
-------- TML Message #552 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 552
From: ("C. Harald Koch") chk@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 89 17:48:23 EDT


In message 551 of TML, scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Steven J. Owens) writes:
> 	One thing I'd like is an idea of what kind of stuff is
> available, mainly at TL12, with some stuff edging up into TL13.  The
> rules I have aren't too detailed, and I definitely remember things
> like holocameras, etc, which aren't detailed in my rules.

Well, in our 2300AD campaign, we have some tech stuff which is quite useful
to us:

Subderma-Talk

	These are small, multichannel communicators implanted in the
	body. The main radio unit is located somewhere in the left shoulder,
	with the antenna running down the back. The radio is connected to a
	throat implant mike and an implanted ear-piece. It draw power from
	the contraction and dilation of the blood vessels in the shoulder,
	and from shoulder movement. You turn the transmitter/receiver on/off
	and select channels using unusual jaw movements.

	Range is quite short and power is low (easy to jam), but the throat
	mike is capable of detecting minute vibrations and amplifying them
	so that you can 'whisper without any sound' and still be picked up.
	For this reason, the system has been named Telepathy; you can read
	other PC's minds!

Subderma-Comp

	This is a computer (processor and static memory) implanted in the
	back of the neck. It has the same capabilities of a standard
	portable computer. It 'displays' information by interfacing directly
	with either the optic nerve or the visual processing centers of the
	brain (I'm not sure which); the effect is similar to a heads-up
	display. You communicate with the computer by typing on an imaginary
	keyboard (there is a pressure switch to disable this...). There is
	also a jack located on the surface of the skin which allows direct
	connection to a portacomp for software transfers and easier use.

	Having a powerful computer always available to you (even when
	stripped of all equiptment) is useful...

Subderma-Modem

	Naturally, we quickly came up with a way to link the computers to
	the radios so that we can communicate large amounts of data between
	implanted computers and otherwise interface with the outside world
	in situations where using the implanted jack is impossible.


An alien race in 2300AD grows various useful devices. One that all PCs wear
constantly is bio-contacts. These are like ordinary contact lenses (they
will correct your vision if necessary). However, by using various different
squint commands, you can get up to 5X magnification, light intensification,
infra-red sight, etc. Also built in are brightness dampers; you never need
sunglasses and they are fast enough to react to most sudden flashes (e.g.
explosions, lasers in the eye, etc).

> Getting into the Rat Race...
> 
> 	A series of rodent-sized robots.  They would be equipped with
> certain capabilities, the range increasing with the TL and the
> development. At first they'd basically be little programmable rodents
> that go around and record stuff and carry out orders (through their
> computer, or from a comlink) and can self-destruct with a demolitions
> charge to destroy the evidence or a target.  

Two of our PC's, the robotics expert and the explosives expert got together
and built a bunch of these. They are (of course) programmable with commands
sent from the subdermacomps via subdermatalk. They can transmit low-res
pictures, move around, and can carry small explosives packs. They can also
be programmed to act autonomously (i.e. drive to this location, record for 5
minutes, then destruct). They are incredibly useful; the GM is regetting the
day he let us design them.


Other useful low tech stuff:

	Ceramic knives (hold a *very* sharp edge almost forever, and don't
	show up in airport/spaceport detectors),

	portable neutrino detectors (great for locating fusion power
	sources, e.g. space planes, reactors, grav-sleds, etc).

	'God Gambit' transmitters: a radio that is powerful enough to rattle
	garbage can lids, fillings, and building supports across one face of
	a planet. Useful for getting low tech worlds to think that you are
	omnipotent...

Also see James Bond movies for lots of neat gadgets, and any cyberpunk
novels you can get your hands on.

