Traveller-digest      Tuesday, August 24 1999      Volume 1999 : Number 1004



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: 101 Starships
re: Hard Times
Re: Baby
Re: Will the real Strephon please stand up! (Re: Cloning)
Re: 101 Starships
Re: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)
Mayday
Re: Hard Times
Re: Grav Deckplates
Strephon and Iris
re: Kenneth's Questions
Re: Will the real Strephon please stand up! (Re: Cloning)
Experience!!
FW: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)
FW: Hard Times
FW: Will the real Strephon please stand up! (Re: Cloning)
Re: Strephon and Iris 
Re: Hard Times

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

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 21:20:39 -0700
From: "Tom" <tbergman@brawleyonline.com>
Subject: Re: 101 Starships

>
> The 4th edition of 101 Starships* is currently up to 194 ships. For
> sentimental reasons, I want to hit 202 ships before releasing it. Any
> requests?
>

I haven't seen a truly LONG range scout yet.  Jump-6 with a long endurance.
The ones in CT are Jump-4.  The Book 2 rules allow for a Jump-6 100dT scout,
but none of the later rules make it possible.  Perhaps one with a new
silhouette?

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

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 21:23:11 -0700
From: Keith Johnson <kejohnson@2xtreme.net>
Subject: re: Hard Times

>Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 01:58:46 +0100
>From: Mark Watson <markw@antares.demon.co.uk>
>Subject: re: Hard Times
>
>On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, SD Mooney wrote:
>>Keith Johnson <kejohnson@2xtreme.net> writes:
>>
>>>Speaking of Hard Times... eight or nine years after it was released, I
>>>finally picked it up.
>>
>>HT is the best ever Traveller supplement and background, IMO. I think that
>>it has more of a feeling of hope, of turning back the tide, than TNE did.
>
>HT is a far more interesting milieu (for me, he says hastily) than TNE.
There's
>no feeling of material withheld, or being railroaded down a specific
plotline.

After reading Hard Times years after it came out, I had the exact same
reaction.  I wish I got this book years ago.

The Short Dusk of Hard Times is a far more interesting setting than what is
presented by the Reformation Coalition/Regency setting, IMHO.  HT took a
shooting war game (which doesn't really appeal to me except in a "metagame"
concept) and made it something I could use with my players in many
different directions.  I never really disliked TNE, but after seeing Hard
Times vaporized by the Virus I am starting to get irked.  Hmmm... I think
this is how TNE haters are born. :)

"I think I feel the fear!"
 - Dr. Gonzo (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)


>It's too early to really evaluate GT against these as yet, I think.

I guess I am biased in that one. ;)


_____________________________________________________________
Rev. Keith Johnson      /\     keith@sjgames.com
Assistant Webmaster    /()\    kejohnson@2xtreme.net
Steve Jackson Games   /____\   reverendkeith@hotmail.com
             http://www.sjgames.com/
  IMTU tm+ t4+@ tg++$ ru- ge-@ st+ pi+ he+ dr+ hi-@ zh+
"I don't practice what I preach, because I'm not the kind
of person I'm preaching to." - J.R. "Bob" Dobbs in Newsweek
_____________________________________________________________ 

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

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 21:25:56 -0700
From: "Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella" <xrp@sierratel.com>
Subject: Re: Baby

> Well, since  her mother refuses to play T4 or TNE, and I won't run GT, that
> leaves my modified MT...
>
And what about CT? ;)

> But I do plan on making a stuffed Type S for her... And she's on my lap as
> I type this...

Stuffed? I assume you mean a scout ship, but stuffed with what? Tribbles?

