BITS News
UK Games Expo 2015
Wednesday 29 April 2015
British Isles Traveller Support are pleased to announce we will be attending UK Games Expo 2015 on May 29th to 31st at Birmingham NEC Hilton Metropole
More details on the convention: https://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/
We will have a trade stand in the Palace Suite (P32) next to Leisure Games selling a wide range of new and second-hand products for Traveller and many other systems.
As with previous years, we will be running a series of RPG tables using the Mongoose Traveller ruleset. Our RPG adventures will be a varied adventure set written by our ever aging stable of crack (ed) GM's.
More details of slot times located at
http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/bookevents.php?category=rpg
As always find us at http://www.bitsuk.net and http://www.powerprojection.net for more info on BITS and Power Projection.
Thanks
The BITS Team
Supporting Traveller in all forms since 1996
More details on the convention: https://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/
We will have a trade stand in the Palace Suite (P32) next to Leisure Games selling a wide range of new and second-hand products for Traveller and many other systems.
As with previous years, we will be running a series of RPG tables using the Mongoose Traveller ruleset. Our RPG adventures will be a varied adventure set written by our ever aging stable of crack (ed) GM's.
More details of slot times located at
http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/bookevents.php?category=rpg
As always find us at http://www.bitsuk.net and http://www.powerprojection.net for more info on BITS and Power Projection.
Thanks
The BITS Team
Supporting Traveller in all forms since 1996
Comments
New BITS PDFs: Power Projection: Fleet
Wednesday 30 July 2014
BITS are very pleased to announce that the Power Projection: Fleet has been released as a PDF, making our fusion of Traveller and Full Thrust starship combat available once more.
Purchase from RPGNow.
Apologies for the break in service
Thursday 03 April 2014
It appears we have suffered a misjump, but we’re back and as soon as the navigation data is resolved then things should be hunky-dory. Well, mostly. We have lost some files and pictures, but I will recover them from archive over the next week or so.
http://www.powerprojection.net will be down for will be back in the next two weeks, as it was on the same server.
(We’ve had a big issue with our host and their lack of communication and help has led to us relocating the domain name server and the server to another company.)
Apologies that it has taken so long to resolve.
Dom
BITS Webmaster
http://www.powerprojection.net will be down for will be back in the next two weeks, as it was on the same server.
(We’ve had a big issue with our host and their lack of communication and help has led to us relocating the domain name server and the server to another company.)
Apologies that it has taken so long to resolve.
Dom
BITS Webmaster
Travcon 14 - limited places available - BOOK NOW!
Sunday 02 March 2014
BITS is proud to announce their annual Traveller convention TRAVCON is running again over the weekend of 21-23 March 2014 at Redwings Lodge near Sawtry in Cambridgeshire (near the junction of the A1M and A14).
Once again we’ll be running Traveller games solidly from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon. TravCon is a friendly convention with between 30 and 40 attendees, with 5 games slots across the weekend and 5 different games running in each slot, so there are plenty of opportunities for you to play different adventures with novel characters and make new friends. There will be the usual BITS sales stand, bring-and-buy, charity auction and awards (the Starburst for Extreme Heroism and the PFI – the latter for less fortunate adventure outcomes).
I’m looking forward to welcoming many of our regular attendees and we still have a couple of rooms free so, if YOU are interested in a weekend of Traveller gaming, please contact us at bits@bits.org.uk for details.
New BITS PDFs: 'Tis the season to be Jolly...
Sunday 22 December 2013
‘Tis the Season to be Jolly’ – and in the spirit of trying to make Travellers everywhere even more jolly at this seasonal time...
BITS are very pleased to announce that the last six books in the 101 Series (Lifeforms, Patrons, Plots, Rendezvous, Religions and Travellers) have been released as PDFs, as well as our skirmish rule set At Close Quarters.
BITS are very pleased to announce that the last six books in the 101 Series (Lifeforms, Patrons, Plots, Rendezvous, Religions and Travellers) have been released as PDFs, as well as our skirmish rule set At Close Quarters.
The intention of all the BITS supplements is to provide quick-to-access resources for the harassed Traveller Referee, fleshing out the worlds and people that your adventurers encounter, with plenty of ideas for adventure sessions, sub-plots and red herrings. The 101 Series has been out of print for some time and have never - legitimately - been available as PDFs before.
For a dose of extra seasonal jolliness, you can pick up the all the 101 Series supplements released to PDF in one reduced-price bundle, saving 20%!
We plan to release the remainder of the BITS back catalogue (such as our adventure books and Power Projection) over the coming months. Check back here or follow @BITS_Traveller on Twitter to be kept up-to-date on our plans
Buy the reduced price bundle of ten 101 Books (does not include At Close Quarters)
Buy 101 Lifeforms
Buy 101 Patrons
Buy 101 Plots
Buy 101 Rendezvous
Buy 101 Religions
Buy 101 Travellers
Buy At Close Quarters
These PDFs are the original BITS products and so you’ll find the older ones don’t mention Mongoose or even GURPS Traveller (we released the first 101’s just after Imperium Games launched T4!) In addition, Mongoose are pulling together the 101’s into larger books: 101 Cargos, 101 Starcrews and 101 Travellers form the core of the first of these, Supplement 13: Starport Encounters.
New BITS 101 PDFs - How's your Corporate Governance?
Sunday 10 November 2013
BITS are pleased to announce that the release of two more of the 101 Series as PDFS:
101 Governments and 101 Corporations are now available for purchase and download. These are excellent resources for the harassed Referee, with plenty of ideas that can spark an adventure session off. They have been out of print for some time and have never - legitimately - been available as PDFs before.
We plan to release all the 101 Books in this format, along with most of the remaining back catalogue such as At Close Quarters and Power Projection over the coming months. Check back here or follow @BITS_Traveller on Twitter to be kept up-to-date on our plans
Buy 101 Corporations
Buy 101 Governments
BITS 101 Series releasing as PDFs - Need are Cargo moving? We've got a ship and crew for that!
Wednesday 16 October 2013
BITS are extremely happy to announce that the back catalogue of 101 Series ‘little white books’ is to be made available once again in electronic format through DriveThruRPG / RPGNow.
101 Cargos and 101 Starcrews are now available for purchase and download. These represent the first and last 101 Books released and are excellent resources for the harassed Referee. They have been out of print for some time and have never - legitimately - been available as PDFs before.
We plan to release all the 101 Books in this format, along with most of the remaining back catalogue such as At Close Quarters and Power Projection over the coming months. Check back here or follow @BITS_Traveller on Twitter to be kept up-to-date on our plans.
Buy 101 Cargos
Buy 101 Starcrews
DRAGONMEET 2013 - London, 7 December
Tuesday 15 October 2013
Back here again for the 14th year in a row. Wow, must be a prosperous trade route.
“This is the crew of the BITS Traveller, inbound towards Dragonmeet Station above the planet Kensington in the London system of the UK subsector. Systems seem nominal and we can confirm we are go for landing with both the demonstration and retail modules. Mission deployment, codename DRAGONMEET 2013, will commence on 7th December 2013. Let’s hope the natives are still friendly and the Imperial Credit hasn’t defaulted.”
We’re pleased to announce that BITS will be attending Dragonmeet 2013 at The Kensington Town Hall in London on Saturday 7th December 2013. This is our fourteenth year at the show which is always a great event. We will be running demos and also have our trade stall. Come by and say hello and find out how we’re doing with the various projects...
We also hope to be joined by Clare Eden from the Minister of Chance for the second year running.
Further information can be found at http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk
“This is the crew of the BITS Traveller, inbound towards Dragonmeet Station above the planet Kensington in the London system of the UK subsector. Systems seem nominal and we can confirm we are go for landing with both the demonstration and retail modules. Mission deployment, codename DRAGONMEET 2013, will commence on 7th December 2013. Let’s hope the natives are still friendly and the Imperial Credit hasn’t defaulted.”
We’re pleased to announce that BITS will be attending Dragonmeet 2013 at The Kensington Town Hall in London on Saturday 7th December 2013. This is our fourteenth year at the show which is always a great event. We will be running demos and also have our trade stall. Come by and say hello and find out how we’re doing with the various projects...
We also hope to be joined by Clare Eden from the Minister of Chance for the second year running.
Further information can be found at http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk
BITS at Conception
Sunday 27 January 2013
BITS will be at Conception this week (Wed 30 – Sun 3 Feb), with trade stand, running games in every slot and supporting Traveller!
More details on the convention: http://www.conceptionuk.org/
As with previous years, we will be running using the new Mongoose Traveller ruleset.
