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Signs & Portents 84 - Traveller Special

M

MongooseMatt

Administrator
Administrator
Mongoose
This month's issue of Signs & Portents is something of a Traveller special, with oodles of articles and new ships for you to introduce into your campaigns.

You can download this issue for free at;

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/series.php?qsSeries=13

In this month's issue;

sp84.jpg


Traveller
A Traveller special this month, with a veritable fleet of new ships, all complete with deck plans!

Earthdawn
A selection of bizarra flora and fauna that clever adventurers may be able to put to use...

Traveller
How to inject a little horror into your games.

Chthonian Stars
A brand new preview of this exciting new setting for Traveller!
 
<The message originally intended to be here was lost when drool from the poster shorted out the keyboard> :D
 
Blue Ghost said:
Wasn't Signs and Portents an episode of that awful "Babylon 5" TV junk?
Click to expand...

Well, B5 went down much better in the UK than it did in America, and Mongoose is a British company so it is possible. I doubt this is the inspiration for the title though. Why do you ask?
 
What Has said!

Rancke2 said:
No, it was an episode of that absolutely amazing, ground-breaking SF TV series Babylon 5.


Hans
Click to expand...
I mean we are talking (and boy did they do all of that) about the one show other than the nBSG that actually treats space fighters as space fighters and not like "airplanes in space".

***​

As for the magazine, love the "Touch the animals you are not supposed to" contest. That is awesome!

Seen better deckplans (CotI and the CT books spoiled me), but since otherwise I would have to draw them, I can totally live with them. And there is quite a large selection, no lie there. You said a lot of ships and man, I kept scrolling for hours, okay, seconds, but still pages and pages of them. So that is cool for the Ref that needs ships. Me, I am a Naval Architect in Traveller so most of my fun is doing up my own.

No, my big quibble is with the UWC Wardens. "..must be of sound mind", why on Earth would you waste one of those knowing it is going to be a very shattered mind first time it runs into the truly occult? Seriously. Better to start with someone who has had the experience already. Keep more Agents that way. :p

All in all, nice.

And I ssooo dig the Contest, did I mention how cool that is?

Question is will Matt be paying Charlie's bail if she gets busted touching the giraffe? I mean since he taunted her with free ice cream. Hell for the right flavor, I might even try. Key word "might", I am a notorious coward. (Though I do admit a passion for Baskin Robin's Daiquiri Ice, man that is sooo good. Giraffe worthy maybe even.)

And last but by no means least, how old are these 2000AD Graphic Novels? And titles perhaps? An old friend and flatmate (yes, I can speak a bit of the Queen's English. :D) turned me on to 2000AD. Which makes the cameo by the ABC Warriors robot so funny to some of us who watch the movie. Speaking of, how did the Judge Dredd movie go over in the UK?
 
Andrew M said:
Well, B5 went down much better in the UK than it did in America, and Mongoose is a British company so it is possible. I doubt this is the inspiration for the title though. Why do you ask?
Click to expand...

I was just curious if it was an homage or something.
 
Blue Ghost said:
Wasn't Signs and Portents an episode of that awful "Babylon 5" TV junk?
Click to expand...

It's also one of the phrasings used in the translation of Isaiah 8:18, so its roots go back a bit further.

"Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. "

The term "signs and portents" is used in the RSV and NSRV, so it goes back to at least 1952 (publication of the RSV.)

It's also translated as "signs and wonders", "signs and symbols", "warning signs and hope signs" and "reminders and object lessons."

I believe that the term was also used in Elizabethan stagecraft, as was "Alarums and Excursions." I don't have any specific references at hand, though. If so, then the name is more likely a reference to the Ur-rpgzine A&E than it is someone picking something up from B5. At any rate, it follows the traditional "Ugh and Argh" method for naming publications in gaming. :D
 
lol, understood :)

It's just that sometimes, and it's not limited to sci-fi, gaming literature can be a little inbred on occasion. I remember watching Bab-5 (and not liking it a whole lot) and for whatever reason remembering that title. I'm guessing it's because I heard it used before on a number of occasions. Bab-5 was no different in its application, but the stench of that TV series tends to taint other sci-fi for me.

Anyway, thanks for the rundown on the history of the phrasing. That's rather interesting, though a curious usage for a Traveller publication. But that's just me ;)
 
Well, Signs and Portents has been around as the Mongoose in-house publication long before they had Traveller. Maybe even before that B5 episode or whatever. I always thought it was done as just a catchy kind of swords and sorcery themed title. A "here's what's new" sort of vibe. That's all.
 
Signs and Portents has been Mongoose's magazine name since they started it to heavily feature the Bab5 material that they were producing under license.

It is a deliberate reference to Bab5.

Phill
 
Well, it's not just a Traveller publication. It's Mongoose's house organ. It covers all the genres that their games cover.
 
Huh!

FreeTrav said:
<The message originally intended to be here was lost when drool from the poster shorted out the keyboard> :D
Click to expand...

I hope you weren't drooling over those crappy deck plans. Although I do have to admit some of the Stats weren't too bad. Surely (Don't call me that!) Mongoose can do better than this on deckplans.

(What! Can't a guy give an honest opinion?)

:rofl:
 
You're not alone on that, GL. I found myself singularly unimpressed by the deckplans - particularly the lacklustre drive symbols, the zero wall thickness for the accommodations and the lack of an exterior outline.
My impression was that two hours before the print deadline, somebody realised they hadn't drawn any deckplans and fired up MS Paint...

The horror adventure seeds, OTOH, were food for thought. I don't use horror as a staple in my games, but they got the old brain ticking over. I might be able to borrow/adapt a couple of those ideas.
 
I have not looked that S&P Traveller issue yet but could you (anyone who has and does not like the deckplans) please explain why the deckplans are "crappy"?

Thanks in advance.

Dave Chase

EDIT

Oh, slightly never mind. I saw the deckplans. Nice for SSD print for a ship battle (or maybe Full Thrust rules. ;) )

So, to clarify the question:

What would you want for deckplans?

END EDIT
 
Last edited:
Actually, the drool was all about having an issue that was thick with Traveller stuff; I haven't actually sat down and READ it yet - still catching up on all the stuff that started backlogging from my hospitalization a month ago.

As far as Mongoose deck plans... I believe I've adequately commented about them in every review in Freelance Traveller over my byline for a number that has deckplans in it...
 
Baron Saarthuran said:
If someone made a gaming magazine called "Arg" I'd read it.
Click to expand...

Traditionally, it'd have to be called "Ugh and Arg." ;)

This was the term Lee Gold's group came up with for the litany of * & * names in gaming when they published Alarums & Excursions. D&D, C&C, T&T, etc.

Would you read Ugh & Arg? :)
 
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