General Foreign Magazine Articles & Adventures

[Kakistocrat]

Fixed!

If only I could get the corrections correct! The author in issue 25 is R. D. Stuart, not R. D. Stewart — I apologize for the flubbery. The latest .zip revision is attached below.

It’s looking like a somewhat useful index at this point!

Another possible column to add to the spreadsheet would be Version, which would contain each article’s particular version of Traveller — viz “CT”, “MT”, “TNE”, etc., for people who are searching for articles that are associated with a particular version. (All of the Dragon articles would have a version of “CT”.)

I see that you’ve also added Arēs issues to the spreadsheet. After TSR bought SPI, it merged Arēs into Dragon; issues 84 through 111 inclusive of Dragon had an Arēs section, which is where articles on science fiction and superhero RPGs were kept.

I’m thinking of leaving Freelance Traveller for last, because that is an intimidating beast — the longest-lasting Traveller periodical of any kind!

If I’m not mistaken, I think that some articles in Freelance Traveller have appeared in more than one issue, so whenever you decide to take on that beast, it might be best to tackle those issues chronologically, earliest first.

 

[AlHazred]

*Another possible column to add to the spreadsheet would be Version, which would contain each article’s particular version of Traveller — viz “CT”, “MT”, “TNE”, etc., for people who are searching for articles that are associated with a particular version. (All of the Dragon articles would have a version of “CT”.)

I see that you’ve also added Arēs issues to the spreadsheet. After TSR bought SPI, it merged Arēs into Dragon; issues 84 through 111 inclusive of Dragon had an Arēs section, which is where articles on science fiction and superhero RPGs were kept.

I'll put that in. Almost everything on there now is Classic Traveller, but the zines from the interim period are difficult to classify -- the authors were incorporating MegaTraveller information as it was released into their articles.

I see that you’ve also added Arēs issues to the spreadsheet. After TSR bought SPI, it merged Arēs into Dragon; issues 84 through 111 inclusive of Dragon had an Arēs section, which is where articles on science fiction and superhero RPGs were kept.

I loved Arēs, both in its original incarnation and as a section of Dragon. Thing is, once SPI wrote Universe, that became their favorite SF ruleset for gaming material in the magazine; I get it, there's no reason to advertise a rival's product in your house organ.

 

[AlHazred]

I thought to myself, "I should check out Dragon Lords on eBay, and see about maybe picking up an issue or two."

...

I see. They're only available at collectors' prices, even ones in poor condition -- $250 apiece! Well, it turns out my curiosity has a price limit!

 

[Kakistocrat]

I’ll put [a Version column] in. Almost everything on there now is Classic Traveller, but the zines from the interim period are difficult to classify — the authors were incorporating MegaTraveller information as it was released into their articles.

I’d imagine that in interim periods, the older ruleset would tend to be the default, since articles on the newer ruleset would probably be identified as such.

 

[AlHazred]

When I'd previously done something similar for Pendragon articles, I found an Internet friend who had a collection of Lider magazines, so I tapped into that to get info for those entries on the list. The "first volume" of this long-running Spanish periodical was actually called Maquetismo y Simulacion (Modeling and Simulation), when it was a newsletter for a gaming group. In it's multi-decade run it covered a lot of different games, and had some Traveller bits. I'm intrigued by the adventure "Asunto de Comercio" ("Trade Matter"), which was apparently good enough to be reprinted in the 15th anniversary issue. Players start on Boughene where they're hired to go to an Imperial Client State world in the Vargr Extents called Tagr-M-Da, which has two governments. I haven't translated the whole thing for myself yet, but it looks like there's a competition every four years to determine which government is in power for the next term; needless to say, only one of the governments is pro-Imperial, so there will be lots of intrigue and politics, and it looks like the tie-breaker event might be some sort of sporting event, which is just, like, a wonderful idea for a Traveller scenario. I put it down as "MT" but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of stats.

 

[Kakistocrat]

I put [Asunto de Comercio] down as “MT” but there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of stats.

I’ve never done a side-by-side comparison of CT’s Alien Module 3: Vargr vs. MT’s Vilani and Vargr to know the differences between CT Vargr and MT Vargr, so if there isn’t anything obvious in the adventure that would provide a hint (say, the presence of certain cascade skills or particular starship types), then perhaps “CT, MT” might work for its Version column.

 

[Kakistocrat]

Fixed!

If only I could get the corrections correct!

… and here’s one more instance: in the Article column of Dragon issue 109, the © sign should be a ® sign. A corrected-yet-again .zip archive is attached.

 

[AlHazred]

… and here’s one more instance: in the Article column of Dragon issue 109, the © sign should be a ® sign. A corrected-yet-again .zip archive is attached.

Fixed!

I followed up the second adventure I have listed for Lider, "El viaje del Walquiria" ("The Voyage of the Valkyrie"), in volume 2 #48. It's... Well, it's definitely an adventure. It's dual-statted for Classic Traveller and Star Wars d6. Not something you usually see. The names immediately tipped me off that the author was trying to sound American. You have to play a pregenerated character, and there are several options: science officer August Deeth (Derleth?), pilot Jesse Walker (typically American name), engineer Toni Remo (very American name), and security officer Rock Bulker (sarcastically American name); two NPCs are put in, and under no circumstances are players allowed to play one: Captain John Hadath (Kadath?) and medic... Melinda Hotbody.

I remind you, this is supposed to fit vaguely into both the Third Imperium and Star Wars.

It's not a bad scenario, but it's got elements that would make it difficult to fit into either of the campaigns intended. It would be fine as a generic Space Opera adventure. It's got some nice parts to it, going up against space pirates. But as a Traveller scenario it didn't thrill me; it would be a ot of work to fit it in.

 

[Kakistocrat]

I followed up the second adventure I have listed for Lider, “El viaje del Walquiria” ("The Voyage of the Valkyrie"), in volume 2 #48.

Was/is Lider published in Spain, or somewhere in Latin America?

The names immediately tipped me off that the author was trying to sound American. […] two NPCs are put in, and under no circumstances are players allowed to play one: Captain John Hadath (Kadath?) and medic… Melinda Hotbody.

Perhaps Hadath is a mixture of Kadath and Hlanith (a city in Lovecraft’s Dreamlands).

To be fair, I’d imagine that anglophone attempts at creating Spanish surnames could sound equally odd to Spanish ears, e.g. having an encounter with, say, starport administrator Íñigo Azulfez.

Melinda’s surname sounds like it could have come from a James Bond film — or maybe Airplane! (i.e. more comedic than sarcastic).

I remind you, this is supposed to fit vaguely into both the Third Imperium and Star Wars.

It's not a bad scenario, but […] as a Traveller scenario it didn’t thrill me; it would be a lot of work to fit it in.

Certainly the PC and NPC names would need adjustments for both settings.

 

[AlHazred]

Was/is Lider published in Spain, or somewhere in Latin America?

Looking at the copy of number 23 I borrowed, it looks like it was printed in Barcelona. I've seen a few of them now, and they seem a high-quality periodical!

 

[AlHazred]

I've finished up Voyages to the Worlds of SF (the sequel magazine to Jumpspace) and White Dwarf. I'm going to take a break before tackling the official Traveller-focused periodicals, but I'm pretty happy with it already and hope it's useful for somebody.