How would you handle bringing Space 1999 to Traveller?

[Hopeless]

Time to watch Season 1 of Space: 1999 again. Some of the best TV programming ever. The sets and stories were movie quality, and then they brought in an idiot to do Season 2. If only there were a Space: 1999 Reboot.

Felt this deserved a thread of its own.
I have heard of a youtube attempt that shows parts of this series under the heading of Space2099 and wondered how it could be brought to the rpg table under the Traveller system.

Would Traveller 2300 make a better base for this or straight Traveller core rules?

And the most important question of all... has anyone created an Eagle transporter under Traveller rules?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Just treat it as '70s sci-fi tech using the core rulebook. I'd recommend using Orbital if you want more detail for a moonbase.

 

[Infojunky]

And the most important question of all... has anyone created an Eagle transporter under Traveller rules?

Yes, it's called the 50ton Modular Cutter.... :twisted:

 

[alex_greene]

And the most important question of all... has anyone created an Eagle transporter under Traveller rules?

Yes, it's called the 50ton Modular Cutter.... :twisted:

The mass of the Eagle, combined with a passenger pod, is listed as around 328 tons - so it's more like a modular sublight small craft, capable of 15% of lightspeed.

http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/cguide/umeagle.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Transporter

 

[crazy_cat]

The mass of the Eagle, combined with a passenger pod, is listed as around 328 tons - so it's more like a modular sublight small craft, capable of 15% of lightspeed.

That is mass. The 50 'ton' Modular Cutter is 50 DTons volume.

Given the length estimate of 31'ish metres for an Eagle (21 x 1.5M squares approximately on a standard Traveller deckplan) a volume of 50 DTons for an Eagle actually sounds quite reasonable - approx 21 squares long and 4 - 5'ish wide, with a height of maybe 4 - 5 Metres including landing gear, engines, and framework round the cargo module.

 

[Lemnoc]

Second the idea that Orbital features almost everything needed for this simulation. The big problem is figuring out how, exactly, the Moon moves through space. It clearly is moving faster than light sometimes, at other times it is able to enter an orbit and allow Eagles to visit other worlds and return from them. Wormholes probably account best for this mechanic, but then they are fairly deus ex machina and not under the control of players, suggesting a fairly railroady campaign.

 

[alex_greene]

Also, Dr Helena Russell is the worst medic in science fiction history. 99% of the people she diagnosed as insane (such as Tony Cellini and John Koenig) turned out to be sane, after all; a good chunk of people in sickbay end up dead; and in one episode, she took part in a rescue mission to a planet, and when she got there she did no actual medicine whatsoever.

 

[Lemnoc]

Also, Dr Helena Russell is the worst medic in science fiction history. 99% of the people she diagnosed as insane (such as Tony Cellini and John Koenig) turned out to be sane, after all; a good chunk of people in sickbay end up dead; and in one episode, she took part in a rescue mission to a planet, and when she got there she did no actual medicine whatsoever.

You gotta admit, though, the girl with the two brains was a bit of a medical conundrum. :wink: :lol:

 

[alex_greene]

I'm thinking she qualified as a Doctor on Moonbase Alpha, because never has the question "Where the hell did you obtain your medical license, Doctor? On the Moon?" been so apposite ...

 

[Lemnoc]

To be fair, though, nobody on Moonbase Alpha was a standout in their profession. The Eagle pilots crashed about as often as they flew. Cmdr Koenig was one of the most non-commital and vacillating, humble leaders ever depicted on television. Victor Bergman’s common answer to most science mysteries was, “I don’t know” (LOVED that about him).

 

[alex_greene]

Not to mention Tony Verdeschi's nearly-lethal beer brewing efforts.

 

[Mithras]

Regarding the movement of the Moon, I would use some hand-wavy theory that suggests the Moon has created an unstable bubble in time-space that now surrounds it. Trapped in this bubble the Moon races at FTL speeds and slows down as it encounters gravity wells before speeding up again.

As good as any other??

 

[rust]

As good as any other??

Better, the perfect technobubble. :wink:

 

[alex_greene]

"The interaction of the magnetic radiation from the explosions of Nuclear Waste Disposal Areas One and Two created heterodyning interference of an unknown nature with the antigravity screens of Moonbase Alpha, resulting in infrequent yet almost periodical fluctuations in the space-time continuum which result in the creation of temporary spatial-temporal conduits through the universe through which the Moon's trajectory propels it, and whose termini occur in solar systems with planetary masses whose presence affects spacetime enough to temporarily collapse those conduits."

That's what I would say, if anybody asks.

 

[andreav]

"The interaction of the magnetic radiation from the explosions of Nuclear Waste Disposal Areas One and Two created heterodyning interference of an unknown nature with the antigravity screens of Moonbase Alpha, resulting in infrequent yet almost periodical fluctuations in the space-time continuum which result in the creation of temporary spatial-temporal conduits through the universe through which the Moon's trajectory propels it, and whose termini occur in solar systems with planetary masses whose presence affects spacetime enough to temporarily collapse those conduits."

That's what I would say, if anybody asks.

Anybody got an aspirin? (in other words, excellent handwaving)

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

That's why I watch UFO instead of Space: 1999.

 

[alex_greene]

One of my favourite observations from Space: 1999, from the legendary creepfest that is the episode "Dragon's Domain:"

"Our instruments said it was never alive. So how could we be sure it was really dead?" -- Dr Helena Russell, describing the One-Eyed Tentacle Hentai Space Monster.

:roll: Doc, I'd posit that several deep stab wounds in its forehead and a fire axe planted in its eyeball could be a pretty firm COD, and I'd write that death certificate for the monster in biro, not pencil. :lol:

 

[andreav]

One of my favourite observations from Space: 1999, from the legendary creepfest that is the episode "Dragon's Domain:"

"Our instruments said it was never alive. So how could we be sure it was really dead?" -- Dr Helena Russell, describing the One-Eyed Tentacle Hentai Space Monster.

:roll: Doc, I'd posit that several deep stab wounds in its forehead and a fire axe planted in its eyeball could be a pretty firm COD, and I'd write that death certificate for the monster in biro, not pencil. :lol:

"Mmmm... Best nuke it from space, only way to be sure."

 

[rust]

"Mmmm... Best nuke it from space, only way to be sure."

Not a good idea, it will only make the beast dangerously radioactive. :shock:

 

[Hopeless]

One of my favourite observations from Space: 1999, from the legendary creepfest that is the episode "Dragon's Domain:"

"Our instruments said it was never alive. So how could we be sure it was really dead?" -- Dr Helena Russell, describing the One-Eyed Tentacle Hentai Space Monster.

:roll: Doc, I'd posit that several deep stab wounds in its forehead and a fire axe planted in its eyeball could be a pretty firm COD, and I'd write that death certificate for the monster in biro, not pencil. :lol:

"Mmmm... Best nuke it from space, only way to be sure."

Don't waste the nuke just patch in the remaining power to a portable mp3 and leave some speakers after setting it to start working a few minutes after you've left, then let it broadcast Justin Beiber, Spice Girls or whatever music you'd really hate... if its remotely still alive that would send it fleeing! :twisted: