Lore and Legends of the Dezzyverse

Author: Dezzy Parrish

  • You Got Battletech in my Traveller!

    You Got Battletech in my Traveller!

    No, you got Traveller in my Battletech!

    Two of my favorite games over my long gaming career are Traveller and Battletech. I’ve been playing both for over 40 years. Since I’ve recently moved to a new city, on a new coast of the US, and The 50th Anniversarry of Traveller is right-around-the corner. I’m starting a new campaign. With Battletech enjoying a renaissance, I’ve been throwing a healthy amount of Big Stompy Robots in my Science Fiction Adventure in the Far Future.

    The setting for this campaign leans more toward the Third Imperium than the Inner Sphere. Specifically my favorite era in Traveller’s Third Imperium, the Hard Times. I talked a bit about this back in June. The elevator pitch is, the Hard Times are a relatively brief period in the Third Imperium that takes place at the end of the Rebellion War. Technology and society are skidding towards a second Long Night in the Shattered Imperium of Megatraveller.

    How These Lego Bricks Fit Together

    Battletech’s setting features giant, piloted robot war machines called Battlemechs. They run between 20 and 100 metric tons and are powered by big fusion engines. They’re a lot more on the “space-fantasy” side of science fiction, but there’s a heavy layer of gritty over them. Sort of like Star Trek, there’s a whole glossary of technobabble that sounds enough like engineering and “science!”

    In Traveller terms, Battlemechs become practical around Tech Level (TL) 10. Fusion Power is practical here, which makes powering these war machines possible. The Inner Sphere setting ranges from a rough TL 10 or 11 in the classic Battletech era (between 3025 to 3062) to TL 12 at the height of the Star League (2750). The Clans were around the high end of TL12 and entering TL 13 so far as their engineering went, though the cluster of worlds from where they were exiled didn’t have the resources to fully exploit that level of development. Battlemechs as a practical war vehicle phases out by the time a civilization reaches TL 14, which is where fusion technology reaches it’s technological limits and more exotic power sources become commonplace.

    The average Tech Level of the Third Imperium during the Megatraveller Setting (Imperial Year 1116) was TL 12 with the maximum TL at 15 (and a couple of places like the Darrian Confederation boasting TL 16). The Hard Times sourcebook for Megatraveller goes into detail about how the average Tech Level of the Third Imperium slides backwards. Which is a great parallel to the decline experienced by the Inner Sphere through their many Succession Wars.

    Hey, Why Not Just Use the Battletech RPG Books?

    There’s nothing wrong with Mechwarrior 1st edition, 2nd edition and Catalyst Games’ A Time of War, and Destiny games. I’ve run and played them (except Destiny) over the years, but my preference and love stays with Traveller. I’ve internalized the system a lot deeper than I have the Battletech systems (which is saying a lot, because I’ve internalized Battletech down to my frakkin’ bones!) For me, it’s the life-path character generation system in Traveller. I also talk about it in more detail in this essay, long story short, Traveller Character Generation tells a story through the dice better than using a point-buy system or laying templates over one another. Rolling up a Traveller almost always has a surprise in the character that makes it exciting to play on Session 1.

    I also think in Traveller. The terminology comes more naturally to me, as we’ll explore shortly. As mentioned above, I have a good feel for where Battletech fits in the Traveller Universe, and it takes more work to fit Traveller in the Battletech universe. Advice to the new GMs out there, don’t be afraid to lean on what you know, running role-playing-games can be hard, no need to make it harder on yourself.

    Some Broad Strokes

    I’ll be using Traveller for character generation, setting info, personal combat and most space combat. I’ll be breaking out the hex-maps and Battletech Minis for vehicular combat. Both systems are 2d6 based, and the systems are pretty compatible. There are some fuzzy conflicts when dealing with Traveller small space ship combat vs Battletech’s Aerospace system, but I don’t think they’re insurmountable. Also, the Hard Times campaign isn’t about dogfights at the edge of atmosphere in a gravity well. The backdrop of War is context for the adventure.

    Most of the time, the Traveller skill system is used rules-as-written. However, when on the Battletech or Aerospace battlemap, the system will switch over to Battletech: Total War with the following modification:

    • Base Battletech Piloting is calculated using the character’s skill in Traveller Drive (Battlemech)
    • Base Battletech Gunnery is calculated using the character’s skill in Traveller Heavy Weapons (Battlemech)
    • Base Aerospace Piloting is calculated using the character’s skill in Traveller Pilot (Aerospace)
    • Base Aerospace Gunnery is calculated using the character’s skill in Traveller Gunnery (Aerospace)
      • Battletech and Aerospace Piloting skill starts at 5. This is equal to Traveller Skill at Level 0 (without any Characteristic bonuses)
      • Battletech and Aerospace Gunnery skill starts at 4. This is equal to Traveller Skill at Level 0 (without any Characteristic Bonuses)
    • For every Traveller Skill level gained, the corresponding Battletech/ Aerospace skill goes down by 1.
      • Example: A character with Traveller Skill Drive (Battlemech) 2, when moving over to the Battletech combat map, will have a Battletech Piloting skill at 3. (Base Battletech skill 5 – Traveller skill level 2 = 3.
    • This can also be reversed when adapting the NPCs in a Battletech scenario to Traveller.
      • Mechwarrior Mungo Bogsbane has Battletech Piloting 4 and Gunnery 2. His Traveller skills are Drive (Battlemech) 1 and Heavy Weapons (Battlemech) 2.
    • The Traveller Skill Jack of All Trades deserves special mention. Skill Levels in Jack of All Trades offset the penalties for trying skills without having at least Level 0 in the relevant skill. The full rules can be found in the Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022 from Mongoose Publishing. Normally, characters need to have at least Skill Level 0 in the appropriate skill to operate a Battlemech, Aerospace vehicle or the weapon systems of either. These are too complex for someone who doesn’t have training to do anything more than flip switches, click buttons and yank levers in futility as the machine does nothing (best case scenario) or crashes in a catastrophic explosion (at worst..)
      Jack of All Trades allows a character to attempt an unskilled roll at a reduced penalty. Jack of All Trades 0 allows for the roll at a -3 penalty, with each skill level in Jack of All Trades reducing that penalty by 1. Until Jack of All Trades reaches Level 3, at which point the roll is at no penalty.
      When applied to Battletech’s Battlemech and Aerospace skills, These penalties are added to the base skill level. A character with Jack of All Trades 0 can roll Piloting at (5+3)= 8 and Gunnery at (4+3)= 7. Jack of All Trades 2 can roll Piloting at (5+1)= 6 and Gunnery at (4+1)= 5.

    Gearing up for the Cockpit

    The most critical piece of equipment for a Battlemech or Aerospace Pilot is their Neural Impulse Helmet AKA “Neurohelmet”. Neuohelmets provide direct neural links to the vehicle’s computer and sensors and are what makes Battlemechs and Aerospace craft more responsive than more conventional vehicles (even at high tech levels). Indeed, the Neurohelmet makes piloting Battlemechs and Aerospace craft possible in the first place. There are so many systems and subsystems that demand constant attention that no one person, or even a small crew of people could manage it all, but a Neurohelmet allows for a single pilot to control the vehicles full functionality.

    A Neurohelmet is a TL 10 device that masses around 6 kg and costs 10 kilocredits (KCr, 10,000 credits). It is a huge, bulky, ugly, and fixes the wearer’s face straight forward. There is a window roughly the size of the wearer’s face installed that displays visual readout data into the user’s field of vision. Inside there are multiple contact leads which use the user’s own brain to move and drive the battlemech as an extension of their body. The helmet rests on the user’s shoulders, protecting the users relatively fragile neck from injury, but restricting any head movement.

    The Neurohelmet’s bulk looks like it could deflect a direct hit from an Advanced Combat Rifle round. That is if the bullet wouldn’t damage all the internal electronics connected to the user’s brain. The Neurohelmet is not armor. Not even when deactivated. Its bulk comes from the complex hardware that creates the technological miracle which allows a human to control a titan.

    At TL 11, the Neurohelmet becomes safer and smaller. It’s no longer a rat’s nest of cabling connected to a six kilo dome. It’s half the mass that it was at TL 10, while direct connection through ports from helmet to cockpit are still necessary, a lot of the connections are wireless.. There remains safety bracing that protects the neck, but the user is able to turn their head and enjoy a restricted range of motion.

    AT TL 12, the Neurohelmet is half the size of the TL 11 helmet. It still fully covers the head, but does not require bracing to protect the neck. There is still neck protection, but not to compensate for having six extra kilos on your head. Direct connections to the cockpit have been reduced to one, two or three, depending on the model of the helmet. The user has a full range of head motion.

    Cybernetic Neural Impulse Cranial Implants (“NICIs”) are also TL 12 devices, and are cybernetic augments. The NICI at TL12 replaces portions of the pilot’s skull and cannot be removed. There is a jack-port installed to make a direct connection into the cockpit. Not counting surgery, the NICI costs 500 KCr. Using a NICI to pilot a Battlemech or an Aerospace vehicle gives the Pilot a +1 Dice Modifier (DM) bonus to Drive (Battlemech) and Pilot (Aerospace) checks. If using Battletech rules for tactical vehicle combat, add the +1 bonus to the roll (not the target number).

    The Cooling Vest is TL 10, costs 500 Cr and allows a Battlemech Pilot to survive the blazing heat in the cockpit of a Battlemech. It’s little more than cooling tubes wrapped around the pilot’s torso which circulate advanced cryogenic compounds and keeps the vital organs from cooking in the pilot’s body.

    Aerospace pilots wear an Improved Vacc Suit with enhanced temperature regulation since they often find themselves operating in the Vacuum of space or extremely thin atmosphere.
    At TL 11, the Cooling Vest is replaced with a specialized Hostile Environment Suit. The cost is much higher (22 KCr) but the HEV Suit provides protection similar to the Vacc Suit which permits the Battlemech Pilot a lot more combat endurance and focus when away from supplies.

    Some down-on-their-luck pilots try to make do with makeshift cooling vests that use cold-packs in place of circulated coolant. Cold-packs are, in essence frozen blocks of water ice or similar freezable material. The cost is almost negligible. Less than 20 Cr and the Tech Level to put one together is around 4. The pilot only needs a means to freeze and insulate the packs. However, fighting in a cold-pack vest only allows for ten-to-fifteen minutes of operation before any benefits are spent and heat exhaustion leading to stroke sets in.

    Character Creation and Development

    At it’s most basic, any skill result of Drive (cascade or any ground), Heavy Weapons (cascade or vehicles), Pilot (cascade or Small Craft), or Gunnery (cascade, Turret or Fixed) can be focused to Battlemechs or Aerospace as the player desires.

