Category Archives: Traveller

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Adventures, The Base, Traveller

This Old Drone

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Patron: Noble, Agent
Required Equipment: Grav Vehicle or Small Craft
Location: (Foreven 1416) Ile Danse A56A756-B Ri Wa 404 Na

Players’ Information:
“It’s the mother of all heists,” Marco smiles, looking at the PCs with a mischievous grin. “Thirteen-and-a-half million and the thanks of the Countess of Jewell; don’t tell me you’re not interested.”

Back during the 5th Frontier War, Marco explains, Zhodani marines occupied Jewell and stole what is famously known as the Joconde artifact (named after the starship that found her). It is no less than the actual body of what some scholars believe was once a member of the race of beings known as the Ancients. The body itself appears to be a normal Droyne female, a member of the drone caste, who it is believed died during the “final war” after her ship was destroyed. Being hundreds of thousands of years old, she has been perfectly preserved by the vacuum of space and was maintained in a vacuum chamber prior to her unlawful appropriation from the Museum of Fine Arts and Antiquities at Jewell.

The Joconde artifact was on loan from the estate of Helena Stavelot, the Countess of Jewell, and as such was insured by Lloyds of Lunion. However, Lloyds refused to honor the insurance policy (worth MCr 13.5!), claiming that the theft was an act of war. In order to retain the museum’s business, Lloyds made a good faith effort to buy back the artifact from the Zhodani Consulate, but the Consulate refused to sell, explaining that such artifacts “belong to the ages” and thus cannot be possessed by any individual but rather must be held in trust by a collective body, such as the Zhodani Consulate, which represents the interests of civilization itself. Thus, not only did the Zhodani steal the artifact, but they, after the fact, stated that the Imperial system of government is illegitimate and fit only for barbarians. Needless to say, the Imperium was displeased.

Now the Joconde artifact is going on tour outside of Zhodani space for the first time. Among its first stops will be the Floating Gardens of Ile Danse (Foreven 1416). Somehow, Marco got word of where the artifact will be, when it will be there, and he even has a good idea of what the security arrangements will be thanks to the help of some clairvoyants who are in his employee. What he doesn’t have is a team of thugs who can (a) get in, (b) get out, and most importantly, get the Joconde artifact somewhere in between the aforementioned (a) and (b). That, of course, is where the PCs come in, if they choose to take on what may well be the most dangerous if patriotic job of their criminal careers.

Floating Gardens
Floating Gardens – Image from wikimedia
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

The Floating Gardens are a series of artificial islands that are made to look real, but which are outfitted with grav-modules so that they can literally rise out of the water and thus get out-of-the-way of tropical storms. Marco’s idea is that the PCs should book a room during a time when a hurricane is predicted, then destroy the grav-module during the hurricane, so while the island is descending into the storm, they can take advantage of the confusion and panic to re-appropriate the Joconde artifact and thus make their escape.

Referee’s Information:
1. Unless the PCs are wearing psi-shields, a Zhodani security agent catches a whiff of “something’s not right” as they’re doing their reconnaissance of the showroom and decides to put them under surveillance. After this, the PCs will notice that they’re being constantly shadowed by an assortment of swarthy-looking weirdos.

2. There’s another group that wants to get the artifact, and both they and the PCs sort of “bump into each other” during their initial reconnaissance. Neither one will initially know what to make of the other, until one of the PCs recognizes a member of the other group from a prison stint he or she did at point in the past.

3. Everything is going great until a wing of Zhodani fighters show up to blast the PCs’ getaway craft out of the sky.

4. All is as it seems, except for one minor detail: the artifact’s a fake. As for where the real Joconde artifact is, God only knows, but when Lloyds examines it, they will determine that it’s a clever imitation and will refuse payment. The museum will reluctantly concur.

5. All is as it seems, except that Marco is working with the Imperial Secret Service, and they don’t want any loose ends (it would be an embarrassment for them to be discovered contracting out jobs to lowly criminal types like the PCs). Hence, the PCs have to be flushed, but that’s a whole other adventure.

