| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/original_traveller_cover.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:Cover of the original.]] |
| 3 | ->''This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone...\ |
| 4 | Mayday, Mayday... we are under attack...\ |
| 5 | Main drive is gone... turret number one not responding...\ |
| 6 | Mayday... losing cabin pressure fast calling anyone...\ |
| 7 | Please help...\ |
| 8 | This is Free Trader Beowulf...\ |
| 9 | ...mayday...'' |
| 10 | -->The cover of the original Traveller box set. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ''Traveller'' was one of the earliest published [[RolePlayingGame role-playing-game]] systems, originally designed by Marc Miller and first published by Creator/GameDesignersWorkshop ([=GDW=]) in 1977. It still has a rabid pack of followers despite the fact that [=GDW=] closed down in 1996. The publishing license has passed through a number of hands since then. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ''Traveller'' was probably the [[UrExample first game of its kind]] to divorce the concept of skills from that of occupation or class. Characters did not enter the campaign young and untrained; rather, they had careers during which character development occurred. This was generally perceived as giving the game a more "three-dimensional" feel. While there were some assumptions about the campaign world, an interstellar setting called "the Spinward Marches", little actual information was initially provided, leaving the campaign world to the [[GameMaster Referee's]] fertile imagination. The system wasn't static, though; the release of supplements and of subsequent editions of the system brought more detailed character generation, task systems, rules for skill improvement, and additional skills and rules for them. But ''Traveller'' isn't a role-playing ''system'', because you can play ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller'', which is a different system entirely. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ''Traveller'' eventually came to describe an interstellar community of sorts, focused on a "Third Imperium", of which the original Spinward Marches was merely a small frontier area. Published and well-regarded science fiction was a major source of inspiration for aliens and their societies, and for various aspects of technology. A broad history was mapped out, and cultural differences were developed and illustrated. This led to a background in many ways richer than that of previous role-playing settings, yet without significantly limiting the referee. Again, the setting wasn't static; every release of ''Traveller'' or ''Traveller'' supplements brought new information to light. But ''Traveller'' isn't a role-playing ''setting'', though, because you can play ''Traveller'' in a setting that is unrecognizable in comparison to what's in published material. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | As with any RPG, ''Traveller'' can be an opportunity to develop characters, their likes, dislikes, habits, idiosyncrasies, motivations, and so on. The events of any particular session can be part of a grand story arc throughout the campaign, or not, if the players and referee choose not to play that way. The Traveller Supplements, over time, described a very-large-stroke history of the "Third Imperium", but the real story was in the gameplay and gamemaster's hands. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | There have been ''many'' editions, most of which are available in .pdf format from Far Future Enterprises: |
| 21 | [[folder: Editions]] |
| 22 | * ''Classic Traveller'' (1977-86): The original. Then just called ''Traveller'' but it has since acquired the "Classic" qualifier to distinguish it from the later editions. It has also been called the [[AscendedMeme "Little Black Books"]] because of the printing format and minimalist covers used.[[note]]The books were nearly all half-size "pamphlets" featuring a mostly black cover with a narrow colored stripe[[/note]] The line began as a rather generic sci-fi system, and added detail to the setting as it went. Several other game companies also produced materials for the line under license, including {{Creator/FASA}}[[note]]Which got its start producing ''Traveller'' materials[[/note]], Gamelords, Judges Guild, Paranoia Press, and even Creator/GamesWorkshop. Each of these licensees was given their own "land grant" of a sector or two (four in the case of Judges Guild) to develop in their own products how they saw fit. |
| 23 | * ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' (1987-92): An update to the original rule system, complete with a controversial {{metaplot}} shift involving the assassination of the Emperor and collapse of the [[TheFederation Imperium]] into civil war, called "The Rebellion". ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' was mostly created by Digest Group Publications[[note]]Producers of the popular ''Travellers' Digest'' magazine for ''Classic Traveller'' and ''Book 8: Robots''[[/note]] rather than [=GDW=] itself. Incompatible production methods between the two companies produced a lot of typos in this version. Despite the production problems and the controversial Rebellion it was successful. Digest Group's own supplements to the line, produced under license, are still quite renowned among ''Traveller'' fans for their quality, though rights issues when Digest Group folded in the mid '90s mean they have [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes never been reprinted]] by Far Future Enterprises and they aren't likely to be. |
| 24 | ** There were two ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' PC games by Paragon released in the early '90s: ''[=MegaTraveller: The Zhodani Conspiracy=]'' and ''[=MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients=]''. Gameplay was somewhat simplified due to the limitations of the computers of the era, but they were an early "Open Sandbox" style with plenty of subquests and areas to explore outside of the main plot. Some of the features in the manuals didn't show up in the actual games, and they got mixed reviews. Character generation was so close to the tabletop version that the second game allowed you to print out characters generated by its character generation system for use in the tabletop version as fully legal characters. The two games are included with the Far Future ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' [=CD-ROMs=]. |
| 25 | * ''Traveller: The New Era'' (1993-95): A [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] take on the original setting, with options for almost-original flavour and an entirely new system.[[note]]New to ''Traveller'', that is - the rules system was a modified version of the set used for the 2nd edition of [=GDW's=] TabletopGame/{{Twilight 2000}}, which GDW used as its "HouseSystem" for a few other games.[[/note]] Some {{retcon}}s were present as well, mostly dealing with how tech worked in the Third Imperium. Although it certainly has its fans, the final destruction of the Third Imperium in this version's MetaPlot was what [[BrokenBase broke the base]]. |
| 26 | ** The timeline was continued after the end of the GDW game line with ''Traveller 1248'', a series of systemless sourcebooks by Comstar Games that were out of print for a while but are now available on the ''TNE Extended Canon'' CD from FFE. |
| 27 | * ''Marc Miller's Traveller'' aka ''Traveller 4'' (1996-98): The first edition of the game after GDW folded, overseen by original ''Traveller'' creator Marc Miller, who retained rights to the game after the end of GDW. Set in "Milieu 0" - the beginning of the Third Imperium. Miller has admitted it was something of a "rushed" product, and it was not successful. ''Pocket Empires'', however, is still quite highly regarded by players interested in the economics of the setting, which as trading is often a major part of the game isn't as esoteric a concern as it may seem. |
| 28 | The financing deal Miller struck to produce T4 left him in debt, and he turned to licensing ''Traveller'' to other game companies. These versions were adaptations of the Third Imperium setting using the core mechanics of other [=RPG=] systems: |
| 29 | * ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller'' (1998-2015): by Creator/SteveJacksonGames. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, using the 3rd edition of the GURPS rules. It was set in an alternate timeline in which the Rebellion didn't happen in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to [[BrokenBase unbreak the base.]][[note]]In this timeline Archduke Dulinor died when his ship's boat exploded on its way to his fateful audience with the Emperor. It is suggested this was not an accident.[[/note]] This was a well-produced version, with several of the same people who worked on the original ''Traveller'', and was quite popular in its time. The last book produced for the line, ''Interstellar Wars'', used the 4th edition of the GURPS rules and presented the conflict between the Terrans and Vilani Imperium, long a part of the Third Imperium's backstory, as a campaign setting.[[note]]Although as with the other licensed versions no new materials were created for the line after ''Mongoose Traveller'' was released in 2008, the GURPS license was still technically active until the end of 2015, when Steve Jackson games allowed it to expire.[[/note]] |
| 30 | * ''Traveller 20'' (2002-2008): The inevitable MediaNotes/{{d20System}} version, [[note]]Using the 3.5 edition SRD[[/note]] by Quick Link Interactive/RPG Realms Publishing. The setting was in the Domain of Gateway in year 990, approximately 100 years before ''Classic Traveller'' was set. The license was terminated when ''Mongoose Traveller'' was released. |
| 31 | * ''Traveller [[TabletopGame/HeroSystem Hero]]'' (2006-2008): Again, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Produced under license by Comstar Games using the 5th edition of the Hero system. It shared the ''Classic Traveller'' setting. As with ''T20'', the Comstar license terminated when ''Mongoose Traveller'' was released. |
| 32 | A revision of the original ruleset followed next. All of the licensed variant rule versions of ''Traveller'' had their licenses pulled and ceased production to make room for: |
| 33 | * ''Mongoose Traveller'' (2008-2016): An updated version of ''Classic Traveller'' rules incorporating some of the later innovations of the line, published by, well, Mongoose Publishing. The setting is the same as the ''Classic Traveller'' Third Imperium setting, just before the Fifth Frontier War. Mongoose made the basic system available on an "open-license" basis, and also adapted several of their licensed properties to use the ''Traveller'' rule set. A ''Traveller'' version of ''Series/BabylonFive'' was released in 2009 to mixed reviews, along with ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'' in the same year. Later adaptations have included ''Literature/HammersSlammers,'' ''Comicbook/StrontiumDog'', and a version of ''TabletopGame/TwentyThreeHundredAD''. ''Mongoose Traveller'' is not the official name: it's sold simply as ''Traveller''. This was a very successful version, with lots of [[{{Splat}} Splatbooks]] eventually leading to the release of a 2nd edition in 2016 (see below). |
| 34 | ** ''Cepheus Engine'' (2017-Present): Because ''Mongoose Traveller'' included an "open-license" format, several small game publishers produced supplements or adventures for it. The ''Cepheus Engine'' is basically the 1st edition ''Mongoose Traveller'' rules system without the Third Imperium setting. There are Cepheus sourcebooks for modern-day espionage, sword & sorcery, superheroes, horror, and several science fiction settings distinct from the Third Imperium universe[[note]]Peraps most notably ''Hostile'', modelled after '80s sci-fi/horror movies like ''Aliens'', ''Bladerunner'' and ''Outland''[[/note]]. Because it's all based on open-game content any small publisher can produce a Cepheus Engine product, and they are all reasonably compatible with the ''Mongoose Traveller'' system. |
| 35 | Miller himself continued to work on the game, however, and finally released: |
| 36 | * ''Traveller 5'' (2013-present): By Far Future Enterprises, Miller's holding company for ''Traveller'' properties. Released in 2013 after a lengthy development process, this version consists of a massive (759 pages) core rulebook that resembles a large toolbox with lots of systems for building characters, vehicles, ships, planets, etc. but little in the way of setting information and no metaplot. Something of a throwback to the original version then. The system uses a further development of the ''Traveller 4'' game mechanics but is considerably more complex. It has been modestly received, with many fans describing it as a "good sourcebook for use with ''Mongoose Traveller''." |
| 37 | ** Traveller 5 received a re-release (called version 5.10) in 2019, with the core book broken up into three books - ''Book 1: Characters & Combat'', ''Book 2: Starships'', and ''Book 3: Worlds & Adventures'', similar to the ''Classic'' original box set's format. There were a few revisions and tweaks of the rules as well. The print version comes as three hardcovers in a slipcase. It's still well over 800 pages all together. To this point the core rule book is all that has been produced for this version. |
| 38 | * ''Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition'' (2016-present): An updated version of the first ''Mongoose Traveller'', featuring a full-color layout with some changes to the 1st edition system, with the most significant changes in the starship rules. It shares the same ''Classic Traveller'' Third Imperium setting as the original game. Where the 1st edition of Mongoose Traveller did a lot of splatbooks, this version focuses more on adventures and campaign settings. Several boxed campaign sets have been funded through Kickstarter. A minor revision of the core rulebook was also published in 2022. This version of the game is produced under license by Studio 2 Publishing, which did some of the later books for the first ''Mongoose Traveller''. |
| 39 | * A ''Traveller Customizable Card Game'' by Horizon (2018-present). The first licensed CCG set in the "Traveller" universe. Each player is captain of a single ship and recruits a small crew to undertake odd jobs to try to earn enough victory points before they go bankrupt. Piracy against other players is an option. It ties in to other versions of the game pretty well, with recognizable ships, aliens, and missions that match typical plots from the RPG. |
| 40 | [[/folder]] |
| 41 | |
| 42 | ---- |
| 43 | !!''Traveller'' provides examples of the following tropes (roll 1d6 to select folder): |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:1: 0 - D]] |
| 48 | * TwoDSpace: All of the maps of the Imperium and its sectors are flat. Various [[HandWave handwaves]] have been suggested over the years, including the maps being [[HyperSpace jumpspace rather than realspace]] maps or the distances in the z-dimension being small enough (on a galactic scale) to be "flattened out". The real reason is, of course, AcceptableBreaksFromReality - it is significantly easier to print, and to play with, two-dimensional maps. As far back as the early '80s Marc Miller noted that some players had indeed mapped their sectors in three dimensions. Presumably it involved a lot of trigonometry. |
| 49 | * AbilityDepletionPenalty: ''Classic Traveller'' Book 4 ''Mercenaries''. Certain weapons with automatic fire capacity (e.g. light machine gun and very rapid fire gauss gun) have a maximum number of bursts they can fire safely in a single combat round. If they exceed that limit, each additional burst fired increases the chance that the weapon will overheat and jam. If this happens, the jam has to be cleared before the weapon can fire again. |
| 50 | * AbortedArc: Because no versions of the game set after ''The New Era'' have been made, there are no "official" answers to the questions it's MetaPlot raised, like "what was behind the Black Curtain?", "what was the Empress Wave?", and "did a Fourth Imperium ever rise to take the place of the Third?" The ''1248'' setting started to address some of these, but than lost its license in favor of the more traditional ''Mongoose Traveller''. |
| 51 | * AbsoluteXenophobe: the K'kree, toward any creature anywhere that can be classified as a carnivore. |
| 52 | * AbsurdlySharpBlade: The extruded monofilament swords created on the TL 16 world Vincennes. |
| 53 | * AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: ''The New Era'' supplement ''Vampire Fleets'', adventure "Promise". In the Downbelow beneath Star City, the sewer tunnels are up to 4 meters high and wide. |
| 54 | * AbusiveAlienParents: Hivers abandon their newborn larvae into the wild and treat them as vermin, even fumigating their ships for them periodically. But when they reach a certain point in development they're allowed to join society. |
| 55 | * AcquiredPoisonImmunity: SORAG agents created using the supplement ''SORAG: Handbook of Organization and Equipment'' could be given this quality. |
| 56 | * AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse |
| 57 | ** Classic ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' |
| 58 | *** Supplement ''Rogues in Space Volume II: Scam''. In the adventure "A Matter of Reputation", Sir John [=Macalasdair=]'s preferred restaurant is a high class place called The Rampant Lion. |
| 59 | *** Supplement ''Port Xanatath''. The spaceport has a tavern called the Shimmering Worm. |
| 60 | ** ''[=The New Era=]''. In the magazine ''The Traveller Chronicle'' #3, the adventure "A Bonnie Mess" has the adventurers meeting a potential patron in a nightclub called the Silver Stallion. |
| 61 | * AdventureFriendlyWorld: One of the best in [[RolePlayingGame RPGs]]. The limitations of the jump drive mean that the Imperium is very hands-off, leaving plenty of room for odd societies to interact with, local wars to fight, lost civilizations to explore, pirates, and just about anything else the [[GameMaster Referee]] can think of. |
| 62 | * AfterTheEnd: The Long Night was AfterTheEnd for the first two Imperiums, and ''The New Era'' was AfterTheEnd for the third. |
| 63 | * AgriWorld: In ''Traveller'' Classic, planets with specific characteristics could have large portions of their economies devoted to agriculture. |
| 64 | * AIIsACrapshoot: Virus from ''The New Era'' is a combination of this and GoneHorriblyRight. Virus isn't A.I. in the conventional sense of the word; it's more like an extremely opportunistic, intelligent parasite that can convert anything with a computer in it into an intelligent life form with [[MurderousMalfunctioningMachine an obsession to kill]]. The crapshoot aspect is that it was designed to self-destruct a short time after being introduced into an enemy computer network and going on its rampage, but some strains of Virus after it was released mutated and lost the "suicide" drive while keeping the homicidal behavior. Oops. |
| 65 | * AirVentPassageway: Creator/{{FASA}}'s Classic supplement ''Action Aboard: Adventures on the King Richard'' and ''Challenge'' magazine #32 adventure "A World On Its Own''. |
| 66 | * AlienArtsAreAppreciated: K'kree perfumers just to start with. Aslan epics and stylized weapons seem to go over well too. Some of the minor races have their own artistic traditions which are liked by humans. |
| 67 | * AliensSpeakingEnglish: An evolved form of English is a popular language. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the wide spreading of Solomani culture. |
| 68 | * AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: Strongly averted. Most of the inhabited planets in the Imperium are actually quite a bit less hospitable than Earth. |
| 69 | * AllowedInternalWar: The Third Imperium allows planetary wars so long as they don't spill off-world or use nukes, and the Trade Wars listed below. |
| 70 | * AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Nearly everything in Traveller can have an alternate interpretation - by design. [[invoked]] |
| 71 | ** The Imperium itself can be viewed as a peaceful and benevolent [[TheFederation federation]] that lets its worlds largely govern themselves or as an oppressive, tyrannical [[TheEmpire empire]] that cares only about the taxes it receives, or anywhere in between. Even in the ''same'' interpretation, a world's treatment is entirely based on the whims and competence of the local lords, meaning to one world the Imperium is an oppressive force that terrorizes their population in order to [[NoBloodForPhlebotinum ensure access to local phlebotinum]], while to another they're just the guys who maintain the starport and provide all kinds of goodies for just another percentage of taxes. |
| 72 | ** The Zhodani are also especially open to this. The Imperium plays up their FantasticCasteSystem, BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood, and the repeated wars they've fought with them. The Consulate itself plays up their efficient government, universal health care (mental as well as physical), and military strength. And of course, they're often considered a promised land by individuals who develop PsychicPowers, since they're the only nation in charted space where psionics are not anathema. |
| 73 | * AlternateContinuity: ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller'' presented a timeline where Strephon was not assassinated. |
| 74 | * AlternativeNumberSystem: The various alien species use different bases. The Aslan use Base 8, the Hivers use Base 16, and the Droyne use Base 6. Most of the various Human Aliens, as well as the Vargr, use Base 10. |
| 75 | * AmmunitionBackpack: PGMP/FGMP (Plasma/Fusion Gun, Man Portable), laser carbine/rifles and flamethrowers, laser pistols, the Plasma Blade and Laser Sword are all powered by backpacks that supply their energy. |
| 76 | * AmphibiousAutomobile: The Amphibious Ground Car (AKA the "Mudpuppy") in the Classic supplement ''SORAG'' by Paranoia Press. |
| 77 | * AnachronicOrder: Later editions of the game are all set earlier than ''The New Era'', and most of them are set earlier than ''[=MegaTraveller=]''. Some of them much, much earlier. |
| 78 | * AncientArtifact: The Ancients, the Pre-maghiz Darrians, the first two Imperiums before the Long Night. All sorts of sources of {{Ancient Artifact}}s are available. The Darrians have a whole fleet of starships that had been discovered at a hidden cache. |
| 79 | * AndManGrewProud: The Darrians got a little too carried away with their scientific ability. The result was the destruction of their society and the death of nearly everyone on their homeworld. |
| 80 | * AndYourRewardIsClothes: One of the potential mustering out benefits in several versions of the game is "Armor", which lets your character choose a nice set of armor to use in play. Earlier editions allowed characters to obtain [[PowerArmor Battledress]] this way. Later editions usually restrict the benefit to much less powerful, but still nice, armor. |
| 81 | * AnimalAssassin: ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #12 Amber Zone article "Royal Hunt". Two alien monsters are used against the {{PC}}s, an amphibious killer and a small but poisonous animal. |
| 82 | * AnimalWrongsGroup: The K'kree are a PlanetOfHats of these, prepared to [[DisproportionateRetribution wage wars of extermination on people for eating meat.]] |
| 83 | * ApeShallNeverKillApe: The K'kree would like to believe that K'kree are incapable of ever eating meat. The Hivers used this belief and their skills in manipulation to win their war, and to keep the peace between the two ever since. |
