Traveller 5 - Thoughts, and Characters

Traveller 5 - Thoughts, and Characters

Marc Miller is a genius. Now, I'm not saying that T5, as incarnated, is going to be everyone's cup of tea, but going deeper into the wealth of tables available, the most relaxing thing about them is not that they are there when you need a quick and dirty lookup for something you didn't plan ahead of time, but that you can safely ignore them unless there is something going on that requires scientific/universe/random knowledge that doesn't naturally flow from the current state of the game world.…

Read More

Traveller 5

Traveller 5

As I slid back into playing in an AD&D campaign as well as running a twice-a-month Dimmermount-based campaign, I poked my nose back into Traveller. Namely - I had a few years back purchased the Classic Traveller CD-ROM from FFE which included the complete LBB's of the original edition as well as the consolidated "Traveller Book" edition, and all of the expansion books: High Guard for more advanced ship design and naval character skills, as well as expansions for scouts, ground forces, merchants,…

Read More

RPGs - Shared Power

RPGs - Shared Power

Over the last decade, I've run and played Pathfinder (I know...), played Dungeon World, and run ACKs and Classic (1st gen) Traveller. I've also had a fair bit of exposure to FATE, the recent version of Paranoia, and the world of darkness vampire setting. The less said about the latter, the better. So what did Pathfinder get right? Mostly, a lavishly filled out game world and background, with solid art and production values, as the core system was "d20," a reskinned open-source D&D 3.5 which to…

Read More

Minis and Wargames

Minis and Wargames

While I've burned out on miniature-based games as an expensive hobby who's changing rulesets demand new minis - even Warmachine and, to a lesser extent, Malifaux escaped their small-scale skirmish roots - I still love modeling, and there's something about the fine work of assembling and painting minis or airplanes and tanks that is simply calming and satisfying. I also love a good wargame. I haven't had the chances I'd like to mess with ASL or The Fifth Frontier War, nevermind delve into the "b…

Read More

Mixed Feelings, But Hopeful

Mixed Feelings, But Hopeful

If you recognize the not-quite-Chris Foss image gracing this article, you've likely spent a few hours lost in a truly groundbreaking game called Homeworld - one which, a few years back, had been released in a "remastered" version that took the original game, ships, adn strategy and dressed them up with much more detailed models and texture maps. Well, it looks like a new iteration of the game is on its way. For those of you not familiar with the game, the below does a decent job of reviewing…

Read More