Random Encounters and Events for that New Colony

Continuing with my ruminations on colony/settlement formation and the adventure potential of the same, I present another new random encounter table. 

When a PC is running or working for a colony or new settlement, use this table instead of the standard Random Encounters. The frequency of encounters is the same - 5+ on 1D, daily.

Unlike Star Trek, not every planet in Traveller is habitable and inviting.  

Please note that this is not attempting to be comprehensive "how to run a colony" rules. The game is about Adventure, and these encounters should produce those. See also D66 Reasons Why the Colony Failed.

11 2D New colonists

12 Missing person reported

13 2D New colonists

14 2D workers

15 Death, suspicious

16 Animal encounter

21 Bad weather

22 2D Soldiers

23 Accident

24 Political dispute

25 3D Security forces

26 Disease

More About High Level Play - Paths to Get There

From the Traveller Book, Introduction chapter, “Adventuring in Traveller”

Traveller is a set of detailed rules covering how the universe operates. These rules govern day-to-day activities to be expected for any individual. Against this background of basic information, players can work, earn money, travel to distant worlds, and lead exciting lives of daring and adventure.

But Traveller does much more. The characters have an opportunity to undertake genuine adventures as they search for their own self-appointed goals. Some adventures happen as a result of day-to-day activity. Some occur as players use pre-written adventures . . . (m)ost Traveller adventures come from the referee's own imagination. Each new world is an opportunity for the referee to present a new situation to the players, who must cope with this scenario if they are to progress in their own adventures. (emphasis mine)

What's the win condition? What you (the player) decide it's going to be.

When you start playing Traveller, you look for patrons, NPCs who tell you what to do. Your PC uses skills and equipment to accomplish the mission. As a player you learn how Traveller 'does' as a game. Marc Miller states in the Experience chapter that real experience in Traveller is in the realm of the player. “Experience gained as the character travels and adventures is, in a very real sense, an increased ability to play the role which he or she has assumed.” That role is a person in a setting who interacts with other people in that setting. That person will develop goals of their own in the setting, beyond what the patron of the adventure wants. (See above)

The End State or Goal in Traveller is the same for everyone.

Time and Traveller

No, this post is not about time-travel.

Time is a scarce resource.

The passage of time matters, as it affects all of the above in-game mechanics and more. The setting of Traveller, whether OTU or homemade (like my Church and Empire setting), is in motion. Things happen, polities and VIPs are making and executing plans. The PCs exist within and as part of that setting. The setting exists for the players, not the PCs. Even after the players achieve High Level Play the setting is still independent of the PCs.

Keeping track of time creates urgency, and encourages planning. Time spent is always a trade-off. If you’re doing this, you can’t do that.

The more I read from other bloggers about the importance of time in TTRPGs, the more I am persuaded that it’s an important aspect that I have neglected.

Time=Money

Adventures in Resource Discovery

This is an addendum to the previous post on the Class-E starport. I'm looking outside of my usual lane of politics-influenced adventures for more pulp-style endeavors.

Everyone who's played CT knows about Animal Encounters, right? And as a component of this, from TTB, page 96 we find “In addition to animals, the referee may include one or more events in his encounter tables.” And “An event's purpose is to add interest, atmosphere and perhaps a bit of danger to the adventurers' travels.”

The party of adventurers have set up their Class E starport as the base point for a new colony. They venture out to explore the wilderness around the base camp. What do they find? The Referee should prep an animal encounter table. That table should include Event encounters.

What kinds of events should there be? Well, there has to be a reason that the PCs parked their ship where they did. A new planet has plenty of room to select from, so why that particular spot?

Signal Boost

 This is outside of my usual kinds of posts, but I feel like it's worth doing. While Traveller is my main game, it, like all other RPGs owes a debt to The World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game. Also, it is Good and Right to know your history.

Ad Fontes!

https://jonmollison.com/2024/03/13/told-you-so/

From Mr. Mollinson:

At the 21ish-minute mark, Jason launches into a very interesting story about pre-GenCon tournament D&D play.  What it looked like.  What players did.