Oh, I see. You mean a FUZZY Type S scout ship, huh?
BZA

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

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 99 23:34:08 -0500
From: "Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>
Subject: Re: Will the real Strephon please stand up! (Re: Cloning)

On 08/23/99 at 02:31 PM,  Keith Johnson <kejohnson@2xtreme.net> said:

>However, I just picked up Hard Times and read that Strephon refused
>to be tested by IRIS to confirm if he really was the Emperor.  After
>he refused, IRIS publicly stated that "Strephon" wasn't a contender
>and backed Margaret as the highest ranking noble eligible for the
>Iridium Throne.  Despite the fact that IRIS holds no significant
>power during the Rebellion, it has to be PR that is extremely
>damaging to Strephon's cause.

>If he was the real Strephon, why the heck didn't he go along with the
>test? Was this written up anywhere else?

It was left open for "interpretation." <g>

One possible interpretation is that the surviving Strephon was not the original
one, but that's not the only reason he might have refused IRIS' test.  

In HT, I believe, Strephon writes that he's never heard of IRIS...and where
else is IRIS ever written about? So, maybe IRIS was a fiction invented by
Margaret's supporters for the sole purpose of eliminating all other
contenders. If so, Strephon would have been foolish to walk into the trap that
the test presented.

I always saw it as a "Are you still a drunk?" sort of thing. If you say "No"
then it's "Ah ha! He admits he used to be a drunk.", if you say "Yes", it's
"He admits he's still a drunk", and if you won't answer, it's "He doesn't deny
that he is a drunk." 

Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
"Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 00:55:04 -0400
From: Juliean Galak <jg42@cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: 101 Starships

At 11:06 PM 8/23/99 -0400, you wrote:
>The 4th edition of 101 Starships* is currently up to 194 ships. For
>sentimental reasons, I want to hit 202 ships before releasing it. Any
>requests?
>
>
>*101 Starships is a _free_ supplement from BITS. Go to www.bits.org.uk and
>check out this and other neat Traveller products.

More ships along the lines of the one that looks like a Square rigged Man 
O' War...  (can't recall the name right now...)

Dunno how much of this you have already (I've only looked at 101 
briefly...) But I'd love to see more versions of existing ships, competing 
designs so to speak.  Surely the Empress Marava isn't the only Far Trader 
out there... (note that this applies to civilian ships much more than to 
standardized naval vessels)...

           -- Juliean Galak (a.k.a. Falcon)

- --
jg42@cornell.edu        "I do not agree with a word you say, but I will
                          defend to the death your right to say it."
                                              -- Francois Marie Voltaire
#include <disclaimer.h> "Imagination is more important than knowledge"
                          			     -- Albert Einstein
for PGP public-key and
more quotes, finger: jg42@gerfalcon.tzo.com
WWW Page: http://www.cadif.cornell.edu/~falcon/                

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 01:43:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: "William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net>
Subject: Re: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)

>Subject: Re: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)
>
>Edward Swatschek writes:
>
>> This depends on the game system being used.  In TNE/FF&S, contragravity
>> simply reduced the gravitational vector over a specific volume by 99%.  In
>> an atmosphere, this might make the ship neutrally or positively buoyant,
>> but no thrust is involved - that would be provided by HEPlaR or some other
>> engine.
>
>Um...wrong ;)  It provided 10-20% of gravitational force sideways in
>TNE/FF&S.
>In Striker it could provide any amount of sideways force.  I don't know about
>T4 or MT.

MT uses same basic features as striker. Same results for CG thrust.

William F. Hostman  |  "Smith & Wesson: THe original Point and Click
interface!"
Aramis 0602 C55A364-C S kk+ as+ hi+ dr+ va++(--) so+ zh++ vi+ da++ sy- ge-
533
Mailto:aramis@gci.net http://home.gci.net/~aramis http://www.alaska.net/~mhaa
ICQ:14640742          AIM:AKAramis	ARM 1.0: 3 R H++ P+
IMTU 1.0: tc tm++ tn- t4-- tt+ to- tg-- ru+ ge 3i+ c+ jt-() au+ st- ls
pi+() ta+ he+(-) kk+ as+ hi+ dr+ va++(--) so+ zh++ vi+ da++ sy- ge- pi+

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

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 22:55:57 -0700
From: shudson@lightspeed.bc.ca (Steven Hudson)
Subject: Mayday

>From: Chris Olson <chris@pdaguy.com>
>Subject: A plea for help ...
...
>    3)  Either sell me a copy or tell me where I can find one (I tried
>Crazy Igor's, but no dice) ...

