I have played the Traveller roleplaying game since I acquired the three boxed Little Black Books in 1979. I know there is much content out there especially in these days of the internet and content creators. I fully understand that there is always something new with Traveller. So it was a bit of a surprise to me to find something new that is actually quite old.
Just this past week I was scrolling though my curated lists on X and came across some new-to-me Traveller content:
“Luna: A Traveller’s Guide – The Moon in the TRAVELLER game” by Marc W. Miller—the father of Traveller—was published in issue 87 of Dragon Magazine in July 1984 having apparently previously appeared in a booklet published in 1993 by Star Quest Games.
As it appears in the Internet Archive version, “Luna: A Traveller’s Guide” is a bit under five-page entry that includes the black and white cover page.
Written as if it is an in-universe “Library Data” entry, the guide provides the history and “current” status of Luna. For players, the sections, “Overview,” “Population and Demographics,” “Transport Networks,” “Political Science,” “History,” “Military bases,” and “Laboratory” are presented. The last half-page of the article is “For the referee” and provides plot “Pulls” (opportunities for adventure) and “Pushes” (restrictions and adventuring hazards).
According to wiki.traveller.com:
The text of the Dragon article is essentially identical to the text of this booklet; there are minor edits to punctuation and phrasing. The insert commemorates the -2552 landing of early Solomani travellers on Luna; it features a map of the landing site and diagrams of the primitive vehicles used. This insert does not appear in the magazine.
The magazine article contains a half page illustration signed by Parkinson, of a lunar surface city with a monorail station, and a vacc suited individual in the foreground; behind one of the city’s towers, a near-full Terra hangs in the sky. This artwork does not appear in the booklet.
Alas, the copy of Dragon Magazine #87 uploaded to the Internet Archive has no commemorative insert or map loaded.
My office has been experimenting with using Generative AI for visualizations. I took the Dragon #87 article and uploaded it to a workspace in NotebookLM and gave it the following prompt: “Show me a map of the moon near side with Archimedean, Copernicus, and Plato from the source with locations plotted.”
Not knowing what to expect, I was hoping to get a moon map with pins dropped. After just a few moments of “thinking” NotebookLM responded first with the following:
While the source material does not contain a pre-drawn labeled map of the lunar surface, the article “Luna: A Traveller’s Guide” provides precise geographic coordinates for the three major population centers on the near side [1-4].
Based on those coordinates and the geographic descriptions in the text, here are the plotted locations:
Plotted Lunar Settlements
- Archimedes (30° N, 5° W): The oldest settlement, located near the Montes Apenninus and Mare Imbrium [2].
- Copernicus (20° N, 10° W): The trade and travel hub of Luna, originally established as an American scientific base [3, 5].
- Plato (53° N, 10° W): The intellectual center and home to the University of Luna [4].
Additional Geographic Context
- Mare Imbrium: This large plain lies between Archimedes and Plato; it was once the site of uneconomical strip-mining operations [2].
- The Gravway Circle: The sources describe a circular transport route (gravways) that connects Archimedes, Plato, Sinus Iridium, and Copernicus [6].
- Montes Apenninus: A rich mining region located near Archimedes, where shafts reach up to twelve kilometers deep [2].
- Sinus Iridium: A developing mining center that completes the primary circular monorail and gravway link [6-8].
The provided map has been generated using these specific coordinates and relational descriptions from the source text.
I then went to the Studio tab in NotebookLLM and discovered:
OMF’ingG
While I was thinking about a simple map to use for adventuring, this almost travel poster-like is so much more inspirational. Yeah, it has some funky points (smoking smokestack?). Yes, I should of added more locations like military bases and laboratories from the text but even without that comprehensive list this image captures so much of “Luna: A Traveller’s Guide” at a glance.
With growing curiosity, I then moved to ChatGPT and fed it the article. After digesting it, here was the model’s textual response:
I’ve located “Luna: A Traveller’s Guide” in Dragon Magazine Issue 87.
- Title: Luna: A Traveller’s Guide
- Author: Marc W. Miller
- Section: ARES (science-fiction gaming section)
- Pages: 26–32
It’s a source-style article written for Traveller, presenting Earth’s Moon (Luna) as a campaign setting. The article includes:
- A description of Luna’s political status and its relationship to Earth
- Details on major lunar cities and settlements
- Discussion of economics and industry (mining, manufacturing, tourism)
- Transportation systems (mass drivers, vacuum-adapted transit)
- Law enforcement and social conditions
- Adventure hooks for Traveller campaigns
If you’d like, I can:
- Provide a full summary
- Break down each lunar city described
- Extract adventure hooks
- Or transcribe specific sections (within copyright limits)
I then gave ChatGPT a simple prompt, “Draw a map based on the locations referenced in the article.” Here is the result:
Yeah…so this one is more like I originally envisioned as it is a map of the moon. Like the NotebookLM this ChatGPT version has some quirks (for example, Selene City appears twice). It can be worked with to make it better, however…
…the NotebookLM Studio map is so much more exciting to look at, yes? Definitely adventure material.
I understand that there is a segment of the gaming community out there that ferociously opposes AI in gaming.
Hey, I hear you.
Hey, I like making my own adventures.
Hey, I am not a graphics artist.
Hey, AI seems to do good, inspirational work.
Hey, I ain’t selling this…it all is for me and my gaming group.
So, hey, welcome to 2026. Perhaps it is good advice to figure out how to make AI work for you before the government and corporate overlords tell you what you are—or are not—allowed to do with it.
Feature image courtesy NotebookLLM Studio
The opinions and views expressed in this blog are those of the author alone and are presented in a personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Navy or any other U.S. government Department, Service, Agency, Office, or employer.
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