SPOILER ALERT:  The #BROSR was right.  About everything.

Link to the issue of Europa: https://whiningkentpigs.com/DW/oldzines/europa6-8.pdf

Play Report - Prospecting!

 Not all of our regular players were at game this week, but it is quick and easy to roll up Traveller characters. Graham Clark and C-418, along with their new friend Chuck Norris (his player is a gal with a sense of humor) found themselves with some leave time from the service of Count Murietta. Hoping to make some fast cash, they decided to try prospecting in the wilderness of Holtzmann. 

A pencil sketch map of Holtzmann's inhabited region.

They did some research, and chose an area between two of the rivers flowing south out of the mountains. After hiring an ATV and equipping for a fortnight in the wild, they set off for what they hoped would be a small fortune. 

The way I decided to handle the prospecting part was to secretly dice for the number of 6-hour work periods that they would have to put in before discovering the resource, in this case some type of precious metal. During the multiple days it takes to work through those periods, I diced for random and animal encounters. 

The prospecting work itself was in the background. Traveller has a Prospecting skill, introduced in the Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium with the Belter career. None of the C3 group had it, so I fell back on the Education stat. The group made an initial throw to determine a likely spot to prospect in, with DMs for high EDU and JOT skill. I left the results uncertain to them. This was so that they had to decide how long to 'keep digging away' before deciding that they were looking in a wrong spot.

Supplement 2 Animal Encounters gave them a number of curious critters to encounter. At least one was hostile, and Clark was slightly wounded trying to put it down. 

A group of tourists from Dekalb wandered by the prospecting camp in their contra-grav 'bus' and took some pictures. That's just what the Random Encounter table said. Fortunately, their reaction throw was a 7. I can imagine the mess if the tourists had decided to attack the PCs!

Right at the end of the session, the random encounter table gave up the result of Ambushing Brigands. We left it as a cliffhanger for next time how they would resolve that encounter.

Each group of players at my table has an Imperial Calendar page. By comparing it to my official events calendar, I can keep up with multiple parties pursuing multiple ends. The C3 Group is on day 084, about ten days behind the main group. 

If they make it to the end of their prospecting trip, they may return to the city a lot richer. In that case others might get the same prospecting bug and start a gold rush. Who knows?  We'll find out next session.

UPDATE:

The following session, I had the players who were prospecting on one 'team' and the rest of the players formed the Brigand's team. There was a brief but spirited combat between the prospector's ATV and the brigand's off-road trucks. While the prospectors got away with the ATV and their skins intact, they were driven off the dig area before they found any of the resources they sought. Such is the nature of adventuring. 

Second update:

In the most recent session, the main group of PCs kitted out an expedition to Holtzmann Gamma, a world restricted by the Imperial Navy, as they use it for combat practice such as orbital artillery and hot landings. 

This map shows H/Gamma's surface. The black hexes are the No-Go zones, either due to active Navy missions, or [CLASSIFIED]. The PC's went to the hex marked with a red plus sign. This time they found some recoverable ordnance and a cache of Marine cutlasses, which they were able to sell for a tidy profit!

Session Recap - gaming on the fly

 Several of the usual players were unable to make it to the session last evening, so I focused on the two who were there. Graham Clark and his sidekick known as C-418 are working for a Count on Holtzmann. We covered three weeks of in-game time. Most was routine work for the Count (in his vehicle fleet) In their free time they did some shopping and a little Trade & Speculation. They netted a profit, but not much adventure. 

Image unrelated, but still cool. I'm sure that creature exists somewhere in my TU.

As I was anticipating concluding an adventure begun the week before with the full group, I had nothing prepared ahead of time. What to do?  The answer is right there in The Traveller Book. I checked on Legal Encounters, Random Encounters and Rumors. All three of these give the Referee tools to generate adventures.

Pascha and Penance and Adventure

 April 16^th is Great and Holy Pascha for the Orthodox Church in the year of our Lord 2023. In the Far Future, the dating of Pascha may become more complicated but the significance of the day will not change.