  AFAIK, Mr. Miller still sells them mail-order at very reasonable 
retail prices - nicely bagged letter-sized format, unpunched counters, 
big map sheets, etc.

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

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 23:20:31 -0700
From: shudson@lightspeed.bc.ca (Steven Hudson)
Subject: Re: Hard Times

>From: Keith Johnson <kejohnson@2xtreme.net>
...
>Speaking of Hard Times... eight or nine years after it was released, I
>finally picked it up.

  Interesting coincidence - I recently sold my spare :)  Now if only I 
would put aside the time to read my copy...

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

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 23:20:52 -0700
From: shudson@lightspeed.bc.ca (Steven Hudson)
Subject: Re: Grav Deckplates

>From: John Buston <John.Buston@tesco.net>
>Subject: Re: Grav Deckplates
>
>>And there might be "ornamental" partial bulkheads extending out into
>>the "pit" corridors. Which become ledges, just big enough to walk on
>>when g-comp is out. Doors tend to be placed so that you have either no
>>drop or a very short drop to such a ledge.

  I just read an otherwise somewhat disappointing C.J. Cherryh novel,
"Rimrunners", in which the heroine spends no small amount of time at
various points trying to avoid being squished flat while aboard ships
prone to pulling heavy G's at short notice - in a universe that doesn't
tolerate G-compensators :)

  The character recalls the internal structure of one of the big Earth
Company battle-rider carriers, and how even with all sorts of side bays 
and safety clip points they once ended up incurring hundreds of dead when
they had to pull max G's at only a few seconds notice - probably suddenly 
enough even for many well-drilled individuals.

        Steven Hudson

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 08:37:01 +0100
From: "MJ Dougherty" <martinjd@globalnet.co.uk>
Subject: Strephon and Iris

Strephon refused to be tested by IRIS (whether they were legit or not didn't
matter; the people believed them, so they *were* legitiimised) becuause as
that would "prove" he wasn't the real Strephon. This put him out of the
throne-grabbing game and meant that the others stopped killing his people.

Strephon wanted to end the Civil War, but all he could do was save his
immeditate followers from it by bowing out.

He had to give up his identity, his pride and his claim to the throne (HIS
throne). And any chance to put it all back together again. For the sake of
the people who still followed him, he did all this.

Strephon made mistakes, but in his soul he was a great man.

(Survival Margin contains fragments of Strephon's personal journals)

MJD

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 03:46:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: "William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net>
Subject: re: Kenneth's Questions

>1)  Inertia.
>
>There are no inertial dampers outside the bad guy ship.  What will
>happen to the PC as he holds onto the bar?  Can he withstand the force
>of the ship moving and ride on the outside of the thing?  Or will the
>ship leave him floating in its wake?
>

Holding on: simple... if he can hold on when somebody suddenly tripples his
weight (Sorta like suddenly removing the counterbalance on a weight around
his midrif) while rotating him to a new "Down" direction, maybe. I'd say
rather slim odds, tho... and probably some broken bones.

>
>2)  Radiation.
>
>If the PC is left floating (or if he lets go and does not travel with
>the ship), what happens when a person in a vacc suit veers too close to
>the wrong end of a T-plate?  Those things glow blue with the ionization
>(I use the DGP style of T-plates in my campaign).  Will that radiation
>fry anyone who comes to close to it?

