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Date:	11/15/99 5:46:18 PM Pacific Standard Time<BR>
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Traveller-digest     Monday, November 15 1999     Volume 1999 : Number 1349<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.<BR>
All rights reserved.<BR>
<BR>
The following topics are covered in this digest:<BR>
<BR>
Re: Anti-violence groups in 3I<BR>
Re: Anti-violence groups in 3I<BR>
Re: Anti-violence groups in 3I<BR>
Re: Cultures<BR>
Re: Cultures<BR>
Re: Starlost<BR>
Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
re: New BITS product hinted at<BR>
[BITS] Announcement on US availability of new adventures.<BR>
RE: Indexing the HIWG CD ROM<BR>
re: T5 web site?!?!?!?!<BR>
Protestors/Paranoid scenarios<BR>
Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
Re: Pacifist groups in the 3I<BR>
Re: Space Sail Racing<BR>
<BR>
----------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 14:30:42 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: Anti-violence groups in 3I<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
> Another "peaceful resistance" idea for Traveller:<BR>
> Have environment-friendly demonstrants camping on and around the PCs<BR>
> spaceship, preventing takeoff and "saving the atmosphere and birds." The<BR>
> demonstrants are dressed in bright, cheerful clothes, wear flowers in<BR>
> their hair, and all that kind of stuff. A few of them have pet animals<BR>
> and birds with them.<BR>
><BR>
> Have a flower, man!  ;-)<BR>
<BR>
There are *two* ways this won't work.<BR>
<BR>
1. The ship uses a reaction drive. In this case, it's kinda hard to<BR>
   prove that protesters were there, since anything less than a crowd<BR>
   *hundreds* of yards across will be totally vaporized when the<BR>
   engines reach full thrust.<BR>
<BR>
2. The ship has thruster plates and/or CG. In which case the ship's<BR>
   crew merely has to get the protesters off the hull (easily done in<BR>
   any of a number of ways. Then take off *slowly* for the first<BR>
   thousand feet or so.<BR>
<BR>
Heck, in case 2, you can take off *with* protesters on the hull. Just<BR>
hover about 20 feet up, then send a work crew out in suits, and remove<BR>
the protesters, one at a time, tie them to a length of rope and lower<BR>
them until their friends can catch them. Then drop the rope before the<BR>
friends can try to climb up. If they are well secured to the hull, and<BR>
fighting, just go up to where the air is thin enough that they pass<BR>
out, then remove them, tie them up and drop back down to where you can<BR>
lower them by rope. <BR>
<BR>
Absolute worst case is if they've got oxytanks. That still won't let<BR>
them last more than an hour or so at 10 km altitude.<BR>
<BR>
And the best part of it is that you've just *shown* them to be idiots<BR>
by being *able* to take off without hurting them. <BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 14:40:41 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: Anti-violence groups in 3I<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
>> ObTrav: How the ####### do you stop a grav tank this way? I figure it<BR>
>> could be done with a small grav car, but wouldn't it be possible to<BR>
>> drive the tank slowly into contact with the car and then slowly move<BR>
>> forward (pushing the car in front of the tank). The tank has a<BR>
>> significantly stronger drive, after all.<BR>
<BR>
> You chain your legs (long chain) to a fixed spot on the floor, <BR>
> jump on the marching grav tank from a grav vehicle, and chain your <BR>
> arms to the tank... <grin><BR>
> Carlos Alos-Ferrer<BR>
<BR>
And since this isn't a combat situation, a couple of the infantry (in<BR>
Battle Dress?) supporting the tanks cut the chain. <BR>
<BR>
I'd cut the floor end first, near the protestor's feet. hold him up by<BR>
that bit of chain while my buddy cuts the chains on the tank. A couple<BR>
of quick welds and you've got the guy chained up in his own chains!<BR>
Toss him in the paddy wagon and continue.<BR>
<BR>
Personally, I am fond of "riot foam". You generate what amounts to a<BR>
8-10 foot deep layer of "soapsuds" (except less toxic!). You can't hear<BR>
a person standing next to you. You can't see your hand in front of your<BR>
face. but it doesn't interfere with breathing.<BR>
<BR>
Instant isolation means that you no longer *have* a mob. You've<BR>
got a few thousand individuals.<BR>
<BR>
Enclose the crowd in the stuff, and as they wander out, or as you<BR>
carefully dissolve it around the edges, you grab *individuals*, and<BR>
haul them off. <BR>
<BR>
It's hard to call the stuff "cruel" since one of the biggest problems<BR>
at demos of the stuff was keeping the local kids from *playing* in it.<BR>
They thought it made for the *neatest* game of hide and seek...<BR>
<BR>
Other possibilities that have existed since the late 60s are "liquid<BR>
banana peel", and a couple of gases that slowly and gradually render<BR>
you incapable of moving. Slowly enough that you've got time to sit<BR>
down, and then lie down. If you don't you *fall* down. <BR>
<BR>
Frankly, if these were better known, I'd expect dictatorships to<BR>
*prefer* them. Not only do they avoid those messes with bad publicity,<BR>
but they avoid property damage, and allow fewer people to deal with the<BR>
protest. And you are pretty much assured of being able to pick up *all*<BR>
the protestors. <BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 14:53:28 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: Anti-violence groups in 3I<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
> In message <3.0.5.16.19991111072003.393f6462@pop.mindspring.com>,<BR>
> "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com> writes<BR>
>>A few years ago, demonstrators were protested the shipment of arms to<BR>
>>Central American from the Concord (Ca) Naval Weapons Depot.  One of the<BR>
>>protestors sat on the tracks.  As the train approached at 35 mph.  They got<BR>
>>it on video.<BR>
><BR>
> Years of watching Hollywood films with train smashes has led me to<BR>
> hypothesise that American trains don't have brakes.<BR>
<BR>
Actually, I have yet to see an onscreen train wreck where brakes would<BR>
help. Trains mass a *lot*. Typical stopping distances for freight<BR>
trains at "cruising" speed are measured in *miles*. Passenger trains<BR>
can stop a bit faster. But not much. <BR>
<BR>
Basicly, unless a train is crawling along, if it can *see* the problem,<BR>
it's too late to stop. <BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 14:58:02 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: Cultures<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
>>If Earthship Ark and Red Dwarf had a fight, who would win?  :)<BR>
><BR>
> Was Earthship Ark armed?  The Red  Dwarf  may  have  been  armed,<BR>
> certainly one of its ship's boats (Star Bug) *was*  armed.  Also,<BR>
> the Red Dwarf was rebuilt practicly from scratch  by  nanites  in<BR>
> the last season ... they could repair battle/collision damage.  I<BR>
> think the winner would be Red Dwarf (unless the crew cock it up!)<BR>
<BR>
Just keep two things in mind. The Earthship Ark main body is *wider*<BR>
than the Red Dwarf is *long*. Going with the Ellison figures of 30<BR>
mile diameter biospheres (the 3 mile figure is a bad joke), that makes<BR>
the main body around 25 miles on a side and hundreds of miles long. <BR>
<BR>
Next, remember the Kzinti lesson. This puppy has some sort of drive<BR>
that got it up to speeds where it was only going to take generations to<BR>
get to another star rather than millenia. And we know they had gravity<BR>
control, because of the artificial gravity in the domes, and the<BR>
"directed fall" in the transport tubes. <BR>
<BR>
I'd guess that the Ark could ram RD with only minor damage. And that<BR>
it's possible that they might have drive fields or particle shielding<BR>
fields that'd rip RD to shreds before it got close. <BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 15:04:11 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: Cultures<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
>>         Anyone remember the cheesy sci-fi about the humans on the Arc?<BR>
>><BR>
>> Peez<BR>
><BR>
> The Star Lost. It was originally written by either Ben Bova or Harlan<BR>
