Inspired by a rereading of TTB, with it’s CT sensibilities (small ships, TL9 Lasers as the only scifi weapons etc) I have started to think about a low TL campaign concept, and this is as far as I currently have got.
I am imagining a Sol system only, non J-Drive, TL9 campaign set in the early years of the 22nd century. Terra is still the same fractious mess that it is today, but colonisation and exploitation of our system has begun in earnest. Spacefaring nations (USSR, USA, EU, Japan, China, India) have been incorporated into the UN - Space Council as a subset of the UN, and operating in a very similar way to the current UN - Security Council.
Luna and Mars already have a handful of Terra government controlled colonies, each, and exploitation of each world is continuing apace. And, in Mars orbit, the building of a Space Council funded vessel to explore the Outer system has recently just begun.
The current frontier, and next step in exploitation is the Asteroid belt. Initial “proving” missions were undertaken some thirty years ago, and mining began in earnest some ten years ago. The belt is a free for all, grab what you can, and make a quick buck, and it “feels” very much Wild West and “Prospecting for gold in the Klondike”. Miners need to be registered and insured, and have to register an asteroid “claim” before they can start to mine it.
The Belt is administered by a Space Council funded and controlled bureaucracy, based on Ceres (the biggest object in the Belt) and named the “Ceres Asteroid Mining Authority” (CAMA). CAMA administers all miners and claims, ensures adherence to annual safety checks, conducts auctions for mined minerals returned to Ceres and generally maintains law and order in the Belt. It also has aquifers that tap into the slushy water supply beneath Ceres crust, both for ship fuel and to supply water to it’s massive hydroponics farms. These (along with carboniferous minerals mined from elsewhere in the Belt and sold at auction) provide a means of growing food in-situ, to be sold to the myriad miners.
Other largish bodies (Vesta, Pallas, Hygeia etc) are “owned” independently, and, in many case, have their own auctions, aquifers and farms. Some are corporately owned, but one is a rumbustious free for all owned by a commune of miners and governed by a charismatic ex-miner who made good.
PC’s would be the crew of a Patrol Scout (100dt Scout) and members of the CAMA Patrol. Tasked with keeping the peace, maintaining law, undertaking safety assessments, resolving disputes, rescues, emergency relief etc, they are THE emergency service for the Belt. Campaign would initially concentrate on these sorts of missions (maybe take 76 Patrons and turn it on its head? Rather than kidnapping a merchant it would be finding and rescuing a kidnapped merchant…?), but over time would slowly take on a “2001/Ancients leaving clues for the Humanity that they uplifted 50,000 years ago – give them the first steps to the stars” vibe also.
Ship shape and layout will be totally different, but keeping the same stats (generally). Layout would be Drives – Open Frame holding Fuel tanks – Living/Command. The L/C section would have its decks set at 90 degrees to the axis of the ship, so enabling a fake gravity effect from the drives. Cargo would be carried in 30dt modules attached to the framework “spine”, and so be easily loaded/unloaded by Modular Cutters. Passengers too would be in 7 “stateroom”/28dt modules, with the decks also at 90 degrees to the axis. I have converted the Scout and Free Trader so far and it has been quite easy and with minimal changes. I will get onto some larger vessels next, but since only Drives A-D is available at TL9, some vessels will have their G’s drastically reduced and vessel size will be capped at 800dt.
Ship Combat will need to be changed, probably by reducing vectors and distances by a factor of ten. Although I imagine ships operating at cruising speeds of 1G+ when going across the Belt, I imagine that, for safety, movement in near-asteroid-space will be restricted to 0.1G-0.6G. That also allows planetary templates for the asteroids – rather than them just being dots, as at the original scale.
That is as far as I have got for the moment, and I need to look at modifying the planetry rules and adapting some larger ships to my layout. All comments greatfully recieved, to assist my brainstorming.
I am imagining a Sol system only, non J-Drive, TL9 campaign set in the early years of the 22nd century. Terra is still the same fractious mess that it is today, but colonisation and exploitation of our system has begun in earnest. Spacefaring nations (USSR, USA, EU, Japan, China, India) have been incorporated into the UN - Space Council as a subset of the UN, and operating in a very similar way to the current UN - Security Council.
Luna and Mars already have a handful of Terra government controlled colonies, each, and exploitation of each world is continuing apace. And, in Mars orbit, the building of a Space Council funded vessel to explore the Outer system has recently just begun.
The current frontier, and next step in exploitation is the Asteroid belt. Initial “proving” missions were undertaken some thirty years ago, and mining began in earnest some ten years ago. The belt is a free for all, grab what you can, and make a quick buck, and it “feels” very much Wild West and “Prospecting for gold in the Klondike”. Miners need to be registered and insured, and have to register an asteroid “claim” before they can start to mine it.
The Belt is administered by a Space Council funded and controlled bureaucracy, based on Ceres (the biggest object in the Belt) and named the “Ceres Asteroid Mining Authority” (CAMA). CAMA administers all miners and claims, ensures adherence to annual safety checks, conducts auctions for mined minerals returned to Ceres and generally maintains law and order in the Belt. It also has aquifers that tap into the slushy water supply beneath Ceres crust, both for ship fuel and to supply water to it’s massive hydroponics farms. These (along with carboniferous minerals mined from elsewhere in the Belt and sold at auction) provide a means of growing food in-situ, to be sold to the myriad miners.
Other largish bodies (Vesta, Pallas, Hygeia etc) are “owned” independently, and, in many case, have their own auctions, aquifers and farms. Some are corporately owned, but one is a rumbustious free for all owned by a commune of miners and governed by a charismatic ex-miner who made good.
PC’s would be the crew of a Patrol Scout (100dt Scout) and members of the CAMA Patrol. Tasked with keeping the peace, maintaining law, undertaking safety assessments, resolving disputes, rescues, emergency relief etc, they are THE emergency service for the Belt. Campaign would initially concentrate on these sorts of missions (maybe take 76 Patrons and turn it on its head? Rather than kidnapping a merchant it would be finding and rescuing a kidnapped merchant…?), but over time would slowly take on a “2001/Ancients leaving clues for the Humanity that they uplifted 50,000 years ago – give them the first steps to the stars” vibe also.
Ship shape and layout will be totally different, but keeping the same stats (generally). Layout would be Drives – Open Frame holding Fuel tanks – Living/Command. The L/C section would have its decks set at 90 degrees to the axis of the ship, so enabling a fake gravity effect from the drives. Cargo would be carried in 30dt modules attached to the framework “spine”, and so be easily loaded/unloaded by Modular Cutters. Passengers too would be in 7 “stateroom”/28dt modules, with the decks also at 90 degrees to the axis. I have converted the Scout and Free Trader so far and it has been quite easy and with minimal changes. I will get onto some larger vessels next, but since only Drives A-D is available at TL9, some vessels will have their G’s drastically reduced and vessel size will be capped at 800dt.
Ship Combat will need to be changed, probably by reducing vectors and distances by a factor of ten. Although I imagine ships operating at cruising speeds of 1G+ when going across the Belt, I imagine that, for safety, movement in near-asteroid-space will be restricted to 0.1G-0.6G. That also allows planetary templates for the asteroids – rather than them just being dots, as at the original scale.
That is as far as I have got for the moment, and I need to look at modifying the planetry rules and adapting some larger ships to my layout. All comments greatfully recieved, to assist my brainstorming.
Last edited:
