Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WAKE
At the Ramada Inn in Bloomington, those present for the writer's conference met
the night before. We were there to hear what GDW will do with the TNE project. We
Contents were not there to argue the merits of their plans with them. So we prefaced our
discussions with a decision that this was our wake for MegaTraveller, and tomorrow
What in the Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 was a different day. Then we talked late into the night about Traveller, Imperial
Collected Notes .....•....•....... 3 history, the Rebellion, products, and what we would do. Then we went to bed, and
next morning we heard GDW's plans.
Fanzines and Newsletters . . . . . . . 4 In the same sense, the following pages are what GDW has already decided to do.
HIWG(UK.): Dissolving? .........5 You might want to discuss your hopes and fears with someone else before reading
them, but....ooletteror argument willstq:J the appear.mce oft.be ViJ7Js or the Crash
Products for the New Era . . . . . . . 6 .now. What follows is a lamp on the road GDW has chosen, set to dispel some of the
Baddies From the Core. . . . . . ... 7 doubt and uncertainty about what will happen.
Fan's letters and email show a high level of concern about different aspects of the
The Virus: Electronic Frankenstein .. 8 change. Those worries may dissolve as quickly as did those that preceded the
Inauguration of ST: 'J1JeNext Ot:nt:radan. I hope the following will lay some fears to
TIlcNcw TravcOer res-~ and direct some readers toward positive, early contributions.
Just slipped away. ~ - #_ 7*'''' '" -~/ _:_H _ ,1 r":, ~,. .J-_
Submission Guidelines
Adventures: Aim for 4,000 words. Folios: Thesenmto 12,000-16,000 formatting and text alignment in the
Traveller has evolved beyond the shorter words, with 12,500 being average. The production program.
Amber Zone format. Present an format is perfect for a two-day session; Sending a computer file makes it much
adventure detailed enough for the referee you may organize it into two or three more likely that 8Z[YOl1C will publish
tonmimmediatcly(that eveoing.) logical sections corresponding to playing your article I It saves retyping it.
Old style Amber Zone adventures are sessions. Always send a double-spaced hard
okay for the Imperial Lines newsletter. Supporting materials: Clearly copy,evenifyousendaftle. That is what
Most adventures are transplanted to a designate any supporting material as they edit and review from. Otherwise,
referee's own campaign. They should be such. This applies to ship design they have to print it out first.
able to adapt your adventure to their worksheets, general maps, and so on. Maps and art: They always redraw
setting. Spell out any assumptions. Files: Send ASCII files. They do all these in-house. Send a copy, or send a
Star Viking Adventure Settings
-Clay Bush uninbabitednow. worried about these worlds leading the
There will be three adventuring regions Not all d these empires are dominated eventual humanrcunification, so they
in the Star Viking period. bybumans, help the merchants as a way to counter
'The players should be the crew d a (arthe xenophobes.
SPINWARD COALI- the) starsbip. Given selection of one The name Star Viking originates with
crew from a planetary population, it the modular ships used by the merchants.
TION should be imprcssedon players that their They call these long, modular vessels
'The SpinwardMarches continues as a characters arc loyal to that planet. Either
"longsbips," and someone starts calling
high-tech area. It is a preserve d them the VIkings. People like to adopt
the captain ar a securi.ty officer should be
Imperial institutions and unusual names; Broncos,
ship types. Some parts of it Chiefs, Patriots, etc. Maybe
(Mora'? Rhylanor'?) will "The Domain of Deneb is kind of a preserve some d these guys paint. horns
have advanced to TL16. of Imperial Space. Were not trying to trash the on their vaee suits. Anyway,
'The Zhodani survive, area where most of our work has ocrurred. We they aren't out to loot and
shclteredfrom the Virus by are trying to open new territory."-CDW pillage. (Only some of the
the Domain of Deneb. The
Eighth Core E.xpeditim was
"The gaol is to recycle duB, interior sectors. Yau bistorical Vikings were
Most traded; same
to last from 1150 to 1190; want to try to rll1 an interesting Striker scenario raiders. settled Russia.)
