[TNS] HERALD Class Starships Launches.

It is with absolute giddy joy I present to you Thornwood-Daarnulud LLC's very first book, HERALD Class Starships!

Okay PDF, but book soon to come, got the margins messed up somewhere on the cover but that should be a quick fix. 

Also, Meredith over at DriveThruRPG.com got me squared away on the coupons and such, so we will mail out the Bundle coupon when the books go live.

Thank you all for the support over the long years. 

Now, quit reading me stroke my ego in public, I have lobsters to taunt before I eat one...with champagne, for Holiday and First Book Ever Celebration. 

This one is for my loyal players on CotI who got caught up in the most tepid whirlwind of adventure ever as this became closer to a reality.

And most of all, for my Beloved Ship's Cat. One down, two to go kiddo. Just like I promised. Love you, miss you, hopefully honor you. Always.

So, there it is, a set of goals set, worked on and accomplished.

Now, need to work on the next set of books...gak.

Hope you enjoy it, may you travel safe. Let us know how we did.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/167951/HERALD-Class-Starships

[TNS] Thornwood-Daarnulud LLC has gone full-on live with product.

Hey folks!

First off, please forgive me for the cross posting.

Second, good news, our first product the Traveller5 Character Record is live at DriveThruRPG.com at the link below. That's right, Dear Readers, I after all those "I'm working on stuff" posts, here is one that says "I am fanarking done with a project! Praise be to the Holy Space Cows!". 

We would like to thank all the six people who downloaded it already and especially the nice people who even gave me money for it. Thank you all. Also deserving a Mention in Dispatches is Meredith at DriveThru who was most helpful, cheerful and did right by us. Thanks, Meredith!

So, if you run or are going to run a Traveller5 game this is the sheet for you. And it might even be usable for other versions of Traveller too (go ahead we won't tell :D).

Again thank you all who have helped us get this far. You rock!

Laterness,

Craig

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/155697/Traveller5-Character-Record-version-121

[Astrography] The Location of the Riftborne Domains.

So, for sometime now I have been talking about the Riftborne Domains being in the Rift between the Local Arm and the Far Arm and such but I had never bothered to chart it anywhere. I had some ideas about its size and location, but nothing set in clay much less stone.

Well, that has changed. I haven't sketched out the Old Empires locations on this yet so at the moment it is pretty bare. Hopefully that will change, hopefully. Anyway, check it out.

Sometime later I plan on charting the locations of the scattered other rift clusters, the various Imperial Clusters and possibly, but no promises the route of the orignal cross-rift mission that brought the Imperial Mankinds to the Far Stars sector and of course their fatal encounter with the Kay.

Anyway, more work to be done today included a belated post on CotI for my sole player who had been very patient and cool. So, I will close here.

Laterness,

Craig 

Update: I am still alive and kicking. In other news, Ship's Cat still dead.

So things have been less than productive here since the death of my beloved Reznor, but I promised him His Name in Books so I carry on and try to get back to being a productive human being and small business owner. 

To that end many things to report. But few I can talk about. :p

Yep, got me some of them there secret projects that folks sometimes get to shadow brag about. Can't say much but suffice it to say I am writing again, Shipwrighting and doing other such professional creation. 

What I can talk about is my physical T5 License is on it way, in fact should be to Marc so hopefully, fingers crossed or your other favorite superstition I might even have genuine product out by say maybe GenCon...maybe. But as the Great Don McKinney says "No Dates!". 

This means getting more stuff ready to start serious work. Some of it is done, not sure if I mentioned this but the Voodgi are done as far as pro artwork goes and they look properly alien. I love the ugly little buggers. And Tim Osborne is awesome and really helped me get them out of my head as they should be. (And he is paid finally too, what with kitty cancer putting a huge hole in my pocket. Them kitty narcotics ain't cheap kids, I really feel for the human population that has to deal it.) His drawing made me realize how humans interact to the Voodgi visually and probably a bit culturally. 

Other things I have been messing with is the Permatic Imperium and datamining the starcharts. 