6. All of the above (and have a nice day).

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

The Executor

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Patron: Lawyer
Required Skills: None
Required Equipment: Starship capable of Jump-2
Locations: Fessor Subsector, Gwydion (0610) & Wadanga (0709)

Players’ Information:
While the characters are on Gwydion (C442535-9), they are contacted by Symon & Associates, a legal firm noted for its expertise in handling tort law cases. Tylon Symon is a tall, thin man (as are most of the natives on Gwydion due its low gravity) well into his middle age. He greets the characters in his office, offering refreshments before settling down to business. He wears fine, though painfully conservative business attire.

Tylon’s firm is managing the estate of Achilon Zeres, who passed away earlier in the year and left the entirety of his considerable personal wealth to his favorite niece, Selfina Lysaie. “Aside from being a client,” says Tylon, “Achilon was a close personal friend. He named me as the executor of his will, and I fully intend to see it carried out in the manner he intended.”

The complication in the matter of the will is that Selfina is not currently on Gwydion. In the year prior to Achilon’s death, Selfina became a member of a religious cult headed by a leader known only as The Hierophant. The cult requires its members to sell off all of their material possessions, with the money going to cult’s coffers. “The Hierophant lives an extravagant life of luxury in his compound on Wadanga,” says Tylon, “while his followers are virtual slaves, laboring for his benefit alone.”

“I will not allow Achilon’s riches to benefit the cult,” he says. “That money is meant to provide for Selfina for the rest of her life. That is why I wish to hire you to bring her back to Gwydion. You will have to find a way to infiltrate The Hierophant’s compound, find Selina and get her off-world before the cult’s enforcers can stop you. I realize this is a high-risk venture, so I am prepared to offer you a total of one-hundred thousand credits plus your expenses to do the job. I will also represent you in any legal proceedings that may come from your actions, pro bono.”

Lawyer
The Executor – Image from wikimedia
Copyright expired – Public Domain

Referee’s Information:
Achilon Zeres made his money by expertly managing water and mineral rights of lands he bought in his youth. He also owned or had a share in many of the companies exploiting those rights. If the characters need cargo as a cover story for their trip to Wadanga (C438131-8), Tylon can arrange legitimate cargo contracts and goods from these outfits.

Tylon will provide a detailed file on Selfina, giving the characters many means of identifying her. Tylon also provides a file on The Hierophant and his cult, along with orbital photos of his compound on Wadanga. The compound houses nearly a thousand people, creating the potential for massive collateral damage should the characters try a direct approach. Tylon will stress the need to limit liabilities to both themselves and his legal firm in the operation, favoring any plan that emphasizes stealth over strength.

Outcomes:
1. Selfina is a prisoner. Selfina was specifically recruited by The Hierophant so he could loot her legacy. Selfina has since found out the religious leader orchestrated her uncle’s death, but was caught when she attempted to escape. She is being held prisoner in the compound and must be rescued by means of force. The referee will need to create maps and determine the level of opposition — off-world mercenaries — The Hierophant has hired.

2. Selfina is a true believer. Selfina truly believes in The Hierophant and his teachings and has found peace and purpose in his “care.” She is not only unwilling to leave, she will actively fight against any attempt to “liberate” her. In essence, the characters will have to kidnap her to get her off-world.

3. The Hierophant is a Zhodani agent. The Hierophant is actually an agent of the Zhodani government testing the effectiveness of a new psionic amplifier that is supposed to permanently affect the minds of its victims. The characters will discover this as they infiltrate the compound and attempt to rescue Selfina, risking falling under the influence of the “religious leader” themselves.

4. The Hierophant’s cult is under the influence of an alien artifact. The Hierophant discovered the artifact while he was on Wadanga a few years ago – a psionic information device containing the history of a now-extinct agrarian society that lived on Wadanga in the distant past. The Hierophant saw this as a religious vision and blueprint for the perfect society. The cult members exposed to this device are similarly affected. Only the device’s destruction will free the cult members from their visions.

5. Tylon is working an angle. Tylon wants to inherit the Zeres legacy for himself, which will happen if Selfina dies. The information about the cult in his files will leave out key elements of the cult’s defenses and disposition, plus fail to mention that the security forces are ordered to kill anyone attempting to escape the compound. Tylon would inherit the Zeres legacy upon Selfina’s death, of course.

6. Cloak & Dagger. The whole story is a lie. Selfina is an Imperial agent and Tylon is her handler. Selfina’s mission was to find and dispatch the Zhodani agent posing as The Hierophant. The cult compound is actually a base to train Imperial infiltrators in the arts of sabotage and misinformation. Selfina was captured and is being interrogated by the Zhodani operatives at the base. The characters are distraction for the primary extraction team, and aren’t expected to get out of this one alive…

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

Annual Maintenance

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Patron: Bureaucrat
Required Skills: starship operation, including Steward
Required Equipment: starship

Players’ Information:
The party is approached by a human woman dressed in nice looking and stylish civilian clothes. She is looking for a starship with crew for a special job. She has been hired by the Scout Service to lead a private resupply mission to the science lab ship conducting astronomical research in a nearby Red Zone system. Travel to the system is off-limits to the general public because the star is on the verge of supernova and has been evacuated. The scientists there will be able to detect the start of the supernova with 20 to 40 hours advance notice, enough time for them to jump their lab ship out of the system. That should be enough warning for the PCs to do the same.

The resupply mission will consist of six technicians to change out consumables and perform required maintenance on some of the lab ships’ sensors, two private security officers, and herself. She wants to charter a private vessel that can provide them High Passage with no other passengers aboard. In addition to their personal luggage, they will be taking six tons of supplies. They will stay at the science ship for two weeks, and then the passengers (minus their cargo) must be brought back here to the mission starting point.

Discretion is a requirement, which is why she’s looking for independent operators with experience in special situations. If pressed for more details, she will explain that the Scout Service has decided to go through private channels for this mission because it will be quicker – and ultimately cheaper – than dealing with the usual service bureaucracy.

The patron offers a generous total of Cr 250,000 for this mission. Half will be paid now, and the other half will be paid on their return. She assures them that even at this price, this is a bargain for the Scout Service. If the PCs accept the job, she tells them her name is Loren Poor and she goes with the leader of the group to the starport bank to transfer the first half of the money. The passengers and crew can be ready to leave in two days.

Super Nova
A Super Nova – Image by NASA – Public Domain

Referee’s Information:
Loren Poor is just as she says – an independent businesswoman hired outside the Scout Service procurement system to make this mission a success. But it’s not a resupply mission. In reality, the “technicians” are courtesans sent to make the scientists’ long mission slightly more bearable. If asked technical questions in their supposed fields – astronomy, sensor tech, computer repair, etc. – the passengers will give friendly but elusive answers. “Yeah, that’s my job, but it’s really quite boring. Tell me more about working on a private starship.” The player characters may complete this entire mission and never figure out the real purpose of the “technicians”. Or they may start to wonder why these scientists are all unusually attractive.

1. The crew takes the “technicians” to the lab ship and drops them off while they do their jobs for two weeks. The PCs are not allowed on board the lab ship (there isn’t room, they’re told). During this time, the party must refuel and prepare for the journey back. But they can spend whatever extra time is available investigating the abandoned planet. Since it’s going to be destroyed within the next two years, they can keep whatever they find there. This could lead to some exciting animal encounters and exploring the remains of the star town.

2. As above, but the PCs discover a sentient species of reptile men (TL 2) on the planet, living on a continent the humans never settled. Do the natives know about the imminent supernova? Does the Scout Service know about the natives? Should the PCs get involved? And what’s the scout service supposed to do at this late date anyhow – conjure a fleet of starships to evacuate the natives to another nearby world?

3. While en route to their destination, one of the “technicians” confides in one of the player characters. She is having second thoughts about this job, and the only way she can think of to get out of it is to pretend to fall in love with the PC and get married. Tradition dictates the captain of the ship can perform marriages, but what if it means interfering with the plans of his patron?

4. Bad luck! Two days after the “technicians” transfer over to the lab ship, a critical component of its sensor array fails. The captain of the lab ship calls over to the PCs’ ship and sheepishly gives the party the bad news – it’s had a major malfunction, the so-called sensor technician isn’t actually a sensor technician but a high paid interstellar prostitute, and without the sensors they are unable to determine when the star is about to explode. “Oh, and would you mind sending over your best engineer to see if he or she can help us fix this thing?”

5. A few days after the PCs transfer their passengers and crew to the lab ship, one of the lonely scientists overdoses on a recreational pharmaceutical that the “technicians” brought aboard. He then goes into a murderous rage. He attacks and kills one of the other “technicians”, one of the security officers, and Loren Poor. Eventually he is stopped (permanently) by the other security officer, but not before he sabotages the jump drive of the lab ship. Now the PCs are left to unravel a big mess. Between the crew of the lab ship and the player characters, can they repair the broken jump drive of the lab ship? If not, is there room on the PCs’ ship to take the scientists back to the scout base where the mission started? And what about the other half of payment, now that their patron is dead?

