Some Traveller campaigns I would like to run (or play in!)

[SpaceBadger]

Shifted from another thread where I decided it was not appropriate:

Some Traveller campaigns I would like to GM (or play in!):

I think I already posted in another subforum about my current IMTU project, current working title 2700AD although the setting will probably end up closer to 2500AD to reduce the amount of technological change. I'm starting from the 2300AD setting and looking into the future from that colonization pattern, improving stutterwarp to allow more widespread exploration and colonization, leading to contact with more of the OTU races such as Vargr, Aslan, Hivers, and K'Kree (but in a considerably smaller area and with far fewer colonized planets than in the OTU). The total "feel" I am going for in this one is "Firefly without grav tech" as that is what my boys want to play, but I'm also stirring in elements that I think I will enjoy GMing.

Some other inspirations for Traveller Universes that I would like to campaign in as either GM or player would be:

Spinward Marches immediately after the Fifth Frontier War (although I have already done that before, it was a lot of fun).

Spinward Marches set back in time to when it really was a fairly raw frontier with Scouts exploring from bases in Deneb sector, and contact not yet made w the Zhodani, Darrians, or Sword Worlds.

Hard Times campaign, after the Rebellion is winding down, but before the Virus and TNE stuff; not sure what sector I'd set the main action in.

H. Beam Piper's Terro-Human Future History, around the time of Space Viking, after the System States War and subsequent fall of the Terran Federation, but before the first Empire. Scale would probably be different, as instead of small potatoes adventurers I think it would be most fun for characters to be emissaries and traders and Navy commanders from civilized worlds, trying to spread civilization and fend off the Space Vikings. Or be somewhat like Lucas Trask, the Viking with a conscience, trading and civilizing where possible, but still raiding where he feels it necessary for his overall plan.

Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium/Empire future history, either around the breakup of the CD or during the formation of the Second Empire. Or during the Secession Wars. Lots of interesting periods to play in, just avoiding the ones where everything is too stable and boring.

Those are the settings I would most like to GM or play in; how about you? What setting would you like your next campaign to be in?

 

[warwizard]

I'm looking at setting up the interstellar wars pre war period where you have the 20 years between first contact with the imperium and the first hostilities. but with the IMTU assumption about the inperials all being cavemen in the eyes of the terrans, leading to a radical transformation of Terran culture and attitudes.

 

[Jame]

I would want to run the old Linkworlds Cluster campaign, plus a game set in 2300 AD's universe and another based on a map I generated but haven't really developed other than some planetary data (I'm thinking that the "Empire" in the center of the map will be based loosely on the Austro-Hungarian empire in that the coreward part is one nation and the rimward part is the other, and the rimward part is now more interested in sustaining the union). The self-generated map would have some elements of Tale Spin in it, I hope.

 

[mike wightman]

Campaigns I have run have included:

war of the ancients - yup al the way back in Traveller history when the Ancients were modifying the various human sub-species around at the time.

Two of the players had characters that were bio-mods of neanderthals, one was an android and one was a robot.

Fall of the rule of man - this one was fun since I had advanced AIs pulling the strings in the background, they eventually evolved themselves to TL17+ and departed the sphere of human influence and left the chaos of the long night to fall on humanity (the lesser of two evils - the alternative would have been a war of extermination between the humans an the machines).

A milieu 0 campaign which was great fun.

 

[Hemdian]

There are two (or possibly three, depending on how you look at it) campaigns I'd like to run:

An NCIS-like game, set in the Spinward Marches post-5FW. Investigating current crimes and those that took place under the cover of the war ... including the disappearance of an AHL cruiser (the Bard Refuge).

A high noble game, full of politics, set on Capital ... in the time leading up to The Assassination.

And one that I'm sort of solo-playing at the moment (from a stillborn actual campaign) is the odyssey of the Bard Refuge. I've taken the original idea (the Frozen Watch of an AHL cruiser wake up to find the ship has been abandoned) and turned it into a novel. 67K words at present, just need to write the final chapters. I'm in a writing group that are ripping it apart, one chapter a month, forcing me to rewrite the bits that don't make sense.