they continue their policy d in Core? Good Iuck."-QJW A normal SV expedition
coreward expansion in the cmsists of one longsbipwith
New Era. Zhodani policy riders and cargo pods. It
an ultra-loyal NPC. And where would
toward Deneb is containment, with the probably bas Hiver computers and one or
they skip to'?
understanding that Deneb will not annex two Hiver technicians. (Individual
smaller spinward states. Hivers are generally referred to as
Trade with the small states rimward d STAR VIKINGS "Ned:') The normal mission is trade
theZhodani Consulate may make for an This will be the main stoIy line exploration.
interesting campaign. Exploration to developed by GDW adventures. 'The first adventures will probably be
spinward would be into unknown The Star Vikings originate with about armed expedi1ion sem torccover
tmitory that was within the Ancients merchant groups operating on the fringes crews, ships, and diplomats seized by
Sphere. ofmver space. (The Hivers weathered xenophobic govermnents. Ships are
One possibility for the New Era that the Virus.) Diaspora has several precious, and the worlds simply grabbed
was c:onsidered was for the Zhodani surviving worlds which have developed the first ship to contact them far their
expeditions to bring forthBcrscrkers xenophobic govermnents. The mvers arc own usc. %"%
fram the Galactic Core. Anyone
interested in this idea can look at the The New Era is not meant to be a dark, depressing period It is
Sparkler article elsewhere for a variant.
.alifY' the cOl~se.1 de-.:rribed the darkness before the dawn.
POCKET EMPIRES What is not desired is "wallowing" in the darkness. Do players
A variety d pocket empires occupy the enjoy the darkness and see themselves as ~ents of it? Or do
territory of the ThirdImperium and the they see themselves positively?
Solamani Confederation. Most consist of
one world that kept one or two creaky old A dark future game is liberatilg i1 that one can confront one's
freighters that the Virus couldnot infect; fears. In the New Era, players can posit themselves as positive
none will have more than ten ships energy nthe system. It is also a science fiction setting where
maximum. anything could happen or be fOllld
In all, there are perhaps 2G-30 d these
pocket empires. That works out to about The interior of the old Imperitm has one advantage over other
one per sector. Their trading range is at areas to explore. Yau can expect SOI11e of the natives to speak
most a subsectar. and usually less. Some English. Well, Galangic, the 56th century version. Okay,
trade exploration is perfonned; systems pronunciations differ....but we're getting picky here.
without habitable planets tend to be
Education Intenigenee
Adminislration Forward Observer
Busineas ObsetVation
Communications Disguise Navigation
Computer Ops \Gamblinfr--_ _ _ _ _-=~=Jf {Pilot (Foced Wing)
Engineering Instruction 71 Pilot (Grav)
Medical -- Pilot (Interface)
-- Pilot (RoIaryWing)
language Pilot (starship)
---,----- Psychology
Ship Ops (Gunn8lY)
Sci~ (Biology) Ship Ops (Atrogation)
Science (Chemistry) Ship Ops (Sensors)
Scien~ (Physics) Leadership Slreetwise
Scien~ Uaison SliD 2U
Scien~ Persuasion Survival
Steward Trac:kjng
C
vehicle (Heavy)
Vehicle (Wneeled)
Willpower
Empathy
Psionic Skills (bditionalj
Animal empathy
Computer empathy Shield Describe any special talent(s) here:
A_ _ss
Empalhic healing
Foreboding Oairvoyance
Human empathy Telempalhy
I Project emotion
Project thought
T elel<inesis
I T eleportation
Winpower drain
Initiative
D
Base Hit Values Hit Capacity
!§I Base
-
~ (Head)
(Chest)
Heavy Weapons
D DOD (R.Arm)
(L.AIm)
CJ CJ 0 CJ
Small Arms (Pis1ol)
(Abdomen)
(R.le<J1 f----l
D DOD
Small Arms (Rifle)
(LLeg)
CJ D O D
Thrown Weapon: Range in meters (1 kg)
Roll needed up to range
u
Weapon Data
Recoil
Weapon Name ROF Dam Pen Bulk Mag SS Burst Range
IEquipment
Contacts