How would you handle bringing Space 1999 to Traveller?

[rust]

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:

I thought the Pavarotti Maneuver has been declared illegal
because of its extreme cruelty ?

 

[Faelan Niall]

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:

Beyond a doubt the episode that warped my young mind the most. I remember having nightmares about the tentacular microwave oven of doom, waking up and smiling to myself. It still is one of my favorite criters ever.

 

[alex_greene]

Beyond a doubt the episode that warped my young mind the most. I remember having nightmares about the tentacular microwave oven of doom, waking up and smiling to myself. It still is one of my favorite criters ever.

So, then, who's going to try and stat it up for Traveller?

 

[2330ADUSA1]

Here is what I posted in the 2099 forum about my own Traveller campaign that was based on SPACE1999....

Hello everyone,

I am a die-hard RPGer and have been for 36+ yrs., and I am a Game Master for the Traveller RPG. Now I have started to recreate a new campaign realm for my players in which to play in. I have 7 players that have been gaming with me now for 11-13 yrs., and they love my concept for SPACE1999.

I started work on my idea before this site came up and 2099 was announced. I set the year as 2199, believing that was a much more likely time frame for Earth's tech and culture to reach the point of SPACE1999 era flavor. Anyway in my campaign I originally set it up that mankind had discovered how to create a kind of shielding in which could be used to shield a large area against meteors crashing in on the moon. It was decided that they wanted to test if they could shield all of the moon, thus enwrapping the whole of the moon in this shield and thus they built a number of Helium 3 Fusion power plants at specific locations on the surface of the moon in which to form a grid that would help to create a complete shield enwrapping the moon. It was felt that if that was a success, that they would then build them on Earth to protect it from meteor impact as well too.

Well in the process of building all of the moon Power stations and Shield Uplink stations, the UEF (United Earth Force) discovered an Ancient Alien complex that turned out to be HUGE and totally underground. It was roughly a 20 miles square in width, length and depth. The system seemed to be in some type of shutdown mode with minimal power, and very little of it was actually explored. The level of technology was almost totally beyond the UEF ability to even understand, let alone figure out. They had however located what appeared to be a massive control room, but nothing seemed to be turned on at all. The only item was one gauge that seemed to be powered on and read minimal power readings. The only other thing to note was that whomever the Aliens were that built the complex, they must have been similar to humans, because the command chairs were all shaped and sized for a human shaped form.

So there was a research team in the complex and in the control room exploring. Meanwhile the last of the Moon power complexes had come online and Moon Base Alpha began to make prep for the final test of the total Luna Shield system. So they powered up the system and turned on the shield, and the shield enwrapped the moon as planned. In the process the team in the complex saw that the Alien complex system cam online and the gauges began to fill up one after another. Somehow the complex whatever it did had come online and now was somehow building up power. The crew in the Alien complex radio Moon Base Alpha and they tried to shut down the system. It would not shut down and the shielding seem to take on a slightly different look and traits. Also the moon began to shake and to the observation craft outside of the shield the moon seem to becoming transparent, and it was noted that the power output was greatly increasing.

So in a matter of minutes the gauges in the Alien complex had reached 18 full gauges out of 20. The moon seem to be vibrating, and the observation ships outside of the Shield were reporting that the moon seem to be "phasing" in and out at times almost being totally Invisible. Then it happened...there was a vibration and sound that everyone heard on the moon all at once, and a blinding flash of light....followed by what appeared to be some type of movement that seemed to be moving the moon. Back with the observation ships, the moon went Invisible followed by a blinding flash of light and then the Moon was ...GONE!

Back on the moon the research crew n the Alien control room had a uplink to moon base Alpha control and had an active view screen and could see what was happening. One of the research crew in the Alien control started to push a few buttons and then, a flash and the moon appeared again in real space floating and moving towards some distant start. A hologram appeared over their heads of the approaching system with all sorts of details listed for each planet. There also appeared a strange running symbols that after a while was determined to be a clock of sorts, that was counting down...but to what? The power gauges were reduced to 4 full and seem to be slowly building again.

Back at Moon Base Alpha command, they issued the command to shut down the shield and it shut down. The people of Moon base Alpha command picked themselves up and began to check the systems out and some started working on where they were. After a while they determined they were in another solar system and determined that there was a number of planets and that the 2nd planet was Earth like with signals transmitting from it.

