Traveller Campaign News and Astro-Hooks

Next on Raving Foxoid Holo-News...

Fierce street fighting has reportedly broken out in the isolated moon-state of the Kral. Dogoids have appeared to rise up in an urban insurrection, firepower supported by dune-buggied commandos and an unknown starship. Cantonment Navy spokesdroids state that the service is “vaguely concerned” about the development and “will be monitoring any grievous threats to colonial infrastructure”.

In other news on Fredonia, the Polar Autonome Collective has issued a cryptic statement declaring that they will make a “great leap forward” in its “dream-struggle to topple the Planetary Work Machine” and “biopoesis our beautiful proto-planet” in the next 48 hours. Experts are nonplussed.

The Cerny Vlk, the subsector-famous Boloerium (a paraterraformed asteroid-vessel used for intra-system travel) dedicated to preserving pre-uplift wolf stock--and manned by a cooperative of self-styled “lycanthropes”--has gone “dark” according to months-old reports from The Grange. That wild and wooly system of micro-republics hunkered down on trojan-point planetoids has produced a not-too surprisingly conflicting range of hotly-contested salvage claims. Putting hard credits where their vacc-suited comm-boxes are, the system's two fiestiest polities, Cockyagne and Hayduke, are reportedly both offering 500,000 CR bounties to a crack “salvage and rescue team” for in-hand repossession of the outbound ship.

Galacto-Boyar Vdelko XLIV, renowned masochist and survivalist buff, is offering a “substantial fee” for a hardened group of “toughs numbering no more than six” to attempt to “hunt and kill” him in a three-day period on his island preserve on Kanus Major. According to his seneschal a bounty of 100,000 CR will be paid post-mortem from his estate if he is killed before the end of the third day. “I can take all you motherfuckers,” Vdelko added. \

Cantonment political pundits are shaking their nay-heads at the “unnatural vigor” of the newest addition to the Civil Service, the Trust for Planetary Procurement and Progress (or more colloquially “The Trust” or “Three P”). Some Overrada representatives have even begun to criticize “the wild-eyed idealists” of the agency with “wanting to explore and colonize worlds outside the Cantonment.” While Three P administrators have denied the scandalous charge they have issued “open contracts” that state a 120,000 CR finders fee will be issued to any exploro-bolo teams returning with the coordinates of “underpopulated, unmapped Terran-Prime or Terran-Norm systems within 20 parsecs”.  

Project Ideas for 2014

Like many manic gaming hobbyists I seem to flit about with more “projects” hopping like crack-crazed toads around in my head than is right and healthy. Generally as I have learned from too many blogside promises is to silently keep track of these fancies on personal lists, but hey I'm trying to blog more so here's the going to-do list (fill free to embarrass me this time of year with it in 2014).

Finish (in descending order of importance and likelihood):

1. By This Axe's skirmish and campaign supplements. The latter is pretty much done though it could use a few playtests before I feel totally comfortable releasing it. To be released as free PDFs to BTA buyers.

2. Live Weird or Die, the Roustabout's Guide to the Hill Cantons. Basically the HC Mega-Compendium, a collection of all the variant classes, alternative D&D chargen, new critters, spells, items, house rules and the like—and for the first time a targeting round-up of interesting setting whoha (religion, places, NPCs, etc). Right now it's clocking in at 60 pages and needs some elaboration in a few parts and strategic cuts in many. To be released as a cheap (to charity) or free PDF and print-on-demand. (Also available as a work-in-progress draft to anyone interested.)

3. Feudal Anarchy. Though we are on version 0.83 with a respectable chunk of the chapters done-ish we have officially put this bad boy on hiatus until (frankly) the hardcore medievalist rpg urge strikes again. Despite it not getting published anytime soon, I am perversely pleased at what we have hammered out and written up.

Start (same order as above):

1. “Games for GMs”. A collection of solo mini-games and subsystems allowing GMs to have some fun rolling dice while creating things. Think Traveller world creation or How to Host a Dungeon but expanded into different aspects of the fantasy sandbox.

2. By This Bullet. Technically already started and even barebones playtestable (not a word), a system for running small-scale early 20^th century battles.

3. Hail Fredonia, a political/military microgame that allows folks to play out the goofy civil war on the Traveller Coupbox moon. Based on La Revolución, a wargame I published in the early 90s that modeled a fictional early 20^th century Latin American civil war. Outline and map done.

4. Writing up some of the adventure sites of the Hill and Space Cantons for public consumption. Keep feeling like this would be a good idea—and then not.

Gaming:

1. The Hill Cantons Home Group. We haven't played in an ungodly time and as much as I enjoy the freedom of playing evenings on Google Plus it never quite feels as satisfying as having people around me dining room table. So even if it means playing other things, face to face is a priority.

2. The G+ HC campaign. We came back to playing this Tuesday after the month and change Traveller hiatus (which I also plan to keep playing on alternate

3. Attend North Texas RPG Con. Missed it the last two years thanks to family reunions, but the date is saved this year.

So much gaming to be done, so little time.  

A Large, Exuberant Thank You to Those Who Bought the Axe

This morning I sent out our annual end-of-the-year check to Autism Speaks—with a nice extra tail-end bump of over $500.

As readers might remember (or not) 100 percent of the after-production proceeds of my fantasy battle rules By This Axe were earmarked for donation. Quite honestly, I was expecting to sell on the high-end around 100 copies which would net a little under $200.

To date, however, By This Axe has sold 276 copies: 234 PDF and 42 print copies. Punchline is that means I added a very nice $505.08 from BTA sales to our contribution, way more than I expected. Who knew that the shedding of buckets of blood of lead men could do such good?

Anywho a very sincere and hearty thank you from me to all of you for your support. And a special thanks to Jack Shear who gave BTA a nice big blogside bump early in its arc.

Sales continue to trickle in and I will fold up whatever is coming in around May and send it in as a contribution.

