creativehum
SOC-14 1K
FYI... this bit of info so startled me I went to A:1 looking for it. It isn't there.
It is in A:3.
IMTU. A new (old) start
- Thread starter Cryton
- Start date
FYI... this bit of info so startled me I went to A:1 looking for it. It isn't there.
It is in A:3.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
It's in A:2 as well.
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
If you're willing to field another question, I'm curious about which "basic rolls" you use. Do you use the Cargo and Passenger rolls? Some other method?
I think many of us here are seeing eye-to-eye on several matters, and as I prepare my notes and campaign, curious how you set up.
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
Correct!
How'd I forget Forboldn? It was one of Hans' favorites.
I wonder whatever happened to all his materials...
Edit: Sorry about the brain fart, guys. It is in A:2 and A:3, not A:1.
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I am guessing that this is referring to what eventually became the gap represented by Vland, Lishun, and Antares Sectors (as the Greater and Lesser Rift do extend for thousands of parsecs Rimspinward and Coretrailing, respectively, other than at this particular location (per the Orion Arm map in Security Leak magazine)?
TravellerMap: http://travellermap.com/?options=58363&x=32.628&y=-39.553&scale=0.578125
The question now becomes how much did the size of that gap change between when A:2 was written and when those sectors and their positions were sketched out?
You can squint at the passage in question, squint at the map, and decide that an entire sector plus portions of two others can be called a "gap". I know Hans did, but he was always tilting at those windmills thinking he could eventually make all those disparate pieces of canon somehow fit.
I think the gap they had in mind when they wrote that passage was much smaller, perhaps smaller than a subsector, perhaps just a bridge of stars.
I use the Spinward Marches as the main area of play and the Sectors that surround it if needed. And I use pretty much all the Library Data, including the stuff that has been reconnected out in other editions, makes for a bit of fun when I give two different Library Data entries on the same subject and they are different. As my players are fond of saying "Don't believe everything you read on the web". Primarily though, my Traveller universe can be summed up by the entries in CT BKs 4 - 5, and Striker, Adv 1 - 4, and Supps 1 - 4.
Oh and I reconned this:
to this:
If my players want to fill up on freight, I ask them where they are filing their flight plan to, and roll for cargos that are going there as per the '83 revenue rules. Look at the stats and trade codes of the world they are on, and where they say they are going, and then "make $#!7 up". :devil:
As for my set up, aside from a patron encounter, I seldom have much if anything prepared, and tend to run off the cuff. My players love it. Only readon I can do it, is I have been playing some form of Traveller for the last 30+ years, and am REALLY familiar with the materials.
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Note that in a pure Bk 1-3 setting, the average spacing has to be 4 to present a challenge to navigation at TL9. Thinning out a run through with a J1 trace through it would make it valid.
In later, HG derived, approaches, it only needs to be an average separation of 2... because HG limits speed by TL directly.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Nice one.
I have made a document of all the library data from A1-3 plus this from the Spinward Marches library data:
This is one of my favourite quotes for defining the third Imperium in my TU.
This I like
I can make an entire evening's fun out of three rolls on the patron table and three on the random person encounters - I then map how they interact with each other, order of the encounters and then throw the group into it.
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
Mike, can you expand on this technique?
And Cryton, if I'm pulling this thread too far afield, let me know. But I'm not sure if it's worth building whole new thread, yet.
I do think that how one preps and how one plays is part and parcel of the kind of Traveller one is playing. I think we're discussing a looser, more improvisatory style of play that was common in the first years of the game. So I think it still might fit in this thread.
Let me know!
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Easiest way is with an example (note that this is using the 81 version of LBB3 - Starter Edition and The Traveller Book actually have much more comprehensive tables)
I roll on the patron table and get:
rumour, avenger, army
next I roll on random person encounter
workers, animal encounter (a roll of 6,n I take as animal or alien) and ambushing brigands.
I pick the starting encounter:
Lets say the players encounter some workers who are obviously agitated, discussion with them reveals that the industrial plant they have been operating has been closed due to rumours of some violent native beast, and that some hotheads are thinking of going to hunt the animals down. There is a rumour that the animals in question have highly valuable (insert whatever you want here - anagathic glands, valuable fur, expensive blubber - whatever).
Players may or may not join the hunt, but they have been seen talking to the workers.
Next encounter depends - if they go on the animal hunt then they may encounter the ambushing brigands who are also after the animals, or they may encounter the army patrol guarding the industrial site and containing the animals.
If they don't go on the hunt they are approached by the avenger who has lost (family member, best friend, whatever will pull players in) and offers to guide the players past the workers/army guards to get to the animals.
