       TRAVELLER Digest 12

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Star Vikings Review by BORIS ZAIDFELD <cs911408@red.ariel.cs.yorku.ca>
  2) nuclr stability by Nrunner@ix.netcom.com (Archie Tindell)
  3) Star Viking Review by Mike Basinger <dbasinge@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu>

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Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 15:37:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: BORIS ZAIDFELD <cs911408@red.ariel.cs.yorku.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Star Vikings Review
Message-ID: <Pine.3.07.9408171510.A26037-c100000@blue>


On Wed, 17 Aug 1994, Mike Basinger wrote:

> According to my gaming store Star Vikings should be out today. I will
> give a review when I pick it up.

Well, I picked it up yesterday and here is the table of Contents:

Reformation Coalition Manual No. 4:
Star Vikings: Personalities of the Reformation Coalition
----------------------------------------------------------

Rebuilding a Civilization    4

Coalition Officals     6
 Secretary General Lon Maggart   8
 Commissioner Khamyannah "Yannah" Arsto  10
 Commodore Sean "Hammer" Lathrop   12
 Ambassador Usamda Kuvishaam   14
 Sid "Papa" Papagopolis    16
 Theophus "Thumper" McKinnon   18
 Lt. Commander Trevor "Goodwrench" Lurrie 20
 Stepan Feldmunson    22

Ships and Crews      24
 Captain Orso Gorzini    26
 Captain Dwight Ravanami    28
 Captain Rosemary Gushuumu   30
 Captain Cardovan Rink    32
 Captain Igor Pankerovski   34
 Captain Hideiki "Red Bat" Sanderson  36
 Captain Pat "Who Me?" Ritter   38
 Scout Commander Senta "Boom Boom" Romero 40

Ship Section
 Ship Descriptions    42 (*)
 Colour Plates     49

Coalition Personnel     58
 Sergeant Lucinda "Lucky" Borga   60
 Lance Corporal eeCHEEda "Squeegee" Strongheart  62
 Agent Shaterika Gwynnyd    64
 Philmore Drinkwater    66
 Rowani Da-Sung     68
 Khalid Kentaro     70
 Professor Ililek Kuligaan   72
 Gustav "ratso" Ramirez    74

Outsiders      76
 Mizrak "Miser" Beyaz    78
 Jeeves Durmmond     80
 Tatai MacLean     82
 Captain Enligi Khargulim   84
 Sir Amaraan Abas    86
 Josephine "Jo" Donskoi    88
 M. Genghis     90
 Assa Sanok*kla     92

(*) The ships detailed are:

- "Reluctant Explorer" - Far Trader
- "Merganser" - Far Trader
- "RMS Harbinger" - Far Trader
- "Silvanus" - Fat Trader (Petty Class Subsidized Merchant)
- "Anunnaki" - Bastien-Class Liner
- "Winged Vengeance" - Bastien-Class Liner
- "Mary Ellen Carter" - Standard Subsidized Merchant (**)
- "Thunderchild" - Reformation Coalition Clipper (**)

(**)

These ships come with ship's patchs (See Colour Plates)

That's all,

  -Shalom Zaidfeld




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

Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 14:41:12 -0700
From: Nrunner@ix.netcom.com (Archie Tindell)
To: Traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: nuclr stability
Message-ID: <199408172141.OAA01084@ix.ix.netcom.com>

Wait...wait...WAIT! Tl14 maybe a bit high, but atoms can be stabilized
against decay (a.k.a 
self collapsable rounds....) can't they be DE-stailized?

 This would allow for rapid decomtanination of affected areas, saturation
with STABLE
isotopes into the DNA of soon-to-be cryprisoners (remember carbon-14?) and
(from scientific
american) double-beta decay reactors (an atom beta decays, the neutrino hits
the same atom 
leading to another decay, NO neutrinos....). Any Ideas?

   ........and finally..........

Fact: fission reactors release one seventh the neutrinos fusion reactors do,
on a megawatt
per megawatt basis.

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

Date: Thu, 18 Aug 1994 14:07:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Mike Basinger <dbasinge@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM (Traveller Mailing List)
Subject: Star Viking Review
Message-ID: <199408181907.PAA29067@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

I just got my copy of Star Vikings yesterday, and I wanted to give a
quick and general review of it.

The book is priced at $13.00 and is 93 pages in length. 
1. Cover Art: Ok cover art. Not bad, but not remarkable either.

2. Interior Arts & Text: The book describes 32 NPCS, divided into 4
catogories of 8 NPC.
 -Coalition Officals: People who are the movers and shakers of
 the coalition.
 -Ship Captains: 8 description of different ship captians
 -Coalition Personnel: People in the Coalition that the do the
 day to day work in the coalition. Describe as people the PCs would
 probably encouter.
 -Outsiders: Non Coalition NPCS that can be introduced in a
 campaign. This sections Includes a couple TEDS, a hiver, and a
 Ithklur Marine.

The NPC description is about a page in length which include name, age
(in 1201), attributes, background, career path, assets, appearance,
personality, motivation, how to referee the NPC, and quotation. There
is also a full page picture with each NPC.

The book also included ship stats for 6 different ship, with the
modification made by the owner/captain.

3. Color Section: The middle section is once again in color. The pages
show color pictures of the different ships, and color sector maps of
the Thoezennt, Promise, Shenk, Khulam sub-sectors. The map include the
trade routes for different ships.

4 Likes & Dislikes: Over all it is a well done source book. The book
is well organized, and well thought out. The problems I have is that
the border arts is again too large on some pages (minor nitpick), and
that The don't like have color pages in the middle of the supplement.
I know from the past, when I get a gaming book with color pages in the
middle, they tend to fall out with-in 3-5 years.

I would suggest GMs to look at it, and see if it would be useful in
your campaign. It would probably only be useful for TNE GMs the run a
Coalition campaign.

mike

-- 
D. Michael Basinger:  dbasinge@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu
   dbasinge@nations.ucs.indiana.edu (NeXT Mail)
   "Not speaking for Indiana University"

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End of TRAVELLER Digest 12
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