From ???@??? Sat Jul 06 11:50:44 1996
X-State:  3
X-Total-length:     32145
Received: from NS.MPGN.COM (NS.MPGN.COM [206.66.87.254]) by mail-e2a-service.gnn.com (8.7.1/8.6.9) with SMTP id IAA32220 for <bborich@gnn.com>; Thu, 4 Jul 1996 08:23:35 -0400 (EDT)
Received: (from daemon@localhost) by NS.MPGN.COM (8.6.9/8.6.9) id GAA00873 for traveller-digest-outgoing; Thu, 4 Jul 1996 06:19:18 -0400
X-UIDL: 836681815.077
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 06:19:18 -0400
Message-Id: <199607041019.GAA00873@NS.MPGN.COM>
From: owner-traveller-digest@MPGN.COM
To: traveller-digest@MPGN.COM
Subject:   Traveller-digest V1996 #208
Reply-To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Errors-To: owner-traveller-digest@MPGN.COM
Precedence: bulk


Traveller-digest           Thursday, 4 July 1996       Volume 1996 : Number 208

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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. Re: Mathematics in Traveller
         2. Skills
         3. guanxi and blat
         4. Re: Ship Sizes
         5. Re: ID4
         6. RE: Literacy loss
         7. Re: Virus via E-Mail
         8. Re: Fission reactors
         9. Re: Things on MY monitor
        10. Re: Marines vs Legion
        11. Re: Sylean Exploration Corp.
        12. Re: Ship Name and Deckplans

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

From: Ola Agren <corps@ts.umu.se>
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 08:32:15 +0200 (MET_DST)
Subject: Re: Mathematics in Traveller

On Thu, 4 Jul 1996, Ola Agren wrote:

> Call me a kind soul :)
>=20
> 4D6, dropping lowest:
>=20
>         Result  # (*)     %     % total
>           3       1      0.08     0.08
>           4       4      0.31     0.39
>           5      10      0.77     1.16
>           6      21      1.62     2.78
>           7      38      2.93     5.71
>           8      62      4.78    10.49
>           9      91      7.02    17.52
>          10     122      9.41    26.93
>          11     148     11.42    38.35
>          12     167     12.89    51.23
>          13     172     13.27    64.51
>          14     160     12.35    76.85
>          15     131     10.11    86.96
>          16      94      7.25    94.21
>          17      54      4.17    98.38
>          18      21      1.62   100.00
>         *) of 1296 possible results

Sorry, I forgot this line:

        average =3D 12.2446

/Ola
- --
Ola =C5gren * corps@ts.umu.se * tdv94oan@cs.umu.se

General Preprocessing Perceptron -
=09How to put an awful lot of "knowledge" in a weighted sum.


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

From: sudet@well.com (Glenn M. Goffin)
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 00:25:13 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Skills

>The thing that worries me about this thread is that if we keep joking 
>around together, people are going to get the impression we /like/ 
>eachother, and that there will be no more flame wars.  What would the 
>lurkers do then? :)
>
>> BTW, would that skill be a background skill or not?  And would it be rolled
>> or chosen?

Flame and lurking skills are either cascade skill under communications
(1980s rpgs), or independent skills related to communications (1990s rpgs).
Either can be role-played, of course, but in some situations a task roll
should be made.  For example:

        To tie up opposing communications by starting a flame war:  Formidable
        (flame)

- --Glenn


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

From: sudet@well.com (Glenn M. Goffin)
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 00:25:10 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: guanxi and blat

>From: Les Howie <lhowie@novalis.ca>

>I'm familiar with blat.  What's the language/culture and exact nuance for
>guaxi? Thanks.

Guanxi is Chinese; I think Mandarin.  It seems to be pronounced more or less
"gwahn shee", with the first syllable rising and the second short and flat.
I don't speak either langauge, so I'm not sure how it's pronounced.

I'm not sure that exact nuances exist, but here's my understanding of the term:

Guanxi refers to one's total network of contacts.  The bigger and better
placed your network, the greater your guanxi, and, thus, the more effective
you are.  Guanxi varies geographically and by subject.  For example, I have
a pretty good guanxi in the Bay Area plaintiffs' complex litigation bar.  In
Los Angeles, much less guanxi.  In the Bay Area Republican Party, even less.

A PC's guanxi could develop during character generation.  After five terms
in the Navy in the Spinward Marches, e.g., even as an NCO, one would know a
lot about who was who, and would have contacts in certain places, and not
only in the Navy establishment.  

>I have become convinced that a vampire cruiser has made its way back to the
>twentieth century through a time warp, infiltrated the internet, and is
>engaged in a desperate effort to prove it will never come to exist.  If it
>fails, it will drop a rock on us.  We will probably be able to rebuild
>civilization as a feudal technocracy.

It will need a forward observer with some related skills to get the rock to
hit properly.

- --Glenn


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

From: jlindsay@direct.ca (James Lindsay)
Date: Thu, 04 Jul 1996 07:45:26 GMT
Subject: Re: Ship Sizes

On Thu, 4 Jul 1996 00:37:46 -0500, David C.. Broussard wrote:

> In the Third Imperium, BBs were 200Ktons to 500Ktons.  Battle Riders were
> 30Ktons, with mother ships in the 500Kton range.  CAs were anywhere from
> 50Ktons to 100Ktons (AZH was 60KTons), escorts were in the 3-5000 ton
> range for close escorts, and 5000-10000 for Destroyer Escorts.  Carriers
> ranged from the TL-15 Pocket carrier (10 or 30 Ktons) to the Book 9 Fleet
> Carriers at 100 Ktons.

Yeah, I have "Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium" too (I just
couldn'y translate the armour figures into TNE armour values  8-)

> That of course was 3I circa 1100.  Circa 0 the ships will most likely be
> smaller.  I would still expect a BB to be the largest thing on the Space
> Lanes.  At least 50-100Ktons.  Cruisers might be 10-50Ktons.  Escorts
> would still be in the 2-10Kton range.  One reasons ships could be smaller
> is that at J-2, much less tonnage is required for fuel (most c 1100 ships
> were J-4 or 5) so 20-30% of the ships would now be available for
> weaponry.

As Artie Johnson used to say... "Verrrry in-tur-es-tink."

> The 1Kton craft might be able
> to mount a spinal weapon thus making them small ships of the line.

Hmmm... did I miss something?  Does the term "ships of the line" (a la High
Guard or the new T4 ship combat rules) require said ships to have a spinal
mount weapon?

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

From: Bri <bri@teleport.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 02:03:03 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: ID4

On Sat, 22 Jun 1996, David C.. Broussard wrote:

> Sorry to post off subject, but I would recommend seeing ID4 (assuming of
> course it is out in your area).  It is a fair example of variant TL
> combat.
 No it's not. The "Alien's" goal from what I hear was total annihilation,
they control space.. Rocks. We woulden't stand a chance in hell.


bri <bri@teleport.com>
The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the
poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal
bread.      -- Anatole France


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

From: ROWAN Iain <wm0iro@acresearch.sunderland.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 04 Jul 96 09:53:00 PDT
Subject: RE: Literacy loss

Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca> wrote

>>4) Is it just me, or does it seem that a lot of skills were lost in only
>> 70 years?  The book talks about societies that are comprised of people
>> unable to read and write.  Literacy is that easy to loose?  Hmmm.

>All it takes is one generation.  And when that generation's primary
>concern is trying to stay alive in a hostile envrionment and trying to
>figure out how to plant and grow crops, something most Imperials haven't
>done for a 1000 years, I can see how literacy would become something of a
>sideline pastime.  There are more important things to do than teaching
>your kids to read.

I'd have to disagree with this.  In a situation where civilisation has been
dramatically knocked back, and where many citizens (many of whom
were perhaps office workers, or teachers, or architects, or computer
programmers) have to survive by trying to 'figuring out how to plant and
grow crops' literacy could be a vitally important skill.

Got a bunch of former city dwellers trying to work out how to run an arable
farm? I'd have thought that an expedition into the nearest ruined city to
check out a library would be a good idea.  Technology crashed to the
extent that holographic teaching tapes, CD-ROMs, even VCRs are
not a practical source of information?  Don't need very high tech to
transmit information via the printed page.

I would have thought that many adults would be determined to teach their
children to read and to write, as vital skills that would be necessary if 
the
children were to have a better life than their parents, and if they were to
have any hope of rebuilding a shattered society.  In such a society those
with Real skills - farmers, doctors, engineers - might be in very short
supply, and as a consequence hard to find or expensive to use.  Most
people would have to learn to do these things themselves.  I'd have thought
that the written word would be a useful and efficient way of doing this.

Standards of literacy may well fall as formal teaching disappears, but
I don't think that they would disappear, or become as bad as USENET.

Cheers

Iain
iain.rowan@sunderland.ac.uk



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

From: Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 1996 08:33:56 -0700
Subject: Re: Sylean Exploration Corp.

