The Zhodani Base

Welcome to the Zhodani Base Awards 2011! 2011 has been a very good year for Traveller. There have been lots of new publications, and old ones have been made available on pdf.

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The first category is “Best Fanzine“. The nominees are:

• Infinite Stars
• Stellar Reaches
• Freelance Traveller
• Into The Deep

The winner of the category “Best Fanzine” is;

Freelance Traveller.

Freelance Traveller has delivered a new fine issue every month. The page-count may be greater in the other fanzines, but they haven’t delivered 12 issues in 2011.

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Next category is “Best Adventure“. The nominees are:

• The Beast of Karridan’s Hollow
• Spinward Encounters
• 21 Plots Too
• Secrets of the Ancients

The winner of the category “Best Adventure” is;

Spinward Encounters.

Spinward Encounters is a very fine product that I have written about before. If used correctly, it will give you lots of fun over many gaming sessions.

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Next category is “Best Deckplans“. The nominees are:

• HIMS The Pretty Penny
• 40-ton Slow Pinnace
• Fat Cat
• Starter Pack

The winner of the category “Best Deckplans” is;

HIMS The Pretty Penny.

HIMS The Pretty Penny is a very good looking deckplan that I have written about before.

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Next category is “Best PDF Re-Release“. The nominees are:

• Ley Sector
• Simba Safari
• JTAS #16
• JTAS #23

The winner of the category “Best PDF Re-Release” is;

JTAS #23.

Issue #16 is also a very good JTAS issue, but since this is the Zhodani Base Awards, JTAS #23 had to win.

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Next category is “Best ATU Product“. The nominees are:

• Netherell
• Cascadia
• Outer Veil
• A Primer

The winner of the category “Best ATU Product” is;

Cascadia.

There are now lots of new Alternate Traveller Universes. This is a very interesting development. The winner starts small and presents one sub-sector, but it is presented in great detail.

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The final category is “Best OTU Product“. The nominees are:

• Robots
• Sword Worlds
• Zhodani
• Spinward Encounters

The winner of the category “Best OTU Product” is;

Zhodani.

Hey, what did you expect?

The votes have been counted. The winner of the third Summer Zhodani Base 76 Patrons Writing Contest is Alegis Downport with the Patron called “The Builder“. The runner up is Steven Cabral with the Patron called “A day at the zoo“. w00t!
The winners will be contacted.

Image from wikimedia.  Public Domain.

You may now vote on which of the “Patrons” you think are the best.

The Patrons You can vote for are:

Baby Boom by Ewan Quibell
Funeral Escort by Cheesy_Nacho
A day at the zoo by Steven Cabral
The Builder by Alegis Downport

Only registered users, facebook fans and participants in the competition may vote on the entries they like the most. Everyone else may still express what they think by posting comments. Facebook fans may only vote if they became fans of the Zhodani Base before Juli 1:st and are real persons.

Send in your votes using e-mail, or vote on on facebook.

The voting ends on November 7:st.

 Image from wikimedia.  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Required Sills: None
Required Equipment: Starship
Number of Players: 2-6

Players’ Information:
The party is approached by a gang of builders (numbering eight including the leader) who need transport whilst on Urnian/Ovdyo; they have won a contract to refurbish a nobles penthouse and party is asked to transport the gang of burly builders to Urnian/Udika, their materials and equipment to site. They have several tons of equipment (enough to fill the PC’s cargo hold to capacity), including tools, heavy plant gear, bricks and other materials.

If the party asks why they can’t use local construction materials, the lead builder replies that the noble has expensive tastes and specified particular materials for the construction. Examples can be presented to the party, eg. special internal bricks that display soothing, coloured patterns when illuminated.

Image from wikimedia.  Public Domain.

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Patron: Civilian, Noble, Agent
Required Skills: None, but weapons and wilderness skills helpful.
Required Equipment: none

Players’ Information:
The players are contacted at the starport on Urnian/Urnian/Foreven by a person from the Interplanetary Zoo. The players are offered Cr100,000 each and use of a crewed Safari ship. An uncrewed Safari ship is provided if players have their own ship. Payment is reduced to Cr10000 each and a full yard overhaul is done on their ship while away. They are to see the factor on Ronu for mission details. If needed weapons are provided as would be wilderness survival/hunting gear.

 

Image from wikimedia.  Public Domain.

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Patron: Equerry
Planet: Fessor Sub-Sector - Fessor, 2814 B510999-D
Required Skills: Pilot, Gunner, Medic, Comms
Required Equipment: None

Players’ Information:
The group is approached by James Rask, an equerry of House Farkell. He informs the group that they have been recommended by a local government dignitary of high standing that they are reliable people. They are then told of the sad death of his master, Baron von Farkell in a tragic grav vehicle accident that killed him and his pilot. The Baron was an émigré from Frenzie, in the Vilis subsector of the Spinward Marches. The Equerry wishes to hire your group to take the Baron back to Frenzie to be laid to rest in the House Farkell’s mausoleum, along with the Baron’s effects to be returned to his remaining family.

The cryogenically frozen body and goods are to be transported using modified Scout, Type S. The equerry informs the group that on successful delivery of the Baron and his effects, the Scout ship will be signed over to them as payment. Plus each member of the group receives 10 000 Cr. There will be almost guaranteed future employment from House Farkell.

Image from wikimedia.  Public Domain.

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Required Equipment: Grav Vehicle or Small Craft

3014 Apinanto E431432-6 Ni Po 303 Na

Apinanto is a backwater system in the Saphi Cluster of Fessor Subsector of Foreven. Overlooked by nearly everyone, even the mainworld is largely ignored because fuel is only available from skimming the Gas Giants.

Nine months ago the only inhabited area of the planet, the Apinan River valley, suffered a drought due to a weather monitoring and control satellite incorrectly changing the evaporation from Clark’s Sea. Following this, and because a number of lost resources were recovered from the river, the Jose Council decided to instigate the building of a railway. This was judged as the most efficient use of resources allowing an alternative to river transport in a time of need. Nearly all the population of Apinanto have been involved in its construction, from sowing the seat cushions for the passenger carriage, cutting and preparing the track route, to casting the tracks and building the engine. So far the railway goes from Clark’s Town to Jame’s Town through the villages of Jimstead and O’Hare’s Drift. For the last month the rail service has run once a week between the towns with the engine pulling a single flat bed carriage carrying goods.

In addition to the railway the drought brought about an additional phenomenon, that of an increase birth rate, and Apinanto’s doctors and nurses are struggling to cope with this additional demand on their services.

The council have also been looking at the data they have obtained from the satellite and have noticed another area of the planet where there is rainfall. About 550 km south of the Apinan River valley is a slight depression in the hills, which eventually become Clark’s Mountains, that has been named the Gratia Basin.

The players have made their way to Apinanto for some reason, and they are currently at Apinanto Down. The council approaches the players for help and while the PCs may wish to do so the council can offer little in payment. Their stocks of grain and alcohol are dangerously low due to the drought. They offer a waiver of the landing fee, which is their only real source of off planetary income, and food and lodgings will be free for up to a month if the PCs wish to stay.  If the players really are heartless there is about a ton of wood that is earmarked primarily for railway sleepers to extend the railway but also for a passenger carriage, which has a base price of Cr 1,000. There are a number of jobs a party with a grav vehicle, small craft or access to advanced technology could do:

Moving doctors and nurses. As those who are due start to give birth in greater numbers the call on the 15 doctors and 60 nurses of Apinanto increases significantly. The majority of the medical staff work in Clark’s Town Hospital, with only a handful in general practice in other areas. The amount of pregnancies mean that the mothers can’t be brought to hospital as would normally be the case so home births are now the rule.  While river transport would normally cope there isn’t enough of it and it isn’t quick enough to move the doctors and nurses to the places they are needed. The players will need to set-up some type of communications to co-ordinate and prioritise the medical staff and use their high speed transport to move them to where they are needed, while still providing cover for those patients in hospital. If the party has medical staff of their own the hospital will be happy for any help they can get, either covering shifts at the hospital, delivering babies or just acting as a mobile spare.

Civil Engineering. The railway needs to progress further up the valley and the sides of the gorge protrude into it a few miles west of Jame’s Town. The Council would like to tunnel through, and while they have the means and expertise to do so they would require a considerable amount of time in which to do it. They know that the application of advanced technologies will be able to considerably speed up the process. If the players have the means they would like them to assist.

Surveying. While the Council has a scan on the planet that they received when trying to deduce the cause of the drought they would like a more detailed one of the Gratia Basin. They will ask if the Players would transport a specialist along with ½ a ton of topsoil, ½ a ton of organic fertiliser, and significant grass and weed seeds to the basin where they wish a more detailed scan to be done and where the specialist will direct the depositing of the cargo for its best effect.

Image from wikimedia.  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Generic license.

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The contents of Spinward Encounters are really really good. I love adventure, and this book is packed with them. There are 64 Patron type Adventures (4 for each subsector in the Spinward Marches), and 16 Amber Zone type adventures. Many of these are well thought out, and are a bit longer than a normal (classic) patron or amber zone. A nice thing about a few of the amber zones in the District 268 is that the referee can connect them into a mini campaign.

As a referee, you might think that only four adventures for each subsector makes this product a bit overpriced. But if you are playing in one of the two most popular subsectors (Regina or District 268), then it would be easy to lead your PCs into the five adjacent subsectors. Then you would have 24 useful patrons to play, and for Regina five extra Amber Zones, and for District 268 nine extra Amber Zones. If you play in any of the Vilis, Lanth, Sword Worlds or Lunion subsectors, then you can use 36 patrons if you let you PCs travel into neighbouring subsectors.

The problem with this book is that the layout is quite bad, and that there is no proper index. An index is something that would be very useful if you want to plan to integrate any part of the book into your campaign.

There are a few nice images in the book. I like the one with a Bwap and a Vargr on page 33. This image is probably meant to illustrate the patron at Jesedipere at page 16. As I said, the layout is quite bad… In this image you can spot the Serenity in the background. Maybe also in the image on page 27. That was a nice Easter egg. LOL!

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It is now time for The Zhodani Base 76 Patrons Writing Contest - 2011.

This years first prize is a $20 Gift Certificate at DriveThruRPG.
Second prize is a $10 Gift Certificate at DriveThruRPG.
I decided to stop giving away books, since the postage to send them all over the world was too expensive.

If you win you can buy lots of traveller goodies that you might have missed.

The style of the entries should be in the style of the patrons in CT Supplement 6, 76 Patrons.

Past winners are:

• Universal Health Care (by Raz, winner 2009)
• Drought (by Ewan Quibell, winner 2010)

Two of my own patrons can be found here:

• Sophonts Rights
• The Restaurant

The contest starts now and ends 30 Sept 2011. Write as many entries as You like.

After the 30:th of September 2011, all entries will be posted on the Zhodani Base. Registered users (on the 1:st of July) and participants in the competition may then vote for the entries they like the most.

By entering the contest You allow your entry to be posted at the Zhodani Base. All entries might also be posted in PDF format as a free down-loadable file at the Zhodani Base.

All entrants will be given credit for their work and will retain the copyright on their entries.

Some general guidelines:

1, Each entry should be less than 1000 words.

2, One image may be used in each entry. You must either have the right to the image, or it must be used under some sort of free license. Wikimedia Commons is a good place to find an image that You can use. Please provide information about the image. (Is it Yours? If not, where have You found it? What license is used?) Note: You don’t need to use an image.

3, Each patron should offer 6 options.

4, Each patron should be placed in the Foreven Sector. You may use the version of the Foreven Sector that can be found here at the Zhodani Base. (You don’t have to use this version.)

5, Please don’t force the PCs to sign up for (what they think are) illegal activities. It is better if they find that out later, or in some way are forced to take illegal action…

6, Please use a spell checker!

Send Your entries by e-mail. Please use plain text format and attach the image, if You select to use one. Word files will not be accepted!

As an alternative, contributors to the Zhodani Base may log in and write their entries here. Entries posted that way will be made visible when all other are.

Please include a preferred nickname (that can be Your real name) to show on the Zhodani Base. If You expect to win, include an address to send the first prize to.

Some help: (That you don’t have to use.)

• Foreven Sector Maps
• Foreven LBB style Maps
• Foreven WriteUps

You may use Mongoose Traveller rules to design something for your patron, since the Zhodani Base now has a Foreven Free Sector License.

Map made using Traveller Map Post API.

The votes have been counted. The winner of the second Summer Zhodani Base 76 Patrons Writing Contest is Ewan Quibell with his Patron called “Drought“. w00t!

Image from wikimedia. License: Public Domain