Does the new edition need complimentary software?
- Thread starter Berg
- Start date
Okay, I've used one of the off-the-shelf webpage scrapers to fetch the latest TAS bulletin. Here's how.
(1) Install the Yahoo! Widget Engine.
(2) Download the "Scraper" widget. Yes, that's its name. Install it (extract it to a directory and double-click the scraper.widget file, I think).
(3) Click on the '+' sign on the bottom left corner of the widget's frame.
(4) Fill out three fields:
</font>
I've found that a decent window size is 350 pixels wide by 200 pixels high. I set the refresh to 24 hours (though, SJGames refreshes every six days, I think).
(1) Install the Yahoo! Widget Engine.
(2) Download the "Scraper" widget. Yes, that's its name. Install it (extract it to a directory and double-click the scraper.widget file, I think).
(3) Click on the '+' sign on the bottom left corner of the widget's frame.
(4) Fill out three fields:
</font>
- Primary URL: http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/traveller/news.html</font>
- Prefix String: <pre><b><font color="#FF0000"></font>
- Suffix String: <OMEGA></font>
I've found that a decent window size is 350 pixels wide by 200 pixels high. I set the refresh to 24 hours (though, SJGames refreshes every six days, I think).
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
OK, in reference to my post over here, here is a bit of XML for displaying characters in a browser. Click here to download the ZIP file, unzip it to wherever on your machine, then open the .xml file in the browser of your choice.
If you need a different zip file, let me know. Also, let me know if it doesn't display properly in your browser. (It should be essentially a vertical list at this point, with name, title - rank, UPP, skill-level listing.)
Edit: It now includes (in classic CT listing style, mostly) skill-level, items, weapons, and funds available. Each of these lists is done as a text, comma-separated list. end edit
2d Edit: I already know it doesn't work in Opera - Opera doesn't support XSL.
end edit
3d Edit: Just updated with a table-based stylesheet. end edit
If you need a different zip file, let me know. Also, let me know if it doesn't display properly in your browser. (It should be essentially a vertical list at this point, with name, title - rank, UPP, skill-level listing.)
Edit: It now includes (in classic CT listing style, mostly) skill-level, items, weapons, and funds available. Each of these lists is done as a text, comma-separated list. end edit
2d Edit: I already know it doesn't work in Opera - Opera doesn't support XSL.
end edit3d Edit: Just updated with a table-based stylesheet. end edit
IMHO the basic book of any modern Traveller system should come with a CD with the following items:
- A character generation program with 100% of the book's CharGen section's functionality.
- A ship/vehicle/robot design program similar to HGS.
- A mapping and world-generation program(including system and world-surface mapping)
- PDFs of all forms AND of important chrts and handouts
- A character generation program with 100% of the book's CharGen section's functionality.
- A ship/vehicle/robot design program similar to HGS.
- A mapping and world-generation program(including system and world-surface mapping)
- PDFs of all forms AND of important chrts and handouts
I'm the last person to argue against the software's existence - I love having my char gen program (which generates 150 chars in a second), and working on my print-quality CT canon sector generator has been a delight - but there's one thing I want to say and I hope the T5 folks hear it - don't bundle it or connect it too closely to the T5 brand.
Classic Traveller's reason for success in the face of the overwhelming D&D brand was the differentiation that the character generation process provided.
Going thru the process of generating characters, ships and worlds by hand was a huge part of how precious the system became to me. Now, of course I love having the software - but if computer-generation tools had been bundled in my Little Black Box, I seriously wonder if the process would have had anywhere near the same impact.
I'd recommend no software bundled, and a web site available with tools in widget form (that way Mac and Windows users can make best use of it). Such a site could also form the hub of a very active fan contribution effort - with forums, wikis, blogs, subscription-only additional game content, software up/downloads, etc., aimed at the rabid or tech-savvy T5 gamer.
The reason? To encourage people to go thru the process with dice, and interacting with the paper. If you blur the line between paper and computer-based game too much for the 'average' potential Traveller5 fan, T5 as an RPG won't 'stick' the same way.
Pressing 'calculate' and choosing from a list of pre-gen worlds, characters, etc., can be good for an active DM - but it can be stultifying for a player who's becoming introduced to the game.
So - imho plenty of software, just not bundled and 'in-your-face' - and most of all (way more important than software tools) is a well-designed, rich character generation process as thrilling and imagination-inspiring as the original. A system where the results evoke all manner of possible scenarios in one's mind. The software should (and will) come in short order. I for one am looking forward to an implementation a'la widgets - I've done a few similar projects already and would gladly apply my skills, such as they are.
