Continued Traveller Campaign Post

(Campaign's first post) 

The PCs plotted and planned how to infiltrate the underground fight scene and locate the girl, along with her captor, the gang leader Carlo Rossi. But all their strategizing was for shit when they reached fighting ring and rowdy gambling crowd. Victor’s mate Vince was in the middle of fighting for his Vargr life against a cyber-enhanced miner jack-hammering the alien’s face. Once Victor saw this, he went into full Vargr freak-out and jumped into the ring to aid his friend. This started the predictable uproar and mayhem as debts were voided and angry patrons started to fight among themselves.

Pushing through the crowd, Commander Frank was getting a psychic signature nearby which could only be from the little girl they sought. It was hard sorting out the gambling patrons from Rossi’s hired guns so a pop-up firefight sprung up suddenly during the mayhem. With cloth body armor on against unarmored assailants the PCs are lethal. As it should be in Traveller. The PCs are veterans of a hundred dangerous situations before they are played in the game, and their skill levels make for devastating hits. The reason the damage is amped up in Mongoose Traveller (we are playing with the 2e rules) is because of “effect”. The degree of success on a to-hit roll counts as additional damage. So, if a character rolls particularly well, say a 10 modified to a 13, they are doing an additional 5 points of damage. Throw in autofire and a gun can dish out an additional 6-10 points of damage a combat round. Against unarmored street thugs it is no contest. Their assailants were down before they could get off a shot.

The PCs find their way into Rossi’s backroom office and pose as members of Rossi’s gang with bad news from up top. Of the attack on their headquarters at the mechanic shop here in Central Lake. Rossi doesn’t know who these PCs are, doesn’t recognize them of course. The gangster is behind is desk, gun sitting on top. The little girl is sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Four or five armed henchmen are sitting or standing as well in the room. Everyone eyeballing the PCs. Watching Rossi. Rossi tells his guys to throw the PCs out.

“If they give you any trouble just dump ‘em down a mine shaft.” He says with the sardonic grin of a consummate reprobate. And so the knives and guns come out once again. Great initiative rolls favor the PCs once again, and their accuracy and acumen start dropping opponents. Some of the gangsters get lucky and get hits. But once again, cloth armor keeps the PCs on their feet while unarmored foes go down in a pool of blood. Rossi does wound Commander Frank and this sets the little psychic girl off. She is incensed Frank is hurt and vents her anger at Rossi which has the result of swelling his head till it explodes in a welter of brains, bone, and gore. The little psychic girl can explode heads! The remaining henchmen are like WTF and scramble for the exits. Then their heads explode.

The PCs all freeze in the face of this violent psychic display and hold up their hands as to signal they mean no harm. Funny thing though, the girl seems really happy to see them. To see Commander Frank. The voices in her head had insisted the two of them meet. That she wishes to come with them to the ancient alien site. I am surprised the PCs tell the girl no problem, more than happy to take the orphan along with them into unknown danger. Through further interrogation she discloses it was her who tipped off the Central Lake criminal underworld of her psychic abilities. To instigate a kidnapping which would bring her face to face with the PCs. The voices in her head gave her plans and instructions on how to do this. The PCs are aghast at her callous indifference to her parents’ death but do face the fact she is not a helpless girl dying of an inoperable brain tumor, but a powerful psychic compelled to find them. To find Commander Frank.

The rest of the session is roleplaying the fallout from the shootings at the mines in Purple Sector and the vehicle garage in town. This means contacting the Scouts in Kazawan City. The local contract police cannot be trusted. They are most likely involved in the human trafficking business being conducted in Central Lake. The Scouts can claim jurisdiction over the case on behalf of the Imperium due to its interstellar implications. This means waiting for them to show up. It is good many hours before the crime scenes are taped off and processed, statements taken, and current victims are cared for. This brings the group and the authorities in contact with Dr. Quar. Dr. Quar was expecting the girl’s arrival as he is the talented physician going to operate on the girl’s brain tumor. He is horrified of the past days events and dismayed the PCs intend to keep the girl with them. He argues with the Scout officials that this is ridiculous. The girl is in dire medical condition and needs to be treated. Is expected to get treated.

This is all above the officer’s pay grade and gets in touch with Scout Commander Casarria in Kazawan City. Casarria is an Imperial contact and has been briefed on the PCs mission here on the surface of Excalibur. She instructs her guy that the PCs are on a priority mission and if they say the girl is coming with them then the girl goes. This takes much explaining, as I demanded they make a decent argument for this reckless endangerment of a child with Casarria. The roleplay is a combination of in character dialogue and me saying “Yeah, but you are trying to go off with a child after all this murder. Convince me!”

But Sun Tzu makes his persuade/negotiate roll. The Orion Directive credentials seem to give the PCs some much needed clout out here on the rain-washed ravines of Excalibur. The doctor is kept in the dark on Casarria’s orders and the PCs load up the cutter that night and in the morning head out into the storm-wracked skies to cover the 60 km to the alien site.

 

Our Traveller Universe (OTU)

 A continued description of this sci-fi campaign.