Fantasy Battles for Kiddos

This week marked my final fantasy worldbuilding/creative writing class for the semester. I was hell bent on ending on a loud note of mayhem and ludic anarchy so after invoking the Battle of Helm's Deep, Pelennor Fields, and whatever in tarnation that battle is called in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in a mercifully brief lecture on the use of “final battles” in fantasy storytelling, we dived right into a big giant battle scene of our own.

Letting them divide up into two camps: Good and Evil (endearingly all the girls chose this team), I pulled out a big box of miniatures and several bags of homemade play doh. Each so-called Good player was allowed to pick out 15 miniatures while Evil got to make various abominations from the play doh and to employ the large plastic dragons we painted last semester.

To handle the rules backend, I whipped up a simplified system of By this Axe, presented here. You will, of course, need a copy to make of By This Axe miniatures rules to make any sense of this. PDF copy here, print copy here (all proceeds go to Autism Speaks).

Tommy's patron deity with an impossible name appears. 

By This Axe for Kids

Units are much looser than in the regular rules. Individuals can move in a group for mutual protection (to prevent flanking for instance) but are not required to stay in any kind of order.

All range and movement is measured with a regulation unsharpened Number 2 pencil.

Fighting Capacity, Armor Value and Hits

Mooks (normal warriors and the like) FC 2, AV 2 and can take one hit.

Tough 'Uns (heroes, big monsters, commanders, knights etc) FC 3, AV 3 and can take two hits. Heroes and heroines (who represent the player) never die they just get knocked out (or fade away).

Duel Phase

Any hero can call out an opposing hero in one pencil range. Duels are as normal in the rules. Note that in actual practice the dice pool seemed to confuse them, you may want to substitute normal melee combat.

Movement Phase

Movement as normal, terrain is just for show however. Movement must stop if it makes contact with an opponent.

Slow Dudes (big monsters, dwarves, giant sloths etc) half pencil.

Regular Dudes (foot soldiers, goblins etc) one pencil.

Fast Dudes (mounted, flying) two pencils.

Ranged Combat Phase

All weapons except for breath weapons (which get two) get one chance to hit. Roll under FC to hit.

Short Ranged Weapons (breath weapons, slings, muskets, javelins). One pencil range.

Long Ranged Weapons (bows, crossbows). Two pencil range.

Melee Phase

As normal, except that players can freely disengage figures from combat to “run away” during their next movement phase.

Divine Intervention

Twice per battle, the player can “call on their patron god” to intervene at any time. If a “6” is rolled on a d6 the god shows up (She/He/It must be represented by a play doh creation) and either grants two extra attacks, two extra saving throws or attacks itself as a FC 5 creature. It disappears to the sidelines after the turn is over.

Morale

No morale is used! Battle to the grisly, child-friendly end.

Dogday and the Traveller Coupbox Endgame

The shit (finally) came down in the Traveller Coupbox last night on Google Plus. "Dogday" commenced at the stroke of midnight of Day 77 with the coded “Supper Time” and “Snasauges” messages of Radio Free Kanine's Three Dog—the signal for insurrection in the Kral's dogoid shanty towns and the invasion by the player-led soldier-bolo (mercenary cooperative).

To War!

The party's renowned extended-scout ship, the Cacafuego, touched down promptly northwest of Kral City behind the towering range of red rock formations (see map below). 

Two sections of four fire-teams each riding improbably (and hilariously) pepto-bismal-pink and purple-speckled civilian mini-buggies split out of the cargo hold to attack the radio and sensor towers on the outskirts.

The west section lead by The General (James's character) took some ineffectual fire from the tower complex but managed to spectacularly take out the main sensor dish with a RAM grenade launcher as they drove up the switched-backed trail.

The east section (led by Robert's character) encountered no resistance at all after driving around the Robodwarf warrens and factory district. The radio equipment was dispatched and that section drove through scattered fire at intersections in the residential and commercial district until ultimately converging on the platform.

Meanwhile back on the lake the second half of the soldier-bolo attempted landfall. The suicide hovercraft piloted by the obnoxious and drawling Private Hent retreated under missile fire. Fortunately the Cacafuego (with Michael's Toad on the pew-pew laser cannons) swung around and started pummeling the missile batteries from the harbor forts. In a likely expensive turn it sustained two direct missile hits: one smashing a hole in the hull, the other taking out the aft cargo bay airlock and the air-raft (sorry Bodhi).

The south battery was destroyed and Michael went on to destroy armored personnel carriers on the bridge into the Domed City (which is blocked with panicked, hunkered down Kral troops). Part of the southwestern barracks complex was destroyed by laser cannon fire and a 50-ton cutter fleeing the dome was shot down into the lake (unknown who was on the ship).

Zak's section made it through the fields by hovercraft though a machine gun volley decimated one team (all dead). They lit up the single guard at the fusion power plant and captured it.

The players map of Kral City. 

The current situation (now on “pause”):

1. Both buggy brigades have converged on the Plaza where a sizable Kral army unit is bottled up.

2. Zak's section holds the fusion power plant and has shut down power through the city.

3. The Cacafuego is still up and hovering on the west side of the city (unless you want to pull it out, though it can't go into orbit at the moment due to those big gaping holes.)

4. Dogoid insurrectionists hold both shanty towns and are battling the Vibes Committee militias. They have about 40 in each slum with firearms (bolt-action rifles, pistols, grenade launchers) and roughly 600 dogoids with makeshift weapons like lead pipes, spears and kitchen knives.

5. Casualties have been pretty light (so far) for the soldier-bolo. Of the 15 fire-teams, 14 are still in fighting shape.

6. The giant alien-hulk turned barge run by the Polar Autonome Collective is still slowly puttering toward the Kral City. It looks to have sped up slightly after the fighting commenced. 

