Traveller-digest       Sunday, June 15 1997       Volume 1997 : Number 1427



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: T4.1 Chargen: Increasing Skill points
Re: Jump drives
Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist
RE: Shipyard size
Re: Boarding Action
Fire in Space
Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist
Re: Boarding Action
Re: Jump drives
RE: Shipyard size
Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist
Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist
Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist
Re: FFS Gauss Weapon Design (the final solution)
Alien Races (was Pocket Empires)
Tech levels and shipyards.
Re: Jump drives
Re: Alien Races (was Pocket Empires)
A challenge for you all!!
message to imperium games!
Long Way, Psionics, & Anomolies
Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist
Re: T4.1 Chargen: Increasing Skill points

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 00:50:06 -0700
From: "David P. Summers" <summers@alum.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: T4.1 Chargen: Increasing Skill points

>Coming out
>of chargen with a skill level of 10 should be no more unreasonable than
>getting a Dex of 10.

I don't use the T4 task system, so I thought you all might like
a salient point from an unbaised observer.

I number of people have compared the fact that the stat levels
are bigger numbers than skills and have concluded that this
means that they have a bigger effect.  This is a false conclusion.
What is important is the range.  If you have skills from 0-6
and stats from 100-106 the stats are no more important than
the skill.  Both have a range of 6, you are just adding 100
to all the roles.  The system is identical to one where you
have skills and stats both from 0-6 and you roll against
100+skill+stat.

I is also true that if one range is on a bell curve, it
will be effectively less than the same range on a staight
progression.  The bell curve will mean that the odds of
getting very small or larger numbers makes them less
accessible.

Now in Traveller, the majority of players will have stats
in the range 5-8.  80.5% of the players will have stats in
the 4-10 range.  So stats ranges of 4 or less are common.
Ranges of more than 7 are rare.  I would say this correlates
well to skill ranges of 7 or so (ie skills from 0-6 because
we are counting from 0, not 1).

____________________________
Summers@Alum.MIT.edu

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 18:22:40 +0930 (CST)
From: David Sarkies <oedipus@student.adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: Re: Jump drives

I have none of the disagreements with the discussion of the jump drives
and the jump space theory. All of the replies seem to be quite logical.
The only thing that I still don't understand is why Jump space takes a
week no matter how far you jump. It would be understandable if a Jump-1
drive took a week to jump 1 parsec and a jump-6 drive took a week to jump
6 parsecs, but through my understanding a jump-6 drive still takes a week
to jump 1 parsec.

The only solution that I have with that is based upon a theory that I read
in "the Physics of Star Trek" (I forget the name of the author). I also
heard this theory on "Future Fantastic". The theory was based on the
possibility that space is curved. If space is curved then you could take a
short cut form one point in space to another. The short cut would take the
form of a wormhole. It is like folding a peice of paper over and the
poking a whole through the sheets. A trip that would take a while when
travelling along the paper takes only a short time by going through the
hole.

My point is that it doesn't matter how far you travel, the length of the
wormhole will always be the same. The question of why no higher than
Jump-6 is then raised. The only answer that I have for that is that the
energy usage in prohibitive.

This may go against Traveller Canon a bit, but then I've never stuck
firmly to any game rules.

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Apollo ordained my fate ... but the hand that struck my eyes were mine
alone." Oedipus Tyrannos
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 19:25:29 +1000
From: Darryl Adams <dadams@tig.com.au>
Subject: Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist

At 01:15 14/06/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Thanks. So here's some more.
>
>The character generation charts are now 20 pages (each a separate file) in
>Word For Windows 95. If you can read them, I will email them to you. I want
>feedback on usability.

I would not mind a copy. If Lotus 97 can not read it, the PC goons at work
can.

