A Whistle-Stop Tour of the Traveller RPG Universe

[@ChrisMata]

Dude i could listen to this guy talk Traveller for hours

[@leoncaldeira9963]

His voice is so soothing man

[@Two4Brew]

I mapped out a large region 1200 parsecs to Trailing of the Hiver Confederacy. There are Earth origin sophonts, human and non, which were transported by a break off faction of the Ancients. One of the non human sophont races were modified from pangolins., another from lynxes.

[@jestersnb9761]

that mirror is such a cool and intuitive way to getting around not having two cameras, I love it

[@mailtompowell]

I am really convinced Traveller is poised for a comeback, so convinced I feel the need to promote it-I'm just not sure how. I'm glad you're making these videos.

[@SHONNER]

Make KZbin videos about Traveller. That's how best to promote it.

[@The_CGA]

+Tom Powell one prospect that's exciting is that the upcoming Starfinder RPG by paizo will carry the OGL, and Traveller and OTU as 'sober-ish sci fi' really contrast with the 'zany' feel that Starfinder's default setting will carry with it. There's a golden opportunity, I think, to ride the wave from Starfinder, publishing Traveller stuff on the OGL, while licensing OTU from Marc, or simply publishing Traveller-esque content by sheltering under the Mongoose OGL to use things like jump drive, careers, and the like to create a wholly new game using the 3.x engine and MgT as its jumping off point...much as Mutants and Masterminds did so with 3.0 to create a new Supers game. Interestingly, Jon Brazer Enterprises, which currently is one of the more prolific 3party publishers for both PF and MgT, seems to be in the select club of 3pp's that have special access to the internal beta of Starfinder--something PZO is doing to buff out Starfinder's launch. He may beat us to the punch, but if Starfinder is a hit he may be looking for freelance writing... I wonder if anyone has asked Marc about licensing Traveller for an official Starfinder port. While I wouldn't like to see anything like the d20 port from the 2000's, I think there is potential to 'fork' Starfinder and access a lot of new blood if it's done right. Regardless, I'll be exploring thr possibilities for using parts--or all-- of Starfinder as a vehicle for Traveller and looking at where changes and new mechanics are called for--once I see enough of the system to start poking at it.

[@skellan9702]

Can I vote for you to tell us some more traveller stories please?

[@The_CGA]

You can. And I should. The frame for how to dig into the spin ward marches has been a looming question every time I get back to it. But with my new production style it could be something special.

[@meridiankep1595]

Greetings CGA! your traveller rpg videos are very well done and it's great to see Traveller getting the exposure it deserves. Please continue with the series! thank you..

[@kensvideos1]

You promis a lot more videos on this subject...I hope I'm not disappointed. (Because I love your work)

[@The_CGA]

There certainly are a number of other worthy ones on the channel produced pre-P&emic, some of which reached surprising heights of production value. For the moment the channel is in a state of pause as my filming/editing space is shared with my partner who is WFH most days and is on video calls (that have an expectation of privacy) with clients for most of that time.

[@eloyc4245]

I really, really enjoy these videos where you introduce and present a setting. The Harn series and these Traveller videos are fantastic. Keep it up. Would love to see you do more settings, (if you're familiar with them, and assuming you have the time and interest to do so), such as Judges' Guild Wilderlands setting, or maybe things like Pathfinder's Golarion, or Birthright's Cerilia or Fantasy Flight's Midnight setting. You have a real gift for uncovering the potential for such settings and presenting them in a very entertaining way. Great job!!

[@The_CGA]

