Marc Miller (game designer)
Marc William Miller is a wargame and role-playing game designer and author. After serving in the U. S. Army, Miller continued his studies at Illinois State University in 1972 under the G. I. Bill. There he joined the ISU Game Club, created by Frank Chadwick. Banner obtained a grant. Adding new members Loren K. Wiseman and John Harshman, the ISU Game Club drafted a variety of designs; some of these designs were derivatives of existing games, had generic names like Guerre and Swamp, while others were amalgamations, such as Triplanetary. In 1973, after being convinced by Chadwick and Banner, Illinois State University created SimRAD, a college program where students and teachers designed games. Revenue from these games supported the funding of innovations in education. At the same time, Chadwick and Wiseman decided to publish a massive World War II simulation game and created Game Designers' Workshop as their publishing company. Game Designers' Workshop was formed on June 22, 1973, was headquartered in Miller and Chadwick's apartment.
In that year, GDW published Drang Nach Osten, the first of its Europa Series on World War II. In 1974 the company published five new titles, including Coral Sea, based on the World War II naval battle. In 1975, GDW published Triplanetary by Harshman. Miller designed The Russo-Japanese War and Chaco, based on the 1930s war between Bolivia and Paraguay. Miller, Chadwick and Wiseman designed Traveller, published in 1977 by GDW. Miller designed the science-fiction board game Double Star for GDW, released in 1979. While at GDW, Miller designed a total of 74 games and products, with an average of one every four months, including Imperium. Miller wrote a letter to the company, Digest Group Publications, in 1987 asking them to help GDW make Traveller material more accessible. Despite being some of the best Traveller material published, DGP produced considerable work that went unused. Since 1996, Miller has expressly forbidden his licensees from referencing the unpublished DGP material because of his concerns over copyright issues.
Miller left GDW in 1991. Miller designed the computer game Challenge of the Five Realms, published and released by MicroProse in 1992 and the card game SuperDeck!. In 1996, Miller purchased the rights to Traveller, Twilight: 2000, 2300AD, formed a new company called Far Future Enterprises, he served as the head of this company. Miller partnered with Sweetpea Entertainment to license his science-fiction property in exchange for funding to get Imperium Games running in February 1996, as a new publisher dedicated to Traveller material. While Far Future Enterprises licensed Traveller and other games to several companies, Miller worked on his own fifth edition of Traveller for Far Future. Miller consults for gaming companies. Miller publishes game designs through Far Future Enterprises at farfuture.net, consulting on various aspects of the game industry through his Heartland Publishing Services design and production issues. His role-playing games are in print through Far Future Enterprises, Mongoose Publishing, Steve Jackson Games.
Miller has received the Origins Award, the prestigious Games 100 Award, the Game Designers' Guild Award. He was inducted into the Charles S. Roberts Hall of Fame in 1981 as a designer, he was featured as the king of spades in Flying Buffalo's 2010 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck. His novel, Agent of the Imperium was nominated for the Dragon Awards in 2016. "Players' Guide to MegaTraveller". Far Future Enterprises. 2005. P. 17. Retrieved 2007-03-17
J. Andrew Keith
John Andrew Keith was an American author and games developer. J. Andrew Keith, his brother William H. Keith Jr. had seen ads in Journal of the Travellers Aid Society that stated that Game Designers' Workshop was seeking authors. J. Andrew Keith's writing for the Journal of the Travellers Aid Society was so extensive that he began to use the pseudonyms John Marshal and Keith Douglass; the Keith brothers were making enough money that they were able to freelance full-time starting around 1979. The Keith brothers began working for FASA by the end of 1980. FASA began getting into publishing adventures for Traveller beginning with Ordeal by Eshaar by the Keith brothers, who wrote FASA's "Sky Raiders" trilogy. J. Andrew Keith edited the magazine High Passage in 1982 before the High Passage Group told FASA that they could not publish additional High Passage material; when FASA ended its support of Traveller, the Keith brothers moved their Traveller writing to a new company called Gamelords, but continued working for FASA in other capacities.
The Keith brothers wrote seven supplements for Gamelords, including The Mountain Environment, The Undersea Environment, The Desert Environment. J. Andrew Keith wrote some adventures for Fantasy Games Unlimited's Chivalry & Sorcery before the line ended; the Keith brothers expanded into FGU's other lines in 1985 including Aftermath!, Flashing Blades, Psi World. The Keith brothers designed Freedom Fighters, one of the last role-playing games published by FGU. Andrew was a rather prolific Science Fiction and Role-Playing Game author, the bibliography presented below is in no way comprehensive. Several of these works were with various co-authors, most his brother, William H. Keith Jr. A note regarding pen names in the words of William H. Keith Jr.:"We shared several: Keith William Andrews, Keith Douglass, H. Jay Riker. Back in the Traveller days, when he was doing a ton of writing for the old Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society, he used several pen names, including Keith Douglass and John Marshall, so it wouldn't look like the journal was an Andrew Keith production."
