Levels of Canon

[RandyT0001]

Here are the Levels of Traveller Canon that I have been able to collate from previous publications and forum posts (and not restricted to just this forum/company).

• Only material written and/or published by Marc Miller through GDW, Imperium Games and/or FFE is to be considered canon or Official Traveller Universe (OTU). Marc owns the IP rights to Traveller (except the DGP material held by Sanger, hence Marc's reference limitations in licensee contracts(?) to the material IIRC). This is the first 'level' and is the only truly canon material. [Addition] Since Marc owns the IP his material does not have to remain perfectly consistant throughout the changes of the rulesets he has published or written. It is all still considered canon. Fans may want to differentiate the inconsistencies by referring to material based upon ruleset used, ie Classic Traveller canon or Traveller: New Era canon. [End]
  
• The second level is what I refer to as "Licensed Traveller". "Licensed Traveller" is material produced by Marc Miller contracted companies such as Steve Jackson Games (GURPS Traveller), Quicklink Interactive (T20), Judges Guild (Classic Traveller), Comstar/Avenger (Classic/1248 Traveller), Loren Wiseman Enterprises (Traveller Ships), Mongoose Publishing (Mongoose Traveller), Digest Group Publishing (MegaTraveller), etc. that must be compatible with the Official Traveller Universe as specified in the licensee contract. For SJG their material is set in an alternate Traveller universe where the Rebellion era developed by GDW during the MegaTraveller ruleset does not transpire. For QLI their material could be set in the time period of the Solmani Rim War within specific sectors. For Mongoose Publishing their material revisits the Spinward Marches during the Classic Traveller era in the Imperial years 1101+. Licensed companies with specified development areas and/or eras often state/advertise that their material is "official", it is not (See "first level" above). Though licensed materials might have a 'historical' relationship to previous GDW(etc.) canon/OTU material or be advetised as 'official' [Addition]and/or be internally consistant to itself so as to be deemed 'official' or 'canon' to itself[End], it is not canon. It is "licensed" material that may in whole (DGP) or part (JG) be downgraded in status by Marc Miller (commonly referred to as being 'de-canonized') at the end (or default) of any licensee contract.
  
• Mongoose Publishing's Developers' Pack details the conditions which third party companies may publish Traveller material using their Traveller ruleset. "Third Party" is the label I give this level of canon material. This includes the Traveller Logo License [Delete]and the Foreven Free Sector Logo Licence[End]. Since these are just extensions of Mongoose's license they cannot exceed Mongoose's "Licensed Traveller" level of canon; they are third party Mongoose licensees. Mongoose Publishing also permits sci-fi games, adventures, alternate universes, etc. to be published using the rules as contained in the System Reference Document within the Developers' Pact under the Open Game License (OGL) but such material is not "Traveller" and is not considered "Third Party" material.
  
• [Addition]The Developers' Pack includes the Foreven Free Sector Logo License (FFSLL) which specifically prevents all third party publishers using this license from making claims that published material is "official" or "canon" despite being published in previously published OTU material settings (the Foreven sector).[End] The Developer's Pack also includes the latest version of Marc Miller's Traveller fair use policy (FUP) applicable to Traveller fans' free internet websites and free fanzines (hard copy or internet based). This material is about as far from official or canon as one can get and is restricted to pre-Mongoose versions of the rulesets. Marc reserves the right to revoke or modify the FUP at any time (ie he can legally order a fan to remove content from a fan's website). I do not assign a specific name to this level of canon but generally refer to it as 'fan' material.

Hopefully, this will assist all of Traveller's fans to understand exactly what is canon and what is not canon.

Editted for additions and modifications.

 

[rust]

Well, I do not agree with this, mainly because every single version of Tra-
veller has its own unique canon, which is the only relevant canon for that
version.

To give an example, GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars is of course canon
for GURPS Traveller, while anything produced for Mega Traveller or Tra-
veller New Era is not at all canon for GURPS Traveller. In fact, its existen-
ce is meaningless within the framework of GURPS Traveller.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I also disagree with the Third Party Canon vs FUP Canon.

They are actually the same level of canon NONE.

