Freelance Traveller Contest #2008-03: Ship's Locker

[FreeTrav]

The Ship's Locker is a part of every starship in every version of Traveller, but it's never quite been defined EXACTLY what it is or why.

For the purposes of this discussion, we define it as follows:

The Ship's Locker is the storage area that just ... collects stuff. Stuff that a crew member thinks MIGHT be useful. Someday. Maybe. Stuff that nobody can think of a use for, but which CAN'T be TOTALLY useless. Stuff that nobody quite remembers what they were thinking when they bought it. Stuff that used to be useful, but is broken now, and was just tossed in the Locker until someone remembers to clean the Locker out and toss out all that junk. Stuff.

This contest is about ... stuff.

Describe some items that you might find in the Ship's Locker, as defined above - what they are, how they were intended to be used, why they might have been acquired or tossed into the Locker, how they might be used other than their original purpose.

There is no limit to the number of items you may submit - the more, the merrier!

The number of items submitted for this contest will determine the number of winners - one winner if up to ten items are entered; three winners if up to 30 items are entered, and 10% rounded to the nearest integer if more than 30 items are entered. Each item counts as a separate entry, unless the submitter states that items should be considered as a set.

Please email your entries to contest@freelancetraveller.com. Participants on any Traveller-related forum are welcome to enter and/or vote in this contest.

Entries will be accepted provided that they are timestamped by Freelance Traveller's mail server before 23:59:59 EDT (UTC -0400) 21 Jun 2008. All entries will be posted, along with voting rules, on 22 Jun 2008, and voting will continue until 23:59:59 EDT (UTC -0400) 5 Jul 2008.

This contest announcement is being posted to the SJGames pyramid and JTAS paid forums (sjgames.gurps.traveller), to the Traveller Mailing List, and to Citizens of the Imperium in the Ship's Locker forum. Reposting to other forums is strongly encouraged; please let folks know publicly where you've posted it, preferably as a response to this message wherever you see it, so that duplication can be avoided.mega:

 

[Spinward Scout]

Umm, er, can I steal ideas from my previous thread about Ship's Lockers listed at the bottom of the page?

o:

I even made a table for rolling random things in a Ship's Locker at one point. I mean, I could go on for days about weird stuff you could find in a Ship's Locker.

 

[FreeTrav]

Umm, er, can I steal ideas from my previous thread about Ship's Lockers listed at the bottom of the page?

o:

I even made a table for rolling random things in a Ship's Locker at one point. I mean, I could go on for days about weird stuff you could find in a Ship's Locker.

New items would be better, but I won't PROHIBIT reusing old ones. As far as your table, though, that might be a good starting point for an entire article on generating the miscellaneous 'color' stuff that gives a quirky depth to an adventure - give some thought to writing such, separate from any of the contests - Freelance Traveller is always looking for new material in our regular slushpile (submissions at FreelanceTraveller dot com).mega:

 

[sid6.7]

wouldn't it be better to limit the size of the locker though?

i mean i could list enough stuff to fill a semi-truck trailer VS what might be a closet
on a scout/courier...

 

[FreeTrav]

wouldn't it be better to limit the size of the locker though?

i mean i could list enough stuff to fill a semi-truck trailer VS what might be a closet
on a scout/courier...

So? The more the merrier, and the idea on this contest isn't that you're specifically filling a specific ship's locker; each item is a separate entry for something that might be found in some random ship's Locker. Given that, there's no need to limit the size of the Locker.mega:

 

[Spinward Scout]

Well, in that case, it's like the Traveller version of 'What's in the next box in the Warehouse'.

Hmmm, this could be interesting. I think I'll make a Top Ten list.

 

[FreeTrav]

Well, in that case, it's like the Traveller version of 'What's in the next box in the Warehouse'.

Hmmm, this could be interesting. I think I'll make a Top Ten list.

Go right ahead! The more, the merrier!

The major difference between this and "What's in the next box in W23?" is that the items here have to have some sort of connection with reality - paranormal is definitely NOT part of the game. mega:

 

[aramis]

Hey, I sent in 5 already...

 

[FreeTrav]

Hey, I sent in 5 already...

/me grins.

"And your point is?"

Seriously, though, there really isn't a limit - though of course we'd like to see as many different people as possible contributing their ideas...mega:

 

[FreeTrav]

Just a reminder that the submission deadline for entries in this contest is 23:59:59 EDT (UTC -0400) 21 Jun 2008!

