Seems to me that a lot of GM/Referee work, as well as solo gamer prep can be done using Excel, so I wanted to inquire if people have created various spreadsheets, and/or random generators for use with the CT, T5, and other variants of the rules.
I'm really surprised in today's "computer age", with laptops, tablets, and phones, that more tools for gaming with Traveller aren't available. Perhaps they are, and I'm just unaware of them.
Excel would be a great tool for Character, NPC, and World/Star System/Star Sector Generation, designing spacecraft, random event and encounter tables, trading, etc., etc., etc..
Perhaps a lot of people are already using it as a tool for their gaming, for the above, so thought I would inquire about it.
If you are, and would like to share how you're using it, please do, with examples, and/or links, since I suspect I'm not the only person that might find them useful.
About the best one I've seen is one person's "Referee Screen", which is a huge spreadsheet with lots of stuff included on it, including spacecraft weapons tables, world descriptions, stats, and even weather, NPC info, etc., etc.. It is huge, and I've just seen a glimpse of it. It's about two full 8.5" x 11" pages, side by side, I suspect, with no clear break in between, so I imagine the person is probably using it with a tablet, or laptop PC to help run games.
It looks awesome, but due to concerns over copyright, sadly can't be shared, at least currently.
Would love to see some stuff like this included in the T5.1 release, or as an option, separately, since it would be great to help people running games.
Clearly, using Excel for merchant trading would be ideal, since that's pretty much what it's designed for, e.g. keeping track of numbers, stats, and data.
Please share how you use Excel to aid your Traveller gaming, when/if you have the time, and/or if you've run across others that appear to be doing so well, like the person I mentioned above, who has their own very detailed, Referee Spreadsheet/Game Aid.
Perhaps, if there's enough interest, this could be made into a "sticky" topic, since it might even encourage people to create Excel products for Traveller players to use for their gaming needs.
I'm really surprised in today's "computer age", with laptops, tablets, and phones, that more tools for gaming with Traveller aren't available. Perhaps they are, and I'm just unaware of them.
Excel would be a great tool for Character, NPC, and World/Star System/Star Sector Generation, designing spacecraft, random event and encounter tables, trading, etc., etc., etc..
Perhaps a lot of people are already using it as a tool for their gaming, for the above, so thought I would inquire about it.
If you are, and would like to share how you're using it, please do, with examples, and/or links, since I suspect I'm not the only person that might find them useful.
About the best one I've seen is one person's "Referee Screen", which is a huge spreadsheet with lots of stuff included on it, including spacecraft weapons tables, world descriptions, stats, and even weather, NPC info, etc., etc.. It is huge, and I've just seen a glimpse of it. It's about two full 8.5" x 11" pages, side by side, I suspect, with no clear break in between, so I imagine the person is probably using it with a tablet, or laptop PC to help run games.
It looks awesome, but due to concerns over copyright, sadly can't be shared, at least currently.
Would love to see some stuff like this included in the T5.1 release, or as an option, separately, since it would be great to help people running games.
Clearly, using Excel for merchant trading would be ideal, since that's pretty much what it's designed for, e.g. keeping track of numbers, stats, and data.
Please share how you use Excel to aid your Traveller gaming, when/if you have the time, and/or if you've run across others that appear to be doing so well, like the person I mentioned above, who has their own very detailed, Referee Spreadsheet/Game Aid.
Perhaps, if there's enough interest, this could be made into a "sticky" topic, since it might even encourage people to create Excel products for Traveller players to use for their gaming needs.