[Fanzine Focus XXXV] The Travellers’ Digest #3

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. However, not all fanzines written with the Old School Renaissance in mind need to be written for a specific retroclone. Although not the case now, the popularity of Traveller would spawn several fanzines, of which The Travellers’ Digest, published by Digest Group Publications, was the most well known and would eventually transform from a fanzine into a magazine.

The publication of The Travellers’ Digest #1 in June, 1985 marked the entry of Digest Group Publications into the hobby and from this small, but ambitious beginnings would stem a complete campaign and numerous highly-regarded supplements for Game Designers Workshop’s Traveller and MegaTraveller, as well as a magazine that all together would run for twenty-one issues between 1985 and 1990. The conceit was that The Travellers’ Digest was a magazine within the setting of the Third Imperium, its offices based on Deneb in the Deneb Sector, and that it awarded the Travellers’ Digest Touring Award. This award would be won by one of the Player Characters and thus the stage is set for ‘The Grand Tour’, the long-running campaign in the pages of The Travellers’ Digest. In classic fashion, as with Europe of the eighteenth century, this would take the Player Characters on a tour of the major capitals of known space. These include Vland, Capitol, Terra, the Aslan Hierate, and even across the Great Rift. The meat of this first issue, as well as subsequent issues, would be dedicated to an adventure, each a stop-off on the ‘The Grand Tour’, along with support for it. The date for the first issue of The Travellers’ Digest and thus when the campaign begins is 152-1111, the 152nd day of the 1111th year of the Imperium.

To best run ‘The Grand Tour’, the Referee will need access to The Atlas of the Imperium, Supplement 8: Library Data (A-M), Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z), Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats (or alternatively, Supplement 5: Azhanti High Lightning), as well as the core rules. In addition, other supplements would be required depending on the adventure. For example, ‘Of Xboats and Friends’, the opening part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #1 requires the supplement, The Undersea Environment, and adventure, The Drenslaar Quest, published by Gamelords, Ltd., are both useful for running underwater adventures—though they are really only useful if the Referee develops adventuring content beyond that presented in the issue. Alien Module 4: Zhodani may also be useful. Of course, that was in 1985, and much, if not all, of the rules or background necessary have been updated since. The campaign is also specifically written for use with four pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of Akidda Laagiir, the journalist who won the Travellers’ Digest Touring Award; Dur Telemon, a scout and his nephew; Doctor Theodor Krenstein, a gifted-scientist and roboticist; and Doctor Krenstein’s valet, ‘Aybee’, or rather, ‘AB-101’. The fact is, AB-101 is a pseudo-biological robot, both protégé and prototype. Consequently, the mix of Player Characters are surprisingly non-traditional and not all of them are easily created used the means offered in Traveller or MegaTraveller. This is addressed within various issues of the fanzine.

The Travellers’ Digest #3 was also published in December, 1985 and moved the date on from 152-1101, the 152nd day of the 1101st year of the Imperium to 335-1101, the 335th day of the 1101st year of the Imperium. The opening ‘Editors’ Digest’ discusses the planned presence of the fanzine at Origins ’86 in Los Angeles, the aim being to have The Travellers’ Digest #5 available for what would be the first anniversary of the fanzine, by which time ‘The Grand Tour’ campaign will have reached Vland. The editorial also highlights the new look of the fanzine and it is indeed tidier and cleaner in appearance.

The third part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #3 is ‘Feature Adventure 3: Visit to Antiquity’. In addition to the standard books required by the campaign, the books Adventure 12, Secret of the Ancients, Alien Module 3, Vargr, Alien Module 5, Droyne, and The Atlas of the Imperium will all very useful. The adventure again breaks down the Universal Task Profile used throughout and again, presents the four pre-generated Player Characters. The adventure itself opens with the colour fiction, ‘Tourist Trap’, which explains why the quartet decide to travel to the world of Antiquity and its Ancient site. Doctor Krenstein decides that he wants to visit the world of Antiquity in the Ian Subsector of Corridor Sector in the Domain of Vland, expressing an interest in taking a tour of what is the most accessible and best-preserved Ancients site in the Third Imperium. Akidda Laagiir, the journalist, decries the suggestion, describing the site as nothing more than a tourist trap, and certainly not worth spending two weeks there. After some discussion, the quartet of travellers take a vote and come to an agreement, and visit for a week. Akidda Laagiir still thinks that it will be dull, but as the events of the scenario, it proves to be anything but that.

