Hello.  I lurk here, been a member since January 1995, and I have some info.

BITS

I used to be a member of BITS.  Possibly I still am but since I left the UK several years ago I am no longer fully in the loop.  But …

BITS was originally set up to promote Traveller by running demo games at conventions (in the UK).  The publishing side was always secondary.  The organisation was run as a love affair by Andy Lily and his unpaid helpers, as it never recouped the original investment.  Keeping the BITS website up to date was always an issue and doesn’t reflect the true state of the group.

BITS launched when T4 was the current version and, although they tried to be system agnostic, their focus was mainly T4 and GT.  When MgT launched, they decided to embrace that system fully.

They still attend UK gaming conventions, the last being UK Games Expo a few days ago.

Universe

Traveller Universe (v1) was written by me a long time ago.  I sold it under license via BITS … which meant BITS handled the money side (sending a percentage to Marc) while I hand made and shipped each copy.  This included burning the CD, printing the CD, printing the case cover, cutting the case cover to fit the case, and taking the assembled package down to the post office.  It also meant providing email support.  Sometimes I would make a batch for BITS to put on their trade stall.  It soon became a chore.

BITS did flirt with the idea of electronic distribution (through Digital River) but that never progressed beyond a brief trial.  (Why, I don’t know.)

Universe (v2) is, as Evyn says, in coding limbo.  I have made a number of proof-of-concept projects to try out some of the features I wanted to include.  But while work continues, I have nothing even remotely finished yet.  And once finished, I don’t know if BITS can still distribute it given their close ties to Mongoose, and Mongoose’s various policies.  I suspect if they did it would have to support MgT only.  There is also the issue of having to rework some of the algorithms embedded in DGP’s IPs.

Right now I’m splitting my time between keeping down a day job, working on several creative projects (including Universe), running a local game group, playing in another game group (and I have an invite to join a third), spending time with my aging parents, and I’m getting to that age when health issues start to encroach on my time.  Yes, I’ve spread myself too thin.  My bad.  Bottom line, Universe v2 is coming, just don’t expect it anytime soon.

Regards Hemdian