The Traveller Downport

Wait... I've got a Traveller blog, don't I?

2011-05-09T21:06:00.002-05:00

Jeebus! Has it really been nearly three years since I've posted anything here?

I've been pretty busy over the last couple of years. Work. School. Back shaving.

However, things are looking up for me and now I can finally pay more attention to this and a few other blogs I run.

So keep watching. I'll post new material very soon.

Traveller and the "State Of the Mongoose" Address.

2008-12-05T01:16:00.002-06:00

Matt Sprange, grand guru supreme at Mongoose Publishing, released this year's "State Of The Mongoose" address and there are some great things in store for Traveller fans in 2009:

Expect more career books with titles such as Scondrel and Agent
There will be two vehicle books (both civilian and military) slated complete with a construction system.
The first of the two Aliens books are scheduled for Aslan and Zhodani. These books are planned on being 200+ page hardcovers.
Classic OTU adventures and new campaigns are in the works.
David Drake's Hammer's Slammers will be released as a Traveller setting! All I can say is "AWESOME!"
Along with the already-planned Strontium Dogs setting from 2000AD Comics, Judge Dredd will become a Traveller setting. ("I AM DUH LAW!")
Sad news everyone: while the The Universe Of Babylon 5 , the B5/Traveller sourcebook, is scheduled to come out this month, Mongoose will be dropping the B5 liscense in 2009.

X-Boat Delayed.

2008-12-05T01:06:00.002-06:00

Sorry, I've been neglecting my Traveller blogging duties, but life has been... sigh.

Anyway a few things:

You'd like to know how my games at RockCon went? Don't ask. I essentially spent both of my slots sitting by myself waiting for players who never appeared. It was a waste of time to say the least.
I'll be running my Aliens scenario at RPGBomb.com Games Day Milwaukee at Adventures In Gaming this weekend. Since it's a much smaller venue I think there might be a better chance to get some players.
Mongoose has just released its "State Of The Mongoose" statement. I'll make some comments about it above.

Traveller At RockCon

2008-10-20T23:02:00.001-05:00

As promised--or threatened, depending on your point of view--I'm running a couple of Traveller games at RockCon, in Rockford, IL this weekend (10/24-10/26). I'll be running the following games:

Saturday: 7 pm-11 pm

Taveller: Yet Another Bug Hunt.

All right marines, listen up! Our orders are to boost to some little rock owned by Weyland-Yutani.... Yeah, yeah, I know, "Building better worlds..." right! They lost contact with a group of corporate eggheads and one of the researches just so happens to be the kid of a US senator. Could be a downed transmitter, could not, but it's our job to find out! So stow you're gear and write your e-mails home, 'cause the L-T wants us in freezers at 1700! Dismissed!

Sunday: 9 am-1 pm

Traveller: The Starchild

There you are: Stuck with your crew on some backwater planet with no job, no ship, and no prospects. You running short on funds and the TAS hostels you're crashing at are getting progressively raunchier. Somethings gotta happen soon, right? Play the new Traveller, the classic game of sci-fi role playing, now published by Mongoose Publishing.

One thing I'd like to do is start a block of events dedicated to all things Traveller (RPGs, miniature games, etc) at RockCon. This year I'm going to have to start with just two events, but if local gamers are interested, I could see this growing into something bigger.

Of course, I'll bring a camera along to record the festivities.

Still transmitting!

2008-09-29T21:34:00.002-05:00

Yes, we're still alive. Things are so hectic at work that I the only thing that I can do when I get home is veg-out rather than blog. So hang tright Travellers, there is more to come.

2300 AD and Traveller

2008-07-28T23:27:00.000-05:00

As some of us know, Mongoose Publishing has released Traveller under a D20-esque open game license, allowing fans to produce their own material for this fantastic game. (I might do it myself if I can come up with some material worthy of publication.) Meanwhile, Colin Dunn, who wrote 2320 AD, the long-awaited sequel to GDW's other science fiction rpg, has decided to no longer work with QuikLink Interactive. It seems he wasn't happy that Hunter Gordon has been waiting over 6 years to publish his work in something other than a "pre-release" PDF available at rpgnow.com and drivethrurpg.com.

All I can see is that I can't say I blame him.

It didn't take long for someone to post a suggestion on the Mongoose Publishing forums that the new home of Traveller to pick up the liscense for this game and release it as a new Traveller setting. Colin, who has taken refuge on Mongoose's forms, has said:

And as to how likely a 2300AD-Traveller conversion is, all I can really say at this moment is: wait-and-see.

And....

Well, it truly is wait-and-see. There has been communication, generally positive, but no offers or decisions have been made, by either me or Mongoose. While I would likely be interested, it depends on what else is going on for me at the time. There are things that I would like to do that I never got a chance to do with 2320AD (like actually see it in print), and supplements and expansions, but it's wait-and-see for me, too.

Personally, I would love to see 2300 AD revived via Traveller. It's my favorite hard sci-fi setting, but I just couldn't rap my head around the original, ultra-crunchy rules. Since 2300 AD and Traveller stem from the same source (Games Designers Workshop), it's only fitting to finally bring these two properties together.

I recommend that you give Colin Dunn your support, and let Matt Sprange know that you want to see 2300 AD in the Mongoose line up!

Attention Milwaukee Area Travellers!

2008-07-13T16:55:00.004-05:00

While I've got my own face-to-face bi-weekly Traveller group that meets in an undisclosed location somewhere in the state of Wisconsin, every two weeks just isn't enough! That's why I'm going to start a second group that will meet at Adventures In Gaming in Milwaukee.

