The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Tarsus: World Beyond the Frontier- Just picked this up a few weeks ago from Dragontrove.com. It's a used game service that has fair trade policies and reasonably priced games. I have been very impressed with them. Especially with the fact that I picked up this module and "BeltStrike" in their original shrinkwrapping for around $15 each. Deals don't get no better than that.

The Tarsus module describes one world in Traveller's Spinward marches sector. It includes a map of the District 268 subsector, with some minimal planetary information about the other systems in the sector, a nice map of Tarsus, and a detail map of a wilderness section of Tarsus. A large world data book has the typical planetary information, current political situation, history, planetary encounter tables, etc. Five brief scenario sheets (4 pages each) are included as well, along with twelve sample characters. This material is all well and good, but like much of the best Traveller material it feels a little dry, and this is most noticeable when compared with modules for the "StarWars" game. The material isn't bad. It feels realistic, but it sometimes lacks the fantastic. I give this module a solid "B." It is well-built, hard to pick apart to find flaws, but you r imagination won't necessarily soar.

BeltStrike: Riches and Danger in the Bowman Belt-I also picked this nostalgic module up the other day. Boy, did it bring back a flood of memories. A boxed set is just something from the past now, and there's something special about opening a box and looking through the contents. This set doesn't have as much stuff as the "Tarsus" set, but it does include a map of Koenig's rock, the main "city" within the campaign; twelve sample characters; a Belter's handbook, which has rules for asteroid prospecting and Belter character creation; a system reference book; and four brief scenario folders. Like Tarsus, this is another well put together, but dry package. I give it a solid "B," though if I were less nostalgic, and less enamoured of asteroid mining, I'd drop it a letter grade because it has less stuff than the comparably priced and packaged Tarsus.

When both of these packages were released around the same time as the Traveller Starter set. I guess that new judges would have bought these boxed modules with the boxed Starter Traveller rules set. All of these sets were in those bigger 8 & 1/2" by 11" boxes. They were all packaged and priced similarly, and for a new judge they offered a subsector, with two well-detailed planetary systems to adventure in. This was a brilliant idea that must not have panned out. After am all too brief time these games went out of print, and GDW released the late and unlamented MegaTraveller.

Deluxe Edition: Traveller-I picked this up in a Newsgroup auction for $15 (shipping included)! This was a pleasant surprise. I had the original version of Deluxe Traveller at one time. It had books 0 through 3, and a special map of the Spinward marches and an adventure that were only in the Deluxe Edition. This version is in a box that is about half as thick as the original and the rules have been redone. They are the same rules that are in Starter Traveller, with an 8 page rule supplement. The rules are in a big 64 page book, and the charts are in a smaller 24 page book. "Book 0: An Introduction to Traveller" is also included in the set as a separate book, though it was missing from this boxed set I had purchased a copy earlier from DragonTrove.com. This is a good set, but I did miss the huge box from the first Deluxe set. It was big enough to hold a slew of little Traveller books. I give this set a "B."

As far as I can tell at this time, it seems that in the early 80's there were 4 different Traveller rules sets. The small black box "Basic Traveller," the large box sets of "Starter Traveller," and "Deluxe Traveller," and the "Traveller Book," which was supposed to be the first in a line of hardbound Traveller books. All of these sets had virtually the same rules set, though Starter and Deluxe had some corrections that I had never seen in a Traveller game before. I had always read that in Traveller there was a difference between pulse and beam laser weaponsŠthese differences showed up within the rules of the Deluxe, and presumably the Starter set as well. Presumably the Deluxe and Starter were meant to be like Basic and Advanced D&D, in that they were pa ckaged similarly, and look nice on a shelf together.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Tarsus & Beltstrike boxed sets
Author: Marc W. Miller & Loren K. Wiseman; J. Andrew Keith Category: game Company/Publisher: GDW Cost: 15? & 15? Page count: 49 & 43 Capsule Review by Scott Shafer on 02/02/98. Genre tags: none	Tarsus: World Beyond the Frontier- Just picked this up a few weeks ago from Dragontrove.com. It's a used game service that has fair trade policies and reasonably priced games. I have been very impressed with them. Especially with the fact that I picked up this module and "BeltStrike" in their original shrinkwrapping for around $15 each. Deals don't get no better than that. The Tarsus module describes one world in Traveller's Spinward marches sector. It includes a map of the District 268 subsector, with some minimal planetary information about the other systems in the sector, a nice map of Tarsus, and a detail map of a wilderness section of Tarsus. A large world data book has the typical planetary information, current political situation, history, planetary encounter tables, etc. Five brief scenario sheets (4 pages each) are included as well, along with twelve sample characters. This material is all well and good, but like much of the best Traveller material it feels a little dry, and this is most noticeable when compared with modules for the "StarWars" game. The material isn't bad. It feels realistic, but it sometimes lacks the fantastic. I give this module a solid "B." It is well-built, hard to pick apart to find flaws, but you r imagination won't necessarily soar. BeltStrike: Riches and Danger in the Bowman Belt-I also picked this nostalgic module up the other day. Boy, did it bring back a flood of memories. A boxed set is just something from the past now, and there's something special about opening a box and looking through the contents. This set doesn't have as much stuff as the "Tarsus" set, but it does include a map of Koenig's rock, the main "city" within the campaign; twelve sample characters; a Belter's handbook, which has rules for asteroid prospecting and Belter character creation; a system reference book; and four brief scenario folders. Like Tarsus, this is another well put together, but dry package. I give it a solid "B," though if I were less nostalgic, and less enamoured of asteroid mining, I'd drop it a letter grade because it has less stuff than the comparably priced and packaged Tarsus. When both of these packages were released around the same time as the Traveller Starter set. I guess that new judges would have bought these boxed modules with the boxed Starter Traveller rules set. All of these sets were in those bigger 8 & 1/2" by 11" boxes. They were all packaged and priced similarly, and for a new judge they offered a subsector, with two well-detailed planetary systems to adventure in. This was a brilliant idea that must not have panned out. After am all too brief time these games went out of print, and GDW released the late and unlamented MegaTraveller. Deluxe Edition: Traveller-I picked this up in a Newsgroup auction for $15 (shipping included)! This was a pleasant surprise. I had the original version of Deluxe Traveller at one time. It had books 0 through 3, and a special map of the Spinward marches and an adventure that were only in the Deluxe Edition. This version is in a box that is about half as thick as the original and the rules have been redone. They are the same rules that are in Starter Traveller, with an 8 page rule supplement. The rules are in a big 64 page book, and the charts are in a smaller 24 page book. "Book 0: An Introduction to Traveller" is also included in the set as a separate book, though it was missing from this boxed set I had purchased a copy earlier from DragonTrove.com. This is a good set, but I did miss the huge box from the first Deluxe set. It was big enough to hold a slew of little Traveller books. I give this set a "B." As far as I can tell at this time, it seems that in the early 80's there were 4 different Traveller rules sets. The small black box "Basic Traveller," the large box sets of "Starter Traveller," and "Deluxe Traveller," and the "Traveller Book," which was supposed to be the first in a line of hardbound Traveller books. All of these sets had virtually the same rules set, though Starter and Deluxe had some corrections that I had never seen in a Traveller game before. I had always read that in Traveller there was a difference between pulse and beam laser weaponsŠthese differences showed up within the rules of the Deluxe, and presumably the Starter set as well. Presumably the Deluxe and Starter were meant to be like Basic and Advanced D&D, in that they were pa ckaged similarly, and look nice on a shelf together. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

Tarsus & Beltstrike boxed sets