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Art Damage, RPGs and Reviews, Computing and Thesis!
Thursday eve was art-house movies with Brendan and Paul from Polyester at an art gallery-bar in the depths of Collingwood. Friday ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
severina_242 and _zombiemonkey visited in the eve for a typically wonderful eve. Saturday was The Absinth Club (stupid website), allegedly a burlesque and vaudevillians show, but in reality a standing room only with (plentiful) average performances. The emo punk bund "Orphan's Party" did well, but the real highlight was the company of caseopaya, devilgirly and purples. There is a blessing in my life that I inevitably find myself in the company of beautiful and intelligent women.
Sunday roleplaying was RuneQuest in the Dragonlord's world with a special scenario baked from H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands. Tuesday was Megatraveller using the GURPS module Stardemon. HeroQuest Glorantha email game continues with a confrontation with The Nameless Man who turns out to be none other than Grandfather Mortal. Had a quiet giggle at the efforts of one my players to slip a fast one past me in the Norman era AD&D game. My recent reviews on RPG.net include Aesheba: Greek Africa, Cloudlords of Tanara, Megatraveller: Players Manual and Megatraveller: Referees Guide. Oh, and I've just purchased an enormous bulk lot of RPGs and fantasy literature.
In computing news I've been offered another website to fix up (database development) which I'll be working on over the next two weeks. Last night was the first 2007 meeting for Linux User's Victoria. As usual I gave the news update for what has been happening in the linux world over the past month or so, the most exciting being the comprehensive study by the EUs Commission determining that open source will save you money. The speakers were Marco La Rosa (University of Melbourne) and Graeme Stewart (Glasgow University) who are part managers of the grid computer network centered at CERN. In other LUV news, I'm managing the one-day miniconference and install fest that will be held at Ballarat University on Saturday March 17th.
At the meeting I was also gifted two very hefty books by "The Major" on computing ethics and open source business as an aid in my studies. Speaking of which I have been quietly working away on over the past several months, gradually pushing down the high word count from 160K to 135K and towards the magical maximum of 100K. On a related topicshehasathree posts on How not to get a PhD, which is a checklist of my own studies.
severina_242 and _zombiemonkey visited in the eve for a typically wonderful eve. Saturday was The Absinth Club (stupid website), allegedly a burlesque and vaudevillians show, but in reality a standing room only with (plentiful) average performances. The emo punk bund "Orphan's Party" did well, but the real highlight was the company of caseopaya, devilgirly and purples. There is a blessing in my life that I inevitably find myself in the company of beautiful and intelligent women.Sunday roleplaying was RuneQuest in the Dragonlord's world with a special scenario baked from H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands. Tuesday was Megatraveller using the GURPS module Stardemon. HeroQuest Glorantha email game continues with a confrontation with The Nameless Man who turns out to be none other than Grandfather Mortal. Had a quiet giggle at the efforts of one my players to slip a fast one past me in the Norman era AD&D game. My recent reviews on RPG.net include Aesheba: Greek Africa, Cloudlords of Tanara, Megatraveller: Players Manual and Megatraveller: Referees Guide. Oh, and I've just purchased an enormous bulk lot of RPGs and fantasy literature.
In computing news I've been offered another website to fix up (database development) which I'll be working on over the next two weeks. Last night was the first 2007 meeting for Linux User's Victoria. As usual I gave the news update for what has been happening in the linux world over the past month or so, the most exciting being the comprehensive study by the EUs Commission determining that open source will save you money. The speakers were Marco La Rosa (University of Melbourne) and Graeme Stewart (Glasgow University) who are part managers of the grid computer network centered at CERN. In other LUV news, I'm managing the one-day miniconference and install fest that will be held at Ballarat University on Saturday March 17th.
At the meeting I was also gifted two very hefty books by "The Major" on computing ethics and open source business as an aid in my studies. Speaking of which I have been quietly working away on over the past several months, gradually pushing down the high word count from 160K to 135K and towards the magical maximum of 100K. On a related topic
shehasathree posts on How not to get a PhD, which is a checklist of my own studies.
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I try to be harsh, but accurate. It's a trait I share with
Given that AD&D was released at the same time,
Eh?!?
Formulas would save space, but tables are arguably easier for the 12-16 year old - non mathematically inclined type to grasp.
Megatraveller had more than its share of complex formula as well; and I don't really recall many of the 12-16 age group playing it - it was sufficiently difficult in its own right that is was more 18+.
I'm pretty happy with giving it a 3/5 for substance, which isn't a bad rating really. However, the organisation of the books could really do with some serious help.
As a preview my most positive review will come in the rebellion sourcebook...
Also I'm looking at Traveller: The New Era at the moment. It's not as bad as I've been told.
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My bad. 2nd Ed AD&D was 1989. 1st Ed however was nearly 10 years earlier, but for me I was most active with the system circa 1987. One of the chief complaints people (I knew) had with the game at the time was it was nearly impossible to memorize all of the tables. Dragon magazine had a habit of producing wheels with all of the key combat tables on them so that you didn't need to lug the books...
Megatraveller had more than its share of complex formula as well; and I don't really recall many of the 12-16 age group playing it - it was sufficiently difficult in its own right that is was more 18+.
I'm pretty happy with giving it a 3/5 for substance, which isn't a bad rating really. However, the organisation of the books could really do with some serious help.
I don't necessarily disagree with the rating you gave it. I just felt the tone of your review was harsh for an antique game. In 1987 btw I was 15. I had been playing Classic Traveller for ~2 years when this came out.
In a lot of ways CT was the better game. I think MegaTraveller needed more work, expansions, and supplements (there were a few) but the game never took off - perhaps that was GDW's fault.
Personally while I felt the combat system did allow for a sense of realism not found in other games at the time, it was challenging to use. A 30 minute firefight with terrorists in a spaceport could be turned into 3 or 4 days of play if you got imaginative.
I never did get to play GURPS Traveller. That may have streamlined the systems a bit. I heard very bad things about Traveller2300 (aka UltraTraveller)
Oh, something that you may or may not have seen is Traveller5 - Due for release this year. They have playtesting PDF files there and from the casual glance I took it doesnt look terrible - although the character creation PDF is 39 pages long... and mostly tables :D
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Ah now Classic Traveller... That's different. I think I was about 14 when I first read those rules, and grokked them straight away.
I heard very bad things about Traveller2300 (aka UltraTraveller)
Traveller 2300 was ... broken. 2300AD, the quickly released second edition, was quite a workable game. Good setting too.
I've heard that T5 is coming out, and will be working me way up to it eventually in the review stakes.