Traveller Needs a "What is Charted Space?" Book

[Grognardia]

I've seen many players come to Traveller with no clue about the setting, and honestly, who can blame them? The sheer volume of history, factions, and setting details is intimidating. You can hand someone the core rulebook and they'll understand how to roll dice, but they won't understand Charted Space.

What Traveller really needs is a slim, accessible book aimed at new players and GMs. Call it "What is Charted Space?" or something similar. Not a timeline. Not an encyclopedia. Something that actually makes you excited to play in this universe. A free download PDF on page one of the Mongoose website.

Cover the essentials: what jump travel means, why there's no FTL communication, how long it takes to get anywhere, what trade looks like. Explain the Third Imperium without drowning people in names and dates. Introduce the major sophont species (humans, Vargr, Aslan, Hivers, K'kree) through their culture and motivations, not stat blocks.

Make it engaging. Short stories and vignettes would help, but what matters is conveying the feel of the setting. Show what it means when the X-boat network brings week-old news. Explain why jump routes matter. Talk about the Scout Service mapping unknown systems. Show the Imperial Navy doing something morally questionable on the frontier.

Include the cool stuff: ancient mysteries, dangerous artifacts, the weird objects and phenomena that make Charted Space feel lived-in and strange. Hooks, not homework.

Make it the book you hand someone and say "read this, then we'll play." Traveller deserves an accessible entry point that does justice to its incredible setting.

 

[Anstett]

@MongooseMatt made a comment in a thread back in September that started me thinking along those lines as well. What sort of document do I need to write up for new players to my game that explains what we are trying to do?

...with regards to all of this, it is our thinking that we should let Traveller be Traveller. There are sacred cows of the game and setting that should not change, such as the week in jumpspace, slower-than-light comms... and that the focus of the game is very firmly fixed upon people. One path may be more 'realistic', but if it fundamentally changes Traveller, that is a backwards step....

Post in thread 'Future warfare'

Sep 12, 2025

I will also be editing the LBB:4 stuff in light or real world developments - we are currently TL10 for tac missile and TL11 for drone technology

And here you bring up something that has been concentrating our minds a fair bit - tech advances in the real world over the past 20-odd years have kind of been kicking the TL progression's rear end. If we were to extrapolate from today's world, you would see a lot more use of drones (perhaps total, with manned systems only appearing in the extreme rear lines) and automated decision-making.

And that is not Traveller as we know it (works...

• MongooseMatt

• 
• 

 

[DeepSpaceAdventures]

Full ack.
What would also be very usefull is a short "Further readings" section about each sector. Most important: what is the tone, the theme of this sector. Why do you want to play in the Trojan Reach? What makes it special compared to other sectors. And that for each sector. This would be invaluable for new GMs, who wonder where to start their new group/campaign.

 

[Fulcs]

I like this idea a lot.

The adventures released for Charted Space back in the era of the little black books captured my imagination and I frequently left the local Hobby Shop with at least one of them.

They drip-fed the setting into my young mind book by book, and I gradually built up a picture of the setting against which each was set, even though I didn't know at the time that it had a name, Charted Space. For me, Charted Space is as compelling a setting as, say, The Forgotten Realms, and one that I never get bored with learning about.

If a book (or some other medium) could paint a picture of life in Charted Space where readers can imagine themselves having adventures, travelling between star systems and wanting to explore the countless planets and the endless points of interest, I think it would serve as a great starting point for introducing new folks to the amazing game world that we're so lucky to have.

 

[actionman]

I've seen many players come to Traveller with no clue about the setting, and honestly, who can blame them? The sheer volume of history, factions, and setting details is intimidating. You can hand someone the core rulebook and they'll understand how to roll dice, but they won't understand Charted Space.

I've had the same issue.

Make it the book you hand someone and say "read this, then we'll play."

That's a dicey proposition. A lot of people won't want to bother. I've had people turn down other games because they didn't even want to read the free quickstart rules.

Cover the essentials: what jump travel means, why there's no FTL communication, how long it takes to get anywhere, what trade looks like. Explain the Third Imperium without drowning people in names and dates. Introduce the major sophont species (humans, Vargr, Aslan, Hivers, K'kree) through their culture and motivations, not stat blocks.

Perhaps this could be included in the back of the CRB as a starter setting for people who want to start playing without buying another book. After all, people who started out with Classic Traveller started playing with Books 1 -3 and maybe the Spinward Marches. Perhaps an overview of Charted Space for context, and then a sector covered lightly in the CT Spinward Marches Style, and then a couple of introductory adventures.

Short stories and vignettes would help, but what matters is conveying the feel of the setting.

Vignettes would be best, and they need to take the setting seriously. No cheap humor (I'm looking at YOU, GURPS Traveller).

Traveller deserves an accessible entry point that does justice to its incredible setting.