+Eloy Cintron The well is not yet dry...for one, I am keen to probe Glorantha and learn it as a neophyte, a bit of a 'black belt start again at white' sort of thing. The wilderlands are an interesting one--one of my ealiest games with enough traction to be called 'a campaign' used the City-state of the invincible overlord as something of a prompt. "If it's on this map it's a thing" was how we first began campaigning. The republication of the setting and its fleshing out into something more than OSR-bones came a few years after that, and I missed that boat. It's got awesome tones of Vance, and really glimmers with that whole "post-fallout fantasy" vibe of Terry Brooks, and for hexcrawling nothing--nothing--has ever been so well equipped and made. I haven't run enough of a game with it to be sure I wouldn't get it 'wrong,' and then there's the trouble of it being a bit close to that Third Rail of White Box, where the ideas of a living gospel or 'modern interpretation' that are some of my core riffs--start to find some--ehrm*critics. I will mull it over though. JG awakened my passion for canonical mapping, which now sees its voice in my passion for Harn and OTU, so...it does deserve some kind of love. I will save talk on Birthright--and what I believe to be its latter-day sibling Eberron--for a video about how some D&D settings actually have more life in them when considered independently of D&D, standing on their own merit and without the genre-warping baggage of Vancian casting, HP and 'levels n'treasures.' Because, both have found their second wind beyond the four corners of D&D (from my own limited understanding).

[@The_CGA]

+Eloy Cintron also, thanks. That these are finding value and utility is very encouraging to my efforts to raise the bar on TTRPG KZbins. A long time ago I wrote an essay on Golarion extoling its virtues before the CGA was ever conceived: gamejournalj.blogspot.com/2010/09/golarion-an-apology.html?m=1 I was much, much more testy and and less well-read back then, and in the meantime I have come to struggle with how Golarion seems to have moved away from being a latter-day Mystara...and yet, there is now more Golarion, and it has successfully sold a progression of the "what year is it" from most people's "medieval timesy," to be the first renaissance setting where 1500-1600 or so is the touchstone year...without making a big deal of it and turning off purists out of hand. For this incredible Jedi mind trick, Golarion deserves a round of applause. I will arrive at that video sooner rather than later, methinks, after having written this...

[@eloyc4245]

Just read that essay on Golarion. Excellent. I will admit to having dismissed Golarion at first glance (despite having been subscribed to the APs, I didn't really get to play them). Now, however, after reading actual play reports of the Kingmaker series and being 10 days or so from starting play on the latest AP Ironfang Invasion, I've been reading the Inner Sea Guide and I'm really liking what I'm reading. The setting seems to have everything in it at once. Classic Tolkieny stuff, as well as, as you say, more 1600's stuff (heck, some areas resemble 1700's too!) Looking forward to any and all of your next videos! And thank you for making them.

[@The_CGA]

+Eloy Cintron The issue for me these days with Golarion is in terms of interconnectedness and dynamism. While the kitchen sink and the not-so-solemn "religions" I think can be seen as tonal choices, everything moving north of the inner sea feels...spattered. This is a trait I forgive Mystara for--readily--however. The roll of years is also quite long In some places without acknowledgement of the sort of stasis and rot that comes with millenia of sameness--Taldor seemed to have a bit too much fight left in it. Ustalav feels unreasonably stable I think it gets a very difficult job done, however--it has local colors in lots of places, enough to give characters backgrounds and interject a sense of place to ...

[@The_CGA]

Eloy Cintron (cont'd) ...to an open ended series of adventures, some of which emphatically DO have a sense of dynamism and interconnectedness within their narrower scope.

[@bgmill70]

Great video. Well done.... I like the detail you display here on the OTU. There is so much to cover. I hope you keep making Traveller orientated videos.

[@SirTragain]

I played Traveller and GURPS before Steve Jackson Games introduced Traveller to their line. I reminisce fondly of generating a character with the old GDW books only to die mustering out...

[@The_CGA]

I have learned that the Images used herein are the work of Ian Stead, a render artist in the Traveller RPG community. He has his own KZbin Channel here: kzbin.info/door/tlgj9484n_B0zZd3raBXmw

[@The_CGA]

+Complex Games Apologist 11na

[@paulmuaddib451]

I'm starting a game of Traveller to get my kids into tt gaming and this video is one of the resources I'm using. I subscribed and hit the bell. 😊 Thank you for it.

[@The_CGA]

Cheers 🍻 It’s tough finding topics to make Traveller content focused on the lore and world building within the schedule constraints of KZbin, and I do make videos about a lot of things wandering in the desert 🐫 trying to find and grow my audience, but...you’re in luck, a new Traveller video is coming

[@SwordlordRoy]

The first Tabletop RPG I ever played (barring rolling up a character for elfquest, but never playing)! It Truly does stand out as a unique setting, being the only one to not have FTL Communication, give Earth Humans an alien archive, and have a player species (the K'Kree) that REALLY limits options for players and GMs from the word go (not only in diet, but in ship size and openness (they are claustrophobic, and, due to their social needs, you can't just play one K'Kree, you're playing a family at least.)