- -- 
          C. Harald Koch          NTT Systems, Inc., Toronto, Ontario          
     chk@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca,  chk@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca,  chk@chk.mef.org
"There is no problem, no matter how large or how small, that cannot be solved
by an appropriate application of high explosives."            -Leo Graf, 2298

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-------- TML Message #553 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 553
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 89 15:47:08 MDT
From: (Dan Williams) wrgate.wr.tek.com!uunet.uu.net!zephyr.ENS.TEK.COM!salt!china!dan@tektronix.TEK.COM
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech



>Eyephone shades with eye-cursor
	Things that eyephone shades can be used for are weapons tracking,
perhaps tied with a gyro stabelized weapons platform or gun.  How about
that as a guard dog substitute. look at your target, bink to lock the
pointer and say zap.  Robie then unloads a few hundered rounds at the
unfortunate target.
	If you do any combat you can use the shades to provide 360 degree
vision, or view other sensing spectra given your hand comp has the required
sencing equipment.  Perhaps a tricorder style of analysis and comentary fed
into your vision as you view things.
	More mundane and near future uses for such a system would provide
long distance telecomunication, remote monitoring of your situation,
provide a location service (ie maps), remote storage and retrieval of data,
providing access to a computerized expert on a range of topics.
Artificially inteligent expert systems are available now, but these should
be tightly controled by the GM.  Available topics should be very narrow,
commonly available topics, expert systems do not have the intuitive
abilities that humans have.  Current expert systems do things like diagnose
viral diseases, but it would be lost if you had a broken leg.
	Then there is always the terminator solution.  Eyephones display
realtime commentary about surroundings and were used to generate replies
that allowed the terminator to fit in with his current sittuation and
providing him a variety of options.  Swap your hand comp rom pack out and
put in a module for local street slang.  Then when the local street scum
question whether you belong on their turf, you can respond to them
eloquently with out resorting to violence.  I'm sure you could come up with
other ideas given some thought.


>Getting into the Rat Race...
	Swiss army rodents, a new style of computer peripheral hardware.
For breaking into computers I think you would have a better method by using
remote telecomunications from your hand comp.  And a human is a better lock
pick than a machine, but as a bug or spy device it may work.


| Dan Williams (uunet!china!dan) | FRP: It's not just a game,        |
|       MCDONNELL DOUGLAS        |            it's an adventure!     |
|           Denver CO            | "Of course thats just my opinion" |

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-------- TML Message #554 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 554
From: scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Steven J Owens)
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 89 2:31:26 EDT
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech


> >Eyephone shades with eye-cursor

> 	Things that eyephone shades can be used for are weapons tracking,

	Interesting.  I'm working on a pair of smart pistols (sort of back
burner for the moment, while the "fun" stuff gets done) and I think I could
tie the targeting into the eyephones.

> 360 degree vision, or view other sensing spectra given your hand comp

	Interesting, but may take some convincing to get the GM to goforit.

	Many interesting ideas,thanks much... the terminator option,
idaknow.  If I can find a book on streetslang, perhaps, but that won't
be easy.  Maybe drop by a local linguistics dept. at a nearby college...

> >Getting into the Rat Race...
> 	Swiss army rodents, a new style of computer peripheral hardware.
> For breaking into computers I think you would have a better method by using
> remote telecomunications from your hand comp.  And a human is a better lock
> pick than a machine, but as a bug or spy device it may work.

	Nonono... I think you missed the point.  They aren't designed to
be lockpicks or computer crackers.  Those options are there to increase
the range of possibilities for the Ratbots once they get inside a ship
or building.  Also, most ships have a self-contained system that is hard
to hack into from the outside.  On the other hand, a Ratbot sneaking
into a secure terminal at the heart of the ship and downloading a virus
program...  Your last comment, as a bug or spy device, is precisely on
target.  They are for spying and doing mischief (what the tiny little
hands are for :-)
 

Steven J. Owens   |   Scratch@PITTVMS   |   scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu

"Okay, Major Jonathan "Wrong-Is" Wright rubs his magic ring of Imperial
 Intervention and twenty stormtroopers with battledress and gauss rifles
 pop out of the microwave oven..." 
 
	- Sean T. Grape, in a truly bizarre traveller campaign...