Mongoose’s interpretation of the rules for today’s audience is very old school. When you are playing Mongoose 2e you are playing a classic game of Traveller. Combat is where Marc Miller’s Traveller gives way to Mongoose’s version. Initiative rolls instead of simultaneous combat. Cepheus Engine has better rules for auto fire. I need to see if the PCs will want to use it. I’m thinking of adding some rules for “called shots” too. Make that head shot more dramatic and bloodier. Add a negative DRM for the difficulty factor and in exchange the weapon damage bypasses armor. Splat.

Against Thron’s better judgement, the PCs have taken it upon themselves to track down a kidnapped girl in the mining town of Central Lake. Their snooping around has led them to a warehouse a block off the main thoroughfare. I anticipate the PCs busting into the place, hoping to find the girl. But if they go somewhere else, I will need to think quickly on my feet. I hope they go for the obvious and infiltrate the warehouse. Inside are the usual criminal losers who can point a gun in the right direction and the first indication of the human-trafficking operation being run out of Central Lake. If they leave anyone alive, they will get information on where Carlo Rossi and the girl are located. Purple Sector.

The Purple sector of the mine is not running at capacity. It is slated to be decommissioned due to its age and where Carlo Rossi runs fights for the miner’s amusement, receive human-trafficking victims, drugs, and other smuggled goods.

The PCs do have a successful shoot out with Rossi’s men and get the information on where they can find the Central Lake gangster. They also find victims of the galactic slave trade as well as a roughed-up and restrained Vargr. The kidnapped people all seem to be from the inner systems of the Imperium. The Vargr says he and his companion were kidnapped while visiting Red Cliff Raceway. They believed the very public and intergalactic nature of the complex would minimize the racial prejudice they routinely endure when interacting with Humaniti. It was not to be. Someone at the glittering casino complex must have known Rossi pays for “Exotics” to fill his fighting pits. All it took was a spiked drink and Victor and Vince Vargr woke up in wonderful Central Lake. 

This was an opportunity to roleplay our world building. To flesh out the nooks and crannies of this Traveller universe. This version of the Third Imperium. One is the genetically fucked up nature of the Vargr. It is obvious, even after thousands of years as a star-faring culture, they were originally made. An unknown race millennia ago completed an amazing feat of genetic engineering and fashioned a completely new species. But what flaws existed in the originals have been passed down, hardwired to their succeeding generations. The first being their head sits off kilter with a slightly curved neck. Their hips are weirdly high up on a compact torso, so when they sit their head is much lower than a humans when using furnishings of Humaniti. Evolutionary it doesn’t make any sense but it is a features which is stamped into every newborn Vargr. A less sinister feature is Vargr naming conventions. The Vargr have their own language and their own true names they use with each other. But, when interacting with Humaniti they all go by a name which begins with a “V”. And these names are also an indication of rank. For example, the PCs are talking with Victor Vargr. This means he (or she) is the leader of their pack. Could be “Victor” is a starship captain, or leads a Vargr mercenary force, or maybe the head of some Vargr shipping guild. He had a friend with him. “Vince”. Vince is used for the second in command, or a deputy secretary. Whatever role it performs, the Vince always has their Victor’s back. I will keep coming up with names which begin with V as the need arises.

So, we have established a few things with this interaction. The level of prejudice Vargr endure in Imperium space can rise to violence against them, that their physiology is unsettling to the average person, and they have a secondary language they speak among themselves. Not surprisingly, Vince is currently in Purple Sector for the local’s amusement. This means Victor comes with the PCs whether they like it or not.

The PCs muse over what security obstacles they will need to circumnavigate at Purple Sector, but they find none. Only a Sternmetal Safety Inspector waiting for the facilities main lift to arrive and take him down into the mine. This is how the PCs find out what the situation is in Purple Sector, with the underground (literally) fights, complete with drugs and companionship. The inspector assures the PCs the mine being decommissioned will not end Central Lake’s popular past-times.  

The lift arrives and the motley crew heads down to face Carlo Rossi and find the kidnapped girl.

Space Acid, the Mothership Mod

No need to write up a Space Opera retro-clone, just use Mothership as the basic rules chassis and modify from there. Then you are just creating a setting book instead of this comprehensive rule book. And it is really simple to do. Just add the 2 new character class options I have outlined at the end of this blog post!

Psychedelic Science-Fantasy

Space Acid is a science-fantasy roleplaying game. Science-fantasy stories often feature scientifically logical worlds with hard science-like explanations for supernatural elements. They may also include alternate or imaginary science and technology that is not possible based on known scientific laws.

A hybrid genre within speculative fiction, science fantasy simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientifically logical, while a conventional fantasy story contains mostly supernatural and artistic elements that disregard the scientific laws of the real world. The world of science fantasy, however, is laid out to be scientifically logical and often supplied with hard science-like explanations of any supernatural elements. For this author Heavy Metal magazine typifies the best elements of the diverse world of science fantasy. For yourself it could be much different.

No matter, this kitchen-sink rule kit should provide more than enough tools to capture the spirit of your campaign. If you ever need inspiration for your next Space Acid adventure, thumb the catalogue of movies, comics, music, books, and magazines which brought this genre to life in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. There is literally a bottomless reservoir of material to draw from.