Wing Commander: False Colors Wing Commander: Heart of the Tiger The Fifth Foreign Legion: March or Die The Fifth Foreign Legion: Honor and Fidelity The Fifth Foreign Legion: Cohort of the Damned Battletech: Blood of Heroes Battletech: Mercenary's Star The Legacy of Leonidas Rendezvous with Death Orion Rising Books and Folio Adventures: Cargonaut Press, Digest Group Publications, FASA, Gamelords, GDW, Marischal Adventures, Seeker. Alien Module 1: Aslan Alien Module 2: K'Kree Alien Module 3: Vargr Alien Module 4: Zhodani Alien Module 5: Droyne Alien Module 7: Hivers Alien Realms Aliens for Traveller Arctic Environment Ascent To Anekthor Beltstrike Chamax Plague Escape Exotic Atmospheres: Special Supplement 2 Faldor: World of Adventure Fate of the Sky Raiders Flight of the Stag Grand Census Grand Survey Harrensa Project Horde Legend of the Sky Raiders Letter of Marque Merchant Prince: Special Supplement 1 Mountain Environment Murder on Arcturus Station Night of Conquest Nomads of the World Ocean Ordeal by Eshaar Pilot's Guide to the Drexilthar Subsector, A Rogues in Space: Letter of Marque Rogues in Space: Scam Salvage Mission Starport Planetfall Startown Liberty Stazlekh Report, The Trading Team Trail of the Sky Raiders Traveller Adventure Travellers' Aid Society Alien Encyclopedia Undersea Environment Uragyad'n of the Seven Pillars Wanted: Adventurers World Builder's Handbook Adventures in Traveller: Exploration Adventures in Traveller: Trade and Commerce Adventures in Traveller: Wilderness Situations Adventurette: Jailbreak Adventurette: Night Rescue Adventurette: The Last Bastion Adventurette: Trial By Justice Amber Zone: Drannixa Gambit Amber Zone: Embassy in Arms Amber Zone: Lockbox Amber Zone: Raid on Stataorlai Amber Zone: Royal Hunt Amber Zone: Small Package Amber Zone: The Birthday Plot Amber Zone: Tournament Amber Zone: Tuktaar Connection Amber Zone Ventures Afar Amber Zone: Without a Trace Awaiting Shipment: Petrochemicals Azun Bestiary: Afeahyaltow Bestiary: Crested Jabberwock Bestiary: Doyle's Eel Bestiary: Garhawk Bestiary: Ice Crawler Bestiary: Luugir Boarding Pass: Jalas Glennol Caledon Highlanders Care and Feeding of NPCs Casual Encounter: Emil "Boomer" Brankovich Casual Encounter: Enli Iddukagan Casual Encounter: Fast "Johnny" McRae Casual Encounter: Gamaagin Kaashukiin Casual Encounter: Glorinna Firella Casual Encounter: Gunnar Haelvedssen Casual Encounter: Ramon San Yarvo Casual Encounter: Ringaal DeAstera Casual Encounter: Simone Garibaldi Civilian Striker Weapons Closest Encounter Compleat Starport Computer Implants Computer Software for High Guard Contact: Ael Yael Contact: Aslan Contact: The Girug'kagh Contact: Irklan Contact: The Girug'kagh Contact: The Virushi Dev Landrel Flare Star Hunting Bugs I'm a Doctor, Not a...
In Transit: Grav Mining Vehicle In Transit: Orbital Tug Newcomers, The Outside the Expanses: Reaver's Deep Parachutes Periastron Pilot's Guide to Ea Subsector Pilot's Guide to the Caledon Subsector, A Pilot's Guide to the Scotian Deep Subsector Planetfall: Supplementary Material for MegaTraveller Port Authority Handbook: Arrival In-System Port Authority Handbook: Communications Port Authority Handbook: Convoys Port Authority Handbook: Interdicted Planets Port Authority Handbook: Inward Clearance Port of Call: Rejhappur Port of Call: Roakhoi Reavers' Deep Sector Referee's Guide to Planet-b
Traveller (role-playing game)
Traveller is a science fiction role-playing game, first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Marc W. Miller designed Traveller with help from Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, Loren K. Wiseman. Characters journey between various star systems and engage in activities such as exploration and space battles, interstellar trading. Characters are defined not by the need to increase native skill and ability but by achievements, wealth and political power. Key features derived from literary sources are incorporated into Traveller in all its forms: Human-centric but cosmopolitan: The core rules focus on human characters, but there is ample support for using and playing aliens. Space travel: Interstellar travel is through the use of the faster-than-light jump drive, which moves a ship through "jump space" a few light-years at a time; each jump always takes about one week. Normal-space travel is accomplished through efficient and powerful gravitic drives. Newtonian physics tends to be followed. Limited communication: There is no faster-than-light information transfer – meaning no ansible, subspace radio or hyper-wave.
