Friday, April 30, 2010

Some worlds of human space - 2300 AD

Early in the 24th century, human space encompasses some 50 explored systems, although only a handful of worlds have sizable populations. With the sole exception of Earth itself, all the major colony worlds are currently being terraformed, a process that takes centuries. Of these, only Mars now has a breathable atmosphere and even there, the air is thin and very dry. Most Martians still use respirators and eye protection when venturing out on to the planet's surface.

Earth A867A75-B N S Hi Ht In Ri
Over 20 billion people live on Earth. Though largely depleted of natural resources, the planet is relatively free of harmful pollutants due to plentiful fusion power. Atmospheric regeneration stations ensure the oxygen concentration stays at breathable levels. Despite its enormous population, Earth is generally self-sufficient as far as food production is concerned.
Starting skills: Computers-0, Streetwise-0

Mars A451975-B N S Hi Ht In Ri
Mars supports almost 2 billion people, thanks to massive terraforming efforts. Dozens of small comets were harnessed and mined to provide the huge amounts of water needed to make Mars inhabitable. The process is expected to continue well into the future. Mars also has the distinction of having the only planetary base not administered by the UNA or the Red Blok. EuroStation One is an Anglo-French colony with a science station and a consulate. It also maintains a small security detachment.
Starting skills: Computers-0, Carouse-0

Luna C200565-B N Va
Earth's moon offers little benefit for colonization beyond its close proximity. As such, permanent human habitation is limited to mainly to scientific and military facilities, although some service industries have been set up to provide for the needs of the personnel stationed on Luna as well as a small number of lunar tourists.
Starting skills: Computers-0, Vacc Suit-0

Titan C3A2565-B N Fl
Titan is a UNA colonial protectorate, although there is a sizable Red Blok enclave. Little can be done to terraform Titan, as it is much too far from the Sun to ever support life, but its abundance of methane and other commodities make it the support base for all outer system activity.
Starting skills: Computers-0, Vacc Suit-0

Hyperia B731765-B N S IC
Hyperia is the oldest of the extrasolar colonies, having been established by the UNA nearly a century earlier. The planet is mostly frozen, although a thin band of habitable land exists around the equator. Hyperia has great potential, however, as the massive ice caps hold abundant water and carbon dioxide, the necessary components for terraforming.
Starting skills: Computers-0, Vacc Suit-0

Xindiqiu C8207B7-A N In
The oldest and largest of the Red Blok colonies, Xindiqiu is a marginal world rich in mineral wealth. The atmosphere is unbreathable and there is little water, so the enormous population is supported by extensive importation of food and water.
Starting skills: Computers-0, Vacc Suit-0

Krepost A5107B7-A N In
The largest military base outside of the Solar System is found on the Red Blok world of Krepost. More Red Blok soldiers die while training on Krepost than do so in military actions. Aside from supporting the military, Krepost also has thriving mining and industrial sectors.
Starting skills: Computers-0, Vacc Suit-0

-Rognar-

Mongoose Traveller vs. Megatraveller - combat

Another area where some rule changes have been instituted by Mongoose is combat. In Megatraveller, a character with average characteristics will have a hit value of 3/5. This means 3 pts. of damage will render him incapacitated, while 5 more pts. will kill him. Most of the handheld weapons in Megatraveller do 3 or 4 pts. of damage. These include slugthrowers and lasers of most tech levels. This means a single full damage shot from any of these weapons will knock most characters out of combat. This is where armour comes into play. All weapons have a penetration value and all types of armour have an armour value. In order to achieve a full damage hit, the penetration value must be double the armour value. If it is equal or greater (but not double), it does half damage. In general, armour values tend to lag behind penetration values for a given tech level, so incapacitating shots tend to be rather common. Thus, combat in Megatraveller is best avoided unless the characters have a clear advantage in technology or numbers over their opponents. Another feature of Megatraveller combat is the lack of randomness. The penetration number and the damage of the weapon are fixed. Your weapon either penetrates or it doesn't and you either do full damage or half damage. There are no grazing hits or critical hits. If you have a laser rifle-9 and your enemy is wearing combat armour-12, don't waste your power cell. You will not affect him, no matter how awesome a called shot you make.

In Mongoose Traveller, a character takes damage directly to characteristics, first Endurance, then the other physical characteristics (player's choice). When End and another characteristic are reduced to zero, the character is incapacitated. When all three physical characteristics are reduced to zero, the character is dead. An average character would, therefore, expect to take around 14 pts. of damage before incapacitation and another 7 before death. There is no penetration number for a weapon. You roll a number of damage dice and any excess above what is required to exceed the armour value is applied as damage. This adds a greater degree of uncertainty to each result. For example, the aforementioned laser rifle-9 now does 5d6 pts., while the combat armour-12 has an armour value of 14. It is, therefore, likely that at least a couple pts. of damage will be done to the target and a really good roll could do significant damage. Still, one shot incapacitation against a reasonably armoured character is pretty unlikely. Of course, when PGMPs and FGMPs are being used, characters start getting vapourized pretty quickly.

-Rognar-

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Mongoose Traveller vs. Megatraveller - chargen

Mongoose Traveller is very similar to older versions of the game including the one I am most familiar with, Megatraveller. There are a few differences, though, and I will demonstrate those by generating a character. My character is a Scout named Travis. Let's start with rolling characteristics.

I roll 6 x 2d6 and get 11,5,3,6,9,8. In the old days, you took your rolls in order. So Travis has:

Str:11 Dex:5 End:3 Int:6 Edu:9 Soc:8

So, MegaTravis is strong enough to lift a small car and he attended a very good school, but he's a bit clumsy and quite sickly. Bad news for someone interested in the Scout Service.

Mongoose lets you distribute your rolls as you see fit. So, I will make Travis a much hardier individual.

Str:11 Dex:5 End:9 Int:6 Edu:8 Soc:3

I could make more wholesale changes, but this is a comparative exercise, so I will try to minimize the number of changes I make during the chargen process.

Time to revisit MegaTravis. First he must enlist. He needs a 7+ on the roll and he has a +3 DM thanks to his high Str and decent Int. He rolls an 8 (+3), total 11, no problem, he's in. Next he has to survive his first term. He needs another 7+ with no DM due to his lousy End. Luckily, he rolls a 9. Good news, he didn't suffer a career-ending injury (no death in Megatraveller chargen). He also rolls a 7 on his Special Duty check, easily making the 4+ he needed. More good news for MegaTravis. Time to start racking up the skills. MegaTravis is a Scout, so he has as default skills, Gun Combat-0, Vacc Suit-0 and Computer-0. MegaTravis gets three skills, 2 for his term of service and one for his special duty. He decides to roll twice on the Personal Development table and once on the Service Skills table. He gets a Physical and a Gun Combat result on the former and an Electronics result on the latter. He uses the Physical result to increase his End by one and he takes Laser Weapons-1 in Gun Combat. So, MegaTravis looks like this after one term:

Str:11 Dex:5 End:4 Int:6 Edu:9 Soc:8
Vacc Suit-0
Computers-0
Gun Combat-0
Laser Weapons-1
Electronics-1

MegaTravis decides to try and reenlist. He needs a 3+ and rolls a 7. So far, so good.

Next term, the good news keeps coming for MegaTravis. He rolls an 8 for survival and 5 for special duty. He gets 3 more skill rolls, so he decides to take one from the Personal Development table, one from the Service Skills table and one from the Advanced Education table. He gets a Dex +1, an Inborn and a Medical result. He decides to take Leader as his Inborn skill. After two terms, MegaTravis looks like this:

Str:11 Dex:6 End:4 Int:6 Edu:9 Soc:8
Vacc Suit-0
Computers-0
Gun Combat-0
Laser Weapons-1
Electronics-1
Leader-1
Medical-1

MegaTravis is now 26 years old and he has decided he wants to strike out on his own. He still has to make a reenlistment roll to avoid mandatory reenlistment and gets a 10. He's free. Now it's time to roll for mustering out benefits. He rolls twice on the benefits table and twice on the cash table. He ends up with Int +2, a laser rifle-9 and a total of 80,000 Cr. MegaTravis is ready to start his life as a PC. He looks like this:

