Mr. Welch's Mad Musings: Traveller

The oldest science fiction RPG in print today, Traveller is known for its lethality, hard science, open-world combined with a vast amount of background, and enough supplements and editions to fill its own wing in the National Archives. Now we look at Marc Miller's classic the science fiction masterpiece that is Traveller.

[@geraldhill4286]

I need to correct something. A parsec is 3.26 light years, so a jump-6 ship can transit over 18 light years.

[@OgamiItto70]

Yeah. A little over 19 & 1/2 light years.

[@bedeodempsey5007]

That misstatement jumped out and slapped me too.

[@WilliamKellerTheSkeptic]

Heh. I just hit that point of the video, and paused to see if anyone had commented. I'm four years too late. :)

[@MrfnordTim]

Actually, most of the GURPS Traveller line was set at about the same time as Megatraveller but with no assassination or civil war. Only the last book (for a newer edition of GURPS) was set during the Solomani-Vilani conflict.

[@nousername2986]

Ever since Tex told me about your channel I have been addicted. Thanks for the awsome content

[@vernonjennings5921]

A game I remember fondly. The folks in my small town preferred D&D and Champions so we never had anything resembling a campaign. We did however make plenty of characters over the years. A game in itself really. Great video. Thanks for sharing!

[@scotth4713]

Classic Traveller is still my favorite and I own almost all the books across multiple editions. :)

[@BunkerAnon]

Just picked up Classic Traveller from Humble Bundle I'll be reading through and seeing if a game will be done.

[@SerpenThrope]

Actually I just checked, and Tunnels and Trolls predates Traveller (1975, Traveller was 1977), and is (technically) still in print (mostly as the creator's hobby). So Traveller's only the third oldest still around.

[@robertguagliardo605]

Serpen Thrope runequest? I remember playing D+D before tunnels and trolls but I don’t remember if my older brother got runequest before traveller?

[@SwordlordRoy]

@@robertguagliardo605 Runequest was first published in 1978, so it's probably the 4th oldest.

[@chriscooper654]

As someone who played the old boxed 3-book set in my long-ago teens, thanks for the stroll up and down memory lane. I ran campaigns that make me wince to remember... and a few that still make me smile in satisfaction. Many thanks for your take on a TTRPG that's almost as old as I am!

[@CaesiusX]

Thanks for the outstanding video. I've enjoyed *_Traveller_* for 40+ years. Even during the years when I didn't play, I followed it. Still purchasing the odd book, while filling in my _classic Traveller_ little black book collection. I'm looking forward to what the newest revision of _Traveller 5_ has in store. I also cratch-built a Scout Type S, which I'm quite proud of. This game holds a place in my heart, and you did an outstanding job covering it and its history.

[@jimhall1294]

You echo my sentiments and experience. Ive collected much over the years despite not being able to play. Im back into it now and love it. Love all the videos and appreciate the efforts!

[@RicksPoker]

The first Traveller I bought was the GURPS lineup, and I really enjoyed it. I thought the supplements were excellent, but never was able to snag Interstellar War. Very nice video. Warm regards, Rick

[@macalcord]

We spent entire weekends playing Mega-Traverller, we ran mostly outlaws and mercs man when we worked our way up to PGMPs we lost our minds did sooooo much collateral damage. LOL

[@chriscooper654]

OMG what my players did to get their grubby paws on TL 15 battledress (powered armor)!

[@thedocklighter]

The three little black books in a box back in '77 after Star Wars had come out is the edition burned forever in my memory. Those booklets, MegaTraveller, and Mongoose are my favorites, though I have New Era and d20 and some Gurps. 10:22 Stated explicitly - and implicitly in the various editions - in the Starship Operator's Manual vol. 1 supplement for MegaTraveller put out by Digest Group Publishing, ships facing interplanetary journeys of longer than a week could instead perform a microjump, spending a week travel time in jump space and thus cover the distance in a shorter time period. Jump drive rating indicated the maximum distance the drive could cross in one jump - nothing says a drive couldn't jump a shorter distance (it just wasn't efficient with fuel, using the same fuel as jump-1 for distances less than a parsec).

