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From: owner-traveller-digest@mpgn.com (Traveller-digest)
To: traveller-digest@Phaser.ShowCase.MPGN.COM
Subject: Traveller-digest V1996 #732
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Sender: owner-traveller-digest@mpgn.com


Traveller-digest      Monday, December 9 1996      Volume 1996 : Number 732



(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.
All rights reserved.

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Return Addresses
Starports
Re: Alternative Vehicle Designs: A Proposal
Re: Starships: no map grids
Emperor's Arsenal...
Deckplans, scale problems and *huge* postings
Re: Shawn Grey
Re: Starports
Re: Representation
Re: The New Look of Traveller
Re: Grand Adventure posts
RE: Norris's elevation
RE: "Basic Traveller"
Game Friday?
GA5:  Daeus Jacks (long)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 20:49:04 -0500
From: Thad Coons <104765.503@compuserve.com>
Subject: Return Addresses

Bill Rutherford writes:

> I'm on the TML and not the digest.  the From line on all of my msg
> headers is traveller@mpgn.com.  The only way I can respond directly to
> TML members is when you include yr email address in yr msg.  Sometimes
> I want to do this to comment w/o jamming the TML.  This may just be me
> being ignorant - I use Eudora Pro and haven't yet found a way to reveal
> a secret return address beyond that which I noted above...

Tacked onto the front of every Internet mail message I get is a header
which apparently describes the route the message took to get to me. Buried
deep within this @*&$#, near the end, is a From: line which gives the name
and e-mail address of the original sender.






  

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 20:49:13 -0500
From: Thad Coons <104765.503@compuserve.com>
Subject: Starports

I haven't seen much detail on Starports, so I thought I'd try to flesh out
the minimal descriptions in the rules. 
These are proposed minimun standards only: comment is invited.
Each facility needs to meet at least the requirements of the next lower
class plus the new requirements. Typical facilities will often partially
qualify for a higher class.

Class E:
1) registered with ISS or equivalent agency as open to public.
2) landing pad, 1 hectare (10,000 square meters)
3) reserved for exclusive use of craft with spacegoing capability.
Traffic measured in ships per year 

Class D:
Ground facilities:
1) Starport Operations officer on duty at landings and launches
2) Surface to orbit communicator, minimum 30,000 km range
3) Facilities for receiving of mail, passengers.
4) Cargo and freight reception facilities for 1500 cubic meters of
cargo/freight,
5) basic life support recharge.
6) storage capacity of 1000 cubic meters- unrefined fuel 
7) Minor repair facilities with basic mechanical, machine, & electronic
tool sets (about 5000 Cr worth)
8) Improved surface landing pad, 4 hectares
Traffic measured in ships per month

Class C
1) Orbital Traffic Controller (Pilot-2, astrogation-2) on duty at all times
2) Radio and Maser communicators, multichannnel, 300,000 km range
3) Passenger terminal (50 person capacity) Steward 1, Medical officer
(Medic 2)
4) Cargo and freight facilities for 6,000 cubic meters of cargo/freight
5) Storage Capacity for 4,000 cubic meters fuel storage.
6) Major repair facilities, including metalwork and gravitics repair,
(Value about kCr 50)
7) Hazard control plan and equipment for landings and standard special
handling categories (flammaable, explosive, corrosive, radioactive)
8) 1 Shuttle (with crew)
traffic in ships per week

Class B
Ground facilities:
1) Orbital Traffic Control (Pilot 4 skill)
2) Passenger facilities, (250 person capacity), Steward 2, Medic 4
3) Cargo & freight facilities for 30,000 cubic meters storage, including
all special handling categories
4) Refined Cryogenic Hydrogen fuel: 10,000 Cubic meters storage capacity
5) Repair facilities, abt kCr 500 worth of equipment
6) Shuttle fleet, 4 shuttles and crews
Orbital Facility
1) System Traffic controller (Astrogation 4 skill)
2) communications: Radio, Laser, Maser, 1000 AU
3) 3 external docking ports for non-streamlined spacecraft
4) 3 internal docking hangars (pressurizable), 1500 tons each 
5) 6 shuttle docking ports
6) Hazard control plan
7) 1000 Cubic meters Refined Cryogenic Hydrogen storage
Traffic in ships per day