Antiquity is a moon of the system’s outermost gas giant, a dry world with a thin, tainted atmosphere, best noted for the blast crater at the centre of which is a dome constructed of and containing the fantastic high technology of the Ancients. There is a sleek, white plasticity to the whole complex, with inexplicably strange objects and features throughout. The scenario provides a complete description of the complex and the route that visitors guided along by the discreetly armed tour guides. There are some fourteen such locations, which to be honest, are more interesting to read about than play through. This is because the player and characters are essentially receiving one lengthy dose of exposition. However, it does serve a purpose because it contrasts with what follows.

Doctor Krenstein is recognised and invited by Irsaell, a Vargr scientist, to visit another excavation site where a Vargr scientific exchange team has made an amazing discovery. Objects known as ‘Madimge Eggs’, made of solid monadium as are both the museum and the new excavation site, have been found at both locations. Most are closed and sealed, but open ones contain a variety of crystals. To date, no one has found a means of opening or closing the ‘Madimge Eggs’, but Irsaell has. This is the chance for the quartet to visit somewhere new and interesting, and gives Akidda Laagiir the prospect of getting a better and more interesting story. He does not get the story he imagines. Again, the Player Characters are given a tour of the new dig site, but all of a sudden, the new dig site seals itself, trapping both the Player Characters and their Vargr hosts inside. Fortunately, the archaeological team is fully equipped and that includes supplies for several days at least, but the situation and the discovery of a ‘neo-Vargr’ genetic sample increases tension between the Charisma-dominated hierarchy of the Vargr of the scientific team. For the human Player Characters this will be problematic because they will find themselves relatively low down on this hierarchy, which means that the Vargr will expect them to act with a certain deference and if actions do not go their way, the Vargr may react with violence. That said, there are numerous means of expressing this violence, including verbally, a shove, a snarl, and so on, before resorting to physical harm.

Essentially, a ‘locked room’ mystery, ‘Visit to Antiquity’ is a fascinating look at an Ancients site and a fraught exposure to Vargr interaction. It is not an easy scenario to run though, because there are ten Vargr NPCs trapped with the Player Characters in the excavation site. There is some advice on both handling and portraying them and their interactions with the Player Characters to ensure that their alien nature comes to the fore. Included too, are some notes from various playthroughs so as to give the Game Master of how the events of the scenario play out. Overall, ‘Visit to Antiquity’ is an interesting scenario more than a good scenario. This does not mean that it is a bad scenario at all, but rather its scope and number of NPCs make it a challenging affair to run. However, Akidda Laagiir does get his story and the quartet’s ‘Visit to Antiquity’ proves to more than just a ‘tourist trap’—though of course, as tourist, it proves also be exactly that!

‘Playing the Characters’ continues the close examination of the pre-generated Player Characters provided for ‘The Grand Tour’ campaign. This time the spotlight is on Doctor Krenstein and here he is given a complete biography and explanation as to why he has decided to go on a sabbatical. In hindsight, it would have been useful to have had all of this information at the start of the campaign, but is still a useful addition to the Player Character and the campaign. ‘Library Data’ expands on the information provided as part of the ‘Visit to Antiquity’ scenario, complementing both Supplement 8: Library Data (A-M) and Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z). It covers the Ancients, Corridor sector, the Droyne, Monadium, and more, all information which would be available to the players and their characters.