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All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
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List Administrator: traveller-request@dadla.wr.tek.com

-------- TML Message #555 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 555
From: scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Steven J Owens)
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 89 11:07:03 EDT
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech


Drat!  I sent a long reply to this, but it looks like it got lost in the
shuffle.  Here we go again...

> >Eyephone shades with eye-cursor
>
> 	Things that eyephone shades can be used for are weapons tracking,
	
	I'm planning a set of smartguns, but they're on a back burner
while I work on the fun stuff.

> 	If you do any combat you can use the shades to provide 360 degree

	This might be fun.  I'm thinking along the lines of programming
an image converter (from one of the journals) into my hand computer,
then filtering the data through the eyephone cameras through the
computer before displaying it to me.  
	
	The other ideas outlined are also interesting, but I think the
GM is going to be very strict with Artificial Intelligences.

> Swap your hand comp rom pack out and put in a module for local street
> slang.  Then when the local street scum question whether you belong on
> their turf, you can respond to them eloquently with out resorting to
> violence.

	Uhmm... yes, but where do you find a street slang module?
Perhaps by dropping by the local major university's linguistics or
anthro dept...

> >Getting into the Rat Race...
>
> 	Swiss army rodents, a new style of computer peripheral hardware.
> For breaking into computers I think you would have a better method by using
> remote telecomunications from your hand comp.  And a human is a better lock
> pick than a machine, but as a bug or spy device it may work.

	Hmmm... I think you missed the point here.  The reason for the
rats to have the electronic lock picks and computer software is for
THEIR advantage when they're doing stuff, not so I can pull out a rat
and try to lockpick something.  My character's computer and electronics
skills are very high - I could probably hack most anything or pick any
electronic lock.  
 
	As far as remote telecomm, for the most part I agree with you.
Too bad the GM doesn't.  I can see some of his view - that the ships
computers are self-contained and you have to gain entry to the ship to
hack them.  But then again many of the players and NPCs use their hand
computers linked to their ships computers while they're in port.  The
idea behind the ratbot's interface and software is that they can sneak
in to a "secure terminal" and dump the software directly into the
computer, without having to hack past any login software or what-have-
you. 
 
	Speaking of which, what kinds of things could I do with my high
computer skill?  I'm in dire need of some ready cash (all of my benefits
were used getting a +4 intelligence, my hand computer, and a scientist's
scout/courier [from _More_Clout_For_Scouts_ in an early issue of the
Dragon]) and I'm thinking about software as a possible source.  I could
write some "standard" software and sell it, or I could try to do a
better version of the stuff on the list of ships software, or I could
try to write new and unusual programs.  Anybody have any ideas on new
programs for the ships computers, or for hand computers?
 
Steven J. Owens   |   Scratch@PITTVMS   |   scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu

"Okay, Major Jonathan "Wrong-Is" Wright rubs his magic ring of Imperial
 Intervention and twenty stormtroopers with battledress and gauss rifles
 pop out of the microwave oven..." 
 
	- Sean T. Grape, in a truly bizarre traveller campaign...


The Traveller Mailing List is a courtesy of James Perkins and Tektronix, Inc.
All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
Send Submissions To: @RELAY.CS.NET:traveller@dadla.wr.tek.com,
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-------- TML Message #556 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 556
From: scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Steven J Owens)
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 89 2:48:17 EDT
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech


> Well, in our 2300AD campaign, we have some tech stuff which is quite useful
> to us:
> 
> Subderma-Talk
> 
> Subderma-Comp
> 
> Subderma-Modem
> 

	Nice stuff, but out of the question - in this campaign there is
a massive prejudice against cybernetics or bionics - the "shoot on
sight" kind of prejudice.  Comes from having a thirty year war against
cyborgs, I suppose.  I know there is a gadget called an Implant chip or
something similar in one of the Journals of the Traveller's Aid Society,
which does much of what the above do, but I'm hoping it's subtle enough
to pass, perhaps a bio-chip which doesn't show up on a medscan.  Anybody
care to type in the stats and e-mail 'em?  Would be much appreciated...