And so the journey begins as two Eagles were launched, along with two Mark IX Hawks as cover to check the system out. In my game there are 25,000 people on the moon and Moon Base Alpha is the main command location. Now this idea works and is in line with the original show of SPACE1999...

Penn



I had my campaign world go through a 3rd WW and Helium 3 Bombs were used...they are 10x more powerful and NO nuke radioactive yield. In the end what was left of the world united under the UE - United Earth government...a Democratic Republic. The Fighting forces of the world is called the UEF - United Earth Force. The folks on the moon are all members of the UEF.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

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

Okay 15% of the speed of light., that is 45000 km/sec. Okay, it would take 13.25 days for the Eagle to accelerate to 15% of the speed of light at 4-G acceleration, this is 3.79 weeks of operation, as well assuming the eagle needs to slow down too. The modular cutter has enough fuel for 1 week of operation, so the Eagle need 3.79 tons of fuel. The Eagle can travel a total distance of 85.71 AU by accelerating at 4-G to the mid point and decelerating for the rest of the journey, to go further, the Eagle will need to shut down its engines at mid point and coast. Total 26.5 days for a one-way journey of this distance with slowdown. So the question is at what distance from the primary does the Moon slip into FTL? I guess that depends on how much tie you would want to allow the Eagle and Crew to explore each planet, before having to catch up with the Moon once again. I'd say the Moon moves through each system at a rate of 1 AU per day multiplied by the distance from the star in AU times the Star's mass, that means as the Moon moves further away from the star, it increases in velocity, it is a stutterwarp like effect, ignore the speed of light.

This is 1736 km/sec at 1 AU this creates a window of time in which an Eagle can explore a planet, before the Moon is going so fast that it can't catch up with it! The Moon reaches 15% of the speed of light at 25.92 AU times the star's mass from each star. Assume the Moon always comes within the habitable zone of each star. The Moon follows a straight path through each system. Typically there is a window of about 12 days to explore the planet and decide whether to resettle on the planet or stay on the Moon before it draws out of range. The Eagle takes 3.64 days to reach the planet and 3.64 days to get back to the moon, that means a total exploration window of less than 5 days.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

What if we incorporated Space 1999 into Classic Traveller, and had the Moon move around on the Traveller Map? The only question is which direction should it move in? Looking at the map, it appears the most interesting direction would be coreward. Start from the hex labeled Terra Hex 1827 and move the Moon towards the core to the next occupied hex. The Moon makes a port-of-call at Aggida, a size 9 world with a 7 (Standard Tainted) atmosphere and 4 (40%) hydrographics. It takes the Moon 15 days to go from Terra to Aggida, the Moon makes a close pass to Aggida, about 400,000 km and then pulls away and starts heading toward the next system, which is Nusku Hex 1822, a size 5 world with 6 (Standard) atmosphere, and 9 (90%) hydrographics, then the Moon heads to Ashtsgz Tyui Hex 1818 taking another 15 days to get there, and then onto Muan Issler Hex 1816 15 days after leaving the previous system and then on and on. What do you think will eventually happen if the Moon goes in this direction?

 

[Jeff Hopper]

"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.

The result of which, was the theory behind Traveller5's NAFAL drive.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

You can just "wing-it"... what counts is the player experience not any waffly psudo-science. It's 'Space 1999' with all sorts of Sci-Fantasy weirdness in it.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

You can just "wing-it"... what counts is the player experience not any waffly psudo-science. It's 'Space 1999' with all sorts of Sci-Fantasy weirdness in it.

It helps to keep the pseudo-science consistent though. My Idea is the Moon is propelled by a kind of warp drive that is suppressed by gravitational fields, also the Moon seems to have a purposeful direction, so the nuclear accident explanation just doesn't cut it.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

the Moon seems to have a purposeful direction, so the nuclear accident explanation just doesn't cut it.

With the metaplot that has higher level alien intelligence directing the Moon, they may have knowledge/access to a deeper understanding of physics or know of "tricks" to direct Moonbase Alpha how they want. The Alphans likely cannot create a stable version of the reaction which propelled the Moon in the first place even though they experienced and have knoweldge that "magnetic radiation" exists.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

the Moon seems to have a purposeful direction, so the nuclear accident explanation just doesn't cut it.

