Metagame: Medals of the Imperium, Revisited.

Greetings All.

I am soon to bed but I had to post this week's obsessive nerd bit, and I do mean obsessive. Those of you who are old schoolers you might remember when I did up my first thoughts on what a couple of the standard medals in Traveller we have all seen, heard of and some lucky players won. Well, I returned to that question being unsatisified with what I had done. Basically I knew that for the most part the sucked.

Well, these ones aren't all CGIed up with real metallic renders, but I think they far outstrip the old ones. Last time (the new schoolers) I did up a MCUF, MCG, and SEH. No XS, no *SEH*, no Wound Bages. Just some really hasty hand scribbled drawings that I put together to settle the mind and move on. Well, now I have to sound like a dick Ref because one of my players is trying to bling past The Plan for the Festivities while they are onboard HMS Blackthorne [BA-27] with his former rank of Force Commander (RM), his shiny new Title, but mostly his SEH. That got me again wondering what is he wearing? 

Question answered and then some. Below you will find my first drafts of some of the Decorations of the Permatic Imperium. Meet me below the pretty pictures for some more boring word things. :D

So, as you can see I first went all nerdy Metagame by making it a Joint Forces Command (see High Command) Public Information Office handout. You know the kinda thing the military hangs in recruiting stations on Bummstickia, Planet Crap, TL-Got Metal Weapons. 

Oh, you were actually looking at the Decorations. My, bad. :p 

So, up top we have the "Big Five" or the five highest awards of military decoration given by the Imperium to those who serve and show great leadership and bravery in order of precedence.

They are the Starburst of Extreme Heroism with Diamonds, the Starburst of Extreme Heroism, the Medal of Conspicous Gallantry, the Meritorious Conduct Under Fire, and the Exemplary Service. The top shows the Ribbon for most uniform/dress wear and below that is the full medal as worn for say Court functions. After that are examples of Wound Badges for both services and indicating whether the receiptant died in the action it was awarded for.

Last we have three Campaign Ribbions from my settings most recent Campaigns. These Campaigns have all occurred within the last fifty years or so. The Third Pixiant Insurgency has its origins in Lieutenant Coronel Nick Sutton's CharGen for my meatspace crew. The Harkness Ribbon (so called in honor of Baroness Harkness who was killed by the insurgents in their initial strikes) and the Balican CRs come from notes, though LTC Sutton has has Balican due to its previous mention. The Second Kylin Campaign covers both Pixiant and Balican and any other Campaign that took place in that Subsector from roughly 170-80 PI. For example I found a TL-5 world with PGL of 000 and it is a Red Zone. Pretty sure that means either plague or got too stupid uppity and well, nuked from orbit, it's the only way to be sure. The last is the Imperial version of the Reservist Ribbon, that those Sophonts who are on the Reserve Rolls may wear to indicate their current service, if only waiting and training. The Royal Armed Forces version is the same, but the RAF ribbon is Royal Blue.

I would go on about how Baroness Harkness was exceeding brave for even taking the Post there having been two previous insurgencies directed at the Imperium. Or how in case you some how missed the gory symbolism that the pattern represents her and the other Imperials blood that was spilt in the insurgency most of hers while leading the last of defending Marines. Or how the subtle play of dark blue and black of the Balican ribbon represents the fact that most of the action took place on the Imperial Starport and ended in a surgical drop on the rebel headquarters, very little ground combat was seen. I could, but I really must hit the rack and catch some Zzzs. I have to catch up to the Ship's Cat and you never get a handicap.

Laterness,

Craig.

[T5 BCS] The HMS Blackthorne. Now in color!

Greetings and salutations my dear readers.

*in the voice of my proud 12 year inner child* "Today, I drew a spaceship!" 

Okay, back to I am old and grown up land. I did however spend the day drawing a spaceship, well a starship to be exact. I have been meaning to this up for some time now, but Life keeps happening. This is both a draft design for a later book (like when BCS gets done, but that may be a while yet, Marc has a huge "ToDo" list) and an illustration for my ever faithful players, who bumped the thread a bit ago. He was right to do so and he did it with style too. Nice work, Force Commander Baronet Martel! This drawing is for you. And Djer. And the others if the join up. 

