quite possibly some of the most famous lines in roleplaying, first appearing as the strapline on the black and white and red box that contained what would become the famous ‘Little Black Books’ for the roleplaying game, Traveller, when it went on sale on July 22, 1977, at the Origins III Game Fair. Not the hobby’s first Science Fiction roleplaying game, that would be TSR, Inc.’s Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship, or indeed the second, which would be Starfaring, from Flying Buffalo, Inc., both published the previous year. However, Traveller would be the first Science Fiction roleplaying game to have an effect upon the hobby, the first roleplaying to explore the concept of a metaplot upon a whole game line, and as we approach 2027, the oldest Science Fiction roleplaying game to be in print and to have remained in print in one edition or another for nearly all of those fifty years. It is these past four decades—and a bit—of Traveller history that are explored in This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller.

This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller is written by the author of Designers & Dragons and is a described as ‘A Designers & Dragons System History’. Published by Mongoose Publishing—the current publisher of Traveller—it takes the reader from the late fifties to the twenty-twenties in recounting the story of the many editions and designers of Traveller, from the 1977 ‘Little Black Books’ of Classic Traveller to the 2013 Traveller⁵ from Far Future Enterprises to the 2016 Traveller, Second Edition from Mongoose Publishing. The origins lie—as much of early roleplaying does—in the wargaming hobby, first in designs from Avalon Hill, but then in GDW’s own wargames and its Science Fiction board games such as Imperium and Dark Nebula. Elements of these Science Fiction board games would eventually be incorporated into the Charted Space setting that would eventually become the setting for Traveller.

The first five years of Traveller’s history very much involves its original creators and developers, but after that, thanks to the largesse of the its creator, Mark Miller, the roleplaying game and its setting begins to be developed by other publishers and creators—FASA, Paranoia Press, Gamelords, and others—most notably brothers, J. Andrew Keith and William H. Keith Jr. This is where the book is at its most interesting examining the influence of others upon Traveller and its development, in particular by the staff of Digest Group Publications, first through their fanzine, The Traveller Digest, followed by supplements that they would publish themselves and those they would write and develop for GDW. If it was not quite as obvious at the time, it is made clear that the relationship between GDW and Digest Group Publications was very strong, the latter effectively serving as a design house for the latter. Equally as interesting is the exploration of the response to Traveller and its development by its fandom, especially to the major changes wrought in the latter editions of Traveller published by GDW. First with MegaTraveller and the assassination of Emperor Strephon and its repercussions, and second, with its most far-reaching repercussion, Traveller: The New Era. This takes the reader deep into the development and complexities of the History of the Imperium Working Group, out of which would grow the next writers and developers of Traveller.

Part of the conceit of This is Free Trader Beowulf is that as much as it explores the history of Traveller and its setting of Charted Space, it maps that history onto the structure of the book. In the timeline of Charted Space, the period of economic collapse between the Rule of Man and the foundation of the Third Imperium is known as the Long Night, inspired by the collapse and subsequent interregnum detailed in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, but in This is Free Trader Beowulf, the Long Night is the decade between 1998 and 2007 following the collapse of Marc Miller’s Traveller or T4. Much like the collapse of the Third Imperium and Asimov’s Galactic Empire, support for Traveller in the early twenty-first century collapsed into Pocket Empires, each specialising in different treatments of the intellectual property. Thus, it collapses from one history into several—GURPS Traveller from Steve Jackson Games which kept Emperor Strephon and the Third Imperium alive, QuikLink Interactive which developed Traveler T20 based on the d20 System, Comstar Games and Avenger Enterprises which pushed the history of Charted Space even further into the future with the 1248 Sourcebook 1: Out of the Darkness, and even another ruleset with Traveller Hero. Yet like the Long Night and the Pocket Empires that hung on, their history is swept away with the coming of Mongoose Publishing, which since 2007 has been the publisher of Traveller, bringing about as This is Free Trader Beowulf alludes, a new golden era of content and support for both the roleplaying game and Charted Space. It ends the history on a hopeful tone, noting that Mark Miller is still creating his own content with Traveller⁵ in parallel with the extensive support from Mongoose Publishing.