It's a definite maybe... what levels of shielding does the victim have? How
much exposure? What is being ionized? (Ionized U or Cb vs Hg... etc)

>If so, how close does one have to get to the T-plates in order to take
>damage?
>
>What kind of damage (how many D) would you put on a PC in that kind of
>raditiation?
>
IMTU, Contact is a bad idea... (I use MT) so the MT damage is roughly 1 per
second... or roughly 1d per second... I have it rapidly fade... at 1m,
damage is per minute... /imtu

>Two questions--
>
>1)  I read somewhere that 0-2 Gs is the standard range for variable
>gravity on a starship.  Thoughts on this?  Should the range be
>different?
>
Check the Inertial Compensation limits in FF&S1... that will give you the
limits on what can be
>
>2)  What kind of throw should I impose on the PCs as they try to work in
>the increased gravity field?  Some type of STR check each round?
>
Definitely. Plus a dex check.

William F. Hostman  |  "Smith & Wesson: THe original Point and Click
interface!"
Aramis 0602 C55A364-C S kk+ as+ hi+ dr+ va++(--) so+ zh++ vi+ da++ sy- ge-
533
Mailto:aramis@gci.net http://home.gci.net/~aramis http://www.alaska.net/~mhaa
ICQ:14640742          AIM:AKAramis	ARM 1.0: 3 R H++ P+
IMTU 1.0: tc tm++ tn- t4-- tt+ to- tg-- ru+ ge 3i+ c+ jt-() au+ st- ls
pi+() ta+ he+(-) kk+ as+ hi+ dr+ va++(--) so+ zh++ vi+ da++ sy- ge- pi+

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 10:22:11 +0100
From: Mark Watson <markw@antares.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Will the real Strephon please stand up! (Re: Cloning)

On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Eris Reddoch wrote:
>
>One possible interpretation is that the surviving Strephon was not the
> original one, but that's not the only reason he might have refused IRIS' 
> test. 
> In HT, I believe, Strephon writes that he's never heard of
> IRIS...and where else is IRIS ever written about? So, maybe IRIS was a
> fiction invented by Margaret's supporters for the sole purpose of
> eliminating all other contenders. If so, Strephon would have been foolish to
> walk into the trap that the test presented. 
> I always saw it as a "Are you still a drunk?" sort of thing. If you say "No"
> then it's "Ah ha! He admits he  used to be a drunk.", if you say "Yes", it's
> "He admits he's still a drunk", and if you won't answer, it's "He doesn't deny
> that he is a drunk."  

I took the reference in Survival Margin as a (petty) jab by Nielsen at the canon
that Charles Gannon was building up in HT and elsewhere. IRIS was Gannon's
invention.

Whatever, if you look at the TNS reports in Challenge and Survival Margin it
becomes clear that IRIS is converging with Margaret & Tukera. Naively so, since
the Vermene are stronger and less scrupulous and likely to wipe IRIS out.
It's possible Strephon assumed that any screening he underwent would lay
himself open to a suicide attacker.

IRIS seems to raise strong feelings pro and con. But if you look at, say, the
Soviet Union after Stalin's death you get all these minor agencies coming out
of the woodwork, with overlapping and competing missions, and my take is that
IRIS plays really well as part of the war of succession ambience.

As for Strephon, at the time the various revelations were coming out about what
TNE was going to be, I was working my players through a plot which was to
conclude in the discovery of a deactivated "other Strephon" being discovered in
a captured Hiver ship heading back towards Hiver space. Sigh. Unfortunately TNE
pretty much killed our campaign.

I'd personally like to see TNE declared a second variant timeline and the
primary timeline restart at the end of HT, without Virus. But I guess there are
so many possibilities in earlier milieu that the issue is anyway (no pun
intended) moot.

Mark
- -- 
Mark Watson,
markw@antares.demon.co.uk

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 04:43:50 -0500
From: Kenneth Bearden -- Walker Jane Productions <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Experience!!

OK.  I think I've got this Experience thing licked.  Here's the system
I've come up with.