| 84 | * ApocalypseHow: |
| 85 | ** Both the Long Night and the Rebellion resulted in light Class X-3s, with the fall of interstellar civilization in each case. |
| 86 | ** The Ancients also apparently had a Class X-3, warring themselves into extinction hundreds of thousands of years before any other race had the jump drive. |
| 87 | ** The Darrians caused their own Class 3 on Darrian. |
| 88 | * ApocalypticLog: The Traveller News Service during the later part of the [=MegaTraveller=] line and in the ''New Era'' supplement ''Survival Margin'' is basically a chronicle of the destruction of the Third Imperium. The last few entries are frantic warnings to disconnect all computers from the network, with the entries getting increasingly garbled and finally deteriorating to gibberish computer characters as the TNS servers are taken over by Virus. |
| 89 | * ApparentlyHumanMerfolk: The Nexines, an offshoot of humanity that were genetically engineered for underwater mining. |
| 90 | * ArbitraryWeaponRange: Classic Book 4 ''Mercenary''. Several new weapons could not be used at Close or Short range (from 0 to 5 meters away), such as the various PGMP's and FGMP's. There was no reason given for this. |
| 91 | * ArborealAbode: Classic supplement ''Alien Module 8 - Darrians: Secret of the Star Trigger''. When the Darrians were first brought to their new planet, they lived inside large hollowed out trees. |
| 92 | * ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge: The Imperial Marines have a thing for cutlasses, as they don't ricochet in cramped spaceship corridors and hit sensitive equipment like bullets. |
| 93 | * ArcNumber: 6 turns up quite a lot in ''Traveller'' - jump drives go up to 6, maneuver drives go up to 6, there are 6 major races, and let's not even get started on the Droyne. It might have something to do with most versions of the game using only six-sided dice. |
| 94 | * ArtificialGravity: Ubiquitous throughout the setting. |
| 95 | * ArtificialLimbs: A failed survival roll during character creation in the later editions of the game might give you one of these instead of outright killing you. |
| 96 | * AscendedToCarnivorism: |
| 97 | ** In the supplement ''Aliens of the Rim: Hivers and Ithklur''. During a military campaign between the herbivorous K'Kree and the Ithklur, the fighting became so bitter that each side started performing atrocities on the other, including the K'Kree eating dead Ithklur bodies. |
| 98 | ** During the Hiver-K'kree war the Hivers manipulated a few K'kree colonies into this to bring an end to the conflict (the K'kree navy sterilized the worlds in question). |
| 99 | * AscendedFanon: Traveller has, through its [[LongRunner multi-decade run]], collected a wide variety of officially published interesting places to visit, distributed over a span of space that takes years to cross even with the fastest ships in the setting. [[http://travellermap.com/ Travellermap]] started as an unofficial compilation of all these places. As of Mongoose Publishing's second edition, specifically the Great Rift books, this is not only canon, but a thing that actually exists in-universe: a "widely distributed" "astronavigational database" written for travellers (read: for PlayerCharacters) by the Travellers' Aid Society. The (less canonical) edges of the map are still being explored, so naturally they are updated over time. All discrepancies are explained: scientific anomalies (especially in areas with no habitable planets) are left off because that is not the target audience for the map, military secrets are not available to the mappers, conflicts with prior published charts are things the mappers are no longer sure were there in the first place, and so on. |
| 100 | * AsteroidMiners: The typical example is the classic grubby back-of-beyond AsteroidThicket. Glisten however is an urbane and civilized place. |
| 101 | * AsteroidThicket |
| 102 | ** ''Adventure 1: The Kinunir''. While a ship is in the Shionthy asteroid belt, there is a 1 in 36 chance per hour that it will contact a speck of antimatter. The resulting explosion will severely damage the ship. |
| 103 | ** ''Beltstrike'' boxed set. The asteroid Jarlsson's Doom is closely surrounded by a swarm of smaller asteroids. If the PlayerCharacters aren't extremely careful flying through it, they have a base 86% chance of colliding with an asteroid. This will cause the ship to be either damaged or (if it takes a critical hit) destroyed. |
| 104 | * AttackReflector: Classic Double Adventure 2 ''Mission on Mithril/Across the Bright Face''. One of the special pieces of equipment available to the {{PC}}s is a Return Mirror. Normally used in laser surveying, in an emergency it can be used to reflect an incoming laser beam back at its source, possibly destroying it. |
| 105 | * AutoDoc |
| 106 | ** The Classic supplement ''Merchants and Merchandise'' by Paranoia Press has the [=AutoDoc=] Independent Medical Treatment Center. It can perform first aid, minor operations and dental work, diagnose diseases, and inject drugs and antitoxins as needed. |
| 107 | ** Digest Group Publications supplement ''101 Robots'' |
| 108 | *** The Battle Medibot can inject medications into and bandage and suture the wounds of its patient. |
| 109 | *** The Ambulance Attendant Medibot can perform almost any emergency medical procedure, including reviving heart attack victims, assisting at a birth and treating traumatic wounds. |
| 110 | *** The LSP Robodoc 400 and [=KT21=] Medical Expert Robot can perform operations on patients without supervision. |
| 111 | *** The LSP Medibooth (Automatic Medical Booth Robot) can diagnose diseases, perform physical exams, conduct medical tests, dispense medications and treat minor injuries. |
| 112 | ** ''Magazine/SpaceGamer'' #67 adventure "Interdiction Station". The sickbay of the title space station has an autodoc that can be programmed to perform surgical operations. |
| 113 | ** In the Mongoose version, Autodocs are one of the basic classes of robot and often installed on ships. |
| 114 | ** The New Era main rules has the Automed. It can monitor the patient's vital signs, inject needed medication and try to rescuscitate a patient with low vital signs. |
| 115 | * AutoKitchen: |
| 116 | ** The Classic game ''Azhanti High Lightning'', Adventure 2 ''Research Station Gamma'' and Judges Guild adventure ''Darthanon Queen''. The kitchens/galleys in these products have fully automated food preparation equipment. |
| 117 | ** Classic Adventure "Disappearance on Aramat". The old Vilani base on Aramat has "food synthesizing units" that can create nutritious and edible food for human visitors. |
| 118 | * AwesomeBackpack |
| 119 | ** The grav belt had its ArtificialGravity equipment and power supply in a backpack. |
| 120 | ** ''The New Era'' sourcebook ''Vampire Fleets''. The Fer de lance anti-Virus system and its battery power source are stored in a backpack. |
| 121 | * AwesomeButImpractical: |
| 122 | ** [[PoweredArmor Battle dress]] in any non-military campaign. It's invulnerable to small arms, it gives you SuperStrength, and some models have a built-in {{BFG}}, but it's also illegal to even possess on most worlds and is extremely conspicuous. It's also very expensive both to purchase and repair. |
| 123 | ** Laser Weapons are some of the most effective in the game, can be used in zero-g environments without worrying about recoil, and carry a lot of ammo that is easily recharged. However they are also illegal on many worlds, meaning they'll often have to be left on the ship to avoid trouble with local law enforcement. |
| 124 | ** The Black Globe generator completely blocks all damage to a starship it is installed on, but it has some serious drawbacks. The biggest problem is that it is a two-way barrier - you can't fire your own weapons out or maneuver your ship, or even see outside the field while it's on. Most globes are set to "flicker" to get around this, but this also reduces the protection it provides. The other big problem is that it will overload and explode if it absorbs too much energy from enemy weapons fire. It is also amazingly rare and expensive, being experimental technology. |
| 125 | ** Most Ancient artifacts fall into this category as well. They are all far more powerful than anything else in the setting, but they are illegal to possess and an obvious target for theft by everyone else. Most Referees will make sure they don't stay in the player's possession for long. |
| 126 | * BackFromTheDead: In the [=MegaTraveller=] setting Emperor Strephon tried to prove that he really hadn't been assassinated, but by the time he produced any credible evidence nobody cared anymore. |
| 127 | * BackStory: Most sourcebooks are for developing this. They can make very good reading on their own without actually playing for those who actually like devouring data, fictional or otherwise. The BackStory provides very "realistic" detail. |
| 128 | * BackupTwin: Before the Rebellion Lucan was this to his twin brother Varian, at least as far as the Imperial succession was concerned. |
| 129 | * BadassArmy: Several, most notably the [[SpaceMarine Imperial Marines]]. |
| 130 | * BadassBookworm: The IISS is not only known for its success in exploration, spycraft, and daring-do (and sometimes [[DirtyBusiness daring don't]]), but for being at the pinnacle of scientific achievement. Furthermore many scouts take package courses (offered as a job perk) along boring voyages to educate themselves and graduate as great poets or scholars after their studies. |
| 131 | * BadassBureaucrat: The Bwaps' [[PlanetOfHats Hat]]. |
| 132 | * BarbarianTribe: The Aslan are a partial example. They have the social and political structure of a tribal society but are technologically advanced. |
| 133 | * TheBattlestar: Several examples, most notably the ''Tigress'' battleship which can only be described as a mini-[[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]]. The ''Azhanti High Lightning'' is the other iconic example. |
| 134 | * BeamSpam: The larger capital ships tend to mount hundreds and hundreds of laser turrets that let them do this, though they are mostly intended to shoot down enemy missiles. |
| 135 | * BedouinRescueService: Classic adventure ''Duneraiders'' by Gamelords. The PlayerCharacters's orecrawler vehicle will be disabled or destroyed during the adventure, forcing them to travel through the desert to return to civilization. The referee (gamemaster) is ordered to have the [=PCs=] meet the title duneraiders (desert dwellers) so they can be rescued. |
| 136 | * BeleagueredBureaucrat: In ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller: Interstellar Wars'', the Vilani Imperium was deliberately organized to make the Emperor this. The idea was that there would be less volatility if everything was slowed down. |
| 137 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: The Darrians are a genuinely peaceful race that makes heroes of its artists and scientists. They also claim to be able to create solar flares on demand, which they use as a deterrent against their more warlike neighbors the Sword Worlds. |
| 138 | * {{BFG}}: |
| 139 | ** The FGMP-15 (Fusion Gun, Man Portable). It includes a gravitic compensator so you could theoretically carry and fire it unarmored. If you can survive the radiation it releases all over the place when fired, that is. |
| 140 | ** The earlier PGMP (Plasma Gun) all but requires PoweredArmor to be fired by a human without high-level augmentation. |
| 141 | * BizarreAlienReproduction: The Hivers are all hermaphrodites, and transfer reproductive material with an act called "shaking hands" that only takes a few moments. Hiver culture and genetic uniformity is maintained by "embassies" which travel throughout Federation space and breed with the locals. Hivers are near-constantly dropping new larval Hivers wherever they go, and larval Hivers are considered minor pests until they have grown a few years. If there are no local predators on a Hiver planet that can eat larval Hivers, they import them, and they regularly fumigate their ships to kill the larva if they are going to land on non-Hiver worlds. |
| 142 | * BizarreAlienSenses |
| 143 | ** ''Traveller'' Double Adventure ''The Chamax Plague/Horde'': The Chamax have two sensory abilities humans don't have. First, they can detect radio waves and use triangulation to determine their point of origin. Second, they have a limited ability to detect life, which they use to search for food. |
| 144 | ** Hivers have infrared "eyes" on their "head" tentacle. |
| 145 | * BizarreAlienSexes: The Droyne have three sexes: Male, female, and enabler, the enablers being required to give off scent during a mating session. Droyne also are casted in the manner of social insects and each caste has only one sex. Droyne language focuses more on caste then on sex as that is more important in their psychological framework. |
| 146 | * BlandNameProduct: Classic ''Traveller'', Paranoia Press supplement ''Merchants and Merchandise'' Merchandise section. |
| 147 | ** The Canolta XA-1 camera was made by the camera company Canolta Photographics (the Japanese camera company [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minolta Minolta]] c.f. "Only from the mind of Minolta"). |
| 148 | ** The [=LHeP9(Or)=] Series 12/136 computer system entry said that the manufacturer Delta Research sold programs for it through a subsidiary, Interworld Business Machines (AKA IBM, International Business Machines). |
| 149 | * BodyHorror: What the Deepnight Entity from the ''Deepnight Revelation'' campaign set is all about. [[spoiler:It infects victims with "spores" that are really individual cells of the creature that slowly eat the victim from within, starting with their nervous system. The [[ZombieInfectee victim]] at first just feels strong compulsions to do things like infect other people, but eventually degenerates into a mostly mindless [[OurZombiesAreDifferent "shambler"]] searching for food for the creature until they themselves become food for the central cluster. Meanwhile the Entity gets smarter with every victim it absorbes, and eventually develops psionic powers.]] |
| 150 | * BoldExplorer: The IISS (Imperial Interstellar Scout Service), which explored beyond the borders of the third Imperium. |
| 151 | * BoxedCrook: Several of the adventure seeds in the Classic Supplement 6 ''76 Patrons'' involve {{PC}}s who are arrested and imprisoned by the local authorities and offered their freedom if they'll do a job for the government. |
| 152 | * {{Brainwashed}}: There is some question whether the Zhodani proles are this, or whether they are genuinely happy. |
| 153 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: Sometimes the sourcebooks talk to the reader as if he was a person inside the Traveller Verse reading a database while at other times they sound like they are talking to the reader as if he was a twenty-first century RPG geek. |
| 154 | * CadreOfForeignBodyguards: One of the mercenary tickets (scenarios) in ''Mercenary'' is to act as bodyguards to the leaders of the planet Jokotre while they make a pilgrimage to the shrines in the holy lands. |
| 155 | * TheCaligula: |
| 156 | ** Cleon III (Cleon I's great-great-great-great-grandson, first Zhunastu to rule since Cleon II abdicated) was known for resolving disputes within his cabinet by shooting vocal opponents. A year after his ascension the Moot had him assassinated. |
| 157 | ** Three hundred years after Cleon III, Cleon IV claimed the throne as a distant relation of the original Cleon. He murdered the Empress Nicholle and kept the Moot at bay with threats of violence and blackmail until they finally had him assassinated by his successor - after 80 years of rule. |
| 158 | ** During the Rebellion Lucan became this after Strephon's assassination put him on the throne. TNS news reports show a number of temper-tantrums and even have him killing one of his noble critics personally. Eventually his faction used scorched earth warfare and tried to develop super-weapons, which lead to the creation of Virus and the final destruction of the Imperium. |
| 159 | ** In ''Agent of the Imperium'' Margaret I is shown to be a mild example, a royal brat who ascended the throne at the age of [[AChildShallLeadThem four]] who took on and dismissed advisers on whims, [[spoiler:and thought that glassing a planet of fifty billion was an acceptable way to close a voting loophole. The titular agent, who had scrubbed dozens of planets over his centuries-long career, thought that was too much and assassinated her.]] The official story in The Emperor's List (from ''Classic Traveller'', written decades earlier) simply said, "died in a tunnel collapse without issue in 736." |
| 160 | * CallBack: The GURPS Traveller cover text, quoted at the bottom of the page. |
| 161 | ** The Starter Set for Mongoose's second edition provides a third point of view: |
| 162 | ---> Valeria One to Valeria Two, increase thrust...\ |
| 163 | Nail Beowulf before he leaves the gravity well and jumps...\ |
| 164 | Good shot! Target’s main drive is hit, acceleration has ceased...\ |
| 165 | Prepare boarding party. Tell them to watch out for any heroes...\ |
| 166 | Matching velocity and rotation. This is going to be a good payday...\\ |
| 167 | ...Commence boarding... |
| 168 | * CannibalLarder: "Double Adventure 1: Death Station". A chemical disaster occurred aboard an orbiting science ship, killing most of the crew and reducing the remainder to madness. The survivors stowed the remains of the dead crew in a locker and have been snacking on them. |
| 169 | * CantUseStairs: Classic Adventure 2 ''Research Station Gamma''. The animal care, janitorial and security robots can't climb stairs because their movement systems won't allow it. They have to use the station elevator instead. |
| 170 | * CargoConcealmentCaper: |
| 171 | ** In Game 3 ''Azhanti High Lightning'', adventure IV "The Great Wine Heist". The Imperium regularly ships bottles of the wine Tokaj Eszencia from Earth to the Imperial Capital. Some adventurers smuggle themselves onto the ship Imperial Reaumur in crates of cargo and try to steal the wine the ship is carrying. |
| 172 | ** Early in ''The Traveller Adventure'', the {{Player Character}}s need to get the Vargr named Gvoudzon off the planet Aramis without going through customs. One way suggested to do so is to smuggle him onto their ship in a box of cargo. |
| 173 | * CasualInterstellarTravel: It's practically the name of the game. It might be considered a little less casual than many other settings, since it takes two years or more to get from one end of the Imperium to another with a fast ship. |
| 174 | * CatFolk: The Aslan are race of lionlike creatures. |
| 175 | * CaveBehindTheFalls: Classic Adventure 2 ''Research Station Gamma''. One room in the station has a {{Hologram}} of a rippling waterfall on one wall. Behind the {{hologram}} is a room containing a security station. |
| 176 | * CityOfSpies: The Federation of Arden |
| 177 | * CivilWar: Two of particular note: |
| 178 | ** Four-and-a-half centuries before the main setting of the game a succession of Emperors fought each other for the throne over the course of eighteen years. It started when Grand Admiral of the Marches Olav-hault Plankwell decided the Empress had mismanaged the last border war with the Zhodani, so he personally assassinated her and took the throne. Other admirals decided this tactic could work for them too. The war averaged one Emperor per year. It ended when Grand Admiral of the Marches Arbellatra [[note]]somewhat ironically hault-Plankwell's direct successor in the post, who had to fight ''another'' border war with the Zhodani when they tried to take advantage of the Imperium's disarray during the Civil War[[/note]] defeated the last pretender in battle and declared herself regent until a descendant of the last legitimate empress could be found rather than taking the throne herself. After seven years of effective leadership with no heir located the Imperial Moot decided to invite Arbellatra herself to accept the crown as Empress, which had probably been her plan all along. Arbellatra founded the dynasty that ruled the Third Imperium until: |
| 179 | ** The Second Civil War, known as the Rebellion, took place after the Emperor Strephon, the Empress Iolanthe, and their heir the Grand Princess Iphegenia were all assassinated by one of his own archdukes, Dulinor. Lucan, the next in line to the throne, was strongly suspected of having killed his own slightly older twin brother Varian so that he could take the throne himself, and quickly proved to be TheCaligula. With no clear choice for Emperor the Imperium descended into warfare and factionalism. The introduction of the Virus super-weapon proved to be the final nail in the coffin. The death toll was in the ''trillions'', and at least several centuries passed before civilization would recover and a new Imperium could be restored. At least, we assume there was eventually a Fourth Imperium. The official game line has never continued the MetaPlot after the ''New Era'' setting. |
| 180 | * TheClan: Universal among Aslan and common among other races notably humans. |
| 181 | * ClassAndLevelSystem: The original ''Traveller'' was an innovator here, in that the classes (careers) were only important during character generation and the closest thing to "level" was your rank, which some careers didn't even have and which only occasionally granted higher skill levels. Once character generation was over you were free to pursue whatever career you wished, but there was little to no character improvement after character generation. Later versions that weren't running on another rules system kept this basic structure but gave better options for learning new skills. |
| 182 | * CloningBodyParts: |
| 183 | ** Regrown limbs and basic prosthetics cost the same and have practically the same statistics; the difference is thematic. |
| 184 | ** ''Megatraveller Journal #3'', "Worldguide: Vincennes". On the Tech Level 16 world of Vincennes, cloning of injured and damaged organs and limbs is commonplace. |
| 185 | * CloakAndDagger: Political intrigue is constantly going on and often a theme in printed adventures. |
| 186 | * ColonyDrop: Whether or not your average player group can use their ship to drop hyper-accelerated rocks on planets that annoy them is a common subject of discussion among fans. The Third Imperium has its own term for this trope: "Deadfall Ordnance". That alone says something. |
| 187 | * CombatPragmatist: Darrians and Vilani. Subverted in the Vilani case. They knew how to be ruthless but not how to fight. |
| 188 | * ComesGreatInsanity: This was apparently Lucan's problem. He may not have been that stable before he became Emperor, but nobody cared when he was fourth in line. |
| 189 | * CommunicationsOfficer: One of the crew specialties in ''GURPS Traveller: Starships''. |
| 190 | * CompanyTown: Double Adventure 3 "Death Station" has a small mining camp on the planet Gadden. |
| 191 | * ContagiousAI: Virus again. The way that Virus is contagious is a sticking point for many of its critics. |
| 192 | * CoolButInefficient: Averted: assorted slugthrowers are still in use even at tech level 15. |
| 193 | * CoolStarship: Just pick your favorite. Particularly iconic are the "Type S" Scoutship and the "Type A" Free Trader, which are often given to beginning player characters during character generation. |
