Would like your input regarding my blog

[Beerfume]

Hi everyone -

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to check out my blog Yet Another Traveller Blog. I've appreciated your kind words and feedback. I'm a little disappointed in myself for only making one blog post this month and have decided to give myself a challenge to post more frequently. What type of content would you most like to see? What content do you think would best serve the Traveller community? I'm looking at two challenge options and would like your input.

Option 1: 30 starships in 30 days
These would mostly be 100 ton ships, maybe some 200 tons depending on time, maybe the occasional small craft or vehicles just to mix it up. All would (ideally) be done to my usually level of quality, but would not include 3D images of the ship. At the end of the month we can decide which are the most interesting and I can develop them more fully. If you want me to do this, what type of ships would you want to see?

Option 2: A-Z Blog Challenge
This is an idea I came across online as a way to push bloggers to produce content. Each day has a theme or idea starting with the letter A on day 1 and proceeding through the alphabet, taking one day off a week. I came up with the a potential list of topics (below). If you want me to do this, please let me know what types of topics or content you would like to see covered. Blog posts for this challenge might be in the form of articles, random tables, sketches, design ideas, IMTU rules, or just random thoughts. Ideally stuff that I could accomplish in 1 to 3 hours.

I'll be making my decision by tomorrow (September 1, 2016), so any input you want to give me today will be taken into account. Anyone reading this after I choose a challenge is still welcome to submit their preference and ideas. Thanks! - Robert

Possible A-Z Ideas
Please feel free to add to this list. I may not use your idea, but it will be considered!
A - air/raft, airlock, Aslan, Ancients, Ancient artifacts, alien race, anti-gravity, adventure hooks, anagathics, arcology, Amber Zone, A.I., asteroid, autodoc
B - Bestiary, bridge, bounty hunting (random table of contracts)
C - Cargobot adventure hooks, cargo tables, Contact! article, computer (random table of computer contents), cryogenics, Classic Traveller, cannon fodder, corsair, colony ship, combat, cloning, cyborg, cybernetics
D - Darrians, Droyne, deck plans, drugs, downport, drop capsule, docking bay (map/illustration), drones
E - equipment, emperors, Edict 97, Express Boat, engineering, encounters
F - Foreven subsector, floor plan, Forms and Charts, flora/fauna, fighter (ship)
G - geomorphs, greebles, GURPS Traveller, grav vehicle, Genetech (corporation), gaming aids, government, Grand Census/Grand Survey, gambling
H - Hiver, Hu'Kura (world map, history, etc.), hydroponics, hijacking, highport
I - Ine Givar, IMTU, Imperium, interdicted planets, immortality, illustration
J - jump drive, jumpspace (random events table), job kiosk
K - K'Kree, Kerx board (illustration)
L - Life Events, languages in Traveller (conlang), low berths, launch pad (illustration), liner, low tech worlds, lab ship
M - Mount of Apollo (deckplan), Microscope RPG, merchant, marines, MegaTraveller, mining, map (plant, continent, region, city, etc.), megacorp, mercenary, minor race, medical
N - Non-lethal weapons, NPCs, Nobles, news (random news event table), name generators, No Man's Sky (review from a Traveller perspective)
O - Orbital Tug model (High Passage #4), outpost
P - patron, prospecting, psionics (list of powers IMTU), Psionics Institute, passenger liner, piracy, privateering
Q - Quirks and Perks for Starships
R - Rumors Table, refueling depot, Referee Emulator, robots, research station, Red Zone (random table), roleplaying vs. roll playing
S - stateroom (illustration), stowaways, sketchbook, small cargos (table/illustration), starport (illustration), spaceport, Ship's Locker (random contents table), Spinward Marches, scout ship, Startown, solo gaming, skills, sophonts, slavery, science fiction themes, space station, sensors
T - trader (deck plan), technology, Tigress, terrain (underuse), TAS, Traders and Gunboats
U - Ularu (Contact article), urban environments (images from urban geomorphs), underground (starport, hidden base, dungeon, cave system, etc.), UWPs, UPPs, UltraTech
V - Vilani, Vargr, vehicles, Valkyrie starfighter, villain, vacc suit, vacuum world
W - world creation, weather tables, water world, warbot
X - xenomorph, xenophobia, xenolinguistics, X-boat, "X" Revisited (take some classic Traveller item and update it)
Y - yacht
Z - Zhodani, zuchai crystals, zewobat (I don't know what it is, but it was the first word to come out of my Galanglic generator that starts with a Z)

 

[Cryton]

The second one looks to be more challenging. Looks like it will stimulate the imagination a bit more, and will actually produce a GREAT portfolio if its art-work.

