GURPS Traveller x2

In July 2016 we presented  two offers featuring the licensed GURPS Traveller line originally published by Steve Jackson Games based on the classic SFRPG Traveller.

In 1998 Traveller designer Marc Miller licensed the Traveller setting to SJG for use with its Generic Universal RolePlaying System. GURPS Traveller (1998-2015) uses the Third Edition GURPS system. The game takes place in Year 1120 of an alternate Third Imperium timeline (20 years after Classic Traveller) in which no Rebellion occurred (as in MegaTraveller) and the Virus was never released (as in Traveller: The New Era). Loren Wiseman, who worked with Game Designers’ Workshop on the design and development of the original Traveller, was the GURPS Traveller line manager and editor of the online magazine Journal of the Travellers Aid Society. SJG produced over 30 supplements for the line, covering all of the major alien races, many minor races, interstellar trade, expanded world generation, the military forces of the Third Imperium, and starships. In terms of page count, the GURPS Traveller line wound up bigger than GDW’s original Classic Traveller line.

SJG’s Traveller license lapsed earlier this year, and rights to the line reverted to Marc Miller. He proposed these two Bundle of Holding offers. (Steve Jackson Games has politely declined to contribute to Bundle of Holding offers, though they did give permission to include the free GURPS Lite rules in one of these offers.) To fully use these Traveller books in a GURPS campaign, you’ll also need the complete GURPS corebook (Third Edition or later) and GURPS Space, which aren’t included in these offers. As sourcebooks, the titles in these offers work fine with any SF campaign.

1. GURPS TRAVELLER ESSENTIALS

Our first offer, GURPS Traveller Essentials, presented the core GURPS Traveller rulebook and all the major supplements you need for a complete campaign in this alternate Third Imperium. There were four titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $38), all DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• GURPS Traveller 2E (retail price $12): The complete 179-page Second Edition corebook (2002). Includes the free GURPS LITE rules and the free introductory adventure “Flare Star.”
• Starships (retail $8): Three dozen complete spacecraft designs plus rules for creating your own.
• First In (retail $8): The Imperium Interstellar Scout Service and a complete system for building the worlds its Scouts discover.
• Deck Plan 5: Sulieman-Class Scout/Courier (retail $10): Are you a scout in a First In campaign? This is your ship.

Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles (retail value $67):

• Behind the Claw (retail $8): The GURPS guide to the canonical Traveller space sector, the Spinward Marches — one of the most detailed treatments of the Marches in the setting’s history.
• Humaniti (retail $10): The societies and cultures of 16 different human races — Darrians, Azhanti, Syleans, Kargol, and many more.
• Starports (retail $8): The anchors of the Imperium. Written by novelist John M. Ford.
• Modular Cutter (retail $8): A sourcebook for the workhorse Ship of a Thousand Uses, a favorite of Traveller groups for decades.
• Deck Plan 2: Modular Cutter and Deck Plan 1: Beowulf-Class Trader (retail $10 each): Ship layouts printed with both hexes (for GURPS) and squares (Classic Traveller).
• NEW! The Best of JTAS v1 (retail $13): A compilation of choice articles from the online Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society.

2. GURPS TRAVELLER IMPERIAL SURVEY

The companion offer, GURPS Traveller Imperial Survey, presented the Alien Races guides, Planetary Survey supplements, and Far Trader — a great collection of additional books to expand your Imperium and start trading across the stars. There were four titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $33):

• Far Trader (retail price $10): Independent merchants and the economics of interstellar trade.
• Alien Races 1 (Zhodani/Vargr) (retail $10): The Zhodani, Vargr, and three minor races, all presented in thorough detail never before seen in Traveller by star GURPS writer David L. Pulver.
• Planetary Survey 3: Granicus (retail $3): A pirate stronghold that threatens from Imperial space to the frontier.
• Deck Plan 3: Empress Marava-Class Far Trader (retail $10): The ideal starship for a small commercial enterprise.

Those who paid more than the threshold also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with nine more titles (retail value $48):

• Alien Races 2 (Aslan/K’kree), Alien Races 3 (Hivers/Droyne), and Alien Races 4 (retail $10 each): Detailed guides to the rest of the major nonhuman races (and lots of minor ones) in the Traveller universe.
• Planetary Survey 1: Kamsii, Survey 2: Denuli, and Survey 4: Glisten (retail $3 each): Three more guides to worlds and systems full of adventure.
• NEW! Planetary Survey 5: Tobibak (retail $3): A waterworld inhabited by aquatic sophonts with (ahem) mysterious depths.
• NEWER! Planetary Survey 6: Darkmoon (retail $3): David Pulver’s new take on prison planets.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) went to this offer’s designated charity, Heifer International.