Have you ever created your own setting?

[sabredog]

I did it in 1977 out of necessity and surplus of imagination and haven't done it any other way since. Did it with D&D, too, when it first came out. Brining my own stories, drawings, and dreams to life in my own personal setting that I can then share with others is what drew me to, and I most enjoy, about RPG's.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Yes, indeedy!

Have been since 2008 and I needed to test various bits of T5. Before that I always messed with the made it myself Subsector just next door to The Marches but otherwise was the OTU.

Still working on the Permatic Imperium when I get the chance and inspiration and the time. I used to have so much time for such things, but no real inclination, now I find it the opposite.

 

[robject]

Have been since 2008 and I needed to test various bits of T5. Before that I always messed with the made it myself Subsector just next door to The Marches but otherwise was the OTU.

Still working on the Permatic Imperium when I get the chance and inspiration and the time. I used to have so much time for such things, but no real inclination, now I find it the opposite.

The PI needs a published sourcebook.

 

[salochin999]

By that, I mean "In part or in whole divorced from the OTU, effectively a new universe albeit using the familiar Traveller trappings."

If you have, what kind of changes do you make or what sets your thing apart from the OTU? Is it a variant or is it a reworking of it all?

I've attempted it quite a few times. The most successful was where I completely ignored any history, back story, empires etc and just rolled up two sub-sectors stuck together lengthwise left to right - so 20 hexes wide - with the players as released POWs at one end needing to get home to the other end with no ship, money etc.

It was good fun.

The cool thing about it was just treating each planet as unique setting rather than all part of something bigger.

#

The other attempts were to make an alternative to the OTU complete with back story, history, politics etc separate from the OTU (apart from using all the same equipment) and the reason was always to try and make more wilderness as at the time the OTU Imperium felt like its tentacles crept in everywhere leaving no cracks.

One standard change I always made was reduce the TL so the standard Jn was lower, this made specific routes more dominant and made it more plausible that systems off the main routes would be left alone to develop their own weird cultures. The higher TL equipment from the books was still available via caches of alien tech in ancient sites or as prototype versions.

#

Nowadays I just change the OTU to get more wilderness
- lower Imperium TL so standard Jn is J3 (navy has prototype J4) (Darrians are TL 15 and provide *magic* items)
- Imperium has caches of higher TL Ancients gear for elite units
- shorter history in the Spinward Marches, 3I took 900 years to reach the borders of Spinward Marches so they've only been around a couple of hundred years and the conquest is more raw and recent
- change trade concept so bulk of trade is along the main routes between major systems so the 3I mostly exists the same way, ignoring most of the rest of the sub-sector

#

If I was going to do an alternate setting now it would be a simpler version of the OTU, say 9 sub-sectors picking the most likely system in the middle sub-sector as the home world and assume they simply colonized outwards from there but have it so system defense is much stronger than attack so when the colonies got big enough they rebelled leaving a bunch of pocket empires around each major system (roughly one per sub-sector). They have wars occasionally over disputed systems but it's mostly a static status quo.

Once set I'd then take every sci-fi book and movie I can think of and have each pocket empire and each independent system be like a well-known sci-fi setting so for example one pocket empire could be like Star Trek Federation and one could be like Star Wars Empire, one planet like Judge Dredd megacity, another like John Carter of Mars etc.

 

[creativehum]

The most successful was where I completely ignored any history, back story, empires etc and just rolled up two sub-sectors stuck together lengthwise left to right... The cool thing about it was just treating each planet as unique setting rather than all part of something bigger.

I'm fascinated by this, because for that past few weeks I've been mulling exactly this: blowing off all concerns for an overarching political structure and just assuming the game might well work best in play traveling from world to world, with each world really being it's own thing.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

About that.

The PI needs a published sourcebook.

You should email about that, My Lord Patron who already has one under his belt (with nice thank you in it, thanks again).

Seriously, I am having problems there, I mean dude there is well over 10-20 thousand words to distill. Never actually had to do a solid, laid out sandbox before I am from the Winging School of GMing and I am having problems get it squared away. I want to put it all in, but I know that isn't necessary or even desired.