Class A
Ground Facilities
2) Orbital Traffic Control (One controller with Pilot-6 skill)
3) Passenger facilities: (1000 person) Steward 4, Medic 6 
4) Cargo and freight facilities, 150,000 Cubic meters, all categories
5) Refined Cryogenic Hydrogen, 50,000 Cubic Meters
6) Repair facilities, 5 MCr worth of equiment
7) Shuttle fleet, 20 shuttles and crew
Orbital Facility
1) System Traffic Controller (one controller needs Astrogation-6 skill)
2) 20 external docking ports
3) 20 internal docking hangars: pressurizable, 1500 tons each
4) 50 shuttle docking ports
5) 10 internal shuttle bays, with on-board shuttles
6) Other facilities equivalent to class B ground facilities
Traffic in ships per hour. 

Thad Coons
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sapience/
  

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 20:49:08 -0500
From: Thad Coons <104765.503@compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: Alternative Vehicle Designs: A Proposal

David Blustein says,

> I have no idea what's covered in FFS, but it would be nice to be
> able to create interesting vehicles like Sailing Ships and other low
> tech level stuff in addition to the usual high tech gadgets.  (For
> example, a wooden sailing ship with grav plates?)

FFS covers starships, aircraft, lift vehicles (grav and hovercraft), ground
cars; subsystems such as power generation, jump and maneuver drives,
electronics; and weaponry from small arms to meson guns.
It didn't have much below TL 4. Sorry, no watercraft: those were promised
in another book which never came out :-(

World Tamers's Guide fills in some gaps on for TL 2 and 3: Wagons, bow and
arrown, Black powder rifles and cannon. No catapults etc., and still no
watercraft.

Vampire Fleets has robot design.

Thad Coons
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sapience/

  

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 21:30:24 -0500
From: rellio@po-box.mcgill.ca (Roderick Darroch Elliott)
Subject: Re: Starships: no map grids

Eris Reddoch wrote:

[chainsaw noises]
>
>Now, who can tell me how to get Visio or CorelDraw to produce a hex pattern
>as a background, so I can lay it down and draw deckplans on a layer over
>it?  Doing this *should* be easy, but I haven't figured it out yet.


        Ok...  I know diddley-squat about either piece of PC software, but
based on my experience with BluePrint, a Mac CAD program, I would suggest
doing the following:

1) somehow get a perfect hexagon to the right scale.  This should not be
too difficult if your program is a half-decent one; at the very worst you
can scan some hexgrid, zoom in, and use any of several methods that spring
to mind to trace a hex, such as using a polygon tool and tracing the hex,
or, doing a single line of the right length, duplicating it eight times,
and assembling and grouping them.

        Personally, I would recommend the second method.  Anyhow, once
you've got a perfect hexagon to the right scale that would make a Greek
geometer wet his chiton in ecstasy,

2) duplicate it.  Take the second hexagon, zoom way in, align properly with
the first hexagon so that their bottom/top lines overlap perfectly, and
group them.  Duplicate the group.

3) Align the second pair with the first as per 2, supra.  Group.

4) Once you've got a nice single vertical line of properly aligned hexes,
group it, duplicate it, align it (here is where you find out whether you
aligned them all properly :>), group it, duplicate the new double-line,
align, group, duplicate, etc, etc, etc.

5) Once you've got hexes filling your sheet, group the whole bunch as a
single object, highlight it, and select a transparent fill.

6) Save and lock the document.

        Now, what you can do is a) use it as a guide when drawing your
deckplans, and b) once the deckplans are done, simply move it to the front
layer, where since it has a transparent fill, it will overlay nicely
without concealing your architectural masterpiece.

        Scaling it properly would be recommended; that way, if you're doing
small ships are large ships and you've got a drawing program worth its
salt, the grid will remain to the right scale.

------------------------------

Date: 09 Dec 96 13:54:50 +1100
From: Michael.Barry@FINANCE.ausgovfinance.telememo.au
Subject: Emperor's Arsenal...

     ...is this a football team or a lavatory? I guess that the Iridium 
     Throne *was* designed to meet all of the Emperor's 'needs'...I just 
     think that the noise and smell could be a bit offputting for foreign 
     dignitaries and high nobility. But hey, he *is* the Emperor...

