The three small but terrifically inspirational booklets that launched the leading SFRPG in the 1970s and 1980s
The rules, characters, setting material, maps, and forms you need to start running your own spacefaring campaign in the Third Imperium of Humaniti's far future - all as complete, DRM-free, non-watermarked .PDF ebooks
The Little Black Books transformed the roleplaying field in the 1970s and early 1980s
Explore the Imperium, the galactic empire of Humaniti's far future, with the classic "Little Black Books" from the Golden Age of Traveller, the original science fiction tabletop roleplaying game published by Game Designers' Workshop, 1977-1982. For just US$24.95 this Starter Pack gives you nine ebooks (retail value ), including the three original Traveller manuals (in their corrected 1981 editions), several supplements, maps, useful forms, and much more – everything you need to start your travels across the far-future Third Imperium.
A few Traveller web resources
There are more Traveller pages on the web than worlds in the Spinward Marches. A few starting points:
Far Future Enterprises, where Traveller designer Marc W. Miller sells the entire product line
Traveller Map: Joshua Bell's amazing, meticulously researched and documented interactive map of Charted Space
How to instantly get your Traveller LBBs Starter Pack:
Spread the word!
Tell your fellow travellers about this LBB Starter Pack!
Traveller B01-03 (1981 editions)
Designer(s): Marc W. Miller
Mongoose Publishing, 170 pages
Retail price US$14
Traveller is one of the most famous and significant RPGs from the early days of the hobby. The first of its many editions is famously known today as the LBBs, or "little black books": half-size 48-page rules booklets with elegant black covers. Between 1977 and 1983, Game Designers' Workshop published eight LBB rulebooks. The first three books compose the original Traveller rules set, published in 1977; the books in this offer are the corrected 1981 versions:
Book 1- Characters and Combat. The core character generation rules using Traveller's unique prior career system, plus personal combat. Book 2 - Starships. The core rules for starship design and operation, interstellar travel, and space combat. Book 3 - Worlds and Adventures. The core rules for creating worlds using Traveller's unique Universal Planetary Profile, plus animal encounters, and adventure creation.
Presented with maps of the Imperium and the Spinward Marches sector, plus The Lost Rules: Traveller Special Supplement 4, a collection of rules gathered from many sources notable and obscure. This 26-page supplement was produced to complement the Classic Traveller reprints from Far Future Enterprises.
S01 1001 Characters
Designer(s): Marc W. Miller
Mongoose Publishing, 44 pages
Retail price US$4
Over a thousand pregenerated Traveller characters – Army, Navy, Marines, scouts, merchants, and more – ready for use as NPCs, quick characters for a pickup game, or to supplement the work of the referee. Includes bonus stats for nine famous characters from science fiction.
"Really can't go wrong with this CT supplement. I liked the utility of just dragging a random guy off the list when the players got off my well-lined path and started exploring again. How dare they enjoy themselves during my adventure! Anyway, it's a solid resource document for when you are in a pinch for some random people, and the price is great." – Michael G., DriveThruRPG
S02 Animal Encounters
Designer(s): Marc W. Miller
Mongoose Publishing, 48 pages
Retail price US$4
This supplement provides 111 distinct animal encounter tables for use on a wide range of planets: small, medium and large worlds, with thin, standard and dense atmospheres. These convenient tables make on-planet adventures simple and fast. The book includes separate sections on maritime and arctic areas, plus a page of encounters in vacuum situations.
S08 & S11 Library Data 1-2
Designer(s): Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, Marc W. Miller, and Loren K. Wiseman
Mongoose Publishing, 96 pages
Retail price US$8
The two Library Data supplements (S08, covering entries starting with letters A through M, and S11, covering N-Z) compile essays and background data entries on the universe of Traveller. Published in 1981 and '82, they were the primary sources of information about the Third Imperium during the Little Black Book era.
S08 also includes longer entries on the Solomani, Megacorporations, and The Emperors' List. S11 includes long entries on Imperial space, the Imperial nobility, the history of the Spinward Marches, and politics in the Solomani Rim.
S12 Forms and Charts
Designer(s): Marc W. Miller
Mongoose Publishing, 48 pages
Retail price US$5
This 1983 Traveller book of record sheets – personal forms, ship forms, mapping forms, miscellaneous forms, fake ID forms, and a calendar – groups forms by their function, rather than by their issuing agency. Thus, the chapter on mapping contains forms from two different agencies, but all the forms in the chapter refer to various aspects of mapping in Traveller.
PERSONAL FORMS
TAS Form 2. Personal Data and History
TAS Form 41. Character Generation Data
TAS Form 42. Weapon Data
TAS Form 43. Equipment Data
SHIP FORMS
TAS Form 3. Ship's Papers (Commercial)
TAS Form 4. Ship Paragraph Description
TAS Form 14. Cargo Manifest
TAS Form 65. Starship Deck Plan Grid (Small)
TAS Form 66. Starship Deck Plan Grid (Large)
IN Form 3. Ship's Data
IN Form 10. Ship Design Worksheet
IN Form 11. Small Craft Design Worksheet
MAPPING FORMS
TAS Form 5. Sector Description
TAS Form 6. Subsector Map Grid
TAS Form 7. Subsector World Data
IS Form 8. World Map Grid
IS Form 9. World Terrain Data
IS Form 10. Animal Encounter Table
MISCELLANEOUS FORMS
TAS Form 17. Mercenary Ticket
TAS Form 18. Repatriation Bond
IS Form 6. Xboat Message
IS Form 7. Xboat Image Facsimile
IDENTIFICATION CARDS
The ID Cards
IMPERIAL CALENDAR
The Standard Calendar
The Universal Calandar
Classic Traveller Orientation Pack
Designer(s): Marc W. Miller, Loren Wiseman, Don McKinney, and others
Mongoose Publishing, 277 pages
Retail price US$1
As a convenience to our customers, we've gathered a few Traveller resources from across the web – some handy, some impressive. These are good introductions to the game itself, its official setting, and its huge support line.
Loren Wiseman's 51-page "Book 0" Introduction to Traveller is a 1981 guide to the world of Traveller written for beginners.
The late Traveller superfan Don McKinney's Traveller Integrated Timeline is a stunningly comprehensive (well, as of 2006) 132-page setting chronology.
Far Future Enterprises has created a Guide to Classic Traveller and a Guide to FASA Traveller that detail each product line. Its companion About GDW lists every product the company published from 1973 to 1996.
The Canon (undated) covers much the same ground as the Guide to Classic Traveller, but it also includes a map of the Imperium and a key to the Imperial Navy's crest.
The Errata Compendium is long (49pp), but then again, it covers nearly 50 products.
Spread the word!
Tell your fellow travellers about this LBB Starter Pack!