This article originally appeared in Pyramid #22

Pyramid Pick

Marc Miller's Traveller

Published by Imperium Games
Written by Marc Miller
Price: $25.00

There was time when the only decent SF roleplaying game around was Traveller. I first encountered the game in 1982 when I was given the original Mayday boxed set for my 12th birthday. This was one of the first rules systems for space combat, and that was it: there was little if any roleplaying involved. However, it got me interested in the possibilities of science fiction RPGs and I quickly bought the basic rules for Traveller — three 5" x 8" black booklets. Since 1982, SF games have come and gone: Space Opera, Star Frontiers, Buck Rogers. Some were good, some poor. Traveller has outlasted them all, and the new 4th Edition is proof that the material is still fresh.

After ogling it assiduously, I finally picked up a copy of the latest edition of Traveller at Gen Con, and I must say I was extremely pleased with it. The questionable changes initiated in The New Era were dumped in favor of the original rules, and all the background information has been retained, making for an extremely vivid and consistent history. Everything the GM needs to play has been condensed into one book. T4 is 190 pages long, perfect bound, and has 14 full color interior pages.

A wave of nostalgia washed over me as I read my new acquisition. In the introduction, the production guru Kenneth Whitman described how the 4th Edition has brought the game back to its roots, Classic Traveller of 1977. This inspiration . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: November 1, 1996

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