Throughout, with every era, ‘A View From The Industry’ gives context into which each new version of Traveller is published, paying particular attention to the state of Science Fiction roleplaying, whilst ‘What Could Have Been’ details different roleplaying games, supplements, scenarios, rulesets, and board games which might have been published by GDW, had things been different. Then, as a reference, every chapter in This is Free Trader Beowulf concludes with its own list of main references—the latter consisting of URLs, original sources, maps that mark the locations of various scenarios, and more. There is a checklist too of titles released, useful, no doubt, for the collector.

However, it does feel odd that This is Free Trader Beowulf, as a history of Traveller, was published in 2024 rather in 2022, which would have been the forty-fifth anniversary of the founding of GDW, or in 2027, which would have marked the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Traveller. Further, the lack of interviews—although many interviews are referenced throughout the book—lends This is Free Trader Beowulf an impersonal air, even a feeling of austerity that dare I say it, echoes that of the original ‘Little Black Books’. That said, if This is Free Trader Beowulf lacks the personal touch, it is never less than clear on what the designers of and contributors to Traveller intended and what they achieved. Perhaps that personal touch might be celebrated for the roleplaying game’s fiftieth anniversary with a book of interviews and retrospectives that could be a welcome companion to This is Free Trader Beowulf?

Nevertheless, This is Free Trader Beowulf is a physically attractive book. The layout is clean and tidy, and it is illustrated with a wide range good art, including individual pieces that date back to the early years of Traveller and all the way to the present, as well as lots and lots of covers from the roleplaying game’s numerous editions and eras. That said, it does need an edit in places, including—amusingly—on the spine.

Of course, the author of This is Free Trader Beowulf has already presented a history of GDW in the pages of the first volume of Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry. Some of that history is repeated here, which is understandable and unavoidable, but This is Free Trader Beowulf is in part, also the history of other publishers and their specific role in keeping Traveller in print, if not always successfully. The combination of the old and the new is a fascinating read, an exploration of the hows and the whys of not just the original contributors, but also the fans and the fans who became contributors. This is Free Trader Beowulf is not book for the casual fan of roleplaying necessarily, and it is possibly too specialised for many players and Game Masters. Whereas, for anyone with an interest in roleplaying history it is a volume that they should have their shelf and for the Traveller fan, it is a volume that they will appreciate above all, exploring as it does both their past and that of the hobby. This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller is the definitive guide to the history of the roleplaying hobby’s most popular and longest running Science Fiction game and certainly lays down a template for other roleplaying games of a similar vintage and varied story.

Near & Far

“Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” It seems glib to be opening with a quote from Douglas Adams’ The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Guide, but given the sense of scale to The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey, it nevertheless feels appropriate. Published by Far Future Enterprises, this is a supplement designed for use with Traveller⁵: Science-Fiction Adventures in the Far Future, but actually compatible with any version of Traveller which brings together over sixty star maps which together show the vast expanse of the Third Imperium and nearby sectors in Charted Space. It covers an area roughly thirty-nine by twenty-nine sectors—each sector consisting of sixteen subsectors, and each subsector ten by eight parsecs across, meaning that—roughly—the area covered by The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey is fifteen hundred and sixty by nine-hundred-and-twenty-eight parsecs across! Make no mistake, from the Coreward sectors of Gashikan and Trenchans to the Rimward sectors of Aldebaran and Langere, and from the Spinward sectors of the Vanguard Reaches and Tienspevnekr (and beyond!) to the Trailing sectors of Arzul and the Crucis Margin, this book covers a huge amount of space. 

However, The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey covers a whole lot more than just space. Every sector is given a one-page map depicting all sixteen of its subsectors, marked up with world types—worlds with water, desert worlds, or asteroids, whether a gas giant is present in the system, the letter code for the type of starport present, and type of base present, including Imperial Naval Base, Scout Base, and so on. The list of symbols has been greatly expanded to cover an array of base types, such as a Zhodani Base, Corsair/Clan/Embassy, Research Station, Imperial Reserve, Penal Colony, and more. Worlds with large populations have their names given in uppercase, letter codes indicate political allegiances, and various worlds are ringed to indicate travel zones—Amber and Red. Lastly X-boat routes are marked, as the political borders in different colours. The name of each sector, plus those for each of the sixteen subsectors in the sector is given in the outer margin. 

