<div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" color="#000000">Bap bins were introduced in Zebulon's Guide, but with very little information on how they can be effectively used. I've read many complaints about this, that it's introduced the Star Trek element into the game, but is that really a bad thing?</font></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" color="#000000">Beyond Star Trek, teleportation devices have been around in science fiction for a long time. According to Wikipedia... if you trust that sometimes untrustworthy source...</font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" color="#000000"> </font></div><div><font color="#000000"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="3">"<span style="text-align: left; text-transform: none; line-height: inherit; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff">An early example of scientific teleportation (as opposed to magical or spiritual teleportation) is found in the 1897 novel </span><em style="text-align: left; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Venus_in_Five_Seconds" title="To Venus in Five Seconds">To Venus in Five Seconds</a></em><span style="text-align: left; text-transform: none; line-height: inherit; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff"> by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_T._Jane" title="Fred T. Jane">Fred T. Jane</a><span style="text-align: left; text-transform: none; line-height: inherit; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff">. Jane's protagonist is transported from a strange-machinery-containing </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazebo" title="Gazebo">gazebo</a><span style="text-align: left; text-transform: none; line-height: inherit; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff"> on Earth to planet </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus" title="Venus">Venus</a><span style="text-align: left; text-transform: none; line-height: inherit; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff"> – hence the title." </span></font></font></font></div><div><span style="text-align: left; text-transform: none; line-height: inherit; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff"><br /></span></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000">As a sidenote, Fred T. Jane (1865-1916) was the founding editor of books on warships, such as <em>Jane's Fighting Ships</em>.</font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000">And beyond Star Trek, Doctor Who has used teleportation devices, as had Space 1999, and more recently the various Stargate series. </font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000">So, yes, bap bins fit into established sci fi tropes that the game is based on.</font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000">The few references to bap bins in Zebs inclues the preface where a Yazarian is walking through the Minzii marketplace.</font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000">"...All right you little pirate," the Yazarian snaped, temper flaring and teeth bared. "I have a few precious minutes before I <strong>'bap' </strong>to another part of your soggy planet..."</font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3" style="background-color: #ffffff" color="#000000">And the only other references to bap bins in the whole rulebook is in the skills section uner "Matter Transferal Devices" where Techex characters need to have a skill level of 9 before they can operate them. Since Zeb skills only go up to level 8, I guess no one can use them.</font></div><div><br /></div>
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