No, Herb invented all of those things, too. Howie, Mike, and Johnny stole them later.
What edition was your first encounter with Traveller?
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No, Herb invented all of those things, too. Howie, Mike, and Johnny stole them later.
First encounter wasn't pretty.
1. Little black books, so either 1981 or possibly 1977.
2. About 1983 or '84, in my high school D&D club. One of the guys brought it to the club and we passed it around. I remember reading it between classes. The minimalism left an impression, as did the use of "throw" for dice. I was more of a wargamer then, and was slowly developing a taste for GDW's works. (Chadwick remains my favorite designer.)
3-4. We didn't actually play it. I think some of us made some characters, but no one had any ideas for running it. We had no adventure modules (and without any enthusiasm, no one wanted to go out and get one, it seemed). Some of the club were wargamers, while the RPG guys were fantasy fans, not science fiction. I'd played with Star Frontiers, but again, enjoyed the spaceship combat game more than the RP.
So, imagine a cluster of 15- and 16-year-old boys standing around the box, poking at it with a stick. Someone says, "Make it go."
o:So we went back to AD&D. I didn't play Traveller until Mongoose came along, and the 2300AD and Prime Directive projects were announced. I read most of the articles in Challenge (since I ran Twilight:2000 and Space:1889), so I kind of understood the game.
1. What edition was your first encounter with Traveller?
2. When did it happen?
3. What formed the first impression? (The cover? Text within the game? Someone describing the game to you? Playing the game?)
4. What drew you to the game in that first impression? What was that first impression.
I encountered 1981 LBBs around 1981 or 1982, at the Sci Fi Emporium in Phoenix.
The first impression was the introductory text in Book 2 and Book 3. I remember reading these iconic (but abrupt!) sentences, with discouragement at that time:
I realized there was a LOT of preparation I had to do, and I wasn't sure that doing this would be overly complicated and, well, boring. So I ran to Gamma World, and regretted that decision for 15 years, until I found The Traveller Book and rejoiced.
Maybe you could say that it took the pain of living with Gamma World to understand why I loved Traveller eventually...
Although, if I had simply asked the store owner about it, he probably could have gotten me past that initial barrier, and I would have been blissfully happy afterwards... alas.
2. When did it happen?
3. What formed the first impression? (The cover? Text within the game? Someone describing the game to you? Playing the game?)
4. What drew you to the game in that first impression? What was that first impression.
I encountered 1981 LBBs around 1981 or 1982, at the Sci Fi Emporium in Phoenix.
The first impression was the introductory text in Book 2 and Book 3. I remember reading these iconic (but abrupt!) sentences, with discouragement at that time:
LBB2 p4 said:
LBB3 p4 said:
I realized there was a LOT of preparation I had to do, and I wasn't sure that doing this would be overly complicated and, well, boring. So I ran to Gamma World, and regretted that decision for 15 years, until I found The Traveller Book and rejoiced.
Maybe you could say that it took the pain of living with Gamma World to understand why I loved Traveller eventually...
Although, if I had simply asked the store owner about it, he probably could have gotten me past that initial barrier, and I would have been blissfully happy afterwards... alas.
1. What edition was your first encounter with Traveller?
1977
2. When did it happen?
1977 or 78
3. What formed the first impression? (The cover? Text within the game?
Someone describing the game to you? Playing the game?)
The cover.
4. What drew you to the game in that first impression? What was that first impression.
This is cool!!
1977
2. When did it happen?
1977 or 78
3. What formed the first impression? (The cover? Text within the game?
Someone describing the game to you? Playing the game?)
The cover.
4. What drew you to the game in that first impression? What was that first impression.
This is cool!!
[looks at poll rresults] Wow, we really are mostly a bunch of old grognards here, aren't we?
:rofl:
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Not old, but aged like fine wine or brandy.
WHAT?!? SPEAK UP! (as I reach for my ear trumpet...)
Did the Whipper-Snapper say something?
