Judges Guild approved for Traveller: what do you use?

[Maladominus]

Black Globe:

Please let me know how the 50 Starbases supplement is (once you get it). I've been interested in picking that one up as well. Having deckplans and source material for starports/starbases sounds immensely useful for CT.

 

[Maladominus]

Black Globe:

Please let me know how the 50 Starbases supplement is (once you get it). I've been interested in picking that one up as well. Having deckplans and source material for starports/starbases sounds immensely useful for CT.

 

[Darkhstarr]

I used several of the Judges Guild materials. Of course I bought them when they came out & I had a subscription. I've sold most of them off but I still retain Simba Safari & Doom of the Singing
Star, as they are still useful. In fact I've used the Singing Star plans often as hotel space in games. I've turn the spinal mount on the liner
into a small boat launch & docking space. A liner
with that kind of firepower is just too tempting to a group of pirates or terrorist-it just screams TAKE ME! I agree that much of JG's stuff is substandard but useful at a time when I couldn't find or locate FASA, Paranoid Press, or GDW material in my area. In fact I got most of my
FASA & PP stuff via friends in the Air Force.

 

[Darkhstarr]

I used several of the Judges Guild materials. Of course I bought them when they came out & I had a subscription. I've sold most of them off but I still retain Simba Safari & Doom of the Singing
Star, as they are still useful. In fact I've used the Singing Star plans often as hotel space in games. I've turn the spinal mount on the liner
into a small boat launch & docking space. A liner
with that kind of firepower is just too tempting to a group of pirates or terrorist-it just screams TAKE ME! I agree that much of JG's stuff is substandard but useful at a time when I couldn't find or locate FASA, Paranoid Press, or GDW material in my area. In fact I got most of my
FASA & PP stuff via friends in the Air Force.

 

[aramis]

The advantage in the JG sectors is the rumor, encounter, and patron tables tailored to the various areas. Just enough to read between the lines. The library data is limited, but so was Supp3's, and it didn't have customized tables.

I, too, am curious about the 50 starbases.

 

[aramis]

The advantage in the JG sectors is the rumor, encounter, and patron tables tailored to the various areas. Just enough to read between the lines. The library data is limited, but so was Supp3's, and it didn't have customized tables.

I, too, am curious about the 50 starbases.

 

[Darkhstarr]

JG's fifty starbases had different starbases drawn on hexes and came with blank data sheets.
Therefore you could fill out the information to fit whatever milieu, race, or setting you needed.
Fairly useful if you didn't to go to the time-consuming effort of drawing maps. I usually copied off designed I liked & then filled them out. I looked around for my copy but couldn't find it.

 

[Darkhstarr]

JG's fifty starbases had different starbases drawn on hexes and came with blank data sheets.
Therefore you could fill out the information to fit whatever milieu, race, or setting you needed.
Fairly useful if you didn't to go to the time-consuming effort of drawing maps. I usually copied off designed I liked & then filled them out. I looked around for my copy but couldn't find it.

 

[shield]

Try Darathon Queen. Its an adventure set onboard a type M liner complete with deckplan (the old boxy JG version of the liner). You can choose from 3 plots, mutiny, bombing or rampaging alien monster.

The best bit is the crew and passenger descriptions - fair to say they are familiar to anyone who has seen any Airport or Airplane movie. every last one of them is completely useless. The adventure can be really fun and the GM has the complete set of airport characters (except for the singing nun). Great fun, but definiately a light break moment.

Cheers
Richard

 

[shield]

Try Darathon Queen. Its an adventure set onboard a type M liner complete with deckplan (the old boxy JG version of the liner). You can choose from 3 plots, mutiny, bombing or rampaging alien monster.

The best bit is the crew and passenger descriptions - fair to say they are familiar to anyone who has seen any Airport or Airplane movie. every last one of them is completely useless. The adventure can be really fun and the GM has the complete set of airport characters (except for the singing nun). Great fun, but definiately a light break moment.

Cheers
Richard

 

[etherflyer]

Originally posted by dence:
I'd love to get some of the FASA stuff. How did you guys come across yours?

Bought it when it was first published, like all my Traveller material.

 

[etherflyer]

Originally posted by dence:
I'd love to get some of the FASA stuff. How did you guys come across yours?

Bought it when it was first published, like all my Traveller material.

 

[Darkhstarr]

Bought some of Fasa when came out. The local hobby store Hobby Center(now a pawn shop) didn't carry much RPG but it had some Traveller stuff including dice. Some of it either I acquired from Air Force friends. The Fasa (& Paranoid Press) stuff was easier to find than the GDW Traveller material back in the 80's. I didn't acquire a lot of CT books until the reprint series
from FarFuture. The JG stuff was easy since I was a subscriber to their magazine. In fact most of my minis were ordered via JG since there wasn't a local store until the mid-80's. Locally
the only gamestore carrying Traveller stuff today
is Dragon's Lair & they carry only out of print T4
books & GURPS Traveller.