Also complementing ‘Visit to Antiquity’ scenario is ‘Vargr language and Culture’. Written as an excerpt from “Vargr Culture: An Introductory Survey”, this is another article that the players and their characters could have access to. This emphasises the importance of Charisma for Vargr and how that is expressed, particularly verbally, an interesting aspect that the Game Master could bring into play. Included too are some Vargr proverbs, which the Game Master could also include, and an explanation of Vargr psychology in relation to their origins as a genetically manipulated species uplifted by the Ancients from Terran wolf stock. The reactions to this vary, including feelings of inferiority and the drive to overcome this by proving self-worth, leading to brash and dangerous behaviour, and the belief that that their origins make Vargr special. Even this varies, including some Vargr who believe in their species’ superiority over all others! Included is a ‘Gvegh’ alphabet for the dialect spoken by a majority of Vargr. Over all, this is a fascinating article, well written and with some good examples of Vargr interaction which will help the Game Master portray the Vargr in ‘Visit to Antiquity’.

The location of Antiquity is detailed in ‘Ian Subsector’, which provides a good overview as well as a subsector map. Besides Antiquity, notable worlds include Jubal, a Red Zone world with a derelict underground city home to a population of highly xenophobic Vargr, and Kiran, home to the best medical facilities for twenty parsecs.

Penultimately, The Travellers’ Digest #3 returns to the major focus of The Travellers’ Digest #1 and that is robots. ‘Robot Design Revisited, Part 3’ continues the expansion on the ‘Ref’s Notes’ article, ‘Robots’ which appeared in The Best of the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society. Instead of looking at their construction or detailing different models, this looks at their role in the game and in the background of the Third Imperium. Thus, it discusses the nature and origins of ‘The Shudusham Concords’, the pre-Third Imperium basis for laws governing function, programming, weapons uses, and more of robots throughout its extents. It notes that robots only become common at Tech Level 12 and above and that pseudo-biological robots—such as Doctor Krenstein’s valet, ‘Aybee’, or rather, ‘AB-101’—are only available at Tech level 15 and above, and even then, are very rare and expensive. There are notes too on portraying the artificial intelligence of robots and a detailed breakdown of the apparent UPP for pseudo-biological robots, ‘Aybee’ being the example. Handling robot misunderstanding of instructions is covered and there is a ‘Universal Robot Profile’ for ‘Aybee’ as well, which provides a technical version of him rather than the Player Character version included as part of the campaign. The article brings the series to close with useful and interesting information that will help the Game Master portray the presence of robots in her campaign.

‘The Corridor Sector’ provides the X-Boat routes, maps, and Library Date for the Corridor Sector, further complementing content earlier in the fanzine. This contains lots of lovely details about several of the most notable worlds across the sector, but does leave you wishing for more. ‘The Gaming Digest: Damage and Repair’ gives a detailed guide to determine damage done to items of technology and how to repair, drawing on Striker and Traveller, to give a Universal Task Profile for making repairs and ‘Traveller Tech Briefs: Sensory Devices: Densitometers’ examines how a densitometers, or ‘mass detector’ works and can be used in play. On planets, they can be used to locate tectonic plates and ore deposits, whilst in space, they can even detect the presence of gas giants—from which a starship can scoop and refine fuel. Lots of uses, so nice to have idea of how they work so that they can be useful during play. Both of these last two articles are decent and nice additions for playing the version of Traveller at the time.

Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #3 is, as with all of the issues so far, very obviously created using early layout software. Whilst it looks slightly rough by modern standards, this would have looked clean and semi-professional at the time.

The Travellers’ Digest keeps getting better and better, with The Travellers’ Digest #3 an improvement over The Travellers’ Digest #2. Several of the articles support ‘Feature Adventure 3: Visit to Antiquity’ whilst also being interesting in their own right such as ‘Vargr language and Culture’ and ‘Library Data’. ‘Feature Adventure 3: Visit to Antiquity’ is an interesting scenario rather than necessarily a good one, but it has a strong emphasis on interaction and roleplaying with the otherness of the Vargr, making it surprisingly sophisticated. The Travellers’ Digest #3 is an entertaining and informative issue with content that Traveller fans would appreciate today.

[Fanzine Focus XXXIV] The Travellers’ Digest #2

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. However, not all fanzines written with the Old School Renaissance in mind need to be written for a specific retroclone. Although not the case now, the popularity of Traveller would spawn several fanzines, of which The Travellers’ Digest, published by Digest Group Publications, was the most well known and would eventually transform from a fanzine into a magazine.

