TRAVELLER Digest 540

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) DGP & Traveller... by rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
  2) Re: DGP & Traveller... by "David J. Golden" <goldendj@csn.net>
  3) Wow, GDW is going away! by broussa@ConnectI.com (David C. Broussard)
  4) Re: TRAVELLER digest 539 by Christopher Sean Hilton <chris@vindaloo.com>
  5) Net Publication of Rules by aswfh@acad2.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
  6) Re: TRAVELLER digest 539 by HA282PMR01@ntu.ac.uk (Paul Radford)
  7) RICE Paper on Hexos by lewis@chara.gsu.edu
  8) Re: XBOAT digest 489: Minor Tech Comment by Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>

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Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 13:42:51 -0800
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM, xboat@MPGN.COM
Subject: DGP & Traveller...
Message-ID: <19960108214251.AAA1738@case.cyberspace.com>



Dear TML'ers,

Yes, DGP is in negotiations with Marc Miller.

We are ecstatic that Marc has taken on the leadership of Traveller
once again, and we look forward to working with him and supporting
his efforts in any way we can.

I can't say any more than that at this time.

Though things are definitely looking up.

:)

Sincerely,

Roger Sanger
Digest Group Publications

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

Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 16:58:28 -0700
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@csn.net>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM, xboat@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: DGP & Traveller...
Message-ID: <199601082358.AA25435@ns-1.csn.net>

At 04:43 pm 1/8/96 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>Dear TML'ers,
>
>Yes, DGP is in negotiations with Marc Miller.
>
>We are ecstatic that Marc has taken on the leadership of Traveller
>once again, and we look forward to working with him and supporting
>his efforts in any way we can.
>
>I can't say any more than that at this time.
>
>Though things are definitely looking up.
>
>:)
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Roger Sanger
>Digest Group Publications
>

        And there was great rejoicing, and angel choruses rang out with
hallelujahs, and all people were glad ...

        OK, so maybe I'm going a bit overboard. But to me, this is a small
consolation in the midst of great sadness. Keeping my fingers crossed ...
 ___________________________________________________________________
  Dave Golden                              PGP Public Key available
  goldendj@whip.com        http://www2.csn.net/~goldendj/index.html

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


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

Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 21:09:56 -0600
From: broussa@ConnectI.com (David C. Broussard)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Wow, GDW is going away!
Message-ID: <9601090309.AA27308@ConnectI.com>

Stop reading your mail for four days, and look what happens!  GDW goes away.
B-(!!!

I have seen the postings of Marc Miller, Steve Jackson, and others.  I think
that for now we will be in a great state of flux.  The most important
question I have is...Will any of the already announced product make it to
the stores.  After that we can pick up the pieces and move on.

GDW leaves behind a large collection of some of the best games ever
produced.  Personally I have always loved Traveller, T2K2, Dark Conspiracy,
& 2300AD.  I was awaiting Armor 21, and still holding out hope on DC coming
back.

For now I mourn the passing of an old friend, and my first RPG.  As I look
to the future, I resolve this though.  I will continue to support these
games with my cash and contributions to lists like this one.

I have often wondered just how important the suit by TSR was, now it finally
seems to have come home to roost.  Let us all pray that TSR purchases
NOTHING of GDW so that I can continue my personal boycott of them.
David C. Broussard (broussa@connecti.com)
Home page: http://www.connecti.com/~broussa/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The opinions represented herein are the sole responsibility of
the proclaimer, and should not be interpreted as dogma, doctrine
philosophy, or anything else other than blabber.  However, if you
REALLY like it, then gimme a dollar!
-----------------------------------------------------------------


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

Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 23:29:56 -0600 (CST)
From: Christopher Sean Hilton <chris@vindaloo.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 539
Message-ID: <Pine.BSD.3.91.960108230737.17716B-100000@yavin.vindaloo.com>

I'm interested in the Traveller CD-ROM idea. I'd like to see the material
in at least two formats:

     Published - Acrobat/HTML/SGML.

and

     Raw ASCII Text

I know that the second format doesn't offer much in terms of protection
to whoever owns the intellectual property rights to the program but it
does insure that we can easily use the data in the future in ways not
envisioned by the original authors of the CD-ROM. As an example I would
like to see an HTML published version of the Traveller Library data. That
would be of great use to me in an internet based Traveller/MUD that I am
writing.