 

[DaveChase]

That's cool Hemdian

Good luck with it.

Dave Chase

 

[LiamKerrington]

Hello there,

I'd like to join into any Traveller-Game and wouldn't care about what we play for as long as it is Traveller or alternatively Alternity Star*Drive ...
Speaking of tastes: I'd love to see a game with the flair of "Firefly" and the Spirit of good "private investigation combined with crimes and stuff".
I wouldn't be interested in Science Fantasy with a stress on Fantasy; Star Wars is sweet and funny, but for me this is only something for the silverscreen ...

All the best!
Liam

 

[Timerover51]

H. Beam Piper's Terro-Human Future History, around the time of Space Viking, after the System States War and subsequent fall of the Terran Federation, but before the first Empire. Scale would probably be different, as instead of small potatoes adventurers I think it would be most fun for characters to be emissaries and traders and Navy commanders from civilized worlds, trying to spread civilization and fend off the Space Vikings. Or be somewhat like Lucas Trask, the Viking with a conscience, trading and civilizing where possible, but still raiding where he feels it necessary for his overall plan.

In order to do that you would have to drastically rework the ship drive system as in Piper's Universe, the starships travel at between one light year a day and one light year an hour in hyperspace, although you do have the planetary diameter limitations. The ships appear to be all streamlined, and capable of atmospheric landing.

Also, all fancy beam weaponry goes away, and you are using projectile weapons and missiles. He does use a lot of air cavalry, which really does not show up in Traveller at all.

 

[SpaceBadger]

In order to do that you would have to drastically rework the ship drive system as in Piper's Universe, the starships travel at between one light year a day and one light year an hour in hyperspace, although you do have the planetary diameter limitations. The ships appear to be all streamlined, and capable of atmospheric landing.

Also, all fancy beam weaponry goes away, and you are using projectile weapons and missiles. He does use a lot of air cavalry, which really does not show up in Traveller at all.

Ah, I detect the voice of a fellow Piper fan! Rest assured, timerover51, that I have been reading all the Piper that I could find since the early 1970s, and was overjoyed when Ace re-issued so much of his stuff in the 80s, so I'm well familiar with his hyperdrive and other tech differences.

I'm currently re-reading Uller Uprising, one of my favorites, which would make an excellent Traveller adventure for a military-oriented group, except that it would require some re-setting as I think that overall the expansion stage of the Federation would not fit well for a traditional Traveller campaign; ships are few and large and generally owned by government or large companies. OTOH, there could certainly be some fun adventures in that time period on places like Uller or Fenris (Four-Day Planet).

 

[SpaceBadger]

An NCIS-like game, set in the Spinward Marches post-5FW. Investigating current crimes and those that took place under the cover of the war ... including the disappearance of an AHL cruiser (the Bard Refuge).

That ship name sounds familiar. Was there an old CT adventure involving it, or maybe just a TNS blurb or something?

 

[SpaceBadger]

I'm looking at setting up the interstellar wars pre war period where you have the 20 years between first contact with the imperium and the first hostilities. but with the IMTU assumption about the inperials all being cavemen in the eyes of the terrans, leading to a radical transformation of Terran culture and attitudes.

Have you looked at GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars? I just picked it up in PDF from e23 a couple weeks ago and liked it a lot. Even if you aren't going to use GT as your ruleset, you could find a lot of interesting setting details.

 

[rancke]

There are two (or possibly three, depending on how you look at it) campaigns I'd like to run:

An NCIS-like game, set in the Spinward Marches post-5FW. Investigating current crimes and those that took place under the cover of the war ... including the disappearance of an AHL cruiser (the Bard Refuge).

And the abortive conspiracy to turn the Duchy of Regina into a "neutral" Zhodani-backed border state between the Imperium and the Consulate, with the conspirators running the new republic. Several high-ranking Duchy leaders are very anxious to bury all evidence and keep it buried.

(An intrigue I was planning to let my PCs stumble across, but never got around to).

A high noble game, full of politics, set on Capital ... in the time leading up to The Assassination.

Then this campaign outline may interest you: The Rise and Fall of Cleon III.