With the metaplot that has higher level alien intelligence directing the Moon, they may have knowledge/access to a deeper understanding of physics or know of "tricks" to direct Moonbase Alpha how they want. The Alphans likely cannot create a stable version of the reaction which propelled the Moon in the first place even though they experienced and have knoweldge that "magnetic radiation" exists.

Interestingly that 300 is smaller than the crew of the original Enterprise in Star Trek. I wonder, were you want to generate the crew stats in Traveller of all 300 Alphans? Also are there any families on the Moonbase? Seems to me if they are stuck on the Moon, and there is no way of getting back to Earth, they might start having children if they did not have them already. There are both men and women on Moonbase Alpha, and in 3 to 4 years, they may have to start opening up schools! They would also have to open up a maternity ward in the Medical bay. and with increasing population, they would have to expand the Moonbase. Another thing is they would have to make trips to the poles to obtain water, as the Moon has very little water. In many ways, this situation is similar in some respects to Battlestar Galactica. If you wanted, you could keep track of who dies and deduct it from the population. The key thing is what is the time frame between situations that may result in the death of Moonbase crewmen, unlike the Starship Enterprise, Moonbase Alpha can't receive new crewmen, and that can be a serious problem.

Another thing, the Moon hurdles through a number of star systems, making close passes to mainworlds, how are the inhabitants of those worlds going to react to this? To them a Moon sized spaceship may be a scary thing!

 

[AndrewW]

Another thing, the Moon hurdles through a number of star systems, making close passes to mainworlds, how are the inhabitants of those worlds going to react to this? To them a Moon sized spaceship may be a scary thing!

That's no moon…it's a space station.

 

[Reynard]

According to the background material, these Alphans are the best of the best. One thing that would be very obvious is their home is extremely limited in al ways. You can bet they were receiving materials from Earth to supplement and replace certain items. Many things could be produced and recycled such as hydroponics or protein facilities BUT for a population of around 300 people. Quite possibly there would be plans for expansion. At the time, the base was made for 300 or so. Having children under those circumstances would tax their intelligence.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

According to the background material, these Alphans are the best of the best. One thing that would be very obvious is their home is extremely limited in al ways. You can bet they were receiving materials from Earth to supplement and replace certain items. Many things could be produced and recycled such as hydroponics or protein facilities BUT for a population of around 300 people. Quite possibly there would be plans for expansion. At the time, the base was made for 300 or so. Having children under those circumstances would tax their intelligence.

How else would they replace their crew when they get killed at each episode?
the crew would normally be rotated in and out, you see its a base, an analogue would be the Antarctic Base at the South Pole. If there is suddenly no prospect of going home, to their wives/husbands, family, girlfriend/boyfriend, some of them are going to notice their fellow base crewman. I mean who long are they going to be drifting in space? They might never get back to Earth, and also when the separation from spouse and family threatens to be permanent, they might start making some families of their own. What else can they do? Are they going to grow old and die with no children to replace them? Also how many base crewmen and women can they afford to lose before it ceases to function?

 

[Rick]

The show mentions 311 survivors, the implication being that the population was higher than this before the incident (around 340-50 I think, there is mention of 20+ fatalities iirc). With losses during the show, there would still be a bit of spare capacity. The situation with dwindling resources and capacity is touched upon in the series - the whole of the 'operation exodus' idea revolves around finding a suitable planet to colonise.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

The show mentions 311 survivors, the implication being that the population was higher than this before the incident (around 340-50 I think, there is mention of 20+ fatalities iirc). With losses during the show, there would still be a bit of spare capacity. The situation with dwindling resources and capacity is touched upon in the series - the whole of the 'operation exodus' idea revolves around finding a suitable planet to colonise.

Indeed, so what setting should this Moon travel in? One possibility is just to have a series of star systems to be encountered in linear order, since the Alphans don't really have any control over where the Moon goes. But perhaps some system details should be included. What should the linger time be for the Moon? 2 weeks, a month? Other things to consider, asteroid mining, particular for water, as the Moon doesn't have much. The Eagles according to the diagram require deuterium, and that deuterium needs to be found. Not every world is going to be a garden world. Also some alien races need to be designed.