Overview

History: 1989-1997

Jae Campbell bought the classic Traveller (1977) boxed set sometime in 1977 or 1978 and ran a campaign for years ... until he moved to London where new job requirements forced him to set it aside. A decade on, this put him in a unique situation: whereas many classic players were put off by the setting changes of MegaTraveller (1987), that was the game that brought Campbell back into the fold! Within a year he was thinking about creating a fanzine focused on the "unaligned worlds" on the Rimward side of the Spinward Marches.

Enter HIWG, which was formed in 1987 as a fan-group focused on detailing the Third Imperium during the Rebellion. In late 1988, Campbell saw an advertisement from Duncan Law-Green inviting British players to join HIWG-UK. He responded and was invited by Law-Green to join the work developing the Dagudashaag Sector. Suddenly, Campbell's ideas for a fanzine had a new focus: Dagudashaag, not the Spinward Marches, leading to the publication of Signal-GK #1 (1989).

Despite its connections to HIWG-UK and its development of one of the four Vland-domain sectors that had been turned over to the organization, Signal-GK was not an official HIWG 'zine. The "acknowledgements" at the start of each issue made that clear: "Although Signal-Gk is acknowledged by HIWG and GDW the data shown is not 'official' - Players wishing to know the official status of any item or article should contact GDW or the Dagudashaag Sector Analyst, Duncan Law-Green directly." But, more than that, Signal-GK wasn't like the HIWG 'zines such as Tiffany Star (1987-1992) or AAB Proceedings (1989-1999). Where the typical HIWG 'zine was full of conversation, discussion, and other "analysis", Signal-GK was instead a player-focused fanzine like The Imperium Staple (1986-1987) or Third Imperium (1986-1988), full of ready-to-game content.

But Signal-GK wasn't exactly a typical fanzine either. That's in large part because it was the product of a team, not a single creator. To be precise, it was the product of the "Dag Dev Team", which included Duncan Law-Green, Jae Campbell, Leighton Piper. Adie Stewart, and Stuart Machin, with Nick Walker.

Where Signal-GK was more typical was in their depiction of a sector, one subsector per issue, as had been done as far back as High Passage (1981-1983). There were even plans to eventually collect all of the core Dagudashaag information in an "Encyclopedia Dagudashaag". This would have been a milestone for fanzines (as none of the others doing this sort of work had ever completed the detailing of their sector) and for HIWG (as much of their analyst material was ultimately unpolished or even unfinished).

Starting with #1, each issue of Signal-GK included an insert detailing a subsector of Dagudashaag through Library Data, Subsector Map, and UWPs. These were supplemented by WarZones by Stuart Machin that depicted battles of the Rebellion, as well as adventures, Ports of Call detailing individual planets, INDISS News revealing happenings in the sector, and Legends & Lore with Amber Zone–like ideas with a strong historical basis. In other words, each issue had a tight focus on a subsector, offering a variety of gameable information.

In the middle of Signal-GK's run, it tried twice to supplement its Dagudashaag content with that of more distant realms. That began in Signal-GK #6 (1992), which included some content for the Theta Borealis sector. This was the result of discussions at the HIWG(UK) Con in 1991 where members decided that an area was needed as a "learning ground for new players" that would be "simpler" to digest. Theta Borealis had won out because of its distance from the Imperium while still having some contact with Aslan and Zhodani, and because it was largely undocumented (other than Group One material that was to be ignored). A few Theta Borealis articles continued through Signal-GK #8 (1993) and the project was also supported through at least one issue of a 'zine put out by Ian Steads called Megatraveller Information Notes (1991), the first issue of which was distributed with STarport (1989-1991).

