I first read Dune in 1984. I liked it a lot and later read and enjoyed the five sequels.
I love the way the noble houses are described in the original books. I love how well Dune/Arrakis is described. When I read Dune and the following novels by Frank Herbert I could see where the ideas for the nobles in Traveller has got (some of) its inspiration from.
Now I have read the last one of the Prelude to Dune trilogy prequels, called House Corrino by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. This was an interesting book written in the same style as Frank Herbert’s Dune novels. This book focuses a lot on the Tleilaxu occupied world of Ix, where the Tleilaxu is trying to produce synthetic spice for the Emperor (from House Corrino). It is an interesting book, but I think that the other two prequels, House Harkonnen and House Atreides were better.
Intercept space combat is a combat system for spaceships. It is designed by Anders Backman. The rules uses vector movement, blind moves and you can use Traveller starships.
Yesterday, Anders demonstrated the game for me and Mike. Anders then helped us with the rules in a small game where Mike used a Free Trader and I used a Far Trader. It was a great game, and I would recommend these rules if you want to play small space battles in great detail.
On this day (19 October 1979) , 40 years ago, the albums One Step Beyond… by Madness and the album The Specials by the Specials were released. (Read more here.) This is an ATU subsector map I made to celebrate this:
#--------1---------2---------3---------4---------5-------
#PlanetName Loc. UPP Code B Notes Z PBG Al
#---------- ---- --------- - --------------- - --- --
Bedders 0913 B788130-9 Lo Ni 134 Ll
Buster 1015 B562595-6 S Ni 401 Na
Dekker 0915 C472579-6 S Ni 120 Na
Barso 1012 C642574-5 Ni Po 602 Ll
Jerry 1017 A620463-9 2 De Ni Po 510 Ck
Kix 1113 E566583-7 Ag Ni 205 Ll
Roddy 1118 E320651-8 De Na Po 110 Ck
Suggs 1414 A542134-8 N Lo Ni Po 403 Ll
Chas 1214 E575200-3 Lo Ni A 102 Ll
Neville 1218 C764567-8 Ag Ni 200 Ck
Woody 1312 B986347-7 N Lo Ni 414 Ll
Terry 1416 A366200-E N Lo Ni 110 Ck
Lynval 1317 D568574-2 S Ag Ni 103 Ck
Brad 1320 B588233-9 N Lo Ni 124 Ck
Chrissy 1512 B542433-7 N Ni Po 602 Ll
Horace 1517 B49A78A-D N Wa 704 Ck
Dread 1615 X59A888-1 Wa R 804 Na
A Message to You, Rudy
Do the Dog
It's Up to You
Nite Klub
Doesn't Make It Alright
Concrete Jungle
Too Hot
Monkey Man
(Dawning of A) New Era
Blank Expression
Stupid Marriage
Too Much Too Young
Little Bitch
You're Wondering Now
One Step Beyond
My Girl
Night Boat to Cairo
Believe Me
Land of Hope and Glory
The Prince
Tarzan's Nuts
In The Middle of The Night
Bed and Breakfast Man
Razor Blade Alley
Swan Lake
Rockin' in A?
Mummy's Boy
Madness
Chipmunks Are Go!
When I was 15 years old and spent 3 weeks in Lancashire, there was an arcade game that I liked at the local pub. (That pub didn’t care that I wasn’t 16.)
The game was a lot like Galaxian but had another twist. I the later stages the attackers could drop “spies” that could then attack you from behind. I thought the game was called Alien Spy. Maybe the words “Alien Spy” was printed on the arcade cabinet.
I only found this game one other time. At Tumba-tältet (that was an indoor golf driving range) in Stockholm. Since then I have not seen it.
Using my Google-fu powers with only that inaccurate name of the game as my only clue I finally found it. It is called Uniwar S. Using an emulator, I could also play it.
The first level is a lot like Galaxian except that all attackers look the same. If you know how to play Galaxian, the first level should be quite easy.
Each ship (called a Super Mosquito in the manual) is worth 20 points. I think you get the same when they are attacking (unlike Galaxian).
A new Traveller RPG album from Until Ben. This one is also set in the Spinward Marches (just like the Slough Feg album), but this one is more focused on the Darrian vs. Sword Worlds conflict. Also this is totally different from Slough Feg. This is electronica.
Check it out, and look at the names of those tracks!