This is one of the final products of that datamining. I decided to see what trade between the ports of the Imperium looks like and if any patterns might show. The rules are on the pick and I killed my crappy hand drawn hexes since SciFiInterfaces.com taught me to kill anything that interferes with the user's ability to get use out of the interface. Also, they were pretty crude and ugly. 

Now that I have this chart I will now have to reevaluate the worlds of the Imperium and figure out where the Imperial Treasury, the Imperial Star Port Authority, and the Ministry of Trade & Commerce will be upgrading the ports. Which might also cause upgrades to Population and TL, Governments may change if they are too harsh, but otherwise probably little modified. 

So, that is that and I will close here. Enjoy. Comments by humans or machines not trying to sell me crap I neither want nor can afford are of course welcome as always.

Laterness,

Craig.

Update: HMS PANTHER (BF13) Reports Death of Ship's Cat. dateline: 112-0200. location: Permatic [FARS 1725]

I have the painful duty of informing those who don't know yet, that as of approx. 1200 CST on 22 April 2015 my beloved died at St. Paul Vetrinary Clinic (who were very cool & not at all judgemental of my evils, at least to my face :)). 

And yes, I did him evil, I was greedy and I let him suffer because I couldn't let him go. (And the lesson here kids is that evil is infant very easy to define: Doing harm to others for your selfish gains.) But little shit he was, he still in the end won & I took him because I love/d him & since he was urinating pretty much nothing but bright red blood, I took him and had him killed (because "Marty, I can't kill you. You're my friend. You, kill my friend!" a joke I had wanted to make, but I just couldn't). I did all those hypocritical things that we apes do when we suffer grief, I held him (and for the first time in weeks he let me), I cradled him, I tried to tell him how much he did/does/will always mean to me and that for all the evil I had just done, that I always have and always will love him and he was (I lied to him about this, I used to tell him he was only the almost center of my universe) my everything and yes indeed the center of my universe. I kissed his little soft footies, all four of them (he hated that, but I told him I was gonna and I did). I smooched him on the head and I listened to his last heartbeats (and now I know what arrythmia sounds like) that last rapid burst of small, little beats, a pause one small one, another short pause that last soft, weak, tiny beat and it stopped. He did not have agonal breathing, nor did he void his bowels or bladder. But then he did have his pride. :D

Then as I said I would did some completely hypocritical, little kid wishing and commended him both to the Old Mountain God of the Jews (who being a fellow tyrrant is a god I can deal with and he does love his deals) and of course to his god, She of the Oitment Jars, the Protector, Bast, Lady of the Cats, telling them both that was he was the most awesome of cats, a trooper to the last and probably the most considerate person I lived with (I am am at this stage willing to admit he did a lot of snuggling he probably did not want to because I did). Then I tried to leave, but I needed my last skunches and I took them and then I left his remains with the hope that Doctor Ben Seebart will find a good vet school that needs the body a 22 year old domestic feline with metastatic cancer. (EDIT: Dr. Seebart did find a place at the MCC Necropsy Lab, so science will be done with him.)

And as I am doing now and I suspect I will for many long, very lonely weeks and even now again years, I cried my fucking eyes because the hurt just won't go away.

I got through the first night alone with the aid of Mister Inguanadon Rawrr. Yep, I told you I went little kid and it doesn't get much more little kid than stuffed animals. Because they can't die.

Many thanks go out to Chad Vedder and Tim Evans-Strum for their love and money in helping let me keep him and then let him go. Special mention to David Brin, PhD, astrophysicist for helping name him, I hope he doesn't mind I nicked his styles. 

I hope I am wrong and he awaits me yet.

But I am a grown up, so no matter, I will (after my 40 days of sackcloth and ashes) carry on and do good with the life he gave me.

He passed the Gom Jabbar too so, here I say goodbye to one of the best people, best humans I knew. My kitten fuzz, my son.

