“This is the Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone…
(Bet your boxed set looks like this, too.)
And so began one of the greatest and most detailed adventures in SF history. It was a fictional universe, but it was not a novel. It was a game called Traveller, the brain-child of game-design legend Marc Miller. Although its original publishers—GDW–ceased to exist as a corporate entity in 1996, the game lives on, with licensed publishers creating a relatively steady stream of new products, and fans contributing daily to the growth and definition of the universe in which the tales were set.
I was fortunate enough to work on the second iteration of Traveller—Megatraveller—starting with a publication in GDW’s house magazine, Challenge, in 1987. By 1990, I was the Traveller editor for Challenge, where I ultimately published over 50 items for Traveller alone, as well as others for other GDW RPGs, including Twilight 2000 (sometimes under the pen name Karl Johnson), Dark Conspiracy, and the wonderful ultra-hard-sf RPG, 2300 AD. I also wrote Traveller products for other publishers. The complete (I think?) bibliography includes:
Hard Times
1991
Never intended as a stand-alone product, this was to have been the first in a series of products that charted the end of the Rebellion and marked the beginning of a slow, but steady, tide of recovery. The story of the originally-envisioned future of Traveller (not the New Era that followed) was recently made public on the Citizens of the Imperium on-line forum. You can find it at:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=15100&highlight=Gannon
With Marc’s permission, I shared the documents that outlined the desperate but ultimately successful struggle to arrest the fall into another Long Night.
But first, the end of the Rebellion had to be explained and charted . . . and hence, Hard Times: alas, the only product of that group ever to be produced
Assignment: Vigilante
1992
(a lot of my original material was removed from this, er . . . “dramatically” rewritten and truncated product.)
Astrogator’s Guide to the Diaspora Sector
1992
The Diaspora Sector had originally been intended as the primary site of action as the inheritors of the Imperium struggled to salvage what remained of it, in one form or another. However, the full length product that was supposed to show those first stages of hope was made moot by GDW’s “post-Marc Miller” decision to go with the Imperium-destroying Virus and New Era, instead. This slim gazetteer was all that remained of what would have been a rich, full-length successor to Hard Times.
Behind Blue Eyes
1991
Although originally conceived as a supplement, it was published as a three-part adventure in Challenge, no.s 48-51, with supporting rules/mods beginning in no. 45 [pictured].
Articles (all sources):
Challenge Magazine (GDW, Inc.)
Game Scenarios/Interactive Fiction:
Spice of Life, # 35, 1988
Green Hills of Earth, # 36, 1988
A Body Swayed to Music, # 37, 1989
Tourist Trap, # 42, 1990
Trouble in Paradise, # 43, 1990
Nullian League, # 44, 1990
Just Like Magic, # 46, 1990
Behind Blue Eyes, Part 1, # 48, 1991
Behind Blue Eyes, Part 2, # 50, 1991
Behind Blue Eyes, Part 3, # 51, 1991
To Sleep, Perchance to Scream, # 54, 1991
Coventry, # 56, 1992
Shellgame, # 57, 1992
Unholier than Thou, # 64, 1992
Phoenix Factor, # 65, 1992
Power Centers, # 66, 1992
Outback, # 67, 1993
For the Union Blue, # 68, 1993
Traveller News Service (Faux reportage)
Issue # 48 – # 57 (1990-1991)
Rules, Background, Product Support Articles
IRIS, # 33, 1987
Generating IRIS Characters, # 34, 1988
The Hinterworlds, # 39, 1989
Portfolio of Patrons for Intelligence Contracts in the Hinterworlds, # 44, 1990
One Small Step, # 45, 1990
Two Small Steps, # 47, 1991
An Overview of the Riies System, # 48, 1991.
When It’s Lances, Not Lasers, # 49, 1991
The Ylii, # 50, 1991
Stalkers, # 52, 1991
Going Places (Barely) (w/T. McCarrol), # 55, 1991
Putting the “Science” in SF RPGs, # 58, 1992
Ships of the Black War (w/ T. McCarrol), # 60, 1992
Wood and Wind, Steel and Steam, # 61, 1992
Traveller Chronicle (Sword of the Knight Publications)
Game Scenarios/Interactive Fiction:
Again, Oytritsyu’a, #1, 1993.
A Solomani Safari, # 2, 1993
Count or Country, # 2, 1993
Astrogator’s Update to Diapsora Sector, # 2, 1993
Astrogator’s Update to Diapsora Sector, # 4, 1994
Astrogator’s Update to Diapsora Sector, # 5, 1994
Far From Home, # 6, 1994
A Matter of Sovereignty, # 6, 1994
