Freelance Traveller

November 2009 - Introductory Issue

Download this issue: US Letter (ANSI A) or European (ISO) A4 size

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

Editor's Correction: The PDF files credit the Up Close and Personal article, Judith Shreipm, to Dan Roseberry. The credit to Alan Spik, as shown on this page, is correct; the PDF files are in error. We regret and apologize for this error.

From the Editor

Welcome to the new Freelance Traveller magazine! Beginning with this issue – which we used to call an update – we’re going to a new format, with new sections and (hopefully) enhanced content. All of our previously published material will remain available, and may even be re-published if appropriate, so there’s no need to worry about favorite articles disappearing.

But what is the new format?

If you’re reading this, you’ve already seen the biggest change: we’re now a downloadable PDF magazine. All of the material will be in one convenient bundle, rather than scattered about our site. The site’s not going away; its role will ultimately be a grouped-by-subject archive for the magazine. But there are other changes as well…

We’re going to have some regular contributors, with regular columns. The columnist will decide what topic to write on, but the column will always appear under the same heading, and generally in the same place in the magazine each issue.

We’re hoping to have more graphics to go with the articles, whether they’re modified photographs, scans of hand-to-paper art, or generated-from-scratch renderings.

We’re hoping to have theme issues, where all of the articles will relate to the declared theme of the issue, whether that theme is a specific world in the setting, a specific kind of campaign, a specific rule or rulebook, a specific alternate setting (e.g., Babylon 5, Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, or whatever a licensee comes up with), or whatever.

As always, we can use your help – tell us what you’d like to see in Freelance Traveller, tell us what you think about what you do see in Freelance Traveller, and write stuff for us to put in Freelance Traveller. If you do artwork, offer to be an artist (and tell us what sort of art you’d specialize in) and we’ll be happy to send you copies of specific relevant articles for you to do the artwork for, as we need it. Like to write? Don’t think you necessarily have enough to say to make a full article? You’re probably wrong, but that’s OK; even short articles have a place – you can become a regular columnist for us, writing what you want on a regular basis.

We also hope to expand on the types of articles that we carry – in addition to the article types that you’re familiar with from our past fifteen years (yeah, it surprised us that we’d been around and active that long, too!), we’d love to see other types of articles – notes from referees on preparing campaigns, favorite recipes for home-made snacks from folks who host game sessions regularly, notes on managing play-by-mail/email/forum post campaigns – it’s all fair game. Or metagame. Or whatever you want to call it. If it’d be of interest to the Traveller player or referee, it’s of interest to Freelance Traveller.

That’s what we’d like to see. But ultimately, what’s in Freelance Traveller is going to be up to you, just like what has been on the site has been up to you, and for the same reason. We don’t exist without fan support. You’ve supported us for fifteen years, and we thank you for that. Now, we’re asking you to support us a little differently. Please come through for us now, as you have up to now.