His Royal Highness Reznor ab Glesner

Prince of Thornwood of the House of Thornwood, Lieutenant Imperial Space Navy, Ship's Cat Extroidnare, True Companion, Twice Savior of My Life, My Best Friend, My Beloved, My Pridemate.

March 1993 - 22 April 2015. 

Update: New Drafts of the Imperial Colors.

Greetings My Dear Readers & Followers.

Today's post comes with some pretty pictures, in this case they are of variants of the flag and banner. They came about because though the original flag/banner was nice enough it was still pretty much a copy of the Imperial Banner of the OTU...with extra stars, and different colors.

So, in the interests of being distinctive and my own thing, I whipped up a couple of variants. Also a roundel for use on craft. Check them below and comment away. 

Next up Flag and Banner (version 2).

Still, I wasn't sure I liked this draft so I did up a couple more seen below. The first has the Starburst up in the canton and rakish stripes in Vlad's House Colors.

But then I wasn't to thrilled with the Starburst placement and that led to the next one.

So, what issues here? Too small a Starburst. Off to do another one...

This one seems alright so I then did a Banner variant. 

And with this last one I feel productive and pretty happy with the results.

Next up, new Imperial currency and a Scout Ranger's Warrant Card.

Enjoy and catch ya on the flipside.

Laterness,

Craig.

Update: A Quick Post Before I Hit the Rack, or the new look of the Riftborne Domains.

What it says on the tin.

This is the latest chart for the Riftborne Domains. It is rough, very basic, but still a bit of an improvement over the picture of the hand drawn and pieced together chart on my wall.

Behold, the new, old chart of my [T5 ATU] The Permatic Imperium.

Things to note are not just a lack of fine detail, but also bits like HI&RM Vladimir II's Vault Fleet location or the other pockets of His Majesty's Imperial Regency in the the named Clusters. You know stuff like that. Well, I have pull some OT at the non-gaming job, so with this post I am off to sleep.

Enjoy and comments by real Sophonts welcome, Spambots not so much.

Laterness, 

Craig.

[Ticket] Abonai Belt / Colony A.

[TOP SECRET - NOFOR]

1. Date of Preparation: 365-0199.
2. Employer Details: Colonial Holdings (Quelw), Ltd.
3. Service Details;
   • Location: [FARS 0624] Abonai Belt / [FARS 0724] Colony A.
   • Length: 90 Standard Days. (Extendable)
   • Exposure: Moderate. Enemy forces are numerous, but technologically inferior.
   • Risk: Medium to High. Abonai military forces have effective control of the world of Colony A and its system space.
   • Type: Cadre/Covert Actions. Train, assist & support Native Forces and/or create such conditions as to require Imperial intervention.
   • Target: Present Government of Abonai Belt, in the Person of Chief Safety Warden Anton Snelling and his Deputies and Staff.
4. Pre-Service Support;
   • Funds: KCr 250 (Various Currencies), KCr 250 (Nerver & Smith, IC* - Account # NSMB-Ch0231).
   • Service: Native Forces may supply intelligence, minor vessel & equipment repair, fuel, and military forces or support at the discretion of the local commander. Imperial Forces may also provide logistical support, again at the discretion of the commander. COSDet already in place in Abonai system to support [REDACTED] may be able to provide intelligence and tactical and signals support in case of covert actions. The COSDet commander is required to maintain forces in place for their primary support mission, but shall extend every courtesy and support they are able to within the limits of the missions.
   • Additional: (The Company) may acquire weapons, equipment and logistical support at Corporate Rates and is exempt from the Citizens' Tax normally assessed on such items and services.
5. Post Service Support: Client will repair or replace reasonable damage to vessels, arms and equipment at cost.
6. Compensation: MCr 1.5 to split among (The Company) and any Hired personnel upon occupation of [FS 0624] Abonai Belt by Imperial Forces and/or surrender of or abadonment of [FS 0724] Colony A by Abonai Military Forces (ground, atmo, and space).
7. Reparation: The Client will provide reparation of hired personnel to port of hire. Client will make all attempts to secure the release and reparation of any personnel wether hired or (Company) employees in case of capture.
8. Escape Clause: (The Company) may activate the escape clause of this Ticket if engaged by forces of parties other than those named as combatants in this Ticket. If they do so they will not face charges of desertion or fraud provided such conditions are documented. If this escape clause is activated the Client releases (The Company) to persure other military employment tickets. Capture by Abonai Forces is not considered sufficient reason to activate this escape clause.
9. Signature Block;
   • For Client: The Lady Lydia Sammantha Vashaka, CEO, Colonial Holdings (Quelw), Ltd..
   • For (The Company):
   • Attachements:
     • [FS 0724] Colony A.
     • [FS 0624] Abonai Belt.

