Traveller's Aid

The title is bit of a joke, but here is a link to some cool stuff if you want to run a Traveller game.  SignalGK Online Traveller Resource has character, and subsector generators.  It also has PDFs of almost any form you might need in a Traveller campaign.  There's also a few links to other Traveller sites.

Classic Traveller Part 2

Traveller is the creation of Marc W. Miller , an award winning game designer.  I should have mentioned that in Part One, but the idea for writing about Traveller sort of just popped into my head, and I ran with it in a stream of consciousness kind of way.  I'm like that sometimes...

If you don't own any Traveller products, you can now get a free download of the Classic Traveller from Drivethru RPG .   There's a nice post on creating a Traveller sandbox on Bat In The Attic .

In the last post, I talked about Amber and Red Zones a bit, and mentioned Black and Grey Zones.  These are something I made up, although I'm sure others have thought of something similar. 

A Black Zone is a system or planet that the Imperium does not want ANYONE to now about, and is very propriatary information.  There is even a special branch of the Imperial Navy and Space Marines that deal with the security of Black Zones.  If someone stumbles upon a Black Zone, they will be in a bit of a bind, because they will either be incarcerated, or dealt with lethally.  Most citizens of the Imperium think that Black Zones are just rumors, and don't really exist.

A Grey Zone is an area that the inhabitants try to keep hidden.  It's usually involved in illicit activities, and they want to keep their location unknown.  Such areas are usually hideouts for the criminal element, smugglers, pirates, etc. and are on very remote planets, or stations in asteroid belts.  Making the right underworld connections, and bribing the right person will usually help someone find a Grey Zone.  The Imperium usually pays well for information leading to the discovery of a Grey Zone.

Truly, I think that Traveller is the perfect sandbox game.  I remember one of the first sessions I ran, the characters went into a dungeon I had made.  Of course instead of swords, they had shotguns, and pistols, but you get the idea.  I don't remember why the characters went into the dungeon, I think it was a rescue mission, or they were just exploring after hearing a rumor about it.  Oh well, it's been many, many years since that game session.

That's all for now.  Until next time... Zanazaz out!

Classic Traveller Part 1

©2010 Frank Anderson, Jr.

Gamma World is considered to be science fantasy, so I guess the first science fiction role-playing game I played was Traveller.  This was the little black boxed set with the three digest sized books, and I loved that game!  I loved playing it, and running sessions.  Even though we didn't describe it as such back then, it was, and still is I guess, a great sandbox game.

The players in my Traveller campaigns were always hoping they could get their own starship. ( And so was I, when I played. )  That was the equivelant of a really great magic sword for a fighter in a fantasy game.  If you had a starship you could go anywhere, as long as you had the funds.  It was expensive to own a starship, especially if you were making payments. So most of the time between adventures we would haul cargo, buy and sell merchandise, and ferry passengers from one system to another.  We were shooting for a million credits in our account.  Plus, in one campaign we would do the occasional "odd job", or run a scam on somebody.  My favorite scam was when we seeded an asteroid with valuable ore, and sold the location to someone.  Of course they eventually found out it was bogus, and we had to pay a hefty fine.  Thankfully,  one of our player's characters had legal skill, and that kept us out of jail.

I remember that we would always check what a system's status was before embarking on a journey.  If it was an Amber Zone , then we would wonder what we could get away with there, and if it was a Red Zone , then all bets were off!  Of course it worked both ways.  You could get away with a lot in a Red Zone, but you were also in a lot more danger.

If I ever run a Traveller campaign again, I would create two new zone designations.  Black Zones, and Grey Zones, which I'll discuss in Part 2 of the Traveller Series.

Check out the Traveller Wiki !  Much coolness!  So until next time, keep that vacc suit close by, and steer clear of Red Zones!  Unless of course, you are looking for trouble...

Map Tiles

I've been working on some map tiles for science fiction and post-apocolyptic settings.  Here's one I've done...

    

I can't decide if I want the grid lines thicker or not.  I like the look, and I'm going to make several tiles for a factory complex, and a set for star ports.  Once a basic tile is "constructed" it's easy to customize them.  I plan on either printing them out myself, or using one of those Print On Demand places.  I found one place that seems reasonably priced,  The Game Crafter .  They will print map tiles, ( they call them game boards ) in quantities as small as one, and even have templates you can download to layout your boards, in whatever graphics program you use.

If I print them out myself, I will mount them on either foamcore, or the thinnest MDF I can find.  However, I may laminate them, but this may not be a good option, largely due to cost.

Gaming!

Here's a fun write up of a gaming session over on Asshat Paladins , it seems to be a Gamma World setting using Savage Worlds rules.  I am unfamilair with Savage Worlds, but I may need to check it out.

That's it for now, Zanazaz OUT!

Logo Up! Ready to roll...

I think the only reason to start this blog was so I could make a cool looking masthead.  However, I do plan on posting here, just not as frequently as on my other gaming blog.  I really did want a genre specific blog, and I really like science fiction, and especially post apocolyptic settings, and as usual will cover all aspects of those as it applies to gaming.