Traveller-digest       Saturday, June 7 1997       Volume 1997 : Number 1413



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Chatting With Melody
Re: Re : Nuclear Warheads for T4
Re: What do people like?
Character: Perlis Alyeska Dalal
Re: Re : Nuclear Warheads for T4
Re: The Templars
Traveller Chat
Re: X-Boat data capacity
Re: What do people like?
What is Rapid fire?
Re: Windows on Starship?
Techlevel dependant Skills
Initiative Thoughts

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

Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 10:05:32 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@pcisys.net>
Subject: Re: Chatting With Melody

At 07:27 pm 06/02/97 -0500, you wrote:
>How have other folks been handling the issue of not buying IG products
>sight unseen until they "prove" themselves with more in the style of EA
>and PE?  I think I managed it put it fairly diplomatically (wishing the

	Simply by pointing out that I won't even buy from a game store that
shrink-wraps its books. This has nothing to do with the early IG products,
even. I've never bought a book sight-unseen ... well, ok, ALMOST never. I
insist on flipping through it, checking out the visual appearance as well
as the content before buying it.

	For the record, the one book I bought sight-unseen was the original FF&S.
But that was based on having seen some of the discussions on GEnie, and on
the quality of the original TNE book.
- -- Dave Golden                  http://www.pcisys.net/~goldendj --
   goldendj@pcisys.net                       finger for PGP key
    *** USE OF THE ABOVE EMAIL FOR SOLICITATION PROHIBITED ***

 "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: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 10:12:22 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@pcisys.net>
Subject: Re: Re : Nuclear Warheads for T4

At 05:04 am 06/03/97 -0400, you wrote:

>Also, a nuke is a nuke is a nuke. You need the same critical mass
>regardless of tech level to
>achieve a chain reaction. 

	Er, nope ... critical mass depends on how well you can compress and
contain the fissile material before the ensuing reaction tears it back
apart. If you take the "critical mass" from the original Hiroshima warhead,
and just dumped it in a pile in the middle of your living room, the
resulting "firecracker" reaction would scatter it all over your living room
... but not much more.

>So why does the bore size decrease with TL ? Are
>warheads getting 
>longer as tech advances ? :-).

	No, the ability to initiate a reaction with a smaller amount of material
goes up. Not just compression and containment, either. There are other ways
to reduce the amount of fissile material necessary ...

	And all of that is just for fission warheads ... fusion warheads
(fission-triggered and otherwise) are a whole different ballpark.
- -- Dave Golden                  http://www.pcisys.net/~goldendj --
   goldendj@pcisys.net                       finger for PGP key
    *** USE OF THE ABOVE EMAIL FOR SOLICITATION PROHIBITED ***

 "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: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 19:40:00 +0100
From: Bruce E J Lewis <bruce@legend.ftech.co.uk>
Subject: Re: What do people like?

At 13:46 07/06/97 +0100, John Wood wrote:
>Robert Flammang <FLAMMANG@vms.cis.pitt.edu> wrote:
>>  Overall impressions:
>>  T4:        *** (****, if I modify tasks and don't use QSDS.)
>>  Starships: 0
>>  AA:        *** (I like it, but for some reason, I don't use it.)
>>  CSC:       ****
>>  M0:        *****
>>  FS:        0
>>  EA:        ?
>>  PE:        ***** (I have used it extensively for the two weeks I've
>>                    owned it, and I forsee continual use in the
>>                    future. It could be better, but it's the best there
>>                    is. It is truly a groundbreaking supplement!)
>
>How would other people rate the T4 products so far?
>

	I'd go with...

T4:        ***** (with no errors) **** (with errors)
Starships: ** (because of SSDS making it partly worthwhile)
AA:        Haven't got it.
CSC:       ****
M0:        *****
FS:        minus *****
EA:        *****
PE:        ***** (but that's on a quick flick through ;-) )

	See ya...



