Digest Group Publications

Digest Group Publications (DGP) was started in 1984 by Traveller fans Joe D. Fugate Sr. and Gary L. Thomas . The venture was founded around “The Traveller's Digest”, a GDW-approved publication inspired by the “Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society”, but adding a new spin. Each issue followed a regular cast of four characters as they toured much of the game’s Third Imeprium, allowing them to explore areas of the game’s established background which were only previously little more than interesting sounding map locations.

The quality of the work and fidelity to established Traveller universe details made the publication popular with dedicated Traveller fans and DGP soon expanded their product line to include Traveller gaming supplements which included “Grand Survey”, “The Starship Operators' Manual”, a detailed expansion of the supplement on the game’s Major Races, and many others.

Joe and Gary were contracted by GDW to work on the official Traveller rules modifications introduced with the release of MegaTraveller. Additionally the launch of the “Rebellion Era” was coordinated to be launched through joint promotions and revelations in the DPG and GDW product lines.

As the planned Traveller’s Digest grand tour story arc came to an end, DGP decided to focus the publication to shine a light on how the Rebellion effected a single area of the Shattered Imperium, in detail. The Domain of Deneb was chosen as the focus target.

Around this time DGP decided it needed to branch out with its own original product line and development started on “A.I.”, a game set in post-industrial future where nanotechnology had reshaped the planet and its ecological mechanics. The game never got as far as production release.

In the early nineties an unexpected family health crisis created a financial burden that forced Joe Fugate to close DGP’s operations and sell the name, product line, and creative rights to Roger Sanger, who has not kept the publications in print. As such many of the DGP creations have been dropped from the property's continuing canonical lore.

Through its operational span, DGP’s staff included Joe D. Fugate, Sr., Gary L. Thomas, Patty Fugate, Nancy Parker, Robert Parker, Rob Caswell, Deb Zeigler, and James Holden. Between 1984 and 1993, DGP published twenty-one issues of the Travellers' Digest, ten sourcebooks, and four issues of the MegaTraveller Journal. For a complete list, see the DGP bibliography.