UPDATE! The High Passage Magazine Bundle now contains ALL FIVE ISSUES. The first two issues are reprints of the originals (# 3, 4, 5 are still original prints). Issues 1 and 2 of High Passage fetch collector prices nowdays, but you can have crisp official facsimile reprint editions sourced directly from Far Future Enterprises.
I still have a few of the original Bundles (with only # 3, 4, 5) while stocks last.
The Bundle is the creation of Traveller RPG owner Far Future Enterprises. The accompanying document notes that these magazines were “unearthed from the archives of Game Designers’ Workshop” (GDW).
High Passage was a 3rd party digest-sized magazine published (1981-2) by FASA in support of the Traveller roleplaying game.
High Passage for sale in the shop
Articles
- High Passage #1 (Facsimile Edition) Briefing from the Editors. The Solar Flare Mystery. Sandcrab ATV. Star Dart. Deception Drone. Justice Special Branch. The Armory. Intelligence Cruiser Exocet. Free Trader. The Dethenes Subsector.
- High Passage #2 (Facsimile Edition) Briefing from the Editors. The Combra Conspiracy. Pirate Corsair. Grav APC. AH-15 Attack Helicopter. Marc Miller Interview, Part One. Book Four Small Arms. So Skire Subsector.
- High Passage #3 Star Class Armored Merchant. Briefing from the Editors. The Edge. Arrival in System. Long Range Thruster System. Manta Class Escort Fighter. Marc Miller Interview, Part Two. Star Atlas: Ile Subsector. Star Atlas: Dethenes Subsector. The Armory: Support Weapons.
- High Passage #4 Briefing from the Editors. 134-635. Interdicted Worlds. Arzhent Class Prospector. Petrochemicals. Grav Mining Vehicle (Tech 10). Orbital Tug. Tempest Class Attack Cruiser. Merchant Facilities. Caledon Highlanders. Boarding Pass: Verin Dalleroi. Star Atlas: Ahrhi Subsector.
- High Passage #5 Briefing from the Editors. Planetary Government in Traveller. Fortune Class Merchant. Wines, Liquors, and Beverages. Language Translators. Urshag’s Fighting Vehicles. Day of the Gathering. Boarding Pass: Jalas Glennol. Fisher’s World. Port Authority Handbook: Convoys. Squadrons of the Old Expanses. The Naval Gazette. Star Atlas: Shenk Subsector. Reavers’ Deep.
Photos
The Story of High Passage
The document that comes with the High Passage Magazine Bundle is a fun read for those of us into RPG history. The top is a list of articles. The essay at the bottom, titled The Story of High Passage (Jim Cunningham, May Day 2020) is an uplifting tale of gamer friends who got themselves published, worked with the Keith Brothers, and maintained a decades-long friendship with Marc Miller (FFE).
“In 1980, my high school friends and I, into historical board war games (and still are), stumbled across something called Traveller. We became instant fans and grabbed up every item for the game we could get our hands on. We also began writing our own material, spending many an evening into the late hours (our parents didn’t understand what we were doing, exactly, but were happy to let us hang out until 1 AM doing this because it was better than what many of our peers did) discussing, arguing, and improving our work. Wanting to do things the right way, we sent some material to the publisher, GDW, in a place called Normal, Illinois, asking permission to make some copies to send to friends, etc. Marc Miller sent us a license agreement, and I’ll never forget getting Craig to make the call (none of the rest of us had the guts) to GDW to tell him that none of us were of legal age to sign it. Our parents later did the honors for us. Long story short, we used our high school graphic arts class to do layouts, etc. for what became the first issue of High Passage magazine. Marc took us under his wing and supported us like no other. We met the Keith Brothers and worked with them, and I used my hard-earned fast-food job money to buy a couple of his paintings, which I still treasure. In 1995, many years after my friends and I scattered across the country, I moved to Normal, home of GDW, for my career. My High Passage cohorts and I are still close. When they’d come to visit me, a long lunch with Marc was always on the agenda. Four months ago I moved out of state, and Marc was one of the last people I saw before I left. The pandemic has put a lid on visits back for now, but once this crisis is passed and my friends come to visit me in my new home, a trip in my airplane back to Normal and lunch with Marc will be a must.
My friends and I learned skills like critical thinking, finance, business, how to handle disagreements and work as a team with no one in charge, etc. We learned how to do research on anything we were going to use in an adventure (e.g., how does mining work or a certain type of government work) when that involved going to the library and working rather than typing a few words on a screen and pressing a button. Oh, yes… and we had fun at the same time.”
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