Bruce E J Lewis - mailto:bruce@legend.ftech.co.uk
Telephone - 0956-506527

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

Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 15:41:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: pawn@CAM.ORG (Glenn Grant)
Subject: Character: Perlis Alyeska Dalal

As Derroch is inflicting upon you the (mis)adventures of our happy band of
twisted sociopaths, I thought you might like a more in-depth look at one of
the characters involved. I'm playing a female Scout by the name of Perlis
Alyeska Dalal, whose character sheet and personal history appear below.

I'm having lots of fun playing Perlis. I've given her a really down-market
pseudo-Australian accent -- she's from a prison colony, has a Social
Standing of 2, and didn't complete high school, let alone go to
university... Makes it lots of fun to shout things like, "Right, ya
bastards. Hand over the stolen cargo, or you're smoke!" (Not that it did us
any good, but at least I had fun!)

I hasten to point out that the basic data given for Kinuu/Vland are from
FS, embellished with a randomly generated LL and a cultural profile of my
own creation (with Derroch's approval). So very little of that part is
canonical.

Dalal's personal history was fleshed out by using a new system I've worked
up for randomly generating a wide variety of events in a character's life
(love affairs, marriages, social conflicts, traumatic experiences, you name
it). If you're really nice I'll finish writing up the Life Events system
and post it later.

Comments welcome, as always...

 + G M G +

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

Name:   Perlis Alyeska Dalal 
UPP:    AAAA82

Citizenship:    Imperial
Species:        Human; mostly Solomani, some Vilani, some Other
Gender:         Female
Age:            38
Height:         180cm
Weight          61kg
Skin:           light brown
Hair:           straight, black, close cropped
Eyes:           dark green, Asiatic
Clothing:       functional, androgynous; usually Scout Service fatigues

Homeworld:      Kinuu/Vland (1508) E110367-7 LoPop, PBG:503, M2V           
            
Education:      ISS Exploration & Recontact School
Career:         Scout (five terms)

Skills:
  Jack-of-All-Trades 4          Melee Combat 1
  Grav Craft 3                  Gambling 1
  Gun Combat: Rifle 3           Acting 1
  Computer 2                    First Aid 1
  Vac Suit 2                    Gunnery 1
  Recon 2                       Craftwork 1
  Pilot 2                       Psychology 1
  Astrogation 2                 Admin 1
  Athletics 2                   Trader 1
  Mechanic 1                    Linguistics 1
  Suvival 1                               

E-currency:     Cr 50,000
                53% share of Quintana Speculative Ventures LIC
Hard currency:  Cr 13,919
Possessions:    1 Low Passage
                [the usual stacks of equipment, clothes, etc]
                ACR-12
                Flex-11 vest

Homeworld Profile:  Kinuu/Vland

Starport     E  Frontier Installation
Size         1  Planetoid
Atmosphere   1  Trace
Hydrosphere  0  No surface water
Population   3  5439 LowPop
Government   6  Colonial Administration
Law Level    7
Tech Level   7

Gas Giants   3
Primary      M2V

Socio-Cultural Profile:
  prison colony for political exiles;
  most of populace live in subsurface warrens, mined-out tunnels;
  mostly patrilineal, primogeniture;
  polygynous, patrilocal, large extended families;
  betrothals, bridewealth, intergenerational marriage;
  women marry at 15-20, men after 30, rich men have several wives;
  distinct sex roles, men lead, women control part of home;
  economy controled by monopolist ice-mining cartel;
  few rich, many poor, government supports most of population;
  slowly expanding: medium child mortality, high replacement;
  dependant on offworld food shipments, some hydroponics;
  mostly rational worldview, some communal ancestor worship;
  women have secret cultural traditions, kept hidden from men.


Perlis Alyeska Dalal

Personal history:

Parents: political exiles, members of a minor cultural movement censured by
their homeworld for gender discrimination. Father: Arkanin Dalal, once a
wealthy trader, deported to Kinuu with his three wives; two decades later,
third wife Pria gives birth of Perlis Alyeska.

