Traveller-digest    Wednesday, September 8 1999    Volume 1999 : Number 1073



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: 5FW: fleet #1?
Re: Merc Equipment
Re: Foundation of the Traveller News Service
Re: Merc Equipment
Dustbin
Re: Dustbin
Re: Jump Horizons of stars
Re: Jump Horizons of stars
Re: Technology Demographics
Re: Technology Demographics
Re: Imperial Military and PR 
Re: Merc Equipment 
Re: Technology Demographics
r e: meaning of GT (was "Cannons other than...)
Re: meaning of GT (was "Cannons other than...)
RPGA UK collapsed into DCI CCG 
Roger S.
Re: Dustbin
Re: Dustbin 

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 08:53:26 -0500
From: "Pat Connaughton" <pconn@i1.net>
Subject: Re: 5FW: fleet #1?

<Snip>>> 
>> Year: 1116
>> Sector: Spinward Marches
>> Sub-Sector: G: Lanth
>> Fleet: 018th
>> Reserve Fleet: 1018th

Would anyone have the OB for this fleet?

Thanks
Pat Connaughton
ICQ # 2535086

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 15:14:21 +0100
From: Phil Kitching <postmark.design@btinternet.com>
Subject: Re: Merc Equipment

At 09:46 08/09/1999 -0400, Ian Ferguson <ian@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote:
>A question to the list regarding the equipment of mercenary groups:
>
>I have always assumed that mercs are responsible for the purchase and
>maintainance of their own personal weapons and equipment (gun, armour,
>commo, etc.).  Is this reasonable?  What about mercs who opperate more
>expensive equipment such as a plasma support weapon or MRL?  Artillery?
>AFV's?  I cannot imagine individual soldiers paying for a grav tank, but a
>HMG might be reasonable.  Perhaps the group has a "lay-away" plan so that a
>merc can pay in installments.  What about ammunition?  Spares?  Repairs?
>Any constructive comments would be welcome.

My take is that individual mercs tend to come unequipped.
Possibly just personal gear and a sidearm.

It's so much easier for them to move around the Imperium like this.

If you want support weapons or a tank, you'd have to hire
a merc company. These either have their own transport or contacts with
traders who don't mind them coming on board with enough weaponry to
attack a planet.

Of course, the patron could supply their own equipment, but to quote
Chris[1] "men are cheaper than guns".

[1] gratuitous movie reference

Phil Kitching
- --
  http://www.btinternet.com/~salvo/
  Postmark Design Bureau, Emerging Technologies Division.
 "Microwaving half-baked ideas from across the Galaxy"

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 07:45:16 -0700
From: Richard Hough <rdhough@home.com>
Subject: Re: Foundation of the Traveller News Service

>Not answering your question (sorry) but just a comment... I am beginning
>to suspect a trend of historical revisionism, intent on giving credit to
>Cleon I for having invented everything good in the Imperium. Time was,
>it was generally held that the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service was
>formed somewhere in the 600s when the Imperium started to expand after
>the civil wars, and a need was seen for a specialized service whose job
>was exploration and mapping beyond the frontier. Now in the latest works
>(GT) we read about how the IISS actually developed out of an equivalent
>Sylean service.

They can both be right. The original IISS could have been formed from the
Sylean service and was reformed or replaced by a new IISS after the civil
war. In fact, it is possible that many imperial agencies were reformed
several times during the 3I's history.

Most likely the original Sylean scout service, and the early IISS, were
completely different from the service in the later Imperium. The Sylean
Federation never dealt with more than about 20 of its nearby neighbors.
There have also been complaints about the poor quality of astrographic data
in Milieu 0. How could this happen in an empire that had interstellar
travel for over 600 years?

IMTU the Sylean Federation was extremely isolationist, and the scout
service mostly administrative. The Sylean scouts collect astrographic data
from historical records and cross-check it against stationary sensor
arrays, naval intelligence, and sensor logs from traders and explorers.
They do not actually explore space themselves. Exploration and adventuring
is done by military intelligence, non-profit societies, academic
researchers, corporate expeditions, far traders, and unsanctioned treasure
hunters. When Cleon I formed the early IISS he recruited a lot of the
corporate and private explorers, which explains its distinctly non-military
command structure.

