I think the idea about GnuTraveller to be really keen. I do however agree
(with whoever it was) that the character generation should be left alone.
I agree that more skills are needed and finer granularity of some skills.
A big thing that should be changed is the Trade and Commerce as well as
information of cargo shipping. The players in my campaign acquired a ship
(bought a used ship at auction, but with stolen money) and decided to go into
the cargo carrying business, so that they could afford the incidentals:
bullets and hospital care.
The cargo carrying information in MegaT and 2300AD was really poor and there
was little information about running a ship. I also did not see anything
on insurance, costs of operation, and furthermorem, what do you charge for
cargo.
So, I did some research and found a pretty good source on today's shipping:
all forms of shipping:land, air and sea.
Some of the information I found out:
Insurance rates are 6% of the purchase cost of the ship per year, and they
do not go down. Insurance does not cover acts of war or piracy. Insurance
can be bought for war and piracy but in some cases it could be 100% or even
more than the value of the purchase price of the ship.
Rate charges: Charges are listed by the metric tonne. BUT, and this is a
big but: It is "understood" that this really means either metric tonne or
cubic meter, whichever is greater.
Charges are very often set by committee, a group of shippers decides
that the rate between New York City and London is 7 dollars per tonne.
This is based on an average number of days of travel, and is the same
regardless of the travel.
There is no set time for delivery, but since the carrier is not paid per
day it is in his best interests to get it there as fast as possible.
It is possible to rent a whole ship, and in that case the charges and
stipulations can be anything. However, most often this is not the case
because cargos people want to send are generally not that big.
****
The person I asked is my father, who is now retired from the shipping
industry.
He is very happy to answer questions regarding shipping and has asked that
I send him my questions written down instead of asking him by voice when he is
paying for the phone bill. I think he is also intrigued by the possiblities
of space shipping.
So, why don't y'all send in your questions and I will compile them into a
letter and send them to him. He is also familiar with dealing with customs
(and various types of customs officials around the world).
Subjects that could be asked (and I am trying to think of many myself)
are:
would a shipper ever buy a cargo to sell elsewhere, how risky is that?
mercantile exchanges (including the Baltic Exchange in London)...
who runs the loading and offloading of a ship (I think he mentioned that
carrier usually pays for it himself unless special arrangements have
been made)?
Any Trade or Commerce questions...
etc.
Of course , I realize that this is now and in the future anything could be
different, but it is a good basis to start with , and is a realistic system
to use. What information I gleam from him , I use in my campaign. Also, I
will try to remember to have him give it for both ships and airlines, as
well as trucks (if he has the time).
You can ask any question you want, including anything about illegal
activities (which might not get an answer, but who knows! :) ).
Unfortunately, he does not have a computer or net access so this will have
to be through the US Post office.
Go ahead and post them here, or you could send them directly to me, but
then probably I will get a few duplicates. Also, some questions might
generate more questions from others. I will probably mail the letter the
weekend after next, if not sooner.
Steven B. Fellows
[email removed]