All posts by BeRKA

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

VasaLoppet – The Space Race

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The big long-distance ski-race Vasaloppet is on today. It is run from Sälen to Mora (9o km). This has inspired me to think about a long distance space race.

We are all familiar with the planet Mora in the Spinward Marches. That should be the goal. As far as I know there is no planet named Sälen, But there is a planet named New Salen in Vland Sector. That should be the start of the race.

Some ideas for the race. All the ships should start at the same time from the ice-caps of New Salen. The first ship to land on the main starport at Mora is the winner. There could be hundreds or even more ships in the race. There should be a huge prize for the winner, since the ships has to spend several months in this race. It should be sponsored by Megacorporations and by nobles at the planet the race passes. There can be a number of classes depending on jump-drive. To avoid that ships try to do a “controlled” misjump, there should be a number of mandatory planets that has be be passed (in order and within a time limit). No violence (or other forms of cheating) will be allowed during the race.

The mandatory planets to visit might be Vland,  Twophur, Kaasu and Deneb. The fastest ships in the race would usually just refuel and continue. The slower might stay for a few days, making repairs and going to parties. A tradition in the race could be to pick up a cargo of Vilani ale at Vland, and on every planet where the ship makes a longer stop, contribute with a part of the cargo to the local race party.

 Vasaloppet

Image from Traveller Map.

Adventure ideas:

The PC’s are taking part in the race in the J-3 class. This year there is a special prize. The winner of the J-3 class will get a contract to deliver all ale from a Vland brewery for a year. Since this is a very nice price for a fast independant ship, there will be some cheating. By others, that will slow down the PCs ship. And by the PCs, as a revenge. Will the PCs win, or will they be disqualified?

The PCs could be hired for a rescue mission, when one of the ships has tried to do a “controlled” misjump and missed the deadline of one of the mandatory checkpoints.

The PCs can be part of a team of ships that each will try to do a “controlled” misjump with the hope that one of them will go in the right direction and win the race. Then the PCs can end up wherever the referee wants them. 😈

Aliens, Reviews, Science Fiction

Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

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Yet another book that I recently read was Stranger in a Strange Land (the 1991 version), by Robert Heinlein. I bought this at the Fantasy Centre last time I was in London.

This is one book that I know I ought to have read a lot earlier, but as always there is never time enough to do everything I want to. Since this is one of the most well known books by Heinlein I felt that I had to read it. It is also important since this is the book where the word “grok” was invented.

The first part of the book is very interesting. The human Valentine Michael Smith, who has been raised by martians has problems with the Terran humans and their rules and cultural values. The martian ways of doing things are very different. This can be an inspiration when dealing with aliens in Traveller.

The second part of the book is just a religious rambling (with lots of sex). For me this part of the book was just silly, but others have founded religions based on it. 😮

Heinlein

Image from wikimedia. License: GNU Free Documentation

Finally, there is the Ultra-Condensed version. 😉

Adventures, Mapping, Science, Starships, Traveller

T Pyxidis

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T Pyxidis is a star that we have heard about in the news recently. The scientist Dr Sion claims that it will go supernova quite soon and threaten the earth. Other scientists say that this is not the case.

In any case, T Pyxidis is an interesting object that will be interesting to study. Especially in the Far Future when we can go there. It is only 1000 parsecs away. It will only take about 4 years to go there with an average speed of jump-5. So lets equip a 100-kton scout-cruiser and go there! It will be an epic adventure. 😀

T Pyx

Image from NASA. Public Domain.

Only referees should read on.

Continue reading T Pyxidis →

The Base

The Zhodani Base at Facebook

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What is the point of having a Zhodani Base page at Facebook?

I hope that this will be a good way to get in contact with the readers and users of the Zhodani Base. I hope we can share ideas. I hope I can get some input on what I will post, before I actually post it here on the Zhodani Base.

Join the Zhodani Base at Facebook, so that You will get the latest news of what is going on, and so that You will also have a chance to influence what I am writing here.

Mapping, Reviews, Traveller

Twilight Sector – A new TU

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Cool, a new traveller product to review. 😎

First we need to understand that Twilight Sector is not located a few sectors rimward of the Solomani Rim. It is not even located in the Official Traveller Universe. It is located in an entirely new Alternative Traveller Universe.

How dare they? Heretics! 😉

Well, this is actually a good thing. I have hoped for a long time now that someone would dare to make a commercial product for a new TU. The reason for this is all the problems there are with the OTU and that there are always some whining canon-heads that complains when you try to do something creative.

There have been other attempts to create other alternative traveller universe to get around the problems with the OTU. Two examples are Proto-Traveller and Dark Hunter. I have even tried to make my own traveller universes. One based on the Elite game, and one based on history.

In the Twilight Sector Campaign Setting Sourcebook we get a very good description of the history of this universe and of the Major powers. There are also many pages of library data in the end of the book. This is very useful since it is a new setting, and no old library data can be used if you want to play in this TU.

There are a few interesting differences from the OTU. First, there are no aliens (but there have been one or more ancient races). There are mutants instead. Maximum jump range is 8 (not 6). There are also interstellar radio with messages travelling up to 8 parsecs in a week.

Since the book is called Twilight Sector, I would have guessed that it would be a bit like other sector books (Rim of Fire, Behind the Claw or Gateway to Destiny.) But it wasn’t. There is no full description of a traveller sector with maps and UPPs for every world. Instead we get a very good description of half a subsector (6 worlds and two space stations). That was a bit of a disappointment when I had hoped for something else.

One of the worlds described is a copy of Earth called Terra/Sol. Even though a copy of Earth seems a bit silly, I am looking forward to read about why and how it was made. The ancients in this TU must have been much more powerful than Grandfather in the OTU. Maybe even as powerful as Slartibartfast.

In the book there are many nice images. Some are in colour. Some (like the cover) are a bit sexist. The worlds described have nice isodecahedron worldmaps and nice system maps. But the subsector map is quite ugly and not at all of the same quality as the other illustrations.

I really hope that Terra/Sol games will publish more books about this interesting TU. I also hope that this will inspire other publishers to make their own Traveller Universes.

Twilight Sector

Image used with permission. Part of Twilight Sector Carnival at Atomic Array.

Want to learn more about Twilight Sector? Read on…

Drop by Terra/Sol Games today!

Review written as part of the Twilight Sector Carnival at Atomic Array.