Help me, Obi Won Kenobi! You're my only hope.

 

[SanDragon]

Trust your feelings.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Easy for you to say...

Trust your feelings.

You aren't in the Trench, old man.

 

[salochin999]

I'm fascinated by this, because for that past few weeks I've been mulling exactly this: blowing off all concerns for an overarching political structure and just assuming the game might well work best in play traveling from world to world, with each world really being it's own thing.

It works great *if* you can switch your brain off from trying to make it make sense.

edit:

of course now I've said that my brain is trying to think of a reason it could make sense.

 

[creativehum]

It works great *if* you can switch your brain off from trying to make it make sense.

edit:

of course now I've said that my brain is trying to think of a reason it could make sense.

That is the issue.

I think I've managed to find the proper mix in MTU setting I've been (slowly) building up. Worlds lost, but that survived one way or another, after a Long Night, are now being exploited by Trading Companies with patents from the Great Noble Houses of an interstellar empire.

The empire itself is about nine parsecs in size. But I'm only focusing on a subsector outside the boundaries of "civilization." The model is more British Raj than American Colonies (that is, exploiting people and resources to bring back goods already there rather than settlements into "new" lands.) The folks from "civilization" look down on the people already living in the subsector. (Apart from a trio of J-1 Worlds, there is no J-Drive Tech and no interstellar community of any sort.) I want the arrogance of the Brits arriving in foreign lands to be a basic part of the attitude.

Thus, the left half of the subsector is still unexploited and disconnected from any overarching politics. The right half is dominated by a J-1 main with similarly once-isoliated worlds now being exploited and fought over by two Trading Companies. There will be a few alien races, a few remnants of the old civilization, and scattered and fragmented messianic cult across the subsector along the lines of the Bene Gasserit that can wield psionics.

I work only from Basic Traveller only, mixing a few element from the '77 edition of Books 1,2, and 3, into the '81 edition of Books 1,2, and 3. Common high end Tech in "civilized" space is TL 10, while Major Houses are now working with 11. Common Jump Drives are 1 or 2, with military long-haul shipping capable of J-3. Jump 4 is possible, but not yet common. Per the '77 rules there are Trade Routes, but not Xboat routes. Per the '77 rules, fuel is used to activate a J-Drive and is fully expended no matter the distance. Feudalism is really feudalism, with family ties and loyalties really carrying the day in the unwieldy distances of communication. Nobility and mercantile interests both meet up and clash. Feuding between the Noble Houses is clandestine and often fought through proxy parties.

Here's the link to the setting thread. The first pages lay down what the focus is that I'm taking from Books 123. The next pages discuss how I'm growing that into the setting. The specifics of the setting begin on page 6.

Like many here, the tension between free time and desire is slowing things down. The next step is to roll up the worlds and brainstorm their details. Working on that (slowly) right now.

 

[salochin999]

@creativehum

I think that works well - a kind of pre-Imperium.

You have a reason for a lot of unique worlds that have been isolated for a long time after a previous civ collapsed and then the first one to regain jump tech starts an empire but there are currently two waves to it: the inner fully Imperial wave where systems are being incorporated into a political union and an outer trader and adventurer wave which the empire hasn't reached yet. The Empire hasn't had time yet to build its fleets and armies and so traders with a cargo full of rifles are worming their way into the favors of the local political elite in systems further afield.

Which is pretty much like the early stage of euro colonialism with trading companies running ahead of the nations they were from and operating by using tech to make alliances with local elites rather than conquest.

Pretty cool

 

[creativehum]

Which is pretty much like the early stage of euro colonialism with trading companies running ahead of the nations they were from and operating by using tech to make alliances with local elites rather than conquest.

Yes, absolutely. I like stress points in social, political, and cultural dynamics. I want different factions with different and overlapping agendas. I want those stress points to crack, creating social, political, and cultural messes as things fall apart, are built up, new alliance are made, old alliances fail.

In these shifting dynamics there are the cracks for Player Characters to have room for adventure.