1.2 New Character Classes

Character creation follows the standard one-page procedure outlined in the Mothership core rules. There are two new character Classes to choose from. They are the Clone, and the Fixer. The Clone uses the Android Class but may freely choose the 3 Trained Skills they begin with. The Fixer uses the Teamster Class, but with Max Health being 3x Strength (not the normal 2x).

 

Space Opera Session Report Audio

 I've edited the audio recording of the first session of Space Opera 2760 - Lower Frontier Tales and have experimented with a "sprinkling" of sound effects and background music here and there. The goal is to retain the verbal "entirety" of a live game session while enhancing listener pleasure with traditional audio entertainment.

So if you like to examine actual play sessions this game of Space Opera is a rare thing to witness.

CyberPunk 2020 Fast, Dirty, Expendables & Lifepath Generators

 I stumbled onto this on-line generator just now, and wow, does this have utility for any of my sci-fi, science fantasy games! Looks like it is from the publishers of the original Cyberpunk 2020 game as well. My recent explorations with running these "vintage" science fiction games has made me quite comfortable with a range of these old-sometimes-clunky-but-fantastically-fun games. Space Opera, Traveller, Cyberpunk 2020, Star Wars, Ring World, Hawkmoon, Universe, Gamma World, Star Frontiers... for what it is worth I can run any of these in short order. Yeah, to bad none of this expertise has practical applications in the job market, but I do take a certain satisfaction in being able to love and utilize these arcane weapons in sophisticated ways.

Generators like these make using these games even easier! Access to many different random generators help keep interesting content flowing at the table by these in-genre deflections of thought to hit the right note, idea, or genre trope on the fly mid-session. 

FGU Space Opera Actual Play

Stop the presses. I actually got a session of the clunky, 1980's beast released by Fantasy Games Unlimited onto the (online) table (video chat) and played an impromptu session with one other player. It is Space Opera. If you get one person to on for the game consider yourself fortunate!

Like I said, it is a clunker. Poor editing, rules references to non-existent text, long lists of combat modifiers, all the stuff I cut my teeth on when learning how to play ttrpg's. 

But I always liked the cut of FGU's jib, and this kitchen-sink sci-fi rules set fires my imagination like TSR's Star Frontiers never did. Some of my allure was due to the ground combat system being based off of Space Marines, a set of miniature rules published by FGU, and the Starship Combat rules looked built to run Star Wars-sized Star Destroyer battles.

With willing PC online and a cleared evening, schedule-wise, I pulled out the charts and GM sheets I prepared ahead of time and gave the adventure's opening pitch.

The PC's name was a severe-sounding Sarah [Xara]. I don't no how to spell it so for the case of this narrative I will spell the PC's name SXara. SXara is Human or Near-human-Hybrid. 5'7, 125-135#, Elfin but Wiry. She dresses 'back in the day's 

ankle boots leather jacket, 80's video space-style short and swept hair, wild eyeliner and shadow and lipstick. Folding Machine Pistol. Freelance Troubleshooter with an extensive network of begrudging allies who all have long lists of grievances against her, to which she innocently shrugs and looks askance.

Minor Telekinetic ability and a heightened sense of danger. She is also a clone. In her line of work the mental implants which go along with each mission can cause severe cognitive dissonance over time. Suiciding and being awakened in a new clone is the most efficient way to flush damaging old memories from a person's consciousness. We tried to come up with an industry-insider slang term for this "procedure". I'm thinking the "Black Hack".

Anyways, her current job was contracted with the 42nd Mechanized Lift, a division of crack professionals enforcing Kardorian will on planet Dismas. Dismas City was the last city controlled by revolutionary forces. They have been sheltered under a powerful force shield for months. Capable of withstanding any bombardment. Intelligence Services have made contact with a Panumanic officer inside the city who can get Sara past the Panumanic checkpoints. Once on the streets of Dismas, she is to follow subterreanean power raceways and sewer lines to a basement server room. There she will place a Xenon Damper Field Collar on the right wire, and poof, the shield protecting the city goes down. Easy-peasy.

No minds were blown but a serviceable session with a good chance to engage with the system and try and role play into something was achieved. I threw in two of my own procedural rolls during the session. First one was a 10% chance of the bad guys already being onto the PC and the second was a 25% chance of being set up. These checks were triggered at certain locations where the character had advanced closer to their goal. Otherwise, it was made up on the fly and we managed to transition into some player-directed activity.

Character creation gives you a PC with a hastily-packed suitcase of skills and an ex-career to justify their existence, but this is old-school play. When you get down to it there isn't many mechanics to occupy yourselves with so it demands players and referee (Star Master) to know how to roleplay and know what they are roleplaying for. A strong identity with something specific to the broad definition which is "Space Opera" is usually a requirement as well, but a requirement routinely handled well by experienced referees. Truly set up as a tool of the imagination. The flavor, the magic sauce has to come from everyone at the table.

We both were old hands at such a thing and we engaged Agility Checks when using a vehicle as a deadly weapon and skill levels to overcome save rolls required during critical improvising  and jury-rigging stunts. Only NPCs fired shots in anger, and I called for Attribute Checks not so much for a pass/fail result (though you get that too), but let the Attribute Check trigger the game world to react. Good rolls trigger events favorable to the PC, poor rolls trigger something which makes the PCs life more difficult. Obviously, in the logic of old school game mechanics, having modifiers juiced by high skill levels is the way PCs stack the deck in their favor. And tonight the PC rolled well. There were two opportunities I can recall where an extreme dice result fell against the player, but it wasn't in a do or die situation, so they only experienced small setbacks during the mission adventure.

