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To: Dan Corrin <dan%engrg.uwo.ca@RELAY.CS.NET>, jamesp@metolius.WR
Subject: TML Bundle #165: Msgs 2040-2054
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TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.

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

Date: Tue Feb 12 13:53:09 PST 1991
From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #165: Table of Contents

-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2040  07-Jan-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha Re: Inspirational Reading << In message 2035 
2041  05-Jan-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha GOTHCON XV << Here it is, look it over and pu
2042  07-Jan-91 Arthur Green      Aslan in Spinward Marches << This has probabl
2043  07-Jan-91 Mark F. Cook      "What sort of man reads TML?" << 
2044  07-Jan-91 Mark F. Cook      "What sort of man reads TML?" [again] << My m
2045  08-Jan-91 Adrian Hurt       Re: Origins of Races << > The Aslan and Hiver
2046  08-Jan-91 zonker%ihlpf.att. The origin of the Aslan << Bertil wrote that 
2047  08-Jan-91 al646@cleveland.F Military PBEM << From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsde
2048  09-Jan-91 wilson m liaw     re:survey << Wow! I guess that survey made me
2049  09-Jan-91 Rob Miracle       Re: 2044: "What sort of man reads TML?" [agai
2050  09-Jan-91 Mark F. Cook      Automating a starship? << Here's stumper that
2051  09-Jan-91 Mark F. Cook      TDR SIG "hiccup" << If any of you tried to se
2052  10-Jan-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha Re: Traveller and the youngsters << In messag
2053  10-Jan-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha Re: Origins of Races << In article (2045) <ad
2054  10-Jan-91 Rob Miracle       Re: 2050: Automating a starship? << In messag

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2040
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: Re: Inspirational Reading
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 91 14:08:47 MET

In message 2035 <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil> (Robert S. Dean) writes:
> I once uploaded a message that didn't take on the subject
> of inspirational reading for Traveller games.  What has anybody else read
> that really makes them think about Traveller?

  Greg Bear: EON

  Especially the scene where the russian marines disembark from their orbital
transfer vehicles and assaults the asteroid. It might be alittle lowtech for
traveller (more like 2300 actually) but certainly possible with the additions 
of the "One small step" articles.

  There is also a lot of ideas for anyone that plans to do anything involving
the Ancients. The Pi-meter actually found it's way into my campaign as an
artifact when the pc-s were hunting for the elusive towers of Sharrip.


  Stanislaw Lem (sp?): SOLARIS

  If you look inside the outer shell, there is a hard-sf story inside that
might well take place in the Traveller universe.
  I can imagine the IISS touching down on Solaris to survey it and try to
establish contact. The NAS would go nuts:)
  

> My favorites:  Michael McCollum ANTARES DAWN and ANTARES PASSAGE
>                Lois McMaster Bujold: Everything she has written
>                Robert Heinlein: THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS
>                Poul Anderson: Most of his futur history series
>                               (Falkayn and Van Rijn, Flandry)

  The stories involving merchants (Van Rijn?) is very travelleresque.

>                Niven and Pournelle: THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE

  IMHO, Traveller is very influenced by Niven. The ships in the old boardgame 
"Imperium" about the n Interstellar Wars travel using something that seems like
the Langston drive from Mote and Codominium.
  (They jump along certain lines between stars)

  There is also a article on jumpdrives in an old JTAS (Don't remember the 
number, but I think the article was by Marc Miller himself) that states that
ships will exit from jump only at certain locations in a system. Which locations
was determined by the composition of the system. This might also be shades of
the Langston drive.

  Then there is the Langston field...

  The Aslan and Hiver also seems to have been initially inspired by Kzinti and
Puppeteers. Not that they are copies of them, no way, but there is some 
similarities (as well as great differences). If they have gone through the 
same process of change as the official view of the Zhodanis, I imagine that
the similarities might have been greater when they were first introduced.

  (On the other hand, a old Traveller-player here on Chalmers is dead sure that
Zhodani, Aslan and Vargr are thinly disguised versions of Russians, Samurai-
era Japanese and Mexicans as they are viewed in American folklore. Don't ask
me, he's the resident expert on Japan too, and when he recounted the 
similarities it sounded at least possible)

- - -bertil-
"Hell is the place with Zhodani police, Vilani engineers, Solomani population 
 and Vargr politicians."
"And K'Kree chefs!"
"Yes, and K'Kree chefs."

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2041
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: GOTHCON XV
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 91 18:29:22 MET

Here it is, look it over and put it on the list if you think it is ok.

[Of course this is okay, Bertil! -- James]

- - -bertil-
*******************************************************************************

                               GOTHCON XV 

                   29th of March to 31th of March 1991

			       GOTHENBURG

			         SWEDEN


      Somehow, I got inside the dangerspace the GOTHCON press-gang so now I 
   toil with organizing the official tournaments...

