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GURPS Traveller
GURPS Traveller
Hang in there, Beowulf. Help is on the way . . .
Marc Miller's Traveller is one of the most fully realized game backgrounds ever created . . . a vast empire of over 11,000 systems, with a turbulent history dating back thousands of years. Locales can range from a crowded spaceport to a lonely frontier outpost, from the teeming cities of the Core to the unexplored worlds on the edge of the Great Rift. Characters can be merchant princes, diplomats, soldiers, politicians, nobles, criminals . . . or all of them at once. Political intrigues, trading schemes, mind-wrenching alien enigmas, mercenary raids, wars . . . almost anything is possible.
The newly revised GURPS Traveller, Second Edition melds this exciting universe with the rules system of GURPS, and includes rules for creating new characters and for converting old ones from other Traveller rules systems. It includes a modular starship construction system (fully compatible with GURPS Vehicles) and a space combat system for ship-to-ship encounters.
GURPS Traveller also brings you the official alternate universe for Traveller, in which Emperor Strephon, and the Third Imperium, have survived to face new challenges.
Marc Miller's Traveller is one of the most fully realized game backgrounds ever created . . . a vast empire of over 11,000 systems, with a turbulent history dating back thousands of years. Locales can range from a crowded spaceport to a lonely frontier outpost, from the teeming cities of the Core to the unexplored worlds on the edge of the Great Rift. Characters can be merchant princes, diplomats, soldiers, politicians, nobles, criminals . . . or all of them at once. Political intrigues, trading schemes, mind-wrenching alien enigmas, mercenary raids, wars . . . almost anything is possible.
The newly revised GURPS Traveller, Second Edition melds this exciting universe with the rules system of GURPS, and includes rules for creating new characters and for converting old ones from other Traveller rules systems. It includes a modular starship construction system (fully compatible with GURPS Vehicles) and a space combat system for ship-to-ship encounters.
GURPS Traveller also brings you the official alternate universe for Traveller, in which Emperor Strephon, and the Third Imperium, have survived to face new challenges.
- GenresRole Playing Games
176 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 13, 2021
This is serving as a synecdoche for all the Traveller stuff I've been working through (the LBBs, some early adventures, and this) because while I remain not a fan of the GURPS game engine as a whole (I find it requires too much system mastery for character creation and is too wedded to real world physics in its reality modeling... plus I've never been a huge fan of 3d6 curve resolution systems but that's just aesthetics) their collection of the original Traveller universe and re-presentation of it is outstanding.
Traveller manages this trick of capturing stuff from almost all of the worlds and planets science fiction of the mid 20th century - the interstellar empire that collapses and rebuilds, the dominant human space, the very well fleshed out aliens, military SF, grand sweep of history SF, the puzzles of the ancient races SF - without feeling like a patchworked world ala Forgotten Realms. It helps that all the authors of the 60's and 70's were in conversation with the stories (and even the authors) of the 30's-50's so the genre had a structure of reliable conventions, but Traveller as a game and the Traveller Imperium capture those very well.
It then pulls off the trick of not giving the PCs a fixed core activity while opening the doors to several such core activities that the players naturally gravitate to. No where does it say you have to be criminals or mercenaries or free trader merchants, but the game and setting lend themselves to that so well that you're just there, unforced, and joining the traditions. It's a remarkable setting design, and GURPS does a great job in tying that together here.
Traveller manages this trick of capturing stuff from almost all of the worlds and planets science fiction of the mid 20th century - the interstellar empire that collapses and rebuilds, the dominant human space, the very well fleshed out aliens, military SF, grand sweep of history SF, the puzzles of the ancient races SF - without feeling like a patchworked world ala Forgotten Realms. It helps that all the authors of the 60's and 70's were in conversation with the stories (and even the authors) of the 30's-50's so the genre had a structure of reliable conventions, but Traveller as a game and the Traveller Imperium capture those very well.
It then pulls off the trick of not giving the PCs a fixed core activity while opening the doors to several such core activities that the players naturally gravitate to. No where does it say you have to be criminals or mercenaries or free trader merchants, but the game and setting lend themselves to that so well that you're just there, unforced, and joining the traditions. It's a remarkable setting design, and GURPS does a great job in tying that together here.
December 21, 2016
This book presents Traveller in the alternate timeline where the third imperium carries on and nobody assassinated any emperors. If that line didn't make sense to you, this book may not be for you. Traveller is a long running sci-fi role playing game and if you are familiar with you might like this adaption of it for GURPS. The setting has so much history that it might be daunting for newcomers. I also have to critique the book for so many other references to other Traveller books in the GURPS line. If you are interested in picking up a couple dozen books to run a very detailed game, then have at it. If you want a singe book to base a campaign on, this is probably not the one for you.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews