CT Only: LBB:0 Hidden Setting

[Lord Kilgore]

The notion that Traveller could be anything other than the Third Imperium was received as some sort of heretical nonsense.

I recall my first attempt to go LBB123-only Traveller with a homemade subsector in 1986. The lack of extra-skilled PCs from books 4 and 5 was half the problem, and not using the gorgeous Spinward Marches map from Deluxe Traveller was the the other half.

I stuck to my guns, and the players lost interest. The game petered out. That was the end of my regular Traveller. So sad.

 

[creativehum]

I recall my first attempt to go LBB123-only Traveller with a homemade subsector in 1986. The lack of extra-skilled PCs from books 4 and 5 was half the problem, and not using the gorgeous Spinward Marches map from Deluxe Traveller was the the other half.

I stuck to my guns, and the players lost interest. The game petered out. That was the end of my regular Traveller. So sad.

I do think that by 1986 the notion of "What Traveller Was" had settled for most people. And Traveller was "All the Books... All of Them."

It is understandable from a certain point of view -- and from the point of view of certain gamers (who form the majority.) By 1986 the notion that one bought the game, bought the setting, and that each game line revealed a new facet of a whole diamond waiting to be revealed over time had become the norm. Being a consumer of new books and a lore master of new published details had become a major part of the hobby for many.

 

[Fovean]

That's not a bad idea. A collaborative 'game' where we fill in the details.

My last campaign started with a blank map, a quadrant of 2x2 subsectors. Players could be anything they wanted, we had a Scout, an Agent, a Marine and a Scholar.

During char-gen, every step of each character’s development put something on the map: a Base for the Scout, Megacorp HQ for the agent, a University and rival Megacorp for the Scholar, etc etc. Birthworlds were determined using some house rules and placed with everything else, and even the simplest term event generated several data/map points and of course, hooks for future adventures.

We ended up with a map that was quite unexpected and the players were really invested in the setting as they had helped create it. It took two Session 0 nights before we really started playing but it was great fun.

 

[aramis]

I see no value in setting seeds like the one in Bk0...

Just enough to be limiting, not enough to save any time.

Now, the full subsector in TTB...

 

[mike wightman]

It's not a setting seed as such, I don't think it was intended to be. Doesn't stop it being used as such though.

It is the start of a section about campaign design that stretches for several pages, five and a bit, that explains how Traveller is intended for referees to make up their own settings or base settings on literary sources.

I am suggesting we use it as a setting seed and fill in some details just for fun. If you don't want to join in fair enough.

 

[boomslang]

It's not a setting seed as such, I don't think it was intended to be. Doesn't stop it being used as such though.

It is the start of a section about campaign design that stretches for several pages, five and a bit, that explains how Traveller is intended for referees to make up their own settings or base settings on literary sources.

I am suggesting we use it as a setting seed and fill in some details just for fun. If you don't want to join in fair enough.

Count me in.

What do you think, we should start a Wiki for it maybe?

 

[mike wightman]

I was thinking about discussing ideas here - maybe posting some stuff in the referees forum to show the thinking behind what we are doing as a guide to newcomers.

If anything comes of it then it may make it to the wiki if I can figure out how to post stuff there.

 

[Timerover51]

In many ways, the snippet describes what I am trying to do with my Out Rim sector, without the large federation. Now, this is likely reading into it, but it sounds like the primary organization in the sector is the "Moladon Federation", with the sub-sector being considers on the fringe of the sector. My Out Rim sector has 349 worlds presently (I may add or subtract a few), so the stars are a bit spread out. My top Tech Level is 12, and a lot of the worlds are Tech Level 9 and lower. There are also some planets with ruins that contain a bit to a lot higher Tech Levels. Now, I constructed the sector totally independent of the Book 0 information, as I did not know it until Mike pointed it out.

