Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Revised Dark Nebula World Names

Names are one of the hardest things about working with Aslan material: all those Trokh vowels run together, making them devilishly hard to proofread. Further, DGP’s Solomani and Aslan (1991) was the first and only supplement to provide sector data for all of Dark Nebula, including names for all worlds. The sector data is only three pages of very tiny, cramped typeface—hard to read even for younger eyes in good lighting.

When I first started playing around with Dark Nebula, sector files could be found online but they were of widely varying quality. The Dark Nebula sector file was particularly bad, as it appeared to have been built off an early OCR scan of Solomani and Aslan. Errors in the world names abounded, with "i," "l", "k," and "t" all scrambled up. And when you combine that with the alien nature of Aslan worlds, and you get yourself a real mess.

When the T5 Second Survey project turned to Dark Nebula sector, before converting the material to the Traveller⁵ format, the team cleaned up the badly scanned data to make sure it conformed to Solomani and Aslan. Some poor, nameless hero went line-by-line through the sector data and cleaned up all the discrepancies in mainworld names. Fortunately I kept a copy of that corrected data because these errors keep creeping back. The current Dark Nebula data on Traveller Map contains some, but not all of those corrections.

I can’t guarantee I’ve caught all of the errors, but I think I’ve got a lot of them. Here are my suggested changes to the current mainworld names in order to bring them back in line with Solomani and Aslan:

Oifairouw (0109) - Change mainworld name to Oifalrouw.
Tahetio (0609) - Change mainworld name to Tahetlo.
Oeuilyuh (1110) - Change mainworld name to Osuilyuh.
Hlakaoea (1408) - Change mainworld name to Htakaoea.
Kofyikh (1405) - Change mainworld name to Kofyoha.
E'loa (1505) - Change mainworld name to E'ioa.
Brensal (1609) - Change mainworld name to Brensat.
Aowoikies (1705) - Change mainworld name to Aowoiktes.
Eariure (1901) - Change mainworld name to Earlure.
Kelsung (2202) - Change mainworld name to Kemsung.
Mamail (2404) - Change mainworld name to Mamalt.
Hleoe (0117) - Change mainworld name to Hteoe.
Ealyurei (0120) - Change mainworld name to Eatyurei.
Auiyelyu (0214) - Change mainworld name to Aulyetyu.
Htaweai (0817) - Change mainworld name to Htaweal.
Hweshre (1014) - Change mainworld name to Hopeshre.
Oyarn (1420) - Change mainworld name to Qyarn.
Khilyw (1715) - Change mainworld name to Khiiyw.
Hloa (1719) - Change mainworld name to Hlao.
Khoakia (1918) - Change mainworld name to Khoakta.
Ehoiol (2218) - Change mainworld name to Ehoioi.
Torisad (2516) - Change mainworld name to Tortsad.
Merelace (2815) - Change mainworld name to Merejace.
Shrlmia (3119) - Change mainworld name to Shrimia.
Ktealau (0130) - Change mainworld name to Kteatau.
Iyoiy (0321) - Change mainworld name to Iyyoiy.
Wuhliaweh (0329) - Change mainworld name to Wuhtiaweh.
Hlyeri (0429) - Change mainworld name to Hlyerl.
Ao'iyauira (0627) - Change mainworld name to Ao'iyaulra.
Akheariafei' (0828) - Change mainworld name to Akhearlafei'.
Hlehekah (1127) - Change mainworld name to Htehekah.
Troli'ih (1221) - Change mainworld name to Troti'ih.
Hlokiye (1725) - Change mainworld name to Hloktye.
Sewaiair (2121) - Change mainworld name to Sewalair.
Louhtah (2128) - Change mainworld name to Iouhtah.
Aokhiyfti (2728) - Change mainworld name to Aokhtiyfti.
Khiyu (0239) - Change mainworld name to Khtyu.
Airlyrlyu'eas (0931) - Change mainworld name to Airiyrlyu'eas.
Uryarili (0937) - Change mainworld name to Uryarlil.
Wyuyelro (1032) - Change mainworld name to Wyuyetro.
Teayokhlae (1238) - Change mainworld name to Teayokhtae.
Htakaoea (1331) - Change mainworld name to Htaka Oea.
Hrikair (1631) - Change mainworld name to Hrikalr.
Ihiye (1731) - Change mainworld name to Ihtye.
Ehalriwa (2131) - Change mainworld name to Ehairiwa.
Hwiliwaoh (2239) - Change mainworld name to Hwuiwaoh.
Araliarg (2940) - Change mainworld name to Araljarg.
Hynrl-Lavo (3036) - Change mainworld name to Hynri-lavo.

