Xboat Fanzine Issue #3

 

 

The new issue of the Xboat fanzine arrived in the mail a couple of days ago, this time with a couple Traveller cards. Gotta love those freebies! Sorry, the Ako Dice are not included. Congratulations again to Rob Eaglestone for his great work!

Status of the Starship Geomorphs book update

As mentioned in a previous post, I'm working on an update to the Starship Geomorph book. The book will include a new section of 60 End Geomorphs, 6 new Standard Geomorphs, a few new Specialty Geomorphs, and a couple new illustrations. I've also made tweaks to some of the original geomorphs. Once again, the PDF will be made freely available, with a separate PDF available for Print on Demand.

Work still to be completed includes:
 - Design and draw 8 more End Geomorphs
 - Design and draw 5 more Standard Geomorphs
 - Complete 2 or 3 new illustrations. Models for 2 of the illustrations are already about 90% complete.
 - Another pass at editing. There's always something...
 - Creation of the final PDFs (one for print and one for computer use)

If you have any ideas for the remaining 13 geomorphs, now would be a good time to make your suggestions known. I feel I'm starting to hit a creative wall for new ideas and it is slowing me down. If you'd like to make a suggestion, add it to the comments below or email me at pearcedesignstudio@gmail.com. Remember that geomorphs are not just for starships, but can be used for space stations and ground facilities as well. There's no guarantee that I'll use your idea, but I'll certainly consider it.

Finally, here's another End Geomorph to whet your appetite, an Xboat docking area. Enjoy!

Xboat Fanzine Issue #2

Guess what showed up in the mailbox today? It even came in an envelope this time, so it arrived in great condition. Congratulations again to Rob Eaglestone for getting another issue out the airlock!

11/26/2019 UPDATE: I just discovered this morning that Rob had sent out just a few copies of Issue #2 as a mail test. With everything working out okay, I'm sure he'll have the rest in the mail soon. Sorry to jump the gun on this one, gang!

Xboat Fanzine Issue #1

I just received this in the mail. Congratulations to Robert Eaglestone for his successful Kickstarter campaign. It's always great to see new Traveller products being developed to keep the game not just alive, but thriving. I'm honored to have been a part. Ian Stead's cover art blows my socks off and I can't stop looking at it.

For those who didn't fund the Kickstarter and are interested in purchasing issues, I'd suggest to keep your eyes on the Traveller Facebook groups for more info. I think Rob's got his hands full right now making sure all the orders get processed. I'll post an update here when I find out what his plans are.

As one of the contributing artists, and having had access to the texts for months, I think I'm too close to the project to provide any kind of review. I'm curious to hear what the people new to the fanzine have to say. I do have one minor complaint, which I've already read echoed by other Kickstarter contributors - the 'zine came in the mail just as it is shown, so there was a small bit of damage that occurred during delivery. A couple crunched corners and a few bent pages inside. Nothing to cry over, but not pristine. Maybe some kind of mailer can be used for the next issue.

To all the supporters, I hope you enjoy this addition to your library. Happy Travelling, everyone!

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UPDATE 2020-06-18
XBOAT Issue #1 PDF is now available on DriveThruRPG. You can purchase it here: XBOAT #1.
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X-Boat Station Variant

A blog reader wrote to me inquiring about modifying the X-Boat Station to include additional research, observation, repair and maintenance, and traffic control spaces as well as armaments, and asked about the possibility of adding a ring around the station for those purposes. While it would be possible to design such a ring, I would be concerned that a ring might interfere with ship docking, and suggest the above images as a possible variant.

This design adds a 100 dton mass to the bottom of the station and assumes the elevator and ladder run through the central fuel storage to access the new lower decks. With the overall station now being 500 dtons, some of that space would need to be used for additional drive, power plant, and fuel to maintain the original station specifications. Alternately - and depending upon the gamer's intended use - the additional drive and fuel requirements could be ignored and argued that the station maneuvers at less than 1G.

The new mass consists of four standard height decks (10' or 3m) with two rotating turrets and sensors projecting from the bottom. A third rotating turret has been added to the upper portion of the structure to take advantage of the three allowable "hardpoints" (IMTU hardpoints do not have to be fixed, but can be set upon tracks for better coverage).

With the extra tonnage, the station can start to move away from being strictly for X-Boat usage and could become a general multi-purpose space station, albeit a pretty small one. Other uses are as varied as your imagination: a noble's off planet getaway, a research station, a manned interdiction satellite, a small trading post...whatever you want. Enjoy!

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EDIT 10-21-2018
Prior to this edit the original X-boat station was incorrectly shown as 200 tons, when it is in fact 400 tons, which would make this variant 500 tons. The images here and the PDF in the original post have been updated.
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Click here to see the original X-Boat Station post, including deckplans.
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X is for X-Boat Station

"Excitement was plentiful during my two years' service as a Pony Express rider." - Buffalo Bill

Description from the Traveller Wiki:
At each system served by the xboat network, an express boat station is maintained to handle the message traffic and to manage incoming and outgoing xboats. Usually located near the edge of a star system, the station picks up messages beamed to it by incoming xboats and relays the data to the local world for delivery. Messages destined for worlds farther down the line are transmitted to a waiting xboat which then jumps for the next world in the network. The xboat station contains receiving and retransmission equipment; refueling and support facilities for the local staff and waiting crew are also provided. The xboat station maintains a local office on the system's major world for the acceptance of xboat messages, as well as to handle delivery of the messages to addresses on the world.

Station Layout
This 400 ton station was designed to support four xboats simultaneously, although most systems will not require this level of accommodation. The bridge handles standard ship functions as well as the transfer of data from xboat to the main system. The top of the station contains a wide variety of communication and transmission equipment.

There are two habitation decks, one for the station crew and administration, the other for xboat crews.  Staterooms and other accessory rooms encircle a large, open communal space housing the main galley, dining, and recreation space. The standard station contains a flexible space which can be reconfigured based on the demands of the local system. It may be used for cargo, training, gunners stations, or miscellaneous storage.

The lower half of the station contains a large fuel tank with capacity to run the station and refuel four xboats. A 50 ton modular cutter outfitted for fuel storage makes fuel runs to the local gas giant where available.  The station shown is unarmed, but has two hardpoints for future turrets, should they be deemed necessary.
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EDIT 10-21-2018
Prior to this edit the X-boat station was incorrectly shown as 200 tons, when it is in fact 400 tons. The image here and the PDF in the link have been updated.
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The xboat model is a slightly modified version of the one created by Cyberia23 at the SketchUp warehouse.
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For a higher resolution PDF, click this link: (Traveller X-Boat Station Deck Plan). The deckplan was created to be printed out on 30"x42". Scale is 1" = 5'-0" so it can be used with 25mm miniatures. Enjoy!
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 Not really the source of inspiration - just for fun. ;)