Hello All. Lotta traffic tonight....
Chuck Hamilton [email removed]
Wish list requests noted and forwarded to the proper persons
------------------------------
I'm going to let Dave reply to the BL questions, and the "USL,
SL, AF" landing discussion.
------------------------------
george william herbert:
> mentions accelleration tanks, and doesn't give any rules
> or details
Acell tanks in FF&S? I think so, but Frank and Dave are locked in
their offices and won't come out to answer questions about FF&S
(or anything else).
------------------------------
Matt "Sounds to me like a Gentleman of Sound Judgement"
Goodman, [email removed]
> TNE Small Arms penetration vaules
> Am I missing the point, or are there massive typos in
> the weapons lists?
Nope. Just a missing sentence or two explaining a few things.
Its all taken care of in the TNE errata, which you can have sent
to you free for the asking. Email me your land address and I'll
send you one.
------------------------------
Palmer T. Davis
[email removed]
Brilliant Lances comments left for others to deal with later
on.
>BTW, whatever happened to _Kinunir_'s black globe? Or the
> grav APC?)
Black Globe I can't answer, but the grav APC and its docking
bay were a casualty of getting everything else to fit in the
space available. It was either that, or have no cargo available
for extra missiles.
------------------------------
Tom O'Neill
> what protection is provided by personal armour(?)
This was an oversight.
Basically, sealed, armored suits such as combat armor and
battledress provide protection from most concussion. There are
some limitations to this, clearly, as a large enough concussion
force will squash protective armor (including tanks, as the
Japanese discovered to their chagrin about 50 years ago). Writing
a more rigorously defined rule on this is one our list of "Things
To Do RSN."
> Plasma/Fusion rifles do significantly less damage than RAM
> grenades
The way I read the rules, the worst plasma rifle does slightly
more damage than a RAM HEAP grenade (when plasma splatter is
taken into account), although it is worse at penetrating.
> gauss rifles...the formula in the T2K small arms book yields
> 4D damage, not 2D
I rated the weapons for TNE. The ammo weight and performance
numbers to feed into the rating formulae were taken from Mega,
per my instructions, and those values were what I got. Mercenary
gives different numbers, but we wanted a single source for the
data, and Merc didn't have all the stuf they wanted to include.
FF&S will allow the design of hotter TL 8 to 10 slug throwers and
Gauss weapons (Merc gives a higher mass for the 4mm Gauss round).
Frankly, I think the VRF GG as it stands is a Veg-o-matic for
unprotected infantry due to the high ROF.
> Fact is stranger than fiction
True, but that's because fiction has to make sense! : )
------------------------------
Re The FTL communications via Jumpspace Tunnel, I pretty much
agree with Jeff Zeitlin's comments on the subject. I'll
forward anybody else's if they differ.
------------------------------
Glenn E. Myers [email removed]
>I'd give anything to see a rack of those little black books
> in a games store again.
Check with Matt Goldman (see below), evidently he's passing a
hat! : )
Seriously, we quit selling them because almost nobody was
buying them. Not enough of them were being sold to pay the taxes
on the unsold inventory we had in stock. This is the death knell
for a product, as you can't stay in business very long selling
items that cost you money instead of making it.
------------------------------
Jo Jaquinta [email removed]
>The conclusion I have gained from this whole sad episode
> is that Dave Nilsen hates Mark Miller.
and
> When everyone at GDW lost interest in Traveller...it
> looked like it was landed in the lap of "Darlin' Dave
> Bwana" and told "We know you never liked Mark.
>Take his creation and rub his face in it."
You couldn't be more wrong.
> I came across this blurb in the back of an old Paranoia
> Press supplement for Traveller:
> For the science-fiction fan who finishes a
> novel only to wonder what happens next...
> For the fan who wishes they could be there,
> if only for a few minutes...
> When just reading isn't enough...
> ... there is Traveller
That comes originally from a GDW ad we placed in SF magazines
such as Analog to attract SF readers (a move that had moderate
success). I wrote it. I was always very happy with it. Don Rapp
of Paranoia thought it was so good he asked if he could use it.
I'm glad my writing from those days moved you. I'm sorry our
present material does not seem to.
The "Commodore Bwana" column is intended as a humorous way to
present news and product announcements. I'm sorry you didn't
appreciate the approach.
The TNS in Challenge 70 is intended as a tongue-in-cheek
transition between the old TNS and the new TNS. Next issue the
TNS consists of part line noise and part genuine messages (albeit
of little game value), and then with #72 it starts up again, date-
lined after the Virus. It is not intended to be a kick in the
gonads to anybody or anything.
