Traveller Trading Cards

[robject]

Fritz has it. A JPEG or PDF sheet of cards can be printed onto cardstock. Very economical.

Plus you can mark them up as your ship takes damage. Or note customizations.

So, what kind of stats would you want to see on the front of a ship data card? Something brief enough to convey the essentials while still being useful?

Something like this, perhaps?

Cards can be for ... Anything.

Character
Objects.
Memberships
Skills
Skill Groups
Talents (language, etc).
Guns.
Vehicles
Starships

If you use the 3x3 card holder grid, your character may have more of these cards, but these are the ones immediately available. Or maybe more on the back of the sheet.

So. A typical deck has 55 cards. An alternative is 110 cards.

What is an ideal population for such a deck?

~5% Starships?
~5% Vehicles?
~5% Alien races?
~5% Generic NPCs? (rookie, veteran) x (rogue, noble, mercenary, trader)?
~3% Important figures? (Strephon, Norris...)?
~1% Membership cards? (TAS)
~38% Weapons?
~38% Pieces of equipment?

Double that for a deck of 110?

How about crimps? (Has that ever worked for anyone?)

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Yep, I just checked, and Avery has business cards (2x3.5 - 8-10 per sheet), postcards (4+x5.5, 4 to a sheet), note cards (folded to 4+x5.5 - 2 to a sheet), laminated ID cards (2x3+ and 3 to a sheet - I don't know why), and ID kits (a profile page, with laminated IDs). The last one could be used to make PC folders, I think. (And, use the extras to do ID kits for your kids!)

I think you would have to cut the postcards down, though, if you wanted something on the order of 3x5.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Very Cool Rob!
It would be great to see Far Future to do something like this professionaly.

 

[robject]

Originally posted by Baron W. The PreacherMan:
Very Cool Rob!
It would be great to see Far Future to do something like this professionaly.

So tell me what would be the most useful or the most interesting to you. Tell me what kind of deck distribution you'd want to see. And would you want everything in one deck, or a set of specific decks, or 'booster packs', or?

 

[robject]

What should the cards have?

A technical point. Cards have to have "Common Bleed." all borders where they
bleed off the card have to be the same (Traveller Black?). The "frame" can
be a color code.

Are all the backs the same? Or are they color coded?

Color codes:
Red: weapons?
Blue: vehicles?
Green: characters/npcs/animals?
Black: spacecraft/starships/worlds?
others?

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">
Characters.

NPCs.

People (personalities, whether human or non-human).

Vehicles:
ATV
Air/Raft
Speeder
GCarrier
Grav Fighter
others?

Starships: we need all the adventure class starships (12 or so).
S
Packet
A
A2
Gazelle
K
L
M
R
T
C
others?

Spacecraft: All of the essential small craft from CT.
Lifeboat
Launch
Gig
Rampart
Pinnaces
Modular Cutter
Shuttle
others?
Lifepod?

Animals/Monsters/Beasts.

Worlds.
Regina? (too specific?)

Places (on worlds or otherwise).

Weapons.
Snub Pistol.
Pistol.
Rifle.
Carbine.
SMG.
Etc.
Not really more than one of each basic type.
Cutlass.
Dagger (or survival Knife).
Some exotic weapons like Taser. Dazer. Blazer. Hazer. Netgun. Stink Gun.

Object/Things/Equipment (other than above).
Some basic objects.
Communicator.
Broad Spectrum Binocs.
Etc.

Treasures. Special Items. Artifacts. Trade Goods.
Black globe.

Events. Disasters. Problems.

Rewards.
SHE.
MCUF.
PHD.
Patent of Nobility.
TAS Membership.</pre>[/QUOTE]CrImps?

What else?

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I like the Weapons, Vehicles, and Spaceships ideas. Equipment would get to be too much, unless you just published a few representative items. I wouldn't go with things like Artifacts or OTU history (Events/Disasters/etc.). But, I really like the idea of putting the SEC/MCUF/etc. on a set, along with Nobility.

