1998's "What's New" at Pentapod's World of 2300AD

Dec 8th, 1998

Just found out, from a user ( Paul Thompson) of my character generation software, that I still had not uploaded the patched version of my character generation software to handle 200 Mhz and higher processors.  It is now online in the software download section.  Thanks Paul!

Note: Version 1.2 Beta is identical to Version 1.1 Beta, except for the processor speed patch.  You only need to download it if Version 1.1 crashes on startup, saying "Runtime error 200 at ...".

I'll put a new speed-patched version of the Animal Generation software online later this week.

Dec 7th, 1998

Updated the How to join the various 2300AD mailing lists page with two more lists, plus clearer explanations of what each is about.

Dec 6th, 1998

Another landmark has been reached; this site just had its 10,000th visit!  Thank you, everyone!

In case you missed it on my main menu page.  David Bolack, the owner of the 2300ad and greatgame2300ad lists, has moved them both to an internet mailing list provider ( www.onelist.com).

I have started a list for gamemasters to share characters ( PC or NPC) and creatures at www.onelist.com.

I have also started three lists for my website at www.onelist.com.

• The first is an announcement list to let any interested people know when my site is updated.
• The second is a list for anyone interested in providing feedback and/or discussing existing articles and software found on my site.
• The third is a private, limited-membership list for discussing ongoing beta-projects, which will eventually be found on my site.

Click for instructions on how to join either David's or my lists.

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Nov 11th, 1998

Pentapod's World is two years old !!!

Nov 6th, 1998

David has just the 2300 list working via a temporary workaround ( so it will be a little slower responding than usual).

Nov 5th, 1998

Both the 2300 and GG2 mailing lists are temporarily down due to an unexpected upgrade of the sendmail software.  David Bolack, owner of both lists, is aware of the problem and is working on solving it as soon as possible.  Please be patient, and stop back here for repair status updates.

Michael C. LaBossiere's Old Enemies adventure is now online!  You will find it on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Michael !!

Oct 26th, 1998

Two more of Clare Hess' Challenge articles, Where Ya from, Mack? and Where Ya from, Mate?, are now online.  You will find them located on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Clare !!

For all those starship designers out there, "Mission Kill" Odds in 2300AD Starship Combat will provide you with insight into just how tough your new design really is when struck by Kafer, or Human, weaponry.  It is on the Main Homeworld Spaceport page.

Oct 22nd, 1998

There are three new articles on the Best of the 2300AD Mailing List page.  Two provide campaign/scenario advice, and the third is cautionary advice about using the Kuroishi brown dwarf in your own 2300 universe.

Oct 19th, 1998

Oops!  I didn't upload the correct copy of my menu pages on the 1st, so you weren't able to access the new stuff.  This has now been corrected.

Michael C. LaBossiere's This is Only a Test adventure is now online!  You will find it on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Michael !!

The Ship Status Sheets for the British Exeter SDB, both French battleships, and the Kafer Delta battleship, as well as some updates ( mainly fixing typos) of some older forms are all now available.  All are on the Main Homeworld Spaceport page.

Aug 20th, 1998

Scott Ash has written The Mineman Saga, a four-part mix of fiction and American colonial source material set during the Kafer Invasion.  It is available on the America in 2300AD page. Thanks Scott!!

Three more articles from Jay Adan's 2300 Resource Website are now online:

• 61 Cygni Source File and 2300 Product Listing by Jay Adan
• The British Army in 2300 by Jason R. Weiser

You can find them in the menus of the Main Menu and Best of the 2300AD Mailing List pages.

Two more of Clare Hess' Challenge articles, AV-90 Marine VTOL and Leathernecks on Aurore, are now online.  You will find them located on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Clare !!  Thanks also go to Terry Kuchta for doing the text entry for both of them; he saved me a lot of time.  Thanks Terry!!

There are alternate turning rules for Classic Star Cruiser on my Main Homeworld Spaceport page.  Thanks Sverre!!

Aug 11th, 1998

Geocities has kindly provided subdirectories, and so I've created some, and relocated most of the pages into them.  Please email me, if you find any bad links.  Please include the page it is located on.  Thanks!

Jul 13th, 1998

I have received permission from Jeff Dee to include his original artwork for Clare Hess' Thorez article.  Jeff is a superb professional artist, who also designs RPGs ( co-creator of the 80's classic superhero rpg Villains and Vigilantes -- by the way, he is working on a new superhero rpg called Living Legends ).

Clare Hess' M17A1 Armored Personnel Carrier article, from Challenge magazine, is now online.  You will find it on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Clare!!

Jun 29th, 1998

The HTML text of Clare Hess' Thorez article, from Challenge magazine, is now online ( the graphics will follow soon).  You will find it on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Clare !!

Jun 19th, 1998

Michael C. LaBossiere's Drifter adventure is now online!  You will find it on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Michael !!

Apr 24th, 1998

One more Firearms Annex is online.  This one is by Jason Weiser, and it combines both of his two firearm articles from Jay Adan's 2300 Resource Website into one file, see the Best of the 2300AD Mailing List page.  Thank you Jason!!