| 194 | * CopsNeedTheVigilante: The adventure ''The Argon Gambit''. Part of Grant's plan is to have the {{PC}}s arrested by the local police after they've broken into Kashkanun's villa and stolen some documents. The police don't have enough evidence to get a search warrant for the villa, but if the documents are seized in the course of an arrest they will become valid evidence. |
| 195 | * CorporateWarfare: Trade Wars, particularly in frontier regions. In a zig-zag even the biggest corporations don't do this very often. War is expensive. But it happens often enough to make life interesting for the [=PC=]s. |
| 196 | * CorruptCorporateExecutive: These show up quite often in the printed adventures. |
| 197 | * CorruptedData: In ''Traveller - The New Era'', one of the side effects of infestation by the Virus was a corruption of information transmission, such as Traveller News Service bulletins in ''Traveller'' products being replaced by random characters. One of the signs that the Virus had been defeated was Traveller News Service bulletins becoming partially and then fully readable again. |
| 198 | * {{Courier}}: There's no faster-than-light communication other than sending a ship. The IISS maintains a mail system throughout the Imperium. |
| 199 | * CreditChip: Imperial credits are usually used as cash, but an Imperial Standard Credit Card that essentially acts as a handheld bank terminal can be used to carry electronic currency from one system to another. |
| 200 | * CreepyCentipedes: Classic supplement ''Spacefarer's Guide to Alien Monsters''. |
| 201 | *** The Crawler is a 4.8 meter long centipede which can run as fast as a human being and whose bite inflicts a deadly poison. |
| 202 | *** Drake's Centipede is 2.1 meters long, can sprint as quickly as a person, and has a BreathWeapon: a nausea-causing gas that can reach up to two meters away. |
| 203 | ** The phuolinc is a two meter long centipede that pounces on its prey and will attack any creature if it can achieve surprise. |
| 204 | * CrewOfOne: The Type-S scoutship can be operated by one scout. So can the X-boat. Bigger ships need more crew, with many Imperial warships carrying spare [[HumanPopsicle frozen]] crew members to thaw out when necessary. |
| 205 | * CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The Vilani Imperium. The ruling caste of the Third Imperium as well. |
| 206 | * CultColony: Any world with the "theocracy" government type might be one of these, and it's a fairly common explanation for why a colony might be established on an otherwise very inhospitable world. |
| 207 | * CulturalPosturing: A large part of the cause of the Interstellar Wars seems to have been a disagreement over whether [[EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Earth was the center of the universe]] or just an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet. |
| 208 | * TheCycleOfEmpires: The First Imperium had been decaying when the Terran Confederation conquered it and became the Second Imperium, the Second Imperium couldn't handle their new territory and quickly lapsed into The Long Night. 1700 years into the Long Night Cleon Zhunastu turned the Sylean Federation into the Third Imperium, which falls a millennium later after Strephon's assassination. The New Era setting has hints that a Fourth Imperium will eventually be established. |
| 209 | * DamageReduction: How armor works in the Mongoose editions. Ablat and Reflec only reduce damage from laser weapons but are considerably lighter and cheaper than more general armor. |
| 210 | * DangerInTheGalacticCore: The "Empress Wave" is a mysterious wave emanating from the galactic core, which (indirectly) led to the Rebellion. Avery's mission in the New Era was to find out what it was: [[spoiler: a telepathic warning and a plea for aid from a civilization that died as a supergiant star was torn apart by a black hole]]. |
| 211 | * DarkerAndEdgier: In some ways what ''The New Era'' tried to be. It was produced in [[TheNineties the '90s]], after all. |
| 212 | * DataPad: Hand computers. |
| 213 | * DaysOfFuturePast: ''Traveller'' is often compared to the [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen Age of Sail]], largely because there is no communication faster than a ship. |
| 214 | * DeadMansHand: ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' magazine #14 adventure "Aces & Eights". A set of playing cards (two aces, two eights and the joker), will, when put in an X-ray machine, create a map to the location of a 20 million credit treasure. The money was the payroll of the 1188th "Aces and Eights" Lift Infantry Brigade. The man with the cards is killed by the bad guys and the cards stolen, and the [=PC=]s must retrieve them. |
| 215 | * DeadManWriting: In ''The New Era'' supplement ''Survival Margin'', a man leaves a message for his descendants. |
| 216 | * DeathByOriginStory / PressStartToGameOver: The original version of the character generation system frequently killed player characters before play began. Dying during character creation was made an optional rule in most of the later editions, with a failed survival roll now meaning that your character simply entered play at that point, sometimes with a large medical debt. |
| 217 | * DeathFromAbove: The Imperial Marines like to drop their troops in pods from orbit. |
| 218 | * DeflectorShields: Repulsors literally deflect incoming missiles, but are useless against energy weapons. Other forcefield-type shields include nuclear dampers and the (nearly) impenetrable black globe generator. Otherwise, perhaps surprisingly, absent. |
| 219 | * DeliberateValuesDissonance: Ranging the spectrum from the merely curious to the absolutely shocking. Yes, it is perfectly possible to roleplay ScaryDogmaticAliens . |
| 220 | * DerelictGraveyard: There are lots of these in the Spinward Marches left over from wars through the centuries. The planet Entrope is notable for this. These are often under heavy guard because illegal weapons can be found there. |
| 221 | * DesignItYourselfEquipment: The original ''Traveller'' featured starship design rules, mostly for use by the Referee but player characters could use them to modify their starship or even build one from scratch (if they were patient and had lots of money). Most of the later editions feature vehicle and weapon design systems too. The complexity of the rules and scope of what can be designed varies from edition to edition. Some ''Traveller'' players spend much more time designing spaceships, vehicles, and gear than they do sitting at a table with other players playing the game. |
| 222 | * DespairEventHorizon: During the Rebellion Emperor Strephon crossed over after he realized giving up his claim to the throne wouldn't save his followers. Several other claimants to the throne also gave up when they saw how the Rebellion was destroying the Imperium. |
| 223 | * DeterminedHomesteader: And any variation thereof. In undeveloped places you will find several examples of these. Once or twice they will end up as sample characters or characters in sidestories. This is the Sword Worlder's second [[PlanetOfHats hat]] to accompany ProudWarriorRace. |
| 224 | * DisContinuityNod: Prince Varian's dream of the Final War and the virus, among many others in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller''. |
| 225 | * {{Doorstopper}}: The original release of ''Traveller 5'' clocked in at ''over 750 pages'', quite a few of which consisted of random roll charts. |
| 226 | * DoubleSidedBook: Classic's "Double Adventures" were like this. Each book had two mini-adventures, printed upside down to each other. This was a shout-out to the Ace doubles of the '60s and early '70s. |
| 227 | * DownerEnding[=/=]DoomedByCanon: Players of ''Interstellar Wars'' who know the background will know that the Terrans eventually win, but four hundred years later galactic civilization collapses completely anyway. |
| 228 | * TheDreadedDreadnought: The Imperium calls its newest, biggest, and most advanced battleships Dreadnoughts. They outclass everything else in space. Most of them are also TheBattlestar. |
| 229 | * DropPod: ''The Kinunir'', an early adventure, uses these for the marines. |
| 230 | * DuelToTheDeath: There are a number of ways to do this. Aslan prefer dueling with ''claws''. When a human duels Aslan-fashion, he wears an artificial claw (called an ''Ayloi'') on his hand. |
| 231 | * DungeonCrawling: Adventures that involve exploring derelict spacecraft, asteroid bases etc. are essentially dungeon-crawls in a science-fiction context. Examples from ''Classic Traveller'' include some of the earliest adventures for the line, like ''The Kinunir'', ''Research Station Gamma'', and the double adventure ''Shadows/Annic Nova'' which features a dungeon crawl through ruins and a dungeon crawl through a starship. |
| 232 | * DyingRace: The Droyne, before [[spoiler:Grandfather saved them by introducing the casting ritual - though he ''caused'' the problem in the first place - see NeglectfulPrecursors below.]] Those Droyne who didn't embrace the caste system ended up degenerating into barely sapient primitives known as Chirpers. |
| 233 | [[/folder]] |
| 234 | |
| 235 | [[folder:2: E - H]] |
| 236 | * EarlyGameHell: ''Traveller's'' system of generating experienced characters helped to avoid this, but character generation itself could be hard to live through. In ''Classic Traveller'' Scout was the most dangerous career, and if you didn't have an Endurance of 9 or more you had roughly a 40% chance of death per term of service. Average characters in most careers have around 3-4 terms of service. |
| 237 | * EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: Averted. Earth is in fact on the extreme rimward edge of the Imperium. It is the center of the Solomani sphere, however. |
| 238 | * EarthThatUsedToBeBetter: Earth is known as the homeworld of all Humaniti and was the capital of the Terran Confederation which conquered the First Imperium. But by the time of the Third Imperium, while Earth still has cultural significance to the Solomani it is largely unimportant outside of its own sector. It is also occupied by Imperial military forces and has a military government that has been in place since the last war with the Solomani a few decades ago. |
| 239 | * EarthShatteringKaboom: Siege-class starships in T5 and Agent of the Imperium. They can destroy systems with large mass driver based [[ColonyDrop Colony Drops]]. An inherent power of the Ancients as well. |
| 240 | * ElaborateUndergroundBase: The Zhodani had one of these during the Fifth Frontier War |
| 241 | * EldritchAbomination: Grandfather. Some alien races come close to this as well. |
| 242 | * EmpathicHealer: The new Empathic Healing psionic power in the ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #5 article "Special Psionic Powers". |
| 243 | * TheEmpire: The Solomani Confederation and Zhodani Consulate have elements of this, and Lucan's Imperium fits the trope to a T. |
| 244 | * EnergyAbsorption: The Black Globe. |
| 245 | * TheEpic: The sample campaign ''100 parsecs'' which is about TheMigration of a band of Sword Worlders to the far reaches of space. Also the original journey of exiled soldiers through Aslan territory to found the Sword Worlds. |
| 246 | ** Recent T5 material is teasing something called [[http://www.traveller5.net/GalaxiadIntroPublic.pdf The Galaxiad]], a galaxy-spanning epic with the fate of the entire Universe at stake, set several centuries after the 'classic' Traveller era. |
| 247 | * EquipmentBasedProgression: In Classic ''Traveller'' most character improvement came in the form of better gear or starship upgrades, since there wasn't much in the way of character skill improvement. This is true for later editions as well, though they improved the rules for skill improvement. |
| 248 | * EvilChancellor: Classic ''Traveller'', ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #12 Amber Zone article "Royal Hunt". Hamir, the trusted royal adviser of the Potentate of the planet Krajraha, is plotting with the corporation Nusku Trade LIC to assassinate the Potentate (and the {{PC}}s guarding him). |
| 249 | * ExpandedUniverse: There has been suprisingly little of ''Traveller'' produced in other media: |
| 250 | ** Two ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' video games were released in the early '90s. To date these remain the only official ''Traveller'' video games, though some other games have obviously taken inspiration from ''Traveller'', such as the classic ''{{VideoGame/Elite}}''. |
| 251 | ** There are a few unofficial ''Traveller'' novel series, such as Gregory P. Lee's ''The Laughing Lip'' and Jefferson Swycraft's ''Concordant'' series, both of which acknowledged their inspiration in ''Traveller'' but don't officially take place within the universe of the Third Imperium. |
| 252 | ** The first licensed ''Traveller'' novels were published during ''The New Era'' edition in the mid-'90s. Two books of a planned trilogy called ''The Death of Wisdom'' were published before GDW shut down. Due to the shutdown and a lost manuscript there are two entirely different versions of the third book written by two different authors now available, both called ''The Backward Mask'' and sharing characters from the first two books, but with entirely different plots . |
| 253 | ** The heavy metal band "The Lord Weird Slough Feg" produced a ConceptAlbum called ''Traveller'' based on the game. |
| 254 | ** Mongoose Publishing has published some official ''Traveller'' short fiction along with its second edition of the game. Some of the stories are backstory for the "Pirates of Drinax" campaign, while others are stand-alone short-stories. |
| 255 | ** Designer Marc Miller published his first novel, ''Agent of the Imperium'' in 2015. It is the only officially licensed full-length ''Traveller'' novel published since ''The Death of Wisdom'' trilogy in the '90s mentioned above. |
| 256 | ** The ''Traveller CCG'' was published in 2018 after a successful Kickstarter. It has received a few expansions. |
| 257 | * ExoticExtendedMarriage: Apart from the referee being able to make any given human society use these, several of the aliens have extended marriages as part of their cultures: |
| 258 | ** The natural biological balance of Aslan females to male is roughly 3 to 1. Aslan males with land therefore tend to have multiple wives. An Aslan male who defeats another in warfare or a duel usually takes the wives of the loser along with his land and possessions, though the wives can choose to leave and seek their fortune elsewhere. |
| 259 | ** The Droyne form extended families called oytrips that include members of all of their castes, usually with one Leader but variable numbers of the other castes. |
| 260 | ** K'kree are polygamous, with the females expected to dedicate themselves to child rearing while the males protect the herd by exterminating meat-eaters. |
| 261 | * ExperiencePoints: ''Traveller'' is notable in not having these in most versions of the rules. Characters usually earned cash, gear, or other less-tangible rewards like knighthoods rather than directly improving their skills. In Classic ''Traveller'' you ''could'' improve your skills - by studying and paying for training over several years - not through points. |
| 262 | * ExpertInUnderwaterBasketWeaving: Because most versions of Traveller use random tables of skills during character generation it's entirely possible for characters to get high levels in skills like "Accounting" while failing to get something more obviously useful in an adventure like "Pilot" or combat skills. Later versions usually have rules that ensure basic competency in more adventure-oriented skills. |
| 263 | * TheExtremistWasRight: Emperor Cleon created the Imperium by a labyrinthine arrangement of evil and manipulative schemes. And it produced peace, civilization, and prosperity for thousands of years. He read the EvilOverlordList no doubt. That explains it. |
| 264 | * FakingEngineTrouble: Campaign ''The Traveller Adventure''. In the adventure "Inselberg", the March Harrier sets down on the planet Lewis to pick up the [=PCs=] after they complete their mission. If the [=PCs=] are late arriving the March Harrier's crew must give an excuse for the ship to stay longer, such as a breakdown of the ship's engines. |
| 265 | * FantasticCasteSystem: |
| 266 | ** The Imperial Nobility acts as a glue to keep the Imperium together. In effect rather than being an ethnic empire (I.E. the ''Roman'' empire, etc), it is a caste-based empire and the nobility is the central cadre. Not only that, a state the size of the Imperium could not possibly find high command by merit alone as everyone would die before getting to high enough position, hence there has to be a caste system. |
| 267 | ** The Zhodani are more grotesque. It is a caste of psionics which means that among the rights of the ruling caste is access into the minds of the commoners. The rulers of course are allowed privacy; after all, one must have limits. |
| 268 | ** As for the aliens, [[BeePeople Droyne]] have several physically different castes and the K'kree divide themselves into servants, merchants, and nobles. |
| 269 | * FantasticNamingConvention: The game goes into this with several cultures, as described in the appropriate sourcebook. |
| 270 | * FantasticRacism: |
| 271 | ** Between humans and aliens, different human subspecies, and in some cases natives of different planets. |
| 272 | ** Heck, sometimes natives within different planets too. |
| 273 | ** The K'kree are the worst in this regard. They think all carnivore races are a plague to be extinguished or at least brutally reeducated into veganism. |
| 274 | ** The Sword Worlders think every Darian is an InsufferableGenius and Darians think Sword Worlders are a BarbarianTribe. A cynic might say both are right. |
| 275 | ** Some Vilani and Solomani still hate each other thousands of years after the Intersteller Wars. This is not universal however. |
| 276 | ** Every race that claims to have invented jump drive separately is a ''major'' race. The rest are ''minor'' races. There is a curious dispute over that with regard to Aslan whom some Solomani claimed to have "stolen" (whatever that means) jump drive from them. [[spoiler:They're right - the Aslan reverse-engineered their drive from a crashed Solomani ship, but the Aslan aren't about to be labeled a minor race.]] |
| 277 | * FantasticRankSystem: The Vilani have one. See the trope page for details. |
| 278 | * FantasticRecruitmentDrive: The Zhodani Consulate extensively uses psionic abilities in its government and military. They test children for psionic aptitude and train those with a significant level of power. |
| 279 | * FantasyWorldMap: Worlds have maps, of course, but the ''scale'' of the setting can only be appreciated by viewing the online [[http://www.travellermap.com Traveller Galactic Map, or "Travellermap"]] (see AscendedFanon entry). Check out the Zhodani Core Expedition sectors; they've gotten all the way to the edge of the uninhabitable regions of the Core! |
| 280 | * FasterThanLightTravel: Of course, though it is considerably slower than many other forms (see FeudalFuture below). |
| 281 | * TheFederation: |
| 282 | ** The Third Imperium, despite its name and [[FeudalFuture feudal structure]], is as written closer to this than to TheEmpire. Some of its successor states, such as the Regency and the Reformation Coalition in the New Era, also fit here. Others [[TheEmpire don't.]] |
| 283 | ** The Terran Confederation from the volume ''Interstellar Wars'' would probably be TheFederation too, despite its expansionist tendencies. |
| 284 | * FeudalFuture: In the setting, FTL communication is only by ships using Jump Drive, which takes a week to reach a destination ranging from one to six parsecs away. With the Imperium being hundreds of parsecs across, it would literally take months or even up to a year or more for information to travel from one end to another, or from the capitol to the fringes. This necessitates a decentralized government, with a large amount of autonomy granted to the local powers. A feudal system is what you would end up with no matter what you chose to call the Imperium's lords. As a side note, the Aslan are a ''Tribal'' Future. |
| 285 | * FictionalFlag: The Third Imperium uses the Imperial Sunburst (a circle with a sunburst of twenty-one rays around it) on flags and banners. The exact colors of the banner, circle, and sunburst vary by which part of the Imperial government is being represented, such as a yellow circle and sunburst on a black banner for the Imperial Navy. |
| 286 | * FireOfComfort: The Hearthfire is a sacred symbol to Sword Worlders. Soldiers and police "guard the hearthfires" and [[HouseWife goodwifes]] "tend the hearthfires". |
| 287 | * FirstContact: The Imperial Interstellar Scout Service has done this so many times that it has standard procedures for it. There are also several notable incidents in the backstory: |
| 288 | ** First contact for humans from Earth revealed that most of the galaxy near Earth was already occupied by an ancient HumanAlien empire that had simply considered anyone outside their borders insignificant. The news that space was already colonized - by other humans - did not go over well on Earth, and the Interstellar Wars were the result. |
| 289 | ** First contact for the herbivorous K'Kree occurred when they invented telescopes and found that their moon was inhabited by intelligent carnivores. They quickly invented space travel and began a war of extermination, which they've tried to carry on against any meat eaters anywhere in the galaxy they can reach since. |
| 290 | ** The official story of first contact for the Aslan is that it happened when their first few ships encountered human traders not far from their homeworld. [[spoiler:In reality, the Aslan were on the verge of a nuclear war when a human spacecraft crashed on their world. The land-obsessed Aslan quickly resolved their differences, reverse-engineered the human's FTL drive, and began their expansion into the galaxy while keeping their pre-spaceflight tribal culture intact. And they kept the whole affair a secret, claiming they had resolved their differences and invented the jump drive all on their own.]] |
| 291 | * FixedForwardFacingWeapon: most starship weapons did incremental damage and could wear down an opponent over time. Spinal mount weapons (either a particle accelerator or a meson gun) ran the length of the ship and could [[WaveMotionGun blow opposing ships to atoms with a single shot]]. |
| 292 | * FlamethrowerBackfire: Classic ''Traveller'': |
| 293 | ** The ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine #116 article "Aim and Burn" has several types of flamethrowers, each with their fuel supply in backpack tanks. On any penetrating hit from behind the tanks could explode, which would not only kill the user but cover a large area with burning fuel. |
| 294 | ** ''The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #3 article "Advanced Powered Battle Armor". The armor has a built-in flamer (flamethrower) with a fuel tank on the back of the suit. If the tank is hit there's an 8% chance the tank will explode, disabling the suit and killing the wearer. |
| 295 | * {{Flanderization}}: The Aslan. In early depictions, the writers took great pains to emphasize that they were only vaguely leonine in appearance. Unfortunately, the idea of them being [[BeastMan lion people]] was a bit too enduring for its own good, so by the time Mongoose Traveller rolled around, most depictions tended toward the simple "bipedal lion" look. Mongoose seem to be dialing this back as of ''The Glorious Empire'', where most Aslan art depicted them as much less lion-like, though it remains to be seen if it's averting this trope or falling into DependingOnTheArtist. |