When: 30 Jan to 3 Feb
Where: Hoburne Naish, Christchurch Road, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 7RE (Sat Nav BH25 7QT)
What: We’ll have the trade stand and be running games as per previous years.
Link: http://www.conceptionuk.org/
DRAGONMEET 2012 - London, 1 December
Wednesday 28 November 2012
Is it really a year later? Did we misjump?
“This is the crew of the BITS Traveller, inbound towards Dragonmeet Station above the planet Kensington in the London system of the UK subsector. Systems seem nominal and we can confirm we are go for landing with both the demonstration and retail modules. Mission deployment, codename DRAGONMEET 2012, will commence on 1st December 2012. Let’s hope the natives are still friendly.”
We’re pleased to announce that BITS will be attending Dragonmeet 2012 at The Kensington Town Hall in London on Saturday 1st December 2012. This is our thirteenth year at the show which is always a great event. We will be running demos and also have our trade stall. Come by and say hello and find out how we’re doing with the various projects...
Further information can be found at http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk
“This is the crew of the BITS Traveller, inbound towards Dragonmeet Station above the planet Kensington in the London system of the UK subsector. Systems seem nominal and we can confirm we are go for landing with both the demonstration and retail modules. Mission deployment, codename DRAGONMEET 2012, will commence on 1st December 2012. Let’s hope the natives are still friendly.”
We’re pleased to announce that BITS will be attending Dragonmeet 2012 at The Kensington Town Hall in London on Saturday 1st December 2012. This is our thirteenth year at the show which is always a great event. We will be running demos and also have our trade stall. Come by and say hello and find out how we’re doing with the various projects...
Further information can be found at http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk
Travcon 13 is full
Tuesday 20 November 2012
With regret, I have to confirm that Travcon 13 is now full before it was publicly announced.
Places are always offered first to past attendees, and all spaces have been taken up.
If you want to follow what’s happening, the games planned etc. please visit the forum on the Tavern BBS: http://is.gd/travcon13tavern
Thanks to Tom Zunder for maintaining the Tavern.
Places are always offered first to past attendees, and all spaces have been taken up.
If you want to follow what’s happening, the games planned etc. please visit the forum on the Tavern BBS: http://is.gd/travcon13tavern
Thanks to Tom Zunder for maintaining the Tavern.
RIP Andrew Boulton
Sunday 09 September 2012
Statement from Andy Lilly, on behalf of BITS about the news of the death of Andrew Boulton, who passed away in August:
Andrew was one of the first Traveller enthusiasts in the UK whom I discovered through the Internet forums back in the early 1990’s, with whom I swapped out-of-print Traveller products, and who was therefore one of those who encouraged me to take things that bit further and create BITS. His memory will live on through his contributions to several generations of Traveller.
Andrew was one of the first Traveller enthusiasts in the UK whom I discovered through the Internet forums back in the early 1990’s, with whom I swapped out-of-print Traveller products, and who was therefore one of those who encouraged me to take things that bit further and create BITS. His memory will live on through his contributions to several generations of Traveller.
Back Again
Thursday 09 August 2012
All,
We suffered an outage of the website this week due to a major hardware failure at our ISP, Primehosting. We’re now restored and back!
Dom
We suffered an outage of the website this week due to a major hardware failure at our ISP, Primehosting. We’re now restored and back!
Dom
Change of BITS address
Saturday 30 June 2012
Due to a number of issues with the BITS PO Box thanks to Royal Mail, we are closing the box:
Our new postal address is:
BITS
c/o Marquee Models
Unit 71, The Harvey Centre
Harlow
CM20 1XS
Our new postal address is:
BITS
c/o Marquee Models
Unit 71, The Harvey Centre
Harlow
CM20 1XS
New Forum for BITS & Travcon
Monday 05 March 2012
We’re very pleased to announce that Tom Zunder (aka Guvnor) has kindly created BITS and Travcon a forum on his excellent BBS, The Tavern. Why not pop in and share your thoughts and love of Traveller?
The Tavern may be found at http://gamingtavern.eu/ and is a friendly place for discussion and sharing on games and more. It also houses the official forum for Furnace, and forums for Continuum and others such as the Wordplay RPG.
Thanks Tom!
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
LAST MINUTE PLACES available for TravCon12
Sunday 12 February 2012
Due to last minute cancellations by attendees, we are pleased to be able to offer a limited number of places at TravCon12 at the Early Bird Rate.
Priority will be given to those willing to run a game in one or more slots, as one of the attendees was a referee and we have gaps in the schedule that need to be filled. If you want a place, a quick response is essential.
TravCon is BITS’ dedicated Traveller Convention, held in Sawtry near Peterborough. You can see details of past years on the Travelling pages.
TravCon12 is being held 2nd to 4th March 2012.
Booking forms and information can be found here:
We hope to see you there!
The BITS Team
PS In case you wondered...
Q: So why haven’t I seen previous adverts for TravCon12?
A: Because the previous year’s TravCon attendees get offered places in advance and this year all spaces were taken nearly immediately, so we didn’t advertise. Until now!
BITS at Conception UK (25-29 Jan)
Sunday 22 January 2012
Once again, BITS will be at Conception this coming week, running a variety of Traveller games in most slots. Come and see us and have some fun.
More details here: http://www.conceptionuk.org/
Happy New Year
Sunday 01 January 2012
Hello, and Happy New Year.
Dragonmeet went well, with both the roleplaying tables and the Power Projection demos being busy the whole time. I hope to have a con report up soon.
We’ve been quiet due to personal circumstances hitting team members over 2011, but have just started on a plan of action that will hopefully allow Andy (the BITS Director) to focus on new material while some of the background logistical stuff moves to other members of the team. Key to this will be making the back catalogue available properly again.
Anyway, we’ll update as soon as we have news.
Best Wishes,
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
Dragonmeet went well, with both the roleplaying tables and the Power Projection demos being busy the whole time. I hope to have a con report up soon.
We’ve been quiet due to personal circumstances hitting team members over 2011, but have just started on a plan of action that will hopefully allow Andy (the BITS Director) to focus on new material while some of the background logistical stuff moves to other members of the team. Key to this will be making the back catalogue available properly again.
Anyway, we’ll update as soon as we have news.
Best Wishes,
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
BITS at UK Games Expo
Tuesday 10 May 2011
British Isles Traveller Support are pleased to announce that we will be attending UK Games Expo 2011 from 3rd to 5th June 2011
More details on the convention can be found here: http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/
As with previous years, we will be running a series of RPG tables using the Mongoose Traveller ruleset. Our RPG adventures will be a mix of Living Traveller, The Angels Share sequence and a new adventure, The “Merry” Light, written by our ever ageing stable of crack(ed) GM's. More details of slot times and general convention details located at http:// www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/bookevents.php?category=rpg
Thanks
The BITS Team
Supporting Traveller in all forms since 1996
TravCon 11 - Con Report
Tuesday 03 May 2011
TravCon 2011 (4th-6th March) at Redwings Lodge, Cambridgeshire
For the fourth year in a row, British Isles Traveller Support (BITS) laid on an exciting weekend of twenty Traveller games across five slots. Attendees arrived throughout Friday afternoon and evening, to be presented by organiser Andy with impressive glass tankards carrying the BITS logo – a much appreciated free gift to assist in their enjoyment of the Scout brew prepared specially for the convention by beer maestro Derrick. An extensive buffet of Indian fare just a few steps away from the Lodge provided the opportunity to socialise and refresh players after their travel, refuelling them for the games running that evening: investigating a corrupt government; recovering a lost Scout ship; fighting off a monster at a research base; and guiding an Azhanti High Lightning through hostile Zhodani space!
Post-game analysis was held in the 24-hour bar, where players and referees could exchange anecdotes and humorous stories (old and new) well into Saturday morning... until even the hardy few admitted defeat and headed for bed.
Saturday morning the Traveller kicked off after a lazy breakfast with another four games: visiting (yet another) suspicious remote research base; pulling apart a military base for scrap; escaping a prison moon; and investigating an Ancient site. A skirmish using cool miniatures was just one of the highlights of the morning games. On-tap coffee and plentiful Danish pastries, bagels, and fruit (provided by BITS) kept everyone alert and in fine form until lunch.
With everyone limbered up for the afternoon slot, the referees dived in with the Living Traveller helping Aslan traders recover stolen cargo; finding a missing Scout team; a sequel to the famous Skyraiders trilogy; and... yet another mystery research base!