Still in the hands of the Kralian military or militia:

1. Domed City

2. Main Plaza

3. Vibes Committee HQ

4. the two remaining Harbor Missile Forts

5. Monorail Station

6. Main Refinery

7. Most of the human residential and commercial areas.

Space Cantons News and Humor from the Kral

Tonight on Raving Foxoid News...

Kralian dissident and humorist Shmul Klemm has shuffled off his mortal coil. The author of the acclaimed political joke compilation The Loudspeaker Spoke Up and Said was found slumped over his holowriter yesterday dead in his Unterzone flat from an apparent self-inflicted icepick wound to the head. In Autokratic Kral, apparently, joke kills you.

In other news on Freedonia, a surprisingly turn in the perpetual stalemate that is that moon's civil war. The city-state of Pikkaro having gone 0-4-1 in recent battles has raised its white flag and been annexed by neighboring Pakha. Local observers say that the fractious nature of the Microbalkanizers League mean that its just a matter of time before Pikkaro reasserts itself as a polity.

FINESSE (the Federation of Industrial Needs Evolving into Economies of Scale Etc.), reputedly an astroturf lobby for Monglocorp, is calling for a “system-wide deregulation of mineral extraction rights of Novo Marlank's neighboring intrasystem bodies” citing inefficiencies in “business unfriendly local polities and other market rigidities.”

In Autokratic Kral, secrets keep you.

In homage to Klemm, some excerpts from The Loudspeaker Spoke Up and Said:

Four dogoids -- Mongloite, Kanusian, Xite, Kralian -- are discussing their lives. The Mongloite dogoid says, "the robo-servants used to leave meat out for me, but now I have to bark for it." The Kanusian dogoid says, "you have robo-servants on Monglo?" The Xite dogoid says, "they feed you meat?" The Kralian dogoid says, "they let you bark?"

Guard asks Kralian political prisoner, "what's your sentence?"
"Ten years," he answers. "But I did nothing."
"Liar," says guard. "For nothing Autokrator only give five years."

Citizen Yvan applied to the Vibes Committee militia. The Kral City chairman conducts interview.

"Comrade Yvan, do you smoke e-cigarettes?"

"Yes, I do a little."

"Do you know that Autokrater does not smoke and advises others not to smoke?"

"If Autokrater said so, I shall cease smoking."

"Do you drink?"

"Yes, a little."

"Autokrater strongly condemns drunkenness."

"Then I shall cease drinking."

"Citizen Yvan, what about women?"

"A little...."

"Do you know that Autokrater strongly condemns amoral behavior?"

"If Autokrater condemned, I shall not love them any longer."

"Citizen Yvan, will you be ready to sacrifice your life for the Kral?"

"Of course. Who needs such life?"

Aliens of the Space Cantons: Dogoids

Deep Evan's quite marvelous series of posts (and formats) for his Boom Worlds Traveller campaign (in which I play the dashing young froguloid pilot, Sir Toad, mmm hmm) have inspired me to take a turn at some of my own for the Cantonment. 

Early uplifts were said to be less successful.

Appearance and Biology

As uplifts Dogoids (also known as “Canus Lupus Sublimis” or inaccurately and derogatively as “Vargrrr”) exhibit the wide speciation of their domesticated ancestors.

Ranging from 1.2-1.5 astroyards in height,they run spacehound slim to bulloid-dog heavy-set in build. Dogoid top paws have been genetically adapted to have opposing thumbs and longer more flexible digits, though wider and more weight-bearing the back paws are closer in appearance to their ancestors. Tails have grown shorter over the centuries and indeed some of the modern breeds have only the smallest of stubs. Coats range naturally in traditional colors though many Dogoids in sophisticated urbanite worlds have taken to elaborate primary and pastel color dyes.

History

Though their origin-story is murky and often confused with the rambling jokes of the elderly, it is said that Dogoids were first uplifted in the biovats of the now-lost world of Laika IV.

Sentience came slowly to the race--though quicker than your bigoted grand-uncle would allow for--and dogoids were held first as “pets” then as working slaves (famously used in exploration missions by the Blackstars). Following Extirpation Dogoids worked their way through various forms of semi-bondage from timesharing to multi-level marketing until finally arriving at their currently elevated status as second-class citizens. Casting one-seventh of a vote in the Cantonment-wide Overrada elections, Dogoids are surely appreciative of their new-found freedoms from their beneficent former masters.

Psychology

Dogoid consciousness is dominated (no pun intended) by deep internal conflicts. The many thousands of years of intertwined human-canine evolutionary history has left a complicated dance of emotions for Dogoids in their interactions with hairless apes. Indeed it said that even the most diehard of Dogoid nationalists feels a great sense of ennui and existential angst when separated too long from the presence of humans--and that even the most subservient of “Uncle Spots” feels a certain nagging resentment when the choice dinner portions lie on the human table.

Amongst themselves the hunt for dominance and status is an eternal mixture of esteem and anxiety. When first being integrated into a “pack” (an amorphous name extending to any kind of Dogoid-majority institution from academic departments to revolutionary groups), a Dogoid will invariably ceremonially duel those it considers its immediate superior or inferior, Dogoids of equal or close rank within 1-3 Pack Status (see below). The victor of such fights will gain +1 to their PS if they vanquish an opponent of a higher rank or PS two over their current. Following such a display pack members will mostly get along without complaint.

Dogoids prefer as a matter of course the vainglorious status seeking of Representative Democracy.

Dogoids as Player Characters

-1 STR, +1 DEX, 1d6 SOC, 2d6 for a new stat called “Pack Status” used only among other Dogoids. Dogoids may serve in any branch but that of the blue-blooded Navy, they get a +1 bonus in attempts to join the Scouts due to their long relationship with that branch.

In loving memory of Nazrut who died much as he lived in murderhobo glory. May Roofdrak keep him in his furry embrace.

Hill Cantons Bestiary: Fobbits

No. Enc.: 1d8 (5d8)

Alignment: Neutral or Lawful (Evil)

Movement: 60’ (20’)

Armor Class: 7

Hit Dice: 1 -1

Attacks: 1 (weapon)

Damage: weapon

Save: D1

Morale: 5

Hoard Class: XX

XP: 10

It is well established throughout the Cantons that the hallmark of a successful borderlands home is the placation of its hirsute house spirits, the Domovoy. But just as the tidy familiar houses of humans have their cozy domestic fae denizens, the warped dream-logic of the Weird dictates that many of the terrible murderholes of that dread zone must also have a counterpart. One of the most common of which is the danger-adverse Fobbit.

While careful to avoid bunking in easily-accessible rooms in underground environs, Fobbit teams of 1d8 may be glimpsed in corridors hastily resetting traps, carefully repainting blood smears, rejamming dungeon door hinges and other assorted work.

An actual Fobbit lair will be a heavily-barred and trapped locale usually located off a back corridor, though the rich cook smells of gourmet hot grub may be smelled as far as 10-80 feet away. A Fobbit lair will host 1d4 Remfs (2 HD Fobbit commanders), copious barricades of paperwork and a surprisingly luxurious smattering of consumer goods.

There is a 1% chance that Glamdalf, a truly-fabulous, comfort-loving wizard and inventor of the self-reading scroll, will be found in any given Fobbit lair.

The Worlds of the Cantonment, Part 1

Veles Subsector (Rimward subzone only)
0109 Nova Marlankh B5658A8-B G

Terraformed world ruled by the loving yet firm hand of the Indomitable Overlord. Freedonia D333575-8, the current arena for the Coupbox, orbits the innermost gas giant in this system.

0208 Kugelworld C546525-9 Non-Industrial G

Little peaceful backwater planet founded by pioneers-bolos during the Autonome Upheaval. Part of Bolospace, the semi-autonomous region of three worlds still run by traditionalist bolos.

0207 Unarres C3326622-9 Poor G

Arid little world that served as the birthplace of the Autonome movement. Known for its interminable consensus meetings and interpretative dance routines. Seat of the Bolospace Council.

0310 Vesworld C450213-4 Non-Industrial G

Desert world wholly owned by the Vesworld Corp, an entertainment conglom that has recreated an “Old West sim” planet complete with life sentence prisoner-actors.

0207 Kanus Major D553663-7 Poor

Dogoid reservation world, run with enlightened vigor by the Department of Vargr Affairs.

0304 Xhom C10036A-B

Tiny, barren microworld housing the original Robodwarf mothership—and a place of exile for the most recalcitrant and disobedient of that strange replicant race. Urban legend says that deep under its crust lies a covert massive poison-gas manufacturing facility. Bullshit or not, a full-strength battalion of Astro-Marines keeps an uneasy eye on the planet.

0304 Planet X D479736-7 G

A near water-world, what population isn't clustered on the small equatorial island chain lives on the backs of great chained sea-turtles. Ruled by the Golden Kandive and his ministrial cronies.

0305 MONGLO A88598B G

Capital of the Cantonment where the Overrada (the nominal-ruling confederal parliament) and Civil Services are headquartered.

0307 The Vermillion Zone XA87???-? RG
Entry is strictly verboten.

Inner Weirdspace

Inner Weirdspace Subsector

0801 Outpost Nine C446353-9 S  Non-Industrial

Windswept, hard-times homebase of exploro-bolos. The Cantonment's foothold in the subsector with a newly established base of the Blackstars. 

0501 Unnamed E577668-3 Non-Industrial, Agricultural G.

A mesa and crater filled world where the low-lying areas unbreathable by humans at sea-level due to the presence of great coulds of organic red buds. Human civilization clings to the tops of mesa-lands and seems to be held captive by a xenophobic alien race inhabiting bases on the black ice southern polar region and the planet's moon. Massive abandoned space hulks hang mysteriously in orbit. 

0302 World-Steppe X686541-2 Non-Industrial G

A fair, pleasant world dominated by a large supercontient and vast grassland-like interior. Predominant culture seems to be a relatively-low tech group of nomadic tribes that travel the steppes in giant sailed-wagons. The native handcrafted goods are quite beautiful and recent contact with an unscrupulous exploro-bolo has begun a craft-for-autorifle trade exchange that undoubtly will have little effect on the cultural/political life on planet. 

Space Cantons Library Data: The Service and Civil Society

The Cantonment Army

Since the Great Mutiny of the Upheaval, the Army stubbornly remains one of the most socially egalitarian of the interstellar bodies. At the start of each four-year term (staggered in four annual cohorts) raucous barrack-caucuses politick and polemicize around officer and NCO elections. Even with the furious electioneering—and the one-year universal conscription of middle school students (the source of our widespread 0-level familiarity with Gun Combat and Vacc Suits, I remind you traveller) that reduces even the crustiest of Army DIs to tears of frustration—morale, discipline and espirit d'corps is consistently high all the same--perhaps due to the deeply-engrained regimental tradition that honors those bodies as much as ancestral personages.

The Cantonment Navy

While the Army is in the hands of the egals, the Navy remains solidly ancien regime. The sons and daughters of the old titled aristocracy graduate from lazy teen days of running space yachts to that of running 20,000-ton space-dromons with all the ease of blue blood. Though by law rankers are allowed to take commissions, they find it difficult to climb without the right string of titles. Which is, of course, the proper way of things, what, what.

The Scout Service

Formerly known as the Department of Anomalous Removal, or more colloquially the Blackstars, the branch has been charged for centuries with the mission of exploring the many ACOs (artifacts, planetoids, alien ships, etc) that floated through the barrier of the pocket universe—and promptly blowing them with up. Since the Cantonment's popping back into the known galaxy a scant decade ago, the service has slowly broadened its mission (mostly) embracing the idea that other worlds are actually worth visiting.

The Astro-Marines

A department of the High-Ministry of Infrastructure and Orgone Accumulation, the Astro-Marines maintain a fearsome reputation as an elite fighting force. State hospitals, journalism colleges and penal colonies provide a major pipeline of psychotics to keep the Marines in fighting trim.