    However, should the GM desire a focused assignments for Battlemechs and Aerospace pilots, here are a couple of guidelines

    • Army – Mechwarrior (*must be a commissioned officer)
      • Survival: END 7+
      • Advancement: INT 6+
      • Assignment Skill List
        • 1: Drive (Battlemech)
        • 2: Heavy Weapons (Battlemech)
        • 3: Mechanic
        • 4: Electronics (Sensors)
        • 5: Heavy Weapons (Man-Portable)
        • 6: Recon
      • Rank Skills and Bonuses
        • Rank 1 (Lieutenant): Drive (Battlemech), Heavy Weapons (Battlemech) 0
        • Rank 2 (Captain): Leadership
        • Rank 3 (Major): Tactics (Military)
        • Rank 4 (Lt. Colonel): Admin 1
        • Rank 5 (Colonel): Broker 1
        • Rank 6 (General): SOC 10 or SOC +1 (whichever is higher)
    • Marines – Mechwarrior (*must be a commissioned officer)
      • Survival: END 7+
      • Advancement: INT 5+
      • Assignment Skill List
        • 1: Drive (Battlemech)
        • 2: Pilot (Aerospace)
        • 3: Heavy Weapons (Battlemech)
        • 4: Gunnery (Aerospace)
        • 5: Vacc Suit
        • 6: Gun Combat
      • Rank Skills and Bonuses
        • Rank 1 (Lieutenant): Drive (Battlemech), Heavy Weapons (Battlemech) 0 or Rank 2 Skills
        • Rank 2 (Captain): Pilot (Aerospace), Gunnery (Aerospace) 0 or Rank 1 Skills
        • Rank 3 (Force Commander): Tactics (Military or Naval) 1
        • Rank 4 (Lt. Colonel): Leadership 1
        • Rank 5 (Colonel): Jack-of-all-Trades 1
        • Rank 6 (General): Broker or Admin 1
    • Navy – Aerospace Pilot (*must be a commissioned officer)
      • Survival: DEX 7+
      • Advancement: EDU 5+
      • Assignment Skill List
        • 1: Pilot (Aerospace)
        • 2: Gunner (Aerospace)
        • 3: Vacc Suit
        • 4: Astrogation
        • 5: Mechanic
        • 6: Electronics (Sensors)
      • Rank Skills and Bonuses
        • Rank 1 (Ensign): Pilot (Aerospace), Gunnery (Aerospace) 0
        • Rank 2 (Sublieutenant): Astrogation 0
        • Rank 3 (Lieutenant): Tactics (Naval) 1
        • Rank 4 (Commander): Leadership 1
        • Rank 5 (Captain): Admin 1
        • Rank 6 (Admiral): SOC 10 or SOC +1 (whichever is higher)
    • Noble – Mechwarrior
      • Survival: INT 7+
      • Advancement: SOC 8+
      • Assignment Skill List
        • 1: Drive (Battlemech) or Pilot (Aerospace)
        • 2: Heavy Weapons (Battlemech) or Pilot (Aerospace)
        • 3: Vacc Suit
        • 4: Tactics (Military or Naval)
        • 5: Leadership
        • 6: Gambler
      • Rank Skills and Bonuses
        • Rank 1 (Ensign): Drive (Battlemech), Heavy Weapon (Battlemech) 0 or Pilot (Aerospace), Gunnery (Aerospace) 0
        • Rank 2 (Lieutenant): Leadership 1
        • Rank 3 (Force Commander): Advocate 1
        • Rank 4 (Lt. Colonel): Diplomat 1
        • Rank 5 (Colonel) +1 SOC
        • Rank 6 (General) +1 SOC

    When Mustering Out, vehicle or ship share benefits can be taken as a muster bonus of +1 DM when rolling on the following chart (used to provide a character with a personal Battlemech). Roll 2D + SOC + Muster Bonus

    • 4-: Dispossessed (no Battlemech or Aerospace vessel)
    • 5 – 7: Light class (20 to 35 tons)
    • 8 – 9: Medium Class (40 to 55 tons)
    • 10 – 11: Heavy Class (60 to 75 tons)
    • 12+: Assault Class (80 to 100 tons)

    The Battlemech Campaign Skills Package is designed for a Traveller campaign featuring Battlemechs and Aerospace fighters, similar to the Battletech Universe, Robotech Series’, Gundam Series’, Heavy Gear Universe, Mekton Universe and similar settings.

    Drive (Battlemech) 1, Electronics 1, Engineering 1, Gunnery (Aerospace) 1 Heavy Weapons (Battlemech) 1, Mechanics 1, Pilot (Aerospace) 1, Tactics 1

    Character Development

    After each adventure, Each character may roll EDU 8+. If successful, the player can either advance one of their character’s skills by 1 level, or they can adopt a new skill at level 0. When advancing skills this way, remember no character can have more total skill levels than three times their combined INT and EDU.

    Maintaining a Battlemech or Aerospace Craft

    Outside of repairs and rearming, Battlemechs and Aerospace craft require regular maintenance. Similar to space and star ship maintenance, once per year the Battlemech or Aerospace craft needs to be overhauled at a cost equal to 0.1% of the new cost of the vehicle. Divide by 12 to calculate a monthly maintenance cost.

    Example: A WHM-6R Warhammer Battlemech costs 6,070,984 Credits new. The yearly overhaul cost is 6,070,984 x 0.1% = 6,071 Credits. The monthly cost is 6,071 / 12 = 506 Credits.

    A SL-17 Shilone Aerospace fighter costs 3,399,045 Credits new, the yearly overhaul cost is 3,399,045 . 0.1% = 3,399 Credits. The monthly cost is 3,399/ 12 = 283 Credts

    Like a ship, skipping monthly maintenance risks a malfunction. For every monthly maintenance skipped, roll 2D + the number of months missed. On an 8+, the vehicle suffers a malfunction in the form of a critical hit, determined in the same manner as if the critical was suffered in battle. Using the Battletech chart, roll a location off of the Front/ Rear Critical table and apply a critical to the affected location.

    Battlemechs in the Rebellion War and the Hard Times

    Battlemechs and Aerospace craft are used by all the major factions in the Rebellion War. There are also countless Mercenary Outfits that use these war machines selling their services to the highest bidder. As implied by the Noble profession assignment above. Several Noble families possess ancestral Battlemechs and Aerospace craft.

    When compared to the state-of-the-art TL 15 weaponry that was deployed in the first years of the War, Battlemechs and Aerospace craft were outclassed. A company of TL 15 Battle Dress equipped infantry, TL 15 Grav Armor or a squadron of TL 15 armed space fighters are far more efficient and effective than an equivalent formation of TL 12 Battlemechs and Aerospace craft. However, as the war escalated between 1119 3i (3rd Imperium) and 1121 3i attrition forced all factions to press second and third line vehicles and equipment to the front. Battlemechs and Aerospace craft were re-deployed to replenish the attrition of years of war.

    When the War turned Black in 1122, Battlemechs and Aerospace craft became the instruments of scorched world strategies. Battlemechs as walkers were well suited to urban fighting, and the Aerospace fighters and bombers were very effective at everything from close-air support, escorting dropships, and orbital theaters. In a pinch they could be pressed into space combat. Hybrid Battlemech/ Aerospace vehicles, known by a variety of names, Veritech Fighters, Land-Air Mechs, Variable Aspect Mobile Suits and Hybrid Aeromechs, among others.

    Before the Rebellion War, Battlemechs and Aerospace fighters held a measure of prestige in the Noble Houses of the Moot. Nobles would use them to settle duels while showing off their wealth and means, in a similar way the aristocracy have used antiquated weapons and skills to settle disagreements while flexing on the less affluent. During the Rebellion War, Nobles wanting to cater to the imperial sensibilities of Lucan, Margaret, or the Ziru Sirca were eager to raise Household companies like ancient Lords calling their Banners. As the war dragged on, these same Noble houses were employed to share their tactical and technical knowledge in designing, and fielding Battlemechs and Aerospace fighters.

    In the Hard Times, the owners and employers of Battlemechs are in an excellent position to take over systems and pocket empires as Technologically Elevated Dictators. By 1125 3i, the major governments had retreated into core zones. leaving the Wilds open for pocket empires to develop. By 1130 3i, Virus has been released and was devastating the Imperium for the next seventy years.

  • For A Few C-Bills More

    For A Few C-Bills More

    Heists during the Year of Peace – 3051

    The Clan Invasion of 3050-52 was interrupted by an unexpected pause in 3051. The “year of Peace” provided more than a reprieve and a strategic opportunity for the Inner Sphere. While the leaders of the Great Houses were all on Outreach training for when the invasion begins again, Survivors, Mercenaries, Outlaws, and Pirates took advantage of a special set of circumstances

    Kerenskys Are Not Money, but Gold Still Is

    The Clans invading the Inner Sphere had survived for generations on the bare minimum of resources. Rebuilding their society as a rejection of what they saw as the greed and decadence of the Successor State houses. Their currency, Kerenskys is not representative of material wealth. The Kerensky is a market currency tied to the trade engaged with the Merchant Caste. The Clans value resources and technology. But from the materialistic perspective of the Inner Sphere, the Kerensky has no value, not even a residual value. As currency it means nothing to the conquered people. It is a fiat currency imposed on the vanquished by the victors.

    C-Bills and House Bills represent the material wealth of the empire that issues it. Whether that value is in preserved technology and communication as with the C-Bill or in Territory and Treasure as with the various House Bills. Ultimately, the Inner Sphere’s currencies can be traced to something of material value. This economic system of trade stretches back through the millennia of recorded human history.

    The Clans are on a Crusade

    In 3051, the Clans are not invading the Inner Sphere to seize it’s material wealth, nor are they taking territory, except in so far as the systems they seize bring them closer to their goal. The Clans are invading with the purpose of “liberating” Terra. The culture of the Clans, militaristic and austere suppresses the desire for material comforts and luxury. Especially among the Warrior Castes, who comprise the majority of the clansfolk that occupy the conquered systems. At this point, one year into the invasion, there hasn’t been enough time for the temptations of luxury to break the discipline culturally instilled in the Clanners. The Merchant Caste still manages trade and supply with a focus on practicality and resource allocation. Strategic objectives are primarily parts and supplies with immediate military applications, port resources and protecting communications facilities, including ComStar installations. Vaults and monetary reserves are of secondary, even tertiary concern. Only the senior strategic ranks concern themselves with the money of the inner sphere, and in that capacity only because money and luxury can be used to exploit greed in the hearts of local leaders of government, industry and militaries.

    Rumors Fly Furious and Thick

    The speed and shock with which the Clans have gouged their conquest out of the Lyran Commonwealth, Draconis Combine, and Rassalhague Republic left unimaginable fortunes laying undefended in hundreds of locations throughout the Occupation Zone. In some cases, not even the conquerors know the treasures resting on the very worlds they occupy.

    The tide of refugees fleeing in front of the invasion carry with them the knowledge and locations of these vaults. Some were the owners of these treasures, others guards, and yet others managers, and many simply lived in the communities where the banks, nobility, and corporations maintained the vaults. These are the hooks for missions and adventures that go beyond recreations of operations baattles that are usually recorded throughout the timeline.

    Raids and Heists can be just as exciting as battles over tactical and strategic positions, but without the scope of a large scale battle. At this scale the stakes are small and personal, the characters (and the opposition) are not trying to fight a war. They’re trying to grab treasure. There is little or no jingoistic patriotism here, there’s little motivation beyond getting paid. Something that would appeal to a mercenary and pirate campaign.

    Why 3051?

    This is a very unique year in the grand timeline of the Battletech Universe. In the Occupied systems, the Clan invaders haven’t had the chance to absorb the vices of greed and avarice. At least as far as wealth and luxury are concerned. Furthermore, the withdrawal of the Bloodnamed back to Strana Mechty has in effect frozen the invasion offensives and left behind Provisional Garrison troops to hold the systems they’ve captured. This combination of freebirths and dezgra units simultaneously discourage personal initiative (no one wants to risk retaliation from the caste system for breaking discipline) and unintentionally filled with persons who resist the system they live in (thus, more susceptible to the temptations of the inner sphere and “going native”).

