Traveller-digest    Thursday, September 23 1999    Volume 1999 : Number 1120



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: One question answered, another asked...
Census time: the Active Campaign Census
RE: Calling Peter Trevor
Re: Foreknowledge of Jump Exit Timing
Re:[BITS] Official answer on TLWH question
RE: Limit of planetary authority (Was: Income tax for PCs)
Re: One question answered, another asked...
Re: OT: Religion
Re: Census time: the Active Campaign Census
Re: Limit of planetary authority (Was: Income tax for PCs)
XML (Traveller data format)
Re: Calling Peter Trevor
Re: 3257th Philosophy Battalion (the Descartes Demons)
Campaign Log, Session III (LONG)

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 08:51:18
From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: One question answered, another asked...

At 10:53 PM 9/22/1999 EDT, you wrote:

>Makes you wonder about the game designers assumptions in IE and FFW. I had
>to send some stuff to Doug from IE, and I noticed that certain Squadrons had 
>certain lift capabilities in the games. A CruRon could carry a Regiment 
>equivalent, a Batron could carry a Division, and an Assault transport 
>Squadron (their description, and it makes me think that according to the 
>title, these troops are landed in "hot" zones; not just carried from
system >A to B...) could GET THIS - carry a Field Army (equal to five Corps
in this 
>game) and another Corps! I guess there must be some friggen big (megaton?) 
>troop transports in the squadron...

Right now I'm trying to work out the transportation "slice" required per
trooper.  How many total displacement tons of ship are needed to transport
one man and 2dt of equipment/vehicle through one Jump-4.  Once I have that
number, I can figure how much tonnage is required for the various units.
- -- 

Douglas E. Berry       gridlore@mindspring.com
http://gridlore.home.mindspring.com/index.html

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 11:39:42 -0500
From: "Robert Eaglestone" <eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: Census time: the Active Campaign Census

Hello folks... yes, it's census time again.

Some of you may recall the census that I took a couple years ago;
I compiled a list of active traveller campaigns and some very basic
information about them and published the results on the Web.

Well, it's been awhile, and I figure it's time to take Traveller's pulse again.
I have a perl script that can parse your data: all I require is that the info
follows a simple format.  By the way, ALL of these fields are optional,
and order is not important.  I'll sort the data on the "My location" field,
in case you want to know.

To include your group in the Traveller Active Campaign Census,
fill out this census form and e-mail it to me (eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com):

My location        :
Campaign milieu    :
Campaign ruleset   :
Campaign health    :
Group has met since:
Frequency          :
Number of players  :
Number of referees :
E-mail contact     :
Campaign notes     :


Here's my group as an example:

My location        : Dallas TX
Campaign milieu    : M1100
Campaign ruleset   : GT
Campaign health    : good
Group has met since: 1996
Frequency          : bi-weekly
Number of players  : 4
Number of referees : 3
E-mail contact     : eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com
Campaign notes     : Cruising through the Spinward Marches


- -Rob

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 17:36:37 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: RE: Calling Peter Trevor

 "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com> writes:
>Hmmm ...  any  chance  of  getting  the  current  draft  of  your
>Traveller variant of Full Thrust?  I did enjoy it!

Nick had a draft too? The sly fox! We should have tried his too...

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: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 17:39:53 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Re: Foreknowledge of Jump Exit Timing

shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) writes:

>In case #1, you'll know it as soon as you enter jump, and have to start
>conserving. And maybe you get to play the old game of "But there's only
>enough air for 5 people for that long, and we've got 6 people".
>
>In case 2, everything is ok until around day 8. At which point things
>get ugly, because you won't know how much longer the ship will be in
>jump.
>
>Both have their points. I'm more inclined towards #1.

I tend to use 2, but assume that the players get hints that they have
misjumped (nausea etc) and an idea of the magnitude (scrutinising
engineering records very closely eg the jumpgrid firing sequence vs the
powerplant zuchai array and the jump governer and the time base).

Players of 'Delta 3 is down' will know what I mean ;-)

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: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 17:54:18 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Re:[BITS] Official answer on TLWH question

John Buston <John.Buston@tesco.net> wrote:

>Without giving anything away, are the two extra adventures in the IG
>version of
>The Long Way Home worth having?
>Are they available anyplace else or do I have to buy the IG books to get them?

We have obtained Marc Miller's permission to post these extra adventures at
the BITS website. However, before this happens we need to dig out the
original plain text submission, format it, add in the pictures and so on.
Because of real life events this was deferred. We'll try and get the
material up as a Christmas present for the TML.

In answer to John's query, the two add-in scenarios were (hopefully) fun
extra material rather than just being space-fillers!


Dom (BITS Webmaster)

- -------------Dom Mooney---webmaster@bits.org.uk----------------
                 BITS - British Isles Traveller Support.
 http://www.bits.org.uk/              mailto:bits@bits.org.uk
Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.
GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games, Inc.
BITS and CORE are trademarks of BITS UK Limited.
All rights reserved.

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 18:13:27 +0100
From: "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com>
Subject: RE: Limit of planetary authority (Was: Income tax for PCs)

Hans Rancke-Madsen wrote:
> Jim MacLean writes:
> > I'm not sure of this.  I've seen many references (though I
> > can't recall where) to planetary authority ending at either
> > the edge of the atmosphere or the 100d limit of the mainworld.
> > Everything else the Imperium owns.
>
> I really think that has to be a gross simplification. A slogan,
> perhaps, but not an accurate description of the true state of
> affairs. Going back to the formative years of the Imperium, we
> know that it often persuaded pocket empires and strong
> high-population worlds to join peacefully. They could hardly
> have done that if they had insisted that any colonies and
> outposts these worlds owned outside their 100 diameter limits
> would become Imperial property.
>
> "The space between the worlds" is propably jumpspace, not
> interplanetary space. Of course, for practical purposes the
> Imperium would have to have some form of jurisdiction in
> interplanetary space in order to control jumpspace, but to the
> extent of _owning_ everything off the mainworld? I don't
> believe it.
>
> > I don't know how this works for asteroid main worlds.
>
> Eaxctly.

I don't think that works.  Two points:

*) As far  as  we  know  a  ship  in  jumpspace  is  in  complete
   isolation.  Therefore, "owning  jumpspace"  is  a  meaningless
   concept.

*) There are numerous references to the starport XT line and  how
   it is *outside* planetary jurisdiction.

I think the term "atmospheric boundary" is  a  "slogan"  term  as
atmospheres don't have boundaries but fizzle out (IIRC traces  of
Earth's atmosphere have been detected on the moon, and very faint
traces of Venus atmosphere are blown back by the solar wind  like
a comet tail that stretches out  to  Earth's  orbit!).  I  prefer
using "suborbital" as the boundary line for each world  or  major
satellite (this gets around the problem with vacuum worlds), with
standard approaches to/from starports also being  Imperium-owned,
or goverened by local treaties.  There is nothing to say  that  a
planetary government's jurisdiction has to be contiguous (IIRC in
the Solomani Rim some mainworlds are owned by  other  mainworlds)
... so I see no problem with colony worlds.

The only problems with this model are asteroid belts and  orbital
habitats.  And they are  not  problems,  just  not  catered  for.
Possibly, in these  cases  there  is  N  kilometer  distance  for
planetary jurisdiction (where N is based in object size).

Of course, there could be areas of  confusion  over  jurisdiction
... it's in the best interests  of  the  lawyers!  (Something  to
remember when you run a murder  mystery  adventure  and  the  PCs
think its over when they find the villain.)



Regards PLST
"Rome wasn't burned in a day."

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 12:45:05 -0500
From: "Kurtis Rodgers" <kurtis@fastlane.net>
Subject: Re: One question answered, another asked...

> Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 17:55:28
> From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
> Subject: Re: One question answered, another asked...
<snip>
> More than anything, I needed it for the head count.  Supply and
> transportation are headaches on Earth.  In spce, they're brain-splitting
> migraines.

This tangent made me think about the likelihood of some truely stupendous
supply depots.  The Imperium has had centuries to build up strategic
reserves of supplies.  I think the prevailing materials and packaging
technology would allow some weapons, gear, and food to be socked away in a
vault for centuries, and still unpack as nearly new.  Of course, such
depots/armories would require some security overhead, being prime targets
for thieves or opposing forces.  I can also possibly see there being a
network of secret supply caches scattered in all kinds of unlikely places,
in addition to the obvious depots.  This only applies to defensive or
suppression campaigns, but that's not really a major issue for the 3I.

From the M:0 perspective, which is where I'm working from, I might think
about placing undiscovered strategic supply vaults from the RoM or even Ziru
Sirka.  Imagine the political/economic/military implications of discovering
a large hidden cache of TL12 ironmongery in a small pocket empire or
balkanized world.

