For the sake of arguement, I say that Star Wars was NOT an influence on the development of Traveller. I have two reasons for this.Originally posted by mjwest:
One could easily surmise that these stories were a good foundation for the GDW staff to draw from.
These listed are:
Star Wars, by George Lucas
That's the other thread...Originally posted by Malenfant:
That's all very well for pre-1977, but what books *post*-1977 have that "Traveller feel"?
Actually, I believe that both James White and Arthur C. Clarke have influenced Traveller greatly. I know that the hero of James White's Sector General series has been written up as a Traveller character in the back of either 1001 Characters or Citizens of the Imperium, I can't remember which supplement it was.Originally posted by solomani_interloper:
This may be laying down the gauntlet, but I don't think there are any particularly Traveller-ish Brit authors (We do like our cosy catatrophes over here). Perhaps Peter Hamilton, but I've never been comfortable with his particular brand of right-wing religosity. Bob Shaw maybe...
Murray Leinster wrote Med Ship (a fun read). It's protagonist runs around a large universe with lots of different planets where the main interplanetary binding is medical bureaucracy (public health) rather than any higher level government. He's part doctor, part psychologist and sociologist, part manipulator, and part capable defender.Originally posted by alte:
Consider a White character at the beginning of a typical RPG campaign 'oh dear - yet another bar-room brawl - good thing I brought my med-kit (ducks)... wonder if this pathological behaviour is socially determined or if its apparent ubiquity suggests a deeper physiological cause'
verrrrry cool
My choices for books are:
The Swycaffer Traveller novels
Asimov, especially Foundation & Empire
Harry Harrison's Deathworld series
A.C. Clarke's SS The Sentinel (just change it to an Asteroid in the frontier)
Movies...
Solaris
Dungeons & Dragons (to introduce the idea of mixed party of adventures)
Apollo 13 (for a TL 6 civilization's return to the Stars)
Blade Runner (for a darker look at the worlds in the Core/Rim)
There are more but cannot think of them right now...
Honourable mentions would be:
Lovecraft
Tolstoy (for the 2nd Frontier War)
and many Non-Fiction titles
The Tolstoy recommendation is most intriguing and appreciated. War and Peace has amazing details on both the level of characters and larger historical forces about an important part of world history. It's a great model for world building and characterization.
When it comes to world-building, it would be hard to beat Hal Clement. While Mission of Gravity would not likely work for Traveller, the planet in Still River would. It could also be a bit of a treasure trove for Artifacts.
Andre Norton also was good at world-building. Take a look at Plague Ship and Voodoo Planet from the "Solar Queen" series, and Storm Over Warlock, which can be found on Project Gutenberg as well.