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What is Citizens of the Imperium?
Citizens of the Imperium is a fan community site for Traveller, the classic science-fiction tabletop role-playing game. Its focus is the Third Imperium setting, the sprawling interstellar human empire that has served as Traveller's default backdrop since the late 1970s. Rather than being a publisher or storefront, it functions as a hub for players and referees who want to discuss, expand and share material for that universe.
What you would typically find there
- Discussion of Imperial society, worlds, factions and history
- Character and career material for the game's lifepath-style generation
- House rules, scenarios and referee aids contributed by players
- Community conversation about campaigns set in or around the Imperium
Who it suits
It is most useful if you already play Traveller, or are considering it, and want a setting-focused community rather than a general sci-fi forum. Referees looking for ready-made background and player-facing flavour get the most out of it; someone hunting for a quick-start rules set or a beginner tutorial may find the material assumes familiarity with the game.
A practical next step
Skim the discussion areas for the edition you play, since Traveller has several distinct rulesets and material written for one may need conversion for another. If you are new, read a few setting threads first to get a feel for the Third Imperium's tone — a decaying, bureaucratic empire where trade, politics and survival often matter more than heroics — before diving into rules-heavy posts. For a broader view of the game line itself, the publisher's own site is Mongoose Publishing.
How does Citizens of the Imperium differ from other Traveller RPG editions?
Citizens of the Imperium is not a separate edition of Traveller in the way that Classic Traveller, MegaTraveller, or Mongoose Traveller are. It is a supplement or setting-focused product for the Traveller RPG line, centered on the Third Imperium and the ordinary people who live within it. That means its main difference from a core rulebook is scope: it expands the civilian, social, and everyday-Imperial side of the setting rather than replacing the game's core rules.
Its likely audience is Traveller referees and players who already know the base game and want more grounded, non-military material: bureaucrats, merchants, nobles, colonists, and other citizens. Compared with edition rulebooks, which define character generation, skills, combat, and technology across the whole game, a citizens-focused book is more useful as a campaign and character reference.
A practical way to judge whether it fits your table:
- Choose it if you want to run or play campaigns about Imperial society, politics, or civilian life.
- Choose a core edition rulebook instead if you still need the fundamental rules to play.
- Choose it alongside your preferred edition if you want setting depth without switching systems.
If you are deciding between this and another edition, first confirm which Traveller ruleset you already own, then check whether Citizens of the Imperium is written for that edition or for the setting generally. The official Traveller site, Citizens of the Imperium, is the right place to verify compatibility and contents before buying.
What character creation options are available in Citizens of the Imperium?
The available character creation options aren't documented in the supplied page evidence, so I can't list them from the site itself. What the evidence does establish is that Citizens of the Imperium is a Traveller RPG resource; character generation in Traveller traditionally means rolling through prior careers (terms of service) rather than picking a class at level one, so any options here would most likely be framed as career paths, mustering-out benefits and skills gained during those terms.
If you're trying to decide whether it fits your table, treat it as a supplement question rather than a core-rules question: check whether you already own the Traveller core book, since career-based generation needs those base rules to function.
A practical next step is to open the site and look for a character or careers section, then compare it against what you need:
- New players want pre-generated or quick-start characters, so look for ready-made templates.
- Experienced referees usually want extra career tables, event rolls or alternate life paths.
- Campaign builders care whether the options tie into a specific setting or stay generic.
If the page turns out to be a fan or community project rather than an official release, expect house rules and variant careers; if it's an official Traveller product, expect options that slot into the standard term-by-term generation flow. Either way, confirm the rules edition it targets before buying or downloading, because Traveller editions differ enough that career tables aren't always interchangeable.
How do the rules for starships and space combat work in Citizens of the Imperium?
Citizens of the Imperium is a fan community hub for the Traveller roleplaying game, named after the classic supplement of the same title. That means its starship and space-combat material is not a single self-contained ruleset: the site hosts and points to material written for one of several Traveller editions, and those editions handle ship combat quite differently.
