...being in the main a blog for Traveller, particularly for campaigns and ideas that are (or were) not set in the Third Imperium. When Traveller first came out, all we had were three little black books and our own creativity - this blog is an attempt to rediscover that sense of wonder.
So a month or two back, I asked if there had ever been any Cardboard Heroes done of Traveller starships. There are the Cardboard Heroes in the various deckplans available from SJGames, but those are of player character sorts and the like.
Everyone said, "what are you talking about??"
The one suggestion that I got that made sense was the pointer given to me by Loren Wiseman, who said I might make do with the Interstellar Wars counter set - they looked kinda like Traveller ships. But I knew I had see something closer to actual Traveller free traders and the like.
Trusting that I had not been dimension-hopping, I proceeded to look around by Traveller collection, and found one possible source of my imaginings. There, along with an order I had gotten from Marc Miller, was a full-page "Traders' Guild Guide To Starships" - with overhead views of various typical Traveller ships.
But for what I wanted, it was too big. The full page layout was great, but it wasn't actually a set of Cardboard Heroes. I fell back, and considered my options. I could:
- Use the Interstellar Wars counters. Nice, but not close enough.
- Do something with the "Guide to Starships" - hmm. Maybe.
- Fall back and punt. ("Never give up! Never surrender!")
When I thought about it, I realized I could simply get color copies of the "Guide to Starships" and have them reduced in size. All of that copied onto light cardstock, and I would have my Cardboard Hero Starships. So that's what I did. I got several copies, so I would have multiple fighters, cruisers, free traders, etc.
I now have a set of carefully cut-out ship counters, usable in Traveller ship combat. I figure I will have the chance to revisit Book Two ship combat, and see how it goes.
(Or, who knows? I might have to break out Alien Space and see how that still works!)
Cardboard starships
March 1st, 2008 01:33 PM