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 Game Designers' Workshop. Traveller 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 decide to shatter their Imperium? What led them to seek outside help to produce the second edition of the game? Why did their next revision abandon the Traveller rules system? How could such a popular publisher face bankruptcy two decades on? Similarly, what happened to Digest Group Publications, Imperium Games, QuikLink Interactive, and others who inherited the Traveller legacy? And how did Mongoose Publishing restore Traveller to its position as the industry's best-loved SFRPG?
Culled from hundreds of primary sources and interviews, This is Free Trader Beowulf answers those questions and more.
"This has been a really joyous project," Shannon wrote in an October 2023 blog post. "I started writing Designers & Dragons because I wanted to know what had happened to [Traveller licensee] Imperium Games; this year, I loved finding out the whole story of what happened to all of Traveller's publishers and all of its game systems as I worked through my Traveller history. On the way, I've also rediscovered my love for Traveller. I mean, it's not like we broke up or anything. [...] But writing this history made me remember that great setting that I loved so much, and I've been picking up new volumes again and enjoying the stories of Charted Space once more."
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