Siblings: 1 sister, 2 brothers, 2 half-sisters, 4 half-brothers. Perlis is
the 7th-born of the 9 siblings.

Childhood: much time spent exploring and hiding in disused tunnels and
maintenance shafts; acting as spy and lookout for brothers' gang, watching
out for enforcers. Considered an unmanageable tomboy by parents and
neighbours.

Age 12: assigned to Infrastructure Maintenance as apprentice mechanic,
under a program set up by Colonial Government to provide skills and
employment to the colony's neglected young women.

Age 14: endures a long-dreaded betrothal ceremony; learns that her father
has arranged for her to marry a 50-year-old ice miner.

Age 16: escapes Kinuu, and impending marriage, by lying about her age,
gaining working passage aboard a supply ship. Later lands a job as Third
Mechanic's Assistant aboard a 4000dt Imperial Colonization Service 'ice
liner' (Low-Passage Personnel Transport).

Age 18: Joins Scouts. Impresses superiors in Basic Training; considered a
quick study, almost instantly competent at a variety of unfamiliar tasks.
Immediately assigned to an Exploration and Recontact ship in the Corridor
Sector.

Age 20: Trained in Melee Combat and Acting, in preparation for clandestine
landing party on pre-Contact Tech 2 world. Spends a long difficult year on
[classified]/Corridor with fellow Advance Contact Team member Tagir
Shimata. Discover they have much in common: both are from tiny,
conservative, backwater planetoids; escaped at a young age aboard a tramp
ship; enjoy acquiring new skills and exotic experiences. During a civil
uprising (possibly brought on by cultural influence from the Advance
Contact Team), Perlis is severely injured; without access to real medical
treatment, her broken jaw sets badly and scars remain.

Age 21: Upon their return to Forward Base, Tagir and Perlis move in
together. Perlis undergoes surgery to correct the damage to her jaw; also
takes the opportunity to have some minor cosmetic adjustments made to her
facial features.

Age 22: Enters into formal non-monogamous marriage contract with Tagir, so
that the ISS will at least attempt to station them together more often than
not.

Serves on three Exploration vessals over the following ten years.
Participates in many Recontact missions, as well as several more
clandestine pre-Contact assignments.

Various extramarital affairs, usually during long separations from Tagir
when he is posted to a remote Forward Base.

Age 30: Begins fourth term, living with Tagir at Forward Base [classified].
The base, constructed within a vast lava tube on a geologically dead
satellite, is nearly destroyed by an unexpected collapse (caused by a
world-wide 'settle-quake'). Both survive, though many colleagues are
killed.

Age 33: Falls in love with a younger crewmember, Engineer Berrin
Viruzhtrii, and seriously considers him as a potential secondary husband.
But Berrin, too hidebound by Vilani traditions, refuses to share her with
Tagir. He soon takes a posting far to Coreward, just to escape from her.

Age 35: While assigned to survey the high-gravity, fast-spinning waterworld
[classified]/Corridor, Tagir's launch is caught in an F-6 hurricane.
Disabled by airborn regolith debris kicked up by the storm, the launch
spirals into the planetwide ocean's near-boiling maelstrom. Transponder
signal lost, not even the Vehicle Data Recorder is recovered. Perlis is
devastated by the loss, but decides not to quit the Service in mid-term.

Age 37: Grief-management therapy awakens an interest in Psychology; enrolls
in an ISS course. At this time, receives news from home that her father has
died of heart failure.

Age 38: Musters out of the Imperial Scout Service, and is provided with the
use of a Type S Scout Ship...