| 296 | * FloatingContinent: The Imperial Palace. |
| 297 | * ForeverWar: The Intersteller Wars which went on for two hundred years before the Terrans conquered the Vilani. The frontier wars between the Imperium and the Zho which are ''still'' going on (in the TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} version). |
| 298 | * ForScience: The Darrians' [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. |
| 299 | * FourStarBadass: Admiral Manuel Albadawi, leader of the Terran fleet in the decisive part of the conquest of the First Imperium. Lucky dice rolls can give players a retired general or admiral as a character, too. |
| 300 | * FramingDevice: the {{Backstory}} to Traveller acts as this. Traveller can easily be used as Fan-fic as well as [=RPGs=] and manages remarkable development while retaining flexibility. |
| 301 | * FromBadToWorse: The transition between ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' and ''The New Era'' reveals that the Rebellion was only the beginning. The ''Hard Times'' supplement for ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' relesed late in the line included rules for reducing the population and technology ratings of worlds in the war zones of the Rebellion. |
| 302 | * FungusHumongous: The New Era supplement ''The Regency Sourcebook''. The planet Enaaka's ecosystem includes tall, tree-like mushrooms. |
| 303 | * TheFuture: Bordering on ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway, except for Earth still being in the picture. |
| 304 | * InTheFutureHumansWillBeOneRace: Both played straight and averted. The population of the Imperium is mostly a mixture of two human races that are now essentially the same race, but other human races maintain their own empires on its borders. There are also small Solomani ethnic splinter cultures like the Sword Worlders, who are very Icelandic. |
| 305 | * InTheFutureWeStillHaveRoombas: The maintenance robots in Classic Adventure 2 ''Research Station Gamma''. |
| 306 | * FuturisticPyramid: |
| 307 | ** Double Adventure 1 "Shadows". The [=PCs=] must investigate a pyramid to free their spaceship from a death trap. |
| 308 | ** Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society #13, adventure "Thought Waves". The [=PCs=] are trapped inside an underwater alien pyramid that's actually an ancient spacecraft. |
| 309 | * GalacticConqueror: Cleon is a combination of this and WellIntentionedExtremist. He is the closest example of the classic model. Albadawi is this in the sense that he is in fact conquering. He is however doing that as a servant of the Terran Confederation rather than on his own, and it is just a function of his being a FourStarBadass. |
| 310 | * GenerationShips: The Jump Drive makes these unnecessary, but races that have not discovered the Jump Drive have used them, and there are several adventures where one is encountered. |
| 311 | * GenerationalSaga: One of the sample campaigns in the volume Interstellar Wars is a generational saga called ''Legacy of War''. The characters are not given and creating them is left to the GM and players. |
| 312 | * GenericanEmpire: The Third Imperium. |
| 313 | * GenericFederationNamedEmpire: The Third Imperium identifies all the surrounding interstellar polities by their dominant species, or [[HumansAreDivided ethnic group]] in the case of the Solomani Confederation and Zhodani Consulate. The major exception is the K'kree empire, commonly known by its more proper name of "The Two-Thousand Worlds" in the Imperium, To be fair, "Solomani Confederation" and "Zhodani Consulate" are fair translations of what they call themselves. |
| 314 | * GhostShip: The ''Annic Nova'', among others. |
| 315 | * GlobalCurrency: The Imperial credit in ''Classic Traveller''. This ended in ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' after the Empire collapsed. TNE, set after the fall of the Empire, explicitly claims that the Imperial Credit is still the principle currency. The explanation: well, there sure are a lot of 'em lying about. Averted as well as played straight. The Imperium is strong enough to justify having a large influence on currency. But other worlds often mint their own. |
| 316 | * GlorySeeker: The Azhanti are a ProudWarriorRace that are rewarded by {{God}} according to the challenges they seek out and overcome. Naturally there are other {{Glory Seeker}}s but these have a religion centered on seeking glory. |
| 317 | * GodGuise: In Classic ''Traveller'' Double Adventure 6 ''Divine Intervention'' and [=MegaTraveller=] supplement ''Vilani and Vargr: The Coreward Races''. |
| 318 | * GoodGuyBar: Brubeck's, a high prestige bar that advertises itself as a nostalgic throwback to the ''Series/{{Cheers}}''-style bar. There are also the ''Altikrigarnir'' soldier's clubs where veterans of both the Sword Worlds and of Aslan clans in Darrian service visit [[TruceZone in between wars]], presumably to congratulate [[WorthyOpponent each other]] about [[ProudWarriorRace what brave warriors]] they both are. |
| 319 | * GoodIsNotNice: The Imperium is generally viewed favorably, but this is a government that grew largely through conquest and isn't afraid to put down rebellions ''hard''. |
| 320 | * GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The IISS. It is an exploration and intelligence arm of the Third Imperium. Loosely similar to a combination of UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} and the UsefulNotes/IndianPoliticalService. Other analogies can be thought of. |
| 321 | * TheGreatRepair: Takes place in the BackStory of the Classic Adventure 3 ''Twilight's Peak''. |
| 322 | * GreyAndGreyMorality: A major theme of the game is that there are very few clear-cut "good guys" and "bad guys", just people who may do good and bad things. |
| 323 | * GunboatDiplomacy: One of the ways the Imperium expanded. |
| 324 | * HalfHumanHybrid: Averted, but many of the different [[HumanAliens sub-species of humans]] can interbreed, with the inhabitants of the Third Imperium being largely a mixture of Vilani (humans from Vland) and Solomani (humans from Earth). Most of the Darrians are actually a mixture of the original Darrian race and Solomani humans as well. |
| 325 | * HappyEndingOverride: The MetaPlot of ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' featured the assassination of the Emperor and fracture of the Third Imperium into warring factions. As the following adventures and supplements showed interstellar society continuing to break down and conditions getting worse and worse, many fans began to wonder which faction would win the war and if their characters would see the Imperium restored. The answer revealed by the next edition: Nobody ''could'' win such a war, and the Imperium wouldn't be restored for at least hundreds of years. |
| 326 | * HegemonicEmpire |
| 327 | ** The Third Imperium is more a straightforward Empire (albeit a semi-benevolent one), but still has elements of this including taking time to flatter substates for ideological and policy reasons. |
| 328 | ** The Sylean Federation went from that into the Third Imperium under Emperor Cleon I, by utilizing the methods of a HegemonicEmpire. |
| 329 | ** The Hive Federation is thoroughly dominated by the Hivers but nominally a Federation of equals. |
| 330 | * {{Heroic Dolphin}}s: In one sourcebook, a story is told of some uplifted sapient dolphins who helped bring to light a scandal involving the secret enslavement of an intelligent species by a megacorporation. |
| 331 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: A typical NPC has a good chance of being this. |
| 332 | * HiddenDepths: Traveller itself. This is easily underestimated because [=RPGs=] are a pop-art. However the detail of this setting is even more than that of Franchise/{{Dune}} and the flexibility is greater. |
| 333 | * HiredGuns: This is a popular background for games. There are a large number of PrivateMilitaryContractors available for hire. |
| 334 | * HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure: Ships are measured in tons, but used as a measure of volume rather than weight. The "tons" actually refer to the volume of a metric tonne of liquid hydrogen or just over 14 cubic meters (14,000 liters). |
| 335 | * HiveCity: The [[StarfishAliens Hivers]] were so named by human explorers who compared their cities to insect hives. It was suggested that they had a HiveMind, but this was later retconned. |
| 336 | * {{Hologram}}: A hologram of a waterfall in Classic Adventure 2 ''Research Station Gamma'' and food in Classic Adventure 3 ''Twilight's Peak''. |
| 337 | * HomeworldEvacuation: Classic ''Traveller'', Double Adventure ''The Chamax Plague/Horde''. In the BackStory, the alien population of a planet was close to being wiped out by a SuperPersistentPredator species called the Chamax. They decided their only chance was to build a fleet of {{Sleeper Starship}}s to carry all of the remaining aliens to other star systems. |
| 338 | * HonorBeforeReason: The Aslan ''Fteirle'' code. |
| 339 | * TheHorde: Vargr. "Uplifted" wolves who act like, well, wolves. |
| 340 | * HordeOfAlienLocusts: |
| 341 | ** The Chamax Horde will eventually consume all other animal life on a planet. Fortunately they are not intelligent and so are restricted to their own world, but since their introduction in ''The Chamax Plague/Horde'', stray Chamax have shown up here and there in other published adventures. |
| 342 | ** The main antagonist in the ''Deepnight Endeavor'' boxed set, [[spoiler:the Deepnight Entity seeks to consume all organic matter in the galaxy, and is incapable of restraining itself from doing so no matter how intelligent it becomes and even when it knows that this is ultimately self-defeating. The best it can plan to do is establish a cycle of moving from world to world, allowing life to recover in its wake.]] |
| 343 | * HornAttack: A possible attack form for alien animals. In the ''Darthanon Queen'' adventure the randomly created Dyson monster could have it. |
| 344 | * HostileWeather |
| 345 | ** Double Adventure "Mission on Mithril". Weather on the planet Mithril is determined randomly. It includes both mild and severe storms on a regular basis, with the temperature almost always below freezing. |
| 346 | ** Supplement 2 ''Animal Encounters''. Depending on the type of planet they are on, {{PC}}s can encounter tornadoes, sandstorms, monsoons (severe winds and violent rain), and blizzards. |
| 347 | ** ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #2 article "The Bestiary". Possible weather on the planet Victoria includes high winds, rain squalls (high wind, rain, thunder and lightning), violent rainstorms and electrical storms (high winds and lightning). |
| 348 | * HoverBot: Robots with artificial gravity didn't need any legs, and could be designed with all of their components inside a single chassis and without appendages. |
| 349 | * HumansAdvanceSwiftly: Both averted and played straight. |
| 350 | ** In the backstory, the Vilani were first in many technological developments (especially the jump drive), but advanced extremely slowly compared to the Solomani, who were ahead of them in some areas when first contact occurred and within 200 years had outpaced them in everything. It's a cultural thing, though, as both races are biologically humans. |
| 351 | ** A few thousand years later the Third Imperium, a mixture of the Vilani and Solomani, is more technologically advanced than all of its neighbors except possibly the Hivers. That includes two neighbors, the Solomani and Zhodani, who are both biologically human. So Imperial humans have in fact advanced more swiftly than the other races. |
| 352 | * HumanAliens: When humans from Earth finally made it to the stars in the late 21st century they found most of space near them occupied by the ancient interstellar empire of humans from a planet called Vland. It took several centuries to determine that all of the human aliens in charted space (some of which had diverged from the human norm enough to ''look'' like different species) were actually [[TransplantedHumans transplanted]] from Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago by the [[{{Precursors}} Ancients]], not separate species. |
| 353 | * HumansAreBastards: One item of jewelry called Denuli gems is exceedingly rare and harvesting them is banned in the Imperium. The reason? It turns out that they are the ''eggs'' of [[KickTheDog low-tech sophant aliens]]. |
| 354 | * HumansAreCthulhu: Vargr view humans this way especially Zhodani (which are regarded that way by ''other humans''). Humans can build large abstract societies which attract UndyingLoyalty from their members, whereas Vargr have trouble giving loyalty to anything but a MagneticHero. As a result humans sometimes appear to Vargr the way a HiveMind appears to humans. |
| 355 | * HumansAreDivided: Humans are the only species to rule multiple empires, not counting the Vargr's chronic inability to hold a government together. |
| 356 | * HumansAreLeaders: All three Imperiums were/are ruled by humans. |
| 357 | * HumansAreSpecial: Most of the known 'verse is dominated by the three major races of humans (Solomani, Vilani, and Zhodani). The Ancients apparently felt that HumansAreSpecial too, as they transplanted them throughout known space. |
| 358 | * HumansAreWarriors: |
| 359 | ** The Solomani have long had a far greater martial reputation than the other two major human races and the Third Imperium's military traditions are largely Solomani. To the extent that 57th-century Imperial Marines aren't that different in culture and ethos from the 20th-century US Marine Corps and Royal Marines, especially in TNE. |
| 360 | ** The Solomani are really the top predators of the Traveller universe. The Vilani and Zho are less warlike and their collectivism is crippling. Vargr are on the other extreme too chaotic, and Aslan too clannish. Vargr make good pirates but bad soldiers and while Aslan have a lot of individually skilled warriors they are limited in their capacity to systemitize warfare. |
| 361 | ** This is speaking of Solomani ''military tradition'' rather than the Solomani as a race. The Solomani and Vilani are by the time of the Third Imperium so interbred that the difference is more of identity rather than race. Neither of these marry Zhodani very often as the Psi thing leaves them out on their own, effectively alien and more alien to other humans than Aslan or Vargr. |
| 362 | ** All that said, non-Terran humans usually are no wusses themselves, even if not at the Terran level; and a number are {{Proud Warrior Race}}s. In Traveller you really do not want to get on Humaniti's bad side. |
| 363 | * HumanPopsicle: Low berths: a low-cost way to see the galaxy, but not without danger. The crews and passengers of passenger ships sometimes play "the low lottery" - a Cr 10 bet on how many low berth passengers will survive the trip. If the winner doesn't survive the Captain of the ship gets the money. |
| 364 | * HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #19 Amber Zone "Pride of the Lion". An anti-alien bigot captures a group of Aslan and organizes a hunt, with the Aslan as the quarry. |
| 365 | * HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: Usually jump travel is pretty safe. But rarely, ships can go into jumpspace and not come out. Or come out at a random destination; or hundreds of years later, with only a week passing aboard ship, or vice versa. Naturally enough, spacers have all kinds of superstitions regarding jumpspace. In most editions, close exposure to jumpspace (usually resulting from battle damage to the hull and the grid that forms the "jump bubble" of normal space around the ship) and its… ''different'' laws of physics can cause insanity and other bad effects in sophonts. |
| 366 | * HyperspaceLanes: Jump routes are limited mainly by the presence of fuel stops. As most ships can only jump one parsec at a time that means that most traffic follows places where the stars are one parsec apart. A ship equipped for the purpose can obtain fuel at a gas giant without landing in port. It is still necessary to be in-system. |
| 367 | [[/folder]] |
| 368 | |
| 369 | [[folder:3: I - L]] |
| 370 | * IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: World names in the setting include Louzy, Asmodeus, Entrope, Frenzie, Skull, and Torment - and that's just in the Spinward Marches, the most detailed sector. Other sectors have worlds like Exile, Doom, Hell, Dusty Death, or just plain Death. |
| 371 | * IKEAWeaponry: |
| 372 | ** The Smallarms System in the Classic supplement ''SORAG'' by Paranoia Press. |
| 373 | ** The Coalition Multipurpose Weapon System in ''The New Era'' supplement ''Smash and Grab''. |
| 374 | * InGameBankingServices: Because starships cost millions of credits most Travellers take out forty-year mortgages on their ships. While there are multiple career benefits that can apply discounts to the party's first ship it's not uncommon for Travellers to resort to shady jobs in order to afford their 100 kilocred monthly payments. |
| 375 | * InstantAIJustAddWater |
| 376 | ** Classic edition. In Adventure 13 ''Signal GK'', the {{PC}}s will encounter a naturally occurring silicon computer chip that has become intelligent. |
| 377 | ** The New Era had some sort of vaguely explained Virus that could turn ANY sufficiently advanced computer into an AI, usually [[KillAllHumans a homicidally deranged one]]. [[spoiler:It turns out Virus was developed from the Chips in ''Signal GK'', so these are actually two different versions of the same life form.]] |
| 378 | * IntrepidMerchant: Free Traders. Who are constantly in a desperate struggle to survive by their wits, on the frontier. A Free Trader centered game is one of the most popular because of its flexibility and the ease with which a small number of characters can fit in. It can have recognizable similarities to ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' in some ways, but it is set in an even more complex universe. While the SpaceTrucker variety described above is a favorite possibility, there are several types of {{Intrepid Merchant}}s that can be imagined. |
| 379 | * ItMakesSenseInContext: The Vilani prejudice against technical advance was the result of a deliberate decision made long ago. When one realizes that they already had an [[TheEmpire Empire]] of thousands of worlds and enough technology to give men the power of [[Myth/GreekMythology Olympians]], one can understand. After all, they had plenty of wealth and power, there might actually be some things that ManWasNotMeantToKnow and their biggest threat was [[ChaoticEvil instability]] as they had already eliminated all outside threats. This actually worked for awhile. Unfortunately the Vilani ran into folk from an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet who saw no need to play by their rules… |
| 380 | * ItsRainingMen: The ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #19 article "Parachutes" has complete rules for using parachutes. |
| 381 | * JabbaTableManners: The Hivers eat rather messily, and they tend to enjoy what humans would regard as extremely fragrant food. |
| 382 | * JobMindsetInertia: Double Adventure 6 Divine Intervention has the Player Characters infiltrating a giant floating base at night. Two members of the base staff were previously in positions that influence how they handle emergency situations. |
| 383 | ** One was previously in the regular police. If he wakes up and realizes that there's a problem, he will pick up his pistol, leave his cabin and try to arrest any intruders. |
| 384 | ** Another one was once in the Attitude Police (secret police). If he is awakened and notices the [=PCs=]' intrusion, he will try to track them down and notify the bridge of their position, trailing them thereafter. |
| 385 | * JungleDrums: Subverted in an event in Classic Supplement 2 ''Animal Encounters''. The random encounter description says "If they are sought out, they are determined to be a natural phenomenon, produced by a large grove of hollow trees." |
| 386 | * KillerGameMaster: Classic was one of the few games where your character could die before you even get out of character creation. More recent editions, understandably, make it optional (''Mongoose Traveller'' calls it "Iron Man" rules). |
| 387 | * KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Many of the weapons used aren't that much different from ours. It is [[LampshadeHanging pointed out]] that a supersonic lead slug kills you just as dead at tech level 15 as at tech level 7. Space combat is the exception, as conventional projectiles are trivially easy to dodge at the distances and speeds involved. |
| 388 | * KlingonPromotion: |
| 389 | ** The little-used "Right of Assassination", established after the disastrous reign of [[TheCaligula Cleon III]] allows a high noble to personally slay the emperor and claim the Iridium Throne, with Moot approval. |
| 390 | ** A series of "Barracks Emperors" during the Imperial Civil War all took the throne through either defeating the last emperor in a space battle or through assassination. None but the last, Arbellatra, were able to gather enough support in the Moot to establish a dynasty. Her dynasty ruled for the next four centuries and change. |
| 391 | ** Archduke Dulinor's attempt to take the throne through the Right of Assassination without prior Moot approval led to the Rebellion/Final War of ''[=MegaTraveller=]''''/The New Era'' and eventually [[BrokenBase broke the fanbase]]. |
| 392 | ** Vargr leadership is based on personal charisma, and any leader that can't prove he or she can hold their position is likely to be replaced by a former subordinate. Killing the former leader is definitely a possibility in more vicious groups. |
| 393 | * KnockoutGas: Trang spray in Double Adventure 3 ''Death Station'' and standard knockout gas in Adventure 8 ''Prison Planet''. |
| 394 | * LaserBlade: Arc-field weapons as of the Mongoose versions. Conductive fibers that create a plane of energy. Only available on the most high-technology of worlds (and among the most expensive of melee weapons), with enough armor penetration and damage to cut through most starship hulls. Then there are psi blades, though despite being as or more expensive and higher-technology, do much less damage. |
| 395 | * ALightInTheDistance: ''Twilight's Peak''. While traveling on the world of Fulacin, the adventurers can find an octagonal structure with a light in the window. If they encounter it at night, the light will lead them to the building. |
| 396 | * LivingGasbag |
| 397 | ** ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' |
| 398 | *** #17 "Contact: The Jagd-II-Jagd": The Jagd-II-Jagd are an intelligent alien race that live in the atmospheres of gas giant planets. They have spherical bodies filled with a number of compartments. They absorb hydrogen and other gasses from the gas giant's atmosphere, store them in the compartments and use them for buoyancy and propulsion. |
| 399 | *** #18 "The Bestiary": The Luugiir are aliens who look like small hot air balloons . They convert sunlight into electricity and use it to obtain hydrogen from water. They store the hydrogen in their gas bag, which causes them to float in the air. They have a maneuvering jet that expels air and allows them to move in a specific direction. |
| 400 | ** ''Challenge'' magazine #27 "Bestiary": The adult Oegongong aliens use a biological form of electrolysis to generate hydrogen from seawater. They use it to fill the sacs on their back: when the sacs become huge and balloon-like they float into the air and travel over the land where they drop their eggs. |