6. Not long after the technicians transfer over to the lab ship, the scientists determine the star has entered “terminal pre-supernova stage”. The star will blow up in 8D hours, and the shock wave will reach the lab ship 6Dx10 minutes later. The PCs need to make haste to refuel and ready their ship for an immediate jump, and to recover the “technicians” from the lab ship.

Author’s notes: I ran this scenario for my Classic Traveller campaign. We did a mix of the first two options. This is the planet where I ran the classic adventure “Shadows”. In my version, the descendants of the reptilians seen on the mural in “Shadows” lived near the pyramids. The PCs met one of them, but decided to leave him (and his people) on the planet. The party also was able to find a fair amount of loot – weapons, ammo, Marine Combat Armor, etc. – in the abandoned Imperial naval base on the planet’s surface.

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

Xboat Speculation!

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Patron: Merchant Prince, Spy
Required Skills: Scout Life Knowledge, Survey, Starship Operation skills
Required Equipment: Jump 2 capable Starship

Players’ Information:
The characters are nearing the end of their downtime and last of their credits on Urnian prime, when a middle age, but well-dressed lady approaches them. She introduces herself with a nice card that reads, “Julia Liverson. Urnian Properties Property Acquisition Specialist”.

Before the players know it, she has taken a seat with them, ordering a round for the table and Urnian Gin for herself. She then launches into her spiel; “My company is seeking to hire professional surveyors for an important job. It will be at least a six-jump trip with a possible extension if both parties agree. We are offering Cr. 3000 per month, per crew member, all standard ship fees and any maintenance needed during the time period – subject to a prior ship inspection, of course. You will provide a stateroom/office and aid me in surveying several worlds.” She takes a sip of her drink, then prances away – giving the team time to discus her offer.

Future Starport?
Future Starport? – Image from wikimedia.
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Referee’s Information:
Pick 1 or more systems with in Jump 4 of Emape (Spinward Marches 0133) or Raweh (Spinward Marches 0139); priority given to Cs Status over high starport classifications.

Suggested systems: Ovdyo (Foreven 2935) or Cinboshabo (Foreven 2938).

Both Urnian Properties and Liverson will pass a background check. Urnian Properties specialize in startowns and starport properties speculation, making millions as these ports get upgraded. Ms. Liverson is known for making a killing off Imperial deals as the Imperium moves beyond the Five Sisters into the Urnian Subsector. This expedition, if successful, will make her enough to retire wealthy.

She has gotten word that the Imperium is about to expand their Xboat routes into the Urnian subsector. This includes upgrading starports where needed. This means millions of credits to those fortunate to own property. While she has a clear idea where the routes might go, she needs to investigate all the options. Additionally, they are keeping this trip off the books and it requires Imperial Scout operations knowledge, so the company has chosen to hire a private ship and former scouts crew. If the characters wish to carry cargo and or passengers she will negotiate to reduce or even to stop paying ship upkeep and maintenance.

1. The characters are not the only crew Urnian Properties is looking at. The other crew is desperate for the contract, so they sabotage the characters’ ship or harm the crew. The other crew may or may not know the secret speculative nature of the survey mission.

2. Liverson is actually a property spy for the Marrakesh Trade Association. While the Xboat expansion is true, her actual mission is to buy property out from under the Imperium agents, to prevent Imperial expansion, and to report on Imperial activities and Urnian market conditions.

3. Liverson knows that the Imperium is not ready to expand and is instead embezzling hundreds of thousands of Urnian Properties funds through dummy companies; she plans to disappear from Urnian as soon as she can convince the characters to take her. Not only does she steal the company funds, she does not pay the characters.

4. Everything is normal for the group and the party spends 6 jumps exploring the startowns of the Urnian subsector.

5. Liverson finds out that Urnian Properties are pulling out of the speculative adventure but she isn’t about to give up on her dreams. With her all savings, she pushes on and offers the characters a deal of a life time. In return for forgoing the cost of the ship’s expenses and their salaries, she will give them each 5% equity in her new company. She will also allow them to buy into her new company giving up to a total of 45% equity. If she is right, they will make a fortune and she is never wrong – well hardly ever.

