Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

[BoloOfEarth]

Well, I got a very pleasant surprise in the mail yesterday -- my copy of Terracide! {Happy-dance commences} Yep, I had to spend a chunk of time this morning reading through parts of it (despite having a fairly busy day planned). Only got through a few chapters (and had to sneak a peek at the GM's Vault, too) but I'm enjoying it thus far. My first thoughts:

 

Pros: Very compelling back story and I'm enjoying the various major elements of the setting (the worlds / stations, the aliens, the history). Haven't gotten to the characters, vehicles, et al yet, so I can't comment on the crunchy details.

 

I also enjoyed the quote-boxes throughout. I really enjoy touches like this. Even if the accumulated quotes added a few pages overall to the document, I think they're very much worth it.

 

Quite enjoyed the GM's Vault info sections that I read. I was happy to see an explanation of the true story of the Terracide (I feared I would be left hanging, to tell the truth), and liked what was presented in that regard. Haven't read the info on the military junta yet.

 

Cons:

Reading through the Chapter One timeline, I felt like I kept running into places where spaces between words were missing. Looking back, they don't seem as wide-spread as it initially felt, but if there's going to be a reprinting, you might consider a careful re-proofread of the first chapter.

 

The FTL route maps are printed in B/W but the legend mentions different colors for FTL2.0 and FTL3.0 routes. Is there a color map available for printout, and I just haven't seen the link?

 

Overall:

An enjoyable read thus far, and IMO a very good setting in which to run a Star Hero campaign.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

Thanks for posting this, Bolo.

 

When I got my copy of Terracide and saw all the black-and-white artwork, I had a real "facepalm" moment upon realizing I'd color-coded a couple of the maps. In the appendix there's a link to the freeware I used to create those maps. I wanted Terracide readers to be able to create whatever maps they needed for their own campaigns, including but limited to the ones in the book.

 

The WinXP version is here for download, and the Win7 online version is here.

 

I'll soon have color versions of those maps posted here as well.

 

Also, I think the PDF version will have color artwork and maps.

[azato]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

When, my friend the pdf?

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

I don't have an exact date on that yet. The Blackwyrm guys are working on it.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

Thanks for the info on the maps. I can completely understand how it happened. I thought maybe a PDF of just those two maps might have been made available, and I hadn't seen anything yet about it.

 

As to the PDF of the book, yeah, I'm looking forward to that as well, but I can be patient. I'm more of a paper-book type person anyway.

 

What I'm enjoying the most is that the parts I've gone through have been a fun read, not just a bunch of dry info to get a GM up to speed on the setting. Potentially boring stuff is infused with personality that help define that individual (or organization, or what-not) in the reader's mind. For instance, and I hope you don't mind me quoting from the book:

 

Mention of Stellar Express is a good way to polarize a roomful of interstellar travelers. Half of them swear by the company's service, the other half want to throw its shipmasters out the nearest airlock.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

Thanks for the info on the maps. I can completely understand how it happened. I thought maybe a PDF of just those two maps might have been made available, and I hadn't seen anything yet about it.

 

As to the PDF of the book, yeah, I'm looking forward to that as well, but I can be patient. I'm more of a paper-book type person anyway.

 

What I'm enjoying the most is that the parts I've gone through have been a fun read, not just a bunch of dry info to get a GM up to speed on the setting. Potentially boring stuff is infused with personality that help define that individual (or organization, or what-not) in the reader's mind. For instance, and I hope you don't mind me quoting from the book:

 

If there's anything in the book you feel is "quotable" feel free to do so. It's good to be quoted.

[azato]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

I read an book about W. F. Buckley and he was once interviewed by Playboy magazine. I forget the age he just turned...it might have been 50 and they asked him to the effect "Have you found any novel sensual experieces since turning 50", And he said, "Yes, having the President of the United States writing down what I was saying in a meeting with him".

[mattingly]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

Here are the color-coded star maps.

 

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]39798[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39799[/ATTACH]

[L. Marcus]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

... I just had a craving to play Ascendancy.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Guess What I Received Yesterday? Terracide!

 

Thanks for posting those and covering for me while I'm on the road, Dave.

 

A few notes:

 

The upper map is the Kruger 60 Cluster; the lower one is the Core Loop.

Red routes are between 9 and 10 light years in length, and are only available to spacecraft with FTL3.0 (TL10)

Blue routes are 9 light years or less, and require the use of FTL2.0 (TL9)

 

The maps in Terracide are also accompanied by distance charts with the exact length of all the routes. The freeware used to create these maps will also display exact route lengths, but this resulted in too much "clutter" so I disabled that feature and went with a separate chart.