If anyone at GDW is reading this and is interested I can provide CD-R
mastering services up north here in Chicago.

There's my $0.02 -

Chris

--
      __o          "All I was doing was trying to get home from work."
    _`\<,_           -Rosa Parks
___(*)/_(*)___________________________________________________________
Christopher Sean Hilton                           <chris@vindaloo.com>
                         For pgp key finger: <chilton@cluster.mcs.net>


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

Date: Tue, 09 Jan 1996 03:58:21 -0900
From: aswfh@acad2.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Net Publication of Rules
Message-ID: <v01530501ad1813b524d3@[137.229.100.51]>

I personally am opposed to any net publication of the actual traveller
rules on the following reasons:

1: it devalues hardcopy editions from the standpoint of liscencing.

2: the copyright status of material for which there is no fee to acess &/or
use is in a state of limbo (while it remains the intellectual property of
the copyright holder, such items can usually be redistributed at no charge
in an unlimited fashion.)

3: I doubt it would have any overall positive effect on the overall
traveller market/player-constituency.

4: It would be in violation of at least US copyright if Marc Miller does
not liscence it.

5: net-accessable versions do not constitue "fair use archival copies", as
acess via the net is considered a form of publication.

Please don't do anything stupid &/or illegal... you may prevent Marc Miller
from being able to liscence traveller to SJG or anyone else, and thus bring
about the death of traveller as we know it.


-Wil

William F. Hostman

EMail:          ASWFH@Orion.Alaska.EDU
HomePage:       http://orion.alaska.edu/~aswfh/index.html



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

Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 12:41:10 +0100
From: HA282PMR01@ntu.ac.uk (Paul Radford)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 539
Message-ID: <96010912410880@newvax.ntu.ac.uk>


Hi to one and all.

A few points:

Producing utilities on CD-ROM is a good idea especially if other applications
are provided (read "games") possibly in a style similar to Elite, Frontier,
First Encounters (maybe?). The point is that a CD-ROM would be useful, but
there is a good chance that TNE players everywhere won't have access to their
own CD-ROM drive whatever platform it is mounted on (Windows or Macintosh).

Multi-media is a big thing now but it is IMHO unlikely that it would sell
outside the RPG market unless the game is the major part of the application.
Personally I do have a CD-ROM, and i have a great love for Traveller, and
would buy the CD as it would be really useful (games or no games).

It's good to see that Traveller Reformation Company intend to keep Traveller
alive as are many others, and hopefully British Isles Traveller Support (BITS)
will have a role in it.

Traveller Chronicle: The market may be opening up now that Challenge is going
to vanish, unless that is sold off to someone else who wishes to maintain a
premier Science Fiction Gaming Magazine. TC could (possibly...the mechanics
of magazine publication are unknown to me) expand if sufficient material was
received and used in the magazine. Publication could perhaps be more frequent
too.

Traveller Products in the UK
Guilded Lilly and Regency Combat Vehicle Guide are both available in Nottingham
and Sheffield from Virgin Megastore. Also from The Trading Post (Nottingham);
there may be an advert in BITS Newsletter no.7, and from The Space Centre (
Sheffield). I realise that this may not be much use in Belfast, but it shows
that the products are in the UK.

Someone suggested that keeping Traveller alive on TML/X-Boat would be enough
in order that Traveller doesn't die an undeserved death. Sure we can keep it
alive here, but with no tangible real world products, the game may be deserted
by those who don't have access to e-mail facilites simply because products
will stop appearing on the shelves of gaming stores. How are they to know what
has happened to GDW? I've not known shops to openly tell people that they are
not receiving any more product (at least until such time that the stocks they
have are all dried up. They want to get the stuff sold after all.). A personal
example of this was with the fabled FASA ST product, Operation Armageddon. I
was looking for this for ages before the Prime Directive game appeared and
was told that this game was replacing FASA products. Fair enough but nobody in
the real world gets told these things.

Certainly we must Keep The Flame. No doubt about it.

Assuming that the rights to Traveller revert to Marc Miller, and he decides
(hopefully in his infinite wisdom <grovel>) to keep the TNE line running
(at least concluding the Virus Redux Epic now that it has started), will
anyone be sending in their CV/Resume for new jobs?

