[Fanzine Focus XL] The Travellers’ Digest #7

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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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 December, 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 152-1101, the 152nd day of the 1101st 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, in the case of this issue, The Travellers’ Digest #7, Adventure 5, Trillion Credit Squadron. 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 using the means offered in Traveller or MegaTraveller. This is addressed within various issues of the fanzine.

The Travellers’ Digest #7 was published in 1986 and is a ‘Special Starship Issue’, the editors highlighting this and the big interview with Traveller creator, Marc Miller, in the issue. It also highlights the forthcoming publication in early 1987, of the Grand Census, its companion supplement to the Grand Survey, and looks back at some of the previous issues with the publisher’s warehouse manager having found some back issues.

The seventh part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #7 is ‘Feature Adventure 7: The Fourth Imperium’, written by Gary L Thomas and Joe D. Fugate Sr. The publishing date for adventure is 344-1112, or the three-hundred-and-forty-fourth day of the year 1112, whilst the starting date for the adventure is 014-1103, or the fourteenth day of the year 1103. The adventure takes place in the Dynam system of the Masionia subsector of the Lishun Sector. This is the site of an Imperial Naval Depot where over a thousand mothballed starships are held. These ships are held in readiness in the event of another interstellar war or emergency and all can be restored to full operation with relative ease. The Player Characters are continuing their journey to Capital and having got half way there, Doctor Theodor Krenstein wants to stop off at the depot in the Dynam system to visit the August, a 75,000-ton battlecruiser on which his great-grandfather served during the Third Frontier war. Admiral Walter, who has been in command of the Dynam Depot for over two decades, readily welcomes them and will even give them a guided tour, the fact that they all have been recently knighted for their bravery being a contributing factor towards their recognition.

The action begins with the Player Character coming aboard the August and beginning the tour, given by Ensign Amherst. The tour is brought to an abrupt halt when another Naval officer is discovered in the bridge of the ship, much to the Ensign’s surprise, as the officer draws his gun and shoots him dead! This leaves the Player Characters unarmed and facing an armed opponent, though ‘Aybee’ can use the laser in his arm. The scenario escalates from there, with the discovery of another four men aboard the ship, all armed, and then, once the Player Characters alert the rest of the base, it becomes clear that more of the mothballed starships are being powered up. And then some other ships turn up… It appears that there is a grand hijacking taking place.

‘Feature Adventure 7: The Fourth Imperium’ presents an interesting situation, but arguably, not one that is actually interesting to play. It starts with a lot of exposition, including directing what the Player Characters, notably, ‘Aybee’ acting oddly before the tour begins. Once past the point where the rogue Naval officers aboard the August have been dealt with, bar a diversion to find out what might be happening to fuel being siphoned off from the depot, the scenario rapidly scales up in terms of scope and away from what the Player Characters are expected to do. At this point, the Player Characters are no longer involved in events, primarily because only one of them has any applicable skills to participating in a grand space battle. Instead, the players are expected to play out the battle using the rules given in Traveller Book 5: High Guard, using the given stats for the various ships and incorporating the highly detailed sensor rules included in the scenario.

If the players are happy to switch from roleplaying their characters to handling such a space battle, then ‘Feature Adventure 7: The Fourth Imperium’ is fine. If not, half of the scenario is wasted. Either way, however the Game Master has had to tailor the adventure to her players, in roleplaying terms, ‘Feature Adventure 7: The Fourth Imperium’ is actually very short and should take no more than a session to play through. The space battle may be longer, but that is optional and the fact it is optional and it ignores the Player Characters is why it is simply underwhelming.

The key feature of the issue is ‘The Future of Traveller: An Interview with Marc Miller’. It covers how he got into gaming and founded Game Designers’ Workshop, and discuses some of the early games published, including its first roleplaying game, En Garde!, before getting into Traveller and its development. It also discusses the development of what would become Traveller: 2300 as a game alongside Traveller rather than replacing it, Miller making clear that he believes that the future of the roleplaying game to be secure. It is an interesting read, capturing the optimism of the period and about the future of the roleplaying game.

The scenario is further supported with background information for the Dynam System and the Masionia subsector, as well as ‘Library Data of the Lishun Sector’. There is also ‘Computer Software for High Guard’ by Dale L. Kemper and J. Andrew Keith, which adds three new programs. ‘Squadron Operations’ enables computer-linked ships to operate more efficiently; ‘Fleet Operations’ does the same for fleets; and ‘Simulation’ offers a means of handling simulations aboard ship without interfering with ship’s operation. These are useful for campaigns which focus on large scale ship operations and combat.