(Again, I'm using CT rules with a few modifications from MT and T4.  I
expect you could use this experience system with any of those
systems--maybe even GT or TNE too).



KEN'S ALMOST-A-DONE-DEAL-WORK-IN-PROGRESS EXPERIENCE SYSTEM FOR
TRAVELLER



1:  EXPERIENCE AWARDS

At the end of each gaming session, the ref looks at what the PCs did and
awards experience points.  Points are awarded to those skills (used in
the game) which had an impact on the night's game session.  Ref's
discretion on this, but the player is welcome to point out where he
thinks his character excelled.

Normal award is 1 point per skill.  On rare occasions, the GM may award
2 or 3 points to a particular skill.  The skill being awarded need not
be one that the PC already has.  If the PC threw (taking the appropriate
negatives) on a skill he doesn't have, he can try to gain the skill by
experience (in this case, write the skill on the character's sheet in
parentheses).

Points can also be awarded for good role playing or great ideas during
the session.  In this case, the player is allowed to apply these points
to whatever skill he wishes, even if it wasn't used during the session
(rewarding players for good play and allowing them to direct the
improvement of their characters).

Experience points are notated next to the appropriate skills.



2:  PREREQUISITE POINTS

At the beginning of each session, players are allowed to attempt to
improve their characters.  Skills that have earned enough experience
points can be thrown on for improvement.

In order to throw for improvement on a skill, the skill must have earned
experience points equal to the next skill level.

Ex:  Going from Pistol-0 to Pistol-1?  You need 1 XP.

Ex:  Going from Pilot-4 to Pilot-5?  You need 5 XP.



3:  THROW FOR IMPROVEMENT

You throw a number of dice equal to the new level.  You can attempt a
throw on a skill only once per game session, but you can throw on as
many eligible skills as you like.

Ex:  Trying to go from Pistol-0 to Pistol-1?  You will throw 1D.

Ex:  Trying to go from Pilot-4 to Pilot-5?  You will throw 5D.



4:  SUCCESS ON THE THROW

When a throw is successful, the skill is improved to the new level.
Success occurs when all 6s are thrown.

Ex:  Pistol-0 to Pistol-1?  You must throw a 6 on 1D  (about a 17%
chance).

Ex:  Pilot-4 to Pilot-5?  You must throw five 6s on 5D  (about a .01%
chance).



5:  BONUSES

If INT is 5-9, you get a +1DM on the throw.

If INT is 10-14, you get a +2DM on the throw.

If INT is 15, you get a +3DM on the throw.

Ex:  On the Pistol throw above, you could succeed on a 5 or 6 if you had
INT 7.

Ex:  On the Pilot throw above, you could succeed on a total of 28 if you
had INT 13.


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


You can also get a bonus by having additional experience points.  Double
the amount of points required nets you a +1DM on the throw.  Triple the
amount of points required gets you a +2DM on the throw, and so on.



6:  COST OF TRYING

Every time you attempt to increase your skill and fail, it costs you 1
XP from that skill, but you keep the rest of the points (so you can try
again at the beginning of next session--provided you have enough XP to
try).

If you improve a level, all experience under that skill are spent.  You
start anew with the new skill level sans any XP.



7:  EXPERIENCE LIMIT

I use a modification of the MT rule that says a PC's total skill levels
cannot exceed the sum of his INT and EDU.

If total skill levels do not exceed that sum, prerequisite points remain
as stated above.

If total skill levels exceed the sum but are not more than twice the
PC's INT + EDU, prerequisite points are doubled (so are the bonus points
mentioned above).


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


Ex:  PC has INT 7 and EDU 7, but he has 15 levels in skills currently.
He can still improve, but he improves at a slower rate.  To improve his
Pistol-0 to Pistol-1, it will take 2 XP instead of 1.  To improve his
Pilot-4 to Pilot-5, it will take 10 XP instead of 5.