Darryl

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 21:30:57 +1200
From: Brody  Dunn <brody@intersol.co.nz>
Subject: RE: Shipyard size

	Bruce Johnson said:

> >In preparation for my first _really_ hairy FFS2beta design, I need to know
> >if ANYone knows how big a shipyard has to be, physically, to handle a max
> >size qsds ship, which is a 5000 Dt open fram hull, which is 179 M long. I
> >need to include all the necessary shops, warehouses, etc etc that go with
> >it. Are we talking 10, 20, 100 times the size?
> >
> >And, yes, I am thinking about a 'jump shipyard'.
> 
> I would hope that any Mobile Jump Shipyard would just plop on down and
> build a frame that is used to build the ship (when finished they just
> pack it up and move on).
> 
> A planet based Shipyard would probably cover several hectares (or even
> km^2) and have frames for basic ships types and then modify or custom
> build a frame for each ship being built.
> 
> An orbital Shipyard would be similar and have frames jutting out all
> over the place to hold a ship in place while in construction.
> 
> In summary I expect that building ships requires lots of space but I
> wouldn't expect it to need much more than the ship already uses (say
> 10% more on all dimensions (to allow for access and storage).
> 
> What say you?

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 01:38:48 -0600
From: Erwin Fritz <efritz@glja.com>
Subject: Re: Boarding Action

Bruce E J Lewis wrote:
> 
>         I think an air / raft can achieve orbit, can't it? Does this mean that it
> will also be able to operate in space, so that characters can use it to
> convey themselves from one ship to another?
> 

Air/rafts can achieve orbit. Remember, though, that they are grav
vehicles. This means that they must have a decent sized gravity well
against which to push. So they can't operate in deep space.

>         Do your players tend to dock directly with the ship they are about to board?
> 

My PC's tend to pull up alongside and use a cable fired from a 
harpoon-type gun. This assumes that the other ship is not actively
fighting the attempt.

>         Or do they tend to go for the good ol' vacc suit, rolling every ten
> minutes for mishaps?
> 

Yup.

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 97 11:48:00 GMT 
From: s.johnson107@genie.com
Subject: Fire in Space

> As I understand it a match will go out because it is too small a flame
> to drag fresh air to it.  A larger fire will & thus can be dangerous.
> If I understand correctly even a large fire could not spread quite as
> rapidly as in gravity but the fact that it was using up the oxygen in
> the air would serve to make it more deadly. It will burn out when it
> runs out of oxygen but that will be too late for anyone who needs to
> breathe.
    I've reading this, waiting for someone with a knowledge of fire to say it,
but since no one has... ;)

    To exist a Fire needs three elements at the same time...

       Oxygen
       /   \
    Fuel - Heat

    The triangle is deliberate, without anyone of those elements the the fire
stops.  Note I said stops, not extinguished. ;) The infamous "Backdraft" of
movie fame comes from when you close a room and deprive the fire of oxygen but
not the other two elements.  With heat and fuel available the fire waits, thus
when you open a door or window, giving the fire oxygen, combustion kicks back
in and it roars back to life.  This is all part of the charm of what make Fire
seem to be alive BTW.

    Now in space you have the natural ability to deprive Fire of one of the
elements it needs.  The ambient tempature of the universe at large is what?
Around 3 Kelvin if memory serves?  Starve the Fire of Heat and it stops.  Once
that's done you can go in and figure out what has been in combustion and stop
that cold and the fire is gone.  It's that simple and that complex. ;)

Stephen

Post Scriptum; Yeah Battlestar Galactica mucked up the fire in space episode,
but then that was always a more visual show then anything else. ;)

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 11:56:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: CardSharks@aol.com
Subject: Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist

In a message dated 97-06-14 09:42:24 EDT, you write:

<< 
 Would it be easier to generate a mix of trade codes and look through the
 list for an appropriate mainworld?
 >>
The tables define a way to do things without racing forward into world
generation, which was, I think, a problem with the old homeworld system. 

The Homeworld Birthworld tables do two things: they assign a specific set of
Trade classifications as a result of die rolls, and they tell what each TC
can produce as a homeworld skill.

A player can substitute selecting a world from a list instead. And the book
will have a Core sector map, and list of UWPs in the back.

Marc

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 10:03:15 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@pcisys.net>
Subject: Re: Boarding Action

At 01:25 am 06/14/97 +0100, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>	My player characters are about to board another ship in deep space. What
>way do any of you tend to play this, or what do players tend to find most
>practical?
>
>	I think an air / raft can achieve orbit, can't it? Does this mean that it
>will also be able to operate in space, so that characters can use it to
>convey themselves from one ship to another?

