it was a sort of SF/post nuclear apocalypse thing, right? I think we only played it a time or two in college, most of them were D&Ders. A few got into DragonQuest, I got into Rolemaster a year or two later.

you might be thinking of classic. there's another where it's pre-3rd Imperium collapse and another with post-Imperium collapse.

Even with an active D&D group, nobody else wanted to do Traveler.

Mongoose did Traveller Classic relatively recently, which is more space opera.

5e is still in beta, but available, and that's more hard science.

and there's still grittier more punk Traveller 2300.

i was more of a space opera person myself. i preferred WEG Star Wars or Holistic's Fading Suns.

if i wanted more hard science Traveller would do, but i found Blue Planet offered enough cultural ramification issues to hold my attention more. Blue Planet is on its second edition now and under RedBrick.

Loved Traveller. Used to play it weekly with a group of folks. Had the original 3 book boxed set and many supplements.

Great Game!

Don't know if there is anything out there that is comparable (I've been out of the game industry for many years, but still know a few folks that might be able to find the answer if you come up empty).

What I remember best is the anal-retentive attitude. To create a character with the original rules, you had to roll for skills picked up during each 4-year tour of duty. Then you had to roll for survival at the end of the tour. You could get thru six tours, have a powerful and/or interesting character, and then lose him. And then you'd have to start from scratch. Of course the first thing I did as GM was to drop that rule.

but never had a chance to play it. I have no rpg friends