Marc Miller, Creator of Traveller RPG

[@stellaramusements]

Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 1:19 - Origin of Game Designers' Workshop 6:00 - Entering RPG development 12:25 - Structuring the Little Black Books 20:30 - The relationships between Star Wars and Traveller 26:19 - The origin of the lifepath 40:41 - Discussion of skills 42:53 - Relationship between Traveller and the modern Free Kriegsspiel Revival/Renaissance (FKR) 46:56 - Origins of the Universal Personnel Profile (UPP) 49:10 - Subsector Creation and the "solo mini-games" of Classic Traveller 59:58 - Relationship between Imperium (1977) and Traveller 1:03:05 - Campaign structure, patrons, and the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society (JTAS) 1:08:00 - Staying power of Traveller 1:10:13 - Traveller SRD and Traveller's Legacy Spectacular interview!

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for the effort on the timestamps! I've pinned it!

[@andoniarangurenubierna5660]

@@DiekuGames You should also copy paste it to in the description cause if you do it will divide de video into different chapters. Nice video btw!

[@Two4Brew]

Marc has my undying loyalty. I still have my 1977 Little Black Books. When he saw news of my pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2015, he sent me a get well package of Traveller materials.

[@DiekuGames]

Great story, and great guy!

[@Two4Brew]

@@DiekuGames When I started playing back in the Fall of 1977, none of the folks around the table really cared what your character looked like, had the same attitude as Marc towards one's personal description. This was at Norwich, the military college in Vermont.

[@CaptainHarris-ip2kg]

Mister Miller the Starter Traveller box cover art is the best Traveller art. It's what inspired me for the game. The old Classic Traveller system is thee best. It just needed some minor adjustments to the armor and damage system for personal combat. That's all. Everything that came after that was just sub par. Thanks for the games and adventures.

[@brianjohnson1985]

I can't wait to meet you at travellercon !!!! Thank you

[@blsk8s]

Traveller is my favorite game. Marc is probably the best person ever in the gaming industry. Just a great human being,

[@superpheemy]

Traveller was the thing that taught me Hexidecimal Code, basic Astronomy (I still remember O Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me mnemonic for main sequence stars), bell curve probability, and spreadsheet design before there were spreadsheets. Heck, Traveller grabbed my teenage brain and taught it how to read and understand design processes. Marc is one of the people that didn't just influence my imagination, he set fire to it!

[@CarlosRodriguez-dd4sb]

Terrific interview. Thanks to Mr Miller. I was a young kid in St Louis and got the original Black Box edition (I think it was mail order). Because of Mr Miller and GDW I became a life long gamer.

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for watching! I'm glad you got into the best hobby ever!

[@andreasdavour9973]

That last comment by Marc was something special. Thanks!

[@elliotvernon7971]

We started playing Traveller at school in 1978 - still love the game.

[@jimparkin2345]

Marc's simultaneous distinion between and fusion of player skill and character skill at 44:00 - 47:00 is fascinating. His argument, which seems typically contrary to the same considerations today, is that roleplaying is not "the player acts and not the character," but "the player acts according to the character." The gal who knows the puzzle answer in reality is distinct from her character who would never be able to figure it out. I think there's a sliding scale there given the table's preference.

[@michaelconnor1542]

As for "conflict resolution" being needed in Traveller, and how Marc would have added more there. I think that by accident he did. By making Traveller dangerous when combat starts. It forces players to find ways around combat, or at least consider tactics before engaging. I remember once we were helping some minors on a planet, in which the governor had violated their contracts and basically made them in to slaves. When the governor decided to send his troops, my group started discussing how to handle them. I simply found a good sniper position and blew put the engines and steering. Well, the mountain road was a bit unforgiving. I knew we were outgunned. So I was just trying to even out the odds.

[@ARKavli]

I love the Traveller character creation, and my own Navy career was kind of the same... needs of the service vs what you want to do kind of thing. The 2D6 OGL / Cepheus Engine is a great system that has stood the test of time. It's one of my favorites and I've used it to write RPGs for 16th century Holy Roman Empire and a mythic Viking game. I have my own LBB '77 version, but I still bought the new facsimile LWB and I hope they put out more LWB. Great interview, Garry. You can't get a much better interview than one of the fathers of RPGs.

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for watching! It was certainly an honor to interview one of the greats of our hobby!

[@mikeconn7623]

Thanks Mark great interview, with the tools you and your partners provided I have kept my Travellers entertained for 40 years. Still using the original box set I bought in 1981, Space is the place , Peace !

[@manfredconnor3194]

This was awesome! I do not think I have ever seen Marc Miller live. We have been playing Traveller since 1983.

