The Mote in God's eye

[Sent to [email removed] (the admin), so manually resent to
[email removed] -- James]

Shalom Zaidfeld said:

>Michael Basinger said:
>
>>One idea I had for a Traveller game, was a
>>campaign based in the universe of Mote in God's
>>Eye (by Niven and Pournelle).
>
>very good book in my own opinion.  I was think
>about it too.  It shouldn't be hard, It would be
>nice to be able to  generate a PC based on the aliens :)
>
>was there a follow book after Mote.. ?

Yes!  It's call the "Gripping Hand" and it's out on paper back.  I
personally perfer the original but GH is still quite good.

>
>>The technology of this universe is very simular.
>>The jump drive (Aldersen Drive) is more powerful,
>>but also more limited. In the
>>Langstrom field is basically a black globe device.
>
>The aldersen Drive could be discribed as a Jump Drive.
>Probebly Jamp-4 or 5 ?.. not sue.  and the Black
>Globe thing, well I don't think it's the same as in
>Traveller, but a nice device indeed.
>
I thought the Alderson Drive is more like the Wormhole drive mentioned
in FF&S.  Specifically the closed type.  You right in that the
principle for the Lanston Field is different than the Black
Globe...but I always though if it quacks and walks like a duck, it's a
duck.

Also I think the "mote"'s universe haven't mastered control of gravity
yet.

Good Luck!

- -Edward Fok

Shalom Zaidfeld said:

> was there a follow book after Mote.. ?

Yes.  It was called "The Gripping Hand" in the US I believe, and "The Moat
around Murcheson's Eye" elsewhere.

It's pretty good as a sequel, but of course like pretty much all sequels
it's not nearly as good as the original.

Shane
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shane Nicholas Thomas               Internet:  [email removed]
Institute of Nuclear Medicine       Telephone: [phone removed]
UCL Medical School                  Facsimile: [phone removed]
London, UK

Edward Fok said:

>Yes!  It's call the "Gripping Hand" and it's out on paper
> back.  I personally perfer the original but GH is still quite good.

Great.  I'll look for it here, in Canada.  Could you send me the
 information on the book (Like Pub. company etc.. will help me
 find it faster..)
thanks..


>I thought the Alderson Drive is more like the Wormhole
>drive mentioned in FF&S.  Specifically the closed type.
>You right in that the principle for the Lanston Field is
>different than the Black Globe...but I always though if it
> quacks and walks like a duck, it's a
>duck.
>Also I think the "mote"'s universe haven't mastered control
>of gravity yet.

umm.. a wormhole.  my impresion from the book was that it
 seemed more like a jump drive, dunno..  maybe you're
right.  about Black Globe: yeah, it's close enough :)

I have a question for you, do you remember if in the book
there discussed about the kind of ships that the Motes had?
like what it was made of ?.. i don't seem to remember.

I would like to try to design one :)

regards,
-Shalom Zaidfeld

Good Luck!

- - -Edward Fok
#*******************************************************************************
#This message was sent from MATRIX  ARTS  BBS                                  *
#The views expressed in this posting are those of the individual author only.  *
#*******************************************************************************

Shane Said:

>Yes.  It was called "The Gripping Hand" in the US I believe,
>and "The Moat around Murcheson's Eye" elsewhere.

are you sure?..  "The Mote around Murcheson's Eye"..
what would be my best option when I look for it?.
the Gripping Hand or the other name?

>It's pretty good as a sequel, but of course like pretty much
>all sequels it's not nearly as good as the original.

So that's why we have Traveller <smile>

Thanks for the info,

-Shalom Zaidfeld
#*******************************************************************************
#This message was sent from MATRIX  ARTS  BBS                                  *
#The views expressed in this posting are those of the individual author only.  *
#*******************************************************************************

[email removed] writes:
> Shane Said:
>
> >Yes.  It was called "The Gripping Hand" in the US I believe,
> >and "The Moat around Murcheson's Eye" elsewhere.
>
> are you sure?..  "The Mote around Murcheson's Eye"..
> what would be my best option when I look for it?.
> the Gripping Hand or the other name?

It's "The Mote Around Murcheson's Eye" here.  (Here, being the U.K., counts
as "elsewhere" in Shane's text. :-)  Enough other people have mentioned
"The Gripping Hand" on TML to convince me that for some reason, the U.S.A.
does indeed have a different title for the book.  As for what to look for -
take no chances, look for both! :-)

> >It's pretty good as a sequel, but of course like pretty much
> >all sequels it's not nearly as good as the original.
>
> So that's why we have Traveller <smile>

MegaTraveller: it's pretty good as a sequel, but of course like pretty much
all sequels it's not nearly as good as the original.  The same goes double
for TNE. :-)

> umm.. a wormhole.  my impresion from the book was that it
>  seemed more like a jump drive, dunno..

You can only jump between specific points linking pairs of star systems with
an Alderson drive.  A jump drive works from anywhere to anywhere in range.

> I have a question for you, do you remember if in the book
> there discussed about the kind of ships that the Motes had?

Customised!

> I would like to try to design one :)

Good luck!  The Moties rebuilt the thing on the fly.  A High Guard profile
of the ship would basically be a row of question marks.  If the players
got their hands on one, either because it had been abandoned or because
the Moties inside were dead (possibly as a result of interaction with the
PC's ;-) then you could draw up a design for its final state.  Otherwise
the ship is purely a matter of referee's discretion, and liable to change
at any time.

- --
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt     |JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!uknet!cee.hw.ac.uk!adrian  |  ARPA:  [email removed]

Shalom Zaidfeld said:

>Shane Said:
>
>>Yes.  It was called "The Gripping Hand" in the US I believe,
>>and "The Moat around Murcheson's Eye" elsewhere.
>
>are you sure?..  "The Mote around Murcheson's Eye"..

The US edition is definately called "The Gripping Hand" ( or possibly
"Gripping Hand" but you get the idea ).
The edition I have ( UK ) is most certainly called "The Moat around
Murcheson's Eye" ( which IMHO is a much better title :-) & I've been
told by a usually reliable source that this is the title being used on
all non-US editions.

>what would be my best option when I look for it?.
>the Gripping Hand or the other name?

Your best option would be to look for it under both titles I guess.

>So that's why we have Traveller <smile>

If you can find players :-(

>Thanks for the info,

It's a pleasure.  Good luck in looking for the book.  It is worth reading
if you liked the original.

Shane

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shane N Thomas                      Internet:  [email removed]