| 401 | ** Creator/{{FASA}}'s supplement ''Rescue on Galatea'': On the title planet lives an aquatic alien creature called the muqath, which is like a jellyfish with a shell. It has sacs filled with lighter-than-air gas that it uses for flight. |
| 402 | ** ''Spacefarer's Guide to Alien Monsters'' |
| 403 | *** The floater is an alien creature whose body is a bag containing hydrogen gas, which allows it to float through the air. It has electrically charged tentacles which descend below it. The tentacles stun any creatures they touch and drag them up to the floater to be eaten. |
| 404 | *** The Harundali are a race of aliens shaped like jellyfish who come from gas giant planets. They can store hydrogen in their bodies and use it to float in the air. |
| 405 | *** The lanceballoon's body is an oval-shaped gasbag filled with helium, which allows it to float in the air. It has fins that look like sails to steer. The tentacles that hang down from it have embedded prisms that it uses to focus sunlight and use it as a weapon. |
| 406 | *** The sharkoid is shaped like a fish and swims through the air, supported by multiple hydrogen-containing cells in its body. |
| 407 | * LoadsAndLoadsOfSidequests: The computer game ''Traveller Megatraveller 2: Quest of the Ancients'' had an large number of sidequests, including {{Fetch Quest}}s and hunting wanted criminals for the bounty money. |
| 408 | * LongRunner: As explained in "Editions" above, the first edition came out in 1977. ''Traveller'' is more than 40 years old. |
| 409 | * LongevityTreatment: Anagathics, frequently banned or controlled. Require monthly doses or the character is forced to make an aging roll. |
| 410 | * LostColony: Given that interstellar civilization is very old and has collapsed almost completely at least twice (depending on the time period of your current game), there are loads of these: |
| 411 | ** The Island subsectors in the great Rift were colonized by STL ships from Earth and were lost for thousands of years before a misjump by an Imperial cruiser brought them jump technology. |
| 412 | ** The Sword Worlds were colonized by refugees from the Second Imperium centuries before they were found again by the Third Imperium early in their colonization of the Spinward Marches sector. |
| 413 | ** Every Droyne world is basically a lost colony from the civilization of the Ancients that destroyed itself 300,000 years ago. |
| 414 | * LostTechnology: Loads. Apart from artifacts of the [[{{Precursors}} Ancients]] there are any number of other lost races who left strange artifacts. The Darrians still have some ''reaaally'' nice toys from their first interstellar civilization [[spoiler:but they can barely maintain them, let alone build more. They ''have'' figured out how to '''[[StarKilling make stars explode]]''' again, though]]. |
| 415 | * LuredIntoATrap: In the supplement ''The Traveller Adventure'', adventure "Kidnapped on Aramanx". The villains who kidnapped Lisa Fireaux demand that Gvoudzon deliver the ransom so they can kidnap him as well. |
| 416 | [[/folder]] |
| 417 | |
| 418 | [[folder:4: M - P]] |
| 419 | * MacGuffinDeliveryService: ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #23 Amber Zone "The Birthday Plot" and ''The [=MegaTraveller=] Journal'' #3, adventure "Rapid Repo". |
| 420 | * MacrossMissileMassacre: The Terrans employed missile boats during the Interstellar Wars that were basically mobile missile launch platforms. Most Vilani warships in the same conflict used missiles as their main armament. |
| 421 | * MadeASlave: Forbidden in the Imperium but sometimes done underground. It is not said what slaves can do that machines can't (other than [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty the obvious inference]] of course). In the Sword Worlds capital crimes are sometimes punished with enslavement. |
| 422 | ** For a little more insight into the Imperium's stance: Slavery is heavily punished, 99 out of 100 times. That last time (namely on a planet in the Spinward Marches) dismantling the slavery system that evolved on the planet would have caused more misery and death than leaving it in place, and so the Imperium allowed it, but under very heavy supervision to ensure that abuses didn't happen. |
| 423 | * MadeOfIron: TNE gave player characters a ridiculously high number of HitPoints relative to the damage of even the heavier weapons in the setting. Don't be surprised when you survive a direct hit from an [[{{BFG}} FGMP]]. |
| 424 | * MagicalRomani: Many of the "Gypsies" have psionic abilities, which would appear to be magic to those unfamiliar with psionics. |
| 425 | * ManipulativeBastard: This is the [[StarfishAliens Hivers']] [[PlanetOfHats hat]], to the extent that "manipulator" is the most exalted title in their society and conspiracy theories about their activities reach the level of in-universe MemeticMutation. It's subverted a bit in that the Hivers are not doing it maliciously - they almost always believe it's [[ForYourOwnGood for their subject's own good]]. |
| 426 | * ManlyFacialHair: Archduke Norris, the leader of the clearest "good" faction in the ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' illustrations has a seriously bushy mustache, while the assassinated emperor Strephon and his assassin Dulinor were both clean-shaven. The vilanous Lucan by contrast has a rather wispy beard but no mustache. |
| 427 | * MegaCorp: Commerce in the Imperium is dominated by these. They are probably best used as opposition, but the players can have a Franchise/{{Dune}}-like experience trying to run one. |
| 428 | * MechaMooks: The Zhodani are noted for making extensive use of warbots in their armies. Hivers use lots of drones in space combat as well, since Hivers themselves find combat unpleasant. |
| 429 | * MerchantCity: Most starports. |
| 430 | * MerchantPrince: The Third Imperium, and to an extent the First and Second Imperiums as well, were founded and maintained by Merchant Princes. While the ruling class often went into more traditionally "princely" occupations like military service (especially with the Second Imperium), the role of the Merchant Princes always remained an important one. |
| 431 | * MetaPlot: The Fifth Frontier War for Classic Traveller, the ongoing Rebellion for ''[=MegaTraveller=]'', and the "Empress Wave" for ''The New Era'' (though it never got very far). Later editions don't have much of a metaplot, really. ''Classic Traveller'' is probably the UrExample of the MetaPlot in [=RPGs=], with the timeline advancing with each issue of the ''Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society'' in roughly real-time. |
| 432 | * TheMetricSystemIsHereToStay: Most of the editions except the ''GURPS'' version use the Metric system. |
| 433 | * TheMigration: Most notably ''Ihaiti'' (landless Aslan). Land is a biological obsession to Aslan males, and being landless makes for loss of status. Thus ''Ihaiti'' fleets are always travelling and have a reputation for not worrying about who is in the way. Often though they make a peaceful arrangement with a planet's inhabitants. Many planets have room to spare, and some are eager to have a ProudWarriorRace as allies to keep away their neighbors. |
| 434 | * TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay: Due to the limitations of the Jump Drive, only a tiny portion of the Milky Way has been explored by the end of the Third Imperium, and other galaxies are far, far out of reach. Even the Zhodani core expeditions, which they have been sending periodically for the past ''five thousand years'', have yet to reach the core of the galaxy. |
| 435 | * MilitaryAcademy: An option for character creation in most versions of the rules. |
| 436 | * MilitaryScienceFiction: One option, though often held to be difficult to arrange for an RPG, given the strict hierarchies of a military system. {{Private Military Contractor}}s campaigns are more popular than campaigns centered on regular armed forces, though these remain an option. |
| 437 | * MindManipulation: the Zhodani embrace this art, the Imperials outlaw it. Given the considerable advantages it gives in competition for power arguably a ruling class must either do one or the other. |
| 438 | * MinoredInAsskicking: The Darrians are a ProudScholarRace that has scientists, scholars, or artists as its heroes instead of warriors. They are also some of the toughest in the Spinward Marches. |
| 439 | * MistakenForToilet: On the planet Rodar/Sheldule, the wealthy businesswoman Theresa Shrike once confused a religious shrine with an outhouse, triggering a native uprising. |
| 440 | * MoneyDumb: Male Aslan take it to an extreme. Math of any sort (including finance) is considered a skill for females, and higher-class males typically have no idea how money works at all. |
| 441 | * MonsterMunch: In Double Adventure 5 ''The Chamax Plague'', one of the {{NPC}}s who accompanies the [[PlayerCharacter PCs]] on their mission is Cal Yotisk. The referee is encouraged to use him as the first victim of the alien Chamax to show the [=PCs=] what they're up against. |
| 442 | * * MotileVehicularComponents: In ''Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats,'' the Express Boat Tender starship cannot maneuver while recovering smaller ships. To defend itself in those situations, it has two weapon turrets that can move around on its hull on tracks so they can fire in more directions than a stationary turret could. |
| 443 | * MoreThanMindControl: On the other hand, the Zhodani might be doing this as well. |
| 444 | * TheMovie: There was a successful (in terms of gathering funding) Kickstarter campaign in 2014 for one. It had awesome potential; take a look [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/spinward-traveller-tv-pilot here]]. Unfortunately, as of March 2018, it has devolved into [[http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2018/04/ken-whitman-youve-been-served.html a lawsuit]]. |
| 445 | * MulticulturalAlienPlanet: |
| 446 | ** The Aslan are divided into many different clans with their own parochial customs, though they do have an underlying shared culture and language. |
| 447 | ** The Vargr have no rhyme or reason to their organization. Just about every variety of culture or government system can be found somewhere in the Vargr Extents. The Vargr are also notably multi-lingual. |
| 448 | ** The Third Imperium is also very diverse, with a variety of different government and cultural types. You can easily find small rural anarchies one parsec over from oppressive urban dictatorships, or even on the same planet. |
| 449 | ** Some of the alien cultures work actively towards promoting a homogenous culture in the space they control, such as the Hivers with their embassies, the Zhodani with their psionic ruling caste, and the K'Kree with their religious quest for a carnivore-free universe. |
| 450 | * MultiplePersuasionModes: Classic ''Traveller'' has Administration (dealing with bureaucracies), Bribery, Carousing (being sociable, mingling), Instruction (teaching), Interrogation, Leadership (controlling groups), Liaison (Administration plus Streetwise), Recruiting (hiring personnel) and Streetwise (dealing with the lower classes, workers and the underworld). |
| 451 | * MultistageTeleport: Starships can travel from 1 to 6 parsecs per week by traveling FasterThanLight through [[{{Hyperspace}} Jump Space]] in discrete jumps. A starship with a Jump-1 drive jumps 1 parsec at a time, taking 6 weeks to travel the distance a Jump-6 ship can go in one week, and so on. |
| 452 | * TheMusketeer: Imperial Marines are trained in both firearms and the cutlass, probably because it's useful to have a weapon that won't puncture a starship's hull during boarding actions. Aslan warriors often are equally proficient with firearms or bladed weapons, and K'kree warriors like to use pole-arms as well as modern weapons. |
| 453 | * NamingYourColonyWorld: All of the planets have names (of course) and sometimes we get to hear the story behind the name. |
| 454 | * ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Solomani Confederation, with its doctrine that [[FantasticRacism humans are better than aliens and Solomani are better than the other humans]], is usually portrayed this way. An AuthorsSavingThrow in the ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller'' supplement ''Rim of Fire'' {{retcon}}ned this into ethnic nationalism, not racism. The old portrayal of the Confederation also owed a lot to RedScare; it was easy to tell [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar when it was written.]] |
| 455 | * NeglectfulPrecursors: The Ancients left all sorts of LostTechnology lying around when they bit the dust. Lost Technology is actually {{Deconstructed}} in Traveler, as having loads of high-tech weaponry and even a few super-weapons lying around charted space hasn't done anyone any favors; |
| 456 | ** When they visited their moon for the first time, the Zhodani found a genetically-tailored bacteriological weapon was waiting for them left over from the Ancient war (apparently it had been dropped on their moon by mistake). It caused the fall of their civilization and killed two-thirds of them within about 10 years, and ''completely'' wiped out their homeworld's Droyne population. |
| 457 | ** The Vilani civilization couldn't get started until the constantly-fighting Ancient juggernaut war machines finally ran down, about ''200,000 years'' after the war ended. Aeons later, they have an instinctual fear of anything unfamiliar, to the point that they ''refuse'' to develop any technologies without spending multiple generations testing it. This even applied to ideological developments, resulting in a draconian bureaucracy that would send a North Korean planner into screaming fits - and this refusal to adapt to unforeseeable events enabled Earth to conquer them over the course of a century of repeated wars. |
| 458 | ** The Darrians were given an Eden-like world where the only serious challenge would be overpopulation. To their credit they eventually created a civilization that didn't decline into cannibalistic, genocidal warfare - after hundreds of cycles of rapid overpopulation and warfare that lasted for a hundred thousand years after the Ancients had exterminated themselves in their own genocidal war. |
| 459 | ** The Ancients bred the Droyne into castes [[spoiler:to make them better servitors]], but left them without the ability to select a caste without direction from their masters. After the Ancients wiped themselves out the Droyne almost went extinct as well, until they developed coyns and began using them in the casting ritual to select the caste of a maturing Droyne. [[spoiler:Grandfather only realized that he had made the Droyne a TerminallyDependentSociety long after the Last War, and he "fixed" his mistake by giving them the coyns]]. |
| 460 | * NeuralImplanting: |
| 461 | ** A possibility with the Wafer Jack augmentation though not much is made of it. |
| 462 | ** The protagonist of Marc Miller's ''Agent of the Imperium'' novel is in fact just a set of recorded mental patterns that are given a temporary host body via a wafer jack every century or so to resolve a crisis. |
| 463 | * NewTechnologyIsEvil: This was the general attitude of the Vilani Imperium after they decided they had expanded enough, thank you very much. |
| 464 | * NoBiochemicalBarriers: Averted, but somewhat played with. Half-alien hybrids are impossible, but most of the various species of humaniti are inter-fertile. This would be because they were all transplanted from Earth by the Ancients in the first place. |
| 465 | ** The Vilani transplants found that they were almost completely biologically incompatible with their new homeworld. The upside was that the local diseases and parasites were uninterested in them. The downside was that all of their food required heavy processing to be edible. Cooks in Vilani society are viewed as spiritual leaders and the social equivalents of doctors in other human cultures. The Vilani are also notable for having had an interstellar civilization for thousands of years before they developed the germ theory of disease. |
| 466 | * NoticeThis: In the video game adaptation. |
| 467 | * NotSoSafeHarbor: In Imperial territory, most starports are a section on the planet administered directly by the Imperial government, and not subject to the laws of the surrounding nation. Just outside the boundary fence on most worlds is a "startown", often an ill-kept area in which TheCityNarrows. |
| 468 | * NotWorthKilling: In ''Interstellar Wars'' the Vilani don't bother making a real effort to subjugate the Terrans because they are "just another barbarian tribe". By the time they learn differently, it is the Vilani who are being subjugated. |
| 469 | * NoUnifiedRuleset: The game has two official rulesets at this time, the ''Traveller 5'' system published by the game's creator, Marc Miller, and ''Mongoose Traveller'', an officially licensed and supported edition published by Mongoose Publishing. Both are seen as official ''Traveller'' to all involved. |
| 470 | * NuclearNullifier: Nuclear dampers are TL 12 starship defenses that reduce the damage from nuclear missiles and fusion guns. Apparently by suppressing nuclear weak force. |
| 471 | * NuclearTorchRocket: The [=HEPlaR=][[note]]"High Energy Plasma Recombination", basically a very efficient Nuclear Torch Rocket that used Nuclear Damper technology to help control the reaction[[/note]] drive from ''The New Era'' replaced the reactionless drives used in earlier versions of ''Traveller''. All of the later editions brought back the much more efficient (if less scientifically plausible) reactionless drives as the primary maneuver drive for starships, but also kept the [=HEPlaR=] drive as an available alternate technology. |
| 472 | * NumberedHomeworld: Some of the worlds in the Imperium have just a six-digit number as a name. All of the worlds in the Imperium can also be designated by which hexagon they occupy on their sector map. |
| 473 | * OfficerAndAGentleman: You can do better in the Imperial Navy if you have a higher Social Status characteristic. |
| 474 | * OneFederationLimit: ''Most'' of the government names are not repeated (within the same time period and leaving aside civil wars where the sides claimed to be the rightful government of the same state), at least on the sufficiently independent-interstellar level... and then Confederation comes up. It may have something to do with the Terran Confederation; the Solomani and Sword Worlds Confederations both claim Solomani/Terran heritage, and the Darriens of the Darrien Confederation may be mostly Darriens but have long intermarried and had contact with Solomani. |
| 475 | * OneGenderRace: The Hivers. Any Hiver can reproduce with any other Hiver, and they're very matter-of-fact about it. "Romance" is one of the alien concepts that Hivers have trouble understanding. |
| 476 | * OneHitPolykill: A PGMP or FGMP can, the rules note that technically any firearm can, but it's only at those levels of firepower that it's worth keeping track of. |
| 477 | * OpposingCombatPhilosophies: During the Interstellar Wars (and as seen in the board game ''Imperium''), the Vilani Empire focused on long-ranged but less-accurate missiles as the primary weapons of their ships. Terran ships focused on short-range but more powerful beam lasers. The deliberate exception to this rule were the Terran missile boats, which were cheap and small ships designed to provide missile cover fire while their other ships closed in to beam range. |
| 478 | * OrderVersusChaos |
| 479 | ** The original Interstellar Wars, between the Vilani who were careful, venerable, but something of control freaks and the Solomani (Terrans) who were innovative, freedom-loving but rather reckless. The Solomani won but couldn't figure out how to run the empire they just conquered. This brought about [[AfterTheEnd The Long Night]] which lasted until the rise of the Third Imperium. |
| 480 | ** The Zhodani are the most extreme example of order. Their regime is ruled over by a caste of psis who are allowed to look into their subjects minds and sometimes control them. Mere discontent is a crime and is easily found out. |
| 481 | ** Zhos are used to it, and think being read by a mind reader is no more embarrassing than being examined by a doctor. But non-Zhos think it to be a FateWorseThanDeath. |
| 482 | ** Vargr by contrast are the epitome of chaos. They live in ill-organized groups that are led by the one with the most [[MagneticHero "charisma"]]. They also consider piracy a respectable profession. |
| 483 | * OurCentaursAreDifferent: The K'Kree in the main rules and the Graytch ("spidertaurs") in ''Marc Miller's Traveller'' supplement ''Aliens Archive''. |
| 484 | * OurDwarvesAreDifferent: The Geonee, a minor human race from a high-gravity world that makes them stocky who once had an ancient empire conquered by the Vilani are rather Dwarf-like. |
| 485 | * OurElvesAreDifferent: The Darrians, a minor human race who once had greater technological prowess than the Imperium before they accidently blew up their star are pretty much elves - [[RecycledInSpace In Space!]] Right down to their elvish-sounding language, affinity for trees and the arts, and pointed ears. |
| 486 | * OurOrcsAreDifferent: The Ithklur, a ProudWarriorRace that serves in a "gurkha-like" role for the Hivers. They are reptilian and are formidable soldiers. They fit the later adaptation more than the Tolkienite AlwaysChaoticEvil {{Mooks}}. They [[PlanetOfHats are all]] {{Boisterous Bruiser}}s and think WarIsGlorious, but are also often good natured. Though they delight in violence it is in the BloodKnight sense rather than the ForTheEvulz sense. In fact not only do they delight in violence they think it hones their intelligence so that school classrooms are marked by roughhousing as a natural part of a lesson. |
| 487 | * OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions |
| 488 | ** Averted. Religion is still a part of Traveller life and there is room enough for anything the GM and players desire; even their own RealLife religion if it pleases them. The {{Backstory}} does not go to much effort designing religions (deliberately so, apparently, to avoid causing tension between the players) for the game but one or two plausible ones are made such as the K'kree beliefs or the Aslan ''Fteir'' code of honor or the Shugalii chef-priests (they actually seem more like Jewish rabbis than priests) of the Vilani. Actually the best comparison to Shugalii might be Kosher-butchers. |
| 489 | ** The volume ''Humaniti'' does a good job in describing in-verse religions. |
| 490 | ** The Maar Zon faith of Sylea seems to be a form of Deism but is less abstract than the Terran Deism of the eighteenth century. It has customs that seem similar to some Terran religions. The Vilani seem to be agnostics but have a code of honor that vaguely resembles Confucianism. Bwaps are nature worshipers of a sort that emphasize nature as representing order. Many Sword Worlders are Aesirists which is a form of Nordic-style Neopaganism. |
| 491 | ** One of the more interesting aspects of the Maar Zon is the idea that ideas are free. This is said to have come from days when the Vilani Imperium (who once oppressed the Syleans) would use inordinate and draconian intellectual property laws to ensure that technology could not be used outside the will of the ruling class. Under this theory, it was originally a TakeThat to the Vilani. As the Maar Zon is dated from before the arrival of the Vilani, actual adherants of the Maar Zon faith think this idea has UnfortunateImplications. |