[@VermilionMage]

Best sci-fi tabletop game ever. Bar none.

[@michaelmclaughlin261]

Even better than Twilight : 2300 ?

[@TheMajorActual]

@@michaelmclaughlin261 Apologies for coming to this late, but, yes -- by far.

[@AyebeeMk2]

Traveller: Play like the dice are trying to kill you!

[@HeadHunterSix]

1:16 Mad props for the Alien Legion reference.

[@SwordlordRoy]

Want to collect Traveller? Physical: It doesn't matter how much paper you bring into one place, you aren't going to resurrect all those trees... PDF: I recommend camping out Humble Bundle or Bundle of Holding, they seem to pop up there now and again, that's where I got most of my Traveller stuff.

[@MaxWriter]

Nicely done.

[@ThePandionknight]

I just started collecting the GURPS Traveller PDFs, but also want the Mongoose 2e.

[@squatchhammer7215]

Came here because of Tex kinda in a round about way. First he said that he wanted to play a Traveller game a few weeks back in one of his Friday live streams. So I took a look and fell into the perverbial black hole of this game. I am still looking to buy the books for a couple of editions because I am still not convinced which one I would enjoy. Also, a joke among my old group of Rifts is that it's barely defined but had a lot of story. While it seems like a contradiction it's not. Look how much Seimbeda has written then copy pasted the information in the setting while not giving any specifics to make it easier for the GM to work on. The thing is almost like a premix of dry baked goods and just add water. Or it's the Fiesta Pail of the RPG world. (A BPL running joke for anyone who doesn't know yet.)

[@gerwyn8340]

I played Mega Traveller, kept my brain active.

[@AvarllanTelesto]

Traveller looks like good fun

[@AyebeeMk2]

Just remember; in traveller no one can hear you scream!

[@HeadHunterSix]

10:09 you've got it backwards. Six parsecs is not two light years, more like two parsecs is six light years (~3.26 ly per parsec). So Jump-6 is nearly 20 light years.

[@peebothuhlu7186]

Mr Welch also hasn't sat down with the help full on line map rescourse and plotted out a J-6 across the 'Known' setting. You can pretty much get from the 'Edge' in the Spinward Marches to Captial in roughly nine months. Getting across the known map? Yeah, okay THAT'S going to be a good long while. 👍

[@ronniejdio9411]

Greatness

[@28mmRPG]

I love traveller, my mini-life is dedicated to it soooo...

[@PulpHerb]

6 Parsecs is not 2 LY. It is closer to 20.

[@jeffhall2411]

im just here for all the winona rider references.

[@qazwer333]

I like how somehow, every edition of this game(Besides mongoose 2e) Has a completely different system. Making everything different. TNE has almost the same rules as twilight 2000(So yes, you can run a wartorn twilight 2000 scifi game). I would say stick to an edition. Most people like mongoose, gurps or classic. Anything else is bound to get you weird looks. It is one of the few games along with dnd, shadowrun and cyberpunk where i have seen people use older editions of the game.

[@hagerthehorrible1892]

I stumbled on to your channel looking for Twilight 2000 videos. I love your reviews!

[@Mr_Welch]

Glad to have you on board

[@jasonitaliano8631]

Now to build the Beagle again

[@borusa32]

Gurps Traveller was set in the Third Imperium but the civil war never happened. Gurps Insterstellar wars for Gurps 4e was set during the rise of the Solomani.

[@michaelmclaughlin261]

All I know about Traveller is that it is the game where you can die during character generation, or survive to be an incredibly badass old fart.

[@AyebeeMk2]

just like Han Solo; THE ULTIMATE TRAVELLER.

[@richmcgee434]

That hasn't actually been the case in most editions, but it certainly was amusing as a timewaster back in the Black Book days. Seeing how far you could push your luck in CharGen before dying was almost as good a geek party game as trying to come up with a plausible origin story for a random-gen character in Villains & Vigilantes.

