The Zhodani Base

Traveller was first published 1977, and was inspired by even older science fiction. While this means that the computer rules used in traveller might feel a bit obsolete, it also means that for some of the books it was inspired by, the copyright has expired. (The computer rules are quite easy to ignore or modify anyway, so that doesn’t matter much.)

At Project Gutenberg, some works that has inspired traveller can be downloaded in several formats that will fit your e-book reader. It is also possible to read them directly on the web.

Here is a suggestion of five books for you to download:

1, Space Viking by H. Beam Piper

In Space Viking, there is a group of planets called Sword Worlds that are named after legendary swords. Doesn’t that seem familiar… The image below of the spherical ships  is from the book. They look a lot like the Mercenary Cruisers from traveller.

2, Deathworld by Harry Harrison

Jason dinAlt is the hero of the Deathworld books. In the Traveller Supplement 1, 1001 Characters, you can find his stats as hero #3, the Rapscallion Gambler. Jason dinAlt is skilled in gambling and also has a psionic talent, that can help his gambling. In Traveller, gambling is a skill, and psionics isn’t impossible.

3, Gambler’s World by Keith Laumer

Jame Retief is a Diplomat for the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne. In Traveller Supplement 4, Citizens of the Imperium you can find his stats as hero #5.

4, A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Hero #1 of the Traveller Supplement 1 is John Carter. In the Solomani Rim (0239), there is a small planet named Barsoom.

5, Triplanetary by E. E. Smith

Triplanetary is a Lensman prequels. Kimball Kinnison of the Lensman series is hero #2 in the Traveller Supplement 1. GDW also published a game called Triplanetary before they published Traveller.

Image from Project Gutenberg. Copyright expired.

Yet another book that I recently read was Stranger in a Strange Land (the 1991 version), by Robert Heinlein. I bought this at the Fantasy Centre last time I was in London.

This is one book that I know I ought to have read a lot earlier, but as always there is never time enough to do everything I want to. Since this is one of the most well known books by Heinlein I felt that I had to read it. It is also important since this is the book where the word “grok” was invented.

The first part of the book is very interesting. The human Valentine Michael Smith, who has been raised by martians has problems with the Terran humans and their rules and cultural values. The martian ways of doing things are very different. This can be an inspiration when dealing with aliens in Traveller.

The second part of the book is just a religious rambling (with lots of sex). For me this part of the book was just silly, but others have founded religions based on it.

Image from wikimedia. License: GNU Free Documentation

Finally, there is the Ultra-Condensed version.

Another book that I recently read was Space Cadet, by Robert Heinlein. I bought this at the Fantasy Centre last time I was in London.

This  is one of Heinlein’s so called juveniles stories. It’s about young boys training to become officers in the Interplanetary Patrol. No girls are allowed there. It’s a kind of adventure that boys in the end of the 40’s might have liked. The science is silly as well. Even when this was written, it wouldn’t have seemed likely to find intelligent beings on Mars and Venus and in the asteroid belt. I had hoped that this book was a Starship Troopers light version, but it wasn’t.

Eventhough I didn’t enjoy reading this, there was some good parts in the book. The meeting with the primitives on Venus was interesting. When it turned out that the primitives actually were the advanced venusians I thought about when I read something similar… Oh yes, is was the 2300AD adventure called “Ranger”.

Image from wikimedia. License: GNU Free Documentation

I have just read 1632 and 1633 by Eric Flint. 1632 was an interesting story set in an alternative universe where a small American modern town ended up in Germany in 1632. I think the idea for this book was great, and that the story was very good. I especially like Gustavus Adolphus, and that he wasn’t killed in Lützen. (No more spoilers here…)

1633 was the next book in the series. David Weber helped Eric Flint with this book. Personally I guess that was the wrong person to pick for such a project. The main character became something of a super hero. Just like in his Harrington books. My friend Jonas, who read these books just before me had warned me about this. The book was still quite good, but not as good as 1632.

I’ll probably read some other book in the series since the setting was nice. There is also a RPG about this setting. From what I read about it, I guess that it would be better to use GURPS (or other generic rules) for this setting instead. GURPS Alternate Earths or Infinite Worlds would be helpful. Then You can use maps and ideas from the 1632 Fan Site.

Image from Wikimedia. Public Domain

Most of You probably already know about this movie, but if You don’t You really should download it (or buy it) and see it. There is even a free RPG based on the movie.

Since I am a Zhodani, I am not allowed to vote in this Solomani election…

I first read Dune in 1984. I liked it a lot and later read and enjoyed the five sequels.

When I read Dune and the following novels by Frank Herbert I could see where the ideas for the nobles in Traveller has got (some of) its inspiration from. I also liked the style in which these books was written, with chapters about the different adversaries that met in a confrontation in the final chapters.

Other than that there wasn’t many ideas from the books that could be used in Traveller. There are no personal shields in Traveller, nor are there any Guild monopoly for transportation, and not much cloning (with restored memories) either. But this doesn’t matter. These books are still a great source for inspiration for Traveller just because of how the nobles are describes. It is also some of the best science fiction that I have read.

Now I have read one of the new prequels called House Atreides by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. This was an interesting book written in the same style as Frank Herbert’s Dune novels. It described the intrigues of the nobility in the Dune Universe very nicely, and the book also had a good plot. Now I just must read the rest of the prequels.

Original image from wikimedia. License Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

This book was interesting, but had really nothing useful for traveller. It was full of funny ideas, like what the nano-bots could do for you like sex changes and brushing your teeth.

It also had an interesting setting. Humanity had been thrown out from earth by some super race of dolphin lovers, so now humanity live on the moon and on the other planets, and were not allowed to go back to earth. The main character is a reporter, who is supposed two write an article series for the 200 year anniversary, since the war with the aliens.

Image from NASA. Public Domain.

Fortune’s Wheel by Lisanne Norman.

The Sholan are not Aslan! The Sholan are big hippie catlike psionic sex maniacs. This is a story about a human young woman named Carrie and the Sholan male named Kusac that she forms a special psionic bond with called a leska link. The Sholan forces has just liberated a human colony from invaders, Kusac and Carrie have met and formed this link between them. Then she have to go to the Sholan home world with him. The book is almost 650 pages, and nothing much really happens! Mostly, the book is just boring, and then they have sex, and then it is boring again, and then they have sex again, etc. etc. If I say any more about the story, then there will be no surprises left. If You want to read about big cats, read something by C.J. Cherryh instead.

QLI has obtained a licence for making a D20 RPG of the Honor Harrington books.

Now, what do we think about that???

Well it might be a good game, if they do it with the same quality as T20, and then I would probably buy it, just to see what people talk about, but I would probably not play it. Take a look at my previous post what I really think about Honor Harrington.