| 492 | * PastExperienceNightmare: The Emperor Strephon suffered from these after his family and his double were killed and the Imperium he had sworn to protect descended into CivilWar because they thought he had been assassinated. |
| 493 | * PenalColony: Several prison planets, including Gorgon (in the Classic Adventure 4 ''Leviathan'') and Torment in the Darrian subsector. |
| 494 | * {{Pilgrimage}}: |
| 495 | ** Book 4 ''Mercenary''. One of the provided mercenary missions is to escort a group of top government officials of the planet Jokotre on a pilgrimage into their religion's holy lands to visit some shrines. |
| 496 | ** Supplement 6 ''76 Patrons''. One possible mercenary mission is being hired by opponents of the planetary government above to attack the pilgrims and their guards. |
| 497 | ** Adventure 10 ''Safari Ship''. In order to improve their ability to reproduce, the alien Shriekers must make a 2,000-kilometer pilgrimage to the mist-shrouded Valley of Memories before mating. |
| 498 | * PlanetBaron: Imperial Barons are typically the lowest rank of the Third Imperium's [[FeudalFuture peerage]] to be tasked with overseeing a planet, though usually a low-population agricultural world. |
| 499 | * PlanetOfHats: Played with. The Aslan are warriors, the Vargr are space pirates, the Hivers are manipulators and so on. However there is usually enough complexity available for it not to be too hatty. |
| 500 | * PlanetTerra: Earth is indeed called "Terra", and it was the "Terran Confederation" that won the war against the Vilani Imperium. By the time of the Third Imperium, however, humans from Terra and its colonies are called "Solomani" (men of Sol) instead of "Terrans". It's more consistent with the names of the other two major human races: the Vilani and Zhodani. |
| 501 | * PlanetaryNation: While single planetary governments are the norm, {{balkaniz|eMe}}ation is common enough that the Third Imperium has [[FictionalGenevaConventions rules for intraplanetary warfare]]. Those Balkanized planets are subversions. |
| 502 | * PlanetaryRelocation: In the Vargr Extents, outside the Imperium, there is a Klemperer rosette of planets that orbit around a common point. They were moved into position by [[{{Precursors}} the Ancients]] 300,000 years ago. |
| 503 | * PlanetaryRomance: A number of the planets would make good settings for this. An entire [[TheEpic epic]] can often be made on a single world. |
| 504 | * {{Planetville}}: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig Zagged]]. While many planets have [[JustifiedTrope only one city of interest to starfarers]], often they have a highly developed civilization and complex local politics that has only tangential relation with interstellar goings-on. Except at those times when it's a PlanetOfHats. All more or less peacefully coexist, as based upon the needs of the tabletop game. Many systems remain largely unsettled because with jump drive it is often a shorter trip to a neighboring star system than it is to the outer planets of a system, leaving the outer worlds barren (and a good place for adventures). Then too, some planets just have one small settlement on them and are therefore literally a planetville. |
| 505 | * PleasurePlanet: "Imperial pleasure planets" and Garden Prime in Classic supplements and Kamsii, planetary theme park in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller''. |
| 506 | * PlasmaCannon: [=PGMPs=] and [=FGMPs=] |
| 507 | * PocketRocketLauncher: Gyrojet weapons are one of the available weapon options. They are balanced out by the fact that they are more expensive than regular ammunition, and needing distance to build up speed, making point-blank shooting almost useless. |
| 508 | * PointsOfLightSetting: The "Galaxiad" setting for T5, also known as Milieu 1900, is set 700 years after The New Era and consists of pocket empires of up to a couple dozen worlds. These pocket empires are separated by tenuous routes 40-50 parsecs long. |
| 509 | * PoweredArmour: Battledress. |
| 510 | * PrayerPose: Classic adventure ''Action Aboard - Adventures on the King Richard''. Sister Mary Torget is a passenger aboard the starship ISSV King Richard. Her illustration shows her in nun's clothing and in this pose. |
| 511 | * {{Precursors}}: The Ancients [[spoiler: AKA Droyne]] who transplanted humans all across the galaxy. There are also vague references of dubious canonicity to even earlier civilizations. |
| 512 | * PressStartToGameOver: One of the things ''Classic Traveller'' is famous for is that character generation involved making a survival roll at the beginning of each term of service in a career. "Failure to successfully achieve the survival roll results in death; a new character must be generated." This was supposed to be a game balance rule, with careers that provided more benefits being more dangerous. The Scouts had the worst survival roll (7+) because they also automatically got the Pilot skill, had the best chance of gaining the Jack of All Trades skill, and had the best chance of getting a ship at the end of character generation. In later editions, failing the survival roll merely has your character ousted from their career, possibly with an injury; "death by character generation" is now an optional rule, usually referred to as "Iron Man". |
| 513 | * {{Privateer}}: Goes together with having SpacePirates, of course. |
| 514 | ** The Third Imperium officially reserves to itself the right to issue letters of Marque and only occasionally issues them. Member substates and power blocks sometimes hire space mercenaries but these are not supposed to depend on plunder for their upkeep. When exactly that rule is violated is rather blurry. It probably depends on what the local Imperial Noble considers appropriate to the interests of the Imperium and/or himself. |
| 515 | ** One of the goals of the "Pirates of Drinax" campaign is to restore the old Sindal Empire with Drinax as the new capital. The King of Drinax issues the Travellers a Letter of Marque and a spaceship that can be used as a commerce raider to start things off. If they succeed in forcing the major players in the sector to recognize Drinax's authority as legitimate this will retroactively make the Travellers legitimate privateers in the service of the Crown rather than dirty SpacePirates that anyone can execute if they catch them. |
| 516 | * ProudScholarRace: The Darrians are a minor human race who value scientific inquiry and peaceful conflict resolution. Before they accidentally destroyed their civilization with the Star Trigger they attained a higher tech level than any society in Charted Space today, and they still have some artifacts from that time. They are in a ForeverWar with their neighbors the Sword Worlders who are a ProudWarriorRace. |
| 517 | * ProudWarriorRace: Several. |
| 518 | ** The Aslan. Vaguely lion-like aliens with a culture that stresses strict gender roles. The males are obsessed with owning land and fighting. The females are the accountants, scientists, and merchants. |
| 519 | ** The Sword Worlds, a cluster of Solomani cultures that claim Scandinavian-Teutonic heritage. |
| 520 | ** There are a number of minor {{Proud Warrior Race}}s as well, including the Azhanti and the Ithklurr, already mentioned on this page. |
| 521 | ** The planet of Lanth, as described in the volume ''Spinward Marches'' seems to be a fortress world on the Imperial border and can be justifiably pictured as a ProudWarriorRace, especially as the Imperium's strategic interests, would allow the culture to specialize. |
| 522 | * PsychicBlockDefense: Anti-psi technology. |
| 523 | * PsychicPowers: The Zhodani's hat, rarely found in the Third Imperium (because they're illegal there). |
| 524 | * PsychicStatic: The ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #14 "Casual Encounter" Lothario Lochinvar Finger. |
| 525 | * PunctuationShaker: The K'kree language features lots of apostrophes (a glottal stop), exclamation marks (representing tongue clicks), and ''double'' exclamation marks (representing a double-click). The K'kree module notes you need an eighteen-inch long tongue to pronounce "!!" correctly. |
| 526 | * PuppetState: Many states are like this in the setting. The Darrians are simply allies that happen to be unequal in strength to the Imperium. The Border Worlds Authority is a group of conquered Sword Worlds that barely pretend that they are not a PuppetState of the more degrading sort (they were a rather clumsy policy whose main justification was to keep Swordies from causing trouble without using Imperial troops. No one was really fooled). The member substates of the Imperium are theoretically all there with their own consent, though a number of them of course require rather rigorous persuasion. Imperial member substates have often been in the Imperium so long that they are pretty much integrated into the system and they are distinct from client states. Some planets are directly ruled by the Imperium. Having {{Puppet State}}s is central to Imperial ideology. Its constitution gives it power primarily over "The space between the stars", meaning that it provides defense needs and central authority to otherwise autonomous states. In practice it is far more complex. |
| 527 | [[/folder]] |
| 528 | |
| 529 | [[folder:5: Q - U]] |
| 530 | * QuicksandSucks: Several Classic adventures and one supplement have this as a possible encounter on alien planets. |
| 531 | ** Adventure 3 ''Twilight's Peak'' has quicksand as a possible encounter in wetlands on the planet Fulacin. If {{PC}}s get into it they will be trapped and sucked down with no chance to save themselves. |
| 532 | ** In Double Adventure 4 ''Marooned/Marooned Alone'', {{PC}}s can encounter dangerous quicksand in the jungles of the planet Pagliacci. If trapped, they'll be sucked under in 4-9 minutes. |
| 533 | ** Supplement 2 ''Animal Encounters''. {{PC}}s can randomly encounter quicksand in swamp terrain on two types of planets: small worlds with thin atmospheres and medium sized worlds with standard atmospheres. |
| 534 | ** ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #2 article "The Bestiary". One possible encounter in chasm floor jungle terrain is quicksand that will pull anyone trapped in it under its surface in a couple of minutes unless they are rescued. |
| 535 | * RainbowMotif: According to Paranoia Press's Classic supplement ''Scouts & Assassins'', the insignia colors of Imperial Interstellar Scout Service personnel include red, orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo, in that order. |
| 536 | * {{Rancher}}: The ideal Aslan noble family owns a ranch. As Aslan are a ProudWarriorRace the male is supposed to hold it by virtue of his status as a [[ARealManIsAKiller Real Man.]] |
| 537 | * RandomizedDamageAttack: Most versions of the ''Traveller'' rules use randomized rolls for weapon damage, sometimes adjusted by how good your attack roll was. |
| 538 | * RandomNumberGod: In most editions, whether you are playing a naive youngster who washed out of flight school or a grizzled veteran depends largely on how your dice rolled. |
| 539 | * RansomDrop: In the classic supplement "The Traveller Adventure", when the people who kidnapped Lisa Fireaux realize that the PlayerCharacter's group includes the Vargr character Gvoudzon, they demand that he drop off Lisa's ransom. If he does so, they kidnap him as well, keep the ransom, and don't release Lisa. |
| 540 | * RapidAging: ''Magazine/{{Imagine}}'' magazine #29, ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}''/''TabletopGame/StarFrontiers'' adventure "The Sarafand File". One of the adventure involves an ancient biological weapon. If the game system being used is ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', characters infected by the disease age at a rate of 1 year per hour using the standard aging rules (loss of Strength, Dexterity and Endurance). This will cause them to die within a couple of days unless they find some way of curing the disease. |
| 541 | * RapidFTLProliferation: Small scale version with the Islands subsector in the Great Rift. The lost colonies in the subsector were aware of each other but unable to reach one another without jump drive for centuries before an Imperial warship misjumped to Serendip Belt and they reverse-engineered its drive. When the IISS followed up they found Serendip attempting to become a regional hegemony and decided to give jump drive to the other planets in the Islands, creating a paranoid SpaceColdWar instead. |
| 542 | * RazorFloss: In the ''Megatraveller Journal'' #3 adventure "Rapid Repo", the {{PC}} team can requisition monomolecular garottes. |
| 543 | * ARealManIsAKiller: Aslan think all males have to be interested in little besides fighting or else they're not [[NoTrueScotsman truly men]]. It's taken to the extent that they identify a non-Aslan's gender primarily by what occupation they are working in. A female human pilot, for instance, will find herself being referred to as male by Aslan. A male human scientist, on the other hand, would be considered female. Most humans who deal extensively with Aslan will just go along with their assigned "Aslan" gender to avoid confusion and arguments. |
| 544 | * RedundantRescue: In ''Classic Traveller'' Book 0. |
| 545 | * ReplacedWithReplica: In ''The Traveller Adventure'', the campaign kicks off with the {{PC}}s trying to steal a brooch from a museum. One possible tactic is to create a duplicate of the brooch and leave it in place of the real brooch so the museum personnel won't realize that it's been stolen...at least for a while. |
| 546 | * {{Retcon}}: With so many versions, there have been a few: |
| 547 | ** One of the earliest retcons was the Hiver. The original descriptions of aliens in ''Traveller'' said they were a HiveMind. That was retconned fairly early on to the Hivers as we now know them, and the name "Hiver" was now based on a misconception of the people who first met them and the shape of their buildings. |
| 548 | ** "Jump Message Torpedoes" were mentioned in the original ''Adventure 4 - Leviathan''. These were small, unmanned drones that could carry messages through jump. They don't appear anywhere else, probably because if they worked they would make the manned Xboat mail system redundant. Most later versions of the rules make it clear that you need at least a 100-ton ship to have the room for a jump drive, making "j-torps" impossible. |
| 549 | ** ''The New Era'' tried to be harder science, and removed reactionless drive technology from the setting. In this version ships had always used the [=HEPlaR=] (High Energy Plasma Recombination) plasma-rocket system instead. Since they now had very limited maneuver fuel this meant drastic changes for how ships maneuvered in combat and how they traveled from jump points to the mainworlds of a system. The retcon failed to stick, and every other version has put reactionless drives back in, although some of them have also kept [=HEPlaR=] as an alternative technology. |
| 550 | * RightHandVersusLeftHand: Because of the limited speed of interstellar travel, entire frontier wars can be fought and ended before orders arrive from the Imperial core. |
| 551 | * RocketlessReentry: ''The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #11 article "The Atmospheric Re-entry Kit". The title device is a foamed ablative shield that can be used by a single person to achieve re-entry into a planetary atmosphere and land safely. It includes a de-orbit thruster, a parachute and a sighting device/computer that computes the correct re-entry angle and thruster usage. |
| 552 | * RoguishRomani: The "Gypsies" of the planet Promise are feared, hated and persecuted by the Virus controlled human population. Controlled humans consider them to be outcasts and abominations and tell their children that the Gypsies will steal them. |
| 553 | * RoyalDecree: An Imperial Warrant. Issued in important circumstances to a holder who has the power to override precedent according to the framework written out by the Emperor. |
| 554 | ** Archduke Norris used an Imperial Warrant to reorganize the Imperial forces and retake the initiative during the Fifth Frontier War. Since his actions were largely responsible for winning the war, the Emperor approved of his actions retroactively. |
| 555 | ** Norris used a second Warrant during the Rebellion to appoint himself Archduke after he had secretly received news of the Emperor's assassination but before it was known to the public. Since Norris' leadership is all that held the Domain of Deneb together Emperor Strephon [[spoiler:(it was actually his double who had been assassinated)]] also retroactively approved of this appointment. |
| 556 | ** ''Agent of the Imperium'' features a protagonist who operates under an Imperial Warrant. This means he is the Emperor's personal representative and always the senior officer on site, and can cut through mounds of red tape to resolve whatever crisis he has been summoned for. This is despite the fact that he is a recorded personality on a memory card placed into an expendable volunteer's chip jack. |
| 557 | * RoyalTransport: ''Divine Intervention''. The ruler of the planet Pavabid travels around in a giant palace supported by ArtificialGravity antigrav modules. |
| 558 | * SacredHospitality |
| 559 | ** Vilani consider it rude to force a guest to sleep at a hotel. Rather the local VIP picks someone to billet a visitor. They are responsible for ensuring that the guest is well kept. |
| 560 | ** Aslan, as one would expect of a ProudWarriorRace have a lot of rituals to do with this. In one sidestory there is told a tale of a wounded Aslan warrior who was being tended by a rival clan according to UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar. When this Aslan's clan made a raid he was obligated to help defend, and in doing so slew ''his own brother'' in a display of [[HonorBeforeReason honor]] before [[ThickerThanWater kinship]]. After this the two clans made peace and this deed was remembered ever after. |
| 561 | * SacredScripture: ''Maar Ki Zon'' is the sacred scripture of the Maar Zon, the national religion of the Sylean people. |
| 562 | * SafelySecludedScienceCenter: In the adventure ''Signal GK,'' the Langren Center can be found deep in the mountains of the hot region of the planet Ochre. It is a private facility which performs research and development for the Solomani Confederation government and corporations. Its true purpose, however, is to act as cover for an secret underground electronics factory. The factory is meant to provide vital electronic components for the Confederation military in case of another war with the Imperium. |
| 563 | * SailorEarth: All versions have systems to generate new sectors of worlds and design new starships. The game has also designated the Foreven sector, right next door to the popular Spinward Marches sector, as a "GM's Preserve". No official material will ever be published about it beyond the star positions and a few worlds with minor details. [=GMs=] are encouraged to make up whatever they want to occupy that space. |
| 564 | * SalvagePirates: The Frontier Wars were all fought on roughly the same area with little change in political geography. There are thus planets which have hundreds of years of wrecked ships in them. Finding weapons there to arm the escort for the colonial convoy in the campaign ''100 parsecs'' is one of the options. |
| 565 | * SapientCetaceans: Issue 6 of the ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' had an article on dolphins genetically engineered to have higher intelligence, up to 13 (with the human average being 7). Some of them can learn human languages. |
| 566 | * SapientFurTrade: Creator/{{FASA}} supplement ''Action Aboard: Adventures on the King Richard''. Commander Garr-Grek Vaerr is a Vargr: a sapient alien genetically engineered from Earth canines. He hates the hunter Hugo Grovet because of rumors that Grovet hunts and kills Vargr for their pelts. |
| 567 | * SapientShip |
| 568 | ** Classic Adventure 1 ''The Kinunir''. The Kinunir's ArtificialIntelligence security system [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey goes berserk and kills the entire crew of the ship]]. The {{PC}}s must deal with it in order to bring the Kinunir home. |
| 569 | ** In ''The New Era'' Virus turns ships into sapient killers, and there are even "Vampire Fleets" made up of sapient ships on the hunt for more ships to infect. |
| 570 | * ScaryDogmaticAliens: |
| 571 | ** The K'kree insist that everyone become vegans or die. If you do become a vegetarian, you can serve the K'kree until you die and are reincarnated as one. |
| 572 | ** This is also another way to view the Zhodani, a society where everyone is happy and crime does not exist; because the psionic masters make ''sure'' everybody is happy. |
| 573 | * SchizoTech: Different planets often have wildly different technology levels. This is really for the purpose of allowing game flexibility and is therefore a concession to the RuleOfCool. However it is Justified by assuming political, social, and economic fluctuations over thousands of years that caused variability over large amounts of space. |
| 574 | * ScienceFiction: One of the first [[RolePlayingGame RPGs]] to have a science fiction setting. |
| 575 | * SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Completely and utterly averted, see the link in FantasyWorldMap above. |
| 576 | * ScrapbookStory: The {{sourcebook}}s have a number of short side stories, some presented in this form. |
| 577 | * ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: TheEmperor sometimes issues an Imperial Warrant to people specifically chosen as troubleshooters that allows him to overrule standard procedure in areas specified by the warrant. Typically this will be used for special missions like overseeing a PeaceConference or what not. |
| 578 | ** Standard operating procedure in ''Agent of the Imperium''. The titular agent is a recorded personality who is "activated" when a crisis arises by placing his chips in the chip jack of an expendable volunteer, usually a minor naval officer. Because he operates under an Imperial Edict the agent is considered the personal representative of the Emperor and has full powers to act as the Emperor would if he were present. |
| 579 | * SealedArmyInACan: There are a few adventures where the players can awaken Ancient warriors from stasis, sometimes a ''lot'' of warriors. Usually the adventure is written so that they deal with whatever the current threat is and then go back into stasis, so the players can't take over the galaxy with them. |
| 580 | * SecretTest: ''Magazine/{{Imagine}}'' magazine #29, ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}''/''TabletopGame/StarFrontiers'' adventure "The Sarafand File". One of the adventure possibilities involves the starship Sarafand's main computer malfunctioning (much like the HAL 9000 in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''). The crew must figure out how to fix the computer before it kills them. In fact, the whole situation is a set-up by the crew's superiors to test how they respond to the stress of impending death. |
| 581 | * SelfHealingPhlebotinum: In the Paranoia Press supplement ''Merchants and Merchandise'', Delta Research sold a device called an E-Circuit Module. When installed on an object (such as a starship), it would gradually repair any damage to the object. |
| 582 | * SettlingTheFrontier: Settling new colonies is important for all the major races. The Aslan in particular have a thing for expansion due to the males' drive for land ownership. Aslan have a bad reputation for aggressiveness but they will just as often settle on empty or near empty planets, or trade mercenary service to the local government for land. |