Darryl Adams wrote:
>
> On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Derek Stanley wrote:
>
> > Leonard Erickson wrote:
> > >> I'm assuming that you're writing from the States and Canada is
> > >>generally considered up from the US of A. Where did you think I was
> > >>writing from?
> > >
> > > Sorry, I thought you were one of the Aussies.
> >
> > Well at least you didn't think I was a Columbian.  "Vancouver Blend?"
> > Hey it's a Columbian Coffee."  "That's BRITISH COLUMBIA!!"
> >
> > Derek Stanley
>
>He he. You are all wrong. WE ARE THE TOP OF THE WORLD!! TIS US WHO LAY
>TO THE NORTH OF YOU!!
> BWAAA-HAA-HAA-HAAAA!!

Only if you read your map upside down.  Try that, it makes the planet
look really strange.  We're so used to north being up it takes our brain
a few seconds to figure out whats going on.  There's another really neat
map where someone reversed the topographical features, land became sea
and vice-versa, that's pretty wierd to look at too.

Derek Stanley


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

From: Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 09:06:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Virus Flame War, et. al

Thus spake Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>:

[Paul Walker (quoting "Survival Margin") says it's all but impossible for
sensors to be a path of Virus 'infection.'  Derek (whose last name I've
forgotten) says that Passive EMS sensors can 'cause they pick up all EM
radiation]

> Sorry to cut out on you like this Derek, but I think I have to side with 
the
> ANIT-VIRUS crew on this one.  I don't see it as being possible that Virus
> can be transported as anything other than code.  The code that virus
> transmits would be a program that modifies the Deyo Chip that actually
> "creates" the Virus in the receiving ship.  I don't think sensors can 
"pick
> up" Virus and infect a ship

Whoops.  Looks like we've been hit with the "Virus = Data" thing, with a
side order of "Virus = Program."  Although FF&S says that, in a pinch, a
passive EMS system could be rigged to act as a radio receive, this is not
its default operating mode.  If you broadcast the Junkie MBR virus (to
cite a contemporary example) over a digital radio link and a passive EMS
picks it up, it doesn't go "Oh, hey, let's download this incoming radio
transmission."  It merely notes the bearing (and, given time to build up
a target track, distance) to a source that is emitting EM radiation in
the radio wave spectrum.  Receiving, demodulating, and decoding that
emission is nominally the job of the ship's communications suite (which
was typically all too happy to lock in the signal and eventually get
kaboshed by the Virus-infected equipment effecting the transmission).  In
"Survival Margin" it is admitted that it is slightly conceivable that a
Virus infection may have been transmitted by modulating an EM source
until a receiving EMS sensor was affected, but also states that such an
infection had never occurred.

[more of the same, snipped]

> Virus used three main porst of entry: Physical contact, Transponder, and
> Routine Computer controlled communications.  Virus wasn't patient enough 
to
> wait around for the time it would take to infect through sensors, so it 
just
> executed plan number two: "If I can't have it no one else will either!"
> (Plan number one being: "I want this 
starship/starport/computer/whatever!")

This is probably the paradigm you should be using when considering
Virus.  It does no good to consider Virus to be a wierd chunk of data or
a malicious program, because it is neither of these things.  Any
Virus-infected computing device of sufficient power becomes your meddling
eight-year-old nephew or younger brother, who will attempt to gain access
to your computer and play hob with it while you're not looking, until
such time as he's gained complete control of it and everything hooked up
to it, at which time he uses it to massacre you, your entire family, and
anyone else who happens to be around.  When any other explanation or
hand-waving falls short, I prefer to use the above "Virus = Death Monkey"
paradigm.

Now, if it's to a Virus-infected computer's advantage to use a wierd
chunk of data, or cook up a malicious program, it'll probably do so.

I am now transfixed by this irregular, though round, shadow which is
steadily growing larger and larger.  What's that whistling sound?
Where's my umbrella?

 - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes Payne, known to you as:  n9548326@cc.wwu.edu
Western Washington University -- Bellingham, WA -- The Great Northwet!
"What is FUN?  Why is it usually colored BRIGHT PINK, and where does
 it go when JESSE HELMS comes around?"
 - ----------------------------------------------------------------------


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

From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 11:13:27 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Miscellaneous thoughts

On Wed, 3 Jul 1996, Derek Stanley wrote:

> All it takes is one generation.  And when that generation's primary
> concern is trying to stay alive in a hostile envrionment and trying to
> figure out how to plant and grow crops, something most Imperials haven't
> done for a 1000 years, I can see how literacy would become something of a
> sideline pastime.  There are more important things to do than teaching
> your kids to read.

