Cepheus Engine Piper-Norton Sector

[Timerover51]

Some things that I will not be including in any rule set are going to be massive amounts of combat rules. I will have them for personal combat, and probably something for players shooting at vehicles, but as for the rest, not likely. There are plenty of good rules sets out there for miniature armor combat along with miniature naval combat. I do have a low opinion of space combat, especially if nukes are involved. As for aerial combat, I will have to look at air-to-ground rules, or maybe put all of my data on that in a separate book intended for a wider range of gamers. Again, there are aerial combat rules out there for people to use, and I see no reason to try to re-invent the wheel.

As for personal combat, I am leaning toward using a D100 system, rather than 2D6. Some of the air-to-ground stuff might work in a 2D6 system, but I need to get out my operational effectiveness reports from World War 2 and Korean to decide that. I am working up the armor rules for personal and vehicle armor, using Real World data for that. This range with this gun penetrates this thickness of armor with this type of ammunition. Roll for hit.

 

[Timerover51]

One problem right not is that I am not at home, with all of my reference material, and for some reason, the laptop with my digital data, at least some of it, is not picking up the wireless for some reason.

With respect to nukes and space combat, the smallest nuke warhead credited to the U.S. is 0.1 kilotons, which would have the blast effect equivalent to 50 tons of TNT. I have my doubts about the reliability of such a small warhead, as that is borderline "fizzle". Probably the smallest that could be viewed as reliable in terms of yield would be about half a kiloton, equal to 250 tons of TNT in blast effect. When a 6 ton Tall Boy bomb hit the German battleship Tirpitz and detonated, the ship structure for a radius of 25 feet disappeared, with massive damage extending out from that. That bomb was loaded with 5600 pounds of TNT, with the blast effect somewhat reduced by the bomb casing. With the one-half kiloton nuclear warhead, the blast effect is going to be considerably more than 100 times that of the Tall Boy. A hit with a 0.5 kiloton nuke on a ship is likely to take away about a 125 foot radius of structure as a minimum, or a 250 foot radius. I would have to do some number crunching with my Effects of Nuclear Weapons to come up with a more accurate figure. However, that is likely to take out most of the standard trading ships and small warships in Traveller, aside from ruining most anything larger. I am not sure what basis the SRD is using for weapons, but the nuclear weapon is way undervalued. Then there is the radiation effects that I really need to Effects of Nuclear Weapons for.

I guess I need to decide if I plug in some actual nuclear weapon effects in a table in my rules. I will have to give that some thought. I can safely assume that players are going to use nukes. It would be nice if they understood what they were doing.

 

[Diveguy]

The SADM package came in a little under 50 tons equivalent. Although I don't have access to the original test data, given that it was deployed for roughly 20 years I am willing to state that the fizzle problem was not an issue...

One problem right not is that I am not at home, with all of my reference material, and for some reason, the laptop with my digital data, at least some of it, is not picking up the wireless for some reason.

With respect to nukes and space combat, the smallest nuke warhead credited to the U.S. is 0.1 kilotons, which would have the blast effect equivalent to 50 tons of TNT. I have my doubts about the reliability of such a small warhead, as that is borderline "fizzle". Probably the smallest that could be viewed as reliable in terms of yield would be about half a kiloton, equal to 250 tons of TNT in blast effect. When a 6 ton Tall Boy bomb hit the German battleship Tirpitz and detonated, the ship structure for a radius of 25 feet disappeared, with massive damage extending out from that. That bomb was loaded with 5600 pounds of TNT, with the blast effect somewhat reduced by the bomb casing. With the one-half kiloton nuclear warhead, the blast effect is going to be considerably more than 100 times that of the Tall Boy. A hit with a 0.5 kiloton nuke on a ship is likely to take away about a 125 foot radius of structure as a minimum, or a 250 foot radius. I would have to do some number crunching with my Effects of Nuclear Weapons to come up with a more accurate figure. However, that is likely to take out most of the standard trading ships and small warships in Traveller, aside from ruining most anything larger. I am not sure what basis the SRD is using for weapons, but the nuclear weapon is way undervalued. Then there is the radiation effects that I really need to Effects of Nuclear Weapons for.