	Air/Rafts in all versions of Traveller have been able to achieve low
orbit. Under MT and T4, however, the anti-gravity/contra-gravity propulsion
used loses efficiency quite rapidly as you rise up out of a gravity well.
By about 10 diameters they're effectively worthless. So Air/Rafts and other
Grav vehicles aren't that great at inter-ship transfers in deep space, only
in low planetary orbits.

- -- 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, 14 Jun 1997 10:06:45 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@pcisys.net>
Subject: Re: Jump drives

At 06:22 pm 06/14/97 +0930, you wrote:
>I have none of the disagreements with the discussion of the jump drives
>and the jump space theory. All of the replies seem to be quite logical.
>The only thing that I still don't understand is why Jump space takes a
>week no matter how far you jump. It would be understandable if a Jump-1
>drive took a week to jump 1 parsec and a jump-6 drive took a week to jump
>6 parsecs, but through my understanding a jump-6 drive still takes a week
>to jump 1 parsec.
>
>The only solution that I have with that is based upon a theory that I read
>in "the Physics of Star Trek" (I forget the name of the author). I also
>heard this theory on "Future Fantastic". The theory was based on the
>possibility that space is curved. If space is curved then you could take a
>short cut form one point in space to another. The short cut would take the
>form of a wormhole. It is like folding a peice of paper over and the
>poking a whole through the sheets. A trip that would take a while when
>travelling along the paper takes only a short time by going through the
>hole.
>
>My point is that it doesn't matter how far you travel, the length of the
>wormhole will always be the same. The question of why no higher than
>Jump-6 is then raised. The only answer that I have for that is that the
>energy usage in prohibitive.
>
>This may go against Traveller Canon a bit, but then I've never stuck
>firmly to any game rules.

	The True Answer for this: That's how Marc Miller, et. al. wanted Jump to
work when they originally created Traveller. It provided interesting
limitations on travel, trade and communications, and has driven the nature
of the entire Imperium background that's grown up since then...

	FWIW, I tend to just go with "that's how long it takes the jump bubble to
decay" theory...
- -- 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, 14 Jun 1997 18:16:50 +0100
From: Bruce E J Lewis <bruce@legend.ftech.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Shipyard size

At 21:30 14/06/97 +1200, Brody  Dunn wrote:
>> In summary I expect that building ships requires lots of space but I
>> wouldn't expect it to need much more than the ship already uses (say
>> 10% more on all dimensions (to allow for access and storage).
>> 
>> What say you?
>
	I'd possibly compare it to a construction hanger for 747's, or the
construction hangar for the space shuttle. Orbital contruction hangers
probably wouldn't need to be entirely enclosed, but ground based ones
would, unless on an airless world. Just think of the surrounding space
requried when building space shuttles and 747's and figure on how much
space is needed for shifting QSDS and SSDS modules about without the risk
of them bumping into anything.

	See ya...


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

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 13:48:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: CMcknight@aol.com
Subject: Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist

>  The character generation charts are now 20 pages (each a separate file) in
>  Word For Windows 95. If you can read them, I will email them to you. I
want
>  feedback on usability.
>  
>  I'm sorry for those of you who can't read WFW95; that's what I use and
have
>  used it to format for the typesetter to emulate.
>  
>  Marc

Yes please. I can handle WFW95 with no problems.

Chuck McKnight
cmcknight@aol.com
cmcknigh@gte.net

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 97 18:57 BST-1
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist

In-Reply-To: <970614011514_288205170@emout08.mail.aol.com>

,

> The character generation charts are now 20 pages (each a separate file) in
> Word For Windows 95. If you can read them, I will email them to you. I want
> feedback on usability.

I'd like to see them.
______________________________________________________________________
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 97 18:57 BST-1
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist

In-Reply-To: <970614011514_288205170@emout08.mail.aol.com>

,

> The character generation charts are now 20 pages (each a separate file) in
> Word For Windows 95. If you can read them, I will email them to you. I want
> feedback on usability.