Phew,

Paul Radford


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

Date: Tue, 09 Jan 96 11:22:18 -0500
From: lewis@chara.gsu.edu
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RICE Paper on Hexos
Message-ID: <9601091622.AA26551@chara.gsu.edu>



RICE Paper Hexos Mora/Spinward Marches

Hexos/Spinward Marches (2828 B-534420-8) circa 1117
                       (2828 X-534000-0) RED ZONE circa 1202

Physical  Parameters:  Orbital Period:.644  years
Rotational Period: 34 hours    Orbital Eccentricity: 0.015
Avg Temperature:283K = 7C      Axial Tilt: 39 degrees
Planet Density: High

Appearance:  From orbit Hexos appears as a normal  world,  it  is
only  when  seen  through high resolution imaging devices can one
see the rotting corpse of a world that is Hexos.    The  extreme-
ly  thin   atmosphere  does  not retain much heat, so the average
tem- perature hovers about 10  C.   Most  of  the  water  on  the
planet  is located in two large ice caps at each pole. Geothermal
vents keep small lakes liquid.  Primitive   lichens   and   algae
live  around these  lakes, so far these are the only native forms
of life that have been found on the planet.

Society: Before the Civil War, the population of Hexos  lived  in
small  domed  cities.   Most  of these cities were located around
geothermal vents. These provided a source of  liquid  water,  and
heat.   Geothermal  power  generation  provided a cheap source of
electricity.
    Crops were grown in underground hydroponic tanks.   Livestock
were raised in huge factory farms, where animals were born, lived
and died all within a few feet.  There were several groups of an-
imal  rights  activists  which  protested the conditions at these
farms, but most residents wanted meat, more than they wanted hap-
py  animals.  The  government on Hexos was almost nonexistent, it
existed mostly to take care  of  interplanetary  issues,  and  to
maintain  the common facilities, such as the starport, power gen-
eration, and life support equipment.  A Planetary Council of  ten
individuals  were  elected  every  three  years  to  oversee  the
bureaucracy.  They made most routine  decisions,  anything   com-
plex,  important   or   even  somewhat controversial was put to a
planetary referendum. These were conducted over the  planet  wide
computer net.   A  week  long  period of discussion would be fol-
lowed by a vote. A simple majority decided all   issues.    These
referendums  were  not  that  common,  usually only one every few
months.
        Hexos had a  sizable  Chirper  population.   Unlike  most
worlds  where  Chirpers  are  second  class citizens, if even ci-
tizens, the people of Hexos treated the Chirpers with respect and
dignity.  They had full voting rights, but few if any took advan-
tage of it.  Most of the chirpers worked at menial jobs  such  as
janitorial staff, and all around grunt labor.
       The population had a laissez-faire attitude  towards  most
things.  People were free to do as they please, as long as no one
else was harmed. If someone was harm, society would shun the  of-
fending   party,   until  they  made  redress.  Extremely violent
crime was very rare, but did happen occasionally. When  such   an
unfor-  tunate  event occurred a group of citizens would find and
eliminate the diseased individual.