We also had some good discussion around player agency and how does a Star Master deliver the set up but also quickly allow for player-directed courses of action they are excited to pursue. Time and again, when I run a game with an old school system I enjoy the fact they require you to bring all the imagination. That everyone at the table has tremendous opportunity to exert responsibility over the story's action and drama. Creative stuff which is hard to do. But I never had to worry too much of losing the flow. The blaster rules are solid, stat'ing out NPCs is quick, and there are plenty of technological game toys to interface with in the rule book. And genre tropes to explore. The relationship between who employs her, who runs her, and clone technology was emergent and player directed during the session.  With a good set of GM sheets Space Opera can give you a great Space Opera game of your own creation.

Classic Traveller AAR, part two (Saars storyline)

This is a continuation of the serialized after action report from my last live game session, playing Classic Traveller in my OTU, The Shattered Worlds campaign.

Stab pulled out a multi-tool containing a monofilament blade and the battery powered saw sliced through the duralloy fencing with a wave of his hand. He peeled back the fence from one side of the cut and stood back. Dab stepped through, weapon up, and posted up in a crouch several meters onto the grounds. Captain Green slipped through followed by Saars. Stab joined the troupe.

"You two go right, Saars and myself go left. Assess whether we got threats from each of these grow houses. We meet up in front of the control tower at the south end. Comms open, count off your buildings." Green gave his orders clearly without letting his voice carry. The rain had let up and more of the grounds could be seen through the lightening haze. Rumbles of the next weather system could be heard above black swollen rain clouds. The squad broke up and they made quick splashing sounds as they trotted through the mud. 

Green and Saars had just passed the second of the three long buildings on their side of the complex when Dab's voice crackled over the coms.  

"We've got the door on the west side open. No lights or power, all quiet."

"Post up, we'll come to you. We are going to cross straight over just south of you between building two and three." Green and Saars splashed their way across the grounds and caught up to Dab and Stab who were up against the wall, one on either side of the open door. Captain Green popped on the light attached to his carbine and shined it through the open door into the dark building's interior. Without a word he slipped inside, Dab right on his heels. Green gave the all clear and the other two men entered as well.

It was a typical farm outbuilding. There were six slug pools spaced evenly on the floor of the thirty meter long building. Normally the circulating equipment would be running, churning up the brown slop and feeding nutrients into the tub full of wriggling Skalvil mud-slugs. But the machines were off. Green and Dab were scanning the surface of the first large grow tub with their gun-mounted lights. 

"What the hell?" Dab stated flatly. The slug tubs were not all that deep. A meter or so of organic brown slop. This made it easy to see the fermenting pool of compost was jammed with eight or more naked bodies. All appeared dead. They had been soaking in the slime for more than a week, if the bloated bodies and loose, rotting skin were any indication. 

"Pull them out. I want to look at them." Green ordered his men. Saars looked on as the dead were pulled from the mud and laid like wet lumps onto the concrete floor of the building. Non-descript, men and women. Four of each. No obvious signs of death. No bullet wounds, cuts or blunt trauma. 

"I've seen that mark before," Saars says. He points to one the deceased's chest. A curious symbol is carved into the soggy flesh. Like a stylized lower-case "n" with three circles clustered within the upside down arms of the n. The terrorists which we killed at Oh-Rif. They all had this same symbol carved on their chest. And recently, like these poor bastards. This definitely ties the theft of the dead scout from the water plant to these slug farmers."

"Stab, scrape a skin sample off a couple of these stiffs. I want Collice's lab rats to test for poison and possible psycho-actives." Green ordered. "Dab, looks like your guess on cult looniness is close to the mark."

"What do you expect, living out on the wastes making your own clean water and clean air? Sooner or later something breaks down under corrosion and everyone starts huffing fumes and shooting their neighbors." Dab finished his statement with a quick scan of the ceiling with his light. 

"Okay, I've recorded some images." Saars put the pocket vid device back in his coat. "We should get into the control tower. If anyone is still alive around here they will be there. Or below in the living quarters."

Classic Traveller After Action Report

A "regular" in my mostly on ice Classic Traveller campaign was up for continuing his adventures last week and I was stoked to get to have more action "under the dome" on the planet Skalvil. We scrounged up a new player to join him, and after he printed his auto-generated Traveller character (ex-army) we got cracking. This is a continuation of Saars adventures. He was on the first adventure with three other players. They were cops and Saars was their contract computer hacker. After that first session Saars parted ways with his cop friends and has continued the starting adventure thread on his own. He has a current patron, the owner of a successful racing family. Very wealthy. Saars is trying to help him figure out what is wrong with his son. This means getting a hold of the corpse of a scout which has been kidnapped by colonists living on the Skalvil Wastes...

When Saars finished his debrief he waited for Collice to reply, rattling his ice around in his glass. He backed the last of his drink and sat back, waiting.