> An alien race in 2300AD grows various useful devices. One that all PCs wear
> constantly is bio-contacts. These are like ordinary contact lenses (they
> will correct your vision if necessary). However, by using various different
> squint commands, you can get up to 5X magnification, light intensification,
> infra-red sight, etc. Also built in are brightness dampers; you never need
> sunglasses and they are fast enough to react to most sudden flashes (e.g.
> explosions, lasers in the eye, etc).

	Fun gadgets, how about ordering me a few? :-)  Nice, but
probably hard to find.  So far,  the highest TL we've reached (going to
reach) is 12.  There are several TL15 or 16 worlds out there, very
neutral and self-absorbed - and powerful enough to keep it that way.
I'm going to make a sojourn to one of them ASAP.

> > Getting into the Rat Race...
> > 	A series of rodent-sized robots....
>
> Two of our PC's, the robotics expert and the explosives expert got together
> and built a bunch of these. They are (of course) programmable with commands
> sent from the subdermacomps via subdermatalk. They can transmit low-res
> pictures, move around, and can carry small explosives packs. They can also
> be programmed to act autonomously (i.e. drive to this location, record for 5
> minutes, then destruct). They are incredibly useful; the GM is regetting the
> day he let us design them.

	Glad to hear this, as it means I'm on the right track.  The only
question is what kind of capabilities it'll have.  The system I used to
generate my character didn't mention any "robotics" skill, and I ended
up with an Electronics-4 and Mech-2.  My computer skill is more than
enough to program them (level 6).  In response to my initial query "I
want to build some little rat robots-" the GM answered "You need
robotics skill."  to which I replied "There isn't any."  To which he
replied "It's in Citizens of the Imperium."  Fun, eh?  Well, he says I
can't design the robots without robotic skill.  

[I liked the open-endedness of Traveller skills, but one thing I've
 always disliked about them is the fact that many skills only show up in
 later books, and that there is no easy way to work them into the
 character generation tables in earlier books.  Personally I preferred
 just using general skills instead of breaking things down like that.] 

	So I've got a computer full of technical data, I'm going to look
up the designs for various robots, find one that is close enough to suit
my purposes, and then either downscale it to largish rat size (5-6") or
use the originals if it's already in that range (pipe cleaner bots, for
example.) 

	Thanks for the suggestions - how about the more common
technology that is around and ready to be perverte to my nefarious ends?

Steven J. Owens   |   Scratch@PITTVMS   |   scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu

"Okay, Major Jonathan "Wrong-Is" Wright rubs his magic ring of Imperial
 Intervention and twenty stormtroopers with battledress and gauss rifles
 pop out of the microwave oven..." 
 
	- Sean T. Grape, in a truly bizarre traveller campaign...

The Traveller Mailing List is a courtesy of James Perkins and Tektronix, Inc.
All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
Send Submissions To: @RELAY.CS.NET:traveller@dadla.wr.tek.com,
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List Administrator: traveller-request@dadla.wr.tek.com

-------- TML Message #557 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 557
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 89 18:46 EST
From: EHT%PSUARCH.BITNET@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu



>* Ship construction, maintenance, operation, and combat which didn't offend
>   an astrophysicist, but are usable by non-technical players.
>* stars live in 3-space, based rougly on the known structure of our galactic
>  arm (the Scarp is just this side of the Orion nebula; major, old imperial
>  space stations are located on the arm's fringes nearest tangencies to earth)
>  Space combat, however, is done either as chalk-board vectors or kriegspieled
>  verbally.
>
>His rules variants have been serially published in The Wild Hunt, a role-
>playing APA (Amateur Press Association) run by Mark Swanson.  I can provide
>information to anyone who'd like more...
>
Yes, please.  I would like more info on the ship rules (construction, combat,
etc.).  And if anyone else out there in traveller-land has any special or
otherwise interesting rules, how about letting us know at least what they are
concerned with so people can decide if they want to see them.  I'd be
interested in seeing anything to do with ships and combat, or neat gadgets.