The other new setting was the Hubworlds. This was a project initiated by Mike Mikesh, who wanted HIWG to detail a Pocket Empire for use with Traveller: The New Era (1993). He was handed part of the Massilia Sector for this usage, and so he brought in HIWG UK, because of its near proximity to the organization's Domain of Vland. The Pocket Empire was then developed by members of HIWG, HIWG UK, and Signak-GK. It was originally planned for publication in Imperial Lines #6, but when GDW's newsletter was cancelled, it ended up in the main New Era rulebook instead. Signal-GK #7 (1993) had a few additional details on the setting, with content continuing into the next issue, before Signal-GK #9 (1994) revealed that readers wanted the magazine focused back on Dagudashaag (which had also continued as the main content for the previous two issues).

There was another big change over that same span of issues. Jae Campbell was stepping down as editor of Signal-GK. Though he'd later say it had been a "bad year", one of Campbell's prime reasons for his deprture was "concern that GDW was ignoring all the hard work" of HIWG (and Signal-GK) as it jettisoned its traditional setting for the New Era.

Leighton Piper took over as editor of Signal-GK with issue #8 (though Campbell would remain to help with production). Piper had discovered RPGs through D&D (1974) in 1979, but soon after found Traveller as well. Like Campbell, he'd taken a break from gaming in the '80s, and like Campbell he returned to Traveller with the MegaTraveller rules. He was soon playing again, and then began looking for a way to "distribute" his ideas, which led him to HIWG and Signal-GK.

Unfortunately, Signal-GK began to slow down with issue #10 (1995), one of just two issues published in 1995. Only a few more issues would follow, through 1997. Perhaps recognizing the danger of the magazine coming to a premature end, Piper began to double up on subsectors starting with Signal-GK #11 (1995). That meant with the publication of Signal-GK #13 (1997), the entirety of Dagudashaag had been detailed, the first time a fanzine had succeeded at that goal!

And it was a good thing, because Signal-GK was at its end. Piper noted that Campbell was preparing to step back from his production work with #14. Not only did #13 only appear in electronic form, but there would not be another issue: the story of Signal-GK was ended. Though Piper had noted that the long-planned Dagudashaag Encyclopedia was "gathering pace", it wouldn't appear either.

At the time.

Signal-GK was one of Traveller's most far-reaching 'zines, as it began in the MegaTraveller era and continued through the Traveller: The New Era era and into the T4 year. This was similar to the story of Traveller Chronicle (1993-1997), except for the fact that Signal-GK stayed loyal mainly to MegaTraveller and the Rebellion across its run, with its articles about The New Era being mainly flirtations.

Signal-GK also revealed another Traveller trend across those years. Where it started out as an offshoot of HIWG, by the final issues it was featuring authors such as Martin Dougherty, Jo Grant, and Andy Lilly, who would be the faces of the next major fan organization in the UK: BITS.

Around 2006, Piper returned at the head of a "Resurrection Team" for Signal-GK, which also included Scott Martin, Ewan Quibell, and Richard Ais. Over the next several years, he remastered the first five issues of Signal-GK, creating new digital versions of each issue that also incorporated the subsector booklets for each issue. By 2011, the Resurrection Team had made those five remastered issues available for free download off of a website, alongside digital scans of the rest of the run (with a few of the booklets missing, most notably the one detailing the Kuriishe Subsector [K]). The long-awaited Encyclopedia Dagudashaag (2017) soon made its appearance as well.

The Signal-GK website disappeared in 2020 or 2021, but the five remastered issues and scans of the rest of the run remain available at the Traveller Wiki, as does the Encyclopedia Dagudashaag.