"I would like to send in a recovery team. If we have been able to locate the likely location of the stolen corpse this fast then OHRIF won't be far behind." Collice announced after completing his thoughtful pause. I have a team of three specialists ready to go. Very good at what they do. I would like you to lead them in. You'll be well-paid of course."

"What does 'well paid' amount to, exactly?" Collice smiled and stated a number which Saars definitely considered meeting the criteria for well paid. 

"I'm sure your comms and computer skills are going to be necessary.. Your crew will handle anything dirty so hopefully you won't have to shoot at people. They also have strict orders not to let you get killed. Deal?"

Saars nodded. "We'll need another grav vehicle. The last one is trashed by plowing through a Wempeer flock. It will need some bodywork before you send it up again."

Saars assault team was made up by a Captain Green and "spiff-jacked" pair of brothers, Stab and Dab. You could tell by their comm units being implanted in their neck. These would be feeding someone on Collice's end the pair's vital signs, live video, tracking beacon, etc. All wore high-end tactical gear (lacking any kind of insignia, of course), auto rifles built to withstand Skalvil's constant acid rain, sensing equipment, targeting shells, "air-eaters", and plenty of clips of armor piercing rounds. Green was a dry, somber man who served in the Inner Systems. Straight army. Dab and Stab apparently served under Green and followed him to the Outer Frontier in search of high paying merc jobs.

Dab did all the talking. To Green. Stab didn't say jack. Phlegmatic and sneering, the most noise Stab would make was a slight clucking sound in the back of his throat. Off and on. He looked bored to be there. Dab went down preferred landing and approach vectors with Green one more time and got into the new grav vehicle. Stab stored a bag of rifles and assorted small arms in the rear hatch. The grav unit was another high performance, all terrain jeep fitted out to tackle the cracked and splintering canyons of the Skalvil Wastes and not break down under the strain of the acid rain storms which were constant on this planet. Saars could tell it was clad in heavier armor. He stuck his auto-mag in his jacket pocket and climbed in next to Green, who was driving.

The garage doors sealed, the roof peeled back, and the Grav lifted into the purple, cloud-choked sky. The lights of Kazawan City were quickly lost behind a screen of drizzle. The heads-up 3D diagram gave a luminous depiction of the ground they were flying over. Green and red lines displayed the canyons, elevations and weather patterns on the windshield. The purple haze and mist ate up the arc lights. Green flew fast and steady. 

"Their is a decent sized bluff crowding the farm from the north. Land on the backside of that." Saars instructed. "This rig have good jamming equipment?" 

"Please," Green replied, not taking his eyes off the wet, purple slop they sailed through. "Tell me something about these slug farmers." he asked. 

"Not much to tell. The place has been a low output farm for ten years, maybe. The only anomaly I can find is they stopped doing business a month ago. Stopped shipping protein, turned back regular suppliers. I mean, it isn't anything they can't do, but hard to make a living if you aren't selling anything. Besides, these places have a clan size of 15-30 people. How much slug protean does a farm family need?"

"They've gone looney. Someone licked the wrong slug. We are going to find a colony of tripping sub-surface farmers. I sure hope I don't have to shoot one of these farmer raving and waving plasma cutters on a three-day burner." said Green shaking his head. Dab and Stab fingered and inspected their carbines again and again. The grav unit had to endure a sudden acid rain surge. It burnt out the exterior antenna and tight-beam transmitter. This meant communication between the squad and Collice was severed. Couldn't be helped. Once inside the compound Saars was sure he could hook something up and get back in contact.

"Strap in." Green announced. He cut speed, dropped the generator and the grav plummeted downwards. Ten meters from the ground, if the display was to be believed, Green popped the grav generator back on and the vehicle settled with a practiced, sudden stop. Green was able to make a slam landing without so much as a meter skid. They all pulled down their protective hoods and stepped out onto the rain soaked hill. Gravel-thick mud slurried around their boots and the rain came straight down. Their goggles pulled the disorientating purple of the atmosphere from their vision. 

It was a short walk to the crest of the hill. The farm laid below them. Rain bathed the grounds. Marking lights winked from their perch atop the perimeter fence. No could be seen moving on the surface and no lights appeared to be on in the slug hatcheries. At the opposite end of the farm from where they looked down they could see the communications tower. This concrete, two-story bunker would also harbor access below ground where the colonists would be living.

"Looks quiet and clear. Only signal coming from the tower says the farm is closed to landings." This was Dab. He was looking at his scanner wrapped in a tough, clear plastic. 

"Okay, lets descend in line, three meters apart. Once at the fence line Stab cuts it open and we walk right in. Any one approaches you, wants to talk to you, you put them down. We are here to pick up the package and assume the farmers don't want us to take it. No fracking around." 

The squad picked their way down the slippery hill and in ten minutes were standing in the shallow puddles along the slug farm's northern fence line. 

(to be continued)

ATU, OTU, No TU; my Traveller Hot Take

 Mewe this morning sported this graphic; 

Here the poster wants you to pick on the graph your Traveller play lands. While the chart displays a side for the game company's created setting (OTU for Original Traveller Universe). Which is not exactly true because Traveller when first released came with no setting. Developers assumed Referees and players had their own ideas they would wish to play. How wrong the first opinions of the first RPG creators were! And you got to sell more product, so like every other game company out there, GDW sold people a pre-packaged universe. 