> Ellison (I forget which.) It was so twisted by the producers from the<BR>
> original written script that the author used the legal Nom de Plume that<BR>
> writers from the screen writers guild have registered just to mark a turkey.<BR>
> Add to that the fact that the finished scripts were done by non-guild<BR>
> writers during a strike of the writers guild (over continuing royalties to<BR>
> syndicated material). The original author was so ticked that he eventually<BR>
> used it as the basis of a short novel "The Starcrossed", a satire of the TV<BR>
> production industry.<BR>
<BR>
No. It was originally written by Ellison. Ellison and someone else<BR>
(Bryant?) novelized the original script along with notes about all the<BR>
screwups in production as "Phoenix Without Ashes". Some years later Ben<BR>
Bova wrote the "Starcrossed". Poor Ben had been in the unenviable<BR>
position of having been *Science Advisor* to the show. Ouch!<BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 15:08:10 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: Starlost<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
> On a nice turnaround from Ian's comments, one of the Venus Equilateral<BR>
> stories by George O. Smith (great golden-age stuff, btw) featured an<BR>
> officious, clueless, aggressively pointy-haired administrator who is put<BR>
> in command of a crewed deep-space data relay station.  He proceeds to<BR>
> impose his solutions on all kinds of technical problems, creating an<BR>
> escalating wave of crises as systems which were working just fine get<BR>
> 'fixed'.  The story climaxes with his stomping into the station life<BR>
> support chief's office, demanding to know why the 'Air Plant' room was<BR>
> overgrown with filthy weeds, and where the actual air machinery had<BR>
> disappeared to.  With dawning horror, the life support chief realizes that<BR>
> the administrator, in a fit of picque at the unacceptable mess, has rooted<BR>
> up and burned all the "weeds".  Definitely a Dilbert Moment, half a<BR>
> century ahead of its time...and not a half bad idea for a Trav scenario. <BR>
<BR>
You've got to remember that George O. Smith *was* an Electrical<BR>
Engineer and *worked* in communications. Far too much of his stuff was<BR>
likely based on *real* incidents!<BR>
<BR>
I do love the bit in the story you mention when after the<BR>
confrontation, the cheif engineer has visited someone in the chemistry<BR>
dept and asked him to dig out everything he's got that can be used to<BR>
produce oxygen. Said minion inquires what's going on. The reply is that<BR>
there's a slight problem and the air plant isn't working, and the CE<BR>
leaves. The minion thinks about this for few seconds. More or less from<BR>
memory:<BR>
<BR>
	Not working? How could the air plant not be working? Unless it<BR>
	was...  dead. He quit wondering and started working. Fast.<BR>
<BR>
Nice, huh?<BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 15:14:44 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
>>Howdy folks, time for a question.<BR>
>><BR>
>>Suppose you want to give your players the creeps?  Send<BR>
>>shivers up their spine?  Worry the PCs to no end?<BR>
>><BR>
>>How do you set it up?  What factors do you have to think<BR>
>>about?  Likely it is some version of the Enigma, with some<BR>
>>of The Push in it, right?  But vague categories don't help me<BR>
>>very much.  I'm asking for inspiration.<BR>
>><BR>
>>Government cover-ups; megacorps crossing the line into<BR>
>>dark experiments; medicines that create horrors; rumors<BR>
>>and uncertainty about the Ancients and the Solomani<BR>
>>Hypothesis; the Imperial Department of War... how does<BR>
>>one fit things like these together into a coherent scenario<BR>
>>that starts innocuously and turns into a monster of a situation?<BR>
><BR>
> A great resource for this sort of thing is GURPS Illuminati, which<BR>
> is generic enough to be useable in any role-playing environment, no<BR>
> matter what rule set one is using. I successfully did a superhero<BR>
> campaign -- set in the same universe as a handful of other campaigns<BR>
> we did -- using Illuminati. The PCs wound up being pawns in a huge<BR>
