Looking for advice fitting a planet into my TU.

[Murphy]

I'm detailing a planet for my TU. It generally matches Terran norm, with hints that a mysterious human civilization dwelled here centuries ago. Now it's being re-settled but it turns out that the planet is very dangerous to live on - this could be the cause of extinction or its by-product.

The surface is rich in environmental dangers ranging from scalding geysers, caustic weather and radiation to extremely strong magnetic/gravitic anomalies caused by deposits of unknown minerals. There is a lot of mutated and very angry wildlife, to the point it can be threatening to settlements. There are still remnants of old bunkers, factories etc, potentially containing archeological secrets.

The whole place has unique mineral/biological resources and maybe even secret knowledge so all sorts of adventurers would be coming to test their luck. However, there is a problem: either IISS or some megacorp would quickly hog such a planet for themselves to explore/exploit, barring entry to any freelancers. That's not fun. I'm thinking of ways to deal with it without breaking consistency about how Imperium works.

I don't mind if freelancers end up illegal on the planet, in fact it'd be fun to play out an encounter between licensed and unlicensed explorers out there in the wilds, or even a faction war. I just don't want to make the adventure primarily about evading the almighty authorities, so how would I plausibly explain that the Big Brother isn't so watchful around there? Would just the harsh environment cut it?

Perhaps there are settlers who lived here prior to interdiction? They'd technically own the planet and could lease areas for exploration in exchange for supplies and high-tech equipment that helps to survive down there. This way an individual could get a license. And since they'd lack the manpower to enforce the rules themselves, it'd not be so hard to go unlicensed too.

The whole idea is to a certain degree inspired by the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R., action RPGs like Diablo and R.Silverberg's "The Man in the Maze" novel.

 

[Reban]

Sounds like a great setting, with lots of potential for wilderness adventure and cloak and dagger intrigue. I can see some of the action playing out like the British Sci-fi series
Primeval

I don't mind if freelancers end up illegal on the planet, in fact it'd be fun to play out an encounter between licensed and unlicensed explorers out there in the wilds, or even a faction war. I just don't want to make the adventure primarily about evading the almighty authorities, so how would I plausibly explain that the Big Brother isn't so watchful around there? Would just the harsh environment cut it?

Think about how different groups might go about exploration. A well resourced organization like a MegaCorp or the IISS might establish a secure base somewhere on the planet that they can operate safely from. It would be sited close to some of the most interesting anomalies and sites but also near enough to civilization to be resupplied. Having a base means they are tied down to it and can only rely on patrols or drones to be out in the wilds. That cuts down the chance of them knowing exactly what freelancers or others are doing.

Freelancers on the other hand might only have a small budget and limited logistics support and hence a smaller footprint to detect. Maybe they operate from an ATV and keep moving. Also, consider this: if its the whole planet that is the area of interest, that's a lot of ground. Many groups could be operating all around the globe and never know anything about the others. Your authorities might be convinced that they are sitting on THE important find on the planet and not care about other smaller groups....until the freelancers find something important and they take notice.

High TL sensors might make everyone and anything detectable but somebody has to suspect there is something there before they go looking. Even then the anomalies you describe make detection from orbit or with PEMS much harder.

Perhaps there are settlers who lived here prior to interdiction? They'd technically own the planet and could lease areas for exploration in exchange for supplies and high-tech equipment that helps to survive down there. This way an individual could get a license. And since they'd lack the manpower to enforce the rules themselves, it'd not be so hard to go unlicensed too.

I like that idea. The settler/natives might also know more than they let on. Plenty of potential for cloak and dagger there. Also parties might hire local guides. Hiring one might be an adventure in itself.

 

[BytePro]

It sounds like the world in question would either be an amber/red zoned and/or privately held.

Megacorp or IISS (or crooked exec/official) could contract the Players to exploit, er, explore the planet for them. Or simply post an open reward and/or provide a stake system for resolving some issues - ala rescue missing botanists; classify and capture specimens of dangerous indigenous fauna; prospect for resources in return of a reward/cut; etc. They could even wind up knowingly sent into harms way on a deal that is too good to be true... (personnel have regularly gone missing - get some saps to test the waters...).

Have Fun!

 

[Murphy]

Follow-up

Megacorp or IISS (or crooked exec/official) could contract the Players to exploit, er, explore the planet for them.

Yeah. I'm going to make it more Stalker-esque, though. I.e. some small factions plus sanctioned explorers/military patrols, but many more independents (most ill-equipped), the players starting among the latter and working their way "up the food chain", so to say.

Even though it's hard to pin someone down on the planet itself, it's even harder for an individual crew to carry their loot offworld. So there are some crafty smugglers establishing hideouts in areas where independents work, offering resupplies, medical assistance and safe haven from the deadly environment.

If the crew survives and builds a reputation, they could end up hired by IISS (who, realizing it can't keep independents off the entire planet surface, might as well take advantage of the more experienced of them), or another big faction.

I've cooked up descriptions for some local notable factions:

IISS - maintains a highport, downport, several research stations and customs, as well as a major ground base. Uses mostly its own teams but is known to hire talented freelancers for some more dangerous missions. People working for IISS are paid on a per-mission basis and are generally expected to give up all their finds instead of keeping them for themselves or selling to the highest bidder.

SuSAG - 99-years lease of a large area on the southern, more volcanic continent. Has its own base of operations, starport and research station (ground-based). Usually does not subcontract but will often buy rare finds through unofficial channels.

Locals - a thriving underground colony in a less-inhospitable region, close to the downport. The colony has little manufacturing capability, but is extremely well-defended. Supports an "official" guides' guild and issues licenses to people and organizations. Everything is very expensive. Trying to sell finds at the colony market yields little profit at best, and if you don't have a license, be ready for confiscation and heavy fines.

TransPort Inc. - a rather modest transport company subsidized by local government and mostly carrying offworld supplies to the planet and offering passenger service. Licensed explorers can hire a shuttle to drop them off and later pick them up at certain areas of the planet. The company is known to invest in research to circumvent transport difficulties due to weather hazards. Over the years it also has established monopoly on local insurance service.

Hazmat Project - a non-commercial R&D organization working off an Imperial grant. It maintains a small base and two even smaller outposts on the northern continent. It has a staff of dedicated researchers and an exploration team, but often hires freelancers to supplement their manpower or as consultants.

The Rippers - a large band of former Aslan ihatei that managed to land in an unexplored area of the planet some 20 years ago. Long thought of as dead, they recently emerged, having adapted to the environment; years of exposure have changed them into literal monstrosities, unable and unwilling to communitate with civilized world. They do not have advanced weapons, but make use of some local beasts as mounts. Any way of hunting them all down is unconceivable as of now, so they remain a major danger in the area.

Fixers - a well-rooted smuggling ring that allows many unlicensed explorers to survive on the planet. They keep a semi-legal presence in many areas, especially those not frequented by IISS. They ask no questions and will gladly sell anything to anyone as well as give shelter in their hideout, except to anyone who has a record of not upholding cease-fire while inside.

If anyone's interested, I'll post more as I develop a bestiary, some maps and environment details and a list of missions. Comments are also welcome.

 

[BytePro]

...
If anyone's interested, I'll post more as I develop a bestiary, some maps and environment details and a list of missions. Comments are also welcome.

Sure - I think there is always plenty of interest on the boards for such things. (Comments may be rare, but passive viewing seems popular).

Enjoy!

 

[CosmicGamer]

Just my opinion, but the best way to make the planet fit might be for it to not be the main world of the system.

 

[sabredog]

Since it is inspired by the Zone in STALKER (awesome games, those BTW) why not just have it be a colony world that had some heavy industry and energy generation facilities on it for exploiting the natural resources. Heavy radioactives and the like.

And then something went south, maybe it was a comet fragmenting and hitting the place and the nuke plants went critical. Or the planet's moon was gobsmacked by the comet and fragments peppered the planet for a long time. The ground would be fractured (like you see in the areas around the Scar anomaly, say) and radioactive ores & toxic gas would be venting. The atmosphere would be full of dust and nasty, semi-predictable weather patterns. Like a blowout.

The colonists were either killed by the impact or later events, those who were not have found a way to survive there on their own. Same world, now different rules in the wreckage with the mutants. The company left the place as a write-off, but once in a while Free Traders and the like stop by to pick up rare earths, radioactives, and oddball anomalies found by miners and scavengers in the worst areas. Nobody here can really afford to leave, and there isn't any starport with liners anyway. Sometimes someone might save up enough of stake to buy passage on a Free Trader after hitting it big in the Zone, but pretty much the people here are here for the duration.

So that would be a planet-wide Zone, and a bad (but fun) place for travellers to be stranded with blown gasket in their scoutship.

 

[Timerover51]

Given the very hazardous nature of the planet you are working up, I am some reservations about having major organizations put large bases on the planet directly. Large bases are expensive to set up in any case, but given your planet description, not only are the bases going to be far more expensive than normal, staffing them, except for the IISS is going to be extremely costly as well. I would lean more towards the companies hiring free-lancers to do the dirty work, probably with a company representative or two along to monitor them.

 

[Murphy]

Like your idea, Sabredog. I actually was thinking along the same lines:

with hints that a mysterious human civilization dwelled here centuries ago. Now it's being re-settled but it turns out that the planet is very dangerous to live on - this could be the cause of extinction or its by-product.

Yours does provide for lack of Imperial presence on the planet. It precludes the idea of prospectors coming in hoping to get rich, but that's okay. I think I'll start with it and eventually (as rich finds are discovered) IISS will want to come and check if the planet's worth their attention, and then develop the world into more of a state that I described.

I picked Carben / Egyrn / Trojan Reaches as the world in question. The campaign will start when a scout team is sent to investigate the world in the year 1099. The plan is to have it develop somewhat, then have the funding cease as Fifth Frontier War starts.

Players may be the aforementioned scout team or indigenous locals dealing with it, or even a free trader crew stranded on the planet - depends on what kind of characters they roll.

 

[epicenter00]

The whole place has unique mineral/biological resources and maybe even secret knowledge so all sorts of adventurers would be coming to test their luck. However, there is a problem: either IISS or some megacorp would quickly hog such a planet for themselves to explore/exploit, barring entry to any freelancers. That's not fun. I'm thinking of ways to deal with it without breaking consistency about how Imperium works.

Despite what a lot of dramatic media has us believe, most corporations, and I'd say this goes double for Megacorps in the Imperium ultimately look at the bottom line of profit/loss.

Go with what your gut tells instead.

That is: They've tried to hog it. Perhaps a succession of megacorps have tried.

However, conditions on the planet are so hazardous/problematic that profitable exploitation of whatever the minerals just isn't possible and the corporations eventually suspend operations in favor of "further study" then eventually abandon the world the entirely or sell off rights to some other megacorporation for a pittance, just glad to get some money on their white elephant. This has happened a number of times until at present, the world is a Red Zone due to the dangers of the world, but has no active quarantine; it's not strictly illegal to land on the world, but you don't want to unless you want to lose your ship/life. The Imperium takes the attitude of "we warned you, if you choose to land, you get what you deserve."

Especially if you make the "unique minerals" not too unique, say, it's a good concentration of other elements otherwise difficult to obtain in nature, but not total unobtainium that "can't be found anywhere else in the known universe" a corporation is going to be lured in by the prospect by assays and computer estimates that say "if we can just overcome the natural hazards of the world we can make money hand over fist."