Kurtis

(I wonder which is worse, rapacious sea chickens or three hundred years old
MREs?  :P  )

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 12:53:20 -0500
From: "Robert Eaglestone" <eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: Re: OT: Religion

Though downplayed in our group, I often thought that the Emperor
is essentially the same as that of the late Roman emperors, that is,
the spokesman for God in the Imperial Catholic church, the "Defender
of the Faith", the holder of dozens of specific religious titles, along
with the diplomatic snares and opportunities that come with each.
Since there is no mention of an associated church heirarchy, my
assumption is uncanonical.

Imperial "Christianity", (if that's what it would be), however, would
make a fascinating study in religion, with a blend of traditions reaching
back to Vilani and Sylean religion as well as Solomani.  I see a
liturgical system with its roots in the Orthodox, borrowing from the
non-Christian and Christian liturgies alike from the other human centers.
I see a heirarchical system like that of the old Roman church -- the
massive concentration of power is with the Emperor, not the Bishop.
If I were emperor, in fact, I'd make sure the bishops were firmly under
my thumb (or at least not threats).

Of course, the 3I might not be Christian at all; however, it's hard
for our group to understand the Imperium.  Giving it a non-Western
worldview would only make it more inscrutable, and we're a lazy bunch.
Seeing it much as we see our world, with a Western view, grounds our
wandering imaginations enough to be useful.  And our Western view
is this: of the individual and progress, with government, corporations,
and religion forming the three bases upon which we struggle.

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 20:00:43 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Tommy Grav <tommy.grav@astro.uio.no>
Subject: Re: Census time: the Active Campaign Census

My location        : Oslo, Norway
Campaign milieu    : Middle of Long Night
Campaign ruleset   : Traveller : The New Era
Campaign health    : On hold, but alive
Group has met since: Summer 1997
Frequency          : One in a blue moon. We have a really good ADD game going.
Number of players  : 4
Number of referees : 1
E-mail contact     : tommygr@astro.uio.no
Campaign notes     : A group of mercenaries go into cold sleep deep below the
                     surface of a planet as it is taken our by the enemy right 
                     before the start of the Long Night. 600 years later they
                     wake up only to find the intergalatic empire gone and
                     replaced by pety pirates and merchants jumping around in
                     broken down tramps, selling relics of technology.



Tommy Grav
- -------------------------------------------------------------
tommy.grav@astro.uio.no     http://www.uio.no/~tommygr/  
Institute of Astrophysics, UiO, No  
IMTU tn++t4+tg+ ru+ge++ !3i jt+au+st+ls hi++dr-so++zh-sy-sw++ 
 

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 11:13:13 -0700
From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@pharmacy.arizona.edu>
Subject: Re: Limit of planetary authority (Was: Income tax for PCs)

Trevor, Peter wrote:
> 

> I don't think that works.  Two points:
> 
> *) As far  as  we  know  a  ship  in  jumpspace  is  in  complete
>    isolation.  Therefore, "owning  jumpspace"  is  a  meaningless
>    concept.
> 
> *) There are numerous references to the starport XT line and  how
>    it is *outside* planetary jurisdiction.

Starport extrality is a different thing entirely than the Imperium
'owning the spaces between the stars'; it is the same thing as that a
country's embassy is considered part of that country, NOT the host
country.

Jurisdictional matters over space will vary from system to system. Rich,
high pop systems will own and police their own system out to the Oort
cloud, although IN craft will certainly be immune.

Some systems will leave policing their space 'space' (in the sense like
airspace) to the IN.

Asteroids are owned by whoever owns them, just like planets, or orbital
habs. 

The Imperium isn't all that pervasive in the OTU. Systems have annual
payments to the Imperium, in return they get protection by the IN, a
guarantee of reasonably free trade, etc. How the systems raise that
money is entirely up to them. IMTU berthing and cargo transfer fees,
plus higer sales taxes on all the shops around startown provide the vast
majority of the moneies for Imperial taxes. 

Local taxes are another thing entirely, though.

- -- 
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 13:37:54 -0500
From: "Robert Eaglestone" <eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: XML (Traveller data format)

Have you-all considered XML?

XML, or "eXtensible Markup Language", is a format created by the
World Wide Web Design Consortium to define a machine-independent
format for putting structured data in a text file.  It's essentially a subset of
SGML, so it looks a bit like HTML but isn't.  AND, since it's a published
standard, companies and people have already written parsers and generators --
freeware and $ware -- to work with this medium.

For more information, cruise over to:

http://www.w3.org/XML/

For a free XML editor from IBM, cruise over to:

http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/xeena

We're using XML here at work to store our billing data from our media
gateway controller.

