Today I have been mostly bed-bound and trying to recover from some kind of cold/flu bug that has me firmly in its grip. In-between bouts of coughing, sneezing, and sleeping there have been some belated deliveries that have me feeling a certain SF vibe. While I still have no idea what I want to do hobby-wise this week, these arrivals have me itching to get out into space.

First to arrive was the Doctor Who Starter Set for the Second Edition of the Doctor Who RPG. Slated for release in Spring 2022, I originally ordered this for the students at my former school gaming club who were big into the franchise. In some ways it’s a cautionary tale about believing delivery schedules, but in honesty I didn’t know I was going to resign from my job when I ordered it.

Doctor Who is a bit of a passion of mine, albeit dampened by more recent series because I came to the whole gig around the time of the Fourth Doctor. Today’s arrival spoke to me as a solid option for a solo play, however, because when playing alone you could simply be the Doctor and not have to worry about alienating other players at the table. Thus, it’s a product that I aim to break open over the coming weeks and delve into myself.

The second parcel to arrive was from Mongoose Publishing, delivering on the Robot Handbook for Traveller. Again, this was pre-ordered back several months ago and is more of a collection buy. As ever, I find myself drawn to the Third Imperium and itching to play some Traveller – perhaps even tempted to run as a robot character. The main draw of this setting is the sheer scope and scale of the Universe and it’s something I could easily loose myself within.

With Traveller, solo play appeals but group play appeals more deeply. I actually wonder how the game would stand up with some shifts in methodology towards deeper Otherworld-immersion. Some folk claim you can’t play SF in a deeply immersed style because players have too much information… but I happen to feel that information is a two-edged sword and the real problem is in getting reliable information. We shall see.

Overall, I have been pingling around the edges of SF over the weekend too because I started to read the excellent Terradyne setting for GURPS Space which was first published in 1991. It’s a classic harder-SF offering with a lot of great ideas all packed into a great little book. I bought this months ago but the SF vibe just keeps pulling me in.

Who knows where I will take all this, if anywhere, but it’s nice to be feeling something positive in spite of being sick and being tempted to just focus on feeling sorry for myself.

Game on!