When it comes to running Traveller games, I'm reasonably OK. I can more or less handle the rules and can ad lib where necessary. For some time I have been wanting to run role-playing games (RPGs) a little differently. Maybe a splash of character development. Or a different kind of plot. For the plot angle, I've read the Writer's Digest Books printing of Ronald B. Tobias' “20 Master Plots” and its very good. It seems to me that character and plot are linked. So before I can improve my Traveller games, we'll have to flesh out the Player Characters a bit more. I have read “45 master characters” and it's scary in parts.

Programming. I've got a direction set – master GNU make and gdb, understand the C++11 library and then study the source code in GoF's Design Patterns book. To support this studying, I bought two books – 1) The C++ Standard Library 2^nd Edition and 2) C++ Concurrency in Action. With the GNU Compiler Collection (including make, gdb, gcc) I think I've finally found a replacement for Watcom C/C++ - and its free!

PC has lent me a copy of the Good News Study Bible. It looks promising.