Modern version of JTAS?

[robject]

What would be the modern-day equivalent of the Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society?

I'm not up on the state of the art for this sort of thing. I don't even know how to classify it. A magazine, sort of, but not really the same thing, is it? It is a support periodical. Is there a standard term for "support periodical"?

GURPS has JTAS online. Jeff Zeitlin has his fanzine, Freelance Traveller. Are either of these the modern version of what JTAS was back in the 80s? Or is the current thing more like a combination of Blog + Wiki with RSS and Twitter/Facebook? Or is PDF (and print on demand) still the preferred delivery method?

Or is it some frankenstein-like "all of the above"?

I don't think an unfolding timeline would work well with a Blog. Articles might work, but it's hard to get all of that at your fingertips if you do a lot of flipping (and printing) between articles. Same for a wiki, though at least all the information is there and categorized... and a wiki is by nature a group effort; publications seem to be non-wiki.

 

[Vargas]

GURPS has JTAS online. Jeff Zeitlin has his fanzine, Freelance Traveller. Are either of these the modern version of what JTAS was back in the 80s?

In terms of organization and general format, yes.

I believe that JTAS was special because it was an official publication of GDW. I guess GURPS JTAS on some level could be said to do the same thing. Freelance Traveller is more analogous to the fanzines of the 80s.

 

[Piper]

TSR's "Star Frontiers" has an active magazine. Something along this line with an active indexing system (possibly a wiki) might work.

http://www.dwdstudios.com/starfrontiersman

 

[robject]

I like how they designed the web page, and how downloads are handled via RPGNow.

 

[FreeTrav]

Well... When I went to the magazine format for 2010, I was actually envisioning Freelance Traveller as filling somewhat the niche that the original print Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society did. I wanted to see a "real" magazine, with several departments, coming out on a regular schedule, with multiple authors/contributors - SJG's JTAS Online just didn't really have the right feel, especially after it had to be cut back due to Loren needing to lower his own stress levels. Signs & Portents simply wasn't Traveller; it covered other systems and settings.

The major "failing" of Freelance Traveller with respect to filling the Journal niche is that Freelance Traveller doesn't have the Imprimatur. And I never really saw it as a failing; by being a fanzine and not carrying the Imprimatur, I have the freedom to publish pretty much anything I want, without worrying about it contradicting Canon, or straying from an official "party line" with respect to rules or setting, or sticking with material from or for specific licensees - were there to be expressed enough interest and/or contributions, I'd happily support Hyperlite or any other Traveller-derived ruleset.

So, in a way, and to a limited extent, I have enough hubris to say that the answer to your question is - and hopefully will continue to be - Freelance Traveller, more than anything else I've seen. But I'm hardly what you would call 'unbiased', so appropriate doses of alkali halides are indicated, with the usual caution that excessive use thereof can have adverse health effects.

 

[robject]

...by being a fanzine and not carrying the Imprimatur, I have the freedom to publish pretty much anything I want

That's very helpful for a fanzine; an official publication is more restrictive in scope.

If an official periodical existed, I'd want

Dedicated to Traveller. Let's just get that out in the open now.

Regular Schedule. Quarterly, with the possibility of special supplements released in addition.

Several Departments. As per JTAS. Amber Zone, Casual Encounter, Contact!, plus others. Armory. Shipyard/Naval Architect. World profile.

PDFs. Issues available via DTRPG or RPGNOW.

Data available online. A landing page for the magazine. Article indexes, the timeline-so-far publicly available, things that are just plain useful online that you can't put in a document. A supporting wiki could work. A Facebook page might help for promotional purposes.

I don't think a blog would work. A blog is more like a diary. A magazine is not a diary, even if it has journal-like "From the Administration" articles in it... and even if its name starts with "Journal" (>Fr. daily, diary).

 

[BillDowns]

Personally, I like Jeff's layout, but it would be much nicer if it was web-based all around. Like have a hotspot to pull up Issue #43, which leads to the splash page with overlaid, hyperlinked index to the articles/columns/departments. And the ability to search all issues for keywords.

 

[Vargas]

I don't think a blog would work. A blog is more like a diary. A magazine is not a diary, even if it has journal-like "From the Administration" articles in it... and even if its name starts with "Journal" (>Fr. daily, diary).

One of the facets of grassroots RPG production these days I don't like is the use of blogs or Facebook in place of a dedicated web site. I realize that they're an inexpensive option for being online but their stream of consciousness nature makes them unsuited for visitors looking to pull specific information from the site.

 

[robject]

One of the facets of grassroots RPG production these days I don't like is the use of blogs or Facebook in place of a dedicated web site. I realize that they're an inexpensive option for being online but their stream of consciousness nature makes them unsuited for visitors looking to pull specific information from the site.

Yep. I've tried searching a blog before, and I am frustrated by its ad hoc nature. I can't even search my OWN blogs easily. "Stream of consciousness" is indeed the way it feels.

Facebook is even worse, tho it would be perfectly fine as a promotional splash and for time-based announcements.

 

[FreeTrav]

Well... I sorta do have that already, just not in the PDFs themselves. If you go to the Magazine Downloads page (http://www.freelancetraveller.com/magazine/), and scroll down to below the current month's TOC, you'll see a list of past issues, by date. Click on one of those, and you'll be taken to a page where each article and department that appeared in that issue is a link in the TOC. There's also a "search Freelance Traveller" link at the top of EVERY page; that lets you do a Google search of the Freelance Traveller site for your keywords.

I don't have links for the CURRENT issue, because I wait until I've posted the NEXT issue before I convert the articles to web. That's sorta an inducement to readers to download the PDFs, instead of just sticking with the old web-only format.