Using XML, I think your character data might look like this.  Of course,
since I don't know all the ins and outs of XML, there are probably
better ways (perhaps by using attributes?):


<!-- Character data -->
<!-- version 0.2    -->

<identity>
   <name>Alexander Lascelles Jamison</name>
   <title></title>
   <service>Merchant</service>
   <rank>Captain</rank>
   <homeWorld></homeWorld>
   <homeSector></homeSector>
   <homeSubsector></homeSubsector>
</identity>

<stats>
   <strength>
      <c>6</c>
      <p>7</p>
   </strength>
   <dexterity>
      <c>8</c>
      <p>7</p>
   </dexterity>
   <endurance>
      <c>8</c>
      <p>9</p>
   </endurance>
   <intelligence>
      <c>c</c>
      <p>c</p>
   </intelligence>
   <education>
      <c>8</c>
      <p>9</p>
   </education>
   <socialStanding>
      <c>9</c>
      <p>9</p>
   </socialStanding>
   <age>
      <c>35.00</c>
      <p>35.00</p>
   </age>
   <psi>
      <c>0</c>
      <p>0</p>
   </psi>
</stats>

<dividend>
   <name>High Passage</name>
   <quantity>2</quantity>
   <termInYears>0.16</termInYears>
   <lastAccessAge>35.0</lastAccessAge>
   <roll>1+</roll>
</dividend>

<dividend>
   <name>Cash</name>
   <quantity>4000</quantity>
   <termInYears>1.0</termInYears>
   <lastAccessAge>35.0</lastAccessAge>
   <roll>1+</roll>
</dividend>

<!-- This might be a useful way of using attributes -->

<skill name="Dagger" level=1></skill>
<skill name="Cutlass" level=1></skill>
<skill name="Vac Suit" level=1>
   <tl>12</tl>
</skill>
<skill name="Pilot" level=2>
   <tl>12</tl>
</skill>
<skill name="Telekenesis" level=1></skill>
<skill name="Electronic" level=3>
   <tl>12</tl>
</skill>

<item name="Dagger" quantity="1"></item>
<item name="Body Pistol" quantity="1">
   <tl>12</tl>
   <ammo>10000</ammo>
</item>
<item name="Free Trader">
   <name>Empress Marava</name>
   <type>A</type>
   <price>45000000</price>
   <paymentsLeft>0</paymentsLeft>
</item>

<item name="Bank Account">
   <accessTL>7</accessTL>
   <amount>33000</amount>
</item>

<item name="Cash">
   <Imperial>200</Imperial>
</item>

- -Rob


> Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 22:09:29 -0700
> From: "B. Mallory" <bmallory@earthlink.net>
> Subject: software data formats
>
> To All,
>      Thanks for all of the help in bringing me up to date with the
> current state of Classic Traveller software.  I would like to share an
> approach to sharing data between programs.  I hope that something
> general enough to be usefull can be developed.

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 18:31:24 +0100
From: "Nick Bradbeer" <nickb@ndirect.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Calling Peter Trevor

> "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com> writes:
>>Hmmm ...  any  chance  of  getting  the  current  draft  of  your
>>Traveller variant of Full Thrust?  I did enjoy it!
>
>Nick had a draft too? The sly fox! We should have tried his too...


Uhh.....I think he's thinking of your one. I've only converted Full Thrust
to the B5 setting. (And then of course, Jon Tuffley actually wrote the
official B5RPG space combat rules.....<sigh>)

Nick

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 11:40:04
From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: 3257th Philosophy Battalion (the Descartes Demons)

At 12:01 AM 9/23/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>> From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
>
>> >Or how about "GURPS Traveller: Ground Ponders?"
>> 
>> "Sarge, is it man's nature to be evil, or are we essentially good, and
>> corrupted by desire?"
>
>I'm so glad that I wasn't drinking or eating anything while reading the
>TML tonight.  Really glad.  May I forward your entire email to a few
>friends?

Feel free.  It will be interesting to see how long it take before somebody
forwards it back to me with all attributions and headers snipped.
- -- 

Douglas E. Berry       gridlore@mindspring.com
http://gridlore.home.mindspring.com/index.html

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

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 14:01:04 -0500
From: Chris Olson <chris@pdaguy.com>
Subject: Campaign Log, Session III (LONG)

Campaign rules: Classic (with Snapshot & Mayday)
Characters:
    Dr. Christine Jeffries (Doctor)
    Baron William Richter (Noble) [Unable to attend session III for work
reasons]
    Anton Dev (Scout w/Courier)
    Max Fu Zhen (Marine)

Don't go looking for session I & II, session I was a character creation
session, and session II was used to bring the characters together and
set up this new, longer session ...