 

[Darkhstarr]

Bought some of Fasa when came out. The local hobby store Hobby Center(now a pawn shop) didn't carry much RPG but it had some Traveller stuff including dice. Some of it either I acquired from Air Force friends. The Fasa (& Paranoid Press) stuff was easier to find than the GDW Traveller material back in the 80's. I didn't acquire a lot of CT books until the reprint series
from FarFuture. The JG stuff was easy since I was a subscriber to their magazine. In fact most of my minis were ordered via JG since there wasn't a local store until the mid-80's. Locally
the only gamestore carrying Traveller stuff today
is Dragon's Lair & they carry only out of print T4
books & GURPS Traveller.

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Originally posted by Maladominus:
Black Globe:

Please let me know how the 50 Starbases supplement is (once you get it). I've been interested in picking that one up as well. Having deckplans and source material for starports/starbases sounds immensely useful for CT.

Quick impression: Like a number of Judges Guild materials, this is meant to inspire the referee with ideas rather than provide material whole-cloth.

The maps are utilitarian, showing building outlines and landing pads plus a bit of terrain around each starbase. There's a long list of potential features for the ref to add to the map. There're also a few pages on starbase ops with some good ideas.

I prefer the outline + inspiration approach to the "plug-and-play" style of supplement - rarely do I find a book that I will use as-written, and since I know I'm going to customize things anyway, I like supplements that provide a framework on which to build.

The sacrifice is that you still need to do some prep work to use the material in-game - referees expecting to be able to flip to a page and have everything detailed could be disappointed.

I also received one of the two sector maps (Glimmerdrift Reaches) that I ordered. (Ley Sector shoud arrive later this week.) As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the maps are quite basic, but overall I like the supplement - some of the ideas underlying the setting are quite interesting and there's plenty of implied intrigue and tension to drive adventures across the sector. (One in particular is really cool, but since it's referee-only text, I'll refrain from revealing it here... )

I like these products for the same reason I liked the Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting for Dungeons and Dragons many years ago - they provide a framework that starts my referee-brain ticking over: "How did the planet get like that? What happens when these two civilizations come into contact?"

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Originally posted by Maladominus:
Black Globe:

Please let me know how the 50 Starbases supplement is (once you get it). I've been interested in picking that one up as well. Having deckplans and source material for starports/starbases sounds immensely useful for CT.

Quick impression: Like a number of Judges Guild materials, this is meant to inspire the referee with ideas rather than provide material whole-cloth.

The maps are utilitarian, showing building outlines and landing pads plus a bit of terrain around each starbase. There's a long list of potential features for the ref to add to the map. There're also a few pages on starbase ops with some good ideas.

I prefer the outline + inspiration approach to the "plug-and-play" style of supplement - rarely do I find a book that I will use as-written, and since I know I'm going to customize things anyway, I like supplements that provide a framework on which to build.

The sacrifice is that you still need to do some prep work to use the material in-game - referees expecting to be able to flip to a page and have everything detailed could be disappointed.

I also received one of the two sector maps (Glimmerdrift Reaches) that I ordered. (Ley Sector shoud arrive later this week.) As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the maps are quite basic, but overall I like the supplement - some of the ideas underlying the setting are quite interesting and there's plenty of implied intrigue and tension to drive adventures across the sector. (One in particular is really cool, but since it's referee-only text, I'll refrain from revealing it here... )

I like these products for the same reason I liked the Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting for Dungeons and Dragons many years ago - they provide a framework that starts my referee-brain ticking over: "How did the planet get like that? What happens when these two civilizations come into contact?"

 

[ditzie]

For some reason, 50 Starbases didn't impress me. I didn't like the primitive art, I guess.

 

[ditzie]

For some reason, 50 Starbases didn't impress me. I didn't like the primitive art, I guess.

 

[kafka47]

The primative artwork and careless rendering of starports, especially when there was a JTAS article (Champa) which set the standard. Better is the article on Starports that consolidates all the CT goodness into a single place that floats around the net.

Or save your money and buy the Cargonaught or SJG book on Starports. But, don't buy JG unless you like the rawness of an early RPG. For the same reason, avoid RPG Objects.

 

[kafka47]

The primative artwork and careless rendering of starports, especially when there was a JTAS article (Champa) which set the standard. Better is the article on Starports that consolidates all the CT goodness into a single place that floats around the net.

Or save your money and buy the Cargonaught or SJG book on Starports. But, don't buy JG unless you like the rawness of an early RPG. For the same reason, avoid RPG Objects.