On the left hand side of the graph is ATU (Alternate Traveller Universe). This refers to  a referee altering the Imperium setting to suit their needs. Not anything completely original though, just the basic acts a referee in any game is going to do when they get their hands on a published setting. 

And there you have CT (Classic Traveller) straddling the line between the two. What the graph lacks is a place for how Traveller was originally intended to be used. It is amusing, to me, that this important fact/attitude/outlook was completely lost when the game was released to the world. And I'm no different. When I first looked at Traveller a long time ago I took it as a game designed for adventure play in the "official" setting, and therefore bypassed it altogether and went with FGU's Space Opera. This game at least stressed in the introduction that the rules should be used to create your own science fiction settings and worlds. Unfortunately Space Opera had a terribly organized and edited rule book so I was never able to get very far with it in high school. 

It took a series of excellent blog posts, "Traveller out of the box" I think they are called which helped clarify what I was looking to do with my first attempts at science-fiction roleplay and how the original black books delivered, in spades!, for those intending to do something original. 

And that is the way I ran with Traveller when I got an online sci-fi game going. So the graph lacks a position, a place for people playing the game as first envisioned by Marc Miller, the creator of the game. 

Imperium-Adjacent the whole graph needs to be called. There is the official universe and then there are those who fiddle with the details. That is about it. So somewhere off the chart is where I live with the game. There is no space to pencil in "used as toolbox to build original games".

I turned to Dune, as I am wont to do when reflecting on the sci-fi (for game purposes, not reading pleasure) and what is my intent, goal with my game of sci-fi.

 Take the Dune books. Ostensibly the original book (the only one that matters) takes place on one planet and in one city on the planet. The star-spanning cultures of the Dune universe are only inferred through the thoughts and actions of the characters. Neat trick I say. So Frank Herbert created a huge galactic society by not creating a whole huge galactic society...

It begs the question how much world-building should a referee do at the outset of a new campaign? And it seems not much. I appreciate the brutal nakedness of the first generation of roleplaying games. Here is a set of rules tilted towards an adventure genre so when you create your own classic vision of sci-fi, western, fantasy the rules will support the referee's efforts. The first part of the original rules for Traveller accommodate this game philosophy through character creation. The method is such a neat "trick" players and referee can begin a game with little prep and plop media res at opening scene. Something as simple as "You are in the starport bar when a stranger approaches you with a proposition." Now players are sure to start squawking for setting information; what bar, what planet, what system... What navy, army, scout service spawned my character? 

I think the nimble referee looking to build a game universe around their player's characters is well rewarded by utilizing Classic Traveller rules. It is awesome if the referee has a crystal-clear idea on what the world setting will ultimately be about (Dune is a good example). Players get to "grow-up" with the game universe and learn about it like you would in real life, through experience. But if not, the game still supports the referee through all the important steps of adventure creation and campaigning. Without resorting to a pre-built universe to show you "how it is done." 

In conclusion, Traveller was once able to assist you with whatever sci-fi subgenre tickles your fancy. Planetary Romance, Hard Science Military, galactic savants and sentient planets, telepathic whales and rabbit-holes of new discoveries. Demons, wormhole passages, dreamy natives living on top of the ruins of ancients. Its use was quickly blasted away under the understandable need for gamers to be given a starting point, an official universe and the understandable need for the company to sell what the majority of gamers want. 

Long and short of it, I'm a relict of gamings past. The original design philosophy of the likes of Arneson and Miller leave me not wanting much more from the company outside of their genre specific rules. It is a concept I can lose hold of in the product push by game companies trying to pay the bills. Unfortunately for game companies fierce creatives will use their rules well, but not drop much on additional merch.

Rafael Chandler's Space Ship Generator

 Going through my DriveThru library I came across a booklet from the great Rafael Chandler and seeing as I am chewing my nails as Denver may pull out a win at +660 (I have Denver +50, even money) I am whiling away the final moments by converting the paper tables to an instant generator.

Got Dune?

How would you do Dune?  

This is a regular on game boards. What game system would you use, what type of adventures would you run, where do the characters fit into the universe and their relative importance. Sometimes the talk turns to specifics, all system orientated, what would depict the psionic powers best, Sardukar, Fremen, Sandworms and spaceships. There are paragraphs written on how intrigue and interstellar politics are best adjudicated, what system will help you get it right. I fuss and fret over these things to when my mind drifts to Dune, the Moby Dick, of my gaming ambitions. When I see the same question (which interests me) being trucked out again and again, and the answers are all predictable I tell myself I and everyone else is looking at this ambitious goal, to game a Dune-inspired game worthy of the name fucking wrong! Okay, I will only include myself in this category. I am not here to bruise feelings. Unless you are a player in my game…

