Beyond Reach a MGTraveller game
Beyond Reach: A Mongoose Traveller adventure of pirates, politics and derring do, in the vein of Space Opera.
Contents
Introduction
Beyond Reach will be a SF/space opera style game set in the Trojan Reaches sector of the Traveller series Imperium. It will be run using the Mongoose Traveller [hereafter referred to as MGT] system.
Setting is the Trojan Reaches as outlined in MGT's Aslan module, circa 1108.
Jump drives will be faster [based on the warp drives in the starship construction section of the core book - no house rules, I promise!]. Expect a wild frontier filled with Aslan clans, scheming megacorps, independent worlds, mad emperors, raiders, pirate systems and a corrupt Imperium trying to keep a lid on it all. Overhanging this is the sure knowledge of a war to come...
Tone. I want space opera! Some could argue that Traveller is space opera already, But I'm talking Babylon5 meets Firefly as a baseline. Aslan will be kzinti-klingon-samurai pastiches, Vargr will mimic intelligent hounds, etc. The Imperium will be at once a noble ideal and a corrupt reality. Also, Big Things will be on the boil, waiting for PC's to knock the pot...
Characters
- Henryk Jensen, Intelligence agent and Scholar.
- Wuiihloakhear , Imperial Marine and Hradur Envoy/Spy.
- Axander Li Scholar, Merchant broker and smuggler.
- Jan Chersky Noted Scout commander.
- Marava Anders Two-fisted Navy engineer.
Setting
- Mechanics wise.
Take anything written in the MGP Aslan book about the Trojan Reaches as the default. Sector, subsector and world write ups are all essentially correct. The general 3rd Imperium backdrop is in place.
- The speedy Imperium
The only tech change I'm making is to turn 'jump drive' into something like the hyperdrive mentioned in the core book - you enter another dimension but still have to move through it. However, for simplicity, lets assume the jump drive provides the propulsion in hyperspace, so a jump 2 drive moves you through hyperspace at 2 parsecs/day. You still have the absolute distance limit, the fuel consumption, etc of the jump drives and still need to aim a hyperdrive at a gravity well [no deep space jumps].
Only thing is, bigger jumpdrives are now faster on smaller runs... a jump-2 ship can do a jump 1 run in 12 hours. A jump 6 ship could do it in 4.
This makes space a lot smaller, while still keeping most of the knock on effects from a jump-derived setting. Most ships jumping to their full extent expect roughly a day in hyperspace.
- Setting
"The Trojan Reaches is a house of cards, with the Aslan Exiles breathing on it ever so gently. Duke Tobia wants to turn that breath elsewhere, but he doesn't have a lot of options. So he touches a card here, props on up there, sometimes replaces one with another. Sometimes, he loses a card..." Eliayt Shnorum: The Trojan Reach at the Turn of the Century - a Guide. [Original version].
There's a cold war in the Trojan Reaches, one that leaders on both sides hope won't erupt but that also seems inevitable, given the biological urges of the two main species involved. This is the Imperiums frontier - it can take a year for a message to reach here from the Core. It is also home to a massive migration of Aslan lo! all those many centuries ago, exiles and losing sides. Naturally, the two have met and naturally, there were wars. Neither side really had the resources to carry it through, so they declared a buffer zone. Now, add four hundred years. The Imperium is entrenched, secure in their own superior technology and great wealth. Meanwhile, the Aslan Exiles have reached some kind of peace with the Heirate, have grown strong and filled their domain...to the point of 'too many sons'. Infighting between major clans has kept this overpopulation manageable before now...but the peace arrangements amongst the clans is ironically pushing them closer to war.
- The Reaches.
And the buffer zone? A haven for pirates and raiders of both races [some of the worst in known space], tiny stellar empires that have come and gone or are growing even now. Corporations work outside the borders, the ComSentient Alliance and the Florian League guard their own interests and the madness that is the Glorious Empire haunts the region.
Conservative elements on both sides sponsor the rich trade routes that pass through the area...megaliners guarded by miitary and private fleets, almost immune to the chaos around them. Their interests have kept the balance of power in the area as it is for a long time, but the prospect of an Aslan explosion into the Reaches is never far from anyones mind.
- Grand Motivations
The Imperium, it seems, is trying to buy time. Or avert war. Or provoke one. Its hard to tell. To the average citizen, these seem to be the major powers at play in the Reach. At least, these seem to be the three most consistent theories that explain the sudden urgency to colonise borderworlds, move fleet bases, take a more aggresive approach to the zone pirates and formally lift the tech ban on Hradu. you'll hear one or the other bantered about in bars from startown to startown.
Character Generation
Homeworld: pick one from within the Trojan Reach sector [ maps with UPP's available here ] or roll one up and I'll place it somewhere useful.
Stats: Take 9,8,7,7,6,5 as attribute rolls. Roll 1d6 and add the result to your attributes, divided up as you see fit. Sort them into any order you desire. Or Roll stats up on invisible castle, throw away anything with 42 or less total points.
Careers As normal, except roll twice each term for a skill, rather than once. Please record the happenings of each term - advances, skills earned, events.
Mustering out As normal. Things like weapon or armour might get a little more significant in a space opera game [especially in careers that dont get ship share/ship options]. Tailored integrated smart weapons systems, battledress, etc.
Something new they added in is a skill package for the group to pick over. They suggest each PC picks a skill [at lvl1] until everyone has one, then divvy the rest up. I'm going to go with that except make it two skills each [allowing overlap in peoples choices from the package] at lvl-1 and any skill in the package you dont have after that at lvl-0.
The choice of skill package is ultimately the players, but I'd recommend the starship package at the moment - though a case could be made for mercenary or diplomat.
Connections is the tricky bit - until everyone has rolled characters and worked out terms, it's hard to make connections between PC's that make sense chronologically. For now, assume you will gain one free skill per term from meeting another PC during an event [theirs or yours]. It would be nice if the skill fitted the event, but not essential. Lets hold off on these skills until a few characters have been created [nothing wrong with sketching them in, of course...]
After that, its equipment and assignment.
House Rules
- Shotgun has been folded into Slug rifle as a skill.
- Engineering is modified.
Dimorous, Henryk's homeworld
Dimorous [0601- Tobias subsector]. Fiercely independent island collectives, all able to produce TL11 local goods through a lot of automization. Would be rich if there was more land, and an ambitious project has been undertaken to grow genetically altered coral into islands in the shallow equatorial oceans. Ridiculous amount of life, the surface of the oceans is covered in kilometres long and wide 'islands', made of indigenous plant and animal life, each supporting a unique and complex biome. Harvesting, refining and processing the unique plant extracts has built Dimorous a reputation as a pharmacological horn of plenty.
Starport 7 (type C) Size 9 Atmosphere 7 (Standard, Tainted, Temp: 7, Temperate) Hydrographic A (almost entirely water) Population 6 (millions) Government 7 Balkanisation Law 6 Tech 11 Bases None Trade Non-Industrial, Water World.
Pax Rulin, Jans Homeworld
Pax Rulin, as written: "... While only a few hundred people call the base their permanent home, there are usually a dozen or more capital ships in-system, along with hundreds of smaller craft. Pax Rulin has no shipyard – construction facilities are at Perrior – but it is a naval depot of great importance. ... Pax Rulin was founded early in the Third Imperium’s history and the system acquired an almost legendary reputation.... Warships have been known to make pilgrimages just to dock at the ancient and sacred asteroids of Pax Rulin. Civilian traffic to Pax Rulin is discouraged." Quoted from Alien Module 1: Aslan ©2009 Mongoose Publishing.
So a pretty repressive place. Its an A class, so people will use it, but theres no trade or passengers to be had. Probably only a few hundred civilian starport personnel making up the permanent population. The rest [in the tens of thousands] are all navy/marines on duty.
Significant NPC's
- Wu.
My romantic interest from term 4 is my AIM female Aslan tech officer.
My enemy from term 2 is my commanding human marine officer from my failed mission and my enemy from term 3 is who ever was tipping off the pirates from Theev (Who I think I am currently hunting down)
Barracks Humor
"Although he is now past mandatory retirement age, due to the needs of the service, we need to retain Sergeant Major Jenkins for another term—" "His arms have just been blown off, sir." "…Bit of bad luck, that. Can he still do the job?" "I'm afraid not, sir." "Pension him out, then. Oh, and give him a medal while you're at it. There's a good man."
