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*Freelance Traveller

The Electronic Fan-Supported Traveller® Resource

May 2013

 

May 2013 Department Article Title Author
From the Editor   Jeff Zeitlin
Featured Article
Critics' Corner Mongoose Traveller Adventure 1: Beltstrike Jeff Zeitlin
Ancient Trails: Witness to History “kafka”
Nemesis-class Pursuit Ship Jeff Zeitlin
Other People's Toys: Stars Without Number “kafka”
In A Store Near You NHR 2000 Sensor Drone Robot Ewan Quibell
Less Dangerous Game Marsh Animals Scott Diamond
Raconteurs' Rest Funny Fish: For Luck (Part 2) Andrea Vallance
Doing It My Way Extending the UWP: Starports Jeff Zeitlin
The Shipyard MegaTraveller Designs: Schwartz-class Modular Spaceship and Modules Ewan Quibell
Active Measures Getting Off the Ground: Amber Tours, Ltd. Colin Michael
Kurishdam At Home, We Do It Like This: Slice of Life: Technology's Effects on the 30th Century Family Mike Cross

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The articles listed and linked above are also linked in their appropriate sections of our website.

From the Editor

Why do Traveller and similar games (e.g., Stars Without Number or Diaspora) hold our interest? What keeps us coming back for more, even after a generation? Recently, I (re)read a novel—science fiction, specifically the Star Trek novel, Prime Directive—and I think the authors, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, hit on the answer: Le rêve d’étoiles, the dream of stars.

The general perception of the role-playing game is that it’s a hobby for “kids”—usually implying people of … limited … maturity. Certainly, the Traveller community has such people in it. But, somehow, it seems like a major part of the community’s membership is drawn from older people, people whose children are at the age when they’re starting to think about college, and perhaps themselves getting into gaming. People who grew up in a period when hope was starting to turn into cynicism, but the hope was still there. A period when manned space exploration was still a dream that looked like it would continue to happen. And we wanted to be part of it. Some of us—perhaps most of us—still do, though we’re mostly resigned to it not being in our lifetimes.

In a way, that’s what Traveller is all about. Yes, we fight wars, deal in political intrigue, make our fortunes as merchants, and so on, but we could do that here on Terra, and we could play our games set on Terra, past, present, future, or parallel-world. But we don’t; we play Traveller instead. Because underneath it all, it’s the dream of stars, of being out there or going there, regardless of what we’re doing.

And perhaps it’s also about keeping le rêve d’étoiles alive, refusing to give up that hope.

Do you think I’m right? Do you think there’s another reason? Please write and share your thoughts.