Mayday is one of the traditional holidays for Traveller thanks to the text on the cover of the original boxed set of the game, which also was the source of the name of my own system history of Traveller: “This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone … Mayday, Mayday”. As such, as it seems an appropriate time to announce my newest project, Free Trader Beowulf Origins (FTBO), which I’m writing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Traveller next year.
Free Trader Beowulf Origins is a product history of Classic Traveller that will step through each individual release produced by GDW during the little-black-book era, as well as the dozen or so full-sized books that followed before Classic Traveller’s time ran out. That’s 8+ rulebooks, three variant rules releases, 13 supplements, 13+ adventures, 6 double adventures, eight alien modules, five other “modules”, seven board games, 24 issues of JTAS, and a few other bobs and bits. Each product article will include history about the release plus information on how it expanded the Traveller game and the universe of the Third Imperium. This is a book that I’ve been wanting to write since I finished This is Free Trader Beowulf, and I’m thrilled that the anniversary gives me the excuse to return to the world of Charted Space.
Besides being a companion to This is Free Trader Beowulf that really details the individual releases that were being put out during the Classic Traveller era, FTBO is also a parallel release to Designers & Dragons Origins. That four-volume set detailed what TSR put out for OD&D and AD&D from 1974-1988 and was what published for Basic Dungeons & Dragons from 1977-1994. FTB Origins complements that story of the top FRPG with a look at the top SFRPG from 1977-1987.
Nine Books, A Well-Charted Story
My Designers & Dragons books are divided into three types: company histories tell the stories of the publishers (and miniatures makers and others); system histories that weave the story of a game system through many different publishers; and product histories that dive even deeper, into individual releases. Traveller is the first game system to benefit from all three different types of books, with each one delving deeper and deeper into the story of that single game.
This is Free Trader Beowulf, the system history book, is the spine of Traveller’s history. It runs through all seven editions of the core game and three additional game systems, across maybe 20 major publishers. It’s got the greatest detail on the core game system, and so largely supersedes the Traveller side of the stories from any of the original Designers & Dragons books. But, if you want to learn more about the companies as a whole, the current four-volume set of Designers & Dragons is the place to go.
However when I got to the countless stories of the licensees of the Classic Traveller age, the Long Night, and the modern day of “Compatible with Traveller” and Cepheus licensees, I hit the limits of what I could fit into This is Free Trader Beowulf. Designers & Dragons: The Lost Histories will therefore go even deeper into the stories of companies like Paranoia Press, QLI, and Samardan. I’m sending those off to Evil Hat in about a month, so they’re not available yet.
Finally, Free Trader Beowulf Origins is going to go one step further, not necessarily telling more about GDW (covered by Designers & Dragons) or more about the Traveller game system (covered by This is Free Trader Beowulf) but instead the individual releases from GDW of the Classic Traveller age. As you can see, I’ve got a full book lined up to further examine the topics from four of the first five chapters of This is Free Trader Beowulf. (And I’m trying to be very aware of what’s in the previous book, so that I largely don’t repeat it here, but offer new perspectives, either new history related to these specific releases, or new looks at the rules and background introduced by the books.)
Origins Contents
Closing out, here’s the contents I’m working with right now for Free Trader Beowulf Origins. It’s likely still going to be rearranged before I close out. Among other things, I have two more potential chapters for official Classic Traveller products published after the Classic Traveller era (but I’m also likely to rearrange some products, splitting or combining chapters as I go, as I usually work back and forth quite a bit on my product “mapping”, most of it at the start, but some as I go).