Hans

 

[aramis]

That ship name sounds familiar. Was there an old CT adventure involving it, or maybe just a TNS blurb or something?

MegaTraveller.

 

[Timerover51]

Ah, I detect the voice of a fellow Piper fan! Rest assured, timerover51, that I have been reading all the Piper that I could find since the early 1970s, and was overjoyed when Ace re-issued so much of his stuff in the 80s, so I'm well familiar with his hyperdrive and other tech differences.

I'm currently re-reading Uller Uprising, one of my favorites, which would make an excellent Traveller adventure for a military-oriented group, except that it would require some re-setting as I think that overall the expansion stage of the Federation would not fit well for a traditional Traveller campaign; ships are few and large and generally owned by government or large companies. OTOH, there could certainly be some fun adventures in that time period on places like Uller or Fenris (Four-Day Planet).

Most of Piper's books and short stories are available for download at Project Gutenberg, including Uller Uprising. I think that I read my first Piper book in the mid-1960s. The main thing missing is the Lord Kalvan material. The Lone Star Planet would be fun too, just would take some adaptation.

 

[SpaceBadger]

Most of Piper's books and short stories are available for download at Project Gutenberg, including Uller Uprising.

At Australian Gutenberg, I'm guessing? Surely his work is still under copyright in the USA. Nevertheless, I am now off to look and see, as regardless of one's views on copyright I can't see any harm in getting convenient electronic copies of works that I already own on paper. Thanks for the tip!

I think that I read my first Piper book in the mid-1960s. The main thing missing is the Lord Kalvan material. The Lone Star Planet would be fun too, just would take some adaptation.

I enjoyed Great Kings' War as a continuation of Kalvan's story, although it wasn't as good as Piper would have written it. I have not wanted to risk my money on any of the newer limited-press Kalvan stories, as most examples of other people trying to write in Piper's worlds make me gag (Golden Dreams - bleah! Fuzzy Bones - double-bleah!!).

 

[rancke]

That ship name sounds familiar. Was there an old CT adventure involving it, or maybe just a TNS blurb or something?

MegaTraveller.

CT, I believe. IIRC it's from one of the scenarios in Azhanti High Lightning.


Hans

 

[warwizard]

Have you looked at GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars? I just picked it up in PDF from e23 a couple weeks ago and liked it a lot. Even if you aren't going to use GT as your ruleset, you could find a lot of interesting setting details.

Yes I have it, and picked it up to support the campaign, I'll be using T4 or perhaps T5 for the actual play. in the back ground I'll have maximum effort colonizations being run on spreadsheets per World Tamer's handbook, so if the players visit any of the colonies the colony will be dynamically changing each time the players come by, along with generating the shiping that will be visiting. so no encounter tables, just a shipping schedule. Had to do some house rules to cover hostile environment colony set up and housing, as the WTH is shirtsleeve environments only.

 

[Timerover51]

At Australian Gutenberg, I'm guessing? Surely his work is still under copyright in the USA. Nevertheless, I am now off to look and see, as regardless of one's views on copyright I can't see any harm in getting convenient electronic copies of works that I already own on paper. Thanks for the tip!

I enjoyed Great Kings' War as a continuation of Kalvan's story, although it wasn't as good as Piper would have written it. I have not wanted to risk my money on any of the newer limited-press Kalvan stories, as most examples of other people trying to write in Piper's worlds make me gag (Golden Dreams - bleah! Fuzzy Bones - double-bleah!!).

Piper committed suicide in 1964, and as his lawyer, who handled all of his copyright work had dies shortly prior to the suicide, no one was left with copyright control, so none were renewed. The books are on the regular Project Gutenberg website.

I have read Great King's War, and was not exactly a fan of it either.

 

[Hemdian]

That ship name sounds familiar. Was there an old CT adventure involving it, or maybe just a TNS blurb or something?

Apart from Supplement 6 the only reference I know of is a TNS story on 329-1123 (Trin). Though when I first started writing this story I was making the early drafts of the first few chapters available for download ... so maybe if you read that, that is what you are remembering.

 

[silversides207]

There is also the John Grimes series by A. Bertram Chandler to look at as well. He does have some interesting worlds, with the option of backward time travel.