> conspiracy, a conspiracy with many layers so that when the players<BR>
> solved one mystery, all it did was generate more questions.<BR>
><BR>
> This could easily be done in an interstellar setting. You don't even<BR>
> need to figure out all the details ahead of time -- just enough for<BR>
> the PCs to become involved in, and maybe a little more. The important<BR>
> thing is to keep them guessing, and get them to the point that they<BR>
> begin to suspect that everything they know is wrong.<BR>
><BR>
> One great fake-out I pulled on them: the Evil Corporation that they<BR>
> were fighting against, in whose HQ they had been several times, was<BR>
> an outfit called OmniTech. When the heroes finally decided to face off<BR>
> against OmniTech once and for all, they went to the OmniTech building<BR>
> and found... a completely different building, the offices of a toy<BR>
> company. Suspicious, they went to a nearby phone booth and checked the<BR>
> directory. No listing for OmniTech, but a listing, at that address, for<BR>
> the Toy Company.<BR>
><BR>
> It got to the point that the PCs didn't know who to trust or where<BR>
> to turn... and by having the Enemy plant a few fake clues, I had some<BR>
> of the PCs begin to suspect that one of the others was secretly working<BR>
> for the Enemy.<BR>
><BR>
> As I said, you can easily do this in a space game...<BR>
<BR>
True. It's all to easy to have them told. "You must be thinking of some<BR>
*other* planet. We've always had the toy company there..."<BR>
<BR>
For the "ultimate" in paranoia, have them go to a system they've been<BR>
to several (or better yet *many*) times before. And have the system be<BR>
different. Different star, different orbit and UPP for the mainworld.<BR>
To really rub it in, keep the name. And have all their library records<BR>
etc match the *new* system.<BR>
<BR>
For extra points, make the "missing" system their home base. With the<BR>
"new" system having no records of them...<BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 15:19:32 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
>>Suppose you want to give your players the creeps? [...]<BR>
>>How do you set it up?  What factors do you have to think<BR>
>>about?<BR>
><BR>
> Uncertainty and powerlessness. These are the two variables from which<BR>
> horror springs.<BR>
><BR>
> Start normally. Try not to let your players know you are going to run a<BR>
> horror scenario. Instead, run one of the other normal Traveller campaigns<BR>
> for the first couple of sessions. Have the PCs develop their skills and<BR>
> make friends with NPCs, so that they develop a sense that they know how the<BR>
> universe works.<BR>
><BR>
> Then, when things begin to get strange, put them in situations where their<BR>
> skills and friends are simply inadequate to fully deal with the situation.<BR>
> You probably don't want the PCs to be *totally* helpless; rather, you want<BR>
> them to be thwarted in resolving the situation to *their* satisfaction.<BR>
><BR>
> You should also isolate them, so that they have nowhere to turn for help.<BR>
> This does not need to be simple physical isolation (although that works).<BR>
> It can also be social isolation -- no one is willing to believe them, much<BR>
> less help them.<BR>
><BR>
> Here are the four maxims to keep in mind when setting up an atmosphere of<BR>
> horror. These are what you want your players to eventually realize:<BR>
><BR>
> 1. Things are not as they seem.<BR>
> 2. These things are beyond your control.<BR>
> 3. Worse, you don't even know half of it.<BR>
> 4. And nobody believes you when you mention what you *do* know.<BR>
<BR>
You just reminded me of one of the *creepiest* stories. It's one of A.<BR>
Bertram Chandler's "Commodore Grimes" stories. I *think* it's "Into the<BR>
Alternate Universe". Anyway, to put it in Traveller terms, a ship<BR>
misjumps into our universe from another very similar universe. The big<BR>
difference is that a few centuries back, a ship had a badly damaged<BR>
engine and drive. All sorts of stray radiation from the power plant and<BR>
god only knows *what* leaking in thru the damaged jump bubble. It<BR>
misjumped. Worse, it was one of the misjumps where the jump lasts a<BR>
*lot* longer than a week. <BR>
<BR>
Not only is life support getting bad (even with hydroponics and tuissue<BR>
culture tanks), but the rats they ship had picked up a few jumps back<BR>
and not gotten a chance to exterminate are *changing*....<BR>
<BR>
In the "normal" universe, the rats make an attack shortly after the<BR>
ship emerges from jump and the ship burns up on re-entry on an<BR>
earthlike world.<BR>
<BR>
In the alternate, the ship manages to set down ok. And the mutated,<BR>
*intelligent* rats win the fight and enslave the crew. They establish a<BR>
colony on the unihabited planet. Eventually they either repair the<BR>
ship, or another ship happens by. <BR>
<BR>
By the time of the story, the Rats control dozens of worlds in the out<BR>
of the way cluster. Enough that Humans are more interested in keeping<BR>
them from spreading than in trying to exterminate them or liberate<BR>
their human slaves. <BR>
<BR>
There's some trading, and a lot more raiding across the borders. And<BR>
since this is a frontier area, there are still worlds for both sides to<BR>
expand onto. <BR>
<BR>
So, our hero learns about this when he's attacked by a ship that turns<BR>
out to be a Rat ship that has misjumped. He wins. Barely. And then he's<BR>
got to deal with human sized, intelligent rats. Ones that not only keep<BR>
human slaves, but consider them as a backup food supply (one of the<BR>
uglier things they discover when they search the captured ship is that<BR>
the tissue culture tanks are growing *human* flesh...)<BR>
<BR>
One possibility would be that it turns out conditions in a particular<BR>
system make jumps between the universes easy. <BR>
<BR>
Another stolen from the original is that they figure out how to jump<BR>
the ship back to it's universe of origin, and how to make a jump back<BR>
in time to prevent the infested ship from landing. <BR>
<BR>
Or maybe the Rat ship is from their universe's future, and they have to<BR>
try stopping the infested ship...<BR>
<BR>
Just dealing with these "ratoids" ought to be unsettling enough. The<BR>
possibility of them being neighbors (ie the players are the first<BR>
contact between "rat" civilization and human), or as the future (the<BR>
rat ship is from the future and the players need to see if they can<BR>
prevent the rat civilization) ought to be good for lotsa of creepiness.<BR>
<BR>
Stuff like rats eating people, and the way they discpline slaves by<BR>
biting chunks out of them ought to *really* get to the players.<BR>
<BR>
Oh yeah, if you go with the "rats are a possible future" scenario,<BR>
consider that the PCs may have to shoot down that cripplerd ship. If<BR>
they get observed doing so, they'll have a lot of explaining to do. A<BR>
kind GM will let the evidence from the future stay. A nasty GM will<BR>
have all of it vanish. <BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 21:54:46 +0000<BR>
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com><BR>
Subject: re: New BITS product hinted at<BR>
<BR>
At 8:57 -0500 15/11/99, Phil Kitching <postmark.design@btinternet.com> wrote:<BR>
>At "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com> wrote:<BR>
><BR>
> >Along with something else, right???  Nudge, nudge wink, wink<BR>
><BR>
>You don't mean the BITS is doing T5 ???<BR>
><BR>
>WOW!<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Sadly, no. If I won the lottery and gave up working for a living we <BR>
may go for it....<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
>Of cousre not! Silly me!<BR>
><BR>
>You're probably referring to your T4 Penguin throwing supplement.<BR>
><BR>
><g><BR>
<BR>
Sources close to the BITS Director suggest that the Penguin throwing <BR>
supplement may well be ready for press very soon. Along with a list <BR>
of books and magazines (okay tc!) and some Patrons. As soon as the <BR>
sources have release dates they will notify the TML.<BR>
<BR>
Dom<BR>
<BR>
- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------<BR>
                        MiB - Marines in Battledress<BR>
    "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"<BR>
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ <BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 22:12:43 +0000<BR>
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com><BR>
Subject: [BITS] Announcement on US availability of new adventures.<BR>
<BR>
BITS - British Isles Traveller Support<BR>
http://www.bits.org.uk/<BR>
<BR>
We've had the print run for 'SpaceDogs' and 'The Khiidkar Incident' <BR>
arrive in finally. As a result the various distributors have been <BR>
informed that they can place orders now (we held off accepting orders <BR>
until we had the stock) - this includes SJG and the UK distributors. <BR>
Assuming all goes well this means that both of the new adventures <BR>
will be available for Christmas 99.<BR>
<BR>
"SpaceDogs", written by David Thomas[1], sports a gorgeous Jesse <BR>
DeGraff cover of a Marava class with some problems. The adventure is <BR>
usable in any milieu and has T4 and GURPS Traveller stats. The BITS <BR>
task system is included to allow easy use in *any* Traveller system. <BR>
The adventure revolves around a group of down and out Vargr and their <BR>
efforts to save a small colony world. GBP4.99  (same as 101 Books).<BR>
<BR>
"The Khidkhar Incident", written by Martin Dougherty and Neil <BR>
Frier[2], is an adventure dealing with the Imperial nobility and its <BR>
opponents. Once again, this adventure includes the BITS task system, <BR>
and requires the players to move in noble circles facing dangerous <BR>
threats such as piracy and romance. GBP4.99.<BR>
<BR>
Both adventures have fill pre-generated characters for GT and T4, <BR>
plus starship designs and deckplans.<BR>
Further information at BITS website http://www.bits.org.uk/ or see <BR>
the reviews in Freelance Traveller (now reachable at <BR>
http://www.downport.com/).<BR>
<BR>
Dom (BITS Webmaster)<BR>
<BR>
[1] David Thomas' other credits include 101 Governments, 101 <BR>
Lifeforms, GT Alien Races 2<BR>
[2] Martin Dougherty and Neil Frier's other credits include GT Behind <BR>
the Claw, GT Star Mercs.<BR>
- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------<BR>
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress<BR>
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"<BR>
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ <BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 23:47:31 +0000<BR>
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com><BR>
Subject: RE: Indexing the HIWG CD ROM<BR>
<BR>
At 18:25 -0500 15/11/99, Glenn Myers <glenn.myers@ansys.com> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
>I would try to use Apple's free diskcopy software to generate an unlocked<BR>
>read/writable image, run the sherlock index on that and reburn the disk. I<BR>
>may give it a whirl as I would like to index my HIWG disk as well.<BR>
<BR>
I contemplated that but was wondering if there was a <650Mb solution ;-)<BR>
<BR>
>On the other hand, does Sherlock 2 in OS9 offer any benefits? I have it but<BR>
>haven't installed it yet.<BR>
<BR>
I'm still on OS8.6 (and only that thanks to Bruce Johnson - Apple <BR>
seem to believe that because loads of crazed Star Wars fans, me <BR>
included, used the T1 links at work to download the Phantom Menace <BR>
trailer @25Mb that home users paying per minute would love to d/l the <BR>
35Mb upgrade from 8.5 to 8.6). However,  I believe you can index <BR>
individual folders but I'm not sure if you can index locked drives.<BR>
<BR>
Hmm. Maybe I'll just copy the files to the drive and make a Mac <BR>
Folders and Files disk with Toast.<BR>
<BR>
Dom<BR>
<BR>
- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------<BR>
                        MiB - Marines in Battledress<BR>
    "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"<BR>
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ <BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 23:48:37 +0000<BR>
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com><BR>
Subject: re: T5 web site?!?!?!?!<BR>
<BR>
At 18:25 -0500 15/11/99, dennis.f.belanger@bellatlantic.com wrote:<BR>
<BR>
>     Would you be so kind as to point me towards Marc Millers T5 page? Anyone?<BR>
<BR>
I linked it from the jumpsites page at http://www.bits.org.uk/ at the weekend.<BR>
<BR>
Dom<BR>
<BR>
- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------<BR>
                        MiB - Marines in Battledress<BR>
    "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"<BR>
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ <BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 16:06:03 -0800 (PST)<BR>
From: Kiri Aradia Morgan <tiamat@tsoft.com><BR>
Subject: Protestors/Paranoid scenarios<BR>
<BR>
On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Leonard Erickson wrote:<BR>
<BR>
> In mail you write:<BR>
> <BR>
> Frankly, if these were better known, I'd expect dictatorships to<BR>
> *prefer* them. Not only do they avoid those messes with bad publicity,<BR>
> but they avoid property damage, and allow fewer people to deal with the<BR>
> protest. And you are pretty much assured of being able to pick up *all*<BR>
> the protestors. <BR>
> <BR>
Which enables you to perform all your atrocities in private, where no one<BR>
will bother you or find out about it, unless someone survives or gets<BR>
lucky.<BR>
<BR>
The most horrific dictatorships appear benevolent to outsiders.  ^_^<BR>
What's more frightening, the strongman with teeth dripping blood, or the<BR>
nice gentle nurse who assures you that everything will be just fine, just<BR>
a pinprick, it will hardly hurt, cuz this is for your own good...?<BR>
<BR>
Kiri <BR>
<BR>
(oh yes everyone loves the Daelzu, the Daelzu people are so loyal, the<BR>
Daelzu government is great and glorious, no hunger, no sadness, no fear...<BR>
just don't talk to any of those refugees on Khadisja, 'k?)<BR>
<BR>
******************************************************************************<BR>
Kiri Aradia Morgan                                  93!  Thou Art God<BR>
tiamat@tsoft.com<BR>
<BR>
"If time passes, everything turns into beauty<BR>
If the rains stop, tears clean the scars of memory away<BR>
Everything starts wearing fresh colors<BR>
Every sound begins playing a heartfelt melody<BR>
Jealousy embellishes a page of the epic<BR>
Desire is embraced in a dream..."              -- X-JAPAN <BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 15:42:56 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
>>From: "Frank Pitt" <frankie@mundens.gen.nz><BR>
>>Subject: Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
> ...<BR>
>>Read "The Vang : the Military Form" (or "The Battlemaster")<BR>
><BR>
>   In which case you let them call for help. As things develop, they<BR>
> may realize just what it is that they've really asked for...<BR>
><BR>
>   "Nuking the planetary surface is the only way to be sure..."<BR>
<BR>
For a *slightly* less extreme problem, read Heinlein's "Puppet<BR>
Massters". Then transpose it to an out of the way world. Not only do<BR>
you have to stop this, you have to try to keep them from infecting any<BR>
one going offworld. <BR>
<BR>
In this case, the threat isn't enough to get the world nuked from<BR>
orbit. But it *is* enough to get a *strict* quarantine established. <BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 15:51:43 PST<BR>
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)<BR>
Subject: Re: How to do a gritty, X-Files-like scenario?<BR>
<BR>
In mail you write:<BR>
<BR>
> Hit them with something familiar, like the set up for "Aliens", encourage<BR>
> them to think you've recycled the plot, and then have something happen that<BR>
> is clearly impossible ( given their current knowledge ). Preferably<BR>
> something nasty that will make them want to mount a 24hr guard, and not<BR>
> trust their automatics. The first killing from "Forbidden Planet" comes to<BR>
> mind.<BR>
<BR>
Another *extremely* nasty is to hit the players with something familar,<BR>
but where the "natural" response is *wrong*. Say a conspiracy where<BR>
they finally uncover enough proof to show that *something* was going on<BR>
in secret. They release it to the media, the conspirators disappear.<BR>
But one of them corners a PC alone, and *proves* to him/her that the<BR>
conspiracy was going to do something good and *wonderful*. And that<BR>
since it's been exposed, it'll be a long time before the conspirators<BR>
can again get the conditions right for XXX.<BR>
<BR>