Earle (DARK 0307) is named “Ealre” in Atlas of the Imperium. Nancy Parker used this same spelling for the name of subsector A in “Dark Nebula: Library Data of the Sector” in Travellers’ Digest 17. DGP appears to have deliberately changed the name of both the world and subsector to “Earle” in Solomani and Aslan (see pages 69, 99, and 102). Although AotI normally trumps other sources, in this case I think it makes sense to keep Earle.

Hloa (DARK 1719) is an interdicted world briefly described in Travellers’ Digest 17: "Hloa’s (1719) population of aquatic sophonts shows no interest in contact with the interstellar community, as they are self-sufficient and feel they have little in common with walkers." However, the spelling is Hlao in the subsector data. Further, Hlao is also used in the Solomani and Aslan sector data and in a different write-up that describes a (presumably Human) population happily living under an incredibly restrictive government. If I had to guess, the DGP writers decided to retcon the aquatic sophonts out of existence. In any case, it seems clear DGP meant for the world to be called Hlao.

A recent article in the NYT discusses how a single typo in a 1928 Supreme Court opinion continues to circulate despite being identified and corrected almost immediately. Because the erroneous Dark Nebula data had spread so far for so long, it’s easy enough to see how the errors keep creeping back in to Traveller Map. Someone working on stellar data but using a slightly older version of the world names might accidently reintroduce some or all of the base data. And because Aslan names are so unfamiliar anyway, errors are hard to spot. So you end up playing data whack-a-mole. In fact, this is a pretty good example of how one bad data entry—like an erroneous location of Kusyu—could propagate across the entire Imperium like a virus and persist despite all efforts to correct the record.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Placing the Nebula in Dark Nebula

As I developed my house version of Dark Nebula sector, I turned to the usual sources: CT Atlas of the Imperium and Alien Module 1, Aslan; MT Solomani and Aslan, GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 2, and MgT Alien Module 1, Aslan. But I also took a hard look at a more unusual source, the GDW board game Dark Nebula (1980), a two player chit-and-hex wargame based on the earlier Imperium game.

While the board game has some familiar elements from the Third Imperium setting, the game precedes the CT alien module by four years and some of these elements are rather different from later incarnations. Yes, one player controls Aslan (or more properly, “Aslanic”) forces. And yes, the other player controls a “Solomani Confederation” force. There are jump drives and a few other familiar looking bits—but otherwise, the game seems to take place in a completely anachronistic setting untethered from the OTU. The introduction describes the game as occurring “far rimward of the Imperium” which only makes sense if we are thinking of the Spinward Marches as the Imperium. And the default map positions appear to show the Aslan Hierate on what we would call the trailing side of the board and the Confederation on the spinward side.

So I was left to wonder: (1) Can any relationship be discerned between the Dark Nebula board game and the OTU sector, and (2) Is there actually a dark nebula in Dark Nebula? These questions seemed worth chasing: the Dark Nebula maps and world names are extremely evocative and I find them considerably more interesting than most subsector maps. Evidently Andy Slack did also, as he developed a nifty rescaled and reversed version of the map for some GURPS Traveller games.

Of course, even with these changes the map does not obviously line up with the canonical sector maps in Atlas of the Imperium or Solomani & Aslan. Only two systems share names between the board game and sector data.

But one of those systems is Kuzu/Kusu/Kusyu. And if we take Slack’s map, superimpose it over the Traveller Map, and rotate it around Kusyu a few degrees clockwise, interesting things start to fall into place. The neutral human world Sequel (2225) lines up with the boardgame Mizah system, a neutral human world. The board game Mechane lines up with Earltras (2527); both are part of the board game “Solomani Confederation.” And we see an isolated cluster of four systems in Yohkui subsector that lines up with the board game dark nebula.