Str:11 Dex:6 End:4 Int:8 Edu:9 Soc:8
Vacc Suit-0
Computers-0
Gun Combat-0
Laser Weapons-1
Electronics-1
Leader-1
Medical-1

laser rifle-9
80,000 Cr

Back to MongooseTravis. Careers in Mongoose Traveller have specializations. In the case of Scout, they are Courier, Survey and Exploration. MongooseTravis decides he wants to be an Explorer. To enlist in the Scout Service, he needs an Int 5+ roll. He has no Int bonus, so it's a straight roll. No problem, he gets an 8. Life as an explorer is no walk in the park, MongooseTravis has to make an End 7+ to survive his term. He has a +1 DM due to his high End and rolls 9 (+1), for a total of 10. He also has to make an Edu 7+ roll to earn an advancement. MongooseTravis is as lucky as MegaTravis so far. He rolls an 8. Now it's time for skills. Default skills are handled a bit differently in Mongoose Traveller. You start with 3 + Edu DM skills at level-0. These can be derived from your homeworld characteristics or from formal education. I will choose to give MongooseTravis Vacc Suit-0, Computers-0 and Space Science-0. He came from a high-tech, ice planet and was very good in his astronomy classes. In his first term in the Scout Service, he also receives all the service skills at level-0. This gives him Pilot-0, Survival-0, Mechanic-0, Astrogation-0, Comms-0 and Gun Combat-0. MongooseTravis gets two rolls this term because he succeeded on his advancement roll, so he selects the Personal Development table and the Service Skill table. He gets a Dex +1 and a Mechanic result. Also, because he made a successful advancement roll, he is promoted to Scout-1 and gets Vacc Suit-1 as a rank benefit. Next, MongooseTravis makes a roll on the Events table to determine the highlight of his term. He rolls a 5, indicating an exemplary service was performed. He gets a +1 DM on a future benefits roll. MongooseTravis now looks like this:

Str:11 Dex:6 End:9 Int:6 Edu:8 Soc:3
Vacc Suit-1
Computers-0
Gun Combat-0
Pilot-0
Survival-0
Astrogation-0
Space Science-0
Comms-0
Mechanic-1

MongooseTravis sticks around for another term. His reenlistment roll is combined with his advancement roll, so he is already accepted for another term. He makes his survival and advancement rolls again, earning 2 more skill rolls and decides to go with the Service Skills and Specialist: Exploration tables. He gets Comms and Recon results. He also gets promoted to Scout-2, although there are no rank benefits at that level. On his Events table roll, he surveyed an alien world. He has several skills to choose from and selects Survival-1. MongooseTravis now looks like this:

Str:11 Dex:6 End:9 Int:6 Edu:8 Soc:3
Vacc Suit-1
Computers-0
Gun Combat-0
Pilot-0
Survival-1
Astrogation-0
Space Science-0
Comms-1
Mechanic-1
Recon-1

MongooseTravis managed to avoid mandatory reenlistment last time and decides to muster out. He gets one benefits roll for each term of service and an extra one for reaching rank 2. He decides to roll twice on the benefits table and once on the cash table. He will use his +1 DM (from his first term event) on the first of his benefits table rolls. He gets three straight rolls of 2 (+1 on the first), giving him +1 Int, +1 Edu and 20,000 Cr. MongooseTravis now looks like this:

Str:11 Dex:6 End:9 Int:7 Edu:9 Soc:3
Vacc Suit-1
Computers-0
Gun Combat-0
Pilot-0
Survival-1
Astrogation-0
Space Science-0
Comms-1
Mechanic-1
Recon-1

20,000 Cr

In the end, MongooseTravis has more skills and more optimal characteristics, while MegaTravis has better mustering out benefits.

-Rognar-

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Campaign reboot...again

It seems I do this every couple of months, make wholesale changes to the space horror campaign I am planning. I don't know if it's my fussy nature or late-onset ADD setting in, but I just haven't been able to incorporate everything I want into one package. Although, I think I at least know what I want in the campaign.

1. A game system that is not too onerous, but permits enough rules depth to allow for sophisticated equipment and vehicle design, as well as tactical combat.

2. A game setting that can readily incorporate several design features, namely, a Dyson sphere, mechs, robots, artifical intelligence and cosmic horror. I want some elements of Septimus and some of AT-43.

