How to make Traveller more popular with TTRPG players

rinku said:
Yes, that's my point. There are many cases of instant transit FTL, but "one week out of communication" seems to be something Marc MIller came up with to suit his campaign structure.
Click to expand...
IIRC the Space Viking series by H. Beam Piper had ships spending hundreds of hours incommunicado in jump space. When it first appeared in the first book the story made a point of telling what the bridge crew did with all that spare time.
 
That hyperdrive was common to all his Terrohuman future history. But Space Viking is the first one that centred parts of the story in hyperspace. Hyperdrive ships could travel (hypothetically) from one side of the Federation (and later Empires) to the other non stop and out of communication the whole way. It would make an excellent TV show actually.

The real unique things with Jump drive is that it can't make real long trips without refuelling and the fuel takes up a significant part of the ship, especially for the higher J ratings. Earth would have started needing to do back to back J-1 jumps just to get anywhere outside the system.

The setting I'm working on for my own (very questionable) future use has a fallen Federation loosely modelled on his as the past. Even has its own (very different) version of the sword worlds with much different origin and cultures.
 
I thought trip time was long, but variable in Dumarest? "Weeks or months" range?

No communication during FTL is also fairly common too, for various reasons. Wormhole networks may or may not allow transmissions through wormholes, for example, and rely on stations near them to pass on communications to the next set of wormholes. The Vorkosigan books end up feeling rather Traveller like for that reason... days to weeks for messages to arrive rather than weeks to months, but otherwise you could consider them to be set in a Traveller subsector; dozens of settled worlds rather than hundreds or thousands. Instead of one week per jump from anywhere to anywhere, it may take many wormhole jumps - plus in-system travel between wormholes - through uninhabited systems to get from world to world. Communication is faster than travel, but only if there are communication stations operating. Blow one up and it's back to speed of travel, assuming you can fight through to the wormhole.
 
Last edited:
Space Viking hyperspace time is based on actual length of jump.

Dumarest seemed rather vague, and was more about experienced time.

Star Wars has hyperlanes.
 
The nearest to Traveller's fixed time idea that I can think of - aside from all jumps being instant - is there being a significant time in prepping for or recovering from a jump, in realspace. Even then, while I'm sure I've read it, I can't recall where. The vast majority of FTL in literature is either instant or proportional to distance travelled.
 
Larry Niven and Isaac Asimov both wrote short stories which included the notion that FTL travel could take variable time. Those weren't their major works, though. (At least, not explicitly. It isn't excluded in most of their other works, and is usually not mentioned.)
 
This has become a bit of a sidetrack to the actual topic, so maybe stop there. The rules of FTL aren't likely something that's going to affect new player attraction or not.

However, it does bring up one of the big differences between fantasy and science fiction - sword and gun genres if you like. Fantasy has as its bedrock historical settings, usually medieval or renaissance - occasionally classical. Authors don't have to reinvent the sword or the horse, or a castle or a peasant village. Or a sailing ship. Magic and monsters tend to be fairly well defined. Nonhumans tend to be pretty human. Genre conventions are pretty settled, especially in games.

Every science fictional setting has different technological assumptions. Very few share FTL types, except in the broadest terms. Are there robots? are there energy shields? Ray guns? Bionics? Psi powers? Nonhumans are commonly very alien. Hard SF or Space Opera? Genre conventions vary wildly.

So... given that the overwhelming majority of gamers are first exposed to Fantasy RPGs, new players generally have to not just make the switch to SF RPGs, but adjust from what they expect science fiction to be, to what Traveller is, in the first place.
 
Endie said:
Personally, I'd try for a Lost Mine of Phandelver-style sandbox starter box set which starts in a constrained area on a single planet and contains a series of classic trope mini-scenarios before introducing the party to space with a small-ship journey, a fight, getting a ship that needs repaired (with further adventures building around that) etc. But I'm probably insanely missing something because I work closely with Marketing and am constantly amazed at how differently they see the world from my division.
Click to expand...
I was re-reading this thread and remembered that Mongoose did produce a boxed starter set back in 2017(?). I couldn't find it on their site but here is the DTRPG page. The campaign book ("The Fall of Tinath" also available seperately here) is set in a single subsector that is WAY off from the 3I (search for Tinath on Travellermap). I have no idea how well it sold, but the fact that Mongoose haven't updated it for MgT2e suggests not well enough to do it again.
 
