An Campaign Idea for Players New To Traveller

[Supplement Four]

The Traveller Universe isn't like most science fiction space opera. It's not Star Wars where one can jump into the family starship and simply jump across the galaxy.

In Traveller, space travel is expensive. I've described it before as being akin to one taking a one week trip in a shrimp boat at a cost of $8,000 one way.

Given the economics, "Travellers" are still rare on some worlds. Most people don't travel. They can't afford it. They stay on their homeworld their whole lives.

As expensive as space travel is, there will be a large cross-section of society that look at the people who do travel, the "Travellers", in a novel way.



In thinking about this, I thought it might make for a nice campaign--especially if the GM is introducing new players to the Traveller game--to take advantage of this idea.

The GM would limit character generations to those available on a single world. The world's tech level would be equivalent to today's tech (therefore, there's nothing for the new players to learn or un-learn). Any characters serviing in armed forces would serve in the homeworld's army (maybe a balkanized world would be best--each country with a different army).

The idea is have the new players play characters from a world akin to the real world today.

Their whole lives, the characters have wondered about about these "Travellers", these people who crew the ships and maintain the belt and never spend much time dirtside.

And, of course, during the first adventure, the player characters will become "Travellers", leaving their homeworld in the past.

Might be an interesting way to bring in new players to the game.

 

[Icosahedron]

Hmm, space-Hobbits leaving the comfort of their holes and exploring the big bad universe beyond. Could be very good with newcomers to YTU, spoonfeeding them with ever bigger mysteries and marvels - worked for Tolkien.

 

[Supplement Four]

I hadn't thought of it that way, but he analogy works.

The idea, of course, is that what the players really know of the world (same tech world as the real world) the characters know. The GM doesn't have to teach them that much about the Traveller universe.

They discover it, on their own, in little bits, as they move out into the universe and explore.

 

[Icosahedron]

It has disadvantages, though, those PCs are going to need a lot of NPC help in order to survive in the high-tech Beyond - none of them can drive an air raft, they'd be easily spooked/fooled by a hologram, they can't operate a brainwave interface computer, etc, etc...

 

[Supplement Four]

It has disadvantages, though, those PCs are going to need a lot of NPC help in order to survive in the high-tech Beyond - none of them can drive an air raft, they'd be easily spooked/fooled by a hologram, they can't operate a brainwave interface computer, etc, etc...

Do you think almost any character hailing from the Aramis subsector cannot be used as a typical Traveller character?

Look at the TL of those worlds int that subsector. Most are very low--lower than today's real tech. Pysadi is TL 4. Aramanx is TL 6. Even Patinir, an asteroid colony, is TL 9. Yet, "Travellers" come from them all the time.

TL represent "generally available" technology and manufacturing capability. Tech bleed.

A character, in the Traveller universe, could easily be used as a typical character with today's tech. In fact, he'd have a jump, tech-wise, on many Travelle characters out there (because many are from lower tech homeworlds than the tech of the real world today.)

 

[Icosahedron]

Hmm, I've introduced something I call Personal Tech Level. Yes, there is tech bleed to some extent, but OTOH it's not just 'barbarians' who struggle with technology IMTU. I don't entertain Buck Rogers style instant assimilation skills.

IRL I have the technology of multi-gig RAM, virtual reality, 3D drawing packages, Wii (whatever that is) and other such goodies all around me, but I haven't a clue how to use them, since I have neither the time nor the income available from my low-tech working life to learn. Of course, the next generation will have the capability to use such things - the youngsters will learn it at school, and the oldies (like me) might even learn it in retirement.

So yes, air rafts may be available on a TL6 world IMTU, but probably driving them will be restricted to toys for the nobility, transport for the executives, or VR games for the kids. The working man may get to use one if he happens to be a driver in the emergency services, but otherwise...

Just my take on technology. YTU obviously differs, and rightly so.

 

[aramis]

Now, you bring up a good point, Icos.... but there are flaws.

For example the Wii... a game console. It's EASIER than prior ones to use. the interface on game consoles started brain dead simple, climbed a bit (peaking around the PS2), and is getting easier again. Less to learn, and more natural and intutive ways to do things.