 

[FreeTrav]

Freelance Traveller Contest #2008-03 - Ship's Locker - The Entries (1 of 2)

The following items are the entries in Freelance Traveller Contest #2008-03 - Ship's Locker. The contest statement can be found here. Please rate each item on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the best. You may use any criteria you choose in rating items; however, the spirit of the contests is that winning entries should be felt to have potential to increase the enjoyability of a game in some way, whether it's just adding "local color" or providing hooks to hang activities on.

Ballots should be sent to contest@freelancetraveller.com. Votes will be accepted until 23:59 EDT (UTC -0400) 5 July 2008.


Item 1: Spare Vac Suit Tank, empty.
Sure, the suit got damaged. But the tanks didn't. Always good to have
a spare can of air handy. Especially on the bridge. The problem is,
out of sight, out of mind. Tanks always leak. Sometimes very slowly,
but the fittings almost always leak just a little. So the tank is empty

Item 2: Tank Adapter Set
A collection of adapters for connecting tank fittings to tanks, when
said fittings don't match.
Now, in the locker, these are usually incomplete sets, since someone
buys the set to get the one adapter they need, and tosses the rest in
the locker. They forget, however, that without the center unit, the
adapters are fairly useless.

Item 3: specialty screwdrivers, assorted.
Someone bought an off brand set of fasteners, and then had to go buy
the specialty screwdriver to drive them. As time went by, the
specialty heads got replaced for the engineer's convenience with the
screwdriver head of his own preference. So now, the old tools got
moved to the locker so that, in case he missed a few, the drivers are
there, and not cluttering the real toolkit, nor getting damaged by
misuse.... except that, in a fit of not paying attention, someone
dropped a spare air tank on it and bent the shank, or cracked the
handle, or other such carelessness.

Item 4: defunct local currency
Local currency is a useful thing, when a ship has a world on its
route. If the ship's cash funds are high enough, you keep some in the
secured portion of the locker ( the ship's safe), so as to avoid
currency exchange fees. But not all local governments are stable. So
the locals decided to rebel, and the local currency changed
overnight. You came back 3 months later to find you missed the 2
month exchange window. Why keep it? historians, numismatists, etc.
Sell a couple notes at a time to collectors. Save it for a snarky
customer's refund. But it simply sits, forgotten, until you're
looking for the triflange head screwdriver underneath it...

Item 5: lost Jewelry collection.
Mostly mismatched earrings left in staterooms, the occasional pin
missing a clutchback, or gaudy bit of faux-gem necklace. Stuff
forgotten by its owner, found by the crew, and put aside in case they
come back for it next time you're in port. Sometimes filed in
envelopes, sometimes just dropped into the box. It just sits there.
At least, until the box overflows, and then the captain orders it
dumped on either a goodwill or sold to a pawnbroker.


Item 6: Sport Footwear
A pair of bedraggled, worn out, stinking old sport shoes, they look as though the original user ran through a swamp, buried them for six months, dug them up, and gave them to a pet to chew on. They seem to appear at regular intervals even though absolutely no one will claim them and no one aboard likely to use even new ones. At one time these were nice and new, and were put to good use by someone; they may even have ended up as adhoc slippers before they should have ended up spaced with the waste; but someone saw fit to keep them, just in case. If actually discarded, after a suitable length of time has expired another pair will surely be found in the locker to replace the missing pair; they may look completely different, but nonetheless, they fulfill the same function... and they stink! The uses to which a pair of worn out training shoes can be put are many and varied: [a] they can be used to get your own back on annoying crewmates; perhaps you could hang them above their bunk as they sleep and enjoy the hilarity when they awake to find the horrorendous items not two inches from their face... They could be used as a gift or as trade goods on a low technology world, hey, you never know they might have a different olfactory system to us there... [c] You could attempt to pass them off as your latest masterpiece of new wave art, and then sell them at an extortionate price to the nearest feckless noble you see... [d] They could be used as a makeshift weapon, possibly as a pair of small clubs or as bolas if you were to take out the laces and tie them together, perhaps you might like to wear them as boxing gloves, or, if all else fails just throw them at your enemy and shout "Grenade" as loudly as possible and hope for the best... [e] You could wear them next time you put in at a Startown and absolutely nobody would mug you, they would'nt come within 6 feet... [f] the laces could also be used to make a fancy bootlace tie (just better wash them first huh)... [g] Rather usefully, the laces can be removed and utilised as part of your wilderness survival kit, very handy when your fellow crewmates abandon you and the shoes on that dirtball planet when they can't take the smell anymore...[h] And, at a push, they could always be used to go for a run in, handy if a squad of zhodani psionic commandos were to pop in unannounced and invite you to lunch...


Item 7: Set, box containing: more than half a spool originally 5000 meters of 3 mm macro coated molecular filament with fiber optic pair and three conductor strand included. 2500 kilogram test. Burned and kinked 159 meter length with a damaged harness at one end and a carabineer at the other. Box of 9 carabineer clips and cable attachment fittings. (labeled as a dozen pack) Unopened box of 50 communications fittings for both fiber optic and conductors. Motorized line crawler with no power cells rated for 500 kg.
Consider this handy materials for many situations.

Item 8: Set, 30 cm cubic box of large broken pieces of glass and industrial ceramic materials, near the bottom are eight obsidian (natural glass) arrow points and two broken larger spear or knife sized fragments. Close examination will show that some pieces are man made clear sapphire. Most of materials are long shards over a cm thick but down with the arrow heads are a dozen colored faceted glass gems for stained glass 5 cm. Box also contains 3 copper rods and a pair of hammer stones. Trade goods for Technology level 1 or 2.

...continued in reply...

 

[FreeTrav]

Freelance Traveller Contest #2008-03 - Ship's Locker - Entries (2 of 2)

The following items are the entries in Freelance Traveller Contest #2008-03 - Ship's Locker. The contest statement can be found here. Please rate each item on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the best. You may use any criteria you choose in rating items; however, the spirit of the contests is that winning entries should be felt to have potential to increase the enjoyability of a game in some way, whether it's just adding "local color" or providing hooks to hang activities on.

Ballots should be sent to contest@freelancetraveller.com. Votes will be accepted until 23:59 EDT (UTC -0400) 5 July 2008.

...continued from previous message...

Item 9: Extremely corroded ammunition box, but very heavy. Label can not be read but contents are 182 rounds of nonstandard rife rounds, 2 cm diameter, flat nose 12 cm long melted into a mass of white wax (paraffin) Each round weighs about 5 times what you would expect, the bullets are a gold alloy and the casings platinum. Crimps and primers are gas tight. Box also contains 9 expended cases each about 15 grams PT.

Item 10: Set, three x two meter steel digging bars. One has a cross bar and a sleeve weight for hammering the bar. Box of 6 super alloy tips for bars designed to chip a 3 cm hole. A 5 kg sledge hammer. Package of fold up boxes 20 cm cubic, 18 sheets. Box of 5 cans of foaming cushion and sealer. Foam depends on both oxygen and small amounts of water vapor to work correctly.

Item 11: Set, 200 kg of 1 meter long steel drill rods, assorted diameters, O1 hardening alloy.

Item 12: Set, Hand and mountable plasma cutter (power supply, cables, gas feeds, head) large, empty pressure cylinder. Hand grinder with box of grinding disks and 3 discharged power cells. Heavy duty, 5 meter extension cord with locking plugs.

Item 13: Two sand bags filled with metal shot. 100 kg lead, 80 kg steel 2 mm

Item 14: Set, Box containing Sealed gas and liquid resistant box with 45 packets of seeds each type about 50 grams, labels are hand written in essentially unreadable scrawl. Vials and bottles of chemicals, a few decipherable like the Ammonium Nitrate 2kg, and Iron Phosphate 1 kg. Set of 4 gardening hand tools, a mini-sickle, trowel, cultivator and weeding point.

Item 15: Set of Sets
Consider all of these as same container forms, causing possible confusions. They are all the same size and color and tape and labels do not stick well to the surface. 1.5 meter tall, heavy duty plastic, water tight base but not lids. 40 cm square.
[a] Set 1.5 meter tall plastic box of broken hand tool, spade,
broken handle, round point shovel broken handle and serious
corrosion on blade, Handle of broken sword, dozen fiberglass
handles broken off. Push broom head with no handle. Broken
heavy duty pruning shears. 1 round bat, as for Baseball and 2
flat bats, as for cricket. Bent hoop with string mess for game
like basket ball. Aluminum and
Magnesium tubes from a tent kit. 4 meters of tightly rolled wire
fencing, 1 cm mesh, 1.2 meter tall. Box of fence staples, Two
coils of galvanized tie wire, a small coil of copper wire, box
of 25 wooden clothes hanging pins/clips.
Two packaged (gun cases inside of the box) high end automatic
shot guns. Four sealed packages of 120 rounds ammunition, one of
slug, one of buckshot, two of smaller pellets for birds. One
sealed package of 25 blank/booster charges for line throwing
attachment. Line throwing attachement with two spools, two
blunts and two harpoons. Small (2 kg) kit of hand tools and spare
parts for these guns. One un-mounted night site with charger
unit. One range finder site with settings for line throwing and
shot.
[c] 10 cm Soil auger, light duty rock drill. Power head and three
discharged power cells (similar but not compatible with laser
rifle rechargeable power packs) Power cell charger with cracked
case, 2 meter cord. 1 40 cm auger tip, 1 40 cm long diamond
gritted core tip, 4x1 meter tube extensions one of which is bent
20 degrees. Kilogram package of hardface welding rod.
[d] Bandages, gauze, 3 sets of sterile bed sheets amd pillow cases
(queen size) Partial early tech medical kit, forceps, steel
scalpels, thread wound stitching needles, threat. Glass injection
syringes(8) Stainless steel autopsy pans(3) Steel bone saw.
[e] Field cook set with propane or natural gas 2 burner stove. Metal
plates and bowls for 6, utensils for 12, A dozen pots and
skillets up to 5 liter. Box of abrasive sponges. Several
leaking cans of unknown content. Empty 10 kg gas container.

Item 16: Set, Orange container, Labled “Bio Support”, contains unlabeled container with 10 kg of a granular, multicolored material (slow release fertilizer). Package 1 kg labeled “Spores, Black photosynthetic spores, Several sponge mats, a small water pump, a flow computer pump and 20 control valves for drip lines, a tangle of 14 x 10 meter drip irrigation lines. Seal package of 30 cm by 5 meter rock wool. Two unlabeled seed packages.
mega:

 

[atpollard]

I voted.
Arthur

 

[FreeTrav]

So far, only two ballots have been cast; there is just over six days left in the voting period. If we do not receive several more ballots, we will have to declare the contest aborted and go on to the next one; this would be a disappointment to us.

 

[atpollard]

So far, only two ballots have been cast ...

Boy, do I feel powerful. Once again the vote hinges on Florida.

 

[aramis]

I voted.
Arthur

Then arthur, you and I are the two mentioned! I voted a few minutes after receipt of the mailing. Nearly late for game because of it. Guffawed at several of them.

 

[FreeTrav]

Boy, do I feel powerful. Once again the vote hinges on Florida.

Uhh... In private mail, PLEASE re-send your ballot to CONTEST@FREELANCETRAVELLER.COM, and put the name you sent your previous ballot under in the subject line, as well as an indication that this is a revote. I was able to match Aramis's ballot with his name here; I wasn't able to definitively match yours, and I'm now concerned that I may have inadvertently discarded it.

mega:

 

[FreeTrav]

In this and past contests, we've accepted obvious ballots that were sent to addresses other than contest@freelancetraveller.com. However, we have just discovered that we MAY have overlooked ballots already sent. If you have cast a ballot previously, but think you may have sent it to one of our other addresses, PLEASE RE-SEND YOUR BALLOT, MAKING SURE YOU ARE SENDING IT TO contest@freelancetraveller.com, and indicating in the subject line that it is a REVOTE and the name your previous ballot was sent under. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

[FreeTrav]

Freelance Traveller Contest #2008-03 - Ship's Locker - AND THE WINNERS ARE...

These are the three winners from Freelance Traveller Contest #2008-03, Ship's Locker. They will appear on Freelance Traveller within the next few days.


#1 was a clear winner, with no ties to be broken:

Winner #1: Tank Adapter Set, by William Hostman
Total Score: 22 Max: 5 Min: 2 Avg: 3.67

A collection of adapters for connecting tank fittings to tanks, when said fittings don't match.
Now, in the locker, these are usually incomplete sets, since someone buys the set to get the one adapter they need, and tosses the rest in the locker. They forget, however, that without the center unit, the adapters are fairly useless.



Three items tied for the remaining two winners slots. To determine the winner, we eliminated the entry with the lowest "Max:" score.

The two remaining winners are:

Winner #2: Climbing Kit (Incomplete, Damaged), by Les DeGroff
Total Score: 21 Max: 5 Min: 1 Avg: 3.5

More than half a spool originally 5000 meters of 3 mm macro coated molecular filament with fiber optic pair and three conductor strand included. 2500 kilogram test. Burned and kinked 159 meter length with a damaged harness at one end and a carabineer at the other. Box of 9 carabineer clips and cable attachment fittings. (labeled as a dozen pack) Unopened box of 50 communications fittings for both fiber optic and conductors. Motorized line crawler with no power cells rated for 500 kg.



Winner #3: Gardening Kit, by Les DeGroff
Total Score: 21 Max: 5 Min: 2 Avg: 3.5

Sealed gas and liquid resistant box with 45 packets of seeds each type about 50 grams, labels are hand written in essentially unreadable scrawl. Vials and bottles of chemicals, a few decipherable like the Ammonium Nitrate 2kg, and Iron Phosphate 1 kg. Set of 4 gardening hand tools, a mini-sickle, trowel, cultivator and weeding point.

mega:

 

[aramis]

Thanks, to all who voted, even against me!