Saturday evening and supper was either a visit to the Spice Land Indian restaurant, or a delivery of pizzas and Chinese takeaway from nearby Sawtry. Stomachs replete, the gamers returned to the fray: another Living Traveller scenario; freedom fighters planning a starship hijack; another Scout ship recovery mission; and a noble dinner party!
After a triumphant denouement to the games, many again took the opportunity to relax in the bar, relishing the chance to relate their adventures. Several games of Fluxx games challenged everyone’s ability to switch thinking modes, with the game’s goals and rules changing with every card!
Finally, Sunday morning dawned – though not too early, which was a relief for those who’d spent two late nights of chatting and playing card games in the bar. A longer six-hour slot saw a second run of the corrupt government investigation “Thorny Problem”; a follow-up to the previous day’s Scout expedition; the heroic Terran navy taking on the Vilani; and surviving a crash on a remote planet.
All too soon, TravCon was drawing to a close: attendees took the opportunity for a final look around the sales tables – books, miniatures and more from all the Traveller eras were available, as well as “bring-and-buy” gaming stuff which attendees could sell with a percentage going to charity.
Andy began the closing session by auctioning the last of the specially brewed Traveller beer that Derrick had so kindly donated. Andy continued with the awards: the Starburst for Extreme Heroism for the most heroic act by a character during the con; and the Ping... F*** It award for the most awful foul-up from poor dice rolls, bad decisions or extraordinary circumstances!
SEH Award Winner Derrick Jones accepting his award from Andy Lilly
This year the SEH (a beautiful acrylic trophy) was won by Derrick Jones for role-playing ‘The Mother’ – one of the survivors of a lifeboat crash who, while suffering amnesia fiercely defended herself against pirates with an assault rifle while carrying her baby in her other hand. The PFI award went to Tom Zunder, who was part of a team trying to rescue hostages from a “beanstalk” capsule. Jumping from one capsule to another was the first challenge which he barely achieved. Jumping back while carrying one of the hostages was another challenge but he survived... however, what won him the award was that the valuable hostage wasn’t so fortunate, slipped from Tom’s grasp, and was last heard screaming profanities as he fell the very considerable distance to terra firma.
PFI award winner Tom Zunder accepting his award from Andy Lilly.
The PFI award always has multiple strong contenders: runners up included the delightful moment when a low social standing character at a garden party – thrown by Duke Norris – managed a double-one on his Carouse throw as he tried to chat up three charming young female nobles. He was unceremoniously ejected from the function, the referee decreed, for inappropriately pinching one of the ladies! Another contender demonstrated that hovering only one storey above a bunch of live grenades just after dropping them (in a failed attempt to throw them through a window) was not the best of ideas...
Andy rounded off the convention with the proud announcement that £125 had been raised for the charity Help For Heroes. He emphasised that TravCon’s appeal was a combination of the great attendees and the heroic referees who ran games throughout the weekend. He expressed his heartfelt thanks to everyone who had contributed to the convention, and encouraged potential new referees to come next year with their own games. Andy concluded by conveying everyone’s thanks to the Redwings staff who are so welcoming and patient with the TravCon gamers descending on them for the weekend.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to continue the long-running game arc of BITS’ In Search of Angels.”
“My best memory was planning to stick a cobbled-together lightning attractor to a rooftop prior to a break-in in the middle of a raging storm, massively outnumbered and somewhat outgunned, with only a mad scientist armed with a poisoned pizza as a backup plan.”
“I really felt I'd visited a bit of Mora and experienced its dockyard culture.”
For all of you who fed back that you wanted to book ahead for TravCon12, we are glad to be able to announce it will be held at the same venue on the weekend of 2nd-4th March 2012. Please make sure you book early as places are sure to go quickly. We look forward to seeing you again in 2012!
TravCon 11 Fully Booked
Sunday 20 February 2011
TravCon11 is now fully booked. If you’re planning to go and haven’t book then there’s always next year.
If anyone is planning to run a game and hasn’t told Andy, please let him know via the contact forms here or by direct email to bits@bits.org.uk. Volunteers greatly appreciated.
We’re using #travcon11 when mentioning it on Twitter. Our Twitter Account is @BITS_Traveller.
TravCon 11 - Limited Places Left
Saturday 08 January 2011
LIMITED PLACES LEFT!
BITS would like to invite you to TravCon 11 – our next Traveller roleplaying convention.
TravCon 11 is running over the weekend of 4-6 March 2011 (in the same location as previous years, just off the A1M near Peterborough in the southern end of the UK).
TravCon is a small, friendly event specifically for Traveller – all gamers are welcome, whether newcomers or experienced players.
We only have space for about 30 attendees and were over-booked in 2010 – the remaining few spaces are being filled on a strict first-come, first-served basis.
Click here for a PDF giving more details of the convention. If you would like to attend, please fill in the booking form as soon as possible (a Word version of the form can be found here) or you can print the PDF, fill it in and either post it to BITS (PO Box 4222, Sawbridgeworth, Herts, CM21 0DA, England) or email us a scan of the filled in form.
Please do NOT send any money with your application – wait for us to confirm that you have a place at the convention.
We are always looking for new referees to run games, so if you are interested in running a game at TravCon (Traveller only, obviously!) please make a note on your form or email.
BOOK SOON!
Pictures from the last TravCon here
Only 19 days to Dragonmeet 2010
Sunday 07 November 2010
Dragonmeet 2010 is nearly upon us, and BITS will be there. Hope that we’ll see you there!
The annual London convention is being held on Saturday 27th November 2010, starting at 10:00 am, at Kensington Town Hall. More information can be found here: http://dragonmeet.phoenixgamesclub.org.uk/
They have a Twitter feed @dragonmeet http://twitter.com/dragonmeet
The annual London convention is being held on Saturday 27th November 2010, starting at 10:00 am, at Kensington Town Hall. More information can be found here: http://dragonmeet.phoenixgamesclub.org.uk/
They have a Twitter feed @dragonmeet http://twitter.com/dragonmeet
Further Fundraiser by Ad Astra (supported by BITS)
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Ad Astra Games have announced the following:
Until September 30th, half of the purchase price of the following items will be donated to Loren Wiseman to help him recoup his medical expenses after his heart attack and bypass surgery. We wish Loren a speedy recovery, and thank you (and the people who generously let us sell their material for this sale) for helping it happen.
Power Projection: Fleet
Voidstriker Fleet Box
Nexus Journal #1
All Traveller Spaceship Minis
Remember, we're also holding a discounted shipping window on all items from our ship...so act soon!
Ken Burnside
---
BITS are supporting this through the Power Projection: Fleet sale.
Until September 30th, half of the purchase price of the following items will be donated to Loren Wiseman to help him recoup his medical expenses after his heart attack and bypass surgery. We wish Loren a speedy recovery, and thank you (and the people who generously let us sell their material for this sale) for helping it happen.
Power Projection: Fleet
Voidstriker Fleet Box
Nexus Journal #1
All Traveller Spaceship Minis
Remember, we're also holding a discounted shipping window on all items from our ship...so act soon!
Ken Burnside
---
BITS are supporting this through the Power Projection: Fleet sale.
Power Projection Fundraiser for Loren [UPDATED x2]
Friday 10 September 2010
BITS would like to join in some of the efforts to raise funds for Loren and give something back in return...
Send a donation via Paypal to Marc Miller at Farfuture@gmail.com, marking it ‘Loren Wiseman Fundraiser - Power Projection’, and then send a copy of the transaction confirmation to webmaster@bits.org.uk.
If I receive confirmation of more than $100 in transactions, I will make the PDF of all the ships for Power Projection: Escort that were not included in Power Projection: Fleet available to download for free on 20th September 2010.
These are:
Imperial
200T SDB
Broadsword Class
Chrysanthemum Class
Fer-de-Lance Class
Kinunir Class
Midu Agashaam Class
Zhodani
Chtierabl Class Tender
Plokl Class
Shivva Class
Vlezhdatl Class
Zhdoq Class
Zhodatl Class
These will be updated to match the Power Projection: Fleet SSDs and include Points and RCP values.
I will post updates on progress via the @BITS_Traveller Twitter feed.
UPDATE: A day left and only $11 short of the minimum at which I’ll release the PDF publicly. If you pledge to this, I will guarantee that I will send you the PDF whether or not it goes public.
Dom
Send a donation via Paypal to Marc Miller at Farfuture@gmail.com, marking it ‘Loren Wiseman Fundraiser - Power Projection’, and then send a copy of the transaction confirmation to webmaster@bits.org.uk.
