Traveller Trading Cards

[robject]

Finally, I suspect this is, at best, going to be a narrow niche -- essentially the size of a promotional market. Or, if PDF printable, basically no true market to speak of.

Anyone think otherwise?

 

[flykiller]

Anyone think otherwise?

have to agree. if I were to get something like this I'd be left wondering what to do with it, other than gaze longingly.

now poké-high-guard, on the other hand, might generate its own market ....

 

[Fritz_Brown]

First,

Originally posted by lackey:
Finally, I suspect this is, at best, going to be a narrow niche -- essentially the size of a promotional market. Or, if PDF printable, basically no true market to speak of.

Anyone think otherwise?

That's why I think weapons, equipment, vehicles, and spacecraft is the best starting point. A player can have a handful of cards that describe (and give stats in multiple versions for things like weapons) what he is most concerned with. And, he doesn't have to open the book, just quickly shuffle through his cards (no more than a dozen for a player).

Second, lists....
I would include the laser pistol, possibly. But, I would combine the laser rifle and carbine. The things are almost identical, except for some of the stats. (Same for Autorifle and Carbine, I think.) Replace Autopistol with Pistol (to cover Body and Auto versions). This isn't about reducing the number of required cards, but about how interchangeable some items are.

OTU cards: The major races - Aslan, Vargr, Zhodani. Maybe Droyne, Darrians, Sword Worlders. Please, not the Bwaps.

PSI shield? Do folks even use those in play? We never saw them in our games. (Of course, we had two characters with psi abilities....)

You dropped Binocs off the list when you added Goggles. Also, do we really want one for Hand Computer? Look at all the grief Traveller gets for its concept of Computers today. Do we want to set ourselves up for that?

Third, I would like color art, but I like the Jane's Weapons of the Imperium, too. It does allow more to be left to the imagination. Of course, if they have color frames, and color stripes, will that make B&W line drawings look dull? That would be the only concern with the line drawings.

Originally posted by lackey:
Hey Fritz, I think I still have my Braniff deck (Brown with tan insignia?).

It might have been brown. Mine is a dark orange with gold trim. It shows a bit of wear, but it is 30 years old. Of course, my baseball card collection from 1974 is still pristine, but it has been in a box most of that time......

 

[robject]

As far as color art and the Jane's drawings: even line art can look intentional and professional. For example, the drawings themselves can rest on a blue-ruled grid, or in a blueprint tone.

Still playing with the formatting...

http://home.comcast.net/~downport/cards/Card-Gauss-Rifle.jpg

 

[Fritz_Brown]

That's not bad, rob. Don't know if the color is a bit overwhelming, though. (BTW, I would still like the picture on the front, w/ a name, with all the stats on the back.)

 

[robject]

I've cooled down on the card thing being worthy of a production run, and instead am figuring out how to get some (free) PDFs of weapons et al, useful and available. Then we'll see if they're popular or just faddish.

For weapons, I need to add mass and boxes for tracking ammo.

And since I'm playing with these on my own, I'm thinking of making the border one solid color (in this case, all Red, perhaps a little washed out?). I'm not sure if there's an easy way to design baseball-cards (i.e. front and back images), but maybe someone out there knows?

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Let me give it a shot through Monday, rob. I have previously printed my own 2-sided business cards.

 

[robject]

Now I'm playing with the borders a bit. I made the color-edge quite narrow -- does it look any better?

 

[far-trader]

I like it better

If the two sided printing to card stock can be figured out then it will be perfect with a bigger picture and the data on the back.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Fritz88:

PSI shield? Do folks even use those in play? We never saw them in our games. (Of course, we had two characters with psi abilities....)

We did, often as a gauge for the game. If we could find and buy PSI shielding we felt pretty safe figuring the ref was just soaking us for creds knowing we'd never need them. If on the other hand we went shopping and couldn't get them for any price we were expecting a Psionic encounter. Of course just using that reasoning for the purpose of paranoia or complacency was fun too

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Also, do we really want one for Hand Computer? Look at all the grief Traveller gets for its concept of Computers today. Do we want to set ourselves up for that?

