Non OTU: Advice on a Colonial Game

[Daggerpoint]

My First Post on COI, and any online forum for that matter so please be merciful if there is a breach of etiquette but I digress I am in sorta new to Traveller and am in the process of crafting a custom setting (Described below) using the mongoose rule set with bits and bobs from other additions added as deemed necessary. Any advice for greatly be appreciated.

The Dream of Terra​

Humanity. We said we would send a man to space and we did. We said we were going to Luna and we went. We said we would inhabit Mars, we did, and what we found changed us forever. An ancient probe not of human design buried within the martian ice encoded with a data drive and shockingly engraved with the likeness of ourselves upon it's shell.

This find inspired a movement like none other experienced by humanity. The nations, the people of Terra united diverting decades of research and countless resources in a bid to decode the ancient alien data drive.

It payed off, decades of work and the hopes and dreams of humanity came to fruition when the French Ministry of Science at last broke the encryption and the results was outstanding. Despite being highly damaged with large portions of the data missing. It was clear that the drive contained a collection of blueprints. Blueprints that allowed the creation of a prototype Rift Gate.

Ignited by this discovery and fueled by an unyielding sense of wonder, humanity had alas broken free of the confines of Sol taking their first tentative steps into the galactic scene. When the crew of The Dream of Terra first set sail into the Rift, emerging among the shining stars and rich worlds that was once only settled in dreams but these first steps came at cost for humanity in it's eagerness to explore the unknown did not fully understand the technology it unearthed and the Rift Gate became unstable and collapsed, The Dream of Terra narrowly avoiding it's early destruction.

Cut off from Terra, humanities ancestral home and alone among a vast see of unknown stars and equally unknown species. The colonists of the Dream of Terra set sail into the black to find a new home for the brave souls aboard it's gleaming hull.

From there wandering The First City was born. The first human colony outside of Sol and the galactic face of humankind founded by those whom gave it their all to traverse the Rift and venture into the unknown. It is from the actions of these men and women of which you were born, Terra's best and brightest and it is in memory of their sacrifice that Prometheus Station will survive.

The Party's Role​

The party will take on the role of Travellers whom under the authorization of the Colonial Authority have been granted the right to explore the vast unknown of the Crixus Galaxy. Acting equal parts as explorers, merchants, scientists, diplomats and when the situation calls for it the unyielding wraith of humanity. While they are expected to act in the best interest of Prometheus and the First City, little oversight beyond the occasional report is placed on Traveller agents whom often find themselves in situations where contacting Colonial Authority is unfeasible.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

OK. Not OTU, no problem there. It is still Traveller though, yes? Meaning it is still using a defined rule set with specific technologies and design sequences for vehicles, ships, aliens and so on. When you make variations in hard sf, you need to take your higher tech differences into account.

With that in mind, consider the most important thing that varies from standard Traveller, the Rift Gate technology. This normally does not appear until TL22+ (depending on which version of Traveller you use). Is this the only tech that allows real or apparent FTL to another star system? Your colonists are cut off because of the failure of the Rift Gate. Now that they are in the Crixus Galaxy, how do they get to another star system within said galaxy without the Rift tech?

 

[whartung]

If the gate collapsed, how do the colonists get out of the system they entered?

 

[Whipsnade]

I always ask myself the same questions whenever I read something like this:

How does this backstory translate into actual tabletop role playing?

How does reading this backstory actually help you players in your session?

It's a nice example of creative writing. It's doesn't help the players one whit however.

Everyone goes through the same happy delusions when they first pick up the Traveller core rules whether it be CT or MgT. They see sysgen and suddenly want to roll up entire sectors. They see shipbuilding rules and suddenly want to design entire fleets and the history of entire fleets. The rise and fall of huge empires are mulled over, thousands of years of history sketched out, dozens of aliens are doodled on legal pads, grandiose plans of every stripe are begun, and nothing gets finished or used.

How do I know this? Because I did all those things and more!

A few years back, I found a WordStar file. (WordStar was a word processing program for computers using the CP/M operating system.) The file itself dated from 1984 or 1985 and was twenty-plus pages detailing nearly a thousand years of history concerning a trading clan. Thirty years ago I'd written with all the sincerity and enthusiasm of the intro you posted. Reading it thirty years later, I laughed, winced, and cringed. I also noted that 99.9999% of it had been of no use whatsoever in any campaign or session I'd ever run.

Your introduction reminds me so much of the stuff I've written in the past and, as the others have already pointed out, the stirring introduction you undoubtedly sweated bullets over isn't even internally consistent.

It sure is pretty though.

Dial back your expectations and aim at creating something you and your players can actually use. The idea behind your setting can be pitched in just a few sentences:

Reversed engineered alien technology created the Rift Gate which allowed Humanity to reach the Crixus Galaxy. The technology apparently wasn't understood well enough because the Gate has collapsed and there's no way to open it again. The colonists who transited the Gate and settled the Prometheus system on the other side are now cut off and on their own.

That's it. That's all you need to play.

 

[Quint]

Sounds vaguely Destiny-ish to me, but that's ok I really enjoy the game.

Ultimately it sounds fine, but I agree that less is more. It sounds like the intro to a CRPG that has a definite campaign arc to tell rather than the more traditional Traveller campaign. Now there is nothing wrong with that, but accept that when you make players part of an organization with a goal, they are going to work really hard to make sure they squeeze every last resource out of said organization to do so.

And then go back and do it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

If that's is something you are ok with, run with it. If you are not (and the players will get cranky if they aren't getting help from "Mom and Dad") then you might want to re-think the premise.

D.

 

[Adam Dray]

It's basically the premise of Clement Sector, which you can find all over DriveThruRPG.

 

[Whipsnade]

It's basically the premise of Clement Sector, which you can find all over DriveThruRPG.

Good catch and a good group of products.

The Clement Sector wormhole stayed open long enough for sizable numbers of people and assets to use it. At least enough to begin settling good portion of a sector.

Daggerpoint's version seems - seems mind you - to involve only one ship and/or colony mission. That, IMHO, would drastically scale back the independence of the explorers, merchants, scientists, and diplomats he wrote about.

 

[mike wightman]

It's an interesting premise for a game.

Which actual rule system are you planning on using?

How many generations of humanity have gone by in the new galaxy?

How do they het around - is it all in one system or is there some means of FTL?

 

[Daggerpoint]

If the gate collapsed, how do the colonists get out of the system they entered?

The hard way by using standard engines

 

[Daggerpoint]

It's an interesting premise for a game.

Which actual rule system are you planning on using?

How many generations of humanity have gone by in the new galaxy?

How do they het around - is it all in one system or is there some means of FTL?

I'm planning on using mongoose 1st. I'm thinking maybe six generations post colony and quite a many after the colonist where separated from Earth but before they settled the first city. I'm very much considering it being one system but FTL could worth if the new system is way way way far away from Earth

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Planetology

Decide on the characteristics of the planet the 1st city resides in and the rest of the home system. Whether you FTL to another system or not only one or two planets of the home system are likely to be naturally habitable simply because so many planets would be in the habitable zone. From there decide on the nature of other planets and technology.

Are the non-hospitable worlds fully self sufficient? If so that implies certain issues for life support technology and independent governments. If not, dependent governments and dynamics between the self-sufficent world(s) and dependent settlements.

Unless you chuck it and have a star system like the one described in the Battlestar Galactica RPG.

 

[Whipsnade]

The hard way by using standard engines

So they're going to "explore the vast unknown of the Crixus Galaxy" while "acting equal parts as explorers, merchants, scientists, diplomats and when the situation calls for it the unyielding wraith(sic) of humanity." in STL ships? And with light-speed communications?

If so, how does the Colonial Authority maintain it's authority when a single question and it's answer takes two years to cross one light-year?

 

[McPerth]

The hard way by using standard engines

So they're going to "explore the vast unknown of the Crixus Galaxy" while "acting equal parts as explorers, merchants, scientists, diplomats and when the situation calls for it the unyielding wraith(sic) of humanity." in STL ships? And with light-speed communications?

If so, how does the Colonial Authority maintain it's authority when a single question and it's answer takes two years to cross one light-year?

Unless the standard engines include jump (even if crude or low Jn one), while he Rift Gate is used for long distances...