[@treyjustice2117]

I love your Traveller videos. I didn't get into this game years ago when I could have and have now finally started to get into it. I really appreciate your videos and would love to see more, your opinions & views of parts of the Traveller universe would be appreciated!

[@the-real-Lovefist]

Thanks for this. Glad I found your channel.

[@johnstrain1287]

Excellent intro overview. Now how about those sneaky aliem traders that just landed...

[@Samwise7RPG]

I picked up some Traveller recently (mostly due to it being cheap and because of your videos). :) Hopefully I'll get to try it out someday.

[@The_CGA]

+Samwise Seven RPG regardless, it's a great wellspring or content and ideas for Firefly-esques, which is already a vaunted member of the Tim-folio. I find Traveller stuff--of all stripes--to be really fun to just kick back and read. I think, for my part, it hits a similar note to the moxie of the really early 3pp stuff like Tekumel and Judges Guild.

[@grahamcharters1638]

Great video - as always. Please can we have more Traveller material? Personally, I've run several campaigns in the Reavers Deep sector, which also offers plenty of adventure hooks: The Imperium are one one doorstep, the Aslan on another, and the Solomani on a third. An uneasy peace between these three powers is provided by the Treaty of Ftahlr, but it's broken down before, and could do so again. Additionally, there are a number of independent pocket empires - including the 1984-esque Grand Duchy of Marlheim, and the trading empire of Caledon (complete with constitutional monarchy succession questions). Plus, throw in a lot if independent worlds with humans (from all over) sharing/fighting for land with Aslan colonists, and there's a lot going on...

[@The_CGA]

I'm having a look at 'the deep,' and finding the fan material and the overall tone to be a cut above (or more to my liking?) than some stuff that I've seen. Since it's only 12 whole subsectors, plus halves where the deep abuts the Great Rift, I'm making headway. It may be interesting to find a way to cover on the channel. I am still mulling over the reasons for why, being so close to Kusyu, the Aslan didn't infiltrate deeper (puns) into the sector. I may need to probe some backstory from the Dark Nebula Boardgame and some other places to get a complete picture. Any bibliographic recommendations besides the obvious primary sources from Cargonaut and its predecessors are welcome.

[@grahamcharters1638]

Hi CGA. Aslan space exploration begins in -2136. Aslan jump drive deloped in -1999. First Aslan/Human contact in -1980. The first Aslan border war began in -1118. Treaty of Ftahlr signed in 380. Solomani Autonymous Region established in 704. (Source: Travellerwiki). Given this timeline, I think that Aslan expanding to trailing would have encountered opposition from humans (including reavers) quite early on. Given that there was no such opposition spinward and rimward, it makes sense that the path of least resistance was to expand the Hierate in those directions. In terms of specific history, I 've always taken as much cannon as possible and filled in the gaps for myself using Microscope or good old fashioned geopolitical extrapolation.

[@willinnewhaven3285]

Wow, the Azlan sound a lot like the Hani in C.J. Cherryh's Compact Space novels. However, they may predate _The Pride of Channur_ the first such novel.

[@rommdan2716]

Yeaah, plagiadism!!! >:c

[@tamsinp7711]

A bit late, but I've only just come across this video. The first reference to the Aslan was in Adventure 03 Twilight's Peak in 1980; the first Chanur novel was published in 1982. I recall reading somewhere that CJ Cheryh hadn't come across Traveller and the Hani were her own development. The fact that the other alien races in the novels are unlike any of the Traveller races would tend to support that. Both may have been inspired by the Kzin in Larry Niven's Ringworld.

[@littlebit5374]

I always liked the Ley sector....

[@1973Washu]

Hivers had a thing for psychohistory if I remember correctly.

[@The_CGA]

You may be remembering correctly, the intention in this video was to cloak that behind a bit of a spoiler wall

[@SHONNER]

I played lots of GURPS Traveller back in the day. But eventually, I missed the random chargen and the other things that made Traveller.