I guess I need to decide if I plug in some actual nuclear weapon effects in a table in my rules. I will have to give that some thought. I can safely assume that players are going to use nukes. It would be nice if they understood what they were doing.

 

[Timerover51]

I stand by what I said.

 

[Timerover51]

After looking at the Vehicle Design Book for Cepheus Engine, I think that is NOT going to be the way I will go with vehicles and vehicle design. As I am not that great at working with complex forms either, I will be using a different format for nautical ships, ground vehicles, and aircraft. I will need to adjust the Tech Levels a bit too.

Aside from giving a good list of usable vehicles, civilian and military, I plan on explaining exactly how to take an existing vehicle and adapt it to my concept of the Cepheus Engine. I will have to add sections on what armor is and how armor is computed, along with weapons data. I hope buyers will not mind using calculators to go from English to Metric, as most of my data is in English Units, and I am not sure how much work I want to put into listing both sets of data.

I think that I will put in at least a couple of vehicles in comparison to the Moon Toad stuff. A 38-gun frigate having fewer hull and structure points than a Greek Trireme. At the Battle of Lake Champlain in 1814, the British frigate "Confiance", carrying 37 guns, 30 on the gun deck, ended the battle with 105 round shot in her hull, ranging from 24 to 42 pounds. That does not include the hits that went all the way through, the ones that took down her masts, or the ones through gun ports that took out guns and gunners without staying in the hull. I cannot even imagine a Greek Trireme surviving taking 20 hits to the hull, aside from the absolute havoc that would wreak with the oarsmen. She would be wood splinters. A bow rake from even one of the 20-gun ship-sloops the U.S. Navy was turning loose on the British in 1814 would turn a trireme into a drifting wreck, with most of the crew dead or dying. Blakely and the "U.S.S Wasp" could probably ruin a dozen of them with no casualties. The bottom line is that the characteristics of all military vehicles will be based on combat results whenever possible.

 

[whartung]

Frankly, from a gaming perspective, all that matter in the final result of whatever conversions that happen is their affects on combat.

Vehicles move, over terrain, they have weight/mass, they have size, they have internal parts that don't like high velocity metal bits running through them, nor highly energized elementary particles.

How much they cost, how much they carry, how much fuel do they take, are pretty much secondary to most game affects.

What you specifically don't want or need, IMHO, is any sense of "balancing" the system from an economic to a combat metric. I don't know if anyone has done any kind of capability to economic cost balancing sweep through the classic traveller systems.

I honestly don't think it matters, especially for a role playing game.

 

[Timerover51]

I am working on the bestiary, and trying to cover all of the possible pack and draft animals that I have images of and data for. So far, that list is as follows: dogs, burros, mules (standard and large), horses (standard and draft), oxen, elephants, reindeer, llamas, and pack bullocks.

Working on the herbivores and predators, and then there is the water creatures. I have some nice images of strange-looking critters that make for some interesting larger creatures. I still need a good Dunkleosteous for the armored crush jaw of El Paso.

 

[Timerover51]

Note to Self. NO anagathics in the rules for the sector. Time travel, involuntarily, might occur, but no anagathics.

 

[coliver988]

Note to Self. NO anagathics in the rules for the sector. Time travel, involuntarily, might occur, but no anagathics.

wish we had a laugh reaction. I can see an ATU with that in place. Although it may not stop people for searching for some mythical fountain of youth.

 

[Timerover51]

wish we had a laugh reaction. I can see an ATU with that in place. Although it may not stop people for searching for some mythical fountain of youth.

I will never say that they cannot look for it. I will say "Be careful what you wish for".

 

[Timerover51]

Back to thinking on some magic rules for the sector. Looking at my older D&D stuff, along with Spell Law and Middle Earth Roleplaying. I may have to have two systems, one for the NPCs encountered on various planets where they already know magic works, and then one for players who discover that their character can do magic. Still working on that, with Andre Norton's books as one of my guides. I keep thinking that you have two kinds of magic, one being more of an orderly school approach like Spell Law and MERP, and then the "Wild Talent" kind, which is closer to most of D&D and also the Harold Shea stories. If you have not read Fletcher Pratt's Harold Shea stories, you should do so. It is all Alternative Universe stuff, and very well done. One of Shea's problems is spells being unexpectedly stronger than though, and those nasty unanticipated side effects.