I'd like to see them.
______________________________________________________________________
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 20:30:22 +0200
From: Goran Sjoberg <NGC1201@communique.se>
Subject: Re: FFS Gauss Weapon Design (the final solution)

>	TL	TLm
>	10	1.6	
>	11	1.3
>	12	1.0
>	13	0.8
>	14	0.6
>	16	0.4
>
>	BarrelLength = V / (100 * TLm)
>
Here is the deal, guys..

Follow me through this thought. The barrel is supposed to be shorter the
higer the TL so if you think the above table is valid,, think this:

Barrellength = (Velocity / 100) * TL modifier

It's so simple.

First compute velocity times hundred. Then take the result and divide it
with the modifier. I used a velocity of 4000 in the example below.

<BL  = (Vel    /100)    *TLm>     <TL
 -------------------------------------
 64	4000	  100	    1,6       10
 52	4000	  100      1,3       11
 40	4000	  100	    1         12
 32	4000	  100	    0,8       13
 24	4000	  100	    0,6       14
 16	4000	  100	    0,4       16
 -------------------------------------

So, for a TL: 13 Gaus rifle, the barrel is 32 centimeter.

Goran, the happy gamer

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 16:48:22 -0400
From: "Paul D. Owensby" <pauld@athens.net>
Subject: Alien Races (was Pocket Empires)

>Since there are no DM's noted, this breaks down
>to roughly:
>
>83% Human minor
>14% Alien minor
> 3% Alien major
>
>Any particular reason for this?  There's only about
>40 surviving Human Minor races in Imperial space
>(and environs); which means about one, maybe two per 
>sector. While that number could be tweaked
>somewhat, and some H-minor races are spread over
>several subsectors at least (e.g. Geonee, Suerrat),
>it seems hard to justify that kind of statistical
>predominance.
>
>Maybe it's best it was left off.
>
>Personally, I'd switch the die rolls for Human
>and Alien minor races, and give a boost in
>importance to the Bwaps et al. of the universe. 
>
>Optionally (which is already the case), GM's can
>assign alien populations as they see fit.

Something that has my curiosity piqued here, how many people
play with the minor races as common parts of their campaigns? This
posting got me to thinking about what kinds of adventures I run on
a usual basis, and I realized that minor alien sentients rarely crop up
on a routine basis. If my players land at a starport, they get the usual
background "You see the usual assortment of shapes, sizes, and colors
from all over the Imperium," but they never seem to ask for anything
further and I rarely seem to flesh out anything more. 90% of my games
involve the Major races as NPCs and PCs, with the token alien thrown
in for color occasionally, or in that remaining 10% where a minor
race will be thrown in as the ally/enemy/obstacle in whatever quest
they happen to be on. Not exactly Mos Eisley Spaceport.

I think this is also why, although I really liked Alien Archive, it is also
the least used of my Traveller books; even First Survey gets opened
more because I need the maps.

So hands up, folks. How do y'all use minor aliens in your games and
what impact have they had on the way you and your players game?

**********************************************************
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, 14 Jun 1997 14:50:58 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Tech levels and shipyards.

A query - Regina is not TL 15 in M1100, yet the General Products Shipyards
are producing TL15 Kinuir class scrap heaps for the Navy. Does this mean
that the presence of a Naval Base allows shipyards to break the planet's TL
limit? I'd always assumed that the planet's TL limited the construction
ability.

Also, can a TL12 world really perform the annual maintenance on a TL13+ ship?

- ------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com-------
"You may not recall the moment you asked me, but your
invitation was clear. You'll pretend you never met me,
but it's far too late now I'm here." Hogarth/Helmer

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 22:59:56 +0000
From: Garry Ward <Garry.E.Ward@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Jump drives

At 08:52 AM 6/14/97 +0000, David wrote:
><snip>
>
>My point is that it doesn't matter how far you travel, the length of the
>wormhole will always be the same. The question of why no higher than
>Jump-6 is then raised. The only answer that I have for that is that the
>energy usage in prohibitive.
>
>This may go against Traveller Canon a bit, but then I've never stuck
>firmly to any game rules.
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>"Apollo ordained my fate ... but the hand that struck my eyes were mine
>alone." Oedipus Tyrannos
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>

From Professor Davros:
Yes, power is required in larger amounts, but so is the need for precision &
control in the application of that power. Overpowering a jump drive unit is
a classic event in misjumps. With out the increase in precision of
termination point co ordinate calculations and the increase in control over
the application of the energy, you tend to randomly terminate from jump.
This three part  relationship is one reason why increases in effective
jumpable distances usually coincide in increases in tech level.