If I receive confirmation of more than $100 in transactions, I will make the PDF of all the ships for Power Projection: Escort that were not included in Power Projection: Fleet available to download for free on 20th September 2010.
These are:
Imperial
200T SDB
Broadsword Class
Chrysanthemum Class
Fer-de-Lance Class
Kinunir Class
Midu Agashaam Class
Zhodani
Chtierabl Class Tender
Plokl Class
Shivva Class
Vlezhdatl Class
Zhdoq Class
Zhodatl Class
These will be updated to match the Power Projection: Fleet SSDs and include Points and RCP values.
I will post updates on progress via the @BITS_Traveller Twitter feed.
UPDATE: A day left and only $11 short of the minimum at which I’ll release the PDF publicly. If you pledge to this, I will guarantee that I will send you the PDF whether or not it goes public.
Dom
TravCon 11 Booking Now Open
Wednesday 01 September 2010
BITS would like to invite you to TravCon 11 – our next Traveller roleplaying convention.
TravCon 11 is running over the weekend of 4-6 March 2011 (in the same location as previous years, just off the A1M near Peterborough in the ‘middle’ of the UK).
TravCon is a small, friendly event specifically for Traveller – all gamers are welcome, whether newcomers or experienced players.
We only have space for about 30 attendees and were over-booked in 2010 – current BITS members (as of 1 Sep 2010) get priority but we have a number of new (non-member) attendees each year – spaces are filled on a strict first-come, first-served basis.
Click here for a PDF giving more details of the convention. If you would like to attend, please fill in the booking form as soon as possible (a Word version of the form can be found here) or you can print the PDF, fill it in and either post it to BITS (PO Box 4222, Sawbridgeworth, Herts, CM21 0DA, England) or email us a scan of the filled in form.
Please do NOT send any money with your application – wait for us to confirm that you have a place at the convention.
We are always looking for new referees to run games, so if you are interested in running a game at TravCon (Traveller only, obviously!) please make a note on your form or email.
Pictures from the last TravCon here
Tweeting about TravCon
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Do you use Twitter? If you do, check out the BITS Twitter feed (@BITS_Traveller) for news of BITS, Traveller, SF and Space Science!
http://twitter.com/bits_traveller
We’re using #travcon to talk about TravCon 11...
In Our Thoughts...
Friday 16 April 2010
A message from Andy Lilly:
My personal condolences and deepest sympathies go out to Peter Darton, whose wife Claire Darton passed away totally unexpectedly just a few days ago. Claire and Peter were both enthusiastic gamers and convention attendees (most recently at TravCon10), as well as being good friends and long-time members of my weekly gaming group. Claire will be sadly missed by us all.
Our thoughts and sympathies also go out to the family and friends of gamer Chris Brecken who also unexpectedly passed away a couple of weeks ago.
Andy.
My personal condolences and deepest sympathies go out to Peter Darton, whose wife Claire Darton passed away totally unexpectedly just a few days ago. Claire and Peter were both enthusiastic gamers and convention attendees (most recently at TravCon10), as well as being good friends and long-time members of my weekly gaming group. Claire will be sadly missed by us all.
Our thoughts and sympathies also go out to the family and friends of gamer Chris Brecken who also unexpectedly passed away a couple of weeks ago.
Andy.
Do you Tweet?
Tuesday 30 March 2010
Do you use Twitter? If you do, check out the BITS Twitter feed (@BITS_Traveller) for news of BITS, Traveller, SF and Space Science!
http://twitter.com/bits_traveller
TravCon 2010
Tuesday 30 March 2010
Travcon 2010 went well and we’ll post reports soon. Suffice it to say that great fun was had by all in a little corner of Sawtry.
If you went to the con, why not share your photos with our Flickr Group? http://www.flickr.com/groups/1420819@N22/
A Convention so good it had its own beer brewed by BITS very own Derrick Jones and his local brewery!
If you went to the con, why not share your photos with our Flickr Group? http://www.flickr.com/groups/1420819@N22/
A Convention so good it had its own beer brewed by BITS very own Derrick Jones and his local brewery!
Comments
Monday 01 March 2010
Due to the forthcoming short notice discontinuation of the commenting service on Haloscan and the introduction of a new paid for service as the only alternative, I am temporarily shutting down the comments service on the site. They will return with the forthcoming update to Rapidweaver (the software that the site is maintained with) which will introduce another free-to-use alternative. Thanks for you patience.
Dom
BITS Webmaster
PS Yes, I know that using WordPress would resolve the problem, but at this time I have limited time to maintain the website so it isn’t an option.
Dom
BITS Webmaster
PS Yes, I know that using WordPress would resolve the problem, but at this time I have limited time to maintain the website so it isn’t an option.
Rebuilt...
Wednesday 03 February 2010
Just a quick note to mention that while most of the gang were at Conception last weekend, I rebuilt the website and did a complete upload. That appears to have fixed the glitch (which related to downloading files). Please let us know if you see any more problems.
Update on Conception to follow soon.
Thanks for you patience,
Dom
Update on Conception to follow soon.
Thanks for you patience,
Dom
Glitches
Sunday 13 December 2009
I’d just like to apologise to people that we have been having a number of issues with the website after rebuilding it after someone had a go at it. There are permissions faults on some files which you mean may not be able to download them. If you cannot access them, please use the contact form and let us know. We hope to have this fixed shortly.
Dom, BITS Webmaster
Dom, BITS Webmaster
Dragonmeet Post-Con Report
Thursday 10 December 2009
Andy meets a Cyberman
Dragonmeet 2009 happened, in its original London configuration, over the last weekend of November. As usual, it was held in Kensington Town Hall, which has good facilities. BITS were there, as we have been since the convention was re-launched, with the trade stand, a demo of At Close Quarters, and a number a scenarios for Traveller including the latest instalment of the Angel’s Share campaign which has nearly reached a conclusion.
The Ad Astra in all her Glory
The trade hall was busy, but noticeably emptied when the seminars were on, and the At Close Quarters game grabbed a lot of attention thanks to Nick Bradbeer’s latest masterpiece model, an Ad Astra liner. This was built from foam board, and looked excellent. Scaled for 15mm, it was perfect for an exciting skirmish game.
Battle commences!
We had a number of worried people looking at the notices of reduced prices and ‘last ever’ for some of the 101 Books and other products, but they went away reassured when we explained that this was tied to a planned PDF release of our back catalogue in 2010. We’ll also hopefully have the first volume of Angel’s Share ready for a full release in the New Year, possibly followed by some smaller adventures, and – if the playtesting works out – something for Power Projection.
The adventures we ran went well, and seemed to be popular, with both Simon Bell and Dave Elrick GMing. Andy and myself manned the trade stall, which was constantly in demand, even in the quiet times.
From a personal perspective, this was my first return to Dragonmeet after a 3 year break for a variety of reasons, and I was really glad to be back. It’s one of my favourite cons, and has quite a frenetic pace, which is unsurprising as it starts at 10:00 and ends around 19:00! The trade hall was buzzing, and there were lots of new and shiny things to look at such as pre-release copies of the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game on the Cubicle 7 stand, the proof copies of Triple Ace Games’ core Hellfrost books for Savage Worlds and the Collective Endeavour’s latest game, Umlaut, in which get to be a rock band.
I was also quite pleased to finally see the Power Projection miniatures by Ad Astra Games and a real (non-PDF) copy of the Power Projection: Fleet book in its US guise. Mongoose Publishing also had a huge stand with lots of Traveller front and centre, both for our much loved setting and for the 2000AD settings such as Judge Dredd and Strontium Dogs.
Finally, it was great just to catch up with the rest of the BITS team, including the people like Simon and Robin who I’ve only met by email. The fires of my enthusiasm for Traveller are well and truly relit, and now I must properly finish my adventure for release in 2010! And I'm happy to report that Andy escaped from the clutches of the Cybermen by the end of the convention.
Dom, BITS Webmaster
All friends now!
TravCon 10 Booking Open!
Saturday 24 October 2009
The booking forms for the UK's best Traveller RPG convention are now available here. There are discounts to the price if you book before 11th December 2009.
Mongoose Traveller Open Day
Sunday 16 August 2009
On Saturday September 5th, Mongoose is throwing open its doors for fans of Traveller. Taking place at our offices in Swindon, it is completely free to attend, and everyone is welcome, whether you have played Traveller before or not!
Doors open at 9:30, and games begin at 10am, finishing at 5pm - and we have some special games lined up for you!
Rumble at Bay 13: It's your ship, so no one's going to take it from you. A miniatures skirmish.
