Freelance Traveller

This section contains articles written by people who have found some aspect of the standard Traveller rules unsatisfactory, and, instead of grumbling and living with the inadequacies, have chosen to do something about it.

It's not impossible that you will see multiple articles proposing different solutions for the same perceived problem - that's OK, we intended it that way, so that you have a choice, and can use the rules that best meet your needs.

To make it a little easier to find articles addressing specific needs most articles in this section are classified by rule type.

• Character Detailing Rules Rules and methods for generating detail for a character beyond what the official rules envisioned. Includes rules for character adjustments during play.
• Character Generation Rules Variations and extensions to the basic system for creating characters.
• Conversion Rules Rules, methods, guidelines, etc., for converting between systems and/or settings.
• Extending The UWP Articles in this section discuss generating details for one code in the standard Universal World Profile.
• Task Systems Articles in this section provide alternatives addressing perceived difficulties with the standard task resolution system.
• Technology Rules Alternatives to standard equipment and ways to use it.
• The Traveller Solution Series Articles in this section address specific problems that arise when official material seems impossible or unreasonable.
• Striker Zero (Ken Pick) Adapting Dirtside II and Stargrunt II for use with Traveller
• Alternate Nobility (Jeff Zeitlin) Other ways of explaining why nobles are adventurers
• Anagathics: Doping the Inevitable (Philip Athan) Submitted by Colin Michael. An outline for incorporating life-extending drugs into a campaign.
• Anagathics and Military Economy (Patrick Lasswell) Justifying less-expensive anagathic therapy
• Animal Encounters in Classic Traveller (Robert Weaver) Tweaking the animal encounter rules
• More Than Four Legs and Nasty Pointy Teeth (Robert Weaver) Good animal encounters need to be memorable. Here's some ideas
• Building a Ship's Financial Profile (Jeff Zeitlin) How successful is your free trading - at a glance?
• Building a Commercial Atlas (Jeff Zeitlin) Pre-campaign preparation can move the emphasis from table lookups to role-playing.
• Traveller: Child's Play (Mark Graybill) Children as characters in Traveller
• Hostile Intent: Alternative Combat Rules for Mongoose Traveller (Sam Lockwood) Revising the combat rules to be 'less fiddly'.
• Commerce Raiding and Convoys (Bill Cameron) A overview, with historical context, of commerce raiding as a tool of warfare
• Fixing Standard Cargo Containers (Jason Barnabas) As written, they don't fit.
• Food Availability and Traveller (Terry Gardner) Making food matter
• House Rules and Background (Peter Arundel) Tuning the rules for a particular style of campaign
• Matching the Classic Traveller Tech Tree in GURPS (Anthony Jackson) An attempt at a detailed reconciliation of the two different tech level scales for Traveller.
• Occasional Cargos (Eris Reddoch) A method for generating occasional cargos for several purposes.
• Optional Career Rules for Mongoose Traveller (Kelly Kollman) Some tweaks to basic character generation
• Origin-Based Trade for Mongoose Traveller (Jason Barnabas) A highly-flexible trade system, imported from Classic Traveller Book 7: Merchant Prince
• The Ship's Papers (Jeff Zeitlin) What they are and why they need to be kept in order.
• Planetary Assault Operations: A White Paper (Rick Stump) An outline of what is involved in a planetary assault operation.
• Tweaking Power Projection for Small-Ship Campaigns (Ken Pick) The Power Projection rules have some problems with small ships. These are proposed fixes.
• Legal Psionics: Some Ideas (Ken Pick) Ways to use psionics legally in your campaign.
• A Code of Conduct for Psions (Edward Anderson) One way of defining ethical use of psionics.
• The Psiren: A New Psionic Talent for Traveller (Jeff Zeitlin) His talent uses yours against you
• Enhanced Psionics (Robert DeVoe) Some ideas for using Psionics in campaign
• QREBS in the Shopping Mall (Timothy Collinson) Using QREBS from Traveller5 to adjust the price.