------------------------------

Date: 09 Dec 96 14:16:28 +1100
From: Michael.Barry@FINANCE.ausgovfinance.telememo.au
Subject: Deckplans, scale problems and *huge* postings

     DECKPLANS AND SCALE
     I own a set of tech drawing rulers that have a number of different 
     scales on it: 1-10, 1-50, 1-100 and so forth. Perhaps one of these 
     might meet your needs if you care enough about scale that it matters. 
     
     It doesn't matter much to me. On a spacecraft (or in a building) you 
     will usually have two (maybe three) ranges: point blank and short 
     ranges, for which you don't really need scales; and two types of 
     movement: unopposed, in which case you only need an estimate for what 
     kind of walking speed they are doing, and opposed, in which case you 
     will only go a few metres before your head explodes into pink mist if 
     you don't take the bad guys out first. 
     
     I for one am happy enough just to see deckplans. A rough idea of scale 
     is fine - I'll leave fiddling around with plastic sheeting for those 
     guys that get a kick out of that sort of thing. 
     
     LONG POSTINGS
     My vote for long postings is that the sender should make sure that the 
     stuff is worth the bandwidth. I like the idea of adventure/character 
     profiles, but many I've seen recently have been of pretty poor 
     quality. Please spend a few minutes reading over messages before you 
     post - many of these long posts just need a couple of minutes of 
     intelligent editing to make them perfect. 
     
     STREPHON
     Why was Nero fiddling while Rome burned? Strephon was a dilettante, or 
     a "playboy" in Dulinor's terms. He was off checking on a pet project 
     and the Imperium died while he was absent. When the $h1t hit the fan, 
     Strephon ran away. 
     
     After he got some Dutch courage up, he announced that he was the real 
     emperor - but he was wrong. Strephon was never a 'real emperor'. He 
     was the degenerate descendant of the same hereditary monarchy that 
     allowed Lucan to become an heir to the Iridium Throne, despite the 
     doubts surrounding his ascension to the throne and even his sanity. 
     
     Strephon gave up, with the justification that Dulinor and Lucan would 
     stop attacking Gushemege with Strephon gone. And finally, true to 
     form, *Strephon ran away*. Nobody knew what happened to him, and 
     nobody cared. 

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 22:23:34 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: Shawn Grey

On  8 Dec 96 at 16:34, Hans Rancke-Madsen wrote:


> Nice work, Kenneth, but I have a couple of problems with the story: How will
> enlisting in one Imperial organization hide Shawn from another Imperial
> organization? Surely the Imperial Army isn't the French Foreign Legion?
> And surely the Navy will be able to find the March Harrier at the very
> least. If they can't just check the Army's files, that ship will point a
> direct finger at Shawn as long as he retains any title to it. And the Navy
> isn't just going to forget anything; piracy is something they take very
> seriously.

The idea is this:  The Navy is suspicious but not checking in to the 
case that closely.  The pirate attack excuse is holding, albeit 
thinly, but Shawn also bribed the Oberlindes agent, who vouched for 
him.

I wrote the story from Shawn's point of view.  As you can tell, he's 
got some problems.  His whole rational for killing the vargr in the 
first place is not sound.  Any healthy person would have just 
quit--not subject themselves to that unpleasant of a situation for 12 
years then kill an entire crew of vargr.  


I wanted to show how Shawn got that way--grew up on Porozlo in all 
the nationalism (almost a facist society), then had all of his dreams 
come crashing down when he realised all the bullshit he'd been buying 
all those years, then he was stuck in a dead end job for over a 
decade while his predjudice grew.

Let's face it.  Shawn Grey has a screw loose.  He's the type that 
would have been a good Nazi.  He's an ex-brainwashed dysfunctional 
kind of dude.  Since the story was from his point of view, I tried to 
heighten his feelings of being paranoid for his crime.

In reality, which was not the POV of the story, the Navy was somewhat 
suspicious of Grey's story, but lack of evidence and the Oberlindes 
investegator was on his side.

Shawn felt that it would be better to go away a while and let things 
cool down.  It's an outta-sight-outta-mind kind of thing.  In his 
mind, there was a good chance of getting caught, so he joined the 
Army.  Then he was screwed with mandatory reenlistment.

So, to answer your question, I agree that you cannot hide from one 
service in another service.  Shawn wanted to get out while he was 
ahead, then come back to the Harrier.  The ship is locked in the 
Aramis Trace because of it's meager jump-1 capability.  The Army 
advertisement seemed a logical, rational move (like the killings) in 
his state of mind.

