Stargates

[Blue Ghost]

I think I know the answer to this already, but I'll post it here anyway; what the ruling on "stargates" in traveller? Canon? Non? I ask because I whipped out my old Buck Rogers DVD set, and watched a few episodes. It just got me to thinking about the whole concept, and how it might apply in Traveller.

 

[far-trader]

Buck Rogers used stargates? The TV series? I might have to dredge up a copy to watch again, the whole thing is rather foggy at the moment.

Traveller does have some in canon adventures, depending on your definition of stargates maybe. I think it was the MT adventure Knightfall, for one at least. MT might have also had them in the design rules at some point, maybe as an addition in some magazine. And TNE did with FF&S1 as alternate tech.

 

[mike wightman]

Stargates of a sort are in Traveller canon - they are in a couple of T4 adventures.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Hmm, interesting. Okay, thanks.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Buck Rogers used stargates? The TV series? I might have to dredge up a copy to watch again, the whole thing is rather foggy at the moment.

Traveller does have some in canon adventures, depending on your definition of stargates maybe. I think it was the MT adventure Knightfall, for one at least. MT might have also had them in the design rules at some point, maybe as an addition in some magazine. And TNE did with FF&S1 as alternate tech.

Heh, heck, I dug out my copy merely to see the hotties in spandex

As you can guess, the stargate thing was an afterthought.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Andy Slack did a bit on playing Stargate (SG-13) using Traveller rules, GURPS rules, couple of others (I don't have the PDF handy). His stuff is at

http://andyslack.wordpress.com/

Something there may help you.

 

[Blue Ghost]

It was more or less a passing thought. I may or may not make use of one. But thanks for the heads up.

 

[far-trader]

Heh, heck, I dug out my copy merely to see the hotties in spandex

And not surprisingly that's about all I can recall from the show

 

[aramis]

Stargates of a sort are in Traveller canon - they are in a couple of T4 adventures.

Also in CT Adv 12 - Secret of the Ancients. Tho' those lead to a pocket universe.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

I submitted an article on "Stargates For Traveller" to Jeff Zeitlin, and I thought it would be in the "Themed" edition of Freelance Traveller, but that has apparently fallen through. Here's an excerpt:

Introduction

We've all seen or heard of them. They're essentially step-through doorways to distant worlds. Fantasy and Science-Fiction authors have used them as plot devices to remove protagonists from the resources and comforts of their homes and place then in hazardous situations, often with little or no hope of ever returning home any time soon.

Sometimes, stargates are huge structures that you could pilot a battleship through. Other times, they're just large enough for humans to march through in single file. Some are artifacts of ancient alien technology, while a few are developed through the application of secret government programs or 'mad science'...

The article goes on to present a simplified rationale in favor of using Stargates in Traveller, the need for limitations, a section on "How I Do It", and a suggestion on how to slip the idea into your Traveller universe.

If Jeff has dropped plans to use my article in his publication, I'll go ahead and upload it here.

 

[Vile]

There are also rules for "stargates" in the alternative drives rules in Mongoose Traveller. From the system reference document:

Hyperspace Drive: The portal drive functions by opening up a gateway into hyperspace, through which the ship can pass. When in hyperspace, the ship uses its conventional engines to travel, then opens up a second gateway back to the normal universe, effectively taking a short cut through a higher dimension. A hyperspace drive is limited by the size of the spacecraft that can pass through the portal – see the Hyperspace Portal table. A hyperspace drive consumes no extra fuel, but takes up twice as much space as a jump drive. While in hyperspace, the spacecraft moves at a rate of one parsec per day per manoeuvre drive rating.

These portals seem to be somewhat like those in the the Buck Rogers TV series, where the "stargate" doesn't actually appear to have any physical structure. However, I had the impression that the BR stargates were located at "fixed" coordinates in space, while the MGT portals are actually opened by the ship itself and so appear wherever the ship is. You could of course house-rule these to create a physical space station with a hyperspace drive, which opens a portal for other ships to pass through. I see Cowboy Bebop in my mind again (which is always a welcome diversion).

 

[mike wightman]

Reads exactly the same as the way jump gates and hyperspace work in Babylon 5.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Hey Mike

Long time no see.

I asked about a stargate because I had an adventure idea revolving around one, or rather the arduous task of setting one up, and making it viable for the 3I. I always thought an interesting ATU would be to have a network of these things criss-crossing the Imperium, really turning them into an interstellar power house. Just a vague notion. I didn't have anything written down, and since a few people have already come up with the concept, that frees my imagination for other things.

 

[aramis]

There are also rules for "stargates" in the alternative drives rules in Mongoose Traveller. From the system reference document:

The SRD hyperspace gates are actually Babylon-5 style "jump engines." The Jump Gate is a special form of that technology.

the 1980 Buck Rogers gates are fixed in space, and instant in travel, and appear to be generated by off-screen generators...

The SG1 gates are near-instant transit (we know they are not quite due to lag shown in a couple episodes) using an external generator

The Starfire Warp Point is an instant transit natural occurrence. It requires a particular form of sublight drive to transit it, however.

The Honorverse, Flight Engineer Universe, and Vorkosiverse all have naturally occurring warp points requiring a keyhole drive to transit. TFE and Vorkosiverse both take time to transit, and can be "navigated" from inside to some degree.

 

[FreeTrav]

Send it on, again; apparently it got lost in the many shuffles in the past. I'll take a look and drop you a line either way.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Jump Gates: House rules.

These gates were set up a long extinct race.
You need some sort of capules or armor to past throught them.
Travel is instantanious.
1 to 10 light years.
Or for traveller 1 to 6

 

[JAFARR]

The campaign I am working on also involves a star or jump gate. The key NPC has a key inherited from an uncle. I have no plans to specify how the uncle acquired the key.

In this case, the gate will pass a ship through if the key is on board when it comes within detection range. The gate will appear to be the size of a 50,000 dton ship and will pass on any ship with fueled, functioning Jump drives. The ship will consume fuel for 1 - jump 1. Gates are one way. The PCs will have to discover the return gate to get back to known space. I have tentatively placed the gate at TL 25.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

Send it on, again; apparently it got lost in the many shuffles in the past. I'll take a look and drop you a line either way.

Sent within the last minute.