Just occassionaly, like the video game Moon Patrol I recently blogged, I stumble across a whole new sub-genre with a SWORDish edge I didn't even know existed really. Well, it's happened again. This time it's role-playing games and specifically JUDGES GUILD TRAVELLER. The particular 'booklet' which caught my eye is called STARSHIPS AND SPACECRAFT from 1979, pictured below. Now, if I'm not mistaken, that triangular spaceship looks remarkably like the Century 21 SCOUT 3 from 10 years earlier as shown beneath it. The Traveller ship could, admittedly, be copied from the same source as the Scout (see 'Scout 3 origin'), but I'd like to think the artist had his C21 toy out (and not any Star Wars usurper) when he drew that cover! Anyway, I love that old late 70's/early 80's simple fanzine art - things of beauty!
Googling 'Starships and Spacecraft' and 'Judges Guild Traveller' I was amazed at the number of sites there are. In fact it would appear that 'gaming' is immersed in Sci Fi as much as it is Fantasy. There's a comprehensive list of spaceships, which appear in role-playing games here and whole sites devoted to Traveller like this one. I've also seen mention of a 'SCOUTS' booklet but can't find any pictures. Could it be related in some way to our very own fleet of C21 scouts? Anyone into Traveller?
Traveller is a game I played throughout the eighties. I certainly remember the Scout. The comparison to Scout 3 is certainly interesting.
ReplyDeleteIs that what the triangular Traveller ship was called RP, the Scout?
ReplyDeleteYes it was. As I recall, the Scouts were an interstellar peacekeeping force that used those craft to patrol the spaceways. That's my memory of it. In game terms they were a character career option.
ReplyDeleteRP, I've not previously heard of Traveller. Did it need the equivalent of a D&D Dungeon Master?
ReplyDeleteThe good ole gamemaster.
ReplyDeleteThanks, RP. I feel I missed out on that whole scene. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteYou know, we bloggers need some kind of SWORD/Spacex game. Arrange a time when we can be around and use something like, say, VASSAL: we could have some fun. ^-^
The Imperial Interstellar Scout Service were the guys who took small, 4-man ships, and went off exploring - peacekeeping was done by the Navy! As an article in "White Dwarf" magazine put it:
ReplyDelete"How do you tell a kid raised on the three-vee serials that you're alive because you ran away with less provocation than three other guys - and that you're rich because you've got their shares, too?"
Grif
So that's they were. It HAS been a long time since last I played.
ReplyDeleteScouts must have live a fuel-filled life of danger and thrills. I suppose the whole Scouting movement is based on similar ideas. I never joined the Scouts or the earlier Cubs, which I somehow regret as I'm sure they had tons of fun lighting fires and scaling rivers. the closest I cam as a kid was wearing my cool Pathfinder Wayfarer shoes with a compass in the heel!
ReplyDelete