An exploration campaign I am running and developing for T5, and would like to share with the board.
To run this you will need the following:
1) T5
2) access to the TravellerMap
3) d6, pencils and paper.
Ok. Here is the premise. The year is 1260 IC, and the Fourth Imperium has just announced the discovery of the Hop drive. (Experimental Hop 2 and Prototype Hop 1 are available at TL 15).
The Travellers Aid Society has also announce that it will be offering an "X-Prize" for the first ship to bring back surveys of worlds along a Hop 2 route starting in the 4th Imperium world of Usdiki (The Capital), and going all the way to the galactic core. The X-Prize is being offered is an entire planet and a 4th Imperial Noble Patent to go with it.
Have the players choose a Jump 2 ship. Replace its Jump drive with a Hop 2 drive, and your good to go. It has fuel to undergo 10 Hop 2. I suggest any of the following ships:
1) Lab Ship
2) Safari Ship
3) Scout Courier
4) Leviathan Class Merchant Cruiser (Takes a little work to port this one over, but it will have a back up Jump 3 drive)
5) Far Trader
The reason I list these 5 choices, is that the choices not taken by the PCs, are Rival ships that are also racing for the core as well, and can be used for encounters along the way.
Now, here is the best part. Most of the work is already done for you. There is a completely mapped route, a sector wide, with full UWPs, leading from Charted Space to the Galactic Core on TravellerMap.com. It even includes the Barren Arm...But still no info on why its barren. Alls you have to do is ask the players what system they are going to do their refueling in, and that system is the one you can detail for the next games session/encounters. Or you can wing it.
Heres some other neat bits:
As we know the Empress Wave was a distress call from a Human Civilization (Called the Yaskoydri, who were sent to the core by the Ancients). This means that the inhabited worlds along the charted route are Human, Droyne, or Vargar worlds, unless you the Ref decide to use the Sophont Generator to place a new alien race to be encountered. This because this is the Zhodani Core Route, and the same route taken by the Yaskoydri to the core, and then settled by them as they fled the Empress Wave. Also this means that any world along the rout with high enough TL to be able to make Jump Drives, can be assumed to be able to do so, as the Yaskoydri are listed in 1248 as a Major Race.
The Zhodani Core Expeditions have only made it to about halfway through the barren arm, so there are another group of encounters for you to play with as well. Also the Star Vikings fron the TNE are supposedly on there way to the core as well, but they are like the Zhodani, stuck with Jump Drives.
It should only take about two years game time to get to the core, and two years for the return, so four years total. About the same amount of time as crossing the 3I from Regina to Terra, and going back, by Jump 2.
Players will need to trade for supplies, maintenance and repairs along the way there and back, so they cant just bypass everything. Translator programs or a superior linguist are a must, as are trade goods, as the CRImp is going to be worthless.
As for repairing the Hop Drives: Any planet with the capability for TL 14+ Jump Drives has the capability to make Hop Drives, or, so you don't have to teach someone how to make an entire Hop Drive, to fabricate new parts for them. Your engineer is going to be one of your most valuable people on the ship.
There are the basics. Any questions? Ideas? Things I have overlooked?
~Rich
To run this you will need the following:
1) T5
2) access to the TravellerMap
3) d6, pencils and paper.
Ok. Here is the premise. The year is 1260 IC, and the Fourth Imperium has just announced the discovery of the Hop drive. (Experimental Hop 2 and Prototype Hop 1 are available at TL 15).
The Travellers Aid Society has also announce that it will be offering an "X-Prize" for the first ship to bring back surveys of worlds along a Hop 2 route starting in the 4th Imperium world of Usdiki (The Capital), and going all the way to the galactic core. The X-Prize is being offered is an entire planet and a 4th Imperial Noble Patent to go with it.
Have the players choose a Jump 2 ship. Replace its Jump drive with a Hop 2 drive, and your good to go. It has fuel to undergo 10 Hop 2. I suggest any of the following ships:
1) Lab Ship
2) Safari Ship
3) Scout Courier
4) Leviathan Class Merchant Cruiser (Takes a little work to port this one over, but it will have a back up Jump 3 drive)
5) Far Trader
The reason I list these 5 choices, is that the choices not taken by the PCs, are Rival ships that are also racing for the core as well, and can be used for encounters along the way.
Now, here is the best part. Most of the work is already done for you. There is a completely mapped route, a sector wide, with full UWPs, leading from Charted Space to the Galactic Core on TravellerMap.com. It even includes the Barren Arm...But still no info on why its barren. Alls you have to do is ask the players what system they are going to do their refueling in, and that system is the one you can detail for the next games session/encounters. Or you can wing it.
Heres some other neat bits:
As we know the Empress Wave was a distress call from a Human Civilization (Called the Yaskoydri, who were sent to the core by the Ancients). This means that the inhabited worlds along the charted route are Human, Droyne, or Vargar worlds, unless you the Ref decide to use the Sophont Generator to place a new alien race to be encountered. This because this is the Zhodani Core Route, and the same route taken by the Yaskoydri to the core, and then settled by them as they fled the Empress Wave. Also this means that any world along the rout with high enough TL to be able to make Jump Drives, can be assumed to be able to do so, as the Yaskoydri are listed in 1248 as a Major Race.
The Zhodani Core Expeditions have only made it to about halfway through the barren arm, so there are another group of encounters for you to play with as well. Also the Star Vikings fron the TNE are supposedly on there way to the core as well, but they are like the Zhodani, stuck with Jump Drives.
It should only take about two years game time to get to the core, and two years for the return, so four years total. About the same amount of time as crossing the 3I from Regina to Terra, and going back, by Jump 2.
Players will need to trade for supplies, maintenance and repairs along the way there and back, so they cant just bypass everything. Translator programs or a superior linguist are a must, as are trade goods, as the CRImp is going to be worthless.
As for repairing the Hop Drives: Any planet with the capability for TL 14+ Jump Drives has the capability to make Hop Drives, or, so you don't have to teach someone how to make an entire Hop Drive, to fabricate new parts for them. Your engineer is going to be one of your most valuable people on the ship.
There are the basics. Any questions? Ideas? Things I have overlooked?
~Rich
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