  

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 16:55:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mark Ayers <mark@bbic.com>
Subject: Re: Alien Races (was Pocket Empires)

I must confess to using too few minor alien races. When I realize this and
include them the flow of the game changes and they take on a too important
role in the game. Mentioning them on an irregular basis becomes a clue to
the PCs wheter or not it was intended that way.

The moral: Gotta be even in the use of the scenery, like a teacher needs
to be even in grading papers or a parent needs to be even in metting out
discipline.

- ----------
Mark Ayers
Net Admin for the Book and Bean Internet Cafe: <admin@bbic.com>
Traveller Referee for Seattle Metro Gamers  <mark@bbic.com>
- ----------

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

Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 03:50:34 +0200
From: Goran Sjoberg <NGC1201@communique.se>
Subject: A challenge for you all!!

	While reading the lists mail i've come up with this fanatic idea, keeping
in mind that the most of us want to play RPG as storytelling with a medium
of details:
	 What if the most resorurceful of us manufacture maps of the described
ships in circulation? What people want, i think is deckplans of recent
ships for roleplaying.. The thuddd leaders,, make some competitions around
that topic.
	There is as much ships as there is game masters, what we need is plans for
those ships. What do you think of my idea? good ey.

Goran, the happy gamer

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

Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 03:50:36 +0200
From: Goran Sjoberg <NGC1201@communique.se>
Subject: message to imperium games!

	While producing materials i have noticed that you send out messages like,
test this and test that. I think that all the members on this list and all
other people being Traveller fans must be concidered beta testers. We are
using the rules, do we not? An who is noticing the bugs if not the people
using the rules!
	As an experienced writer in different RPG games i must say: Give us
greater credits. When a bug has occured, rewrite the game before release.

	In different releases i have found out that the time spent to produce the
game, was lost in the money to fix the bugs the beta testers did uncover.
All in all, no more errata. It is reducing the value of the current version
of the RPG and thus making it ugly. What is more disturbing than to find an
errata page in a RPG games paperback. 

Goran, the happy gamer

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

Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 00:34:27 -0400
From: Bill Rutherford <worj@topgun.cinecom.com>
Subject: Long Way, Psionics, & Anomolies

My opinion of IG rises - the three noted books arrived in my mailbox the
same day they made it to my FLGS (as opposed to several days after, as I've
become accustomed to...)

- ---------------
Bill Rutherford
worj@topgun.cinecom.com

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

Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 00:37:28 -0400
From: Bill Rutherford <worj@topgun.cinecom.com>
Subject: Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist

Marc Miller, please send - I'm VERY interested...

At 03:03 AM 6/14/97 EST, you wrote:

<Snip>...
>...If you can read them, I will email them to you. I want
>feedback on usability.
>

Apologies to the list for posting this globally, but my ISP strips ALL
routing information from incoming msgs (please, no comments - it's under
attack!), so the ONLY return address to which I have access is this august
body...    ;^)

- ---------------
Bill Rutherford
worj@topgun.cinecom.com

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

Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 22:03:04 -0800
From: Richard Hough <rdhough@orca.bc.ca>
Subject: Re: T4.1 Chargen: Increasing Skill points

>> What I am suggesting is that skill point totals be considered the same as
>> characteristic point totals; just as an 'average' person might have a Str
>> of 7 and a weightlifter have one of 14, an 'average' starship pilot would
>> have a Pilot skill of 7 and an ace have one of 14.

Robert Flammang (FLAMMANG@vms.cis.pitt.edu) posts:

>... we'd need to roll about
>4 dice to make a routine task difficulty.  That's a fair amount of
>dice.  Of course, we could always average the (skill + attribute)/2,
>or use min(skill, attribute) and roll two dice, or whatever.

