Some advice and knowledge requested please.

[Dirk Le Daring]

G'day all,

First and foremost, this is NOT a request for editing or publishing help. My idea is strictly for personal use, at my table IF I make it happen....

I have a copy of Challenge magazine, issue 64, (September 1992 ?).

Within is an adventure entiteled "Drifter". It is written for Traveller 2300, and seems like a pretty cool one at that.

I have a thought to make this an introductory adventure for Traveller 5.10, just for me and my table. No intention of violating copyright....

Anyway, where the NPCs are lister we have a military team consisting of one veteran and four experienced npc's...

Ships crew (number according to ship used), experienced npc's...

Science team, these include four novice (for combat purposes) npc's...

How would novice, experienced and veteran translate from T2500 to T5.10 (I suppose skill wise) ?

This gives a potential of ten to twelve (perhaps a couple more) pre generated characters.

The vessel has a cybernetic chemical drive, which I think I can fit in as ancient / primitive technology, with a twist, but.........

There is a drive similar to human stutterwarp drives... Here is where I am a bit lost.

I have found no reference to stutterwarp in the Big Black Books. I assume it is a technology that would be in museums and all that jazz, but, just how old would it be ? How does it work ?

Anyway, the intent is for the players to "fill" the npc slots, do the adventure, get paid, with zero chance of the characters gaining the ship. No government would allow that. I am thinking this to be a fringe system, somewhere isolated but not too far outside the Imperium, or whatever similar thing, is chosen.

Any ideas or info would be great, cheers all.

 

[tjoneslo]

First thing would be, is this for a Traveller campaign or a 2300 campaign run using the T5 rules?

I would give the leader at least 4 terms in one of the combat careers: Army or Marines. The others would be 2-3 terms in the same careers. The ship crew would be 3-5 terms in a ship career: spacer, scouts, merchant. The scientists I would do the same but using science careers: scientist, citizen.

For the ship don't get too carried away with the technology. Install a jump drive, call it a stutter warp drive. Go from there.

 

[Dirk Le Daring]

First thing would be, is this for a Traveller campaign or a 2300 campaign run using the T5 rules?

I would give the leader at least 4 terms in one of the combat careers: Army or Marines. The others would be 2-3 terms in the same careers. The ship crew would be 3-5 terms in a ship career: spacer, scouts, merchant. The scientists I would do the same but using science careers: scientist, citizen.

For the ship don't get too carried away with the technology. Install a jump drive, call it a stutter warp drive. Go from there.

This would be for T5. Not a campaign, but could be used as a start I suppose. I am thinking a "disposible" adventure as it were, all characters are pre-generated (from the original npc list). This is about getting new players familiar with the mechanics of the system (T5 that is in this case, but could be MegaTraveller with conversion). The original spans close to two pages of text, it seems very open, and there seems to be no chance of combat, but...... This opens the door to investigative things, and attempting a lot of things with non-combat skills. I do not know how much I can describe without breaking a copyright or forum rule though.

As for the ship... I have in mind to make it something that will not be playable. However, I would like to tie in the aspect of the drive systems being of a technological level akin to what Rome is to us today... That sort of thing, so while the mechanics matter not, the history does. The ship is actually a living being in the origional. This could be an interesting thing to explore.

The ship the players are on, in whatever capacity, would be a standard vessel from the core book, or generated for the scenario according to T5.10 rules. And this only to really fill out the "crew/npc/pc" count for the mission at hand.

EDIT: Cheers for the advice on the terms for the npc's.

 

[Baroun Tardis]

" However, I would like to tie in the aspect of the drive systems being of a technological level akin to what Rome is to us today"

Maybe a NAFAL drive?
Are they chasing it from star system to star system? Does it jump during the story?
If not, NAFAL would fit the bill
Might also make it interesting to intercept it outside the 1000D limit...

 

[Dirk Le Daring]

" However, I would like to tie in the aspect of the drive systems being of a technological level akin to what Rome is to us today"

Maybe a NAFAL drive?
Are they chasing it from star system to star system? Does it jump during the story?
If not, NAFAL would fit the bill
Might also make it interesting to intercept it outside the 1000D limit...

NAFAL could be a possibility. I am at a loss as to where to peg the drive in a historical timeline is all. ( I'm wierd.. )

No, there is no chase. There is no jump during the story.

The ship is dying..... And of an entirely "alien" design / configuration.

Outside 1000D limit is entirely possible, as it has been drifting for centuries......

