Harry Harrison has passed away. 🙁
He was a huge inspiration for Traveller. One of the eight example Heroes and Villains characters in LBB Supplement-1 was based on James DiGriz from The Stainless Steel Rat. One of the nine example Heroes and Villains characters in LBB Supplement-4 was based on Jason dinAlt from the Deathworld Trilogy.
You can read or download a few of his stories for free at the Project Gutenberg.
It is now time for The Zhodani Base 76 Patrons Writing Contest – 2012.
This years first prize is a $30 Gift Certificate at DriveThruRPG.
Second prize is a $10 Gift Certificate at DriveThruRPG.
If you win you can buy lots of traveller goodies that you might have missed.
The style of the entries should be in the style of the patrons in CT Supplement 6, 76 Patrons.
Past winners are:
Two of my own patrons can be found here:
The contest starts now and ends 31 Aug 2012. Write as many entries as You like.
After the 31:st of August 2012, all entries will be posted on the Zhodani Base. The winner will be chosen by Berka.
By entering the contest You allow your entry to be posted at the Zhodani Base. All entries might also be posted in PDF format as a free down-loadable file at the Zhodani Base.
All entrants will be given credit for their work and will retain the copyright on their entries.
Some general guidelines:
1, Each entry should be less than 1000 words.
2, One image may be used in each entry. You must either own the rights to the image, or it must be used under some sort of free license. Wikimedia Commons is a good place to find an image that You can use. Please provide information about the image. (Is it Yours? If not, where have You found it? What license is used?) Note: You don’t need to use an image.
3, Each patron should offer 6 options.
4, Each patron should be placed in the Foreven Sector. You may use the version of the Foreven Sector that can be found here at the Zhodani Base. (You don’t have to use this version.)
5, Please don’t force the PCs to sign up for (what they think are) illegal activities. It is better if they find that out later, or in some way are forced to take illegal action… 😈
6, Please use a spell checker! 🙄
Send Your entries by e-mail. Please use plain text format and attach the image, if You select to use one. Word files will not be accepted!
Please include a preferred nickname (that can be Your real name) to show on the Zhodani Base. If You expect to win, include an e-mail address to send the first prize to.
Some help: (That you don’t have to use.)
You may use Mongoose Traveller rules to design something for your patron, since the Zhodani Base has a Foreven Free Sector License.
Quick Decks 2 from DSL Ironworks is a tool that helps you to quickly make deckplans for Traveller starships. However, when you start using it and see how good and useful it is, you will probably spend a lot of time using it to make pretty deckplans. The front cover of the product shows what you can use the resulting deckplans for.
In the example that I have done for this review there is a lounge with a bar in the front of the ship. Just outside the lounge are two “freshers”. (I thought that was needed outside the bar…) A wide corridor leads to the next section. In the corridor there is a first aid cabinets and a fire cabinets and a sofa. There are four staterooms connected to the corridor.
I used GIMP when I made the deckplan in this example, but any other good image editor will work fine. I set the grid to 100*100 pixels and the offset to x=75 and y=75 pixels, and then selected snap to grid. Then it was easy to import images from the pdf to gimp and fit them exactly where I wanted.
There are lots of components to choose from. There are the usual classic symbols and many more. There are premade staterooms, lounges, briefing rooms, libraries, laboratories, brigs, armories, barracks, barbettes, sensors, magazines, boarding equipments and more. With the armories and barracks I also want to build some Starship Troopers inspired deckplans.
In 2005 there was a discussion at the CotI boards about additional book-2 components. I suggested some of those we now see in this product. This product makes me happy, since it helps me to implement deckplans using my old ideas.
This is an inspiring product. You just want to build more and more deckplans with it. Another nice feature is that the pdf is layered, so that you can hide some of the components in the images. You can try it using the full size preview. This product is the second in a trilogy of deckplan tools. You might need them all if you are a serious deckplan designer.
I found a new subsector at Traveller Map. I am sure it wasn’t there a few days ago. Now we can have a look at subsector E of Pliabriebl sector. There was no news about it at the Traveller Map blog (yet). If you look at the credits for this Sector, you can see that it is Marc Miller that has mapped this subsector.
The reason for mapping this subsector must be that in the very successful Kickstarter project for Traveller5 you will get your name “laser-carved on the alabaster cliffs overlooking the Sea of Mists on Ecalpemos (Pliabriebl 0411) after the crucial Battle of Shadows against the Black Fleets” if you invest $25 or more. I am also looking forward to reading more about the Shadows and the Black Fleets as well…
The Fat Cat (tIG TPT-133 “Fat Cat” Logistics Transport) is an interesting ship from Fat Cat Games. It’s a 300 ton trader with an unorthodox design. 300 tons might be a nice compromise between the 200 ton far trader, that might seem too small and the 400 ton Subsidized Merchant that may be too big. This feels like it would be a perfect adventure ship. The design is done for Mongoose Traveller rules, but can easily be used with any Traveller rules. The design is for an unspecified ATU (that I think we will soon hear some more about), but can easily be used in the OTU.
The deckplans in the book are in black and white. The level of detail in them are better than what we are used to see in a CT product. The side views are really cool. I like that they have included images of humans to show the size. The descriptions of the deckplans are very good.
The CGI images are good but I think the texture on the ship is a bit boring. (I want to see serial numbers, name of the ship, company logo, warning markings, etc.) The darker images are the ones I like the best. The mirror effect on the landed ship is quite cool, since that is not what we are used to see. Showing humans with the landed craft is also a good idea.
In the last part of the book there is an example crew and 3 Patrons (adventure hooks). I like this, since I like adventure. Now it is easy to use the ship, either as an encounter or as a PCs ship to run some quick scenarios.
I like this product. It could serve as a template for what a product for a Traveller Starship should include. (I only missed a good index.)
You can get this now as a pdf at DriveThruRPG, but there is also a Kickstarter project for a printed (and updated) version. At the Kickstarter site, there is also a nice picture of the ship landed in water.
This is so important that I think I need to post something about it! Traveller5 at Kickstarter.
I have invested and paid the $40 extra to have it shipped to the Zhodani Consulate.
