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Online/ Automated Traveller Tools - A holistic product view

S

savage

SOC-14 1K
I have been thinking about listing the online and automated gaming of Traveller. And the Pros and Cons of the gaming tools. Add comments and modify this list.

Later we can add it to the Wiki.

Discussion boards/ Blogs
1. COTI -
Pros- Far Future owned, Imperial Starport links to fansites &. blogs.
2. Mongoose
3. Gurps
4. Facebook pages for many products and companies

Mapping and Campaign Data
1. Campaign Cartographer/Cosmographer -
Pros addresses mapping and deckplans, Con Windows only
2. Starbase - Release date TBD
3. Universe1 - (release date for 2 is TBD) - Pro Extensive game data tracking
4. Heaven and Earth - 1990s Windows only
5. Galactic- 1980s First generation mapping. DOS based, replaced by H&E

PBEM
1. ?

Game Master WebSites - this is pretty open
1. Obsidian Portal - Player Websites

Game Play Websites
2. GRIP - Pros Traveller centric, Cons - T20 only (2000s), unsupported?
3. Roll20 -
4. OpenRPG -
5. Fantasy Ground -
6. EpicTable -
7. Maptool (rpgtool.net) -
8. Tabletopforge.net -
9. Gametableproj.sourceforge.net -
 
savage said:
Game Master WebSites - this is pretty open
1. Obsidian Portal - Player Websites
Click to expand...
Guild Portal, too. It isn't oriented on tabletop gaming, but we used it for the Official 30th Anniversary Classic Traveller Play-by-Post game a few years back. I hope to use it for my own PbP in the near future. (Assuming I ever get my prep work finished.)
 
adding PBP

Thanks. I forgot PBP. I have added it. Are there pros for that PBP site? or Cons?




Discussion boards/ Blogs
1. COTI -
Pros- Far Future owned, Imperial Starport links to fansites &. blogs. PBP
2. Mongoose
3. Gurps
4. Facebook pages for many products and companies

Mapping and Campaign Data
1. Campaign Cartographer/Cosmographer -
Pros addresses mapping and deckplans, Con Windows only
2. Starbase - Release date TBD
3. Universe1 - (release date for 2 is TBD) - Pro Extensive game data tracking
4. Heaven and Earth - 1990s Windows only
5. Galactic- 1980s First generation mapping. DOS based, replaced by H&E

PBEM
1. ?

Game Master WebSites - this is pretty open
1. Obsidian Portal - Player Websites

Game Play Websites
2. GRIP - Pros Traveller centric, Cons - T20 only (2000s), unsupported?
3. Roll20 -
4. OpenRPG -
5. Fantasy Ground -
6. EpicTable -
7. Maptool (rpgtool.net) -
8. Tabletopforge.net -
9. Gametableproj.sourceforge.net -

Play By Post
1. Guild Portal
2. COTI
 
I like http://www.rpol.net/ for PbP

Pros: Built in dice roller with secret or publicly logged rolls. Character sheets that only the GM and the owner see. A character list with details that everyone can see. A map or image area. People post as their character not their log in name. Multiple threads for the same game. Within a post you can insert private lines that only certain people can see. GM can control which players can see which threads and whether or not they can post in it. GM can post "in character" for each of the NPCs. People can send messages to individuals separate from the game threads. The site allows advertising and searching for games also can post GM wanted ads. Not just PbP games, there are RPG forums. No advertising other than on the home page.

Cons: I've had trouble adding my own custom avatar but there is a fairly large number provided and divided in multiple categories from which to choose from. There is a limit to the number of posts in a thread - but you just start a new one.
 
Last edited:
For 100% PBEM would there be anything to put on the list?

PBEM means either giving out a personal email address or creating an alternate one.

PBEM requires players to either already know each other or find each other some other way.

These days, pretty much any device that can email can surf the internet.

I'd suggest dropping PBEM from the list.

How about IRC?
 
update

Anyone use any of the other tools mentioned?

Discussion boards
1. COTI -
Pros- Far Future owned, Imperial Starport links to fansites &. blogs. PBP
2. Mongoose
3. Gurps
4. Facebook pages for many products and companies

BLOGS/ Player sites with community benefits
1. Zhodani Base - LLB tool

Mapping and Campaign Data
1. Campaign Cartographer/Cosmographer -
Pros addresses mapping and deckplans, Con Windows only
2. Starbase - Release date TBD
3. Universe1 - (release date for 2 is TBD) - Pro Extensive game data tracking
4. Heaven and Earth - 1990s Windows only
5. Galactic- 1980s First generation mapping. DOS based, replaced by H&E
6. www.travellermaps.com - Pro Very good view of known space Con Does not allow GM versions or era adjustments


PBEM - Cons requires distribution of email address to players
1. ?