[TOP SECRET - NOFOR]

* Nerver & Smith, IC.
A. Speciality Goods or Services: Capital Investments, Venture Capital, Bonds and Insurance, Import/Export.
B. Baseline Tech Level: E (Low Interstellar)
C. Standard Price Adjustment: - 30 %
D. Corporate Headquarters: FS 0932 C 86A 210-B GG Na.
E. Known Shareholders: Imperial Holdings = 5%, Nerver = 20%, Smith = 20%, various Partners = 15%, Victorious Holding Company = 2%, ADG = 1%.
F. QREBS: Quality = 7 (+2) [Two Years], Reliability = -3, Ease of Use = 0, Burden = 0, Safety = -2.
G. Remarks: Never & Smith is rather new on the block and are said to have been started by patrons who had grievances with ADG. This said it must have been a bit of blow when ADG gained a percentage of its stock. Whatever the truth N&S does a hefty business with quality products and often sound investments. However, they are bit bolder than their competitor and are thus prone to have some rather nasty down turns in their portfolios. Their services are generally reported to be standard and most sophonts should have little difficulty understanding the terms and the rates and fees are often paid through standard Imperial transaction methods. They are the kings of the quick turn around most investments paying off or going bad in about two years. When their products do go bad the speculator stands a good chance of losing their investment.
H. Rumors: They also have a small privately held shipyard that specializes in watercraft, they mostly do yachts for the N&S Board, Partners and staffs that reside on the world's surface. They have been known to do a watercraft for other clients but when they do the fees are outrageous. The results on the other hand have won several Imperial Surface Racing Association championships.

Not one damned decent planet in the whole system! Or some detail on Decitmin Belt.

Now with pictures!

For those in my cyberspace game on CotI this post is old hat, but since I know some of my readers don't hang out there due to what we will politely call personal differences I thought I would post some of the latest work. In this case a small write up, the system details and of course a chart with pretty colors and yellow too. :p Some of you might remember my post for [FARS 0624] Colony A, a captive system containing the Homeworld of the Voodgi. In that post is my first crude system chart, much like my Medals of the Imperium artworks the chart in this post is an improvement on the first. Also, my first binary system so there were still some new things to work out. The "best is the enemy of good enough" version is below, future versions will hopefully look even sweeter. 

As always comments welcome (excluding most Spambots).

In other news, like you care about my boring ass personal life, but hey it hasn't stopped me yet (nor half the damned Internet either with the other half making videos instead of writing), the Ship's Cat just got his (I have had tons) NPO after Midnight. He got laughed at by me because we monkeys are cruel and I feel his future "pain". Still, he rarely eats after midnight as is so it's not that bad and he still can have all the water he can stomach. The reason for those who have never been under the knife, Fuzzass is going to the Vey for his first pre-op and then dental surgery. 

Well, it is waaayyy past my bed time and I did an OT shift last night, so I will close here. Enjoy the fruits of my labor and be well.

Laterness,

Craig, who is creating again!

[FARS 1626] Decitmin Belt. A 000 235-C

As Ht Lo Va {+1} (C11+5) 60 [435C] 

B Im M - Transients 720 G7 V K2 V(o13) 10 0.00.

Noble: Knight, County Ories.

Base: 4th Army (Imp).

