On 18/12/21 03:47, Kurt Feltenberger - kurt at thepaw.org (via tml list)
wrote:
> On 12/17/2021 11:45 AM, carlos.web at mail.de (via tml list) wrote:
>> <lurk mode off>
>> Something has been bothering me for a while in the basic Traveller
>> setting, and as I slowly prepare to return to DMing Traveller/Cepheus
>> after a long hiatus, I thought to turn to the collective wisdom here
>> to see what I am missing.
>> Mustering out benefits in the OTU and in other settings (Cepheus...)
>> often yield High or Low Passages. But then I have two problems.
>> First, what is exactly a High/Low Passage? It seems to be conceived
>> of as some physical ticket that will be accepted by a generic trader
>> in exchange for, well High or Low Passage for one jump, and that will
>> last indefinitely until used. But how can that possibly work in a
>> universe where the speed of travel is one week per jump? Say I have a
>> High Passage, which is pressumably a long alphanumeric code or a
>> crypto-ID. I give a copy to a friend, who travels to another world.
>> When we are sufficiently apart, and within less than a week fro meach
>> otehr, we BOTH use the passage. There is no way the unsuspecting
>> traders will uncover that it is being used twice. The information
>> that it has been used in point (a) will take weeks to travel to point
>> (b), where it has already been (also) used. I am puzzled.
>> Second, who exactly is guaranteeing these passages, and, most
>> importantly, why? In the OTU one could handwave it as being "the
>> Imperium," but why would the 3I want to take upon the enormous bother
>> of keeping track of the spent/unspent passages? Or is it a
>> decentralized form of providing perks, granted by all kinds of
>> organizations and coordinated by a central organization like the TAS
>> for a fee? The economics of this escapes me (disclaimer: I am an
>> Economics professor and i might worry too much here). And in other
>> universes without a large interstellar polity, who is granting them
>> at all? How do you cope with this IYTU?
>> Apologies if this has already been discussed/solved. I am a bit stumped.
>> Carlos
>> <lurk mode on>
>
> I always viewed it as a physical voucher (lose and it you've lost it)
> that is redeemed for "one person, one jump."  It's drawn on one of the
> megacorps' banks and may redeemed by the ship for the face value.
>
> Beyond that, I don't (and the players) don't need to nitty gritty how
> it works, just that it does.  By making it a physical voucher that
> must be redeemed (and may thus be stolen or traded), it keeps the
> larceny to a minimum.
>
> Kurt

Especially if a major player in that market (due to their comms
capabilities) is the Imperial Navy's banking arm, INCredit.  (Or, given
most ECM PCs' actions, INDeepDoodoo).

<Idea>

You think _megacorporate_ banks lack a sense of humour about counterfeit
travel vouchers?  Such free-enterprise vouchers aren't an Imperial
crime, unlike counterfeiting INCredit vouchers.  Such as the one the PCs
are trying to redeem...

</Idea>

Alex