Kenneth.

PS  Also keep in mind that these stories were written around the 
Traveller character generation process (which, BTW, I think is the 
best I've ever seen in any role playing game.  You discover 
the character through the process, and look what we did with Shawn.  
I guarantee that he would not have turned out like that if we had 
just used generation points to build a character.  The Traveller 
system inspires creativity).  So, we generated Shawn, then filled in 
the holes on the frame work decided by character generation.  Shawn 
was originally intended to be a Marine.  Instead, he was in the 
Porozlo Marines for 1 and a half years and did not make his survival 
throw.  This is how he was wounded the first time.  Then he was a 
merchant, in the free traders, for 12 years and never made a 
substancial profit on his speculative trade throws.  This was his 
time on the Harrier with the vargr.  And finally, he made a 
successful enlistment throw for the Imperial Army--the player wanting 
Shawn to try to get more combat skills, but it was a two edged sword. 
 He rolled 12 on the reenlistment throw.  Thus, the story of Shawn 
Grey had to fit around these facts determined in generation.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 22:23:35 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: Starports

On  8 Dec 96 at 20:49, Thad Coons wrote:

> I haven't seen much detail on Starports, so I thought I'd try to flesh out
> the minimal descriptions in the rules. 

More great thoughts that I've stolen for my game.  This is what the 
list is all about.

Kenneth.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 22:23:36 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: Representation

On  8 Dec 96 at 0:34, William F. Hostman wrote:

> His own
> recent post suggests it as better for a web page. 

No, I didn't say this.  I think the Grand Adventure has a place on a 
web site, but it is also relevant here.

Kenneth.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 22:23:35 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: The New Look of Traveller

On  8 Dec 96 at 8:42, sturm wrote:


> I'll reserve judgement until the Traveller equipment guide comes out. 
> But IG should do like GDW and more to the point, DGP did for their
> equipment, each piece of equipment should have its own page, with
> detailed descriptions of what it does and an illustration.

This is what I use in my game.  If I couldn't find a one-sheet in the 
DGP supplements for a specific piece of equipment, I designed my own. 
 You'll be seeing some of these in the Grand Adventure.

Kenneth.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 22:23:35 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: Grand Adventure posts

On  8 Dec 96 at 18:19, Rob Prior wrote:

> I like the idea of a grand adventure, but I'd _much_ rather see it on a web
> page.  These long posts are clogging my email and costing me money.

I'm very fortunate that many people have offered to house the Grand 
Adventure on their sites.  Heck, now I've got to choose one.

But, many still want to see the Grand Adventure on the TML too, and I 
think it's rightful place is here.  I'm going to continue with the GA 
here on the TML, but I will mark the posts clearly with "GA" and 
"Long" for people like yourself.

When I get the stuff on a site, I'll announce it here as well.

Thanks,

Kenneth.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 22:34:31 -0600
From: "K.C. Komosky" <kc@mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: RE: Norris's elevation

>	Also, since clairvoyance is a psionic power that is available, how
>do we know that the Zhodani don't have some clue about what is going to
>happen in the future?

Actually, we know that they do. Although they may have other ways of seeing 
the future, the Zhos have access to an Ancient artifact (the star map 
projector of the route to the core) which gives occasional glimpses of the 
future (see alien Book 4)

K.C. Komosky
kc@mb.sympatico.ca

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end

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 22:37:15 -0600
From: "K.C. Komosky" <kc@mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: RE: "Basic Traveller"

> Starter Traveller books were black and read and white; there were no
picture
>  covers for them. It seems to me there was a scenario/adventure in the pack

> as
>  well.

Well, in my copy of starter Traveller there were two adventures - Mission on Mithril, and Shadows.

K.C. Komosky
kc@mb.sympatico.ca






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end

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 20:54:53 -0800
From: "Douglas" <douglas@teleport.com>
Subject: Game Friday?

Hey all!

First I'd like to apologize to Chris...I didn't notice that I had not added
him to the list until Friday (Sorry Chris!).

As we all know, the game this past Friday was cancelled due to illness
(three of ya!).  Would there be any interest in rescheduling (one time
only) for this Friday?  It looks like the following Friday is already
booked, and I'd hate to let the game lapse for a month and a half.

Let me know!