Judge Dredd: Enforce the Law in the world's most violent and crime-ridden city.
Masks: Settlers are on a poor frontier planet under the watchful eye of the Imperium. What could possibly go wrong?
Seek and Destroy: Take the part of Elite commandos rescuing hostages on a starliner.
Strontium Dog: Be the first to take part in this new setting for Traveller, where everyone plays a mutant bounty hunter.
Noble Blood: A noble retinue searches for a family heirloom.
Cold Dark Grave: You have one last chance to make enough money to keep your mining company running.
As always, the Mongoose store will be open all day, giving you the chance to pick up the latest goodies for Traveller and our other games.
Directions to Mongoose's offices can be found at;
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/officemap.pdf
See you there! BITS are supporting this.
BITS Task System Updated
Monday 11 May 2009
We have updated the BITS Task System to include Mongoose Traveller, and you can download it in our Archive Pages. The BITS Task System provides equivalencies between different editions of Traveller, allowing you to use materials for different editions in your game with ease.
Conpulsion 09 and Salute 09
Monday 23 March 2009
BITS will be attending two conventions this coming weekend:
In the northern sector in Edinburgh, BITS will be attending Conpulsion 09 on both days running a Mongoose Traveller powered RPG scenario - "Masks" in Slot 1 and on Sunday BITS will be helping out with a game of Power Projection running over Slots 4 and 5. Avenger Enterprises will also be there running games and seminars so it will be a Traveller packed weekend. How can you stay away? Join us at Teviot Row Students Union, University of Edinburgh.
Meanwhile in Southern sector the BITS Trade Delegation will be plying their wares at Salute 09 at Excel London on Saturday . Demonstrations of At Close Quarters using the 25mm scale Starship Excalibur and our starship combat game Power Projection will be on hand to keep you Traveller Happy! Catch us at stand TH15.
Richard Talbot.
In the northern sector in Edinburgh, BITS will be attending Conpulsion 09 on both days running a Mongoose Traveller powered RPG scenario - "Masks" in Slot 1 and on Sunday BITS will be helping out with a game of Power Projection running over Slots 4 and 5. Avenger Enterprises will also be there running games and seminars so it will be a Traveller packed weekend. How can you stay away? Join us at Teviot Row Students Union, University of Edinburgh.
Meanwhile in Southern sector the BITS Trade Delegation will be plying their wares at Salute 09 at Excel London on Saturday . Demonstrations of At Close Quarters using the 25mm scale Starship Excalibur and our starship combat game Power Projection will be on hand to keep you Traveller Happy! Catch us at stand TH15.
Richard Talbot.
SABRE 2009 Con Report
Wednesday 18 March 2009
BITS were asked along to this small con in St Andrews to run some games and I duly attended armed with a scenario or two as I needed something to replace the Traveller fix I would have got from attending Travcon.
SABRE (St Andrews Big Roleplaying Event) is a cosy mini con over 2 days with daily numbers of about 50 held within the confines of the Students Union of that most Ancient University. Apart from RPG's, a mix of CCG's and wargaming seemed to be the agenda for the day.
Invited by local shop-owner, David Wright, himself about to open the new games shop Kingdom of Adventure in nearby Kirkcaldy, SABRE turned out to be a pleasant event with a very relaxed atmosphere.
Built around a single 6 hour timeslot this gave me the opportunity to run some longer adventures and after discussion with the players opted for a session of "Masks", a self written scenario set in the Fifth Frontier War.
The players started off well until the first encounter when the tenets of their religion seemed to be overshadowed by the need to shoot things! Needless to say this put the scenario on a whole new level but with some skilled ideas and a healthy dose of hilarity the players worked their back round to the main objective.
Added to the excellent playing abilities of Sian, William, Caz, Miles, Chris and Emma was the buffet lunch provided with the ticket price of £5.00. Fuelled by the food the players wrapped up the scenario in good time for the close of SABRE at 6pm. If only for the frequent rolling of 1's and 2's on the dice and the demolition of an entire farm by home made nitrate explosives, this session will be fondly remembered.
I couldn't make the Sunday event but will be placing myself in the fray next year at SABRE 2010 for more fun and food!"
Richard Talbot
BITS Demo GM
SABRE (St Andrews Big Roleplaying Event) is a cosy mini con over 2 days with daily numbers of about 50 held within the confines of the Students Union of that most Ancient University. Apart from RPG's, a mix of CCG's and wargaming seemed to be the agenda for the day.
Invited by local shop-owner, David Wright, himself about to open the new games shop Kingdom of Adventure in nearby Kirkcaldy, SABRE turned out to be a pleasant event with a very relaxed atmosphere.
Built around a single 6 hour timeslot this gave me the opportunity to run some longer adventures and after discussion with the players opted for a session of "Masks", a self written scenario set in the Fifth Frontier War.
The players started off well until the first encounter when the tenets of their religion seemed to be overshadowed by the need to shoot things! Needless to say this put the scenario on a whole new level but with some skilled ideas and a healthy dose of hilarity the players worked their back round to the main objective.
Added to the excellent playing abilities of Sian, William, Caz, Miles, Chris and Emma was the buffet lunch provided with the ticket price of £5.00. Fuelled by the food the players wrapped up the scenario in good time for the close of SABRE at 6pm. If only for the frequent rolling of 1's and 2's on the dice and the demolition of an entire farm by home made nitrate explosives, this session will be fondly remembered.
I couldn't make the Sunday event but will be placing myself in the fray next year at SABRE 2010 for more fun and food!"
Richard Talbot
BITS Demo GM
Travcon 09 and Concrete Cow
Sunday 15 March 2009
Should be pretty much over as I post this, and it sounds like it has gone well. I’ll be uploading the reports and pictures once the team get them through to me.
Meanwhile, over in Milton Keynes, Concrete Cow was running as well. Graham Spearing ran “Cold Dark Grave” at the con, and got some good feedback from one of the more demanding players and refs over there. You can find out more here, on the report on UK Roleplayers.
More soon, hopefully.
Dom
Hosting Interruption
Thursday 26 February 2009
Hi all,
The Website may be down temporarily whilst the hosting provider physically changes the location of the servers, which will start around 10:30 pm UK time on Thursday 26th February 2009. We’ll see you when we’re back after the break.
Regards,
Dom
BITS Webmaster
The Website may be down temporarily whilst the hosting provider physically changes the location of the servers, which will start around 10:30 pm UK time on Thursday 26th February 2009. We’ll see you when we’re back after the break.
Regards,
Dom
BITS Webmaster
Dragonmeet 2008 Report
Sunday 18 January 2009
A belated (thanks to the death of the computer with the website on) report on Dragonmeet by Richard Talbot:
BITS attended the excellent one day con, Dragonmeet 08 in Kensington, London, with a variety of Traveller related games and and our well stocked trade stand.
Andy Lilly at the stand as the show opened.
Stalwart GM's Dave Elrick and Simon Bell ran the latest instalments of our long running scenario series Project 1112 involving the crew of the Angel's Share. The plot is thickening as we rolled out the 5th and 6th parts of Dave Elrick's saga – Misjump! and Storm Warning! – to entertain the players. Both games went well with good feedback received from the players back at the trade stand. If you haven't played one of the new adventures come along to one of the cons we are attending. Conception 09 is up next in January!
One of the games.
New to the BITS schedule was an At Close Quarters demo scenario written by Richard Talbot. Set in the docking bay of a local starport, the crew of the mining seeker, Dragon's Luck, come back to their ship after a few well earned drinks to find corporate saboteurs lurking in the shadows. The scenario is only one part of the demo as real-life Naval Architect and BITS member Nick Bradbeer created a 25mm scale model of a Type J 100t Seeker and docking bay. We have plenty of pictures to drool over but the results of Nick's late nights constructing the model were amazing!
The Seeker (Perspective)
We used Ground Zero Games Neu Swabian League Troopers for the corporate squad, original Grenadier Traveller figs for the crew and Tablescape industrial scenery for the game aw well as Nick’s scratch built model.
Rear detail of the Seeker.
We played through three games with one team just managing to disarm explosive charges with 1 round to go and in the second game clearing the ship of saboteurs in under 6 rounds. Never will penguins be looked on again as passive creatures!
Top view of the Seeker.
We'll be using the model for future cons so look out for updates on the website.
BITS Webshop Back Online
Thursday 15 January 2009
In case you missed it, the BITS Webshop (hosted courtesy of Ancient Tomes) is back online, free from eBay’s loss-making constraints!