In my parish, we will baptize and chrismate nearly a dozen new Orthodox Christians at the Paschal Vigil. Glory to God!

Part of the preparation for Baptism (for the converts) and for Pascha (for the faithful) is Repentance and Confession. This post is not going to be a lesson in Orthodox doctrine, but rather an exploration of what these things might look like in the context of Traveller.  Let me explain.

In the game we’ve begun recently, my son is playing a PC called Mac. Mac went through the Pirates career. Recently he came to me and said that as part of his PC’s story, Mac had encountered a Christian priest in the midst of one of his piratical ventures, and as a result was convicted and chose to leave the buccaneering life.

He fled from the Empire to the Corridor and is now part of a new legitimate crew. He is concerned that his former associates may come looking for him, considering he skipped out with their Type-K Corsair. Remember, kids, don't give the Referee ideas.

His encounter with the priest was the start of his turnaround (to repent means to turn around, to go the other way – to start going the right way). On Holtzmann, he sought out the Church, and ended up making his Confession to the Bishop of Holtzmann. We decided that his major points for Confession were Robbery [piracy] and (probable) Murder. As a pirate, involved in space battles, it is likely he contributed to the wrongful death of others. Now he’s going to direct his life towards different ends.

Mac is now a Penitent. He is not buying forgiveness; Christ forgives freely all those who repent and turn to Him. The Bishop directed him to three obediences, to help shape him in the new way he desires to live his life. They are: 

1             Forswearing forever the piratical life (let him who stole, steal no more: Ephesians 4:28). All gain must be by honest means.

2             Become for four years a patron and supporter of the Home for Widows and Orphans [see my post on charitable work], established on Holtzmann for the Imperial subjects in those circumstances, from around the Corridor. He exchanges greed (vice) for generosity (virtue).

3             A vow of non-violence. Avoid fighting whenever possible, and use no lethal weapons. He exchanges aggression (vice) for being a peace-maker (virtue).

I decided on these things as they both reflect an amendment of life from Mac’s former ways, and, as this is a game, they are opportunities for adventure. Mac will also (off-screen) go to church, pray, and all the things that go into living the Christian life. But those things are not the sort of adventure that RPGs can emulate.

Depending on how much the W&OH needs money (and it will be a lot) Mac’s going to be busy finding legit ways to raise cash to support them. For a game that often emphasizes violence as the solution to problems, finding alternate solutions will be a chance for some creative role-playing.

As a place to start, Mac will be examining my post on Grenades for types that are non-lethal. We will also put our heads together for other non-lethal means for resolving conflicts. Electro-laser stunners, incapacitating gases, and the TAS Wardens Sleep Rods come to mind.

Off-camera, Mac will be in regular consultation with the priest who runs the Home, to learn of needs, and to confirm that he’s keeping to his penance. He might just provide funding, but more likely will make deliveries, transport people, and visit all kinds of interesting little corners of my TU.

Who know what kinds of adventures and situations and people Mac may encounter with this new direction in life?  Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments. 

Image credit: Pixabay

Naval Base Holtzmann

Recently I was glancing through Supplement 11: Library Data N-Z. I have owned a copy for a long time, but as I don’t play in the Official Traveller Universe, I’ve not paid it any mind. However, after reading the article I’ve reproduced in part here, I realized that I have ignored a potential source of information and adventure.

 

Naval Bases

Naval Base: Port facility for the support, maintenance, repair, and refit of naval vessels. Planetary surface facilities are generally provided for vessels of 1,000 tons or less; orbital facilities handle larger ships. A naval base has several distinct parts to it; each part helps in the accomplishment of the overall mission of the base.

The typical naval base is composed of an orbital berthing area, a surface berthing area, a maintenance section, and an administrative headquarters.

Berthing areas provide locations for ships to lay over, whether for a day or for months. All berthing areas include provisions for refueling from storage tanks or fuel lighters.