Ex:  Remember the amount of bonuses are doubled too.  To get a +1DM on
his Pistol throw, he will need 4 XP instead of 2.  To get a +2 DM on his
Pilot throw, he will need 30 XP instead of 10.

INT bonuses remain the same as stated above.


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


If total skill levels exceed the sum of INT and EDU by more than twice
but not more than three times the sum, the prerequisite cost is
tripled...and so on...


BECAUSE of this limit (well...call it slowing down in the amount you
learn), players should be choosy about what they attempt to improve.
There will be cases where a player will not try to improve a skill
eventhough he has earned enough points.  Like real life, potential is
there, but the person is not applying himself in that direction.



Well, how'd I do this time?  Like the experience system?

Kenneth.

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 18:05:19 +0800
From: "Antony Farrell" <Skaran@bigpond.com>
Subject: FW: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
[mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com] On Behalf Of Anthony
Jackson
Sent: Tuesday, 24 August 1999 5:05
To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
Cc: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
Subject: Re: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)


Edward Swatschek writes:

> This depends on the game system being used.  In TNE/FF&S, contragravity
> simply reduced the gravitational vector over a specific volume by 99%.  In
> an atmosphere, this might make the ship neutrally or positively buoyant,
> but no thrust is involved - that would be provided by HEPlaR or some other
> engine.

Um...wrong ;)  It provided 10-20% of gravitational force sideways in
TNE/FF&S.  In Striker it could provide any amount of sideways force.  I
don't know about T4 or MT.

Actually in both FFS1 and the Brilliant Lances Technical Manual it states
"...CG lifters do not provide thrust and so cannot physically lift the ship.
Instead, they neutralize most of the gravitational attraction of the world
(approximately 99% of gravitational force beyond which power use becomes
prohibitive).

it is the next section which caused the problem "...This combined with
atmospheric pressure, will provide buoyancy in very dense atmospheres, and
so allow the craft to float at low altitudes.

Eg a ship with a mass of 1,000 tons in a 1G field (Earth) will weigh 1,000
tons with CG lifters off and 10 tons with them on. It would therefore still
fall to Earth unless countered by  some other vector producing agency such
as HEPlaR, Chemical rocket etc. It may be able to float in dense
atmospheres, anyone  want to try and work out how dense for say the type S
scout? Also would inertia in such a case mean the planet will gently revolve
leaving the ship behind?

Antony

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 18:05:44 +0800
From: "Antony Farrell" <Skaran@bigpond.com>
Subject: FW: Hard Times

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
[mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com] On Behalf Of SD Mooney
Sent: Tuesday, 24 August 1999 8:05
To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
Subject: re: Hard Times


Keith Johnson <kejohnson@2xtreme.net> writes:

>Speaking of Hard Times... eight or nine years after it was released, I
>finally picked it up.
>I was curious how many Trav players use it, and what the rest of the TML
>peanut gallery thought of it.  Good?  Bad?  Stupid?  Excellent for storing
>in your fireplace?
>Just curious...

HT is the best ever Traveller supplement and background, IMO. I think that
it has more of a feeling of hope, of turning back the tide, than TNE did.
There are opportunities for the players to do something that matters, to be
heroes or villains. The fact that Virus snuffs out these efforts just
heightens the candles against the night feel.

I'd rate it up with: High Guard, The Traveller Adventure, Milieu 0
Campaign, the Regency Sourcebook, and GT: Far Trader. (*)

(*) DGP excluded as we don't talk about that anymore. ;-)

Dom

Being a gear-head if you don't believe me check my site at
http://www.users.bigpond.com/Skaran
I of course use parts of the design sequence with FFS1 for my low tech
spacecraft. But I have also used large chunks in the TNE games I run.