    The Houses of the Inner Sphere are similarly paralyzed. Having been beaten back with few, if any, significant victories along a front that has grown to the size of the Free Worlds League, all the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere have been paralyzed just like the Clans. The Leadership of the Inner Sphere are sequestered for most of this year on Outreach as “guests” of Wolf’s Dragoons. Between that, and the near-collapse of the Rassalhauge Republic, Draconis Combine, and Lyran Commonwealth militaries, there are no opportunities to capitalize on strategic vulnerabilities.

    For both the Clans, and the Inner Sphere, 3051 is a tidal wave, frozen in time. Which leaves extensive opportunity for the type of smash-and-grab raiding and probing that small mercenary outfits do best.

    Hit ’em Where They Ain’t

    Throughout the year, the Clans are defending their occupied territories with Provisional Garrison forces piloting second-and third-line equipment. Under leaders tied to vague orders that amounts to little more than “Don’t lose any ground, not one step!” This has left the Occupied Zones wide open for probes and raids. In fact, if the Inner Sphere had anything to put together for a counter-offensive, 3051 could have been a bad year for “Operation: REVIVAL”.

    Setting up a raid is not much different for a mercenary company (even if that company is a lance) than fulfilling a short-term contract. Objectives, Mission Plans, and Logistics need to be outlined. In a mercenary contract, these are often laid out during contract negotiations, the employer defining the objective and (usually) arranging the logistics. When raiding, the “employer” are the mercenaries themselves. They are, in essence, writing their own contracts, and need to take into account these details.

    The Objective, has to be valuable enough to justify the expenses. Ammunition cost C-Bils, repairs cost C-Bills, fuel, hiring a transport to jump to the system, hiring a drop-shop to ferry the mercenaries planetside (and pick them up after), paying for “discretion”, all of it are expenses (and expensive). Much of it needs to be paid in advance, like buying passage to the system, and food for the trip (remember, mechwarriors and their mechanics gotta eat). The Objective has to be able to recoup those expenses, and turn a profit at the end.

    As a game-master, it’s your job to make the Objective worth the trip. Hitting a “vault” to come away with loot worth a million C-bils isn’t gonna be enough. Do some homework, figure out what the characters’ expenses are and make certain that, at least based on the intelligence the characters are given, the money is worth their time and efforts.

    For most heists, the opposition isn’t going to be focused directly on protecting the objective. The mercenaries are going to be hitting lightly defended targets. At least initially. Objectives deemed not strategically important won’t be directly garrisoned, and a response to incursions are going to be delayed. This is going to start a timer on the mission. The moment the mercenaries are detected, the garrison will move out to intercept them. Thus, the mercenaries need to be gone by the time the garrison arrives. In these scenarios, a pitched battle is failure and the characters are going to lose.

    This is the point where the game-master needs to drop in twists and hurdles to the plan. Maybe the drop ship is running late, maybe the extraction point has to be moved, maybe the vault isn’t where it’s supposed to be and the characters have to find out where it’s hiding, maybe the garrison isn’t where it’s supposed to be and the characters need to fight their way in.

    Here’s the devil in the details, once the characters have committed to the raid, once they have hired the jumpship and the dropship, it’s too late for them to walk away empty-handed. The point of no return for them was the moment they left for the objective. Aborting the mission after that is a loss, and a significant one at that. Jump ship travel is not cheap, and while Jumpship Captains see themselves as “above” the politics of war, they will make sure they get paid first.

    During the mission, the locals may not appreciate offworld mercenaries dropping in, taking all their stuff and blasting off. They may hate their occupiers, but they won’t stand still and be robbed. Furthermore, the locals know that their Clan occupiers will punish them for the actions of any Inner Sphere mercenaries who raid their settlements. Clan honor demands some sort of consequence for being injured. Even the appearance of collaboration between the locals and the raiders will demand harsh retribution after the mercenaries are long gone with their loot.

    Crossing The Lines

    An exciting option that could start a campaign is playing a group of occupiers that choose to raid their own garrison, and desert or defect. In most cases this is unthinkable. Betraying Clan Honor in this way is The WORST crime imaginable.

    Being “clanners” also puts the defectors in a terrible position. The occupied population hates them, their Clan hates them and the Inner Sphere hates them. From the defectors’ perspective, they don’t speak the language, don’t understand the culture, and don’t have a grasp of how C-Bills work. On the other hand, even second-line garrison troops are head-and-shoulders above most of their Inner Sphere counterparts, their tech, even old clan tech is decades more advanced than Inner Sphere tech. 3051 might be a freebirth or dezgra’s only opportunity to escape the prison of their society and, for as long as they can, live outside the legacy of Nicholas Kerensky’s memory.

    It Comes to an End

    By November of 3051, the Fifth Wave of Operation: REVIVAL is beginning, the Blood-named and elite clan military machine have returned from the Homeworlds. The Outreach Summit had finished by August, and the Inner Sphere had reorganized their defenses. By the end of 3051 the window of opportunity for small units to pull off raids in the Occupied Zone had closed. After the Battle of Tukayyid in May of 3052 would the Clan Invasion halt and the region start to adjust to the new “normal” that would carry forward into the next conflicts and wars.

  • Galley Service in Traveller

    Galley Service in Traveller

    Space food by Tech Level

    Out in the vastness of empty space, Your crew still needs to eat. Whether it’s food-in-a-tube from TL 6, or TL 15 replicated food. Eating also adds (dare I say) “flavor” to an otherwise boring series of downtime activities. The Life Support portion of the monthly Running Costs of operating a Space Ship or Starship covers the most basic nutritional needs for each person on board the ship. Normally running somewhere around Cr 1,000 per stateroom (Cr 3,000 per double occupancy stateroom) and Cr 1,000 per person. This is food that will keep a person adequately fed with some small variety. Sort of like Meals, Ready to Eat packages. This food is designed to travel with a minimum of environmental demand. It doesn’t need refrigerated, it’ll last for years, and is shelf-stable. As anyone who has lived off this for an extended length of time can tell you, the menu gets real old, real fast.

    There are two tech level factors that affect the quality of food on board a ship. The first is the TL of the ship itself, specifically the TL of the Life Support Systems. The second is the TL of the location where the resupply is taking place. Advances in preservation and preparation allow for more palatable and satisfying fare.

    Ship’s Larder

    Starting around TL6, and until TL9 this is some variety of “food in a tube”. TL9 is the lowest tech level where Jump Drive is an option, and this means most ships at these tech levels are intended for in-system travel with voyages lasting weeks. Galleys are luxuries at this stage, and even the most extravagant are little more than a common room with a table, chairs, and a microwave.

    TL 10 and 11 is where “reconstitution” modules are developed. This is more advanced than simply re-hydrating meals with hot water. Reconstiution uses a common base of proteins and carbohydrates to restore food resemble a wide variety of textures, flavors and smells. By the very nature of the process, the food is absent any meat product, though meats can be prepared this way. Still, it’s a critical detail for venturing into the Two-Thousand Worlds. K’kree can scent a meat eater.

    TL 12 through TL13 is where recycling organic matter reaches its peak. At this stage food can be created from compost material. From there, food can be flavored and textured into the desired composition. The process takes a few minutes (roughly 15) and the result can be eaten immediately, or further prepared through any other recipe.

    TL 14 and TL15 is where true food synthesis can create edible footstuffs in nearly any form imaginable. By combining organic chemical elements, Food can be created on demand (so long as those chemical elements remain available) in a matter of moments.

    Resupplying at Port

    Part of Life Support costs are keeping materials on hand. Even at the higher Tech Levels, equipment needs to be serviced, stores need resupplied. However, the quality of rations remain limited by the lower tech level between the ship and the port of resupply.

    TL0 through TL5 is limited to primitive food preservation techniques, smoking, salting, canning. It is possible that if a ship has to resupply here, the crew might be loading pemmican and hard tack like their ancestors on tall ships during the age of sail.

    TL6 through TL8 allow for processing foods, dehydrating and/or industrially preserving it to be shelf-stable.

    At TL9, cryogenic preservation allows for some fresh food to be added to a ships’ stores. Bulk is still an issue, it’s really difficult to miniaturize a side of beef, or a 1000kg bluefin tuna. TL9 is where the food can be maintained in cryogenic storage indefinitely.

    At TL15, stasis is in its infancy but does allow for food to be stored in a state of freshness. Food stored in stasis doesn’t need thawed or reconstituted. It can be prepared and eaten immediately.

    Bread Alone

    Using Life Support in this manner should enhance the immersion in the setting. If it becomes an annoyance in your campaign, don’t lean on it so much. The point is not to punish the characters but to give storytelling material for players to experience. Illustrate how, after months of living off of rations made from reconstituted algae, or recycled garbage and poop the intense pleasure of eating food freshly prepared.

    Think about the scene from the Matrix where the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar is eating their plates of gruel. Then compare it to Cypher eating the steak in the Matrix. The promise of a good meal after months of deprivation makes for a powerful motivator.

    Take the original Star Trek series, their replicated food was multicolored simple solid shapes. Compare that to the Next Generation where the replicator could create food to the taste of the person ordering it, whether it is “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” or “Gakh”, and even the difference between replicated Gakh and when it is served live. As Any Klingon would tell you, Gakh is best served live.

    Science fiction roleplaying should have that same sensory feel. From Captain Pike’s exaggerated home kitchen on board the Enterprise to Luke Skywalker drinking a tall glass of blue milk. Engineers setting up stills to make rot-gut hooch from the basic amino acids and carbohydrate soups in the storage bins, “good for two things, de-greasing engines and killing brain cells” Keeping a bottle of Scotch from Rigel, or a red wine from Chateau Picard. These are ways to breathe life into the downtime stuck in Jump Space.

    Brand Loyalty

    This is also a part of world building for your campaign. Create companies and brands who can supply ships with these supplies. Military ships, of course are supplied by their branch’s quartermaster, but as any Imperial Scout can tell you, the ISS ration menus are “uninspired” to say the least. Adding a common, regional brand to the campaign, think “Triple F Burgers” from the Battletech game, or “Biscuit Baron” from WEG Star Wars. Can add role-playing moment. Smuggling a crate of Romulan Ale has more of a connection to the Star Trek Universe than simply running prohibited spirits through the Federation.

    Having a regional, or even subsector supplier of ships’ rations can give players a reason to head to that area of space.

  • Monsters with Clockwork Hearts

    Monsters with Clockwork Hearts

    The Mazynik of Arjenvís

    The most recent “species” to emerge in Arjenvís are the Mazynik. The Mazynik are a clockwork, machine people made possible through many of the engineering discoveries made by the scholars of the Ynstyuit Yazingyeijny college. They have been a part of the population of Arjenvís for generations at this point. Sadly, the Mazynik in all of their forms have been used as slave labor almost since their inception.