      What is GOTHCON? A Con, of course, more specific the Gothenburg Con, now 
   on it's 15th year and world famous in the whole of Sweden (and some parts of
   Norway).

      Why tell this to the TML? Well, one of the official tournaments is a
   TRAVELLER tournament (Not MegaTraveller, since it is is written by two 
   persons who were there during the good old days). From the papers that are
   being sent out now (but somewhat translated:) :

   TRAVELLER

   Organizers: Bo"rjesson & Halle'n of Bifrost (The Chalmers RPG and Boardgames
						organization.
   Type: RPG for teams ( 5 persons )
   Time: Friday 1500-1945
   Admission charge: 100SEK (about $16, in addition to the charge of the con.)
   Knowledge Required: None
 
   "5000 years into the future, in a world where mankind just is a race out on
   the perimeter, and where the Imperium rule thousands of planets, there is,
   on the outskirts of the Imperium a planet not wholely unlike Earth.
   On it's northen hemisphere there is a idyllic valley with about a dozen
   farms.
   One of the farms is redder than the other and has whiter corners. The 
   Xenokatas family live there.
   Little do they know..."


      Apart from TRAVELLER, the organized tournaments include ASL, Britannica,
   Call of Cthulhu, CarWars, Civilization, Diplomacy, Illuminati, Junta, 
   AD&D2ed, AD&D2ed II, Kremlin, Paranoia, MERP, RQIII and WH40K.
      Independent tournaments include Micro, Fire In The East, Corporation Wars,
   Shotgun Mission, Ruinworld, Bloodbowl and a RPGA AD&D2ed tournament.

   
      I will be on the premises viritually around the clock from Friday to
   Saturday, answering questions, giving directions, and using a blowtorch to
   convince organizers of individual torunaments that the adventures should be 
   ready more than 5 minutes before play is about to begin:) (Bo"rjesson and
   Halle'n have a long history of finishing before the deadline runs out so no
   shadow should fall on them.)

      Swedish cons are somewhat different from the US/UK type. It has been told
   to me that our cons are more similar to small US/UK ones, in that there
   is a small number of participants (around 500 for Gothcon) that play *alot*
   and socialize somewhat less during the con.
      (Don't ask me. I've never been to any US/UK con. My knowledge of US/UK 
   cons in general come from pure hearsay and "Bimbos of the Death Sun" :)

      One additional difference from US/UK cons is ofcourse that most people on
   GOTHCON speak Swedish, but most Swedes speak English, especially those who
   are involved in RPG and Boardgaming.

      Anyway, if any TMLers know that you'll be in Gothenburg during that time,
   call me. I might even be able to smuggle you in past the ticket booth as
   "Internationally famous TRAVELLER experts from the US" :)
   

   Bertil Jonell, Tournament responsible for GOTHCON XV
   NET: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se  VOICE: +46 300 61004 

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2042
Date:         Mon, 07 Jan 91 13:59:40 GMT
From: Arthur Green <AJGREEN%IRLEARN@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject:      Aslan in Spinward Marches

This has probably been asked and answered before, in which case I
apologise for wasting bandwidth ... what are the Aslan ihatei doing in
the Spinward Marches? My copy of MegaTrav shows a large portion of Glisten
and some of Trin's Veil under Aslan control. I recently got my hands on a
copy of Traveller Digest 2? (either 20 or 21) which included an article on
Aslan in the Trojan Reaches - apparently they're civilian settlers, not
conquerors. So are the Aslan in the Spinward Marches also settlers or do we
have a war situation there?

 - Arthur Green
   University College Dublin Computing Services -- AJGREEN@IRLEARN.BITNET
                                                   AJGREEN@IRLEARN.UCD.IE
   "Happiness is a warm low berth"

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2043
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: "What sort of man reads TML?"
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 91 16:56:26 PST



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

Archive-Message-Number: 2044
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: "What sort of man reads TML?" [again]
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 91 22:12:20 PST

My mailer apparently barfed yesterday, leaving all of you with a (no doubt)
cryptic subject line and no message!  Here's what it SHOULD have contained.

                "This time, for sure!"
                                - Bullwinkle T. Moose
                "Aw, Bullwinkle!  That trick NEVER works!"
                                - Rocket J. Squirrel

        - Mark C.
===============================================================================
Well, here it is, at last.  The breakdown of the 53 responses (out of
approximately 260 readers) to the TML Survey.  If the subject line text
sounds sexist, wait until after you've read the results of question
number 5 before you pass judgement.

