Traveller: the iconic science fiction roleplaying game

Not DnD is a weekly show discussing tabletop roleplaying games. In September we are looking at tabletop RPGs for a sci-fi setting!

Traveller is a long-beloved science fiction roleplaying game first published in 1977. The game has had several editions published over it's almost 50 year history, including GURPS and d20. It's difficult to discuss sci-fi ttrpgs without mentioning this iconic game.

The Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022 by Mongoose publishing provided new careers, equipment, hazards, world creation, psionics and shipbuilding. Come learn more about Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition with Matt and Chris from Mongoose Publishing on this weeks (29th September) episode of Not DnD.


Not DnD is a weekly show discussing tabletop roleplaying games. Each week EN Publishing’s @tabletopjess interviews the creators behind different tabletop roleplaying games that aren’t D&D!

You can watch the live recording every Monday at 5pm ET / 10pm BST on YouTube or Twitch, or listen on the podcast platform of your choice.

We've had many other sci-fi TTRPGs on Not DnD over the last three years such as Salvage Union, Terminal, Orbital Blues, You're In Space and Everything is F***ed, Day Trippers, Alien, Paranoia, Blade Runner, Star Trek Adventures, and Dune.

You can watch any of these previous interviews on youtube here. Or listen to the podcast episodes here.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I'm a day late to the show, long time and usual lurker.

I'm a year and a half into a Pirates of Drinax home campaign, and I've completed two six-month campaigns for a local FLGS using the latest incarnation of Mongoose's rules. I don't have a long history with the genre or system and only started running Traveller in the past couple of years. I'm happy I've picked it up, and I enjoyed the interview!

If I had my own nit to pick about the latest incarnation of Traveller it would be around module, campaign, and adventure design. For October 2025 I'm running a four session mini campaign of Mothership -- and I'm blown away by how Mothership materials are a masterclass in information design compared to adventures and modules put out by... well... almost anyone, but Mongoose included.

That's a criticism that comes from a place of love and fondness for Mongoose Traveller. The OSR movement and their compact zines with easy to read bullet points and minimal exposition have won me over. What's more, some of the wildest moments in my home game for Pirates of Drinax come from randomly rolled or generated encounters that have sparked crazy moments of improv.

The interview talks about the modularity of all the systems and subsystems and that's definitely how I've run it, with only a very loose and vibes-based mastery of the rules that's a bit by the seat-of-my-pants and definitely erring on "rulings not rules" during the game, but out of the game I have a tracking Spreadsheet of Doom™ that I don't know if it actually adds any value to my game prep or not. None of the groups I've run games for ever cared to engage in speculative trade or freight or cargos. My Pirates of Drinax game -- which is more along the lines of Hobnobbing with Planetary Business Associations and Antiquities Dealers of Drinax -- barely engages in combat rules (space or otherwise) and I'd probably struggle to remember what the heck we were doing if we actually had a fight break out.

Thanks again for the interview!

I have to agree. I have Deepnight Revelation, and the entire time I was reading it (and I read it all!) I kept thinking - wow some bullet points, some bolding of the important information; as well as other more modern RPG adventure design principles would be nice. If I was to run it (I probably never will, because I don't have the time nor inclination) I'd have to re-write, or at least re-organize the information.

A good read though - and I'd say it's definitely written for the adventure reader, not the adventure runner. However, having recently read Hole in the Oak, a classic of OSR adventure design, an adventure with info-design focused on the adventure runner is ALSO a good read. Better in fact, because it's shorter, and the info is easy to find and track.

(Also, I hope hope hope that the huge page count was not created for the sake of huge page count...)

 

[Mongoose_Matt]

5-6 career terms (38-42 years old) seems to be the average for my games.

We generally find the limiting factor is the Aging roll - as soon as a player makes that roll, even if they get through with no issues, they begin to realise what they are risking and become reluctant to risk their precious precious characteristics

Very good reasons to have at least one older and more experienced character though. Not as if they will unbalance the party...