Apr 23rd, 1998

For those searching for more weaponry for their PCs, the three Firearms Annex articles by Wayne Young from Jay Adan's 2300 Resource Website are now online, see the Best of the 2300AD Mailing List page.  Thank you Wayne!!

Apr 22nd, 1998

Gerry Smit's excellent Ghost Tank adventure ( version 0.9) is now available, see the Best of the 2300AD Mailing List page.  Gerry is planning on revising and adding on to this adventure based on feedback from listmembers, so check back again later this month for a new version.

Apr 20th, 1998

For those of you looking for adventures, Andy Slack's Gorgon Hunt is now available.  You can find it on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Andy!!

David Malesevich's USMC TO&Es for 2300 AD is available on my America in 2300AD page.  Thank you David!!

Apr 19th, 1998

The 2300 AD Art Gallery from Jay Adan's 2300 Resource Website, which features the fantastic work of Rob Caswell, is now a new section on my site.  I have run several of the images through image processing software to make them smaller downloads, which should speed up viewing.

Seven more articles from Jay Adan's 2300 Resource Website are now online:

• A 2300AD Timeline, Hyde Dynamics DR-2000, and Mitsubishi Intercraft 500R by Jay Adan
• Population Breakdown in 2300 AD and The American Government in 2300 AD by R. Townsend Reese
• The Quick 'n' Dirty Guide to Starports in 2300 AD by Roger Stenning
• The American Intelligence Community in 2300 by Jason R. Weiser

You can find them in the menus of the America in 2300AD and Best of the 2300AD Mailing List pages.

Thank you Jay!! and Thank you to all of Jay's Contributors!!

Apr 12th, 1998

The first section of my official complete archive of Jay Adan's 2300 Resource Website is now online.  The actual 2300 Resource issues have their own section, all the other materials/topics will be merged/added to my existing menu pages.  To help distinguish them, all of Jay's sites old pages will have a powder blue background, with Jay's logo down the left edge.  Thank you Jay!! and Thank you to all of Jay's Contributors!!

My Character Generation Program's database has been updated.  I added the Texas Ranger career from the adventure module Ranger.  You can find it in my software section.

Apr 7th, 1998

I've found another Challenge author, Michael C. LaBossiere.  He has kindly given me permission to host all six of his 2300AD articles from Challenge magazine.  The first, the adventure Rock 'n' Roll Never Dies, is now online!  You will find it on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Michael !!

America in 2300AD is my new section which covers both general and military information on the United States of America in 2300AD.  Two online friends of mine, who have both served in the military, have each individually come up with quite a bit of excellent work detailing the American military in the year 2300 AD, and their work will be hosted here.  Currently, there is an alternate timeline by Scott Ash ( for those who want something different from the official one), and two articles on the US military by Mark Ratner.  Thanks Scott!!  Thanks Mark!!

Mar 29th, 1998

A new article on New 2300 AD Careers from Old, and a new and improved version of my Info Warrior career are both now online, see the Best of the 2300AD Mailing List page.

A new ** BETA ** version of my 2300AD Character Generator software ( v1.1 ** BETA ** ) is available on my ( Download Files page.  It adds all ten careers, and some of the new skills, from FFE's ( originally published by GDW) Aurore Sourcebook, as well as the current version of my own Info Warrior career.

Please report any errors to me ( include as much detail as you can, especially any error messages), as this will allow me to release the standard Version 1.1 as soon as possible.

Mar 23rd, 1998

For those of you searching for new civilian starships, Greg Hunter's Canadian Atlas-class Freighter and Terry Kuchta's Canadian Rimbel-class Survey Ship are both online, see the Best of the 2300AD Mailing List page.
Thank you Greg!!  Thank you Terry!!

A sharp eyed visitor, DJD Smith, caught a few errors on the Monarchs of the UK page, and they've been corrected.

Mar 21st, 1998

For those of you looking for adventures, Andy Slack's Diamonds from Premiere and One of us Always Stays Awake are now available.  You can find them on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Andy!!

Richard Spake, has updated his site's URL

Mar 15th, 1998

Andy Slack's Social Class in 2300 AD and Just How Good is Sidearm-5, Anyway? are now available.  You can find them on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Andy!!

Richard Spake, a terrific artist ( SteveC's site hosts several of his works), has created his own website with some interesting variant rules and alternative history for the game.  Drop by and check it out.

Mar 10th, 1998

Three great Challenge articles are now available!!  You can find them all on 2300AD magazine articles page.

IEX and The Xiang by Deb Zeigler, with artwork by her husband, Rob Caswell.  Thank you both!!
( I had announced here, back on Oct 10th, 1997, that I had their permission to host these articles on my site ).

Cayuga-class Close Escort, the first of Clare Hess' articles, details an American starship.  Thank you Clare!!

P.S.  I've added the graphics to Clay Johanson's Davout article.

Mar 8th, 1998

Added new name lists for Canadian Starships and Scandinavian Union Starships ( Thanks Jens for the help with the Swedish ones!!).  See the Name lists for characters and ships page.

Mar 5th, 1998

Clay Johanson's third Challenge article, which details the ice mining outposts located on Davout, is now online - see the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thanks Clay!!

I've uploaded the corrected version of the German Hamburg-class Missile Cruiser, it now correctly shows a nuclear instead of fusion plant.  You can find it on my Main Homeworld Spaceport page.

Mar 1st, 1998

My NAM2 software will be delayed until sometime later this month ( March).  I have a bug which is causing intermittent crashing, and I'm still trying to track down where it is: my code, my compiler's library, or the operating system.  I cannot be more definite on the release date yet, as this is historically a very hectic month at work.

Further reverse designing and analysis, while testing my NAM2 software, has shown that the German Hamburg-class Missile Cruiser does not have a 65 MW Fusion reactor.  The only way for the official ship's mass to make sense, is that the power plant is the really the much heavier and more crew-intensive nuclear 65 MW Fission plant.  This means that the experimental 100 MW Fusion reactor will be the current lower size limit for Fusion plants, at least before the year 2305.  I've corrected my power plant page accordingly.  I'm sorry if this has messed up any impending designs out there, which planned to use this erroneous Fusion plant size/stats.

Steve C has restored part of his website ( "One Man's View of 2300AD" ), this weekend.

I've also found out that the 2300AD--Earthspace: Game Page is off-line.

Feb 23rd, 1998

After a year and a half of searching, I've located and spoken with Clare Hess.  Longtime 2300AD fans will recognize his name, as he wrote 3W's Operation Overlord, many Challenge magazine articles, and was the main editor of the 2300AD Resource ( Jay Adan was his assistant/co-editor).  He has given me permission to host all ten of his Challenge articles.  Thank you Clare!!

On a related note, Jay Adan, after considering that the two sites most recently hosting all ( David Bolack's) or a small part ( Steve Crutchfield's), are now essentially offline, feels it has been far too long since the complete site has been available to the fans of 2300AD.

So he has given me permission to fully resurrect the complete contents of his old website ( Jay's 2300 Resource Page ), and incorporate it into mine, either as an separate annex or as a merger of the two sites.  ( I'd offered to host it back in 1996, but David had already offered and been accepted a week or two before I asked.) Thank you Jay!!

Feb 21st, 1998

Steve C has taken his website ( "One Man's View of 2300AD" ) off-line, indefinitely.

Feb 20th, 1998

I have added the gif image for a New Hit Location Chart for the RPG, on the Best of the 2300AD Mailing List page.

I assume everyone has created their own homemade referee's screen.  If you like this new chart, then print it, cut off the excess paper, and tape it over the original one on your screen.  It is fairly self explanatory, but if you have questions, please let me know, and I'll make an article that explains it more fully.

Feb 19th, 1998

Steve C's The Crutchfield Compendium: A Task Library and his Trade: Local price calculation will now be hosted on his website ( "One Man's View of 2300AD" ).  Thank you Steve, for allowing me to host them.

Feb 17th, 1998

Tantalus, Inc. has allowed me to host GDW's Official Star Cruiser Errata ( this is the second, more complete version), which was included in some, but not all, Star Cruiser game boxes.  Thank you Tantalus!!

The Ship Status Sheets for David Nilsen's HD-9 Scout Junior, and for the Kafer's Improved Alpha battleship ( BB) are now available, as well as a revised version of the basic Alpha BB.  All are on the Main Homeworld Spaceport page.

Feb 16th, 1998

Erick Melton's third and fourth articles on Piracy in 2300AD are now available on the 2300AD magazine articles page.  Thank you Erick!!

Feb 1st, 1998

Main Homeworld Spaceport is my new section which covers both Star Cruiser and my NAM2/SC2 project.  It has new rules, new starship equipment, and new/revised ship control forms.

There are new control sheets for David Nilsen's Killiecrankie and Retief.

There is an article on Kafer Rot on the Best of the 2300AD Mailing List page.

Several new 2300AD sites have been created in the last month, see my links page.

Jan 13th, 1998

I've been able to find another Challenge author, Andy Slack.  He has kindly given me permission to host his ten 2300AD articles from Challenge magazine.  His first, Wired Society: Information Technology in 2300AD, is now online!  You will find it on the 2300AD magazine articles page. Thank you Andy!!

There are now 13 Challenge articles ( which I have secured permission to host) in my "to scan/OCR" queue.  My goal is to get one or two online each month, starting in February.

There is now a new guestbook ( I manually added all my old guestbook entries to it), and it automatically updates with your entry within seconds ( Thank you Geocities! ).  If you have not already signed it, please take a moment to do so.

Jan 1st, 1998:

Happy New Year!

There will be a slightly new look to this site.  In part, because I've using a new HTML editor, and because there will be a Geocities' Geoguide at the top of each page.  It is a small "price" to pay for a free website, and is less bothersome than the alternative, their floating ad window.

Old "What's New" entries are now here.

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