[@AyebeeMk2]

@@richmcgee434 my use for such an event (death in character gen) resulted in the death being treated as a friend / relative who died in conection with that service, (backgroud/ plot device) if it happened again add years aging rolls no musterout for that term (assume injury or disaster). Example, 4 term scout dies, who is the older sibling of a marine grunt; the marine always thought there was something fishy about the death; during his 2nd term survival fail (faulty vac-suit!) losses 1 point end, finishes with just 1 muster roll age 24-5. (was it a vac suit accident? or was getting close to finding out......) = Add referee and away you go.... ((more than that multiple generations having accidents, or is it a dynastic conspiacy)) thats why is so good , never ends

[@tertia0011]

Other SF RPGs I'd recommend: FGU's Space Opera & Chaosium's Ringworld. TSR's SF classic Metamorphosis Alpha, published in 1976, is a venerable SF RPG still available in PDF format.

[@mostlyjoe]

The d20 plague. Apt name.

[@kedabro1957]

1:41 ... KZbin's captions translated K'kree as "decree", which made me think your joke about "Don't take the stuttering disasvantage if you're playing GURPS Traveller" was because if you stutter "decree" it sounds like "dick-dick-dick-dick-" Then I googled "Traveller Centaur Race" and my inner 12-year-old was so disappointed.

[@ckmishn3664]

Did you mean that ships could travel 2 parsecs (which is about 6.5 light years)? Or was one of the numbers you gave (be it 2 light years or 6 parsecs) actually right and the other wrong?

[@DADeathinacan]

Pity, no talk on Traveller 2300/2300AD and its four editions.

[@Mr_Welch]

2300 to me was always its own game just in the same timeline, just like Twilight 2000 is also in the 2300 timeline.

[@DADeathinacan]

@@Mr_Welch True enough. Do you plan on making a video on them eventually?

[@Mr_Welch]

@@DADeathinacan if the popularity of the series continues I'll probably cover everything gdw ever made as an RPG

[@MrfnordTim]

@@Mr_Welch I'm not sure if I'm more looking forward to your take on En Garde! or a whole episode on Cadillacs & Dinosaurs :-)

[@euansmith3699]

1:25 Alien Legion 😃👍

[@DrVesuvius70]

There's also Traveller Hero, the version that used the Hero System. That was a fully licensed release and had a modest range of supplements. Not strictly Traveller but I think it's also worth mentioning Cepheus Engine, which is a free retro-clone of 1st edition Mongoose Traveller, but without Mongoose's legendarily poor quality control. It obviously doesn't include anything explicit about the Traveller universe, but then neither did the original Classic Traveller. It's a pretty good way in to the game system and has spawned several alternate setting lines.

[@ianm5782]

The second 'L' is there because that is the correct spelling everywhere that isn't the USA. I'm not sure why the original traveller publishers chose to use two, perhaps the US had not yet changed the official spelling when it was first published.

[@samuelbastable2028]

Its the British spelling of Traveller, remember reading online that it was chosen to have that spelling because it could make copyright much easier in the US

[@warellis]

The big issue with Traveller is the millstone of the Third Imperium setting around the neck. Though thankfully, Cepheus Engine is there to provide a Traveller that has other settings than the default Traveller universe.

[@SwiftJustice]

What? Traveller already tells you to make your own. The third imperium is optional. There's no Roleplaying police.

[@peterd9698]

@@SwiftJustice No one expects the Spanish roleplaying police!

[@knicknac95]

Sadly never got to play much of trader - the one campaign i got into fell apart after .3 weeks due to the GM and one of the players ( a couple) kept falling out. Would still love to have a go sometime.

[@scotth4713]

Oh, and Traveller has only one major drawback as a GM...trying to find a group that wants to play. Trust me, I speak experience. ;)

[@AyebeeMk2]

never had that problem?...

[@kedabro1957]

@@AyebeeMk2 The quality of one's life depends mostly on what size city you live in. The smaller the city, the narrower the range of interests.

[@AyebeeMk2]

@@kedabro1957 ?

[@kedabro1957]

@@AyebeeMk2 I'm saying the reason you never had that problem is because (I'm guessing) you live in a large city with lots of people to game with.

