       TRAVELLER Digest 44

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Extended UWP by jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
  2) Re: Fascination with Firearms by jdietz@cs.ucsd.edu (Jack Dietz)
  3) Traveller, Guns n' Stuff (was Re: Fascination with Firearms) by Jeff Scott Franzmann <umfranzm@CC.UManitoba.CA>
  4) Bob Piper by "Glenn M. Goffin" <sudet@well.sf.ca.us>
  5) Referee's companion by alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
  6) Can I have some blinkers too... by Martin Fay <MFAY@fs2.cp.umist.ac.uk>
  7) On real men..... by alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
  8) Tech level sources... by alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
  9) Traveller Art, Life Paths by alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
 10) TRAVELLER digest 43 by Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com>

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

Date: Sat, 17 Sep 94 18:07:00 -0500
From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
To: TRAVELLER@MPGN.COM
Subject: Extended UWP
Message-ID: <89A043F.0100032C81.uuout@execnet.com>


Alvin Plummer writes...

T::>I find that for my universe, the UWP is too restrictive.  It doesn't rate
 ::>systems, but only worlds, and doesn't give enough data on the starport.
 ::>Thus, I offer the new RISS UWP (prototype)...

 This is useful, as a _supplement_ for the standard UWP.  I like
 it, and I intend to use it for future RICE Papers, and I encourage
 others to as well.  This should be placed on the line BELOW the
 GDW UWP.
==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
---
 ~ QMPro 1.52 ~ Chief Archivist, Regency Institute for Cultural Education

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

Date: Sat, 17 Sep 1994 23:16:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: jdietz@cs.ucsd.edu (Jack Dietz)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Fascination with Firearms
Message-ID: <9409180616.AA18855@beowulf>

Jeff Scott Franzman wrote,
> On Sat, 17 Sep 1994, Rob Prior wrote:

..

> > Course, we're all Canadians who don't really understand the American
> > fascination with firearms (at least as portrayed in American media). 
> > Certainly there is a lot less violence up here (check out Canadian
violent
> > crime and fatality statistics).  This is probably significant...

> It may well be :). As a Canadian, I have to agree that no one in my group
> (myself included) can understand this fixation on firearms that seems so
> prelevent in the United States. A small statistic I found rather profound.
> Winnipeg and New Orleans. Both cities in the population range of 500,000.
> Winnipeg is actually closer to 600,000, which makes the statistic even
> more profound. So far this year, there have been 317 murders in New
> Orleans. Here in Winnipeg? 16...and Winnipeg has a higher murder rate than
> many Canadian cities. Scary...

There was an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times about two
years ago that I found rather interesting.  It compared the murder
rate in the state of North Dakota (population ~650,000) and the murder
rate in Washington D. C. (population ~700,000).  During the year 1991,
D. C. had a total of 734 homicides and North Dakota had a total of 7.
And more guns are owned in North Dakota than in Washington D. C.

Winnipeg is a city with certain factors that make it more stable than
New Orleans.  It is 1) ethnically homogenous to a greater degree, 2)
it lacks a large number of people below the poverty line, and 3) it is
_cold_, which "drives off the riff-raff" according to a resident of
North Dakota quoted in the L. A. Times article referenced above.  This
yields a population that has fewer reasons to want to kill each other
in Winnipeg than in New Orleans.

I personally have no desire to own a gun.  However, I do not believe
that the presence of guns itself yields a higher rate of deaths.
Rather, it's the motive to commit murder that yields murders.  Deprive
the people of that motive, and you turn these villainous firearms back
into hunting weapons.

Jack Dietz
// jdietz@ucsd.edu

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

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 01:57:50 -0500 (CDT)
From: Jeff Scott Franzmann <umfranzm@CC.UManitoba.CA>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Traveller, Guns n' Stuff (was Re: Fascination with Firearms)
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.9409180159.A18733-d100000@mira.cc.umanitoba.ca>

Jack Dietz did at one time say...