    -----------------------Glenn Grant-----------------------  
                         <pawn@cam.org>
    Web: <http://helios.physics.utoronto.ca:8080/ggrant.html>
"Nature abhors normality. It can't go too long without a mutant."
                        --Dr Blockhead

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

Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 13:52:59 -0700 (MST)
From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Re: Re : Nuclear Warheads for T4

On Sat, 7 Jun 1997, David J. Golden wrote:

> At 05:04 am 06/03/97 -0400, you wrote:
> 
> >Also, a nuke is a nuke is a nuke. You need the same critical mass
> >regardless of tech level to
> >achieve a chain reaction. 
> 
> 	Er, nope ... critical mass depends on how well you can compress and
> contain the fissile material before the ensuing reaction tears it back
> apart. If you take the "critical mass" from the original Hiroshima warhead,
> and just dumped it in a pile in the middle of your living room, the
> resulting "firecracker" reaction would scatter it all over your living room
> ... but not much more.

Ohhhh...and flood everyone for QUITE ways around with high energy
neutrons, basically killing you and your neighbors and leaving your house
standing.

AKA a very crude neutron bomb.

Not in MY living room you don't!

Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs

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

Date: Sat, 07 Jun 97 15:44:46 GMT
From: Shane Thomas <s.n.thomas@aelfgyva.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: The Templars

Paul D. Owensby scribbled:

>Sort of on topic: related to the recent discussions about the Templars in
history
>and what their counterparts in the Imperium might be like, the History Channel
>is showing a program on the Templars tonight at 10:00 EST. From the blurb:

>>10:00/7:00 History Undercover. The Hidden Treasure of the Templars.
>>Rennes-le-Chateau in southern France is home to one of the century's
>>greatest conspiracy theories. For over a century there have been rumors
>>about treasure buried beneath its streets. This program sets out to
>>solve the mystery and to separate fact from fiction. [TV G]

I'm sure this is well known, but there is a couple of books about this, by
Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln: "The Holy Blood and the
Holy Grail", and "The Messianic Legacy".  It's classic grand conspiracy
theory; a mix of detailed, rigorous, research and wild leaps of faith.  The
basic idea is that there exists a thousand plus year old secret society,
the "Prieure de Sion", who were the creators and the guiding force for the
Knights Templar, as well as other important organisations, who have been
manipulating European history (at least) with the sole aim of restoring the
Merovingian dynasty to the throne of every European country, said dynasty
being the direct decendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdelene.

I'm sure this isn't really relevant, but conspiracy theories like this are
a great source of plot inspiration.
- --
Shane N Thomas
Oxford
England

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

Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 14:56:32 +0000
From: "Suzette C. Dollar" <suzd@pop.goodnet.com>
Subject: Traveller Chat

Greetings!

This week I'm stealing another idea from a conversation I had with a 
friend. After detailing a character for his PBeM game, he asked me if 
I was a DIP or DAS.  Turns out I'm a DIP <g>, but at the time I was 
clueless as to what Eris meant. 

DIP stands for "Design in Play" and DAS stands for "Design at Start".
They refer to the method used for detailing a character for play in a 
game.  I tend to use broad brush-strokes on my characters and do the 
fine detailing as I go. Other people make up all the details about 
their characters and know *everything* about them before they start.

Which are you? Why do you prefer your method? 

Imperium Games IRC Server
www.imperiumgames.com, ports 6665 & 6666
Thursday, June 12, 1997
9:00pm Central

*********************************************************************

And now for something completely different....

The schedule for the three weeks to follow:

June 19: The Effect of Cultural Conservatism on Technological 
         Advancement

June 26: Psionics in Milieu 0, hosted by Stu Dollar & Joe Walsh

July  3: Patriotism in the Imperium

*********************************************************************

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me. 
And for everyone who has written in asking for archives of the 
chats... I'm working on it, really!