You may have a point. But what the heck, live dangerously and to the pit with the critics.

Actually let's get a list of all the wants, then trim that down by consensus, vote and/or practical reasons for the first production run.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Something to add to the card "wish list" -- cards for the various drugs. When I saw this thread, that is what I first thought of -- not cards for weapons or equipment or starships. In our last game session, we were sent scrambling to the book several times to look up which drug was which (Slow? Medical Slow?) and what the drug did in game terms. I'm going to make a little cheat sheet for next time, but having the cards -- along with others for weapons, equipment and starships -- would be nice.

And I think a handcomp card is necessary. It and vacc suit are probably the two most common, non-weapon, non-armor personal items used in Traveller. I think a basic, generic PDA-type illustration would be safe enough to use, along with the game stats.

So far, the card demos look good. Is it possible to put CT and T20 stats on them? I know we can't put stats for all the versions of Traveller, but CT and T20 would probably cover the largest pool of players.

 

[far-trader]

CT and T20 would be my current preference too but I'm not doing the work (yet

) so it may depend on our lackey's * current interest.

* yes I've been rolling that one around in my head since you changed your name

If the two sided printing idea works then it could be a not too hard step to change just the data side for other versions or even just print the one side and make your own stats on the reverse.

I wondering about how hard it would be to get permission to use previously published Traveller art for the illustrations. Either as a QLI product under the new license deal or just as a fan-production for free distribution. But this is not my project, I'm just trying to mess it up as much as I can

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by lackey:
OK, I would like 200 suggestions for cards.

OK, updated list. consolidated some, added some, edited some. Dropped the OTU section. Now totals 122 suggestions:

[Armor] Aquatic Suit
[Armor] Battle Dress
[Armor] Chameleon Suit
[Armor] Cloth Armor
[Armor] Combat Armor
[Armor] Combat Environment Suit
[Armor] Flak Jacket
[Armor] Hostile Environment Suit
[Armor] Powered Suit
[Armor] Reflec
[Armor] Vac Suit

[Decorations] Digest Touring Award
[Decorations] Foundation Fellowship
[Decorations] Imperial Citizenship
[Decorations] IISS Card
[Decorations] IA Card
[Decorations] IN Card
[Decorations] IM Card
[Decorations] MCG
[Decorations] MCUF
[Decorations] Mercenary License
[Decorations] Patent of Nobility (Baron)
[Decorations] Patent of Nobility (Knight)
[Decorations] PhD Certificate
[Decorations] Professional License
[Decorations] Prospecting License
[Decorations] Salvage License
[Decorations] SEH
[Decorations] Science Academy
[Decorations] TAS Membership
[Decorations] TAS Reporter Credentials
[Decorations] Trade Guild Membership
[Decorations] Zhunastu Prize

[Drugs] Antibiotics
[Drugs] Antitoxins
[Drugs] Combat
[Drugs] Fast
[Drugs] Metaboloics
[Drugs] Slow
[Drugs] Truth
[Drugs] Vaccines

[Equipment] Atmospheric Reentry Pack
[Equipment] Binoculars, Electronic
[Equipment] Binoculars, Optical
[Equipment] Breathing Mask, Atmospheric
[Equipment] Breathing Mask, Aquatic
[Equipment] Communicator, Portable
[Equipment] Flashlight
[Equipment] Goggles, Night Vision
[Equipment] Goggles, Protective
[Equipment] Hand Computer
[Equipment] Medical Kit
[Equipment] Medical Scanner, Portable
[Equipment] Ore Assay Kit
[Equipment] Parachute
[Equipment] Psi Shield Helm
[Equipment] Recorder, Audio
[Equipment] Recorder, Video
[Equipment] Zero-G Maneuver Pack

[Spacecraft] Fighter
[Spacecraft] Gig
[Spacecraft] Launch
[Spacecraft] Ship's Boat
[Spacecraft] Slow Boat
[Spacecraft] Pinnace
[Spacecraft] Slow Pinnace
[Spacecraft] Modular Cutter Frame
[Spacecraft] Modular Cutter Module
[Spacecraft] Shuttle

[Starship] A Free-Trader
[Starship] _ Far-Trader
[Starship] C Mercenary
[Starship] E Escort
[Starship] J Seeker
[Starship] K Safari
[Starship] L Laboratory
[Starship] M Liner
[Starship] P Privateer
[Starship] R Merchant
[Starship] S Scout
[Starship] T Patrol
[Starship] Y Yacht

[Vehicle] ATV
[Vehicle] Air Craft
[Vehicle] Air/Raft
[Vehicle] Cargo Loader
[Vehicle] GCarrier
[Vehicle] Grav Belt
[Vehicle] Grav Bike
[Vehicle] Ground Vehicle
[Vehicle] Speeder
[Vehicle] Water Craft

[Weapon] ACR
[Weapon] Carbine
[Weapon] Cutlass
[Weapon] FGMP
[Weapon] Foil
[Weapon] Gauss
[Weapon] Grenade
[Weapon] Gyrojet
[Weapon] Laser
[Weapon] PGMP
[Weapon] Pistol
[Weapon] Revolver
[Weapon] Rifle
[Weapon] SMG
[Weapon] Shotgun
[Weapon] Survival Knife
[Weapon] Weapon Sight, Electronic
[Weapon] Weapon Sight, Optical

oops, almost forgot,

[Race] Aslan
[Race] Darrian
[Race] Droyne
[Race] Hiver
[Race] K'kree
[Race] Luriani
[Race] Solomani
[Race] Sydite
[Race] Ursa
[Race] Vargr
[Race] Vilani
[Race] Virushi
[Race] Zhodani

 

[far-trader]

On the printing issue, it used to be every word processing program had style sheets and every lable sheet company would have downloadable style sheets for it's specific lable layouts, including business cards. Haven't looked into it in some time but I might have a look about this weekend and see what I can find.

That'd be the easiest, find a layout ready-made for business card perforated sheets. Print them, laminate if desired, seperate and enjoy.

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by far-trader:
On the printing issue

<snip>

That'd be the easiest, find a layout ready-made for business card perforated sheets. Print them, laminate if desired, seperate and enjoy.

The usual standard is IIRC Avery even if the cards in question aren't by Avery. Regardless, templates should either be in your word processor or downloadable like you mentioned.

http://www.avery.com/

I've used such sheets before for playtesting cards and they work nice. I'd suggest using card protectors (anyplace that sells trading or game cards should have some) esp. for use in testing.

 

[far-trader]

Yeah, good thought on the sleeves Casey. Got tons around here from that stupid CCG phase

And they're cheap if anyone doesn't have them.

 

[robject]

Dan,

It might not be hard to get a limited licence to produce these, including the art. Maybe. We'll burn that bridge if we get that far.

Rob

 

[far-trader]

That sounds supiciously like a plan

Let's call it Plan B since Plan A never works

 

[robject]

I've got a couple of ideas, yes

I've uploaded 300 DPI versions of four weapons cards. In "real life" they measure 3.5 x 2.5. The images are wrong on some of them.

I've started to move stats off the front of the card, though mass, length, and rounds ought (?) to be rules-independent (??).

I imagine these things look better in print than on the web.

http://home.comcast.net/~downport/cards/Card-Gauss-Rifle.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~downport/cards/Card-Laser-Rifle.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~downport/cards/Card-ACR.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~downport/cards/Card-Assault-Rifle.jpg

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Dan, rob, I think business cards would be a touch too small. I can't find an Avery product that would do 2.5x3.5 (poker-size playing cards). But, as I said, let me give it a try.

rob, what are the dimensions (aspect ratio) on the jpgs you have done? (They are huge in my browser...)