Antony

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 18:05:41 +0800
From: "Antony Farrell" <Skaran@bigpond.com>
Subject: FW: Will the real Strephon please stand up! (Re: Cloning)

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
[mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com] On Behalf Of Keith
Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, 24 August 1999 5:32
To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
Subject: Will the real Strephon please stand up! (Re: Cloning)


At 11:54 PM 8/21/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
>> The Strephon who appears after the assassination was in fact a clone.
>> In is explicitly mentioned in _Survival Margin_, where IIRC (all my
>> Trav books are still boxed up after moving) he laments his clones fate
>> in his private dairy.
>
>Um, not *quite*, Rupert.  The Strephon that Dulinor whacked was the clone.
>The guy writing the diary in SM was the *real* Strephon.

That was my understanding as well.

However, I just picked up Hard Times and read that Strephon refused to be
tested by IRIS to confirm if he really was the Emperor.  After he refused,
IRIS publicly stated that "Strephon" wasn't a contender and backed Margaret
as the highest ranking noble eligible for the Iridium Throne.  Despite the
fact that IRIS holds no significant power during the Rebellion, it has to
be PR that is extremely damaging to Strephon's cause.

If he was the real Strephon, why the heck didn't he go along with the test?
 Was this written up anywhere else?

Thats also in Survival Margin,  they way I read it, once Strephon saw the
way the war was going he was a broken man, and used IRIS to remove himself
as a contender to minimise any further deaths in his region - looks like it
failed anyway.

Antony

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 06:24:30 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Strephon and Iris 

> Strephon refused to be tested by IRIS (whether they were legit or not didn't
> matter; the people believed them, so they *were* legitiimised) becuause as
> that would "prove" he wasn't the real Strephon. This put him out of the
> throne-grabbing game and meant that the others stopped killing his people.

I don't see it that way.  He refused to be tested by them because he *knew* 
they were frauds.  That they would 'prove' he wasn't the 'real' Strephon is a 
given.  Since he'd never had to deal with them to become Emperor after Paulo 
died, why bother with them now?
 
> Strephon wanted to end the Civil War, but all he could do was save his
> immeditate followers from it by bowing out.
> 
> He had to give up his identity, his pride and his claim to the throne (HIS
> throne). And any chance to put it all back together again. For the sake of
> the people who still followed him, he did all this.
> 
> Strephon made mistakes, but in his soul he was a great man.

Strephon was the most underrated Emperor since Cleon II.
 
Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 03:35:57 -0700
From: "Legate Legion" <legate@futureone.com>
Subject: Re: Hard Times

From: Antony Farrell <Skaran@bigpond.com>
Subject: FW: Hard Times

>>Speaking of Hard Times... eight or nine years after it was released, I
>>finally picked it up.
>>I was curious how many Trav players use it, and what the rest of the TML
>>peanut gallery thought of it.  Good?  Bad?  Stupid?  Excellent for storing
>>in your fireplace?
>>Just curious...
>
>HT is the best ever Traveller supplement and background, IMO. I think that
>it has more of a feeling of hope, of turning back the tide, than TNE did.
>There are opportunities for the players to do something that matters, to be
>heroes or villains. The fact that Virus snuffs out these efforts just
>heightens the candles against the night feel.
>
>I'd rate it up with: High Guard, The Traveller Adventure, Milieu 0
>Campaign, the Regency Sourcebook, and GT: Far Trader. (*)
>
>(*) DGP excluded as we don't talk about that anymore. ;-)


    I agree, it is one of the best Traveller Sourcebooks out there.  It has
the felling of hope & rebuilding the 3I.  But, TNE blows that away.
Personally, I do not like the idea of Virus or TNE.  So I do not use it,
though I do use the TNE setting, without the Virus & CT/MT rules.

Legate Legion
ICQ # 8973001
legate@futureone.com
http://www.futureone.com/~legate/index.htm

"A man may fight for many things; his country, his principles, his friends,
the glistening tear on the cheek of a golden child. But personally, I'd
mudwrestle my own mother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock, and a stack of
French porn." - Edmund Blackadder

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1004
***********************************

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