PBP Traveller TradeAndShenanigans

From RPGnet
Revision as of 23:06, 20 January 2020 by RobertEdwards (talk | contribs) (Background)
Jump to: navigation, search


The Pitch

A Play By Post game of Traveller. Using Mongoose 2ed and set in the Spinward Marches just after the Fifth Frontier War. An eclectic group of PCs will seek wealth via Interstellar Trading and subsidiary Shenanigans.

Traveller is a series of classic science fiction roleplaying games by Marc Millar ET Al. There are a dozen versions. We’ll use the popular 2d6 second edition rules by Mongoose. Characters from Classic Traveller, Traveller 5th Mongoose 1st, or Cepheus, can easily be adapted for this game.

Traveller is distinguished by lifepath character creation. Success checks are based on 2d6 (Roll high). Typical die roll modifier are skill levels and attribute bonuses. and simple skills and attributes.

The Spinward March is a border region of the Third Imperium, an 1100-year-old commercial trading empire dominated by Humanity, nobility, and megacorperations. The Imperium does not try to rule each world directly; they control Trade between worlds. Space belongs to the Empire.

Other races and interstellar governments are in the Sector. Humans, their distant relatives the Varger canines, the feline Aslan, and the mysterious psychic Droyne gargoyles are considered Major Races – they’ve developed Star Travel on their own and have expanded throughout Charted Space. Other races exist with their own particular gifts and oddities.

The fifth in a series of inconclusive wars between the Imperium and the rival Zhodani Consulate just ended. The client states of these empires were allies and battlegrounds in the war. Postwar, espionage and diplomatic intrigue between the former warring states continue unchecked.

In the wake of violent conflict, traditional power centers are weakened. Opportunity abounds for bold traders. Demobilization and corporate layoffs cut thousands of skilled but underappreciated individuals loose.

Player Characters have opportunities to seize prosperity, freedom, and power for themselves. These opportunities are not without risks…

Background

The setting is the Spinward Marches circa Imperial Year 1111. The Fifth Frontier War recently ended and there is still considerable turmoil. To Spinward, the defeated alliance of Zhodani and Sword Worlds. Coreward are chaotic Vargar Extent states. Rimward, Aslan unlanded males seek lands.

The Sector Dutchess Daphene, Matriarch of Mora is upstaged by the brilliant upstart Duke Norris of Regina. It is a time for new ventures and for new social structures to replace the old.

Several of the Sword Worlds are occupied by Imperial Forces.

The Glisten subsector is an isolated spur of the imperial x-boat network; until 940, it was a quiet backwater for marginal officials of the imperial bureaucracy. However, in 941, District 268 was opened by the decree of Margaret ll Glisten has since served as a base for the colonization of the new territory.

  • Egypt is a Ministry of Colonization training base.
  • Mithras is the site of an imperial exile prison; convicted individuals are deported to the world where they begin life anew. Although environmental conditions are harsh, the opportunities on Mithras have made it a showcase of rehabilitation.
  • Glisten has the population located in one hundred-seventy-four (or more) dwarf planet in two co-orbital position, an main and outer asteroid belt. The system has a population of over one billion. It has a well-developed manufacturing and processing industries. The world has a colony on Melior (Spinward Marches 1736). Glisten has a colony on Weiss (Spinward Marches 1934). The world has a colony on New Rome (Spinward Marches 1938). The world serves as the capital for the subsector. This is a high technology world with available technology over the standards for Charted Space.
  • Tirem is just one of the larger asteroids in the Incalescens Belt: there are another 247 "asteroids" with a size between 1 and 8, orbiting as a belt around the primary, Kinkos. According to the most common theory, the Belt is the result of the destruction of a small (size 22?) planet - perhaps during the Final War - with the resulting fragments forming a mass of small planets in orbit around Kinkos. Navigation within the boundaries of the Belt is satisfactory throughout the Belt: however, gas traces of nitrogen and methane is thinly spread throughout the Belt, and may cause limited communication problems. Tirem is an elongated, misshapen brick of a world, with its diameter varying from 3000 km to 22,000 km. Long riddled with tunnels, it remains one of the greatest sources of nickel in the sector: a few other items are here also, largely copper and iron. The convoluted shape of the world - along with relentless "hollowing" by kilometer-wide mobile excavation complexes - contribute to the variable gravity on Tirem. The Tirem belt is the center of Belter Freedom Allience activities.
  • New Rome an Imperial world in the Glisten subsector. New Rome was originally a secondary world in what was at the time called the Bellion System. Forcibly settled in 86 with political exiles from the Imperium, by a vindictive Imperial admiral. New Rome prospered and became the site of most of the system's heavy industry. Eventually, the majority of the system's population lived on New Rome and the system was accordingly renamed to reflect that.
  • Bellion was originally settled by refugees from the fall of the Sindalian Empire. It had its own independent mini-empire, but in 165 the Third Imperium sent the Navy in. By 392 it and its economic dependents joined the Imperium en bloc
  • Mertactor is a lovely garden world with a short-sleeve breathable atmosphere. Technically in District 268, but currently associated with the more developed Imperial Glisten sector. About 10% of the population is Aslan, descended from a group of mercenaries employed by the Imperium around 950. They are pretty thoroughly assimilated. Mertactor has historical animosity toward its homeworld Mora. But its own governmental institutions are heavily influenced by those of the 'homeworld'. While Mertactor is not a matriarchy, women traditionally get preference.
  • Tsarina has a tainted, very thin atmosphere and no surface water. It has a population of several million. Much of its terrain is dusty desert plains, swept by the thin winds driven by a short rotational period.
  • Aki is a poor, high-population with a billion or more sophonts. As an industrial world, this planet has well-developed manufacturing and processing industries. Manufactured goods are a major export item. Its economy is barely growing and living conditions are not expected to improve in the near future. This world designated as an Amber Zone. Caution is advised since the world has an environment, laws, customs, life forms, or other conditions that are not well understood and might be a danger to a visitor. Aki was settled from Deneb around 300, and converted to Aborism, a pervasive religion around 450. Religion and government remain separate. Offworlders find the planet uncomfortable due to the large population, mostly crowded into large cities, and because of the hostile attitude of Aborites to non-members. This changes rapidly if one converts. Most cities have large slum areas, and much of the population subsists on church or government doles. Most imports, with the exception of foodstuffs, are subject to a 10% import duty. All normal starship servicing fees are doubled, due to a government effort to collect Imperial currency to facilitate off-world activities.

Crout is a high-population world with a billion or more sophonts in population size. This world designated as an Amber Zone. Caution is advised since the world has an environment, laws, customs, life forms, or other conditions that might be a danger to a visitor. A significant alien population of Llellewyloly exists on Crout.

Links

Player Characters


Other Characters

  • Count Charlie Montbatten an elderly personal Envoy of the Emperor to the March Nobility. From Sanches in Core Sector. Has been and continues to a patron of several PCs.




  • Sala Abosh one of the Abosh clan merchant family. John Fitzhugh exposed Sala as a gun runner selling prototype weapons to both sides on a border war. She was cast out from the family business and is looking for revenge.
  • Derek Fleming a low-level spymaster who blackmailed John Fitzhugh John was forced to investigate who was supplying the weapons in the Abosh Affair. Fleming intended to have John stumble on to the evidence and then be killed by the suppliers. John managed to find the corporation that had supplied. John did an end-run around Flemming and bargained with Count Charlie Montbatten to bargain for his release. Fleming tried to send Fleming a lethal severance payment.
  • Marlo Genn managed a casino. John Fitzhugh stole 10K worth of credit from and the casino. then blackmailed Marlo to keep the money.