JTAS 3rd April 2012

[AndreaVallance]

What on earth would JTAS do without Mark :) As usual, my biased very personal thoughts in the issue with the hope that more people will see the value of a subscription.

Loren's Editorial (or is a leader?): Loren is evil, I now have this image of several Doctors (5th, 8th and 10th) sitting round and playing Traveller. However I believe there is still one more season of Doc Martin to be filmed, so there's still hope (and if you like the show, get the movie Saving Grace).

Desert Flora and fauna (4500 words) - Mark Gellis: More crunchy goodness from Mark. Even if (like me) you don't use GURPS, the descriptive text is more than sufficient to cut paste and drop into any campaign. I especially like the Stripped Ridgeback, wonder if they can be domesticated?

Chrysanthemum-Class Destroyer Escorts (1300 words) - Mark Gellis: I'm assuming this is Mark's promised errata from last issue, mere mortals would have been satisfied with a note here, but Mark is ever the perfectionist.

Everyone (me included) loves designing the mega star destroying battleship, but in truth they're not that useful in a game. So Mark's focus on the humble old DE is worth a look. In game usefulness, the escort is a superb basis for Sand Pebbles type adventures. Again, cut paste and drop into your game. Or base any entire campaign around one. A suggestion for Mark, maybe an obsolete gunboat design next? Something for a bunch of troublesome squabbies to be relegated to.

Okay, now having given my thoughts on this issue. What I'd like to see...

Deckplans and floorplans: Can never have too many of these. Most useful roleplaying purchase I made last year was Loren's small hotel module.

World write-ups: 2000 to 4000 words giving a quick work up of a world to drop into a campaign

Short adventures and adventure hooks: Personally, my gaming doesn't have time for epic campaigns and my own time to run up adventures is limited, so thumbnail adventures I can expand on are VERY useful

Odd and interesting trade goods for parties of a mercantile bent

[Mgellis]

Quick note...

The Chrysanthemum article had to be shortened...I went over the word limit, I guess. So there was originally a short adventure, too, and a bunch of ship names, and a corrected version of the Fer-de-Lance (which I wish had not been cut as I was quite annoyed at myself over the stupid mistakes I made in the original design). I'm hoping Loren is just saving them for the next issue.

[Mgellis]

And, yes, I agree with you, a destroyer escort is a terrific platform to use with and/or against player characters. If a cruiser shows up, that's it, game over. If a destroyer escort shows up...well, you should still probably just surrender, but at least there is a chance to fight or run away if want to try.

I always always surprised that GURPS Traveller Starships did not tackle the smaller warships (besides patrol cruisers)--medium-sized military vessels like destroyers and light cruisers are probably a very common sight in the Third Imperium and could make excellent additions to campaigns. The Tigress is an awesome warship, but I wonder how often it actually gets used by GMs.

[AndreaVallance]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

Quick note...

The Chrysanthemum article had to be shortened...I went over the word limit, I guess. So there was originally a short adventure, too, and a bunch of ship names, and a corrected version of the Fer-de-Lance (which I wish had not been cut as I was quite annoyed at myself over the stupid mistakes I made in the original design). I'm hoping Loren is just saving them for the next issue.

Thing I like in particular about your "gearhead" articles (and others) is the text. I don't use GURPS, so the stats are all but useless too me (not quite, they do provide a good start for conversions). However the text is always detailed and interesting enough for me to use the article and work out what's needed in the system I do use (T4 in my case). That is the mark of good gearheading.

[AndreaVallance]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

And, yes, I agree with you, a destroyer escort is a terrific platform to use with and/or against player characters. If a cruiser shows up, that's it, game over. If a destroyer escort shows up...well, you should still probably just surrender, but at least there is a chance to fight or run away if want to try.

I always always surprised that GURPS Traveller Starships did not tackle the smaller warships (besides patrol cruisers)--medium-sized military vessels like destroyers and light cruisers are probably a very common sight in the Third Imperium and could make excellent additions to campaigns. The Tigress is an awesome warship, but I wonder how often it actually gets used by GMs.

My fav ship is a 1000 dton escort carrier I worked out in High Guard (CT version). Take a basic cheap hull and hang half a dozen or so fighters off it. Wonderful base for PC adventures.

[The Rampant Gamer]

Couldn't agree more about the older, smaller warships being more useful.

I've got it in my head that, next time I GM regardless of the system, I'll figure out a way to get my players in charge of a decommissioned nonstandard warship of some type, like a TL9 (CT TL9 that is) frigate or something. Nothing's new, the weapons are archaic but functional, maybe have a 100-ton bay that was stripped of it's weapons and has been repurposed as cargo space...

[nik1979]

I'm a fan of the ship related articles, I always try to plan for ship battles as a fan of Honorverse. Although I have a few questions regarding ships I'll leave for another thread for better documentation and search.

as for the flora and fauna, I'm partial to something like a plant and animal building tool. Just expanding on options ever succeeding article until you create a massive and modular creation tool. Drawing inspiration from the planet building toolset in GURPS Space and some of the key notes in GURPS Biotech. Still I'm happy with the product.

where will JTAS be with out Mark :D