What to expect on a fan hub like this
- Rules pages, house rules and expansions for ship design, crew roles and engagements.
- Play aids: deck plans, ship record sheets, encounter tables, referee notes.
- Discussion threads where referees compare how combat actually plays at the table.
- Links out to the official publishers and to the wider Traveller community.
The three broad approaches you will run into
| Approach | Feel at the table | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Abstract range-band combat | Fast, narrative, few dice rolls | Groups who want space as one scene among many |
| Vector-based movement | Detailed, tactical, rewards planning | Players who enjoy manoeuvre and fuel/position puzzles |
| Hybrid or simplified systems | Middle ground, light bookkeeping | Campaigns mixing trade, exploration and occasional fights |
Practical next step
Decide which edition your group plays, then look for material tagged to that edition before you download anything — mixing editions is the most common source of confusion. If you are starting fresh, try a one-ship skirmish first: one player as pilot, one as gunner, one as engineer, and a single opposing vessel. That reveals quickly whether your group wants vector plotting or prefers to stay abstract, and it tells you which house rules are worth adopting.
For the official baseline rules, check Mongoose Publishing, and for the wider community and edition history, Far Future Enterprises is the reference point.
Can I use Citizens of the Imperium with an existing Traveller campaign?
Yes. Citizens of the Imperium is designed as a character-focused supplement for Traveller, so its material can be dropped into an ongoing campaign without restarting or converting the whole setting. You would use it to add new character options, backgrounds, and Imperial-society detail to the campaign you already run.
H3 How it fits an existing game
- New player characters: Let a new player build a citizen-type character while the rest of the group keeps their current characters.
- NPCs and contacts: Generate officials, merchants, nobles, or bureaucrats the party meets, with enough background to make them feel like part of the Imperium.
- Between-session expansion: Introduce the book's society and career material gradually rather than changing established characters overnight.
H3 Practical trade-offs
| Situation | Good fit? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Long-running campaign, stable characters | Yes, with care | Add NPCs and new recruits; don't force rebuilds |
| New campaign starting soon | Yes | Build the whole group from the same options |
| Campaign set far from the Imperium | Partly | The Imperial framing may need adapting |
| Rules-light or non-Traveller system | Unlikely | It assumes Traveller-style character generation |
H3 A concrete example
Your crew has been flying a free trader for a year. Next session, a player's character retires and a replacement arrives: a minor Imperial noble with family obligations. Citizens of the Imperium gives you the career path, the social standing, and the contacts to make that arrival matter to the existing plot instead of feeling bolted on.
H3 Decision criterion
Use it if your campaign already touches Imperial society, nobles, bureaucracy, or the Navy and you want richer people in those roles. If your game is a frontier survival campaign with no Imperial presence, the material is still usable, but you will be doing more adaptation than the book does for you.
For the wider setting it draws on, see Traveller Wiki; for the game's official home, see Mongoose Publishing.
What supplements or adventures are available for Citizens of the Imperium?
The available page information for Citizens of the Imperium does not list specific supplements or adventures, so I can't name titles carried there. What the page does establish is that the site is a Traveller RPG resource built around the Third Imperium setting—the "Citizens of the Imperium" framing points to character-focused material within that universe.
How to find what's actually offered
- Browse the site's own catalog or index pages rather than relying on search snippets; product pages usually group books by edition and by type (core rules, supplements, adventures).
- Check whether listings are for a specific Traveller edition. Supplements and adventures are often edition-specific, and mixing editions is the most common source of incompatible purchases.
- Look for a "new releases" or "latest" section if you want current stock rather than older backlist items.
What to expect in Traveller generally (advice, not a claim about this site's inventory)
Traveller lines typically split into three practical categories: rules expansions (new careers, equipment, ship design), setting supplements (sectors, polities, alien cultures), and adventures (often short, location-based scenarios). For a referee starting a campaign, one setting supplement plus one adventure is usually enough; for players, career and equipment books matter more.
A concrete next step: open the site's product listing, note the edition each item supports, and pick one adventure that matches your group's starting region before adding supplements.
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