HAPPY MAY DAY, also known as “Traveller Day,” in certain enlightened circles! Shout-out to the great Marc Miller (HI, Marc!), creator of my favorite roleplaying game ever, and architect of the reason I flunked out of Astrophysics at Queen Mary College London (eventually transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the rest is history). (Ironically I graduated with an Honors Degree in Economics, and not History.)
Indeed, Traveller has popped up in Dork Tower on more than a few occasion, to the delight of some. This may be the first time I name-called the RPG, switching from the old parody “Travailler” moniker I used to fall back on:
Obviously a Calvin and Hobbes tribute, though I could draw it far better these days (it’s seventeen years old? Time has no meaning anymore.)
This next one was a bit of a stretch (but hey – that was still 14 years ago):
While this, from 2019, remains a solid favorite:
Indeed, my VERY FIRST gaming comic, drawn for a London-based gaming ‘zine called “Dark Star” (IIRC), was a Traveller one, so great was the game’s influence on me:
“To be continued?” Sadly, no. The ‘zine shut down after my second appearance. IT WOULD NOT BE THE LAST MAGAZINE I KILLED OFF!
Huh. Maybe I’ll redraw this and finish it up, as a Patreon bonus, one of these days…
Here’s a photo of me and the great Marc Miller at Gamehole Con, five years ago (TIME HAS NO MEANING), when I finally got my copies of the original Little Black Books signed:
LOOK AT ME GRINNING LIKE AN IDIOT!
And of course, I had to include Marc (and the late, lovely Loren Wiseman) in the Dealer’s Area of the Sistine Pages:
Also pictured: A Kobold from Kobolds Ate My Baby (DO NOT PET IT, LADY!), my pals Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos from Green Ronin Publishing, Steve Jackson (HI, Steve!) and the late Andrew Hackard (god – it still stings), Sherman and Ed (from Alex Robinson’s “Box Office Poison”, Waldo’s doppelgänger Odalw,, my pal Dan Taylor (“Catacombs and Comedians”) and his fam, and Barb and Ray VanTilburg from Offworld Designs, my old T-shirt company. And possibly more I’ve missed.
But back to the point: HAPPY TRAVELLER DAY!
Please don’t die during character creation.
- John