Annic Nova, did I miss something?

[DrSkull]

I just got the reprints of the Double Adventures etc., and read through Annic Nova, which is one that I hadn't seen in the old days.

Was I just feeble while reading it, or is there really no explanation of where the ship came from? Not that such an explanation is necessary, but it seems odd that there isn't one.

------------------
Dave "Dr. Skull" Nelson

 

[Avery]

It was an opaque puzzle to which we ourselves really didn't know the answers either. The strange numbers have have evolved over time and are now treated as Vilani numbers.

There was some clue that the ship (in the Spinward Marches) was recently in the Solomani Rim... thus travelling at considerably greater than J6. Misjump? Really good engines? etc.

As to answers, no cannon answers have been established.

Marc

 

[Clay Bush]

[Annic Nova was the first Traveller adventure ever published. Due to inconsistencies with later Traveller standards, most referees ignored the technology in Annic Nova, because it would upset the universe during campaigning.

I recall the AN seemed to use solar power to jump. Later design systems used energy requirements that made solar power far too inefficient. If you could copy the AN drive (or real power source) you would render all starship designs(naval and commercial) obsolete.

There were other problems as I recall.

Other than the idea of encountering a derelict ship, there wasn't much in that adventure which a referee could carry over to his own campaign. (Little dramatic conflict.) That idea received a treatment which included dramatic conflict in the BLAKE'S 7 TV series and several Star Trek episodes.

 

[Christopher Jennings]

I remember when it first came out and the general reaction was that while the AN had some mysteries that might interest scientist, there wasn't anything there that would keep the attention of PCs. Too small to trade, not enough firepower to fight, and too weird to go unnoticed. We towed it in for salvage and went on with our lives.
Note: Journal adventures got much better after the first issue.

 

[Clay Bush]

Just got my GenCon pre-reg book. SOmeone wrote an adventure using about 'returning' the Annic Nova. It popped up in space, several groups disappeared, and now its been seen again.

And here this topic got me wondering how I would re-work the Annic Nova before I presented it to anyone. Someone got there months ago... when I was submitting my GenCon event:
Asteroid; the Role-Playing Session

Good adventure ideas remain good ideas in any system, and re-makes will be with us forever.

 

[Qstor]

Clay I registered for the adventure as well as yours! Going to get my traveller plate full at GC

Mike

 

[Cleon the Mad]

Originally posted by Avery:
It was an opaque puzzle to which we ourselves really didn't know the answers either. The strange numbers have have evolved over time and are now treated as Vilani numbers.

There was some clue that the ship (in the Spinward Marches) was recently in the Solomani Rim... thus travelling at considerably greater than J6. Misjump? Really good engines? etc.

As to answers, no cannon answers have been established.

Marc

Does anyone remember what clue(s) lead to this? I don't have the adventure in front of me, but I do remember that there was a map in one of the bedrooms...but I thought the map was of the planet surface of Victora in the Spinward Marches...or of a world in the Marches in any case.

 

[DrSkull]

I think one of the clues was some bottles of wine that came from Earth, but I'm not positive about that.

 

[Antares Administration]

In the Living Area on the Quarters Deck is a bar "stocked with liquors, most having indecipherable labels. A close check (to take perhaps 15 minutes) will reveal at least one bottle labelled in anglic, and a date about 20 years ago."

The adventure takes place at Keng/Regina in 1105. That would make the date on the bottle around 1085. The AN was first spotted in the Spinward Marches at Heya/Regina in 1103. If the date indicates vintage, and the liquor was laid up in cask for several years before it was bottled (let's assume 5 years), the bottle would have had 13 years to get from an Anglic world to the bar on the Annic Nova at Heya/Regina in 1103 (assuming that it wasn't placed there subsequently).

On the Cargo Deck, in the Forward Cargo Area, is a bale of tobacco, "which is a rarity in this part of the Imperium. It will sell for Cr20,000 for its full 50 kg if sold in the seedier parts of a starport town; ...."

No other clues that I can glean....

Paul Nemeth
AA