    There are seven primary variants of Mazynik

    • Type I – Tiny Mazynik designed for companionship. The type I are roughly the size of house cats or large rats and their differential brains have the cognitive abilities of a human child.
      • These Mazynik are often programmed for a variety of simple tasks for which their size and general design are suited. Fetching and retrieving small items, delivering small parcels and physical messages (like written notes), cleaning chores, vermin control, and simplistic minor patrolling. Their limbs end in small claws for grasping and gaining traction, and most Type I designs have a small dart launcher built into the body
      • Type I Mazynik can be found nearly anywhere in Arjenvís, including the rivers (for those models adapted for swimming). They are more common in the affluent Canton, like the Stare Miasto, and the Jyarmarck. But even in the slums of the Brzek Krreft, older Type I Mazynik, refurbished from spare parts can be found wandering the narrow alleys on errands or still carrying out instructions from owners who have long forgotten or simply lost them.
    • Type II – Small Mazynik designed as assistants and servants. The type II are the size of a medium to large dog and have the cognitive abilities of an average adult human.
      • These Mazynik are more capable than the smaller Type I models, and are designed to perform functions that demand greater strength and durability. The Type II models are often used to deliver small burdens, perform larger household chores (think “Roomba”), act as guards and sentries, and assist people with complex tasks by providing extra manipulative limbs.
      • Like the Type I, the Type II Mazynik can be found virtually anywhere in Arjenvís. From the estates of the Stare Miasto down to the ghettos of the Brzek Kreft. They are most common in the Jyarmarck, where they are set to delivering packages of purchased goods to destinations, and in the Zmiana, where they work towing barzos along the various canals or working the southern fields.
    • Type III – Human-sized Mazynik designed to be laborers. The type III are the size of an adult human, and have the cognitive abilities similar to the Type I.
      • The Type III Mazynik is a design intended for human-sized menial tasks. Whether household (minor repairs, cleaning, personal assistants) or industrial (labor, or dangerous/ strenuous activity). They are designed and programmed for obedience and servitude, behaving as loyal companions.
      • The Type III Mazynik can be found nearly anywhere in Arjenvís, but are most commonly found in the most wealthy cantons, the most wealthy households and industries, which can afford the expense of purchasing and maintaining the clockwork mechanisms that allow them to function
    • Type IV – Human-sized Mazynik designed for combat as guards or gladiators. The Type IV are also the size of an adult human and have the cognitive abilities similar to the Type II.
      • Type IV Mazynik are designed for heavier labor than the type III or for combat. They often resemble clockwork suits of armor, imposing and dangerous. They are in general human sized, but are larger than most average people.
      • The Type IV are less common than type I, II, or III Mazynik. Partially due to expense, and partially because of the much more narrow scope of their designed functionality. They are most commonly found near properties of the wealthiest citizens of Arjenvís, where they are used as sentries and guards or in the deepest depths of the Czarny Grzbiet Mine, where their immunity to the toxic gasses and their phenomenal physical prowess permit mining veins that would otherwise be impossible.
    • Type V – Large Mazynik the size of an ox or draft-horse. The Type V are designed to pull and carry large, heavy loads, or serve as mounts. They have cognitive abilities similar to the Type I.
      • The Type V Mazynik is very nearly a small vehicle. It’s designed as a six-limbed being, much like a centaur, a quadraped lower body and a humanoid torso. This frame allows for functions that permit the Type V to not only carry a passenger or two, or pull a burden but also manipulate objects with hands. There are Type V variants that are designed as bipedal forms that are nearly twice as large as a typical person, and other design variants that resemble large beasts.
      • Type Vs are much more rare and expensive than the more common Type I, II, or III but they can still be found in all Cantons in Arjenvís. The most common use are along the canals of the Zmiana, and the steep face of the Czarny Grzbiet and Nozca Stok cantons, pulling trolleys and barges.
    • Type VI – Large Mazynik roughly twice the size of an average adult human. The Type VI are designed to command and manage other Mazynik, their differential brains are the most advanced commonly available and they have cognitive abilities that, while still superior to humans as a whole, are within the human spectrum.
      • The Type VI Automat is a very sophisticated clockwork device. It’s nearly the size of a Type V, but has a much more advanced machine intelligence built into it’s design. The Type VI is designed for complex, independent tasks and can adapt to circumstances to an extent that they are still addressed by it’s programming.
      • Type VI are status symbols among the aristocracy of the canton and are seldomly encountered without cause in Arjenvís. They are often employed as automated stewards, chamberlains, or major-domo for households and estates. Many are in service of the Vlatza as supervisors of Type IV and V Automat which function as guards.
    • Type VII – Gargantuan Mazynik the size of buildings, designed to be “smart” buildings the type VII are expensive and rare in the extreme. Type VII can be used for a variety of purposes, from intelligent libraries to self-functioning factories and leisure residences. Type VII support between 1 and six differential brains that function in concert, depending on the Mazynik’s designed purpose. Each brain, taken by itself, have cognitive abilities which vary from that of a child to that of a mature human. When multiple brains are working in concert, the combined brains of a Type VII can perform cognitive feats of genius.
      • The Type VII Mazynik is a building sized clockwork artifact. It’s so big, in fact, that it functions like an actual building, with individuals living and existing within it’s rooms and halls. As such, the Type VII is seldom mobile, but unlike other Mazynik, the Type VII can direct it’s Actions and Abilities within itself as well as without.
      • The Type VII is rare in the extreme. There are but a handful in all of Arjenvís.

    History

    Mazynik were first developed in the manufactory of Kahlazst Vahn Ztiyer. A member of the Vahn Ztiyer household of III Canton, Kahlazst was an Artificer and a minister of the Ynstyuit Ynzingyeijny school in the Kolygiom Zyle Wednye.
    The first Mazynik designed would become the type I and type V, both of these first prototype models were meant to do work as a replacement for beasts and animals. Kahlazst designed what would become the type II as a mechanical assistant.
    These early Mazynik had primitive differential brains by current standards, but were capable of independent action with minimal supervision. As the usefulness of Kahlazst’s Mazynik became more apparent, the two core mechanisms, the differential brain and the corespring were refined and developed into ever more sophisticated iterations. Eventually the Automat was capable of matching most people in terms of intellect, but not creative thought. This made Mazynik very useful for menial labor, guard-work, and heavy labor. They could be programmed with base skills, and their difference brains would adapt them to the environment in which they were operating.

    Anatomy

    Individual Mazynik are designed to perform their directive purposes. They are generally built to resemble people and/or animals that are familiar to most people. The heart of most Mazynik (type I – VI) is the Corespring, which will allow for a day’s operation when fully wound. Type VII instead utilizes a steam engine to maintain a continual operation (so long as the engine remains fueled, that is).

    Genetics and Reproduction

    Mazynik do not reproduce biologically, they are built. They do have the ability, however to manufacture one another. Either with or without the involvement of people. Depending on the resources and facilities available, manufacturing an individual Mazynik will take periods dependent upon their complexity. This includes programming of their differential brains.

    • Type I – 6 to 12 weeks
    • Type II – 6 to 20 weeks
    • Type III – 12 to 28 weeks
    • Type IV – 24 to 48 weeks
    • Type V – 18 to 36 weeks
    • Type VI – 30 to 50 weeks
    • Type VII – one to five years

    Mazynik designed by the same person, persons or factory will share a general resemblance to one another.

    Growth Rate & Stages

    Mazynik do not naturally grow. Their bodies can remain the same throughout their lives (for lack of a better term). However, their differential brains will experience a progression of development that reflects their accumulation of experience up to where their capacity of data storage is reached.
    Juvenile – This is the first stage of cognitive development. The Mazynik has it’s base cognitive routines and can communicate and perform the tasks for which it was designed, but not much outside of that scope.
    Prime – This is a long stage of development where the Mazynik cognitive abilities have expanded to a point where it can formulate and adapt it’s functionality based on learned experiences. Prime stage is recognized when a Mazynik can first adapt independently beyond it’s initial programming and lasts until it’s cognitive storage reaches capacity.
    Fading – This is the last stage of development where the Mazynik’s cognitive abilities have reached a point that to incorporate new experiences and new data, older experiences and older data must be eliminated. This tends to cause the development of eccentricities within the Mazynik’s persona as they begin to “forget” memories they once recalled flawlessly or skills they once had or experiences they once lived. Additionally, fading can also be brought on by damage or wear within the differential brain itself, leading to a diminished capacity.

    Ecology and Habitats

    Mazynik are curious in that they can exist in almost any environment even thrive if they are purpose-designed for those conditions. However, resources available in an urban, technologically sophisticated environment provide the most favorable conditions that Mazynik can function within.

    Dietary Needs and Habits

    Mazynik do not require sustenance in the way that biological species do. So long as their coresprings or engines remain wound or fueled, Mazynik will continue to function. However, Mazynik do require steady maintenance in the form of lubrication of moving parts, cleansing of components, care for and replacement of worn materials, etc.. Going without these essential will lead to malfunctions which can ultimately become critical enough to permanently disable the Mazynik.

    Domestication

    The Mazynik are completely domesticated as a species.  Though some advanced individuals (mostly Type VI and Type VII) can carry out self-directed “manumissions”, Mazynik are designed to follow the direct inclinations and command of those whom they serve.

    Uses, Products & Exploitation

    Mazynik are used in Arjenvís in all manner of menial, labor intensive, and dangerous tasks. They act as servants, laborers, companions, soldiers, even vehicles and homes.  To the powerful and wealthy of the city, they are merely clever tools, or toys to be used until their utility or novelty comes to an end, whereupon they are discarded.

    Naming Traditions

    Industrial, labor, and guard Mazynik are normally designated by a serial code, and recognize themselves when that code is referred to. More personalized Mazynik, those who serve as companions, assistants and servants are often given nicknames by their owners. Finally, there are some Mazynik (mostly type VI, but any sufficiently experienced Mazynik) who will name themselves

    Mazynik and Warforged

    Mazynik are not Warforged. Warforged are sentient beings with agency and free will. Mazynik are automata, and even if they have been given their manumission, they are only an imitation of sentience. Warforged are animated by magic and do not rely on wound clockwork.

    Mazynik are limited in their function. Though they are capable of great proficiency for the jobs they are designed for, they are abysmally incompetent when attempting tasks not related to their purpose. Warforged are as adaptable as any mortal person born and raised.

  • Seers, Tramps and Thieves

    Seers, Tramps and Thieves

    The Caravanserai Who Camp in the City of Miseries

    Not everyone in Arjenvís are monsters, prey, or prisoners. There are one people who know secrets, who travel out beyond the walls of the city to other lands. Despite Arjenvís deepest wishes for no one to escape once locked behind her walls, against the monumental, terrible will of the city who will not let go of the souls in her iron grip. The Caravanserai continue to slip in and out with seeming impunity, bringing rumors of lands beyond the horizon, as well as trading in exotic wares from foreign artisans.

    The Caravanserai camp away from the estates of the aristocracy, setting up in hidden places among the poor neighborhoods or abandoned buildings. Though they can be found in most of the Canton, somewhere, excepting I Canton, the Kziazekyr. Their camps are able to be taken down and moved in a single night.

    Cartomancy

    Of all the various forms of divination, the Caravanserai prefer, excel at cartomancy. The decks used vary from Caravan to Caravan, but the pattern is the same. The Caravanserai Diviner uses the Vaghanesqa Ròdho to read the fortunes of those who search them out.

    Vaghanesqa Ròdho

    The dealer separates the High Deck from the Lesser Deck and shuffles both separately. They place the High Deck to their left and the Lesser Deck to their right. The dealer then deals cards from the High Deck.

    • I. This is the Mandĭn (Fortune) card. It represents what the seeker (the person the reading is for) will become at the end of their journey.
      • this card is dealt face down, perpendicular to the dealer
      • the top of the card (for determining if the card is inverted or not) is the short edge facing to the dealer’s left
    • II. This is the Ègo (Self) card. it represents the seeker as they are at present.
      • This card is dealt face up and crosses the first card
      • the top of the card is the short edge of the card that faces away from the dealer
    • Deal four cards from the High Deck face up starting on the far side of the Self cards and passing clockwise.
      • each card is dealt perpendicular to the last with one short edge facing the cross of the first cards dealt, is the top of the card.
    • III. The Mashkar e Jivendesko (Midwinter) card.
      • dealt to the wheel at twelve o’clock
      • this card represents where the seeker is departing from, and returning to.
    • IV. The Prago e Primaverako (Spring Threshold) card
      • dealt to the wheel at three o’clock
      • this card represents the first leg of the seeker’s journey
    • V. The Mashkar o Milaj (Midsummer) card
      • dealt to the wheel at six o’clock, opposite Mashkar e Jivendesko
      • this card represents the farthest away the seeker journeys from home.
    • VI. The Prago e ćhonesko (Autumn Threshold) card
      • dealt to the wheel at nine o’clock, opposite Prago e Primaverako
      • this card represents the final leg of the seeker’s journey
    • Deal 8 cards from the lesser deck in pairs around the wheel
    • VII. The O vudar (Doorstep) card
      • dealt to the wheel at one o’clock.
      • this card represents that which is sending the seeker on their journey
    • VIII. The Obstàkulo (Obstacle) card
      • dealt to the wheel at two o’clock.
      • this card represents the first challenge to the seeker, holding them back from the Prago e Primaverako and must be overcome before the seeker can cross the Spring Threshold
    • IX. The Amala (Comrades) card
      • dealt to the wheel at four o’clock.
      • this card represents the friend or ally that will help the seeker following the Prago e Primaverako
    • X. The Corripen (Setback) card
      • dealt to the wheel at five o’clock.
      • this card represents a problem or defeat that the seeker must endure before they can move forward to the Mashkar o Milaj
    • XI. The Pauza (Respite) card
      • dealt to the wheel at seven o’clock
      • this card represents the restoration of the seeker following the Mashkar o Milaj
    • XII. The Bibaht (Misfortune) card
      • dealt to the wheel at eight o’clock
      • this card represents unexpected adversity before the seeker can begin their final part of their journey
    • XIII. The Gardeno (Warden) card
      • dealt to the wheel at ten o’clock
      • this card represents the fearsome guardian of the prize the seeker hopes to attain.
    • XIV. The Prèmio (Prize) card
      • dealt to the wheel at eleven o’clock
      • this card represents the reward the seeker earns and brings back to their start at Mashkar e Jivendesko

    After the Prèmio is dealt, the dealer reveals the seeker’s Mandĭn card.

    The Journey

    The reading of the cards is framed as the seeker journeying to discover their fortune. The seeker asks the diviner (dealer) what fortune they want to know. The diviner, as they read the cards, describe what each card means in context of it’s position. Since the four Thresholds (Mashkar e Jivendesko, Prago e Primaverako, Mashkar o Milaj, and Prago e ćhonesko) are dealt before the remainder of the wheel, the reading can only be made after all the cards are dealt.

    Following the Prèmio card being dealt to the wheel, the diviner leads the seeker through the journey of the wheel. The diviner reads the wheel, starting with the Maskar e Jivendesco and Ègo and progressing clockwise.

    The beginning of the journey, represented by the O vudar, Obstàkulo, and the Prago e Primaverako cards are read together as a “Spring Season” of the Journey. Prago e Primaverako translates to “Spring Threshold”. The Spring Season represents the conditions of the journey’s start (the O vudar) and the first real obstacle before arriving at the Spring Threshold (the Obstàkulo). The Spring Threshold card reveals the first turning point of the journey, showing a place or person that will point the seeker forward. It is the reward for taking on the journey.

    The next part of the journey, represented by the Amala, Corripen, and the Mashkar o Milaj cards are read together as a “Summer Season” of the Journey. Mashkar o Milaj is Midsummer and is the midpoint of the journey, The Summer Season is the first half of the pilgrimage through the wilderness towards their fortune. In Summer, allies and comrades are found, setbacks are endured and Midsummer is the threshold to the deepest, and most dangerous part of the journey.

    The deepest part of the journey, represented by Pauza, Bibaht and the Prago e ćhonesko are read together as the “Autumn Season” of the Journey. The Prago e ćhonesko, the Autumn Threshold, is the place where the Self is killed and reborn. The Autumn Season starts with a short rest, but quickly descends into misfortune until the seeker confronts the parts of themselves that they must change before they can complete the journey. These three cards unveil the form that the events take.

    Passing through the deepest shadow of the Autumn Threshold the end of the journey is represented by Gardeno, Prèmio, and the Mashkar e Jivendesko cards. Read together, these cards are the “Winter Season” and when the Mashkar e Jivendesko is read, signifying the return of the seeker to where they started, the Mandĭn is revealed showing the seeker what their fortune makes them into.

    Storytelling with Divination

    Divination like cartomancy can be effective in helping Game Masters and Players tell stories at the table. Beyond the scene where the fortune-teller lays cards out on their velvet table, the fortunes themselves become the seed of new stories. This can be utilized to develop bespoke adventures that are tailored to the characters.

    When developing story in this manner, the reading should be for the entire group as a whole, instead of individuals. While personal, individual readings can motivate the subject directly, it does focus a lot of the burden on that character and the other members of the party can start to feel like sidekicks. Even in a focused reading, as GM, make sure to include the other characters in the interpretation.

    An option, likely the simplest, but still, the most challenging to design around is to use the reading as a form of emergent storytelling. Neither the GM, nor the players know what the cards are going to tell them, and when the reading is complete, there is an outline for a story arc. Everyone involved should make notes about the reading, because those notes will maintain a level of consistency and fate to the adventure as it progresses. As a GM, consult with the players as to what they want the fortune to mean for their characters. The point here is to follow the player’s choices and interpret their fortune, not to build a railroad that forces them onto the predetermined route to the end.

    A second option, which requires a little more work, but will be easier to design around is to stack the deck prior to the reading. Again, with the players’ input, figure out what they want the fortune to mean. The GM then can select cards and place them in an order that will conform to the players’ intentions. Again, everyone should take notes regarding the reading, and the point remains to follow these designs to guide the characters to their fortune, and avoid railroading them to a destination.

    A third option is to use the divination as a Red Herring. This is not to suggest that the divination is false, but that interpretations vary and can mislead. As with the previous options, it’s up to the Game Master and Players to discuss as to what the fortune means. However, the GM should re-interpret the reading to subvert the players’ intentions towards their characters.

    The Vaghanesqa Ròdho is designed to resemble the Hero’s Journey to make the design of a narrative easier. The four thresholds serve as turning points in the story with the lesser cards acting as story elements. Other reading layouts can be adapted with a little thought and effort. Divinations are ways of telling the story of the future regardless of the means used to tell fortunes.

    .

  • Religion in the City of Miseries

    Religion in the City of Miseries

    The Doctrine of the Vyara Zabor Church and the Faith of Cults

    Within Arjenvís, there is but one recognized religious institution, the Vyara Zabor Church. The Church provides a structure and stability to the lives of Arjenvís’ citizens which the Vlatza or the Boyars of the Canton cannot. The Priesthood comforts, the Biurokratyzm manages, and the Inquisition enforces Church Doctrine. The divine mysteries of the Vyara Zabor Church are reserved for these institutions, the faithful need not know anything more than service to Arjenvís in this life will be rewarded with joy everlasting in the next.

    While the Vyara Zabor Church is the sole legal religion in Arjenvís, there remain several underground cults operating in secret and offering a personal connection with the subject of worship. All are outlawed by law and each cult cell is under constant threat of being attacked by the Inquisition and it’s congregation condemned to torture and execution.

    The Vyara Zabor Church

    The Vyara Zabor Church predates Arjenvís, being but one of many faiths in the region. When the city was founded, Xiezer Dzynis had brought his personal Praladt, Sorzhya Judtzhrenka and she gave the blessings of the Sun-Father over the founding of the settlement. When the first canton were established, Praladt Sorzhya established a temple to the deities of the Vyara Zabor Church and invited priests to serve as faculty within the new temple.


    The Vyara Zabor Church grew along with Arjenvís, enjoying support from the Vlatza of the Kziazekyr (I Canton) and the Boyars of the others. As the city grew larger and larger, the Biurokratyzm also became more deeply rooted in the byzantine administration of Church and City. Prelate Sorzhya’s successor, Aandton became Starszy Praladt, an office which evolved into the modern Arzykapwan.


    A little more than five hundred years before the present day, the magical prowess of the priesthood began to wane. As priests lost the ability to work divine magic over the decades, the Arzykapwan Carythni declared the age of miracles to have ended, and Church doctrine branded the practice of divine magic to be heretical and the work of fiendish spirits. The order of the Inquisition was established to enforce this doctrine throughout Arjenvís.

    Today, the Vyara Zabor Church no longer worships the deities that Praladt Sorzhya brought to the founding of the city so many years ago. The stories surrounding those deities are dismissed as mythology, and used as metaphorical lessons to teach the young lessons in morality, rather than introducing them to the power and majesty of the pantheon.

    The Vyara Zabor Church defends and perpetuates the class distinctions within Arjenvís.  It is through the doctrine of the Church that the lot of the poor classes remain in servitude to the aristocracy.  All social traditions, childbirth, prayer, marriage, work and service are dictated by the Church and in some cases (mostly revolving around work and marriage) enforced by the Boyars.

    The object of worship of the Vyara Zabor Church in Arjenvís is the city itself.  Arjenvís is presented as mother and father both, and the people as children of the city itself.  To this end, the Vyara Zabor Church prohibits worship of any competing Deity or Faith.

    The Vyara Zabor Church is a hierarchical organization with their head in the office of the Arzykapwan (ar-zee-KAP-van). They preside over the council of Praladt who in turn preside over the church Priesthood.

    The Biurokratyzm, however is far more politically powerful, being the church administrators. Often it is the Zarzad (the Administrative Directorate) which selects the members of the Paladt when the seats need filled. It falls to the clerks within the Biurokratyzm to maintain the records and collect the tithings.

    The Inquisition enforces the orthodoxy of the Church, investigating heresy and punishing those who stray beyond the doctrine. The Inquisition operates outside of the hierarchy of the Vyara Zabor Church, answerable to the Praladt council and the Arzykawan. Individual Inquisitors have broad authority to pursue their investigations into heresy throughout Arjenvís acting as judge, jury and executioner. The Wylki Inkvizyor (weel-KEE ink-VEEZ-eeor) or “Grand Inquisitor” sits in supreme judgment of Church Dogma, subject only to the authority of the Arzykapwan.

    The Vyara Zabor Church is very rigid in it’s traditions and insistence on being the sole legal Church in Arjenvís. Priests minister to their congregations, reinforcing Zaborisc doctrine and dogma through sermons and acting as the authority between the Church and the people.

    When someone joins the Priesthood or the Biurokratyzm, they leave their families behind, swearing their first allegiance to the Church itself in the person of the Arzykapwan. Marriages are encouraged to remain internal to this subculture, with children born of these unions dedicated to the church in the same manner as their parents.

    If anyone within the Church hierarchy wishes to marry outside it, they are required to expunge themselves from their duty and position before doing so. Such people must acquire dispensation from the Biurokratyzm, and though the process is legal, it is strongly discouraged. Those who do expunge themselves in this manner find themselves (and their spouses and children) forsaken by both Church and shunned by the citizenry.

    Outlaw Cults and Heresy

    Even after the Arzykapwan Crythni wrote the Proclaimation of Orthodoxy and declared the worship of deities heresy, some people within Arjenvís clung to faith in their old Gods. Relics and artifacts were hidden, shrines were moved to secret, hidden places. Clerics, especially those blessed by their gods with power over the undead were forced to keep their magic hidden lest they be dragged before the Inquisition and judged.

