A new crowdfunding campaign success aims to bring a sci-fi classic into a new format. The Traveller 5e Backerkit campaign is adapting the spacefaring RPG, known for exploration and emergent storytelling, to the system and cadence of Dungeons & Dragons.
The Traveller 5e Backerkit Campaign
According to the campaign page, the Traveller 5e Backerkit campaign centers on four major hardcover books. These books adapt and convert the world and setting of Traveller to the mechanics and rules of Dungeons & Dragons 5e/5.5e. Not exactly a first for the series since Traveller has gotten other system adaptations in the past through GURPS and D20 Modern.
This is major since Traveller is one of the oldest TTRPGs in the business, dating back to 1977. The game’s appeal lies in how your crew of characters, called free traders, decided to explore and engage in a vast galaxy. It was a game driven more by sociological elements and commerce than high-octane action or thrilling rollercoaster ride pacing.
Noted designers on the Traveller 5e Backerkit campaign include a lot of tabletop veterans. Credited designers include Traveller creator Marc Miller, Mongoose Publishing’s Matthew Sprange, and seasoned game designer Timothy Brown is credited as lead.
The four books in the game cover different areas of play. The Core Rulebook contains the fundamentals for character creation and basic rules. Gear and Robots contain rules for equipment and for constructing your own robotic helpers.
Starships covers the rules for space travel and various models of spaceship. Lastly, Worlds and Vehicles contains an alien bestiary, alien worlds, vehicle stats, and rules for making your own.
For those who have played Dungeons & Dragons, the Traveller 5e Backerkit campaign spotlights some new additions to the game in these books. This includes a new Psion class, 9 new character subclasses, 14 career backgrounds, spaceship combat rules, and player character robot options: including androids, cyborgs, avatars, and clones.
Lastly, the campaign does contain its share of add-ons. This includes custom dice, dice bags, and dice trays, a Deck Plan book containing maps of various ship interiors, Traveller-themed coins and patches, mystery bags, a magnetic dry erase reference screen, miniatures, and special edition printings of the core rulebooks.
The pledge levels for the campaign are as follows:
- Core Rules PDF for $29: A digital copy of the Core Rulebook
- Core Rules for $79: A digital and regular hardcover copy of the Core Rulebook and a vector-movement hex map
- Starter Bundle for $99: Digital and physical copy of the Core Rulebook, a hex map, and a set of metal dice
- Low Passage Bundle for $169: Digital copies of the Core Rulebook, Gears and Robots, Starships, and Worlds and Vehicles, Roll20 VTT support, a Deck Plan PDF, and Character, Army, Marine, Navy, and Security Squad Miniature STL files
- Jump Drive Bundle for $349: Physical and digital copies of all four books, physical and digital Deck Plan books, metal dice set, a metal slip case, and a hex map
- High Passage Bundle for $599: Everything contained in the Low Passage Bundle and Jump Drive Bundle levels with regular hardcover books replace with Special Edition physical editions
- Starship Beowful Bundle for $799: Everything contained in the High Passage Bundle level, four sets of colored Void dice, a metal dice box, a patch pack, a mystery bag, a galaxy dice bag, and a Mammoth Singularity Die
At time of writing, the Traveller 5e Backerkit campaign has raised $489,877, which has overtaken the initial funding goal of $1,977. The latter is meant to be a reference to the year of Traveller’s premiere, and the considerable prices of the different pledges are meant to encourage the turning of heads with the former. Hopefully, this campaign is in a better place to deliver than the Altered TCG was.