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Starter Traveller – Now What?

Sitting before you is a box full of tools and parts. Bit by bit you’ve put together various subassemblies, but now it’s time to put the whole thing together. What will it look like when you’re done? It’s hard to say. There is no one way to play a Traveller campaign. What Starter Traveller does do is give you a nice framework upon which to build the adventures of your choosing.

The last section of the rule book is advice on how to run a Traveller game and campaign. The advice given is actually rather interesting, and different from any of the rule books I’ve previously read.  It covers the Basics, the Gimmick (things like psionics that players earn and continue to benefit from throughout the game), the Pull (players goals), the Push (things players don’t like, but keep coming up anyway), and the Enigma (the things players don’t know, but want to).

Following this page of advice is a section of prewritten patron encounters. They provide the patron, and the request, and then each has a chart which may throw wrinkles into the scenario. 

Thus ends the rule book. The next two installments will focus on the two adventures that come with the starter set.

Mapping by candlelight

I drew this map while laying next to the fireplace, which was filled with candles.  It's the lair of the Witch of the Deep. I picture it fitting in as a sublevel, and connecting 2 main levels together, but not

As you can see, I used some color, and I drew in more features than I usually do.   I haven't decided where "C" leads to yet. "A" goes to the megadungeon proper, but I'm also not sure where yet.  "B" leads off into water filled tunnels, and the stairs in the Witch's lair itself go down into a lower dungeon level. 

The lair itself is reached by climbing a ledge up to her door. The first room reached is her main room with her cauldron and loom. Beyond that is her bedroom, complete with vanity and wardrobe. Up above that is the summoning room, and below is the witches storage area

Starter Traveler – I can kill you with my mind!

aka Psionics

Psionic potential is actually fairly common in the Traveller universe. Everyone starts with a minimum of a Psi score of 2, as the score is determined by throwing 2d6. The roll is modified by a -1 for every 4 year block over the age of 18. The difficulty is that the only way to unlock a person’s psionic potential is by being tested at a Psionic Institute (PI), and then receiving instruction. This is a time intensive process, and expensive. In addition, finding a PI is also a difficult process, as psionics are not accepted by the general population.

Presuming that your character manages to find one of the elusive institutes, and discovers that they have a score sufficient enough to warrant the time and money it costs to train them, it is still no guarantee that they’ll actually have any talents.  There are 6 possible talents that I psionic character can attempt to learn, and each attempt to learn a talent imposes a cumulative -1 to the roll.  In addition, some talents are easier than others.  In order, from hardest to easiest, they are: Teleportation (9+), Awareness (7+), Telekinesis (6+), Clairvoyance (6+), and Telepathy (5+).  For the more math inclined, you will note that I only listed 5 talents.  The sixth is “Special” and needs a 9+ to acquire. What is “Special”? Basically it’s something that isn’t covered by one of the above.  Firestarting, phasing, mind control, flight, etc. 

It’s entirely possible to roll a character with a really high psionic strength, and no talents, just as it is possible to roll a character with low psionic strength, and lots of talents that they don’t have the strength to actually use.  Mathematically it is possible to roll a character with a psionic strength of 12, with access to all 6 of the talents, but it’s extremely unlikely. 

So what can a character do with these psionic talents? It depends on which talents, and what strength score the character has. Let’s look at all the talents, and presuming that a character has a high enough score to do everything that talent allows. First up, teleportation. With a high enough strength the character can teleport clear across a continent, or even to the other side of a planet. There are dangers associated with this due to a variety of factors, including the differing speeds of rotation of the planet at different latitudes, and the problems with increasing or decreasing elevation. It’s doable, though difficult. At lower levels, the range is less, as is the ability to bring stuff with you. In fact, at a low enough level, you’re going naked!

Awareness is the control of your own body, allowing you to put yourself into suspended animation, improve your strength, endurance, or even cause yourself to regenerate!  Telekinesis allows you to move things from a gram in weight to up to 100 kilograms.  Clairvoyance allows remote viewing of distant locations. With a high enough skill you can both see and hear what’s going on. Telepathy allows everything from sensing and sharing emotions to reading surface thoughts to probing deep into someone else’s mind, to finally using their ability as a weapon capable of killing. It also provides the ability to shield your mind from the assaults of others. 

So how does this all work out for a real character? Pulling out one of the ones I made way back at the beginning of this series: Mancrel “McDuff” Duffin. He served 2 terms with the merchant fleet, and was mustered out with 10k credits.  He’s always had an itching at the back of his head, so he decides to track down a Psionics Institute branch and get tested.  5k credits later it turns out that he is a latent strength 6 psionic (rolled a 9 minus 3 for his age). Training costs 100k credits, which means McDuff is only 95k short, and as his power level isn’t high enough to qualify for a scholarship, he’s at the end of his psionic journey, unless he can come up with more money, and fast.  Every 4 years from the determination of your potential that goes untrained, you lose an additional point. 