    The Sun-Father was the original patron deity of Arjenvís. Some of the evidence of faith continues to live on within the Vyara Zabor Church in runes and symbols. But ever since the Morning of the Black Dawn, the Sun-Father’s connection to Arjenvís has weakened almost to nothing. Still, there are very small cults throughout the city that look to the sky during Midsummer and pray that the Sun-Father returns and delivers Arjenvís from the monsters and misery

    The Suffering Martyr is a deity that is widespread among the lower classes. The deity is an exemplar of resilience and endurance in the face of horrible adversity. The Suffering Martyr is a deity of hope and mercy. Within the Brzek Kreft there is a miracle, a well, the Zdnuthia Issekah provides clean, fresh water. It has resisted all attempts to tear it down (it is back on the following morning) or befoul the waters (the poisons and pollutants are purified the moment they contact the water in the well) or even prevent people from visiting the well (there are ruins surrounding the plaza where the well rests that stand testament to all the times the Vyara Zabor Church or the Boyars (except for the Mysv) tried to wall the location off). It is a divine miracle in the face of denial. The Inquisition maintains a watch over the location and tries to discover the identities of people who come to the well and draw water.

    Of course there are multiple Feindish cults in Arjenvís, even among the Aristocracy, promising power, wealth, luxury, anything the mortal heart desires. Representatives of most of the Demon Lords and Archdevils can be found as the guides and objects of devotion of one cult or another. Still, the authorities of Arjenvís and the Inquisition zealously hunt these cults down and crush them. For Arjenvís holds a monopoly on inflicting misery, and jealously guards her domain.

    Monsters in Priestly Vestments

    Like all who are in positions of authority within Arjenvís, the leadership of the Vyara Zabor Church are all monsters. Primarily, they are predatory intelligent undead (vampires, ghouls, liches and so forth). This is one of many reasons that Divine magic and Clerical abilities are outlawed in Arjenvís, after all, it wouldn’t do for the undead masters of the Church to turn themselves.

    But, there is an additional layer of monstrosity within the Vyara Zabor Church. Even though the undead in leadership often possessed near-miraculous abilities (or at least abilities that could be presented as “miraculous”, there are both undead and mortal clergyfolk that are sworn to Arjenvís as Warlocks.

    The City of Miseries as a Warlok Patron The Undying (from the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide supplement). This patron should not be generally be available to player characters, since the theme of most campaigns in Arjenvís is the struggle to escape and survive the city. The abilities of the Undying patron Warlock, like the powers of the undead mentioned above are often passed as miracles and blessings from Arjenvís. The Warloks also serve to undermine the power of Divine Magic in the city, presenting the façade that the Vyara Zabor Church bestows power and blessings on it’s faithful too, through the priesthood of course.

    Conclusion

    The City of Miseries does not abide a challenge to it’s control over the suffering of it’s people. She jealously guards her possession of the people who live within her walls and obsesses over the mortals she steals from other worlds and cities. The comfort and hope that the Gods can bring to the people of Arjenvís is not tolerated. Mercy is not a luxury that can be found here, even by the wealthiest, and most powerful denizens. The Vyara Zabor Church sees to that.

  • Rats in the Slums

    Rats in the Slums

    The Wererats of Arjenvís

    VIII Canton, the Brzek Kreft (“verge of blood”), is home to the least and lowest of the inhabitants of Arjenvís. It stretches along the Southeastern bank of the Nozca Kreft river below the Jyarmarck (VII Canton), East of the Nozca Stok (III Canton), and wraps along the Linia Rynkowa road (the “Market Line” the border between the Jyarmarck and the Brezk Kreft) all the way East to the bottom of the Prohodt (“processional”), the road that leads from the great gates of Arjenvis to the seat of Arjenvís power, the Kziazekyr.


    The Brzek Kreft, is a warren of tight alleys, ramshackle buildings and workhouses. For the first 60 years of Arjenvís, the Brzek Kreft was a semi-permanent shantytown that grew outside the walls of the founding Cantons. Homeless and undesirable people denied a place to live within the walls of the city congregated here.


    The laborers in the Black Ridge Mines crowd the workhouses of the Trzy Makti (the “Three Mothers”) and are daily marched through the Wohz Wohlu Gate into the Norzca Stok canton. On the far side of VIII Canton, The Dommzey Tzlote workhouse provides laborers to the industrial fisheries on the Norzca Kreft river.

    The maze of alleys and narrow streets that form the VIII Canton

    The Lords of the Lowest

    Unlike the other canton which climb the slopes of the Judoas Kraigas, the river bottom of Brzek Kreft is ruled by a complex network of cartels that control competing territories throughout the slum.

    The leadership of the cartels are the nearest monsters to humanity in all of Arjenvís. Wererats. The wererat curse affects most mortal people. Humans, Halflings, Dwarves, even Orcs and Goblinkind can be brought into a nest of wererats.

    The head of the largest cartel in the Brzek Kreft, the Svenzy sits on the council of Boyars for all of Arjenvís. Called “The Myzj”, this lord of wererats may not be the strongest, or the most powerful wizard or priest of the city, but they have the tightest control over VIII Canton. Every rat from the banks of the Nozca Kreft river to the walls surrounding the First Canton, the Kziazkeyr are their spies. Even the mighty Striogi Boyars and the Vlatza himself cannot fully control the legions of rats as effectively as the Myzj.

    Wererats, even the wererats of the Brzek Kreft live in symbiotic community with both the people and the rats of the cities they inhabit. They remain monstrous, their curse pushing them to acts of violence and depravity, the spreading of urban entropy throughout their domains. At the same time, they need mortals to live amongst. Unlike more predatory monsters like Vampires, Ghouls and Werewolves, wererats cohabitate rather than dominate.

    Ironically, the mortals of the Brzek Kreft are, as a rule, happier than the residents of the more prosperous canton in Arjenvís. The wererats of the cartels, while preventing Brzek Kreft from developing beyond the poor slum that it has been since it grew out of the shantytown along the shore of the Nozca Kreft don’t visit horrors among their mortals. The least of the citizens of Arjenvís are thereby shielded from the nightly predations of the nobility.

    A Slum of Ghettos

    The Brzek Kreft is divided into several Ghettos.  Some, like the Ratzveny ghetto is centered around an institution, in this case the Szvenzy Cartel and the Myzj. Other ghettos are ethnic enclaves, like Hravzton, where Goblins, Halflings and Gnomes have built a community scaled to accommodate their stature, or the Klaarg, where the Szef of the Kuznia presides over his clan of Dwarves.  Still others are defined by their architecture or location like the Zdunthia Issekah or the Obuz.  In all cases a ghetto is governed by its own cartel. Those cartels, much like the ghettos themselves are constantly changing as their fortunes rise and fall.

    The Brzek Kreft has little in the way of formal infrastructure.  Its streets are not uniformly wide, nor uniformly paved (if they’re paved at all).  The sewers are a chaotic tangle of warren-like tunnels which are barely adequate for the purpose of draining rainfall from the streets, and wholly inadequate for keeping the place free of filth.  Brzek Kreft began as a shantytown, and in the decades since has only grown.

    The two primary industries in the Brzek Kreft are the workhouses which provide cheap labor to the factories and mines throughout Arjenvís, and the fisheries along the Nozca Kreft river which process the cheapest catches and unsold fish from the markets at the end of the day.

    It deserves mentioning that prostitution, or similar sex-work is not considered illicit, nor confined to the Brzek Kreft. While the cartels certainly use the profession as a means to generate revenue and provide services to the population, a prostitute, courtesan, or exotic dancer is no more or less specialized than a dockworker or a tradesman. Even in a City of Miseries, sex work remains work.

    Factions Within the Brzek Kreft

    The largest and most powerful organization within the Brzek Kreft is the Szvenzy Cartel. The Szvenzy receive tribute and fealty from all the other cartels eventually, whether directly as a “tax”, or indirectly when smaller cartels pay their tribute to the cartels over them.

    There are several major cartels that rival the Szvenzy, but are as yet unable to challenge them.

    1. The Lukzen Klaarg is an extended clan of people from an underground ancestry, Dwarves, Goblins,some Orcs and some Humans. The Lukzen both run the sewers beneath the Brzek Kreft and the miners who work the Czarny Grzbiet mine. All cartels of course operate in all facets of life within the Brzek Kreft, but the Lukzen are very successful as smugglers, avoiding the city’s more oppressive taxes and supplying various forms of contraband.
    2. The Ezka Cartel operate along the banks of the Nozca Kreft river along both banks, they jealously guard this lucrative terriroty. Only the Szvenzy are permitted to operate in the Ezka territory freely, and only then because the Ezka are unable to stop them.
    3. The Sheroty Cartel work near and within the Jyarmarck markets. They run protection, and petty theft there as well as extortion, blackmail, and secrets. The Sheroty adopt young, often orphaned or otherwise neglected children to become a part of their cartel, and as these children grow into adults, they are free to join other cartels in the Brzek Kreft or remain as recruiters or lieutenants of the Sheroty.
    4. The Toleria Cartel run most of the gambling houses and games in the Brzek Kreft. They loan money, regulate the houses and arrange events for their customers to wager on. While not as refined as the high stakes games that the more affluent cantons offer, these events do draw aristocratic patronage in the form of “slumming”.
    5. The Pralnia Cartel fence stolen goods throughout the Brzek Kreft. They also sanction and regulate many of the larger robberies of Noble households, and launder the more recognizable loot. The Pralnia Cartel also adjudicates and administers contract theft for clients
    6. The Zrebne Cartel is the only cartel in Brzek Kreft that engages in only one activity. The Zrebne are assassins and contract killers. They do not engage in other rackets that other cartels do. They are also not the exclusive cartel that engages in contract murder. They are the premier organization that can be employed for contract killings, and the Zrebne Cartel collect contracts throughout Arjenvís.
    7. The Vyara Zabor Church aggressively maintains a presence in the Brzek Kreft. The Priesthood is most prominent here. Since there is very little political influence Brzek Kreft has within Arjenvís itself, the Biurokratyzm are much less interested in the slum. Indeed, administrative assignment to the Ozmye Skron temple is considered a “punishment posting” among the ambitious clerics. The Inquisition is very active in Brzek Kreft as the crowded, lawless slum and it’s ghettos teeming with the desperate poor is ever rife with heresy. Most of the Inquisitorial order within the church begin their careers here, since opportunity to exercise their authority is abundant and oversight is lax.

    It’s October, and spooky season, so for this month I’ll be exploring my Fantasy Horror setting of Arjenvís, originally introduced in this blog here. Happy Halloween if you celebrate, or Samhain, or Dia de los Muertos. Stay safe, have fun, and brave your fears.

  • The Triangle

    The Triangle

    Adapting the Classic FASA Trek Campaign Setting

    There is a sector of space in the old FASA Star Trek tabletop RPG game that rests where the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire meet. It is a collection of hundreds of inhabited systems independent of control from any of the three major powers in the Quadrant. It was published in 1985, right in the middle of the Original Series movie run, just after Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and before Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home. Two years before Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in 1987.

    It Looks Small on the Map

    A colorized map of the Triangle, originally published by FASA in 1985, though I don’t know who to credit with the colorized graphics of this image1

    When compared to the full map of the Alpha/ Beta quadrants of the Star Trek Universe, the Triangle Secor is small. Only a handful of parsecs on each side. However, as discussed in the article O God, Thy Sea is so Great, even at this scale, the sector is vast, 243.25 ly3 (a very rough estimate for illustrative purposes based on the map scale.) It’s got 75 star systems that are listed, with the potential for hundreds more. Warp Drives at least capable of Warp Factor 5 (125 C in TOS Warp Scaling) or Warp 3.58 (in TNG Scaling) would be necessary to voyage between most systems in less than a year.

