History TabletopGame / Traveller

* FireOfComfort: The Hearthfire is a sacred symbol to Sword Worlders. Soldiers and police "guard the hearthfires" and [[YamatoNadeshiko goodwifes]] "tend the hearthfires".

Marc Miller is currently funding a ''Traveller 5th Edition'' via [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/traveller5/traveller-5th-edition Kickstarter]].

* ''Mongoose Traveller'' (2008-present): An updated version of ''Classic Traveller'' by, well, Mongoose Publishing. Mongoose has also adapted several of their licensed properties to use the ''Traveller'' rule set. A ''Traveller'' version of ''{{Babylon 5}}'' was released in 2009 to mixed reviews, along with ''JudgeDredd'' in the same year. Later adaptations have included ''HammersSlammers'' and ''StrontiumDog''. Again, ''Mongoose Traveller'' is not the official name: it's sold simply as ''Traveller''.

Not to be confused with [[tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/IrishTravellers the Irish Traveller community]].

* ItGotWorse: The transition between ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' and ''The New Era'' reveals that the Rebellion was only the beginning. The ''Hard Times'' supplement for ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' relesed late in the line included rules for reducing the population and technology ratings of worlds in the war zones of the Rebellion.

** The Sword Worlders think every Darian is an InsufferableGenius and Darians think Sword Worlders are a BarbarianTribe. A cynic might say [[APlagueOnBothYourHouses both are right]].

* DeathByOriginStory: Early versions of the character generation system frequently killed player characters before play began.

%% If the article starts with a quote, the image goes on the right.

->''This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone...''\\
''Mayday, Mayday... We are under attack...''\\
''Main drive is gone... Turret number one not responding...''\\
''Mayday... Losing cabin pressure fast calling anyone...''\\
''Please help... This is Free Trader Beowulf ...''

->''...mayday...''

''Traveller'' was first published by Game Designers' Workshop ([=GDW=]) in 1977. Thirty-plus years later, it still has a rabid pack of followers, despite the fact that [=GDW=] closed down in 1996. The publishing license has passed through a number of hands since then.

!!Provides examples of:

* {{Two-D Space}}: All of the maps of the Imperium and its sectors are flat. Some fans suggest that this is because the maps are [[HyperSpace jumpspace]] maps.

* WhatKeptYou: In ''Classic Traveller'' Book 0.

* [[ShoutOut/TabletopGames ShoutOut]]: Multiple examples

* DidNotDoTheResearch: In-universe example; the logo of the IISS is supposed to represent the Pony Express. Except they mistranslated 'Pony' into 'Poni', an eight-legged dinosauroid from another planet. So, yes, the logo is a person riding a dinosaur like a horse.
** Verging on a CriticalResearchFailure, out of universe, an early supplement included game stats for various science fiction personalities, including [[StarWars Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader]] ... described as the creations of one ''Gene'' Lucas!

** The Imperium acts as CombatReferee between its substates. There are a number of guidelines to when an imperial intervention will be launched. War crimes, or the use of WMDs on the ground(in space it is different), being too obviously the aggressor, trying to grab too much power or to disturb too great an area and so on are likely to attract an Imperial intervention. The general rule though is "be unnoticeable and you won't be noticed".

* SingleBiomePlanet: There are many Desert Planets and Ocean Planets in the ''{{Traveller}}'' universe.

* ShoutOut : The Intersteller Wars were a rewrite of the old board wargame ''Imperium'' and the Sword Worlds are an obvious shout-out to Piper's ''Space Viking.''
** The name of some emperors (''Cleon'') is also a shout out to Creator/IsaacAsimov's Foundation.

* QuicksandSucks: Appears in the adventure ''Twilight's Peak'', the Double Adventure ''Marooned/Marooned Alone'' and ''Supplement 2 Animal Encounters''.

* QuicksandSucks: Appears in three Classic supplements: the adventure ''Twilight's Peak'', double Adventure ''Marooned/Marooned Alone'' and ''Supplement 2 Animal Encounters''.

* QuicksandSucks: Appears in the Classic adventures ''Twilight's Peak'' and Double Adventure ''Marooned/Marooned Alone''.

* ''Marc Miller's Traveller'' aka ''Traveller 4'' (1996-98): The first edition of the game after GDW folded. Set in "Mileau 0" - the beginning of the Third Imperium. Mr. Miller has said it was something of a "rushed" product. "Pocket Empires", however, is still quite highly regarded by players interested in the economics of the setting, which as trading is often a major part of the game isn't as esoteric a concern as it may seem.

* [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Our Dwarves are Different]]: The Geonee, a minor human race from a high-gravity world that makes them stocky who once had an ancient empire conquered by the Vilani are rather Dwarf-like.
* [[OurElvesAreDifferent Our Elves are Different]]: The Darrians, a minor human race who once had greater technological prowess than the Imperium before they accidently blew up their star are pretty much elves - [[RecycledInSpace In Space!]] Right down to their elvish-sounding language, affinity for trees and the arts, and pointed ears.

* SpaceOpera : The standard scope of the game, although the game your Referee runs doesn't ''have'' to be SpaceOpera. There's a definite [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Hard SF]] feel to the technical limitations of the weapons, the tight parameters for ship design, etc. The character creation system encourages characters with human-scale abilities and limitations, not even Heinlein-style [[RobertAHeinlein Competent Men]], let alone larger-than-life heroes. Contrast this with, for example, [[WizardsOfTheCoast d20 Star Wars]], in which you can't ''not'' play space opera.

* UnCanceled: ''{{GURPS}} Traveller'', ''T4'', and other latter-day incarnations.

* DeadMansHand: ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' magazine #14 adventure "Aces & Eights". A set of playing cards (two aces, two eights and the joker), will, when put in an X-ray machine, create a map to the location of a 20 million credit treasure. The money was the payroll of the 1188th "Aces and Eights" Lift Infantry Brigade. The man with the cards is killed by the bad guys and the cards stolen, and the PCs must retrieve them.