[@btrenninger1]

Yeah, I really prefer the early rules of the game. Especially the things that seem dated like the limited computer memory and programs in the ships. But, without the career based chargen and chance of death, it just isn't Traveller to me.

[@The_CGA]

+Brian Renninger I am finding that as I learn about folks that prefer Traveller old-timey style, it has a great deal to do with setting and colour over mechanics or simplicity and its percieved loss. In that I am in abundant agreement, or at least of a belief that the elder picture of the world implied must be integrated as another primary source when creating new "histories." For me the creativity really engages when taking as a gjven those sorts of things that might seem to provoke incredulity--the computer an apt example-- Between quantum computers shaping up to have physical limits as to how much of moore's law can apply to them, the prosect of bundled bloatware and locked features, being the LAN for all personal devices on board, and trscking the full internet of things likely to be hunming aboard a starship-even a small one--the size of the computers makes sense to me. Add in batter backups and inbuit redundancy and its that much more believable. As for limited memory/ram I think the thing to rejoin to is that these are applications leveraging the predictive power of quantum computing--shooting lasers across distances where lightspeed matters, and avoiding said enemy lasers--calculating sublight courses with continuous thrust and revising plots in real-time...this is heavy stuff. A touchstone here would be how remarkabke and mcguffin-ey the "Rich Purnell Maneuver" is percieved, even by Andy Weir's own narrative. And this kind of computing is dead reliable, and it is packed into a starship what gets blasted by solar winds. Any further incredulity can be dismissed as inbuilt limitations by manufacturers to creat upsells and unlocks, and leave capacity future unlocks. Did I mention bloatware?

[@SHONNER]

The computer and spaceship stuff in Traveller... I just explain to players that Traveller is not our future, is all. It's an alternate future. Just like 1984 is an alternate future.

[@kathykillgore6440]

Indeed, the ability to enjoy the challenge of proper Traveller character generation is a key sign of maturity as I see it from the narcissists who want to max-min and "skin" a puppet they put on stage .

[@Reddotzebra]

The Spinward Marshes: "Almost every world has a lower tech level because we desperately want to be Firefly before Firefly was a thing."

[@The_CGA]

I think it's more the other way around, it is no longer Apocryphal: Firefly took much inspiration from Traveller.

[@garymcgregor5951]

CT all the way!

[@spearPYN]

Classic Traveller is still the best sci-fi game ever. The best part is that you can play in any interstellar future setting you can think about...In its core it is pretty generic.

[@The_CGA]

Eh Any instellar future where 40+ year old veterans without a family to go home to are the ideal starting character. Traveller universe and Traveller fit together hand in glove, at the very least as a demonstration of what works with the system when one chooses to go their own way

[@abstractbybrian]

What's the year?

[@The_CGA]

The 'golden era' of the Traveller Universe, discussed in this video, is 1105 Imperial, which, after a long history of in-between stuff, is about as long from our own present day as we are from the Bronze age of Ramesses and the Hittites. 'AD' and 'CE' Earth-based dating systems have ceased to be a worthwhile frame of reference to the people of the universe

[@SSNewberry]

Confederal state - the government is weak unless something they want. ca 1820 America.

[@rossm7346]

Ah yes, the Vegans. A bit self righteous and preachy yes, but one cannot help but admire their naive desire to protect the non-sentients.

[@bobdole8830]

Traveller 101: Everyone is a furry.

[@The_CGA]

The setting dates to 1979, and while a lot of people recieve aslan, Vargr, and K’Kree as “furries,” they were in those times written as straight-faced and very alien creatures with different mindsets and biologies. Sexy fursuits and inter species romance is fine for some folks, but it was not something that was part of the imagination during the days the setting was laid down to paper.

[@bobdole8830]

@@The_CGA Sure but the system still exists today in a world were we have sexual degenerates dressing up as puppies fucking their brains out and throwing arround shit filled diapers ;) I just bought a German revamp of the original Rulebooks and the pictures and descriptions haven't really been updated, it's still very furryesque. I mean that's not necessarily a critique, you just have to know what you are getting in. I'll definitely won't make too much use of them and will most likely use third party artwork, like the Aszlan from Twilight Imperium f. e.