Bolos

While the Cantonment is no stranger to military pronunciamentos, moral panics, sports riots and the like the greatest, most-lasting and paradoxically least-bloody insurrection of the Pocket Universe Period was the Autonome Upheaval and Admantine Compromise of 80-90 years ago. Part of that legacy is the survival of the many varied worker-owned/run coops, communes, gigantic tank-rental agencies, etc. styled bolos. 

Though traditional bolos (internally anarcho-communistic intentional communities that get by almost entirely on the gift-economy) are rarely found off the three semi-autonomous worlds of bolo-space, cooperatively-run outfits still operate everything from plastisteel foundries to mercenary companies to Weirdspace exploration.

Congloms

Joint-stock companies are antique relics mostly involved with marginal industries such as marketing and potting soil manufacture, but congloms, the sprawling family-owned semi-feudal companies with impossible names, abound. A bastion of the lower gentry and upper managerial caste, the congloms have catapulted the financial and political power of that class (often above that of their titled betters)

STARSLUGS and the Sharing of Traveller Worlds

While most Cantonment citizens, rightly, find their new sectoral neighbors in the greater Traveller galaxy to be under-subtle, spindly-legged, and too easy in their toleration of the jackboot to be fully trusted, political realities after leaving the confines of the pocket universe maintain that we must at least keep up appearances of genial diplomatic relations.

The newly-elected Septentrional Party of Apricity and Numismatical Frugality (Blue-Green), while promising to exude the studied non-nonchalance of the previous administration, has bowed to popular pressure and signed the STARSLUGS Conventions to regulate the management of the bug-eyed hordes as they travel the Space Cantons (and our own beloved comrade-citizens travel the Terran Directorate and other soon-to-be tolerated bodies).

A series of “blog posts” will help guide new Travellers to the subtle magnificence of our fair polity is forthcoming.

Close enough.

Simple Translation Agreement Rules Simulating Lastingly Unified Galactic Sectors

In order for freetraders in the Space Cantonment, Directorate Space, and other willing sectors, to prosper and thrive, the referees of those campaigns have set out the following articles in order to ease movement between them.

Article 1
Characters may move between Directorate Space and the Space Cantonment freely provided they meet the standards required in other articles.

Article 2
Characters are bound by the rules of the version of Traveller being used in the game they are currently playing.  This includes things such as the rules for combat (both personal and ship-based), weapon damage, the functions of certain technological items, etc.

Article 3
There is one exception to the rule presented in Article 2: skills.  Characters use whatever skill they possess that is closest to the one in the system currently being run.  This means that characters from the Cantonment (and possibly other CT games) possess broader skill categories than those the Directorate.  Skill acquisition is also based on the characters native system, and not on the system currently being run.  Skill rolls function as other items described in Article 2.

Article 4
Characters may bring their own personal effects with them, but not those held in common with other members of their party/crew.  This includes any ships the characters rolled on the benefits table, assuming the ship is being used by other party members.

Article 5
Psions, astropsychics, and aliens must submit their characters to the referee at least 48 hours in advance so that the referee has the time to read over any relevant sections of their rules/come up with how certain foreign abilities work in their area of space-time.

Signed
Representing the Cantonment: Chris Kutalik
Representing the Terran Directorate: Evan Elkins  

Pen and Paper Battle Rules for Classic Traveller

With session three of the Traveller Coupbox coming on I smell a battle approaching. Taking the well-honed skirmish rules from Deep Evan and I's Feudal Anarchy (work in progress, yeah yeah) and crossing them with the basic combat rules from Striker yielded an alien hybrid, tongue-in-cheek styled Galactic Anarchy, that just might work in the miniature-less G+ environment (one of the greater losses, really).

All feedback appreciated. For space reasons I left out a few sections on this post (such as the all-important chart for determining actual casualties for team hits). Drop me a line if you are interested in those sections.

Galactic Anarchy

Basic Unit

The basic unit is the "team" made up of five combatants (or a 1-3 heavy or support weapon team). Each team fires, moves and checks morale as a single unit.

The weapon fired in a round is always the majority weapon of the team. A team that is equipped with significantly better or worse weapons in the minority will be given a positive or negative modifier at the discretion of the Ref.

Attack Value

For teams made up of PCs or named NPCs the average weapon skill of the majority weapon (rounded to the nearest whole number) is used. (A Tactics skill of 2+ in the team will add a +1 in all cases).

For other teams use the following:

Raw Recruits/Conscripts/Poor	-1
Trained Recruits/Militia/Green	0
Regular	1
Veterans	2
Elite	3

To Hit

Automatic fire warrants a second roll.

Roll 2d6

8	Effective Range/Melee
10	Long Range
12	Extreme Range

-1 if unit has taken a hit (see below).

Hits

When a unit is hit the attacker rolls below.

Roll 2d6

2,3	No Effect
4,5,6,7	One Hit
8,9,10,11	Two Hits
12	Instadeath

modifiers:

+weapon penetration value (see Striker or Megatraveller tables)

-defensive value (see yesterday's post)

Each team can take a certain number of fights before being "out of the battle" (see actual casualties below).

Raw Recruits/Poor	1
Green or Regular	2
Vets, Elite, PCs	3

Combat Round

Phases in a Round

1. Both sides declare movement and check for spotting of hidden units

2. Both sides move. Opportunity fire.

3. Ranged fire for those who haven't had opportunity fire.

4. Both sides finish declared movement.

5. Melee combat

Morale

When to check:

• taking fire for the first time in a battle
• taking fire from hidden source
• taken a hit in the round
• friendlies routing in eye-shot

Roll 2d6

Raw/Poor 8+

Green/Militia 7+

Regular 6+

Vets 5+

Elite 4+

Morale Results

If failed by 1-2 the team is pinned (goes to ground, can't move but can fire/melee)

If failed by 3-4 the team is suppressed (retreats to nearest best cover, can't move or fire but will melee if attacked)

If failed by 5+ the team routs (run away!)

