GURPS Traveller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Designers | Loren Wiseman |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Steve Jackson Games |
| Publication | 1998 |
| Genres | Science fiction |
| Systems | GURPS |
GURPS Traveller is a set of table-top role-playing game books by Steve Jackson Games (SJG), designed to allow game play in the Third Imperium science-fiction setting from the original Traveller using the GURPS rule system. Loren Wiseman wrote the core book for GURPS Traveller and served as line editor.
Steve Jackson had long been a fan of Traveller, and had previously talked to Digest Group Publications about publishing a GURPS Traveller as far back as the late 1980s.[1]: 111 Following the 1996 dissolution of Game Designers' Workshop, Jackson obtained the Traveller license from Marc Miller,[1]: 111 while Miller simultaneously licensed Traveller to Imperium Games.[1]: 63 Jackson had Loren Wiseman (formerly of Game Designers' Workshop) produce GURPS Traveller, set in an alternate history timeline since the classic Traveller setting was then licensed to Imperium Games.[1]: 111 Following its publication, Steve Jackson Games supported GURPS Traveller by publishing numerous supplemental background books continuing through 2003, and the Journal of the Travellers Aid Society was brought back as an online magazine similar to Pyramid in 2000.[1]: 111
The game uses the GURPS third edition system and takes place in an alternate timeline in which no rebellion had occurred, and the AI Virus was never released. SJG has produced over 30 supplements for the line, including details for all of the major races, many of the minor races, interstellar trade, expanded world generation, the military forces of the Third Imperium, and starships. The game is often referred to as "GT". Wiseman was the GURPS Traveller line manager and editor of the online magazine Journal of the Travellers Aid Society.
In August 2007, Mongoose Publishing announced changes in Traveller license and a strongly supported reintroduction of the Traveller system: Steve Jackson Games licence for the Journal of the Travellers Aid Society ran until the end of 2011.[2] The distribution of physical GURPS Traveller products by Steve Jackson Games finally ceased at the end of 2015, but PDF copies remain available from SJ Games web store in 2025,[3]
GURPS fourth edition
In August 2004, the fourth edition GURPS ruleset was released.[4] In February, 2006, Steve Jackson Games released GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars. It included updated versions of the mechanics found in the previous edition, including system generation, starship construction, starship combat, interstellar trade, and a new setting.
While GURPS Traveller was set in an alternate timeline of the Third Imperium, GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars is set almost 2500 years prior to the founding of the Third Imperium, with a default year of A.D. 2170. The humans from Earth finally invent a faster-than-light drive for their space ships. They soon make first-contact with extraterrestrial aliens, and those aliens are human.