Agreed, and I don't think it's hard to do.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Charted Space is a pretty daunting setting, even detailing the Imperium takes a whole book.
So far we don't have much MgT info on the Hivers, the Vargr, the Zhodani, the Julian Protectorate....
the Aslamn are about to be more detailed, there are still huge gaps Solomani sectors...

 

[Condottiere]

If I had to speculate, the Spinward Marches became too civilized for some players.

 

[Sigtrygg]

My introduction, cribbed from the introductions to LBB:4-7 and S:3

" Traveller Intro

Traveller is set in the sectors controlled by the Imperium, a remote central government possessed of great industrial and technological might.

The lmperium is a strong interstellar government encompassing 281 subsectors and approximately 11,000 worlds. Approximately 1100 years old, it is the third human empire to control this area, the oldest, and the strongest. Nevertheless, it is under strong pressure from its neighbouring interstellar governments, and does not have the strength nor the power which it once had.

Due to the sheer distances and travel times involved it is unable to exert total control at all levels everywhere within its star-spanning realm. As a result, the Imperium allows a great deal of autonomy to its subject worlds beyond the central Core systems.

Here on the frontier, in a sector called The Spinward Marches, extensive home rule provisions allow planetary populations to choose their own forms of government, raise and maintain armed forces for local security, pass and enforce laws governing local conduct, and regulate commerce (within limits). The Imperium asks for respect for its overall policies, and for a united front against outside pressures.

Defence of the frontier is mostly supplied by local indigenous forces, stiffened by scattered Imperial Naval bases manned by small but extremely sophisticated forces. Conflicting local interests are often settled by force of arms, with Imperial forces quietly looking the other way, unable to intervene in any but the most wide-spread disputes, which threaten the security or the economy of the area.

The Imperium also maintains the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service, equal in stature to the Imperial Navy and Army, whose duties include exploration of and beyond the Imperial frontier, on-going mapping and surveying of Imperial territory, and the maintenance of interstellar communications through its express boat network. The IISS maintains bases and waystations on many worlds in order to facilitate its mission.

Moving within the relative safety of the Imperium are the merchantmen. Whether free trader or megacorporation bulk transport, tramp liner or luxury cruiser, it is trade and commerce that is the life blood of the Imperium.

Your character, _______, has just mustered out having served __ terms in the ______.
You are on ________.

Adventure awaits! "

 

[Vormaerin]

I don't really get why one would expect players to know Charted Space. Sci fi needs a bit more boundary exposition because the tropes aren't as calcified as Fantasy, but you still would only expect the players to know the blurb on the local area.

But there is often this assumption that total sandbox with no boundaries is how you have to play in Charted Space that I find surprising.

 

[Condottiere]

That's one major difference between historical, modernish, and science fiction settings.

Most players understand the context of historical and modern ones, that's reflected in the background of the game world.

Science fiction generally requires some explanation.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Such a book is on the way, likely in 2027...

 

[actionman]

there are still huge gaps Solomani sectors...

There needs to be a Solomani Confederation book, not just a Solomani Rim sector book.

 

[Terry Mixon]

There needs to be a Solomani Confederation book, not just a Solomani Rim sector book.

Yep. It needs its own empire book.

 

[actionman]

but you still would only expect the players to know the blurb on the local area.

True, true. One could structure it like so:

Empire, with appropriate overview and context, including people, organizations, and conflicts (information that the public would reasonably know), and then a brief refs only section.

Sector with overview the size of an extra large blurb, including people, organizations, and conflicts of note.​

Subsector with blurb, including people, cultures, organizations, and conflicts of note.​

World data in the style of CT Spinward Marches, with minimalist blurbs including cultures, people, organizations, and conflicts of note.​

​

If CT's Spinward Marches can detail an entire sector in a 50 page half size booklet, then this is simply not that hard. A lot of work, yes, but really not that hard.

The Solomani Confederation has only six sectors, so that's a 300 page book, or a slipcase set of 1 sector per book. CT Alien Module 1 Solomani is only 50 8.5x11 pages. The overview book could be the empire overview and the sector where the capital system is, for 100 pages, and then the other sectors about 50 pages.

The Imperium with its 20 plus sectors is a greater undertaking, it would be much more work, but its not an insurmountable task. Maybe several slipcase sets of 50 to 100 page books. Players and refs can get the sets at their own pace, according to where they want to run campaigns or where their players wander.

And, of course, Traveller's sector generation tools make it easy for refs to replace worlds and subsectors with their own if they want.

I might make a Dark Imperium / Dark Charted Space setting this way. Oh, noble Tezcat, you shall have your day...

EDIT: And whatever Mongoose decides to do, I strongly suggest assigning some people or volunteers to update the travellerwiki, so Mongoose's latest setting updates are sychronized with travellermap.