Modifiers:

+1 in a "secure position" (behind cover)

+1 leader in voice range with Leader or Tactics 1

+2 leader in voice range with Leader or Tactics 2

-1 team is already pinned

-2 team is suppressed

-3 if routing

Alternative Classic Traveller Combat

With my rose-tinted glasses in full nostalgic effect, I often forget how deadly Classic Traveller combat is. Tuesday's game in which poor Nazrut, the OG dogoid pilot of Deep Evan, was gunned down in all of two rounds in an ambush by soldiers of the Kral served as a pretty stark reminder.

While I am not shy in having a PC up and die, I prefer a slightly less punitive game. 

What follows is a slimmed down adaption of the Striker/Megatraveller that is designed to get rid of the hard-to-remember armor to-hit mods and one-hit-and-out wounding system for my growing house rule compilation (more about that later today). 

Feedback as always greatly appreciated.

To Hit by Range

Roll twice for automatic fire or scatter effect (shotgun pellets or flechettes).

Short/Effective/Melee 8+

Long 10+

Extreme 12+

Wounding

Roll 2d6 on hitting a target. Roll for separate hits if using automatic fire.

2...Graze, no real effect

3-5...Light Wound, -1 to hit, next hit upgraded one level in effect.

6-9...Wound, stunned for 2d6 rounds, -2 to hit after that, next hit upgraded.

10-11...Serious Wound, unconscious until medical attention, can't fight, or move without assistance, next hit upgraded two levels.

12...Instadeath

Modifiers:

plus Weapon Penetration (see Striker chart, mostly 1-3 for firearms and melee weapons)

minus Defensive Value (see below)

Defensive Value

Basically your armor plus any ability modifiers.

Armor

Steel Helmet* +1 (add to any other armor)

Jack 1

Mesh 2

Flak Jacket 3

Cloth 5

Ablat 1 (6 for lasers)

Reflec (10 for lasers)

Combat Enviro Suit 6

Combat Armor 8

Ceramic Plate* 10

Battle Dress 12

*Steel Helmet, Tech 5, 100cr

Ceramic Plate, Tech 12, 30,000cr

Ability

STR

5 and under -1

9 and over +1

DEX

5 and under -1

9 and over +1

END

5 and under -1

9 and over +1

Example:

Mr. Pink (37A569) buys himself a steel helmet (pickelhaube-style) and a Flak jacket for a DV of 4. His bad STR (-1) cancels out his considerable END (+1). In the first round of combat the poor sap gets hit by a slug from an ACR, penetration 4 which cancels his DV on the roll. Luckily the roll  is a 3 and he gets off with a light wound. 

Galactic Anarchy and other Traveller Whoha

The first session of the Classic Traveller mini-campaign (the admittedly clumsily-titled Coup Box) kicked off last week and I had a splendid time keeping up with the machinations of the players. An hour into the session they were already scheming to double-cross their patrons and install a pro-Dogoid (really Vargr is such a loaded racist term) rights regime after their coup.

In my usual fit of over-doing it I added a few more elements to liven it up. The first was recruiting old homegroup standby, Mack of Super Galactic Dreadnought, to play the part of Admiral Mahkson, a former Cantonment Navy ensign turned Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kral (the coup target). Over three matches of X-Wing Saturday, he has already injected a few devious notes into the mix.

Knowing that some large-scale battles were coming down the pike, I spent sometime this weekend marrying Deep Evan and I's much-tested pen-and-paper skirmish rules for Feudal Anarchy with some elements of that old Traveller minis warhorse Striker. If you'd like to see the draft version (and promise to give me some feedback) drop me a line.

But now the news.

Tonight on Raving Foxoid Holostem News...

Monglocorp has wrapped up its aggressive acquisition of the intellectual rights of Logsoph and now holds exclusive rights to the concept of Ontology. In newly-issued generous licensing terms, personages uttering or expressing an inquiry into the nature of Being are now obliged to post or state a trademarked statement and to pay a modest 10CR royalty to the conglom.

Two-Hour War hero Colonel Zog has been abducted by “men foul and rough” from his tower-flat according to his beloved niece Kocka. Missing since yesterday, the Novo Marlank police have promised a “full and thorough investigation into the matter just after they clear off the current caseload.”

The civil war on Freedonia continues to have everything change and stay the same. Three firefights this week “timed out” when the 20-percent casualty caps were reached leaving front lines much the same. In this ever-fracturing war a fifth grouplet, the Polar Autonome Commonwealth, a minority, northen-based splinter from the radical decentralist Microbalkanizers, has thrown its own factional hat into the ring.

In other news on the moon, in a holo-press release from the Kral state new service, the government of that isolated city-state has declared that the southern town of Zumhaa has been renamed to Autokratorstad in order to best honor the “30^th jubilee-year of our most beloved Maximum Leader's reign.” Hysterical tears of joy were expressed around the ceremonial bark-tea and mollusk-cookies tables by the rounded-up crowd.  

Grab-Bag Details of the Traveller Coup Box

Welcome to Unterzone

How a Soldier-Bolo is Run

Traditionally there is a division between “bolo-members” (i.e. the PCs and skilled NPCs they dig) who have a full vote and a single share in the division of the mission's payout and “soldier-associates” who generally get a “consultative” (i.e. ignored) vote and a straight monthly salary of 300 credits for a raw recruit, 500 for a veteran and 600 for a veteran officer/mercenary. Bolo members are taught the semi-secret artificial language of Asa-pili. 

As per Book 4, recruitment drives take two weeks. Basic training takes six weeks for raw recruits and here PCs can employ a range of skills (over 2) with some potential benefit to the trainees.

Click to enlarge. 

