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P-O "BeRKA" Bergstedt is the Zhodani Ambassador. :-) BeRKA started the Zhodani Base in 1994.
Adventures, Starships, The Base, Traveller

Zhodani Base Awards 2013

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Welcome to the Zhodani Base Awards 2013! 2013 has been a very good year for Traveller. There have been lots of new publications including the Traveller5 book we had been waiting for.

The first category is “Best Cover“. The nominees are:

The winner of the “Best Cover” category of the Zhodani Base Awards 2013 is: Freelance Traveller Issue 037

There were lots of Traveller products with nice covers this year. Lots of love for all nice covers. The cover for Freelance Traveller Issue 037 by Shawn Driscoll is one of the best covers for Traveller I’ve seen. I’ve been wondering for almost a year now if another cover was going to beat it. No, I still think it is the best one.

(Freelance Traveller also had one of the worst covers I’ve seen this year. It was the infamous camel-toe issue.)

Next category is “Best Fanzine or Online Magazine“. The nominees are:

The winner of the “Best Fanzine/Online Magazine” category of the Zhodani Base Awards 2013 is: Freelance Traveller

Freelance Traveller has once again proved that they are the best fanzine by publishing monthly issues with lots of good contents for free.

I am also impressed by the new fanzine for 2300 AD, Colonial Times.

Next category is “Best Adventure“. The nominees are:

The winner of the “Best Adventure” category of the Zhodani Base Awards 2013 is: 2300AD: Salvage Rights From Mongoose

There were lots of fine Traveller Adventures for different settings published. The one I liked best was an interesting adventure for 2300 AD. This is a good adventure for an interesting setting. This winner makes me want to play 2300 AD again.

Next category is “Best Ship or Deckplan“. The nominees are:

The winner of the “Best Ship or Deckplan” category of the Zhodani Base Awards 2013 is: Ships of Clement Sector 2: Vulkan From Gypsy Knights Games

There was lots of fine ships for Traveller published this year. Vulkan was the most impressive ship module with adventures as well. It made me think of Space: Above and Beyond.

Next category is “Best ATU Product“. The nominees are:

The winner of the “Best ATU Product” category of the Zhodani Base Awards 2013 is: Clement Sector From Gypsy Knights Games

There was lots of interesting stuff for ATU published this year. Clement Sector won because it is really cool. The other nominees are also very good.

If I didn’t already owned the Judge Dredd RPG rules from Games Workshop I would be more interested in buying the Judge Dredd modules from Mongoose.

Next category is “Best OTU Product“. The nominees are:

The winner of the “Best OTU Product” category of the Zhodani Base Awards 2013 is: Traveller 5 From Far Future Enterprises

T5 is the best OTU product. It is a complete new rule-set with lots of new interesting ideas added to the existing OTU.

I am well aware that some think that a new rule-set isn’t needed and that these new rules are badly organized. I think that these rules are good enough to start playing Traveller, either if you are new to RPGs or have played for years. If you already (like me) have seven other sets of Traveller rules, then maybe it is not needed. But I bought it anyway, since I wanted to support the Kickstarter project and I wanted to see the finished product. I am happy with the way it turned out (but some things could have been made even better) and I like the new ideas in the book. I am looking forward to seeing new T5 products.

A final bonus category this year is “Best Free Traveller Product“. The nominees are:

The winner of the “Best Free Traveller Product” category of the Zhodani Base Awards 2013 is:  Starships Book II0I0 : Cargo Barque From Christian Hollnbuchner

The Farragut-class Wallpaper is pretty and the Through the Veil Part adventure is interesting, but for me the Cargo Barque was the most useful free Traveller product in 2013.

Now, go and download all of the free Traveller Products. Why? They are free!

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

And the winner is…

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It was very difficult to pick the winners of the 76 patrons contest this year. There were 16 good entries to choose from. However, I thought one of them was a bit better and more playable than the others. It was The Executor by Friz. Congratulations!

Second place goes to Chapel Bells Chime by Library Bob and third place to This Old Drone by Jim Vassilakos.

  1. The Executor (by Friz) $40
  2. Chapel Bells Chime (by Library Bob) $20
  3. This Old Drone (by Jim Vassilakos) $10
Another winner
Another winner – Image from wikimedia.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Thanks to all who participated! The winners will be contacted.

Model-1, The Base, Traveller

BeRKA is back

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I am back from my trip to planet Carinthia. Now I have a lot of work to do. There are some new Traveller products I should post links to (at the Zhodani Base Facebook Page), and I must decide which of the very good 16 entries in the 76 Patrons contest that are the best ones. I also have a lot of pictures to post at the berka.se blog.

Planet Carinthia
Planet Carinthia

I made this image using GIMP and the gas giant plugin. I changed the colors of the my image from Carinthia and then added the gas giant as another layer. Then I changed the opacity of the added layer to make it look good.

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

16 new Patrons this year

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This years 76 Patrons contest was a success. There were 16 entries. That is one more than the number of entries we had received last year.

This years entries:

  1. Xboat Speculation! (by Gray Pennell)
  2. Annual Maintenance (by Todd Bradley)
  3. The Executor (by Friz)
  4. This Old Drone (by Jim Vassilakos)
  5. Diplomatic Service (by Library Bob)
  6. Prison Broken (by Library Bob)
  7. Chapel Bells Chime (by Library Bob)
  8. Hunting Party (by Library Bob)
  9. Immersion (by Michael Brown)
  10. Software Desperation (by grondak)
  11. The New Messiah (by Alegis Downport)
  12. Treading the Boards (by Michael Brown)
  13. Royal Return (by George Ebersole)
  14. Repair Schedule (by Library Bob)
  15. Those Pesky Kids (by Allan Carpenter)
  16. Idol Fancy (by arbitrary remora and dead scout seven)

Now I have a lot to think about. In the beginning of October I will announce the winner. Until then, please comment, like and share. Tell us which entry you like the most and why! Both here and on other sites.