tim_manley
SOC-12
Talking about my missile rules reminded me of the game and I have been waxing nostalgic for the times I used to have to play.
So, sit back and relax, I’m going to take you back to 1989 through early 1991. I had just gotten hold of Space 1889 and was enjoying reading it. Though, honestly, I could get no one to play it with me. But it started this thought process about cannons in space. This led to the idea of running a Classic Traveller game set all in one system.
This campaign lasted just shy of 2 years with us playing no less than 3 days a week.
So I set to work. I created a star system per Book6 rules, fleshed out and highly detailed. I set the TL at 9, but no Jump Drive – it hadn’t been invented yet, and no one was working on it.
This system was set in what I called the Diamond cluster. A series of 4 star systems all 3 jumps apart. The nearest star to this cluster was 7 jumps away. And the next one from that another 7 jumps. It was at the end of a trailing arm, about a half dozen stars, each 7 jumps, until they started getting closer, a few 6 jumps, then 5, then 4, etc.
The system was fully fleshed out and inhabited. The major planet was balkanized, with multiple governments. The moons were inhabited. There were two gas giants and both had moons that were terraformed. There were two asteroid belts and both had space cities in them. There were two other planets, none were inhabitable, but they had cities on them as well. Then, a lone planet, far off in the distance that “no one went to”. Each major city or moon had its own government. There were tens of billions of people in this system and over 40 separate political groups. I used the LBB3 planet rules for rolling up these culture/governments. So I had a big sheet and a huge list of places for everyone to visit, trade, etc. Followed the rules pretty close just all in 1 system instead of multiple systems.
At TL 9 the drives were limited to Drive D, which limited the size to 800 tons. There was no FTL, only STL ships. But I made a rule that if you installed two drives and two power plants you could double your size (i.e. x2 D M-drives & D-Pplants could get to 1600, x3 D M-drives & D-Pplants could get to 2400, etc.).
I also made the missile rules I already posted. And, I made rules for machine guns (chainguns basically) and cannons. The chainguns fit within the turret same as any other weapon. They took two rolls per the CT auto fire rules. Artillery pieces also fit into the turrets and did more damage than the chain guns, but you didn’t get two rolls to hit. They were more like missiles, just direct fire and medium range.
When we started we used vector movement / butcher paper for space combat I had to figure how to track the velocity issue. Instead of worrying about that math I just made a range requirement. If you were within this range band you could hit the target. Chainguns close range, artillery a bit farther. Laser the farthest. Missiles and torpedoed took time to travel to the target.
But, honestly, this method become unwieldy with too many ships and missiles and honestly, my players didn’t like it. It only lasted for just a few months. We moved to a range band method. The chainguns and cannons worked easier in that one. Since I just had ranges for them. And eventually we just ended up role-playing space combat. That ended up being the most fun and easiest.
But, what it did do was add a variety and flavor to the game and made narrating combat far more interesting. Imagine getting hit with multiple high velocity small rounds. You’re in the bridge and you feel and hear the hits, then you hear the hiss as air is escaping from multiple holes.
I used all the CT books, plus the Space Opera books (for equipment and gear, had a ton more).
I did create my own psionics rules. I never liked CT had so I created a more structured rule-set breaking it into Psionic Art and you gained skill with an art. I had the arts divided into multiple categories, with 6 levels each, each level gave a different ability. The players loved it and thought it was an incredible idea. I had the Psi Institute a secret society that was on the lookout for folks with potential. So anyone that rolled a social status of 10 or higher got the Psi test. If they had a strength of 7 or higher then they were secretly trained.
Still being in college, I house-ruled the learning and experience rules to reflect that. So I broke things down into months. You would still have to make the commitment role per the rule in LBB2. You did it on a monthly basis. If you succeeded in your roll then you stuck to your study/practice and you earned a number of skill points equal to your Intel divided by 10.