I would see these being used (as Paraquat mentioned) as quick aids in play. I think they should have a picture on the front, with stats on the back - like baseball cards. And, I would publish them grouped: vehicles/spacecraft, weapons/equipment, npcs/decorations/nobility.

And, whoever did this should publish an electronic file that could be filled in, so you could print your own. So, you could print a set for YTU with the SW spacecraft, if you want; or, you could print ones for your group's PCs, just for fun.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by r o b:
What should the cards have?

A technical point. Cards have to have "Common Bleed." all borders where they
bleed off the card have to be the same (Traveller Black?). The "frame" can
be a color code.

Are all the backs the same? Or are they color coded?

White is a better common bleed for home printing (no ink)

A color frame for coding is a good idea. Carry it to the back as a single stripe (ala LBB) on a white background to again save ink. As for the actual colors, that's trickier to pick. We want it clear and easy to print so no custom colors or too close shades. Can we get by with just four colors (Black and three primary, Red, Blue, Green) and maybe White (no color)? Yellow could also be used if needed but Purple and Orange being too close in shade to Blue and Red should be avoided.

I'd suggest:

Green for Lifeforms - to include PC, NPC, Aliens and Creatures.

Blue for Locations - to include standard UPP planets, satellites, starports, cities and such.

Red for Skills/Feats - to include notes of uses and such.

Yellow for Treasures* - to include Artifacts, Trade Goods (speculative and freight), and such.

Black for Equipment - to include Weapons, Gear, Vehicles, Craft, and Ships.

White for Decorations - to include memberships, awards, medals, and ID and such.

* Well yeah, why not r o b

I like it.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I wouldn't want skills/feats on the cards - now you're basically reprinting the books on cards. That just seems excessive. I would keep it small to start - if there is a great clamor for additional bits, then print them up.

I think the reason I shudder at the "Treasures" bit is it sounds a little too much like D&D. Do you really need quick and ready reference to info on Artifacts? That would be ok just sitting in a book (or referee's notebook). (And, there are already speculative trading cards, right?) I think the same dynamic is why I would avoid skills (and feats).

I would avoid planets, etc. because 1) you can't possibly get enough info on them to make them terribly useful, and 2) there are too blasted many. Also, who would decide the canonicity of worlds for their inclusion, or the milieu that would be included? There are constant questions about those very issues here on the boards.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea - I would just start with the things a player (or referee) might like to have that would just pertain to his/her character. Weapons, some equipment, vehicles, and the starship the group is using to get around. And, there might be a desire to have decorations displayed proudly in a Merc campaign.

rob, why would you need only one color around the edges? Would that be related to cutting the cards apart/out of the sheet? Because, I would solve that by only printing items from the same group on one set of card stock. It would help to be able to see the type of cards by looking at the edge - like finding a certain team in your baseball cards by looking for the right color.

I think I like rob's color scheme better than Dan's. Though, I think the stripe on the back is a good idea.

 

[robject]

Fritz! Dan! Thanks for the input!


Apparently, the edge color is related to the printing process, assuming the printing of a 55-card (or 110-card) deck. That's all I know. It's a limiting factor (it would be easier on us to have different edge colors), but I suspect it's also cost-related.

Great points, thank you. I also cringed when I thought about Worlds on cards. Worlds need a full page, for the map and text... and mainworlds need an extra page for the star system layout and additional text, plus what about cities and regions...

But then, as a small number of OTU cards they might be 'cute': a Regina card, a Strephon card, a Black Globe card. And Ditzie.

Skills would be terrible on cards. Now, give me a PDF form with lined, blank card forms for listing my own PCs skills, and that's a different matter entirely.

The stripe does sound pretty cool.

So then, assuming there is common agreement with at least this type of content:

Vehicles (appx 5) [black]
Essential Spacecraft (appx 8) [black]
Essential Starships (appx 10) [black]
Decorations (MCUF, Patents, TAS, etc) (appx 5) [white?]
TU * (i.e. Strephon, Regina) (appx 2) [green?]
Essential Weapons (appx 15-20) [red]
Basic Equipment (appx 5-10) [blue?]

Fitting this into a 55-card deck would be optimal. If not, then a 110-card deck, but that would probably be half-again as expensive, and not be generally as useful (that's a lot of cards to keep track of).

* TU cards could conceivably fit into a separate, 55-card deck, containing more equipment, less common weapons, personalities, alien races, and elements of the Imperial Fleet. But 3 in the standard deck 'would be nice'.

Which weapons would you have in the 'essentials' list?

Which pieces of equipment are the absolutely most useful?

And, am I missing any useful decorations?

 

[Fritz_Brown]

1) So the 55 card limit is playing into this, eh. I was viewing it more like baseball cards, with a dozen or so for each category. Don't know which would be cheaper to produce - playing cards style would probably be sturdier in the long run. (I played with a deck of Braniff Airline cards for years - who will date themselves and admit they remember Braniff?)

2) I would include all the decorations from CT/MT.

3) Weapons:
Revolver, Auto Pistol, Body Pistol, ACR, Auto Rifle, Laser Rifle, Gauss Rifle, Snub Pistol, Accelerator Rifle(?), Shotgun, SMG, Blade, Cutlass, Dagger, Bayonet, Foil, Fists (for Brawling), PGMPs, and FGMPs
(Some would include, say, rifle stats, with the carbine mods below that. Energy weapons would show the most common or intro TL, then mods below that.)

4) Equipment:
Vacc Suit, different armors, Respirator, Autodoc, 1 for vision enhancing devices...

 

[robject]

Hey Fritz, I think I still have my Braniff deck (Brown with tan insignia?).

I'd prefer baseball cards, but oh well.

After collating and absorbing, here's my list so far:

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Total: 53 cards

Craft (black/no inset border) [22]:
Vehicles [4]:
ATV
Air/Raft
Speeder
GCarrier

Starships [10]:
S
A
A2
Y
K
L
M
R
T
C

Spacecraft [8]:
Lifeboat
Launch
Gig
Rampart
Slow Pinnace
Fast Pinnace
Modular Cutter
Shuttle

Equipment [21]:
Weapons (red inset border) [14]:
Snub Pistol
Autopistol
ACR
Autorifle
Laser Rifle
Carbine
Laser Carbine
Gauss Rifle
Shotgun
SMG
PGMP/FGMP
Cutlass
Survival Knife
Foil

Basic objects (blue inset border) [7]:
Vac Suit
Combat armor
Battledress
Respirator
Medikit
Communicator
Broad Spectrum Binocs

Decorations (gold inset border) [8]:
TAS Membership
IISS Card
Patent of Nobility (Knight)
Patent of Nobility (Baron)
PhD Certificate
MCUF
MCG
SEH

TU (green inset border) [2]:
Strephon
Regina</pre>[/QUOTE]

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
I wouldn't want skills/feats on the cards - now you're basically reprinting the books on cards. That just seems excessive. I would keep it small to start - if there is a great clamor for additional bits, then print them up.

Well, I was just playing off the suggestion of PC cards. There's no way you could fit the skills on the same card, so skill cards. If the idea is to use the cards as a short cut for book looking then yes you (or at least I) want a (very) basic reprinting of the rules on them. It's no different than having each of the weapons reprinted on cards.

As for excessive, well it should start small as you suggest, but planning needs to be in place for the full idea. The minimum should include that. The very basics and some blanks for adding your own to fill until what you want is produced. And most of my ideas are geared to home printing rather than production print runs since I don't see that being profitable.

Originally posted by Fritz88:
I think the reason I shudder at the "Treasures" bit is it sounds a little too much like D&D. Do you really need quick and ready reference to info on Artifacts? That would be ok just sitting in a book (or referee's notebook). (And, there are already speculative trading cards, right?) I think the same dynamic is why I would avoid skills (and feats).

I don't see the same dynamic in play but I do see the Artifact problem. They would be mostly a one off and not terribly necessary agreed. They could be included in an adventure write-up though as a special card to give the player who finds it. This would also be a great way to add cards to the list. You produce a new adventure for QLI and it has some specific gear, so it gets a card set too. Have a new skill you want to introduce for an adventure, card that too. Eventually enough new cards can be collected from the adventures to produce a new option set.

And yes there are (a couple at least I think) merchant trade card sets but it would be nice to see them included in the plan to make them all asthetically cohesive in terms of size, artwork, typeface and such. That was my reason for mentioning them.

Originally posted by Fritz88:
I would avoid planets, etc. because 1) you can't possibly get enough info on them to make them terribly useful, and 2) there are too blasted many. Also, who would decide the canonicity of worlds for their inclusion, or the milieu that would be included? There are constant questions about those very issues here on the boards.

For me the UPP would be enough, and the translation of it to english would be a boon to new players and referees. That would easily fit, and a nice graphic of the world type/size would be cool. You could go nuts and make a set of every combination but again the way to do it would be as part of publication, wherein the details would be covered. When you have enough, or just as it's own, you make a subsector or sector set. Oh, with the hex-ss-sector titled at the top for easy filing of course.

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea - I would just start with the things a player (or referee) might like to have that would just pertain to his/her character. Weapons, some equipment, vehicles, and the starship the group is using to get around. And, there might be a desire to have decorations displayed proudly in a Merc campaign.

No problem, I'm just putting this out for the discussion of it. Can't have good ideas without someone putting out bad ones to measure them against

I agree, intitial set of the basics, and if that meets rave revues and demand then add to it.

 

[robject]

You guys are very helpful. Thank you.

 

[far-trader]

Inserts of possible additions...

Originally posted by lackey:
After collating and absorbing, here's my list so far:

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Total: 53 cards

Craft (black/no inset border) [22]:
Vehicles [4]:
ATV
Air/Raft
Speeder
GCarrier

Grav Belt, Grav Bike, Cargo Loader.

Starships [10]:
S
A
A2
Y
K
L
M
R
T
C

Spacecraft [8]:
Lifeboat
Launch
Gig
Rampart
Slow Pinnace
Fast Pinnace
Modular Cutter
Shuttle

Cutter Module(s) seperatly.

Equipment [21]:
Weapons (red inset border) [14]:
Snub Pistol
Autopistol
ACR
Autorifle
Laser Rifle
Carbine
Laser Carbine
Gauss Rifle
Shotgun
SMG
PGMP/FGMP
Cutlass
Survival Knife
Foil

Missing Laser Pistol and Revolver.

PGMP/FGMP might be better included in an expansion of Military/Heavy Arms & Armor.

Maybe add Grenades, Telescopic Sights and Electronic Sights.

Basic objects (blue inset border) [7]:
Vac Suit
Combat armor
Battledress
Respirator
Medikit
Communicator
Broad Spectrum Binocs

Missing Reflec, Flak Jacket, Cloth Armor, Combat
Environment Suit, and Hostile Environment Suit,
and perhaps others but I don't see them much
used. Checkmark boxes for Chameleon Coat and Psi
Shield options for the suits? Add Psi Shield
Helm, Hand Computer, Flashlight, and Broad
Spectrum Goggles.

Again I'd put the Battle Dress (note, two words) in a Military/Heavy Arms & Armor expansion.

Decorations (gold inset border) [8]:
TAS Membership
IISS Card
Patent of Nobility (Knight)
Patent of Nobility (Baron)
PhD Certificate
MCUF
MCG
SEH

IN Card, etc. (all services or none); TAS
Reporter Credentials; (academic awards)
Foundation Fellowship, Science Academy, Zhunasta
Prize; Digest Touring Award.


TU (green inset border) [2]:
Strephon
Regina

Terra/SOL</pre>

[/quote]Off the top of my head.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by lackey:
You guys are very helpful. Thank you.

More than happy to help, this is one thing I'd like to see sooner than later in some form or another

 

[robject]

Here's some prototype starship cards I cooked up, just for grins.

http://home.comcast.net/~downport/cards/starships.html

 

[far-trader]

Pretty, and cool, pretty cool

Of course that's if I can buy them, if I have to print them at home I'd be more partial to simple line drawing art of just the ship in profile and overhead, like a "Jane's Ships of the Imperium". In fact I'd probably take that as a choice even if I wasn't the one printing them

Color photoreal is nice but sometimes too distracting and imagination limiting. What if MTU's IN paints all it's ships Royal Purple and the photos on the cards show them all in Blood Red? (just as a fer example)

Same goes for gear, simple line art preferred. Let me imagine the rifle is gun metal blue, desert camo browns, or jungle camo greens

 

[robject]

Good ideas for the Jane's images. And ditto for equipment -- especially since MT et al printed just about all the line art we need.

 

[robject]

OK, I would like 200 suggestions for cards. Here's Dan and my list, ordered (78 items):

[Armor] Battle Dress
[Armor] Chameleon Fatigues
[Armor] Cloth Armor
[Armor] Combat Armor
[Armor] Combat Environment Suit
[Armor] Flak Jacket
[Armor] Hostile Environment Suit,
[Armor] Reflec
[Armor] Vac Suit
[Decorations] Digest Touring Award
[Decorations] Foundation Fellowship
[Decorations] IISS Card
[Decorations] IN Card
[Decorations] MCG
[Decorations] MCUF
[Decorations] Patent of Nobility (Baron)
[Decorations] Patent of Nobility (Knight)
[Decorations] PhD Certificate
[Decorations] SEH
[Decorations] Science Academy
[Decorations] TAS Membership
[Decorations] TAS Reporter Credentials
[Decorations] Zhunastu Prize
[Equipment] Broad Spectrum Goggles
[Equipment] Communicator
[Equipment] Electronic sight
[Equipment] Flashlight
[Equipment] Hand Computer
[Equipment] Medikit
[Equipment] Psi Shield
[Equipment] Respirator
[Equipment] Telescopic sight
[OTU] Regina
[OTU] Strephon
[OTU] Terra/SOL
[Spacecraft] Cutter Module(s) seperately
[Spacecraft] Fast Pinnace
[Spacecraft] Gig
[Spacecraft] Launch
[Spacecraft] Lifeboat
[Spacecraft] Modular Cutter
[Spacecraft] Rampart
[Spacecraft] Shuttle
[Spacecraft] Slow Pinnace
[Starship] A
[Starship] A2
[Starship] C
[Starship] K
[Starship] L
[Starship] M
[Starship] R
[Starship] S
[Starship] T
[Starship] Y
[Vehicle] ATV
[Vehicle] Air/Raft
[Vehicle] Cargo Loader
[Vehicle] GCarrier
[Vehicle] Grav Belt
[Vehicle] Grav Bike
[Vehicle] Speeder
[Weapon] ACR
[Weapon] Autopistol
[Weapon] Autorifle
[Weapon] Carbine
[Weapon] Cutlass
[Weapon] Foil
[Weapon] Frag Grenade
[Weapon] Gauss Rifle
[Weapon] Laser Carbine
[Weapon] Laser Pistol
[Weapon] Laser Rifle
[Weapon] PGMP/FGMP
[Weapon] Revolver
[Weapon] SMG
[Weapon] Shotgun
[Weapon] Snub Pistol
[Weapon] Survival Knife

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by lackey:
Good ideas for the Jane's images. And ditto for equipment -- especially since MT et al printed just about all the line art we need.

That's kinda what I was thinking too. As well as the more recent line art for T20