This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller
| This is Free Trader Beowulf | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Author | Shannon Appelcline | ||
| Publisher | Mongoose Publishing | ||
| Version | Traveller | ||
| Format | |||
| Language | English | ||
| Pages | 296 | ||
| Year Published | 2024 | ||
| Canonical | n/a | ||
| Available from | DriveThru RPG, Mongoose | ||
| MGP40119 | |||
| ISBN | 9781916675216 | ||
This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller is a bibliographical book from Mongoose Publishing.
This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone... Mayday, Mayday. A box emblazoned with those words went on sale for the first time on July 22, 1977, at the Origins III Game Fair, heralding the advent of the Traveller roleplaying game from GDW. It wasn't the first science-fiction roleplaying game, but through its innovative design and through the development of its evocative universe of Charted Space, it would become the longest running SFRPG in the industry.
However, its path would not be simple. After Traveller reached its early apogee just four years in, it would face decades of increasing problems, raising many questions. Why did GDW decided to shatter their Imperium? Why did they abandon the Traveller game system with their next revision? How could such a popular publisher face bankruptcy just two decades on? Similarly, what happened to Imperium Games, QuikLink Interactive, and others who followed in GDW's footsteps as the inheritors of the Traveller legacy? And finally, how did Mongoose Publishing reach into the past and bring Traveller back to its position as the industry's best-loved SFRPG?
This volume answers those questions and more. It tracks Traveller from its inspirations in the early '70s, through its initial publication, and across seven distinct editions of its original 2d6 gaming system. It reveals the stories of Traveller's three major publishers; GDW, Imperium Games, and Mongoose, as well as many licensees. Most importantly, it tells how Traveller fell into increasing darkness before descending into a Long Night, and how it rose again as a phoenix.
From the author of Designers & Dragons, which told the story of the entire roleplaying industry, comes the intimate history of a single roleplaying game, culled from hundreds of primary sources and interviews.
Credits[edit]
- Author
- Shannon Appelcline
- Editor
- Matthew Sprange
- Proofreading
- Charlotte Law
- Graphic Design / Art Direction
- Sandrine Thirache
- Illustrations
- Quentin Soubrouillard
Table of Contents[edit]
| Mongoose 2nd: XXX | ||
|---|---|---|
| Section | Page | |
| GDW: Before the Game | 1973-1977 | 9 |
| GDW: The Little Black Books | 1976-1979 | 23 |
| GDW: Discovering the Imperium | 1979-1985 | 41 |
| Licensees: The Guild to The Lords | 1979-1985 | 61 |
| GDW: The Big Color Books | 1982-1987 | 89 |
| DGP and Seeker: New Traveller Partners | 1985-1987 | 105 |
| GDW: The MegaTraveller Era | 1987-1992 | 119 |
| HIWG and 'Zines: The Growing Fandom | 1981-1992 | 143 |
| GDW: The New Era | 1993-1996 | 161 |
| Imperium: The T4 Era | 1996-1998 | 183 |
| Shattered: The Long Night | 1998-2007 | 201 |
| Mongoose: Rise of the Third Imperium | 2008-2015 | 237 |
| FFE: T5 & Beyond | 1997-present | 261 |
| Mongoose: Strephon Lives | 2016-present | 275 |