GDW published Traveller 2300 in 1986, quickly retitled 2300 AD to prevent confusion with GDW's previous space opera role-playing game Traveller.

The following year, GDW introduced the "Kafer War" plotline in Kafer Dawn, and then published a number of supplements including 1988's Kafer Sourcebook, a 104-page paperback book with a color map written by William H. Keith, Jr., with a cover by Steve Venters.

[1] In Issue 145 of Dragon (May 1989), Jim Bambra was very pleased by the high production values,and called the alien development and psychology "very believable."

He concluded with a strong recommendation, saying, "The Kafer Sourcebook is a perfect example of how to design a detailed and properly motivated alien race [...] There’s enough information here to please even the most ardent Kafer hunter.

"[2] In a retrospective review of Kafer Sourcebook in Black Gate, Patrick Kanouse said "The combination of a vicious and merciless enemy, a perplexing and mysterious species with a strong contextual background, and a path for uncovering that mystery without either abject terror or killing everything on sight make the Kafers the best villainous alien in tabletop role-playing games that a I have encountered to date.