[@DiekuGames]

I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!

[@brettsimpson1505]

Thank you! I could listen to Marc Miller talk about Traveller all day. Such a grounded and insightful game designer and generous human being.

[@rastarn]

Fantastic! What a great interview. Thank you so much for doing this.

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@jbaidley]

I think it must be almost thirty years since I last played Traveller. What a great interview, thank you.

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for watching!

[@finnulf]

Greatly enjoyed this video. I don't think there was anything new to me, but it is always pleasant to hear Marc say it. Traveller was not my first RPG, but it is my RPG soulmate.

[@Anti_Woke]

Sitting here re-reading original 1977 classic box set, books 1 - 3. Plus 15 later Traveller books from GDW. Original looks like already 12th printing.

[@robertswanson8611]

Marc, it was so nice to see you in person. And it was REALLY nice to hear tte stories of early Traveller.

[@BenjaminMarra]

Great interview. Awesome to hear Marc talk about his story and experiences creating games and Traveller. Thank you.

[@Guvguvmcguv]

I look forward to your intimated discussion on 5E & Traveller’s future. A great interview - thank you both.

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for watching! Yes, I'm excited to have Marc back on!

[@johnneill9740]

great interview, i've been a fan of and semi-regular player of Traveller since the 1980's :) Love the Travller universe!

[@opa-age]

Wish someday there would be a Traveller movie

[@Palocles]

Firefly/Serenity? Apparently it literally is a Traveller game.

[@Melw44]

Great interview! Thanks for making it. You did a good job. So many won't let the interviewee talk.

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@danmounfield7431]

Really enjoyed that. Marc should start his own podcast

[@mechaform]

Traveller was the 3rd RPG I played in the early 80s. Our referee was steeped in classic sci-fi so the sessions were uniformly engaging & enjoyable. It remains my go-to for all things with a far future theme.

[@Palocles]

That was a great interview! I’ve never watched an interview of anyone who’s created such an enduring RPG, not even anyone involved with D&D. I loved the way he was talking about the world generation part. I remember, last time I read through that section (after getting my first copy of Mongoose Traveller), how all of the different political structures and counter cultures elements were bubbling up story ideas in me. I think the game would make a great “episodic” and cooperative endeavour, where, after everyone has made their characters and experienced that process together, the map is generated with all the players present and their imaginations are allowed to bubble away. I’m sure different people would come up with their own interesting hooks for adventures to happen on all of those planets and then, when the game/party reaches that part of the map that layer could take over as Ref and run through their adventure idea, much the same way as sci fi shows have different writers and directors through out the season but the story is still a coherent story about one main group of characters. If only I could find a free evening every week to start this up!

[@trequor]

I wonder what force shapes society such that Star Wars and Traveller are created concurrently.

[@jamesjenningsix]

Amazing interview. Thank you.

[@robw4736]

Marc is too modest. In so many ways he saw the future of not just gaming but society. Every time I hear people talk about how important skills are, I keep thinking, yeah, I learned that 40 years ago playing Traveller.

[@marcuswelbymd7881]

Thanks for sharing this interview. Has been a fascinating insight into the develop of one of my favourite RPG. Originally pestered my parents and obtained the Deluxe box with Spinward Main map. Loved all iterations since and look forward to the future.

[@DiekuGames]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Marc was an amazing guest, and provided lots of insight!

[@KabukiKid]

Fantastic interview! :-) My only complaint is that it didn't go on longer! lol I could listen to Marc all day, I think. :-) Fascinating stories. I still have my little black books... volumes 1-8 and I also got the hardcover... if I recall, it covers the first 5 books. Great stuff.

[@DiekuGames]

I started by using a used hard cover to run an Aliens campaign after watching the movie. It was pre-Internet, so it wasn't always easy to know what other products existed... but slowly I put my collection together.

[@johnnycasady6775]

Watching the Foundation series I can see the influence it had on Traveller "jump ship" and such.

[@michaelconnor1542]

I would love to hear his thoughts on Sword of Cepheous and Westlands. The fantasy versions of Traveller.

[@davewilson13]

I just tried Traveller after hearing about the game for decades. Why did I wait?

[@jimyoung9262]

Great interview. This was interesting thanks.

[@rickschwab3963]

My younger brother used to play this game in the late 80s

[@aurelialeaena]

I would love to see a rerelease of the Traveller board games for the 50th anniversary!

[@m.7567]

I feel like I have seen this interview many times before. Maybe the interviewer felt the same when he expressed his desire to talk about T5 and Traveller's future which I am looking forward to very much.