- --
IMTU t4+ ru ge+ !3i(3i++) jt-- au+ ls- 

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 11:31:44 -0400
From: jmaclean@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Re: Merc Equipment

Ian Ferguson wrote:
> A question to the list regarding the equipment of mercenary groups:
>I have always assumed that mercs are responsible for the purchase and
>maintainance of their own personal weapons and equipment (gun, >armour, commo, etc.).  Is this reasonable?  What about mercs who >opperate more expensive equipment such as a plasma support weapon or >MRL?  Artillery? AFV's?  I cannot imagine individual soldiers paying >for a grav tank, but a HMG might be reasonable.  Perhaps the group >has a "lay-away" plan so that a merc can pay in installments.  What >about ammunition?  Spares?  Repairs?
>Any constructive comments would be welcome.

I think the most effective way to run a merc outfit would be as close to a
regular military unit as possible.  This means the merc company pays for all
the equipment and gives the troops their share of the left-over money.

1) This prevents incentive incompatibilities between doing what is in the
unit's best interest and in doing what is in an individual trooper's financial
best interest.  For instance, if you're pinned down and need help, you don't
want the artillery boys skimping on fire support because they're trying to save
money on ammo.

2) If everyone has their own gear, logistics become more difficult because
nothing is the same and you have to bring many types of spares, ammo, etc.

3) I'd think it would be bad for unit discipline and planning if individual
troops decided what sort of equipment to buy and then the commanding officers
had to figure out how to fight with the resulting hodge-podge.

Jim MacLean
Co-Author GT:Far Trader

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 10:44:45 -0500
From: "Robert Eaglestone" <eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: Dustbin

Howdy folks,

Opinions and experiences solicited: I am trimming dead wood
out of our Traveller group, and I'm wondering if anyone out
there has ever had to boot a member from their group?

Rob

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 12:44:24 -0300
From: Michel Vaillancourt <misha@empire.atlantic-online.ns.ca>
Subject: Re: Dustbin

At 10:44 AM 08/09/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>Howdy folks,
>
>Opinions and experiences solicited: I am trimming dead wood
>out of our Traveller group, and I'm wondering if anyone out
>there has ever had to boot a member from their group?
>
>Rob
>

        FTF or PBEM?

	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	Michel R. Vaillancourt	misha@atlantic-online.ns.ca
				ICQ # 31172292
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	    NET-City Communications....
	         Providing "Solutions for the Common Company"
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	***REMEMBER - Always virus-check your emails ***
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 09:04:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com>
Subject: Re: Jump Horizons of stars

Phil Kitching writes:

> But the stars *don't* have the same surface temperature.

All stars in the same spectral class have similar surface temperature, be they
type I supergiants or main sequence stars.  My point was that the formula
observed for main sequence stars should work for all stars, regardless of
size.

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 18:05:46 +0100
From: Phil Kitching <postmark.design@btinternet.com>
Subject: Re: Jump Horizons of stars

At 09:04 08/09/1999 -0700, Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com> wrote:
>Phil Kitching writes:
>
>> But the stars *don't* have the same surface temperature.
>
>All stars in the same spectral class have similar surface temperature,
>be they type I supergiants or main sequence stars.  My point was that
>the formula observed for main sequence stars should work for all stars,
>regardless of size.

I see what you meant and agree totally.