Likewise, PalmOS... it's simple enough that many old fogies learn it right quick, even though a Mac is beyond them. Why? intuitive interface. Less to learn.

Now, assuming computer progress really does cap out in about 20 years (as is currently being predicted by Moore of Moore's Law fame), we should hit a point where computers are simple enough to let TL2 barbarians use them...

 

[deniable]

To add a couple of points, one of the cited reasons for Wii shortages is the number of units being placed into non-traditional places like retirement homes / senior centers because of the ease of use. It's all wrist and elbows rather than fiddly finger work.

Some of the work on the software and interfaces for the OLPC Project is being done so that a cheap, easy to use laptop can be sent to parts of the world that normally wouldn't see it.

Both of these are examples of high tech being modified to make it easier to use.

And now the Air/raft, I see a lot of people who can drive a car, but shouldn't. When you consider that it's a high-tech piece of equipment that can kill if handled incorrectly, do you think the average person on the street has the knowledge to handle it? These are some of the people who will 'need' an Air/raft. It's built like a car so it probably drives like a car. Where's the harm?

 

[aramis]

As far as the air/raft goes, so long as the computer limits it to 1-3m altitude, not bloody much!

 

[BlackBat242]

You know those cars they keep fitting with things like "follow the car ahead", "apply brakes/accelerator to keep preset distance from car ahead", "proximity-detector", and "keep in the same lane"?

Add in a planet-wide network of large-capacity data-handling satellites connected to a web of traffic-control centers, and that air/raft no longer needs to be flown by its occupant... you just climb in and tell it "go to Bill Stuck-up's house", and it will take you there by itself.

"So easy a Caveman can do it"!!! :rofl:

 

[Supplement Four]

Plus, tech bleed will be quite a river on many worlds. Unless the world is never visited by its neighbors, high tech "common sense" will be carried via contact through trade.

So, on a TL 6 world, where the RL Earth was just learning how to put satellites up into orbit, that whole "training wheel" period, where the rocket scientists are learning from their mistakes, will be greatly shortened via tech bleed--knowhow from high tech worlds.

"Oh, your world, Mr. Prime Minister, is TL6, but you think it would be great for your re-election chances if you heralded in a global, free, satellite GPS system for not only military use, but for every citizen to use? No problem. At TL 6, you have these materials available to you, and the best way to handle this is to..."

My point: TL 6 "education" doesn't necessarilly mean TL 6 on Earth without outside higher-tech influence.

The TL 6 characters know there is a better way, and they know what they have to do to achieve it. And, they know this because techs from higher tech worlds have told them.

 

[aramis]

And the corollary is that worlds without significant tech bleed will have strong socio-dynamic reasons why they don't. Usually, these will be religious or philosophical elements of the culture which reject tech above some level.

Much like the Amish.

Or, in canon, like Psyadi.

 

[Supplement Four]

Or, in canon, like Psyadi.

One thing Traveller doesn't seem to take into account is the gravity of a character's homeworld.

Take Psyadi. It's Size 4. If memory recalls, it's something like .5 G on that world.

In my version of the Traveller adventure, I got around this (Pysadi was one of the five worlds I picked for PC homeworlds) by having PCs come from the Class C starport on the world. And, the starport is built on standard 1G deckplates, just like a starship or a orbital station.

The Pysadians must be quite puny, living in 0.5 Gs their whole life.

I'd question if humans can actually live in 0.5 Gs for that long. Traveller doesn't address this. Probably not "macro" enough.

But, c'mon, 0.5 G? You'd have weak bones and weak muscles. Heart attacks must be a big killer on Pysadi. According to Traveller lore, Pysadi was colonized back during the Rule of Man. So, humans have been on this TL4 world for hundreds of years (in 1105).

Plus, the atmosphere of the world is tainted, yet the TL of the world is TL4. I postulated that the Pysadians would use local materials to seal their homes air-tight and use a sponge type fishy from the sea as filters for their air units. This is stretching it a bit at TL 4, but I got creative with it. And, it seemed to "work" in my game.

Of course, I don't know how "realistic" my ideas were. I just went with a space opera cool and "spacey" feel.