Well, my original idea was to roll huge handfuls of dice (I love doing
that), but after trying out a few task rolls using this method I found the
probabilities clustered too heavily around the average roll.  The effect
was that characters with high target numbers would automatically succeed at
everything but the most absurd number of dice, and characters with low
target numbers had no hope of succeeding even easy tasks. Not good. Using
(skill + attribute)/2 would fix this, but remembering the posts against
KBv1.1 I don't think anything requiring division is going to fly.


Kenneth Bearden (dreamer@weck.brokersys.com) posts:

>Right now, T4 is CT with a few tweaks.  Many of the same rules and
>throws apply.  If you made a change in the skill level value, you'd
>have to go through the whole book and fix multiple CT rules that use
>the old skill values.

Well, I don't think there would be all that many; the task and experience
systems, but they will have to be fixed anyway; table DMs would have to be
replaced by skill breakpoints (eg. +2 DM for Broker 8+ instead of +Broker
DM), and opposed task rolls instead of using skill as a DM.

However, on the larger question I think you are right; it's a little late
in the process to be making such a significant change to the fundamental
game mechanics. I had thought this system would be similar to TNE and
therefore be able to leverage off TNE's mechanics and adventures. However,
there seems a much greater base of support for CT than TNE (I would include
myself in this generalization).

>Again.  Great idea.  I would be for that.  But, what you are talking
>about is a complete overhaul of the existing T4 rule book and game
>philosophy.  No longer would the game be based on CT.

Aye, there's the rub. One of the advantages of T4 is that it is similar
enough to CT to be able to pull out old GDW adventures and JTAS articles
and use them on a new generation of characters. There's something very
satisfying about being able to integrate 20-year old adventures with the
newest set of rules. And a lot of those old adventures were pretty good, I
wouldn't want to make them obsolete when there are ways of fixing the rules
which keeps them compatible.

>Actually, a 7 is considered average for a normal human.  Traveller
>characters may average higher due to DMs in chargen, but they're
>supposed to be the cream of the crop.

Is the chargen sequence only appropriate for exceptional characters or is
it representative of typical citizens? Some things, like getting your own
scout ship to joyride in and learning powerful psionic abilities, seem
vastly more likely from the rules than you would expect from the campaign
background. On the other hand, I have had a lot of characters generated
with this sequence who are more like the chaff of the crop. If it really is
only for exceptional characters there should be guidelines for making truly
average characters.

>If this was done, T4 would definitely be a new animal--it would be
>T5.

[snip]

>My notes are above.  Too radical a change?  It's definitely a good
>idea, but I don't think its a good choice for Traveller at this stage
>of the game.

I would have to agree. Whatever the merits of making all points run off the
same scale, it would require more than T5; it would require going back in
time and revising all the books IG has already released. And while I
wouldn't mind seeing some books revised, I realize IG is not going to make
money doing this unless the revised books have new content people are
willing to pay for. IMHO changing the allocation of points isn't enough.

My 'suggestion' was more for a house rule than to really suggest IG use it
in T4.1. In fact, I don't think I'll use this rule myself; it would require
too much effort. I guess I'm just not a heretic - I'll use the published
rules unless they actually harm enjoyment of the game. Besides, my players
would lynch me if I changed the task system again... Looks like I'm stuck
with KBv2!


eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch) posts:

>Richard, the effect is more or less what Ken is doing with his
>KB2.0...though he might not admit it.  ;-> I'm all for dropping
>references to the number of times a skill has been rolled in character
>generation, and instead use whole or partial target numbers.

The effect is similar, only Kenneth was able to do it by making 2 simple,
specific changes only to the task sytem and keep the results compatible
with all the published rules. My change would require rewriting practically
every book IG has published; I am not saying that would be a bad thing,
it's just unlikely to happen.

Unfortunately, as Kenneth also pointed out, you have to keep track of "the
number of times a skill has been rolled in character generation" to use as
DMs in a lot of cases. Sigh.

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

End of Traveller-digest V1997 #1427
***********************************