 

[aramis]

I'm fascinated by this, because for that past few weeks I've been mulling exactly this: blowing off all concerns for an overarching political structure and just assuming the game might well work best in play traveling from world to world, with each world really being it's own thing.

I see several discrete levels of setting "unification" as viable.

Big Imperium - the Empire is larger than the play space
Small imperium - the empire fills a largish chunk of the playspace
Borderlands - the space between two big (but largely off map) empires
Pocket Empires - a relatively small (2-4 SS or so)
No empire - no multi-world polities unless gov't 6 is rolled.

 

[maksimsmelchak]

What is the Permatic Imperium? Where do I read more about it?

Thanks.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[Quint]

My most successful Traveller campaign(s) were a set of interlinked campaigns involving time-travel set a recognizable Imperium, but involving an unholy amalgamation of elements from WH40K, the various Star Wars novels from the 90's, Dune, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

I've always loved the canon setting, but currently I'm working on a new setting that tries to go back to the LBB's and the RAW rather than the various contradictory setting materials. That's why I keep yakking about "the average planet" and "most common (military) assignments" because I'm interested what this says about the setting rather than the assumptions that I've made over the years.

Very much an "Age of Empire" setting, it is "The Imperium" after all - but one with a bit more frontier/exploration vibe. Different races, different map - but I'm liberally stealing those elements that "say Traveller" to me. At the moment I'm actually debating making it a very, very variant, "Lost Imperium" setting based on an alternate WH40K setting but I may simply drop that.

D.

 

[aramis]

What is the Permatic Imperium? Where do I read more about it?

Thanks.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

The setting of Magnus' highly successful PBP campaign using T5. And, like Robject, I think he really should write it up.

 

[creativehum]

What is the Permatic Imperium? Where do I read more about it?

Thanks.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

I don't know anything about it, and haven't had a chance to look at the links my searched produced, but here is a list of COTI threads tagged with "Permatic Imperium."

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Ah, shucks guys!

What is the Permatic Imperium? Where do I read more about it?

Thanks.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Shalom to you as well.

I have a blog full of Permatic Imperium posts here. Be warned, it uses grown up language (because it isn't on CotI, here I keep a mostly clean toungue).

The setting of Magnus' highly successful PBP campaign using T5. And, like Robject, I think he really should write it up.

Wow, that is two of you now. Okay, I will get back to work on it. Geez.

I don't know anything about it, and haven't had a chance to look at the links my searched produced, but here is a list of COTI threads tagged with "Permatic Imperium."

Thanks, creativehum. I thought there were more, but still that is some of the big ones.

Thank you all for the compliments, makes it worth the work.

 

[Blue Ghost]

By that, I mean "In part or in whole divorced from the OTU, effectively a new universe albeit using the familiar Traveller trappings."

If you have, what kind of changes do you make or what sets your thing apart from the OTU? Is it a variant or is it a reworking of it all?

When I was Refereeing I actually did take my players to very far out locations. Imagine you're part of a party of six or eight PCs double bunking on a type-S. Your nav software and other software is up to date, and your pilot is rated an expert. Well, the magic of being the Referee is that you are essentially "god" for the night, and what you say, goes. I say that because I would force a die roll for a misjump, although I wouldn't always tell the players. They'd roll, and whatever it was, I railroaded them this one time to get them to where I wanted to take them.

There's a shot at the end of Carl Sagan's original COSMOS TV series where he mentions a "Galaxy Rise". Suddenly that misjump (which I actually did) took both ship and players to some world way out in a "polar orbit" around the Milky Way galaxy.



The actual adventure dealt with some local raiders / mercenaries terrorizing the local planets. Normally that would be a huge challenge, only the opposition, though space faring, had inferior technology.

I also took my players to a Gamma World setting. I saw this Gamma World module;



To view the full piece of art, do a search for Larry Future Scape (http://www.starfrontiers.us/files/u4436/e-Larry-Future-Snowscape-2013_06_12-12-44-10.jpg). Needless to say, I bought this, read it, was somewhat dissapointed in the content, but still ran the adventure making the behemoth you see on the cover as the ultimate combat objective. Again, it was a mobile fortress that was from a long dead civilization, and where the captain and crew were descendants of the original crew and various conquered villages, and they had enough know how to keep this thing going.