So megacorporations try. They've tried any number of methods, however, at some point they have to look at the bottom line and probably start trying some "cheap but innovative" approach that doesn't work, and they slowly inch things up, spending millions of credits in the process. The executives put in charge keep saying, "just a few million more credits so I can hire just a hundred more specialists and we'll break even!" eventually gets old, and the executive is eventually fired or reassigned and the corporation has a bad taste in its mouth from the white elephant and walks away.

So in addition to the ancient human civilization on the world, you can also have the ruins and abandoned equipment of past efforts by corporations to "hog" the world before eventually it was decided that the cost of operating on the world is simply too high to make it worthwhile.

However, there's always people, small groups, wealthy individuals and so on who are sure they can figure out some way to make the world safe enough to exploit the resources of it and make themselves wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice. It's just so far, over the course of centuries or however long this planet has been known, nobody's ever been able to figure it out.

As an example of 'hazardous working conditions':

For instance, perhaps the local star intermittently goes into some sort of flare mode where it blankets the world with potent EMP pulses. The star is sort of unstable in that respect, and there's little warning of when the star will go into flare mode, but this sort of thing happens about anywhere from 20-50 times in a year. The EMP is harmless to life, but it does Bad Things (tm) to high-technology items. The flares also cause weather problems on the world, including torrential downpours, high winds, devastating floods, and electrical storms that are the worst over the richest deposits of your mystery minerals. The electrical storms cause the crystalline structure of the mineral deposits to vibrate at certain harmonic frequencies, which, in addition to causing spontaneous incontinence in humans also quickly causes microstress fractures in most hard materials; concrete pulverizes pretty quickly, metals become brittle, and there's severe ground liquefaction around the large deposits.

Compounding these problems is that the local wildlife doesn't see these storms (and flash floods) as a problem: that's when all the local wildlife goes into overdrive, plants grow a meter a day, animals come out and mate, predators go looking for food. Animals the size of large dinosaurs go on the rut and crush bulldozers and trample housing in mating displays.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

And then something went south, maybe it was a comet fragmenting and hitting the place and the nuke plants went critical. Or the planet's moon was gobsmacked by the comet and fragments peppered the planet for a long time. The ground would be fractured (like you see in the areas around the Scar anomaly, say) and radioactive ores & toxic gas would be venting./SNIP/

The colonists were either killed by the impact or later events, those who were not have found a way to survive there on their own. Same world, now different rules in the wreckage with the mutants.

Gamma World?

As an example of 'hazardous working conditions':

For instance, perhaps the local star intermittently goes into some sort of flare mode where it blankets the world with potent EMP pulses. The star is sort of unstable in that respect, and there's little warning of when the star will go into flare mode, but this sort of thing happens about anywhere from 20-50 times in a year. The EMP is harmless to life, but it does Bad Things (tm) to high-technology items. The flares also cause weather problems on the world, including torrential downpours, high winds, devastating floods, and electrical storms that are the worst over the richest deposits of your mystery minerals. The electrical storms cause the crystalline structure of the mineral deposits to vibrate at certain harmonic frequencies, which, in addition to causing spontaneous incontinence in humans also quickly causes microstress fractures in most hard materials; concrete pulverizes pretty quickly, metals become brittle, and there's severe ground liquefaction around the large deposits.

Compounding these problems is that the local wildlife doesn't see these storms (and flash floods) as a problem: that's when all the local wildlife goes into overdrive, plants grow a meter a day, animals come out and mate, predators go looking for food. Animals the size of large dinosaurs go on the rut and crush bulldozers and trample housing in mating displays.

I hope y'all don't mind if I steal both these ideas? 'Cause they are great! Hmmmm, I'll have to change the names on a couple of worlds to make it work. (Well, maybe give it a dual name - one in the star catalog, and one that it's known by among scouts and such.) Either one of y'all want to give yours a unique name in MTU? (Which I hope to finally, someday, publish....)

 

[sabredog]

Gamma World?