It's very true that the priorities shift in that situation.  Plus, the
mortality rate would be worse, so those who had been trained to read
prior to the collapse would be mostly dead after 70 years.  I guess
I didn't think it through.

 - -Joe
____________________________________________________________________________  
__
Joseph E. Walsh      |  Atari 8-Bit User and Programmer Since 1982
ransom@iconnect.net  |  Classic Traveller Referee Since 1983
Stuck in the '80s    |  Microsoft-Free and Loving It! :)



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

From: Bill Garmer <bgarmer@tst.com>
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 1996 07:56:07 -0700
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #190

>
>On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Bill Garmer wrote:
>
>> True - they train to do it because you can never be certain to get a 
chance
>> at the center of mass.  Military snipers will aim for the center of the
body
>> when possible but take a head shot if necessary (like taking out an OP).
>> Police snipers operate at much closer ranges and need the head shot to
>> prevent the target from doing anything after being hit (like shoot the
hostages)

At 06:02 PM 7/2/96 -0400, Charles Pratt wrote:

>For someone in the know..I recall reading that a shot above the eyebrows
>will result in immediate muscle tension (i.e. shot the target, he shoots
>the hostage/presses that little button--BANG,etc.), and anything along the
>plane of the eyes will cause the muscles to relax immediately...?
>
Yes - it is only in the movies where someone will take a shot at someone
holding a gun at the head of a hostage because of the problem of muscle
tension (and any good terrorist will have a deadman switch on the
explosives).  A sniper (or more usually in a hostage situation a team of
snipers) will wait until the target(s) relax before engaging.  Snipers have
waited for days to get the "right" shot.

Bill
     | Torrey Science Corporation            William R. Garmer
     |                                       Member Technical Staff
 - -----+------------------------------------   CA PE Registration Number
E-014776
     | 10065 Barnes Canyon Rd - Suite B      Voice: 619-552-1052
     | San Diego, CA 92121                   Fax:   619-552-1056
                                             e-mail: bgarmer@tst.com


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

From: Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 1996 09:51:16 -0700
Subject: Re: Miscellaneous thoughts

Joe Walsh wrote:
>
> On Wed, 3 Jul 1996, Derek Stanley wrote:
>
>>All it takes is one generation.  And when that generation's primary
>>concern is trying to stay alive in a hostile envrionment and trying to
>>figure out how to plant and grow crops,something most Imperials haven't
>>done for a 1000 years, I can see how literacy would become something of
>>a sideline pastime.  There are more important things to do than
>>teaching your kids to read.
>
> It's very true that the priorities shift in that situation.  Plus, the
> mortality rate would be worse, so those who had been trained to read
> prior to the collapse would be mostly dead after 70 years.  I guess
> I didn't think it through.

Quite all right.  Just don't let it happen again or I'll be forced to
drop a rock on your head.  8)

Seriously, its just something that all of us on the Internet take for
granted, Literacy.  Remember even today there's a huge chunk of the
earth's populace that are totally illiterate (and then there's the rest
of us who can't spell worth shit so we may as well be illiterate 8)   ).
 Imagine how much the mortality rate would have climbed during the
collapse, it's a pretty staggering thought.

Derek Stanley


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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #205
**********************************

To unsubscribe to Traveller-Digest, send the command:

unsubscribe traveller-digest

in the body of a message to "traveller-request@MPGN.COM".  If you want
to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from,
such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the
"subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-traveller":

subscribe traveller-digest local-traveller@your.domain.net

A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to
subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "traveller-digest"
in the commands above with "traveller".

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

From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 96 13:52:03 PST
Subject: Re: Virus via E-Mail

Tom Ellis <tellis@telerama.lm.com> writes:

> Speaking as a systems engineer, I for one resent being compared to a
> slicon life form!

What? You'd rather be compared to that well known carbon life form, the
middle manager?


Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com	<--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com	<--last resort

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

From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 96 13:54:25 PST
Subject: Re: Fission reactors

Mark Urbin <eclipse@ultranet.com> writes:

> Fission reactors are over engineered to a serious degree.  As several
> people have pointed out, the human factor is the greatest safety 
> threat.  Ways to offset it include:
> 1.  Keeping an *certified* engineer on board, even if the rules say you
>         don't need one to operate the ship.  Local regs require it.
> 2.  Annual mainatance includes an expensive & extensive safety check of 
>         the fission reactor.
> 3.  Higher port fees for ships with fission reactors and/or HEPlaR drives.
>         To offset safety procedures and all that...