 

[wellis]

So is your Traveller setting, in some areas, a "Lasers & Sorcery" style of setting, where magic is eerie and dangerous ala Conan the Barbarian?

 

[Timerover51]

So is your Traveller setting, in some areas, a "Lasers & Sorcery" style of setting, where magic is eerie and dangerous ala Conan the Barbarian?

I am not sure that I follow you. If you mean the Conan the Barbarian movies, I have not seen them. I have read all of the Conan stories by Howard, and have them all, but when you get right down to it, there is not that much sorcery in them. There is a lot of use of powders from various forms of the lotus, some necromancy and calling of various supernatural creatures and demons, but not really that much magic in the line of D&D. If you mean the Conan the Barbarian game, I do not have it.

As for lasers, I am not that much a fan of personal energy weapons, so the personal weaponry is going to be similar to H. Beam Piper's books. Ship lasers for anti-missile defense, yes, however, I have questions as to the effectiveness of lasers in space combat. I am not sure how much of that I will add in, verses simply recommending that if the players want space combat, just get the regular rule set. I am looking more at what happens when the players are dirt-side.

As for magic being dangerous and eerie, on the planets where it works, it might be that for the players, unless they have some background in D&D. Otherwise, if might not be that unusual. I keep thinking of the implications of a world where magic works, and it differs a bit from D&D and Middle Earth Roleplaying. Some forms will be common, and some will not be. Things like "Continual Light Lanterns" with blackout shields are going to be around, the main thing will be how much they cost. Healing is going to be around, but I am playing with that as well. Basically, it is a case of creating some of my own fantasy rules, drawing on a wide range of sources, that work with the Cepheus Engine, or not, as the case my be.

 

[Timerover51]

I have pretty much put this on the far back burner.

 

[Timerover51]

Off of back burner. Spending some time in Shipshewana always seems to kick my creative side into overdrive. I need to do some more work on Vinland, and for El Paso, I have been working on trading planets within the vicinity, and what might be going there for a Free Trader to carry.

I might have to change some of the population values in the sector as well, now that it has simmered a bit. Also, try to consolidate all of my various posts covering planets into one coherent place and make sure that they are all consistent.

 

[Timerover51]

Now, I am working on the trade possibilities of El Paso to various nearby planets, roughly within a 6 parsec radius, two Jump-3 or 3 to 6 weeks in hyperspace, along with more extended write-ups on the Sword sub-sector, and Vinland. Would there be interest in my posting them somewhere? I probably would add an alternate trade goods table along with the stowage factors for some items where I have them, and how I determine what goods would be available and what trade goods might be wanted on the various planets.

 

[Timerover51]

Well, I did not realize how many planets were within 6 parsecs of El Paso, given that it is near the junction of 4 sub-sectors. It turns out to be 18, which is about twice what I thought. That means working up 18 brief planet descriptions along with figuring out what trade goods each planet may have for export and what will they be interested in. Some of the planets will have limited export goods, while needing just about everything brought it, while others are self-sufficient, and will be interested mainly in what could be called "luxury goods" or unique goods or items. What will help is that some of the planets are coming from Piper's works, hence the sector name, so I already have an idea about the planet. No planets from any of Andre Norton's works, but those will be coming.

The most common Free Trader and Subsidized Merchant ships are probably going to be either Jump-2 or Jump-3 ships, or Hyperdrive-2 ships covering a parsec a week. There will be some Hyperdrive-1 ships, covering a parsec a month, poking around, mainly between adjacent star systems or the odd charter trip needing an inexpensive ship. Some planets are going to finance a couple of Subsidized Merchants just to maintain interstellar communication and trade in a more sparsely populated sector. That means coming up with the principal city names for the planets likely to do this, as that would also be the star port location in some cases. There is a lot of Balkanized planets based on low planetary populations that are spread out over a planet. Those will mean more than one star port probably, and I am not sure if some might have more than one Subsidized Merchant line.

I do need to get the revised trade goods table worked up pretty soon too.

 

[Timerover51]

Background Stories

I am in the process of designing my first ship for the new sector, and putting together the background of it. This, in turn, is forcing me to look at more than just the basic background of the ship, but of some of the sub-sector planets as well.

The Simple Simon is a 600 dTon Subsidized Merchant, capable of Jump-3 and 1-G acceleration, presently on the ground at El Paso, in the Sword Sub-sector of the Piper-Norton Out Rim Sector. The captain, Thomas Norton, is in the process of trying to sell to El Paso 6 containers of saltpeter, 240 tons, and 12 containers of a mix of sheet and ingot steel, totaling 480 tons. The 6 containers of synthetic textiles are barred from entry, and will need to be sold later. He is waiting on tests on the saltpeter, to determine its level of purity for use in gunpowder, to see if he gets the price of gunpowder-quality saltpeter or a fertilizer price for the lot. He is hoping that El Paso government will take the steel to use in trade with its steel suppliers on New Texas, as it its current form, it is not usable on El Paso. In the meantime, the broker for El Paso is looking to see what cargo they can put together for the Simple Simon for sale elsewhere.

The Simple Simon is out of Torc, on Brisingamen, a Tech Level 7 planet located in the Odin Sub-sector, adjacent to the Sword Sub-sector. The ship was built on Baldur, one of the most advanced planets in the entire sector, so it is a Tech Level 12 ship, and it is the second subsidized merchant built for Brisingamen. The first, Freya's Gift, is primarily used on the Baldur-Brisingamen run to ensure the interstellar trade for Brisingamen. The Simple Simon was built to engage in speculative trade with nearby planets, along with passenger and cargo carrying. (Note to self: think about passengers, not just cargo. Did any arrive on El Paso via the Simple Simon? Had not thought about that.)

Brisingamen is a Balkanized world, with a population of slightly over 7 million. However, the various groups realized that the low technology base and somewhat isolated position verses other planets in the sub-sector could relegate them to backwater status with respect to interstellar trade if they did not act together and do something. Freya's Gift was built to satisfy one block's desire for regular trade with Baldur, while the Simple Simon was built for another block's desire for more aggressive trade throughout the Odin and adjacent sub-sectors, thinking that there would be more money to be made in speculative trading than straightforward cargo runs. So far, the verdict is still out as to what strategy is more profitable.

Note, this background data is a work in progress, will be expanded on, and may change. If nothing else, it is helping with fleshing out the details on the raw UWP of the planets in the sector.

 

[Timerover51]

There is an ongoing discussion in another thread about an "Old Gods" sector, with an interesting approach. I have been thinking along the same lines in my Out Rim sector. If you have ever read A. Bertram Chandler's stories about Kinsolving's Planet and the very odd things that happen there, you can get an idea about my way of thinking.

As I see it, near the Rim of the Galaxy, the fabric of the Universe gets stretched a bit, and things can leak through from other universes. Some of the planets in the sector exist in two universes at once, ours and an adjoining one. When you jump or hyper into one of those systems, you are in what I call a doorway between the two universes. You can go through the door, but being from this universe, you will have a very strong tnedency when you lieave the system to stay in our universe. To get to the other universe, you will need some help. i do need to work on that.

Some of the planet names in the various sector should give you some idea as to what you might encounter though. I have been drawing on all of my reading for them. The further you go out, the more chances there are of meeting someone from the pages of legend, myth, fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, and science fiction.

Some samples: Manannan Mac Lir, Jumala, Xecho, Uldune, Zarathusta, Warlock, Inverdahl, Ptah, Aegir, Nemo, Jabberwock, Amra, Barsoom, Warden, Mongo, Triangle, Jotunheim, Ouroborus, Cimmeria, Xanadu, and Bast

 

[Timerover51]

I will need to work Sword of Cepheus into my Out Rim sector, as the rules would work well on some of the worlds. I will need to work out what some extremely powerful deity-type characters might have in terms of abilities, but I do have the D&D pantheons to draw on for examples. One question to resolve is whether or not the beings are restricted to a single planet, or can they operate within the borders of an entire sub-sector with a little spill over into adjoining ones.

Then there are the Krell and Space Baldies to add to the mix. There will be no living Krell or Baldies, but their relics, artifacts, and machinery is still around. I do not think that I will add a brain-boost device from the Krell, but I might plug in some of Andre Norton's ideas as being leftover from the Krell. As for the Baldies, I need to think about relic monitoring posts and maybe some ship graveyards. The drive that Norton uses in Galactic Derelict is not too far from what I call Hyperdrive-2.