Phil Kitching
	
- --
  http://www.btinternet.com/~salvo/
  Postmark Design Bureau, Emerging Technologies Division.
 "Microwaving half-baked ideas from across the Galaxy"

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 12:17:25 -0500
From: "Kurtis Rodgers" <kurtis@fastlane.net>
Subject: Re: Technology Demographics

I recently tired of messing with my cheapo 19-inch monitor, and dropped the
proverbial wad on a 21-inch Trinitron.  So put me down in the 1280 x 1024
column.  (I couldn't be happier, although I was reduced to peanutbutter &
jelly sandwiches for the next month paying for it!  :)

Another point that started this thread was the idea that TMLers, as presumed
math and science types, would tend towards high-end equipment.  The only
counterpoint I would add, is that I can easily imagine an engineering type
looking at a old 8088 and seeing a Neat Toy ("I can use this to reprogram my
dishwasher!").  Whereas I (a GUI programmer) would have induced flashbacks
of CS-101, compiling UCSD Pascal code from floppies, and beg somebody to
haul the sad boat anchor off to the museum.  :P

Some fraction of this list (as gamers) will, however, be engaged in the
computer game hobby.  I wouldn't presume to guess the percentages - I'm sure
some of us have little use for computer games.  But graphics workstations
aside, the high-end consumer market is driven by game software.  A P4/K7/G4
CPU is not essential to run office suites (but it doen't hurt, of course :).
Thus, while I justify my home network as a client-server development and
test environment, its ulterior purpose is a two-player game LAN:

Primary box (Prometheus) - Celeron 300A overclocked to 450 Mhz, 128 meg ram,
G200 8 meg video, dual Voodoo 2s w/12 meg running SLI (scan-line interleave)
3D graphics acceleration, MX300 audio, 4.3 Gig UW-SCSI, 10 Gig UDMA, 52x
CD-ROM, ZIP drive, 100 megabit NIC, V90 modem, 21" Sony Multiscan 500PS

Secondary box (Epimetheus) - same as above, except only one video card
(nVidia TNT w/16 meg & TV-out), MX200 audio (SB Live! upgrade pending), 9
Gig U-SCSI, 13 Gig UDMA, 32x CD-ROM, 4x CD-ROM burner, generic 17" monitor
(my 19" is in the 'RMA Zone').

I'm the type that gives away my old machines, but I do still have an old Mac
SE that won't boot.  (Yes, I'm an apostate Mac user, please don't hurt me!
:)

Kurtis

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 18:37:14 +0100
From: Phil Kitching <postmark.design@btinternet.com>
Subject: Re: Technology Demographics

Here's my claim to the obscure computer market:

At home:

Acorn Risc PC, 200MHz SA/100MHz 586, ram 34MB, disc 4GB + 420MB, 24xCD,
4XCD/MO, RICS OS3.8, 17" Monitor usually running 1280x1024x256.

(this machine has the internet access)

(another RPC is due to arrive anyday now)

More boringly:

Psion series 5 (8MB) (EPOC32)

Toshiba laptop (200MHz pentium, 32MB, 2GB, CD, Win98, 800x600x256 display
(I've lied to Win98 and told it that it has 65536 colours so that Civ2ToT
 would run - it doesn't seem to mind.)

And, at work

Compaq, 350MHz PII, 64MB, 3GB, CD, NT4, 17" monitor running 1152x864x65536.

Phil Kitching
- --
  http://www.btinternet.com/~salvo/
  Postmark Design Bureau, Emerging Technologies Division.
 "Microwaving half-baked ideas from across the Galaxy"

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 14:15:56 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Imperial Military and PR 

> >Real world example. In the US in the 50s, Disney aired a "Davey
> >Crockett" (or was it Daniel Boone?) series on TV. Kids quickly came up
> >with a parody of the theme song.
> 
> I remember the old Daniel Boone television series (with Fess Parker
> in the lead role, if I recall correctly...), and the parody version
> of the theme song. Or at least, *a* parody of the theme song. In fact,
> the parody lyrics are the only ones I know.
> 
> "Daniel Boone was a man,
>  Yes, a big man,
>  But the bear was bigger..."
> 
> There are two more lines, but I'll stop here because the next line
> includes a word that is by contemporary standards a rather nasty
> ethnic epithet...