> There was an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times about two
> years ago that I found rather interesting.  It compared the murder
> rate in the state of North Dakota (population ~650,000) and the murder
> rate in Washington D. C. (population ~700,000).  During the year 1991,
> D. C. had a total of 734 homicides and North Dakota had a total of 7.
> And more guns are owned in North Dakota than in Washington D. C.

I'll get to the Traveller stuff in a minute, but I had to respond to this
:). For one thing, North Dakota is a very scattered state, while DC is one
packed city. It's a given than large population centres have far more
crime. Unless you are comparing urban centres, rather than an urban centre
to a state, the statistic is meaningless. You have to compare DC to a
relatively similar city (One reason I picked New Orleans for Winnipeg.
Population size, similar economic problems, and similar diversity in terms
of ethnicity [not the same ethnic groups in terms of diversity, simply
similar totals]).
TRAVELLER NOTE: Neat way to construct cities in campaigns, is to use the
basic outline of your home city, and transplant it to an alien culture.
Give it the same problems faced by your home town, only with an alien
bent. Crime wave in your home city? Give your alien city a crime wave,
only that it's being caused by some sort of shadow cult. Unemployment?
look at the problems being caused in your home city, and transplant. Car
manufacturor close shop? Maybe Tukera Lines close up in your alien city.
Simple and effective (and no doubt used by many a referee. Just want to
get my thoughts in though...

> Winnipeg is a city with certain factors that make it more stable than
> New Orleans.  It is 1) ethnically homogenous to a greater degree, 2)

Strike one :). I'm not sure what you mean by ethnically homogenous. Mostly
white? Nope. Largest Chinatown short of LA and Vancouver, largest Filipino
community in Canada (last time I checked the records), a large First
Nations population. Hardly homogenous. If you mean getting along? Again,
no. Sure, our racial tensions are nothing compared to those in the States,
but it is there. No nation is immune from racism. Look at Imperial
attitudes towards the Zhodani :).


> it lacks a large number of people below the poverty line, and 3) it is

Strike two :). Unemployment is at %11, and a large number of people are
below the poverty line. We're still crawling out of the recession. Of
course, welfare helps, but welfare never puts you above the poverty line.
Besides, the poverty line is a very artificial construct...it doesn't
measure quality of life, simply ability to live.

> _cold_, which "drives off the riff-raff" according to a resident of
> North Dakota quoted in the L. A. Times article referenced above.  This

Ball. Winnipeg has wonderful summers. It was 22 today (don't know what
that is in Fahrenheit...really warm I'd imagine). It only gets cold in
winter :). However, most of the criminal type folk I know want to move to
California, so you may have something there :).

> yields a population that has fewer reasons to want to kill each other
> in Winnipeg than in New Orleans.

We have all the reasons to kill people that folks in New Orleans do. We
just don't do it as often. Let's not get into a debate over this, though,
I just thought it was an interesting statistic, nothing more. However, it
DOES make for interesting Traveller fare...why are two neighbouring
nations on a world totally disparate? Take Canada/USA to opposite
extremes. A nation of pacifistic, non commital folk living in one gigantic
commune, neighbouring a nation caught in the grips of a vicious urban
civil war, where the upper and lower classes vie for power and vote with
bullets. Figure out WHY they are next to each other, how they ended up the
way they are. Could make for an interesting adventure...maybe those
pacifists have latent psionic potential, while the urban guerillas don't.
Maybe it's  religious thing :). Maybe...hmm, I gotta write some of this down.

> I personally have no desire to own a gun.  However, I do not believe
> that the presence of guns itself yields a higher rate of deaths.
> Rather, it's the motive to commit murder that yields murders.  Deprive
> the people of that motive, and you turn these villainous firearms back
> into hunting weapons.