Level 0 of a skill required 1 skill point
Level 1 required 5sp
Level 2 required 10sp
Etc.
You had to buy them in order. So, to go from no level, to level 0, to level 1, to level 2 would take 16 skill points.
Also, if I asked you to make a skill roll and you rolled box-cars you earned a check mark on that skill. Three check marks mean you earned 1 skill point (I borrowed this one from FASA Trek, the 1st edition rules since I bought it the second it came out).
So, Int of 10? 1sp per month. Int of 5? ½ a sp per month. Int of 12? Then 1.2 sp per month, etc.
Now, how was I to conquer rotational mechanics? It was easiest to treat everything in AU on a flat plane. At first I tried to create something modeled after mini-game I played where things moved in orbit per turn. But the size of the solar system made that sphere freaking huge. Just trying to create a formula to replicate it with math ended up being a lot of work and I finally said screw it and just went with the flat distance. Players didn’t notice nor cared and began to remember how far X place was from Y place as we played.
Then, I set to work with my players. I described the plan to them – TL9, no FTL, all in one system. They couldn’t grasp how that would work until I handed them the “history of the solar system” write up. Then, they saw how full it was.
Player 1, wanted to roll a noble. He rolled his stats, he was always lucky as heck rolling dice, and he created an awesome character. He was a noble and ended up being secretly tested, rolled a 12 for his strength. So, the rule I had was each term you had a chance through your trainer to earn 1 psi skill level. He went to college, then medical school and then started his career as a noble, but failed his survival. I had a rule that if you failed you rolled again for a mishap, basically two survival rolls. He made the 2nd one so we tabled that.
Player 2 was a marine, ended up retiring after 5 terms.
Player 3 was a merchant that never gained a rank and failed the re-enlistment roll for his 4th term.
Player 4 was a pirate.
Now, to Player 1’s mishap. The player came up with the idea himself. He asked if he could steal a ship from one of his family’s friends. So I figured sure. He was allowed to use a yacht and stole it. He met the other players and they joined his crew and BAM, they were away in their very own ship.
So, sit back and relax, I’m going to take you back to 1989 through early 1991. I had just gotten hold of Space 1889 and was enjoying reading it. Though, honestly, I could get no one to play it with me. But it started this thought process about cannons in space. This led to the idea of running a Classic Traveller game set all in one system.
This campaign lasted just shy of 2 years with us playing no less than 3 days a week.
So I set to work. I created a star system per Book6 rules, fleshed out and highly detailed. I set the TL at 9, but no Jump Drive – it hadn’t been invented yet, and no one was working on it.
This system was set in what I called the Diamond cluster. A series of 4 star systems all 3 jumps apart. The nearest star to this cluster was 7 jumps away. And the next one from that another 7 jumps. It was at the end of a trailing arm, about a half dozen stars, each 7 jumps, until they started getting closer, a few 6 jumps, then 5, then 4, etc.
The system was fully fleshed out and inhabited. The major planet was balkanized, with multiple governments. The moons were inhabited. There were two gas giants and both had moons that were terraformed. There were two asteroid belts and both had space cities in them. There were two other planets, none were inhabitable, but they had cities on them as well. Then, a lone planet, far off in the distance that “no one went to”. Each major city or moon had its own government. There were tens of billions of people in this system and over 40 separate political groups. I used the LBB3 planet rules for rolling up these culture/governments. So I had a big sheet and a huge list of places for everyone to visit, trade, etc. Followed the rules pretty close just all in 1 system instead of multiple systems.
At TL 9 the drives were limited to Drive D, which limited the size to 800 tons. There was no FTL, only STL ships. But I made a rule that if you installed two drives and two power plants you could double your size (i.e. x2 D M-drives & D-Pplants could get to 1600, x3 D M-drives & D-Pplants could get to 2400, etc.).
