Evenin' all!
I'd like to give a general "your welcome" to everyone who sent
us messages of thanks in the last few weeks. Anybody remember a
couple of years ago when there was a debate as to if it would be
a good thing for GDW to have acess to the list? Some felt it
might inhibit discussion...that does not seem to have been the
case.
Anyway, my apologies for the tardiness of some of these
replies. We are up to our necks in FF&S right now, and its hard
to pry the time loose to deal with anything else.
-----------------------------
Re: Source material for Traveller:
Marc admits to gaining inspiration from a wide variety of SF.
He specifically mentions the Dumarest of Terra series, the Ensign
Flandry series, the various Nicholas Van Rijn stories, numerous
H. Beam Piper and "Doc Smith" stories, and Niven's Known Space
stories as inspiring the atmosphere and background of the
Imperium. I have to state at this point that as far as SF goes,
Marc is one of the most widely read people I know. When we first
met, over 20 years ago, I was amazed and delighted to discover
that he had the largest collection of Analogs and SF paperbacks I
had ever seen...and I had thought my own was gigantic. He had
read and constantly re-read them all (in those days SF could not
be published fast enough to suit him).
As for various people and their speculations that they "know"
where the source for the alien races: I was in on the ground
floor of almost all of the aliens. None of them are directly
inspired by any single source -- every one was a committee
design, added to slowly over several years.
------------------------------
Dane:
>Crew Positions/Seats has a column labeled "Wt" -- Short, of
> course, for "Weight". :/ <Yes, this is a nit>
I assume the problem is we should have called it mass? This is
a minor point of friction in GDW. Frank holds that people know
the difference and won't get confused. I hold out for calling it
mass because I know the flak people will give us over incorrect
terminology.
------------------------------
Pedro A.C. Tavares
Would you re-send me your land address. I lost your message,
and can't send you the flyers you requested.
------------------------------
Scott KelloGG
> we can now build Jump torpedoes again.
It wasn't a misprint...we intended to allow smaller jump
capable vessels. My guess would be that a jump capable ship could
be built at about 15 tons hull size (you need fuel, controls,
power plant, etc, in addition to drives). Anybody done one
already?
------------------------------
Joe Heck:
> Seems to me like GDW is not doing too many retcons, but more
> going back to what a lot of folks called "the good ole
> days" of Traveller.
That is what we are trying for.
------------------------------
Bundle: 495
Archive-Message-Number: 6001
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1993 12:22:44 MET_DST
Juergen Kirsch:
> No more TL 17+ stuff like desintegrators or repulsors. I
> hope this will be fixed in Fire, Fusion & Steel.
It will be, along with star gates, stutter warp, and other non-
Imperium universe stuff.
------------------------------
Mark Urbin/Et alia:
>On page 1 of Brilliant Lances, it states, "streamlined hulls
> may skim gas giants but may not land on planetary surfaces
> with atmospheres greater than Thin;"
13 September, 1993
From Dave Nilsen
To: Traveller/Brilliant Lances Fans
Re: Streamlining
Greetings all, I'm just popping my head out of the bunker long
enough to clarify a topic. You are correct to be inquiring in the
direction you are going in the posts I've seen. The sentence in
Brilliant Lances was incomplete because it did not state that
those streamlining limitations applied only to spacecraft that
did not have further lift assistance installed. The sentence
should read (and does, in FF&S) as follows:
In general, airframe hulls may enter any planetary atmosphere
to land on the surface or skim fuel; streamlined hulls may skim
gas giants but may not land on planetary surfaces with
atmospheres of greater than Thin; and unstreamlined hulls may do
neither. These capabilities may be modified if the vessel is
equipped with some form of weight compensating drive, such as
contra-grav, see the Sub-Light Maneuver Drive chapter.
In terms of what we call the "Imperial Space" campaign, for
which the BL design sequence is intended, any streamlined vessel
with contra-grav may also land anywhere it darn well pleases, but
its top speed is limited in certain types of atmosphere.
Unstreamlined ships have a hard time landing in an atmosphere
even with contra-grav, as contra-grav only negates some 99% of
their weight, the rest must be accounted for some other way.
Without aerodynamic lift, this is something of a problem. So
unstreamlined ships typically do not have contra-grav anyway.
While such a ship could make an emergency landing with contra-
gravs, it would typically have a hard time getting back off.
Imagine the Donosev (or, as we call it here, the "International
House of Pancakes ship") trying to flare out for a graceful
landing. Ugh. Crash and burn, baby.
More clarifications as time presents itself. Keep your heads
down.
Dave
------------------------------
Juergen Kirsch/Adrian Hurt/et. al.
