The Science Fiction in Traveller

The Science Fiction in Traveller by Shannon Appelcline
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've spared no praise regarding what is one of my favorite roleplaying game systems, even claiming that it is The Simplest RPG System Out of this World, and by "Simple," I really mean versatile. But this review isn't about the game itself, it's about the book The Science Fiction in Traveller: a book about books about the game which is contained in books. Let's go down the rabbit hole.

The title might as well have been "The Traveller in Science Fiction". While the first section reviews books that Marc Miller claimed were inspirational to him (some of which I also thought were good, some not so good), this section is actually quite short. This isn't Appendix N, by any means, and I was honestly surprised by the scantiness here. But Appelcline is careful not to impose his own thoughts of what might have influenced Miller. Rather, he defers to Miller's own claims on the subject. As a strict exercise, I see why Appelcline did what he did, but I would like to have seen more of his insights into what might have influenced traveller. I think there's a lot more that can be seen between the lines of the published game material itself.

The vast majority of the book is taken by reviews of books and stories either influenced by Traveller (Jefferson P. Swycaffer's Condordat series, derived from Swycaffer's Traveller campaign, has an entire section dedicated to it) or written for the actual Traveller universe. Or universes, if I'm being proper, as the fiction reviewed here covers the breadth of all eras of Traveller (Classic Traveller, Megatraveller, The New Era, T4). Appelcline rates all of the works here by their literary merit and their applicability to the Traveller game (whether in terms of direct gameability or just inspiration/atmosphere). I've learned that there is a lot of really bad fiction associated with Traveller, most especially the "gaming fiction" that seems to compose the majority of the work. There are also a few titles that I will likely pursue for a read at some future date.

I wouldn't call The Science Fiction in Traveller "essential" reading for players or referees of Traveller. But sifting through the titles and using Appelcline's ratings as a guide is . . . an okay idea. I hestitate because, at times, I feel he contradicts himself. The ratings, as with any person rating books (myself included) are subjective and inconsistent with one another. I also noted several editing errors throughout the book, which gives me pause because I have copyedited several books and am particularly bothered by lazy editing, which is evident here. So don't take the ratings as gospel-truth. Your opinions may vary wildly from Appelcline's, but I feel this is a good starting point for your explorations into science fictional work associated with the game.

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