Suz



Suzette C. Dollar
#Traveller Channel Manager
suzd@goodnet.com

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

Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 14:54:11 -0700 (MST)
From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Re: X-Boat data capacity

On Sat, 7 Jun 1997, Leonard Erickson rides to the rescue _again_:

> 
> Which shows that the person who wrote it hadn't thought things thru.
> The spread between 4 hours and 7 *minutes* makes little sense. Nobody
> calls it a "record" if you transfer a much smaller than normal load in
> a short time. More on this later...
> 
> > (WARNING WARNING I am working from possibly faulty memory here about the
> > rate at which data can be transmitted at a given frequency...I think it's
> > 1/2 bit per cycle)
> 
> Shannon's Law:
> 
> 	C= W log2( 1 + S/N )
> 
> 	C = throughput in bit per second
> 	W = bandwidth in hertz
> 	S/N = signal to noise ratio
> 

Thanks...I'd been unable to find the exact equation...relying on nearly
40-year old neurons introduces an unacceptable s/n ratio in and of itself
;-)

I agree about your point of restricting comm lasers to UV and lower
frequencies.

I think, however, that the whole IDEA of 'beaming' all this around is
relatively dumb, and the X-Boat tender concept is much, much sounder. I'd
really prefer to have my mail under the carrier's physical control until
it's delivered...a beam can be tapped much easier than a hardware link,
and the bandwidth available to a hardware link is much greater.

Transit in from ~ 100 diameters out in to a planet at 6 or so gee is
pretty short (short compared to the week it took for the mail to get
here), and much more secure. 

Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs

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

Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 17:16:00 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@weck.brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: What do people like?

 >  Overall impressions:
> >  T4:        *** (****, if I modify tasks and don't use QSDS.)
> >  Starships: 0
> >  AA:        *** (I like it, but for some reason, I don't use it.)
> >  CSC:       ****
> >  M0:        *****
> >  FS:        0
> >  EA:        ?
> >  PE:        ***** (I have used it extensively for the two weeks I've
> >                    owned it, and I forsee continual use in the
> >                    future. It could be better, but it's the best there
> >                    is. It is truly a groundbreaking supplement!)
> 

> How would other people rate the T4 products so far?

Defining the scale, I'd say that--

0 stars = One of the worst, most useless products I've ever seen.

1 star = A poor product, but not bad enough to be as described above.

2 stars = A fair product.  You could live with it or without it.  
Some of it interestes you, and some of it doesn't.

3 stars = A standard, good quality product.

4 stars = A very good product--one that you really, really like.

5 stars = One of the best products you've ever seen for this game.


And, my ratings are:

T4:  ***  (Decent book, but with a little work, it could have been a 
              4 or 5)

Starships:  *  (I can actually use some of this book, but I almost 
                      rated it a 0)

CSC:  *** 1/2  (This product was almost a 4, but it needed better 
                       layout, pictures of equipment, and some other 
                       tweaks--info is great, though)

AA:  **  (I want to like this product, it is just that I don't use 
             it--and the book needed to offer more than it does)

M0:  **  (ditto as AA.  Done differently, I could really get into 
             this.  As is, it's just OK).

FS:  0  (100% pure crap--absolutely no usefulness at all)

EA:  *****  (100% pure Traveller.  Great book.)

PE:  ****  (I haven't written my review of this yet, but the more I 
              look at it, the more I like it).

JTAS#25:  **  (An OK gaming magazine)

JTAS#26:  ***  (It's getting better)

GM Screen:  ***  (It could really use code definitions for the UWP's. 
                           Other than that, it's a pretty good 
                           screen)

Kenneth.

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

Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 13:31:47 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: What is Rapid fire?

In the context of T4,  can anyone tell me what is 'rapid fire', as refered
to in EA? Is it a mistake, or is it something from T4.1?

I have looked through T4, CSC, EA in an attempt to find out what it is, but
have had no joy so far. The only modes of gunfire described appear to be:

Single shot				T4 rules
Burst fire (3R or 5R depending on reference)	EA
Autofire (5R/target)			T4 rules
Suppressive fire (held autofire action)		T4 rules

I can remember CT having 'rapid fire', which involved emptying the whole
magazine in a panic, but the rapid fire weapons in EA don't seem to fall
into that context. EA hints at a beneficial DM.. Any ideas?

I'm also assuming that the minimum damage limits are ignored for plasma and
laser weapons, but there doesn't seem to be reference to this either, aside
from plasma weapons having explosive damage in addition to the direct fire
damage. Is this what my fellow TMLrs are doing?

