History TabletopGame / Traveller

* AlternateContinuity: ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller'' presented a timeline where Strephen was not assassinated.

** Magazine ''Magazine/TheTravellerChronicle'' Issue #4 article "Astrogator's Update to Diaspora Sector". The planet Netti has the "chip chicken", a silicon-based alien creature that eats basalt and breathes methane. Its waste products are silicate crystal nodules that can be used as computer data chips.

** Classic supplement ''Rogues in Space Volume II: Scam''. In the adventure "A Matter of Reputation", Sir John [=Macalasdair=]'s preferred restaurant is a high class place called The Rampant Lion.
** Classic supplement ''Port Xanatath''. The spaceport has a tavern called the Shimmering Worm.

** ''Spacefarer's Guide to Alien Races''. The Harundali are a race of aliens shaped like jellyfish who come from gas giant planets. They can store hydrogen in their bodies and use it to float in the air.

* HomeworldEvacuation: Classic ''Traveller'', Double Adventure ''he Chamax Plague/Horde''. In the BackStory, the alien population of a planet was close to being wiped out by a SuperPersistentPredator species called the Chamax. They decided their only chance was to build a fleet of {{Sleeper Starship}}s to carry all of the remaining aliens to other star systems.

** ''Cepheus Engine'' (2017-Present): Because ''Mongoose Traveller'' included an "open-license" format, several small game publishers produced supplements or adventures for it. The ''Cepheus Engine'' is basically the 1st edition ''Mongoose Traveller'' rules system without the Third Imperium setting. There are Cepheus sourcebooks for modern-day espionage, sword & sorcery, superheroes, horror, and several science fiction settings distinct from the Third Imperium universe. Because it's all based on open-game content any small publisher can produce a Cepheus Engine product, and they are all reasonably compatible with the ''Mongoose Traveller'' system.

* VaguenessIsComing: The whole "Empress Wave" MetaPlot of the ''New Era''. Some sort of psychic phenomenon which includes images of an "Empress" is emanating from the core, moving at lightspeed, and it seems to badly affect anyone psionic. It turns out to be the reason the Emperor was not on Capital to be assassinated and why he sent his son to the Regency. It's the reason for the civil war in Zhodani space and lots of Zhodani refuges in the Regency. However, because no later versions of the game have been set after the wave reached charted space it's never really been explained any further and is something of an AbortedArc.

* ProudWarriorRace: The Aslan. Also the Sword Worlds, a cluster of Solomani cultures that claim Scandinavian-Teutonic heritage. There are a number of minor {{Proud Warrior Race}}s as well. The planet of Lanth, as described in the volume ''Spinward Marches'' seems to be a fortress world on the Imperial border and can be justifiably pictured as a ProudWarriorRace, especially as the Imperium's strategic interests, would allow the culture to specialize.

* ''Traveller: The New Era'' (1993-95): A [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] take on the original setting, with options for almost-original flavour and an entirely new system.[[note]]New to ''Traveller'', that is - the rules system was a modified version of the set used for the 2nd edition of [=GDW's=] TabletopGame/{{Twilight 2000}}.[[/note]] Some {{retcon}}s were present as well, mostly dealing with how tech worked in the Third Imperium. Although it certainly has its fans, the final destruction of the Third Imperium in this version's MetaPlot was what [[BrokenBase broke the base]].

The financing deal Miller struck to produce T4 left him in debt, and he turned to licensing ''Traveller'' to other game companies. These versions were adaptations of the setting using the core mechanics of other [=RPG=] systems:
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller'' (1998-2015): by Creator/SteveJacksonGames. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, complete with a timeline reboot in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to [[BrokenBase unbreak the base.]] The last book in the line, ''Interstellar Wars'', released in 2006, presented the initial contact between Earth and the First Imperium from the BackStory for the first time. This was a well-produced version, with several of the same people who worked on the original ''Traveller'', and was quite popular in its time. Although as with the other licensed versions no new materials were created for the line after ''Mongoose Traveller'' was released in 2008, the GURPS license was still technically active until the end of 2015, when Steve Jackson games allowed it to expire.
* ''Traveller 20'' (2002-2008): The inevitable UsefulNotes/{{d20System}} version, by Quick Link Interactive/RPG Realms Publishing. The preferred setting was in the Domain of Gateway in year 990, approximately 100 years before Classic Traveller. The license was terminated when ''Mongoose Traveller'' was released.
* ''Traveller [[TabletopGame/HeroSystem Hero]]'' (2006-2008): Again, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Produced under license by Comstar Games using the 5th edition of the Hero system. It shared the classic Traveller setting. As with ''T20'', the Comstar license terminated when ''Mongoose Traveller'' was released.
A more traditional (mechanically speaking) follow up came next:
* ''Mongoose Traveller'' (2008-2016): An updated version of ''Classic Traveller'' incorporating some of the later innovations of the line, published by, well, Mongoose Publishing. The setting is the same as the ''Classic Traveller'' Third Imperium setting, just before the Fifth Frontier War. Mongoose made the basic system available on an "open-license" basis, and also adapted several of their licensed properties to use the ''Traveller'' rule set. A ''Traveller'' version of ''Series/BabylonFive'' was released in 2009 to mixed reviews, along with ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'' in the same year. Later adaptations have included ''Literature/HammersSlammers,'' ''Comicbook/StrontiumDog'', and a version of ''TabletopGame/TwentyThreeHundredAD''. ''Mongoose Traveller'' is not the official name: it's sold simply as ''Traveller''. This was a very successful version, with lots of [[{{Splat}} Splatbooks]] and resulting in the 2nd edition in 2016 (see below).
** ''Cepheus Engine'' (2017-Present): Because Mongoose Traveller included an "open-license" format, several game publishers produced supplements or adventures for it. The ''Cepheus Engine'' is basically the 1st edition ''Mongoose Traveller'' system without the Third Imperium setting. There are Cepheus sourcebooks for modern-day espionage, sword & sorcery, superheroes, horror, and several science fiction settings distinct from the Third Imperium universe. Because it's all based on open-game content any small publisher can produce a Cepheus Engine product, and they are all reasonably compatible with the Mongoose system.