Communication is limited to the speed of travel. Decisions are made on the local level, rather than by a remote authority. Conflict resolution: Planets fight out internal wars, commerce is a major driving force of civilization. Sociological: Interstellar society is stratified. Affairs are managed by independent nobility, who make use of classic titles such as Baron and Archduke. Diversity within Limits: Career options, ship design, subsector design, decisions made during character generation limit and frame reality; the definitions create a diverse space, within limits. Morals and mortality: People remain people and continue to show courage, wisdom and justice, along with cowardice and criminal behavior. Traveller uses a lifepath-style system for character generation. Characters get their skills and experience in a mini-game, where the player makes career choices that determine the character's life right up to the point before adventuring begins. A character can be human, alien, or of a genetically engineered species.
A character can be civilian, military, or noble, a young cadet or a tried-and-true veteran, each with strengths and weaknesses. Death during character generation is a possibility in some editions, a mechanic that became infamous. Characters are described by six primary characteristics: strength, endurance, intelligence and social standing; these characteristics are generated with a roll of two six-sided dice. Other general characteristics exist, such as psionics and sanity. There are variant characteristics, such as charisma and caste, which replace a primary characteristic, to add nuance to alien characters. Extra-sensory perception, telekinesis and other psychic abilities are organized and standardized into "psionics". Depending on their choice, characters can be psionic; each rule system has its own task mechanic for resolving character actions. Some systems use two or three six-sided dice, while others use multiple six-sided dice or a twenty-sided die. Target numbers are determined by the referee, who takes into account task difficulty, skill level, a characteristic.
Situation and equipment used can provide a penalty to a roll. Depending on the task, a success may require rolling below the target number. Equipment emphasizes wilderness exploration, hazardous environments, combat; as a result, equipment lists are heavy on vehicles, sensor equipment, rations, personal armor, weapons. Low-technology: Since primitive worlds exist near technological worlds, primitive weapons are typically included, such as swords, shields and bows. High-technology: And since high technology is available, cybernetic implants and non-sentient robots also show up in equipment lists, as well as artifacts from ancient, vanished technological civilizations. Hard Sci-fi Flavor: While there are energy weapons, there is a strong presence of slug-throwing weapons such as rifles and pistols; the prevailing theory is. Rules for starship design and combat are like games unto themselves with a complex balance of ship components fitting within certain hull volumes, technology levels, modifiers based upon characters' skills.
It is complex enough to be able to generically represent most starships used in role-playing games, flexible enough to support custom add-ons to the system. Computer programs have been created to predict starship combat using Traveller rules; the most famous case involved Douglas Lenat applying his Eurisko heuristic learning program to the scenario in the Traveller adventure Trillion Credit Squadron, which contained rules for resolving large space battles statistically. Eurisko discovered exploitable features of the starship design system that allowed it to build unusual fleets that won the 1981 and 1982 championships; the sponsor stated that if Lenat entered and won the next year they would stop the sponsorship, so Lenat stopped attending. Worlds represent a wide spectrum of conditions, from barren planetoid moons to large gas giant worlds, from uncolonized territory to planets with tens of billions of people. Most worlds tend to be
Magazine
A magazine is a publication a periodical publication, printed or electronically published. Magazines are published on a regular schedule and contain a variety of content, they are financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by prepaid subscriptions, or a combination of the three. At its root, the word "magazine" refers to a storage location. In the case of written publication, it is a collection of written articles; this explains why magazine publications share the word root with gunpowder magazines, artillery magazines, firearms magazines, and, in French, retail stores such as department stores. By definition, a magazine paginates with each issue starting at page three, with the standard sizing being 8 3⁄8 in × 10 7⁄8 in. However, in the technical sense a journal has continuous pagination throughout a volume, thus Business Week, which starts each issue anew with page one, is a magazine, but the Journal of Business Communication, which starts each volume with the winter issue and continues the same sequence of pagination throughout the coterminous year, is a journal.