I was a Metamorphosis Alpha guy. The mutants I'm referring to are like the bloodsuckers and chimeras running around the dark corners and basements of the wrecked buildings in the Zone from STALKER.

I would add the zombies from STALKER, too. They are not completely dead or undead in the traditional sense of the type, but having been lobotomized by the radiation bursts of the blowouts they might be useable for this planet. The same thing could have happened there, and might still happen to you if you are caught unshielded in a blowout, or wander unprotected into someplace with dangerous levels of whatever radiation you decide is saturating the place.

Besides, why not give the players the same nasty surprise I had when I first encountered them had had one shoot back (badly, but still...) while I was trying to make that headshot with a pistol.

As for the prospectors coming there to strike it rich - I think that as rumors of the place get around the sector, some people are going to seek it out as a way to get rich by searching for artifacts and anomalies. Then bring them back to sell to collectors and companies. A Free Trader or Scout just needs a flat, hard place to land so the lack of a starport only means the larger liners and freighters won't be coming there. So given that any group coming there is going to be a small, more or less private enterprise you will maintain the atmosphere of isolation, desolation, and danger better that a place like this will thrive off of. It needs to feel desolate.

As a joke by some barkeep type I would hang a big "Abandon All Hope" sign over the road leading out of the settlement the players leave to go artifact hunting. Maybe hang the body of a bloodsucker from it just to set the proper mood.

Oh, and don't let them use an air/raft. Something about the gravitational fields being messed up by the comet strike or something. Either that, or break it and get them on the ground scurrying for cover in the dark as soon as possible. Nothing makes players more nervous on a hellworld than taking away their air/raft.

Well, expect maybe having some small animal gnaw through their laser rifle cable while they slept.

 

[epicenter00]

I would add the zombies from STALKER, too. They are not completely dead or undead in the traditional sense of the type, but having been lobotomized by the radiation bursts of the blowouts they might be useable for this planet. The same thing could have happened there, and might still happen to you if you are caught unshielded in a blowout, or wander unprotected into someplace with dangerous levels of whatever radiation you decide is saturating the place.

Zombies don't have to come from supernatural causes necessarily. Things that happen in our own world that create creatures that are very much like zombies. There's Cordyceps fungus or liver flukes here on Earth. While these things are able to take control of insects and similar creatures with limited nervous systems, it's not inconceivable that such parasites might take over higher creatures, such as humans.

Perhaps it's part of their propagation method. A lot of these creatures have complex life-cycles. Like for instance perhaps the parasites are microscopic and thrive in relatively dimly lit areas with a constant temperature and humidity ... well it just happens by coincidence that it's well suited for conditions that humans favor. In this state they're like a discolored patch or "fuzz" that grows in places like under sinks, air conditioning ducts, and so on. It's relatively harmless in places like this. However, when the stuff starts growing in places like breadboxes, fruit baskets, and so on is when the trouble starts.

When it's time to reproduce, they produce spores. These spores don't actually last very long after being born, unsuited as they are dry surroundings. However, if they're ingested by humans at that point, the spores start to grow inside of the human host, working their way towards the brain where they extensively colonize the brain. The human host loses cognitive ability and usually stops feeling physical sensation (including pain). Reduced to a near animal level of intelligence, but aware that there is something wrong, the human staggers out looking for help from other humans but, a feeling that the parasite magnifies by producing neurochemicals that make the human uneasy and fearful and desire the company of other humans. However, at this point, the near animal level human can no longer communicate meaningfully with other humans and due to the neurological influence of the parasite, this frustration turns quickly towards murderous rage. In the ensuing fight, it's likely that the host will be killed or at least severely injured, bleeding a lot.

This bleeding is what the parasite wants as the eggs of this stage of the lifeform are in the blood. The splattering or puddling of blood tends to collect in areas which allow the parasite to develop into the sessile mold/fungus-like stage of the parasite's life cycle where it quietly grows, harmless towards humans for a few more years before something triggers it to go into "spread" mode again...