I'm shooting for Wednesday or Thursdays starting 6 pm and running to 10-11 pm, Sunday afternoons are also an option. We'll be using the new Mongoose version of the Traveller rules. For more information, contact me directly at siefertma@wi.rr.com. I'll also post other fliers at the store.

Character: Yaralaklaa Hruth, Naval Gunner

2008-07-04T19:01:00.008-05:00

Here's my latest character for an upcoming campaign:

Yaralaklaa Hruth:

7B8AAA (Charisma replaces Social Status)
Race: Vargr, Sex: Female, Age: 30, Homeworld: Junidy, Rank: 3 (Petty Officer, 2nd Class)

Skills: Comms 0, Computers 0, Engineering (Electronics) 1, Gunner (Turrets) 2, Gun Combat (Beam Pistol) 0, Mechanic 2, Natural Weapons 0, Pilot (Small Craft) 1, Streetwise 0, VaccSuit 1, Zero-G 0.

Term 1: Enlisted, Survied, Promoted (Able Spacehand), Military Engagement.

Term 2: Survived, Promoted (Petty Officer, 3rd Class), Life Event (Improved Relationship).

Term 3: Survived, Promoted (Petty Officer, 2nd Class, Military Engagement

Muster Out Benefits: +1 Edu, TAS Membership, Weapon (Laser Pistol), 55,000 Crds.

Yaralaklaa Hruth was born to a prosperous merchant family on the bustling Imperial Way Station of Junidy (Spinward Marches, Aramis, B434ABD 9 S). After she lost her father to corsairs, Yaralaklaa swore that she would do what she could to help clear the spaceways of piracy. When she was of age, she joined the Navy where her dexterity and quick mind made her a prime candidate for gunnery. She distinguished herself in battle many times, becoming a crack starship turret gunner in the process. Along the way, she met, fell in love with, and took a respectable merchant pilot, A Raggathresh Brarak, as her mate. After finishing her final term in the navy, she rejoined her husband where to the two look to their future.... whatever that maybe.

Traveller Trailer

2008-07-03T22:57:00.001-05:00

Andrew Boulton has created a series of well-made Traveller-related mini-movies. Here's a clip you can send to your friends to get them interested in the game:

Rumblefish Class System Defense Boat

2008-07-03T19:19:00.004-05:00

Back in the heady days of my first Traveller campaign (i.e. the infamous Ursula T20 IRC campaign) our party obtained possession of an advanced, sleek, and deadly 200 dTon system defense boat, or "pocket battlerider" since it was designed to be dropped off in-system via a jump-capable tender. This little ship has gotten us through one or two firefights, and now that Mongoose Traveller is being released, I'd like to pay homage to that campaign with my own version of this feisty little boat.

(Image by Artist Extraordinaire, Bryan Gibson and used with permission.)

Using Liam Devlin's original design, I tried to match it to Mongoose Traveller as closely as I could. I'm waiting for their new High Guard supplement so I can modify it further (I have to use up some of that cargo space!) but this should do for now.

Hull	200 dTons Streamlined	Hull 4 Structure 4		8.8 Mcr
Armor	Bonded Superdence, Reflec	12	20	10 Mcr
Maneuver Drive	Drive F	Thrust 6	11	24 Mcr
Power Plant	Plant F		19	48 Mcr
Bridge			10	1 Mcr
Computer	Model 6, fib	Rating 30		30 Mcr
Electronics	Advance Military Sensors	+1 DM	3	3 Mcr
Weapons
	Hardpoint 1	Double Fixed Mount (2x Particle Beams)		8.5 Mcr
	Hardpoint 2	Triple Turret (3x Missile Rack)	1	3.75 Mcr
Fuel		4 weeks	24
Cargo	94 tons*
Staterooms	4	Double Occupancy	16	2 Mcr
Extras	Fuel Scoops
	Ship's Locker
Software
	Evade/2			2 Mcr
	Fire Control/2			4 Mcr
	Intellect			1 Mcr
	Library
	Maneuver

Maintenance Cost (monthly)	12,004 Cr
Life Support Cost (monthly)	8000 Cr
Total Tonnage and Cost	200 dTons, 146,050,000 Cr

This is my first foray in creating ships in Mongoose Traveller, but feel free to double check and critique my design.

4518 Lift Infantry

2008-06-30T22:46:00.002-05:00

Fellow Traveller Clambo has posted these awesome pictures of his 15mm miniature rendition of the Regency's 4518 Lift Infantry (from Traveller: The New Era):

The vehicles are from Ground Zero Games (I NEED to get some of these babies.) and the infantry are classic RAFM Traveller figs that are available once again!

"Hang On Travellers!"

2008-06-23T22:11:00.006-05:00

Welcome to The Traveller Downport, a blog dedicated to everything related to Marc Miller's classic science fiction role-playing game, Traveller. Herein, I'll post Traveller-related news, reviews, and opinion, as well as new characters, ships, aliens, equipment, planets that I use in my own campaigns.

Speaking for myself, I've been a gamer since I was 12 years old when I picked up a copy of Star Frontiers from the discount bin at my local Toys R Us (this is back when Toys R Us actually stocked RPGs). I have only been a Traveller player for the last few years when I first picked up Traveller 20 and signed on with my first IRC campaign. Since then, I've looked into all of the other variants of Traveller, from the classic "Little Black Books" to Mongoose's new version (the best, in my opinion) and I'm always on the look out for more.

So, strap on your cutlass, load up your autopistol, and settle in for jump... it's going to be a long ride.