E-MAIL: douglas@teleport.com
HTTP://www.teleport.com/~douglas

Never anger a dragon, for they find you are crunchy and go well with brie!

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 23:51:12 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: GA5:  Daeus Jacks (long)

The Grand Adventure Post 5:  Daeus Jacks

(Backstory to the Grand Adventure and detailed, fleshed out NPC with stats and game 
information.)



Grand Adventure Backstory Part III:  Defender of the Imperium 

by Kenneth D. Bearden



Daeus Jacks grew up poor.  Dirt poor.  His family operates a moisture
reclamation farm on the planet Yres in the Regina subsector.  The
planet has an atmosphere of acidic hydrogen chloride that can eat
through a vac suit in less than 12 hours.  60% of the planet is
covered in non-water fluid oceans of liquid hydrochloric acid.  Yres
is definitely not an easy place to live.  

The Yres system defines the Imperial frontier.  Once you leave the
system coreward or spinward, you are no longer in Imperial space and
are located in the no man's land between the Zhodani Consulate and the
Vargr Extents.  In 1082, the Zhodani Consulate invaded Imperial worlds
in the Jewel and Regina subsectors.  The war was short, inconclusive,
and characterized by the stalemated fighting waged primarily in these
two subsectors.  

Two years later, the last battle of the war was waged between the Yres
and Menorb systems.  The Battle of Two Suns was one of the most bloody
space battles in Imperial history.  Losses on both sides were heavy,
but the Imperium held the field.  The Zhodani supply lines were
stretched to their limit and absorbed heavy loses from Imperial naval
commando teams.  The Zhodani were unable to continue their advance. 
Had the battle gone the other way, the loss of Yres and Menorb would
have forced the evacuation of the Imperial stronghold at Efate and
meant the collapse of the entire coreward end of the Regina subsector.
 The area of space where the battle was fought is still littered with
debris to this day.  It is posted as a dangerous area and avoided by
interstellar transportation.  

Daeus was a 13 year old child on Yres when the Battle of Two Suns was
fought, and it left an indelible impression on him.  He remembers the
reports and visual transmissions and then the medical transports that
landed on Yres.  In particular, he remembers an interview with a
wounded Navy pilot fresh from the battle on his way to the facilities
planet side.  From that moment on, all Daeus talked about was being a
pilot in the Imperial Navy.  At first, his parents thought it was a
phase like what a lot of little boys go through, but, as he reached
college age, he was still talking about it.

He played around with the idea of going to college and being in the
NOTC program in order to get his commission when he graduated.  But,
the education he received growing up was not strong, and he knew that
it would be hard for him to place on the entrance exam.  He toyed with
the idea of attending the Imperial Naval Academy on Regina as well,
but he also knew that he didn't have the money or the social status to
even try.

His mind made up, 18 years old, he went down to his local recruitment
office and enlisted.  His dream was to be a pilot, but he learned that
job was usually reserved for college honors and naval academy
graduates.  He was trained as a zero G insertion specialist.  When a
target ship is rendered inoperable by a navy ship, an insertion team
is sent over to crack the hull so that the shock troops can be sent
in.  Sometimes this is a matter of cutting into the ships electronics
and opening the air lock via computer.  Sometimes this entails
torching into the hull with laser drills to open the lock
mechanically.  Sometimes it is only a matter of knocking and having
someone let you in.  And sometimes,  it is a matter of blowing the
hull with demolition charges.  Many times, the insertion team is also
the first boarders on the target ship.  Whatever the case, this is a
high risk, high danger job.

And Daeus loved it.  He was made for it.  It was his life's calling,
and he was thankful that he did not have to wait years to find it.

His first year out of boot camp, he was promoted.  The year following
that he was awarded one of the Navy's highest commendations, the Medal
For Conspicuous Gallantry.  

His ship was responding to a distress call.  Upon approaching the
ship, there was no answer to the hails.  Sensor sweeps revealed
nothing.  Daeus' insertion team was sent over to open the ship.  No
life signs were detected.  The boarding party was sent over waiting
for Daeus'  team to let them in.  It was decided that a mechanical
entry was needed, but as the tech began cutting on the hull, Daeus
stopped the insertion procedure.  He had discovered that the ship was
a terrorist trap rigged to blow the ships reactor.  If it blew, it
would take Daeus' team, the boarding team, and probably Daeus' own
ship with it.  

