A (relatively) recent discussion on TML got me thinking about campaigns.
What do Traveller players and referees currently play? So I asked that
TMLers who are currently in a campaign (as either players or referees) to
send me some e-mail saying which rules and what campaign background you are
using.
I got a total of 42 responses, describing 52 campaigns (two people were
involved in three campaigns at once, and six were involved in two campaigns
at once). Several people described campaigns which had just ended (finished
and unlikeley to continue) or ones that they *would* run if an opportunity
presented itself - I didn't count either of these cases.
I can draw some interesting observations from the results. First of all, 42
responses is a statistically significant sample of the TML population.
While I have no way of knowing if the sample is random or not (the sample
is those people who responded to my survey), there is also no reason to
believe that it is *not* representative of the TML as a whole.
I'm on more shaky ground when I try to extrapolate the results on TML to the
game-buying population as a whole. I would suggest that TML is representative
of the older segment of the game market (college students and young adults),
while it virtually ignores the younger segment of the market (high-school-age
buyers).
SUMMARY:
The envelope, please:
The rule set with the most campaigns is _TRAVELLER: THE NEW ERA, with 50% of
the vote, and more than twice the number of the closest runner-up.
The background with the most campaigns is CLASSIC THIRD IMPERIUM, with 48%
of the vote, and slighly less than twice the number of the closest runner-up.
RULES:
RankTitlePercent
#1Traveller: The New Era50%
#2MegaTraveller21%
#3"Classic" Traveller19%
#42300AD 6%
#5GURPS 4%
I was suprised to see MegaTraveller get more votes than Classic Traveller,
although the result is quite close (one vote!). From TML traffic, I would
have expected it to score significantly higher.
CAMPAIGNS:
RankEra or BackgroundPercent (*)
#1"Classic" Third Imperium48%
#2"New Era" Campaigns27%
#3Rebellion12%
#4Other10%
#52300AD 4%
(*) Does not sum to 100% due to rounding.
This result was suprising, particularly in light of the above. I would have
expected that the New Era campaign background would have been more popular
with New Era purchasers, but only a small majority (54%) of those who use
T:TNE play in the official T:TNE universe.
RAW DATA COUNTS:
Responses:42
Campaigns:52
----- Campaign Settings ------------
3rdRebelNewOther2300TOTAL
Rules UsedImperEraAD
Classic Traveller 9---- 1--10
MegaTraveller 6 3-- 2--11
Traveller: The New Era 9 314----26
GURPS 1------ 1 2
2300AD------ 2 1 3
TOTALS25 614 5 252
What's interesting here is the depth of support for the "Classic" Third
Imperium. No matter which rules set you are talking about, it seems that
there is a significant percentage of those people playing in a 3rd Imperial
background. It would be interesting to compare sales to date of T:TNE with
total sales of Classic Traveller and MegaTraveller, I wonder if it
correlates with the numbers of campaigns currently being played?
CONCLUSIONS:
I note that the largest single segment of the Traveller campaign "space" is
the T:TNE rules and the "official" Post-Collapse background. But this
is internally fractured, and (for example) RCES or Star Viking materials may
be of limited utility to people who are running a Pocket Empire or Regency
campaign. These "New Era" campaigns also represent slightly less than 27%
of the Traveller campaigns currently being played. While there's no larger
single rules/setting combination, there should be a way to reach a broader
part of the Traveller players.
If it were up to me, I'd certainly put some effort into a "Classic" Third
Imperium campaign supplement. Potentially, such a supplement could be
impetus to cause new sales of the T:TNE rules, be "converting" people who at
present see no advantage to changing rules systems.
Again, IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) there's not a whole lot of point to the
other segments of the market. There's no effective way to write for the
"other" segment - FF&S comes about as close as you can get to targetting this
population with it's alternative technology rules. The Rebellion represents
a small market (11.5%), and in addition, "Third Imperium" materials may
still be useful in a Rebellion-era campaign.
The numbers for 2300AD may not be reliable. TML is composed primarliy of
Traveller players, and discussion doesn't usually apply very well to 2300AD
topics; therefore the game and it's background may be significantly
under-represented in the survey.
NOTES:
"Traveller: The New Era" includes two rule sets: Traveller: The New Era and
Deluxe Traveller: The New Era (referred to elsewhere as T:TNE and DT:TNE,
respectively).
"MegaTraveller" is just that.
"Classic Traveller" is a number of rules sets and options: Traveller (the
original boxed set, Books 1-3), Deluxe Traveller, The Traveller Book, and
Starter Traveller. Any or all of these rules, in combination with Books
4-8, Striker, and/or the DGP Task System (described extensively in The
Travellers' Digest prior to the publication of MegaTraveller) - these all
were aggregated under "Classic" Traveller, because they were effectively the
same game.
"2300AD" includes Traveller: 2300 and the revised edition, 2300AD. No
respondents reported that they are using the original (Traveller: 2300)
edition.
"GURPS" is, of course, a Steve Jackson Games product; it was included
because I have heard considerable anecdotal evidence that it is a popular
choice for people who don't consider Traveller a viable game system, but
want to continue playing in a Traveller-like setting. It is aparrently not
as popuar as word of mouth would have it.
The definitions of the campaign backgrounds are or course more subjective.
In general, I went with whatever label the respondent chose for his or her
campaign. In a few cases it was a tough call, but I put the response in the
category that seemed to fit best.
"Classic Third Imperium" campaigns are those set in or around the
Pre-Rebellion Third Imperium. Some referees indicated that they may implement
the Rebellion in their campaigns. Just like hypothetical or future campaigns,
I categorized campaigns based on what is happening *now*, and not on
future plans which may or may not be realized.
"New Era Campaigns" are those set in a Post-Crash universe, whether it be
the official RCES and Star Viking setting, or referee-developed Pocket
Empire, Free Trader or even Regency campaigns. I would like to provide a
breakdown of the different types, but in many cases there isn't enough
detail in the responses to say for sure which category is applicable.
"Rebellion" campaigns are those set anywhere in Imperial space in any time
after the assasination of Strephon to the Crash.
"Other" campaigns are those in original referee-generated universes, or
universes modified beyond recognition.
"2300AD" campaigns are those that use the Traveller: 2300 or 2300AD campaign
settings. There don't seem to be many of these around anymore.
If anyone has additional questions about this, send me some E-mail and I
will be happy to answer questions about this survey.
Guy Garnett
[email removed]
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Science-Fiction Adventure
In the Far Future