...as the game opens, Anton is crawling around in the Starport garbage
dump (beneath the terminal), the Baron is hiding in the automated
baggage handling area, while the good Doctor and Max are currently
'guests' of the Imperial Marines on board the cruiser Intrepid...

Anton, realizing that being in the midst of food service refuse was
probably a bad idea, crawled back up one of the chutes.  After a bit of
a struggle, he managed to fall out of the chute and into a kitchen.  He
then demanded to see the manager with all of his SOC-2 bluster.  In
reality, he just managed to convince the manager to get StarPort
security.  They arrive and easily convince Anton that he needs a shower,
which they escort him to.

On the way, Anton makes up a rather hard to beleive story abot being
thrown down the chute as a practical joke, and would they be amenable
for hire to make a return practical joke..  The two security escorts
don't believe him for two reasons:  No one has reported seeing anyone
dumped into the chute and no one heard anyone calling for help, and the
marines had let them know that fugitives from Imperial Justice were
loose in the StarPort...

While Anton is showering the muck off himself and his clothes, and
arranging for a loose fiitting coverall as a temporary replacement, the
security people contact the marines, two of which great Anton as he is
leaving the shower.  Anton looks at the two heavily armed marines and
goes with them without resistance.

On board the Intrepid, question of the prisoners begins.  Among those to
be questioned are Anton, the Dr, amd Max.  The Doctor is brought in
first.  Her first effort is to try and act in shock and terrified.  The
Interrogator has her stunned and continues the questioning when she
recovers.

It is determined that she honestly did not know that she was involved
with ancient artifact smugglers, she was returned to her cell and Max
was brought in from his cell.  It is also quickly determined that he
/knew/ something was going on and chose to ignore it as long as his
position of bodyguard to the four scientists did not endanger innocents
or protect mass murderers.  He was taken back to his cell, and Anton was
brought in.

Anton tries to deny any knowledge of illegal activities, but it comes
out that his scout-ship was hired to transport cargos uninspected. 
Which is a pretty strong argument about it.  Evidence was lacking about
his knowledge of aartifact smuggling, so he to was released.

Since the three PC's were not in on the smuggling, but were not morally
clean, it was decided to use them for a run to Yori as payment for thier
cirme.  The Imperium wanted an emergency lowberth (4 tons, 4 people)
delivered to the Research Station there with the contents alive.  Do to
problems on Yori, (the Yori For Yorans [YFY)), it is felt that a guard
should be placed on the the 'berth.  A doctor is required to monitor the
'berth, and of course a ship and pilot are also needed.  The players are
breifed and given a week to get the ship ready for departure or be
sentenced to a penal colony.  The three are quick to agree.

The first hurdle to overcome was that a classic scout has only three
tons of cargo space.  It does, however, have a four ton bay with an
airraft.  Anton seemed reluctant to leave the airraft behind (fearing it
would not be here when he returned).  SO he hired a mechanic to
disassemble the airraft and put the peices in the cargo hold.  Then he
spent some time and found a small cargo to take up the rest of the hold
(a mere 1 tom of spsce).  Then he found an ex-scout who wanted to
acquire a couple of rare lizards from Yori for a zoo, a Gavin Bill.

Max, appalled to discover that the hull breaching chargees he had in his
travel cases had been confiscated by the Imperials, traded some
expensive booze and a few credits for a few doses of combat drug, and a
couple of basic grenades, under the guise of 'might be needed in the
discharge of his duties'.  Then he went a purchased a large amount of
expensive booze and boarded the scout.

The doctor, it is discovered, has a pressing desire to know how to do
just about everything, and purchased a large number of books on topics
running the gamut of subjects.  A few of titles  she purchased are: 
_Starship Engineering for Dummies_, _Drawing a Bead: Theory and Practice
of Marksmanship_, and _Introduction to Xenobiology, the First Year_. 
She also visited a gem shop and puchease a handful of gems which glow
when warmed.

When all was ready, and the 'berth secured in the makshift cargo area,
they left the planet without incident (unless you count straying into a
restricted airspace early into the lift).  The run upto jump wa
suneventful, and the transition was made without incident.

