... while some are remembering International CFS/ME day today, I'm enjoying a different sort of day as I celebrate my birthday.

And as it happens I've had four great gifts.

The first is nothing to do with Traveller except for the fun it engenders on every page to be a better referee and write better games - The GURPS Discworld 4th edition.  A lovely hardback that if you're a fan of Discworld is a must even if you have no intention of adventuring there.  (I had the privilege just once and it was a blast!). 

The second is the first season of Dark Matter on DVD which you guys have (reliably, I'm sure) informed is very Travelleresque and worth bothering with - I'm looking forward to them.  Thank you to those who recommended it.

In more directly Traveller related news I happened across two articles I knew existed but had never seen until now.  Polyhedron 61's article about PCs as starships - (I've long had part 3 of this which doesn't contain any Traveller material but unfortunately have still not tracked down Polyhedron 60 and the first part of the three part series).

And then Foundations for a Fantasy-Role Playing Campaign by Marc W. Miller thanks to the excellently timed arrival of two Gryphon magazines in the post.  My public thanks to Tom Rux for those.

Here, for those interested, are their entries:

cheers

tc


Cruisers and Characters: The Spacecraft Player Character, Part 2

Roger E. Moore.  Polyhedron 61, July 1991, pp.25-27.

3 pages, large format.

 

The second part of a three part series looking at player character spacecraft.  This looks at the role of the PC ship, group dynamics and then runs through their application in several role-playing games including Traveller and 2300AD.  Part 3 contained no Traveller specific material (Part 1 unseen).  Department: The Living Galaxy.


Foundations for a Fantasy-Rôle Playing Campaign

Marc W. Miller.  Gryphon 4, Winter 1981, pp.16-17.

2 pages, large format.  Ill.

 

The creator of Traveller discusses four seeds that make up a good campaign: the Basics, the Pull, the Push and Gimmicks.  Examples are provided from D&D and Traveller.  These had ‘The Enigma’ added to them to create five seeds in The Traveller Book the following year.