Gary L. Thomas examines the role of the Social Standing attribute in Traveller for ‘The Gaming Digest’ in ‘Characters with Class’. The article begins by acknowledging that Social Standing has little effect on game play if it is not ‘A’ or higher and a Player Character is not a noble. It breaks down the social classes according to Social Standing and suggests that a Player Character spend Cr250 per point of Social Standing per month to maintain it. Otherwise, it falls. This is fine in a static game in which Social Standing is important, but Traveller is about travel, the Player Characters typically moving from one star system to another. In which case, who is a Player Character trying to maintain his standing against? It also suggests that by spending more, a Player Character can improve his Social Standing. It should be pointed that this will only go so far and not beyond Social Standing ‘A’, since the Player Character is likely to be looked down upon as nouveau riche. Snobbery counts, after all. Also, a Player Character with high Social Standing spending time with someone with a lower Social Standing will also affect their Social Standing, which means that Player Character with high Social Standing will suffer for it by spending time with his fellows. The article comes to a close with guidelines for when a Player Character of higher Social Standing wants to throw his weight around, which are useful. Bar the breakdown of what Social Standing ratings mean, the rest of article is not, since it is divorced from the style of play at the core of Traveller—travel where few NPCs are going to know who a Player Character is versus a static location or even organisation where more NPCs are going to know who they are.

Rounding out The Travellers’ Digest #7 is more background support for the scenario, ‘Feature Adventure 7: The Fourth Imperium’. Part of the fanzine’s ‘Traveller Tech Briefs’, ‘Starships in Mothballs’ by Joe D. Fugate Sr. and R. Leibman, is a guide to putting a starship into and taking it out of mothballs. This is solid explanation of how it is done and nice background detail.

Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #7 is, as with all of the issues so far, very obviously created using early layout software. The artwork is not great, but it does its job and it is far from dreadful.

The Travellers’ Digest #7 is the ‘Special Starship Issue’, which it is and is not. Yes, there are lots of articles about starships and a scenario involving starships, but none of the content about starships in the issue is relevant to a Player Character. It is all pitched at a level above the core play of Traveller and whilst it is interesting, it fills out details of the Traveller universe rather than being immediately playable content. Similarly, unless the players are really keen on running large scale starship battles, the scenario does not offer the amount of play that scenarios in previous issues did. Overall, interesting, but not enough playable content.

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] The Travellers’ Digest #6

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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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 December, 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 152-1101, the 152nd day of the 1101st 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. 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 #6 was published in 1986 in the wake of the success of the Origins Convention, which took place from July 3rd to 6th in Los Angeles, very much still on the minds of the editors. The event cemented the relationship between Digest Group Publications and Game Designers Workshop and laid the groundwork for a number of forthcoming products, including 101 Robots. The editorial also gave an overview of future issues of the fanzine and where they would take the heroes of ‘The Grand Tour’.

The sixth part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #6 is ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’, written by Nancy and Robert Parker. The starting date for the adventure is 212-1102, or the two-hundredth-and-twelfth day of the year 1102 and surprisingly, the adventure does not need anything other than the standard books required by the campaign. The adventure itself is set on the world of Kaiid in the Shuna Subsector of the Lishun Sector. It is hot, wet world, described as a paradise, and is the seat of Count LeMorc, who permits parts of the world to be used as a hunting reserve. The primary target for the hunters is the Minlad, a bipedal creature that is easy to hunt and valued for its fur. However, its numbers are falling, a bone of contention between hunters who want to continue hunting it unabated, the hunters who want to limit the numbers that can be hunted, and environmentalists who want it stopped all together. Add into that is the fact that there are ongoing rumours and supposed sightings of giants out in the jungle.

The aim of the scenario is for Player Characters is to discover and prove to others that the Minlad are not just some simple species to be hunted, but a sentient species. Of course, hunting a sentient species is illegal in the Third Imperium—if it can be proved! This includes not only to the hunters, but also an on-world Scout team already conducting a survey and Count LeMorc himself. The Minlad are a primitive species, but they are capable of communication and part of the adventure involves interacting with the Minlad and learning to understand their speech. This is a fascinating scenario that really will challenge the Player Characters as they try to save and understand the Minlad without the hunters reacting badly to the loss of income and potentially, to the realisation as to what they have done.

