New Traveller; Old DM. New tricks: old dog.

[jodasi]

Greetings fellow citizens. My name is Joel, and im in my 40's. I first played traveller around 1980. I loved it. It was my second time roleplaying ever. The first time was at cal state fullerton in 1978. I didnt get to play, I just watched. "Why is that person talking to a figure that looks like a dragon?" I said to myself... and look at me now.

Im trying to do a scifi game. The problem is that when i think of Classic Traveller(CT) or D20, I get completely over whelmed with the vastness of the game. I see all these little sectors that i have to generate and I get anxietous

and there is so much to learn about the new races... oy!

So I decided to do a universe of my own.

I opened my gurps Space v.2 and did a little studying about the organizations. I found empire (nah.. hate starwars), alliance, AXIS and corporation(ick! imagine worldcom or tyco running our lives.)

This is what Ive settled on. 20 inhabited systems. 60% are an alliance of worlds. 15% are an axis (fanatics or theologarians or just a group of separatists), though not neccessarily evil, and the last 35% are just unaligned independs.

Im trying to decide on technology. Interstellar drive looks good. I like the mystique of jump drive. Im guessing when you are in jump space, nothing can intercept you. So, I guess that will do. Star gates are kewl, but the tech level would have to be very high. Maybe the stargates existed already.

My story arc should include:
* Some Trading missions
* A mysterious enemy of unknown size. A person or entity even.
* Some ship combat
* Some merc missions
* An encouter or 2 with alien technology found some where.
* One or 2 characters have an implated psi ability that he doesnt know about.
* At least one character should be nobility
* All characters should have served in the marines, army or Navy.
* Maybe some exploration.
* No known alien races, that are known of, at least yet.

Interaction can take place with the alliance, independs or the axis.

Any comments thus far? Anything to add? Any pitfalls here?

 

[Flynn]

As an example of a campaign based on a rather similar concept to that which you've mentioned, may I point out my Alternate Traveller Universe to you for some ideas?

Confederation Of Planets

Also, if you are interested in having a lot of that worldgen work done for you, I'd recommend that you check out any of a number of great Traveller sites online. QLI has among its downloads the Linkworld Cluster, a free download detailing a small region of space and providing you with a complete mini-campaign to start your adventuring. It keeps the focus small, so you are not overwhelmed.

I'd recommend you choose an area no larger than a subsector or quadrant (an area of space that's two subsectors by two subsectors), and develop a small cluster of worlds that are within one jump of one another, but isolated from the rest by at least a jump-2 gap. Keep the adventures localized until you and your players are ready to reach beyond that cluster.

I think that'll help you a lot. I know it did me.

Enjoy,
Flynn

 

[wa11eye]

flynn said

Keep the adventures localized until you and your players are ready to reach beyond that cluster.

That's what I plan to do jodasi, I'm in the same boat as you are. There so much out there it's hard to tell where to start so I'm planning the first 5 adventures to stay on one planet (which should last untill june or july of 04) by then i hope to have a better grip on space and space travel. Walleye

 

[Spinward Scout]

Hey Jodasi,

Cool ideas for the game. My idea was to take the established Traveller Universe and turn it into Space Opera. It's doable even within the current ruleset. Check this:

An Arch-Villain in the form of a deNobled Baron.
An almost unstopable army (secretly created while the Imperium was distracted during the 5th Frontier War)
A doomsday device (actually more than one)
A device, or person that the Villain wants (or both)

Keep the characters on the run, make the most prominent planets archetypal (i.e. bigger is better), and do a lot of fade-ins and outs. You don't have to run a Traveller game using all of the daily ins-and-out of the rules. Streamline it. Use cliffhangers. Tell a story and make it a good one. Myself, I don't find the idea of Interstellar Trade interesting whatsoever, but I use it as background fluff. To me, the most common person would never know what "Tech Level" a planet is - that's for socio-scientists. Just like if I drive to Chicago, I don't go online and download all of the city-specific laws, but I sure know where the people get shot from seeing it on the news, or what restaurants are giving people a hard time about smoking... You kinda have to look at some of the rules as "who really cares right now." Only use it when you need it. The players don't need to know exactly what's happened on the 5 jump journey to Deneb, all they need to hear is:

"OK, you're jump field evaporates after your 5th jump and you look out your viewport to see a beautiful blue-green planet ahead..."

