SCOUT'S HONOUR: THE CONVAIR ATLAS SHUTTLE AND THE TRAVELLER ROLE PLAYING GAME SCOUTSHIP

1977

Traveller was an early RPG and was released in 1977 by Games Designers Workshop or GDW.

It included a deltoid ship called the Scout - pictured above, lower left -, which has always reminded me of the 1967 Project SWORD Scout 3. I wondered if there was a connection of any sort.

I contacted one of the founders of GDW, Loren Wiseman, and this was his interesting reply:

"Dear Mr.Woods,

The scout/courier originated with Game Designers' Workshop, Inc (GDW). (a company in which I was a founder and partner from 1973 to 1995). 

The ship first appeared in a painting submitted as part of an artist portfolio

(submitted about 1978, I think) by William H. Keith, jr., who went on to become a famous artist in gaming circles and an author of a number of SF books under several names.

I am not sure of his inspiration (you have to track Bill down and ask him yourself), but I believe (based on personal conjecture) it was inspired, at least in part, by the general outlines of spaceships in the Star Wars

movies. 

Bill drew the ship many times for many GDW products, from a number of different angles, and it was drawn by other artists as well, each of them adding their little tweaks, as artists do.

When SJ Games acquired a license to produce Traveller material in 1997 or so, part of the license included the rights to use existing starship designs and illustrations, including the scout/courier.

Frankly, the only resemblance I see (to Project SWORD Scout 3)  is that the ship and the toy are basically arrowhead shaped. This is not an uncommon feature of SF illustrations.

Loren Wiseman

Red Scout 1980

I then contacted the designer himself, Bill Keith, who kindly sent this response:

"Hello, Mr. Woods,

Good to hear from you. I'm afraid I've never seen the toy you mention, Project SWORD Scout 3 and so cannot claim it as inspiration for my art. 

I'm sure a number of designs and concepts went into the original art ; I first drew the Traveller Scout shortly after I started submitting artwork to GDW, probably around 1981 or so. I first submitted artwork to GDW in 1980, I believe it was.

The one spaceship concept I remember that might have contributed something to the design was a model kit coming out of the early 1960s, when I was a space-fanatic teen. 

I don't remember the manufacturer [Monogram?] or even the name . . . but the model was of a manned orbiting laboratory idea floating around at the same time as the Dyna Soar project--probably around 1962.

The lab was essentially a converted Atlas rocket as a top stage; attached to the outside were two ferry rockets or escape re-entry gliders with the familiar triangular shape and painted bright yellow. 

I always liked the utilitarian simplicity of those designs, and they turned up a lot in my personal art doodles in school notebooks and such. 

Eventually, something like them evolved into the Traveller Scout. 

If that is the case, then the Scout does indeed draw somewhat on the X-plane and Dyna Soar project designs, which I believe influenced the look of that model kit.

I'm fine with you posting my artwork, but I don't know what the current copyright status is for Traveller art. I don't think I own it, so the current Traveller copyright holders would be the ones to ask for permission, not me.

I hope this helps!

Cordially,

Bill Keith

There are many Modern Scouts/Couriers now and the above deckplan is published with permission from Steve Jackson Games.

Scratchbiulders are also inspired by Traveller and here's red scout made on Pistonheads.

Have you any knowledge or experience of the RPG Traveller and or its Scouts readers?

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The article is an edited amalgam of various posts I made in 2010

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Addendum:

The Convair Atlas Space Station's yellow 'shuttles' also feature on Paul Vreede's wonderful Tri-ang SpaceX toys website, as they were also the inspiration for the shuttles included with the Tri-ang SpaceX Space Station. See here for more information.