			    TRAVELLER Digest 133

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Numerous moans about this mailing list.	by Mark Fletcher <mf1@st-andrews.ac.uk>
  2) Re: Schalli equipment	by Shalom Zaidfeld <cs911408@red.ariel.cs.yorku.ca>
  3) Re: Foreven	by Rob_Prior@nynet.nybe.north-york.on.ca (Rob Prior)
  4) Re: Laser Blinding	by Rob_Prior@nynet.nybe.north-york.on.ca (Rob Prior)
  5) 	by gdw.support@genie.geis.com
  6) Greetings	by merrick@RT66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
  7) thanks	by Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
  8) hiring	by Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
  9) Re: 	by rwm@MPGN.COM (Rob Miracle)
 10) Re: Laser Blinding	by Martin Fay <MFAY@fs2.cp.umist.ac.uk>

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

Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 23:30:39 +0000 (GMT)
From: Mark Fletcher <mf1@st-andrews.ac.uk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Numerous moans about this mailing list.
Message-ID: <Pine.3.87.9412152338.A18277-0100000@pasta>

Dear all,
         I write this at the risk of being nuked (thats one stronger than 
a flame) off the net, but the main reason that I subscribed to this list 
was so that I could exchange ideas/adventures/characters about my 
favorite game, namely T:TNE. 

 I didnt subscribe to this list so that I could join in on the discussion 
of whether or not Traveller obeys the laws of Physics (and it most 
certainly doesnt). So please, less of the discussions on whether or not  
spaceships and starships can survive micro-meteor collisions; or the 
radius of an AM explosion. Leave that to the physicists (and GDW) to 
worry about.

For my nano-credits worth:
(1) Starships in the Traveller game can survive impacts of small 
particles, thats why they are given armour.
(2) I dont care what the radius of an AM explosion is; as long as it 
doesnt detract from the enjoyment of the PC's in my group who are into 
T:TNE thats alright.

First and foremost T:TNE (and the other versions) is about pure 
escapism; For me it is the sheer diveristy and the richness of the 
Traveller background that makes me play it. 

Remember its only a game. If you want to play hard science-fiction, go 
play 2300AD (another damn fine roleplaying game, GDW bring out a 
supplement on it).

> ------------------------------
>      
>      Striker II
>      ----------
>      Does anyone know when Striker II will hit British shores?
>      Are there any TNE figures other than starships available?

Yeah can we see some products in Europe which arent two-four months late? :-)

Cheers, Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Fletch

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|"Yesterday I shot an elephant in my pyjamas.     |Mr M Fletcher.    |
| How the elephant got in my pyjamas I dont know."|(mf1@st-and.ac.uk)|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+



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

Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 20:09:04 -0500 (EST)
From: Shalom Zaidfeld <cs911408@red.ariel.cs.yorku.ca>
To: TNE Mailing List <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Re: Schalli equipment
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.90.941215195841.7483B-100000@blue>


On Fri, 9 Dec 1994, Mark Llewellyn James wrote:

> Has anybody designed any eguipment for the Schalli (I have the stuff 
> from the equipment guide). I am primarily interested in ideas rather 
> than stats. I am having difficulty in visualising what Schalli 
> personal weapons would look like, for example. Fun gear to fit on the 
> 'roller would be welcome as well.

Well, I didn't do any thinking towards Schalli Equipment designs yet, but 
just some ideas might be:  Enginering platforms/equipment, Agricultaral 
equipment etc.  Gear for Rollers?  umbrila for those sunny days in 
Brusman Downport.  Bi-Rollers for groups of two.  Cargo buggie that 
connects to in the back of the roller, for light cargo transfers, etc.

There are many ideas for Schalli equipment.  Does anyone else has any ideas?

	-Shalom Zaidfeld
	-Toronto, Canada 

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

Date: 15 Dec 1994 22:54:03 GMT
From: Rob_Prior@nynet.nybe.north-york.on.ca (Rob Prior)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Foreven
Message-ID: <199412160401.XAA05372@noc.tor.hookup.net>

I though the idea with Foreven was that nobody would publish anything there:
it's a preserve for individual referees with only the star positions being
canonical.  As far as I know this hasn't changed.