    Warp Factor in Star Trek was expressed in different scales depending on the era of the show or movie. In The Original Series, the Warp Factor was the cube root of it speed measured against the Speed of Light (C). In The Next Generation onwards, the function was speed = Warp Factor ^ 10/3 x C with Warp Factor 10 being a limit at infinity. It’s all made up numbers anyway, but having a solvable function allows for measurable consistency.2

    This would be relatively slow for the era that the Triangle Campaign was originally designed for, being the TOS movie era. However, in context, the TOS movies (and TOS television episodes) were about the Constitution Class cruiser Enterprise and her 5 year mission into deep space. Civilian Freighters, and Patrol Cruisers don’t need engines capable of speeds at 512 C for an area like the Triangle.

    A Near Frontier

    The Triangle remains unclaimed by any of the three powers which border it. Though the Federation, Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire keep watchful presences in the sector, mainly watching one another, none of them have any authority nor jurisdiction out here. This has allowed the Triangle to develop into a sector of free worlds, pocket empires, pirate havens and homestead colonies.

    This environment is similar to the interstellar frontiers past the claimed systems of the major powers in the quadrant. Except, in the Triangle, the Federation, Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire have spread to encompass this sector, creating a pocket between them. Unlike the borders and neutral zones between any two of these empires, this area is tri-lateral, which has made establishing a negotiated border impossible. It would take all three powers to agree to the details of any such treaty which, especially in the era that the supplement was set, could not be possible.

    Instead, the worlds of the Triangle are in a perpetual state of Cold War between the surrounding empires. Each exerting influence against the others, brokering deals, using the sector as a place to infiltrate rivals while maintaining deniability. The settlements within the Triangle swing from being willing pawns in this conflict to brokers making a profit off of the espionage. Especially the multi-system alliances and pocket empires are very good at extracting technological and political resources from one major power or the others to expand their own influence among their neighbors.

    Unconstrained Capitalism, Cartel Piracy, Syndicated Privateers

    Of course the Triangle is a fertile environment for less “formal” powers in Alpha and Beta Quadrants to conduct themselves in the open without entanglements from the overwhelming influence of the major powers in the quadrants. The Ferengi Alliance and Orion Syndicates are less restrained in the sector, free to operate unconstrained and with the power of their polities to back them up. After all, any one Syndicate or the Ferengi Alliance is vastly more powerful in all respects than any pocket empire, or alliance within the Triangle.

    But the presence of the Syndicates and the Ferengi has a stabilizing influence. Freelance piracy or raiding has to operate quietly, or risk attracting attention from the Syndicates. The safer option for these small, independent operations is to operate under the sanction of one of the Syndicates or another.

    There is no Section 31

    The three major powers operating in the Triangle, while not projecting a Naval or Fleet presence into the sector, instead the intelligence agencies operate with very little oversight. Starfleet Intelligence, Imperial Klingon Intelligence, and the Romulan Tal Shiar all play a dangerous game of cloak-and-dagger, peddling influence among the local systems and simultaneously weakening their rival powers. Missions in the Triangle revolve around all the classic spy operations, theft, intelligence gathering, assassination, and turning agents.

    When this supplement was published in 1985, Section 31 had not been added to the Star Trek Universe, so it isn’t called out in the Triangle, or the Triangle Campaign. Truthfully, the Ferengi Alliance isn’t called out either, since they won’t make an appearance in Star Trek for another two years in The Next Generation. Just because the source material from the time is too early to have current elements of Star Trek, that is no reason why we can’t fill them in to our TTRPG campaigns.

    Section 31, is at it’s best when it “doesn’t exist” in the setting. When it was first introduced in Deep Space Nine, the organization was a secret institution within the Federation and Star Fleet Intelligence community. The Federation has the Diplomatic Corps, Starfleet has it’s Intelligence Branch, both of these organizations are acknowledged publicly and operate with oversight from their respective service branches. Ultimately, the Diplomatic Corps and Starfleet Intelligence have to answer to the Federation Government. Section 31, because it’s deniable, has no such oversight. Which in a setting that features Cold-War style espionage makes for a great antagonist.

    Since Section 31 is really well known among the audience of Star Trek today, the subject will most likely show up. This presumption can be really well used by a GM. “It’s a Section 31 plot”, is a red herring that never stops giving gifts. It’s almost never a Section 31 plot. Don’t accuse your players of metagaming, instead concede their characters (especially if they have Federation backgrounds in the Diplomatic Corps, or Starfleet Intelligence) have heard rumors since the academy that “Section 31” as some sort of bogeyman. If the players wish to play a campaign as Section 31 agents, that works as well, but working for an unaccountable secret agency isn’t morally grey, it’s morally void. As the old saying goes “be careful what you wish for”.

    The Ship is an NPC

    This is an element core to Star Trek. Even a city-sized capital ship like the Galaxy Class has a personality and identity that makes it more than just a collection of engines, hull and circuits. Even in The Original Series era, the ship’s computer has voice interface and a personality. Heck, it had to be voice-acted by Majel Barret Roddenberry for years.

    In the Triangle, the ship the characters crew is much smaller. To borrow an element from the classic West End Games’ Star Wars Role Playing Game, the ship can best be described as the Stock Light Freighter. The crew of the ship should be small enough that the characters can run it on their own, but can support a small number of specialists and support crew (which is a great source of replacement characters in the field). Unlike the standard Star Trek campaign, the Triangle doesn’t feature big Cruisers, even the multi-thousand ton heavy freighters are not appropriate for the player ship, though the big freighters can be the subject of an adventure.

    Technology is a Tell

    Phasers (both hand phasers and shipboard) are distinctive Federation weapons. There is a distinct difference between a Romulan and Klingon Cloaking Device (the Romulans have a much more refined Cloak), Bat’leth are Klingon martial weapons with a long cultural history of martial arts surrounding it. This all means that the equipment and the technology a crew of characters use can reveal who they’re working for if they aren’t careful.

    Disruptors are common enough weapons that their origin really reveals nothing about the person using it. It’s kind of like the “AK-47” of the Star Trek Universe. This applies to the hand Disruptor, and the shipboard weapon system. Tricorders, Communicators, Universal Translaters, Transporters are all common in the Star Trek setting and don’t raise much suspicion. After all, the Ferengi trade in everything!

    Hand Phasers, especially the Type I phaser (the little palm-sized device) is almost designed for espionage. Unlike Disruptors, the Phaser can be set to stun, wound, disintegrate, heat matter, and doesn’t look like a weapon. This was originally a feature used by Starfleet to arm their crews without presenting as carrying weapons. The “stun” setting allows to subdue adversaries without killing them. For Pirates and Espionage Agents, this is a valuable little device, concealable, innocuous and capable of stunning a target for later interrogation (or ransom), or disintegrating them and leaving no evidence (or witnesses) behind.

    The Prime Directive Doesn’t Apply

    The Triangle Sector has been settled for a century or more. The worlds have been visited by the Syndicate, Ferengi Merchants, the Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire, none of whom restrain themselves with a “Prime Directive”. Even undiscovered worlds (with a few exceptions) have had encounters with warp capable civilizations. Federation, or Starfleet sponsored crews are not expected to adhere to the Prime Directive like their counterparts out in the exploration branch of their service. Intelligence Operatives are expected to prioritize the mission over considerations like the Prime Directive. (And, of course “Section 31” doesn’t play by the rules anyway.)

    The various interstellar alliances and pocket empires in the sector also have no Prime Directive restraining their development. In fact the interstellar rivalries, supported by the major powers are constantly seeking any advantages they can get. This could lead to adventures where the characters are hired to smuggle technology to local governments.

    Latinum Pays the Bills

    Federation characters have to learn how to conduct trade with money in the Triangle. Since they come from a post-scarcity civilization and “have no use for money”, In the Triangle, however, only worlds that are directly supported by the Federation (like the Baker’s Dozen worlds) use the proxy currency of Federation Credits. Everybody else uses either local currency, or thanks to the Ferengi Alliance, gold pressed latinum.

    Federation characters who go through the Federation Diplomatic Core or Starfleet Intelligence should have as part of their skill list a skill that allows them to use money. In Traveller, which is the system the author is most familiar with, this is represented by the “Broker” or “Trader” skills. Star Trek Adventures and other game systems will have similar skills to cover this function. Understanding how to conduct commerce with cash-money isn’t difficult, the skill rolls that will come from these challenges will represent the character’s understanding of value. Buying a replacement coil-inducer for the plasma conduit (mmm.. that’s some good engineering babble there) from your friendly local Ferengi will require a skill check, and failure would result .at the minimum. in overpaying. Other consequences could apply, the merchant could sell the character a less-than-quality item by talking them out of the part they picked out in the first place.

    Without having a culture of money, it’s just hard to judge the value of a strip of latinum. After all, in the Federation all most people need to do is walk over to the replicator and say “Earl grey, decaf” and they get a nice cuppa. Walking into space-Starbucks and ordering a venti raktagino-mokka will require an exchange of money for goods. Considering raktagino is a Klingon drink, the person selling it to might react violently when the character tries to explain that they don’t have the latinum on them right now.

    The skill check can also take the place of keeping a ledger of how much money the character has. If the skill roll succeeds, the character has the money on hand and can buy the thing. If the skill roll fails, they can’t affoard it.

    The purpose here is to make the setting feel more Star Trek. If using money is casual, then it doesn’t feel like the characters come from a society that doesn’t use money. It also allows for those characters who do know how to sling some latinum (like Beckett Mariner from Lower Decks) to have moments of shining in the spotlight. Other factions could face similar challenges. Klingons from the Empire might find trading in latinum to be a slight on their honor. Romulans might only trade in Imperial currency because holding money that isn’t authorized by the Empire could be seen as treasonous.

    Now, slip out of that maroon uniform and into some civilian clothes, belt on a holster and your disruptor and take your Free Trader into the Triangle.

  • A Fist Full of C-Bills

    A Fist Full of C-Bills

    ..and A Pocket-full of Credits

    Science Fiction money takes many forms. From primitive cultures trading precious baubles to vast financial networks that process electronic and digital transactions through subspace and hyperspace communications. For adventurers with bills to pay, the way they access their money can be a challenge as they jump from one star system to the next. This article relates to some ideas posted in O God, Thy Sea is so Great and Money Makes the World Go ‘Round.

    Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

    In our real world, budgets and finance can get detailed. Most of us have had the experience of scraping every corner and couch cushion for loose change to go down to the corner store with. Some of the reasons we play role-playing games is to take a break from worrying about if we can afford that extra box of mac-and-cheese or not.

    The “small stuff” can all be abstracted into lifestyle. In Traveller, lifestyle is related to the Social Standing characteristic (at least in the Third Imperium setting). Adventurers with a low lifestyle, sleep in a fleabag flat and eat kibble from a grey box labeled “food”, those with a high lifestyle, stay in luxury apartments and eat fresh, or exotic meals. Don’t dwell too much on the details though, lifestyle is a player choice for their adventurers, there might be a regular cost, or not. Keep the action focused on the adventure and not the downtime.

    Sometimes, the Small Stuff is the Adventure

    This is different from looking over character sheets and noticing if a character has enough centi-credits to live well during the adventure. These are adventures where the characters have lost access to their normal resources. The bank fails, they’re robbed, a new government won’t accept their money (the classic “we don’t accept Federation Credits, only Gold Pressed Latinum”). The objective on these adventures is to survive without money until they recover their means to rejoin the markets.

    Speaking of Gold Pressed Latinum

    In the main cultures of most sci-fi settings, currency is electronic. (Think cryptocurrency, but hyper-efficient). In cultures where technology is advanced enough to manage an interstellar society, this form of currency is practical and mostly efficient. It also reduces incidents of fraud, the possibility of devaluation because some explorer discovers a colossal source of precious metal, or a technology like the Star Trek replicator is developed. Data as currency is extremely efficient to use. Anyone who has made a purchase with a card over the internet has experienced this convenience.

    While efficient and convenient, even at highly technically advanced cultures, there remains a need for a more physical currency. In Star Trek, that’s “Gold Pressed Latinum” which is made from a unreplicatable, rare, element suspended in gold. Other settings use similar things, though in places like the Inner Sphere, or the 3rd Imperium, that sort of hard currency is tied to the electronic economy and minted by the governmental authority.

    Hard currency has another benefit. Cold, hard, cash is difficult to trace. Especially over interstellar distances. Tracing technology can be defeated, and unlike bills, or proxy currency, as any Ferengi can tell you “Latinum is Latinum everywhere in the galaxy”. For crews and companies that don’t want to leave a trail of money behind them as they operate, sometimes across hostile borders, having a valuable, difficult to track currency is a must.

    From an adventuring perspective, hard currency gives a fun æsthetic for heist or treasure-seeking adventures. Think about the old World War 2 Movie “Kelly’s Heroes”, that would work so well in the Battletech Universe. A group of mercs learning about a cache of hard currency, like a bank in occupied territory and taking an “unauthorized expedition” to grab the vault before it gets moved somewhere “safe”. Most of the ideas presented in, Money Makes the World Go Round, can be applied, especially with regards to what happens after your holds are filled with pallets of currency.

    Battlemechs, Tanks, Space Fighters, and Starships

    Big ticket items are common in Science Fiction settings. What would Star Wars be without the Millenium Falcon? Hammer’s Slamers without Grav Tanks? Gundam without Mobile Suits? In most settings, the characters belong to organizations that assign them to their war machines or ships. Maintenance for these big ticket items is covered by the organization.

    But in settings where the characters are the crew of a Free Trader, or the pilots of a mercenary company of Battlemechs, these costs are a foundation of the campaign. We see this in Firefly, “Find a crew, find a job, keep flying”. Star Wars Episode IV also shows this off. Han Solo is charging 10,000 to take Ben and Luke to Alderran. He’s in debt to Jabba who is threatening his ship. Point being, everything involved with these big ticket items are expensive. From purchasing them to maintaining them to repairing or improving them. Costs run into the millions of credits, and they’re recurring. Ships need fuel, weapons eat ammunition, crew need food, water and air on long space journeys.

    When designing adventures, the Game Master needs to take the costs into account when they’re adding rewards. The adventurers need to make enough money to cover their expenses while turning a profit. This pushes this style of campaign into a higher scale of economy. While a group of scoundrels may well be able to retire from adventuring and “go legit” if they score a million C-bills, in a campaign that revolves around a company of Big Stompy Robots, that same million C-bills might cover two or three months of maintenance. For the owners of a starship a single Megacredit will run out quick, fast, and in a hurry.

    Filling Contracts

    Especially in Mercenary campaigns, contracts are common. These are great for Game Masters and Players Alike. Contracts outline what the adventure is expected to be. Where to go. What to do, and how much the compensation is going to be at the end. Longer term contracts can also include covering maintenance, repair, and fuel, relieving the players from that accounting for a time.

    Contracts are not only applicable to the mercenary campaign. Worlds can contract free traders to deliver mail to them, or maintain trade with nearby systems, free traders can serve as a temporary solution to these systems until they build their own fleets and infrastructures. Still, it’s an opportunity for characters to go places, do things, and have adventures.

    Many settings have an independent authority to mediate contracts and enforce their terms. The Mercenary Review Board in Battletech, merchant guilds, megacorporate syndicates, Imperial ministries, serve these roles as arbiter, and holds payment in escrow until the terms of a contract are fulfilled. But some science-fiction settings do not. Crews need to negotiate guarantees and protections for themselves, as do the parties they are contracting with. For a GM, this can lead to double-crosses, backstabs and other creative ways to introduce twists in an adventure that threatens to become boring.

    Outrunning Your Mortgage

    Especially in settings like Traveller, where interstellar communications travel at the speeds of the fastest courier as described in O God, Thy Sea is so Great. A group of adventurers can skip their bank note on their big ticket item. Jumping out to the fringe of “civilized” space and joining the pirates and nomads and homesteaders out past the perimeter. Or, in a setting where wars rage between empires, hiding from their lien-holder in one empire by escaping into it’s rival.

    This is in essence, stealing the things that are mortgaged. Considering star ships, battlemechs, tanks and space fighters are really really expensive the finances won’t just write off the loss. After all, the characters just ran off with tens of millions of C-Bills (or Megacredits) of their money. Collection agents, Repo men, Skip-tracers and Bounty Hunters will follow the ship, and the characters everywhere they go. Running them down, even out on the periphery to drag them and their ship back to face consequences.

    Characters can run, they can even run fast, but they’ll never run far enough to ever be comfortable not looking over their shoulder. Even Han Solo ended up in carbonite, hanging as a trophy in Jabba the Hutt’s palace.

  • The Guild Empire

    The Guild Empire

    ..and Eldritch Suns

    Years ago just after the third Pirates of the Carribean movie, I was inspired to design a Spelljammer setting. I called it “Eldritch Suns” and it used a lot of the worldbuilding from Disney’s Treasure Planet. Solar sails, magic cannon, wheellock pistols and cutlasses. Like Treasure Planet, the setting would take 75% age of Sail, Age of exploration and 25% Space Fantasy. The Eldritch Suns have never been far from my mind.

    The Astral Sea and the Frontier

    The Astral Sea is the void between systems. It is the places on the maps of the cosmos where “Here be DRAGONS” is inscribed as a warning. The Astral Sea needs to be crossed in order for ships to cross from one system to the next.

    Systems in the Astral Sea are termed wells, bubbles of matter which function like the star systems we are familiar with. They have a central point where all bodies revolve. Since this is a space-fantasy setting, those central points aren’t stars as we understand them, they are geysers of Æther that flood out, and return in a chaotic network of currents. These wells are distinct from one another, each varying in how time passes and drift among one another like corks floating in a barrel of water.

    When two or more wells begin to experience regular travel between them, for trade, or immigration, they will establish a route through the Astral Sea, these are termed “Mains” and they will slowly synchronize how the wells relate to one another. Calendars will slowly begin to synchronize, their relative positions within the Astral Sea will start stabilizing, even the languages of their peoples will become more familiar in respects to one another. In general, the more mains, connecting wells for longer periods of time will accelerate the process of synchronization. An example of a mature result of this process are the seven core wells of the Guild Empire.

    The Antagonist; The Guild Empire

    The Guild Empire was loosely based on the East India Company from Pirates 3. A mercantile empire that dominated the setting with the resources to launch fleets and armies. It was focused on seven core wells;

    1. Roidahç; (ROH-ih-dosh)
    2. Elgen Trencz; (EL-gen TRENZ)
    3. Jharigo; (JER-ih-go)
    4. Kazzaq: (kaz-AK)
    5. Fauchaq: (fow-SHAK)
    6. Ausaq: (aw-SAK)
    7. Rhiannon: (REE-ann-on)

    These wells have a dense and very old network of mains with each other, and as a result, are fully synchronized. They share a single Imperial Calendar which passes at the same rate among the worlds of all seven wells. They have a single Imperial Language (uncreatively named “Imperial”) which is common to all seven wells (though local dialects still proliferate, making for distinctions between provinces and cultures.)

    The Guild Empire has grown more powerful than any realm in this region of the Astral Sea. It is aggressive, expansive, and greedy. Its fleets and armies are comprised of people from all seven core wells as well as the Empire’s colonies. Most enlisted people serving as crew or troops are poor volunteers, recruited on the promise of pay and adventure. Others are virtual slaves, victims of impressment. The Officers are from aristocratic families who have purchased their commissions from the Imperial Guild Directorate. Throughout the setting there are Guild Governors, Directors, Assayers, Brokers and an extensive bureaucracy that exists primrily to extract wealth from the colonies and trading mains of the frontier to return to the Core.

    Anatomy of a Well

    The heart of a well is the Ætheric Geyser. These are holes in the Astral Sea which connect to the Elemental Plane of Æther (often referred to as the “Etherial Plane”. The flood of Æther flows out from the geyser until the draw of the Elemental Plane of Æther becomes great enough to pull the flood back to the geyser. In systems with no other bodies, this stabalizes into currents flowing in and out.

    When material bodies move through these currents they disturb these stable currents, diverting them into endless bends and eddies and stagnant pools, making navigation a specialist job. The currents of Æther can be harnessed with sails and rigging, which allow for vessels to move through the Æther.

    Every body in the well blocks the radiant energy shining from the geyser over a limited region behind the hemisphere facing out. These become shadows of the Negative Material Plane, umbral bays where the energies of death replace the spirit power of life.

    The Stuff of Worlds

    The term “world” refers to planets, moons, asteroids and other material bodies orbiting one another within a well. To varying degrees, each such body is composed of a combination of Air, Earth, Fire and Water, though not all elements need to be present for a world-body to exist. The closer these elements are to balance, the more recognizable the denizens of the world are to the common mortal peoples of the Astral Sea; Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, etc…

    In general, these bodies all orbit the geyser at the heart of the Well, though exceptions, while uncommon can be found. Different ratios of these four elements will exhibit different characteristics that most Astral-faring sages have recorded in catalogues.

    The influence of the Guild Empire likewise affects the variance of worlds within it’s dominion. The most extreme combinations of elements are increasingly rare, and the amount of balanced bodies are growing more and more common. Even the orbits of the worlds within the core wells have grown more ordered and regulated.

    Out on the Frontier is where the weird extremes can still be found. Worlds permanently in the umbral bay of enormous planets of Air and Water. Systems with two (or more) geysers feeding Æther into the well. Wandering orbits. Rogue worlds drifting through the Astral Sea. This is where the setting focuses it’s attention, far from the rigid structure of the core of the Guild Empire.

    Suns Beyond Counting

    The Astral Sea stretches on forever. The Frontier is the region closest to the Imperial colonies. Out there, there are few realms that can launch a fleet of ships into the Æther and the Astral Sea and no multi-well empires. Free Traders, Pirates, Adventurers and Explorers travel between wells out here and create faint mains to connect them.

    On the Frontier, legendary hordes of treasure can be found, fantastic beings and fabulous locations can be discovered. Campaigns among the Eldritch Suns should focus on near-constant voyages, following the mains, or forging new ones from well to well in search of fame and fortune. No one world should be heavily detailed. Only the adventure locale, and maybe the port needs any attention. Adventurers arrive at port, follow their nose into an adventure and return. Maybe uncovering rumors to their next destination. They fill their hold with supplies and hire some crew and venture forth again.

    This brings up the subject of a crew. The vessels that cross between wells, even the smaller ones, require dozens, if not hundreds of people to crew. Most tabletop roleplaying campaigns have only six adventurers or less, which leaves a lot of NPCs. The crew of a vessel can be used as replacements for fallen adventurers, sources of new adventurers for new players joining the campaign. Henchmen, hirelings and prize crew are also excellent uses of extra crew members.

    Finally the crew are a source of adventure in and of themselves. After all, a mutiny is always possible on the high Astral Sea.