Bessemer Class Fast Trader

 

Here is the twenty-first, and final, ship in the Traveller community design series using the Adventure Class Starship Geomorphs book. I want to thank those who participated for sharing their skills and creativity, and showing how far geomorph-based ships can be pushed with some effort.

While I will no longer be accepting geomorph layouts from the community, I may from time to time add deck plans from my own geomorph-based designs. I started sketching the original geomorphs over ten years ago, and even after all that time I still find them fun to play with. Along the way I've reignited my passion for being a gear head, by creating or assisting with all the High Guard statistics included with the community designed ships. Special thanks to Mongoose Publishing for doing such great work, in particular with the High Guard 2022 Update, Traders and Gunboats, Adventure Class Ships, and the additional alien race High Guard info and ships included with the Aliens of Charted Space series. Its all very inspirational stuff and I highly recommend these works if you are interesting in starship design. 

Click [HERE] to download a PDF of the ship shown above, designed by James Favell. Enjoy!

The Refit Yard - Vargr Khur Suegz Class Breaching Shuttle

"Look at me. Look at me. I'm the captain now."
- Somali pirate Abduwali Muse to Richard Phillips, captain of the MV Maersk Alabama

I happened to watch the film Captain Phillips recently. Great movie. While thumbing through my Traveller books a few days later I came across the Pecah Breacher Shuttle in Mongoose's Specialist Forces. I hadn't given the shuttle too much thought before, but this time it really caught my attention. I decided it was a good candidate for The Refit Yard - even though it is a newer ship - and decided to convert it to a Vargr design. I made a few other minor changes as well: dropped the firmpoint weapon, which decreased the power plant output requirement, added acceleration seats and an airlock, and of course the iconic Vargr aerofins. Since the forced linkage apparatus is located in the ship's underside, it made sense to incorporate it into the landing gear. Lots of roleplaying opportunities here, both piracy related and legitimate enterprises. It all depends on what side of the breaching tube you are on. Here's the new ship, with updated deck plans, High Guard specs, and illustrations. Enjoy!

Click [HERE] to download a PDF of this updated ship.

Ellison Class Far Trader and variants

Original sketch circa 2000

 

I often carry around a pocket sized sketchbook - Moleskine or similar - to capture random ideas, work out whatever problems I'm trying to solve, etc. For Traveller, these sketchbooks are the perfect size for a single deck plan of about 100 dtons. As a result, I've got a couple dozen of these ships deck plans (of varying quality), but they've sat unattended for about a quarter century. These were originally designed using Classic Traveller Book 2 starship construction rules or just sketched off the cuff. I decided to update the design to current Mongoose Traveller High Guard 2022 rules. I hope to do more in the future as time allows.

The class is named after one of my favorite authors, Harlon Ellison, who passed away in 2018. I wanted to do something to commemorate his writing, so all the Ships of the Class names are based on his work. 

Not  everyone gets into smaller ships, given their limits, but I find them endlessly fascinating. So anyway, here's another one to do with as you wish.

Click [HERE] to download a high resolution PDF. 

We-Babwa Class Far Trader

[Update 2025-08-19: High Guard stats have been updated to reflect Computer/10 and Jump Control/2. This decreases the cost by about MCr4.5, but does not otherwise impact the ship design.]

 

Here is the twentieth in the series of starships, small craft, and vehicles designed by members of the Traveller community using the Adventure Class Starship Geomorphs book. This series invites players and referees to test their skills as a Naval Architect, to design and share their unique geomorph-based creations, and join in showcasing the diverse creativity within our group.

Each post in this series will feature at minimum a distinct starship deck plan with a description and basic ship stats. Others may include full High Guard stats, supplemental text about the ship, adventure hooks, an illustration, and more. It is my hope these designs will provide entertainment in the long-standing Traveller "mini-game" of starship creation, and fresh inspiration for your campaigns. Enjoy!

My first Bwap ship. Geomorphs were tweaked more than usual to reflect their preferred smooth edge aesthetic. Enjoy! 

Click [HERE] to download a PDF of this ship, designed by Robert Pearce.

The Refit Yard - Florian Provincial Merchant

 

I'm introducing a new feature to the Yet Another Traveller Blog: The Refit Yard.

From time to time I will be taking previously published classic Traveller starships and giving them an overhaul; updating specifications to Mongoose Traveller High Guard rules, updating deck plan graphics to my preferred style, fixing perceived deck plan irregularities, proposing ship variants, and creating new illustrations (as time allows). My intent is to keep the flavor of the original ship as much as possible, just refit them for the 21st century. I also hope to introduce players to older, less accessible ships they may not have encountered before.

The first ship is the Florian Provincial Merchant, from the pages of The Third Imperium magazine, Issue #8. Scans of this magazine are available through Marc Miller's Far Future Enterprises website, in the Apocrypha-2 collection.

Click [HERE] to download a PDF of this updated ship, originally designed by Mike Jackson.

Doru Class Far Trader

 

Here is the nineteenth in the series of starships, small craft, and vehicles designed by members of the Traveller community using the Adventure Class Starship Geomorphs book. This series invites players and referees to test their skills as a Naval Architect, to design and share their unique geomorph-based creations, and join in showcasing the diverse creativity within our group.

Each post in this series will feature at minimum a distinct starship deck plan with a description and basic ship stats. Others may include full High Guard stats, supplemental text about the ship, adventure hooks, an illustration, and more. It is my hope these designs will provide entertainment in the long-standing Traveller "mini-game" of starship creation, and fresh inspiration for your campaigns. Enjoy!

Click [HERE] to download a PDF of this ship, designed by James Favell. 

Traveller Fonts

 

 

If you’ve ever flipped through an old Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society or a classic Traveller supplement, you’ve probably noticed the distinct look of the text - it’s more than nostalgia, it’s design. Traveller has a legacy of unique fonts, from the clean, utilitarian typefaces used in JTAS articles to custom fonts created specifically for the game’s logos, headers, and ship schematics. Over the years, fans and designers have expanded this typographic tradition, creating Traveller specific fonts for various alien languages and symbols. The attached collection of .TTF font files and a PDF guide to using them will give referees and other creators the tools to make their handouts, deck plans, and other documents look authentically Traveller.

To the best of my knowledge, all fonts in the collection are freely available online. I'm just saving you the work of hunting for them. Additional fonts may be available online for a fee. Andrew Hunt of Quantum Enterprises has a font to help create deck plans. Moon Toad  Publishing has a font of various Traveller spaceship symbols. Both are available at DriveThruRPG.

Click [HERE] to download a .rar file containing a collection of Traveller related .TTF files and a PDF guide to using them.