Traveller - The role-playing game - a bit like Elite
- Thread starter Ben Ryder
- Start date
Man, I played the hell out of Traveller in the olden days 
I also loved MegaTraveller when that came out, but didn't get to play that so much.
There were quite a few parallels between Traveller and Elite, from the type of ships and scale of the players within the galaxy, to the name of Traveller's example character in the character creation chapter - one Commander Jameson no less
There was one book that came out for MegaTraveller, the World Builder's Handbook, which had rules that expanded a simple 10(?) hex-digit UWP code into a full, detailed planet including maps, nations, political movements, industries, disasters, conflicts etc, etc, etc. It was like a manual procedural generation system and I spent an embarrassing amount of time just mucking about with it.
I also loved MegaTraveller when that came out, but didn't get to play that so much.There were quite a few parallels between Traveller and Elite, from the type of ships and scale of the players within the galaxy, to the name of Traveller's example character in the character creation chapter - one Commander Jameson no less
There was one book that came out for MegaTraveller, the World Builder's Handbook, which had rules that expanded a simple 10(?) hex-digit UWP code into a full, detailed planet including maps, nations, political movements, industries, disasters, conflicts etc, etc, etc. It was like a manual procedural generation system and I spent an embarrassing amount of time just mucking about with it.
I thank you
Have a splendid day.
Chips in the rain for me and a cup of tea with dear old mum. Ah deep joy.
I got very very hooked on Mega Traveller / Traveller the New Era and would pester the game master constantly... I played a merchant type called Tra'th'Nw'Ra. Lugging cargo, fighting pirates and gaining status in the Empire was my thing. Bigger Ship Bigger Ship! was my battle cry.
Have a splendid day.
Chips in the rain for me and a cup of tea with dear old mum. Ah deep joy.
Man, I played the hell out of Traveller in the olden days
There were quite a few parallels between Traveller and Elite, from the type of ships and scale of the players within the galaxy, to the name of Traveller's example character in the character creation chapter - one Commander Jameson no less
There was one book that came out for MegaTraveller, the World Builder's Handbook, which had rules that expanded a simple 10(?) hex-digit UWP code into a full, detailed planet including maps, nations, political movements, industries, disasters, conflicts etc, etc, etc. It was like a manual procedural generation system and I spent an embarrassing amount of time just mucking about with it.
I got very very hooked on Mega Traveller / Traveller the New Era and would pester the game master constantly... I played a merchant type called Tra'th'Nw'Ra. Lugging cargo, fighting pirates and gaining status in the Empire was my thing. Bigger Ship Bigger Ship! was my battle cry.
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Yep. I think I played Elite before Traveller but it's a pretty close thing.
Never conflated Elite and Traveller though, because Elite is an action game where you do trading and Traveller is an RPG where trading is just a small part of what you can do. For me action and RPG are mutually exclusive.
Never conflated Elite and Traveller though, because Elite is an action game where you do trading and Traveller is an RPG where trading is just a small part of what you can do. For me action and RPG are mutually exclusive.
You really should try. My favourites are the Honey Nut ones. Delicious!
Ian Phillips
Volunteer Moderator
Pretty sure Elite was pre-Traveller at least in the UK......
Does anyone else remember the Traveller style (rip off) cartoon in White Dwarf?
Pretty funny and surprisingly accurate (at least with the characters i used to dice with)
Paranoia however was just insane fun! many Squirrels......err brown unknown dangerous subversion lifeforms incinerated in the name of the Computer!
Does anyone else remember the Traveller style (rip off) cartoon in White Dwarf?
Pretty funny and surprisingly accurate (at least with the characters i used to dice with)
Paranoia however was just insane fun! many Squirrels......err brown unknown dangerous subversion lifeforms incinerated in the name of the Computer!
Yes... it was my first introduction to 'role-playing' and the world of funny sided dice and spread-sheets for Hit-rules! It must have been 1983 or 4 - when I first played it = RAF Cranwell
I think you could have put a satelite in orbit - with less info - when compared to the rules and hit-tables for Advance Squad leader.
I think you could have put a satelite in orbit - with less info - when compared to the rules and hit-tables for Advance Squad leader.
Yeah, that and Thrud the Barbarian
I learned to program on my Spectrum using the Traveler Character and World generation algorithms
I don't think so. Traveller was first released in '77 - I still have the original boxed copy I bought before left for Australia in '81, and the Spectrum came out after I left the UK (I got one shipped over, and games - couldn't believe they were being sold in shops where Aus had nothing like it).
Ironically I never actually played Traveller - when I left the UK I lost my D&D crowd of friends, and where I landed in Australia no one knew about D&D and the like. That was a lot of the initial appeal of Elite for me, I could play it without needing to find like-minded individuals.
Paranoia however was just insane fun! many Squirrels......err brown unknown dangerous subversion lifeforms incinerated in the name of the Computer!
Had that too, reading the rules it seemed great fun, but again, lacking anyone to play with it was all a bit hypothetical.
Now Ogre and GEV - those were games I could play solo or with other just one other friend... I seem to recall there was a computer version of Ogre but never saw it myself.
Never been a PnP gamer, but I did have a megatraveller game on the atari ST.
Seem to remember it was pretty good at the time, had a top down view.
Seem to remember it was pretty good at the time, had a top down view.
Probably for me, there is a preferred version which is the current offering from Mongoose Publishing.
There is a complete update called T5 which is good, but has some issues. Think of it as an Alpha stage. Needs Work.
The Mongoose one is an updated version of Classic, with some much needed improvements. Lots of books, both rules and supplements. Adventures too.
There is a complete update called T5 which is good, but has some issues. Think of it as an Alpha stage. Needs Work.
The Mongoose one is an updated version of Classic, with some much needed improvements. Lots of books, both rules and supplements. Adventures too.