What, you're afraid to say 'wanker' in an international list?  <grin>

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 14:22:25 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Merc Equipment 

> At 09:46 08/09/1999 -0400, Ian Ferguson <ian@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote:
> >A question to the list regarding the equipment of mercenary groups:
> >
> >I have always assumed that mercs are responsible for the purchase and
> >maintainance of their own personal weapons and equipment (gun, armour,
> >commo, etc.).  Is this reasonable?  What about mercs who opperate more
> >expensive equipment such as a plasma support weapon or MRL?  Artillery?
> >AFV's?  I cannot imagine individual soldiers paying for a grav tank, but a
> >HMG might be reasonable.  Perhaps the group has a "lay-away" plan so that a
> >merc can pay in installments.  What about ammunition?  Spares?  Repairs?
> >Any constructive comments would be welcome.
> 
> My take is that individual mercs tend to come unequipped.
> Possibly just personal gear and a sidearm.
> 
> It's so much easier for them to move around the Imperium like this.

IMTU, only merc *units* can afford the heavy ticket items like MRLs and such. 
 Usually, 'new recruits' generated under Mercenary or the core rules (CT of 
course) tend to show up with a duffel full of fatigues with the unit patches 
& rank insignias removed, and personal weapons.  And the Imperium (and most 
interstellar governments, with a few exceptions) only allow them to use 
'civilianised' versions of these weapons.  I.e., yeah, a beginning character 
*can* get an ACR as part of their initial gearload, but before anybody lets 
it out of their weapon inventory, it's been converted to semiauto, and the 
really advanced electronic battlesight has been removed.  They can be 
converted back, if you have the money, and the right contacts, but then 
moving them across interstellar borders gets hairier.  You'd need the various 
End User permits, your Imperial Mercenary License, ad nauseum.  Of course, 
the merc unit you're with would cover those issues with their own 
paperwork,,,  <grin>
 
Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 13:44:54 -0500
From: Chris Olson <chris@pdaguy.com>
Subject: Re: Technology Demographics

Put me down as a technophile (these are just the ones currently set up):

1) 400 MHz Celeron w/64 meg, 6.2 gig, 16 meg Rva TNT2 16x CDROM, 8x4x4 CDWriter,
an internal ZIP, and a USB etwork adapter

2) Pentium II 233 MMX w 32 Meg, 3.2 gig, 12 gig, 24x CDROM, TV-Tuner and USB
Network

3) Pentium 200 Mhx laptop with 40 meg, 2.0 gig, active matrix 800x600 display, a
3Comm PCMCIA card, and an adaptec SCSI PCMCIA card

4) 486DX-100 w/16 meg, 512 meg, 8xCDROM and a 3Comm ethernet card

5) Palm-V

6) PalmPilot professional w/3.0 IR upgrade.

along with all of this we have a seial based GPS to play with whichcan talk to
the pilots and the PCs, a color inkjet and a laser printer.

Chris Olson
chris@pdaguy.com

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 17:41:50 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: r e: meaning of GT (was "Cannons other than...)

"David P. Summers" <summers@alum.mit.edu> writes:
>[Note, I most certainly don't consider D&D to be a generic system]

But first and early second ed (A)D&D provides a pretty okay generic fantasy
RPG. It's not, for example, like RQ/Elric where the rules are flavoured to
emphasis a setting. Admittedly the magic is Vancian.

Dom

- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ 

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 17:48:00 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Re: meaning of GT (was "Cannons other than...)

"Chris Seamans" <semo@pil.net> writes:
>I'm not sure I would agree. Attracting such undesirables as rules lawyers is
>simply a factor of how popular the game is. They're a type of roleplayer and
>they *thrive* off of being able to lord their "vast knowledge" of a game
>over other players and GMs. There's a much greater chance that they will be
>attracted, like like flies to... um... you know, to the more popular
>systems.
>
>If Traveller had a fanbase the size of GURPS or AD&D, I'm sure there'd be
>rules lawyers among us. Just IMHO... ;)

Don't we call them gear-heads? <g,d,r>

Hang on, that covers me too. Ooops. Nah! Let's not call them gearheads...