GENERAL BACKGROUND:
1. Name:

    The following 53 people responded to the TML survey:

    Adrian Hurt             Gary Schreiber          Matthew Harelick
    Andrew M. Salamon       Iain Fogg               Metlay
    Andy Coombes            J. David Nilles         Nicholas P. Sylvain
    Arthur Green            J. Robert Suckling      Paul Baughman
    Arturo Perez            James Glanville         Paul Timothy Dale
    Bart Massey             James Nelson            Peter L. Berghold
    Bayliss McLeod          JamesTPerkins           Richard Johnson
    Bertil Jonell           Jan L. Peterson         Rob Miracle
    Bob Mahoney             Jim Baranski            Robert Poole
    Brad Post               Jim Cheetham            Robert S. Dean
    Brent L. Woods          Jim Vassilakos          Ron Abramson
    Burton Choinski         John J. Wilber          Simon Anderson
    C. Harald Koch          Jonathan Clark          Steven B. Fellows
    Carl Rigney             Joshua Levy             Ted Kim
    Dan Corrin              Karl-Koenig Koenigsson  Tony L. Hayes
    Derek MacColl           Mark F. Cook            Wilson Mac Liaw
    Eric Halil              Mark Leymaster          Yngve Larsson
    Eric M. Sergienko       Martin V Howard         

    BTW, the winner for the random drawing was Karl-Koenig Koenigsson.

2. Address:

    We got 21 from the Eastern US, 17 from the Western US (using the
    Mississippi River as an arbitrary dividing line), and 15 from
    outside the US.  Here's the breakdown:

    EASTERN UNITED STATES:
    5 - Massachusetts (Asland, Bedford, Boston, Cambridge, Groton)
    4 - Maryland (Beltsville, Chevy Chase, Churchville, Edgewood)
    3 - New Jersey (Fair Haven, Neptune, Newark)
    2 - Pennsylvainia (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh)
    1 each from Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, Ohio,
                Kentucky, and Indiana.

    WESTERN UNITED STATES:
    8 - California (Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Culver City,
                    Mountain View, Portola Valley, Sunnyvale, Berkeley)
    4 - Oregon (Hillsboro, Portland, Corvallis, Eugene)
    2 - Idaho (both from Boise)
    1 each from Utah, Colorado, and North Dakota.

    INTERNATIONAL:
    4 - Sweden (2 from Linkoping)
    3 - Australia (all from Brisbane)
    3 - England
    2 - Scotland (both from Edinburgh)
    2 - Canada
    1 - Ireland.

3. Phone:

    Two people explicitly indicated that they didn't have one, and one
    other person left out the info.  Of the remaining 50 responses, 43
    listed a single number (whether home or work was usually not specified)
    and the remaining 7 listed both work and home numbers.

4. Age:

    I got one ambiguous reply (which I discarded).  Based on the
    remaining 52 values, here's the spread:

      Minimum age: 19 years
      Maximum age: 45 years
      Average age: 26.7 years

5. Sex:

    53 responses, all Male.  The "Subject" line says it all.  Either
    we don't have many female readers on the TML, or they're not
    talking to us.

6. Occupation:

    This wasn't much of a surprise either.  Of the 53 responses, 27 were
    from people with computer-related jobs (SW engineer, programmer, etc.),
    5 of whom are Managers.  22 of the responses were from students, 13 of
    whom are in Comp. Sci. or Comp. Eng. fields, 7 in other fields, and 2
    who weren't specific enough to be determined.  The remaining 4 responses
    were from people in other professions (Attorney, Chemical Engineer,
    Mechanical Engineer, Data Entry).

7. Employer:

    30 Academic institutions appear as either employers or current residence
    (U. of Queensland appears three times, MIT twice, all others are unique
    entries).  Of the remaining 23 employers, there are only 2 which appear
    multiple times: Hewlett-Packard Co. appears three times, and the United
    States Army appears twice.

8. Marital Status:

    Pretty cut-n-dried: 33 unmarried, 19 married, 1 ambiguous.  (He checked
    both yes AND no; go figure.)

COMPUTER SYSTEMS:

9. How did you find out about the TML?

    It looks like rec.games.frp is the TML's biggest source of new readers.
    The breakdown is:
      [ 7] From a friend
      [13] From a list of computer mailing lists
      [28] From an "advertisement" on rec.games.frp
      [ 5] Other: GEnie's MegaTraveller BBS
                  Cousin
                  I started it.  [Cute, Jim.  Real cute. :-)]
                  "ad" on GMAST-L (equivalent to r.g.frp)
                  Can't remember

10. On what type of computer/system do you access the TML?

    About two-thirds of the respondents are getting the TML via a technical
    workstation running some flavor of UN*X.  For those interested, the
    types of systems that got significant mention are: 12 Sun workstations,
    8 VAXs, 3 HP workstations, 2 Apollo workstations, 3 Macintoshes, 2 Amigas, 
    2 Sequents, 2 Solbournes, and a scattering of IBM PC clones and mainframes,
    along with 4 people who apparently didn't know what they were using.  Oddly
    enough, a few of the people who turned in surveys think UN*X itself is
    a type of computer!  That seems only fair, considering the fact that
    several of the TML members aren't really in the "computer business".
    After all, ask any non-chemist about the details of a Krebb's Cycle
    and watch the blank looks appear.

11. How many hours per month do you spend reading TML?

     5 - less than 2 hours
    13 - 2-4 hours
    17 - 5-8 hours
    12 - 9-16 hours
     3 - 17-24 hours
     3 - Over 24 hours

12. Do you know how to access the TML archives?

    36 - Yes
    17 - No
    NOTE: Many of the "Yes" answers indicated that they knew how but
    lacked the actual capability for anonymous FTP.  The E-mail archive
    server appears to be unreliable enough that most people avoid it.

13. What other other national BBSs/networks do you use?

    Since rec.games.frp is the big recruiter for TML readers, these
    results were to be expected:

    39 - UseNet
    11 - BitNet
     6 - GEnie
     6 - None - I don't use any other BBS 
     4 - FidoNet
     3 - CompuServe
     2 - CSnet

     4 - Other: Internet
     2 - Other: FreeNet
     1 - Other: Applelinke
     1 - Other: Local BBS ("The Pyre")

14. How many hours per month do you spend reading other BBSs/networks?
    
    [ 8] less than 2 hours
    [10] 5-8 hours
    [ 8] 9-16 hours
    [10] 17-24 hours
    [17] Over 24 hours

    Given the heavy clumping at the high end, it would appear that the
    average TML reader is (as one survey respondent put it) a serious
    "data junkie".

15. Do you regularly use other computers/systems?

    45 - Yes
     8 - No

16. If 'Yes' on the previous question, what other types?

    Broad selection of responses here.  The run-away winners in this
    catagory were Apple Macintoshes, IBM PCs (and clones), Sun workstations,
    and DEC VAXs.  Honorable mention should go to the Atari ST, along with
    SGI, NeXT and HP workstations.  After that it was all over the board.
    All other responses were either the only mention for a given system,
    or were too ambiguous to be catagorized.

17. What computer languages do you regularly use?

    C and Pascal were the most frequently named languages, however
    anything that got mentioned more than once is listed below.  Two
    survey respondents indicated that they didn't regularly use any
    programming language (not surprising) and, of the other singular
    languages mentioned, one person indicated that he used Snobol,
    which caused me several long minutes of reminiscing.

      41 - C (ANSII Std. and K&R)
      20 - Pascal                
      12 - FORTRAN
      11 - UN*X shell scripts (Bourne, C, and Korne)
       9 - C++
       9 - BASIC (various flavors)
       4 - Lisp (various flavors)
       4 - Assembler (assorted processors)
       3 - Modula
       3 - HyperCard/HyperTalk
       3 - AWK
       2 - Postscript
       2 - Perl

18. How many years of computer/programming experience do you have?

    Not everyone responded with a specific number, but enough did to
    make to following ballpark determination:

      Minimum: < 1 year
      Maximum:  25 years
      Average:   9.5 years (much higher than I expected!)

    One respondent also included this rather wry observation:

        "That is a bad metric, Some may have used BASIC
         for 20 years and that is little or no experence at all."

19. How did you acquire your computer/programming experience?
 
    14 people indicated that their experience was derived solely from
    formal training.  7 indicated that they were entirely self-taught.
    31 indicated that they fell into both catagories.

20. Do you have free access to the TML?

  Out of 53 respondents, only 1 indicated that he did not have free access.

21. If 'Yes' to question 20, how?

    24 - Via college/university
    22 - Via employer
     6 - Via employer AND college/university (either because of access
                to both, or because the employer IS a college or univiersity.)

22. If 'No' to question 20, by what pay service do you receive the TML?

    The 1 survey respondent that gets TML via pay service indicated that
    he had a flat-fee-per-year account on a public-access UN*X system.

23. Which of the following computer graphics formats are available to you?

    Here are all the formats that got 10 or more votes each (along with
    the number of votes each got).

    [36] PostScript "image"     [16] EPS
    [34] GIF                    [14] XBM
    [28] MacPaint               [12] PC Paintbrush
    [20] PICT                   [11] raw grayscale
    [18] Sun raster             [11] XWD
    [16] TIFF                   [10] Usenix FaceSaver
    [16] Sun icon               [10] IFF ILBM

    If we start using standard interchange formats for TML, it looks like
    we'll be using PostScript "image", GIF, and MacPaint.

24. Of these formats, which do you prefer?

    The votes for those top 3 formats were:

        16 - GIF
        13 - Postscript 
         4 - MacPaint

   so it looks like GIF wins by a nose.  For those of you that can't
   use GIF, or just don't like it, don't worry.  We've got enough
   "guru" horse-power spread over the readership base that we should
   be able to accommodate almost everybody's limitations.

