Tl;dr Elevator Pitch
Rim War Era/Glimmerdrift Reaches Traveller campaign using DP9’s Silhouette mechanics except for ship combat. I made a Silhouette hack of MT’s Expanded Character Generation and it seems to work well. The rules mesh well with Merchant Prince mechanics, and other Mongoose mechanics. Campaign will be dangerous, would be open to try troupe play (multiple characters per player) depending on campaign. Main goal of PC’s is to survive, thrive and make a difference either for their patron or their bank accounts. Scenario ideas revolve around pirates/privateers, piracy/anti-piracy, grey ops and so on. Play on Roll20/Google Hangouts OR PbP(Rpol.net). Details follow…
DING! Third floor, women’s cosmetics and men’s shoes.
MAIN THEMES/CONCEPTS
Glimmerdrift Reaches
All of these ideas take place in the Glimmerdrift Reaches during the Rim War. In this version, the Rim War is going badly for the Imperium and has not seen the momentum slowed (as per canon). The primary effect of this is that Imperial resources are dwindling in outlying areas, Solomani involvement in the sector is increasing, piracy is sky-rocketing and the various powers that be are all jockeying for influence in the sector.
The Solomani are stepping up their activities in order to weaken the Imperium and supporting/undermining local polities as part of this goal. Commerce-raiding, flag-showing operations and other activities are being undertaken by naval units. Far more frequent is the use of privateers and pirates to undercut the region’s stability. If the Solomani can gain basing in the Glimmerdrift, they will be well-poised to flank the Imperium.
The Imperium is drained of ships and manpower but struggling to respond to these moves. With the lack of resources, the issuance of letters of marque and other means to strike back against the Solomani have been the primary response. Their client states are suffering, trade between Delphi and the rest of Gateway Domain is flagging, and they can’t seem to stop the decline in relations amongst the Glimmerdrift polities and systems. Espionage is taking off, black bag ops are weakening their influence and networks… it really sucks to be the Imperium right now.
Both powers are engaged in power-games and diplomacy among the independent systems and weak multi-system polities of the sector. These sector polities see opportunity amidst the chaos and draw support from one or both powers. Some planets have declared for one power over another while most ready themselves for the coming storm and play the factions off against each other.
The Grand Duchy of Stoner continues its isolating posture but is positioning itself to commercially dominate the Alpha Quadrant. The Federation of Heron, a federation in name only, has long been the source of piracy in the sector and this has only increased. The Farreach Margravate is weakened and failing in the oncoming threat of the Loyal Nineworlds Republic. Both powers skirt the edges of open warfare and once the shooting starts, it is likely the Margravate will not survive. The Glimmerdrift Trade Consortium is struggling against the rise in piracy and their commercial dominance in the Alpha and Beta quadrants.
And in the cracks, some systems see an opportunity… a chance for empire.
Ship
All campaigns will have a ship. I have the entire line of 0-hour ship products. They are non-Traveller but beautiful deck plans. The ships will be chosen from this line unless someone is dying to use black and white graphline deckplans. The range of available ships is dependent on the type of campaign but it will be your choice.
Basic Ship Images here:
http://0-hr.com/Future_Armada/Gallery.htm
http://0-hr.com/Future_Armada/Art/Group_Portrait.jpg
Troupe Play
Most of the ideas below can also involve Troupe Play. This is where the players can have more than one Character on the ship. There will be general rules limiting a player to one character per scene as much as allowed. This will also assist us in covering for less players interested in this kind of game. How this is done is up to the players… a command team character and line team character or combat and non-combat? Your call.
RULES SUMMARY
Silhouette Mechanics
This will use DP9’s Silhouette (Heavy Gear/Jovian Chronicles) for all mechanics except spacecraft warfare. This includes attributes, skills, perks/flaws. Smaller fighter combat may be used in either system. The conversion is fairly obvious as skill levels are similar and the attributes use +/-. It’s a d6 system with a dice pool with attributes providing modifiers. The vehicle/tactical combat system is really good and will make military/combat expeditions more interesting and coherent.
Mongoose Spacecraft/Space Combat
Since this is the easiest and has the most ship templates available, we’ll use Mongoose for ship combat. In addition, all ships will be statted using Mongoose with a little jimmying here and there.
Megatraveller/Silhouette Expanded Character Generation
The expanded generation tables for MT have been hacked to work for this game. I’ve done a number of test chargen and it seems to work fairly well. They’re a little underpowered for Silhouette but the ability to improve skills and pick up new ones should remedy that.
AVAILABLE: Pre-Career, Army, Marines, Navy, Scouts, Merchant Prince, Agent, Bounty Hunter,
EXPECTED AVAILABILITY: Privateer/Corsair, Journalist, Noble, Criminal, Scientist (ie. I’m working on ‘em!)
Equipment/Weaponry
I’m merging Silhouette and Traveller equipment. It’ll work… trust me. Basically, if you want something off the Traveller equipment list, I’ll find equivalent stats/benefits in Silhouette or make them up. Ditto in reverse. Battledress is easily built as exo-suits in Silhouette and I’m open to allowing larger models (gears) if people want.
Game Preferences
PbP is the easiest for me. The pace is something I can handle well. I do have Roll20 but that would require more prep and sessions may have to be every/other week which always bogs things down. But we do move a lot faster…
I’m in CST. I am willing to discuss.
