early appearances of OTU races, publishing history

[BwapTED]

My recently purchased PDF of The Spinward Marches mentions the Vargr (without defining them as wolf-men descended from genetically altered Terran canines) and the Zhodani.
The Zhodani are described as one of five human races known to the Imperium.
Not one of forty or so human races.

I know that a pamphlet called 'Aliens for Traveller' was distributed in 1981.

Which races were part of published Traveller before that pamphlet?

When did Droyne, the Hiver/Hivers, Aslan, Vilani, etc. first make published appearances?

I'm also interested in any races appearing in Judges Guild and other third-party publications, which might have been later excluded from the OTU.

 

[BwapTED]

Also...

Which five human races appeared first in Traveller publishing history?

 

[mike wightman]

A1 Kinunir (1979) library data mentions the Ancients, with no further details given.
A2 Research Station Gamma (1980) library data mentions the Major Races:

To date. generally accepted major racer include Humaniti (Zhodani, Solomani. and Vilani, but not other examples), Aslan, the Hive, Centaurs. Vargr, Ancients, and Droyne.

 

[mike wightman]

RSG also mentions the minor human races:

The Suerrat (a human race) have been held to be minor, because their achievement of interstellar travel utilized generation ships. Similarly, the Geonee were originally thought to be a major race, but their development of jump drive was based on recovered Ancient artifacts rather than true racial effort. The Geonee dispute this prevailing opinion and hold the (unshared) view that they are of major standing.

So solomani, vilani, zhodani, suerrat and geonee were the first five.

 

[BwapTED]

RSG also mentions the minor human races:

So solomani, vilani, zhodani, suerrat and geonee were the first five.

Awesome sauce! I actually have that module.

Thanks, Mike.

 

[BwapTED]

And, aha, the Zhodani text in SM reads "'the five other human races known to the Imperium."

So it's six.

There doesn't seem to be any mention of the Darrians as a separate race in the SM supplement, but the Darrian Confederation is certainly present.

I don't think the Garoo were listed as a race before GT: Behind the Claw, but I might be mistaken.

EDIT There's a Contact! : Darrians article in JTAS #14.
1982---so maybe the Darrians are the sixth human race to appear in the early OTU/GDW Traveller materials?

They come a bit later than some human races in third party books which were later removed from canon, I believe.

 

[whartung]

I think the Zhodani were first detailed JTAS 9, with the start of the FFW.

The Aslan and Vargr were detailed in issues 7 and 8 respectively. Issue 7 was the first time the "Contact" section appeared.

 

[Blue Ghost]

My recently purchased PDF of The Spinward Marches mentions the Vargr (without defining them as wolf-men descended from genetically altered Terran canines) and the Zhodani.
The Zhodani are described as one of five human races known to the Imperium.
Not one of forty or so human races.

I know that a pamphlet called 'Aliens for Traveller' was distributed in 1981.

Which races were part of published Traveller before that pamphlet?

When did Droyne, the Hiver/Hivers, Aslan, Vilani, etc. first make published appearances?

I'm also interested in any races appearing in Judges Guild and other third-party publications, which might have been later excluded from the OTU.

I don't recall there being any when the game first came on the scene ... erm, yeah, I think there was that "ancient" lizard race with Shadows ... Aslan were mentioned in Mission on Mithril per the cave carving event. By 81 Aslan and Vargr, and I think some mention of the Zhos. Not much beyond that. Or so I recall.

I'm sure I'll get corrected.

 

[BwapTED]

''Ancient'' lizards from Shadows are Droyne, or a different ancient race?

 

[Blue Ghost]

No, just some other random native race that went extinct. It was a mixture of high tech and bronze age trappings as per the adventure. They weren't physically present, just their high-tech pyramid beam shot down your ship ... it had been left on automatic or something, and you had to go in and investigate if you wanted to take off again.

 

[GypsyComet]

The Hkhar were developed with an eye toward being the mysterious lizards behind Shadows, but ended up not being quite compatible with the original clues.

 

[Blue Ghost]

The Hkhar were developed with an eye toward being the mysterious lizards behind Shadows, but ended up not being quite compatible with the original clues.

Interesting. I had no idea. Basic Traveller, up until then (FWIR at least) had no aliens, but lots of hints at this, that and the other in terms of how the rules and background were worded.

Interesting.

 

[King Midas]

JTAS contact list

Here's my list of races and cultures from JTAS 1 to 24:

JTAS 6 & 7 - dolphins
JTAS 7 - Aslan
JTAS 8 - Vargr
JTAS 9 - Zhodani
JTAS 10 - K'kree
JTAS 11 - Newts
JTAS 12 - Varushi
JTAS 13 - Hivers
JTAS 14 - Darrians
JTAS 15 - Ael Yael
JTAS 16 - Githiaskio
JTAS 17 - Jgd-Il-Jagd
JTAS 18 - Sword Worlds
JTAS 21 - Girug'kagh
JTAS 22 - Hlanssai
JTAS 23 - Irklan
JTAS 24 - Dynchia

Hope this helps.

 

[ffilz]

Here's my list of races and cultures from JTAS 1 to 24:

JTAS 6 & 7 - dolphins
JTAS 7 - Aslan
JTAS 8 - Vargr
JTAS 9 - Zhodani
JTAS 10 - K'kree
JTAS 11 - Newts
JTAS 12 - Varushi
JTAS 13 - Hivers
JTAS 14 - Darrians
JTAS 15 - Ael Yael
JTAS 16 - Githiaskio
JTAS 17 - Jgd-Il-Jagd
JTAS 18 - Sword Worlds
JTAS 21 - Girug'kagh
JTAS 22 - Hlanssai
JTAS 23 - Irklan
JTAS 24 - Dynchia

Hope this helps.

Reading through the TNS entries in JTAS, the first mention I find is Zhodani mentioned in TNS in JTAS 5 (Ine Givar were mentioned earlier, don't know if you would want to count them).