far-trader said:
Adding "horror" to the definition helps. Makes some sense even... but I'm still a bit hung up on the whole "Let's redefine a word with a long held specific meaning to be a generic term that I made up just now for this book."
Having recently been given a copy by a friend (who apparently didn't want the one he bought, nuff said), I think I can clarify the zombie thing a bit.
From my reading, it appears the author was trying to use "zombies" to describe a type of scenario that crosses multiple genres rather than literal undead zombies. For example, the Borg could fit into the zombie scenario and in Traveller you might describe a situation where a scientific experiment gone awry has released medical nanites that were supposed to repair damage or aid in the implantation of cybernetic augments; but instead are slowly / rapidly transforming those infected into quasi-cybernetic organisms. Another example going with what appears to have been the author's intent, "zombies" could be a mob of very much alive people who have been infected with a virus or affected by some sort of toxin or narcotic that causes their base animal instincts to run rampant while their higher brain functions are suppressed. Even more horrific, perhaps the victims remain consciously aware but trapped within their own bodies unable to control themselves and just as horrified by their own actions. The players, killing some of these people in self defense later encounter someone only partially affected or who is beginning to shake off the effect (or perhaps a psionic victim telepathically pleading for help even as their body goes on a crazed rampage... and what if that person is a contact known to the PCs...) and realize that they've been killing people who were themselves innocent victims... que moral dilemma. Perhaps the effect is the result of a bioweapon unleashed by one faction on another faction on a balkanized world, again the people are not "undead zombies" but become violent lunatics, or perhaps their deepest fears are unleashed and they attack the characters because they think the characters are monsters (hallucinations, paranois, etc), or they become mutants or develop overwhelming cannibalistic urges, and so on. But alas even though the author seems to have wanted to convey these kinds of ideas and been aware that actual walking undead zombies weren't a good fit for most Traveller games (even spending a couple of paragraphs noting this), and instead the author chose to give us several pages of examples actual walking dead.
In short, the basic idea behind the "zombie apocalypse" that repeatedly appears in the book wasn't necessarily undead zombies, but rather a situation where the characters are faced with mobs of enemies and an element of horror that may come from those enemies being mutated or changed in some freakish way. The characters generally being trapped in a defensible location surrounded by such enemies or even trapped aboard a ship during jump with such enemies add to this type of plot. There's also the element that these enemies were probably people the characters recently encountered as "normal people" and the shock of the sudden change. I think you get the idea, and the idea itself is actually a useful one but the presentation was poor and it was, IMHO, overused in the tables (as some have noted if you use the event table as written you'll be having a lot of these "zombie apocalypses" in your campaign, so much so they will probably lose their horrific element as they become too common, part of horror is shock and surprise).
I can see the CGs use in trying to create a "space fantasy", "space horror", "space comedy" or even "Dr Who" type of game. Not convinced that most Trav players adventure in those types of universes, but some definately will.
I think Egil hit the nail on the head here. Part of my disappointment is from the realization that this isn't really a Traveller campaign guide, its more about space fantasy and space horror. Now I actually do like both those genres, they just aren't what I normally expect to find in Traveller and certainly not in a generic campaign guide. Put more directly, I think calling the book "Campaign Guide" is a misnomer, to fit that title it should have fit closer to what (for lack of a better term) I'd call "standard Traveller Universe" even if that were not OTU (which I don't think would be necessary to focus on and such a focus might actually hinder its utility). This is more a book of ideas for space fantasy or space horror; yet not really.
As an aside, had it been better done as a book on adding space fantasy and/or space horror to Traveller, I would actually like to see that book written. In particular, and on a personal note, I'd love to see a book that aided in using MgT to create a setting something like Fading Suns (which I love as a setting but have always hated the VPS in all its incarnations). Campaign Guide is not that book, nor is it what I would want in an actual Traveller Campaign Guide either, and there is the rub. While there are some good ideas in the book, the presentation and editing are poor and the book fails to be either a good campaign guide or a good fantasy/horror setting guide. In short it fails to do anything well, and so it comes across as being very sub-standard in many regards despite having some redeeming aspects.
However, while it does contain some useful ideas, at $24 for the PDF at DriveThru, I don't consider it $24 worth of useful and so I wouldn't recommend buying it. I'll also second the points others have already made about the need to improve overall quality control / line development as well as better editing and proof reading in MgT products.