I am working on planetary descriptions for the worlds of the various sub-sectors, and with some changes in planet names and adjustment of locations, I could put a sub-sector up fairly quickly. However, I likely would not do that for another two weeks as I am engaged in teaching World War 2 to my summer class as well as mentoring a couple of young men looking at colleges.

 

[creativehum]

My last campaign started with a blank map, a quadrant of 2x2 subsectors. Players could be anything they wanted, we had a Scout, an Agent, a Marine and a Scholar.

During char-gen, every step of each character’s development put something on the map: a Base for the Scout, Megacorp HQ for the agent, a University and rival Megacorp for the Scholar, etc etc. Birthworlds were determined using some house rules and placed with everything else, and even the simplest term event generated several data/map points and of course, hooks for future adventures.

We ended up with a map that was quite unexpected and the players were really invested in the setting as they had helped create it. It took two Session 0 nights before we really started playing but it was great fun.

This sounds great!

Diaspora, written by people who love both Classic Traveller and Fate to fuse the two games, has a shared-setting building system as well.

 

[Brandon C]

Diaspora, written by people who love both Classic Traveller and Fate to fuse the two games, has a shared-setting building system as well.

Although I am a big fan of Fudge (in the 90's I wrote up some rules o n merging it wi the Starter Edition of CT) I am not a fan of Fate (my first exposure was Spirit of the Century, which had an excessive number of Aspects I was expected to keep track of as GM for every character, location, and object).

 

[Brandon C]

I see no value in setting seeds like the one in Bk0...

I think the value was the implication "Referees, you do not have to use the Third Imperium".

 

[mike wightman]

So, the federation itself.

A loose federation of 300+ worlds.

Do we need a world that is the seat of federation government - the Moladon from which the federation gets its name, or is Moladon and acronym for the original member worlds?

How about if the federation government isn't on a planet but instead is based on a huge space station Babylon 5 style?

It is a federation rather than confederation so the federal government will have rules and laws member worlds have to follow, not to mention maintaining the federal armed forces, bureaucracy and law enforcement.

 

[Brandon C]

Do we need a world that is the seat of federation government - the Moladon from which the federation gets its name, or is Moladon and acronym for the original member worlds?

How about a combination of the names of the first two or three worlds?

How about if the federation government isn't on a planet but instead is based on a huge space station Babylon 5 style?

GURPS Space Atlas 2 had something similar, a star with one planet (a gas giant with a half dozen minor moons). Over time, a station was built around one of the moons. The system was considered the center of the sector, even to the point of it eventually being named Center and show as such on maps.

It is a federation rather than confederation so the federal government will have rules and laws member worlds have to follow, not to mention maintaining the federal armed forces, bureaucracy and law enforcement.

I'd stick with federation, although how many federation laws apply to member worlds and citizens on each world is variable.

I do think that member worlds would be prohibited from suppressing technology, simply because it would would make the world a weak link in any crisis. This would manifest as a higher minimum TL for each world (I suggest 8).

Member worlds should be allowed to posses and operate lightly armed customs ships. Heavier ships like SDBs are debatable. Jump-capable warships should be turned over to the federation once a world becomes a member. IOW, a member world should be capable of defending itself at least briefly if invaded but not capable of launching an attack on another system without federation support.

 

[mike wightman]

Ok, so two pocket empires formed the initial federation, combining their planets and colonies.

Collectively they agreed to the constitution of the federation and began construction of a seat of government - a space station in a system central to the federation but as yet undeveloped.

Was this initial alliance forced by pressure from other pocket empires?

Was the cementation of the federal state achieved by the defeat of these enemies?

 

[boomslang]

How about if the federation government isn't on a planet but instead is based on a huge space station Babylon 5 style?

As above, and to facilitate construction at early-to-mid-interstellar TLs, what say we make Moladon a smallish moon around a GG in a centrally-located system -- a location that was initially chosen as "neutral ground" for peace and trade negotiations between the two founding polities?

It is a federation rather than confederation so the federal government will have rules and laws member worlds have to follow, not to mention maintaining the federal armed forces, bureaucracy and law enforcement.