Shadow Shack
SOC-12
1> I believe it was the 81 set
2> 1985
3> Playing under a GM that acquired it
4> We had been playing a LOT of B/X D&D & Star Frontiers and got curious about something different, my friend got the boxed set and we played frequently.
Prior to 85 I had acquired Supplement-7 Traders & Gunboats which I used as a guide to house rule space ships for Star Frontiers, prior to the release of the Knight Hawks set that made official SF ship rules later on.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
In the small game shop that was then in the Great Lakes Naval Base Exchange in 1979, when I came across the Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society, Issue 2 covering Victoria. I then bought the box with the Little Black Books, 1977 edition.
Early in 1979.
The article on Victoria by Marc. I still view that as an extremely good planet write-up and article.
The article on Victoria by Marc was sufficiently interesting for me to want to buy the game as soon as possible.
Charles.Darney
SOC-10
Late to the posting game, but figured I'd play
1. What edition was your first encounter with Traveller?
1. What edition was your first encounter with Traveller?
1977 version
2. When did it happen?Late '79 or early '80 - my brother was gifted the Holmes Basic D&D game, either for his August birthday or Christmas. So I asked for a 'game like D&D' and received Traveller - either for Christmas or Birthday
3. What formed the first impression? (The cover? Text within the game? Someone describing the game to you? Playing the game?)My first impressions were poor. Lots of text, no pictures, no sample adventure.... I got lost. And yet, I was intrigued, since I was reading mostly sci-fi at that time
4. What drew you to the game in that first impression? What was that first impression.I basically did nothing with Traveller until I discovered the supplements at my FLGS. The Spinward Marches, the Kinunir, and the Judges' Guild Starships supplements were my first. Those were what really drew me in to the game. Ended up subscribing to the Journal and buying every LBB I could.
- What edition was your first encounter with Traveller?
- When did it happen?
- What formed the first impression? (The cover? Text within the game? Someone describing the game to you? Playing the game?)
- What drew you to the game in that first impression? What was that first impression.
1. I believe it was the '77 LBB box, it was much later that I got the Traveller Book. I wish I knew what ever became of the box set. It has disappeared along with my Striker box.
2. I really can't recall, but it's likely that I got it in the late 70's- early 80's, and most likely to have come from a shop called Days of Knights in Newark, DE
3 & 4. I loved the almost complete minimalist approach, which seemed to me to be the very best system by which to implement my own vision of the far future. Later on I adopted canon conventions as they didn't radically disturb that vision.
Yes we are. I'm in my early 70s. Egad, was B&W television that long ago ?
Depends on how Cheap your parents where.... We had to move to California in the mid-70's before color came to our house....
When I was a little kid, only NBC had color technology. ABC and CBS had to sue them to get access. My mother bought an early color tv about 1952/53.
Cab Kroner Honing
SOC-7
In the 1990s, RPG friends and I played Traveller New Era, as well as Twilight 2000 and Dark Conspiracy (all using the GDW 'house system'). After college, working, and now graduate school, I am returning to RPGs, which was sparked by The Traveller Book several years ago and more recently Traveller5. As a social scientist I find Traveller fun (as a life-long sci-fi person) but also intellectually interesting as a rule system.
- What edition was your first encounter with Traveller?
- When did it happen?
- What formed the first impression? (The cover? Text within the game? Someone describing the game to you? Playing the game?)
- What drew you to the game in that first impression? What was that first impression.
1. CT (1977)
2. 1979?
3. Our DM knew of the game (likely via The Dragon mag.), and bought a copy at the game store nearest our school (college), and we played. One of our characters has a Type A, so we traded.
4. A great sandbox. We had the brand-spanking-new Spinward Marches supplement, and started at Regina. Made it to Equus/Lanth or thereabouts, IIRC. Later did more actual RPG-type adventuring.
As I recall, we didn't use published adventures, ever. Just puttered around looking for interesting stuff to poke into.
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