I start building a campaign world generally from this bas-ackward approach. Okay I want to do “this” and I should use “this” to pull it off. My latest approach to campaign and world building goes something like this, “What do you have that makes doing this worth it? How are you going to nail ‘It’?” When I consciously make these pivots, I have yielded impressive fruit. It more or less gets me to read the source material and reengage the artistic talent of the prose which first electrified me when I was a wee one reading comic books and Lovecraft and Howard and Moorcock. I started a Sword & Sorcery campaign years ago built on just reading the Conan novels and a generic minimalist system. I just kept breathing in that black lotus until my soul was dark and pitiless. Really, it is just paying attention to what and why a certain adventure was just awesome. You learn the pace of the campaign world from the source material, not the game mechanics. The language to, basic stuff. I’ve repeated this approach with the three other campaigns which have gotten significant milage here online since 2012 and it has always been successful. Like a sci-fi campaign. I always wanted to run one, but I haven’t done so because I don’t have a good, a great idea. I can’t answer that question in the affirmative, “What do you have that makes doing this worth it?” so I don’t move forward. Then one day I read an adventure module (doesn’t matter what genre, this occasion it was a fantasy adventure) and shouted eureka! I had a reason. I had a great opening adventure and it made all my spacey opera horror sci-fi dreams fall into place like instantly.

So the Dune situation is how do you duplicate the awesome presence the planet has in everything. For a Dune-esque game you need to create a massiveness, a galactic presence which must eclipse the entirety of cosmic civilization. In the source material the planet is irrefutable and overpowering. Its importance has hardened the universe into the few space-faring civilizations which can cope with this and exist. 

However one approaches creation of the campaign world reflection on how the one important planet turns the entire cosmos into fits has to be nailed down. Characters are always reflected in their relationship to the dominating planet in a Dune campaign. The effects, the literary devices used by the source material are well known and discussed ably all over the internet. The roleplayer’s task when they pick up the Dune Gauntlet is how to impart that massiveness into a gameable expression. And that is why I would use Classic Traveller cause I find a campaign of this "flavor" would take much thought to come up with something worth playing. A simple system for sci-adventure will be my enabler more than a detailed system, even one designed to be Dune! I don’t trust any commercial game designers to take this shit serious enough to get it right. I have made, and this is probably unnecessary and
misguided, a Dune-inspired campaign the elusive unicorn of my gaming ambitions. I wait for the day when the idea gels and I scream "I got it!" and start scribbling some notes. I mean, you gotta come up with something cooler than psychotic-narcotic spice which allows you to fold space and well, you get the picture. Tall order. Another place where I don't think a system is going to save you. It is going to take a lot of passion and vision from everyone at the table to not be lame. I’ll tell you when I figure it out.

 

A Classic Traveller Patron Encounter Detailed

Saar was modifying Anderson's power converters when he showed to pick them up. 

“Wait out side. I'll get 'em for you.” Saar then plugs in the data chip and begins cracking. There are 8 files. All of various degrees of complexity, therefore various degrees of time to crack. Saar goes to work on the easiest. Time stamped photos of a corporate party in Kazawan City. The photos seem to focus on one individual in particular. It will take a facial recognition app to try and figure out who he is. Fifteen minutes tops. While the comp runs the program Saar looks up at the wal-vid broadcasting the latest scream sheet. 

“Gang violence breaks out at the Synapsis club between off-duty Omni Security and the Binary Dogs. No information yet on why these off-duty officers were at the club or why they engaged gang members, but Omni Security has requested anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Officer Jones [Picture] or Omni Contractor Hernandez [Picture] please contact Omni Security immediately. They should be considered armed and dangerous.” 

 A series of video camera footage just outside the entrance of the club in the top floor of a high-rise is being looped showing Jones and Hernandez entering the club with two other men. Quick head shots of the deceased Binary Dogs are displayed, then the usual quick reactionary crowd shots of the average Vanders citizen at the scene complaining about police corruption, the drug-trade and the poor colonists stuck in the middle trying to earn a living. 

“What the frak?!” When Saar left Jones and Hernandez they were heading to the Below Zero to collect the cash Bargar Vas promised them for getting the water turned back on out at Oh-Rif. What were they doing hours later at the Synapsis in a gunfight? And where is Schmidt? Sergeant Schmidt ran the mission out at Oh-Rif. Last he knew he had just got done debriefing the chief and collecting credits. Well it sure as purple-acid-rain did not concern Saar at the time. “My fraking fingers hurt.” He winced as he stabbed his deck for the readout.

Paulo Song, Omni Sun, COO Omni Horron Research Facility, responsible for the agra-augmentation program being conducted there.

 “Hey Saar”, this was Mr. Anderson punching his apartments com. “Someone is here to see you.”

“Tell him I'm not here.”

“Okay.” 

Saar bends back over his comp and begins an extraction program on the next most easily hacked piece of data. Six hours. “Run it.” 

“He says he can't really leave until he sees you.” the apartment's com crackles again. Aw hell, Saar punches the door access code. Anderson and Yang come back in with a well dressed man. Obviously Kazawan City, not a colonist. Anderson introduces him as his boy Hugo Rossi. Both Rossi and Saar look at each other trying to figure out why in the hell either one them would be talking to each other. Rossi trimmed out, good job obviously, standing in a pumped cube in the dome talking to cut up, electrocuted, dying computer hack. Saar was concluding once again he was shit at choosing friends.

“My employer, Mr. Down, would like to talk to you if you wouldn't mind?”

“Can he patch me up?”

“I hope so, or I've taken a two-hour tube ride for nothing.”

“Who's your boss?”