Last edited:
I just watched a video that used the number of events at GenCon 2025 to get a rough ranking on what RPGs people are actually playing. He ran through the top 20 and Traveller was only mentioned in the context of Starfinder being the most popular science fiction system by far. The top ten and number of events:

10. Savage Worlds (85)
9. Pirate Borg (121)
8. Shadowrun (125)
7. Avatar Legends (129)
6. Cyberpunk (134)
5. Dungeon Crawl Classics (155)
4. Starfarer (219)
3. Call of Cthulhu (232)
2. Pathfinder (538)
1. D&D (1370)

Science fiction RPGs are still dominated by techno magic and cyberpunk. Literally the one really popular game that involves spaceships is a port of the second most popular FRPG. No sign of Traveller, no sign of Star Wars. I think Star Trek Adventures was the #20 entry. Technically there may be some spaceships settings for Savage Worlds, but really you can group Savage Worlds in with the Horror and Pulp group alongside Cthulhu and WoD.
 
Last edited:
In the interests of research, I am following up this topic with my 29 yo son, who is a widely experienced TTRPG gamer and has some Mongoose Traveller experience. I shall report back later.

Edit: (His initial thoughts are visibility and the massive boost D&D got over the last decade or so from streaming and live plays.)
 
Last edited:
I consider yours to be one of the most insightful posts on this thread. Here we are hearing about how ditching Charted Space would make everything magically better but in reality what we're looking at is that the REAL question is how do you get fantasy gamers to want to do sci fi gaming AT ALL right now.

We are NOT in an era where great sci fi is popular. Thanks to marketing, most people get their scifi fix just watching endless variations of Star Wars and Alien. Everything else is either limited series that no matter the quality don't have longevity (like the Expanse or even, as a geezer, B5) or books that far too few people even read anymore. And I can't see the current Star Wars/ Alien rpg's hanging around forever either After all, both universes have central characters defined and the PC's can't easily make interesting stories that aren't eventually upstaged by the stars of each universe.

So it comes to Starfarer/Starfinder. What are THEY doing that's functionally different from Traveller to get such an audience? Is it because Paizo leverages their wider Pathfinder base and the rules buyin is low for Pathfinder players? What is it about their adventures/settings and gameplay that appeals so strongly to teh kids?

I'm interested!

(I will have to admit though I avoided T20 like the plague and the idea of any D20 mechanic in space is fundamentally revolting to me. That might be the PTSD flashbacks to a particular annoying tenth grader trapping me in my seat on a five hour school bus trip in the 80's with literal endless stories about his awesome 13th level Jedi with two +5 lightsabers.)
 
Last edited:
pholus96 said:
Yeah, that explains it then. Hard to fight against the scifi tides...
Click to expand...
It may be hard, but not impossible.

I ran my Traveller game on Thursday at the FLGS. Three people were interested in joining us that weren't part of the regular crew. One young lady agonized over a Magic draft she was invited to and didn't join us only because she had already paid her entry fee for the draft. The other two interrupted the Pathfinder 2e game they were playing in when I began to describe the political situation on Rabwhar and how it related to the Third Imperium, the Sword Worlds, the Zhodani Consulate, and rumors of war because they thought that for space opera it was very believable. The interest is there. The product is good. The only thing needed is the desire to demonstrate and the opportunity to do so.
 
Studio Cat said:
The interest is there. The product is good. The only thing needed is the desire to demonstrate and the opportunity to do so.
Click to expand...
This. Demoing is good, but in some ways, it needs to go beyond just demoing; positive and organized publicity of almost any type would be helpful. Having things like the Explorer's Edition or the Merchant's Edition with their one-dollar price point is good; it means a low (negligible) barrier to entry, and provides openings for two character types that would "call" to a big chunk of the SF gamer types. Some adventures to support them, at the same price point, even if they're just "re-stats" of appropriate Classic Traveller adventures, would also be good.

But the key is to get the word out - what would be the effect on Traveller if, for example, someone were to come to GenCon, run a Traveller adventure in every session, and give everyone who played in the adventure a printed copy of Explorer's Edition or Merchant's Edition as a 'swag freebie'. It would take a fair bit of disposable income to pull off, and the person doing it would need to pre-arrange a blessing from Mongoose to do it, but it would put Traveller in the eye of a community that needs to be reached. Doing this at TravCon (UK) or TravellerCON/USA would be welcomed, but it's also "preaching to the choir" - the attendees are, for the most part, people who already are "on board" with Traveller, and thus aren't really increasing the "uptake".