With the demise of West End Games, it's clear there will be no more support for the d6 system, so before I have to backtrack too much, I am making the decision to go with Traveller as my system of choice. With a summer release of Cthonian Stars announced, it seems to be pretty much a no-brainer. Now, for a little bit of background for my campaign:

The first half of the 21st century saw great upheaval in the geopolitical situation on Earth. The economic collapse of 2008 and the decades long debt crisis left America weakened and insular. While some countries did what they could to help, namely the Anglosphere and Japan, America simply could not maintain its economic and military standing in the world. Europe was even worse off, as country after country defaulted on its loans. To add to the misery, the long-feared global oil shortage began to be felt in the 2020s. The Middle East oil fields began to run dry. Unconventional oil supplies became more important and the countries who had the oil became targets for those that did not. Central Asia was the worst battleground as Russia, China and India contested for control of what oil remained.

For half a century, the world writhed in an orgy of deprivation and violence. Eventually, the nations of the world had exhausted themselves and new technologies were developed to replace oil, which was all but gone anyway. However, the world was changed and it was not a peaceful, happy place. The Chinese had settled their differences with Russia as the communists were able to regain control. A new collectivist superpower, the Red Blok, was born. Russian and Chinese troops were able to conquer much of Eurasia, with the exception of India and western Europe. Only the remaining nuclear arsenals of the US, Britain and France prevented even greater conquests.

Meanwhile, the US had finally climbed back up from its collapse, but like so much of the world, it too had changed. Several secessionist movements had arisen and had successfully achieved independence. Rather than complete balkanization, however, the disparate parts of the old USA, combined with several other nearby states including Canada and Mexico agreed to form an alliance called the United Nations of the Americas or UNA. Most other countries in the western hemisphere would eventually join the UNA and a second global superpower was born. A new Cold War began.

By this time, nuclear fusion had begun to replace fossil fuels as the main source of the world's energy. Among other things, it allowed humanity to once again look to the heavens. Exploration and colonization of the solar system followed. Asteroid and comet mining provided for much of the material needs of humanity. For a century, humans expanded and multiplied until the population offworld was in the hundreds of millions and always, the rivalry between the Red Blok and the UNA remained.

When FTL travel was developed in the 23rd century, the space race took to the stars. Competition for worlds was fierce. Few were even remotely suitable for human habitation, even with massive technological support. It seemed even the galaxy itself was not big enough to allow mankind to live in peace. Then they found Septimus.

For nearly three centuries, humans had explored space. In all that time, they had never found any evidence of life beyond a few ambiguous microfossils. Suddenly, a marvel of engineering so astounding, the most advanced science of the day could not explain how it could even exist, let alone how to construct it. Septimus is a Dyson Sphere approximately one astronomical unit in radius. It was studied for decades by both Red Blok and UNA teams. Eventually, a sort of transdimensional gate was discovered and robotic exploration teams were sent in. None of the teams returned or communicated back. Futher study followed and still nothing was discovered about the interior. Some 35 years after the initial discovery, a fringe religious group called the Septimus Extant commandeered a ship and was able to enter the sphere. When nothing more was heard from them, they were presumed lost. However, a few years later, a signal was detected eminating from the sphere. It was from the Extant. They claimed to have set up a colony inside the sphere and that the interior was perfect for human colonization. The one problem was that they had not discovered a means to leave. This didn't matter to many. The interior surface of Septimus was so large, it could easily house the entire human population of the galaxy with ample room to spare. Settlers from both Red Blok and UNA worlds began streaming in, eager to set up colonies in the vast new frontier. Still, some questioned what was the reason for Septimus. Who built it? Where are they now? Why is its interior so conducive to human life? Why can you enter, but not leave? Is it some sort of trap?

-Rognar-

Mongoose Traveller, I like it, I really like it

My history with the Traveller game dates back to the release of Megatraveller. TSR had recently cancelled its Star Frontiers game and I was looking for a new game to fill my need for space adventure. A classic space game and a shiny new setting, the Shattered Imperium, seemed like the perfect fit. I picked up quite a few of the books, including some of the releases from Digest Group Publications. I liked the game, but I have to say, I didn't love it. I like a game with a lot of combat and action, but Megatraveller was too lethal to run a game like that. Many weapons in that game can kill an armoured character in one shot. On the upside, however, vehicle/spaceship design is extremely detailed and quite fun, a definite plus for a gearhead like me.

