OTU Only: Is There Enough Artwork in Traveller?

[jcrocker]

There hasn't been a lot of art for Traveller lately. There was less art in T5 than anything since Classic, but when you consider the huge studio behind Trek, or Disney, yeah, there's going to be a lot less in comparison.

Should there be more? I certainly think so. I just wish I could draw like that!

 

[Blue Ghost]

There hasn't been a lot of art for Traveller lately. There was less art in T5 than anything since Classic, but when you consider the huge studio behind Trek, or Disney, yeah, there's going to be a lot less in comparison.

Should there be more? I certainly think so. I just wish I could draw like that!

It's like I've griped in the past when comparing fantasy verse scifi. Scifi wins in popularity among people who go to movies, watch TV and read novels. But fantasy gets all the art in games. Whatever. I look forward to more pics.

BTW, for what it's worth, I really liked the pics in the MT computer games.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Just as you can do so with D&D or any other game, but Traveller's setting now makes it unique. The game is basically now an original scifi property like Trek or SW, but the art, what little there is, really doesn't reflect that too much.

Technically, Star Trek and Star Wars don't show us much more of their settings outside of starships, desert/jungle worlds, and the occasional scenic view of the Golden Gate Bridge or Trantor. They've had just as long as Traveller to show us their setting's art.

 

[aramis]

Technically, Star Trek and Star Wars don't show us much more of their settings outside of starships, desert/jungle worlds, and the occasional scenic view of the Golden Gate Bridge or Trantor. They've had just as long as Traveller to show us their setting's art.

Trantor is from a different series... Asimov's Foundation.

Coruscant is the capital in Star Wars. And while it shows some influence from Trantor, it doesn't share the name.

Trek makes a lot of use of planet of the week, but one series gave us a pretty deep look at one world - DS9 gives us a deep look at Bajor, and a number of looks at Cardassia. We also see a number of epis in DS9 that are on Earth.

We have seen, in Star Wars canon, decent details on only 4 worlds. Tatooine got plenty of love - in 3 movies, plus a few shots in Clone Wars. We also see Naboo in 3 movies, plus the animated Clone Wars. Likewise Coruscant gets a lot of time in Clone Wars, plus 3 movies. The 4th, Lothal, is the prime setting for the Rebels series.

Traveller, we have several interesting looks at a number of worlds. Traveller's Digest shows us Capital as a park world, with floating cities. We get from TD as well a good look at Earth in the early 1100s. Further, the TD elaborates on the 100 years earlier Earth map in Invasion: Earth. We have a map of Regina, and some cultural notes- but most of the detailed worlds are in one book: The Traveller Adventure. But nothing as compelling as any of the above mentioned worlds.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Technically, Star Trek and Star Wars don't show us much more of their settings outside of starships,

That's not correct. We see all kinds of environments for those settings. I think this game, by comparison, shows very little. A lot of it is that it's a vast setting, and the meat of the game is in the text and maps.

I can't remember too much about the first D&D basic rule book, but I think it was more or less text. Compared with the Advanced editions there's tons more art. For my tastes the D&D art in the latest books is just over the top in a lot of respects; i.e. spikey armor and what not. Still, it's there, and gives a visual feel for its current incarnation.

 

[ovka]

In January I will be releasing version 3 of my TAS Access Terminal which includes over 300 images of surfaces, cities, fauna, etc. for various locations in the Spinward Marches.

Sweet! I am currently working on a new campaign using MapTool as a virtual table top. It would be nice to be able to display some images to the players.

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[mike wightman]

My most used Traveller resource is the Starter Edition book of charts and tables.

I don't need art in a rulebook for anything more than rule illustration.

Setting books on the other hand need a bit of artwork to get the setting across.

I was part of the Coriolis kickstarter and it is a thing of beauty - but to play the game I had to make a crib sheet which is now used a lot more then the rulebook.

 

[Ulsyus]

Is there ever going to be much emphasis on any one world? The name of the game does seem to suggest moving on...

 

[phorner]

Sweet! I am currently working on a new campaign using MapTool as a virtual table top. It would be nice to be able to display some images to the players.

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

Version 3 is now available. All artwork are in .jpg files read by the application. You can download it at http://www.liberated-technologies.com

 

[ovka]

Version 3 is now available. All artwork are in .jpg files read by the application. You can download it at http://www.liberated-technologies.com

I already grabbed it.

Question -- how do *you* use this tool with your players? Do they have access to it during a game? Is it used between sessions?