Each sector is followed by a listing of the world data for every world in the sector, the data running for barely a page for the lesser populated sector, but as many as three pages! This is done in the Traveller⁵ Second Survey format. Thus, hex location and main world name, followed by the UWP or Universal World Profile (starport, planetary size, atmosphere type, hydrographic percentage, population, government type, law level, and tech level), all pretty much as you would expect for Traveller. The Traveller⁵ Second Survey format expands this with an extensive list of further classifications and remarks. Thus a world can have Trade Classifications such as Garden World or Non-Agricultural, Remarks indicating whether the world is home to an Ancient Site, a Penal Colony, or under Military Rule, the highest nobility found there if any, whilst Importance, Economic, and Cultural Extensions all expand upon the basic details of each and every world. 

However, in many cases, the Importance, Economic, and Cultural Extensions all have code strings of their own, though much shorter than the standard UWP, represent more numbers for the Game Master to interpret and attempt to bring to the gaming table. For example, the Cultural Extension includes ratings for the world’s Heterogeneity, Acceptance, and Strangeness, with seven being the norm. Overall, it is a lot of information to take in and interpret, and the process of doing so, is hampered by the way in which the information is presented. The content on the maps is small enough, but the text size for the world data is not that much larger and presented in dense columns of fairly text makes it a challenge to read and pick any details. 

The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey is designed to be a navigational guide to the Third Imperium and its surrounding worlds—in game and out of game. In game, it is an update of the First Survey conducted by the Imperial Grand Survey, an office of the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service, and published in the year 420 after a hundred years of work. The Second Survey, a much-needed update and expansion of the obsolete First Survey was begun as part of the millennial celebrations of the Third Imperium, and published in 1065. The current version of The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey has a publication date of 1105. Out of game, The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey is an update of The Atlas Of The Imperium published by Game Designers’ Workshop in 1984, and provides a massive amount of information for the Game Master to explore and see how the many sectors, subsectors, polities, and worlds relate to each other, and at least have the basic information about world to hand, if not necessarily the specifics. One sector, Foreven, abutting the Zhodani Consulate, just Spinward of the Spinward Marches, apart from a few worlds, has been left intentionally blank, including the specific World Data entries which follow, essentially providing the Game Master with two pages of question marks. 

In some ways though, the most interesting aspect to The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey is its credits pages. This names the designers and origins of each one of the supplement’s nearly seventy sectors, as well who most recently developed it for inclusion here. In doing so, it mentions many of the great names that long time Traveller fans will recognise, such as J. Andrew Keith, William H. Keith, Joe D. Fugate Sr. Martin Dougherty, and more, drawing on sourcebooks as diverse as MegaTraveller Alien, Volume 1: Vilani & Vargr, Crucis Margin, Gateway to Destiny, and many, many more. It is a reminder that a great deal of the setting to Traveller and its Third Imperium and beyond, was not necessarily developed by Marc Miller and Game Designers’ Workshop, but rather farmed out to other publishers to develop and publish content for.

Physically, The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey is cleanly laid out, but does need another edit and barring the cover, is illustration free. Of course, the text and the maps may well be too small for some readers to read with any ease and a magnifying glass may be warranted. 

The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey feels such a high-level product–both in the game and out of it, providing the ultimate in grand overview of the Third Imperium and its surrounds, that it is really difficult to say how useful the supplement truly is. It does provide both player and Game Master alike with swathes of maps and territories and data, that it is difficult to encompass. The likelihood after all, is that a gaming group and its campaign is going to dig down from the lofty heights presented here and be exploring, adventuring, and gaming at the level of the subsector and sector at most. For that, they will need further information, which of course, is not present in the pages of The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey. Which is reasonable enough, since such a project would have the scope and stature of the Encyclopaedia Galactica of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy, one of the primary inspirations for Traveller. Yet, The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey does feel like it needs context. Perhaps a page devoted to each sector, providing an overview and some Library Data (there is none in the supplement)? 

Ultimately, however useful a Game Master and her players find The Atlas Of The Imperium: Second Survey, it is very much a huge update and an enormous improvement in both the amount and the presentation of the information first seen in 1984’s The Atlas of the Imperium. It really needs an Encyclopaedia of the Third Imperium as a companion.