I think a strong central government with lots of local cultural variations would provide a consistent frame of reference for Travellers, while encouraging internal and external trade and tourism.

To that end, I would like to see the same Gov for each full-member world of the MolaFed. Perhaps 4 officially, but more like 6 in practice.

 

[mike wightman]

As above, and to facilitate construction at early-to-mid-interstellar TLs, what say we make Moladon a smallish moon around a GG in a centrally-located system -- a location that was initially chosen as "neutral ground" for peace and trade negotiations between the two founding polities?

That will do nicely

I think a strong central government with lots of local cultural variations would provide a consistent frame of reference for Travellers, while encouraging internal and external trade and tourism.

The initial fluff requires the federation to become much looser as we head away from the core worlds. By the time we are at the frontier the worlds have a lot more local autonomy but receive regular cultural updates from the trade lanes - think about how the US spread US culture across the 'wild west' or how the British Empire spread its cultural values despite months of travel time. So yes, the federal culture is still there at the frontier, but it is a lot 'rougher'.

To that end, I would like to see the same Gov for each full-member world of the MolaFed. Perhaps 4 officially, but more like 6 in practice.

Fully integrated federation worlds should have similar government types and law levels - although again there will be regional variety.

 

[Brandon C]

Fully integrated federation worlds should have similar government types and law levels - although again there will be regional variety.

Do we want a somewhat distinctive core vs frontier dynamic?

 

[boomslang]

The initial fluff requires the federation to become much looser as we head away from the core worlds. By the time we are at the frontier the worlds have a lot more local autonomy but receive regular cultural updates from the trade lanes - think about how the US spread US culture across the 'wild west' or how the British Empire spread its cultural values despite months of travel time.

The travel times issue begins to skirt the question of whether we want to think in terms of a B2-only "small-ship" setting, or a HG2-compatible "large-ship" setting.

B2-only ships would let us have J-5 couriers at TL11 (below the very top of MolaFed tech), allowing for a perhaps 20-parsec-or-less-wide polity that could be traversed fringe-edge to fringe-edge in a month in an emergency, with reasonably-sized J-3ish couriers to haul diplomats and Mail around the 10-to-12-parsec-wide central core in the same time frame. I reckon this mechanic would give the desired control model, graduating from Kinda High to Tenuous the farther out from Molador one Travels.

On the other hand, if we think in terms of HG2, we are looking at hard limit of J-3 for the MolaFed (as per LBB5), with clients and rivals pretty much stuck down at J-1, but with occasional J-2 vessels. It would also give the Federation Navy a significant advantage over its likely opponents in terms of firepower and defensive capabilities. (And make options for in-space PC shenanigans more limited as a result.)

Given that we already have a well-developed HG2 sandbox provided to us in the Islands Clusters Campaign from TCS, I am inclined to favor a small-ship model here, because the closer parity in capabilities will make throwing its weight around much more difficult for the Federation Navy in particular, and for the Federation Government in general. Thoughts, anyone?

Also, with no Xboat net, as we map the sector out, we will want to mindfully consider and deliberately build the structure of the web of Trade Lanes and Mail routes with an eye toward how they might facilitate or hinder the flow of culture to particular individual worlds, as read in the LBB0 source.

 

[mike wightman]

I would go with LBB1-3.

The edition makes a difference too since ships that can be built under 77 rules can not be built using 81.

At jump six you are still looking at three to four jumps to get from the capital to the frontier subsectors, while travelling from one edge to the other is going to be six to seven jumps.

Lower jump numbers will mean longer voyages naturally, and there is the time between jumps to take into account too.

 

[mike wightman]

A first pass at mapping the subsectors of the federation:
_XXXXXX_
_XXFFXX_
XXFFFFXX
XXFFFFXX
_XXFFXX_
_XXXXXX_

key:
_ off the edge
X frontier subsector,
F federation subsector