Freelance Traveller

May/Jun 2026	Department	Article Title	Author
	From the Editor		Jeff Zeitlin
	Featured Articles
	Kurishdam	The Club Room:The Churg	Lewis Roberts
	Critics’ Corner	Riding Shotgun	Jeff Zeitlin
		Toln’s Perfect Properties – Habitats and Outposts	Timothy Collinson
		The Fifth Frontier War: Warfleets of the Fifth Frontier War The Fifth Frontier War: Armies of the Fifth Frontier War	Timothy Collinson
		Murder on Arcturus Station	Paul Anuni
	Doing It My Way	The X-Boat Network	Greg Nokes
		Dreamwalkers:Where Psionics Meets the Unconscious	Jeff Zeitlin
	Raconteurs’ Rest	The Astoundingly True Tale of José Fabuloso [Chapter 21]	Jo Jaquinta
		Five Absurdities of the Official Traveller Universe	Jim Vassilakos
	The Prep Room	Using AI to Create Thugs and an Introduction to Mistral AI	Joshua Levy
	Up Close and Personal	Princess Anong Nadar	Lewis Roberts
	Columns	Confessions of a Newbie Referee: #80: Ballet Shoes	Timothy Collinson
	Other Roads	Travelling In: H. Beam Piper’s Terro-Human Future History	David Johnson
	Multimedia Gallery	The Pirates of Drinax Graphic Stories: #16A: Secrets of Noricum	Joe Adams

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The articles listed and linked above are also linked in their appropriate sections of our website.

From the Editor

Ideas are where you find them. That sounds prima facia obvious, but what it doesn’t say – and what needs to be acknowledged – is that to find them, sometimes you have to look for them. The question is where: While you can be inspired by anything, it’s not really an “automatic” (or “automagic”?) process; not everything will be a source of inspiration. And not every idea is necessarily going to fit into any particular context.

The context that I’m thinking of is, naturally, Traveller. As I write this, a major news story unfolding is the hantavirus outbreak on MV Hondius. It didn’t take me long to scribble down some notes to follow up on for possible future material for Freelance Traveller. But news isn’t the only source of ideas; I’ve found Traveller material in lifestyle features, travel features, science/technology features, literature of all sorts (though admittedly mostly in speculative fiction), and even advertising.

Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter where you find inspiration, only that you did – and that you do something with it afterward, like write it into an adventure, story, or something else you can use in your Traveller.

Also as I write this, word has come that the crowdfunding for Traveller 5e for the fifth edition of the Wizards of the Coast RPG system, has met its goals, including many “stretch” goals. Freelance Traveller will cover this version on the same terms as other versions of Traveller; since it is being released with its own “CivX” setting, we will cover that setting and the stock Third Imperium setting used with the Traveller 5e system, and if someone chooses to “port” CivX material to other covered Traveller systems, we are willing to print such material. As with any other Traveller material, the level of coverage will (obviously) depend on submissions to Freelance Traveller. We do note, however, that we will not allow Traveller 5e and CivX to push “traditional” Traveller material out of Freelance Traveller; our remit is to cover all of Traveller.

As usual, we can always use more material, for all sections. Long articles with lots of depth are always good reading, and fill the magazine well; shorter articles have their place as well, as they can be used to fill in the awkwardly-sized gaps. Freelance Traveller will take them all, happily, and if you have several articles that make for a possible series, those will be welcomed as well. The important thing is that you write and that you send what you write to us. Thank you in advance for anything you choose to send us.

Finally, the “Recent Releases” box on page 60 of every issue lists what we’ve been made aware of through the “Follow Your Favorites” feature from DriveThruRPG. While they are almost certainly the biggest source for PDF publications for Traveller, we’re pretty certain that they’re not the only ones – so if you know about any other sources whose material isn’t on DTRPG, let us know, and we’ll see about following them as well.