Sources of inspiration

[infojunky]

I spent a hour or so pondering various works of Ship art this afternoon, which really means looking at the various versions of Homeworld. Something about those ships clicks stylistically with what is in my head.

Does any related art do that for you? And related do you bent the rules to make a ship match that vision?

This is about what inspires you.

 

[Dragoner]

Terran Trade Authority a lot, Peter Elson too; modern stuff, I don't know, Sparth maybe? Never seen any homeworld stuff really.

 

[whartung]

The ship from Foundation looks directly inspired by the the mothership in Homeworld.

 

[Dragoner]

r/ImaginaryStarships on reddit sometimes has some cool ships.

 

[coliver988]

there's a 70s SF art on Tumblr I spend way too much time on. And once I start doing any sort of image search, I get sucked into not being able to stop looking at spaceships. I also have a large number of SF technical manuals (just got the Space:1999 one and it is most excellent!) and I've actually brought some of those to the table, back when there was a table. I'm also a Patreon supporter, and have 4-5 people I back month, including Ian Stead (started with him because at the time it was for treats for his rabbit, and as I've had a few rabbits over the years, and I really like is modern take on classic Traveller, well, that worked for me). And there are some great Star Trek sites that have complete deck plans and views. I spend a lot of time walking imaginary ship corridors.

 

[Condottiere]

1. The Expanse.

2. Battlestar Galactica.

 

[aramis]

I spent a hour or so pondering various works of Ship art this afternoon, which really means looking at the various versions of Homeworld. Something about those ships clicks stylistically with what is in my head.

Does any related art do that for you? And related do you bent the rules to make a ship match that vision?

This is about what inspires you.

I've drawn a lot of inspiration sources for my Traveller games over the year...

Literary:
A Tour of the Galaxy,
All of the Terran Trade Authority books (Both Caldwell and Cowley credits),
Niven's Known Space
Niven, Pournelle, & Niven's Codoverse/Motiverse (they're the same)
Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual.

Models/Toys:
The glow-in-the-dark Space Cruiser from the 1970's
US Space Shuttle
US F111
Starbird and its aggressor version

TV & Movies:
Star Trek (TOS/TAS) - I've run a TOS game using HG once. I've avoided other ST ship designs in Traveller.
Space:1999 (Show sucked, models rocked, Gerry Anderson doing the FX)
Space Precinct (show good, models better, also Gerry Anderson)
Battle Beyond the Stars
Jason of Star Command & Space Academy (Fimation & Gerry Anderson)
Fat Albert (The show had a "show within a show" that was a black hero in a space ship)
Space Ghost (the original, not the Space Ghost Coast to Coast recycle)
Disney's The Black Hole
Space: Above and Beyond
Manhunter (the Canadian TV show)
Manhunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (Movie, unrelated to the CTV one)
In The Fold aka Star Command (TV movie. Appeasrs to be Failed Pilot. )

I've avoided post-TAS Trek when using Traveller; even TOS was just too much open space. (I figured ST staterooms at a much larger size than Traveller ones. Even allowing for standard 8' ceilings (2.44m)...
Likewise, BSG has just too much space.
As does Andromeda.

 

[Grav_Moped]

US F111

It wasn't until I dug my gaming stuff out after decades of storage that I realized the spaceship on the cover of the Mayday game is literally an F-111 with the wings not installed.

 

[Timerover51]

My main sources of inspiration are Andre Norton and H. Beam Piper, both of which I was reading long before Traveller came out., along with a nod to A. Bertram Chandler. Colonies in Space, by T. A. Heppenheimer, is very useful for life in space colonies, asteroid belts, and domed colonies, and can be found online. When it comes to military and weaponry, I have my library and data base to draw on. A lot of weapon effects data can be found online. When it comes to cargo, I go to my military cargo manuals, and civilian cargo data. Basically, I use a fair amount of Real World data to flesh things out.

 

[Condottiere]

Just rewatched Archer Nineteen Ninety Nine.

Derivative, but fun.