[@AyebeeMk2]

@@kedabro1957 That is what i thought you were implying, and is a fair point, but also the same can be said for any group activity.

[@redfeildre349]

This has nothing to do with the game but... That pic at 8:20 is from a show called Space 1999! It's the one thing I remember from the TV series way back in the 70's! I don't remember much about the show but it must have been awful. I don't think anyone has ever streamed it and SYF*FY won't even touch it. Correct me if I'm wrong because I've been curious about this show for a long while now. I had some of the toys when I was a kid and always thought the ship designs were pretty cool.

[@Mr_Welch]

The guy getting blown out of the airlock? That's Drax from Moonraker.

[@redfeildre349]

@@Mr_Welch Really? I swear they did the same thing in Space 1999. Wow. Thanks. I need to see Moonraker now.

[@TheMapleTable]

I have a friend who is trying to get me to try this and I would like to play it, but I also tend to like some magic with my Sci-Fi. I believe they have the mongoose edition.

[@Whipster-Old]

I'm hoping I can run a traveller game someday.

[@tssteelx]

Oh hey, you mentioned alternity. Nice.

[@ancapftw9113]

I think Stars Without Number is an unofficial sequel. In its backstory a psychic storm crashed FTL travel via psychic gates, and humanity is rebuilding using jump drives, after technology crashed due to a lack of trade.

[@thaen9346]

But SWN has its own backstory unique to it

[@ancapftw9113]

@@thaen9346 yes, but it could just be set 1000 years after Traveller, when the average tech level is 14 or 15.

[@misomiso8228]

5:30 you could a vid on some of the best d20 settings and supplements? I remeber thinking Dragonstar was pretty cool...

[@oldgringo2001]

~10:10 six parsecs is NOT a bit less than two light years; it's a bit over TWENTY light years. 3.26 light years to the parsec, Mr. Welch. Either you misplaced the decimal point or you are confusing Traveller with Traveller2300 which had about a seven light-year limit on how far you could run a stutterwarp ship--about two parsecs.

[@ctdaniels7049]

Was looking up Traveller lore and found this. Are you the Mr. Welch whom was not allowed to begin an RPG as the Pope? :P

[@Mr_Welch]

I am the person whom you are referring to

[@peterbrazier7107]

In the original Traveller it was an adventure in it's self to roll up Characters. The imsgine using Geriactric Grand Admirals and Grnerals to rob a Bank.

[@dennisthompson7921]

You have a definite Winona issue, which I totally understand

[@azmendozafamily]

No mention of Interstellar Wars for GURPS 4ed? I feel besmirched. Lol Seriously, Traveller and GURPS together could only be dwarfed by a GURPS:Rifts alliance. Thank goodness for PDFs.

[@the_epipan]

02:27 I was just having problems with the issue of limiting the size of ships of at least 100 tons to be able to J-Drive, I did not understand the reason for the limitation and I was looking for arguments about why it could not be done when it is a warp bubble that is generated, because if it is smaller it costs less to maintain. So this is the real reason for that? Torpedoes with J-Drive? May I ask where you base your saying that from? So I can use it to debate with other players and GMs.

[@andersbackman3977]

And there are also tons of fan made supplements, rules, etc. There is a Google maps styled online map site called simply the Travellermap and there is an fantastically detailed and realistic space combat system, with ship design system, sensors, stealth, gravity, aerobraking etc etc available for free, called Intercept: vectormovement.com

[@captainharris8980]

1:26 Uplifted wolves, not dogs.

[@rommdan2716]

Eeeh they have a ton of races, some can look like dogs

[@Yarkoonian]

vector based starships?

[@douglascampbell9809]

I would say Traveller is the second most expensive game to collect. Warhammer 40k would be the first. Hundreds of novels and White Dwarf magazines and it's on it's 8th (?) edition. Not to mention that Warhammer 30k, Adeptus Titanicus, Space Hulk, Necromuda, Battlefleet Gothic and at least 2 other games all share lore in one way or another. And that is before you start talking limited edition novels and the miniatures.