ROLE-PLAYING:
25. Besides Traveller, what other RPG's do you enjoy?

    Big surprise (for me anyway): AD&D by over 2 to 1!  Here's a list of
    all the RPG's that got 2 or more votes (and the number of votes they got).

      27 - AD&D                 3 - Star Trek RPG
      15 - GURPS                3 - Albedo
      10 - Twilight:2000        2 - Star Fleet Battles
       9 - Runequest            2 - Stalking the Night Fantastic
       9 - 2300 AD              2 - Space:1889
       8 - The Fantasy trip     2 - Space Opera
       8 - Shadowrun            2 - Ringworld
       8 - Call of Cthulhu      2 - Other Suns
       7 - Top Secret           2 - MechWarrior
       7 - Paranoia             2 - Marvel Super Heroes
       6 - CyberPunk            2 - Gamma World
       6 - Champions            2 - CyberSpace
       4 - Rolemaster           2 - BattleTech
       3 - Stormbringer         2 - Ars Magica
       3 - Star Wars

    Additionally, 4 people indicated that they played nothing other
    than MegaTraveller.  Now that's what I call devotion!

    The list of other RPG's mentioned is, to say the least, "diverse".
    In alphabetical order, they are: Aftermath, Arduin, Boot Hill,
    Bunnies'n'Burrows, Bushido, Car Wars, D&D, Daredevils, DragonQuest,
    En Garde, FTL2448, Fantasy Warhammer, Fringeworthy, Golden Heros,
    HarnMaster, Hero System, James Bond, Jorune, Judge Dredd, Lace and Steel,
    Legionnaire (Renegade Legions), Metamorphosis Alpha, NERO (A Live Medieval
    Fantasy Weekend RolePlaying Group in New England), Pendragon, Powers &
    Perils, SPAM(?), Spacemaster, Star Ace, Star Frontiers, The Arcanum,
    and Tunnels & Trolls/Monsters Monsters.

26. How many of these RPG's do you actually own?

    This is a hard question to quantify.  All but two people responding own
    at least one or two of the games they play, and most of the respondents
    own ALL (or almost all) the games they play regularly.

27. How many hours per month do you dedicate to ACTUALLY playing RPGs?

    Pretty straight-line distribution here:
      11 - less than 2 hours
      13 - 5-8 hours
      10 - 9-16 hours
      10 - 17-24 hours
       9 - Over 24 hours

28. What is the average age of your gaming group?

     1 - under 15
     1 - 15-17
     3 - 18-20
    19 - 21-25
    19 - 26-30
     8 - 31-35
     0 - over 35

    This confirms what many of us suspected: TML readership represents
    college-age or above individuals.  What surprised me is the fact that
    player numbers drop off sharply above age 30.  However, since role-
    playing (in almost all forms) first appeared in the early '70s, when
    the oldest respondents would have been about 15 years old, I guess
    it does sort of make sense.

29. How many hours per month do you spend in other RPG-related activities
    (designing new adventures, painting minatures, etc.)?
    
    [ 9] less than 2 hours
    [ 7] 2-4 hours
    [11] 5-8 hours
    [13] 9-16 hours  
    [ 6] 17-24 hours
    [ 8] Over 24 hours

    Nice shallow bell-curve there.  Good.  That means that only a few
    of you pitiful wretches let this game dominate your lives. :-)

30. How far would you be willing to travel to attend a TML convention?

    [ 2] Wouldn't attend a TML convention
    [ 8] less than 50 miles
    [17] less than 100 miles
    [ 8] less than 300 miles
    [ 6] less than 500 miles
    [10] over 500 miles

    Now this is interesting: the two spikes are people who'd travel
    less than 2 hours to attend, and people who'd go almost ANYWHERE
    to attend (I, alas, fall into the 2nd group; ready my padded room
    at Bellvue :-)).

SUMMARY:

    Based on this somewhat-less-than-scientific survey, it would appear
    that the average TML reader is an unmarried, male, US citizen in his
    late 20's, who is in the computer industry (either as a student or an
    employee).  He's been a C programmer for about 10 years (as a result
    of both formal education and self-instruction), uses a UN*X workstation
    as his primary computer, and reads the TML and other BBSs/newsgroups
    about 24 hours per month.  Besides (Mega)Traveller, he enjoys AD&D
    and spends about 12 hours per month role-playing with other people
    (who are slightly younger than him) or in other RPG-related activities.
    All in all, a pretty "vanilla" sort of dude.  Who would have dreamed
    that all these years after the novel was first published, "Walter
    Mitty" would have his very own mail list? :-)

Coming up next: the first annual TML "Livestock & Sexual Preferences" survey!