I also wanted to take one of my player groups to Tolkien's Middle Earth, but never did. I had planned an adventure essentially taking that same group to Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky" or "Laputa", but never had a chance.

There were a couple of settings from fantasy comics that I touched on, as well as some paintings by Syd Mead. But in each of those adventures the Imperium was still there, but as per my other posts, hanging around in the background. Only my players had either gone to a world that was uncharted yet within the Imperium, or had been swept to some place exceptionally far away from the Imperium as to be way out of the OTU, but still carrying with them a Type-S with the Imperial sunburst, ACRs, or other equipment from the Imperium.

I still have lots of other settings that I would like to explore as both game environments for Traveller, or as visual media in the sci-fi genre apart from Traveller but with Traveller like conventions. Maybe something out of John Carter of Mars, or one of my favorite anime films; "Robot Carnival". It might be a hoot to push the envelope even further, and take that same group of players, and have them misjump to a parallel universe; and then plop them down in your favorite movie, novel or comic book setting.

So, the short answer; yes.

 

[rzg6f]

@Salochin999

The other attempts were to make an alternative to the OTU complete with back story, history, politics etc separate from the OTU (apart from using all the same equipment) and the reason was always to try and make more wilderness as at the time the OTU Imperium felt like its tentacles crept in everywhere leaving no cracks.

One standard change I always made was reduce the TL so the standard Jn was lower, this made specific routes more dominant and made it more plausible that systems off the main routes would be left alone to develop their own weird cultures. The higher TL equipment from the books was still available via caches of alien tech in ancient sites or as prototype versions.

I am kinda doing this right now. Between Toddler and Dissertation, I really don't have the time to make up a couple of subsections the way the should be done - barely have the time to play every two weeks. So for now it is OTU.

Nevertheless, I'm feeling what others are on this board. OTU too big, no more frontiers, lost that exploration quality, etc. I also related to the sentiments on the big fleet/small fleet space thread. I kinda regret not doing this upcoming campaign out-of-the-box Classic (and proto-) Traveller, I want that CT feel and I am using (mostly) CT adventures and a couple of Mongoose (Type-S and One Crowded Hour by Martin Dougherty.) But I also like the skill mechanism in Mongoose, task chains, etc. And, most importantly, I wanted to upgrade the technology to suspend the disbelief of my new players. For example, using memory chips instead of computer tapes, much smaller space requirements for ship's computer, etc.

So what I did was to substitute the Urnian and Reidan subsections (leaving Raechev and Alenzar for future flexibility) with the Brothers Keith Jungleblut and Taemerlyk subsectors from Far Frontiers Sector.

That gives me a small space of six exciting subsectors to sandbox (with a good selection of outstanding adventures to run): the edge of the Imperium in District 268; Naval administration in 5 Sisters; Minor-major powers of Darriens and Swordworlders coreward; and petty vassal states (Descarothe Hegemony, League of Sons, Domain of Alntzar, Four Worlds, Union of Garth and The Protectorate, which is resized and borders Darrien space) and non-claimed space spinward. Rimward and Trailing I am pretty much leaving as is. However, it is 1105 so I am backdating the FASA stuff from 1107 to mid-year 1105, which is when this campaign starts.

The redesigned subsections actually fit together nicely but I omitted the Trelyn Domain as Imperial Navy administration in 5 Sisters should fill that power vacuum. The more I worked with it, the more the idea grew on me and the more that feeling of nothing-else-to-explore-because-the-3I-has-already-taken care-of-it left. I'm getting jazzed up with the possibilities.

Our first session is in two weeks (we just did char-gen) and they will misjump probably somewhere in 5 Sisters to corew'd, plunging into a gas giant aboard a kaputt luxury liner. For consistency sake (one of the character's prior campaign) they had to start in Vilis, but that same character has a history with a Dr. Lorain Messandi, who is on an archeology faulty in the League of Sons. So I hope the characters pick up the trail in that direction because I think the redesign really opened up some good gaming opportunities without be too weighted down with the OTU.