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The Science Fiction In Traveller
A Reader’s Guide to
Traveller Role-Playing Fiction
By Shannon Appelcline
Far Future Enterprises
2016
Preface
Award-winning reviewer Shannon Appelcline (Designers & Dragon) investigates
the science-fiction literature that shaped the structure and content of the Traveller
science-fiction role-playing game. He reviews and discusses the broad expanse of SF that
influenced Marc Miller as he designed the massive background universe of Traveller, and
then gives equal consideration to the novels and short stories that were inspired by
Traveller.
Introduction
I think that one of the best ways to prepare yourself for a roleplaying game is to
immerse yourself in its fiction. It’s a way to gain a visceral, unconscious understanding of
a game world — allowing you to instinctively respond to your player’s action in the
context of a real universe. So, when I decided to run a Mongoose
Traveller
game in 2009,
I started reading.
Marc Miller has listed a number of novels that influenced
Traveller
over the years,
and I began with some of those — including classics from the ‘50s and ‘60s by authors
that I was largely unfamiliar with, like H. Beam Piper, E.C. Tubb, and Keith Laumer.
They helped me to gain a better appreciation not just for
Traveller’s
universe, but also for
science fiction’s history.
I could have read scores more “inspirational” novels, but instead I moved on to the
novels actually written about the
Traveller
universe. Though
Traveller
doesn’t have the
depth of
D&D’s
fiction line, I was happy to discover that there were about a dozen novels
that were “Traveller” to various degrees. I read the first in August 2009, and kept reading
through the end of 2010.
I think my work served its purpose. I ran an enjoyable and well-received 20-session
campaign, my longest running
Traveller
campaign ever.
Being an obsessive writer, I documented everything I could about the experience.
You can find an Actual Play (AP) of the run at RPGnet under “The Spinward Marches
Campaign”. I also used the experience as the germ of an RPGnet GM’s column about
Traveller
called “Fifth Imperium” — because back then we didn’t know better and
thought that Mongoose’s
Traveller
was
T5.
Oh, and finally, I reviewed every one of those
books I read, talking about both how good they were and what they could add to a
Traveller
game.
When Marc Miller Kickstarted his own
Traveller
novel, he learned of my fiction
reviews, and commissioned me to collect them all into a book.
This is that book.
Within you’ll find 29 reviews of
Traveller
influences, novels, and short stories.
That includes my original 23, plus six new reviews written for initial release in this book,
including: one influence that Marc suggested, one book I inexplicably missed
(inexplicable because I had a copy of it!), and four reviews of books that have appeared
since last I wrote. Those four new releases are especially exciting because they show that
the world of
Traveller
fiction is continuing to rapidly grow and evolve. I look forward to
seeing what’s next (and vaguely dream about trying my hand at the genre myself!).
My original reviews have all been revised for this book. They’ve been organized,
standardized, and generally edited. I also added historical notes about many of the
publications, because I’ve become increasingly in over the history of our industry in
recent years, something that’s reflected in my other recent publication,
Designers &
Dragons.
Shannon Appelcline
January 27, 2016
About the Ratings
All of the reviews in this book are rated based on their “Style” and “Substance”, a
somewhat nebulous pair of categories used in all RPGnet reviews.
Here, they’re defined as follows:
Writing Style (on a one to five star scale:
★★★★)
describes the quality of a book’s
writing. Does it read well? Are the characters realistic? Is the setting evocative? Is the
plot interesting? Does the story have depth? Is the book
good?
Traveller
Substance (also on a one to five star scale:
★★★★)
measures how true the
book is to the
Traveller
game, how much it reveals about that setting, and how useful it
might be for a GM looking for inspiration.
Both categories are rated on a five-point scale.

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