Rim War Era/Glimmerdrift Reaches Traveller campaign using DP9’s Silhouette mechanics except for ship combat. I made a Silhouette hack of MT’s Expanded Character Generation and it seems to work well. The rules mesh well with Merchant Prince mechanics, and other Mongoose mechanics. Campaign will be dangerous, would be open to try troupe play (multiple characters per player) depending on campaign. Main goal of PC’s is to survive, thrive and make a difference either for their patron or their bank accounts. Scenario ideas revolve around pirates/privateers, piracy/anti-piracy, grey ops and so on. Play on Roll20/Google Hangouts OR PbP(Rpol.net). Details follow…
DING! Third floor, women’s cosmetics and men’s shoes.
MAIN THEMES/CONCEPTS
Glimmerdrift Reaches
All of these ideas take place in the Glimmerdrift Reaches during the Rim War. In this version, the Rim War is going badly for the Imperium and has not seen the momentum slowed (as per canon). The primary effect of this is that Imperial resources are dwindling in outlying areas, Solomani involvement in the sector is increasing, piracy is sky-rocketing and the various powers that be are all jockeying for influence in the sector.
The Solomani are stepping up their activities in order to weaken the Imperium and supporting/undermining local polities as part of this goal. Commerce-raiding, flag-showing operations and other activities are being undertaken by naval units. Far more frequent is the use of privateers and pirates to undercut the region’s stability. If the Solomani can gain basing in the Glimmerdrift, they will be well-poised to flank the Imperium.
The Imperium is drained of ships and manpower but struggling to respond to these moves. With the lack of resources, the issuance of letters of marque and other means to strike back against the Solomani have been the primary response. Their client states are suffering, trade between Delphi and the rest of Gateway Domain is flagging, and they can’t seem to stop the decline in relations amongst the Glimmerdrift polities and systems. Espionage is taking off, black bag ops are weakening their influence and networks… it really sucks to be the Imperium right now.
Both powers are engaged in power-games and diplomacy among the independent systems and weak multi-system polities of the sector. These sector polities see opportunity amidst the chaos and draw support from one or both powers. Some planets have declared for one power over another while most ready themselves for the coming storm and play the factions off against each other.
The Grand Duchy of Stoner continues its isolating posture but is positioning itself to commercially dominate the Alpha Quadrant. The Federation of Heron, a federation in name only, has long been the source of piracy in the sector and this has only increased. The Farreach Margravate is weakened and failing in the oncoming threat of the Loyal Nineworlds Republic. Both powers skirt the edges of open warfare and once the shooting starts, it is likely the Margravate will not survive. The Glimmerdrift Trade Consortium is struggling against the rise in piracy and their commercial dominance in the Alpha and Beta quadrants.
And in the cracks, some systems see an opportunity… a chance for empire.
Ship
All campaigns will have a ship. I have the entire line of 0-hour ship products. They are non-Traveller but beautiful deck plans. The ships will be chosen from this line unless someone is dying to use black and white graphline deckplans. The range of available ships is dependent on the type of campaign but it will be your choice.
Basic Ship Images here:
http://0-hr.com/Future_Armada/Gallery.htm
http://0-hr.com/Future_Armada/Art/Group_Portrait.jpg
Troupe Play
Most of the ideas below can also involve Troupe Play. This is where the players can have more than one Character on the ship. There will be general rules limiting a player to one character per scene as much as allowed. This will also assist us in covering for less players interested in this kind of game. How this is done is up to the players… a command team character and line team character or combat and non-combat? Your call.
RULES SUMMARY
Silhouette Mechanics
This will use DP9’s Silhouette (Heavy Gear/Jovian Chronicles) for all mechanics except spacecraft warfare. This includes attributes, skills, perks/flaws. Smaller fighter combat may be used in either system. The conversion is fairly obvious as skill levels are similar and the attributes use +/-. It’s a d6 system with a dice pool with attributes providing modifiers. The vehicle/tactical combat system is really good and will make military/combat expeditions more interesting and coherent.
Mongoose Spacecraft/Space Combat
Since this is the easiest and has the most ship templates available, we’ll use Mongoose for ship combat. In addition, all ships will be statted using Mongoose with a little jimmying here and there.
Megatraveller/Silhouette Expanded Character Generation
The expanded generation tables for MT have been hacked to work for this game. I’ve done a number of test chargen and it seems to work fairly well. They’re a little underpowered for Silhouette but the ability to improve skills and pick up new ones should remedy that.
AVAILABLE: Pre-Career, Army, Marines, Navy, Scouts, Merchant Prince, Agent, Bounty Hunter,
EXPECTED AVAILABILITY: Privateer/Corsair, Journalist, Noble, Criminal, Scientist (ie. I’m working on ‘em!)
Equipment/Weaponry
I’m merging Silhouette and Traveller equipment. It’ll work… trust me. Basically, if you want something off the Traveller equipment list, I’ll find equivalent stats/benefits in Silhouette or make them up. Ditto in reverse. Battledress is easily built as exo-suits in Silhouette and I’m open to allowing larger models (gears) if people want.
Game Preferences
PbP is the easiest for me. The pace is something I can handle well. I do have Roll20 but that would require more prep and sessions may have to be every/other week which always bogs things down. But we do move a lot faster…
I’m in CST. I am willing to discuss.
