Where did I see the gorilla?

[Shonner]

Which Traveller product had artwork for an uplifted gorilla? And was the gorilla wearing a psi helmet? Maybe it was a Rifts book cover that I'm thinking about?

 

[Whipsnade]

The only Traveller art featuring "Great Apes" I'm familiar of is part of the Solomani & Aslan sidebar discussing the "Gene wars". IIRC, the illo shows an orangutan signing.

 

[Shonner]

The only Traveller art featuring "Great Apes" I'm familiar of is part of the Solomani & Aslan sidebar discussing the "Gene wars". IIRC, the illo shows an orangutan signing.

This was a color pic that had some humans in the forground. They were in action RPG splash page pose. They may have all been wearing the same uniform? I want to say it was a hardtimes setting?

 

[aramis]

Check T20; the gorilla might be there.

There is a pic of an Orang in Solomani&Aslan, IIRC but not other great apes.

 

[Blue Ghost]

I think the GURPS Uplift books have an intelligent gorilla in them.

 

[Whipsnade]

This was a color pic that had some humans in the forground. They were in action RPG splash page pose. They may have all been wearing the same uniform? I want to say it was a hardtimes setting?

Doesn't ring any bells for me, but I hope we find it 'cause it sounds very interesting!

 

[Whipsnade]

I think the GURPS Uplift books have an intelligent gorilla in them.

Uplifted gorillas, or "Garthlings", are an important plot point in one of Brin's novels.

 

[Dragoner]

It might be Rifts.

 

[Shonner]

I think the GURPS Uplift books have an intelligent gorilla in them.

Maybe it was a black and white drawing then, and not a color box cover. I'll have to go through my GURPS books.

 

[MCEvans]

The only one I know of is "Return to Tarlkin's Landing (Scenes of Adventure #2)" from QuikLink Interactive found found here at DTRPG which is an update of a JG product.

 

[Whipsnade]

Thank you for the link.

The "gorilla" on the cover is an alien race called the Frugama. They're described as a cross between a gorilla and a tyrannosaurus. Leave it up to the Judges Guild!

 

[Blue Ghost]

Whipsnade, I bought the series after hearing good things about it, but the first book didn't hold my attention.

 

[Jame]

There's something in GT: Rim of Fire. I believe.
Just like I believe there's something in T20's Gateway to Destiny.

 

[Rover]

Was this it?

 

[Shonner]

Nope. I'm still looking. I remember when I saw it, I thought at first how dumb it was for Traveller to have gorillas as crewmembers. But now I'm used to it. I didn't remember about the uplifting that was being done in the universe (until I saw a couple lines about +2 strength for apes mentioned in Mongoose Traveller). Maybe there was a time when uplifting in RPGs was popular (say around 1994-96)? So the product would have come out around then.

Hero Traveller maybe? I don't have those books. The thing is... it was a cool pic.

 

[SpaceBadger]

There were a couple of uplifted gorilla characters in Freelance Traveller fiction and character bios. One is the character Brodie LeBouchere (actually an uplifted chimp, I guess) who appears in the "Chicken 'n Waffles" series of stories; another is Comstock Uri. Seems to me I have seen an illustration of one of them in some issue, but it doesn't seem to be on either of the bio pages, so maybe in with some of the fiction.

 

[DaveChase]

Beginning to sound more and more like this TV show (cartoon)

Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys

Dave Chase

 

[rancke]

Nope. I'm still looking. I remember when I saw it, I thought at first how dumb it was for Traveller to have gorillas as crewmembers. But now I'm used to it. I didn't remember about the uplifting that was being done in the universe (until I saw a couple lines about +2 strength for apes mentioned in Mongoose Traveller). Maybe there was a time when uplifting in RPGs was popular (say around 1994-96)? So the product would have come out around then.

There may be Traveller stats for uplifted gorillas somewhere, but AFAIK there is no mention of uplifted gorillas anywhere in the OTU.

A while back I collected notes for an idea I had about a world populated by uplifted gorillas, orangutangs, and chimpanzees, and I was surprised (and dismayed) to learn that the canonically mentioned uplifted simians were orangutangs and gibbons, but nary a whif of 'rillas or chimps.

I had this vision of a movie theater full of Pongs[*] watching "Planet of the Apes" and laughing their asses off.

[*] Pongidae was a now-abandoned taxonomic term for the great ape family minus humans[**]. It's not a derogatory term. No, really! Besides, they named their world 'Pongida'[***], so what did they expect?!?

[**] In other words, a term that encompassed gorillas, chimps and orangs and no other.

[***] NB! Not canon!​

​

I was going to call the writeup 'Planet of the Pongs'. Never did get any further than the note-gathering, though.


Hans

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Maybe there was a time when uplifting in RPGs was popular (say around 1994-96)? So the product would have come out around then.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but the uplift thing was big in the late 60s, early 70s, too. (Remember Planet of the Apes - 1968?)

 

[Shonner]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but the uplift thing was big in the late 60s, early 70s, too. (Remember Planet of the Apes - 1968?)

I mean just for RPGs. But waldos were cool long before then.