The world of Kaiid is described in some detail. This includes silhouettes and descriptions other fauna found on the planet, a map of the single large settlement near the Starport, and full information about the Minlad and their language. The adventure also includes a list of ‘Rumours, News, and Other Activities’ which can be used to drive the scenario and as well as a specialised crowd-swaying task for use with the Universal Task Profile.

This is a challenging scenario to roleplay because the Player Characters will need to a do a lot of persuasion and learn another language. It is also challenging to run, and that is due to its organisation. The scenario is presented as a series of ‘Nuggets’, a format which would be developed in later issues and in scenarios for Mega-Traveller. This compartmentalises the scenario’s information and/or scenes into separate sections to make it both non-linear and easier to run, but it is not as effective as it should be. Ultimately, what it is missing is a good reason for the Player Characters to want to visit Kaiid and a better overview of the nuggets. Otherwise, a genuinely fresh and interesting scenario.

The ’Playing the Characters’ series continues its deeper look at and guide to roleplaying the four pre-generated Player Characters for ‘The Grand Tour’. This time, it should be no surprise given the first contact nature of ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’, it is the turn of the ex-scout, Dur Telemon. With these, it is almost worth holding starting a playthrough of ‘The Grand Tour’ so that every player has one for their character. The scout/scout service strand to the issue continues with Nancy Parker’s ‘Persons and Unpersons’, which looks at what signifies Intelligence and how the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service defines it. The article first looks at the primary indicators—language and tool use—and then how the scout service reacts to it. This is an interesting read that nicely supports the adventure in the issue.

The Travellers’ Digest #6 details the Shuna Subsector, Subsector I of the Lishun Sector and part of the Domain of Antares and develops the Lishun Sector with ‘Library Data of the Lishun Sector’. All decent background, whilst Joe Fugate continues the fanzine’s examination and development of the UTP or Universal Task Profile in ‘The Gaming Digest: Tasks’ with a look at uncertain tasks. At the time, this would have been an interesting herald of what was to come, foreshadowing the upcoming adoption of the UTP for MegaTraveller. Today, it is less interesting unless the reader has a specific interest in the mechanical and rules development of Traveller. Lastly, the Traveller Tech Brief in this issue is ‘Grav Belts’. This fully details and describes the appearance, function, and operation of the grav belt. It includes a section on the use of grav belts in military operations which will certainly have application in some Game Masters’ campaigns.

Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #6 is, as with all of the issues so far, very obviously created using early layout software. The artwork is not great, but it does its job and it is far from dreadful.

—oOo—

The Travellers’ Digest #6 was the first issue of the fanzine to be reviewed. This was by Herb Petro in The Imperium Staple Issue #8 (October, 1986). Of the Feature Adventure in the issue, he wrote, “The feature adventure, The Most Valuable Prey, uncovers the truth about the mysterious “Giants” on the world of Kalid in the Lishun sector. I don’t want to give away anything to those who might be potential players, but it is very good. In my opinion better that the feature adventure in issue #5.” He praised several of the other articles in the issue, of which he said overall, “TRAVELERS’ Digest has been growing. This issue is better than the last and the next promises to be even better.”

—oOo—

Where The Traveller’s Digest #6 is at its weakest is making the connection in ‘The Grand Tour’ with the events of the previous issue and making clear why the Player Characters are on a minor hunting world. However, once they are, ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’ is a very good scenario once the Game Master has it set up and worked her way around its Nuggets. The rest of the issue is good, but it is the scenario that really stands out for its depth and detail, as well as the demands it is going to place on the players (and their characters).

[Fanzine Focus XXXVIII] The Travellers’ Digest #5

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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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 December, 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 152-1101, the 152nd day of the 1101st 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. 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 #5 was published in 1986 in the run up to the Origins convention, which took place from July 3rd to 6th in Los Angeles and moved the date on from the 324th day of the 1101st year of the Imperium to 005-1102, the fifth day of the 1102nd year of the Imperium. The opening ‘Editors’ Digest’ celebrates the fanzine’s first birthday and the increase in page count to sixty pages due to advertising revenue! It highlights the fact that two books would be on sale at Origins ’86 designed by the team behind the fanzine—Grand Survey by J. Andrew Keith, published by Digest Group Publications and Traveller Book 8: Robots, published by Game Designers Workshop. In addition to providing an overview of the content of the current it announced the contents of the next four issues.

