J. E. Goodrich

I finally got published. I submitted an article to the Journal of the Travellers Aid Society, and this week it came out.

Damn, I'm happy. And I'm finally making some money off this hobby.

I should thank Ellen and Lisa for their proofreading of the article as well as Dennis and David for their comments.

Subscribers to JTAS can get the article here: http://jtas.sjgames.com/login/article.cgi?687

I'm working on a few other publishing projects (more on those as they develop).

Posted by James E. Goodrich at 07:33 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For some time now, Sam has been asking me to run a new campaign like my earlier grand economic / military / political game. I've toyed with this idea off and on for a while and occasionally jot down a few notes on the subject.

First of all, the new game would have to be more balanced than the previous one. That one was based on an active campaign and was limited by the history. A new one would have to have all the players on a near-equal footing.

Second, based on things I've learned from running that campaign and others, I think I'd make the format a little different. No major changes, but just an evolution based on what I've learned. One thing I would certainly do is create a Yahoo group for the game. The group for the WWIV Campaign has been very successful at providing a place for the players to socialize and exchange
messages. I think I might make the new group a little more relevant to the game, kind of like a UN debate or diplomacy forum.

Third, rather than trying to convert the various editions of Traveller rules, I think I'd just used the BITS conversion guide. Its a simple way to convert all the different task rolls from one version to another. And with all of the older Traveller books available on DriveThruRPG (for about half their print price), it wouldn't be that expensive for the players to get the necessary books.

Finally, SJG has a GURPS 4e version of Traveller coming out early next year. I might wait for this to come out and make the campaign a 4e one.

And those are my thoughts.

Posted by James E. Goodrich at 07:34 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For the past few weeks, I’ve been playing D&D (3.5 d20 rules). While the experience has been fun, it just reinforces my belief that I’m better as a GM than a player. It must be something in my personality that makes me want to run a game rather than play in it. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy playing, but I just find more satisfaction being the GM.

Posted by James E. Goodrich at 07:37 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

GURPS books that are the core of my campaign include: Cops, Covert Ops, Espionage, High-Tech, Modern Firepower, Special Ops, and SWAT. If SJG would come out with a 4e book that covers all of those, I'd switch over to that version in an instant.

Posted by James E. Goodrich at 07:39 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I have this idea for a near-future sci-fi campaign. It would be set in near-Earth orbit, but that wouldn't really limit the setting. First of all, you'd have Earth, orbit and the Moon to play with. Second, there's about 2000 estimated NEO (Near Earth Objects - asteroids, dead comets, and so on). In fact, some of these NEOs would be easier to get to than Mars. Add in the fact that many astronomers believe that Earth has Trojan Point bodies like Jupiter and you've got a huge setting for the campaign. And you haven't even left the immediate neighborhood. Add in Mars, the Belt and Jupiter's huge system of moons and captured objects and you've got a really interesting place.

I don't know if I'll ever run this, but its one of the items in my idea file.

Posted by James E. Goodrich at 07:38 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)