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We're here with Jeff Zeitlin, the sole proprietor of
Freelance Traveller,
though he says he considers "everyone who
submits material for inclusion to be part of my 'staff'; if I don't
get good material, the site isn't going to be worth much..."
RPGNet: How did the site start?
Jeff Zeitlin:
Heh. You're asking hard questions. I honestly don't recall what led
to me wanting to do this, but I suspect that it was because however
many years ago it was, there weren't any Traveller sites that realy
appealed to me - so I decided to do a site 'in my own image', as it
were. It was also a chance to learn a little bit about managing a web
site, and I've definitely learned quite a lot in the process.
RPGNet: How long will you continue working on the site? Is there a line or a goal
you've set?
Jeff Zeitlin:
Nope. I'm going to continue running the site as long as I'm able, and
as long as I know that there are fans of Traveller out there.
RPGNet: If I were to decide to create a fan site, what advice would you give me?
Jeff Zeitlin:
CONTENT. That's your magic word. Don't concentrate on designing
something with lots of glitz, use a good basic design that won't
distract the visitor from the material that you have available. Then,
choose your content carefully, for quality. Quantity will come over
time; the initial version of Freelance Traveller - years ago, and
hosted on Dragonfire - had only a few articles, but they were articles
that I thought were worth preserving, and which the authors gave me
permission to share. Good content does a far better job of attracting
visitors than lots of glitz, and, if it's a fan site that takes
material from multiple sources (i.e., the owner of the site doesn't
write all of the material on the site), good content will attract
people who want to write material of their own, and who will be
interested in having your site host it (if they can't or don't want to
arrange their own hosting). I'd say at this point that probably about
half of any new material that appears on Freelance Traveller over any
given period is unsolicited. And very little of it is of poor
quality, in my opinion.
I also make it a point to work with authors to try to 'tighten up'
material that I think may be weak. I'll explain exactly what I think
possible problems are, and some possible solutions - usually more than
one for any particular flaw. If the author isn't interested in
hearing it, well, that's their choice; if the material is good, I'll
still publish it. To me, that's part of my 'charter'; there's a
reason I always emphasized that Freelance Traveller is a
Fan-Supported resource.
RPGNet: Has anyone associated "officially" with Traveller, in any of its
incarnations, recognized the site in any way?
Jeff Zeitlin:
Well, if I recall correctly, SJGames and Imperium Games have both
provided links to Freelance Traveller on their websites at various
times. As far as getting an imprimatur from any of the publishers,
saying 'This is part of Traveller', well, no - but that doesn't bother
me, because in my view, part of any RPG is fine-tuning the rules and
the setting to accommodate your own image of what they should be.
That's why I include the 'Doing It My Way' section, and why I recently
opened up 'Other Roads'. As long as people say 'this is a great fan
site, check it out', I'm happy.
RPGNet: How do you feel about the current state of the Traveller
universe/setting? Do you have a preference for a timeline? What did you
think of the whole "New Era" thing, or the tack SJG is taking with GURPS
Traveller?
Jeff Zeitlin:
Taking the questions in reverse order, I think that SJG is doing a
great job with the Strephon Lives timeline; I wish they'd been
licensed to do a Rebellion Continues version as well, though I don't
generally approve of the idea of dividing your efforts in too many
directions. SJG's quality control is amazing; I have seen few
publishers - of anything - that can as consistently produce good
material.
The New Era was, in my opinion, an "error of execution" rather than an
"error of concept"; the idea of Virus just didn't ring true with me at
all - it was too powerful, too much of a 'diablus ex machina'. But
while I'd have preferred that there be some moderate-sized polities at
war with badly-chewed-up 'no-man's-lands' between them, I don't think
that a complete collapse is inherently a bad idea - they lead to
different kinds of adventures and campaigns, which means more
opportunity for more players and more referees to run the kind of game
that they like.
The current state of the Traveller universe/setting: Which one? The
setting 'stream of history' has been bifurcated, and many people view
the various milieux of the core timeline (pre-assassination) as
different settings. Some of them are no longer being developed; I
think that's sad, as one thing I like in an RPG is a rich background -
even if I decide to toss some of it in favor of my own ideas, at least
I can use the extant material for inspiration. Others are under
active development, which I like, because new material is one source
of new inspiration.
RPGNet: Is there particular system you prefer to use with the setting?
Jeff Zeitlin:
I generally use some homebrew variations on the Classic/Mega/T4
system. More important to me than the mechanics is the role-playing.
RPGNet: Is there something you're particularly looking forward to with regard to
Traveller?
Jeff Zeitlin:
No specific item; I eagerly await just about anything that's slated
for publication. In some ways, I suppose you could call me a
Traveller junkie; I will be getting the d20 Traveller stuff when it
comes out, even though I don't play d20 - I want to know how others
are adapting Traveller, and I want to see the source material that
they come up with for their respective Traveller milieux.
RPGNet: What other RPGs do you enjoy?
Jeff Zeitlin:
Really, I don't play many others. Some of the GURPS genres appeal to
me, and the GURPS system works reasonably well.
RPGNet: Final thoughts?
Jeff Zeitlin:
Maintaining a fan site, bottom line, has to be a labor of love, rather
than an obligation. When you get to the point that you're dreading
the next update, it's time to retire - or at the very least, take a
long vacation from it. Otherwise, your disinterest is going to show,
and people will lose interest in the site. I can't tell you how many
sites I've seen - and not just Traveller sites - that clearly had
potential, but were just as clearly killed by their owner's
indifference. For me, Freelance Traveller is a labor of love, and one
that doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon. I don't do
this for the recognition (though it's nice!), I do it because I want
to share the material, and keep Traveller alive, even if there's
nobody to publish material officially. It's also, ultimately, less
about me than about the people who actually write the material - I'm
just a facilitator for making that material available; they're the
ones that are doing the hard part.
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