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

Date: 15 Dec 1994 23:11:16 GMT
From: Rob_Prior@nynet.nybe.north-york.on.ca (Rob Prior)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Laser Blinding
Message-ID: <199412160403.XAA05414@noc.tor.hookup.net>

I wasn't arguing that military equipment wouldn't protect you from lasers
(although I didn't know about the buckyballs, which were published after
FFS).  However, it still skews roleplaying quite a bit, because most people
won't have military equipment to protect them.  Before adding blinding,
consider the following possibilities:

i) Criminals break into a building waving blinding lasers and goggles. 
Security guards might be wearing goggles, but civilians won't.  Result, many
blinded civilians running around (interfering with guard's aim) while
criminals finish mission.

ii) Mod-tech Marines land on a world.  Natives object.  Marines blind native
armies.  No fight.  Native guerillas ambush in woods, but after first shot
Marines flash lasers around.  Blind attackers.  Even if they can steal
goggles, they will still be outnumbered.  (Suppose there's an adventure
there: the players are hired to smuggle 100 000 pairs of sunglasses to a
rebel leader!)

iii) After 5000+ years of warfare, retinal replacement technology will be
pretty good.  (Heh, look what they can do with bullet wounds in Northern
Ireland right now.)  This implies increased possibilities for a
cyberpunk-style 'the body is just a machine' attitude, nasty biotech, etc. 
Don't ignore the spinoffs!

iv) Warship hangs inorbit demanding surrender.  Population refuses. 
Shipboard lasers target population centers - no one can look skyward safely.

None of these stop you having blinding in your game.  Not fancying them,
though, I'm ignoring blinding in my own games.

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

Date: Fri, 16 Dec 94 02:58:00 UTC
From: gdw.support@genie.geis.com
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Message-ID: <199412160411.AA127151091@relay2.geis.com>

 traveller@mpgn.com
 
 From TRAVELLER Digest 120
 
 Hans Rancke
 > "Lest Darkness Fall"
 
 One of my favorite novels by one of my favorite authors.
 
 From TRAVELLER Digest 130
 
 Graham Spearing
 
 > Foreven
 > ...GDW set up a Chaosium style 'Blank Land' on the
 > borders of the Imperium/Regency.
 
 > Does anyone know if this pledge is still in force for TNE?
 
 We have no plans to do anything in Foreven, but feel free to re-
 do any sector you want to....many people have : )
 
 Ted Kim,
 
 > Excuse me, if I missed the announcement
 > but, did Striker II get
 > dropped? or is it out already?
 
 It's out...we are taking mail orders for it now. I'm a little
 slow in getting the news out sometimes.
 
 Marco,
 
 > Does anyone know if Traveller will be available as a
 > coputer game
 
 The license with Planet III lapsed, and we are in the middle of
 discussions with other companies concerning new computer
 licenses.
 
 Loren K. Wiseman
     GDW,Inc.

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

Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 23:05:33 -0700 (MST)
From: merrick@RT66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Greetings
Message-ID: <9412160605.AA20829@RT66.com>


Hi Loren,

just read another of your posts to the TML and thought I'd drop you a line.

Aside from season's greetings, I'd just like to say that I appreciate the
fact that you actually respond to peoples' questions and comments the way
you have been.

Good luck to you and to GDW in the coming year.

Regards,
	Merrick Burkhardt



Merrick Burkhardt 	 		Ants Inc. - engaging natural history-
email: merrick@rt66.com        		"Lifting things 20 times our weight
phone: (505) 255-0653 (home)		 for almost 3 years now..."
phone: (505) 842-8409 (Ants)

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

Date: Fri, 16 Dec 1994 10:20:12 +0200 (EET)
From: Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: thanks
Message-ID: <199412160817.DAA14619@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

Concussion
----------
Thanks to all who answered to my question about penetration of concussion.
I resolved this the way that soft armor and partial helmet didn't affect 
concussion damage at all. Visored helmet reduced one dice to one point of 
damage.

Thanks again,

Joni Virolainen
jonimv@evitech.fi


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

Date: Fri, 16 Dec 1994 10:20:37 +0200 (EET)
From: Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: hiring
Message-ID: <199412160817.DAA14624@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

Hiring Hall
-----------

Volunteers are needed to participate to trail blazing campaign.
This mission is launched from Aubaine and the destination is Karaguuka
(0116/Diaspora). Mission termination is in Aubaine. The volunteers will be
comissioned to a clipper. The mission is to escort converted scout ship
RC Columbus (J-3) to Karaguuka and also clean that J-3 route to be a post
route in near future between Karaguuka and Aubaine. That scout ship will
stay in Karaguuka. The clipper will transport troopers to Karaguuka (the
amount won't be much).

