Take to the Skies! Personal Flight Gear

 "Break out the Rocket Belts, Boys!"

• Dr. Benton Quest, in The Invisible Monster

That's probably my favorite quote from the Jonny Quest show. What adventure-seeking kid hasn't wanted to take to the skies with pounds of highly flammable fuel strapped to their backs?

The Traveller Book's vehicle chapter gives us the Grav Belt at TL12:

Grav Belt (12) Cr100,000, negligible weight if on; 10 kg if turned off. Personal anti-gravity transportation using a single null-gravity module and a personal harness. Performance is similar in speed and range to the air/raft.

But what other devices have appeared in fact or fiction to give somebody a lift? Turns out there have been quite a few.

TL-1 the Wings of Icarus Cost: 20 Cr Speed: 15kph Range 5km

Set the Heads'l! It's the Sailors Career

This time out we are looking at the Sailor career from COTI. 

Sailors: Members of the Nautical Force Command (the wet navy) of a world.

Naval Force Command is informally called the Wet Navy, to distinguish them from their space-faring counterparts. The descriptive text gives us nothing else about the service.

Any world with a Hydrographic rating above 1 could have a Wet Navy, and above Hydro-5 is likely to do so. Worlds technology levels at or below contra-gravity would still make use of sailing vessels. The conventional wisdom is that a new settlement will go next to a body of water. Transport of people and especially goods by water is an order-of-magnitude less expensive than by road, rail or air. even in the Far Future, sailing the ocean blue will be a thing. And we all know that sailing the seas can lead to Adventure.

Career Figures

Enlistment throw is 6+ with DMs for END and STR. Not a difficult career to get into. Survival is 5+ like the Flyers, with an END DM. Not too dangerous, but more risky than Doctors.

Getting a Position/Commission is also 5+ with a DM for INT 9+. Promotion is at 6+ with a DM for EDU 8+. These numbers are not high.

First observation: of 40 pregen characters, there is only one Admiral (rank 6) and three Captains (rank 5). Odd. 22 of the list are unrated ordinary seamen, including several with four or five terms.

What can you do with 10,000 Credits?

Why ten thousand credits? No profound reason. It is a common amount of Retirement Pay. It shows up in a few places in TTB as a cost of things (see below). Looking at the Mustering Out Tables, 10,000 is not hard to come by. But it can go again quickly if a PC is not careful. I also figured this would be useful to Referees in determining how much to pay the Travellers for their current job. Don't be a cheapskate, but don't Monty Haul them either.

In terms of Long-term Subsistence, 10,000 Credits will pay for almost an entire year, at the High Living level, to give you a sense of scale. But remember this game was written in the 1970’s when a decent starter house might only cost $10-20,000. Oh, how times have changed.

Is it really an adventure if there's no treasure involved?

I combed through the Traveller Book and my blog for any reference to paying for things. Here's what I found: 10,000 Credits will buy a Traveller:

More Vehicles: Spy-class Armored Car

 Swiss MOWAG Spy Armored Car (TL-8, with some TL-9 bits)

Chassis: Light Ground Vehicle

Spaces: 10 (13,750Cr)

Crew: 3 (3 spaces)

Agility: +1

Speed (Speed Band/kph): Medium (109kph)/Slow (80kph)

Range: 435km (653km)

Hull: 20

Armor: 20/20/20 (1 space)

Traits: ATV (DM+2 to off-road drive checks)

Armament: Automated Ring Mount (750Cr) w/ One HMG (Rng-1km, Dmg-4D, Cost-4500Cr, Mag-100, Mag Cost-400Cr, Auto-3)

Equipment/Modifications:

Play Report - Mission on Mithril

Finally, after 38 years.

A Mission on Mithril Play Report

While my elder son was home on leave from the Air Force (Flyers, term 1) we got in a little Traveller. With his time at home limited, we opted for a standalone adventure rather than launching a new campaign. What better time to go ad fontes (back to the sources)? At their request, I pulled down Mission on Mithril.

MoM may seem like a very 'linear' adventure. On inspection it has enough variety & flexibility that you could run it over and over, with a different adventure each time.

The general layout of the adventure is this: a small Scout ship crew are stranded on Mithril in the Sword Worlds. Mithril is cold, as in arctic cold, and almost uninhabited. The Class E starport does not draw much traffic, so the chance of beneficial starship encounters is low.