Dom

- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ 

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 20:17:23 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: RPGA UK collapsed into DCI CCG 

ObTrav: BITS produces Traveller Tournaments for the RPGA UK to use. This
raises the profile of Traveller in the UK and Europe. The absorbing of the
RPGA into a CCG dominated group is not necessarily good for Traveller in
the UK.

from uk.games. roleplay

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT
Dateline: Sunday 5th September 1999, Loughborough University, UK.

Before starting this announcement, I should point out that this is
based on a public announcement at UK GC 99 by John Brown, the Chairman
of RPGA(UK), conversations with members of the steering committee of
RPGA UK, and a brief private conversation with Peter Atkinson, the CEO
of WotC, all of whom were at UK GC 99. My opinions are my own, and
provided that I am informed by personal (private) e-mail to
(roger@isgwds.enterprise-plc.com), corrections will be made, if I am
at fault.

RPGA(UK) HANDED OVER TO DCI COLLECTIBLE CARD GAMES ORGANISATION.

It appears that the Role Playing Games Association (UK) (RPGA UK) has
been handed over to the DCI organisation.

Background: Wizards of the Coast (WotC) bought TSR when they went
belly up. In doing so, they bought the rights to the RPGA
organisation, world-wide, including all membership lists, and
membership database entries belonging to the RPGA(UK).

RPGA(UK) had been in decline for a few years prior to this, and WotC
put one of their own employees (John Brown) in the chairman spot, in
order to bring RPGA(UK) back as a credible organisation for the UK
Role Playing scene to rally around, which it did, by organising the UK
Gen Con events. At the same time, the internal organisation of WotC
created/extended it's marketing "Organised Gaming" sub-division into
two sub-trees, one for RPGA(UK) and one for their mainly CCG
(Collectable Card games) section, called DCI (don't ask, I don't know
what it stands for). DCI is WotC's own creation, as I understand this.

DCI is obviously aimed at supporting the core actions of WotC -
selling M:tg CCG packs and games. RPGA is aimed at the RPG hobby as a
whole, but with emphasis on selling TSR line products. It's all a
marketing exercise, when you come down to it, but one which aids (or
did until Sunday) all of us.

Sunday, immediately following the UK Gen Con 1999 prize-giving
ceremony, John Brown, RPGA(UK) Chairman, announced that the entire
RPGA(UK) committee, including himself, were stepping down from their
posts, as the RPGA(UK) had been handed in its entirety to DCI, in an
internal WotC restructuring operation. Paraphrased, Mr Brown explained
was bad news for us as RP Gamers, as the man in charge from now on was
exclusively a CCG player, and had little or no interest in RP gaming.

The effect on the audience was immediate, and visible: From a
mirth-filled crowd enjoying the last few hours of the premiere Games
Convention in the UK, the mood changed to that of a wake following a
funeral.

After this, I managed to grab a few minutes of Peter Atkinson's time
(He's CEO of WotC in the US, and runs the entire organisation). He was
rather surprised at this announcement, and had no knowledge of what
had been in the offing, stating that "Something's gotten f***ed up",
and that he was really "pissed" about the entire situation.

I am NOT condemning WotC's position at all. They are in business to
make money, and have, after all, the right to run their show in the
way they see fit. I would mention to them in passing that in my view
it's impossible to make a UK Convention make a profit - you mighyt
just break even, but it's more a marketting exercise, it helps sell
your wares, and gives a good PR spin for your company.

I AM, however, calling into question the sense in placing a
Collectible Card Game player, with apparently no interest in RP games,
in charge of a primarily Role-Playing Organisation such as RPGA(UK).

This action by WotC can only harm our hobby, in my view.

It may even sound the death-knell to Cen Con in the UK.

******

The Impossible Scenarios Group is a loose association of Games
masters, who write and run tournament-quality adventures. Membership
is by invitation only, and ISG has been in existance for over seven
years. ISG is a non-profit, informal organisation.