Game Master WebSites - this is pretty open
1. Obsidian Portal - Player Websites

Game Play Websites
2. GRIP - Pros Traveller centric, Cons - T20 only (2000s), unsupported?
3. Roll20 -
4. OpenRPG -
5. Fantasy Ground -
6. EpicTable -
7. Maptool (rpgtool.net) -
8. Tabletopforge.net -
9. Gametableproj.sourceforge.net -

Play By Post
1. Guild Portal
2. COTI
3. www.rpol.net
Pros: Built in dice roller with secret or publicly logged rolls. Character sheets that only the GM and the owner see. A character list with details that everyone can see. A map or image area. People post as their character not their log in name. Multiple threads for the same game. Within a post you can insert private lines that only certain people can see. GM can control which players can see which threads and whether or not they can post in it. GM can post "in character" for each of the NPCs. People can send messages to individuals separate from the game threads. The site allows advertising and searching for games also can post GM wanted ads. Not just PbP games, there are RPG forums. No advertising other than on the home page.

Cons: Issues adding custom avatar but there is a fairly large number provided and divided in multiple categories from which to choose from. There is a limit to the number of posts in a thread - but you just start a new one.
 
Pros to Guild Portal: it's free, and is a good starting point
Cons: you have limited space (with the free version) for maps/pics/etc. Also, it's made for online MMORPG games.

As to chat methods, we use Skype. There are some whiteboard apps for Skype, including idroo, which we tried for a time. Unfortunately, it was a bandwidth/resource hog and the lag was making it unusable for me (other folks it worked fine), so we dropped it for now. (We've gone back to the referee making a file with maps and pics in it, and emailing it out before the Skype session.)
 
Discussion boards
COTI
Pro: Probably the largest and best informed on line Traveller community. If you have a Traveller question, this is probably the place to get it answered.
Con: Often heated disagreements between people who favor different versions of Traveller.

Play by Post
COTI
Pro: Probably the largest on line Traveller community for finding players.
Con: No functionality beyond normal forum posting tools.
 
Play by Post
Mongoose
Con: You need a board admin to set up a thread for a new game. No functionality beyond normal forum posting tools.
 
I have some online tools, but they're for preparation, not play. Do those count?
 
Tools

robject said:
I have some online tools, but they're for preparation, not play. Do those count?
Click to expand...

Yes I believe so. I believe with a resurge in player interest, we need a view of all the tools available for Traveller. Do you want to add them to the list and the url?
 
Root page: http://eaglestone.pocketempires.com/

 
Online Resource List

Here is our latest. Please, add any Pros/Cons or missing sites. I will probably need to add links.
I have not included product sites. I think those get a great deal of advertising. Each manufacturer will have one and a few stores.

Discussion boards
1. COTI
Pros- Far Future owned, Imperial Starport links to fansites &. blogs. PBP
2. Mongoose.com
3. Gurps.com
4. Facebook pages for many products and companies

Mapping and Campaign Data
1. Campaign Cartographer/Cosmographer -
Pros addresses mapping and deckplans, Con Windows only
2. Starbase - Release date TBD
3. Universe1 - (release date for 2 is TBD) - Pro Extensive game data tracking
4. Heaven and Earth - 1990s Windows only
5. Galactic- 1980s First generation mapping. DOS based, replaced by H&E
6. www.travellermaps.com - Pro Very good view of known space Con Does not allow GM versions or era adjustments


PBEM - Cons requires distribution of email address to players
1. ?

Game Master WebSites - this is pretty open
1. Obsidian Portal - Player Websites

Game Play Websites
2. GRIP - Pros Traveller centric, Cons - T20 only (2000s), unsupported?
3. Roll20 -
4. OpenRPG -
5. Fantasy Ground -
6. EpicTable -
7. Maptool (rpgtool.net) -
8. Tabletopforge.net -
9. Gametableproj.sourceforge.net -

Play By Post
1. Guild Portal
2. COTI - Pros will be adding dice rolling
3. www.rpol.net
Pros: Built in dice roller with secret or publicly logged rolls. Character sheets that only the GM and the owner see. A character list with details that everyone can see. A map or image area. People post as their character not their log in name. Multiple threads for the same game. Within a post you can insert private lines that only certain people can see. GM can control which players can see which threads and whether or not they can post in it. GM can post "in character" for each of the NPCs. People can send messages to individuals separate from the game threads. The site allows advertising and searching for games also can post GM wanted ads. Not just PbP games, there are RPG forums. No advertising other than on the home page. Cons: Issues adding custom avatar but there is a fairly large number provided and divided in multiple categories from which to choose from. There is a limit to the number of posts in a thread - but you just start a new one.​
4. Mongoose.com
Con: You need a board admin to set up a thread for a new game. No functionality beyond normal forum posting tools.

BLOGS/ Player sites with community tools
1. http://zho.berka.com/stuff/
LLB tool, map generators, counter generators and more...
2. http://eaglestone.pocketempires.com/
 
Last edited:
**NOTE** "www.travellermaps.com" is actually "www.travellermap.com" -- not pluralized. And, yes it CAN load and render GM-prepared content: there is a link on the site to its nicely featured API.
 
pray tell????

robject said:
**NOTE** "www.travellermaps.com" is actually "www.travellermap.com" -- not pluralized. And, yes it CAN load and render GM-prepared content: there is a link on the site to its nicely featured API.
Click to expand...

I never noticed it under the API...perhaps it's how it was worded. I will fix it.
THANKS
 
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