Overview

History: 1987

When Herb Petro brought his work in The Imperium Staple (1986-1987) to an end with issue #10 (January 1987), it was because he no longer had enough time for the publication. But he wasn't done with publishing amateur Traveller material. Just a month later he produced "HPCGS", or the Herb Petro Character Generation System, a 12-page digest describing a point system for Traveller character generation, based in part on articles that he'd run in earlier issues of The Imperium Staple. Then he started a whole new magazine with Continuum #1 (March 1987).

This didn't mean that Petro suddenly had more time. He just had different plans for Continuum that made it easier to fit into his schedule. It would be published quarterly or so, rather than the blistering monthly pace of The Imperium Staple, and it would also be a more casual newsletter, as opposed to a proper fanzine, that would have required more polished and finished material.

However, Petro also wanted to content of Continuum to vary from other 'zines out there. He said:: "CONTINUUM was founded to contain discussions, letters, non-standard articles, and any other misc. little tidbits, articles, news, and other material that is not accepted or appropriate elsewhere (not necessarily all for TRAVELLER)." His desire for speculation and discussions was particularly interesting because it foreshadowed the type of content that would soon be generated by the History of the Imperium Working Group (HIWG), which would be co-founded by Petro's regular co-conspirator, Ed Edwards, later the same year!

In fact, HIWG's debut magazine, Tiffany Star (1987-1992) would better achieve Petro's vision for a discussion forum than Continuum. That may in part be because Continuum got caught up in the drive toward MegaTraveller: the new version of GDW's classic game was announced in Continuum #1 (March 1987) and would be discussed through Continuum #3 (August 1987). (It was then released in Fall of the year.)

Beyond that, Continuum also featured other news and continued some of the work of both Ed Edwards and Herb Petro's previous periodicals, including the "How I Got Hooked on Traveller" column from Working Passage (1984-1985)and the description of the Foreven Sector from The Imperium Staple. However, the highlight of Continuum might have been a two-part article from Jefferson Swycaffer on "Genetic Manipulation and Created Races", which appeared in the final two issues.

Edwards' influence on Continuum was probably intended to be greater, as the first issue of Continuum talked about supporting Edwards' long-running "Traveller Data Base Project", but space constraints kept that from ever happening.

Unfortunately, Herb Petro and Continuum found themselves caught up in a nasty fight with another Traveller fan, Elmer Hinton, who Petro had picked to take over The Imperium Staple after his departure. Hinton's first issue of Petro's former periodical, The Imperium Staple #11 (April 1987), slammed the debut of Continuum: Hinton was angry at Petro's request for SASEs (incorrectly saying that no "legitimate magazine" required them), angry at Petro not categorizing Hinton's own Traveller's Aide PBeM newsletter as a Traveller zine (though this historian agrees), and generally offered rude criticism of Continuum. The Imperium Staple #12 (June 1987) revealed that Hinton had deeper grievances with Petro, which may well have been a factor in the unfriendly review.

Like The Imperium Staple, Continuum was gone by the end of 1987. It seems likely that the nasty fracas with Hinton was part of the reason, though Petro's busyness and the big changes coming to Traveller could also have contributed.

Fortunately, 1987 was a boom year for Traveller 'zines. Not only was Third Imperium (1986-1988) continuing, but Security Leak (1986-1988) and Jumpspace (1987-1992) had also made their debuts, and HIWG was right around the corner: Tiffany Star (1987-1992) would be just the first of many newsletters and fanzines created by that organization

Foreven Subsector Index

• K: Barbarian (Xenough) [C #2]
• L: Reidan [TIS #6, C #2]
• O: Piah [TIS #11, C #2]
• P: Uranian [TIS #7, C #2]

Obtaining the Magazines

Herb Petro gave permissions for the distribution of all of his 'zines, so the three issues of Continuum are all available through The Traveller Wiki.

This index is © Copyright 2022-2023 by Shannon Appelcline. It is released under a cc-by-4.0 license, allowing reuse with attribution.

Main Index

🛸 Aliens: Misc

📚 Background: Misc

🌌 Background: Geographic, Imperium Outskirts¹

1. The Imperium Outskirts are places lying near the Third Imperium and not claimed by another entity.

⌛ Background: Historic

1. This map was probably part of the announcement packet sent out by GDW on April 15, 1987. It also appears in THE IMPERIUM STAPLE #12 (JUNE 1987). Another map produced in the same manner can be found in TIFFANY STAR #1 (HIWG, 1988).

🛰️ Equipment: Infrastructure

🎤 Interviews, Memoirs & Notes

⬆️ Meta

🔎 Previews

⭐ Reviews: Misc

Appendix I: Other GDW RPGs

🌍 2300AD

Appendix II: Other RPGs

♾️ TimeLords

Covers