The fifth part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #5 is ‘Feature Adventure 5: The Humaniti Experiment’, written by editor Gary L. Thomas. In addition to the standard books required by the campaign, the supplements Beltstrike! and Traveller Alien Module 6: Solomani are also useful. As a result of the events in ‘Feature Adventure 3: Tourist Trap’ in the previous issue, the Player Characters were knighted and are now on their way to Capitol, the heart of the Third Imperium where they will be formally ennobled by the emperor. They have now reached Vland, the home of Vilani culture and capital of the Sector in the Vland Subsector of Vland Sector in the Domain of Vland.

The scenario opens with Doctor Theodor Krenstein dealing with a possible memory glitch in ‘Aybee’, before they descend to the surface of Vland. Amongst the many tourist attractions on offer, Doctor Krenstein wants to visit the ‘Argushiigi Admegulasha Bilanidin’, the ‘Vilani Repository of All Knowledge’, also known as the ‘AAB’ or ‘the Encyclopaedia’. A combined museum, library, research centre, and publishing house, it is largest facility of its kind in explored space and it should be no surprise that Doctor Krenstein has an old friend there that he wants to visit. Doctor Issac Imlu is pleased to see him and happily gives the Player Characters a tour of the facility when he is approached by a belter who shows him an extremely old First Imperium data disk. The scenario concerns not only what is on the disk, but also where it came from. The belter explains that he has more disks, but will not readily reveal where he found it beyond the name, ‘Star Harbour’. Fortunately, the facility does have a First Imperium data disk reader and getting past the security code is not too difficult. The recording turns out to be a report on the manipulation of a human subspecies on the world of Uradanid to enhance their technological development past the use of the nuclear weapons. Analysing the information on the data disk reveals that the world was in the Solomani Rim and that this manipulation took place over three thousand years previously.

The inference of the information on the data disk is that the world of Uradanid is in fact, Terra, and that the Vilani made covert contact with the Terrans and manipulated their technological advancement so that they discovered Jump Drive technology before they might have done otherwise without this manipulation. This does not negate the Solomani status as a Major Race, that is, one of the species to discover Jump Drive technology independently, but it does call it into question. This is an astounding discovery if true. Certainly, Doctor Theodor Krenstein would want to research it further simply for its historical significance, whilst for the journalist, Akidda Laagiir, it would be an amazing scoop. However, when the Player Characters go looking for the belter who gave Doctor Imlu the data disk, they first find that he has left Vland and then discover that he is dead!

The second half of the scenario leads the Player Characters to the ‘Star Harbour’ system and the discovery that the belter was up to no good and ultimately, that the recording is a sham. Getting to this information is not as structured as the set-up to the scenario’s core mystery, which itself in terms of the Traveller background is both interesting and intriguing. The scenario, although underwritten in this second half, does expose the Player Characters to one of the pro-Vilani/anti-Solomani groups active the sector. These are expanded upon by the scenario’s ‘Library Data’ which describes several of these groups, some of which are extremist in their outlook.

The Travellers’ Digest #5 contains two big articles, both by big names in the Traveller community. The first is ‘Vland! Cradle of the First Imperium’ by J. Andrew Keith. It ties with ‘Feature Adventure 5: The Humaniti Experiment’ earlier in the fanzine, but also provides a map and a complete description of Vland, complete with statistics generated using the rules from Grand Survey. It is followed by ‘Library Data of the Vland Sector’ by Nancy Parker that complements the previous article and the adventure. The Vland Subsector is also detailed. The second big article is ‘The First Imperium’ by Marc Miller. This charts the history of the Vilani from their origins as part of the Ancients colony on Vland and their survival during the Final War between the Ancients, through their industrial and cultural development to their first space exploration and beyond. The discovery of the Jump Drive led to rapid economic dominance of the systems around Vland and the establishment of the three Bureaux that would control vast swathes of space for centuries to come. Within two millennia of this, the ‘Ziru Sirka’ or ‘Grand Empire of Stars’ was declared to govern over the whole of the territory it consolidated before fully instituting an emperor and governing in peace for over another millennia. Ultimately, the article details the Solomani making contact with the Ziru Sirka and the war that followed that would see the Vilani defeated. There is also a map that shows the extent of the Ziru Sirka and the areas controlled by the three bureaux, as well as list of other references available at the time of publication. Together though, the two articles form a very good introduction to one of the Major Races in Traveller and in 1986, they would have been major developments of the background to the roleplaying game.

