Startown Liberty
{{short description|Science-fiction role-playing game supplement}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox RPG
|title=Startown Liberty
|publisher=Game Designers' Workshop
|date={{sda|1984}}
|image=Startown Liberty, role-playing supplement.jpg
|caption=Cover by William H. Keith
|system=Classic Traveller
|genre=Science-fiction
|designer=J. Andrew Keith
}}
Startown Liberty is a 1984 role-playing game supplement, written by J. Andrew Keith under the pen-name of John Marshal for Traveller published by Gamelords.
Contents
Publication history
Startown Liberty was written by John Marshal,{{Cite book |last=Appelcline|first=Shannon |title=Designers & Dragons |publisher=Mongoose Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-907702-58-7}}{{rp|56}} with art by William H. Keith Jr., and was published in 1984 by Gamelords as a digest-sized 48-page book.{{Cite book |last=Schick |first=Lawrence |title=Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1991 |isbn=0-87975-653-5 |pages=340 |author-link=Lawrence Schick}}
Reception
Stephen Nutt reviewed Startown Liberty for Imagine magazine, and stated that "Startown liberty is not a full scenario, it is a play-aid. As such it is really useful to a referee and it can be used over and over again."{{Cite magazine |last=Nutt |first=Stephen |date=July 1984 |title=Notices |magazine=Imagine |type=review |publisher=TSR Hobbies (UK), Ltd. |issue=16 |page=41}}
Tony Watson reviewed Startown Liberty for Different Worlds magazine and stated that "Given the ubiquitous presence of Startowns around starports, the fascination they hold for player-character, and their utility as a place to start or continue an adventure, Startown Liberty is a useful supplement indeed. As the designer suggests, the encounters listed in the book can be used as red herrings, a means to interject an important bit of information into the course of a scenario, or as the starting point of a new adventure. Just as important, Startown Liberty serves as a tool to provide a little 'local color' to a playing session, giving the players a true feel for a 'wretched hive of scum and villainy.'"{{cite journal | last = Watson |first = Tony | title = Game Reviews | journal = Different Worlds | issue = 37 | pages =34 |date=November-December 1984}}
Tony Watson reviewed Startown Liberty in The Space Gamer No. 72.{{Cite magazine |last=Watson |first=Tony |date=January–February 1985 |title=Featured Review: Traveller Supplements from Gamelords |magazine=The Space Gamer |publisher=Steve Jackson Games |issue=72 |pages=7–8}} Watson commented that "Startown Liberty is a fine way to provide a playing group with diversion, red herrings, or a necessary contact."