The Map

Each hex is 20 miles. Dotted red lines are the semi-official borderlines of each polity. In reality they are highly fluid and poorly policed. The ugly black lines represent a magnetic monorail line. Questions can be asked of particular points at the briefing.

Weapons, Material and Recruits Sources

Skills of Streetwise, Admin, Forgery or Bribery over 2 will be of particular use here and will “unlock” certain options (let me know if you are playing a character who qualifies). Players are naturally encouraged to think outside of the box and come up with whatever insane ass caper they want to come up with this stuff.

On World

Mama Hoss, the arms merchant queen of Unterzone, deals with all factions. Selection limited to Tech 5 “hunting weapons” (mostly rifles) and prices high. May have a few specials though for the “right buyer.”

ROFF, the dogoid rights party, is rumored to be upgrading its stock of older grenade launchers and may part with some of them. All factions have agents and semi-official consulates in Unterzone.

The Maximalist Party is rumored to be selling off some lightly-armored, wheeled ATVs and some Combat Environment Suits it allegedly heisted from a Brotherhood for the Maintenance of the Way cache.

Recruitment drives can be run in Unterzone or one of the local belligerent city-states of Pikkaro, M'skrip, Longkoal, Ulkins or Pahka (though these states have possible dangers, civil war you know). Each will net 1d6 raw recruits and a chance for 1d3 veterans.

On Novo Marlank (2-day inter-system round-trip)

Astro-Marine tweakers in the starport base maybe be enticed to have a small amount of weapons and gear go missing. Beware, they ripped off a major stash of powder from the previous party.

Oddly enough The Arsenal, the state-owned weapons manufacturer, may be a source. The Overlord's exorbitant taste for luxury has left the world government with a powerful need for hard currency (Cantonment credits), it is said that they won't look too closely at an End User Certificate (a diplomatic document stating that the weapons are to be used by a recognized polity) for small-to-medium sized weapon shipments of old and out-of-date weapons (Tech 8 mostly).

Recruitment here will net 3d6 raw recruits, 1d6 veterans and 1d3 veteran officers or mercenaries.

On Outpost Nine (2-week hyperspace round-trip)

The eccentric organized crime figure Three-Eyed Jac has a “mutually beneficial arrangement” that will provide some weapons.

Recruitment in this system will net 2d6 raw recruits, 1d3 veterans.

The Traveller Coup Box Sitrep

This being the opening situation report for the Traveller mini-campaign I was pitching yesterday.

Background

Freedonia (D333575-8) is a large terraformed moon orbiting Novo Marlank. It currently has a breathable atmosphere somewhere between thin and very thin and is dominated by a single, mostly barerock continent punctuated by large freshwater lakes and the occasional cultivated sap-forest preserve. Offworlders unused to the atmosphere cocktail typically wear light respirators to stave off fatigue and dizziness. Sadly it was well on its way to a nice cushy standard atmosphere before the Time of Woe fractured the terraforming efforts and left the giant CO2 generators idle (people are assholes).

For nigh on 70 years the moon's central government has ceased to exist with de facto micronations rising and falling around various generalissimo-type figures. Complicating the political situation even further are the cross-national political factions, meaning most of the polities are further riven with smaller internal struggles that lead to an utterly confusing and shifting set of small-scale wars.

Despite the relative bitterness of civil war, all factions are at least nominally adhering to the Cantonment Statues for the Polite Administration of Organized Killing. These so-called rules of war  mandate formally-declared, pre-determined pitched battles, regulate "casualty caps" for such battles, set rules for ceremonial dueling, limit the use of heavy weapons/wmds, and otherwise keep the war gentlemanly and prolonged/stalemated.

To date only two polities on the moon have managed to remain neutral: Unterzone and Kraldeset. Unterzone is a small city surrounding the decidedly shitty starport and has the feel of intrigue-ridden Istanbul in WW2—all the factions wheel and deal here with their agents. The Kral, the main arena of our coup box, has managed to steer clear of the civil war by way of its political/geographic isolation and sheer miserableness.

The Kral itself is a small (even by Freedonian standards) “city” state. Roughly two-thirds of its 30,000 or so citizens live in scattered plantation centers or mining camps with the remaining population hunkered down in the partially-domed city (town really) of the same name.

The Brief

The player's soldier-bolo (a democratically-run mercenary coop) has been contacted by The Ten, a group of Kral exiles hiding in Unterzone. The dissidents are a motley groups of former-opposition politicians, technopriests, ponzi bankers, clonemasters, pawnshop brokers and other upper middle class professionals lacking military experience. They welcome a “regime change” in their former home and after running a wildly successful crowdfunding project on Warstarter are prepared to pay a whopping 632,000 credits to a group who can complete that task in 99 days (after which the Cantonment Tax-Bots step in and confiscate the unused funds).

Though politically kept in line by the Vibes Committees, the thuggish militia of the Autokrator, the Kral's military is expected to be in a sorry, demoralized shape said to number in the 300-600 range and lacking any air, space, surface navy or heavy weapon components.

Map and more details of the city-state proper will be made available both at the brief and by any reconnaissance the players decide on.

Assets

Starting upfront budget of 100,000 credits to be paid in two monthly chunks of 50,000.

Although the bolo currently lacks a starship—the Cacafuego is currently impounded facing charges of alleged black lotus powder smuggling—a decrepit free trader, the Dapper Deodand, can be rented for around 10,000 credits a month (this includes bribes for the crew).

Obstacles

Securing arms, material and more manpower are all major obstacles.

The Cantonment navy is running a semi-rigorous naval blockade of arms and will confiscate and occasionally imprison those trying to break it. However small shipments (and the acceptable number hinges on the arbitrary assessment of the on-duty Astro-Marine officer) of Tech 5 and other “hunting weapons” are legal.

I will present a few leads and rumors for various illegal and semi-legal ways you can procure arms at or before the session. There are a number of ways to skin that proverbial cat.

Recruitment will be as per the wonderful subsystem in Book 4: Mercenary. Getting them there, organizing/training them and perhaps finding alternative ways to recruit others is the players' problem

A Traveller “Coup Box”

My reading habits as an early teen were pretty far-ranging (if not as obsessional and eclectic as my current ones). Beyond the standard fantasy/sf obsession and the low-hanging fruit of approachable literary books for that age (Huxley, Salinger that sort), one of my well-trod genres was the nexus of thriller, military adventure and espionage novels inexplicably dumped these days into the Mystery shelves of bookstores.

And of those books, the novels of  Fredrick Forsyth, Alaistar MacLean and John LeCarre held a prominent place. LeCarre survived and thrived in my re-readings as an adult, the other two seemed...well...rather badly written. A few dips back left me cold—--there's a slow punchline here--until recently. 

Randomly discovering the incredibly stunning story that one of those Forsythe novels, the Dogs of War, was in fact highly likely to have been a only-vaguely fictional retelling of Forsyth's own leading role in a real-life, mercenary-led (and failed) coup in Equatorial Guinea in 1973.

The highly-detailed, methodical, near-tedious novel—seriously, almost 80 percent of the book is given over to the logistics of preparing for the operation--suddenly made a great deal more sense and came onto my gaming radar screen. Reading it in that light with all the shenanigans of running guns, smuggling, exploring underworld connections, scouting the site and the final crescendo of the actual raid made me want to play it so bad.

So where and how to set it? Traveller with its wide-open supporting mechanics (hell there is a whole half a book on how to run mercenary companies) and military-oriented characters comes to mind

Long-time readers may remember a million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth, blogs sucked less and landline telephones were still in use that I ran a Classic Traveller mini-campaign called imaginatively enough the Space Cantons. There was one news hook that the party never took up that seems to fit the bill perfectly for this kind of thing:

“A long-anticipated four-sided civil war has begun with a formal shaking of hands and credit-coin toss on the Novo Marlankh moon Freedonia . Tensions between the League for a Micro-Balkanized Moon, ROFF (a Dogoid-rights party), the Maximalist Party, and the Brotherhood for the Maintenance of the Ways have been mounting over the last year. The Cantonment Navy has announced that it will be maintaining an interdiction against gun-running to the moon with 'occasional rigorousness.'”

The Autokrator, what a dick

So here's the set-up for the “coup box”, a sandbox bounded by a single mission to overthrow the current government by any means necessary and a strict micro-geographical setting. In this case, I am going to go with a single city-state in the twilight zone of that moon, a miserable place called Novo Kraldeset (or just Kral by the locals) ruled by a neutral but authoritarian and batshit crazy warlord called the Autokrator.

The players will be either hired guns, scoundrels or idealistic recruits brought in by an ineffectual, yet affluent group of dissidents, called the Ten, who simply want to stage a coup and put themselves into benevolent power. In other words it's “here's a situation, players, go for solving it.”

I'm highly likely running it on Google Plus on Tuesday nights for six players as a two or so session palate cleanser for the main Hill Cantons campaign (that's been a bit star-crossed as of late). If you are interested, drop me a line and some details on the actual situation report will appear here by Friday.  

Soldier Bears: A B/X or LL Monster

Painfully silly Google Plus tangent riffing is a powerful force in my psyche these days. As inspired by a tangent there about today's earlier post. 

Soldier Bears

No. Enc.: 1d6 (3d6)

Alignment: Neutral or Chaotic (Good)

Movement: 120’ (40’)

Armor Class: 6

Hit Dice: 2+2

Attacks: 2 (claws) or 1 (polearm)

Damage: 1d4 or 1d10+1

Save: F3

Morale: 9

XP: 60

The creeping influence of the Weird has made the border cantons of the Overkingdom world-famous for their quirks and eccentricities. The chilly northern Marches of Nur are no exception and one of their sharper peculiarities is an undue fondness for military companies entirely staffed by anthropomorphic bears.

Nurian Soldier Bears are direct descendents of the mad experiments of that sadly misguided naturalist and wizard Tredvell Muyr. That he was ultimately mauled and eaten by the beast-kin he so lovingly raised from animal brutality failed to dissuade the Nurians from keeping them in service. For sure only a heart made black by jaded calcification can not be moved to great sentiment by a lumbering column of these creatures drawn up in tight parade ranks.

Soldier Bears, when the pre-hibernation wanderlust is on them, will often part from their barracks-dens for tours and adventures of the Hill Cantons. As such they can be encountered paw-fishing in local mountain creeks or taking hireling odd-job positions in the Guild of Condottieri, Linkboys,Roustabouts and Stevedores.

Though considerably smaller than their feral counterparts, Soldier Bears are fierce fighters with their much-beloved polearms, gaining a +1 to damage when employing them.

More Slavic Art Inspiration

In the 1990s, saddled with a somewhat useless journalism degree I zig-zagged into teaching English at a state-run school in what was then Czechoslovakia (thanks to the Velvet Divorce I ended up on the “wrong” side of the new border). 

One of the things I took out of that experience—other than a whipped liver—was an obsession in collecting Slavic folk art books dumped in the millions by the exiting Russians.

If anything starting to run the Hill Cantons, which has one big foot in the dark, moody fairy tales and pagan/syncretistic mythology of pan-Slavdom, has given me an opportunity to rekindle that monomania and put it to at least some inspirational use. 

Big and little early 20^th century names like Bilibin, Roerich, Mucha, Repin, Orinyasky and others have graced many of the posts here and many of the published arcana.

Beyond my silly and transparent aesthetic pretensions, they serve a practical purpose of generally helping me visualize in my mind's eye what the hell the HC looks like. And even on occasion a whole encounter, NPC, adventure site etc may get jostled out of digging on a certain picture (like the downright weird neo-paganism of this guy).

Recently I have been tracking down the lovely illustrations of Ukrainian artist Heorhiy/George Narbut (note to self: “add more bears with polearms”). A taste...