Both are produced by people with no connection of or approval from Marc or Mongoose. The OGL lets them build things using the rules, but any data or additional information is definitely non-canon.

Also the OGL specifically does NOT allow info on the OTU. The FFSLL does allow reference to the OTU, but it is specifically called NON-CANON, which puts it in the same category as the FUP stuff.

Also, everything produced by Mongoose or (presumably) the other "Official Traveller Publishers" has to be approved by Marc, so ANYTHING OTU related published by Mongoose (or Avenger under their license) is reviewed and approved by Marc, so that makes it CANON on the same order as things written BY Marc, in my opinion.

So, there are 2 levels of Canon:

1. Official: Written by or approved by Marc Miller.
2. Unofficial: Written under the FUP, OGL, FFSLL or anything like that. NOT canon at all.

The problems come from the conflicting information within the Official Canon. Even stuff written directly by Marc contradicts itself, so WHICH canon do you want to follow? The one that works for you and your game of course...

 

[EDG]

Here's how I see it:

Traveller is too fragmented to have a single canon - despite the supposed intent to bring it all together with MGT, that is already doomed to failure by the publication of T5. One reason that this intent won't work is that (unless FFE pulls all previous editions from places like DTRPG) the other versions of Traveller will still be both available for purchase and will undoubtedly still be played, because most people won't have any compelling reason to switch systems from what they prefer. Another is that T5 and MGT have already diverged in how they handle things, and unless T5 is brought back into convergence with MGT (and let's face it, it's going be that way around in practical terms - MGT is very popular, and is currently the default version of Traveller, and trying to shoehorn that back into T5 would be madness) then there will always be at least two versions of the game.

I think it's easier to say that there are three parallel threads of official canon - Marc's canon (T4/CT/MT/TNE), MGT, and GT (including IW). Avenger's 1248 setting could and probably should be considered a fourth thread, but that's systemless and ahead of the other editions' timelines anyway. These are entirely separate canons that happen to share a common base, but within each edition, what is said in that specific edition should take precedence over what is said in other editions.

The only fuzzy spot there is GT:IW, which on the one hand can be argued to be part of GT canon only, but on the other hand the IW era significantly pre-dates the historical divergence point of GT from CT. So it could be argued either way.

 

[GypsyComet]

There are really only three levels of "Canon". In a nutshell, that's "Yes", "No", and "Should be but isn't".

An argument could be made for a 4th: "Shouldn't be but is". Its even a good argument, since 90% of T4 fits this category, but as far as Marc's statements are concerned, this material is all "Yes", so...

This is, however, just more stirring of the pot.

The *only* people who should be worried about a rigorous definition of Canon are the authors who will be adding to it. Since that is, at the moment, a vanishingly small number of people...

 

[EDG]

The *only* people who should be worried about a rigorous definition of Canon are the authors who will be adding to it.

Or those who have to deal with what's already there . But yes, everybody else can and should just interpret things their own way and do whatever they want in their games.

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

There are big ones that go *BOOOM* and little ones that go *pop*.....

...wrong kind of "canon".... :lol:

 

[Jeff Hopper]

There are big ones that go *BOOOM* and little ones that go *pop*.....

...wrong kind of "canon".... :lol:

Remember kids! Canon are only used when you run out of missiles and beam weapons!

 

[rust]

...wrong kind of "canon".... :lol:

This is why I prefer to write my own setting, one with reliable canon.

 

[GamerDude]

I like the "Four levels of Cannon"...
Yes
No
Should be but isn't
Is but shouldn't be.

Outside of MGT, the only 'confusion' between the "yes" and "no" is GT:IW and that only because of supposedly conflicting comments from reported to be from within SJG. Marc has defined the Yes... and said everything else is no. I'm good with that, your individual mileage will vary.

I would love to see the Marc Miller cannon to include material from GT (since I have all of it), particularly the alternate time line of the assassination never happening, but that probably won't happen.

I can see the arguments for including GT:IW, but Marc hasn't so it's not... Doesn't mean that the material doesn't make sense, just means that it's not good to use it to define "Traveller" as Marc sees it.

