JTAS--How much did it help Traveller get Established?

[Lord Iron Wolf]

To the Group,

Journel of the Traveller's Aid Society was the magazine of Traveller that kept the game updated and presented fresh adventures every quarter. Looking back now, I was wondering how much Traveller's growth and reputation was helped by this magazine.

My opinion is that Traveller would of been one of the early experiments and long since dead if the constant input of the magazine hadn't kept it fresh and in the public's mind. I believe the contributions of Judge's Guild, Paranoia Press, FASA and Digest Group Publications helped keep the fresh as it was ever evolving.

As a side note--is the lack of a hard copy magazine going to hurt the current versions of Traveller or be a non-issue.

Just Looking for Feedback and Opinions,
Lord Iron Wolf

 

[chatdemon]

Speaking only from my personal experience, I don't think the old print JTAS mags had much impact at all. In CT's heyday, I think I only had one issue, and that was the 1st 'best of' compilation. It wasn't till the last 3 or 4 years that I was able to pick up some of the other issues at shops and cons here and there.

I don't currently subs to SJG's JTAS simply because it is an ezine, if they (or someone else with a similar mag) were to take it to print, I'd be first in line to subscribe.

 

[WendellM]

At least one member of our group usually managed to buy a copy of each issue so that we could stay informed of current happenings - I ended up with half a dozen plus Best Of's 1 & 2. Issue 9: "War!" and those immediately following made quite a splash with all the FFW activity. It was also interesting to see the published "house rules" in each issue that expanded on areas only lightly covered in the official rules. The two FFE reprint volumes were great for filling in what I missed - being able to read all that "new" material at once was amazing, and I'm looking forward to the Challenge reprint.

I've not bothered with the new JTAS since I don't use GT. I have subscribed to the new Traveller's Aide PDF series (not quite the same thing), though, and downloaded the two issues that have CT material. If T5 ever makes it out and has a magazine, I'd subscribe to it (hard copy preferred, but PDF would do).

 

[Vargas]

JTAS had a big influence on me. I think it was critical in expanding the TI setting and filling in the 'blank spots' in the official rules. Without it I think it is likely we would never have been introduced to the Virushi or the Bwaps or ever have seen Marc's Jumpspace article (to name just a few items). Although I have no direct evidence at hand, I believe that JTAS contained more art than that provided in the adventures, double adventures, etc (at least until the Traveller Adventure).

But hey, it could just be me. . .

 

[chatdemon]

I don't mean to say that the original JTAS mags weren't a good thing, they had some great material and I do grab them when I find them now. I just didn't have access to them the first time around and did fine without them. Likewise with the new JTAS ezine, it's a great resource, but given its format I dont bother, and I get by fine without. I'd welcome a new Traveller print zine with open arms though if the quality was comparable.

 

[Aquinas]

I think JTAS was a great help to Traveller at the begining, however, I think that it is now too conservative and is stagnating (posibly the effects of SJG ?)

Vidmar

 

[Shadow Bear]

I loved it. JTAS helped make T1 come alive. It was a great source of new equipment and the TAS news gave life to the 3rd Imperium.

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by WendellM:
I've not bothered with the new JTAS since I don't use GT.

As a subscriber (and contributor) to JTAS Online, I suggest you reconsider that. Very little of what is brought is GT specific. Even the character writeups usually contain considerable plain text. As of today the archives contain 58 Amber Zones, 43 Campaign Settings, 20 Deck Plans, and 30 Short Adventures. I don't think a single one of them requires GT to enjoy (though I may be mistaken about one or two). The 53 Casual Encounters contain GT stats, so some of them may be useless, but as I said above, most of them have enough plain text to be useful. And there may be one or two of the 200 other articles that you would find interesting.


Hans

 

[Prometheus]

It is my opinion that JTAS began to reveal the depth(limitless) and breadth (limitless) of Traveller. So I would agree with the notion that it spread the traveller systema and added significantly to the populartity of traveller.

 

[Gaming Glen]

Originally posted by rancke:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by WendellM:
I've not bothered with the new JTAS since I don't use GT.

As a subscriber (and contributor) to JTAS Online, I suggest you reconsider that. Very little of what is brought is GT specific. Even the character writeups usually contain considerable plain text. As of today the archives contain 58 Amber Zones, 43 Campaign Settings, 20 Deck Plans, and 30 Short Adventures. I don't think a single one of them requires GT to enjoy (though I may be mistaken about one or two). The 53 Casual Encounters contain GT stats, so some of them may be useless, but as I said above, most of them have enough plain text to be useful. And there may be one or two of the 200 other articles that you would find interesting.


Hans </font>[/QUOTE]Publish hardcopy versions, and I'll buy them.


Glen

 

[Jame]

I agree with Gaming Glen, put the JTAS in print and I'll buy it - I'm not fond of internet payment options (lacks obvious security), so I'm not going to buy a subscription (for the moment) unless it were in print.

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by Jame:
I agree with Gaming Glen, put the JTAS in print and I'll buy it - I'm not fond of internet payment options (lacks obvious security), so I'm not going to buy a subscription (for the moment) unless it were in print.

<<Shrug>>. Not my decision to make, I'm afraid. They were going to publish a "Best of JTAS" book, but for some reason it got cancelled.

As for internet payment, send them a check. That's what I did until I managed to sell something to them. And if you can sell them a 700 word article, you can take the money in the form of a subscription. No internet payment involved at all.


Hans

 

[WendellM]

Originally posted by rancke:
As a subscriber (and contributor) to JTAS Online, I suggest you reconsider that. Very little of what is brought is GT specific.

Thanks for your input, Hans. I've been considering "giving in" to GT (and maybe even T20) since I've loved Traveller so much for 23 years (can it really have been so long?). It was only relatively recently that I bought the MT, TNE, and T4 materials, so GT (including the new JTAS) and T20 (once a "2nd ed." Handbook free of known errata is available) may well follow based on recommendations by you and other Traveller fans. It just sorta pains me to see Traveller "reduced" to sourcebook status for GURPS and, even worse to me, D&D/D20 (I long for T5 to make things "right" again! <g>). But, perhaps I should set that aside in order to experience what seems like a lot of effort by dedicated authors/players to expand the Traveller universe.

 

[T. Foster]

I don't play/like GT (though I do own several of the books) but still find almost all of the articles on online JTAS to be entirely useful. "Bestiary" creatures almost always have CT stats included as well as GT, "Casual Encounter" NPCs sometimes do (and really for NPCs it's the personalities, not the stats, that we actually care about), and most adventures/Amber Zones/campaign settings are entirely stat-free. The only things that seem to be typically GT-specific are ships and vehicles (which aren't posted all that often anyway).

Online JTAS isn't perfect -- graphically especially it's very sparse and boring -- but while I wouldn't rank it anywhere near the original JTAS or The Travellers' Digest I'd say it's of comparable quality to Challenge or The Traveller Chronicle (and much better than IG's aborted JTAS revival) and, considering that full archive access is included in the subscription price, it's a much better bargain than any of them.

Yeah, I'd prefer the return of a print-magazine, but until the PTBs decide that's economically feasible I'll take what I can get.