Well, it does lead to a higher rate of death for some simple reasons. Guns
allow for efficient and effective deaths. MANY gun deaths are Manslaughter
in nature. A guy gets angry, pulls his gun, kills someone. Doesn't happen
if you don't have a gun, you throw a punch instead. This happens a LOT
with the gang violence and youth violence so prelevent. Kids and teenagers
seldom think about consequences. Put a gun in their hand, and they are a
true menance. Not because they're evil, but because their lives haven't
taught them about consequences. End rant :).

Sincerely,
Jeff Franzmann




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

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 09:30:41 -0700
From: "Glenn M. Goffin" <sudet@well.sf.ca.us>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Bob Piper
Message-ID: <199409181630.JAA04928@well.sf.ca.us>

Does anyone have Bob Piper's email address?
Thanks.
--Glenn

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

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 12:56:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM, xboat@MPGN.COM
Subject: Referee's companion
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.1.9409181241.B22562-8100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>


Does anyone here have a copy of the Referee's Companion for sale?

Alvin Plummer
(With his arms around his head, to protect himself
 from TMLs angry with commercial activities on the TML......)


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

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 18:23:31 BST
From: Martin Fay <MFAY@fs2.cp.umist.ac.uk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Can I have some blinkers too...
Message-ID: <5D5CB2B1109@fs2.cp.umist.ac.uk>

Phil Pugliese wrote:
> The stats are easily explained by looking at the cultural diversity
> & cultural friction. For example, in parts of England where 
> cultural homogeneity exists you have a lot less violence than in 
> parts, like areas of London, where there's more diversity.

***Civility circuits have been disabled - you have been warned! ***
This is the most offensively racist comment I have seen in a while. 
Has Mr Pugliese considered the economic factors linking to 
crime/violence? I live in Manchester/UK and the place is a cultural 
melting pot, and by and large racism is not a great. There is an 
alarming level of violence in certain areas (Moss Side), which seems 
to be linked closely to drugs/organised crime. As far as I can see 
this has been assisted through lack of opportunity to make a decent 
living through legal employment - ever heard of the mafia?!? The kind 
of attitude shown is what IMHO CAUSES RACISM TO PERSIST!!!!

**fume**

---------------------------------------------------------
T.Eldritch - Regency Intelligence Service - Regina/Regina
martin.fay@umist.ac.uk
---------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 14:13:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM, xboat@MPGN.COM
Subject: On real men.....
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.1.9409181432.A23802-c101000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>

--0-152635820-779912075:#23802
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

--0-152635820-779912075:#23802
Content-Type: APPLICATION/octet-stream; name=real
Content-ID: <Pine.3.05.1.9409181435.B23802@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
Content-Description: 

From: jfm@christa.unh.edu (John F Moore)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Real Men
Date: 16 Sep 1994 03:58:09 GMT
Organization: University of New Hampshire  -  Durham, NH

Flotstam found on the infobahn

>   Greetings!  I come bearing humor!
>   If anyone has ever heard of the article REAL MEN DON'T PLAY FANTASY
> ROLE-PLAYING GAMES, I have a complete compilation (curtesy of one of the 
> sysops at io.com) of the file in question.  For those who don't know the 
> article, it covers scenarios surrounding the four general types of 
> gamers:  The real Man, the Real Roleplayer, the Loonie, and the 
> Munchkin.  Here are a few examples:

> Favorite type of Dwarf:
>       REAL MEN like Tolkien's Dwarves
>    REAL ROLEPLAYERS like Glorantha's Dwarves
>  LOONIES like the Seven Dwarves
>  MUNCHKINS like Earth Elementals with beards

> When encountering a greater demon...
> REAL MEN attack; what the hell, no guts, no glory!
> REAL ROLEPLAYERS leave the character who invoked the demon to 
>  deal with it
> LOONIES say, "Say the magic word and the duck wioll give you $100!"
> MUNCHKINS scream, "No fair!  That's not in the Monster Manual!"

