I'm afraid I might take it into Colin Glencannon pastiche land...

-clash

It's actually not that much work with Traveller, as to be honest the chargen doesn't contain much past the 1970s anyway.

Scouts get lost I think, but Navy can still be the Navy, Merchants the merchant navy, Army and Marines are as they are and same with other.

You then just need to change a small number of skills as follows:

Air/Raft becomes something like Pilot (for planes) or helicopter.
ATV becomes drive.
Computer in a modern setting stays as is, in an earlier period it would need replacing.
Pilot becomes something like Sailing and covers larger vessels.  
Ship's Boat becomes smaller vessels, tugs, sailboats and the like.  
Vacc Suit I'm not sure.

So basically the only challenge is Vacc Suit, and Computer for a game set in the 1930s if one felt so inclined.

Would Vacc Suit sub out for Scuba and the like?  I'm not sure who gets it and all, but it would be the applicable similar skill.

For the 1930-40's, Vacc Suit becomes Deep Sea diver (you know, those wonderful things with the bronze helmets and hoses going up to the surface; I'm pretty sure there's a great Tintin picture of Captain Haddock in one).

BTW for inspiration may I suggest, in addition to Tintin, a more modern Francophone comic called Les Innomables. The main characters were basically a bunch of neerdowell Americans, who, in the couple volumes I've read, are basically wandering around in a tugboat looking for fortune.

I thought I'd share a bit from a recent e-mail I received from an old friend of mine who was a travel writer in the region.

Quote1. To start with the good stuff: Pirates. In Cambodian and Indonesian waters for sure, probably Burmese and maybe others. They often raid Thai fishing boats in Thai waters, then skip back to where the Thai navy can't touch them.

2. The Australian coast guard keep pretty tight security in their waters - lots of illegal immigrants and their bloody continent is just oh so overcrowded. The other navies range from practically useless (Cambodia comes to mind) to almost reasonable (Thailand keeps their waters fairly safe, especially near tourist areas, though). You can expect corruption from all of them, barring the Aussies.

3. Fishermen everywhere, of course, going for fish, squid, etc.

4. Sea gypsies. Though the regional governments are trying to make these people stay still and be counted, many still roam the islands, never staying at one beach for more than a month or two. National Geographic did a good piece on these shy, peaceful people.

5. The Loveboat. There are two or three of these giant tourist boats that cruise around these waters.

6. The Burmese navy - of particular interest out of all the other regional navies. The ruling junta is the largest exporter of Heroin in the world, and their amphetamine trade will soon surpass that. Pirates operating out of Burmese waters may have friends in the government.

7. Gambling ships. Gambling is illegal in Thailand, so there is an old pleasure ship parked in Burmese waters near the Thai border, where Thais can and gamble. There used to be another one parked in the river right off Phnom Penh in Cambodia. There are probably more...though Macau continues to be the Las Vegas of Asia.

8. Oddly, I never see seaplanes. Given the proximity of all the islands, I would think it would be a great business. There is only one small operator that I know of, and he flies only around Phuket, never going further than the Similan Islands. Maybe there is a lack of docking facilities with gas available.

9. Dive boats and other tourist craft. Lots of these around Phuket. Most are just untrained guys who thought they'd buy a speedboat and ferry tourists. They're always overloading and tipping into the drink.

10. They've just discovered oil in Cambodian waters, so the oil companies will be snooping around for places to build offshore rigs (and the Cambodian politicians will be scheming ways to keep all the money for themselves - Average Joe Khmer won't see a dime of it).

11. Lots of undersea quakes throughout the area every day (see USGS survey) and always the threat of tsunamis.

That's a good springboard.

!i!

(P.S. My friend and his wife very recently left Thailand -- I was going to write "fled", but that seems too strong a word -- as the social and political situation has been heating up with anti-Western sympathies.)

I've started making up some chargen tables, I'll post them hopefully later this week.

Blast, the first draft won't upload.

Ok, for a modern day setting and for a 1930s setting what would you replace the Traveller's Aid mustering out benefit with?

Otherwise, I need to send people the initial file so as to get a couple of suggestions before I go to the next bit.

Quote from: BalbinusOk, for a modern day setting and for a 1930s setting what would you replace the Traveller's Aid mustering out benefit with?

Some sort of fraternal membership?  Connections with the State Department? A Diner's Club card? That's a bit of a tough one -- the TAS is more than a bit like the AAA* on anabolic steroids.  I can't really think of a single, tangible equivalent that could be received as a reward upon leaving service.

!i!

(*American Automobile Association, for those not familiar)

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaSome sort of fraternal membership?  Connections with the State Department? A Diner's Club card? That's a bit of a tough one -- the TAS is more than a bit like the AAA* on anabolic steroids.  I can't really think of a single, tangible equivalent that could be received as a reward upon leaving service.

!i!

(*American Automobile Association, for those not familiar)

Worth thinking about definitely, I've managed to attach the file so far to rpg.net at this thread http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=310556

Just cuz I want to get y'all excited...





What do you think?

!i!

[Edit:  I switched over to the aquamarine color scheme (as close as I could get to Adventure 9: Nomads of the World Ocean) and added the individual book covers.  I may mock up a back cover for the box tonight.]

:eek:

It's a WINNER!

'Mariner'. I love it.

- Q

SchaWEET.

Excellent work :-)

Brilliant, Ian!

-clash

Do y'all like the blue?  Initially I did them all in the original Traveller red-on-black, but felt that blue conveyed a more maritime feel.  However, the current blue-on-black is virtually identical to Book 5: High Guard, so I think I'm going to redo them in aquamarine.

Well, all of this simulated cover business is fine, but as a friend of mine once put it, "It's all fur coat and no knickers."  Time to get working on the meat of it.

!i!