An Apology
Friday 09 January 2009
Just a quick note to apologise for the delay in updating the site. After nearly 6 years faithful service, my iMac G4 which is used to build the BITS website died. However, it has now been replaced, but that meant that the web editor (Rapidweaver) needed to be upgraded to a new version, which further delayed this update. However, it should be right now, fingers crossed!
It has also meant that the planned review of the Traveller 5 CD that we hoped to post on the member’s pages has been delayed.
Thanks for your patience,
Dom
BITS Webmaster
It has also meant that the planned review of the Traveller 5 CD that we hoped to post on the member’s pages has been delayed.
Thanks for your patience,
Dom
BITS Webmaster
TravCon UK 09 - Limited Space left
Saturday 03 January 2009
TravCon09 is a UK Traveller roleplaying convention being organised by BITS. It will be held near Sawtry (between Peterborough and Huntingdon just off the A1M), on the weekend of 13 to 15 March 2009. There is space for about 30 attendees for a great weekend of Traveller roleplaying.
Residential spaces for the con are becoming scarce with only approx 8 left. With the credit crunch hitting us all Early Bird prices BITS have been extended to January 10th.
Docking fees are free. No Imperial Entanglements, please.
Attendee Prices
• “Lead Character” (Friday night to Sunday afternoon, ensuite room, B&B, with entry to all games) – £99.
• “Secondary Character” (as “Lead Character”, but sharing a room with a “Lead Character” ) – £25.
• “Non-Player Character” (non-gamer, aged 18 or more, sharing a room with a “Lead Character” ) – Free
• “Non-Player Youngster” (non-gamer, aged under 18, sharing a room with a “Lead Character” ) – Free
• “Saturday Stand-In” (gamer, day ticket, for Saturday only) – £15.
• “Sunday Stand-In” (gamer, day ticket, for Sunday only) – £10.
More info and booking
A good reason to be at Dragonmeet!
Thursday 27 November 2008
If you should happen to be at Dragonmeet, you could get the opportunity to play the BITS Traveller skirmish game, At Close Quarters using this gorgeous model of a Type J Seeker. You know you want to!
TravCon 09 - Now Open for Bookings
Sunday 09 November 2008
We're really pleased to announce the return of TravCon in 2009. TravCon09 will, once again, be held in Sawtry at Redwing Lodge on the weekend of the 13-15th March 2009. You can download details of the con and information on how to book here on the website.
This is the UK's only Traveller focused convention. You can see pictures of TravCon08 here.
Important information: if you book before 6th December 2008 you can save money! Prices rise after that date; you can find full details on the booking form.
eBay cause (temporary) demise of BITS Webshop!
Sunday 09 November 2008
Unfortunately, due to the recent significant increases in eBay fees for webshops, we have have been forced to close down with BITS Webshop at Ancient Tomes. This is as we could no longer sell products without making a loss (we have never priced highly compared to other publishers as a deliberate policy) via eBay Shops. We are working on a fix, and should have a new facility up soon.
Thank you for your patience.
The BITS Team.
Thank you for your patience.
The BITS Team.
Website Glitches
Saturday 06 September 2008
Just a quick apology for the glitches that crept in this week to the website formatting. They should be fixed now, and were a consequence of some work to the site which will be revealed soon, once it's stable.
As a quick update, the team had a successful GenCon UK, and hope to have a short report and pictures up to share soon. Continuum also went well, with a one off playtest for This Fear of Gods, the other scenario being worked up as well as the Angel's Share Campaign.
Dom
As a quick update, the team had a successful GenCon UK, and hope to have a short report and pictures up to share soon. Continuum also went well, with a one off playtest for This Fear of Gods, the other scenario being worked up as well as the Angel's Share Campaign.
Dom
GenCon UK: 28th-31st August 08 - Loren Wiseman as special guest
Monday 11 August 2008
We are pleased to announce we will be attending Gencon UK 2008 from 28th to 31st August 2008 at Reading University, Reading, England.
As with previous years, we will be running a series of RPG tables using the new Mongoose Traveller ruleset. Our new RPG adventures will be based around the continuing saga of the trader ship Angel's Share in a linked series of adventures set in the Spinward Marches. Parts 1-3 were run at Gencon UK 2007 and Parts 4-6 will be the main feature this year.
As part of the convention, BITS Director Andy Lilly will also be running a special Charity Auction game with Loren Wiseman guest playing and the other 5 places going to the highest bidders.
We will also be running demos of Power Projection: Fleet, our Traveller starship combat game.
More details of scenario times and general convention details can be found at http://www.genconuk.com/
As always find us at http://www.bitsuk.net/ and http://www.powerprojection.net/ for more info on BITS and Power Projection
Thanks
The BITS Team
Supporting Traveller in all forms since 1996...Donations of anagathics always welcome
As with previous years, we will be running a series of RPG tables using the new Mongoose Traveller ruleset. Our new RPG adventures will be based around the continuing saga of the trader ship Angel's Share in a linked series of adventures set in the Spinward Marches. Parts 1-3 were run at Gencon UK 2007 and Parts 4-6 will be the main feature this year.
As part of the convention, BITS Director Andy Lilly will also be running a special Charity Auction game with Loren Wiseman guest playing and the other 5 places going to the highest bidders.
We will also be running demos of Power Projection: Fleet, our Traveller starship combat game.
More details of scenario times and general convention details can be found at http://www.genconuk.com/
As always find us at http://www.bitsuk.net/ and http://www.powerprojection.net/ for more info on BITS and Power Projection
Thanks
The BITS Team
Supporting Traveller in all forms since 1996...Donations of anagathics always welcome
Conventions Calendar re-enabled
Saturday 10 May 2008
TravCon 08 - Final Report & Pictures
Tuesday 18 March 2008
Neil has sent his final TravCon 08 report:
Saturday night ended with pretty much all the con attendees having a drink in the bar. Did we mention that the bar was open 24-hour? A couple of attendees checked the claim and found that yes the staff would serve until the early hours of the morning.
The TAS 24 hour bar.
Sunday started a little later than planed with two RPG games being ran. One by Max Kettley who was running his first con game for BITS.
Another group gave the combat system for the new Mongoose Traveller rule system a test run.
The afternoon session saw the end of one of the morning games and a short run out for the BITS classic scenario Family Business.
The Awards!
The con was wrapped up with a closing ceremony (posh term for getting everyone in the same room) hosted by our own Andy Lilly. A couple of
awards were handed out including the Ping, F*** It award. I'll leave the details so as not to get them wrong. With the closing ceremony ending with very long list of thank yous we all then started to thin out and make our weary way home.
Well that was the first of the resurrected TravCons. With a little bit of luck there will be a TravCon 2009, a bit bigger and obviously better.
--
All the best,
Neil
All pictures from TravCon 08 can be found here.
If you want copies of the higher resolution images and you attended TravCon 08, please drop us an email.
TravCon 08 - Survived! UPDATE 3
Sunday 16 March 2008
As TravCon 08 draws to a close, an update from Andy:
Bloody 'ell, we did it!
I'm going to have a quiet meal (non-Indian) and drink (non-Carling), relax (non-gaming) and tomorrow hopefully I'll pull together the pictures I took
and post them up.
Should be plenty of material for the next newsletter.
Thanks to those who made it a success. Missed those of you who couldn't make it.
Andy
Andy Lilly
BITS UK Limited (British Isles Traveller Support)
TravCon 08 - Traveller and Curry! UPDATE 2
Saturday 15 March 2008
Once again, our fearless
Hello again,
We've just got back from another fine curry. The afternoon slot saw another three games of Traveller. The evening slot is just about to kick in with a couple of games being played. We'll have to see what the morrow brings.
Highlights of this afternoons session were Cold Dark Grave get another run out and the fine George Wright's beer brought along by Derrick. Yes, Neil was able to find six players who'd never played Cold Dark Grave!
The prediction for Man of the Con goes to Simon who looks to be trying to run the whole of the Angel's Share saga at the con. All the best, Neil
Hopefully pictures tomorrow!
(Angel's Share is the new mini-campaign being prepared for publication by BITS.)
TravCon 08 is underway! UPDATE 1
Saturday 15 March 2008
TravCon08 is underway! BITS' very own Neil McGurk reports:
Hello from TravCon 08 to all who aren't just outside Sawtry.
We're well into the Saturday morning session now. Three games of Traveller played last night. The evening ended with a large game Chez Geek in the 24-hour bar! Won by Derrick, who then continued to drink until 4am.
We've now got three games of Traveller being played, with a couple more planned for this afternoon. Hope to get a couple of updates out during the rest of the weekend. The WiFi isn't free but it is cheap.
