Tag Archives: Traveller

Humaniti, Reviews, Traveller

Sword Worlds revisited by Mongoose

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Sword Worlds from Mongoose
Sword Worlds from Mongoose

What has Mongoose done to the Sword Worlds? Do I need this book? These are the questions that I will try to answer here.

The cover of the book is quite cool, but it doesn’t look like the soldiers in the image are Sword Worlders at all. 😐

Interior art is not bad either. I just feel it is too much Viking themed, and not really showing the hi-tec spacefaring culture that I wanted to see. The deckplans are fine and the 3D rendering of the Jarl is ok. It can be seen in colour at Biomass Art.

There are a few contradictions in the introduction of the book. Are the Sword Worlds a dangerous place or a popular place to visit? Are there no physical differences from original Solomani or is the average male weight 105 kg, and the females pregnant for 10 months? Then there is also (a likely) bug in the naming rules, since the female surname possessive form is missing, but not the male possessive form.

How did they come up with the Army Ranking table? I don’t think that matches any Scandinavian army. (SWE, NOR, DEN)

There are 3 new careers. The first one is the Aesirist Church. This isn’t something that I like. It is too Viking themed. I will not use it in MTU. The next one is The Patrol. From old JTAS #18. This is a good idea to include. The third is Jäger Command. I think it should really be part of Marines or Army, as special forces.

The origin of sagamaal and the vocabulary makes some sense. Currency and exchange rate was a good thing to include. History is a bit messed up. It’s interesting but doesn’t match the previous publications.

In the Worlds chapter, the world listing of the subsector is missing the worlds outside the Sword Worlds. The atmosphere of Enos is explained in the same way as in the GURPS SW module. (To keep Traveller fun, these things should be ignored so that the referee can deal with in a different way.) Mithril matches the old adventure Mission on Mithril.

The equipment list is nice, but there are some items that are just too Viking themed. There are a nice selection of ships. Some parts of the encounter tables are fine, and the animals are interesting. The miniphants has been changed. They are not the same miniphants as in JTAS #16.

There are some proofreading errors (as usual). There are some extra-large apostrophes. There is a reference to a class III starport. (That is what a type C starport is called in GURPS.) There are some talk about the Border Worlds (that shouldn’t exist in 1105). I get an error message in the end of the pdf. Please Mongoose, do a better job!

So, I think that parts of the book is good, and other parts are not so good. You can buy it for the good parts. Maybe you like the other parts as well. The alternative would be to use JTAS #18 and read Space Viking for free, and form your own opinion about the Sword Worlds.

Science, Traveller

Asteroid Mining

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Today it was announced that Planetary Resources will be mining asteroids in the near future. This is very interesting. Phil Plait agrees on his Bad Astronomy Blog.

At Wikipedia, there is an entry about asteroid mining. Planetary Resources will go after the Near-Earth objects, and take small steps and learn along the way. That seems like a nice business plan (as long as you can wait for any results and profits).

Asteroid mining
Asteroid mining, Image from wikimedia. Public Domain.

Planetary Resources are far from first to think about Asteroid mining. A snapshot from 1998 at the wayback-machine proves that the BeRKA corporation was in the asteroid mining business 14 years ago. 🙂

GDW has thought about asteroid mining even longer than the BeRKA corporation. In the “Consolidated Classic Traveller Reprint Errata” you can find the old “Asteroid Mining flowchart” from JTAS Issue 3.

In the TTA books, there was also some cool images of asteroid mining space ships. Have a look at the PC1 191 Gourmet or the AC3 Stag Beetle. The PC1 191 Gourmet has inspired asteroid mining in MTU. That ship is so much cooler than a Scout Ship with a mining laser.

Except for the flowchart in JTAS #3, a lot have been published about asteroid mining for traveller. To generate belter (asteroid miner) characters for your game, you’ll need Supplement 4. For some fun asteroid adventures, you’ll need Beltstrike! (You can also get Beltstrike for Mongoose Traveller.)

Asteroid Mining Vehicule
Asteroid Mining Vehicule – Image from wikimedia. Public Domain

There are also some games about Asteroid Mining. From GDW, there is Belter that is about asteroid mining in the solar system. A cheaper alternative is Asteroids from Radioactive Press, and a fun alternative is Asteroid Racers from Avalon Game company.

You can play the classic Asteroids arcade game at the Atari website. What is your High-Score?

Adventures, Traveller

The Builder

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Required Sills: None
Required Equipment: Starship
Number of Players: 2-6

Players’ Information:
The party is approached by a gang of builders (numbering eight including the leader) who need transport whilst on Urnian/Ovdyo; they have won a contract to refurbish a nobles penthouse and party is asked to transport the gang of burly builders to Urnian/Udika, their materials and equipment to site. They have several tons of equipment (enough to fill the PC’s cargo hold to capacity), including tools, heavy plant gear, bricks and other materials.

If the party asks why they can’t use local construction materials, the lead builder replies that the noble has expensive tastes and specified particular materials for the construction. Examples can be presented to the party, eg. special internal bricks that display soothing, coloured patterns when illuminated.

Building

Image from wikimedia.  Public Domain.

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Adventures, Traveller

A day at the zoo

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Patron: Civilian, Noble, Agent
Required Skills: None, but weapons and wilderness skills helpful.
Required Equipment: none

Players’ Information:
The players are contacted at the starport on Urnian/Urnian/Foreven by a person from the Interplanetary Zoo. The players are offered Cr100,000 each and use of a crewed Safari ship. An uncrewed Safari ship is provided if players have their own ship. Payment is reduced to Cr10000 each and a full yard overhaul is done on their ship while away. They are to see the factor on Ronu for mission details. If needed weapons are provided as would be wilderness survival/hunting gear.

 

Jungle

Image from wikimedia.  Public Domain.

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Adventures, Traveller

Funeral Escort

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Patron: Equerry
Planet: Fessor Sub-Sector – Fessor, 2814 B510999-D
Required Skills: Pilot, Gunner, Medic, Comms
Required Equipment: None

Players’ Information:
The group is approached by James Rask, an equerry of House Farkell. He informs the group that they have been recommended by a local government dignitary of high standing that they are reliable people. They are then told of the sad death of his master, Baron von Farkell in a tragic grav vehicle accident that killed him and his pilot. The Baron was an émigré from Frenzie, in the Vilis subsector of the Spinward Marches. The Equerry wishes to hire your group to take the Baron back to Frenzie to be laid to rest in the House Farkell’s mausoleum, along with the Baron’s effects to be returned to his remaining family.

The cryogenically frozen body and goods are to be transported using modified Scout, Type S. The equerry informs the group that on successful delivery of the Baron and his effects, the Scout ship will be signed over to them as payment. Plus each member of the group receives 10 000 Cr. There will be almost guaranteed future employment from House Farkell.

Mausoleum

Image from wikimedia.  Public Domain.

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