Classic Traveller's reason for success in the face of the overwhelming D&D brand was the differentiation that the character generation process provided.
Going thru the process of generating characters, ships and worlds by hand was a huge part of how precious the system became to me. Now, of course I love having the software - but if computer-generation tools had been bundled in my Little Black Box, I seriously wonder if the process would have had anywhere near the same impact.
I'd recommend no software bundled, and a web site available with tools in widget form (that way Mac and Windows users can make best use of it). Such a site could also form the hub of a very active fan contribution effort - with forums, wikis, blogs, subscription-only additional game content, software up/downloads, etc., aimed at the rabid or tech-savvy T5 gamer.
The reason? To encourage people to go thru the process with dice, and interacting with the paper. If you blur the line between paper and computer-based game too much for the 'average' potential Traveller5 fan, T5 as an RPG won't 'stick' the same way.
Pressing 'calculate' and choosing from a list of pre-gen worlds, characters, etc., can be good for an active DM - but it can be stultifying for a player who's becoming introduced to the game.
So - imho plenty of software, just not bundled and 'in-your-face' - and most of all (way more important than software tools) is a well-designed, rich character generation process as thrilling and imagination-inspiring as the original. A system where the results evoke all manner of possible scenarios in one's mind. The software should (and will) come in short order. I for one am looking forward to an implementation a'la widgets - I've done a few similar projects already and would gladly apply my skills, such as they are.
BINGO!
Also the die-roll method reinforces and communicates ideas about the nature of the interstellar society without assualting players with pedantic mini-essays.
I've spent a few hundred dollars (and a lot of time) mainly to find out what you could do with the output of the Heaven and Earth program. I think now that I was chasing an illusion. No one can manage several sectors of data in any kind of meaningful way. Even fleshing out a single subsector is a major challenge.
(The last rpg session I attended took three hours. We convinced an NPC to sell us some video of an attack... and infiltrated a warehouse to search for clues. There was a brief combat that was lost badly... and we narrowly escaped being captured by the authorities. How much data is really required to set up this sort of session?)
Drinking from the firehose of computer generated Traveller data is not particularly helpful to new players. Doing it by hand so that your imagination fills in the blanks of the character's story is a big help.
</luddite rant>
That reminds me... what about a subsector generation system that works in a similar way as char gen? Is it possible to roll up a set of worlds... and then take them through 100-year "terms"... and watch the populations, tech levels, governments, bases, etc. change and promote over time?
jfetters
SOC-14 1K
Both are good points.
I think the basic assumption that we are making here in this conversation is that the people who would use these tools the most would probably be Referees, who would need to churn out dozens of characters, or be able to assemble a ship and have its stats in a nice stylesheet rather than having to create a spreadsheet by hand or, heaven forbid, on paper.
(The main exception here would be blank PDF player forms, world maps, etc, that could be downloaded and printed to your heart's content - but also have a transform that could place generated data into the PDF without much hassle.)
And the point about the firehose of Traveller canon and data is also valid. Unless you are running a game by the seat of your pants, with very little planning, you will want to detail something of the local polity and environment ahead of time. The trick is really to know where your limit is. Sometimes I think there should be a disclaimer somewhere in the rules (maybe there is, but I have forgotten where) that says, "Don't try to detail more than a couple worlds at first - a subsector at most - or else you will burn out."
Regarding the tracking worlds over time, I am not sure if there is anything that handles what you are talking about. I know there are the Collapse rules of TNE, but that is for killing a world, primarily - not developing it. I can't remember if the 1248 rules have any UWP projection stats or not...
I think the basic assumption that we are making here in this conversation is that the people who would use these tools the most would probably be Referees, who would need to churn out dozens of characters, or be able to assemble a ship and have its stats in a nice stylesheet rather than having to create a spreadsheet by hand or, heaven forbid, on paper.
(The main exception here would be blank PDF player forms, world maps, etc, that could be downloaded and printed to your heart's content - but also have a transform that could place generated data into the PDF without much hassle.)
And the point about the firehose of Traveller canon and data is also valid. Unless you are running a game by the seat of your pants, with very little planning, you will want to detail something of the local polity and environment ahead of time. The trick is really to know where your limit is. Sometimes I think there should be a disclaimer somewhere in the rules (maybe there is, but I have forgotten where) that says, "Don't try to detail more than a couple worlds at first - a subsector at most - or else you will burn out."