Best regards,

Roger Stenning
Founder, Impossible Scenarios Group

Visit the Millennium's End London Sourcebook!
  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/5037/melsb/melsb_index.html

Hi All.

This is a heads up on the current status of the RPGA UK as it was left
at 12:00PM today 6th September 1999

The Steering committee and most of the Regional Directors have
resigned. Discussions have taken place with
Peter Adkinson (CEO of Wizards of the Coast Inc.)

The results of these discussions now have to be debated and a decision
made which will hopefully happen in a meeting of the
RPGA UK Steering Committee (as was) which is currently pencilled in
for Sunday 19th September.

Until then the RPGA UK is in a dormant state but we hope that cool heads
will prevail and some people make the right decisions for the benefit of
all Gamers everywhere.

My best wishes go to all of you.

Karim C Kronfli

Please remove NOSPAM from E-mail address. You know what to do!

Firstly we would both like to thank you for your support in this matter.

As Regional Directors (now ex-Regional Directors) of the RPGA, we thought
some background may be in order.

The various RDs up and down the country have worked hard in the last year or
so to make things a lot better.  I hope that those people who did attend Gen
Con this year had a good time and noticed this.

Things have taken a turn for the worse.  The RPGA UK as it stands is still
in existence but at the moment what form it will take is in debate by WotC.
Their original idea was to internally move control of the RPGA UK to DCI
under the control of Carl Crook.  This is what has sparked the current
moves.  John Brown, the Steering Committee and most of  the Regional
Directors did not feel they would be able to provide an Organisation to the
members that would give no where near the same standard they are currently
receiving let alone their continuing efforts to make it even better under
the constraints placed on them from Carl Crook who has already made it clear
that his loyalty is with M:TG and nothing else and especially not RPG.

From our own experience Carl Crook has actively discouraged any
demo/tournament play in anything but M:TG organised by himself.  An example
of this would be a message he left on our answer machine  following a
request made for a sanctioned tournament at UK Games Fest 99 in Battletech
and Netrunner (both produced by WotC).  The message went along the lines
that they were 'crap, no one played them and weren't worth bothering with'.
Remember this is his attitude to games produced by the Company he works for.
What has to be thought about is what his attitude would be to RPG (which he
doesn't like) produced by WotC and then those not even produced by them.
The RPGA UK has always supported any game system by any publisher be they
large or small.

One of the strong points of the RPGA UK is their own fanzine Polyhedron.
This is produced for gamers by gamers in the UK (and South Africa).  Anyone
who will have seen it in its current form would, I hope, agree that it looks
and is fantastic containing articles on varied RPG (both live and tabletop)
not just WotC products.  Under the restructuring, the editorial control of
Polyhedron would fall to DCI with approximately 75% of the work being done
'in house' which would ultimately lead to a drastic decline in the amount of
articles on RPG.  Earlier in Gen Con it was disclosed that plans were
already in place for Dragon, Dungeon and Duellist magazines to cease being
in paper format and only be available to anyone with web access.  Now more
than ever gamers need a magazine to act as a forum for the hobby.

There is one very important legal point to be considered.  All members
details are currently held on a database which is regulated by the Data
Protection Act.  A lot of work has been put in by Ratty and others to create
this accurate database which falls within the remit of the DPA.  According
to the Act no members' details can be passed on without that members'
consent and also cannot be sent to another Country if that Country does not
have adequate laws to cover such data - As at 1 January 1999 America has
been deemed to be an insecure Country.  On several occasions WotC (America)
have attempted to obtain the database (both directly and indirectly via a
'backdoor').

Under the new leadership of the RPGA, the Steering Committee did not feel
that any guarantee could be given that the data would not be handed over.
We would suggest that members contact WotC as soon as possible and confirm
in writing that under no circumstances should their details be handed or
sold to a third party.  If this does happen we suggest you seek legal
advice.