6. The survey trip is anything but normal as a rival company dogs the survey mission at every turn. They will do anything to ruin it and/or capture properties for themselves. In the end they may get desperate enough to harm Liverson and her faithful scouts. This option works best if the players have enough room on the ship for the saboteur(s) to book passage. They will even to try to corrupt a crew member. With millions at stake, anything goes.

IMTU, Model-1, Rules, Science, Traveller

Benford’s law, or why you shouldn’t use a D10 for generating some random numbers

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This applies to all games where you want to generate a random number to describe something. In many cases you cannot just use a D10 since Benford’s law says that the lower numbers will have a higher probability.

Benford's law
Benford’s law – Public domain

This law is usually true when applied to things that grow exponentially. Like the population modifier digit (the P in the PBG-number) in the extended UWP for Traveller. Why is it so? Here is an explanation! A shorter explanation is that to change the first digit from 1 to 2, the population needs to increase 100%. To change the first digit from 8 to 9 the population needs to increase 12%. This means that the population digit will stay longer at lower values and therefore the lower values will be more likely.

Something else that is interesting for Traveller, Benford’s law can also be applied on asteroid sizes, since these has been built up of smaller objects over time.

It can most likely be used for anything that is big and varied enough like the size of buildings, the size of villages or towns, the size of space ships etc…

If you use a D10 to get a first digit for something that should behave according to Benford’s law, you will create a statistical anomaly. Doing it for one, or a few planets doesn’t matter, but if you do it for the P in the PBG-number of a subsector or something larger the result you get will be very unlikely.

So stop using that D10 now! Write a simple program on your calculator or computer that calculates the first digit according to Benford’s law!

For those who still (for some reason) needs to use dice, here is a table with a distribution that is close enough to the Benford distribution using 2D6, like you should do in Traveller.

2D6 First Digit
2 1
3 7
4 5
5 3
6 1
7 2
8 1
9 4
10 6
11 8
12 9

Just for fun, test Benford’s law for a number of datasets. It works!

2300AD, Reviews, Rules, Traveller

Techbook: Chrome

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Classic Traveller is inspired by Science Fiction before cyber-technology started to appear (with a few exceptions) in Science Fiction. So, in Classic Traveller there are no rules for cybertech.

There was a short article series in JTAS #02, #03 and #04 that talked about the differences between robots, cyborgs, androids, etc. We had to wait until the book 2300 AD Earth/Cybertech Sourcebook for 2300AD before GDW produced any good rules for cybertech, But this was for another RPG and not for Traveller and only 13 pages of that book was about different types of cybertech.

Cybertech might not fit well (if it is common) in the OTU. But for an ATU that needs a more modern feel, rules for cybertech are needed. Terra/Sol Games has produced a book that fills the gap; Techbook: Chrome.

Techbook: ChromeChrome is a well-known cyberpunk term, known from William Gibson’s Burning Chrome. It’s clever title for this book.

The book is written by John D. Lees, who Michel Cross wrote about in an earlier post.

The contents in the book are just what you expect, and more. There are rules covering Cybernetic Replacements and Biologicals and Accessories and Cyborgs and Cyrgeware.

Cybernetic Replacements is just what you expect it is. Biologicals is the same but these replacement are grown from organic tissue. You can buy biological upgrades and combine it with the cybertech. This can make your setting really feel like Bladerunner.

The Accessories section of the book are about improvements or additions of the body to add a function that a normal person doesn’t have. These can be both Cybernetic and Biological additions.

The Cyborg section of the book is about cyborgs. A cyborg is defined as an individual whose brain (and possibly other organs) have been placed in a robotic shell. This section of the book discusses lots of aspects of being a cyborg, including braincase, “food” and combat.

The section called Cyrgeware is about the ability to be able to change something (a function or appearance) within your body.

Most of the illustrations in the book are in grayscale and are really good. There are a few in color but only one (showing a sexy cyborg) except the cover is worth mentioning.

An alternative for this book would be 2300 AD Earth/Cybertech Sourcebook for 2300AD or Supplement 8: Cybernetics from Mongoose. But in my opinion, Techbook: Chrome is more interesting. It would be very useful in an ATU where you want cybertech to be more prominent.