> 144-Mj `Laser Lance'. No stats on the Vol or Mass of those
> puppies.
OK. Here is the relevent information. These are special one-
offs created by Dave using the laser design sequence.
From the Rampart RF-128 Fighter
TL-15 144-Mj Laser Lance (fixed forward), Mass: 53.4,
Vol: 28.2, MW: 4, MCr: 0.5522
From the 20-Ton Armed (Military) Gig (revised)
TL-14 144Mj Laser Lance (fixed forward), Mass: 63.6,
Vol: 34.8, MW: 4, MCr: 0.8882
From the Kinunir-class Colonial Cruiser
TL-15 700-Mj Laser Barbette, Mass: 251.26, Vol: 140, MW:
19, MCr: 2.2
> As for spinal mounts and small ships: the Chrysanthemum has
> *two* of 'em! I wonder if GDW could be asked to clarify the
> spinal mount rules as given?
We certainly will, as soon as we can spare a few minutes from FF&S.
------------------------------
Mark Urbin [email removed]
> Life support. There is a set of numbers in a table,
> but no info on how to apply them. Is is per lifeform per
> 24 hour period or what?
Nope. Life support machinery is assigned on the basis of
overall displacement, I believe.
------------------------------
[email removed]
> In an elderly porfessor like voice
> No, no my boy, alway be sure to call it 'research'. :-)
On this topic, consult Tom Leher, "Lobachevsky" and Pablo
Picasso's comments regarding immature versus mature artists. : )
------------------------------
Joe of Mizzou:
Belated congratulations from GDW to you and your POSSLQ.
------------------------------
Bundle: 497
Archive-Message-Number: 6027
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 93 17:50:12 -0400
From: Derek Wildstar [email removed]
Subject: Brilliant Lances and Traveller Inspiration
[email removed] (Kelly St.Clair) writes:
> [on k'kree and hivers being inspired by Niven's Puppeteers,
> and Fteirle (Aslan) being inspired by Kzin]
>
> I'm suprised that nobody mentioned C.J.Cherryh's Hani
When did the Hani first appear? I can't recall having read
anything abou them myself, but I haven't read as much of
Cherryh's stuff as I should have. What was their first
appearance in print?
J Roberson:
> I have never played Classic Traveller; I have always
> assumed the only difference was no Rebellion.
>
> Wildstar:
> And lots of game mechanic differences, including readable
rules and a lack of errors ;-)
You'd be amazed at the typos in the Classic Traveller Stuff. I
think a lot of people are looking at these books through rose-
colored LI-binoculars...: )
------------------------------
> Scott S. Kellogg
> What are the in jokes in Traveller?
Personally, I don't count simply naming something after a
friend or relative an in joke (I consider these more in the
nature of tributes). There are numerous cases of worlds,
starships, cities, and so on named after friends, relatives,
associates, or famous persons, and I can't begin to name them all.
The planet Ruie (as in Rescue on Ruie, one of the first JTAS
Amber zones) was named after a Traveller fan Marc met at
one of the early Origins conventions.
My idea of an in joke is something a little more esoteric like
the planet Twylo (reference: the Dick Van Dyke show) or the
planet Remulak (Reference: Saturday Night Live: BTW, I tried to
get a city called Remulac put on the map in the Europa game _Fall
of France_ but my efforts were thwarted). I consider stuff like
"Have fun storming the castle!" (Survival Margin) to be an in
joke.
------------------------------
Now This:
Traveller Trivia Quiz (TTQ)
No prizes, no award other than the feeling of accomplishment if
you get them all right.
These questions were originally published in the British RPG
magazine Role-Player Independent. I'll post the answers as soon
as their contest has run its course, but I thought the TML's
board of grognards ought to be able to answer these in their
sleep.
1. Avery's Relationship to Strephon is:
A) Clone
B) Son
C) Drinking Buddy
D) Unknown
2. Strephon was fond of quoting:
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Robert F. Kennedy
C) Elvis Presley
D) Miracle Max
E) All of the above
F) A & B
3. Branj Dilgaadin was:
A) Psionic
B) Norris heir
C) Bald
D) All of the above
E) A & C
F) A & B
4. Ciencia Iphegenia is:
A) Strephon's beloved wife
B) Strephon's estranged empress
C) Dead
D) All of the above
E) A & C
5. Dulinor Astrin Ilethian was:
A) Emperor of the Third Imperium
B) Duke of Ilelish
C) Eaten by farm machinery
D) A dork
E) All of the above
F) A & B
G) B, C, & D
H) C & D
------------------------------
OK, I've put enough keystrokes into my machine for today.
Signing off 'til next time.
Loren K. Wiseman