THROWBACK THURSDAY: Traveller

Loved this book so much that having worn out my original copy, I bought a second

I've spoken many times about one of the greatest roleplaying campaigns I was ever privileged enough to take part in: Nick's legendary multi-season Traveller game that began during our years together at school.

However, it wasn't Nick that actually introduced me to this beautifully streamlined games system, but rather Steve Grover, the teenaged mentor who'd opened my eyes to the delights of RPGs years before.

But just because I saw myself as a "bit of a writer" and was slinging dice with some wildly creative and incredibly smart people didn't mean my own contributions were that great or original.

I have a vivid memory of one of my earliest Traveller characters being called Boba Fett and being, essentially, the mysterious bounty hunter from The Empire Strikes Back (which was the freshest bit of Star Wars at the time).

The other day I was sorting out my old Traveller books and came across my original copy of Judges Guild's The Traveller Logbook (a brilliant collection of blank forms and random tables), which contained a character sheet for a PC that had totally slipped my mind: the imaginatively named Zephod Beeblebrox of America(!!!).

I definitely had "problems" with conjuring up sci-fi names back in the day (not saying I'm any better now, but these days I can do it "ironically").

The fact that old Zephod has a big red "X" over his sheet suggests he died during some escapade, which I have no record of.

However, his scrawled backstory - which mentions "being stranded on Jupiter for two years" - suggests this was a more Earth-centric game than the traditional Traveller set-up.

While I may have spent a lot of pre-secondary school years scratching together underground lairs and haunted islands for my friends to explore in Dungeons & Dragons, I think the elegance of Traveller's mechanics allowed for simple solo play more.

Hell, even rolling up a character in the original rules was pretty much an adventure itself... with PC death being a real possibility before you even grubbed up a seedy mission to earn yourself some credits. 

Sadly, I can't find any records of these chaotic, freeform Traveller games I ran for myself, although I suspect most involved shooting bad guys and trying to look 'Boba Fett cool' while doing it.

Then, Nick showed Pete, his brother Steve, and I how great a Traveller campaign could be.

Of course, I still played a borderline psychopath with a gun fetish, but mainly I enjoyed simply being in a group of gamers who were all invested in the wonderful universe our gamesmaster was weaving for us.