So, why is The Traveller Book available as a POD, but The Traveller Adventure is not?
I'm not even sure why that would be the case. Isn't the formatting you'd need to do to put out a proper, well-formatted PDF just a step or two away from doing a POD?
I'd be very happy to also have a copy of The Traveller Adventure. Maybe then I could run a side campaign of 1st edition Traveller.
I mean, or GURPS Traveller, but part of me really likes Traveller chargen and the damage system of Traveller - which leads to more incapacitation than automatic death, in my experience. But I have the tools on hand for either.
Sometimes there can be weird licensing restrictions; I want to say that on some older projects I've discussed with David, he had usage rights and/or ownership for PDF/Digital but not print (or maybe it was vice versa), so we could do one format but not the other if we used any of the copy directly.
ReplyDeleteI know for me, I will frequently have physical books printed and I have been disappointed over and over with POD from DriveThru, and the old CreateSpace (though I guess that has improved). The paper wasn't as good, etc. So my own DriveThru stuff is mostly PDF only, and if you want print, well, there's my new web store and you won't be disappointed.
I'd actually be pretty pleased with "POD in not-the-USA, order from Doug inside the USA" as it neatly sidesteps a lot of the postage and shipping issues.
I was hoping you might have something to add here.
DeleteI didn't know about the licensing issues. I don't think they'd apply here - the publisher is GDW, which is the original license holder for Traveller. So it's not like a lapsed license should affect things; that would be oddly like SJG not being licensed to do print copies of GURPS Basic Set.
I went POD for The Traveller Book from DriveThru; I hope I'm not disappointed. But enough people have given enough mixed opinions that I won't splurge on a print copies that often.
I believe it because Mongoose as Aramis: The Traveller Adventure available. Which is pretty much a clone of the original.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mongoosepublishing.com/products/aramis-the-traveller-adventure-ebook
So GDW might be able to do the PDF, but not sell a physical copy because Mongoose has the rights to that?
DeleteIs the Mongoose one in a different game system or is it identical to classic Traveller?
I am 99% sure Marc Miller has the rights situation cleared up for everything that is on Farfuture.net. Just about the only thing not present is Digest Group Publication material.
DeleteAs for Aramis: The Traveller Adventure, It was written for MgT 1e and when it comes to adventure it is has the same relationship as BECMI does with AD&D. What the original has are stuff like the ship stats written for Book 2of classic Traveller while the newer they are written for MgT 1e.
My recommendation is to get the original if you can. But if you want to read the adventure then the Mongoose version is fine although a bit overpriced by $10.
A more accurate comparison of MgT (Mongoose) to MT (Megatraveller) is Labrynth Lord to B/X D&D. The complexity and content are the same, most of the internal details are the same at a high level but little changes are all over the place to really make it a distinct game while it claims to be a clone. BECMI to AD&D is a world shift in complexity and approaches to problems the rules need to solve for gamers.
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