Traveller

The other day I dropped a post on Reddit entitled, 'Classic Vs. Mongoose Traveller' to determine which edition would most adequately suit my storytelling needs. I've never played Traveller because I've never been able to decide which edition to devote myself to. The following morning the Traveller 5E Kickstarter went live. Odd timing. Now only a couple days in, the 5E Kickstarter has already raised over $34,000.

There have been some legitimate concerns about the 5E Hardback's price tag. Marc Miller suggests his tome will be the "Ultimate Edition" weighing in at around 600 pages. To get an actual physical copy of the game, Kickstarter funders must be willing to pay out $100 + s&h. Unsurprisingly this has raised a fair number of eyebrows despite the fact that Miller exceeded his pledge goal in just two days. 

To be fair a 600+ page hardback for $100 might be more reasonable than it first appears. If this Traveller 5E is complete and without the need of further supplements, then the price actually seems about right. The downside of course is that the 5E content cannot be broken into more convenient separate purchases. But that is because this new hardback aims not be the 'core rules set,' but rather the source of absolutely everything ever, one would need to play Traveller. 

I'm not sure what the Classic Traveller black book box retailed for in the seventies, but a quick kata in internet-fu allowed me to find the original box purchasable, albeit lightly used, for around $40 today. Now consider the price of supplements, there were six more (after the core 1-3) I believe. If you buy all nine, perhaps going the Classic Traveller route might be a bit cheaper, but I doubt by much. Miller notes though, that he is creating substantial never before seen material as well for this new edition. For someone like me, having ALL the content in one hardback book is appealing. And I have to admit, the black cover looks absolutely slick. 

The demand for an affordable PDF reached Miller's ears already. Added today; a pledger offering $51 receives a full PDF version of the 5E. This is still a lofty price tag, but one I think a lot of fence-sitters will be pleased with. I probably will wait to see what happens. The fact that Miller is adding such significant pledge rewards so quickly is interesting. I hope to have the hardback edition one day, but for now I'm waiting to see if Miller throws in more rewards before I pull the trigger. 

Roll20

There's no friendship like a bond wrought through the fate of a die fall I suppose. Those who find themselves reading this blog can probably claim the same. Unfortunately real life is often more complicated than table-driven fantasy games. Geographical distancing was once an end-all to the campaign. But now technology has all but nullified the distance concern.

Roll20 is a 'tabletop simulator' with an essential video chat component. It is nearing it's final hours on Kickstarter, but has already far exceeded it's initial pledge goal. It's 'story > mechanics' philosophy led me to believe this would be a very worthwhile project, and the promotional videos only further cemented my supposition. Roll20 aims to provide the tools a DM needs, without sacrificing the TELLING aspect of the game with superfluous technological burdens. Better yet, the goal is to release Roll20 to the public for free.

Video chatting is the key, I think. The 'face to face' component is the most fun way to gauge the other players' reactions to what you say. This is why tabletop games have the potential to feel so much more organic than video games; unscripted people react unpredictably. Tabletop gaming is not so much about what is said, but rather how it is said. DnD is about coinciding a group with different motives onto a singular cooperative path. I'm certainly rather optimistic about the project, but my wait for Beta testing will be a difficult one.