“Collace Down. His son just returned from Xxcarvis. He is concerned about his son, the condition of his return, and for some reason now he wants to talk to you. He also advises that we try and leave the dome as soon as possible.”

“Down is big in the professional circuit,” Anderson beams, “his son, Flare is probably the top celebrity sports star on Skalvil. I've raced against him before, he's totally cool.”

 Saar accepts he will not be having a quite night at home but says he can't leave until he makes a few files. He wants forty minutes. Rossi doesn't see any problem with that and shortly thereafter the group hits the concourse and grab a tube to Kazawan City. Down lives in a plush high-rise and they are escorted into what can only be the suite's lounge. Rossi fixes everyone drinks while a house attendant treats Saar with stimpacks and NueSkin patches.

 Heavy set with a face sandpaper-washed from time spent outside the environmental domes of Skalvil. Sharp dressed. Longtime local who made it good somehow.

 "Thank you for coming. I see you have met my mechanic Hugo Rossi. He has a lot to do with keeping this family in the winner's circle and a truly capable hand. But despite all my capabilities I have some current issues I am having some trouble wrapping my head around and I believe you may be helpful. It is my understanding you were recently out at Oh-Rif. Specifically, you were on the ground dealing with the seizure of the facility by terrorists. Is that right?”

 “Yes. Sergeant Schmidt, Omni Security. He hired me along with some other of his contract help to go out and see what the problem was.”

 “What did you find?” 

“What was reported. Some unknown armed group had taken over the facility, disrupted the water flow. Don't know why. Attracted a whole bunch of attention. How could it not. Angry colonists were outside ready to force their way in if the water didn't get turned back on. My group secured the facility, engaged the terrorists. We killed some. Some got away. Looks like they killed the whole staff their too. Didn't make much sense. Still doesn't. But it paid. Once we contacted Omni with a sit-rep the salaried boys rolled in and told us to go home.”

 Down drains his glass and sits on the couch. Arms spread, his prodigious stomach sticking out form his jacket. “My son got into trouble on an expedition on Xxcarvis. Championship grav-skiing on those tremendous ice peaks. Film crew, the whole works. Going to set a new frontier record no doubt. Now it is a four week journey one way so I don't expect up to the minute briefings, but that I was almost able to keep up daily with the expedition group. They would tight-beam their daily logs from the range to the Omni-Sun drilling facility. There they would be loaded onto the next transport out. There is enough regular commercial traffic out of Xxcarvis that every other day I had footage. He must of got into some trouble out their because the daily tight-beam stopped. I paid the Scouts to get out there and look for them. The Baudy Beth I think it was. 200T free-trader, 2 jump capability. Four weeks out, four weeks back minimum. A crew of four. They returned two weeks ahead of schedule with my son, the body of one of the scouts and the sole survivor of the trek. I still have not got any information on the whereabouts of the other two crew members. 

“The official report is they came across Flare in life-pod orbiting the gas giant at 0304. Still 2 parsecs out from Xxcarvis. Word is he was never on Xxcarvis. No trace of his ship, his crew. He is not okay. Something happened to him. The surviving scout from the mission I have been unable to find out who or were he is. Probably under lock and key at their base here in the city. I was able to find out the body of the dead scout had been transferred to Oh-Rif. So I want to ask you again: What did you find?” 

Saar let the stimpacks take him far away from his singed skin and lacerated torso. “They had some EMP device. Detonated in the power room. Brought the whole facility down. No power, no communication. They killed all the staff and took a body. They fled on boat out into the Skalvil Sea. We found it beached on the north shore. Original crew bound and executed. Most likely killed before the terrorists used the boat to enter Oh-Rif. They fled into the wastes on a four-wheeled ATV. The frequent acid-rain storms had quickly made their trail impossible to follow. Schmidt returned to the Omni tower to debrief and collect pay. I came home to find, well all of you.” 

Saar looked at the rest of the PC's. They all seemed happy with their drinks. “All I can say it didn't make any sense.”

“I want to take a look at that body. Do you think you can find it for me?” 

“Sure, were do you think we should look?” 

“There isn't much north of the Skalvil.” Downs picks up a remote from the table and turns on the his holo-vid. A three dimensional image of the rain scarred wastes of Skalvil in brilliant display. The Skalvil Sea was prominent then the display zoomed into the terrain north. Three colonies were identified: Krunner Farm, Harean Station and Horsail. 

“Harean Station is a slug farm, protein bases for you poor colonist’s food supplies out there on the plains and you poor dome'ers living on subsidy. Krunner Farm harvests Hellboria Wood. Very hard, very colorful when back lit and very expensive. My bar top here is a nice specimen. Horsail is a fracking operation. Anyone heading north via ATV's cannot get very far without living, knowing or being supplied by one of these colonies. Someone is going to know who they are and where they are. I suggest you start out immediately. Omni knows as much as this too. If they are hot to track down the terrorists, they will be heading there soon. But then again, now the facility is back up maybe not so soon. Hugo here has tuned up the Trell III, a capable back country air raft. Enclosed of course. He has agreed to accompany you all. As a top mechanic you shouldn't have to worry about breakdown.”

 

Sights Around the System

These tables were generated/inspired by the CardSharp Galaxy.

Here is some random generators to kick up details on any new solar system your PCs jump into: