What edition was your first encounter with Traveller?
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Kobeck
SOC-4
1977 13th printing... bought from a game store in 100 Oaks mall while I was in high school
never did figure it out.... so we kept playing AD&D - LOL
every decade or so I would bring the books out and reread with no success
I could roll characters but actually play... game made no sense to me.
I honestly never figured it out till youtube & fourms showed me how a skill, as opposed to level, game worked
oh well... still loved reading the source material... but to this day I have never actually played Traveller
probably never will
never did figure it out.... so we kept playing AD&D - LOL
every decade or so I would bring the books out and reread with no success
I could roll characters but actually play... game made no sense to me.
I honestly never figured it out till youtube & fourms showed me how a skill, as opposed to level, game worked
oh well... still loved reading the source material... but to this day I have never actually played Traveller
probably never will
Wow, odd I never shared this story in here.
I can't speak to editions. But I found Traveller in 1979. The Little Black Box.
And the key word here was "found". It was sitting on the bookshelf of our combined Physics and Chemistry lab in High School. Someone else had left it there from the year/years before.
I asked around, but ended up just keeping it. Still have the books and the box (for assorted values of "box" -- it's cardboard, I can say that about it at least. Can't speak to highly of the corners.).
I can't speak to editions. But I found Traveller in 1979. The Little Black Box.
And the key word here was "found". It was sitting on the bookshelf of our combined Physics and Chemistry lab in High School. Someone else had left it there from the year/years before.
I asked around, but ended up just keeping it. Still have the books and the box (for assorted values of "box" -- it's cardboard, I can say that about it at least. Can't speak to highly of the corners.).
I actually bought the deluxe from GDW and still have that. though my box entirely lacks corners for the top other than the tape holding it together. And the maps have been folded/unfolded so many times I have to be very, very careful. Though I do have other large maps now, those are the ones that opened my imagination up. And really hold a special place for me.
And like Kobeck, I read but did not really understand the game. Not until a couple years later when I found a guy down the hall that had the little black box. Then most Friday's we'd play until 3-4am in the morning. I really miss those college days and playing like that. Heck, one of the players had VARGR as his custom car tag. And another created a custom font for a printer for Aslan paperwork. Good times!
I first heard of Traveller because of the "characters can die in chargen" bit from CT but I guess it was only a matter of time before I became interested in it since I'm a massive Sci-Fi fan and needed an rpg to referee in the genre. When it came to purchase an edition I was overwhelmed initially by the many different editions and their different pros and cons but settled on MgT since it was often recommended as a great starting edition for newcomers. That was 2015, now I think I have more Traveller books from almost all the different editions than any other game I own and I can say with confidence that it is my favorite RPG. It's been some time since I last ran a Traveller game but when I do I usually utilize rules and generation tables here and there from the other editions.
I think I already stated this, but technically my first exposure was to the original first three LBBs at the back of the gamestores at the Stanford Shopping Center and up at the Tin Goose in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. But, it wasn't until a school mate bought me the boxed Starter Edition that we really got into it. Before I rummaged through the first LBBsbooks, but there was no art in them as I recall, and at that time I was very much into visuals for my scifi. Then the cover art for the Starter Edition really had me hooked, and more Dietrick stuff on the inside really sold the game to me and my friends. I'm just sorry that same art didn't carry over to all of the rest of the LBBs. That would have been just super.
Christmas 1977. A gift from my wife.
I guess I didn't answer the rest.
The box sounded made it sound interesting, I thought the book were a little plan with no artwork. And the charts could have been in better order.
I've always loved Sci-Fi and a chance to game it was a real plus. I was used to War Games were everything was spelled out. So, the idea of making everything up as you went was something I liked.
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?
The box sounded made it sound interesting, I thought the book were a little plan with no artwork. And the charts could have been in better order.
I've always loved Sci-Fi and a chance to game it was a real plus. I was used to War Games were everything was spelled out. So, the idea of making everything up as you went was something I liked.
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?
My first actual exposure to Traveller was in 1977 when I was 6yrs old. My father had the 77' edition, which really intrigued me. He told me when he had the time he would teach me how to to play. That happened several years later after moving and settling in a new house. He sat me down with both the 77' and 81' editions. He and I then played on and off for a few years, sometimes I managed to convince a friend or two to join.
Over time other editions were added to the collection. I was given the Deluxe Edition for my birthday when it came out and we continued to sporadically play. Sadly DnD was to game of choice amongst my peers, so Traveller usually collected dust on the shelf. I did run a few games over the years with mixed results. My father however, always had the time of his life in any session he was in, even if the campaign crashed and burned.
Now I have had a campaign brewing in the back of my mind for ages, but I never felt ready or good enough to run it.
In early 2016, we had been planning to attend the 2017 Travellercon USA where I was hoping to find that little push that I needed. The push from other players. My SO and father kept telling me to just do it.
I regret never doing so. My father passed away shortly after Thanksgiving 2016.
I did get the push from others the following year. I have been running my Aweful Green Things From Outer Space/Traveller mashup at Travellercon USA since 2018. Despite Covid, other health issues and not seeing any friends since 2019 (except online), I think I am finally ready to do this.
Sadly, Pop won't be here to play.
His scout character "Many' Places" is still out there though.
Over time other editions were added to the collection. I was given the Deluxe Edition for my birthday when it came out and we continued to sporadically play. Sadly DnD was to game of choice amongst my peers, so Traveller usually collected dust on the shelf. I did run a few games over the years with mixed results. My father however, always had the time of his life in any session he was in, even if the campaign crashed and burned.
Now I have had a campaign brewing in the back of my mind for ages, but I never felt ready or good enough to run it.
In early 2016, we had been planning to attend the 2017 Travellercon USA where I was hoping to find that little push that I needed. The push from other players. My SO and father kept telling me to just do it.
I regret never doing so. My father passed away shortly after Thanksgiving 2016.
I did get the push from others the following year. I have been running my Aweful Green Things From Outer Space/Traveller mashup at Travellercon USA since 2018. Despite Covid, other health issues and not seeing any friends since 2019 (except online), I think I am finally ready to do this.
Sadly, Pop won't be here to play.
His scout character "Many' Places" is still out there though.
Though now that I think about it, I didn't play til 2003, after I discovered T20 and joined this forum.
I haven't played in a few years, but I have been putting up a CT micro-empire on a friend's Discord ... very slowly!
DaltonSpence
SOC-9
- GURPS Traveller, Second Edition (1999). I had vaguely been aware of the game's existence before then but wasn't interested.
- Sometime before 2002 according to my dogeared copy.
- My first venture into SciFi gaming was FASA Star Trek but since the mid 80s I had been exclusively into GURPS. When I first saw the book on the game store shelf I said "Wow! I wonder what they are going to do with that?"
- Here was a scifi universe that had been around for a long time but I had effectively had no knowledge of. I was pleased to discover that Loren had taken a different path by avoiding the Rebellion entirely. There was something about a non-evil galactic empire that I found appealing. (I'm not a war gamer so battles were of no interest to me.) To be honest I was mainly interested in Appendix B and its Modular Design System so I could create my own non-military starships. (I'm not really a gamer, I just like reading the supplements. And boy, were there a lot of those!
)
Dalton “who still wants his own modular cutter” Spence
Maybe not a Traveller grognard, but certainly a SF gaming grognard...
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