Later,

        Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330

INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
          markc%hpcvss.cv.hp.com@relay.hp.com

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2045
From: Adrian Hurt <adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Origins of Races
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 91 11:19:52 GMT

>   The Aslan and Hiver also seems to have been initially inspired by Kzinti and
> Puppeteers. Not that they are copies of them, no way, but there is some 
> similarities (as well as great differences). If they have gone through the 
> same process of change as the official view of the Zhodanis, I imagine that
> the similarities might have been greater when they were first introduced.

Guess what those races are in fact based on?

>   (On the other hand, a old Traveller-player here on Chalmers is dead sure that
> Zhodani, Aslan and Vargr are thinly disguised versions of Russians, Samurai-
> era Japanese and Mexicans as they are viewed in American folklore. Don't ask
> me, he's the resident expert on Japan too, and when he recounted the 
> similarities it sounded at least possible)

For "Mexicans", substitute "Indians".  As in "Red Indians", a.k.a. Native
Americans.  The Plains Indians, to be precise - the old Vargr module made
reference to them in the section on how to role-play Vargr.  So if you want
to do space-age westerns, go for the coreward borders.

- - -- 
 "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

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2046
From: zonker%ihlpf.att.com@RELAY.CS.NET
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 91 08:16 CST
Subject: The origin of the Aslan

Bertil wrote that an old Traveller player thought that the Aslan were based
on Samuri era Japanese.  Actually he is very close.  The original Aslan were
based on 1905 era Japanese.  I know this because Aslan predate Traveller by
several years and were first seen in a homebrewed RPG about a colony called
Elizabethia (this RPG was probably the inspiration (almost first playtest) for
Traveller and pioneered much of the rules ).  Frank Chadwick who was GM had
a drawing of an Aslan in a Japanese 1905 era uniform charging with the bayonet.
Since the tech level of the colony where the player characters lived was
just post musket and pike era these guys were pretty scary.  Unfortunately
the game (probably the best I ever played in) devolved into Chaos before we
met the Aslan.

I don't know as much about the exact origins of Vargyr, Zhondai, and Hivers as
they were created to flesh out Traveller.

 					Non Cuniculus Est,

					    Tom Harris


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

Archive-Message-Number: 2047
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 91 09:31:09 -0500
From: al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (T. L. Hayes)
Subject: Military PBEM



From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>


>Item  5: A MILITARY CAMPAIGN PBEM  Since I never actually  get  a 
>chance  to  run  anything, I am considering  the  possibility  of 
>running  a military oriented game over the net.  Realistically  I 
>couldn't  accept more than about five players.  The basic  situa-
>tion  would  be this:  A small mercenary unit  with  a  financial 
>problem has been approached by the government in exile of a small 
>country which was overrun by a larger neighbor.  They would  like 
>to liberate their homeland, but have very few resources.  The pay 
>would be better than the training duties the company is currently 
>surviving on.  Emphasis on military ingenuity/irregular  warfare, 
>and  an  exploration  of how grav vehicles  would  really  affect 
>combat.  If it works, and I can keep it up, there would be poten-
>tial  for expansion or starting a new game on a different  topic.  
>Set in the Spinward Marches...

I would be interested.  I like military adventures and usually end up 
running all my games that way.  I don't mean to it just happens.  If
you decide to actually follow through with this PLEASE let me know.

Thanks

TLH

- - --
T.L.Hayes                  |  General Mail : al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu
MIT/Lincoln Laboratory     |  Personal Mail: hayes@ll.mit.edu
Lexington, MA              |  (Personal Mail Address is in Beta Test!!!)

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2048
From: wilson m liaw <macgyver@cis.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: re:survey
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 8:16:37 EST

Wow! I guess that survey made me the youngest member of this list!!!

				Mac


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

Archive-Message-Number: 2049
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 10:31 EST
From: Rob Miracle <RWMIRA01%ULKYVX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Re: 2044: "What sort of man reads TML?" [again]

Mark, I would like to draw one further observation from Question 28:

> 28. What is the average age of your gaming group?
>
>     1 - under 15
>     1 - 15-17
>     3 - 18-20
>    19 - 21-25
>    19 - 26-30
>     8 - 31-35
>     0 - over 35

Besides there being no one over age 35, there is a low number of respondents
below age 21.  This indicates that to me, that most of the readership comes
from people who a:
    Work for a company on a large world wide network
    Attend a University that is on a large world wide network
    Are experienced enough with the network to find and figure out how to
       use the network and the mailing list.

So the 21-25 gang catches the Juniors, Seniors and Grad Students and some of
the employees.  This implies that the entire survey is skewed to those types
of people.  Of course we all expected that.

