Looking Back at 2024, and Forward
Looking Back
It’s been a year.
On the positive side, I finished the overview of the Cepheus rules. On the other hand, a number of events simply sucked the oxygen out of the room. Some were good, some were less so.
Spending more time at the gym and with local friends is a net plus, but it meant less time writing here. That wouldn’t have hurt so much if it weren’t for the political season taking over everything including much of Substack. I sometimes risk melting my wings when my philosophical musings brush close to political ones, but in sticking to keeping this about games and not the current thing, it’s been hard to expunge said current thing from my thoughts and work on something different.
Secondly, Mongoose acquired the rights to Classic Traveller, and before that made noises about licensing that resulted in ongoing support for Cepheus being effectively dropped, though at this time you can still purchase it and likely will be able to do so going forward. I went ahead and bulled through because I said I would, and because I also found the changes in the rules interesting, but it will be far easier for those interested in editions other than the current Mongoose Traveller or T5 to get the CT materials from Mongoose, or the CD from Far Future Enterprises as long as that is still available - and likely to be better supported.
Also - while some things in the Cepheus rules are cleaner and more consistent, and the ship combat rules lend themselves more to roleplaying, the Classic Traveller rules are all you need to play an effective game in nearly any universe you care to dream up.
In and of itself, the new license they have applied for Classic Traveller is pretty fair, especially for hobbyist creators, but since I’m not trying to create a sourcebook, the restrictions on software development have also gutted my desire to continue the ship designer or character generators I had put work into. That said, If I feel like tackling a project, I may look at something “inspired by” the CT/Mayday ship combat rules.
Oh, and there was an election.
Looking Forward
Jeffro’s series on the Space Empires board game has made me really want to dig into the game again. I also want to dig into the rules for Heavy Gear Blitz, and if I’m spending time on computer games, it’s likely going to be Deep Rock Galactic, Valheim, a dose of Helldivers, and for the more wargame moods, Combat Mission and Nebulous.
has been singing the praises of Sea of Thieves to me.Oh, and go listen to Alexandru’s podcast.
While on the wargame/boardgame front, we’ve been testing out the rules for ACKsII and they hold up so far. The games have not been that regular the last few months with holidays and travel, but we’ve managed to have fun delving into Sakkara.
Either way, it’s been a year. 2025 promises to be another one. Perhaps I’ve overpromised again, perhaps not, though if not, then I have plenty of other htings to add to the list.
I hope 2024 has been a good year for you, and that 2025 brings you purpose and accomplishment.
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