------------------------------
Dane
[email removed]
> Loren has mentioned that 'many people' are extremely
> overjoyed with the new setting and direction. However,
> I don't think I've seen or heard from *one person* who
> has this opinion.
The vast majority of the responses we have received are quite
favorable (only a small number could be characterised as
overjoyed, in about the same proportion as those who didn't care
for what we did with the game). I am aware of only one person who
has demanded his money back. Fewer people like the background
than the new mechanics, but I believe that very few people play
any RPG background unmodified, straight out of the books (never
did, and I don't think they ever will). This was true of Classic
Traveller, it was True of MegaTravller, and it is true of TNE.
> I suspect that, for the most part, the TML is made up of
> generally older, 'More Mature' fans
I agree with you to an extent. I don't know about the average
age of the TML, but the more vocal TMLers seem to be long-time
Traveller fanatics, like myself and Dave Nilsen. I never cared
much for MegaTraveller, and lost enthusiasm for the game when it
came out. I like the new system, and am working with Traveller
products again because of it. (Some Classic Traveller Grognards
have expressed delight at this last bit of news.)
------------------------------
Palmer T. Davis
> A few questions about 2300 ship design:
I'll forward these to the proper desk. It may take a while.
------------------------------
Mike Basinger [email removed]
> Being fairly new to the mailing list I was wondering what
> people here think of the New Era. Was the change to the
> game welcome, or do people still wish for the old days
> of "Classic" Traveller.
Depends on who you ask. Opinion is divided among the most
active TML posters, ranging from an almost vitriolic hatred of
TNE and everyone associated with it to acceptance of the new
mechanics and background. I think the majority of TMLers (lurkers
included) lie somewhere in the middle. Clearly, more like the new
mechanics than like the new background.
As for our customers in general, see my reply to Dane, above.
------------------------------
Matthew Goldman:
> Does anyone know the real story of why Mark Miller left GDW?
Yep.
> Is there anyone left at GDW who can spell correctly?
Yep. I can even spell Marc's name correctly (he prefers it
with a "c" rather than a k).
> Did Mark take the editors with him or were they
> killed in the crossfire?
(You're not adding emoticons, Matt...people will think you're serious)
What editors were these...the editors of Classic Traveller? I
was one of them, and I still work for GDW. John Harshman, another
one, is now going for a PHD in Paleontology at UniChi. Tim Brown
took a job with TSR. Frank never did much editing of Traveller,
but he is still with us. I can't think of anybody else who edited
Traveller on a regular basis...
> Is Mark dug in at a mysterious fortress waiting to be visited
> by the "Arrival Vengance?"
No. [shouldn't there have been a :-) after that?)
He is a member of the GDW board of directors, an officer of the
corporation, and stops in the office to visit fairly often (I
spoke with him yesterday, in fact). He remains interested in what
we are doing with his game.
> Is Dave Nilsen realy Lucan?
No. Lacking a time machine and a means of exiting a fictitious
universe (and don't I wish I had blueprints for either one of
those!), Lucan cannot be working for GDW under the name of Dave
Nilsen. : )
> Does the dark area around Capital/Core represent GDW's
> future?
Ghod, I hope not! : )
> Anyone interested in chipping in to reprint Classic Traveller
> after the copyrights expire?
Remains to be seen. Why don't you collect the money now and
invest it in a few long-term growth stocks to insure you have
enough working capital by then? That way a few dollars up front
would pay huge dividends later. : )
> The Traveller Workstation, the Traveller CD, and
> the Traveller's Referee Toolkit wouldn't be hard to
> do with TODAY's available hardware. And the
> names are my ideas, so there!
Traveller is GDW's trademark for its SF roleplaying game, and
trademarks, unlike copyrights, _don't_ expire. Perhaps we can
discuss a licensing arrangement when 2030 rolls around? : )
------------------------------
Mark Urbin [email removed]
- --------
BAGGALEY
[email removed]>
ll colour, on the back page, the ad for BENDY ROBOT
They pay cash money, something GDW needs at this point in time.
the toys if you are offended by them.
- --------------------
s:
71 is in the warehouse, and is in the process of
bscribers. It'll ship to distributors next
TNE and BL Errata are free for the asking. Call or write:
O Box 1646
[address removed]
[phone removed] voice
- -3127 data
. Wiseman
or GDW, Inc.