Maybe XXX is a *cheap* cure for diseases that can't just be placed on<BR>
the market because it'd hurt the profits of too many megacorps. Maybe<BR>
it's something good for the citizen, but that the Imperium doesn't<BR>
like. <BR>
<BR>
In any case, the punchline is that the characters, by being their<BR>
normal, suspicious selves have just made the biggest screwup of their<BR>
lives. One they can't *begin* to fix. And they'll have to live with<BR>
being praised for what's really a disaster. <BR>
<BR>
Note. This is best saved for *players* who play their characters *way*<BR>
too paranoid and suspicious. Think of it as a "last resort" to get them<BR>
to realize that they need to allow for *good* hidden motives sometime.<BR>
<BR>
> Make them paranoid. ( Leave hints that it's one of the players that's<BR>
> responsible for the badness, especiallly if it isn't.  Make it seem the<BR>
> enemy can "walk through walls". Enemy is "super-genius", it will outthink<BR>
> anything you do....)<BR>
<BR>
Psionics. The enemy can read your mind. He *knows* what you are going<BR>
to do. <BR>
<BR>
Or just read John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" It's the basis for<BR>
both versions of "The Thing", and while Carpenter stuck closer to the<BR>
story, it's possible for you as a ref to do even better. <BR>
<BR>
- -- <BR>
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)<BR>
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred<BR>
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 17:22:59 -0500<BR>
From: Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca><BR>
Subject: Re: Pacifist groups in the 3I<BR>
<BR>
>>Rather like some of the New Age Wiccans around here, who ignore an awful<BR>
>>lot of history.  Or many of my fellow Anglicans, who resolutely learn<BR>
>>nothing about early church history so that their "faith" is unshaken.<BR>
><BR>
>Amen to that.  I've met some mighty narrow minds on both sides of the<BR>
>tracks.  But I'd have to say from personal experience that most of the<BR>
>churches these days do little or no good anymore.  I tried one here in New<BR>
>Hampshire and it was pretty lame.<BR>
<BR>
Depends on what you mean by "do".  Helping the poor and what-not is now a<BR>
secular responsibility.<BR>
<BR>
I know that up here in Hogtown the group that looks after more homeless<BR>
than any other is an agency of the Anglican Church, yet even most<BR>
churchmembers don't know that and credit either the Salvation Army or the<BR>
government Social Services. So publicity is also a factor.<BR>
<BR>
As to the serious religious stuff, finding a congregation that is serious<BR>
about religion, as opposed to being serious about having a nice church with<BR>
new hymn-books, is tough. For one thing to seriously grow in religious<BR>
faith people have to be free to question it, which doesn't happen inside<BR>
most churches, and also have to be willing to put serious skull sweat into<BR>
learning what their religion actually means, which requires commitment.<BR>
(In Credo terms, most Angicans can't tell an "Article of Faith" from a<BR>
"Customary Practice", and I suspect the same is true of most religions.)<BR>
<BR>
I'm seriously considering going to seminary part-time, not to become a<BR>
priest but just to find an environment where people don't get offended when<BR>
you ask questions. (Like "When Jesus cast the demon into the pigs, why was<BR>
it OK for him to thus destroy some farmer's herd of pigs? What had the<BR>
farmer done to deserve that?")<BR>
<BR>
ObTrav: Read 101 Religions.<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 17:25:32 -0500<BR>
From: Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca><BR>
Subject: Re: Space Sail Racing<BR>
<BR>
>Back in the GDW-Beta list days, Mitch "Ted7" Schwartz designed a racing<BR>
>yacht using solar sails.<BR>
><BR>
>I remember linking him up with some nice people from BITS about his writeup.<BR>
><BR>
>Did this get published by BITS?  If not, are there plans to do so?<BR>
<BR>
I've got a few designed for GURPS. When I find the time, they'll be posted.<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1349<BR>
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