In reality I need someone with Brilliant Lances/Battle Rider to run this
campaign for me. That is because I don't have above mentioned products and
I don't intend to buy those because space fights are so rare in my campaigns.
You can choose the clipper and the way it is equipped, the scout is not
intended to participate in combat but of course it is your decision. The
scout has TL-15 laser turret. It is also possible to add more ships to that
campaign if you want but I prefer that only those two ships will participate.

The scout is manned by my players and I can mail their stats and more accurate
stats for RC Columbus.

I'd like to have timeline and maybe even TNE stats for planets that are in
the course. If TNE stats for worlds is a problem, I can generate them and 
the course.

I hope that some players are interested for this possibly quite long campaign.
I am more than happy to answer any questions about this campaign. As you
might have quessed my campaign is set in RC campaign.

That will be all for now,

Joni Virolainen
jonimv@evitech.fi


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

Date: Fri, 16 Dec 1994 08:46:30 -0500
From: rwm@MPGN.COM (Rob Miracle)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: 
Message-ID: <199412161346.IAA28034@Central.KeyWest.MPGN.COM>

Loren @ GDW Writes:
> From TRAVELLER Digest 130
> 
> Graham Spearing
> 
> > Foreven
> > ...GDW set up a Chaosium style 'Blank Land' on the
> > borders of the Imperium/Regency.
> 
> > Does anyone know if this pledge is still in force for TNE?
> 
> We have no plans to do anything in Foreven, but feel free to re-
> do any sector you want to....many people have : )

I think its important to re-emphisise what Loren is saying here.  For a long
period of time, I had problems dealing with Star Trek: The Role Playing Game
because I felt that I had to be "canon" in everything that I did.  What
happens when the next movie changes something that I have done?  Well, that
level of thinking will distract you from the enjoyment of the game.  You
have to put "future canon" out of your mind (BTW: canon is a Star Trek term
for "Official, Accepted as Law").  

At the time you pick up your products and start creating your own history
and future seeded from the Traveller books, you have to accept the fact that
GDW is going to release something in the future that will most assuridly not
fit the timeline created by your players.  You have to adjust things to
either get them back in sync, which is not very hard, or you just ignore the
differences and keep your game going the way its going.

Its most important to understand that if GDW releases something that changes
your history,  you as the GM just don't change your history with the wave of
a hand.  "Well this new book says this, so that colony you built on Regina
isn't there any more" will get you lynched as a GM.

Don't get hung up on "what if GDW does this".  If you want to develope a
sector on your own, go for it.  Just understand that you can keep your own
timelines even if something is released later that changes it.

(Too early in the morning to ramble)
Rob

--
Rob Miracle
rwm@mpgn.com
"You have a problem?  I have a plan!" -- Anton Devious

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

Date: Fri, 16 Dec 1994 15:35:11 BST
From: Martin Fay <MFAY@fs2.cp.umist.ac.uk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Laser Blinding
Message-ID: <58FEA1905A9@fs2.cp.umist.ac.uk>

Rob Prior wrote:
> There were several design decisions made with FFS (and BL).  Some 
> were 'merely' for playability.  The best example of this is
> blinding with lasers: this doesn't appear in the rules, not because 
> it's impossible (all too likely), but because it doesn't make 
> interesting role-playing.  (Flash one laser and all enemy looking 
> in the wrong direction are blind.  Even filters can't defend 
> against multi-frequency lasers.)

For playability - dead right!

Filters? Of course not unless they block whole chunks of the EM 
spectrum - at which point you can't see. The solution here, as used 
by military pilots to avoid nuke-flash blinding is to wear 
goggles/faceplate which darkens fast enough to block all light before 
the amount is high enough to cause blindind - this is done using 
electro-(something I've forgotten, this is from a lecture course I 
attended years ago!) materials which are controlled using light 
sensors. This should be effective, as long as the materials respond 
*very* fast!

btw the low-tech solution is an eyepatch - once one eye is burned you 
use the other ;-)

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

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End of TRAVELLER Digest 133
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