Do recall that any port supporting HEPlar, and other reaction drives is
going to need a *lot* of space. More than your average airport, just
for noise control. And by the time thruster plates come in, there'll
still be things like the sonic booms from departing ships, and the
(small but real) chance of a crash. And lower tech ships will still be
showing up. 

So I'd say that all ports have a section for such ships, and frankly,
given the space required, and theextra security that such berths
provide, they'd probably just do it for all the berths. 

Airframe vessels would use runways (possible restricted to one section,
more likely laid out in the space between berths for the vertical
takeoff ships). They migh have hangars, more likely, they'd just park
next to an assigned berth, if not *inside* it.

VTHL ships *would* have to be parked in a berth, as they'd need to be
set on their tail for takeoff anyway. 

A berth would consist of a blast pit, with a water deluge cooling
system on worlds that have lots of water. Otherwise, it just gets
relined as needed. The berths come in various sizes, and the ship's
landing legs easily straddle the blast pit.

Around the pit, but at a distance, is a berm several meters tall. It
may be in one section, or in several offset sections. It serves several
purposes. First, it helps reduce the noise of landing and takeoff, by
absording and deflecting the sounds that would otherwise propogate
across the port at ground level. It almost complete handles the noise
from any static tests the ship's engineer may run while on the ground
(a not infrequent part of even minor engine maintenance).

The berm also serves as a blast shield in case a ship crashes. Most
landing and takeoff trajectories are such that a ship that loses power
at an inconvenient moment will crash fairly near the berth. It also
protects the ship inside the berth if someone crashes *outside* the
berth. 

The berm also acts as the first level of security barrier around a
ship. Both the port and the crews like this function. The crew can put
their locks on the gates thru the berm and have some assurance that
they've restricted access to the ship, likewise, the customs
authorities can lock the larger gates and only have to worry about the
personnel gates. (Each gate has provisions for up to a dozen padlocks
on it).

The berms frequently contain and protect such things as refuling gear
and cargo handling gear. They also have provisions for storage in
compartments inside. It is possible to "rent" a berth if you visit a
port frequently. This allows you to store spare parts, unsold cargo,
etc inside. Again, this keep both ship owners and customs happy, as
items don't have to be cleared unless they leave the berthing area.

Since even normal berths are likely to have people do ing some
maintainence work, there are some minimal living facilities inside
(showers, bathrooms, minimal cooking facilities). While these are
intended for use by crew or maintence personell when working on a ship
that has such systems shut down, most ports will look the other way if
the crew uses them for living quarters while on planet, as the berthing
fees more than cover the power and water use. Most crews would rather
find a hotel, but the option is available. Think of it as a barracks
with a kitchenette...

Berths intended for major maintenance "drydocks", will not let the
players use the quarters unless the players have rented the berth,
rather than just contracted for the overhaul. 

The offsets in the berm segments on segmented berms are usually large
enough to get a VTHL type craft into the berth. (Segmented berms are
built like a pair of concentric partial circles, aligned such that
the gaps in one circle are more than covered by the next circle)

HTHL craft use "hangar" space that is essentialy squared-off standard
berth (segmented berm) with a modified blast pit set into one side of
the berm and anchor points for static motor tests. Otherwise it's much
the same as any other berth. You just taxi (or tow) the ship thru the
gap in the berms.

All berths have provisions for *some* sort of weather protection for
the ships. It may be merely sectional tarps and tiedowns along the rim
of the inner berm section, or it may be an elaborate retracting segment
dome. "Hangar" type berms usually have solid, if flimsy roofing with
vents around the edges (think corrugated aluminum or the like). It
depends on the port, and how expensive the berth is.

Berths are *widely* seperated. At least 500 meters, more likely a
kilometer. Large berths are more widely seperated than small berths
because of big ships are noisier than little ships. There are wired
comm links to the berth. Linkage to the port switchboard is part of the
fee. Calls outside the port (ie to the surrounding "startown") or extra
lines cost extra. 

There are shuttles available between the berths and the port offices
and other facilities. But they tend to stick to the areas used by the
larger passenger ships, and the big commercial lines. if your ship is
off by itself, you'll likely have to call in for a special run, and get
cxharged accordingly (think of it as calling a cab).

