World generation:
Broadly, I'm in favour of a more sensible fix to world generation, and Jim's
system is pretty good. I think from earlier posts the Ag worlds round red
dwarfs problem has been recognised by GDW, and is regarded as an abherration
introduced in later Traveller. What they are going to do about it I don't
know - given that we are already stuck with the UPPs for several sectors and
the likely fix is to more strongly weight the star type/size based on the
mainworld we are in for a glut of F, G and K stars, I guess.
There were various variant solutions punted under classic trav ... a
couple from White Dwarf were:
- - increasing the space represented by a hex by a factor of ten (this from
Andy Slack's "Expanding Universe" series). The mainworld now represents
likely the most useful system, and probably the only explored one.
- - adding a Z axis for more worlds (from a Starbase column). The suggested
solution was +/- 10 hexes from the x/y axes.
Both these solutions should solve the skewed averages. The second adds the 3
dimensional aspect alot of people want but I would think it unlikely because
it would break the current sector maps, library data, etc. The other
advantage is of course to increase the role of the Scouts.
Couple of other points on worldgen, if anyone in GDW is watching:
- - one of the things which irritates me is the lack of modifiers on
subordinate worlds based on the tech level of the main world. The advanced
system generation rules are designed so that the mainworld need not be
generated first (however, if you take this approach you still need to
nominate the mainworld before generating the govt and law levels for
everyone else (I put this down to sloppy proofing). Whatever, in the
Imperium milieu it is more likely that the mainworld has been generated,
either by the ref or from an official sector chart. For the Imperium milieu
(note not necessarily for a 2300AD style game) the advanced generation
system should extend the basic one, not try to replace it ...
(interesting, btw, how the world generation affects and is affected by the
game background - I hope this is not regarded as a "generic" rule - either
the Imperium stuff will not work, or it is changed utterly, or a 2300AD
style game becomes impossible).
- - And, minor point, SpaceMaster includes a chart explaining what the different
star types mean (ie G is yellow, etc). I don't think this is a trade secret
and the non-astronomers can use it to add colour :-).
Finally, news for the UK readership - on one of my rare visits to central
London this week a visit to Virgin Games on Oxford Street revealed that they
are selling off a load of Classic Trav stuff, in mint condition, at sale
prices (ie between 2 and 3). Not the most sought after stuff - basically
book 6, supplement 2, a number of the adventures (including adv 13, Signal
GK, which might be regarded as useful background for TNE) and double
adventures, Alien Module 1 (Aslan) and volumes 2-4 of best of JTAS. Worth a
look though if one of these is missing from your collection (now if someone
can tell me where to get the K'kree module in the UK, I'll be a happy man).
As I say, the stuff is mint, and is marked "Special Purchase" - no idea
where it came from. I've also noticed a sudden reappearance of 2300AD
material in a number of stores, so maybe someone is freeing up old stock
from somewhere.
Keep on travellin'
Mark