Dom

- ------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com-------
"Feel the guilt / like shackles round your feet / like a halo in reverse"
                     Depeche Mode "Violator"

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

Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 19:04:52 -0400
From: "Paul D. Owensby" <pauld@athens.net>
Subject: Re: Windows on Starship?

>Look.... if you can have lanthanum grids and sensor mets built into the
>hull of a starship, why not an OPTIC grid? On the outside you have
>zillions of little bullshittium optic sensors transmitting x-many pixels
>of visual information; on the inside at any given point, you have a
>monitor. Between, you have solid hull metal... and you STILL have the
>pleasant illusion you're looking out a window. More advanced models
>would allow you to pan around and look in different directions; it'd
>return to zero, so to speak -- looking straight out -- after a minute or
>so of inactivity.

This would work well, but I still just like the idea of windows in the
sides of
my ships. My Guppy design has nice, BIG windows arranged around the 
passenger areas, it gives the passengers something to do during flight (my
version of jump space has psychedelic swirls and blobs and lights and such
that until anyone brings back a real photo of jump space will remain in my
game <g>), and damn it, they just FEEL right. Like someone previously
mentioned, the Mercury astronauts had a conniption until they put a window
in the side of the capsule. We want to be able to look out, and I picture a
big
passenger liner pulling into the Upstation dock like the old passenger liners
of the turn of the century, the passengers at the windows waving out at the
people waiting for the ship to arrive, and the family and friends standing
in the
big observation areas along the sides of the spacedock waving back and
trying to spot which window has their loved one waving back. Something
that one way sensors can't simulate.

In addition, I agree with the earlier assertions that 3000 years from now we
will certainly have something transparent that will be just as solid and safe 
as the hull itself; perhaps it will be the hull itself. Didn't one of the
later, 
Protestant <g> versions of Traveller speak of the hull material as being made
of a chameleon substance that could change its colors, design, camo, etc. 
pretty much at will? Someone will have to help me here, as I'm an old 
Catholic Traveller man myself, and unfortunately don't even have all of 
those materials. (So, is anyone ever going to reproduce all the old stuff on
a CD or something? Please?)

**********************************************************
Paul Owensby (pauld@athens.net)                   
CEO and Chief Bottle Washer of ValuJump Lines
"So Economical, You'll Think You're Part of the Crew" (tm)
Pan-Imperia: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Paul_Owensby/

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

Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 20:48:46 -0500
From: Alex Rebsch <grazzit@flash.net>
Subject: Techlevel dependant Skills

	I have a question about certain Skills that should be Tech level dependant. Should an Ships engineer who was taught at a T12 University be able to work on T14 stuff? This just doesn't seem logical. There are lots of skills (at least technical skills) which are Tech level dependant or should be. Has anybody every thought about some rule modifications which would correct this?

	For example: we have a modern day Airplane Engineer who works on 747s and we sit him in front of a WWII Japanese Zero with a standard set of tools for a 747 and expect him to be able to work on it with the same skill with which he can work on a 747? This can't be right! 

	Any comments or Ideas on this? I'd like to know what other people on the list think about this and how you would deal with it. Just use difficulty modifiers for higher or lower tech than stuff from the one you were trained on or what?


Let me know! Please comment!!!!!


Alex



E=Mail:	grazzit @flash.net


Home
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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 21:48:02 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@weck.brokersys.com>
Subject: Initiative Thoughts

I've been tinkerin'...

Yes, I've been tinkerin', again.

Let's take a look at initiative.  In Book 1, it's pretty basic--even 
if you use (like I do) the individual initiative throw listed on page 
52.

What is basic initiative as listed?

Init = 1 D6 throw for higher dice.
DM:  Leadership skill

Let's say you've got two characters going at it.  Neither has a 
leadership skill to benefit from, and neither has a leader close by.

What's the roll?  1 D6 for higher dice.

