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Jack McDevitt Traveller

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Has anyone out there used bits of Jack McDevitt's science fiction as a sort of 'referee's guide to killing NPCs', or a 'referee's guide to interstellar archaeology'?

Jack seems to do an excellent job of both. He weaves mysteries under the genre of archaeological adventure -- less like Indiana Jones, and more like Aliens, in fact, since the crew regularly get carved up by local wildlife. Dumb scientists on parade.

His stuff reminds me of Chamax Plague, actually. And the stories are interesting enough to keep me reading and wanting more.

Recommended books by Jack McDevitt
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  • The Engines of God</font>
  • Deepsix</font>
  • Chindi</font>
  • Omega</font>
 
I've read The Engines of God and Polaris and I have Chindi sitting on my nightstand.

I really enjoy the intersteller archaeo mystery element in Traveller, so McDevitt's books are a great source of inspiration to me. (I have a lab ship called Casumel Linear C floating around MTU, an Easter egg for those in the know.)
 
read 'em all and look forward to more. he also writes another series of books separate from the 'hutch' series you list. set thousands of years in the future (sound familiar) about an antiquities dealer. a lot of fun.
 
The only problem that I have with Jack's Traveller is that all adventures are truly Epic in proportion. I would welcome a bunch of short stories or novelettes that would highlight the more lighthearted (killing only 2 or 3 NPCs) xeno-archaeological adventures.

Something halfway between Aliens/Call of the Cthulhu and Sky Raiders.
 
There are two Jack McDevitt short story/novella collections. One is out of print, the other, _Ships in the Night_ is available as a print on demand book. Both are quite good.

One of the things that I like about Jack McDevitt's books is that fairly major characters do have a tendency to die off in quite a few of the books.

Ron
 
Yes, I love it. His ruthlessness with otherwise major characters is so rare. "Nice" to see his text tearing into the perky recklessness of those scientists. Although it does make me sort of wince.
 
I recently finished Eternity Road (the ending was a let-down but otherwise it was good), and am working on Polaris.

Polaris seems like it's almost the perfect Traveller novel, and gives an excellent vision of TTL-12.
 
I have picked up every Jack McDevitt book out since reading Engines of God...and have enjoyed each and every one. They are great Traveller settings and great stories. I have Polaris on top of my "to read" pile, after Drake's "The Far Side of the Stars".
 
Hmm, I wonder what Hutchins' UPP would be?

Str 6?
Dex 8?
End?
Int 9?
Edu 9?
Soc 6? Not particularly high society...

Skills? She can fly small craft solo.

Pilot-3
Ship's Boat-3
Engineer-1
Vac-2
Perception-1
Admin-1
JOT-1

No gunnery.
Any first aid?
Gun combat?
Survival?
 
Probably some Administration or Liason (I may be mixing up systems here.
) as well. Also Jack of All Trades.
 
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