| 583 | * ShadowDictator: The rulers of the First Imperium held the title ''Ishimkarun'' or "Shadow Emperor". The ''Ishimkarun'' never made public appearances, ruling through public proclamation. |
| 584 | * ShortLivedLeadership: The Third Imperium had a series of "Emperors of the Flag", noted mainly for how short their rules were. 17 of them ruled, one after another, over a series of 13 years; one particular year in this period saw six emperors. |
| 585 | * [[ShoutOut/TabletopGames Shout Out]]: Multiple examples, including the ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' books, Creator/IsaacAsimov's works, the Film/JamesBond films, Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series, ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'', ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' stories, ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' and the Terrohuman Future History stories of ''Creator/HBeamPiper'' (particularly 'Space Viking'). |
| 586 | ** The first supplement in the original game, ''1001 Characters'', had stats for nine characters in the back that were "drawn from the pages of science fiction." They weren't named, but the background notes provided enough clues to guess who they were.[[note]]The nine characters were: Literature/JohnCarterOfMars, [[Literature/{{Lensman}} Kimball Kinnison]], [[Creator/HarryHarrison Jason dinAlt]], [[Literature/DumarestOfTerra Earl Dumarest]], [[Literature/KnownSpace Beowulf Shaeffer]], [[Creator/AlexeiPanshin Anthony Villiers]], [[Literature/TechnicHistory Dominic Flandry]], [[Literature/TheDemonPrinces Kirth Girsen]], and [[Literature/TheStarsMyDestination Gully Foyle]].[[/note]] |
| 587 | ** The fourth Supplement, ''Citizens of the Imperium'' provided eight more characters, some of whom were from science fiction films and TV series instead of books, and then the answers as to who the nine characters in ''1001 Characters'' were. [[note]]The eight characters were: [[Franchise/StarWars Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader]], [[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat James "Slippery Jim" di Griz]], [[Literature/CoDominium Sargeant Major Calvin]], [[Literature/SectorGeneral Senior Physician Conway]], [[Literature/{{Retief}} Jame Retief]], [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Harry Mudd]], and [[Literature/TheStarsLikeDust Simok Aratap]].[[/note]] |
| 588 | ** From the ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' books came the name "Traveller" (what Dumarest often calls himself), Low Passage consisting of being frozen as cargo and the chance a passenger can't be revived, the Slow and Fast drugs, and the prevalence of bladed weapons in the setting (Dumarest is a talented knife-fighter). |
| 589 | ** Psychohistory, the imperial capital being a city-wide planet, and some of the politics of the Interstellar Wars period were from Isaac Asimovs' ''Literature/FoundationSeries'' |
| 590 | ** The title creature from ''Film/{{Alien}}'' appeared in the ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #4'' with full game statistics as the "Reticulan Parasite". |
| 591 | ** The Sword-worlds in Creator/HBeamPiper's novel ''Space Viking'' was the obvious inspiration of the Sword Worlds in the Spinward Marches setting. They have the same infighting and basic cultural ideas, as well as sharing several names. It is also a universe where there is no FTL radio. |
| 592 | ** Poul Anderson's ''Literature/TechnicHistory'' series featured IntrepidMerchants as protagonists and in later stories a space empire in decline. Dominic Flandry is also one of the inspirations for Miller's ''Agent of the Imperium'' novel. |
| 593 | * ShownTheirWork: In such a manner as to sometimes undermine the whole point, depending on the version. This is a game that even researches its AppliedPhlebotinum, or at least treats it as if it can be. Alas… it sometimes goes too far. In ''The New Era'', for example, the lengthy calculations required to design a handgun produce virtually the same game statistics for any design. |
| 594 | * SiliconBasedLife |
| 595 | ** Classic ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #15 article "The Bestiary". Doyle's eel is a SiliconBasedLife form that eats metal. If it infiltrates a starship it will try to eat metals, silicon and some plastics, which can cause serious damage. It will also try to lay eggs and hatch out more of them, which will cause even more damage. |
| 596 | ** Marc Miller's Traveller supplement ''Milieu 0 Campaign'', chapter "The First Wave". In one of the Survey adventures, the {{PC}}s can encounter large rock-like creatures that are silicon life-forms. They are serpent-like and can project lava jets as a weapon. |
| 597 | ** Creator/{{FASA}} adventure ''Ordeal By Eshaar''. The native life forms on the planet Eshaar are silicon based and appear to be crystal/rock formations. They combine water and liquid sulfer to create sulfuric acid, then combine the acid with various metals to create energy, acting like living batteries. |
| 598 | ** In Adventure 13 ''Signal GK'', the {{PC}}s will encounter a naturally occurring silicon computer chip that has become intelligent. |
| 599 | ** The ArtificialIntelligence Virus in the ''Traveller: The New Era'' setting, which was engineered from sentient silicon computer chips from Cymbeline previously featured in ''Signal GK''. |
| 600 | ** ''Spacefarer's Guide to Alien Monsters'' |
| 601 | *** The mante is an alien insect whose tissues are composed of silicon. This makes its body extremely dense, and it is not affected by most weapons. |
| 602 | *** The rockrat's body tissues are based on silicon, which makes them immune to all physical attacks except energy weapons. |
| 603 | *** The sizzler is a two meter wide ball of black stone based on silicon which eats its way through rock. |
| 604 | ** Magazine ''Magazine/TheTravellerChronicle'', issue #4 article "Astrogator's Update to Diaspora Sector". The planet Netti has the "chip chicken", a silicon-based alien creature that eats basalt and breathes methane. Its waste products are silicate crystal nodules that can be used as computer data chips. |
| 605 | * SingleBiomePlanet: The basic world creation rules can result in Desert Planets, Ice Planets, Garden Worlds, Ocean Planets, etc. but these are generally [[JustifiedTrope justified]] - what else are you going to call a planet with 95% water coverage, or where nowhere on the surface is above freezing temperature? The more detailed world creation rules found outside the core rules avert the trope, providing varied landforms and climates that change with latitutde. |
| 606 | * SingleSpeciesNations: Non-human interstellar empires include the K'kree's Two Thousand Worlds, the Hiver Federation, and the Aslan Hierate. The Vargr cannot hold a stable government together, but the region of space they've colonized is known as the Vargr Extents. Humanity is the exception again, with at least four ethnically based empires at the standard era plus the multi-ethnic Third Imperium (the First and Second were ruled by the Vilani and Solomani, humans from Vland and Sol respectively). |
| 607 | * TheSixStats: Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intellect, Education, and Social Standing. They are usually generated with a 2d6 roll, but can be boosted up to 15 for humans during character generation. |
| 608 | ** Classic ''Traveller'' had some alien races substitute a different stat for Social Standing, often generated with just a 1d6 roll. The K'kree used Caste, the Vargr used Charisma, the Solomani used Party standing, and the Hivers used Curiosity. The Droyne replaced two of the stats - Education became Sense (Psionic potential) and Social Status became Caste, and all of the Droyne attributes were generated with a single d6. |
| 609 | ** For humans the seventh attribute is Psionic potential, but only trained psions have that attribute. |
| 610 | ** The ''Traveller Companion'' includes rules for several optional stats, including Wealth, Luck, Morale, and Sanity, along with variant rules for Social Standing. Using them all would mean that characters could have as many as 11 stats. |
| 611 | * SleeperStarship: "Low-passage" is an FTL version. Some races used STL sleeper ships to colonize other systems before obtaining Jump drive, for instance the Island Clusters subsectors in Classic Adventure 5 ''Trillion Credit Squadron''. |
| 612 | * SmartGun: "Intelligent" weapons are avaliable at TL 11 and 13 while biometric locks are available at TL 10. |
| 613 | * SmokescreenCrime: Tradewar is when two corporations commit illegal acts against each other to gain a commercial advantage. One possible maneuver is for a corporation to carry out a tradewar attack (such as burglarizing a building to steal industrial secrets) and attempt to conceal its true nature by stealing other valuable materials or burning down the building to hide the evidence. |
| 614 | * SpaceAgeStasis: The Vilani Imperium enforced this for the sake of stability. The Third Imperium has a bit of this owing to cultural cross-pollination from the Vilani. |
| 615 | * SpaceAmish: |
| 616 | ** This is a fairly common explantion for all the low-tech worlds with working spaceports. Another reasonably common explanation is simply that the starport was built by the Imperium and the two cultures ignore each other. |
| 617 | ** On the planet of Prometheus there are some literal Amish. |
| 618 | ** The Imperium itself and several other intersteller states have a prejudice against psionics, robotics, and cybernetics and limit them to specific circumstances. This makes the Imperium itself a mild form of SpaceAmish in the future. It also justifies a few aspects such as WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture, and having {{Badass Army}}s, instead of clouds of nanites or hordes of robots and in general gives it a more [[RuleOfCool heroic and personal feel]]. Taboo technology, can of course still be found in a lost city, or a secret Imperial research station, or whatever. |
| 619 | * SpaceBattle: Tons. The Intersteller Wars and the Fifth Frontier War are the two most detailed in the canon, though the Rebellion/Final War was technically even bigger. |
| 620 | * SpaceCossacks: The dissident kimashargur movement advocates a partial relaxation of restrictions on exploration and innovation. By yar 3700, it slowly becomes influential in the rimward portions of the Grand Empire of Stars, aka the Ziru Sirka. They hold resentment against the Vilani mainstream government and even take the Terrans' side during the Interstellar Wars. |
| 621 | * SpaceFighter: These are present in nearly all versions of the game, but their effectiveness depends on the specific version of the game, and is also an issue of {{fanon}} debate. Typically they are near-useless against the larger capital ships of the setting but can be threats to the small ships most player groups have access to. |
| 622 | * SpaceIsAnOcean: Several versions of the game compare the Imperium to the [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen Age of Sail]]. |
| 623 | * SpaceMarine: The Imperial Marines. As well as the earlier Terran Confederation Marines. Curiously hardly anyone else seems to field {{Space Marine}}s although similar units with different titles are common. |
| 624 | * SpaceNavy: several, quite naturally enough. The Third Imperium has one of the biggest. |
| 625 | * SpaceOpera: The standard scope of the game, although the game your Referee runs doesn't ''have'' to be SpaceOpera. There's a definite hard science fiction feel to the technical limitations of the weapons, the tight parameters for ship design, etc. The character creation system encourages characters with human-scale abilities and limitations, not even Heinlein-style [[Creator/RobertAHeinlein Competent Men]], let alone larger-than-life heroes. Contrast this with, for example, ''TabletopGame/StarWarsD20'', in which you can't ''not'' play space opera. |
| 626 | * SpacePirates: They are probably the attackers of the ''Beowulf'' on the original cover, and they have often been a career option, so they definitely exist in the Third Imperium setting. The realism of space piracy is a cult-controversy among Traveller fans, rather akin to the "do Balrogs have wings?" question in Tolkien fandom. The issue is so controversial that Mongoose Traveller's notes on piracy feature a "FlameWar Warning" sidebar. |
| 627 | ** Vargr Corsairs (which are [[TheHorde somewhat different]]) as well as pirates from other races often appear in published adventrues. As well as more respectable privateers. |
| 628 | ** ''Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition'' has "The Pirates of Drinax" campaign setting, which is all about the players building their own space pirate empire, starting with one technologically advanced ship and a single pirate base. Rules are supplied for setting up additional pirate bases, what to do with prize ships, and how to avoid provoking the Third Imperium and the Aslan too much. The nominal goal of the campaign is to make the planet Drinax the new capital of a reformed ancient empire and be retroactively declared legitimate privateers by the new Emperor, though the players can of course go their own route. |
| 629 | * SpacePolice: Imperial Customs in the Imperium, Confederation Patrol in the Sword Worlds Confederation. These often deal with SpacePirates. Some sub-departments of the IISS as well, notably the S3 which are kind of "space [=SWAT=]-teams". |
| 630 | * SpaceSector: The Imperium is divided into domains (or archduchies), each of which is divided into several sectors (or duchies), which are in turn divided into subsectors (or counties). |
| 631 | * SpaceWestern: Not only are there quests, [[TheEpic epic]] voyages, and space battles, and all the stuff of grand style SpaceOpera, there is grubby frontier mayhem, pioneering and that sort of thing. |
| 632 | * SpareToTheThrone: |
| 633 | ** Dulinor's plan for assassination of the Emperor in the ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' backstory included also killing the Empress, the Imperial Grand Princess who was the Emperor's heir and his twin nephews who were next in line after her. If the plan had succeeded there may have been no rebellion. Dulinor succeeded in killing the Emperor, Empress, and Grand Princess himself, but the assassin assigned to the twins fumbled the attempt, and Lucan the younger twin used the opportunity to kill his older brother Varian and ascend the throne. [[TheCaligula It did not end well]]. |
| 634 | ** Duke Norris in the ''Classic'' timeline was also a second son, and was not expected to inherit the Duchy of Regina until his older brother unexpectedly died. Norris turned out to be an exceptional leader. |
| 635 | * SpeciesLoyalty: There are several species that have an almost instinctual loyalty to their race: |
| 636 | ** The Vargr, who are uplifted wolves, are unable to maintain a larger interstellar state than any one Vargr can personally control and are always infighting to determine who is the pack leader in any group. However they have a strong racial pride and will set aside their domination struggles immediately when faced with a non-Vargr threat. |
| 637 | ** The K'Kree pride themselves on never fighting each other, only the nasty, evil, meat-eating species. |
| 638 | ** The Droyne are extremely family oriented, and some of the Droyne castes will die without a member of the leader caste to give them direction. Inter-Droyne conflict is nearly unheard of, and their interaction with other races is mostly a desire to be left on their own worlds alone. |
| 639 | ** The Hivers enjoy manipulating each other, but they enjoy manipulating other races even more. They all consider themselves superior to the other species in their part of space, and are eager to help improve them. |
| 640 | ** The Zhodani view the other branches of humaniti as untrustworthy and essentially mentally ill. There are very few Zhodani defectors, but it might have more to do with the fact that the ruling class are telepathic and employ a group called the "thought police" to keep the lower classes what they view as "mentally healthy", rather than authentic species loyalty. |
| 641 | * SpheroidDropship: The ''Broadsword'' class mercenary cruiser. Oddly, though its description says it can't land on planets with atmospheres, one does exactly that in Classic Adventure 7 ''Broadsword'' and the Mongoose edition's stat block has nothing in the rules that prevents it from landing. That said it does come with two modular cutters intended as {{Drop Ship}}s. |
| 642 | * SpiderTank: Classic supplement ''RM-90-08 Imperial Armed Forces Vehicle Guide Set Number 8 - Exotic''. The XM-125 is a tank that moves using its eight legs. The legs allow it to move over almost any type of solid terrain, including crossing ditches, fording rivers, passing over obstacles and climbing slopes of up to 60°. |
| 643 | * SpikeShooter: Supplement ''Spacefarer's Guide to Alien Monsters'' |
| 644 | ** The nailer is a porcupine-like alien creature that can fire its quills up to eight meters away. |
| 645 | ** The spinechucker is a four meter tall cactus-like plant which can shoot its spines up to 1 meter away. |
| 646 | * {{Splat}}: |
| 647 | ** Possibly the UrExample - ''Classic Traveller'' began issuing splatbooks in ''1978'' with ''Book 4: Mercenary'' (detailing mercenaries and ground military careers), following it up with ''Book 5: High Guard'' (space navy), ''Book 6: Scouts'', and ''Book 7: Merchant Prince'' through the end of the edition. The alien modules could be considered splats as well, since each included character generation rules for their featured race. Splatbooks didn't become popular in other [=RPGs=] until a decade later. Most of the editions after ''Classic Traveller'' didn't do splatbooks until... |
| 648 | ** ''GURPS Traveller'' had well-regarded splats for Mercenaries, Merchants, and Scouts [[note]]''Star Merc'', ''First In'' and ''Far Trader'', respectively[[/note]] and the various alien races. They did a splat on ''Nobles'' as well. |
| 649 | ** The first edition of ''Mongoose Traveller'' produced the most splats of any edition. They did their own versions of ''Mercenary'', ''Highguard'', ''Scouts'', and ''Merchant Princes'' and followed those up with ''Psion'', ''Agent'', ''Scoundrel'', ''Dilettante'', and ''Cosmopolite'' (careers like "colonist" and "scientist"). They also did their own set of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Alien Modules]], as well, ''and'' there are also a number of supplements with vehicles, ships, more equipment, various sector books, and so on. |
| 650 | ** By contrast ''Mongoose 2nd Edition'' has only done three Alien Race splatbooks so far, and they each feature several aliens, rather than giving each race a separate book. They haven't produced any new career books for Imperial human characters in this edition. |
| 651 | * SpoilerTitle: Guess what the players find out during the Classic Adventure 12 ''Secret of the Ancients''? |
| 652 | * SpyShip: Free Traders can sometimes do this. It's also an open secret that the Imperial Scout Service often gives surplus scout ships to former scouts with the condition that they make periodic reports on anything interesting they discover in their wanderings. |
| 653 | * StagedPopulistUprising: |
| 654 | ** Classic Supplement 6 ''76 Patrons''. Two of the missions involve a rebel uprising in the country of Anisinta on the planet Porozlo. The PC are hired by a group of business executives to either create a rebel force to overthrow the government or take over an existing rebel group for the same purpose. The executives intend to profit by making the government more friendly to business. |
| 655 | ** In the 3rd Imperium's Spinward Marches, the Ine Givar rebels are under the control of and supplied by the Imperium's enemy, the Zhodani Consulate. |
| 656 | ** Classic Adventure 7 ''Broadsword''. On the planet Garda-Vilis the Tanoose Freedom League was originally a home-grown rebellion against off-world control by the planet Vilis, but eventually came under the control of the Ine Givar rebels and switched to an anti-Imperial stance. |
| 657 | * StandardRoyalCourt: The Imperial court and the court of every sector and subsector capitol. Generally gives an air of ErmineCapeEffect but there a trace of DecadentCourt as well. |
| 658 | * StandardSciFiHistory: Once in their glory days the Vilani ruled over a vast [[TheEmpire domain]] for [[VestigialEmpire thousands of years]]. When they fell into [[DecadentCourt complacency]] a BarbarianTribe from an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet [[{{Plunder}} seized]] the worlds of the Vilani in a series of [[SpaceBattle conquests]]. However these too fell from their glory and [[AfterTheEnd darkness]] fell on the universe. Then under the [[TheEmperor reign]] of [[MagnificentBastard Cleon Zhunastu]] the Third Imperium was founded to [[WagonTrainToTheStars explore and colonize]] and rise to claim the [[GoodOldWays legacy]] of the two great empires before it. The Imperium stands to this day shining [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas the light of civilization]] across the stars. But at the borders chaos reigns. Rival empires plot and scheme, warlords clash, pirates plunder and alien races seek their dominion. It is not a safe universe. |
| 659 | * StandardTimeUnits: The Imperium runs on a 365-day calendar, using 24-hour days. It's left over from the Second Imperium, which was run by humans from Earth. |
| 660 | * StarfishAliens: Although some of the races are RubberForeheadAliens or PeopleInRubberSuits, or even HumanAliens, several others, especially some of the more obscure minor races, are rather strange. The Hivers even look like starfish. |
| 661 | * StarfishLanguage: The language of the Hivers has no audio component and is basically a sign language. Since Hivers have six limbs and six eyestalks that are all used in their language, this makes it nearly impossible for a non-Hiver to communicate properly in it. |
| 662 | * StarfishRobots: Many of the robots in the setting look nothing like humans. Zhodani combat robots are a notable example, being basically flying guns. Some Hiver robots even look like starfish, being modeled after the [[StarfishAliens Hivers]], of course. |
| 663 | * StarKilling: No known race in the "present day" of the setting can do this except the Darrians who have an unusual level of technology. |
| 664 | * StatDeath: Damage in most editions is done directly to your physical statistics (Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance); you're helpless if two reach zero and die when all three run out. |
| 665 | * StateSec: [=SolSec=], among the Solomani, and the Zhodani Thought Police. |
| 666 | * StayInTheKitchen: K'ree are the most extreme and simplistic example. Some {{Proud Warrior Race}}s have a more complex and ambiguous take on this. |
| 667 | * StealthInSpace: The black globe generator, and [=ECCMs=]. |
| 668 | * SubspaceAnsible: Averted. One of the fundamental features of the ''Traveller'' verse is the lack of these. |
| 669 | * SuperPersistentPredator: The Chamax in Double Adventure ''The Chamax Plague/Horde''. They can detect life and radio signals at long ranges and will hunt down and eat anything they can detect. |
| 670 | * SuperSpit |
| 671 | ** Classic adventure "Disappearance on Aramat". The Gratheudom (Dozer Beast) can spit an acid powerful enough to burn through body armor up to three meters away. |
| 672 | ** Classic supplement ''Spacefarer's Guide to Alien Monsters'' |