The issue switches subject with Henry R. Neufeld’s ‘Playing in Character – Effective Role Playing’. As the title suggests, it is a guide to good roleplaying and roleplaying etiquette. It applies as much to the player as it does the players and it topped and tailed by an example of poor play and an example of good play. In between is a list of dos and don’ts that look obvious today, but perhaps might not have been obvious in 1986—at least to some players and Game Masters. It is still good advice though, but a surprising addition to the pages of The Traveller’s Digest though and one has to wonder if the author has had some poor roleplaying experiences…

Lastly, the issue includes the ‘Traveller’s Digest Astrographic Index for Issues 1—4’. This collates all of the mentions of the worlds, subsectors, and sectors mentioned in the first four issues of the fanzine. It is a useful addition for the Game Master wanting to find a location and its specific mention.

Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #5 is, as with all of the issues so far, very obviously created using early layout software. The artwork is not great, but it does its job and it is far from dreadful. What is noticeable about the issue is the first use of colour on its front and back cover.

The Traveller’s Digest #5 picks up the Grand Tour with an episode that does not develop quite as well as its set-up suggests, but remains interesting and intriguing nonetheless. However, it is the inclusion of authors such as J. Andrew Keith and Marc Miller that really elevates The Traveller’s Digest #5 into a thoroughly interesting read that develops the background to the roleplaying game. Overall, this is good issue.

[Fanzine Focus XXXVII] The Travellers’ Digest #4

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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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 December, 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 152-1101, the 152nd day of the 1101st 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. 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 #4 was also published in February, 1986 and moved the date on from 335-1101, the 335th day of the 1101st year of the Imperium, to 324-1101, the 324th day of the 1101st year of the Imperium. The opening ‘Editors’ Digest’ comes with what would have been then good news. The Travellers’ Digest #3 announced that the publisher would have the supplement Grand Survey by J. Andrew Keith ready for Origins ’86 in Los Angeles. The editorial confirms this and that there would be further coverage in The Travellers’ Digest #5. In addition, Game Designers Workshop would be publishing Traveller Book 8: Robots, written by Digest Group Publications.

The fourth part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #4 is ‘Feature Adventure 4: The Gold of Zurrian’, written by editor Gary L. Thomas. In addition to the standard books required by the campaign, the books Alien Module 3, Vargr, Adventure 11: Murder on Arcturus Station, Adventure 13: Signal GK, and the article ‘Jumpspace’ from Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society, No. 24. As a result of the events in ‘Feature Adventure 3: Tourist Trap’ in the previous issue, the Player Characters were knighted and are now on their way to Capitol, the heart of the Third Imperium where they will be formally ennobled by the emperor. They are travelling aboard the Gold of Zurrian, a Tukera Lines 1000-ton long-liner from the world of Gishuli in the Voskhod subsector of Vland Sector to Iren in the Kagamira Subsector of Vland Sector in the Domain of Vland. All have High Passages and the scenario opens all four are in the ship’s Starlight Lounge where they meet some very interesting fellow passengers. This includes Onggzou, a Vargr diplomat and high-ranking member of the Church of the Chosen Ones, the Marquis and Marchioness of Gemid, the provocative and highly successful journalist Terra Porphyry, and Arde Le, a retired Tukera Lines executive and his partner, Melissa Diimish, a minor actress. Terra Porphyry either knows or knows of virtually everyone aboard. She and Doctor Theodor Krenstein were once engaged; she has written controversial books about the Church of the Chosen Ones and the Scout Service, including Dur Telemon and the captain of the Gold of Zurrian; and she wants to write about the Marquis and Marchioness of Gemid, as well as the newly ennobled Player Characters. She is also involved in a messy divorce with Arde Le. Almost every has reason to hate her, which explains why almost immediately after the long-liner enters Jump space, she is found dead!

With the Gold of Zurrian in Jump space, the Marquis of Gemid, as ranking noble aboard ship has seven days to solve the murder and the number one suspect is AB-101! Because the Marquis of Gemid is lazy, this should default to the Player Characters. Presented in a linear fashion, what this adventure is, is effectively a combination of a ‘locked room’ murder mystery in a ‘ship in a bottle’ episode! It is more of a serviceable adventure than a good adventure, a classic murder mystery that would work well in any Science Fiction setting as much as it does in Traveller. Its main problem is that whilst the solution makes sense, actually getting to it is not as easy as it should be, especially considering brevity of the plot and the fact that the scenario should really take more than two or sessions to play through. And whilst it does offer a change of pace from the previous scenarios in ‘The Grand Tour’, it is an obvious plot to run aboard a starship in Jumpspace when normally, the time spent travelling from one star system to another is ignored.