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[phorner]

I already grabbed it.

Question -- how do *you* use this tool with your players? Do they have access to it during a game? Is it used between sessions?

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

I have it up and running during the game. If their ship has "Library" and "Navigation" computer programs, they can use it on-ship, otherwise at a starport or downport.

 

[GypsyComet]

Is there ever going to be much emphasis on any one world? The name of the game does seem to suggest moving on...

Products like the Tarsus box for CT are a really neat idea, done sparingly. As SJG discovered with their world folios, too much detail is also a trap. They burned out after six, and a couple of those were really unusual.

World detailing is similar to ship detailing. Some players will never need them, while others are always starved for more. For some the ship is their main stage while the world of the week is just a new set of NPCs to skill at, a different color filter, and a new set of cargo decisions. For others the ship is just a plot device to get to a new world.

Star Trek famously went back and forth on this axis and got some good tales out of both modes.

 

[LeperColony]

There's a lot of artwork in the Traveller Customizable Card Game...

 

[Blue Ghost]

I can only speak for myself here, but, to me the thing that really defined Traveller when I first laid my hands on it, were Dietrick's pieces in the old Traveller Book. Shawna, Jameson, the cover art on the Starter Traveller box, really defined the futuristic and yet very tangible feel and look for the game. He is essentially part of the reason I latched onto this. He did some work for other games, notably another cover of his I really like to this day, is the one he did for the old "Trailblazer" game by Microgames.

https://68.media.tumblr.com/a9f58b4be763737a3d0f5097bc0b74cd/tumblr_od71om6nCY1ro2bqto1_500.jpg

It's my opinion that his clean lines and ability to abstract and create a single piece visual montage or tapestry. The guy on the cover of the Starter Traveler box is some tall typical blonde dude from the 70s with feathered hair. Him holding his helmet and staring out at the buyer or owner of the box, while two familiar people in the background face off in two different directions, really speaks to adventure and the adventure spirit of not just this game, but the scifi genre as a whole.

I just wish he could do massive amounts of art for not just Traveller, but all games and scifi books.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Him holding his helmet and staring out at the buyer or owner of the box, while two familiar people in the background face off in two different directions, really speaks to adventure and the adventure spirit of not just this game, but the scifi genre as a whole.

Borrowed from Charlie's Angels. Which was borrowed from...

 

[Blue Ghost]

Whatever. I like it. If you look at old movie posters from the 30s up through the early 70s they're all basically the same. I like Dietrick's art regardless of where he got the composition.

 

[Timerover51]

I am getting some copyright-free artwork of various types ready for free use, but I am still working on figuring out how to post them to DriveThru. The artwork would include military material, animals, vegetation, and landscape scenes to give players an idea of what the area they are in looks like. Might anyone be interested in helping me out?

 

[whartung]

I am getting some copyright-free artwork of various types ready for free use, but I am still working on figuring out how to post them to DriveThru. The artwork would include military material, animals, vegetation, and landscape scenes to give players an idea of what the area they are in looks like. Might anyone be interested in helping me out?

Don't you just send them a PDF after filling out some agreement?

 

[Vargas]

I just wish he could do massive amounts of art for not just Traveller, but all games and scifi books.

I liked his work in the Thousand Suns RPG.

I remember him especially for his equipment supplements, like the one he did for 2300 AD.

 

[Ulsyus]

I can only speak for myself here, but, to me the thing that really defined Traveller when I first laid my hands on it, were Dietrick's pieces in the old Traveller Book. Shawna, Jameson, the cover art on the Starter Traveller box, really defined the futuristic and yet very tangible feel and look for the game. He is essentially part of the reason I latched onto this. He did some work for other games, notably another cover of his I really like to this day, is the one he did for the old "Trailblazer" game by Microgames.

https://68.media.tumblr.com/a9f58b4be763737a3d0f5097bc0b74cd/tumblr_od71om6nCY1ro2bqto1_500.jpg

It's my opinion that his clean lines and ability to abstract and create a single piece visual montage or tapestry. The guy on the cover of the Starter Traveler box is some tall typical blonde dude from the 70s with feathered hair. Him holding his helmet and staring out at the buyer or owner of the box, while two familiar people in the background face off in two different directions, really speaks to adventure and the adventure spirit of not just this game, but the scifi genre as a whole.

I just wish he could do massive amounts of art for not just Traveller, but all games and scifi books.

Didn't he do a lot of work for the Battletech games?