In the Traveller science fiction roleplaying game, the Travellers’ Aid Society is traditionally an in-game reference to a sort-of spacefaring frequent travelers club. Now, Mongoose Publishing is using that name for its hosted license for third-party publishing. Like similar offerings from Monte Cook Games, Margaret Weis Productions, and Wizards of the Coast, the Travellers’ Aid Society from Mongoose Publishing runs on DriveThruRPG and provides for greater latitude in use of Traveller game rules and setting material. Mongoose even provides free artwork and design templates.

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Mongoose Publishing is prepping a new edition of Traveller. The company expects to release the game in March 2016 but has already posted online a beta version for the public to playtest. While the playtest document is not free—the PDF is $20 from DriveThruRPG—those diving in now will be able to credit its cost toward the purchase of the final Core Rulebook.

With this new version, Mongoose promises “all the bells and whistles” in terms of graphics and presentation, compared to the previous release’s “minimalist approach”. The company notes in particular isometric deck-plans and “equipment pages that look as though they come straight from a space-based mail order catalogue”.

The same essential classic-Traveller-based rule system will continue. However, here too Mongoose promises refinements, including revisions to task resolution, skills, combat, character creation, and ship design.

Keeping with the theme of refinements, Mongoose is working simultaneously on the Core Rulebook, High Guard, Central Supply Catalogue, Vehicle Handbook, and Traveller Companion. This approach the company hopes will improve consistency.

Those supplements will be released in hardback, one per month immediately following the Core Rulebook. After that, the publication of additional materials will be more spread out as Mongoose looks to put more focus on quality.

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It’s a thing that Traveller players do—play with the system solo. Not playing the game or fiddling with the rules. More like running through character creation over and over. Or working through ship design to see how much they can pack in to a 400 ton far trader.

Embracing that style of play, Zozer Games has published Star Trader, a set of rules for solitaire merchant play using the Traveller system. The 28 page ebook includes flowcharts for buying, moving, and selling cargo; rules for trading without a ship; and, of course, a bunch of tables, such as planetary events and ship encounters.

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