The publication of The Travellers’ Digest #1 in 1985 marked the entry of Digest Group Publications into the hobby and from this small, but ambitious beginnings would stem a complete campaign and numerous highly-regarded supplements for Game Designers Workshop’s Traveller and MegaTraveller, as well as a magazine that all together would run for twenty-one issues between 1985 and 1990. The conceit was that The Travellers’ Digest was a magazine within the setting of the Third Imperium, its offices based on Deneb in the Deneb Sector, and that it awarded the Traveller’s Digest Touring Award. This award would be won by one of the Player Characters and thus the stage is set for ‘The Grand Tour’, the long-running campaign in the pages of The Travellers’ Digest. In classic fashion, as with Europe of the eighteenth century, this would take the Player Characters on a tour of the major capitals of known space. These include Vland, Capitol, Terra, the Aslan Hierate, and even across the Great Rift. The meat of this first issue, as well as subsequent issues, would be dedicated to an adventure, each a stop-off on the ‘The Grand Tour’, along with support for it. The date for the first issue of The Traveller’s Digest and thus when the campaign begins is 152-1111, the 152nd day of the 1111th year of the Imperium.

To best run ‘The Grand Tour’, the Referee will need access to The Atlas of the Imperium, Supplement 8: Library Data (A-M), Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z), Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats (or alternatively, Supplement 5: Azhanti High Lightning), as well as the core rules. In addition, other supplements would be required depending on the adventure. For example, ‘Of Xboats and Friends’, the opening part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #1 requires the supplement, The Undersea Environment, and adventure, The Drenslaar Quest, published by Gamelords, Ltd., are both useful for running underwater adventures—though they are really only useful if the Referee develops adventuring content beyond that presented in the issue. Alien Module 4: Zhodani may also be useful. Of course, that was in 1985, and much, if not all, of the rules or background necessary have been updated since. The campaign is also specifically written for use with four pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of Akidda Laagiir, the journalist who won the Traveller’s Digest Touring Award; Dur Telemon, a scout and his nephew; Doctor Theodor Krenstein, a gifted-scientist and roboticist; and Doctor Krenstein’s valet, ‘Aybee’, or rather, ‘AB-101’. The fact is, AB-101 is a pseudo-biological robot, both protégé and prototype. Consequently, the mix of Player Characters are surprisingly non-traditional and not all of them are easily created used the means offered in Traveller or MegaTraveller. This is addressed within various issues of the fanzine.

The Travellers’ Digest #2 was also published in 1985 and moved the date on from 152-1111, the 152nd day of the 1111th year of the Imperium to 244-1111, the 244th day of the 1111th year of the Imperium. The opening ‘Editors’ Digest’ looks both backward to the first issue and forward to future issues, as well as commentating on the editors’ success at Origins in Baltimore that year. It highlights the success of the fanzine right from the off and how the editors’ thoughts on various aspects of Traveller align with those of its designer, Marc Miller.

The second part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #2 is ‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’. In addition to the standard books required by the campaign, the adventure needs the supplement The Desert Environment and the scenario, Duneraiders, both originally published by Gamelords, Ltd, since the adventure takes place on a desert world. The adventure breaks down the Universal Task Profile used throughout and again, presents the four pre-generated Player Characters. The adventure itself opens with some colour fiction which explains why the quartet decide to travel to the world of Wal-ta-ka. This is because Akidda Laagiir, the journalist who won the Traveller’s Digest Touring Award, is in search of a story. The terms of the award demand that he submit a regular story highlighting cultural diversity in the Imperium and on Wal-ta-ka, there is a culture which rejects technology. Could that be the basis of a story—let alone a scenario?