[@oldgringo2001]

The second "L" probably comes from Robert E. Lee's famous horse: Traveller.

[@MsGorteck]

Learn something new every day, thanks for that

[@tomkelly00]

So that begs the question, was he just a bad speller or why did *he* add the 2nd L?

[@oldgringo2001]

@@tomkelly00 Lee bought the gelding; "Traveller" might have been the name the original owner gave it.

[@SwiftJustice]

Nope. Mark just wanted it to be different.

[@tomkelly00]

2:55 looks so familiar, is that from master of Orion or something?

[@Mr_Welch]

That would be one of the traveler computer games

[@randalthor6670]

Why are you using the Alien Legion for examples of aliens in Traveller? Ha. I liked the setting for the New Era because it gave characters something to do other than to be merchants which I don't like, but the GDW rules were bad, imo. I love the rules of Marc Miller's Traveller (T4) because I really like dice mechanic (and I don't mind capable characters), though the book did need some major editing. Also, because it was earlier in the Third Imperium timeline, there was more reason/possibility for exploration type adventures, including exploring bombed out worlds ala Gamma World. (OK, that is more possible in the New Era, another reason I like that setting.) Why do I find it totally normal that my favorite version of a game is the one mostly thought of as a "curiosity." A few years back I gave my brother (who introduced me to gaming with the little/original D&D books) a t-shirt with, "Traveller: the only game where you can die in character generation" printed on it. He loved it. Uuuddd, one Parsec is 3.26 LY, the distance from here to the Centari Stars. Right?

[@arglebargle17]

LOL, I have 95% of it all and didn't go broke getting it.

[@antwan1357]

Are their any computer games based upon Traveller?

[@Mr_Welch]

There's two They are. very old and they weren't very good.

[@larrylambert1220]

Waiting for you to muse about Star Frontiers.

[@Mr_Welch]

we need to track down a copy or a PDF of that

[@colinmerritt7645]

6 parsecs = c. 20 light years...

[@kennieminski7080]

Did you ever get a chance to look over the 3 book 5 e version?

[@TheMajorActual]

Yeah, the years around _The New Era_ was the death knell for GDW, not just for _Trav,_ but for most of its lines -- I think someone read a little too much Fukuyama, and tried to shoehorn _Mad Max_ and _Cyberworld_ into the _Marava's_ cargo bay.....Not a good end.

[@TheMajorActual]

.....On a side note, you can get CD ROMs of all _Classic Traveller_ (including CT reprints), most _Megatraveller,_ _TNE_ (if you're a total completist), _T4_ (which really isn't that bad - if you know how to nitpick) and _GURPS Trav_ at farfuture.net

[@RKnowlan13]

I love your channel but a parsec is 3.3 light-years, so a jump 6 ship actually travels about 19.8 ly.

[@S810_Jr]

Will you be doing the Aliens: Adventure Game?

[@Mr_Welch]

If I get a chance to take a look at it. I might do the Leading Edge game version of aliens which was notoriously awful

[@S810_Jr]

@@Mr_Welch Yep that is the one... all those tables! But then it does have some nice lore like the the non-xenomorph aliens, worlds, factions and star map. Always feel like lifting those and placing in a lite or non-xenomorph universe would be cool.

[@SHONNER]

Hard sci-fi just means a space helmet is required. Nothing more.

[@bugzilla6486]

Ain't that the truth.

[@mymediapc9521]

The open d20 system is dead?

[@SonofSethoitae]

I dropped the Third Imperium entirely. I just don't have the patience to learn the lore for somebody else's setting.

[@kennieminski7080]

Is there a list of books that are compatible with 5e?

[@jacobblaustein7779]

You know No Man's Sky got better.

[@Mr_Welch]

Yes after I made the video they made a lot of improvements. I'll chalk it up to them listening to my advice.

[@Gnarrkhaz]

The Mongoose Traveller 2. Edition is actually not clean at all. Most of the rules are good in concept, but the game is chock-full of errors and ambiguity. It's downright shameful and a disservice to the IP. Yet, we play it currently because i'm afraid it may still be the best version.