this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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Traveller
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Discussion of the various incarnations on the Traveller RPG by Marc Miller, et al.
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There are three major dislikes, and all of them came from MegaTraveller and The New Era. The Empress Wave, the Assassination of Strephon, and the Virus. All of these are catastrophic changes in the setting, they rob the players of agency, and remove huge chunks of continuity.
@rosswinn @bignose I remember some Traveller grognards being exited for GURPS Traveller because: "No Rebellion!".
The rebellion and all subsequent events were universally hated by Traveller fans I met in the '90s.
Thank you. What rebellion are you referring to? Is that connected with the Assassination of Strephon?
@bignose Yes.
There was a whole sourcebook about it: https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Rebellion/_Sourcebook
https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Rebellion
The everything from MT and TNE were definitely disliked. I thought the Hard Times setting was really fantastic.
Thank you, I was wondering whether the Empress Wave was included in the detested canon.
And thanks for characterising why: the “catastrophic change” makes for impressive reading, and feels like the kind of big deal that an epic saga will deal with; but, as you say, it robs the individual characters (who, in Traveller, tend not to be ultra-powerful but more quotidian) of agency, with a transformation of the setting they can't do anything about.
Do I gather correctly that the Interstellar Wars canon (ignoring the RPG system) is better accepted by the community?
There isn't really a consensus. There are as many "haters" as well as "lovers" of each timeline and ideas. I didn't much care for IW, but I know and respect people who do. For me, a little chaos in the Imperium was sorely needed.