* ''Traveller 5'' (2013-present): By Far Future Enterprises, Miller's holding company for ''Traveller'' properties. Released in 2013 after a lengthy development process, this version consists of a massive (759 pages) core rulebook that resembles a large toolbox with lots of systems for building characters, vehicles, ships, planets, etc. but little in the way of setting information and no metaplot. Something of a throwback to the original version then. The system uses a further development of the ''Traveller 4'' game mechanics but is considerably more complex. It has been modestly received, with many fans describing it as a "good sourcebook for use with Mongoose ''Traveller''."

* ''Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition'' (2016-present): An updated version of the first ''Mongoose Traveller'', featuring a full-color layout with some changes to the 1st edition system, with the most significant changes in the starship rules. It shares the same ''Classic Traveller'' Third Imperium setting as the original game. Where the 1st edition of Mongoose Traveller did a lot of splatbooks, this version focuses more on adventures and campaign settings. Several boxed campaign sets have been funded through Kickstarter. A minor revision of the core rulebook was published in 2022. This version is produced under license by Studio 2 Publishing, which did some of the later books for the first Mongoose Traveller.

* PlanetaryNation: While single planetary governments are the norm, {{balkaniz|eMe}}ation is common enough that the Third Imperium has [[FictionalGenevaConventions rules for intraplanetary warfare]]. Those Balkanized planets are subversions.
* PlanetaryRomance: A number of the planets would make good settings for this. An entire [[TheEpic epic]] can often be made on a single world.

* CallBack: The GURPS Traveller cover text, in the page quote above.

->''Free Trader Beowulf...\\
Come in, Free Trader Beowulf...\\
Can you hear me? Come in, Free Trader Beowulf...\\
... hang in there, Beowulf, help is on the way!"''
-->The cover of TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} ''Traveller'', nearly 20 years later.

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* 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 [[Creator/RobertAHeinlein Competent Men]], let alone larger-than-life heroes. Contrast this with, for example, ''TabletopGame/StarWarsD20'', in which you can't ''not'' play space opera.

* MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness: At the '''Mohs/PhysicsPlus''' level. The jump drive, artificial gravity, reactionless thrusters, and psionic powers are usually handled fairly realistically. Some of the things the Ancients could do, however, are on the '''Mohs/WorldOfPhlebotinum''' level.

* TheBattlestar: Several examples, most notably the ''Tigress'' battleship which can only be described as a mini-[[StarWars Death Star]]. The ''Azhanti High Lightning'' is the other iconic example.

* BedouinRescueService: Classic adventure ''Duneraiders'' by Gamelords. The PlayerCharacters's orecrawler vehicle will be disabled or destroyed during the adventure, forcing them to travel through the desert to return to civilization. The referee (gamemaster) is ordered to have the PCs meet the title duneraiders (desert dwellers) so they can be rescued.

* EarthShatteringKaboom: Siege-class starships in T5 and Agent of the Imperium. They can destroy systems with large mass driver based ColonyDrops. An inherent power of the Ancients as well.

** ''Magazine/TheSpaceGamer'' article "Tools for Terrorists". The sword cane has a foil (sword) inside of it. It weighs one kilogram and costs 150 credits. Once drawn from the cane, the foil can be used normally. The scabbard can be used to parry other melee weapons.

* SpiderTank: Classic supplement ''The Adjutant RM-90-08 Imperial Armed Forces Vehicle Guide Set Number 8 - Exotic''. The XM-125 is a tank that moves using its eight legs. The legs allow it to move over almost any type of solid terrain, including crossing ditches, fording rivers, passing over obstacles and climbing slopes of up to 60°.

** The first licensed ''Traveller'' novels were published during ''The New Era'' edition in the mid-'90s. Two books of a planned trilogy called ''The Death of Wisdom'' were published before GDW shut down. Interestingly, there are two entirely different versions of the third book written by two different authors are now available.

** Mongoose Publishing has published some official ''Traveller'' short fiction along with its second edition of teh game. Some of the stories are set-ups for the "Pirates of Drinax" campaign, while others are stand-alone short-stories.

* ExpandedUniverse: There has been suprisingly little of ''Traveller'' produced in other genres: