The Flight of the Gossamer Penguin

A Gurps:Traveler Adventure

25/1120

Dear ___________,
Congratulations. I am pleased to offer you a position on the Gossamer Penguin. Your training and experience match our requirements, and you made a positive impression on Mr. Wilcox during your interview. I look forward to meeting you on board on 30/1120. The Penguin will be docked at high port, waiting. You will have a standing ticket for the shuttle to get there. Please do not be late for your first day at work :-).

Looking forward to a successful voyage,
Captain Harvey Newer

Latest Update

7/6/2000 Moved character creation to its own page.
7/6/2000 Changed Vacc Suit prerequisite in text, but not in MAKECHAR data file.
8/14/2001 Rearranged page

Links

Go to ship's log (updated 8/14/2001)
Ship Pictures
Link to my animation page
Character Creation rules now have their own page.

Character Creation

The players are the crew of the independent freighter, the Gossamer Penguin. It is a 300 dTon, Jump 2 capable ship. As the letter above explains, after your interview with the first mate/chief engineer Mr. Wilcox, you have a job. The ship leaves on a voyage "that will take about a half year" and will include stops on at least 6 planets. Certain cargos for some of the legs of the journey have already been arranged, so the trip is guaranteed to be a commercial success. Other cargos may be arranged along the way, including speculative cargoes bought by the crew.

Character Creation rules now have their own page.

The Gossamer Penguin 300 Ton Free Trader

Although not visually too different from the Chrono Raptur class freighter, or other small freighters, there is no indication of which shipyard built it. The ship has a standard Jump-2 engine, but has additional fuel for a second, 1 parsec jump. It also has a fuel processor so it can skim fuel from gas giants.
Crew: Captain, Navigator, Engineer, Pilot, Sensor, Comm Operator, Stewart, Gunner, Cargo Handler, MedTech. There can be multiple people in each job, and a single person can do multiple jobs.

300-ton streamlined Hull, DR 115, Basic Bridge, Engineering, 10 Maneuver, 9 Jump, 90 fuel, 2 Low Berths (capacity 7, one of
them double sized for large beings), 10 staterooms (one for the captain, 1 for the first mate, 3 for up to 9 crew, triple occupancy;
one of rooms contains the galley/meeting room with a section set off as a sickbay),Utility, 1 Fuel Processor, 2 turrets, 77 Cargo.
There are three lasers in the upper turret, a sandcaster in the lower turret.
Empty mass: 282 T, Acceleration 2.66G; Full mass: 670 T, Accel 1.12G.

Diagram provided for visualization purposes only.

SR    State rooms
Capt    Captain's cabin
XO    First Mate's cabin
El    Elevator

This is the upper deck. Crew and passengers share the common area. Engineering (aft of the central bulkhead) includes not only the drives pictured, but the fusion power plant, life support, low berths (7), and other ship systems. On the lower level, in the area between the M-Drives (Thrusters) and reaching to approximately the forward part of the elevator is the Cargo hold. The rest of the area is filled with the fuel tanks, and some more ships systems, including the grav generator, scanners, and access to the Sand Caster turret (situated in the center of the ship directly under the upper turret which holds the two lasers). There is an airlock on the port side of the upper deck, and the starboard side of the lower deck. The cargo area can have the air evacuated, and there is a large ramp at the rear where cargo can be loaded. There is also a crane attached to the ceiling of the lower deck for lifting heavy items of cargo.

The Gossamer Penguin

Go to ship's log

Update to the Imperial Database

Bumblebee Island at Rugbird/Aramis

3102 Rugbird/Aramis

One set of space islands orbiting Rugbird is owned by the Bumble Bee Pharmaceuticals Corp. It's most well know product is the anagathic drug called "Royal Honey". However, they produce a wide variety of drugs that are exported throughout the sector. Bumble Bee is a standard class 4 space island, 20 miles long, 4 miles in diameter, 1 G in the 3 long agricultural valleys, lower gravity in various parts of the cities situated at the ends. Island B is completely off limits to non- employees, and is said to be mostly unpopulated and where the "bees" work.

2909 Bacchus/Aramis (Imperial)

Starport: Class II
Diameter: 7565 miles (12104 KM). Atmosphere: Standard Oxygen-nitrogen. Surface Water: 42%. Climate: Variable, mostly Frozen. Population: 3,500,000. Government: Corporate-the Bacchus Winery, ILC. Control Rating: 3. TL 9.

    Bacchus, through some fluke, was completely left off the printed version of the database. It is, of course famous for its "wines". While some argue semantics, and claim that Bacchus Blue and Bacchus Green aren't really wine because the grapes are so mutated as to no longer be grapes, no one argues with the flavor. It is said that the emperor gets a special shipment from each harvest.
    The planet orbits its primary, Hades, in a very elliptical orbit, taking 6.5 standard years to one local year. This also puts the planet completely out of the biozone for 4 of those years. During the long winter the population lives in underground cities and eats hydroponic food. There is only one grape season each orbit, and the wine is fermented for over two revolutions, released in the second temperate period of the orbit.
    Besides the wine, they have little to export. The major import seems to be recreation equipment.

The Movies Page

Link to my animation page

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GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy."