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This review is one in a series which will look at some of the many Spinward Marches setting books which have been published over the years and which describe the area. It'll offer advice as to which ones were the best and which will work the best with Mongoose's current, fifth-edition, Traveller gaming system.

At the height of their GURPS Traveller line, Steve Jackson Games published three books which detailed systems and clusters of the Spinward Marches.

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This fifteenth review discusses GURPS Traveller Planetary Survey 4: Glisten--Jewel of the Marches. Much like its predecessor, Denuli, Glisten spends 32 pages offering in-depth detail of a locale in the Spinward Marches.

An Overview of the Book

Glisten, an asteroid system located on the rimward side of the Spinward Marches, is one of the most important systems in the sector that had received the least attention prior to 2001. As the Gateway to District 268, it controls a lot of trade amongst several planets which have been detailed well over the years. As one of the most populous systems in the Marches, it's also an industrial juggernaut. Thus, this book was well overdue.

The details of Glisten are laid out in five chapters that largely match other releases in the Planetary Survey series. They are: History, Glisten Today, Extrastellar Relations, Characters, and Adventures in Glisten.

History details the background of Glisten. Compared to some of the other worlds I've seen detailed, it seems pretty mundane. There are no Ancients here, no histories intertwining with the Sword Worlders or the Darrians. Instead we get a simple history that discusses how a world in the Marches could be colonized and then slowly raised up over the years. The history is well-written and contains a lot of historical details about corporations involved in Glisten, which should be good for seeding addition stories.

Glisten Today is by far the longest section in the book at 14 pages. It provides an extensive overview of the system, but also offers specific descriptions of some of the most important parts of the system, namely the Banfi Starport, Glisten City itself, and several other asteroids of note.

I like the fact that Glisten really stands out as a distinctive asteroid-based system. I say that having already reviewed two others, GDW's Beltstrike box and Mongoose's Belstrike book. Those other settings both feel very rough and pioneering. By contrast, the Glisten of this book is a very civilized asteroid system--as is appropriate given its population. Within the system, asteroids serve in different ecological niches for the society as a whole, and the result is a very interesting and unique "world" for Traveller. There's also a lot of nice detail, which will help this system come alive.

However, I have some problems with this section too. First of all, there's no map (or any other type of spatial catalogue) that shows how all the different asteroids mentioned fit together. I also find the organization of the chapter a bit rough, with (for example) general material appearing at both the start and end. I really couldn't tell you why things appear where they do within this chapter's organization. Thus, though there's good material you'll have to hunt when you later reference it.

Extrastellar Relations is a very short chapter that just talks about trade and politics. Some of Glisten's extrastellar relationships to the subsector as a whole actually appeared back in the previous chapter (again highlighting the organizational problem).

Characters is again a short chapter, but it has great content. Basically, it's two pages discussing what habits make a PC or NPC from Glisten unique. It's well done.

Finally, Adventures in Glisten offers three pages of adventure ideas. Most of them are quite good, offering both variety and material that's not already obvious from the rest of the book. However, some of it is also too-poorly connected to the Glisten system.

Generally, Glisten contains solid information that would make any GM wanting to run an adventure set in Glisten very happy. I've given it a "4" out of "5" for Substance.

Applicability to Mongoose Traveller

There's very little that should keep a Mongoose GM from using Glisten as background in his own Traveller game.

Sure, it's a GURPs system game, but there are no stats in it, so all you have to concern yourself with is the fact that GURPS uses different Tech Levels and different starport ratings.

And, sure, it's set in GURPS Traveller's alternative future, but very little changes after 1105. There's a bit of discussion of the Fifth Frontier War in the book and a bit about some Aslan invasions around 1113, but it just sets you up for future campaign ideas; the setting is unchanged by these issues.

Thus, if you're anywhere near District 268 or the Glisten subsector, this book should be on your buy list. It's now out-of-print, but it's still quite easy to find on the used market (and available from e23 for that matter).

Style & Design

As with the other Planetary Surveys, this one is well laid-out, with lots of art, colorful chapter headers, and nice sidebars. There's also a color map of BANF Starport on the inside front cover and maps of all the worlds within Jump-6 on the inside back cover.

While the physical aspects of the book are all enchanting, I found the book itself much more dry. It's still a well-defined and designed setting, mind you, but there wasn't a lot that truly sparked the imagination once I got past the originality of the asteroid setting itself. Instead it was a normative description of a relatively normative system--but the Imperium surely needs those.

As such I've given Glisten a high "3" out of "5" for Style: slightly above average.

Conclusion

GURPS Traveller Planetary Survey 4: Glisten--Jewel of the Marches provides a wealth of details on an important system on the rimward side of the Spinward Marches. It has very few elements that are specific to the GURPS game, and thus should be purchased by any Traveller GM running games in that area.