Theme Issues

• #6: Rebellion Special
• #8: In the New Era

Dagudashaag Subsector Index

• A: Mimu [#5]
• B: Old Suns [#4]
• C: Arnakhish [#10]
• D: Iiradu [#12]
• E: Shallows [#9]
• F: Ushra [#3]
• G: Khandi [#12]
• H: Kuriishe [#13]
• I: Zeda [#11]
• J: Remnants [#13]
• K: Pact [#2]
• L: Gadde [#6]
• M: Bolivar [#11]
• N: Argi [#1]
• O: Sapphyre [#7]
• P: Laraa [#8]

About the Contents

This index is based on the issues of Signal-GK as they currently exist at the Traveller Wiki, because those are the copies of the issues that are available to readers today. The pagination of the index is thus specific to the PDFs available at that site. That means:

• Issues #1-5 are based on the remastered issues.
• Issues #8-12 all show the insert booklets incorporated into the main page count, though they're still marked as an [i] to make it obvious they were separate booklets originally.
• Issues #6-7 & #13 show the library data inserts as separate books.
• The Kuriishe Subsector is based on the "PDF Reconstruction" available at the Wiki.
• Certain elements that were originally separate booklets are missing from issues #6-13.

The missing content is known to include WarZone articles from issue #6-9, starship designs from those same issues, and "Language Notes" from issue #9.

I am seeking a better scan of the issue #13 cover. If you can scan it, please send mme an image at shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

Obtaining the Magazines

The magazines are all currently available at the Traveller Wiki:

• Signal-GK/issues
• Encyclopedia Dagudashaag

Main Index

🎞️ Adventures: Misc

🎞️️ Adventures: Geographic, Imperium, Domain of Deneb¹

1. The Domain of Deneb is the most Spinward of the Domains. It includes the Deneb Sector, the Reft Sector, the Spinward Marches, and the Trojan Reach. It's the most traditional location for adventure in the Imperium. It is also known as the region "Behind the Claw".

🎞️️ Adventures: Geographic, Imperium, Domain of Sylea¹

1. The Domain of Sylea is the heart of the Third Imperium. It includes Core Sector, Delpha Sector, Fornast Sector, Massilia Sector.
2. For use with the HubWorlds setting.

🎞️️ Adventures: Geographic, Imperium, Domain of Vland¹

1. The Domain of Vland dates back to the Ziru Sirka and is the home of the Vlani. It includes Corridor Sector, Dagudashaag Sector, Gushemege Sector, and Vland Sector, and also administers Reft Sector.

🎞️️ Adventures: Geographic, Imperium Outskirts

🗣️ Adventures: Patrons

🌱️️️ Adventures: Seeds, Misc

🌱️️️ Adventures: Seeds, Geographic

🛸 Aliens: Humaniti

🛸 Aliens: Major Races

🛸 Aliens: Minor Races

🐾 Animals & Plants

📚 Background: Misc

1. An abridgement of ideas from "Androids in Traveller", in WHITE DWARF #30 (GW, 1982)

🌌 Background: Geographic, Imperium, Domain of Sylea¹

1. The Domain of Sylea is the heart of the Third Imperium. It includes Core Sector, Delpha Sector, Fornast Sector, Massilia Sector.

🌌 Background: Geographic, Imperium, Domain of Vland¹

1. The Domain of Vland dates back to the Ziru Sirka and is the home of the Vlani. It includes Corridor Sector, Dagudashaag Sector, Gushemege Sector, and Vland Sector, and also administers Reft Sector.
2. Missing from the original version at the Signal-GK website, but available from the Traveller Wiki in a "reconstructed" version.
3. The UWP data from Iiradu is missing in the PDFs. It can be found on page 158 of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DAGUDASHAAG (SIGNAL-GK, 2017).
4. The UWP data from Khandi is missing in the PDFs. It can be found on pages 191-192 of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DAGUDASHAAG (SIGNAL-GK, 2017).

♾️ Background: Geographic, Imperium Outskirts

⌛ Background: Historic

🛠️ Equipment: Misc

1. By the co-author of 101 CARGOS (BITS, 1996).

⚔️ Equipment: Combat

🚀 Equipment: Transport

🧶️ Fiction & Multimedia

🎤 Interviews, Memoirs & Notes

⬆️ Meta

🗣️ NPCs

📜 Rules

⭐ Reviews: Misc

Covers