All the best, Neil
Hopefully we'll have more news and pictures this weekend.
Dom
LAST CHANCE for TravCon08
Monday 10 March 2008
This is your LAST CHANCE to register for TravCon08!
There is less than a week to go until the Con opens this coming weekend...
Demand for places has been good, however...
...we have ONE room left (as work/illness have cut the BITS team attendance) and we also have a number of day tickets available, and would welcome more people who want to play or referee Traveller (of any flavour). Come and take part in the UK's premier Traveller RPG convention, and even try out the new Mongoose Traveller playtest rules!
IMPORTANT: You must pre-register for day tickets, as they are not available on the day. Day tickets are £15 Saturday, £10 Sunday.
Register HERE!
New BITS Newsletter Available
Saturday 23 February 2008
BITS Members can find the latest edition of the newsletter available in the Member's section.
Conpulsion 2008, Edinburgh, 22-23 March 2008
Saturday 23 February 2008
BITS will be demoing 4 linked adventures (1 per slot) at Conpulsion 2008 at Edinburgh University, 22nd-23rd March 2008 for those of you living in that part of the world.
We'll be using the Mongoose Traveller 3.2 Playtest document as the rules unless MGP get the main rulebook out by then.
We'll be running In Search of Angels, The Rock, Ice Work and Ghosts from the Past in sequence detailing the travels of the crew of the Angel's Share in the Spinward Marches just after the Fifth Frontier War.
Conpulsion is an excellent con so if you live in that part of the world come along as there seems to be plenty on:
http://www.geas.org.uk/conpulsion/index.shtml
TravCon08 Registration now Open to All
Saturday 26 January 2008
BITS is proud to announce TravCon08 UK is now open to registration for everyone after two months as a BITS member exclusive. There are limited numbers of places left, so book soon!
This is the rebirth of the convention we used to run at Hebden Bridge, but this time down south near Sawtry.
Register HERE!
Happy New Year!
Tuesday 01 January 2008
Happy New Year to you all from BITS!
And what a New Year it promises to be, with Mongoose Traveller and Traveller 5 due out, not to forget the forthcoming TravCon 08!
Speaking of Traveller 5, the bundle of pre-order stuff arrived here so we'll hopefully have some thoughts on it for you soon.
Wishing you all well,
The BITS crew.
Update: 20 Jan 2007
Sorry this is so late going up, but we've been suffering broadband issues.
And what a New Year it promises to be, with Mongoose Traveller and Traveller 5 due out, not to forget the forthcoming TravCon 08!
Speaking of Traveller 5, the bundle of pre-order stuff arrived here so we'll hopefully have some thoughts on it for you soon.
Wishing you all well,
The BITS crew.
Update: 20 Jan 2007
Sorry this is so late going up, but we've been suffering broadband issues.
TravCon08 Registration open to BITS Members
Saturday 01 December 2007
BITS is proud to announce TravCon08 UK is now open to registration from BITS members. This is the rebirth of the convention we used to run at Hebden Bridge, but this time down south near Sawtry. Details can be found in the BITS members area of the website.
We will open the registration to everyone shortly.
UPDATE (3/12/07): The minor glitch on the electronic registration page is now corrected.
Dragonmeet 2007 is Today!
Saturday 01 December 2007
We are pleased to remind you that we are attending Dragonmeet 2007 at Kensington Town Hall today (1st December) from 10.00am.
We have the usual trade stand full of new and second hand Traveller merchandise, dice, figures and other fine products manned by BITS Director Andy Lilly. Usual BITS member discounts apply at the show.
The BITS Demo Crew are also be present running a series of new adventures including the Angels Share scenarios (In Search of Angels, The Rock and Ice Work) in both morning and afternoon slots. Throughout the day we will have exclusive previews of the new Traveller Starship miniatures by Ad Astra and will be running demo games of our Power Projection: Fleet starship combat game.
New BITS Newsletter Available.
Saturday 17 November 2007
BITS Members can find the latest edition of the newsletter available in the Member's section.
Dragonmeet 2007 - Yes, we'll be there!
Saturday 17 November 2007
We are pleased to announce we will be attending Dragonmeet 2007 at Kensington Town Hall on 1st December from 10.00am.
We will have the usual trade stand full of new and second hand Traveller merchandise, dice, figures and other fine products manned by BITS Director Andy Lilly. Usual BITS member discounts apply at the show.
The BITS Demo Crew will also be present running a series of new adventures including the Angels Share scenarios (In Search of Angels, The Rock and Ice Work) in both morning and afternoon slots. Throughout the day we will have exclusive previews of the new Traveller Starship miniatures by Ad Astra and will be running demo games of our Power Projection: Fleet starship combat game.
Newsletter - Final Call for Submissions
Thursday 13 September 2007
This is a final call for articles for submission to the next BITS
newsletter due to be released October 2007.
Articles should be submitted by email in plain text, RTF, MS Word
(10pt Arial) or Open Office (10pt Arial). Formatting should be as
plain as possible.
We are especially looking for artwork to grace the pages of the new
look Newsletter so if anyone wishes to submit artwork as well please
email:
richardtalbotuk@yahoo.co.uk
or alternatively
bits@bits.org.uk.
We are unable to reimburse authors/artists for newsletter articles/art
but full credit will be given. Consideration is being given to a best
article prize so watch this space.
Thanks and anyone with queries feel free to drop me a line.
Richard Talbot
BITS Newsletter Editor
newsletter due to be released October 2007.
Articles should be submitted by email in plain text, RTF, MS Word
(10pt Arial) or Open Office (10pt Arial). Formatting should be as
plain as possible.
We are especially looking for artwork to grace the pages of the new
look Newsletter so if anyone wishes to submit artwork as well please
email:
richardtalbotuk@yahoo.co.uk
or alternatively
bits@bits.org.uk.
We are unable to reimburse authors/artists for newsletter articles/art
but full credit will be given. Consideration is being given to a best
article prize so watch this space.
Thanks and anyone with queries feel free to drop me a line.
Richard Talbot
BITS Newsletter Editor
GenCon UK is nearly here!
Sunday 19 August 2007
BITS will be attending GenCon UK 2007 between August 30th and September 2nd at Reading University (http://www.genconuk.com/).
BITS Director Andy Lilly will be bravely manning the trade stand with a wide range of Traveller merchandise including our own range of Little White Books, with our most recent release Cold Dark Grave by Dom Mooney and Universe software and a good selection of new and second hand gaming products.
On the gaming front Richard Talbot, Neil McGurk and Peter Trevor will be running a range of 3 new Traveller RPG adventures during the 3 timed slots at 9am, 2pm and 8pm.
We will also have a demo table of Traveller: Power Projection Fleet and Escort with games timed during the day at 9.00am and 2.00pm.
All our slots are now bookable via the GenCon website and cost two gaming tickets per game.
BITS are also looking for a brave volunteer to help run some of the sessions so if you are attending GenCon or just even thinking about it, drop an email to richardtalbotuk at yahoo.co.uk or bits at bits.org.uk (or use the contact form on the site here) and let us know! GenCon do provide some benefits for GM's depending on how many slots they run so check out their website for more information.
TravCon 08 is coming...
Sunday 19 August 2007
TravCon 08 is a Traveller roleplaying game convention held near Sawtry (between Peterborough and Huntingdon on the A1M), currently planned to take place on the weekend of 14-16 March 2008. We have accommodation and playing space for 25-30 attendees for a great weekend of Traveller roleplaying (all are welcome, but initially BITS members will be given booking preference).
The hotel is comfortable, with en-suite facilities in all rooms, has ground floor rooms for a limited number of disabled attendees and a couple of conference rooms for gaming. The hotel provides breakfast; lunch and dinner venues include an adjacent Indian restaurant, small snack shop, or take-away from nearby Sawtry.
To help people plan their days and to give everyone a chance to play in several games, we will be organizing the weekend into a morning, afternoon and evening gaming sessions, with the opportunity to play BITS scenarios or to bring your own adventures to run (preferably having notified us so that we can advertise games to the attendees well in advance of the con). We also intend to run fun competitions of both Power Projection starship battles, and At Close Quarters miniatures skirmishes, there will be the BITS trade stand and a Bring & Buy (for any roleplaying stuff you want to try to sell to other attendees) and more fun stuff as we get it organised.
We’ve organised a deal with the hotel which gets attendees an ensuite room, Friday night to Sunday afternoon, B&B, including full con entry, for just £99 for BITS members.