 

[Reban]

Discovered your blog about a month ago and love your cargobot.

Second challenge looks more varied and interesting, there are just so many variations of ~200ton ships, but there are lots of interesting things to try in option #2.

 

[flykiller]

What content do you think would best serve the Traveller community?

uh, well ....

game content seems to attract little attention or comment. game prep materials are somewhat popular. abstract theory and discussions seem to attract the most attention, interest, passion, and input.

30 starships in 30 days ... At the end of the month we can decide which are the most interesting and I can develop them more fully. If you want me to do this, what type of ships would you want to see?

that sounds great. personally I'd like to see 1) scout commando, 2) scout police, 3) marine combat deployment gig (have a deckplan for this, but I'm sure a better depiction is possible), 4) merchant smuggler.

world-creation, robots, non-lethal weapons, and low-tech worlds sound good too.

 

[robject]

As much as I think there are more 100t ships out there than we suspect, I think the A-Z option gives you some room to stretch out. And you can always put a few starships in there. And if you need inspiration, I can 'gen up starships in short order.

 

[Spenser TR]

I'd also like to see either, but as I'm more the fruit & berries type instead of a lover of crunch, I'd like to see the A-Z. And as Robject said, you can put ships in there to taste.

And I definitely know the feeling as far as challenging yourself to write goes. Blogs or otherwise. I've perused the blog and certainly was impressed. And inspired. I believe that serious bloggers help the brand quite a bit.

 

[DickNervous]

Is a simple "YES!!!!" a god enough answer?

Either would be awesome, though I agree that the A-Z would be more of a challenge.

 

[maksimsmelchak]

It all looks great. Would be happy to do a guest post or two for you.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[whartung]

Little late, but I vote A-Z. I think there's more variety, so it will be less stale. It also gives you the opportunity to perhaps work more on some topic, than others that may well be filler just to get the day's posting done.

 

[ranger2261]

Hi, i love your blog site, that said, i am a deck plan fan, but i really like the way you depict every day common items in the traveller universe.

A to Z seems the way to go, visuals of how airlocks behave, low berths look like, etc..
i eagerly await your submissions to fill out what my starships look like on the insides.

 

[robject]

Better late than never:

The geomorph deckplans are very clever.

My thought is: with some inside corners, creativity peaks. How about it? Consider the '*' in the below schematic:

     +-+
     | |
     | |
+----* |
+------+

The + signs are your outside corners.


I'd also suggest varying the 'outside' decks -- less deckplan, more "hull feature", while keeping the common edges. Perhaps bay-like structures into which particular features are built -- very large sensor dish (silhouette?); partially external launch bay; modular/grappled cargo pod (silhouette?); grappled and completely exterior small craft (outlined, per your examples); Bay Gun (silhouette?). That sort of hull chrome.

If you got a little crazy, you could represent multiple levels in the inside morphs. Creative placement of cargo bays (delicate deck squares?) and fuel tankage (outlined grey spaces?) allows partial occluding by significant upper level rooms.

Seeing as how each page is 20 x 20 = 200 tons (400 squares), then, a single geomorph easily has room for a 50 ton bay, and could squeeze in a hundred tonner. It's also plenty of room to represent large-ish LASH-like cargo pods. Or most grappled small crafts.

Here's another edge geomorph: one with a dynamic cluster of 50 one-ton grapples, thus potentially capable of hanging on to up to 1750 tons of spacecraft. OK, excessive, but how about 25 grapples? Good enough for one Merc Cruiser and a small craft to boot, or any combination in between.



If you need more features to hide in your deckplans, think about

- "life support" - two squares per ten people typically, more or less to taste.
- "mission space" - i.e. lab areas, also doubles as clinics or surgeries.
- capture tanks - that is, environmentally controlled and secure cargo space typically for live or delicate cargo.
- launch tubes for rapid fighter launch
- fuel processing equipment - skimmers and purifiers.
- a brig
- a vault for storing valuable cargo or securing special items.
- a Collector canopy or fin (silhouette of course)

 

[Beerfume]

Better late than never:

Thanks for your suggestions. I've actually already drawn a lot of what you discussed here. I have several "stacked" geomorphs that are made specifically to fit one on top of the other. The Fighter Hanger shown on my blog is one example.

I looked at launch tubes as an interstitial space between decks and they just seemed less exciting. I might revisit them though, or show how they would work in section.

