This is Free Trader Beowulf (2024) [+]
Jun 16 2025
This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller ($30 PDF, $50 Print+PDF), by Shannon Appelcline, is a 300-page book (digest sized landscape format I think) going over the history of the Traveller RPG and the various companies that have published for it.
Table of Contents
Each chapter includes a page-sized aside going over how the rest of the industry was doing at the time. There's also an aside for unpublished products. Each chapter ends with product checklists including SKUs so collector's can keep track of what they own. Each chapter also ends with references and sources for Appelcline's research.
There are plenty of good product photos (and people). There are sector maps showing where each adventure mentioned in the chapter was set and also some overview maps showing the various land grants (a land grand was given to a publisher for their exclusive use so that their stuff was canon for that grant) and the whole Traveller space (mostly centered on the Imperium).
If you've read Appelcline's Designers & Dragons series then this book has pretty much the same style and attention to well-researched detail. Although the focus is mostly on companies and organizations lots of people are mentioned and if someone disappears then comes back later there's a bit of callback so you remember. There is some stuff on non-Traveller because a company (especially GDW) also published other products or because a person either did something RPG-notable before or after their Traveller contributions.
Overall it's a good read and a nice history of Traveller a lot of which I didn't know even though I lived through the times and sort of paid attention to the industry. Kind of pricey for a PDF (although I got it as part of Traveller bundle which helped). In print I assume it's to the standard of current Mongoose Traveller 2E books (hardcover, full-color glossy pages) in which case the price is fine for that. This would look good on a shelf alongside Designers & Dragons though I'm guessing the size and spine won't match.
Table of Contents
- GDW: Before the Game (1973-1977) - how GDW was formed and their early games
- GDW: The Little Black Books (1977-1979) - Traveller when it was digest-sized books
- GDW: Discovering the Imperium (1979-1985)
- Licensees: The Guild to the Lords (1979-1985)
- GDW: The Big Color Books (1982-1987) - Traveller when it went to regular-sized color books
- DGP and Seeker: New Traveller Partners (1985-1987)
- GDW: The Megatraveller Era (1987-1992)
- HIWG and 'Zines: The Growing Fandom (1981-1992)
- GDW: The New Era (1993-1996)
- Imperium: The T4 Era (1996-1998)
- Shattered: The Long Night (1998-2007)
- Mongoose: Rise of the Third Imperium (2008-2015) - Mongoose Traveller 1E
- FFE: T5 & Beyond (1997-Present)
- Mongoose: Strephon Lives (2016-Present) - Mongoose Traveller 2E
Each chapter includes a page-sized aside going over how the rest of the industry was doing at the time. There's also an aside for unpublished products. Each chapter ends with product checklists including SKUs so collector's can keep track of what they own. Each chapter also ends with references and sources for Appelcline's research.
There are plenty of good product photos (and people). There are sector maps showing where each adventure mentioned in the chapter was set and also some overview maps showing the various land grants (a land grand was given to a publisher for their exclusive use so that their stuff was canon for that grant) and the whole Traveller space (mostly centered on the Imperium).
If you've read Appelcline's Designers & Dragons series then this book has pretty much the same style and attention to well-researched detail. Although the focus is mostly on companies and organizations lots of people are mentioned and if someone disappears then comes back later there's a bit of callback so you remember. There is some stuff on non-Traveller because a company (especially GDW) also published other products or because a person either did something RPG-notable before or after their Traveller contributions.
Overall it's a good read and a nice history of Traveller a lot of which I didn't know even though I lived through the times and sort of paid attention to the industry. Kind of pricey for a PDF (although I got it as part of Traveller bundle which helped). In print I assume it's to the standard of current Mongoose Traveller 2E books (hardcover, full-color glossy pages) in which case the price is fine for that. This would look good on a shelf alongside Designers & Dragons though I'm guessing the size and spine won't match.