A Traveller Universe Map!

It's been a while ( okay, over a year... ) since I've posted here on the Mutagenic Zone, and I hadn't really planned on doing so tonight.  However, while checking on the viability of some of the links on this blog, ( I really, really hate dead links ). I discovered this cool online map of the Traveller Universe.  Now I'm wondering if this is available as a poster.  That would be so cool.

Anyway, it appears that the links here are still viable.  All linkage is good!  Now I need to check website linkage on my other blogs... UGH.  That's going to be a chore.

FYI,  I'm planning on posting at least once a week on this blog from now on, but barring that, at least twice a month.

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...