So here without further ado is the flagship of the 2nd Fleet of the Permatic Royal Navy, HMS Blackthorne.

She may not look like much, but she'll get you there in one piece. 

Just to give you a glimpse of how work went into this crap ass drawing, I now present a screen shot of the gallery of my SketchBook.

As you can see there were a lot of steps and I got to play with layers. Well, now I need to finish the rest of the post in which our heroes, a newly elevated Baronet and former Force Commander with the Royal Marines and an empire-wide famous cosmologist tour the ship, go to Court, have dinner, and then meet with His Imperial and Royal Majesty Vlad II to discuss matters of grave import.

Enjoy and I will catch you on the flipside.

Laterness,

Craig.

Metagame: It's Notebook Time Again!

Greetings My Dear Readers.

Today while in the process of returning to something being seriously productive (I am aiming toward at least 52 posts by the end of the year, but that is looking doubtful), I shall delve into the Notebook and publish some of its contents. 

So, let us see what I wrote up and probably forgot about. :)

Clones: All clones are individuals by nature of their individual experiences they gain uniqueness. This can be kept to a minimum if they all participate in memory synching, ala the Tachikomas (from Ghost in the Shell).

A note about some belts in the Far Stars being blasted planets from the Great War and a bit about how they were blasted, it involves Jump and Worldships. See How Jump Works in the T5 Core Rules for clues.

A note about Landless Grants, but I detailed that over at CotI. It notes that it is possible for a noble not to be Knighted or hold any subordinate titles. Turns out there is about a page on Landless Grants.

Ranks and Titles in the Imperial & Royal Armed Forces: When a member of the Peerage serves in the IAF/RAF, they are only addressed by and use their military rank, but not their noble titles. Thus, Captain Everett Wellington of the Imperial Navy is also a Knight Commander in the Order of the Empire and is entitled to be addressed as "Sir Everett" and in fact in Court he is announced as "Captain Sir Everett Wellington, of the Imperial Navy, Knight Commander of the Order of the Empire." and addressed as "Sir Everett". In the Imperial Navy he is addressed as merely "Captain Wellington". The reasoning behind military ranks preceding noble titles are that the rank is earned and the title is given.

I have bit about how at Very High TLs they do a braintape and let it play or train in a virtual world while your body is Low Berth and then at the end of the voyage they load your braintape into your body and "thaw" you out.

Picket Duty (Scouts): A reason for X-Boats not to have maneuver drives is they also pull picket duty in the so called "empty hexes". They sit in the deep dark and wait for the picket line (a network of sensor buoys dispersed throughout the hex) to alert. If something jumps in they get the alert and then if the target is hostile prep to jump if engaged or do intel gathering until detected. This is hidden under the heading if "Courier Duty" and explains the high San loss and Risk/Reward failures (see getting Wounded/Injured), what with the Picket Ship armed with only CommCaster and the line's buoys. Plus here is a picture and a brief explaination of how the buoys operate.

The sensor buoys are also anti-ship mines and some come equipped with anti-missile and anti-boarding defenses, but not all. When the buoy detects a Jump Flash or other passive indicator of a vessel it cycles through a series of modes:

Mode 1: Passive data collection, target identification. (What is out there and has it changed?)

Mode 2: Passive data collection, target classification. (Something changed, is it hostile or not?)

Mode 3A: Hostile target. Passive data collection, alert to picket ship, arm weapons.

Mode 3B: Friendly target. Secure handshake, synch data sets, update picket ship.

Mode 3C: Allied target. Active data collection, request instructions from picket ship.

Mode 4A: Hostile target. Prosecute target, update picket ship, begin fire direction control for the systems other buoys to begin battery fire.

Mode 4B: Friendly target. Once synched, request needs, update picket ship. If the system has a stores buoy (fuel, parts, arms), send guidance and codes.

Mode 4C: Allied target. Active data collection, if ordered by picket ship enter Modes 3/4B.

Mode 5: Power down for maintenance.

Mode 6: Self-Destruct.

 

Since it is past my bed time and I still have to do home stuff (read chores), visit a friend (keeping one's social obligations) and some more CharGen for Greg P. Lee's T5 Cirque Campaign Book (I get to do the CharGen for an OTU Duke!), I will close here.

Laterness,

Craig.