Starship Traveller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Fighting Fantasy series |
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 The 'gold dragon' cover of Starship Traveller with illustration by Peter Andrew Jones |
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| Outline | |
| Location: | Outer Space |
| Sections: | 340 |
| Publication details | |
| Author(s): | Steve Jackson |
| Illustrator(s): | Peter Andrew Jones |
| Year of release: | 1983 |
| Number (Puffin) | 4 |
| Number (Wizard) | 22 |
| ISBN: | ISBN 1-84046-387-2 |
| List of FF books | |
Starship Traveller (ISBN 014031637) is a single player roleplaying gamebook, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones, originally published in 1983. The book is part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series, numbered 4 in the original Puffin printing and 22 in the recent Wizard reissuing. Unusually for the series it is divided into only 340 sections, though as is usual the final section forms the only successful conclusion to the story.
[edit] Story
Starship Traveller is set in the distant future, with the player taking the role of a starship commander whose ship and crew are sucked through a black hole and into an unknown quadrant of space. The player's mission from this point is to find a means to return home, collecting clues from several different planets in pursuit of this goal.
Starship Traveller deviates from the Fighting Fantasy norm in a number of ways. It is the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook to feature a science fiction setting, as opposed to the more traditional fantasy, and it was also the first to provide the player with multiple characters - the player is required to keep track of the relevant statistics for several crew members as well as the protagonist. As is appropriate for a game which features extensive travel by starship, it also employs the first vehicle combat system in the series. However, the novelty of these features is softened some by the fact that a reader can successfully complete the book without ever having to roll dice.
The book contains many similarities to Star Trek: The Original Series. The crew uses transporter-like devices to visit planets and both they and the starship have weapons like those seen on Star Trek. The organization of the crew is also reminiscent of that used on the television series.
Most Fighting Fantasy titles are set on the world of Titan, but Starship Traveller is not. However, several references throughout the book are made to the Starship Titan.
It is likely that the titular starship is named after the roleplaying game Traveller.
Like most of the sci-fi books in the Fighting Fantasy series, this book was not as well received by fans as the fantasy editions. [citation needed]