> Dice:
> REAL MEN have two each of 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sided dice
> REAL ROLEPLAYERS use 3d6 for GURPS
> LOONIES use marbles and call them one-sided dice
> MUNCHKINS carry shopping bags full of every kind of die imaginable

> Favorite character from ST:TNG
> REAL MEN like Worf
> REAL ROLEPLAYERS like Data
> LOONIES like Q
> MUNCHKINS prefer the original Star Trek

> Favorite Sci/Fi Monster
> REAL MEN like the Alien
> REAL ROLEPLAYERS like the Moties
> LOONIES like the beach ball from Dark Star
> MUNCHKINS like ET

Can anyone here modify this article to fit the Traveller universe? 

e.g.

Favorite Fraction Leader
       REAL MEN like Archduke Norris
       REAL ROLEPLAYERS like Emperor Strephon
       LOONIES like Virus
       MUNCHKINS like Grandfather

Favorite Starship
       REAL MEN like Mercenary Cruisers
       REAL ROLEPLAYERS like unarmed scouts
       LOONIES don't care, just as long as it's infected
       MUNCHKINS like Sylean-class Battleships

Favorite Virus Strain
       REAL MEN like 'Samson'
       REAL ROLEPLAYERS like 'Parent' 
       LOONIES like 'Hobbyist'
       MUNCHKINS like 'God'

Alvin Plummer
(Who has no real sense of humor, or I would be doing it myself...) 



--0-152635820-779912075:#23802--


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

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 14:25:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Tech level sources...
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.1.9409181407.A23894-9100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>


Hold on: are these tech levels in the Rebellion sourcebook or in the
Referee's Companion sourcebook?   Wherever they are from, THAT's the book
I want!

Alvin Plummer
("Preserve what we created, Norris, and remember what we stood for"
                   - Strephon
                                   ...I just love love love this line!)


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

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 14:41:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Cc: alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
Subject: Traveller Art, Life Paths
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.1.9409181427.A24018-d100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>

___________________
Rod Miracle (aka The Miracle Man) said,
"Of course, one of my favorate pieces of Traveller art, [the cover of the
Imperial Encyclopedia, MegaTraveller]..."
___________________

Any nominations for the Mona Lisa of Traveller cover art?  My favourites...
   1) The cover of the Rebellion Sourcebook
   2)  "    "   "   "  'Fighting Ships...' 

(I recently designed a TL A ship based on it: to be posted soon...)

   3) The 'new' TNE main book cover 
   4) The Fire, Fusion and Steel cover
   5) The COACC cover

With a 'True Traveller Spirit' award for the 'Vilani & Vargr' cover.

(I didn't see the 'MegaTraveller Digest' covers... pity)

I wonder if we will see any more good artwork like in the MegaT era
(expense, Mr. Wiseman?).  Even the line drawings, which went from mediocre
to excellent pre-TNE, are now awful-to-good in the TNE books.
_________________

David Reed...
   March forward with your personality design article! 
(Though for *my* NPC's I use the MBPT .... I'm an INTJ myself) 

   However, I _don't_ think that a life path generator is nothing but a
crutch....  I find the possibilities of a High-tech lifespan too (beep)
bewildering to NOT put into some organized format.  Look at the
possibilities...

A) Family Enviroment           Nuclear Family?
                               Raised in a Creche?
                               Extended family?
                               Single-parent norm?
                               Born a clone - clonegroup is family?
                               Born an adult clone, with artifical memories
                                     (a la Blade Runner)
                               The family is a Corp/Church/Govt/Scientific
                                     group?

B) Family Income               Welfare - 20th century style?
                               Welfare - 57th century style 
                                 (Their neccessities are our luxuries...)
                               Low - Mid - High wage job?
                               Travelled a lot? eg. A family of free traders
                               Worked with their hands/brains/image?
                               Military brats?
                               Noble brats?
                               Old Wealth?
                               Drifters?
                               High-tech Slaves? Low-tech Slaves?
                               Did they each live 'in their own place'?
                               "     "    "   "   in one potpurri of
                                   classes?