Or you can use your ground vehicle or airraft.  Air-raft operation
within the port is *very* restricted due to safety concerns. You must
always contact the tower and get approval of your route. Failure to do
so, or deviating from the route will result in fines, and confiscation
of the vehicle. It's usually simpler to rent a wheeled or ground effect
vehicle to get back and forth if you don't have one.

Anybody have any comments? Or should I just polish it up, add drawings
and send it to JTAS? :-)

Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com	<--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com	<--last resort

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

From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 96 15:48:01 PST
Subject: Re: Things on MY monitor

"Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.Arizona.EDU> writes:

> Leonard Erickson says:
> > I have a toy racoon, and a large pink rabbit (looks like he's related
> > to the Energizer Bunny, if you get those commercials down there)
> > sitting in corners watching me. And my messages aren't strange. (yeah,
> > right...) 
> 
> 	All right, all right...I have: (left to right)
> 
> A fluorescent pink rat, a somewhat battered plastic T-rex holding 
> some sort of cannon looking thing,  a small chunk of fossilized 
> turtle dung, a dimetrodon, and an Alien (from the Aliens movie) 
> grappling with a legless small action figure, provenance unknown.

Well, I forgot "Lucifer" a *large* black unicorn hand puppet with red
eyes (how large? Well my *entire* arm is his neck). And as for minerals
I have a green malachite pryamid on top of the modem. 

> 	Imagine being asked to handle 75 tons of delicate fossil remains. Or 
> a crate full of beautiful radioactive crystals.  Or a cargo of 
> (unbeknownst to the PC's) fake gemstones, being sent out as bait to 
> distract attention from the real shipment.  He He He.

I have one for you. I was asked by a friend who was writing his own FRP
(it was kinda fun, even if it nevergot to the publishable stage), to
design a *possible* mineral that met certain criteria. What I came up
with was Uranyl Silicate crystals. Beautiful yellow crystals. And
radioactive as hell! On his world, if you aren't a member of certain
races, you leave glowing gemstones *alone*!

For that matter, SF is full of neat gemstones, most of them at least
*plausible*. Thermo luminesence seems popular. Zarathustran sunstones,
for example.

If you have some sufficiently odd races in your campaigns, you'll get
*really* weird gemstones. Consider a race that lives on outer planet
moons at about -100 C. They may have gemstones that are nothing more
than impure ice or amonia crystals. Won't it be fun transporting
*those*. 

Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com	<--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com	<--last resort

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

From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 96 15:59:59 PST
Subject: Re: Marines vs Legion

t01bpa@abdn.ac.uk writes:

> There was an interesting program on the French Foreign Legion
> one quote i liked was
> 
> "The assault course in the rainforest is tough and grueling.  The
> quickest time recorded was 45 minutes by som legionnaires.  The longest
> time recorded to complete the course was by a bunch of visiting 
> American Marines, who took 7 hours to complete it."

The Legion has a some interesting attitudes. "March or Die" for
instance. 

And given the nature of Legionairres, even these days, I have to wonder
if they ones that turned in that 45 minute time knew a few "shortcuts".
:-)


Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com	<--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com	<--last resort

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

From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 96 16:13:02 PST
Subject: Re: Sylean Exploration Corp.

Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca> writes:

> Well at least you didn't think I was a Columbian.  "Vancouver Blend?"  
> Hey it's a Columbian Coffee."  "That's BRITISH COLUMBIA!!"

As I recently got raked over the coals for this:

It's "Colombia", no u....


Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com	<--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com	<--last resort

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

From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 96 16:07:36 PST
Subject: Re: Ship Name and Deckplans

eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch) writes:

> >Campaign Cartographer is a really great mapping program that comes
> >with a Traveller Style Scout Ship.  It saves to BMP or PCX format,
> >and makes wonderful maps.  

So where do I get it, what does it cost, and what hardware/OS does it
require? I can't easily use it if it take Windows, a 386, or VGA. On
the other hand, if it supports DeskJet printers or even better, HP
Plotters, then I'm *real* interested (I have a 7475A I'm not using for
anything at the moment. :-)


Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com	<--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com	<--last resort

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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #208
**********************************

To unsubscribe to Traveller-Digest, send the command:

unsubscribe traveller-digest

in the body of a message to "traveller-request@MPGN.COM".  If you want
to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from,
such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the
"subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-traveller":

subscribe traveller-digest local-traveller@your.domain.net

A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to
subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "traveller-digest"
in the commands above with "traveller".