Wal-ta-ka is a tidally locked world in the Atsah Subsector of Deneb Sector. A seismic quake destroyed the original mining colony in 234 and the population thought to be wiped out. However, some managed to survive and their descendants evolved into their own nomadic sub-culture. Notably, the nomads reject all technology beyond Tech Level 2 and see its use as blasphemous. The scenario is initially driven by Akidda Laagiir, who wants to make contact with the ‘San-de Wal-ta-ka’, one of the hunter-gatherer tribes living on the bright side of the world. This is actually easily achieved as the tribe welcomes visitors so long as they leave all advanced technology behind. The tribe also sees the journalist’s interest in it and its culture as flattering. However, the Player Characters will make a terrible cultural faux pas. Either the ‘San-de Wal-ta-ka’ discover that they have brought an item of advanced technology with them (if they did) or a duel is provoked with ‘Aybee’ and discover that ‘AB-101’ is actually a pseudo-biological robot—and thus not human! This all needs to be done in order to set up the major part of the scenario and that is the Player Characters being forced to survive in the desert of Wal-ta-ka.

All members of the tribe are expected to make a ‘Sojourn’ into the desert at the age of fourteen. They are expected to survive alone in the desert for fourteen days and soo to are the Player Characters. This is essentially to atone for their cultural transgression of bringing technology into the tribe, but in the process, it can also make them members of the tribe. The scenario details what the Player Characters need to survive and what resources and dangers can be found out in the desert. This includes plant and animal descriptions, a list of possible environmental encounters, and there is both a map of the planet and the region where the Sojourn is to take place. There are notes too on how the NPCs were created using and diverging from Citizens of the Imperium, plus the tribe’s particular skills such as Guard/Hunting, Falconry, Riding, and Herding. In particular, there is a guide to roleplaying ‘Aybee’ because his role is important in the scenario as it probably triggers the major events of the story. Lastly, the notes for the Referee also talk about motivations for the other Player Characters to go on the Sojourn, such as Akidda Laagiir wanting a good story and Dur Telemon, the scout, wanting to prove that he can survive on this world.

‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’ does feel forced as an adventure, and it does set up a situation where the Player Characters are expected to survive in a situation without recourse to their technological devices. Players instinctively hate this, being forced into a situation that is outside of their comfort zone and that of their characters. However, given the Player Characters of ‘The Grand Tour’, they actually have the motivation to do this. At the same time, the Game Master needs to make this adventure interesting and keep her players engaged. Lastly, it should be pointed out that the setting of ‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’ and elements of its story, are inspired by Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune, and its desert world of Arrakis, as does The Desert Environment and Duneraiders, right down to there being a chemical substance which could have wider implications beyond the world of Wal-ta-ka. This is not Spice, of course, but the pollen of a cactus plant that induces hibernation and has potential medical uses. The Atsah Subsector of Deneb Sector is detailed and accompanied by its own Library Data, though this applies more to ‘The Grand Tour’ as a whole rather than the scenario.

One of the Player Characters in ‘The Grand Tour’ is Akidda Laagiir, a journalist. However, there is not the means to create a Journalist Player Character in Traveller, the version of the rules available at the time, though there is one now in the current edition of the rules. ‘Journalist Character Generation’ presents the new Career in the same format as that of Mercenary and High Guard, introducing the new skills of Persuade and Interview. Interview can stand in for the Interrogation skill, but is not as effective. An overview of journalism at various Tech Levels is given in ‘Recording Devices’, the last article in the issue, covering text, sound, and image recorders. It is a good complementary piece, which should provide the Journalist Player Character with everything he needs to carry out his job.

Penultimately, The Travellers’ Digest #2 returns to the major focus of The Travellers’ Digest #1 and that is robots. ‘Robot Design Revisited, Part 2’ continues the expansion on the ‘Ref’s Notes’ article, ‘Robots’ which appeared in The Best of the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society. It includes some examples a Tech Level 12 Cargo Robot and a Tech Level 14 Zhodani Warbot, introduces the Universal Robot Profile or URP, plus all of the codes necessary and their explanation, and presents both the Warbot and ‘AB-101’ as URP examples. The accompanying ‘Easy Task Resolution’ is written exclusively with the pseudo biological robot in mind and covers some of the tasks that his creator, Doctor Theodor Krenstein, will likely have to undertake in order to repair him. It is quite handy, especially given the encounters that ‘AB-101’ is likely to have in the scenario, ‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’.

Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #2 is very obviously created using early layout software. However, that layout is surprisingly tidy and if some of the artwork is created using a computer too, it is not actually that bad.

The Travellers’ Digest #2 is already an improvement over The Travellers’ Digest #1. The inclusion of the Journalist as a Career is an excellent addition and together with ‘Robot Design Revisited, Part 1’ supports the scenario in the issue, ‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’ in the short term, and ‘The Grand Tour’ campaign in the long term. The scenario itself does feel somewhat forced, but it plays to the motivations of the Player Characters and it is far more coherent and playable than ‘Of Xboats and Friends’ from The Travellers’ Digest #1. Overall, The Travellers’ Digest #2 is a solid second issue, a good follow up to The Travellers’ Digest #1, with some decent content.

Mayday: The Travellers’ Digest #1

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The Travellers’ Digest #1 was published in 1985. It marked the entry of Digest Group Publications into the hobby and from this small, but ambitious beginnings would stem a complete campaign and numerous highly-regarded supplements for Game Designers Workshop’s Traveller and MegaTraveller, as well as a long running magazine. That magazine was The Travellers’ Digest and it would really begin as a fanzine before developing into a full magazine that together would run for twenty-one issues between 1985 and 1990. The conceit was that The Travellers’ Digest was a magazine within the setting of the Third Imperium, its offices based on Deneb in the Deneb Sector, and that it awarded the Traveller’s Digest Touring Award. This award would be won by one of the Player Characters and thus the stage is set for ‘The Grand Tour’, the long-running campaign in the pages of The Travellers’ Digest. In classic fashion, as with Europe of the eighteenth century, this would take the Player Characters on a tour of the major capitals of known space. These include Vland, Capitol, Terra, the Aslan Hierate, and even across the Great Rift. The meat of this first issue, as well as subsequent issues, would be dedicated to an adventure, each a stop-off on the ‘The Grand Tour’, along with support for it. The date for the first issue of The Traveller’s Digest and thus when the campaign begins is 152-1111, the 152nd day of the 1111th years of the Imperium.

To best run ‘The Grand Tour’, the Referee will need access to The Atlas of the Imperium, Supplement 8: Library Data (A-M), Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z), Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats (or alternatively, Supplement 5: Azhanti High Lightning), as well as the core rules. In addition, the supplement, The Undersea Environment, and adventure, The Drenslaar Quest, published by Gamelords, Ltd., are both useful for running underwater adventures—though they are really only useful if the Referee develops adventuring content beyond that presented in the issue. Alien Module 4: Zhodani may also be useful. Of course, that was in 1985, and much, if not all, of the rules or background necessary have been updated since.

The set-up for ‘The Grand Tour’ begins with descriptions of the pre-generated Player Characters. There are four. They consist of Akidda Laagiir, the journalist who won the Traveller’s Digest Touring Award; Dur Telemon, a scout and his nephew; Doctor Theodor Krenstein, a gifted-scientist and roboticist; and Doctor Krenstein’s valet, ‘Aybee’, or rather, ‘AB-101’. The fact is, AB-101 is a pseudo-biological robot, both protégé and prototype. Consequently, the mix of Player Characters are surprisingly non-traditional and not all of them are easily created used the means offered in Traveller or MegaTraveller.

The Feature adventure in The Travellers’ Digest #1 ‘Of Xboats and Friends’, its opening fiction, ‘It’s a Small Galaxy!’, setting the scene for the scenario as the four characters meet up on a passenger liner bound for the world of Jode in the Pretoria subsector. The primary motivations are to locate Neric Andor, a fellow Scout and friend of Dur Telemon, and for Doctor Krenstein, to test out a theory he has about the extinct sentient species on Jode. The Player Characters begin by looking for Neric Andor, searching high and low in the bars and casinos on Jode Orbital, but without any success, although they do pick up plenty of rumours—sabotage of a surface processing plant, a missing Vargr starship, and slowed outsystem mail being the least of them. When the Player Characters do find information about their missing friend, that he frequented a casino, they are warned off by a couple of Scouts—or are they? It turns out that they are actually part of a Zhodani spy operation on Jode and AB-101 has the means to detect their origins via their speech patterns.

