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H. Beam Piper Sector

Timerover51

SOC-14 5K
I am looking at putting together what I call an H. Beam Piper Sector or sub-sector, although I am leaning to a Sector. About all of his books are available on Project Gutenberg, but I am just checking with respect to any copyright concerns. There is a lot of planet data in his books, and as just about all of the planets are inhabitable Earth-normal or near-normal, I was thinking that spreading them out over maybe 4 sub-sectors or so, with uninhabited solar systems between them for jump points would work, or use the hyperspace drive idea in the Mongoose Traveller Update adapted to Piper's hyperspace drive.

Not sure yet how to handle the Sword Worlds as depicted by Piper verses the Sword Worlds in Traveller.
 
Not sure yet how to handle the Sword Worlds as depicted by Piper verses the Sword Worlds in Traveller.
I don't see any problem. The Sword Worlds are named after legendary and historical swords (and a few literary ones). As such, there is some overlap with Piper's Sword Worlds. A set of worlds named after Piper's worlds would include the ones in his books name for swords, but no world named for any sword not mentioned by Piper.


Hans
 
I remember a scene in Space Viking summarizing the colonization history of Piper's Sword Worlds, with refugees and military units of the System States fleeing after the war, seeking new homes where they would not be found by the Federation. It listed the first world colonized (Durendal?) and several later branches from there. IIRC, there are further historical bits (some guesswork) about each of the worlds raided by Nemesis as well.

To really preserve the feel of the Sword Worlds as a separate area from the old Federation worlds, I think I would want at least an unpopulated subsector or two separating them.

The populated worlds in Piper's setting are far apart compared to the 3I setting. Have you worked any on mapping according to the travel-times between various worlds as given in the stories?
 
I remember a scene in Space Viking summarizing the colonization history of Piper's Sword Worlds, with refugees and military units of the System States fleeing after the war, seeking new homes where they would not be found by the Federation. It listed the first world colonized (Durendal?) and several later branches from there. IIRC, there are further historical bits (some guesswork) about each of the worlds raided by Nemesis as well.

You are correct regarding that passage in the book, which can be downloaded from Project Gutenberg.

To really preserve the feel of the Sword Worlds as a separate area from the old Federation worlds, I think I would want at least an unpopulated subsector or two separating them.

The populated worlds in Piper's setting are far apart compared to the 3I setting. Have you worked any on mapping according to the travel-times between various worlds as given in the stories?

That is why I am thinking of having at least a block of 6 to 8 sub-sectors, with the Sword Worlds located in maybe one or two, with the other worlds scattered a distance away. In Space Viking, a ship covers one light year an hour in hyperspace. Is some of his earlier stories, it takes 60 hours to cover a light year. I think that if I use the 60 hour travel time, I can make the time-distance ratio work out.
 
H. Beam Piper died too darn early, he is still the finest writer that I have encountered. He puts so much detail into his books, with each paragraph doing what other authors need four or five to explain. Piper was a true wordsmith, with only Eric Frank Russell or perhaps Randall Garrett coming close.
 
Have you seen Transmissions from Piper for Thousand Suns ?

The star maps might not be as dense as you need, but could be expanded and filled in. They're already based on using travel-times between systems.

And if you don't mind leaving a traditional subsector/sector map format, perhaps something like this would serve ?
http://www.TravellerRPG.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1620
or perhaps a more printer-friendly format ?
http://www.TravellerRPG.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=501



also found a nice Piper reference site:
http://www.zarthani.net/future_history_bibliography.htm
 
H. Beam Piper died too darn early, he is still the finest writer that I have encountered. He puts so much detail into his books, with each paragraph doing what other authors need four or five to explain. Piper was a true wordsmith, with only Eric Frank Russell or perhaps Randall Garrett coming close.

I would agree that he was one of the finest science fiction writers that I have ever read, along with Hal Clement. Russell and Garrett are extremely good as well, but I prefer Garrett's Lord Darcy series over his more traditional science fiction.

Have you seen Transmissions from Piper for Thousand Suns ?

The star maps might not be as dense as you need, but could be expanded and filled in. They're already based on using travel-times between systems.

And if you don't mind leaving a traditional subsector/sector map format, perhaps something like this would serve ?
http://www.TravellerRPG.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1620
or perhaps a more printer-friendly format ?
http://www.TravellerRPG.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=501

also found a nice Piper reference site:
http://www.zarthani.net/future_history_bibliography.htm

Thank you very much, White Dalek, for the links. The Zarthani site looks really interesting, as I can use that to cross-check in making sure that I have all of the planets. I was thinking of using a straightforward standard Traveller hex map for my sector.
 
Thank you very much, White Dalek, for the links. The Zarthani site looks really interesting, as I can use that to cross-check in making sure that I have all of the planets. I was thinking of using a straightforward standard Traveller hex map for my sector.

One problem will be choosing a setting time and adjusting world descriptions accordingly. Uller Uprising, Four Day Planet, and the Fuzzy stories are all set fairly early in Federation history, so if your setting includes the Sword Worlds as a separate entity after the collapse of the Federation, substantial adjustments will be necessary. Cosmic Computer is much later in Fed history, just after the System States War, but gives a good feel for life out on the edge as the Fed is beginning to fall apart. Then of course in Space Viking you have the Federation already collapsed and many of its worlds regressed, while the Sword Worlds are just past their peak of power and on the downslide, and it appears that future progress will be with the new League contemplated by Lucas Trask and Simon Bentrik, which may eventually become the First Empire.
 
Are you making a whole Piper-verse setting, or just using some of his worlds as inspiration for an area of your regular Traveller setting?

As I'm sure you know very well, Piper's space tech is significantly different from Traveller jump and maneuver drives.

Piper's FTL drive is described as hyperdrive, but seems to share some characteristics of Jump drive. Although it doesn't seem limited in distance as Traveller Jump drive, it does seem that once you set your hyperdrive destination and push the Go button, you are essentially fixed on that course until you exit at your destination, which is somewhat like Jump, rather than like some other SF hyperdrives which allow the ships to change course while cruising at FTL speeds.

The implication that I gather from descriptions of hyperspace travel is that jumps are set from where you are to the edge of the system where you want to go, then after observation of current positions of planetary bodies, microjumps get you closer to your destination, then Abbott lift-and-drive takes you into atmosphere, then contragravity is used for landing (I think the most complete description is in Space Viking, when Nemesis first enters Tanith system; this includes the astrogator discussing his planned microjump and the possibility of bounce-back).

There is also some discussion of the differences of contragravity versus Abbott drive in Cosmic Computer, when Conn builds the ship to investigate the abandoned industrial planet further out in the same system as Poictesme.



EDIT: I forgot to mention, with the ready availability of mass conversion units, there are no fuel issues. I once did some math on the energy production from total conversion, E=MC2, and it was amazing. Unless you posited extremely low efficiency of conversion (and then where does the excess go, waste heat?), the result is that you might as well not bother tracking energy usage at all.


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I love when Piper threads pop up. Some times I feel like I'm the only person who's heard of him let alone read any of his stories. Thank God for all the reprints that hit in the 80's. I think I have all his stories.
 
I love when Piper threads pop up. Some times I feel like I'm the only person who's heard of him let alone read any of his stories. Thank God for all the reprints that hit in the 80's. I think I have all his stories.

I first read Four Day Planet in a library edition when I was in 4th or 5th grade, say 1972-73-ish. Then I had no more Piper after that (nor even knew he had written anything more) until the 1980s reprints started coming out. Imagine my joy as those began to appear in my university bookstore and I eagerly snapped up every one as soon as it came out!

Timerover51 recently pointed out to me that due to irregularities in how his literary estate was set up, most of Piper's work is in the public domain and is therefore available on Gutenberg. Thanks to him, I now have electronic copies of all of those books on my PC to read whenever I want, plus I finally got to read Piper's non-SF mystery, "Murder in the Gunroom," which I had never been able to find in hardcopy (very good, reminded me somewhat of Rex Stout's work, if it had featured only Archie Goodwin with no Nero Wolfe).
 
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I was thinking more of using Piper's planets as a background for Traveller, adapting things as needed. If I used all of his material, it would mean designing a new game, and adapting what bits and pieces of Traveller as I can. I am not sure that I want to do that. His direct conversion of nuclear energy to electricity and the mass converter are so different as to make that pretty much mandatory. I do like his hyperdrive, as if a star system is farther away, it takes longer to get there.
 
Uller Uprising was the first Piper book I read, purchased from a small book store in the $1 pile back around 1981. I was an affirmed Piper fan from that day on. I have most of his books in deadtree format as well as a full set as ePUB's.

I have used his air/jeep and combat car concepts since Striker first came out.
 
Piper got a lot of the future military right, as in Cosmic Computer with his recon drones and robots. His Paratime series was also terrific. I could call my Piper sector a Paratime split off from the OTU.

Andre Norton came up with some good worlds too.
 
I could call my Piper sector a Paratime split off from the OTU.

Andre Norton came up with some good worlds too.

hmm...
and then there's Flandry...
and then there's Retief...
and then there's the Stainlees Steel Rat...
and then there's the Deathworld Trilogy...
and then there's Commodore Grimes...
and then there's Hari Seldon...

sorry, probably just having an odd Paratime moment...
 
I have the Stainless Steel Rat series, along with Harrison's Deathworld Trilogy, and Chandler's Commodore Grimes. I was never a fan of Asimov's Hari Seldon, and you missed Anderson's Nicholas Van Rijn. Then you have Jack Vance's Galactic Effectuator with Miro Hetzel and the Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph.

There is an enormous number of created worlds in science fiction to draw from, I just have a soft spot for Piper and Norton, as I started reading them when I was about 9, pirating them from my oldest brother. I do keep thinking of the Dilbians of Gordon Dickson, with Half-Pint Posted and Greasy Face. A Dilbian verses an Aslan would be a brawl for the ages.
 
or how about a Hoka version of Vargr...

or running a humorous CDT campaign with those little sticky-finger Groaci replacing the K'Kree...

or exploring the Asimov Foundation series as if looking though a pulp adventure or classic planetary romance lens...
 
Oh Lordy, both would rock, Hokas are great, I just wish they would port them to eBook. Also the Retief series is made for Traveller.

or how about a Hoka version of Vargr...

or running a humorous CDT campaign with those little sticky-finger Groaci replacing the K'Kree...

or exploring the Asimov Foundation series as if looking though a pulp adventure or classic planetary romance lens...
 
or how about a Hoka version of Vargr...

or running a humorous CDT campaign with those little sticky-finger Groaci replacing the K'Kree...

or exploring the Asimov Foundation series as if looking though a pulp adventure or classic planetary romance lens...

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "Hoka" or a "Groaci"?
 
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