 June 17, 2012 - 3:21am | Whatever happened to this promise? This was the last statement in the two part article series in the Polyhedron mag on big ships in Star Frontiers. Did this just not happend because he ran out of time when the Star Frontiers product was discontinued of did I miss something and there is some really interesting Polyhedron material floating around out their? From Polyhedron #22 "Of Great Captians and Ships" Deck plans, a crew roster, and more information on running a frigate in a Big Ship campaign will wing their way to you in a future issue of POLYHEDRONTM Newszine. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 June 17, 2012 - 3:53pm | Yeah I remember being extremely disappointed when that didn't materialize. |
June 17, 2012 - 6:53pm | Another reason to bash the memory of her that shall not be named. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 17, 2012 - 8:24pm | Oh, you mean Whore-aine? |
June 18, 2012 - 3:29am | Well for Father's Day , late on Saturday night I purchased a copy of the Traveller Leviathan book as well as a copy of Space Gamer #40 which had an article titled, "Aboard the Leviathan". This is a space gamer from when SJG was publishing it so it ought to be interesting to read if nothing else. Just have to wait for them to come in the mail. might just pop over to scribd and see if there is a down loadable copy of either. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 18, 2012 - 9:13pm | I've been vying for a copy of the Azhanti High Lightning, but for what the sellers want for it each and every time...I swear it's like buying an orange copy of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess but much easier to find. |
June 19, 2012 - 3:25am | If I like what I see in Leviathan I'll be looking for a Azhanti High Lightning since its sited as a reference in the two articles on running big ship campaigns. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 20, 2012 - 3:31pm | Well traveller adventure 4, Leviathan came in the mail. I'm pleased with getting. Very much like the premise of the campaign/adventure. Corporation is hiring a command crew for a merchant cruiser who's mission it to explore two outrim void subsectors, find out whats out there especially what commercial opportunities there are and report back in six month- sounds like a Star Trek intro but for all that i like it. Company reps on board like the purser and other possible secret company men as well as four scientists who are listed as passengers. Of course the somewhat unique traveller seting is at play here as the imperial navy and the imperial scout service are opperating in the area and may order merchant vessels to leave for their own reasons. The Zhondani have a planet here and periodic patrol and the of course hate the imperium. They have a psionicly gifted elite the rule the serfs in their society and are one set of obvious baddies. There is also a two system pocket empire who are xenophobic. Its a nicely done, for 1980, sand box campaign and ship deck plan. What bugs me is total lack of adventure seeds, correction they're there you just have to read between the lines and compare the planetary notes to library data and do some thinking on your own. (When the book says the GM should read the book carefully it wasn't kidding. If you dont like imperiums with long histories and frontier sectors where humans have regressed in tech and "lost world" then this is not for you. But since I'm an idea whore I rather enjoyed reading it. Two pieces of art one was a side view of the ship based on the deck plans which was nice and one of two guys in ship suit/space suits at a ships controls and other ships visible through the window. This one was very nice. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 21, 2012 - 1:00am | IIRC the "Leviathan" was a merchant cruiser massing under 2000 tons (deceptionally named considering how big Traveller ships can get), which puts it somewhere in the neighborhood of HS:4-5. The AHL was a dreadnaught, IIRC about the size of a SF heavy cruiser. And even that was still half the size of some of the Traveller dreadnaughts... |
June 21, 2012 - 2:45am | Leviathan has an extensive crew list, probably too extensive as it would lead to high overhead on a commercial venture. Oddly there is multiple 1st officers and I think what was intended is that these are the first officers of departments as apposed to a 1st officer who is second in command. Its interesting in that most of the first officers are what the book recommends for PC positions. The rumor grid/dice mechanic is interesting 6X6 grid and you roll two d6 to locate a rumor on the grid- the effect makes certain rumors less likely to turn up and that was intentional I guess. Players roll on the rumor table once per week i think and it represents a general combing of bars and customs officials so they only get one roll for the party per time block- its almost set up to be a straight dice rolling mechanic I would say that the GM should roll on the table and drop the rumor during role play. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 24, 2012 - 12:22pm | Leviathan has an extensive crew list, probably too extensive as it would lead to high overhead on a commercial venture.
From what I remember of Traveller, breaking even on a starship voyage was quite an accomplishment. You pretty much had to keep the ship in constant service to turn a profit, if it sat idle for a single day --- for any reason --- you were losing money. |
 June 25, 2012 - 3:37am | Pretty much any business which sits idle is losing money. The lower end ships were supposed to be really bad but this had probably more to do with encouraging the players to keep the ship moving and take "side jobs" (i.e. adventures) than what the actual economics would support. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 June 26, 2012 - 1:46pm | Bear in mind that the original Travller (LBB Books 1-3) was a small ship universe - 1200tons was considered to be cruiser size (Kinunir), so the Leviathan at 2000 tons was pretty big. It was only with the release of High Guard that the designs shifted to the multi-megaton monsters like the happy-fun-deathball of the Tigress. G. |
June 27, 2012 - 4:44pm | Pretty much any business which sits idle is losing money. The lower end ships were supposed to be really bad but this had probably more to do with encouraging the players to keep the ship moving and take "side jobs" (i.e. adventures) than what the actual economics would support.
True. I just remember the Traders & Gunboats supplement stating that many of the ships' cost more to operate than the expected income would be. Meaning it was a losing proposition whether it was moving or not. Or maybe that was the explanation for the Subsidized Merchant, justifying the government subsidy to operate it. Either way, it was a losing proposition regardless who was flipping the bill (wow, these are books that were penned back in the early 1980s...I just realized that our modern "economic stimulus" isn't a new idea!). It's been forever and a week since I last opened a Traveller book...no matter how much searching I do I just can't seem to find the few that I own. |
June 29, 2012 - 6:01am | Yes the subsidized merchant was not supposed to make money but be large enough to transport for planets that did not get regular independent merchant traffic or not on the mega-corp routes. Has anyone designed a ship like this for SF? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
June 30, 2012 - 11:13am | Yes the subsidized merchant was not supposed to make money but be large enough to transport for planets that did not get regular independent merchant traffic or not on the mega-corp routes.
Has anyone designed a ship like this for SF? I lifted a few of the Traveller designs for system ships (here's one you may recognize: http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/3734 ). I have a few characters with small HS:3-4 light haulers that are running on government charters. Here is one such sample: http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/3454 |