| 673 | *** The burnfrog can spit a nerve poison up to four meters away. |
| 674 | *** The covalen is a six-legged dragon-like alien creature that can spit a glue-like liquid up to ten meters. |
| 675 | *** The eester is a fox-like alien that can spit strong acid up to five meters away. |
| 676 | *** The nought is an alien owl that can spit a contact nerve poison at its foes. |
| 677 | *** The saplin is a shellfish that can spit a poison that causes epilepsy-like symptoms. |
| 678 | *** The shellslug is a three meter long slug that can spit acid up to ten meters away. |
| 679 | *** The spitter is a lizard which can spit an instantly fatal contact nerve poison up to ten meters. |
| 680 | * SweetPollyOliver: Both Aslan and Sword Worlders have elaborate rules for this. On such occasions when a Sword Worlder desires a masculine vocation she is expected to dress and act like a male (in the cultural sense, not the biological presumably) while engaged in it. This is allowed when home obligations do not interfere, notably in a wealthy female who can hire servants. Such females are called "nontraditional" in canon, which is a misnomer as it actually is a tradition, just rarely enacted one. In the case of Aslan females sometimes become this when there are no male heirs; if they do they are obligated to vow celibacy and perform male duties and are addressed as males rather than females. In both of these cases it is a traditional arrangement to allow for a rare circumstance rather than a disguise. |
| 681 | * SwissArmyWeapon: The Smallarms System in the Classic supplement ''SORAG'' by Paranoia Press. |
| 682 | * SwordCane |
| 683 | ** ''Magazine/SpaceGamer'' article "Tools for Terrorists". The sword cane has a foil (sword) inside of it. It weighs one kilogram and costs 150 credits. Once drawn from the cane, the foil can be used normally. The scabbard can be used to parry other melee weapons. |
| 684 | ** Creator/{{FASA}}'s ''The FCI Consumer Guide''. The sword cane is a walking stick consisting of a foil covered by a wooden sheath. Once removed, the sheath can be used to parry enemy melee attacks. |
| 685 | * SwordFight: While the modern Marine sword drill consists of little more than a salute, the Imperial Marines in ''Traveller'' are trained to use their cutlasses in combat. Often this is more for sport (and sometimes dueling) than combat; there are however low-tech worlds in the ''Traveller'' Universe. As well, sometimes boarding parties find it inadvisable to start slinging bullets and grenades and laser beams around in close proximity to [[EarthShatteringKaboom the reactors in the engine room]] and appreciate having [[RockBeatsLaser additional tactical options]]. |
| 686 | * TankGoodness: Gravtanks are prominently featured in the ''Striker'' miniatures game and the various ''Mercenary'' books. A tech level 15 gravtank can easily outgun an entire battalion of the 20th century variety. |
| 687 | * TechnologyLevels: TropeMaker, at least for [[TabletopRPG the medium.]] [=TLs=] may look implausible if taken literally. The Sourcebooks imply that exactly the same technology evolves in planets that sometimes have different conditions and no connection. However, using [=TLs=] as a base a clever GM can construct something more believable. [=MegaTraveller=]'s "World Builder's Handbook" introduced the idea that a world may have different [=TLs=] for different areas of science and engineering, and a similar system was adopted by ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller'''s "First In" sourcebook. |
| 688 | * TechnologyPorn: Gobs of space tech porn including a system for designing your own CoolStarship. Many find that their favorite part. |
| 689 | * TechnologyUplift: |
| 690 | ** The Vilani Empire did this with the civilizations of planets it added. This included molding the civilization to fit the Vilani culture. |
| 691 | ** Classic Adventure 2 ''Research Station Gamma''. After the planet Vanejen was re-contacted by the Third Imperium, the Imperial Navy showed uncommon (for them) discretion by giving the planet more scientific knowledge and advanced technology in a gradual manner so it wouldn't cause culture shock. |
| 692 | ** The Hiver Federation is known for manipulating low-tech species to accelerate their development and form cultures friendly to them. Some suspect them of doing the same to humaniti, and in fact after the collapse of the Third Imperium they openly teach some of their tech to the Reformation Coalition. |
| 693 | * TeleportInterdiction: In Classic Adventure 7 ''Broadsword'', a unit of Zhodani Commandos tries to teleport aboard the title ship in order to capture it. The crew must prevent this by filling unoccupied parts of the ship with solid material so the Zhodani can't use them as a teleport location. |
| 694 | * TidallyLockedPlanet: ''Classic Traveller'' Double Adventure 2 "Across the Bright Face". The planet Dinom is an interesting variation on this. Its north pole points toward its star, so it looks like it's on its side. Its northern continent is always in sunlight (up to 260 degrees Celsius) and its southern continent in darkness (and goes almost as low as absolute zero). Between the north and south continents there's a temperate zone where life can exist. |
| 695 | * TimeTravel: Almost averted. Potential for it exists, but few arrangements are made for it in canon. Those who wish to deal with it can cross-reference Gurps: Time Travel and Infinite Worlds. Zhodani are said to have a secret AncientArtifact that sees the future but little is made of that [[spoiler:other than it being the reason they're obsessed with sending exploratory fleets towards the Galactic Core; they have a "map" that not only charts habitable worlds and Ancient sites on a straight line from their homeworld to the Core, but is apparently a vague future record of ''those exact journeys''. This StableTimeLoop enables these otherwise-incredibly-risky journeys to be ''extremely'' profitable; in one case, the "map" showed massive space battles, and by sending heavily armed warships on that particular journey, it was an unmitigated success]]. |
| 696 | * TranquillizerDart: A snub pistol loaded with tranq rounds, as described in Book 4 ''Mercenary''. |
| 697 | * TranslatorMicrobes: Justified, being just a computer program that collects languages. Newly discovered languages have to be decoded the hard way; in the case of the IISS, by listening to transmissions or by putting a robotic bug on the planet to pick up conversation in preparation for FirstContact. |
| 698 | * TransplantedAliens: |
| 699 | ** The planet Urunishu is the site of an Ancient zoological park. Three hundred thousand years ago, the Ancients transported large number of Earth animals there. When the Ancient civilization ended, the animals were released from the park and eventually adapted to the planet. |
| 700 | ** The Vargr are uplifted wolves brought from Earth to a distant planet and modified by the Ancients. |
| 701 | * TransplantedHumans: An exceptional example in that the [[{{Precursors}} Ancients]] ruled local space from around 310,000 to 290,000 years ago, which is roughly when humans first evolved. Thus, the groups of humans the Ancients transplanted to other worlds are ''extreme'' speciations, as their Earthbound descendants were winnowed out by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory#Genetic_bottleneck_theory Toba catastrophe.]] Most psionics are from these alternate lineages. |
| 702 | * TruceZone: The Federation of Arden. |
| 703 | * TruthSerum: Truth drug. The recipient answers questions truthfully for two minutes, then falls unconscious for an hour and takes moderate damage. |
| 704 | * TwinTelepathy: The Clotho are a minor alien race that has this. They are born in brother-sister pairs and when they mate one ''pair'' is bonded with another pair instead of one individual. |
| 705 | * {{Uncanceled}}: ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Traveller'', ''T4'', and other latter-day incarnations. |
| 706 | * UnexpectedInheritance: |
| 707 | ** Classic Traveller Adventure 12 ''Secret of the Ancients''. One of the [=PC=]s receives an inheritance from an uncle: a statuette which leads the party into a hunt to find an Ancient site. |
| 708 | ** Archduke Norris never expected to become Duke of Regine, but his older brother died prematurely. |
| 709 | * UngovernableGalaxy: Nearly all of the interstellar states in Traveller are by necessity de-centralized in their structure. The states with comparatively more rigid control, like the Zhodani and the K'kree, are generally smaller than the more de-centralized states, like the Third Imperium. |
| 710 | * UnitedSpaceOfAmerica: the Terran Confederation. Justified in that the Terran Confederation is only a few generations into the future, close enough time for the culture not to have changed unrecognizably. For this reason the Intersteller Wars era is a good entry level period for players as it does not require roleplaying a strange culture (a fun exercise of course, but one for which some might prefer to wait until they've practiced a bit more). If you consider roughly 150 years from now to be only a few generations that is. But the justification does work well enough for the purpose and is somewhat more believable than 3000 years from now having the same culture as the players. |
| 711 | * {{Unobtainium}}: Lanthanum, which really exists and really is rare, but as far as we know doesn't facilitate FasterThanLightTravel - its most common use is in making flints for cigarette lighters. It is [[FanWank speculated]] that the role of lanthanum in the mechanism of jump drive is connected with the fact that it reacts reversibly with hydrogen, which is used as fuel for the drive. There are enough kinds of {{Unobtainium}} knocking around in the ''Traveller'' universe to warrant a LampshadeHanging in ''Mongoose Traveller'', where "unobtainium" is listed as a trade good. |
| 712 | * UnpredictableResults: What happens when a ship misjumps. It might be outright destroyed, or it might travel a far greater distance than normal to a random system, or it might go to the original destination planet but stay in jump space long enough to have all the crew starve to death before it gets there. |
| 713 | * TheUnpronounceable: Each of the major alien languages has a random generator to produce words that "sound like" the language to be used for names or short phrases. Since it's random, some words produced can be literally unpronounceable. |
| 714 | * UnreliableCanon: Canon can be changed according to the will of the players or referee naturally enough, and many distinguish between canon and their ''Traveller'' universe. Some of the side-stories contain narratives by people who are obviously unreliable, for instance because they are criminals or because they are ideological extremists. Some of the library data InUniverse makes the disclaimer that it has a potential bias based on where it was written. |
| 715 | * UrExample |
| 716 | ** As one of the first [=RPGs=] ''Classic Traveller'' has a lot of role-playing game "firsts" under its belt, including the first instances of a MetaPlot and [[{{Splat}} splatbooks]]. |
| 717 | ** ''[=MegaTraveller=]'' had one of the first unified task and contest resolution systems in [=RPGs=] as well. |
| 718 | * UsedFuture |
| 719 | ** Players can get a good discount on their starship by taking one that is several decades old. |
| 720 | ** The Darrians in the 1100s still use a few of their high-tech starships left over from before they blew their star up - about three-hundred years old. |
| 721 | ** For that matter, one can still find some grubby old ''Siigiizuni'' class (predecessor to the ubiquitous ''Beowulf''s) hanging around some places. These ships were from about the beginning of the Vilani Imperium. The design is around five-thousand years old, but the specs remain on record. |
| 722 | * TheUsualAdversaries: The Zhodani started out as the "go-to" bad guys of the setting, with their nefarious agents being behind almost everything. As they became more detailed in the setting they evolved into a more well-rounded race that can still be adversaries but could be allies in some situations; or you could even play a campaign where the players are all Zhodani and the Imperium are the usual adversaries. Other common adversaries in published adventures have included the Alsan, K'kree, Vargr corsairs, pirates in general, corrupt mega-corporations,and the Ine Givar terrorist group. |
| 723 | * UterineReplicator: there is cloning available for both individual and organizational use, though individual use comes up more often (for instance, some nobles have clones - politely called "true-sons" or "true-daughters" - for their designated successors, in place of or alongside natural-born children). |
| 724 | [[/folder]] |
| 725 | |
| 726 | [[folder:6: V - Z]] |
| 727 | * VaguenessIsComing: The whole "Empress Wave" MetaPlot of the ''New Era''. Some sort of psychic phenomenon which includes images of an "Empress" is emanating from the core, moving at lightspeed, and it seems to badly affect anyone psionic. It turns out to be the reason the Emperor was not on Capital to be assassinated and why he sent his son to the Regency. It's the reason for the civil war in Zhodani space and lots of Zhodani refuges in the Regency. However, because no later versions of the game have been set after the wave reached Charted Space it's never really been explained any further and is something of an AbortedArc. |
| 728 | * VampiricDraining: The Reticulan Parasite (''Franchise/{{Alien}}'') in the ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #4 and the Dyson monster in the Judges Guild adventure ''Darthanon Queen'' could both drain the LifeEnergy of the victims they killed. |
| 729 | * TheVerse: The Third Imperium is one of the first science fiction RPG settings, and easily one of the most developed. All the published versions of ''Traveller'' featuring it have been fairly consistent. Even the TNE version still had the Third Imperium as its backstory. |
| 730 | * VestigialEmpire: The Vilani Imperium had been this for thousands of years with its organization on autopilot and survived only because it hadn't had a competitor in ages. When they met the Terrans they were in for a big surprise. Not least because Terrans were only recently united and still [[HumansAreWarriors remembered how to fight]]. |
| 731 | * WagonTrainToTheStars: Exploration expeditions are a large part and the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service which is an Imperial government exploration and intelligence organization, does this as one of its main duties. |
| 732 | * WalkingTheEarth: What most player groups do, only the AdventureTowns are planets. |
| 733 | * WarForFunAndProfit: What mercenary player groups do. |
| 734 | * WarIsGlorious |
| 735 | ** The Aslan [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig Zag]] this. They are certainly a ProudWarriorRace. But they have an elaborate code to minimize violence and even when war occurs it will likely be through such means as CombatByChampion. Aslan are warriors but they are not stupid. |
| 736 | ** Azhanti are a human ProudWarriorRace who have a religion that demands [[GlorySeeker seeking challenges]]. As war is one of the most popular methods of doing this they in essence consider war a [[WarriorHeaven path to heaven]]. |
| 737 | ** The Ithklur, a ProudWarriorRace of {{Boisterous Bruiser}}s that serves the Hivers. Or, as the Ithklur tell it, they let the Hivers take them to places where they can fight interesting new people. |
| 738 | * WarIsHell |
| 739 | ** Several units of Imperial Marines were actually disbanded for atrocities committed during the Imperial civil wars. |
| 740 | ** The beginning of the volume ''Sword Worlds'' shows a scene where a Sword Worlder soldier returning to find his house blown to bits, and his wife desperately trying to rebuild it. Then they greet each other and, as the book puts it [[GladToBeAliveSex "Spend the night celebrating being together after all they had been through"]]. |
| 741 | ** Some star systems in the Spinward Marches are choked with wrecks left from ''hundreds of years'' of Frontier War after Frontier War. This is a good place for the adventures of teams of SalvagePirates |
| 742 | ** The Sword Worlds in general pretty much had a broken jaw from the Fifth Frontier War. They lost nearly half of their territory, and some districts were nearly depopulated of young males. But the whole Spinward Marches is still recovering as of Emperor Strephon's time and damage is splattered all about. |
| 743 | * TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: |
| 744 | ** Played with. Toward the end of the Intersteller Wars, the constitution of the Terran Confederation became obsolete because PlanetTerra had conquered and [[YouWillBeAssimilated assimilated]] so many worlds that PlanetTerra could no longer be considered [[EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse the center of the confederation]]. When no one could solve the problem, a naval coup took place instituting the Second Imperium. |
| 745 | ** The Long Night could be an aversion. There is no mention of a mass rebellion per se; the Second Imperium just disintegrated. |
| 746 | * WaveMotionGun: Spinal mounts on most capital ships. |
| 747 | * WeDontNeedRoads: Triphibians starting at Tech Level 8 in [=MegaTraveller=]. |
| 748 | * WeWillAllFlyInTheFuture: Artificial gravity becomes the transportation technology of choice starting at Tech Level 9. The open-top air/raft (a six-passenger flying car) becomes ubiquitous soon after. Gravbelts become commonplace at higher tech levels too, allowing personal flight. |
| 749 | * WeWillUseLasersInTheFuture: Laser rifles were the only futuristic weapon included in the original three-book set. Since then lots of other futuristic weapons have been added. Generally lasers are more powerful and have more ammunition than other weapons, but are more likely to be legally restricted from use, and have bulky power packs. |
| 750 | * WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: Not slavery, exactly, but the Xboat is a possible example of this. Why do they have a living pilot when they don't even have a maneuver drive and the jump is done mostly by computer? |
| 751 | ** One suggestion never nixed by Marc is that Jump drives need a conscious mind to make them work. There is nothing in the rules of the various editions that says this is necessary however, and it would make some "abandoned ship" plots, like ''Annic Nova''[[note]]by Marc Miller[[/note]], impossible. |
| 752 | * WeWillWearArmorInTheFuture: Due to the general lethality of combat, armour is all but required to survive more than a couple shots. Besides [[PoweredArmor Battle Dress]] available armours range from practically useless leather (jack) to full combat armour that requires a laser or gauss rifle to really penetrate. There's also reflec that only defends against lasers and can be added to other types of armour. However most armour tend to be a higher tech level and much more expensive than the weapons that can pierce it. |
| 753 | * WeakenedByTheLight: In the Classic adventure ''Darthanon Queen'', the randomly created Dyson monster can have the Vulnerability of taking 1d6 damage from intense light. |
| 754 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The Imperium is generally pretty good at valuing non-human life, but humans are certainly at the top of the social pyramid. The emperors and the majority of the nobility have always been humans. The other major races are not always as forgiving: |
| 755 | ** The K'kree treat anything that eats meat (whether by choice or biological imperative) as totally evil and worthy only of extermination. |
| 756 | ** Aslan respect anyone who has adopted their culture, but treat everyone else as largely-unpredictable barbarians. Non-Aslan land is often seen as free for any Aslan who can conquer it, whether or not it was previously occupied. |
| 757 | ** Hivers like the other races, but they can't help trying to manipulate them for their own good. It's described as an extension of the Hiver parental instinct. |
| 758 | ** The rather monstrous-looking Shriekers were nearly driven extinct by the Imperial black-market for their eggs, called "Denuli Gems". Once the Imperium realized that the unborn offspring of a sentient race were being sold as art objects, they moved to protect the Shriekers by interdicting their planet. There are still collectors out there looking to buy more "Denuli Gems", however. |
| 759 | ** Many of the sentient naturally-evolved computer "Chips" of Cymbeline (featured in the Classic adventure ''Signal GK'') were scooped up and converted in Imperial research labs into the sentient weapon of mass destruction that became Virus. The remainder on the planet were nuked from orbit to prevent anyone else from re-creating Virus. Lucan's Imperial faction, [[TheCaligula being ruled by a power-mad tyrant bent on destroying his rivals at any cost]], did this sort of thing all the time. |
| 760 | * WineIsClassy: The Emperor drinks a Hungarian vintage brought all the way from PlanetTerra. |
| 761 | * WingedHumanoid: The Droyne, among others. |
| 762 | * WireDilemma: In the Classic Judges Guild adventure ''Darthanon Queen'' there are several bombs planted aboard the title starship. Each has three wires: red, black and green. To disarm a bomb the red and black wires must be cut. If the green wire is cut the person doing so will have to be scraped off the nearest wall with a spatula. |
| 763 | * WomensMysteries: The Kenningsboken, a [[TomeOfEldritchLore mysterious book]] containing rhymes dealing with such subjects as child care and home management is popular among Sword Worlder women and only occasionally read by men. Rumor has it that it is in fact a psionic exercise tool. |
| 764 | * WoodenShipsAndIronMen: ''Traveller'' is often compared to the Age of Sail. The main resemblance is the long voyages. On a strictly tactical level it is different. |
| 765 | * WorldOfTechnicolorHair: The variant races of humans scattered around space generally have aesthetic differences (and in most cases, non-aesthetic) from those who remained back on Earth. Hair color is sometimes one of them. In particular for this trope, the Pirians have blue or green hair, their follicles concentrating cobalt and copper depending on genetics. |
| 766 | * WretchedHive: The planet Granicus is a notorious pirate haven ruled by three competing organized crime groups. |
| 767 | * YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Once or twice there are anomalies in the description of various cultures that are most easily {{Handwaved}} by simply saying "Yeah, well that's THEIR version". In the volume ''Milieu 0'' of ''Marc Miller's Traveller'' it actually invites this by giving arguments from both sides about the morality of building the Imperium, as if it was a RealLife political controversy. This sort of thing actually manages to help reinforce WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. When writing a {{Backstory}} Traveller is Just That Good. |
| 768 | * YouWillBeAssimilated: the ''Marc Miller's Traveller'' volume ''Milieu 0'' gives traces of the IISS's BigBookOfWar that tells how to do this to hapless planets during the founding of the Imperium. It gives an idea what a MagnificentBastard Cleon was. |
| 769 | [[/folder]] |
| 770 | ---- |
| 771 | ->''Free Trader Beowulf...\ |
| 772 | Come in, Free Trader Beowulf...\ |
| 773 | Can you hear me? Come in, Free Trader Beowulf...\ |
| 774 | ... hang in there, Beowulf, help is on the way!"'' |
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