Also, the new kids don't have the Traveller Opprotunities that we once had.
At least here in Louisville (Yes, I am the one from KY) I can count on 2 hands
to total number of Traveller items for sale in the four stores that have gaming
supplys.  I havn't seen a new Challenge since about issue 28 or 29.  They had
one copy of MegaTraveller.  Also, finding Traveller groups is difficult.
Our gaming group only has 1 or 2 who like Traveller besides me.  The rest are
the hard core fantasy types.  Now, when I convince them to do Traveller, I
either ref for one of the other GMs does the Traveller with AD&D rules and AD&D
characters.  We fiddled with GURPS Space and it had some success, but I was
refing it and being a Traveller born space person, I had trouble adapting to
the "Environment"  (Not the rules, but the concepts, different planet
descriptors, different ship descriptors, etc).

Any way, the young players aren't being exposed to Traveller and with there not
having been a serious "Space" film out in a while it has hurt the popularity of
Sci-fi for the little ones.  They see Star Trek, but that isn't the same.

When Traveller was at its peak here was when Star Wars, Alien, Ice Pirates (so
it wasn't serious), and other such movies were coming out right and left.
Maybe if Spelberg and Lucas get together they can create:  MegaTraveller, the
Movie!  (Hmmm, as a side thought, I bet we, the TML could write a nice script)
Then we could have mass marketing, MegaTraveller figures, bubble gum cards,
watches, sleeping bags, etc.   (The problems of having a 4 year old Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtle Child)

Off of the Soapbox
Thanks
Rob

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2050
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: Automating a starship?
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 11:12:43 PST

Here's stumper that one of my MT campaign players just handed me the
other day.

We were talking about the campaign and he said (paraphrased) ,"As soon as
I get some more cash, I'm going to have the ship's computer upgraded so
that just one person can operate the whole thing."  This stopped me cold.
This ship currently requires a minimum crew of three: pilot, navigator,
and engineer.  The Ref. rules say that's the MINIMUM.  There are no
additional rules for anything like what my player wants to do.  Now,
I can wing it and allow him to do what he wants, but I'm concerned on
two points.

First, what would be the most logical/least-rule-bending way to do what
he wants?  My initial reaction is have him buy two stationary robots
(one for engineering and one for nav.) and require a live pilot at
all times.  My reasoning is that a 'mere' computer could never be smart
enough (within MT guidelines) to do the jobs, and it would require at
least some synaptic processing, hence robots.  My robot design skills
are pretty much non-existant, but I guess this is a good excuse to
learn how, huh?

Second, assuming that I do allow him to succeed, what effect will it
have on game balance?  I mean, I assume that GDW/DGP put those crew
minimums in there for a reason.  Will allowing a single person with
Pilot-1 to fly around the Imperium in a 200 ton Free Trader screw
things up?  My initial reaction is "No", but I feel like I'm over-
looking some points.

What do you folks think?

        Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330

INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
          markc%hpcvss.cv.hp.com@relay.hp.com

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2051
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: TDR SIG "hiccup"
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 11:16:27 PST

If any of you tried to send mail to any of the TDR SIG addresses
over Jan. 8-9, and it bounced, it's because I was tightening up
some system security holes on hpcvss.cv.hp.com ("bifrost") and
the SIG archive files got their permissions changed such that
the mailer daemon was unable to write to them.  It's all fixed
now, so you can re-send your messages without any further problems.

Later,

        - Mark F. Cook (TDR Archivist)

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2052
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: Re: Traveller and the youngsters
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 10:58:17 MET

In message (2049) <RWMIRA01%ULKYVX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> (Rob Miracle) wrote:

> Any way, the young players aren't being exposed to Traveller and with there not
> having been a serious "Space" film out in a while it has hurt the popularity of
> Sci-fi for the little ones.  They see Star Trek, but that isn't the same.

  On the other hand, there have been even fewer decent fantasy films and still
(It seem to me at least) the Fantasy side of roleplaying dominate.

  (One positive note when it comes to "renewal and recruiting" is that the
new version of the MegaTraveller1: The Zhodani Conspiracy have got very 
favorable reviews. I was afraid when I first heard about it that it would
actually do Traveller a disfavour, but it seems that I was overly pessimistic.)

> When Traveller was at its peak here was when Star Wars, Alien, Ice Pirates (so
> it wasn't serious), and other such movies were coming out right and left.
> Maybe if Spelberg and Lucas get together they can create:  MegaTraveller, the
> Movie!
  
  If it had been Lucasfilm that had made the game I talked about above, then
maybe...

> (Hmmm, as a side thought, I bet we, the TML could write a nice script)

  I have heard rumours from listees (I'm not sure if it was in private email or
on the list, so I'll let the person confirm it himself, if he wants to) about
MegaTraveller noves. 
  A marketing success like TSR's Dragonlance but for MegaT would probably 
revitalize a whole lot, but that is a wild pipe-dream.

> Then we could have mass marketing, MegaTraveller figures, bubble gum cards,
> watches, sleeping bags, etc.

  I can see it: Kids running around waving plastic FGMP-15's and playing Zho's
and Marines (or Lucan and Dulinor:)

> Rob

- - -bertil-
Scenes from Core:

"Take THAT!" "Ouch! Whaaaaa! He hurt me!" "Serves you right, Moron!" "No, You
 are a Moron, Ha Ha Moron! Moron!" "I'm not!" "Are so! Are so!"

"Are the kids playing Lucan and Dulinor now again?"
"No, that *is* Lucan and Dulinor..."

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2053
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: Re: Origins of Races
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 11:36:17 MET

In article (2045) <adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk> (Adrian Hurt) writes:
  [I wrote:]
> >   The Aslan and Hiver...
> 
> Guess what those races are in fact based on?

  Please, enlighten us. I've got a major interest in FRP trivia and little known
stories. Stories of how the Traveller races was created, the various influences
on them and why they were named as they were are high on my list of "Nice to
know" things.
  (The name "Hivers" are self explanatory. I have read CS Lewis so I know about
Aslan, but Vargr are more obscure. The Swedish word for wolf is viritually
identical:)

> >(On the other hand, a old Traveller-player here on Chalmers is dead sure that
> > Zhodani, Aslan and Vargr are thinly disguised versions of Russians, Samurai-
> > era Japanese and Mexicans as they are viewed in American folklore. Don't ask
> > me, he's the resident expert on Japan too, and when he recounted the 
> > similarities it sounded at least possible)
> 
> For "Mexicans", substitute "Indians".  As in "Red Indians", a.k.a. Native
> Americans.  The Plains Indians, to be precise - the old Vargr module made
> reference to them in the section on how to role-play Vargr.

  I think he was referring to the "Banana Republic" stereotype with a
revolution once per year, juntas that fragment due to infighting, a charismatic
rebel in every streetcorner and ludicrously overloaded uniforms.
  
  And there *is* a Zhodani tank that the Imperials call the Z-80 :)

>  Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs

In article (2046) zonker%ihlpf.att.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Tom Harris) writes:
> 
> [About the orgin of Aslan]

  Thanks, I'll pass it on.

> I don't know as much about the exact origins of Vargyr, Zhondai, and Hivers as
> they were created to flesh out Traveller.

  Wasn't the Keith(?) brothers involved in creating the Hivers. I think I've 
seen an article by one of them in an old JTAS that was an introduction to
Hivers.

> 					    Tom Harris
 
- - -bertil- 

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2054
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 08:35 EST
From: Rob Miracle <RWMIRA01%ULKYVX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Re: 2050: Automating a starship?

In message <2050) markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM (Mark F. Cook) writes:

>We were talking about the campaign and he said (paraphrased) ,"As soon as
> ------------------------------
>I get some more cash, I'm going to have the ship's computer upgraded so
>that just one person can operate the whole thing."  This stopped me cold.
>This ship currently requires a minimum crew of three: pilot, navigator,
>and engineer.  The Ref. rules say that's the MINIMUM.  There are no
>additional rules for anything like what my player wants to do.  Now,
>I can wing it and allow him to do what he wants, but I'm concerned on
>two points.

Most things I have seen lets the Pilot double as Navigator.  So that is one
position that can be easily removed.  If you wanted to (its not in the rules)
but you could make each skill operate at a -1 penelty since one person is
trying to do two jobs.  The ship could survive without a pilot more than it can
an engineer.  You have to have some one fix problems when they come up.
Traveller robots simply do not have the reasoning and intuition to figure out
where problems are.  An Engineer with good computing skills and a large
computer could probably handle a 200 ton free trader.  But I would do things
like have the ship constantly attacked by pirates and see just how long he
wants to be crewless.  Get him to carry passengers, they need Steward service.
Hey, let him have his one computer and one crew member, make him carry a real
problem passenger who just happens to make it to the bridge while he is in
engineering and turn the ship into deep space.

>First, what would be the most logical/least-rule-bending way to do what
>he wants?

Remember, the rules are just guidelines.  If you don't have a problem with him
doing that then by all means let him.  You can charge him a fortune for some of
the software and robots, and since some of it is 'custom' there may be "Hidden
Features" that can lead to all sorts of adventures.

>Second, assuming that I do allow him to succeed, what effect will it
>have on game balance?

I don't think game balance is at threat.  What is in trouble is the "Party
Cohesion".  When you say "Its my ship, I don't need a crew, you are just
passangers so give me 10000cr per jump"  The rest of the party isn't going to
tolerate that long and will either take the ship from him forcefully or leave
to find their own way.  If he is your only player then it isn't a problem.  The
crew positions are there to give players something to do and give them a sense
of purpose.

Ask yourself how the rest of the party react to not having anything to do
during space flight? and during the week in jump space?

What would I do?

I would force him to have two members of the crew, a Pilot/Nav and an Engineer.
The larger the ship the more crew and thats that is needed.

Rob

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

End of TML Bundle
*****************