[@Matthew_Kerwin]

We ultimately decided not to name a character until they successfully mustered out and started the game. It took a long time to come up with a good name, and by the time you killed 2 or 3 characters in the generation process, the player would start to get a little punchy. We ended up with a character named Georgy Porgey because that was the one who finally made it through.

[@Palocles]

It’s cool that there was a risk of death during character creation, in that it’s such a unique feature, but I prefer to look at character creation as if you’re coming from the other end. The character you are creating should be one of those people who have actually survived all of the “trials and tribulations” of their life. And for this I like the Mongoose system. And it’s not like you’re character will come though that process completely risk free, you can still lose limbs and stat points but at least you only need to go through once and will still have a lot of depth to them.

[@darkranger116]

fantastic video

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for watching, and the kind words. Marc was an amazing guest!

[@DanStevenson]

I remember my dad yelling at me for letting my little brother's character dying in character generation.

[@DiekuGames]

Ha! 🤣

[@thevikinghatgm235]

36:00 the way I think of CT skills, too, is not just what you learned how to do - but what you retain the ability to do decades later. How many of us at 40, say, could pass the high school or uni exams we did at 18-22?

[@Vashna]

My friend and I spent a lot of time in the '90s designing games (both paper and video games) mostly for personal use. One concept we came up with was the idea of "perishable skills" to simulate what you're describing. The more often someone utilizes their talent or skill or knowledge, the more proficient they become in that given area. Conversely, if a skill isn't used adequately, then the player's character starts to lose proficiency in that skill. The interesting dynamic with "perishable skills" is the player decides which skills they want to use often, so their character becomes a direct reflection of their interests. But then they might happen upon an obstacle that requires a skill they *should* be good at, but fail the skill check due to lack of practice. This in turn motivates them to start using or find excuses to use that neglected skill more often in the near term so they don't get stuck again in the future. This becomes a useful tool for a Gamemaster to create the effect of growth, decay, and evolution in players' characters by introducing challenges that rely on skills you know the players are neglecting and then see how they react. :)

[@RPGImaginings]

Traveller has endured, in my opinion, for two reasons: 1) It was an elegant mechanics system then, and it is elegant now. 2) It was the beginning of a deep universe then, and it has only become more deep. You can do anything in Traveller. Anything.

[@DiekuGames]

Good points! It's amazing how it's held up so well, and in fact, I think people are appreciating it even more in the last few years.

[@Panicagq2]

I had an AD&D First Edition group WAY back in High School - we would camp all summer long near logged-out areas in NW Oregon and do forestry cleanup work; not a lot of fiction readers, but they loved fantasy and SF movies so D&D was great to fill time. To get them to try Traveller, we just created characters one boring rainy day off and they liked the idea of a skill system that didn't limit their character. I just put 'em out in the Glimmerdrift Reaches on a TL8 world with reasons to leave, added Psionics and Ancients tech and we got a Star Wars feel. We did smuggling runs, rescues, espionage/intrigue and outright piracy and they loved it. They forgot all about D&D lol The only other game we played was Call of Cthulhu for Halloween or really stormy/spooky nights. Traveller literally does everything from epic space battles to wilderness survival to human drama. Many thanks to Mr. Miller!

[@loucorreia6142]

Well done and an enjoyable interview

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@MarcusPrim3]

Great interview

[@DiekuGames]

Thanks for watching, and the kind words!

[@PossumMedic]

36:23 - "So you hit a point around 35 or so" Yo... too real dude... too real! 😭😂 1:11:36 - respect 💜 Great interview! Thank yo so much! :D

[@GoT_17k]

I would totally like to play Wagon Train to the Stars by Marc Miller.... totally

[@EricFeldmann]

the life path was way cool i remember just rolling up characters to see what happened

[@opa-age]

I had the original Starter set. I spent days just making characters and building star systems by myself bcuz i couldnt find people to play with.

[@yourwrong6125]

i wish they had focused a bit on ship design

[@yourwrong6125]

btw travellers character creation process is a game on its own. I am playing classic traveller and made dozens of characters to crew my ship

[@DiekuGames]

It's definitely a game within a game!

[@gordonmcinnes8328]

Solomani rim/an old free trader comes home/for one final trade...

[@s3xedmanthunder192]

40:32 .... **starts to look up the simple math of traveller** i think i've got subtraction down ^^ although i would have kept a bank balance then had a fist full of creds to play with then pull from my company/bank

[@s3xedmanthunder192]

also because you asked of it Graveyards without name Wrecks float in endless nightfall Ancient ships decay

[@brianhoff141]

I donot use your jump fuel of 10% of ship hull. I use 1% of ship hull.

[@cybrim1]

As of right now you have 666 subscribers... i don't want to ruin it... but i feel i have no choice...