When Traveller: The New Era came out, I jumped on it. I was playing in a different city then, with a different group of gamers who were decidedly more into space games. Sadly, I was disappointed. T:TNE was an errata-ridden mess and the campaign setting was just awful. I gave away the core book and never looked back.

Fast forward to today and I find myself revisiting the Traveller game. I have started collecting Rackham's AT-43 miniatures line and I'm looking to convert the units to a tabletop rpg ruleset. Traveller seems uniquely suited to this effort. Still, the vehicle design rules are a little dated and not as ideal for building the kind of vehicles that dominate the AT-43 line. So, I picked up Supplement 6: Military Vehicles from the Mongoose Traveller. I have to say, it looks great. One innovation I particularly like is variable damage. In Megatraveller, each weapon has a fixed damage. I prefer a bit of randomness. It seems more realistic to me. Unfortunately for my bank account, I guess I will be buying Mongoose Traveller. Good thing Star Wars Saga Ed. has published its last supplement.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

AT-43 - Megatraveller conversion: Kolossus

The Red Blok has a slightly lower level of technology than does the UNA, so I have pegged them at TL 9. This has important implications for vehicle design, as small fusion reactors first appear at the tech level, but they are still too large for small vehicle applications. Therefore, in designing the Kolossus, the standard small mech of the Red Blok, I was compelled to use the TL 8 MHD turbine power plant. This is not a particularly limiting factor, because while the Red Blok uses a wide variety of different weapons in their striders, they do not employ beam weapons. So, power output is not a major design issue for Red Blok units.

As mentioned, the Reds use a variety of weapons. Kolossus variants can employ rocket and grenade launchers, gauss guns and even flamethowers. Not all of these weapons have been made available in Megatraveller, so some work will be needed down the road to include them. For my standard Kolossus design, I am going to arm it with two 4 cm high-velocity guns, firing KEAP rounds.

Here is my build:
CraftID: RB "Kolossus" small strider TL 9 Cr 176,000
Hull: 1/3, Disp = 1, Config = 4USL, Armour = 10D, Unloaded = 9.5 tons, Loaded = 9.9 tons
Power: 2/2, MHD turbine = 0.8 MW, Duration = 0.3/1
Loco: 2/2, Legs (x2), Road = 40 kph, OffRoad = 24 kph
Commo: MaserComm = V.Distant, Radio = Regional
Sensors: Active IR, Passive IR, Light Amp, Adv Active IR
Off/Def: HardPoints = 1
4 cm high-velocity gun (x2) w/ KEAP rds, Pen = 15, Damage = 6, Range = Distant (5), Sig = Med
Control: Computer = 0 x1, Panel = Computer link x1, Special = HeadsUp, Environ = basic env, basic ls, enhanced ls
Accomm: Crew = 1 (Operator = 1), Seats = cramped x1
Other: Cargo = 0.2 kl, Fuel = 0.28 kl, Ammo = 300, ObjSize = Small, EMLevel = Faint

-Rognar-

AT-43 - Megatraveller conversion: Fire Toad

After trying a few different things, I decided the easiest way to deal with my power-to-weight ratio/road speed issue is just to arbitrarily let limits on the speed of walking vehicles. I would estimate the top speed of a Fire Toad to be no more than 30 kph, with a top off-road speed of 18 kph. The vehicle may have enough power to move much faster, but the nature of the design makes higher speeds dangerous and extremely uncomfortable for the driver.

I have also redone the build with a much smaller hull. I realize, after comparing the Fire Toad mini to a human-sized miniature, that it is far smaller than 81 kl. I have decided to go with a displacement of 2 tons, which gives a volume of 27 kl. I also reduced the armour value to 10.

