It was a lot of fun putting SITS together, building off the game engine of Attack Vector: Tactical. We had a 3-D space combat engine, David had seen it, and David said very nice things about it.
The forward to the setting book, by David, is cut and pasted below:
=====
When Ken Burnside originally approached me with the idea of a tabletop tactical combat game set in the “Honorverse,” I was . . . intrigued. I’d heard of Ad Astra Games (mostly good things), and I’d seen a pre-released edition of Attack Vector, then going under the handle of “Delta V,” which I’d liked quite a bit. Ken also came well recommended by people who knew him and his work, and I’d been thinking about a product of the same nature for some time. In fact, I’d considered putting one together myself. I hadn’t, and the reason for it, as far as I knew then, was because I simply didn’t have time to do it. It’s always a nervous experience to hand the keys to the universe of your literary brainchild over to someone else, whether it’s to be turned into a gaming product, or with the hopes of seeing your characters on a movie or a TV screen. There’s always that suspicion in the back of your mind that no one else can possibly get it “right.” That this child of your mind and heart will come out looking flawed when seen through someone else’s vision. As it turned out in this case, I needn’t have worried. In fact, I discovered that there was, indeed, another reason besides lack of time for not doing the game myself; Ken and his crew did it much better than I could have. I don’t have the time for gaming myself that I once had. Three children (all under the age of four) and a hectic writing schedule will do that to you. If I did have the amount of time I used to invest in gaming, this is where I’d spend a bunch of it. Not only did Ken and Thomas and the rest of his merry band do justice to what I had written, in working with them and providing them access to my technical bible for the series, I ended up working through details which hadn’t been resolved in the books. We’ve answered several questions I haven’t yet had to ask for my readers in the novels, and we’ve regularized quite a few continuity errors, worked out some additional problems, and generally had a heck of a good time. In a lot of ways, Ken and Ad Astra have stepped into the role of BuWeaps and BuShips, and it’s been a great help. I wouldn’t want to use any terms like OCD, but I certainly have to say that the lot of them have . . . paid meticulous attention, let us say, to the books. They found citations I didn’t even remember writing when they started parsing the novels looking for details to incorporate into the game. Not only did they find minor continuity glitches, but they presented me with spreadsheets and options for how to fix them. I’m not sure it’s possible to do an exact one-for-one conversion of every feature of the books into a playable game. I’m pretty sure it isn’t, actually - but I’m amazed at how much they did manage to fit in there, and am extremely pleased with how they handled the inevitable mechanics-based decisions which had to be made. If you’re a tabletop/miniatures gamer, I think that the mechanics and the adaptation of the Honorverse technology in this product will delight you. If you are not a gamer, or if you are an occasional gamer, I think you’ll find the insight into the background of the Honorverse this product provides will be informative and, I think, entertaining. David Weber July 2005
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From: (Anonymous)
SITS....
The forward to the setting book, by David, is cut and pasted below:
=====
When Ken Burnside originally approached me with the idea of a tabletop tactical combat game set in the “Honorverse,” I was . . . intrigued. I’d heard of Ad Astra Games (mostly good things), and I’d seen a pre-released edition of Attack Vector, then going under the handle of “Delta V,” which I’d liked quite a bit. Ken also came well recommended by people who knew him and his work, and I’d been thinking about a product of the same nature for some time. In fact, I’d considered putting one together myself. I hadn’t, and the reason for it, as far as I knew then, was because I simply didn’t have time to do it.
It’s always a nervous experience to hand the keys to the universe of your literary brainchild over to someone else, whether it’s to be turned into a gaming product, or with the hopes of seeing your characters on a movie or a TV screen. There’s always that suspicion in the back of your mind that no one else can possibly get it “right.” That this child of your mind and heart will come out looking flawed when seen through someone else’s vision.
As it turned out in this case, I needn’t have worried. In fact, I discovered that there was, indeed, another reason besides lack of time for not doing the game myself; Ken and his crew did it much better than I could have.
I don’t have the time for gaming myself that I once had. Three children (all under the age of four) and a hectic writing schedule will do that to you. If I did have the amount of time I used to invest in gaming, this is where I’d spend a bunch of it.
Not only did Ken and Thomas and the rest of his merry band do justice to what I had written, in working with them and providing them access to my technical bible for the series, I ended up working through details which hadn’t been resolved in the books. We’ve answered several questions I haven’t yet had to ask for my readers in the novels, and we’ve regularized quite a few continuity errors, worked out some additional problems, and generally had a heck of a good time. In a lot of ways, Ken and Ad Astra have stepped into the role of BuWeaps and BuShips, and it’s been a great help.
I wouldn’t want to use any terms like OCD, but I certainly have to say that the lot of them have . . . paid meticulous attention, let us say, to the books. They found citations I didn’t even remember writing when they started parsing the novels looking for details to incorporate into the game. Not only did they find minor continuity glitches, but they presented me with spreadsheets and options for how to fix them. I’m not sure it’s possible to do an exact one-for-one conversion of every feature of the books into a playable game. I’m pretty sure it isn’t, actually - but I’m amazed at how much they did manage to fit in there, and am extremely pleased with how they handled the inevitable mechanics-based decisions which had to be made.
If you’re a tabletop/miniatures gamer, I think that the mechanics and the adaptation of the Honorverse technology in this product will delight you. If you are not a gamer, or if you are an occasional gamer, I think you’ll find the insight into the background of the Honorverse this product provides will be informative and, I think, entertaining.
David Weber
July 2005