World: Decitmin Belt (A000235-C)

Type: Icy

Primary: G7 V

Orbit: 0.8 AU +/- 0.005 (Orbit 2)

Day length: 30.1 hours

Year length: 278 days

Temp: -132 C, night index: -1, season index: 0

Hadley latitude: 677 degrees

Tilt: 34 degrees

Albedo: 0.6, Greenhouse: 0

Satellites: 0

Starport: Excellent quality

World size: 684 km diameter

Atmosphere: Vacuum world

Hydrographics: No free standing water

Population: hundreds

Government: Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy

Law Level: Shock, EMP, Rad, Mag, Grav weapons.

Tech Level: C (12) Jump-3

Data: Decitmin is sparsely populated with 734 sophonts resident by the last Census numbers, comprised mostly of belters, starport employees and the Army base personnel. It does have a larger population if one counts the thousands of transient Army Protected Forces who train in the belt regularly and are one of the reasons for the system's Amber Zone as they often use live ammunition during exercises. Spacing Masters and Pilots are warned to maintain the traffic instructions issued by Telmugaunt Orbital Traffic Control as straying from your assigned lane can result in exposure to ordnance. About half the belters and port staff are  employed by Telmugaunt Metals & Gems who put up a majority share for the port upgrade in 75 PI when a series of rich strikes of rare metals and radioactives were discovered, the company's board of directors who rule the system maintain their hold with an excellent public relations campaign, one of the best run and stocked low traffic ports in the Imperium, and for the most part playing fair with the wildcatters who also ply the system. 

The system's culture is non-homogenous mostly due to the presence of the belters who have a decided trend toward xenophobia fearing claim jumping or worse over rich strikes. This of course is not at all strange by interstellar standards when a good strike, not even a rich one can bring a belter several million CrImps over a lifetime of work, but because such claim can have such worth, the belters have developed a variety of esoteric, obscure and baffling methods of communication, navigation and general living. It is a somewhat fluid culture and at times explosive, Travellers are warned to mind their manners and be careful when dealing with belters. Port employees on the clock can be expected to be much like their counter parts on any other port in the Imperium, but off the clock they may have more in common with the belters and can often be found in belter bars hanging out with relatives and friends. The 4th Army for the most part keeps to themselves at their base in the outer system and gives advance notice when they are moving into an area, claims are flagged, scanned and recorded in case of damage during operations. Unless you arrive during a training evolution or are for some reason subject to a Customs check (they assist the locals as part of their training for boarding), you can expect little interaction with them.

Traders and speculators should look to incidentals, novelty items, the latest medias, and luxury foods for almost assured sale on the docks of Decitmin since the belters spend much of their time cooped up on their ship in the deep and it can be the little things that keep them sane.

Below is the orbital data for the Decitmin Belt system. 

The Worldlet in Orbit F08 is Telmugaunt Metals & Gems, LIC HQ and they only allow expected guests all others will be escorted to the nearest port. 

The Belt at Orbit F10 is claimed by the Imperial Army and serves as a Protected Forces training base and the HQ for the 4th Imperial Army. Travellers are warned to avoid this belt as it is actively patrolled by Army units (including some spacecraft) in addition to the regular use of live  weapons, defenses and ammunition. This makes the belt a navigation and security risk for those people who dislike flight plans and risk adversity. 

The other worlds are inhabited by miners of various sorts, researchers and support staff.

