Traveller:Ethos

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The Traveller:Ethos is the idea that almost anything goes.

  • When trying to understand a Traveller idea or concept, MWM will invariably pick the least rule-bound, least restraining option available under most conditions.
  • The Emperor will not be fenced in unless forced to do so.
  • Some things may only be found as Niikiik Luur at the Galidumlar Dadaga.
  • Canon is only important if you need to be consistent with the Traveller rules or the OTU.
  • Please also see Traveller RPG Wiki.

Description (Specifications)

Traveller is a generic science-fiction RPG system that can accommodate anything. However:

  • Traveller has key rules on foundational concepts; those rules are changed by referees and players as desired.
  • The key rules allow publisher content to maintain consistency with other publishers when desired.
  • Traveller has a specific setting, the OTU, used to showcase Traveller's foundational concepts.
  • It's ok to try and make sense of publications in light of canon rules and the OTU. Just be aware that older publications may have serious conflicts and contradictions.

Wiki Mission Statement

Part of the mission of the Traveller RPG Wiki is:

  1. To navigate Traveller's definitions.
  2. To document alternate, even non-canonical, interpretations.
  3. To build out Library Data articles, and aggregate over 40 years and nearly 2,000 publications worth of materials with the highest level of quality possible.

Wiki Copyright Policy Goals

GET PERMISSION: The goal of the Traveller RPG Wiki is to never outright or wholesale copy from any published Traveller materials but to use illustrative and clever images, excerpts, and quotes from published Traveller canon, with permission, to build a system reference here at the wiki as well as a setting reference for the Official Traveller Universe. So, go out and buy the original publications from Far Future Enterprises, Mongoose Publishing, or an officially licensed Traveller publisher.

There is no rigid standard for quantity, which might range from a few paragraphs to a few pages. The most crucial factor is to have the permission of the author/publisher/owner and to keep good communication. Do NOT proceed if you do NOT have consent. Ask. Ask again. When in doubt, hold out and do NOT proceed.

Wiki Setting Goals

STORY OVER GAME MECHANICS: The goals of the Traveller RPG Wiki is:

  • promote Traveller and help people learn the game,
  • to support gameplay,
  • to tell a story,
  • link together a multi-decade tradition of science fiction RPG gaming,
  • be an electronic aide to referees,
  • organize research for Marc Miller and FFE,
  • organize research for writers & publishers,
  • to avoid game mechanics specific to any one edition or version of Traveller,
  • not dictate rules, insist on one interpretation of the OTU story, or tell any referee how to play their game.
  • to promote the fine art of science fiction roleplaying.

It's there to support, assist, and inspire the community, help the publisher understand the boundaries of the OTU, and provide guidelines for what has come before.

If game mechanic material is included on an article page, please place it on a Metadata subpage. There is a subjective line between what is setting game story content and game mechanics. The general principle is to leave game statistics in the sourcebooks.

History & Background (Dossier)

As of 2019 CE, Traveller has over forty years of publications, including nearly 2,000 published products, with more coming out every year. Keeping track of what is and isn't "official" or canon just about amounts to a fool's errand. Fans have been arguing over these matters for DECADES. Groups like HIWG and the TML made a fine art of discussing and arguing over Traveller. In as much as a central source for canon designation exists or can exist, the Traveller RPG Wiki serves that function. The bottom line is that Traveller is a vast universe and Charted Space has almost unimaginably large bounds. There is room for almost anything in Traveller.

Don McKinney, while developing tools for determining canon entries for the OTU Traveller Timeline, wrote it most aptly as thus: 

"So, the moral is, don't throw rocks at other Traveller settings. We're all in the same tent, even if we imagine we're not."

Scope of Canon by Publisher

This is a rough graphical overview of Traveller canon in ASCI chart form: 

                      LITERARY TRAVELLER CANON
| Scopes    |<---- Scope of Classic Traveller ---->|<----  Later Trav  ---->| 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Canon     |         Primary Canon                |       Not Primary      |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Timeline  |         -5 bya to 1115 TI            |       1116 to 1902+ TI |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------   
| 2010's CE |         Traveller 5 (T5)             |       Galaxiad (1900)  |  
| 2010's CE |         New Traveller (MGT-2)        |                        |       
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2010's CE |         Mongoose Traveller (MGT-2)   |           |     |      |         
|           |            MGT-2 = New Traveller     |           |     |      |         
| 2000's CE |         Mongoose Traveller (MGT-1)   |   GURPS   | TNE | 1248 |                                      
---------------------------------------------------|           |  T  |  S   |
| 2000's CE |         Traveller D20 (T20)          |           |  N  |  E   |         
---------------------------------------------------|           |  E  |  C   |          
|           |                                                  |     |  O   |        
| 2000's CE |        GURPS: Traveller (GT)                     | TNE |  N   |
| 1990's CE |        Lorenverse / Imperium Eternal             |     |  D   |
|           |---------------------------------------           |     |  A   |
| 1990's CE |   Marc Miller's Traveller (T4)       |           | TNE |  R   |
|           |---------------------------------------           |     |  Y   |
| 1990's CE |   Clay Bush Writing Corpus / HIWG    |           | TNE | HIWG |
---------------------------------------------------|           |------------|
| 1990's CE |               |                 |    |           |            |
| 1980's CE |   Classic     |  MegaTraveller  |    |   GURPS   |  C     GO  |
| 1970's CE |   Traveller   |      (MT)       |    |           |  T     JG  |
|           |   (CT)        -------------------    |           |        PP  | 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

That final, open-ended column to the far right, labelled "Later Trav," represents secondary sources, including 1248, HIWG, Paranoia Press, Group One, Judges Guild, et al. Things from which good ideas can come.

Library Data Referral Tree

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:
Wiki Mechanics: Wiki Mechanics:


References & Contributors (Sources)

This article has metadata.
This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
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