Finally, I have done some interpolation in the beam laser gun table. It is a big jump from 1.0 to 5.0 MW, so I graphed the penetration, range (which is linear) and damage as a function of power and was able to derive values for other power settings. I chose 2.0 MW beam lasers, which have a penetration of 16/3, a damage of 7 and a range of V.Distant (10). This allowed me to use a smaller fusion reactor. So, my final design is as follows:

CraftID: UNA "Fire Toad" small strider TL 10 Cr 967,000
Hull: 2/5, Disp = 2, Config = 4USL, Armour = 10E, Unloaded = 20.8 tons, Loaded = 21.3 tons
Power: 2/2, Fusion = 5.0 MW, Duration = 10/30
Loco: 2/2, Legs (x2), Road = 30 kph, OffRoad = 18 kph
Commo: MaserComm = V.Distant, Radio = Regional
Sensors: Passive EMS = V.Distant, EMM
Off/Def: HardPoints = 1
TL 8 beam laser gun (x2), Pen/Attn = 16/3, Damage = 7, Range = V.Distant (10), Sig = Hi, AutoTgt = 2
Control: Computer = 0/bis x1, Panel = Dynamic link x1, Special = HeadsUp, Environ = basic env, basic ls, enhanced ls
Accomm: Crew = 1 (Operator = 1), Seats = cramped x1
Other: Cargo = 0.5 kl, Fuel = 0.72 kl, ObjSize = Small, EMLevel = Faint

-Rognar-

Friday, April 09, 2010

AT-43 - Megatraveller conversion, pt.1

I'm quite interested in utilizing my growing collection of AT-43 miniatures in a role-playing game system. One major stumbling block is statting out the units. To this end, I found myself digging out my old Megatraveller books, since this game has detailed rules for creating vehicles. For my first effort, I have turned my attention to the backbone of the UNA force, the Fire Toad.

I've estimated the overall tech level of the UNA to be TL10. This is significantly below the default TL in the Megatraveller campaign setting, but I think given the absence of grav vehicles, it is appropriate. For the hull, I have the following:

6/14, Disp = 6, Config = 4USL, Armor = 20E

The volume is 81 kl and the weight of the hull is 4.8 tonnes.

So far, so good. Next is power supply, but I have to jump ahead a bit because the Fire Toad is armed with two laser cannons, so I have to know what kind of power requirements are going to be needed. I choose 2 5Mw TL8 beam laser guns to give me the kind of firepower I envision for the Fire Toad. So, getting back to power supply, I add a 6kl TL10 fusion reactor, which provides a total power output of 12Mw, sufficient to fire the guns and run all the other systems the vehicle will require. Locomotion is, of course, two legs and the required suspension and transmission. The power supply and locomotion systems weigh in at a hefty 36.9 tonnes.

For sensors and communications, I include Passive EMS V.Distant (50km) and MaserComm and Radio Regional (500km), respectively. I also install Basic Env, Basic LS and Extended LS.

The Fire Toad seems to be limited to a single crewman, so an onboard computer is clearly required. Without it, one would need a driver/operator, two gunners and a commander. I select a 1/bis system with 13 dynamic-linked control panel units and a heads-up display. I also include electronic circuit protection since it is a military vehicle.

The entire vehicle weighs 51.7 tonnes.

At this point, everything is pretty straightforward, but I'm guessing any of you who are veterans of the Traveller vehicle design procedure may have already noticed where I am about to hit a speed bump (and I mean that literally). When I proceeded to calculate my power-to-weight ratio (P/W), I got:

(12.0 Mw / 51.7 tonnes) x 1000 = 232

A quick look at the speed table will tell you a P/W of 232 results in a top road speed of 276 kph, which seems about an order of magnitude too high for the lumbering Fire Toad. Now, I'm stuck. I can't reduce the power output without greatly reducing the firepower and I can't increase the weight very much since most of the weight is power supply. If I increase its size, I also increase its power output. One possibility is to switch from a fusion to a fission reactor, which has a significantly lower P/W. It is also a much lower TL and takes up a lot more space, so I will have to recalculate everything and watch my hull volume closely. I will post my revised build soon.

-Rognar-

A further thought, perhaps what I have to do is houserule a power management system. After all, the current build assumes the vehicle has all the power it needs to fire all weapons, move at full speed and run all other systems simultaneously. I used to play BattleTech quite a bit. Maybe I will borrow some of that system's ideas on power distribution and management. Perhaps the weapons could be powered by capacitors that have a delayed period of charging before they can be fired.