Classic returns
While I am not a fan of Mongoose Publishing who now own now fully owns the Traveller roleplaying game (RPG) license, I am forced to admit that there has been some goodness come from it as nice content for the original, or “classic,” Traveller RPG is newly available.
Ahoy, mateys!
In March 2025, Far Futures Enterprises published the first “new” Little Black Book (LBB) in decades. Book 9: Pirates. Book 9 formatted like a classic digest-sized book of 48 pages. Some commentators call Book 9 a “love letter” to the original LBBs which is not an unfair characterization: From the layout to the minimalistic art to the new Pirate Career this book can seamlessly integrate into a campaign using the various LBBs. That said, technically only Books 1-3 (Characters and Combat, Starships, and Worlds and Adventures) are required for play.
Wowzer Zozer
Using new Traveller licensing rules under the Travellers’ Aid Society Community Content Program, Zozer Games in May 2025 repackaged three of their previous offerings using the Cepheus Engine system and produced LBB versions. Two of the titles, Kosmos-68 and The Outworld Authority, are subsector sourcebooks.
Kosmos-68 starts from an interesting premise—Soviets in space:
This setting has been inspired by images of a Soviet space-future, and also by the look and feel of classic old-style Soviet movies like The Planet of Storms (Planeta Bur, 1962). The Union of Soviet Socialist Planets is a socialist utopia amongst the stars, Mankind’s next revolutionary stage, an age of limitless resources, limitless space and limitless potential. Out here, free from want or worry or war, all men will work happily knowing that they have secured the future of the human race. Of course, that is just the rhetoric … Today, in 2168, the CCCP is an impersonal bureaucracy, composed of interlocking layers of redundant commissariats, secret police, worker’s soviets, government controlled traders, and the armed might of the Strategic Rocket Forces. The subsector featured in this booklet is dominated by the strange cosmic anomaly known as the Abyss.
In a similar fashion, The Outworld Authority leans into many “classic” sci-fi tropes especially those inspired by movies such as ALIENS or Outland:
Evoking the gritty industrial sci-fi movies of the early 80s, The Outworld Authority provides one subsector in a setting dominated by corporations. These companies strip mine and exploit extra-solar worlds to keep the glimmer of civilization alive back on Earth. The subsector is an industrial zone: a place of colonies, mines, logging camps, asteroid prospecting and high-intensity agriculture. PCs are blue-collar workers, or perhaps the colonial marines dispatched to put down rebellions or deal with hostile organisms.
Kosmos-68 and The Outworld Authority are certainly not part of the Third Imperium or Charted Space setting that Mongoose holds exclusive license over. Zozer Games even makes it clear that The Outworld Authority is not to be confused with its HOSTILE setting for Cepheus Engine. Instead, Kosmos-68 and The Outworld Authority are connected adjacent subsectors leveraging the LBB rules. The two subsectors showcase the ability of the rules to support creation of your own setting tailored to a set of assumptions or design limits using the LBBs.
Zozer Games also repackaged their rules for playing Traveller in a solo mode. Technically, in May 2025 Zozer released two versions of solo Traveller. The first title, SOLO Second Edition, is marketed this way:
SOLO is a second edition of Zozer Games’ best-selling (Mithril level) roleplaying supplement, expanded with additional solo tools, two new campaigns (mercenaries and salvagers) and stats for all the ships required in the game. In full colour, with artwork by Ian Stead. Compatible with the Mongoose Traveller core Book, but as before, playable out-of-the-book with ALL EARLIER editions of that game, as well as all versions of Cepheus.
The second “new” Zozer Games solo Traveller title is a new LBB. Playing Solo – LBB describes itself this way:
A handbook to playing Classic Traveller solo; all in Little Black Book format!
There are few roleplaying games that lend themselves so well to solitaire or ‘solo’ roleplaying as much as Traveller. Its emphasis on tool-kit style rule systems creates a game that can be enjoyed alone for hours and hours on end. These guidelines are aimed at the referee or player who either has a copy of The Traveller Book or the three Little Black Books (numbers one to three).
The aim is to create a roadmap for solo play; rolling dice, creating and recording with a purpose. With an added table or two, this can involve running a group of characters through some daring heist or fighting with alien pirates over a lost treasure long sought, and is an incredibly enjoyable, imagination-stimulating pastime. Of course whatever is created also provides a ready-made setting with adventure hooks for a group of Traveller players at the table top.
Though marketed as a LBB for Classic Traveller, Playing Solo- LBB also supports games using the Cepheus Engine system.
Classic economics
Ultimately, the decision to purchase these new titles likely will not be made based solely on the rules offered. The new LBB formats are very economical. As a point of comparison, the Zozer SOLO Traveller rulebook retails for $11.99 but delivers a comprehensive 177-pages of content. On the other hand, the Playing Solo- LBB retails for $2.50 but delivers a slim 34 pages of content. Adding in the two sourcebooks, Kosmos-68 and The Outworld Authority, each selling for $2.50 and delivering 30 and 34 pages of content respectively means for less than the price of SOLO Traveller players can get solo-play rules AND two subsectors for adventuring. Some may question if 98-pages of content is really enough to play around with, especially in these days where the likes of Mongoose offers a comprehensive campaign adventure like Great Rift Adventures 1-5 with 216 pages of content but for $29.99.
I understand that Mongoose makes good money on marketing adventures and other game support materials based on the Third Imperium or Charted Space license. Those pricy books, however, are just not my style. The minimalist rules approach in Classic Traveller as illustrated through the LBBs showcase the real strength—and appeal—of Classic Traveller or Cepheus Engine. Though slim and minimalistic, the LBBs exemplify how to empower players and referees to play in or design and/or run an adventure or campaign at a fraction of the cost of other systems.
Feature image generated by WordPress Generate AI using prompts “Line Art” and “Create a highly detailed, high-resolution image capturing the essence of TTRPGs, specifically focusing on classic sci-fi themes inspired by the Traveller RPG. The image should feature elements like a futuristic-style pirate motifs evoking a sense of adventure and exploration in space. Utilize dramatic, soft lighting to create an inviting atmosphere, with a sharp focus on a future Soviet-inspired pirate officer. The background should hint at a starry cosmos, combining both nostalgia and excitement. The overall style should blend classic RPG aesthetics with modern flair, but be rendered in the style of a pen or pencil drawing.“
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