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So... what about the Spinward Marches book?

R

Rhialto the Marvelous

SOC-13
Mercenary received a huge thread, but this one made barely a blimp even though it seems to have sold as well or better.

Are people stunned into silence by its awesomeness? Shocked into stupor by the opposite? Lulled into lethargy by its mediocrity? Swooned into etc. etc.

Which should I buy: MGT SM, or a grimy copy of Beyond the Claw for 50 bucks on ebay? And why?
 
Not a lot of comment since very few people are honestly annoyed at this book. Its a good book. An unadvertised bonus is that it does a handy job of introducing the Third Imperium setting to newcomers through a collection of essays at the front of the book.

Should *you* buy it? That depends. If you already have a Marches book from a previous edition and don't have any new players who need the primer, the book won't really break any ground for you. Only a couple worlds per subsector are treated to any detail beyond the UWP lists (a primary difference between this and the GT book, by the way).

By comparison, GT Behind the Claw gives a paragraph for every mainworld in the sector, but discards the traditional UWP for text descriptions. This book also raises the sentient alien count in the Marches beyond all prior material.

Granted, it is easier to ignore material than to generate it, but the utility of each book is a bit different.
 
The subsector maps are as detailed as the sample subsector map in the main book. The uwp's are on a seperate page, but they are all there. Each subsector gets 4 pages, with the map being the 4th page. Two planets per subsector get detailed significiantly. Several other planets get a quick brushover.
 
I think the internal artwork is generally of a mixed standard. There are some nice pieces of work in the book, but there are also some that are not so good (the starship illos on p. 31 and 75 are not really representative of the OTU - they look too Victorian in design). Some of the images with people in them are not up to par tbh.

However, there's a nice illo on p. 41 representing the Mahgiz taking out a starship (well, that's my interpretation of the illo, anyway) and on p. 107 of two people on a planet's surface.

TBH there aren't actually loads and loads of illos in the book and there are no full/half/quarter page illos to throw the text out, so the illos don't really impact a great deal on the readability of the book itself.
 
Which should I buy: MGT SM, or a grimy copy of Beyond the Claw for 50 bucks on ebay? And why?
Click to expand...
MGT SM because a) it's the latest authorised version of the SM, b) it's a nice book to read, c) it has direct mentions or hints about a lot of the older CT stuff set in the Marches (thus not making CT SM stuff redundant) and d) it's cheaper than the grimy copy of GT:BtC.

However, for completist collector loons like myself, I would also bid for the GT:BtC.... :eek:o: :rofl:

So yeah: buy the MGT SM. It's a good book, 9/10 in my opinion.
 
Basic reviews of it (aka forum posts) are that this is the best book of the entire mongoose line thus far. It contains no crunch to argue with, plenty of maps to oggle over, lots of plot hooks to get the brain working. In short, it's the gem of the line.
 
I would buy the Spinward Marches book for MGT. I actually own both. The version of BTC that was published was actually the wrong one; they sent an earlier draft to layout rather than the final one by mistake. That, plus the fact that BTC is made for the alternate history of GT (which isn't a huge problem if you prefer that) means I don't consider it authoritative for the OTU. Yes, the SM book has only two worldas written up in detail per subsector...but that's ok by me. That leaves me free to make up my own stuff, which is part of the real fun of refereeing Traveller to me.

Allen
 
So this means that MGT has published the Marches?

Sorry but have been off line for about two months now and when I was on last they hadn't yet finished with the Spinward Marches book, but from this post I take it that it's done and out now. Is this correct and really 50 bucks for GT: BTC really?! That would indeed amaze me as previously stated I was under the impression you could still find it. Now if it's out of print (and by that I mean as a real book and not some pdf thing) and going for such a price, yipee, once again I have an expensive Traveller book to hang on to (to go with my beloved and come hell and high water before I ditch it Starship Operators Manual)!
 
Magnus Thornwood said:
Sorry but have been off line for about two months now and when I was on last they hadn't yet finished with the Spinward Marches book, but from this post I take it that it's done and out now. Is this correct and really 50 bucks for GT: BTC really?! That would indeed amaze me as previously stated I was under the impression you could still find it. Now if it's out of print (and by that I mean as a real book and not some pdf thing) and going for such a price, yipee, once again I have an expensive Traveller book to hang on to (to go with my beloved and come hell and high water before I ditch it Starship Operators Manual)!
Click to expand...

I sold a bunch of GT stuff..including BTC..at a local game store for $60 total.

The price for BTC, especially in light of its availability in PDF for eight bucks, is outrageous.

Allen
 
Not really.

Some of us love having the real printed book, not some crappy pdf copy of the book, and thus can be jacked up for a copy of the real deal, but hey that's just me and I guess some other folks too.

As for MGT's SM book, I might have to go out and purchase a copy, never got a copy of the CT SM book, sadly. Thanks for the info, and now I have to purchase my like fifth system version of a Traveller book, yea.
 
I think it's a nice book. I also have a copy of BTC, so I can mix and match. If you live anywhere near State College, PA, they have two NM copies for sale at 30% off.
 
Gruffty said:
MGT SM because a) it's the latest authorised version of the SM, b) it's a nice book to read, c) it has direct mentions or hints about a lot of the older CT stuff set in the Marches (thus not making CT SM stuff redundant) and d) it's cheaper than the grimy copy of GT:BtC.
Click to expand...

c) is pretty huge to me, I have to say.

Absence of more than two write-ups per subsector is not unwelcome either.

Looks like I'll be getting it, then. :D
 
One word of caution though, the UWPs are the originals from the Supp 3. There are no worlds with Atm codes D+.

Without going into the politics of what happened, the original UWPs from Supp3 were required by Marc to be used, even though there were several later versions that were available (like the SMC).

So, if you are expecting additional info in the UWPs like Droyne or Vargr or Chirper population info, it won't be there.
 
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