Some professional or trade publications are peer-reviewed, an example being the Journal of Accountancy. Academic or professional publications that are not peer-reviewed are professional magazines; that a publication calls itself a journal does not make it a journal in the technical sense. Magazines can be distributed through the mail, through sales by newsstands, bookstores, or other vendors, or through free distribution at selected pick-up locations; the subscription business models for distribution fall into three main categories. In this model, the magazine is sold to readers for a price, either on a per-issue basis or by subscription, where an annual fee or monthly price is paid and issues are sent by post to readers. Paid circulation allows for defined readership statistics; this means that there is no cover price and issues are given away, for example in street dispensers, airline, or included with other products or publications. Because this model involves giving issues away to unspecific populations, the statistics only entail the number of issues distributed, not who reads them.
This is the model used by many trade magazines distributed only to qualifying readers for free and determined by some form of survey. Because of costs associated with the medium of print, publishers may not distribute free copies to everyone who requests one; this allows a high level of certainty that advertisements will be received by the advertiser's target audience, it avoids wasted printing and distribution expenses. This latter model was used before the rise of the World Wide Web and is still employed by some titles. For example, in the United Kingdom, a number of computer-industry magazines use this model, including Computer Weekly and Computing, in finance, Waters Magazine. For the global media industry, an example would be VideoAge International; the earliest example of magazines was Erbauliche Monaths Unterredungen, a literary and philosophy magazine, launched in 1663 in Germany. The Gentleman's Magazine, first published in 1731, in London was the first general-interest magazine. Edward Cave, who edited The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term "magazine," on the analogy of a military storehouse.
Founded by Herbert Ingram in 1842, The Illustrated London News was the first illustrated magazine. The oldest consumer magazine still in print is The Scots Magazine, first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and gaps in publication totalling over 90 years weaken that claim. Lloyd's List was founded in Edward Lloyd's England coffee shop in 1734. Under the ancient regime, the most prominent magazines were Mercure de France, Journal des sçavans, founded in 1665 for scientists, Gazette de France, founded in 1631. Jean Loret was one of France's first journalists, he disseminated the weekly news of music and Parisian society from 1650 until 1665 in verse, in what he called a gazette burlesque, assembled in three volumes of La Muse historique. The French press lagged a generation behind the British, for they catered to the needs the aristocracy, while the newer British counterparts were oriented toward the middle and working classes. Periodicals were censored by the central government in Paris.
They were not quiescent politically—often they criticized Church abuses and bureaucratic ineptitude. They supported the monarchy and they played at most a small role in stimulating the revolution. During the Revolution, new periodicals played central roles as propaganda organs for various factions. Jean-Paul Marat was the most prominent editor, his L'Ami du peuple advocated vigorously for the rights of the lower classes against the enemies of the people Marat hated. After 1800 Napoleon reimposed strict censorship. Magazines flourished after Napoleon left in 1815. Most were based in Paris and most emphasized literature and stories, they served religious and political communities. In times of political crisis they expressed and helped shape the views of their readership and thereby were major
Loren Wiseman
Loren Wiseman was an American wargame and role-playing game designer, game developer and editor. Loren Wiseman co-founded Game Designers' Workshop with Frank Chadwick, Rich Banner, Marc Miller on June 22, 1973. Wiseman published Eagles, his first wargame, the fifth game published by Game Designers' Workshop, in 1974; as a partner at GDW, his primary responsibilities were game development – editing and revising game manuscripts and preparing them for publication. During this period he designed the wargame Pharsalus, wrote the award-winning Twilight: 2000 role-playing adventure Going Home. Wiseman helped Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, Marc Miller design Traveller. Wiseman was editor of the Journal of the Travellers Aid Society, its successor Challenge magazine. Wiseman brought on J. Andrew Keith and William H. Keith, Jr. to begin freelancing for GDW in 1978 or 1979, the three of them set up a lot of the early tone for the Traveller universe. Wiseman became the line developer for Twilight: 2000; the process at GDW was for the designer to write the text, but the developer brought together that text, plus draft diagrams and art into a manuscript, typeset it, made sure it was properly published.
It fell to him to design titles in the series. When GDW closed in 1995, Wiseman was unemployed for a short time and worked a succession of part-time jobs, before being offered a job at Steve Jackson Games as Art Director and Traveller Line Editor. Steve Jackson brought on Wiseman to produce the GURPS Traveller line, he wrote GURPS Traveller and several supporting products, including GURPS Traveller Nobles and The Interstellar Wars. Wiseman was recognized for his excellence and expertise with the H G Wells Award for "Twilight: 2000 Going Home", the H G Wells Award three years running for the "Journal of the Travellers Aid Society". In 2004, Loren received the highest of honors within the gaming community: he was inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame, the above recounting of his credits gives some insight into the rationale, he was honored as a "famous game designer" by being featured as the king of clubs in Flying Buffalo's 2010 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck. Reports on Facebook and at Steve Jackson Games report that Loren Wiseman died of a heart attack on February 14, 2017
Merchants & Merchandise
Merchants & Merchandise is a 1981 role-playing game supplement for Traveller published by Paranoia Press. Merchants & Merchandise is a book where the first half is a complete character generation system for merchants, the second half introduces 18 new items: weapons, medical aids, computers, a transporter. William A. Barton reviewed Merchants & Merchandise in The Space Gamer No. 39. Barton commented that "No Traveller player should pass this one up." Different Worlds #16
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. There are several forms of role-playing games; the original form, sometimes called the tabletop role-playing game, is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing, players physically perform their characters' actions. In both of these forms, an arranger called a game master decides on the rules and setting to be used, while acting as the referee. Several varieties of RPG exist in electronic media, such as multiplayer text-based Multi-User Dungeons and their graphics-based successors, massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Role-playing games include single-player role-playing video games in which players control a character, or team of characters, who undertake quests, may include player capabilities that advance using statistical mechanics.
These electronic games sometimes share settings and rules with tabletop RPGs, but emphasize character advancement more than collaborative storytelling. This type of game is well-established, so some RPG-related game forms, such as trading/collectible card games and wargames, may not be included under the definition; some amount of role-playing activity may be present in such games. The term role-playing game is sometimes used to describe games involving roleplay simulation and exercises used in teaching and academic research. Both authors and major publishers of tabletop role-playing games consider them to be a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling. Events and narrative structure give a sense of a narrative experience, the game need not have a strongly-defined storyline. Interactivity is the crucial difference between traditional fiction. Whereas a viewer of a television show is a passive observer, a player in a role-playing game makes choices that affect the story; such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a small party of friends collaborate to create a story.
While simple forms of role-playing exist in traditional children's games of make believe, role-playing games add a level of sophistication and persistence to this basic idea with additions such as game facilitators and rules of interaction. Participants in a role-playing game will generate an ongoing plot. A consistent system of rules and a more or less realistic campaign setting in games aids suspension of disbelief; the level of realism in games ranges from just enough internal consistency to set up a believable story or credible challenge up to full-blown simulations of real-world processes. Role-playing games are played in a wide variety of formats ranging from discussing character interaction in tabletop form to physically acting out characters in LARP to playing characters in digital media. There is a great variety of systems of rules and game settings. Games that emphasize plot and character interaction over game mechanics and combat sometimes prefer the name storytelling game; these types of games tend to minimize or altogether eliminate the use of dice or other randomizing elements.
Some games are played with characters created before the game by the GM, rather than those created by the players. This type of game is played at gaming conventions, or in standalone games that do not form part of a campaign. Tabletop and pen-and-paper RPGs are conducted through discussion in a small social gathering; the GM describes its inhabitants. The other players describe the intended actions of their characters, the GM describes the outcomes; some outcomes are determined by the game system, some are chosen by the GM. This is the format; the first commercially available RPG, Dungeons & Dragons, was inspired by fantasy literature and the wargaming hobby and was published in 1974. The popularity of D&D led to the birth of the tabletop role-playing game industry, which publishes games with many different themes and styles of play; the popularity of tabletop games has decreased since the modern releases of online MMO RPGs. This format is referred to as a role-playing game. To distinguish this form of RPG from other formats, the retronyms tabletop role-playing game or pen and paper role-playing game are sometimes used, though neither a table nor pen and paper are necessary.
A LARP is played more like improvisational theatre. Participants act out their characters' actions instead of describing them, the real environment is used to represent the imaginary setting of the game world. Players are costumed as their characters and use appropriate props, the venue may be decorated to resemble the fictional setting; some live action role-playing games use rock-paper-scissors or comparison of attributes to resolve conflicts symbolically, while other LARPs use physical combat with simulated arms such as airsoft guns or foam weapons. LARPs vary in size from a handful of players to several thousand, in duration from a couple of hours to several days; because the number of players in a LARP is larger than in a tabletop role-playing game, the players may be interacting in separate physical spaces, there is less of an emphasis on maintaining a narrative or directly entertai
