When the top sci-fi RPG meets the top fantasy RPG

We all know that Dungeons & Dragons is the most popular TTRPG brand in the world, and that the 5E edition(s) have reached more people than any previous edition of the game has.

Back in 1977, three years after D&D's launch, Traveller, while maybe not the very first sci-fi RPG--which honour arguably goes to 1976's Metamorphosis Alpha--became one of the earliest, and the most influential science fiction roleplaying game in the hobby. Since then it has undergone various editions, including variants for GURPS and the d20 System, and various publishers such as Game Designer's Workshop, Imperium Games, QuickLink, and current publisher (and owner) Mongoose Publishing.

And now 5E and Traveller come together with Traveller 5e, licensed from Mongoose by World's Largest RPGs, powered by the 2014 edition of the 5E ruleset. It launched on Backerkit yesterday, and has already raised over a quarter of a million dollars.

It's a big package--four hardcover books in a metal slipcase, a magnetic referee (GM) screen, dice, miniatures, badges, and more. Powered by 5E, the game includes a psion class, along with a pile of subclasses, backgrounds, and species such as androids and clones. Not only that, there's information on building starships, deck plans, space combat, starship tokens, and alien monsters.

Traveller is well known for its lifepath character creation system. The 5E adaption says that it holds on to this system, though it's not entirely clear how that works--the Backerkit page says that skills are converted to 5E proficiencies and feats, and careers are converted to backgrounds, and it's clear the 5E class system remains intact.

You can pick up just the core rules hardcover for $79. If you want all four books, you need the $349 bundle which includes the metal slipcase, dice, and deck plans. Or, if you have cash to burn, for $999 you can grab the full bundle including miniatures, patches, coins, more dice, even more dice, yet more dice, and some more dice.

Traveller 5e is on Kickstarter for the next 45 days.

Update--the shipping costs outside the US are worth double checking when you pledge, as they are rather high and will be charged separately in the pledge manager.

 

[Micah Sweet]

With those prices no wonder it's already funded so high. And all the extra non-RPG stuff. And October 2027? This is the kind of thing that should have been closer to the finish line. Even if I was inclined, I wouldn't be inclined.

Yeah, too much bread for me. Too bad, I'm always interested in new 5e sci-fi to add to my corpus of table rules.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I didn't think it was clear on the Backerkit page, but you can just get the digital core book for about $30.

What an amusing thing not to be clear about!

 

[SteveC]

This is really interesting. I would not have imagined that there would be this much Traveller support in 2026. Makes my heart feel good.

I will be really surprised to see what this looks like. 5E and classic Traveller are separated by a huge gulf in terms of gameplay, so I'd think you'd either have a HUGE rebalancing of 5E-ism, or ... I don't want to use the turn of phrase that I'm thinking of.

I suspect we'll see a lot of the core Traveller star sector/world generation stuff that has existed across the editions, but as someone who had the 3X Traveller book, that was very different from 3E.

I think I sort of already have the Traveller D&D mashup in Stars Without Number and Worlds Without Number. I'd love to hear what this ends up looking like, though. Here's hoping 5E folks get something really solid.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This is really interesting. I would not have imagined that there would be this much Traveller support in 2026. Makes my heart feel good.

I will be really surprised to see what this looks like. 5E and classic Traveller are separated by a huge gulf in terms of gameplay, so I'd think you'd either have a HUGE rebalancing of 5E-ism, or ... I don't want to use the turn of phrase that I'm thinking of.

I suspect we'll see a lot of the core Traveller star sector/world generation stuff that has existed across the editions, but as someone who had the 3X Traveller book, that was very different from 3E.

I think I sort of already have the Traveller D&D mashup in Stars Without Number and Worlds Without Number. I'd love to hear what this ends up looking like, though. Here's hoping 5E folks get something really solid.

The Without Number series is really something. I'm a huge fan of it personally.

 

[Vincent55]

the price of the sets are not worth it to me looks nice but honestly there are other 5e sci fi books that work just fine. Ultramodern, everyday heroes, genepunk. and others. I think this would be good for those who liked travler so good luck on the books.