Kickstarter Traveller 5e powered by the DnD SRD in 2026 crowdfunding

[MGibster]

During the d20 glut in the early 2000s, d20 Call of Cthulhu was a game nobody asked for and a lot people did not want. It was a surprisingly good adaptation. I was prepared to dislike it, but it was so well done it remains a bright spot of the d20 era for me.

I’m hoping this version of Traveler is the same. It might very well be a good adaptation. I’m happy to give it a chance.

 

[Parmandur]

I thought so too but Carbon 2185 has shown me that the power level can be curbed and adapted. So, it’s not as far apart as it might seem. I’m guessing if this thing bombs hugely it will be because it misses both 5E and Traveller feel.

Yeah, just seems like a fraught enterprise that ks likely to end up neither fish nor fowl. If they pull it off, could be great.

That's a fair point, I think of 5e as high-powered because of the player characters' ability to punch well above their weight class... but while this uses 5e's engine, that doesn't mean it'll be "5e-compatible" where everything will be the same power level/backwards-compatible with 5e.

If it ia not readily compawith other 5E material, however, seems like a peculiar enterprise.

I think you’re the only person confused about this. Everybody seems to understand that this is a (D&D)5E -powered version of Traveller.

Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. People aren’t confused.

Yeah, I also wouldn't forsee any confusion there: Traveller 5 is not the current common edition, anyways, and is somewhat esoteric.

 

[Distracted DM]

If it ia not readily compawith other 5E material, however, seems like a peculiar enterprise.

You don't have to learn new rules. That's a big deal to some people, particularly folk that joined ttrpgs with DnD5e and haven't played anything else. I have some of them at my tables

 

[SableWyvern]

I think you’re the only person confused about this. Everybody seems to understand that this is a (D&D)5E -powered version of Traveller.

Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. People aren’t confused.

Yeah, some people definitely have found it confusing. People will, in the future, continue to be confused if there is a product called Traveller5 (which is formally considered the fifth edition of Traveller) and another product called Traveller 5e (which is not the fifth edition of Traveller). I'm genuinely not sure why any one would claim that won't cause confusion?

Fortunately, I'm not worried, just making an observation, so we're all good.

 

[Parmandur]

You don't have to learn new rules. That's a big deal to some people, particularly folk that joined ttrpgs with DnD5e and haven't played anything else. I have some of them at my tables

I mean, to nail the Traveller vibe, the rules are going to be different enough to make it as steep a learning curve as learning Traveller rules...?

 

[Distracted DM]

I mean, to nail the Traveller vibe, the rules are going to be different enough to make it as steep a learning curve as learning Traveller rules...?

I couldn't tell you what they're doing to nail the Traveller vibe, but leaving proficiency bonus+feats+levels is scary enough to keep some folk with dnd5e-based systems. As long as there's some familiarity, there's the feeling that you can learn whatever else even if, realistically, there's just as much to learn as there would be with a new system.

There are so many complete dnd5e homebrew rewrites out there of non-DnD settings, people do A LOT of work to force 5e into stuff just because... they want to play dnd5e, they don't want to learn not-dnd5e.

 

[darjr]

This might be great. I’ve seen great sci-fi games based on 5e already and others based on d20 like games like Shadowdark.

I’m going to wait and see.

 

[Willie the Duck]

I'm not particularly worried. I think this will be... fine. I had T20 back when D&D 3e came out and it was... fine. I suspect the will end up being the same -- the worst I could say is that they certainly didn't need to exist except that some groups wanted to keep playing with a current-edition-D&D backbone.

Traveller isn't (IMO, to me, etc.) about the combat resolution mechanics or how attributes interact with skill rolls or the like, but instead about the play pattern -- the trade rules and system generation charts and build-a-bear ship design* and making career rolls to determine how old-but-skilled your character starts out as, and such. Most of those can be stapled onto most base systems. *perhaps the ships could get feats instead of the PCs.

 

[djotaku]

As someone who has Traveller from a humble bundle and has never played it, but is eyeing Starfinder 2e, I find this mildly intriguing.

 

[Reef]

I’m definitely curious. I’m always looking for a new take on starship rules. I’ve yet to find one that struck the Goldilocks spot for me between too fiddly and too abstract.