C) Any catastrophies?          Family member dies? 
                               Much/All of the family dies?  Why?
                               Escapees from a dead world?
                               Lost a limb? Sight? Hearing?
                                    (Temporarily or pernament?)
                               Bankrupted?
                               Moved from a poor world to a rich one?
                               Moved from a rich world to a poor one?
                               Lost their homestead?
                               Survived a plague? Virus? 
                               Endured a Military occupation from a
                                 foregin power?  
                               Survived a 'small nuclear strike?' A naval
                                 bombardment?  A biowar? 

D) Any great Breaks?           Made that BIG miner strike?
                               Got rescued by RCES?  Regency? A beneficent
                                 trader group? A 'kind' strain of Virus?
                               Became rich through trade with foreginers?
                                 "     "       "   becoming a data priest?
                               Joined a powerful group?
                               Married into nobility?
                               Rapid Promotion / Great reputation in their
                                  field? 
                               Famous in their city? On their continent?
                                 Throughout their world? Across the sector?

E) Responsibilities?           Family members?
                               Allegiance to their God? Nation? Race?     
                                 The Third Imperium?  The Coalision?
                                 The Newmen?  Their world?  Their society?
                               What are their ties to society?  Any
                                 special responsibilities?

F) Psychological               Major goals in life?  Major fears?
                                 Idealistic?  Here-and-now? 
                               Religious? Solomani Monotheism?  Vilani
                                 ritualism?  Is the Afterlife a major
                                 motavator?  How about The
                                 Law/Codes/Commandments/Rituals?
                               Rationalistic?  Pragmatic?  Pantheistic?
                                 Atheistic?  Nature-worship?  Self-worship?
                                
G) Society                     Is their religion widespread?  A cult?
                               Do they share the same
                                  religion/politics/race as their
                                  parent's?  Their fellow NPC's? PC's?
                               Is their race/religion/society an embattled
                                  minority/majority?  A ruling
                                  minority/majority? Forgotten or irrevelant?
                               Did they choose their group, or
                                  did they leave their group, or are they
                                  stuck in their group (ie. species)?

..I could go on and on.  But to deal with this mass of possibilities, I'd
like to put it into a framework first.  Then, I'll offer it up for
criticism.  Later, after I can peel my asbastos suit off, I'll rework it. 

Of course, some people LIKE to deal with an unorganized, conceptual mess. 
They, of course, can just ignore my little charts....

Alvin Plummer
(...and James M. Kelleher, just _how_ strange is Kundert's group?)


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

Date: 18 Sep 94 16:01:10 EDT
From: Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com>
To: "INTERNET:traveller@mpgn.com" <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: TRAVELLER digest 43
Message-ID: <940918200110_100326.446_BHB59-1@CompuServe.COM>

>> Hugh Foster asked where I found non-violent players.  Just happened,
actually.
 One biologist, a physicist, three engineers, an artist, and a computer
technician.  All fairly intellectual types who find problem/puzzle-solving
more fun than rolling dice.  The same thing applies to our RuneQuest games:
we'll spend 3-4 hours chatting with the locals rather than slicing monsters.

Course, we're all Canadians who don't really understand the American
fascination with firearms (at least as portrayed in American media). 
Certainly there is a lot less violence up here (check out Canadian violent
crime and fatality statistics).  This is probably significant... <<

Opposed to that is the fact that our previously mentioned group are all
English
(as am I), and we can't get guns here unless we're criminals...

>> I bought it [Traveller Navigator] (somebody please hit me, as I've already
asked before)
so I feel obligated to use it once in a while for subsector maps
and world data... <<

Blush, blush. I wrote a Visual Basic thingie that loads a flat file (heard that
before) of subsector data and prints the map (and unlike TN, it prints in
black-on-white rather than with a black background that takes years to print and
knackers yer printer). If anyone's intersted I'll uploadit to CompuServe for
absolutely nothing at all. Kind, ain't I ? 

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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 44
**************************