During the jump, Anton was kept busy keeping the doctor out of the
sensitive areas of the 
ship (not an easy task as the doctor is better with computers), the
doctor trying to get into the engine room 'just for a quick look, I'm
not going to /touch/ anything!' and pestering the single passenger
(Gavin) as she tries to keep him entertained, while Max takes a perverse
pleasure in discussing obscure (and possibly invented) philosphy systems
with Gavin.  Fortunately, the jump is a normal one and the ship
translates back to normal space without event.

Traffic in the Yori system is non-existant, which is a good thing as the
ship does not have anyone present who can competantly run the sensors,
and they have been set to collision warning mode and left there.  The
descent to the starport from orbit proceeds uneventuflly until eight
minutes from touchdown.  An alert from the starport catches everyone by
surprise.

Missile launch from the surface, acceleration profile and size indicate
a missle.  Course indicates the target is the scout ship.  The scout
ship aapears oblivious to the missle.  Anton tries a desperate manuever
(not having brought the evade software online) and the missle corrects
and impacts the top of the ship with a sound like a broken gong.  The
control panels and all of the lights on the bridge go out, interior iris
valves all snap open with a hiss,  while the hatches all unlock with
mutted thunks.

[for the curious- Missile rolled 4 hits, 1 hull, 3 computer]

Anton, not immediately aware of what is wrong, sends Max to look in on
the power plant, and the doctor to check the computer, while he checks
the control boards and tries to stop the scout ship now uncontrolled
descent without instruments.  The doctor manages, with a spectacular
effort to bring the pilots station online just in time to turn an
uncontrolled crash into a barely controlled impact into the desert
floor.

The sound like a gong being pounded by a maniac, then with a suddeness
of an electrical switch, the grav plates shut down and everyone is
dropped to the ceiling.  In the utter silence of complete shutdown is
punctated by the hissing of liquid hydrogen flashing into a gas along
the hull of the ship.

[again - impact caused five hits, 3 hull, 1 fuel and a computer, decided
that since the computers were on top, the ship has rolled over during
its' slide and is now upside down in the desert, with the front half
buried under the sand.  Unfirtunatle, the doctor was still in the
computer campartment ...]

Everyone checks in, except for the passenger and the doctor.  Max checks
on the passenger, and fins Gavin hiding in a corner of his room, tells
him to stay there.  Then he descends into the upper bay :-) and finds
the doctor bleeding and severly injured amidst the ruins of the
computer.  He had previously picked up his medical slow and he gives her
an injection to stabilize her, bandages he up, and then leaves her
there.  Whatever shot at them is probably going to try and make sure
they are gone.

Meanwhile, Anton is rippping panelling up and using manual shutoff
valves to limit the amount of explosive hydrogen venting into the
atmosphere and building up the exposed fuel tank.

Both Max and Anton then return to main room of the ship and Max goes
back to Gavin and tells him to go hide away from the ship.  Then he and
Anton set up a mobile comm uing and send out a mayday to the starport,
and the research station.  Help is on the way, but it will take time. 
Max checks the horizonand sees a plume of dust heading in thier general
direction (not moving and getting closer).  He repeats that hostiles may
be inbound and the Research Station reports that a group of Marines ar
on thier way.  Anton meanwhile has checked on the condition of the
'berths, and they are ticking away just fine.

Max decides that no one in the approaching vehicle is likey to be
interested in leaving them alive, so he and Anton fuse the manual
controls on the airraft hatch and rigged up several grenade bombs out by
the two accessible hatches, leaving the third (farthest from the airraft
bay, available.

Bad guys arrive and an explosion announces that they have found one of
the traps.  A quick firefight ensues and the players get a quick lesson
in just how nasty grenades are, how tough PCs are in general, and how
effificent the Marines are in destroying a ATV with a Grav APC.  The
players dropped most of the attackers, but a few were getting away ...

The marines held the sight ofr the players while a tech crew arrived to
move the 'berths to the Research Station.  The doctor was taken to a
hospital at the Starport for treatment and observation.  Gavin took his
leave and went hunting for hist lizards.  Max went with the Marines and
sold them a lot of booze and Anton went with tug which came to carry
hist poor, wrecked scout to the Starport for repair.

[END-OF-SESSION]

Next time:  Anton is sending a request for instructions on what to do
with the wreck to the nearest starport, Dr. Jeffries will be released
from the hospital and sell her gems to the locals, and Max will find out
what the Research Station is studying and may get a call out for help in
time ... and if we're lucky, Baron Ricter will rejoin the group,
possibly under duress from the Family (who were behind the Ancient
Smuggling scheme).

Chris Olson
chris@pdaguy.com

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1120
***********************************

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