- To the Stars — Early Board Games (1973-1980) [5.5k]
- Triplanetary (October 1973)
- Imperium (November 1977)
- Dark Nebula (February 1980)
- Classic Traveller —Little Boxes (1977-1979) [6.5k]
- Traveller (July 1977)
- Mayday (March 1978)
- Snapshot (September 1979)
- Classic Traveller — PC vs NPC (1978-1979) [7.5k]
- Supplement 1: 1001 Characters (August 1978)
- Book 4: Mercenary (November 1978)
- Supplement 2: Animal Encounters (March 1979)
- Book 5: High Guard (November 1979)
- Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium (November 1979)
- The Spinward Marches — Ragged Frontier (1979-1981) [16k]
- Adventure 1: The Kinunir (June 1979)
- BOX: JTAS #1-2 (1979)
- Supplement 3: The Spinward Marches (November 1979)
- Double Adventure 1: Annic Nova / Shadows (April 1980)
- Adventure 2: Research Station Gamma (May 1980)
- BOX: JTAS #3-6 (1980)
- Double Adventure 2: Across the Bright Face / Mission on Mithril (June 1980)
- Adventure 3: Twilight’s Peak (September 1980)
- Adventure 4: Leviathan (January 1981)
- Supplement 6: 76 Patrons (March 1981)
- Adventure 1: The Kinunir (June 1979)
- Classic Traveller — Ships & Squadrons (1981)
- Azhanti High Lightning (March 1981)
- Supplement 5: Lightning Class Cruisers (March 1981)
- Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats (April 1981)
- Adventure 5: Trillion Credit Squadron (May 1981)
- Supplement 9: Fighting Ships (July 1981)
- Classic Traveller — Repackaged Rules (1981)
- Deluxe Traveller (June 1981)
- Book 0: An Introduction to Traveller (June 1981)
- The Imperial Fringe (June 1981)
- Understanding Traveller (??? 1981)
- Striker (August 1981)
- Traveller 2e (August 1981)
- The Spinward Marches — The Fifth Frontier War (1981-1982)
- Fifth Frontier War (July 1981)
- BOX: JTAS #7-10 (1981)
- Adventure 6: Expedition to Zhodane (October 1981)
- Adventure 7: Broadsword (February 1982)
- Fifth Frontier War (July 1981)
- The Solomani Rim — Home of Humaniti (1981-1983)
- Double Adventure 3: The Argon Gambit / Death Station (June 1981)
- Invasion: Earth (July 1981)
- Double Adventure 4: Marooned / Marooned Alone (August 1981)
- BOX: JTAS #11-14 (1982)
- Supplement 10: The Solomani Rim (July 1982)
- Adventure 8: Prison Planet (October 1982)
- BOX: JTAS #15-18 (1983)
- Adventure 9: Nomads of the World Ocean (March 1983)
- The Imperium — Larger Universe (1981-1982)
- Aliens for Traveller (July 1981)
- Supplement 8: Library Data, A-M (August 1981)
- Double Adventure 5: The Chamax Plague / Horde (March 1982)
- Double Adventure 6: Divine Intervention / Night of Conquest (August 1982)
- Supplement 11: Library Data, N-Z (December 1982)
- Classic Traveller — Final Rules (1982-1984)
- The Traveller Book (July 1982)
- Starter Traveller (February 1983)
- Supplement 12: Forms and Charts (May 1983)
- The Special Supplements (1982-1984)
- Special Supplement 1: Merchant Prince (March 1982)
- Special Supplement 2: Exotic Atmospheres (July 1983)
- Special Supplement 3: Missiles (August 1984)
- The Spinward Marches — District 268 (1983-1984)
- Tarsus (June 1983)
- Adventure 10: Safari Ship (January 1984)
- Beltstrike (March 1984)
- Classic Traveller — Characters & Robots (1983-1985)
- Supplement 13: Veterans (June 1983)
- Book 6: Scouts (October 1983)
- Book 7: Merchant Prince (May 1985)
- Book 8: Robots (June 1986)
- The Imperium — Final Adventures (1983-1985)
- Adventure 11: Murder on Arcturus Station (December 1983)
- Adventure 12: Secret of the Ancients (January 1984)
- The Traveller Adventure (February 1984)
- Adventure 13: Signal GK (February 1985)
- The Imperium — Big Color Books (1984-1987)
- Alien Module 1: Aslan (May 1984)
- BOX: JTAS #19-21 (1984)
- Alien Module 2: K’Kree (June 1984)
- Atlas of the Imperium (October 1984)
- Alien Module 3: Vargr (October 1984)
- Alien Module 4: Zhodani (April 1985)
- BOX: JTAS #22-24 (1985)
- Alien Module 5: Droyne (July 1985)
- The Spinward Marches Campaign (December 1985)
- Alien Module 6: Solomani (February 1986)Alien Realms (June 1986)
- Alien Module 7: Hivers (June 1986)
- Alien Module 8: Darrians (August 1987)
- Alien Module 1: Aslan (May 1984)
I’ve actually got maps for two more books, one running from MegaTraveller to Traveller5, another for the Mongoose first edition era. Then I have a Mongoose second edition map that’s already overflowed one book. And I’ve got tentative spaces within a series for the classic licensees and the Long Night licensees. I’m not currently planning to write any of those, but the possibilities are there if I decide there’s another Traveller book in the future!
Free Trader Beowulf Origins is under contract with Mongoose. My delivery date is December 31, so that they can (hopefully) produce a PDF before Traveller‘s 50th anniversary next July.
Designers & Dragons is available from Evil Hat. The books are somewhat out-of-date and out-of-print, but PDFs and PODs are available at DriveThruRPG. Designers & Dragons: The Lost Histories is most likely to be available next year, but we’re still figuring out the logistics, so that’s my speculation. This is Free Trader Beowulf is available from Mongoose, DriveThruRPG, and elsewhere.
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