Now, who's up for a trip to the Stuckyburger on Wolf 356?

 

[Anonymous]

There are big ones that go *BOOOM* and little ones that go *pop*.....

...wrong kind of "canon".... :lol:

Remember kids! Canon are only used when you run out of missiles and beam weapons!

I dont know, a direct hit from a mass driver will make for a bad day the same as any energy weapon.

 

[phild]

Why does canon even matter? Last I checked, there aren't Traveller Police knocking on our doors to make sure we're playing the game the right way. Jeez...

 

[EDG]

Why does canon even matter? Last I checked, there aren't Traveller Police knocking on our doors to make sure we're playing the game the right way. Jeez...

It doesn't really matter at all for most people - not even to the ones who think it matters.

As others have pointed out, canon is only really important for people who are writing OTU material for official publication. And in individual games, it only really matters if the GM or players are hellbent on sticking to exactly how Marc (or whoever) intended things to be, but I really don't think anyone plays like that in practice.

Most of the canon arguments involve people (myself included) who are just trying to figure out or explain how things work as described in the canonical setting though - because most of the time one statement about the subject contradicts another (which may contradict something else...). But the fact is that Marc's canon is really one of the most inconsistent settings you'll ever see primarily because so many people have written for it and there's been so many editions involved in it, and even without that things weren't all that well thought out or explained in the first place - and so these arguments will rage on and on (until or unless Marc deigns to address all the issues and inconsistencies and fix them all). The licensed versions on the other hand are generally pretty consistent internally, and don't have this problem so much.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter at all.

 

[rust]

The only "canon" that really matters for almost all of the Traveller players
is the internal logic and consistency of their own settings and campaigns,
the "official canon" is mostly an opportunity for thought experiments for
those of us who do not write "official" material, I think. :wink:

 

[Vile]

There are big ones that go *BOOOM* and little ones that go *pop*.....

...wrong kind of "canon".... :lol:

Remember kids! Canon are only used when you run out of missiles and beam weapons!

I dont know, a direct hit from a mass driver will make for a bad day the same as any energy weapon.

Yes, but are mass drivers canon? Can electromagnetic accelerators be considered canon, and anyway, are they rail guns or gauss guns? :?:

 

[Anonymous]

Well railguns are just a smaller mass drivers and if T5 is canon then yes.

 

[AKAramis]

Canon is important outside the publishers' realms for one simple reason:

portability of material including characters and sub-settings.

When I ran TNE, the Sword of Knight stuff for Vegans was non-canon, but tied nicely into canon materials without notable contradiction. This made it useful for me, because I tried to stick to the canon, so that my players had access to information about the setting without my spoon-feeding it to them.

Canon provides GM's a baseline to play from. It isn't required that you do so, but it is there if you choose to use it.

I always hated the massive subjectivity in some game's canons, specifically because there was no common frame. (WWG's Mage comes to mind immediately, especially since it contradicted Vampire....)

 

[captainjack23]

Canon is important outside the publishers' realms for one simple reason:

portability of material including characters and sub-settings.

This is my main view of the usefullness of canon. It does give a feeling that the game exists offstage, which in my experience is a great benefit to the player's experience of the game.

A second point is that it makes it much easier for me to make snap decisions that don't screw with the players sense of continuity, and my own sense of it.

Really, I would argue (and have in the other unfortunate thread about EHJs) that there are only two levels of Canon:
1. Marcs OTU , and

2. whatever the person posting thinks works well by whatever criteria they choose.

In short: Marc's way, and my* Way.




*for certain discreet values of "me".

 

[brionl]

Anybody who tries to bring up "canon" in a discussion should be shot out of one. Into the nearest star.

Seriously, I grew sick of canon debates during the Star Trek nerd-wars back in the 70s. Game balance is much more important than canon.

 

[AKAramis]

Anybody who tries to bring up "canon" in a discussion should be shot out of one. Into the nearest star.

Seriously, I grew sick of canon debates during the Star Trek nerd-wars back in the 70s. Game balance is much more important than canon.

Anyone who thinks universal game balance is achievable in a Roleplaying game hasn't played with my player groups, and might possibly be delusional.