I've added the preliminary Table of Contents to the geomorph post at my blog. Take a look if you want a better understanding of the work I'm planning to get out. I've also included some tram plans and tram stations for rapid movement across very large ships. You'll see a few items that are not standard Traveller - holodecks and transporters in particular (although GURPS Traveller allows "Holo Adventure Rooms) and teleporters could be experimental. I'm still deciding if I want this to be a strictly Traveller book of make it game system generic. I'm also trying to decide if I should try to commercialize it or not.

I hadn't thought of grapples. I could certainly add those. Maybe docking arms and/or tractor beams. I've got tons of fuel processors and life support, but not skimmers. Might have to add those as well. I'm also considering adding some mega-geomorphs, which would be 200'x200' (800 tons per level) so I could include docking areas for the more common Traveller ships. The mega-geomorphs would not be at the same scale as the others, but I might put them in as a reference.

Not sure what a Collector Canopy is. Could you explain? Thanks!

You might see a few more geomorphs posted to my blog this month. Since the work is already done, they are my fall back entry if I fall behind on the A-Z Challenge.

 

[Beerfume]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback on my challenge. I'm going with the A-Z option and the first post is up: A is for Ancient Artifacts.

I'm not sure what forum etiquette is here. Should I announce each new post, which should happen almost daily for the next month, or just let you check it out on your own?

 

[robject]

Thanks for the link, and -- WOW!



I had one more insight, this morning. Consider that your geomorphs could represent one deck of a TAIL-SITTER cruiser, the Azhanti High Lightning being the prime example.

Not sure what a Collector Canopy is. Could you explain? Thanks!

The Collector is the sort of thing the ANNIC NOVA had. It first shows up at TL14, and has a niche applicaition:

COLLECTORS

The Collector is a specialized alternative Power Source. It slowly absorbs exotic particle energy and releases it in a burst which can fuel interstellar drives. A Collector is half internal mechanism and half external extendable canopy.

Routine Energy Use. A Collector is unsuitable as a routine energy supply (the mechanisms of the ship must be powered by other sources); it only powers the Jump Drive.

Powering Jump Drive. One full charge provides the power requirement for a Jump Drive of equal Drive Potential.

Charging. A Collector absorbs its charge while its canopy is deployed.

 

[robject]

I'm not sure what forum etiquette is here. Should I announce each new post, which should happen almost daily for the next month, or just let you check it out on your own?

Do what works best for you. Announce daily IF there's something you think we'd all want to see. You can even attach an image to your post as a teaser.

If you post, I'd suggest creating ONE discussion with an eye-catching title, and appending to it for each new announcement. That keeps the thread fresh, which lets us know there's activity, and the eye-catching title makes it clear what it's about, even for newcomers to the thread.

 

[robject]

I see you've already started. I've got thoughts, so I'll create a new discussion named "A-Z Traveller Blog Challenge".

 

[OjnoTheRed]

Love the blog, and love that first Ancient Artifacts entry. Great ideas, ready to use.

 

[Beerfume]

Consider that your geomorphs could represent one deck of a TAIL-SITTER cruiser

I considered that also, drew up a blank plan for it, and explored a couple of deck layouts. It still has the same 8 doors at the perimeter, but also includes a vertical circulation core. Using these would allow you to travel in any orthogonal direction. The core takes a bit of space though and forces additional circulation around it, so it kind of becomes a space killer. I haven't abandoned it completely though and may include some options when I get the book going again.

I've added an image of the Vertical Starship Geomorph blank on my blog - at the bottom of the post.

I've already hand sketched six deck plans of a "tail-sitter" ship, but because of the size of the sketchbook I'm using each deck would be roughly half the width of an Azhanti deck. As currently drawn it would have two main 10'x10' elevators and one access ladder running the entire length of the ship. But since it is not intended to stack randomly like geomorphs, but actually have deck numbers, there would be additional vertical circulation consistent between decks. Just one of the dozens of unfinished projects I've started. Maybe someday...

 

[robject]

If you put the circulation/elevator shafts in the corners, then you could also call them "support structures" in other contexts?

 

[Beerfume]

I always saw the overall perimeter bulkhead and any interior bulkheads as being structural, so that has never been one of my concerns.

I never considered placing the vertical core in the corner. That's a really good solution! That certainly takes care of my concern of killing the major space and those corners always have circulation right there anyway because of the door placement.

The nature of the overall geomorphic form too easily lends itself to symmetrical thinking. I guess I fell into that trap, didn't I? I'll have to look at these again with your suggestion in mind. Thanks!