Taveller Sword Worlds (Gurps) [Paperback]

The military writer William Dupay credited the German General Staff with what he called, "institutionalized genius"-with being able to institute a way of reliably producing command of an effectiveness that once was only viable for a legendary conqueror.
What the German General Staff did for war, Traveler did for storytelling. It was able to create a world as complex sophisticated and detailed as only the greatest writers of speculative fiction could before. It did this by the same method, by the mundane method of using a team of writers to create it's world.
Traveler is an RPG. RPG's are essentially a folk-art. In a way they are a revival of the traditional storytellers art in a new form. Or another way to describe it is as a play in which the actors choose their own actions and the director or "Gamemaster" must oversee and direct the plot knowing his actors have free will. Many, perhaps most of what I have given is fammiliar to my readers. But Traveller is different. It is a work of genius, a splendid science-fiction world of multifaceted complexity set in the far future. Games can involve political intrigue, exploration, trading and whatever ones heart desires. It is not a utopia, nor a dystopia like many Sci-fi's but a world that is believable. It is a world that is different yet similar to ours. But at the same time, "Vive La difference."
Sword Worlds is my favorite of the Gurps Traveller series. It describes a cluster of nations and cultures in a group of planets sandwiched between the mighty Zhodani Consulate and the Vast Third Imperium. The Sword Worlders are clannish and traditionalist peoples who emphasize their Germanic and Scandinavian heritage. They are not pictured as perfect and they are forever quarreling with their neighbors and one another. Yet they are survivors and they have a "character" of their own, a contrarian way of thinking and a grim determination to be who they are.
The Sword Worlds sourcebook is a boon for any who wish to play a campaign set among Swordworlders. And it is a blessing for those like me that do not play but read the book for itself. It gives the political relations between Swordworlder states, substates and alliances, the history of the Sworldworlds and the various and sundry customs of the Sworldworlder people. It gives splendid characters. And it gives a number of preset campaigns that are some of the best in the series. The best campaign of all is the epic "100 parsecs" campaign which could easily be made into a movie.
Perhaps the best thing I can say about Sword Worlds is that it was not long enough. It is an attractive book and well worth the while of any Traveller fan new or old.