Their ship has a malfunction which prevents them from jumping out-system. 

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

More Vehicles - Leopard 2 MBT

Behold the Mighty Leopard II! Another MgT 2e design.

Leopard in action

German Leopard 2A5 Main Battle Tank (TL 8-9)

Chassis: Heavy Ground Vehicle
Spaces: 27 (81,000Cr)
Crew: 3 (3 spaces, Driver, Commander, Gunner)
Agility: -1
Speed: Medium/72kph (Slow/45kph)
Range: 500km (750km)
Hull: 150
Armor: 60/60/60 (15 spaces)
Traits: AFV, Tracks (DM+4 to Drive [tracked] checks)

Armament: One Large Turret (4 spaces, 275,000Cr) w/ One Cannon (Rng-2km, Dmg-1DD, Spaces-10, Cost-400,000Cr, Mag-30, Mag Cost-5000Cr, Blast-10, AP-4) and One Medium Machinegun (Rng-0.4km, Dmg-3D+3, Spaces-1, Cost-5000Cr, Mag Cost-250Cr, Auto-3), One Ring Mount (750Cr) w/ One Medium Machinegun (Rng-0.4km, Dmg-3D+3, Spaces-1, Cost-5000Cr, Mag Cost-250Cr, Auto-3), Improved Fire Control for Cannon (25,000Cr, DM+2 to attack rolls, Scope trait)

Equipment/Modifications: 

• Improved Control System (5000Cr), Smoke Dischargers (1 space, 1000Cr)
• Improved Communications System (75Cr, Rng-500km) w/ Encryption (4000Cr) and Satellite Uplink (1 space, 1000Cr)
• Computer/1 (500Cr), Improved ECM (1 space, 20,000Cr, DM-1 and DM+/- to opposing Sensors checks, Rng-5km)
• Improved Navigation System (10,000Cr, DM+2 to Navigation checks)
• Improved Sensors (Rng-5km, 15,000Cr, DM+1 to Sensors checks) w/ Hardened (15,000Cr)
• Sensor Mast (15,000Cr) and Increased Fidelity (1 space, DM+1 to Sensors checks, 15,000Cr)
• Improved (TL-9) Camouflage (5000Cr, Min Rng-0.5km, DM-2 against all visual/IR search checks)
• Hostile Environment Protection (Cr), Short Term Life-Support (1 space, 10,000Cr)
• Fire Extinguishers (1000Cr)

Cost: 1,044,325Cr

Designed by A1C Z. Weaver, USAF

Image Credit: böhringer friedrich [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]

More Vehicles - Bearcat construction vehicle

My son designed this vehicle using MgT's 2nd edition vehicle rules. I have included some CT-style flavor text.

Bearcat class Construction Vehicle (TL-8)

Chassis: Heavy Ground Vehicle

Spaces: 30 (15dtns)

Crew/Passengers: 2/0 (2 spaces)

Speed: Slow (Very Slow)/100kph (50kph)

Range: 400km (600km)

Agility: -1

Hull: 90

Armor: 2/2/2

Traits: Tracks, ATV (DM+2 to Drive checks when traversing rough terrain)

Armament: None

Equipment: Improved Control Systems (5000Cr), Heavy Crane (8 spaces, 
Max Load-10tns, 10,000Cr), Digger Blade (10 spaces, 25,000Cr)

Cargo: 2.5tns (10 spaces)

Cost: 220,000Cr

The Bearcat class multi-purpose construction vehicle is a rugged, reliable vehicle built for the settlement that's looking to expand. The Bearcat weighs 15 tons and has a crew of two. It moves on tracks, and has a maximum speed of 100 kph, and 50 kph off-road. When carrying a load, the recommended top speed is 20 kph. Its range is at best 600 km, but is typically transported to the work site.

The Bearcat can operate on a job site for 30 hours before recharging. It can lift 10 tons, or up to its own weight if special balancing weights are attached to the chassis. The digging blade can excavate 75 m^3 of earth per hour. 

A Bearcat at work

Backhoe not shown

This design may be used without attribution. However, if you do use it, please leave a comment to let us know, and how well it worked.



Image Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Rey Rabara [Public domain]

Traveller Meme Fun ATV edition

There is a Facebook group called Traveller RPG Memes. Go check it out.

These are two that I've done myself. The Facebook page has more. Enjoy.