Advice from the early years of role-playing

Traveller Procedures: a wealth of advice from The Traveller Book

TTB has been my rules edition of record ever since I got it about ten years ago. I have played Traveller since the early 1980’s, so I am pretty familiar with the rules. Recently I realized that I’d not given much attention to the beginning of TTB, the Introduction. There’s more content in those pages than I long suspected.

The Introduction chapter of TTB presents the basic facts about what Traveller is, and how to play. Lots of RPG books have a section on “how to role-play”. TTB provides several pages of How to Traveller –aimed at the Referee. TTB also gives a view of role-playing from the early years of the hobby. 

The essay Procedures offers advice to the new Referee on the meta-elements of running Traveller. This essay appears only in TTB; neither the '77 or '81 LBB1 has it, and Starter Traveller has selections from the Introduction chapter, but not this section.

"The basic rules deal only with the major aspects of the way the universe works, allowing the referee to fashion details to suit individual preferences." Traveller is not a one-size-fits-all approach to science fiction gaming. It is presented as a framework, around which the Referee (and players) customize the universe in which they will have adventures!

"Referees can adjust the complexities of their universes to their own and their players' abilities, gradually moving upward in complexity as more expertise with the various systems is gained. Playing Traveller can be a challenge to all ages, all intellects, and all levels of role-playing experience." It's true! My sons began play while in the early double-digits, and as they grew and learned, we added more complexity as they explored the TU I've built.

“viewing the players / . .  as “the enemy” . . .  spoils the entertainment value of Traveller.” The Referee is there to provide challenges and structure, not to defeat the other players. “A referee’s fun in Traveller is different from a player’s fun.” I enjoy it when the players surprise me with their creative (or insane) solutions to the challenges I set for them.

From Travellers to Rival Lords - more on owning land

In an earlier post I talked about the possibilities of Travellers owning land. Land ownership is definitely a route to High Level Play. Here I want to move that idea forward by discussing the adventure potential of owning a lot of land. Also, what happens when the PC's activity comes to the attention of the planetary government. 

Someday, Traveller, all this shall be yours.

I use the term sub-state to refer to any organized territory that is not part of or obedient to the planetary government (hereafter I use the abbreviation PG). For those who are interested, here is a summary list of what any state actually does.

Ten Functions of the State

1. The Rule of Law
2. Monopoly on the legitimate means of violence
3. Administrative control
4. Sound management of public finances
5. Investments in human capital
6. Creation of citizenship rights through social policy
7. Provision of infrastructure services
8. Formation of a market
9. Management of public assets
10. Effective public borrowing

 taken from Fixing Failed States by Ghani & Lockhart

Why do sub-states exist? And why should Travellers get involved?

I have said to my sons many times “everything is complicated”. The factors that allow ungoverned spaces to exist are many and varied. In simple summary, any PG has limited resources. Those resources have to enable the governance of all the PG’s territory - the carrying out of the ten functions listed above. Sometimes there’s not enough to go around. The PG combines reasons of 'can't spend resources’ and 'won't spend resources’. The Referee has to decide how effective is the PG at running its own territories.

Sub-states are quite common in Hotlzmann's Corridor, given the low world populations and lower Tech Levels than in the Empire.

How will a PG respond to the presence of a sub-state? It will depend a great deal on the activity of the sub-state. Is it competing with the PG for resources or off-world trade? Is it seeking cooperation or alliance? Is the sub-state engaging in or supporting rebellion against the PG?

The PG has three general categories of response:

Game Conclusion - Shadows, with observations

 Our Friday night game sessions have taken a back seat recently to church events (Feast of the Annunciation among others) but we were able to complete the Shadows adventure last weekend. Here I'd like to share a few thoughts about the adventure as presented, and the changes I made for our group.

If there is anyone who plays Traveller but does not know Shadows, I will try to not disclose too much about the adventure as written. Read on at your discretion. 

Shadows is reminiscent of "dungeon crawl" adventures, so even players unfamiliar with Traveller immediately had a sense of what to do. I think it's a solid if unspectacular introductory adventure. Like many published Traveller adventures it is easy to drop into a pre-existing setting. If the PCs are not operating in the vicinity of Yorbund in the OTU it would be hard to get them there. Game play was linear; there are not many alternative approaches to the puzzle/problem of the pyramid complex. I switched out a few things to connect Shadows to my TU and to put my own stamp on it.

First, I situated the pyramid structure in Holtzmann's Corridor, in my TU. I invited the players to choose a home planet either in the Empire or the Corridor. And it came to pass that one of the players chose Mavramorn, the planet where I chose to place the pyramid. So she had an 'in' for asking lots of detail questions. Her PC's Education score was 12, so I answered accurately just about every question she asked.

Second, I replaced the chief obstacle inside the pyramid with a group of Genetically Modified Humans. GMH's or "Jimmies" are human, but humans who were altered in utero to improve or add to their bodies. Any kind of modification is possible; the Bree are a type that I've included in adventures before. Not everyone is okay with such modifications. On some planets, like Mavramorn, Jimmies are discriminated against, relegated to second-class citizens or worse. The group in the pyramid were driven there by cultural pressure and were naturally suspicious of the PC's intrusion.

For some role-playing, I had each player make a reaction throw when they encountered the Jimmies. What would their level of prejudice be?  Two PCs came from planets which I had predetermined were unfavorable to Jimmies, so they had a -DM to the throw. None came out with very strong opinions, but it did add complexity to the decisions they had to make about how to handle things.

Along with the location change the atmosphere of Mavramorn is not as dangerous as that of Yorbund. I admit it is inconsistent that I disliked the danger of "oops your vacc suit broke, you dissolve in the local atmosphere" but kept in place the danger of "oops, you missed your throw while climbing the rope down the shaft. You're dead when you hit the floor five seconds later." No one needed this, but I planned for a one-chance saving throw if anyone fell in, or lost their grip on the rope. But a fall would have been fatal, and I mentally committed to enforcing that.

I enforced the encumbrance rule, which did have an effect on play. The PCs were away from ship and vehicle that could carry lots of extra gear, and they all took the limitation in stride. It did help that I also enforced the Gravity rule - Mavramorn's surface gravity is only 0.4G. So a PC with STR 8 could carry 13 kilos without penalty. The same gravity rule made climbing up & down ropes easier.

We went into this adventure as a one-shot, as our regular Referee had some heavy weeks at work and didn't have prep time. Several players had never tried Traveller before, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps in future a regular game will develop. The ground work is laid.

Have you ever run or played Shadows? Tell about it in the comments.

World Mapping

I enjoy making maps, and have made Traveller world maps for years, for many worlds of my TU. But within the game universe, how do the characters and governments make these maps?  I think the common answer to that question is by using survey/scout ships and orbiting satellites. I have read recently a few things about real-world satellites and their capabilities that prod me to consider them in more detail for gaming.

It is simply impractical to park a Donosev survey ship and its crew in orbit around a planet for a few years while it does the surveying. Unmanned satellites are the more economical and reasonable option. However, sat surveys have limitations too. At high altitudes, a sat with optical or visible light cameras can see a lot, but not in any useful detail. The standard Traveller world map is a good representation of the problem.

Look at the map of Earth as presented in the game Invasion:Earth. The area of the continental United States is covered in four hexes. Three thousand miles in four hexes?  Each hex is 713 miles in width. There is, for all practical purposes, NO detail of the surface available from that map. Even the hex that represents the Rocky Mountains is so vague as to be almost useless. Humans don’t live and act at that scale. The continental US has almost every type of terrain found on this planet, from swamps to river deltas to deserts to mountains, foothills and coastal plains. None of that is depicted on the I:E map.

See what I mean about lack of detail? Can you tell where the Appalachian mountains are from this photo?

That is the kind of representation that a high orbital satellite provides. It’s quick and easy to do but provides the most meager information.

