Yes, Chessex mats are great. Mine might be a bit mildewed but I still have my first, purchased almost 40 years ago...

Somewhere along the line in the 80s I got a clear vinyl hex mat that is super cool because I can make any map a hex battle mat...

I also have a double sided one, hex on one side, squares on the other.

On the other hand, they have seen no use in the last 10 years, since I moved for a short while to OD&D with very abstract miniatures use (I'd lay out some pencils to show a few walls), to Burning Wheel, to play by post games, and lately a Google Hangouts game.

Thanks for the information. I've only ever used paper hex pages, which are a hassle and why I'm looking at reusable alternatives.

Oh, the other thing that was always part of my toolbox was a sheet of plexiglass. Drop that on top of printed battle maps from PDF modules, or maps from print publications and you can use overhead markers to your hears content. It can also help flatten folded or rolled maps and keep the map put (we have used the plexiglass sheet for board games also).

My gaming table used to be a 1/4" white hardboard panel about 3.5'x5' sitting on milk crates, with battle mats, plexiglass sheets, and whatnot on top.

Good information, thank you. I think I will try to find some see-through hex grids I can use over various underlying maps or drawings. That way the actual terrain or labyrinth can be naturalistic and we'll still have the hex for tactics and distances and movement and positioning.

It just occurred to me that Legends of Time and Space is in a small way TFT Traveller. Or can be with some work.

Quote from: Omega;959214It just occurred to me that Legends of Time and Space is in a small way TFT Traveller. Or can be with some work.

That's interesting. I might try that out sometime.

I will probably stick with Classic Traveller for science fiction gaming because I like games that were designed with their setting or premise in mind rather than games that try to be encompass all genres. No offense meant to GURPS fans as I do like GURPS for some things. I just think a game like King Arthur Pendragon is going to do "Arthurian romance roleplaying" much better than a generic system applied to that setting simply because the rules were made with that setting in mind and in service to that setting. Same with Traveller and the pre-Star Wars science fiction that I like to emulate in my games. And for Star Wars, I'd likely use the old West End Star Wars game.

Quote from: Dumarest;959216That's interesting. I might try that out sometime.

I will probably stick with Classic Traveller for science fiction gaming because I like games that were designed with their setting or premise in mind rather than games that try to be encompass all genres. No offense meant to GURPS fans as I do like GURPS for some things. I just think a game like King Arthur Pendragon is going to do "Arthurian romance roleplaying" much better than a generic system applied to that setting simply because the rules were made with that setting in mind and in service to that setting. Same with Traveller and the pre-Star Wars science fiction that I like to emulate in my games. And for for Star Wars, I'd likely use the old West End Star Wars game.

Agreed. I'm pretty sick of the endless discussions of how one can reskin one game to replace another, generally for no obvious reason. If you want to play traveller, play traveller. If you insist on reskinning the rules of your favorite My Little Pony LARP game for use in the traveller universe, please keep it to yourself.

Quote from: Larsdangly;959251Agreed. I'm pretty sick of the endless discussions of how one can reskin one game to replace another, generally for no obvious reason. If you want to play traveller, play traveller. If you insist on reskinning the rules of your favorite My Little Pony LARP game for use in the traveller universe, please keep it to yourself.

You don't like it when you ask, "Hey, what game is good for pirates adventuring in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy?" and people answer, "James Bond 007 if you change half the rules and rewrite the other half of the game yourself"?

Quote from: Dumarest;959291You don't like it when you ask, "Hey, what game is good for pirates adventuring in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy?" and people answer, "James Bond 007 if you change half the rules and rewrite the other half of the game yourself"?

Ha! Exactly. Somehow half the game-system threads on these sorts of sites boil down to 50 people taking turns stating that their favorite game of the day is obviously 'can do' whatever topic you happen to be discussing.

Well, if I ever win the Megamillions  Lotto I'll make him an offer he can't refuse and get The Fantasy Trip out there as the boxed set Steve Jackson wanted it to be, after incorporating the errata he wrote for The Space Gamer. Maps, dice, the whole shebang.

Someone remind me that one has to buy a ticket to win the lottery.

Meantime I was just reading through the rulebooks at lunch at work today and there really is a lot of good stuff in there even at such a short page count.

Quote from: Dumarest;959316Someone remind me that one has to buy a ticket to win the lottery.

Man, I get tripped up by that every fucking time.

Quote from: Dumarest;959316Well, if I ever win the Megamillions  Lotto I'll make him an offer he can't refuse and get The Fantasy Trip out there as the boxed set Steve Jackson wanted it to be, after incorporating the errata he wrote for The Space Gamer. Maps, dice, the whole shebang.

Someone remind me that one has to buy a ticket to win the lottery.

Meantime I was just reading through the rulebooks at lunch at work today and there really is a lot of good stuff in there even at such a short page count.

I actually corresponded with SJ about this idea a couple of years ago, because if the price for the IP rights were anywhere within an order of magnitude of the correct value I would be happy to make it happen — if you did it right with the right partners and didn't get greedy, you could probably recover most or all of the money sunk into the initial IP costs. The answer was that the last time anyone checked Thompson wanted such a completely absurd amount of money for the rights that no one other than Bill Gates could bankroll the start of the project, and there is no way on earth the ~2-3000 potential customers could help you recoup your initial investment. The guy is just a fool, but there is nothing to be done about it.

Quote from: Larsdangly;959368The guy is just a fool, but there is nothing to be done about it.

Well, once he shuffles off this mortal coil, his estate will have every reason to squeeze whatever they can out of it as its money for nothing to them. Kind of like all the unreleased Prince recordings we'll be deluged with by his estate.

Rights will revert to Jackson (unfortunately) most likely on his death unless he wills the holdings over to next of kin.

Quote from: Larsdangly;959368I actually corresponded with SJ about this idea a couple of years ago, because if the price for the IP rights were anywhere within an order of magnitude of the correct value I would be happy to make it happen — if you did it right with the right partners and didn't get greedy, you could probably recover most or all of the money sunk into the initial IP costs. The answer was that the last time anyone checked Thompson wanted such a completely absurd amount of money for the rights that no one other than Bill Gates could bankroll the start of the project, and there is no way on earth the ~2-3000 potential customers could help you recoup your initial investment. The guy is just a fool, but there is nothing to be done about it.

Howard Thompson is an interesting character for sure. You can read some of his early Space Gamer editorials where he expresses his strong political ideas. Then you have his feud with Steve Jackson, presumably with some bitterness, and his complete disappearance from the gaming industry. 35 years and counting, he's never made a peep as far as I know. A bit of online sleuthing showed that he was active in Texas atheist circles a decade or two ago, and a couple of forum posters have claimed to know that he's still alive and well. Oh, there was a weird blog which popped up and seemed to be written by a family member, mentioning dad's old gaming endeavors in a bemused fashion. It's gone now.

It would be great if someone could score an interview with the guy, but I don't like their chances. As far as the TFT IP goes, he's clearly not motivated by money - some people just aren't.