Regarding the tracking worlds over time, I am not sure if there is anything that handles what you are talking about. I know there are the Collapse rules of TNE, but that is for killing a world, primarily - not developing it. I can't remember if the 1248 rules have any UWP projection stats or not...
Couple of other side points:
My first idea of what Traveller was like was that players would go all over the place... crisscrossing a subsector.
In "reality" subsidized liners stay on their routes delivering mail... and many Beowulf owners spend their lives going back and forth between just two worlds. (Kinda dull.)
Many of the original adventures were for characters that were dead broke, didn't own a ship, and needed to find a way to get off world. And ironically... players that did have a ship would find it breaking down or misjumping so that they could have an adventure.
On the one hand... those nifty hex star maps are a big part of the allure of Traveller. At the same time, they aren't necessarily essential to actually playing the game. I think Book 3 spells it out the most clearly: Patrons are the key to Traveller adventures... not worlds and stars and ships....
In the sci-fi rpg I'm currently playing in... it surprises me that these first few sessions we've spent a lot of time and effort trying to rationalize our actions according to the setting. Given the politics and technology and sociology of our Steel Beach/Max Headroom/Bladerunner type background... what makes sense as the next thing to do? Even minor decisions lead to little side discussions about subtle aspects of the future.
It's a very exciting and rewarding process... and it's just dealing with a single solar system. Traveller is a much bigger deal: not only do you have tons of worlds to deal with in a sector... but there's the layers of interstellar economics, galactic empires, and alien cultures on top.
I think that just as important as a set of software tools would be a transcript of a GM's thought process as he creates his subsecter... and then a few dialogues from his game sessions as he leads his characters on a journey through it.
My first idea of what Traveller was like was that players would go all over the place... crisscrossing a subsector.
In "reality" subsidized liners stay on their routes delivering mail... and many Beowulf owners spend their lives going back and forth between just two worlds. (Kinda dull.)
Many of the original adventures were for characters that were dead broke, didn't own a ship, and needed to find a way to get off world. And ironically... players that did have a ship would find it breaking down or misjumping so that they could have an adventure.
On the one hand... those nifty hex star maps are a big part of the allure of Traveller. At the same time, they aren't necessarily essential to actually playing the game. I think Book 3 spells it out the most clearly: Patrons are the key to Traveller adventures... not worlds and stars and ships....
In the sci-fi rpg I'm currently playing in... it surprises me that these first few sessions we've spent a lot of time and effort trying to rationalize our actions according to the setting. Given the politics and technology and sociology of our Steel Beach/Max Headroom/Bladerunner type background... what makes sense as the next thing to do? Even minor decisions lead to little side discussions about subtle aspects of the future.
It's a very exciting and rewarding process... and it's just dealing with a single solar system. Traveller is a much bigger deal: not only do you have tons of worlds to deal with in a sector... but there's the layers of interstellar economics, galactic empires, and alien cultures on top.
I think that just as important as a set of software tools would be a transcript of a GM's thought process as he creates his subsecter... and then a few dialogues from his game sessions as he leads his characters on a journey through it.
I think these points are on-target for role-playing games in general. The 'core' of any RPG is with characters: how they're created and how they interact with the world. Chargen, the Task System, and the Skills.
The closer you can get the player into the chargen process, the better the understanding of the game, and probably the character itself. That's why chargen is better (though not at all necessary) as a mini-game to itself, by the way, instead of a point-buy system.
The rest is commentary, almost trivia. Witness how you can drop-in any kind of solar system generation rules into Traveller, and the game is still Traveller. Ditto for starships -- especially if you keep the Jump Rule, but even if you don't, the game will still feel like Traveller.
Note that the meat of most adventures takes place on a single world. That alone is enough to tell you that starship design and sector data management rules are an order of magnitude less important in-game than learning what your character can and can't do.
The closer you can get the player into the chargen process, the better the understanding of the game, and probably the character itself. That's why chargen is better (though not at all necessary) as a mini-game to itself, by the way, instead of a point-buy system.
The rest is commentary, almost trivia. Witness how you can drop-in any kind of solar system generation rules into Traveller, and the game is still Traveller. Ditto for starships -- especially if you keep the Jump Rule, but even if you don't, the game will still feel like Traveller.
Note that the meat of most adventures takes place on a single world. That alone is enough to tell you that starship design and sector data management rules are an order of magnitude less important in-game than learning what your character can and can't do.
FlightCommanderSolitude
SOC-13
Wow! Get MWM on that ASAP.
True; plus, the other systems (world generation, animal encounters, ship building) are like chargen for referees.
