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Subsector Sourcebook 3: Hub $12.99
Publisher: Independence Games
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by Jason C. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/04/2013 21:28:11

This location supplement for Traveller has a great deal of potential, and the raw material to help GMs in many ways. However, it misses the mark of a truly great supplement with insufficient attention to how the product will be used at the table. Let's break it down.

Subsector Sourcebook 3 is meaty: At 108 pages, there is hardly one that doesn't contain information - this isn't a supplement that wastes a lot of time with artwork or frills. Many pieces of artwork I did spot were on pages all to themselves - easy to skip for those who want to print some or all of the sourcebook. The artwork of the planets seemed somewhat badly thought-out - if used on a tablet to display to the players (for that sf feel), there shouldn't be three of them to a page. If meant to print out, they shouldn't have a black background and dark colors. But they are a cool idea!

Most of the planets are simply catalogued as lists of organized facts - not in itself a bad idea, especially for Traveller. It may seem inconceivable to modern gamers, but in early Traveller editions, you didn't roll to see what information you could find about a planet using some kind of computer skill, you just picked up the book that told you what was in your computer and turned there and read it! (At the time everyone thought computers were going to be limited in the data they could effectively use.) I've found that when this mechanic gets used, it really makes things immersive, and preserves the mysteries of the setting. So at first I was excited, thinking that this supplement was taking this angle. When players asked what was up with a planet, I could just pass across a couple of pages of printout to them and let them discuss it among themselves. But...it doesn't actually take this approach. Out-of-character sidebars, and occasionally even out-of-character commentary in the planet descriptions themselves mean that I can't really take this approach at all.

I feel like the supplement was reaching for that classic Traveller feel of having extremely basic factual information on how big a planet is and how long the day is, and then letting players find out the rest themselves, but wasn't secure enough in this approach to really pursue it by separating GM information from "what's in your database" information.

Please don't take from the negative comments that I've made above that there is nothing in this supplement worth pursuing. It's a solid, thorough look at many planets in a subsector; the societies described are interesting and I would want players to explore them. The natural world is detailed and exciting. The hex maps are fun and beautiful. It certainly pushes hard for a classic Traveller feel! It isn't trying to "update" Traveller, it really pushes after the core idea of a Traveller setting - a broadly drawn sandbox with many interesting places to explore. Each planet has a couple of solid hooks - in another supplement, maybe I'd look for more, but that's not what Traveller planetary supplements have ever been really about. (Buy one of the Patrons books for that!) All my commentary above is trying to get at is how close to a bullseye Subsector 3 gets!

The one unmitigated negative is that almost inexcusably, the 108 pages of this supplement have no bookmarks, no hyperlinks, no use of the electronic format of any kind. I'd rate this a four-star supplement despite its flaws if this wasn't true. For a book whose main advantage is the systematic organization of data, the lack of these features is just a straight oversight.

In any event, Subsector 3: Hub fits right into the pantheon of classic Traveller location books. If you want to see what a Traveller location is like, this is a great place to start. You'll just need to work a bit harder to get it to your table.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Subsector Sourcebook 3: Hub
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