Don't let the rules overwhelm you. It's all about having fun, and it's YOUR universe no matter what's been established before...

Peace,

Scout

 

[jodasi]

ok. I've been at it again. trying to work thru this campaing thing.

New Traveler campaign starts for my pending game. Need feedback.

Universe is 20 systems. 12 aligned systems. 5 are independent systems. 3 are axis systems.

The aligned systems are loosely aligned. They help each other out with military, trade and economically.

The independent worlds are well, independent, and isolationists, or fanatics runs the axis systems. I am undecided with that one.

Tech level is undecided. It’s still around 300 years since the first 3 waves of population went to hit the local stars.

All worlds would be with in a jump of each other. Well I think J.

The players have expressed interest in playing supped up characters. Maybe get cybernetic abilities, or psionic, or bio enhanced. Here’s an opening for my campaign...tell me how weird you think it is...

The players start out on a planet. They appear to be in a low-tech world. Appear being the key. They are workaday people with ordinary jobs etc. One works in a mine, another in a craftsman shop, yet another is a local sawbones. They go fishing one afternoon. They find a cave, there’s a cave in, trapping them. They discover glowing globes <electric light> and manuals written in their language. Refereeing to some sort of alchemy. As time passes in the cave, they have realizations. “Hey... what the hell is going on here. Damit! I’m not a miner... I use to work on a ship.... another thinks: Yeah he was a gunner on my ship... and so it goes. They look at their wrists and they have some sort of magnetic bracelets which have become unattached at the cave in. the players have been mind harnessed. The harness is failing. for some unknown amount of time, they’ve been a prisoner on this seemingly backwater planet living a quiet life.

The players manage to get out of the cave in. They see odd things they’ve not “seen before”. The factory, is actually part of a star port. The mining facility is part of a strip-mine and deep mining project. They realize in no time that most of the people on this planet aside from the armed prison guards, who appear as sheriffs while “mind harnessed”, think they are living in a low-tech world. Depending on what the players want to do... hopefully they will want to escape. They will have opportunity to escape on to a freighter, which is then hit by space pirates. They will have the opportunity to be let of on an imperial planet... A what? The players have had their memories partially stripped. They are volunteers of an advanced military project. They will be 6-9th level to start with when they escape, if they do, they will restart their lives as freemen and be on their way. Questions? Who captured them? Why were they there? What actually happened to them? How long were they there? These are questions I cannot answer because I don’t want to spoil the surprise. There ARE answers though. Is any feedback?

The other background start up for the campaign in the same universe:
One of the players is nobility. He gets an assignment to hire a crew and take a diplomatic pouch to a 1-jump system. While going to the jump their engine fails and they are pushed to the edge of the system. The communication from the belts to the earth is 14 hours??? Or something? Anyway a law ship stops their scout ship. The law ship has been looking for a scout ship with a diplomatic package on board matching the players ship id. The law ship stops them and has them land on their landing bay.

The players are taken to holding cell while the communications are made back to the home world. In that time that time the law ship heads off to another planet in the system. A black-stripped large hulled ship attacks the law ship. Drive and communications are knocked out. The players make it back to their landing pad on the ship. They reboard their ship and launch from the law ship they open the diplomatic pouch and find a module that slips into the drive system. it adds +1 to any existing jump drive. They also find a diary with world coordinates where this module was found. They manage to evade the big black ship when other law ships come to the aid of the one they were on...
The players are now free to make their way. The +1 jump module is alien tech found on an alien world. The house of nobles responsible for finding wants to keep it quiet and study it on one of their more protected worlds. Word has unfortunately gotten to some one who wants it badly enough.

Interesting beginning? Do you like that one better? or the prisoner one?
If the players get to the world they will be enhanced physically. Sort of like super agents

I still need ideas for what worlds to put in. you know, like personalities for the worlds.

And of course lots of feed back.

Hey op? can you subscribe me to this topic? i couldnt figure out how to do this.