In the second part of the adventure, the Player Characters manage to get aboard the Express Boat Tender Albany, where Neric is stationed and has just returned to. The Albany is detailed and deck plans are included as the Player Characters quickly discover that the Neric stationed there is an imposter. The plot quickly wraps up and should reveal the extent of Zhodani espionage operations in the system. The Player Characters are well rewarded, including the robot.

The adventure includes some roleplaying notes for each of the Player Characters, both the Referee and the players. It is noticeable that as a journalist, Akidda Laagiir, has an incredible skill of ‘Interview-5’! (The Journalist Career would appear in The Traveller’s Digest #2.) However, the roleplaying notes mix and match the information, so they contain information for both the Referee and the players, so there is information present that the players should not read as well as stuff they should know. Which is a problem which runs throughout the scenario, mixing information the players and their characters should know with information they should not. Consequently, the fairly linear and often direct adventure does need to be pulled apart and quite heavily prepared for the players, especially in terms of handouts.

The world of Jode is described in some detail. This includes its UUP—both past and present, its toxic, chlorine-tainted atmosphere, limited landmasses, and importance as a source of pharmaceuticals and the fact that it was once home to a sentient, land-dwelling species prior to a geological disaster. Options for further adventures are included. The Player Characters can go sea hunting or mining—details of a submersible are provided—and there is the suggestion that the scientist Player Character is interested in the archaeology of Jode.

There is some further library data in The Travellers’ Digest #1, divided into two strands. One covers some nineteen worlds of the Deneb sector, plus of a map of the Xboat routes across the Deneb sector. The other is a more general, covering the Shudusham Accords (by which armaments carried by robots are limited), the Vilani supremacist group known as the Rachele Society and its associated revolt which took place on Pretoria in the Pretoria subsector, and more. All of it is relevant to the main adventure to some degree. The Pretoria subsector is detailed, including both subsector map and the UPPs for all of its worlds.

The last three articles in The Travellers’ Digest #1 all have a technical bent. ‘Robot Design Revisited, Part 1’ expands on the ‘Ref’s Notes’ article, ‘Robots’ which appeared in The Best of the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society. The article provides a new seven-step robot design system, from chassis and power plant through to sensors/devices and programming. It includes a fully worked (and costed!) example, which fittingly, is for the Player Character, AB-101. Of course, the article would be superseded the year following the publication of The Travellers’ Digest #1 with the release of Book 8: Robots from Game Designer Workshop. ‘Using Skills Effectively’ provides the Referee with a more consistent set of mechanics than is necessarily found in Traveller at the time, whilst ‘Orbital Complexes’ provides guidance for creating such facilities using Book 5: High Guard. The trio is well thought out and certainly would have been appreciated by the Traveller Referee at the time.

Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #1 is very obviously created using early layout software. However, that layout is surprisingly tidy and if some of the artwork is created using a computer too, it is not actually that bad.

The Travellers’ Digest #1 contains a lot of information that the prospective Traveller Referee would have found useful, whether that is ‘Robot Design Revisited, Part 1’, the ‘Library Data’, or ‘Using Skills Effectively’. However, the scenario in the first issue, ‘Of Xboats and Friends’, is both a highlight and a missed opportunity. Of course, it sets up ‘The Grand Tour’ and it is direct and likely fun to play. However, it needs a lot of work to pull apart and prepare, particularly with handouts and library data and the downside to being direct is that it does direct the players at certain points. The missed opportunity is what else to do on Jode. For example, Doctor Krenstein has a theory that the extinct sentient species on the planet was more advanced than is currently believed, but he never gets to test out that theory. There is not enough information given about this aspect of Jode and if the Referee had wanted to do anything with it because Doctor Krenstein’s player was interested, she would have to develop it herself. (Subsequent supplements have further developed the sentient species, known as Serpents.)

Overall, The Travellers’ Digest #1 is a good first issue, if flawed. Despite it leaving a lot for the Referee to do, The Travellers’ Digest #1 does lay the groundwork for ‘The Grand Tour’, a lost campaign that has disappointingly never been revisited.