			    TRAVELLER Digest 155

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Get back on.	by Alex Holt <aholt@cnj.digex.net>
  2) Blasters and Force	by Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com>
  3) Grav ball and other associated violence	by nicklaw@cix.compulink.co.uk (Nicholas Law)

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Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 23:14:38 -0500 (EST)
From: Alex Holt <aholt@cnj.digex.net>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Get back on.
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950106231313.15032A@cnj.digex.net>

Guys and Gals,
	How do I get back on this list?

				Alex Holt

				aholt@cnj.digex.net

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Date: 07 Jan 95 05:39:32 EST
From: Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com>
To: <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Blasters and Force
Message-ID: <950107103932_100326.446_BHG80-1@CompuServe.COM>

>>In defense of the Stormtroopers (perish the thought!), I 
must point  out that young Skywalker is now known to be 
VERY strong in the Force.  Ever consider that someone who, 
with minimal training. can parry blaster  bolts with a 
light saber,  might also be rather hard to target by 
troopies  with unshielded minds <<

<grin> good point. Mind you, they couldn't hit Han or 
Chewie either - both bigger targets....



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Date: Sat, 7 Jan 95 20:26 GMT
From: nicklaw@cix.compulink.co.uk (Nicholas Law)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Cc: nicklaw@cix.compulink.co.uk
Subject: Grav ball and other associated violence
Message-ID: <memo.777526@cix.compulink.co.uk>

M Samuels said in Digest 142:

> >>>>>>        Grav Ball was a board game published by FASA 
circa. 1988.>  It featured      a three dimensional playing field, 
armored players,> and a two kilogram    steel shot for the ball.  
It was an order of> magnitude more violent              than 
hockey, so an automated> "riot-controll" bot was used to controll  
outbursts.

The FASA game was good, but the movement/actions rules system was 
too complicated to capture the feel of a fast moving sport. In my 
own version of the game (he said, with uncharacteristic 
modesty....) the rules were a lot simpler (I'll bin mail a copy, 
in text and Excel files, to anyone who e-mails me - another 
shameless plug). I also set it within the Traveller background, 
featuring those aliens we know and love: the vargr and aslan are 
keen players, albeit with rather different playing styles, but the 
hivers consider it too violent. Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins now 
really are dolphins... 
>       Players used electromagnets to accelerate themselves.  The
> heavy         armored goalie could hardly move, while the near
> defenceless forward   could go from 0 to 55 in five seconds. 
> Ofcourse this guy tended to   take a beating at the hands of BIG
> defencemen.  The mortality rate       among forwards was 
alarming.

Why is it that we automatically seem to associate futuristic sport 
with violence, when present trends seem to indicate the opposite? 
No more punch-ups allowed in the NHL, FIFA trying to take tackling 
out of soccer, quarterbacks in the NFL wrapped up in cotton wool, 
while the fastest growing game globally is basketball, a 
non-contact sport. Have the sports marketing people got it all 
wrong in trying to project a friendly, family image; is it really 
more blood that we want? 

Nick Law
nicklaw@cix.compulink.co.uk


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End of TRAVELLER Digest 155
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