As with previous issues, ‘Feature Adventure 4: The Gold of Zurrian’ is very well supported. Not just with details of all four Player Characters as is standard, plus the explanation of the Universal Task Profile, but also full stats and details of all of the NPCs in the scenario and full details and deckplans of the Tukera Lines 1000-ton long-liner. Drawn by Guy Garnett, the deckplans are given a pullout in the centre of the fanzine. There is a list too, of the clues for the murder mystery that the Player Characters can search for in the Library Data, though it makes clear that this is a slow process even by the standards of the day! There is even a full write-up of the Church of the Chosen Ones, more cult than proper church, and it should be noted that the Vargr diplomat in ‘Feature Adventure 4: The Gold of Zurrian’, Onggzou, comes across as too polished and just not Vargr-like...

As part of its continued exploration of the Third Imperium along the route taken by ‘The Grand Tour’, The Traveller’s Digest #4 details the Kagamira subsector of the Vland sector with Nancy Parker providing some library data for the Vand sector. Much of this pertains to the scenario in the issue, such as the description of the word of Daama in the Anarsi sector, a non-aligned world renowned for being a haven for smugglers and a source of blackmarket goods, ineffectually governed by the so-called Marquis of Gemid—who appears in the scenario, and Zurrian in the Vland being the source of the famous iridescent surshi cloth.

The issue also continues the fanzine’s development by Joe D. Fugate Sr. of the Universal Task Profile that would later appear in Game Designer Workshop’s MegaTraveller in 1987. As the name suggests, the aim of the Universal Task Profile was to provide a coherent and consistent means of handling skills and actions in the roleplaying game. And the fanzine has been developing this over the course of the four issues and here it reaches the subject of ‘Accidents and Mishaps’. The article highlights what the Universal Task Profile is trying to avoid and that is seeding an adventure with a series of ‘mini-situations’, each one handling by a slightly different means of resolution. It would then have been a relatively modern drive away from the ‘individual rulings’ style of play, one that the more nostalgic sector of the hobby often still harks back to. The article is well thought through and there is a good example of how it works and how it works when the players fail their rolls.

Given that a crime is committed in ‘Feature Adventure 4: The Gold of Zurrian’, it makes sense that the last part of The Traveller’s Digest #4 is devoted to law enforcement, though of course, none of the Player Characters will benefit from it because they are not officers of the law and because they do not have any forensics training! ‘Law Enforcers – A New Character Type’ by Robert Parker provides a new Career, the police officer, noting that for worlds with a Law Level of ‘E’ or more, the Marine Career is more appropriate as law enforcement is paramilitary in nature. It is obviously good for creating NPCs, ex-police officers, and even private detectives, and it adds two new skills. These are ‘Interview’ and ‘Forensic’, with the latter being quite detailed. It is a solid addition and a version of the Career would appear in MegaTraveller and subsequent versions of the roleplaying game.

Lastly, ‘Forensic Science – Traveller Tech Brief’ by Robert and Nancy Parker looks at forensic science in the Science Fiction setting of Traveller. This is a solid overview, looking in particular at the use of the ‘volitile chemical molecular analyser’ or ‘sniffer’ at Tech Level 12 and above in the use of crime analysis, and noting also that the blood groups differ not just between Aslan, Droyne, and Vargr, but also between the various groups of Humaniti, including Solomani, Vilani, and Zhodani. Different types of evidence are also discussed, focusing on that left behind by individuals and on that left behind by weapons, since after all, the sorts of crimes investigated by Player Characters tend to be violent, if not deadly. Of course, the article really is only of use if a Player Character was a member of law Enforcement or the Game Master is running a campaign focused on law enforcement, though it could come in to play if the Player Characters get into trouble with law enforcement, which has been known to happen…

Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #4 is, as with all of the issues so far, very obviously created using early layout software. The artwork is not great, but it does its job and it is far from dreadful. The deckplans are very good. Whilst it looks slightly rough by modern standards, this would have looked clean and semi-professional at the time.

The Travellers’ Digest #4 is not an improvement on The Travellers’ Digest #3, which was an improvement on The Travellers’ Digest #2. The issue feels as if it is waiting to move on to bigger things, primarily because ‘Feature Adventure 4: The Gold of Zurrian’ takes place between the usual avenues of adventure and because it does not push the plot of ‘The Grand Tour’ along, but rather put it on hold. The rest of the content in the issue is decent though and there is content here that would go be incorporated into Traveller canon. The Travellers’ Digest #4 is a serviceable issue rather than a good one.

[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.