 

[Baroun Tardis]

NAFAL could be a possibility. I am at a loss as to where to peg the drive in a historical timeline is all. ( I'm wierd.. )

No, there is no chase. There is no jump during the story.

The ship is dying..... And of an entirely "alien" design / configuration.

Outside 1000D limit is entirely possible, as it has been drifting for centuries......

I keep thinking of running a game where there's an intercept outside the 1000D , with a NAFAL pulling 0.1G and the players in an ship with an effective thrust of 0.04G.... and a jury rigged HEPLAR with enough fuel to barely make the intercept.
Add to the DRAMA! by making this a "one shot only" thing... but hide the game mechanics so that even though they're making die rolls that look hard, there's a 99.99% chance they'll make it.

 

[whartung]

I have found no reference to stutterwarp in the Big Black Books. I assume it is a technology that would be in museums and all that jazz, but, just how old would it be ? How does it work ?

Stutterwarp would be an alternate technology. Stutterwarp is faster than Jump to Jump 2. In normal space, in system, Stutterwarp is much faster than normal drives, without the burden of building velocity, so there's no need to slow down.

Simply, if Stutterwarp were in the Traveller universe it would be everywhere, and Jump would be rare. Combat ships especially would use it in system simply for the speed advantage, even if they didn't use it for interstellar travel. Imagine a Jump carrier with SW equipped Battle Riders. These would be very decisive against "normal" Traveller ships.

Or, it would be a very kept Imperial (or whatever) secret, used in special situations.

 

[Baroun Tardis]

Stutterwarp would be an alternate technology. Stutterwarp is faster than Jump to Jump 2. In normal space, in system, Stutterwarp is much faster than normal drives, without the burden of building velocity, so there's no need to slow down.

Simply, if Stutterwarp were in the Traveller universe it would be everywhere, and Jump would be rare. Combat ships especially would use it in system simply for the speed advantage, even if they didn't use it for interstellar travel. Imagine a Jump carrier with SW equipped Battle Riders. These would be very decisive against "normal" Traveller ships.

Or, it would be a very kept Imperial (or whatever) secret, used in special situations.

There might be some economic factors in there too - how much does to cost to build and maintain SW engines?
I mean, a Battle Rider that can take out any 4 others, but costs as much as 8....

 

[Dirk Le Daring]

Stutterwarp would be an alternate technology. Stutterwarp is faster than Jump to Jump 2. In normal space, in system, Stutterwarp is much faster than normal drives, without the burden of building velocity, so there's no need to slow down.

Simply, if Stutterwarp were in the Traveller universe it would be everywhere, and Jump would be rare. Combat ships especially would use it in system simply for the speed advantage, even if they didn't use it for interstellar travel. Imagine a Jump carrier with SW equipped Battle Riders. These would be very decisive against "normal" Traveller ships.
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Or, it would be a very kept Imperial (or whatever) secret, used in special situations.

This sounds like a good idea, and very much along of the lines I was thinking. However... If it is / was a thing in Traveller 2300, then it is very much in universe in some way. I have no intention of splicing it into T5.10, but like the idea of "retrofitting" it to be described as " A drive system you have never seen or heard of before", nor has anyone else for that matter. So, if canonically stutterwarp is no longer a thing, then it will remain a mystery aspect, which is all it really reeds to be.

It would be a secret. The team would be part of the crew of a system defence boat.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[whartung]

If it is / was a thing in Traveller 2300, then it is very much in universe in some way.

That's a mistake, Traveller:2300 is not Traveller canon. It's now known as 2300AD, and they acknowledge it was a mistake to conflate the two. More accurately, it's more "Twlight: 2300" since it's part of that gaming universe. I assume they called it Traveller in the beginning to appeal to the science fiction gaming audience, since T2K was more military/survival/post apocalyptic gaming.

 

[Dirk Le Daring]

That's a mistake, Traveller:2300 is not Traveller canon. It's now known as 2300AD, and they acknowledge it was a mistake to conflate the two. More accurately, it's more "Twlight: 2300" since it's part of that gaming universe. I assume they called it Traveller in the beginning to appeal to the science fiction gaming audience, since T2K was more military/survival/post apocalyptic gaming.

Thank you for the clarification. It shall be a mystery technology. There is no reason to even attempt a tie-in if not canon.. Can be hand-waved. Good to learn more about the setting, what is and is not though. Cheers for the info.

 

[Ulsyus]

The ship is dying..... And of an entirely "alien" design / configuration.

Outside 1000D limit is entirely possible, as it has been drifting for centuries......

Do you mean that the vessel was somehow alive or self-aware?