Regarding the resignation of John Brown

You must understand that John has fought tooth and nail to get the RPGA what
is currently has.  RPGA America have been actively against what he has been
trying to do in providing gamers this side of the Atlantic with information
and a magazine which is more in tune with our needs, for example Gen Con UK
99 did not even get a mention/advert in Dragon magazine.

John did not make this decision lightly and it is with deep regret that it
had to come to this.  John has always had the European gamers interests in
the forefront of his mind.  The decisions made are regrettable but were
necessary to prove to Peter Atkinson that enough is enough and we were not
prepared to be treated this way or allow this to happen to the members.

On a more positive note, all is not lost.  There are various options open at
the present time which are being considered.  All that is asked is that
members and gamers keep in touch with their previous Regional Directors and
visit the web site regularly (which cannot be touched by WotC) for updates.

http://rpga.ukonline.co.uk/index.html

Updates will also be posted on the UK Games Fest web site.

- --

========================================
Jan & Karl Eldridge
Regional Director Essex & Suffolk
Utopian.tiger@virgin.net
http://freespace.virgin.net/utopian.tiger

- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ 

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 15:24:48 EDT
From: Diespamer@aol.com
Subject: Roger S.

Greetings:

My one addition to the Roger S. gristmill. I purchased from him a large 
collection of Traveller-related fanzines (Ed Edwards' collection, for you old 
farts--like me--who would recognize the name).

Roger led me to believe that I was getting a lot more than I got...I paid him 
for what I thought I was getting...and finally gave up the fight (due to lack 
of energy--I was taking courses and working full time) over it all.

From then, I've also cursed the holder to the copyright of all that good 
stuff. Given my experience, I'd agree with the theories about him asking too 
much from Marc M. and Co. on using the material. 

So what do we have as a result? All that stuff in sitting in his garage (or 
wherever), essentially rotting away. It can't be officially used. It's losing 
him money (cost xxxx to begin with...revenues since then...0...equals a loss 
in my book!). He's rapidly losing ground as SJG keeps inventing new canon to 
work around the old canon...

Of course, you and I (those that have copies) can use it. It would be nice if 
there was some way of getting it into the hands of the rest of the fans as 
well!

Fred Kiesche

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

Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 15:43:48 EDT
From: AveNelso@aol.com
Subject: Re: Dustbin

In a message dated 9/8/99 11:47:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com writes:

<< 
 Opinions and experiences solicited: I am trimming dead wood
 out of our Traveller group, and I'm wondering if anyone out
 there has ever had to boot a member from their group?
 
 Rob
  >>

    I had to dump a guy from a new AD&D campagin lately.   I used the old 
fashioned way,  I lied to him.   I told him we weren't playing anymore due to 
schedule changes.  Now this was different since we were just starting out and 
we only played with this guy once.

        Dave "spineless dog" Nelson

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

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 15:54:01 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Dustbin 

> In a message dated 9/8/99 11:47:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com writes:
> 
> << 
>  Opinions and experiences solicited: I am trimming dead wood
>  out of our Traveller group, and I'm wondering if anyone out
>  there has ever had to boot a member from their group?
>  
>  Rob
>   >>
> 
>     I had to dump a guy from a new AD&D campagin lately.   I used the old 
> fashioned way,  I lied to him.   I told him we weren't playing anymore due to 
> schedule changes.  Now this was different since we were just starting out and 
> we only played with this guy once.

That always works.  <grin>  What worked for one of my old groups was, after 
everybody got tired of this one dood was, everybody jumped him at the 
beginning of the session and flat out told him they *refused* to game with 
him anymore.  After about 2 minutes of screaming at the top of his lungs at 
us, he finally stomped out in a rampage when everybody else ignored him to 
death.  His character was written out of the group's history, and the one or 
2 *right* things he did were later attributed to somebody else.  <grin>

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1073
***********************************

To unsubscribe to Traveller-Digest, send the command:

unsubscribe traveller-digest

in the body of a message to "traveller-request@lists.imagiconline.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".

Multi-Player Games Network http://www.mpgn.com