History:  Hexos was settled in the year 631, by  waves  of  immi-
grants from the Imperial core seeking a new life on the frontier.
The planet was an important station in the Xboat route.  The  Im-
perial Navy established a base on the moon of the closest gas gi-
ant. The planet was fairly stable, the  technological  level  was
almost  stagnant  rising  from  seven  to  eight over two hundred
years.  This fit in with the personality of the population,  they
are quite laid back.
        Not much changed until the Civil War. By 1117  the  Aslan
ihatei  had  made  major  inroads  in the Trojan Reaches and were
starting to enter the Spinward Marches.  The naval base  was  up-
graded   and  expanded.  This provided a bit of an economic boom,
as more naval personal took shore leave,  and  civilian  contrac-
tors  needed   some   place  to  spend their wages. Most citizens
thought that the boom was changing Hexos too much, too  many  new
people  with  new  ways of doing things.  They also didn't under-
stand the Hexos way of doing things. On 338-1120  a  large  fleet
gathered   at Hexos,   and   launched   a   strike   against  As-
lan  targets  at Craw/Glisten.  While the fleet was gone, a group
of  thirty   Aslan  ships  jumped  into  the  system.  These were
mostly small ships, under 1000 tons displacement.  A few of these
ships attacked  the Naval  base,  and  engaged  the  Naval  SDBs,
others split up and started a light orbital  bombardment  of  the
planet.  Ships return- ing from an earlier raid into Aslan space,
jumped into the system and attempted to engage the raiders.  See-
ing the returning ships, the Aslan jumped away.
        By the next day thousands of people had come down with  a
deadly  disease.   By 343-1120 half the population was dead, most
casualties were in the capital city of Dione.   The  deaths  were
not  limited  to humans, livestock and Chirpers also died in huge
numbers.  On 019-1121 Imperial authorities announced to  the  TNS
that  the last inhabitant had died.  Imperial investigations into
possible use of biological weapons by Aslan ihatei never  reached
a  definite  conclusion,  but  the circumstantial evidence forced
most observers to reach that conclusion.  Dr Julia  Kartinian,  a
scientist investigating the disease was quoted as saying "Whatev-
er it is that's killing these people Aslan appear be immune."
        Since 1121 the planet has been a wasteland.  The Navy has
designated  the  planet  a  War Grave and interdicted the planet.
The Navy placed a warning beacon in orbit and  only  occasionally
patrols  the  system.  The threat of still active biological war-
fare agents is enough to scare off most looters. Recently several
clans  of  Aslan that reside in the Imperium have asked that they
be allowed to emigrate to Hexos.  These clans were  not  involved
in  the destruction of Hexos, in fact they were not even involved
in the invasion of the Imperium,  rather  having  settlements  in
the Riftspan  Reaches.  They  came  to  the Regency after fleeing
the Virus.  Since then they have lived on crowded refugee  worlds
in Troy.  They reason that they are not being productive citizens
of the Regency crammed in a refugee camp,  and   if   they   were
given  Hexos,  they  could  help  rebuild  the  planet.  This has
stirred up a huge public outcry, especially on formerly  occupied
worlds.   Debate continues in the Regency Senate.

System  Details:  Primary:K1   V   Orbit     Name             UPP
Satelite Orbit      UPP
  0   Hot Belt    Planetoid Belt
  1   Gragfta           SGG
      Bracton                             4          X-S00000-0
      Xavfor                              7          X-S00000-0
      Lexot                              40          X-100000-0
  2   Hexos          X-534000-0
  3   Yavin             LGG
      Inner Ring                          2          X-R00000-0
      Rovwal                              4          X-400000-0
      Querntal                            8          X-562000-0
      Flofta                              9          X-S00000-0
      Boghtop                            13          X-710000-0
      Serton                             35          X-300000-0
      Folo                               50          X-400000-0
  4   Cold Belt     Planetoid Belt
  5   Wongal           LGG                3          X-300000-0
      Smalt                               4          X-834000-0
      Tlot                                6          X-S00000-0
      Yongtal                             8          X-100000-0
      Slofto                              9          X-750000-0
      Oot                                12          X-434000-0
  45 Secondary       M2 White Dwarf

References: The Regency Sourcebook
            Survival Margin

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

Date: Tue, 09 Jan 1996 13:26:01 -0500 (EST)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: XBOAT digest 489: Minor Tech Comment
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.960109131650.28041B-100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>


From: Phillip McGregor <aspqrz@sydney.DIALix.oz.au>
> Subject: Technology - What's Wrong With Traveller's Rating System

<snip>

>
> It's like I suggested in an earlier post here (or was it to the Traveller
> list?) - the whole system (and there are clues scattered throughout all the
> pre-TNE stuff) is a deliberately artificial construct of the Imperial Govt
> which wishes to keep technology from spreading.

As a possible support for this position, consider that the Regency has -
by nothing more than aggressive macroeconomic management - greatly
increased the overall tech level of the  Regency in about 70 years, from
an average of TL C to about E/F.

<rest of post snipped>

Alvin Plummer
"Preserve what we created, Norris, and remember what we stood for."
                               - Strephon, 179-1126

Reply to: alvin.plummer@SHERIDANC.ON.CA

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End of TRAVELLER Digest 540
***************************