But, what if one of the characters is Dex 10 and the other is Dex 5?  
Doesn't this matter?  Doesn't personal quickness matter?

Well, I've stumbled across a rule for CT that can fix all of this in 
a neat way.  

I've been looking at Snapshot for my T4 game.  It's pretty simple to 
convert--actually no conversion is needed.  You just use the Snapshot 
tactical action points, and when you need to throw to hits--use the 
T4 rules instead of the CT ones.

Simple as pie.

They use the action point total in that game to decide who goes 
first.  The lower the action point total goes first, but characters 
with higher AP totals can pre-empt them.  AP for a character is 
determined by a calculation (Dex + End).

In going over these rules, I started thinking about TNE does 
initiative.  That was a pretty neat system for init.  Every character 
has a base init, and military characters usually have a higher base 
because they have been trained to think quick and perform action 
before the other guy kills them.

Combining these two ideas, I think I've come up with a pretty neat 
idea for T4 initiative.  I'm not exactly sure yet if I'm going to use 
it permanently, but I plan on throwing this in on my next game 
session to see how it goes.

Here's the thought--

Initiative in T4 is changed from 
                    1 D6 for higher dice
to
                     1 D6 + Base Initiative


The Base Init. for a character is (like in Snapshot)
                        Dex + End


I like this idea in that it allows some weight in the who goes first 
decision for characters who are naturally quick.  

If you didn't want to throw End in there, you could just use Dex in 
your calculation
                    1 D6 + Dex

Here's how my current group would fair under this system

Name        Dex    End    Base    Base (Dex Only)
=====       ===    ===    ====     =============
Praygor     5        5        10         5
Gvoudzon 8        8        16         8
Frank        10       7        17         10
Glynn        7        6         13         7
Too           12      5         17         12
Gyr           6        5         11         6
Daeus       8       10        18        8



I can see pros and cons to using End in the throw (Dex is a given), 
and I'm not quite sure which route I'm going with yet.

But, let me cover the other topic--the DMs.

Currently, the only DM T4 allows is for Leadership, and I can see 
this.  I think that TNE had a point in giving military characters an 
advantage.

I've come up with two ways to add DMs to the Initiative roll based on 
a character's career.  I like the second choice, but it is a bit more 
detailed (yet, I like detail in my game--you can probably tell from 
the forms I've been sending out).

Option #1

+1 DM for military characters.  This is strictly defined and will 
only be allowed for characters from the Army, Marines, or Navy.


Option #2 (the one I like)

+2 DM for military characters.  This is strictly defined and will 
only be allowed for characters who were in the Army, Marines, or Navy 
AND had a front-line combat position.  If they were reserve, 
artillery, medics, engineers, or something like that, they don't get 
this bonus.

+1 DM for military characters.  This is defined as characters in the 
military who had rear or non-combat positions--clerks, 
administrators, medics--etc.

+1 DM for pseudo-military characters.  This is for characters who've 
seen more action than the common citizen, but are not fully trained 
soldiers.  Examples would be some Scouts, Police, Rouges (criminals), 
etc.

+0 DM for common citizens.  You know--nobles, buracrats, scientists, 
and other civilian types.  No bonus for them.

So, what do you think of all this.  I'd like your input.

Right now (and this idea is still in the germination stage), I'm 
thinking of useing this system:

Initiative--
    1 D6 + Base

    Base defined as Dex + End

    DMs: +  Leadership skill
             +1 or +2 for military background--depending on type.
             +1 for pseudo-military background


Now, that seems to add some detail to the initiative throw without 
makeing it unplayable and encumbered with die throws and 
modifications.

Another thing I like about this is that a character's base initiative 
will be decreased as he takes damage.  If you take a hit to your Dex 
or End, you can't move as quick as you did the round before.

If weak characters see a badass whose wounded, they can go take 
advantage of the situation.

OK, that's it.  What do you guys think?

Kenneth.              

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

End of Traveller-digest V1997 #1413
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