Watch out for further details as they appear here on the web site.
The hotel is comfortable, with en-suite facilities in all rooms, has ground floor rooms for a limited number of disabled attendees and a couple of conference rooms for gaming. The hotel provides breakfast; lunch and dinner venues include an adjacent Indian restaurant, small snack shop, or take-away from nearby Sawtry.
To help people plan their days and to give everyone a chance to play in several games, we will be organizing the weekend into a morning, afternoon and evening gaming sessions, with the opportunity to play BITS scenarios or to bring your own adventures to run (preferably having notified us so that we can advertise games to the attendees well in advance of the con). We also intend to run fun competitions of both Power Projection starship battles, and At Close Quarters miniatures skirmishes, there will be the BITS trade stand and a Bring & Buy (for any roleplaying stuff you want to try to sell to other attendees) and more fun stuff as we get it organised.
We’ve organised a deal with the hotel which gets attendees an ensuite room, Friday night to Sunday afternoon, B&B, including full con entry, for just £99 for BITS members.
Watch out for further details as they appear here on the web site.
New BITS Newsletter Available
Sunday 05 August 2007
BITS Members can find the latest edition of the newsletter available in the Member's section.
Cold Dark Grave and Power Projection: Escort now available in the USA
Monday 12 March 2007
Mystic Station Designs have taken delivery of our new adventure "Cold Dark Grave", plus restock of Power Projection: Escort for the North American market. They have also got copies of pretty much everything we've written in the past.
Power Projection to be printed in the USA
Monday 22 January 2007
BITS are proud to announce closer ties with yet another game publisher. Following on from our collaboration with Jon Tuffley at Ground Zero Games to produce our much-applauded Traveller starship combat system Power Projection, we are now beginning printing of the Power Projection: Fleet rules through Ken Burnside at Ad Astra Games in the USA.
We continue to have stock of the original UK printings of both Power Projection: Escort and Fleet, but this agreement allows us to produce and distribute the updated version of Fleet more easily in the USA. We will continue to stock and distribute the original UK printing to distributors, mail order customers and at conventions, but will replace these with the US-printed version over time.
We will only be printing Fleet at Ad Astra; though Escort is a useful, and fun, lead-in to Power Projection, the economics of printing meant it wasn't worth producing Escort in the USA: for our first out-source to Ad Astra we wanted to focus on the complete rules set in Fleet and see how it went.
We intend to collaborate further with Ken and his team at Ad Astra on future projects, just as we continue to work very closely with Jon at Ground Zero Games with our upcoming Power Projection: Reinforcements book.
Andy Lilly
http://www.bitsuk.net/
http://www.powerprojection.net/
Power Projection site updated
Monday 15 January 2007
I've updated the Power Projection website to a new, more modern format in line with the BITS site, and added a free PDF download of an Escort class ship.
This is a conversion of the Traveller T20 Saberwolf Block 1 Fleet Destroyer into a Power Projection SSD. If you want the full details on the ship (the blurb and High Guard style stats and picture), you'll need to buy the excellent Traveller's Aide #7: Fighting Ships from RPGNow or QLI directly.
Have fun blowing things up!
Dom
Delays in Responding due to New Arrival
Friday 12 January 2007
I may be a little slow in responding to emails to BITS and sending them on to the relevant person, as I became a Dad on Tuesday with the arrival of my first child, a son. Ping me again if you don't hear anything for a week or two.
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
Scenario Playtest (16th December 2006, Edinburgh)
Friday 17 November 2006
"You've been loyal, hard working, god fearing farming folk all your years. But something just ain't right. Maybe it's this war, all that violence. Your dreams haven't been good these past few weeks, nope, something just ain't right"
Masks sets the players in the middle of the Fifth Frontier War as the Zhodani (psionic humans) prepare to invade your planet. But the dreams have been bad, very bad... (6 slots free, 4 hr adventure)
Richard Talbot will be playtesting this new scenario at ORC Edinburgh at 13.00 hrs on 16th December 2006. 6 players required. If you fancy coming along drop Richard an email.
Masks sets the players in the middle of the Fifth Frontier War as the Zhodani (psionic humans) prepare to invade your planet. But the dreams have been bad, very bad... (6 slots free, 4 hr adventure)
Richard Talbot will be playtesting this new scenario at ORC Edinburgh at 13.00 hrs on 16th December 2006. 6 players required. If you fancy coming along drop Richard an email.
Autumn Newsletter now available
Friday 13 October 2006
We're happy to announce to BITS members that the latest issue of the BITS newsletter, the Autumn issue, is now available for download through the secure Member's section of the site. All members were emailed a username and password yesterday. If you're a member, and haven't seen this email (from the YahooGroup), please let us know via the contact form and we'll try and sort things out.
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
Changes to the website
Saturday 16 September 2006
I've just upgraded the software that the website is built with from RapidWeaver 3.2 to RapidWeaver 3.5 because the newer version offers some advantages to managing the site (permanent links to blog entries, better functionality for editing and improved themes to name a few of the changes).
This has meant that I had to upgrade the 'theme' which provides the common formatting for the pages, which went smoothly as far as I can see. However, I haven't tested each and every bit of format and function, so I'd like to ask you to let me know here (via the comments to this news entry) if anything doesn't work as expected.
The 'BITS Members' section has been removed as I have completed the initial testing. It will return, and members will be contacted with details on how to access it. Our plan is to make the newsletter available through it rather than requiring YahooGroups membership.
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
This has meant that I had to upgrade the 'theme' which provides the common formatting for the pages, which went smoothly as far as I can see. However, I haven't tested each and every bit of format and function, so I'd like to ask you to let me know here (via the comments to this news entry) if anything doesn't work as expected.
The 'BITS Members' section has been removed as I have completed the initial testing. It will return, and members will be contacted with details on how to access it. Our plan is to make the newsletter available through it rather than requiring YahooGroups membership.
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
Testing, Testing...
Thursday 24 August 2006
I'm currently testing some new functionality on the site, so please do not be alarmed if you suddenly see new pages or areas you cannot access without a password.
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
Dom (BITS Webmaster)
Holidays at BITS Central
Saturday 12 August 2006
BITS Central is closing up shop for a couple of weeks for a well deserved holiday, so if you order anything from the eBay shop, please allow 28 days for delivery as our distribution side is not there to handle your order.
The current security problems for air travel are also proving problematic - there were plans to take a laptop to continue with the new books and updates to current books, but this is changing to hand-written edits. If you've seen hold baggage being handled, you'll understand why the thought of putting the laptop in the hold isn't attractive.
Dom (Webmaster)
The current security problems for air travel are also proving problematic - there were plans to take a laptop to continue with the new books and updates to current books, but this is changing to hand-written edits. If you've seen hold baggage being handled, you'll understand why the thought of putting the laptop in the hold isn't attractive.
Dom (Webmaster)
Brave New World
Wednesday 07 June 2006
This evening, I finally pulled the plug on the old BITS website files which were on my personal ISP's space. This means that any attempt to use the old http://www.asbf58.dsl.pipex.com/BITS_website/ path will now fail. We're totally committed to the new look, and hope you like it.
Dom
Dom
BITS Member's Newsletter due soon!
Sunday 07 May 2006
Richard Talbot is in the final stages of pulling together the latest BITS newsletter, with a plan to release through the usual route after Cannoncade next week. If any BITS members are struck by their Muse and fancy getting an article or review in the magazine, please contact us through the Contact Form on this website!
Welcome to the New Look!
Wednesday 29 March 2006
Welcome to the updated BITS web site. Webmeister Dom has tried to keep it simple and efficient, so that you can get to the information you want without being bombarded with needless graphics and special effects (somewhat of an analogy to our products - which we fill to the brim with useful stuff, rather than padding them out with needless pictures).
Just to reassure all our avid followers out there, the "little white books" of Traveller are still in production, with 101 Starcrews being our latest Traveller supplement. However, as each of us on the team grows that little bit older, our time for Traveller becomes necessarily constrained by personal commitments to our partners, children, jobs, etc. Of course, should any of us ever win the lottery, we'd be able to give up our jobs and do this full time. Alternatively, if any of you out there have a few million pounds to spare, please get in touch.
Once again, welcome to our site - I hope you find it useful (please send us your comments). We hope to keep it regularly updated with information on our latest work, including new products and our planned attendance at conventions.
Andy (Chief BITS Disorganiser)
Under Construction
Monday 02 January 2006
This is the new BITS website, and it is still under construction. Please visit the old site at http://www.bits.org.uk/ instead. Thanks!