Exploration, piracy, ancient aliens and more await those who pick up one of these Traveller ... [+] campaigns.
45 years ago, tabletop gamers were first enticed into a world of space adventure by a little black box full of three books and a distress call from the Free Trader Beowolf. Traveller has since become one of tabletop gaming most durable franchises, offering generations of players a chance to live out their Han Solo fantasies with their friends. The game offers a great mix of exploration, adventure and trading.
Mongoose Publishing, who are updating the most recent edition, has also taken steps to expand the game above and beyond the classic campaign. They’ve released several boxed sets that appeal to fans of everything from Star Trek to The Expanse. Anyone looking for a break from the fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons should be able to find something to enjoy here.
Rather than the usual beat up freighter that most of these games come with at the center, Pirates of Drinax begin with the king of the planet Drinax handing the players the keys to an old warship. He wants them to restore the glory of his planet though their plundering of ships crossing his tiny sliver of space. Technically, that makes this Privateers of Drinax but that’s admittedly a less punchy title.
Pirates of Drinax maintains the open world style championed by Traveller while installing a pulp campaign frame in the background. The books include several small advantures that advance the plot but also provides guidance for crews who decide to strike out on their own. Pirates are notoriously bad at following the rules, after all.
Most Travellers expect to get into a scrape or two on desolate planets or back alley cantinas. Mercenary expands one of the most popular books for the line into a boxed set that covers the players become blasters for hire. It also covers war from small unit tactics to a planetary scale.
The set revises how players get their missions through a ticket system. This system provides the information they need to choose a conflict but als generates the on the ground complications that make being a mercenary an extra dangerous business. It also expands character generation options for military characters.
War and profit are all well and good, but what about exploration? Strange new worlds, new life forms and all of that stuff? The Great Rift offers a great section of uncharted space for players to discover alien mysteries and odd scientific phenomena.
The Rift remains unexplored because of limitations of the setting’s faster than light drives. The four books detail the settlements around the Rift and the ones deeper into the black. There’s also a deep space explorer’s book full of equipment and ships that push the boundaries of space travel.
First contact is an exciting plot point for shows and films like The Expanse and Contact. In Deepnight Revelation, players discover something beyond The Great Rift. Something massive and hungry.
This campaign puts the players in the titular spaceship while also setting up troupe style play. Sometimes the players will play their main characters and sometimes they will play supporting crew members depending on the crisis at hand. There are also half a dozen sourcebooks that support the main campaign for those nights when the Game Master doesn’t have time to prepare.
The rest of these expansions are boxed sets. For a table that just wants a taste of a Traveller campaign, Secrets of the Ancients has one foot in a classic game of wandering traders while also offering something a bit more epic. Players can get mixed up in the petty squabbles of smuggled cargo and corrupt Imperial officials while also solving an ancient mystery.
This game sets the players on the path of an old friend who asks them to deliver his body after his death. But a variety of secrets connect them to a forgotten alien race, a slick starship and a chance for the players to experience the creation of an alien civilization first hand.
These titles are available from the publisher or through your friendly local game store.