If they went along with the workers they may still encounter the avenger being attacked by the brigands/army patrol.
It's fairly organic - I may decide to change the encounter order in response to player actions, and reaction rolls may make things more tense than they need to be.
And at some point I have to generate the animal stats...
I roll on the patron table and get:
rumour, avenger, army
next I roll on random person encounter
workers, animal encounter (a roll of 6,n I take as animal or alien) and ambushing brigands.
I pick the starting encounter:
Lets say the players encounter some workers who are obviously agitated, discussion with them reveals that the industrial plant they have been operating has been closed due to rumours of some violent native beast, and that some hotheads are thinking of going to hunt the animals down. There is a rumour that the animals in question have highly valuable (insert whatever you want here - anagathic glands, valuable fur, expensive blubber - whatever).
Players may or may not join the hunt, but they have been seen talking to the workers.
Next encounter depends - if they go on the animal hunt then they may encounter the ambushing brigands who are also after the animals, or they may encounter the army patrol guarding the industrial site and containing the animals.
If they don't go on the hunt they are approached by the avenger who has lost (family member, best friend, whatever will pull players in) and offers to guide the players past the workers/army guards to get to the animals.
If they went along with the workers they may still encounter the avenger being attacked by the brigands/army patrol.
It's fairly organic - I may decide to change the encounter order in response to player actions, and reaction rolls may make things more tense than they need to be.
And at some point I have to generate the animal stats...
That's slick on the encounter/patron interaction. I almost feel stupid sinking money into Patrons material.
On the cargo and passengers bit, I allow for multiple ports of call defined ahead of time to fill out the ship's manifest. Also good to roll up what the cargo is, just because there can be story/action wrapped around that.
On the cargo and passengers bit, I allow for multiple ports of call defined ahead of time to fill out the ship's manifest. Also good to roll up what the cargo is, just because there can be story/action wrapped around that.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I prefer putting together a variety of cargos based on what the departure planet may have for transport, and then let the players determine where they are going next.
Say that the departure planet is Poroxlo for a Jump-1 Free Trader, with possible ports of call either Rhylanor or Jae Tellona. Rhylanor is a high population planet with a very thin and tainted atmosphere, while Jae Tellona is a Desert World. Porozlo is basically an Terra-normal planet, albeit with a high population and is a Balkanized world. Agricultural products would probably command a good price on either Rhylanor or Jae Tellona, with any form of sea food being exceptionally profitable on Jae Tellona. Wood products may also find a good market, while slightly higher Tech Level items would be good for Jae Tellona. Possible small shipments for the Navy bases might also be available, and may have higher than normal shipment payments if a priority cargo. Then, as Porozlo is a Balkanized World, one of the other governments may maintain a small starport under its own control for its own subsidized trading purposes, and be willing to make a willing Free Trader a highly profitable ship.
There are all sorts of possibilities for cargo with just those three planets to work with.
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Eh, too much logic in dealing with supply and demand is draining, and doesn't deal with speculation and madness. Go wild says I.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Just the way my mind works. The objective for any Trader is to turn a profit and keep at least one cent ahead of expenses. See signature regarding logistics. I do find logistics to be fascinating.
So do I, but I keep in mind all the crazy things that actually get done too, along with the sensible, and things that look crazy but are logical within their own framework, not to mention adventure hooks.
A load of conventional pesticide chemicals to an ice planet? Madness!
Unless..... something else is going on....
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Some of the common pesticides would be interesting alternatives to nerve agents, just would take a bit more to be lethal. Phosgene, chlorine, and hydrogen cyanide can be purchased in barge load lots. Or large shipments of oxygen tanks to a planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, or to Titan.
As for getting creative, I was once told by a Marine Colonel that I had a very devious mind. I greatly appreciated the compliment.
Could be a clandestine chemical weapons factory.
Or there is a bioweapons research facility that has need of killing experiments and maintaining containment.
Or there is a really bad bug problem at a facility, and it's no big deal, or is a REALLY big deal (remember no natural predators in space you don't bring along).
Or it's atmosphere for a secret alien embassy/trade mission/spy exchange.
Or for us it kills bugs, for methane breathers it's an illegal recreational drug and the deal is going down through an off-route low-end starport.
That's what I mean by not getting hamstrung by tables that say X good is drawn to Y planet with Z demand. Like the oddball planet roll, there is adventure waiting in the weird results.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Any pharmaceutical factory researching new antibiotics or anti-viral drugs is by definition a biological weapons facility.
It could be a legitimate factory accidently mutated an extremely nasty animal-borne bug that it needs to get rid of without any fanfare or publicity.
