Humaniti

GURPs Traveller: Humaniti
Compiled and Edited by Loren Wiseman and Jon F. Zeigler

A lot of Traveller people don’t like GURPs as a roleplaying system and, consequently, never considered GURPs Traveller for their Traveller needs in the dark years between the fall of GDW, when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the Geese of Mong. Funny thing is though, a lot of other people love GURPs and play GURPs Traveller, as is evident by the very active GURPs Traveller board that Steve Jackson Games hosts. Interstellar Wars, the first GURPs Traveller product for GURPs 4e, did not, apparently, sell as well as was hoped and this has, sadly, rather put the kibosh on further Traveller products, but SJG still keeps much of their existing Traveller product line in print. GURPs Traveller: Humaniti is one such item and I was fortunate enough to pick it up a year or so ago from SJG’s excellent Warehouse 23.

For the Traveller fan, sixteen Human Minor Races are presented in Humaniti in sufficient detail to make for interesting, and alien additions to a Traveller campaign. Most of these Minor Races have appeared in earlier Traveller publications, such as the original Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society or Challenge magazine, but this is the first time that they have been brought together in one place and examined in detail.

The origins and history of each race are presented, along with their physiology and appearance. Languages; naming conventions; society and government; and technology and trade are all considered, and maps of the homeworlds of several of the races are included. Finally, each race is presented as a template for GURPs Traveller character generation, which is fairly easy to convert to other versions of Traveller with a little thought and some common sense. It should be stressed that this is a very rules-lite Traveller supplement and its value lies chiefly in its text.

I am very satisfied with GURPs Traveller: Humaniti and look forward to being able to introduce some of these Minor Races into my campaign.