Suppose that Mongoose were to sit down with Sharon Lee and with Baen Books to get permission to write an Adventure in the Liaden Universe® for Traveller, and perhaps put out a "dollar edition" of the rules customised for that adventure, and then advertise it through Baen and through the bookstores that carry the Liaden books. That's reaching out to a fandom which might or might not be into TTRPGs - but you've got a shot at catching the ones that are still "on the fence" about it, because now they've got a way to participate in a small way in the universe that they love reading about. Sticking with Baen as the publisher, there's also David Weber and the Honor Harrington universe or the universe of Empire from the Ashes; the estate of David Drake and the universe of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy, the James Schmitz estate and the Federation of the Hub (Telzey Amberdon, Trigger Argee, et al.), and so on. And maybe there are other publishers and authors that might be likely targets for similar ideas.

The Babylon 5 material for Traveller was a good idea, but it was never followed up on. The attempt at Traveller: Prime Directive had the same potential, but never came to fruition, and its time may have passed - a Star Trek: The Traveller Edition may be of interest to the existing Traveller community, but with the other Star Trek TTRPGs out there, you'd have to sell on the basis of the system - and that's exactly the problem; the system isn't as well-known as it needs to be, and still has some tropes associated with it that are not complimentary. That's what need to change, and the best way to do that is to get it out in front of the people who you want playing it.

Word of mouth from fans is good and useful. Demoing at FLGS is good and useful. But more is necessary.
 
FreeTrav said:
This. Demoing is good, but in some ways, it needs to go beyond just demoing; positive and organized publicity of almost any type would be helpful. Having things like the Explorer's Edition or the Merchant's Edition with their one-dollar price point is good; it means a low (negligible) barrier to entry, and provides openings for two character types that would "call" to a big chunk of the SF gamer types. Some adventures to support them, at the same price point, even if they're just "re-stats" of appropriate Classic Traveller adventures, would also be good.

But the key is to get the word out - what would be the effect on Traveller if, for example, someone were to come to GenCon, run a Traveller adventure in every session, and give everyone who played in the adventure a printed copy of Explorer's Edition or Merchant's Edition as a 'swag freebie'. It would take a fair bit of disposable income to pull off, and the person doing it would need to pre-arrange a blessing from Mongoose to do it, but it would put Traveller in the eye of a community that needs to be reached. Doing this at TravCon (UK) or TravellerCON/USA would be welcomed, but it's also "preaching to the choir" - the attendees are, for the most part, people who already are "on board" with Traveller, and thus aren't really increasing the "uptake".

Suppose that Mongoose were to sit down with Sharon Lee and with Baen Books to get permission to write an Adventure in the Liaden Universe® for Traveller, and perhaps put out a "dollar edition" of the rules customised for that adventure, and then advertise it through Baen and through the bookstores that carry the Liaden books. That's reaching out to a fandom which might or might not be into TTRPGs - but you've got a shot at catching the ones that are still "on the fence" about it, because now they've got a way to participate in a small way in the universe that they love reading about. Sticking with Baen as the publisher, there's also David Weber and the Honor Harrington universe or the universe of Empire from the Ashes; the estate of David Drake and the universe of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy, the James Schmitz estate and the Federation of the Hub (Telzey Amberdon, Trigger Argee, et al.), and so on. And maybe there are other publishers and authors that might be likely targets for similar ideas.

The Babylon 5 material for Traveller was a good idea, but it was never followed up on. The attempt at Traveller: Prime Directive had the same potential, but never came to fruition, and its time may have passed - a Star Trek: The Traveller Edition may be of interest to the existing Traveller community, but with the other Star Trek TTRPGs out there, you'd have to sell on the basis of the system - and that's exactly the problem; the system isn't as well-known as it needs to be, and still has some tropes associated with it that are not complimentary. That's what need to change, and the best way to do that is to get it out in front of the people who you want playing it.

Word of mouth from fans is good and useful. Demoing at FLGS is good and useful. But more is necessary.
Click to expand...
In an effort to provide tools to Referees who want to demo Traveller, I've made a quick flyer about the game. Give me some feedback on it.
 

Attachments

Come to think of it, a couple of Traveller adventures based upon Space Kings by Flash Gitz would be a hoot! Probably cool to younger players as well. Or just me after some bourbon tumblers and cider chasers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

MongooseMatt
  • Sticky
State of the Mongoose 2025
8 9 10
Replies
192
Views
8K
Tholaris
T
G
Completely new to Traveller - Which simple adventure to start with and advices
Replies
8
Views
4K
Old School
O
MongooseMatt
State of the Mongoose 2011
2 3
Replies
44
Views
59K
MongooseMatt
MongooseMatt
MongooseMatt
  • Locked
The State of the Mongoose 2010
Replies
0
Views
18K
MongooseMatt
MongooseMatt
Back
Top