Orbit 00 - G7 V Primary

Orbit 01 - BigWorld (GHFA110-B) Sats 0 

Orbit 02 - Decitmin Belt (A000235-C) Sats 0

Orbit 03 (HZ) - StormWorld (H7DA113-C) Sats 2

Orbit 04 to 07 - EMPTY

Orbit 08 - IceWorld (Y73600-0) Sats 1

Orbit 09 - BigWorld (YECA000-0) Sats 2

Orbit 10 - IceWorld  (Y59A000-0) Sats Ring

Orbit 11 & 12 - EMPTY

Orbit 13 - K2 V Far Companion

Orbit F01 - EMPTY

Orbit F02 (HZ) - StormWorld (Y8E8000-0) Sats 1

Orbit F03 - EMPTY

Orbit F04 - RadWorld (H9A7000-0) Sats 1

Orbit F05 to F07 - EMPTY

Orbit F08 - Telmugaunt Metals & Gems, LIC (G10135-C) Sats 0

RESTRICTED ORBIT

Corporate HQ

Orbit F09 - EMPTY

Orbit F10 - Military Belt (Y00026B-C) Sats 0

RESTRICTED ORBIT

4th Imperial Army HQHC

42nd Protected Forces Regiment HQHC

1st Company/17th Training Battalion

3rd Squadron/1st Spacelift Group

Orbit F11 to F19 - EMPTY

Orbit 14 to 19 - EMPTY

See Traveller5 Core Rules page 42 for details of Atmo and Rads.

@&))6$! Apps!

So, had a nice post all typed out and was going from one app to another to cut and paste some links and got hosed by crash and lost it all. Crap.

Take two!

As I may have or not mentioned the Ship's Cat has an infected tooth and thankfully he managed to get sick during that lovely refund time for us working poor, so he'll soon be in hospital as they say across the Pond. In other more work related news but related I have commissioned Tim Osborne of who did some artwork (including a rare image of me) for Greg P. Lee's Traveller5 Cirque Campaign Setting Book to do up a picture of the Voodgi. 

I never intended the Voodgi to become a focal species, or Race in Traveller terms, but both my meatspace and cyberspace games involve them and their Homeworld so I figured I needed a picture of them, much like I needed artwork and deckplans for the Type-S 100-ton Scout/Courier of the Permatic Imperium. 

And speaking of the Something Cool (though the player's is called the Vargr's Grin which was due to an early misunderstanding about the OTU Aliens and their absence in my ATU), I am soon to have that ship paid off which means I can commission a Free Trader and a Yacht for Volume One of Common Starships of the Permatic Imperium, I figure the Navy Escort, the Scholar's Labship and whatever other ships I find in the CharGen section (I haven't combed it completely and made a final list yet). 

Next up after all that is pics of the Edendextu and the Bibickian and that will give me illustrations of the three playable Sophont species of the Permatic Imperium setting. Still leaves about a dozen or so Member and Client species of the Far Stars sector. This of course is only one sector of the nine that compose the Riftborne Domains, so there are probably sixty to one hundred sophont species in the whole of the Domains. I suspect I will not get around to detailing so that leaves some Death Star room for Referees to create new Sophonts for the setting without upsetting canon. Not that I have any canon exactly much less Canonistas, but if I manage to get this setting out the door and people buying it, I suspect they will appear. Not sure if that would be cool or awful, I think a bit of both. :)

So that concludes the business end as it were for the post and now we move on to everyone's favorite segment of the Internet, pictures. Today's picture is another sketch by yours truly here and a link to some that aren't. (I hope, that is where things went wrong last time...) 

First my work, in this case I was reading up on Imperial Regilia and came across a reference to it representing the Sovereign's Authority and that got me doodling and this is the result. Behold!

Well, that is pretty much it for right now so I will close here. 

Laterness,

Craig.

PS: I forgot the link which was to illustrate an example of an Imperial Marshal Service star. 

http://s151.photobucket.com/user/far-trader/media/ImperialDeputyMarshalBadge2.jpg.html

Unlike most MoJ Agencies and Departments the Imperial Marshals Service uses a custom badge which is a plain, five pointed, ringed star with the Imperial Starburst in the center, pretty much a unashamed clone of the United States Marshals Service badge. Why, you ask after some eight thousand years are they still using the same tin? Tradition! :D 

Well, I really have to handle some other online stuff, cyberspace crew is off to meet the Voodgi Civil Affairs Logistic Staff Officer who says that they conveintly happen to have some Mercs, but no Commanding Officer with the proper combat qualifications to lead them...

Then, it is real world stuff and some scunchy rack time with Ship's Cat. 

Catch ya on the flipside.