Recent content by rancke

My favorite was when Marvel Comics trademarked Death. Hans

I explain that by saying that Mid Passages are vouchers that can be exchanged for single occupancy starship tickets. So if you pay by Mid Passage, you're entitled to a stateroom to yourself. But if you show up with 4,000 credits in your hands, any captain will be willing to sell you a ticket for...

It's pretty moot if the world is empty. I've always believed that Class E starports had a radio beacon (provided and serviced by the Scouts if no one else was around to service it), but I can't off-hand think of any quotes to back that up. Hans

Actually, Aramis is wrong. It's not red zoned because it has antimatter, it's redzoned because it is interdicted. Granted, it's interdicted because it has antimatter (or so they say), but... See, here's a place where IMO fun ought to win out over realism. A system like Shionthy is fun. So...

While I was writing this, several hours ago, the window froze on me. Now that I'm closing down my Netscape session, it suddenly unfroze. So I'll go ahead an post it, even though I can see that others have mostly covered the same territory already. Why should uninhabited worlds be red zones? Red...

You're right about the amber zones. They're "Be real careful if you go there (and don't expect your insurance to cover you)" advisories. However, red zones are just "You really don't want to go there!" advisories. The TAS doesn't have the authority to forbid anyone from going anywhere. All...

Keep in mind the difference between interdiction and red zones. The Imperium interdicts. The Travellers' Aid Society awards amber and red zone ratings. One of the things it awards red zone rating for is interdiction. That's automatic. But otherwise, it's a matter of judgment. It awards amber...

Right! (Smacks head). I knew that. It had just slipped my mind. Sorry. :oops: So keep Enos and change all the other ones. The ones that haven't been written up yet. Well, obviously it doesn't need to be, or the question wouldn't arise in the first place. But I think the proper question is...

CT combat turns were 20 minutes. But, yes, such a difference could well be a reason for some tweaking. Say, that the chance of scoring a hit in one turn was only one third as high in MGT than in CT. Then again, maybe not. It also has to be fun. Self-consistency is important for verisimilitude...

Zowy didn't say that a merchant had much of a chance against a proper warship. Just that it had an excellent chance against small escorts and corsairs. This is a "historical" fact. It's simply an artifact of ships being unable to carry more than one turret per 100T. If you change that, you're...

When we wrote Sword Worlds we asked for and was denied permission to change various worlds sizes. So we (mostly Paul) put a whole lot of sweat into coming up with explanations for those worlds sizes. And the rather detailed descriptions we wrote for those worlds were based on the canonical...

I've been thinking about this for a few days, and here are a slightly more specific suggestion. Start by describing the difference between most freight and passenger traffic (= regular traffic) and the traffic PCs are engaged in (free traders). Regular traffic are done by companies who buy...

Ah, I see. OK, I'll just say this: Book 2: Used for one year. High Guard: Used for 30 years (OK, HG and its derivatives -- and HG had its own problems. But still). Anyway, IMO returning to Book 2 is a Really Bad Idea. 'Nuff said. Well, that certainly invalidates all my old calculations, and...

I'd like to propose a radically different approach. The thing is, the CT trade rules aren't roleplaying at all. It's what I like to call "The Merchant Game". It can be a fun game, especially if you have a referee that doesn't allow players to unload 62 computers at 300% on a world with a...

There will be no demand for getting four parsecs in a month (40 day, actually -- a jump averages about 10 days)), because for anything over a parsec, the per parsec cost of jump-1 traffic is more expensive that the per parsec cost of jump-2, jump-3, and even jump-4 traffic. So for a distance of...