The reverse is true as well. A camera sat might focus on a single square kilometer, or 10 meter square of the surface, and produce a very detailed image. But only for that one square. What is adjacent to it?  What terrain must be crossed to get to it? How long did the sat take to find that one spot – a week, a month, years?  Satellites orbit, and for this reason, are able to look at any one spot for a limited time each time it goes around. Maybe not much changes from one orbit to the next, but maybe something does.

Almsgiving as Adventure: Charitable Work in Traveller

During this Lenten season (for the Orthodox Church, Pascha this year is on the 2nd of May) I have thought about giving & almsgiving. There are lots of references in the Scriptures to the importance of giving alms. Generosity is a Christian virtue, a way to live out the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.

Traveller players get to set their own goals, how the PCs will make their mark on the galaxy. Common goals include military victories, building trade empires, amassing great wealth and seeing all the places you can go. Or murder-hoboing. I have a suggestion for a different sort of goal.

What about almsgiving as a campaign framework? Yes, Travellers can strike off large amounts of cash from the character sheets by fiat, or by purchasing new vehicles or starships. What I propose is a means of disposing of cash for a larger purpose.

Pick a charitable organization (see the list) and then go on adventures to raise money for that charity. Give away the profits. Make the success of the charitable organization (CO) the goal. The CO serves as the source or generator of adventures first by inspiring the PCs to make money. Second, the CO as an organization will need the PCs to protect and defend it from various sources of harm.

Referees can create evil empires, and dissolute Nobles, so why not earnest and hardworking people who care for their fellow man in one of these:

Charitable Organizations

• orphanages – tending to the fatherless! This is commanded in the Scriptures.

• monasteries (esp. ones that need life support equipment, or themselves do charity work)

• homeless shelters

Another perspective on Not Using Experience Points in Traveller

 A perspective on Leveling ad Experience from the Tao of D&D

Over the decades, many folks within the RPG hobby have observed critically that Traveller is lacking for having no XP or advancement. This presumes that level-based games are the standard, and Traveller is the exception. No, it is another paradigm that has held up just as well. Traveller is only 3 years younger than D&D, and has survived and flourished along side it for four decades.

This criticism lacks force for two reasons. First of all, it does have Experience rules. Second of all, Traveller is not dependent upon Leveling up for rewarding game-play.

I quote here from the post referenced above although his main point is about something else. It is a good argument against D&D having levels. It also works as a defense of Traveller for not using a leveling system. This was also the first time I'd heard a fan of that game questioning the importance of the leveling system. Maybe there are others, I just haven't encountered them.

Begin quote, emphasis added:

This is my problem with circumventing rules about distribution or reward for the sake of 'fun' or ensuring that player entitlement to rise up a level every two or three sessions is ensured. It isn't a reward any more. It isn't even a measure of relative game play. After all, what if the characters never went up? What if the level was perpetually 5th, without any experience whatsoever? Would it mean there were no goals to fulfill? No achievements? No threat from battle? No reason to play?

Or is it possible, just possible, that we could all agree not to care about levels? Suppose the game simply had no sense of improvement, the players just acted upon their agency or in the stories the DM fabricated. . . would it be any less of a game?
. . .
Play as a 5th level forever or as a 15th level forever, the sense of overcoming obstacles, solving problems and achieving triumph would be the same, would it not?

What is it that makes the level matter?

What Kills Travellers?

“I've treated bullet holes, knife wounds, laser burns . . .” - a frustrated ship's Medic to his Captain.

“Some of our jobs are more interesting than others,” - the Captain.

The Universe of Traveller is full of danger. The mini-game that is character generation (rather than character creation) emphasizes the fact that a Traveller universe can be deadly. But what particular things are likely to kill a Traveller?

 

Simple answer: bullets. Most fights in Traveller are gun fights, and it takes only 2-3 bullets to end a Traveller. So avoid those. But how, you ask?