• The Robot as Animal (Kevin Scrivner) When you need the behavior specs of a robot, not the technical specs
• Salvage, Prizes and Repairs (Tom Mouat/edited by Michael James Cross) Making money off others' misfortune
• Sanity in Marc Miller's Traveller (T4) (Tuukka Tenhunen) Even exceptional characters - like Travellers - may have their limits.
• Secret Police Forces in Traveller (Robert Weaver) Scarier than ordinary police - and more likely to be interested in your characters...
• Some Thoughts on Skill Use in Classic Traveller (Christopher Kubiasik) Going beyond Books 1-3, without going beyond Books 1-3.
• Additional Skills for Traveller (Alex Ingram) This article has been withdrawn at the author's request.
• Integrating Space Stations Into Your Campaign (Paul Hillers) Developing the station as setting
• The Thick Plotzes (Jeff Zeitlin) An accumulated list of minor things that can go wrong.
• TNS Quick and Easy (Michael Hughes) A method for generating the basic framework of a TNS news item.
• Travelling Alone (Dave Cooper) A referee/player aid for playing Traveller solo.
• Alternate Psionics Rules for T20 Traveller (Jason Kemp) Another approach to psionics for Traveller T20
• Just How Large Should the Crew Be? (Michael Capriola) Managing crew requirements when you need to track maintenance.
• The Color of Jumpspace (Jeff Zeitlin) Making Navigation skill useful in jump.
• The Color of Jumpspace II: Jump Sickness (Jeff Zeitlin) Letting jump-sickness affect your game.
• Implications of Jump Detectability (Garry Ward) So what if jumps can be detected?
• Four Cons (Bill Cameron) An overview of four 'confidence games'
• Skirmish at Apple Tree Farms (Ewan Quibell) A child's punch-out story diorama provides inspiration for gaming out a scenario.
• Wilderness Exploration (Richard Hazlewood) Filling in the blanks on the map
• Zhodani Commandos Revisited (Bleddyn V Wilson) A look at the Zhodani psionic commando force
• Travelling Light (Paul Elliott) Rebalancing tasks, and using extended skills with basic character generation
• Variant Ship Life Support Rules for Mongoose Taveller (Sebastian Messiah) More than just groceries.
• Stargates (Mark Barner) Incorporating another method of interstellar travel
• Keeping the Adventure in Merchant Campaigns (Jeff Zeitlin) Brokers and Traders shouldn't be able to make adventure unprofitable.
• Options for the X-Boat Network (Mel White) A description, with adventure seeds, of how the X-Boat network might work.
• Impressment (Richard Morey) You may not ever completely escape the draft...
• Locating Jump Gates (Richard Page) System geography can be important
• Economy Passage (Jason Barnabas) When the Low risk and the Mid price are both too high.
• Life Support (Dwayne Walstrom) An alternative to the standard Mongoose Traveller rules for building and provisioning starships.
• Suffer Unto Me the Little Children (Richard Morey) Children as NPCs and their influence on PC development
• The Ship's Locker: Limiting Without Specifying (Michael Wakefield) A simple way to keep arguments over the deus ex machina of the Ship's Locker to a minimum.
• Redefining Hull Characteristics for Traveller: The New Era (Ian Malcomson) A bug fix for the Traveller: The New Era ship design sequence.
• The Eaglestone Trade Index (Rob Eaglestones) Ballparking traffic levels
• Psionic Abilities (Timothy Collinson) An overview of additional psionic abilities, within the Talent framework of Mongoose Traveller
• Dreamwalkers: Where Psionics Meets the Unconscious (Jeff Zeitlin) Anything you dream may be used against you
• Economics and Cargo in Traveller (Robert DeVoe) Cargo Convenience
• Starships for Sale (Mark S. McCabe) Why it's as good an idea to kick the tires on a used starship as on a used car
• Hazard: Storm! (Michael Brown) Letting nature have a hand in your adventures
• Hazard: Tornado! (Michael Brown) Adding a twist(er) to an adventure
• Hazard: Matterslip! (Michael Brown) Feeling the earth move under your feet
• Hazard: Tsunami! (Michael Brown) When the water feels the earth move under its feet...
• Nature Red In Tooth and Claw...Move Over! (Rob Garitta) Plants can defend themselves, too...
• Benefits and Burdens: Roleplaying Character Traits in Classic Traveller (Michael Brown) Developing personal idiosyncracies for your characters
• In the Grey: Starship Activities In Jumpspace (Timothy Collinson) You're not going to spend the whole week exercising or cleaning your weapon...
• Speaking in Tongues: Simulating Dialects in Your Game (Jeff Zeitlin) Putting words into your NPCs' mouths
• The Chase (Benedikt Schwarz) Chases aren't simply "you catch him/he gets away"
• The Influence Game: Running a Meeting of the Moot (Matt Frisbee) A real use for a Noble PC
• Low-Prep Adventure Design (Mel White and Bill White) Designing an adventure almost on the fly
• Alternate Visions of Traveller (Shelby Michlin) Don't let plausibility and scientific accuracy get in the way of fun.
• Virtuality and Its Social Consequences in Traveller (Jim Vassilakos) Getting real about virtual reality
• Starship Interiors (Guy Garnett) What's it like in there?
• Colonial Shipyard Starter Kit (Cian Witheren) A quick-build Class C starport
• Multi-Skills, or 'Skills' as Certifications (Brian Jones) A compromise between adding detailed skills, and lumping vaguely-related skills together
• Pirates of the Spinward Main (Neil Lucock) When your PCs decide to become the hunted
• Spacecraft Classification Societies (Chris Barlow) Is your ship spaceworthy?
• Buying Used Starships (David Billinghurst) When acquirung a new starship may be out of the question
• The Fury Tank Battle (Ewan Quibell) Modelling a tank battle between Sherman and Tiger to test the MegaTraveller design system
• Factions as Characters (Paul Elliott) Another way of looking at patrons
• Travelling Imperial Magistrates (Jim Vassilakos) Going back to th original meaning of "circuit court"
• A Mini-Game for Computer Hacking (John McClain with Jeff Zeitlin) Making a computer hack more than just a single roll
• Low Psionics (Jeff Zeitlin) Psionics that might explain some people's "knacks"
• Increasing Psionic Power in Traveller (Paul Anuni) Using up psi points slower
• The Role of Psionics in the Mixed Client States (Aubrey Forest) Imperial-style hostility to psi is not the only response...
• Cepheus Lethal Hits (A. R. Kavli) Traveller and Cepheus Engine rules have always been lethal; here's a way to detail the lethality
• Alternate Psionics for Traveller (Greg Caires and Jeff Zeitlin) Alternate rules for making psionics more useful.
• Expanded Stellar Radii Table (Ewan Quibell with Jeff Zeitlin) Filling in the gaps from Book 6, and finding a new way to read it
• The Physical World (Richard Honeycutt) An alternate way of generating the physical stats for a world, with more of a nod to realism
• Cats of the Far Future (Jo Jaquinta) Pets, and possibly much more
• Socially Unacceptable, or, The Case for Leprosy (Jo Jaquinta) An incurable chronic disease with obvious symptoms can have a place in a campaign
• A Solo Traveller-Themed Game An unabashed repainting of a game posted to Twitter
• Chamax Escape: Design Notes (Greg Caires and Tom Price) A solo-play game to go along with the classic Double Adventure 5
• Navigation in Traveller (Dan Corrin) A series of treatments of different aspects of navigation in Traveller
• Referees' Tips From referees to referees, short essays to make gaming easier.
• The Two-Space Traveller Project (Jeff Zeitlin) A basic proposal for adapting the setting of Dave Grossman's "Two-Space" novels to Traveller
• Second Life Traveller (Jeffrey Schwartz) A brief look at an implementation of Traveller for the Second Life on-line environment