For the sake of this example, let’s say he gets a loan from a less than reputable character, and gets his training.  First McDuff will check his “Special” talent, and he doesn’t have one (rolled a 5-1=4). He then checks the rest in the order above. And his scores are: 4, 3, 3, 0, 5. He has no talent at anything except Telepathy, and with a high enough strength that when fully trained he’ll be able to read emotions, surface thoughts, and send thoughts to others. These powers will definitely be of use to the mob boss that funded his training, especially after he spends some time refining his skills so that he can actually use the powers he’s now unlocked. After 4 months at the institute he has the basic skills down, and can shield his mind from others. Every month thereafter McDuff rolls 2d6, and if he scores better then an 8 his level in the talent goes up.  Eventually he will be able to do all that’s been written above, and at distances up to 50 kilometers!

Dice Bags

 A lot of attention is given to dice, and rightly so.  They are important aspects of our hobby, and many people have very strong feelings about them.  This is why there are such a huge variety of dice available.  From the simple utilitarianism of game science, to the bargain basement cheap multicolored, to wildly extravagant and expensive styles, to the dangerous to the table metal dice.

Yet I don't know a single gamer that just grabs a scoop of dice out of a bucket, sticks them in his pocket on his way to game.  I'm sure he's out there, somewhere, but I've never seen him. No, the vast majority of gamers have a bag, or even multiple bags that they keep their dice in. It isn't uncommon that different sets of dice will have different dedicated bags.

There is a lot of variety in dice bags, but there are some common ones. First is the cheap vinyl one  that comes in the basic intro boxed sets. These were really common in the 90's. I've got one from the First Adventure boxed set, and another from... some other starter set from TSR.

Next is the ubiquitous Crown Royal bag. Most gamers I know that have and use these are under the legal drinking age, and most of them were given to them by older gamers. I gave mine away.

Another bag that younger gamers can have is the home made bag. Mine is on the large side, and I used it for LARPing.

Chainmail bags with leather straps are pretty common too. As cool as they look, they do have some downsides.  For one thing, they're heavy.  For another they don't tend to hold a lot of dice.  I used mine for my Khorne Berzerkers - red and black d6s.

Leather bags are a little more common than chain.  They tend to hold more, and they weigh a lot less.

The last bag I'm gonna blog about is this fantastic little TSR bag that I got attending the Silver Anniversary Tour.  I keep 2 complete sets of dice in it, and this is the bag I usually brought to game with.

Canigryph

“A wizard did it.” Feris answered matter-of-factly.

“Stop saying that.” Nimble grumbled.

“What do you want me to tell you?”

“Something other than ‘a wizard did it’. Seriously, you’ve got to find some other excuse for the weird shit we keep coming across.”

The camp fire crackled merrily along, roasting dinner on Rathgar’s travel spit.

“Well a wizard did do it, along with the owl bear, hippogriff, and the gryphon!”

“Look, guys, I don’t care who did it. It was creepy, and I hope we don’t find any more of them.” Rathgar said from across the fire.

“Not creepy enough to keep you from eating it.” Alianora pointed out.

“No, that’s true.” Rathgar answered, cutting a piece from the spit. “Hua, I didn’t expect that.”

“What?” Nimble asked.

“Tastes like chicken.”

Canigryph (Gallus Canis)
Aka Chicken-Dog

Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 2+2
Move: 180’ (60’)
Attacks: 1 peck or special
Damage: 1d4+1
No. Appearing: 3d4+1 (3d6+1)
Save As: M1
Morale: 6
Treasure Type: Nil
Intelligence: 1
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 25

Canagriffs are the magical amalgam of a dog’s body with the head of a chicken. They are aggressive omnivores, yet highly fearful. In any encounter the entire flock must make a morale check as soon as any of its members are injured, or they will flee. Canagriff males (1 per flock) do have one special attack, a crowing which will automatically rally any canagriff that has failed its morale check. In addition, this crowing will also cause any non-canagriff within earshot to make a save vs spells or flee for 1d6 rounds.

Megadungeon Map - Level 3b

This map connects with left side of the previous map. The upper sub-level (aka my one hour dungeon), probably attached to room 17 or 19. One of the rooms in that area.  Image contrast has been adjusted for ease of viewing.

I also drew the corner connector map that didn't quite fit on either the above map, or the one I posted earlier.

You can see where this map connects with the above map at the C and D corridor and with the other level 3 map at it's hallway D. You can also see where there was more dungeon that was lost to whatever caused it to collapse.