I considered this question after reading Rick Stump's blog post on Low Level Encounters in D&D. In that game, PCs at lower levels are fragile and not powerful. They tend to die a lot. Traveller PCs are not “first level”, but their experience does not make them more resistant to damage, unlike D&D. TTB has no guidance at all about how difficult any type of encounter may be. The Referee can put any obstacle in the PCs' way.

Rick identified four factors that the Referee must keep in mind to avoid creating Killer Encounters resulting in a TPK. I have nowhere near Rick's amount of experience as a Referee, so I take his ideas as a guide. Looking at the rules, these four things are what players, rather than Referees, should watch out for.

Four Things

A Cepheus Light Vehicle Chase

Rance, Edith and Halls are in a Rambler, a light wheeled ATV. Rance was following up a rumor about a Glorious Empire installation out in the distant back woods of Mardahak. What they found instead was an old factory in ruins and an ambush. They are fleeing from a group of brigands in a pickup truck. The brigands are pursuing them hoping to steal the Rambler. Edith drives off of the dirt road and across the scrub and grass choked fields.

Rambler:

TL 7, Wheeled Vehicle, Kcr 25, AGL +0, Speed 110 kph, Crew 1 Psg 4

Light dmg 6, Critical dmg 10 No weapons, Open, 200 kg cargo

2 shooters, 1 revolver, 1 pistol JoT-1, DM -2

Pickup:

TL 6 Wheeled Vehicle, Kcr 7, AGL +0, Speed 160 kph, Crew 1 Psg 2

Light dmg 4, Critical dmg 7 No weapons, Open, 500 kg cargo

2 shooters, 1 rifle, 1 carbine Driver-1, DM +1

Surprising Research in the Third Imperium

Readers of my blog will know that I run in my own TU, not the canon Third Imperium. However, that does not mean that I don't pay attention to the canon material. For example, I recently ran across this:

Supplement 8, Library Data (A-M) has an entry on Imperial Research Stations on page 33.

I quote a portion of that article:

“Imperial research may delve into many areas. Some examples include: black hole research, both large scale and mini black hole investigation, instantaneous transmitter development (so far proving impossible) advanced gravity manipulation, generic manipulation, anti-matter containment, weapon research, disintegrator beams, black globe development, deep planetary core soundings, nova prevention and prediction. Psychohistory, mass population behavior prediction, psionics, stable super-heavy elements, deep radar analysis, long range detection systems, robotics, artificial intelligence, stasis and time travel, so-called magic, cryptography, bionics, personal shields, x-ray lasers, and high temperature superconductors.”

Wait. A. Minute.

That list said “magic”.

If that's the Earth, where is she standing?

Let that sink in for a moment.

Magic could exist in Traveller.

Junkyards of Ships

Junkyard in Space

I recently read Edmond Hamilton's short story Sargasso of Space (Thrilling Wonder Stories, 1934) which featured a wreck-pile in space. The setup is that there is an area out past Saturn where none of the planets' gravity fields have influence. In this null space, wrecked or abandoned spaceships have collected like a proto-planet. The protagonists of the story make an unplanned stop in the wreck-pile after a shipboard malfunction sets them adrift.

The short story goes in one specific direction with this, and that's fine. It was an enjoyable short story, but literature is not my purpose today. Like a lot of stories from that era, by today's standards it may seem pretty cliche, but it was the potential of the wreck-pile as a location that got me to thinking.

The Amber Zone Adventure Contest is Back

The Amber Zone is once again holding its Adventure Writing Contest. 

Amber Zone Adventure Writing Contest 2019

This means War!

See here

The style of the entries should be in the style of the Amber Zones in the old JTAS. (First Players’ Information. Then Referee’s Information without any D6 options.)
This years theme is War. (This could be anything from a small local war on a balkanized planet to the Fifth Frontier War.) The PCs don’t have to be directly involved in the war. The war could be a background story.

I sent in two entries this time: a little jaunt I call Burn the Philadelphia!, and a rescue mission Doctor Aardmore, I Presume?

Check the Amber Zone site for mine, and all the other great entries. They are being posted one per day until all are up.

The "Big Phil"