>Bill Ricker
>WRICKER@NUHUB.ACS.NorthEastern.EDU

- ----------
>From the Bridge of the NOMAD

Captain Sir Michael Talmoth Commanding     UPP:  BA5A8B
   AKA Paul Baughman ---> EHT@psuarch.BITNET
      AKA Unka Paul

"You see me now a veteran
        of a thousand psychic wars,
                I've been living on the edge so long,
                       where the winds of limbo roar
And I'm young enough to look at,
        but far too old to see
                All the scars are on the inside,
                       I don't know if there's anything left of me..."
 -- BOC --


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-------- TML Message #558 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 558
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 89 11:07:05 -0400
From: (Mail Delivery Subsystem) MAILER-DAEMON@unix.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: Returned mail: User unknown


   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>> RCPT To:<@RELAY.CS.NET>
<<< 550 Unable to parse address
550 @RELAY.CS.NET... User unknown

   ----- Unsent message follows -----
Received: by unix.cis.pitt.edu (5.61/6.40)
	id AA20859; Tue, 19 Sep 89 11:07:05 -0400
From: Steven J Owens <scratch>
Message-Id: <8909191507.AA20859@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
To: @RELAY.CS.NET, @tektronix.tek.com:jamesp@dadla.wr.tek.com
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 89 11:07:03 EDT
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech
In-Reply-To: Message from "@RELAY.CS.NET,@tektronix.tek.com:jamesp@dadla.wr.tek.com" of Sep 18, 89 at 3:47 pm
X-Mailer: Elm [version 1.5b]

Drat!  I sent a long reply to this, but it looks like it got lost in the
shuffle.  Here we go again...

> >Eyephone shades with eye-cursor
>
> 	Things that eyephone shades can be used for are weapons tracking,
	
	I'm planning a set of smartguns, but they're on a back burner
while I work on the fun stuff.

> 	If you do any combat you can use the shades to provide 360 degree

	This might be fun.  I'm thinking along the lines of programming
an image converter (from one of the journals) into my hand computer,
then filtering the data through the eyephone cameras through the
computer before displaying it to me.  
	
	The other ideas outlined are also interesting, but I think the
GM is going to be very strict with Artificial Intelligences.

> Swap your hand comp rom pack out and put in a module for local street
> slang.  Then when the local street scum question whether you belong on
> their turf, you can respond to them eloquently with out resorting to
> violence.

	Uhmm... yes, but where do you find a street slang module?
Perhaps by dropping by the local major university's linguistics or
anthro dept...

> >Getting into the Rat Race...
>
> 	Swiss army rodents, a new style of computer peripheral hardware.
> For breaking into computers I think you would have a better method by using
> remote telecomunications from your hand comp.  And a human is a better lock
> pick than a machine, but as a bug or spy device it may work.

	Hmmm... I think you missed the point here.  The reason for the
rats to have the electronic lock picks and computer software is for
THEIR advantage when they're doing stuff, not so I can pull out a rat
and try to lockpick something.  My character's computer and electronics
skills are very high - I could probably hack most anything or pick any
electronic lock.  
 
	As far as remote telecomm, for the most part I agree with you.
Too bad the GM doesn't.  I can see some of his view - that the ships
computers are self-contained and you have to gain entry to the ship to
hack them.  But then again many of the players and NPCs use their hand
computers linked to their ships computers while they're in port.  The
idea behind the ratbot's interface and software is that they can sneak
in to a "secure terminal" and dump the software directly into the
computer, without having to hack past any login software or what-have-
you. 
 
	Speaking of which, what kinds of things could I do with my high
computer skill?  I'm in dire need of some ready cash (all of my benefits
were used getting a +4 intelligence, my hand computer, and a scientist's
scout/courier [from _More_Clout_For_Scouts_ in an early issue of the
Dragon]) and I'm thinking about software as a possible source.  I could
write some "standard" software and sell it, or I could try to do a
better version of the stuff on the list of ships software, or I could
try to write new and unusual programs.  Anybody have any ideas on new
programs for the ships computers, or for hand computers?
 