But, in reality, a 0.5 G world with a tainted atmospher at TL 4...probably shouldn't be inhabited.

 

[aramis]

Try a couple thousand years, WJP... ROM was before the long night, and that's before 1100 years of the Imperium.

And TL4 has steam engines and paper mills...

 

[Icosahedron]

Let's face it, the whole idea of TLs differing radically from world to world, as produced by the world generation rules, doesn't hold much water. They are a guide at best, and I think Personal Tech Level (PTL) helps to smooth things over. Maybe driving an air raft wasn't a good example - how about repairing one?
Back in my college days I could fix up a ramshackle car most of the time. The cars were TL7 and my PTL was 7 too. Now the cars are TL8 and I haven't the time or inclination to fix up cars any more, so my PTL has remained at 7. When my car plays up now, I have to take it to the garage. My Mechanical skill is the same level as before, but now I don't know which of the twenty or so TL8 black-box computerised systems is causing the fault. The days of rubbing the contact-breakers with sandpaper are long gone.
Bring in TL8/9 grav modules and I'll give up entirely! Yes, there will be experts on the planet uplifting the technology and showing the locals how it's done, but they have PTL8/9, not 7. In this way, perhaps the planetary (or national)TL is the average of the population's PTLs, limited by industry and resources?

 

[Supplement Four]

Try a couple thousand years, WJP... ROM was before the long night, and that's before 1100 years of the Imperium.

I knew that. (Smacks head.) I just wasn't typing what I knew.

Seems like most of the Aramis subsector was discovered during the ROM, then lost during the Long Night, and recontacted (and some resetteled) durin the 400's - 600's of the 3I. Which is where I got the "hundreds" of years.

 

[rancke]

Seems like most of the Aramis subsector was discovered during the ROM, then lost during the Long Night, and recontacted (and some resettled) during the 400's - 600's of the 3I. Which is where I got the "hundreds" of years.

There could have been Ziru Sirka settlers and/or RoM settlers (and even Vargr settlers from Gvurrdon) in Aramis prior to the Third Imperium moving in, but AFAIK there's no canonical evidence for that (If you know of any references that I've missed, please tell me about them). If there were any, they probably died out again. Aramis subsector must have been briefly surveyed by the Scouts in the late 1st Century, and every world would have been surveyed for the First Survey in the 4th Century, but settlers do not seem to've shown much interest until the 5th Century.

(Unless you mean IYTU, in which case you're perfectly right .



Hans

 

[Supplement Four]

There could have been Ziru Sirka settlers and/or RoM settlers (and even Vargr settlers from Gvurrdon) in Aramis prior to the Third Imperium moving in, but AFAIK there's no canonical evidence for that (If you know of any references that I've missed, please tell me about them).

Just the stuff in the TTA. There's a section on the settlement of the Spinward Marches in the front of the book, and if you look at the world descriptions in the various chapters of the TTA, sometimes they'll tell you a bit about their history.

As for Pysadi in general, I was working off memory as to what happened to most of the worlds in that section of space.

 

[rancke]

Just the stuff in the TTA. There's a section on the settlement of the Spinward Marches in the front of the book, and if you look at the world descriptions in the various chapters of the TTA, sometimes they'll tell you a bit about their history.

I've been through those descriptions with a fine tooth comb, and if there are any references to any settlers prior to 300, I missed them. BtC littered the Marches with minor human races, and 1st and 2nd Imperium settlers, but Darrians stated that when the Itzin Fleet arrived at Darrian in -1513, the only worlds in the Marches with humans on them were Darrian, Vanejen, Algine, and "a few Zhodani worlds". So I've do my best to reconcile that with BtC by assuming up front that the various populations claim to be minor human races, 1st/2nd Imperium settlers, or whatever, but that they're wrong, then figuring out why they make those claims. It's kind of fun, actually.


Hans

 

[spank]

Common background.

I like the Idea of requiring the characters to share a comon background, if not a homeworld then at least a starcluster within J-1 or 2, One of the big problems I have with traveller is the scale, It is not condusive to concentrated campaign. TNE was nice because it encouraged a micro focus, and generaly assumed the PC's were from a small area. The worlds were more developed, compared with using a generic UWP.