A beep in Daeus' helmet alerted him to the Captain's voice.  He was
ordering immediate evacuation from the vicinity of the target ship. 
Sensors had picked up the reactor reaching critical mass.  It was
probably activated by remote.  

There was not enough time to for both teams to return to the ship. 
The Captain was moving the ship away from the target ship and ordering
the teams to get as far away from the target as they could using their
thruster packs.  

Daeus knew that neither the ship and especially the insertion teams
would make it.  He and the demolition tech stayed on the hull in an
effort to stop the reactor breach.  Searching the skin of the ship, he
found the control line towards the engineering section of the ship and
deactivated it saving himself, his partner, his ship, the lives of the
other two insertion team members, and the 12 members of the boarding
party.

At the end of his first tour, the Navy crossed trained him in
engineering.  He was a master at his first specialty, and he was
trained to be more valuable in other areas.  His first four year stint
behind him, he promptly re enlisted.  

Assigned as an engineer on a battle cruiser, the ship was involved in
maneuvers on the Vargr/Zhodani border.  They were shadowing a vargr
corsair when the crazy canines fired a nuke that hit the ship hard in
the hull.  Men were being sucked out the hull breach like gnats out
the window of a ground car.  

Daeus' leg was broken in the explosion.  Maneuvering in the zero G,
Daeus moved to the emergency controls and installed the emergency
sealing.  As gravity returned, he slammed down hard on the deck
breaking his leg in a second place.  He almost passed out.  Dragging
himself to the reactor controls, he secured the unit from breach and
fell to the deck unconscious.  For the second time in three years,
Daeus was awarded the second highest medal in the Imperial Navy, the
MCG, along with a purple heart, a combat ribbon for the tour, and
another promotion.

After recuperating from the damage done to his leg, he was assigned
light duty at the Naval base on Aramis.  The year was 1094, and he was
24 years old.  He had experienced quite a bit for someone so young. 
He taught computer entry techniques to new recruits at the base, but
he wanted to get back to away/assault teams.  He was a seasoned
veteran with two MCG's to his credit, and the Navy gave him his choice
of assignments.  

He spent the next two years doing what he did best, operating in
insertion teams, before he re enlisted and continued for another year.
 In 1099, his Captain recommended him for OCS.  He applied, made it,
and earned his commission at 29 years of age.  His parents were proud.

New rank, new position, he was stationed back on Aramis to learn the
finer points of being an officer--administrative work.  He took some
leave and celebrated the beginning of a new century back on Yres with
his parents.  

His third term was up.  He had been in the Navy 12 years and had
received another promotion straight out of OCS.  His mother asked him
what he was going to do now.  "Easy mom," he said, "reenlist.  They're
going to give me a ship"

1101.  His first command was a patrol cruiser like the one he had
spent all of those years on.  Piracy in his sector fell by 12%.  He
earned his third promotion in three years running.

During a particularly nasty engagement with some pirates, his ship was
badly damaged and put into dry dock for 10 mos.  During that time, he
was back on his home base at Aramis training zero G assault teams.  

A few months later, his ship out of dry dock, he found the pirate base
and led a multi-force strike against them.  He had used his off time
planet side wisely keeping his ear to the intelligence wing of the
base.  He made some calculations and some assumptions and went out
looking for those responsible for damaging his ship.  

He found them in between Vargr and Imperial space.  The battle was the
worst that he had ever been in.  Several ships in the Imperial
squadron had been damaged including Daeus'.  He ordered half the
force, all of the ships too damaged to continue the fight, to follow
him out of the conflict in an effort to save what he could.  The
remaining Imperial ships were ordered to fight a holding action to
protect the retreating ships.  

The vargr corsairs thought that they had won.  It was almost two to
one against the remaining Imperial ships.  The vargr were more
numerous than the Imperials had anticipated, and they were taking
advantage of it.  The Imperial ships fighting the holding action were
taking a beating, and the line was about to fall.  Once that was done,
the vargr would have easy pickings with the retreating damaged ships. 


Then they noticed more targets off their flank.  It was the damaged
Imperial ships.  They hadn't retreated after all.  They had swung
around the moon, which blocked sensors, and trapped the vargr in a
pincer movement.  It was a classic, textbook maneuver, and they should
of seen it coming.  

But they didn't.  Daeus had executed it perfectly.  

Although giving the battle another front was a huge blow to the vargr,
it only made the odds about even for the Imperials.  The battle was
fought hard with only a few of the ships that went into the battle
able to leave the area under their own power.  But in the end, Daeus'
force prevailed, and everyone knew that it was his maneuver that had
won it.  

He didn't receive the Navy's second highest honor again, but only the
third highest--the medal for Meritorious Conduct Under Fire.  He was
becoming one of the most decorated service men in the Navy.  

Another year went by, and his tour ended.  He was 34 years old and had
spent half of his life in the Navy.  He had begun to think that he had
done what he set out to do.  He began to think about his parents back
on Yres.  They weren't getting richer, but they were a lot older.  He
sent them what money he could, but that was never enough on a Naval
salary.  And what if he was killed?  Would the state take care of his
parents then?  And anyway, he wasn't getting any younger himself. 
Scrambling around on the hull of a starship with people wanting to
shoot at you on the other side was a game for the young.  His age was
starting to show.  He felt a lot older than he was.  He had seen and
lived a lot.  And yet, he could just as easily spend the rest of his
days in the service and retire with a full pension.  

About this time he was sitting in a bar on Aramis.  His ship was in
for maintenance, and he was collecting his thoughts and sipping on a
glass of that famous Zilan wine.  A man sat down across from him.  He
introduced himself and proceeded to tell Daeus about a merchant vessel
that was looking for a crew.  They needed a pilot, and Daeus'
particular background seemed to fit in perfectly with their operation.

How Glynn Connal had found him, or even found out that he was contemplating
leaving the Navy, Daeus didn't know, but what the man was saying made
sense.

"Mr.," he said, "you've got yourself a pilot."



Game Information:
All of the planets named are in the Spinward Marches.  Aramis is hex 
3110.  Yres is hex 1802.  Menorb is in hex 1803.  The info on the 
Battle of the Two Suns, the debris field (which I think is an 
excellent place for an adventure), and the Fourth Frontier War is 
consistent with listings in official Traveller products.

Daeus Jacks

STR 8
DEX 8
END A
INT 9
EDU F
SOC 3

Original Player:  Andrew Farley
Race:  Human (solomani)
Gender:  Male
TAS?  No

Age 35
DOB 034-1070
HT 6'11"
WT 176 lbs

Homeworld:  Yres	UPP BAC6773-7
Homeworld location:  hex 1802 of the Regina subsector of the Spinward 
		Marches

Native Language:  Riftian Anglic

Current Career: Free Trader
Former Career:  Imperial Navy
Branch:  Line officer/boarding specialist
Final Rank:  Lieutenant (Navy rank 03)
Name of discharge world:  Aramis
Location of discharge world:  Aramis/Spinward Marches
Stationed at Aramis Imperial Naval Base


Assignment Summary:
1 yr. commanding strike unit
1 yr. commanding training program (starship insertion)
2 yrs. command of Imperial Navy patrol craft.

Special Training:
.5 yr. Imperial Naval basic training
.5 yr. Starship boarding training
1.5 yrs. Computer training (various courses)
1 yr. Engineer School
1 yr. OCS

Awards and Decorations:
2 Medals for Conspicous Gallantry
1 medal for Meritorious Conduct Under Fire
1 Purple Heart
1 Battle Combat Ribbon
2 Strike Combat Ribbons
1 Strike Combat Command Ribbons
Various other medals for weapon qualification, insertion experience, 
etc.

Primary Position	Salary
Pilot		Cr8400 per mo.

Secondary Positions	Salary
2nd Officer		Cr100 per mo.
Ship's Boat Pilot	Cr400 per mo.
Ship's Mechanic	Cr100 per mo.
EVAC Specialist	Cr400 per mo.

Total Salary		Cr9400 per mo.
Ship Shares		16

Skills:
Pilot-4			Mechanics-1
High G Environment-1		Zero-G Environment-1
Grav Vehicle-1		Tactics-2
Handguns-1			Brawling-1
Artisian-1			Robotics-1
Computer-2			Vac Suit-3
Rifleman-2			Engineering-1

Special Equipment:
When Daeus left the Navy, he took with him Lil' Nell--his 18mm 
automatic assault shotgun he used for starship boardings.  Look for 
stats on this weapon in the next Grand Adventure post.

Long Live Traveller!

Kenneth.

------------------------------

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #732
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