Steven J. Owens   |   Scratch@PITTVMS   |   scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu

"Okay, Major Jonathan "Wrong-Is" Wright rubs his magic ring of Imperial
 Intervention and twenty stormtroopers with battledress and gauss rifles
 pop out of the microwave oven..." 
 
	- Sean T. Grape, in a truly bizarre traveller campaign...



The Traveller Mailing List is a courtesy of James Perkins and Tektronix, Inc.
All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
Send Submissions To: @RELAY.CS.NET:traveller@dadla.wr.tek.com,
	uunet!dadla.wr.tek.com!traveller, or traveller@dadla.wr.tek.com
List Administrator: traveller-request@dadla.wr.tek.com

-------- TML Message #559 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 559
From: (Adrian Hurt) adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 89 11:12:47 BST



> > Swap your hand comp rom pack out and put in a module for local street
> > slang.  Then when the local street scum question whether you belong on
> > their turf, you can respond to them eloquently with out resorting to
> > violence.
> 
> 	Uhmm... yes, but where do you find a street slang module?
> Perhaps by dropping by the local major university's linguistics or
> anthro dept...

I somehow can't visualise this.

Scum: Hey, dude, where the *@#! are you from?
PC (looks at handcomp, presses a few keys, face lights up):
      I's out of that there !#$@ just round the sqorner.
Scum: That there's one real *&^% looking piece of gear. Hand over, now, $%&*!
 
> 	Speaking of which, what kinds of things could I do with my high
> computer skill?

Well, on one occasion when we were facing an enemy battleship, one character
with a good computer skill and a good computer hacked into the enemy ship's
computer, and caused the ship to jump. No-one ever saw that ship again, partly
because it had been in near orbit round a planet when it jumped.

 "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk

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-------- TML Message #560 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 560
From: ("C. Harald Koch") chk@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 89 10:26:09 EDT


> 	Glad to hear this, as it means I'm on the right track.  The only
> question is what kind of capabilities it'll have.  The system I used to
> generate my character didn't mention any "robotics" skill, and I ended
> up with an Electronics-4 and Mech-2.  My computer skill is more than
> enough to program them (level 6).  In response to my initial query "I
> want to build some little rat robots-" the GM answered "You need
> robotics skill."  to which I replied "There isn't any."  To which he
> replied "It's in Citizens of the Imperium."  Fun, eh?  Well, he says I
> can't design the robots without robotic skill.  

Electronics, some form of mechanical engineering, and computer programming
skills practically *define* robotics; you should almost get free robotics
skill points for this, or at least be allowed to use these related skills at
penalty.

This is a general comment by the way; Skills are not as narrowly focused in
reality as is implied in RPG skill sets. Many 'skills' are inter-related,
and can be applied to other things. I like hierarchical skill sets much
better than flat ones because of this. i.e. a character with:

        Driving-2 -> GroundVehicle-4

Means that the character has a skill level of 4 when driving wheeled ground
vehicles (cars, small trucks) but has a skill of 2 in *all* other 'driving'
related skills, i.e. small boats, small hovercraft, large trucks, etc.

Of course, the problem is that coming up with a consistent set of
hierarchical skill is, um, difficult (to say the least).

> 	Thanks for the suggestions - how about the more common
> technology that is around and ready to be perverte to my nefarious ends?

Ammonia and Iodine mixed together makes a great contact explosive. Be
careful though; it is highly volatile once it has 'gelled', which takes
about 20 minutes. Don't breathe on it.

- -- 
          C. Harald Koch          NTT Systems, Inc., Toronto, Ontario          
     chk@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca,  chk@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca,  chk@chk.mef.org
"There is no problem, no matter how large or how small, that cannot be solved
by an appropriate application of high explosives."            -Leo Graf, 2298

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-------- TML Message #561 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 561
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 89 08:10:17 MDT
From: (Dan Williams) wrgate.wr.tek.com!uunet.uu.net!salt!china!dan@tektronix.TEK.COM
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech



- ----- Begin Included Message -----
 Adrian Hurt	writes

>> > Swap your hand comp rom pack out and put in a module for local street
>> > slang.  Then when the local street scum question whether you belong on
>> > their turf, you can respond to them eloquently with out resorting to
>> > violence.
>> 
>> 	Uhmm... yes, but where do you find a street slang module?
>> Perhaps by dropping by the local major university's linguistics or
>> anthro dept...
>I somehow can't visualise this.

>Scum: Hey, dude, where the *@#! are you from?
>PC (looks at handcomp, presses a few keys, face lights up):
>      I's out of that there !#$@ just round the sqorner.
>Scum: That there's one real *&^% looking piece of gear. Hand over, now, $%&*!

You have it wrong.   You are supposed to use the Heads up display that the 
origional poster was designing as adisplay device to be inobvious.  Options 
are provided to the user as suggestions when someone speaks to him.  The 
whole point is for this to be undetectable.

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-------- TML Message #562 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 562
Subject: Mail bouncing (now fixed)
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 89 8:46:04 EDT
From: (Jonathan Bayer) jbayer@ispi.COM


Greetings fellow travellers,


If any of you had recently tried to send me mail and had the mail
bounce, please check the address.  Any mail going to ispi.UUCP was bouncing
due to this system becoming registered in the .COM domain.  All mail to
me should be addressed either via the 'bang' paths (...uunet!ispi!jbayer) or
"jbayer@ispi.COM"




JB
- -- 
Jonathan Bayer		Intelligent Software Products, Inc.
(201) 245-5922		500 Oakwood Ave.
jbayer@ispi.COM		Roselle Park, NJ   07204    

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-------- TML Message #563 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 563
From: (Steven J Owens) scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 89 14:24:56 EDT
Subject: Re: Request for Traveller Tech


> > > Swap your hand comp rom pack out and put in a module for local street
> > > slang.  Then when the local street scum question whether you belong on
> > > their turf, you can respond to them eloquently with out resorting to
> > > violence.
> > 	Uhmm... yes, but where do you find a street slang module?
> > Perhaps by dropping by the local major university's linguistics or
> > anthro dept...
> 
> I somehow can't visualise this.
> 
> Scum: Hey, dude, where the *@#! are you from?
> PC (looks at handcomp, presses a few keys, face lights up):
>       I's out of that there !#$@ just round the sqorner.
> Scum: That there's one real *&^% looking piece of gear. Hand over, now, $%&*!

	You're right, you can't visualize it.  For one thing, in the campaign
supposedly *everyone* has handcomputers.  Kinda like a watch, or driver's 
liscence.  For another, the input wouldn't be that slow, nor the output,..

Scum: Hey, dud, where the *@#! are you from?
PC (pauses for a moment, his eyes inscrutable behind a set of heavy wrap-
    around shades)  I's out of that there !#$@ just round the sqorner.
Scum: #$%% ensem there, you're ice.  Let's find some $%#

	Since the PC is using a set of eyephones, and the computer is equipped 
with microphone (and even speakers & subvocal input) the Scum has no idea what
is going on.

> > 	Speaking of which, what kinds of things could I do with my high
> > computer skill?
> 
> Well, on one occasion when we were facing an enemy battleship, one character
> with a good computer skill and a good computer hacked into the enemy ship's
> computer, and caused the ship to jump. No-one ever saw that ship again,'
> partly because it had been in near orbit round a planet when it jumped.

	Sounds fun, especially since my computer skill should be high enough
to make that a breeze.  However, our GM has already ruled that ships computers
are generally not acessible from outside the ship.  Does anybody have any
suggestions, or know of any traveller sources that say otherwise?

	So far I've done a few nasty things by sneaking inside the ship to
get access to the computer (with forged documents saying we were from the
starport maintenace service...)

   Steven J. Owens  |  Scratch@PITTVMS  |  scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu

"Okay, Major Jonathan "Wrong-Is" Wright rubs his magic ring of Imperial
 Intervention and twenty stormtroopers with battledress and gauss rifles
 pop out of the microwave oven..."
 
	- Sean T. Grape, in a truly bizarre traveller campaign...


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-------- TML Message #564 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 564
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 89 18:54 EST
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: Oh, damn, he's back!



Yeah, it's me again. Two weeks in that living hell that humans call Notre 
Dame, Indiana, doing the impossible for the ungrateful. Pfui!

Anyway, on various topics:

The only thing I'd heard from the DGP staff on the real Strephon was that they
were kicking around the idea of an adventure module with three possible 
endings: one, that it's a clone or an impostor, two, that it's a Krenstein 
special (i.e. a robot), and three, that it's really Streffie. Anyway, the 
module would also contain a mail-in card that would let the ref vote for the 
ending he or she liked best, and the "official" history would follow the vote.
(This was mentioned at the DGP roundtable at GenCon 1988, and no word since.)

On non-Imperium Traveller: I've done it twice, both times to introduce new 
players to the game's mechanics. The universes were unremarkable future-
histories on a limited scale, but they went over well. The players were very 
young, and found the Imperium a bit overwhelming.

On new and bizarre gear: There's enough material in my files for a separate 
article on the subject, so that'll come along later. My specialty is in hand
weapons development, but other gizmos have made themselves known....

And to Jim Cunningham: The secret is in prioritization over time. I do what's 
important to me at any given moment. Since I'm between finishing up my classes 
(May 1987) and finishing up my thesis (sometime in 1990), I have more 
flexibility for my writing, gaming, and music. Hopefully, in 1990 I'll be able 
to get my Traveller book published, release my second album, finish my thesis, 
and get married and honeymoon in New Zealand for a couple of weeks, all 
without the need to resort to cloning or other drastic measures. I had to 
shoot my clone two years ago, when he finished taking my comprehensive Ph.D. 
exams for me and demanded time with my girlfriend as compensation.

(Realistically, though, I'll settle for the wedding and the Ph.D. |-> )

ciao,

metlay				| HOW TO DIE YOUNG, #327:
Traveller Mailing List Historian|
				| Walk up to a Vargr Corsair and scratch his
metlay@pittvms.BITNET		| tummy to see if his hind leg starts kicking.
metlay@vms.cis.pitt.EDU		|



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-------- TML Message #565 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 565
From: (Adrian Hurt) adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Subject: New skills for old characters
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 89 10:06:27 BST



> > An alien race in 2300AD grows various useful devices. One that all PCs wear
> > constantly is bio-contacts.

But the cutest must be the food-samplers!

> ...						  The system I used to
> generate my character didn't mention any "robotics" skill, and I ended
> up with an Electronics-4 and Mech-2.  My computer skill is more than
> enough to program them (level 6).  In response to my initial query "I
> want to build some little rat robots-" the GM answered "You need
> robotics skill."  to which I replied "There isn't any."  To which he
> replied "It's in Citizens of the Imperium."  Fun, eh?  Well, he says I
> can't design the robots without robotic skill.  

There are two ways to tackle this, depending on whether or not you think
the Navy (or Army, or whatever your character is from) uses robots. If it
does, then you could substitute Robotics for Electronics, the nearest
available equivalent. If it doesn't, tough - your character never met a
robot, and wouldn't know what to do with one. You might substitute it for
Computer skill instead.

Mind you, I'd think that actually building the thing, as opposed to using
or programming it, would use Electronics anyway. After all, the world's
best computer programmer (Computer-10?) couldn't design and build even a
simple microcomputer, unless he had some Electronics skill.

> [I liked the open-endedness of Traveller skills, but one thing I've
>  always disliked about them is the fact that many skills only show up in
>  later books, and that there is no easy way to work them into the
>  character generation tables in earlier books.  Personally I preferred
>  just using general skills instead of breaking things down like that.] 

So where no specific skill is available, use the nearest one to it. If
necessary, have a word with the referee during character creation, and
substitute the new skill for an old, similar one.

 "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk

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-------- End of TML Messages --------