 

[sabredog]

True, true, but I was looking for a way to fit the ones in STALKER into the game since that theme was what the OP was trying to replicate.

The zombies there are prospectors and the like who were caught out in a blowout and their higher functions were burned out. They stumble around moaning and babbling incoherently. Some of them are still armed with the weapons they held at the time of the emission and they will fire erratically at anyone moving nearby. They follow you around so long as you make noise or are in sight, and swarm after a fashion, but since they are in small groups several isn't necessarily as dangerous as one so long as you stay on the move, have good cover (night is good for that when moving quietly), or pop them in the head with a silenced pistol or rifle. I don't think it would be too much of a stretch at all to include them in a Traveller game on a world based on the Zone.

 

[Murphy]

Moving on to resources. So far I've thought of a few that prospectors could scavenge and trade to visiting merchants. I have some trouble setting prices, though.

How much are reactor-grade radioactives worth? Assuming MCr1 per dton, that's 250 metric tons if you take uranium as an example, we get Cr4 per kilo. Not very impressive, but fairly realistic.

However, Merchant Prince seems to set gold, platinum and iridium as 10 times cheaper than radioactives. Ouch. Unless there's a reasoning that I missed, I'll probably have to adjust the price.

 

[Murphy]

Here are some resources that I picked to be avaliable

Peat: the abundance of swamps offers vast quantities of this kind of fuel. Usually burned for charcoal, which is used locally. If sold, one kilo of charcoal is equivalent to Cr1.

Hardwood: plentiful but it's kinda hard to find a tree that isn't viciously gnarled. Cr1 per kilo is a good estimate here, too, and a dton would thus cost five to ten thousands.

Oil: there are old rigs that have exposed oil deposits to the surface. Some prospectors have rebuilt them and are enjoying the use of petroleum fuel. Again, Cr1 per kilo is a good estimate is sold offworld, though it rarely happens as the local price may go as high as Cr10.

Uranium/thorium ore: lots of salts that are easily refined. Not exactly reactor-grade, in its raw form it has value of about Cr3 per kilo. Can be mined or collected from plants growing in certain areas that accumulate salts from soil.

Malachite: pretty stone and can be used as copper ore in a pinch. Easily spotted, abundant and thus popular for mining. It's speculated that thermal anomalies play a part in the fact malachite is so common on this world. Worth Cr10 per kilo.

Orange lotus: toxic plant whose seeds have medicinal properties. Requires protection to harvest. The seeds can be sold as high as Cr30 per kilo.

Platinum: common in alluvial grounds, which are themselves very common on Carben. There's a lot of danger involved in going near major rivers, however. Cost is Cr100 per kilo.

Black amber: hard, amorphous mineral that spawns inside some of the more insidious anomalies (the ones involving chemical hazards). Makes a perfect catalyst for some useful processes and is easily worth Cr300 per kilo.

Fivehorn ivory and hide: fivehorns are a local herbivore, similar to rhino or triceratops, only more active. Hunting for those beasts is only possible with some best weaponry, which is itself costly, but the spoils from one fivehorn pay up to Cr1000.

Frozen flame: odd crystalline formations looking like, well, frozen blue flames. Encountered in inverse thermal anomalies which are fairly rare and hard to protect oneself against. They are highly fluorescent and can "store" sunlight. Very much unstudied. They have low density and a kilo is worth Cr3000 (not to all traders, though).

Energy spheres: some form of condensed energy taking the shape of a perfect, faintly glowing spheres. When stimulated by a low electric current they will amplify it and can thus be used as easy energy source. The sphere's mass slowly depletes, though a typical 50-100 gram sphere will last years. It is unknown how they are formed, and there is no known way to unleash the mass. Used mostly locally, they are worth a lot, perhaps Cr10000 per kilo, though they would typically fetch only a tenth of the price if sold offworld.