I also made the missile rules I already posted. And, I made rules for machine guns (chainguns basically) and cannons. The chainguns fit within the turret same as any other weapon. They took two rolls per the CT auto fire rules. Artillery pieces also fit into the turrets and did more damage than the chain guns, but you didn’t get two rolls to hit. They were more like missiles, just direct fire and medium range.
When we started we used vector movement / butcher paper for space combat I had to figure how to track the velocity issue. Instead of worrying about that math I just made a range requirement. If you were within this range band you could hit the target. Chainguns close range, artillery a bit farther. Laser the farthest. Missiles and torpedoed took time to travel to the target.
But, honestly, this method become unwieldy with too many ships and missiles and honestly, my players didn’t like it. It only lasted for just a few months. We moved to a range band method. The chainguns and cannons worked easier in that one. Since I just had ranges for them. And eventually we just ended up role-playing space combat. That ended up being the most fun and easiest.
But, what it did do was add a variety and flavor to the game and made narrating combat far more interesting. Imagine getting hit with multiple high velocity small rounds. You’re in the bridge and you feel and hear the hits, then you hear the hiss as air is escaping from multiple holes.
I used all the CT books, plus the Space Opera books (for equipment and gear, had a ton more).
I did create my own psionics rules. I never liked CT had so I created a more structured rule-set breaking it into Psionic Art and you gained skill with an art. I had the arts divided into multiple categories, with 6 levels each, each level gave a different ability. The players loved it and thought it was an incredible idea. I had the Psi Institute a secret society that was on the lookout for folks with potential. So anyone that rolled a social status of 10 or higher got the Psi test. If they had a strength of 7 or higher then they were secretly trained.
Still being in college, I house-ruled the learning and experience rules to reflect that. So I broke things down into months. You would still have to make the commitment role per the rule in LBB2. You did it on a monthly basis. If you succeeded in your roll then you stuck to your study/practice and you earned a number of skill points equal to your Intel divided by 10.
Level 0 of a skill required 1 skill point
Level 1 required 5sp
Level 2 required 10sp
Etc.
You had to buy them in order. So, to go from no level, to level 0, to level 1, to level 2 would take 16 skill points.
Also, if I asked you to make a skill roll and you rolled box-cars you earned a check mark on that skill. Three check marks mean you earned 1 skill point (I borrowed this one from FASA Trek, the 1st edition rules since I bought it the second it came out).
So, Int of 10? 1sp per month. Int of 5? ½ a sp per month. Int of 12? Then 1.2 sp per month, etc.
Now, how was I to conquer rotational mechanics? It was easiest to treat everything in AU on a flat plane. At first I tried to create something modeled after mini-game I played where things moved in orbit per turn. But the size of the solar system made that sphere freaking huge. Just trying to create a formula to replicate it with math ended up being a lot of work and I finally said screw it and just went with the flat distance. Players didn’t notice nor cared and began to remember how far X place was from Y place as we played.
Then, I set to work with my players. I described the plan to them – TL9, no FTL, all in one system. They couldn’t grasp how that would work until I handed them the “history of the solar system” write up. Then, they saw how full it was.
Player 1, wanted to roll a noble. He rolled his stats, he was always lucky as heck rolling dice, and he created an awesome character. He was a noble and ended up being secretly tested, rolled a 12 for his strength. So, the rule I had was each term you had a chance through your trainer to earn 1 psi skill level. He went to college, then medical school and then started his career as a noble, but failed his survival. I had a rule that if you failed you rolled again for a mishap, basically two survival rolls. He made the 2nd one so we tabled that.
Player 2 was a marine, ended up retiring after 5 terms.
Player 3 was a merchant that never gained a rank and failed the re-enlistment roll for his 4th term.
Player 4 was a pirate.
Now, to Player 1’s mishap. The player came up with the idea himself. He asked if he could steal a ship from one of his family’s friends. So I figured sure. He was allowed to use a yacht and stole it. He met the other players and they joined his crew and BAM, they were away in their very own ship.