From there, it’s not hard to begin connecting board game systems with Traveller Map systems. Some matches are rougher than others, but for the record, here’s my take on matching the two sources:

Dark Nebula Board Game Systems
Region	System	Match
Vecinos	Eski	Uiwealirlao (2435)
Vecinos	Duduki	Erelefo (2335)
Vecinos	Changa	Euhisai (2434)
Vecinos	Bulan	Jingleswelt (2732)
Vecinos	Karpos	Ewausiaktiy (2136)
Vecinos	Irbev	Irihroalea (2432)
Vecinos	Janibor	Eahkihkao (2033)
Vecinos	Salan	Oiirl (2430)
The Fastness	Umuru	Styaroir (2325)
The Fastness	Omoro	Styaroir (2325)
The Fastness	Kov	Louhtah (2128)
The Fastness	Mizah	Sequel (2225)
The Fastness	Salia	Kihahouwu (2028)
The Fastness	Simba	Iyhahorl (2125)
The Fastness	Tangaa	Hakhyas (2027)
Solomani Quadrant	Zloban	Macario (2829)
Solomani Quadrant	Llavia	Gallbre (2529)
Solomani Quadrant	Avair	Aokhiyfti (2728)
Solomani Quadrant	Merchane	Earltras (2527)
Solomani Quadrant	Rishi	Eiouktoh (2427)
Solomani Quadrant	Kamat	Eiouktoh (2427)
Solomani Quadrant	Omyl	Arakhal (2729)
Solomani Quadrant	Maadin	Arakhal (2729)
Solomani Quadrant	Gazzain	Wusihahai (2327)
Solomani Quadrant	Icat	Iweakhte (2426)
Rift Routes	Dim	Syailei (1724)
Rift Routes	Astek	Syailei (1724)
Rift Routes	Mir	Aiwaosois (1821)
Rift Routes	Amani	Hyesiyr (1622)
Rift Routes	Kinada	Easouyao (1721)
Moralon	Drax	Aftea (1826)
Moralon	Craco	Aftea (1826)
Moralon	Oja	Heahelie (1629)
Moralon	Dno	Lahaih (1627)
Moralon	Valka	Aowaelr (1529)
Moralon	Godoro	Tenarna (1825)
Moralon	Enjiwa	Riyikahail (1628)
Moralon	Pasar	Hlokiye (1725)
Dark Nebula	Osa	Ualaohei (1934)
Dark Nebula	N5	Ehalrlwa (2131)
Dark Nebula	N6	Ehalrlwa (2131)
Dark Nebula	Taida Na	Hiwoieikh (2832)
Dark Nebula	N4	Troutiyka (2230)
Dark Nebula	N2	Oakheiye (2031)
Dark Nebula	N3	Troutiyka (2230)
Dark Nebula	N1	Hkyosali (2132)
Bright Star	Hasara	Fyawahrl (2026)
Bright Star	Daanarni	Steiaseah (1927)
Bright Star	Ria	Troi' (1923)
Bright Star	Alis	Troi' (1923)
Bright Star	Simsek	Iyaiah (1925)
Aslan Hierate	Rosa	Iyohkeih (1427)
Aslan Hierate	Panas	Aiearye (1428)
Aslan Hierate	Blatta	Weisaow (1327)
Aslan Hierate	Xida	Weisaow (1327)
Aslan Hierate	Kuzu	Kusyu (1226)
Aslan Hierate	Bors	Hlitilar (1224)
Aslan Hierate	Ikona	Hlehekah (1127)
Aslan Hierate	Vaxt	Ftaosye' (1225)

Yeah, I realize this a little insane—but I can’t have been the first person who ever wanted to reconcile these two sources. So if we have figured out where the board game might fit in the Third Imperium setting, then next question is when. Although the Solomani Confederation and Aslan Hierate are said to be engaged in a series of border skirmishes during Classic Traveller and MegaTraveller (approximately 1085 to 1130), the system names, setting description, and technology don’t really line up with the period. We know that in the OTU timeline, the region will be devastated by Virus so the board game doesn't fit a near or far future, either.

So that leaves the past: the overall setting described in Dark Nebula fits pretty well with what we know of the Aslan Border Wars, which lasted from -1100 to 380. Except for one big problem: the Solomani Confederation was not formed until 871. We learn from Alien Module 6 - Solomani (1986) that Admiral Estigarribia first used the word “Solomani” around -2200, so it’s possible that other, earlier “Solomani Confederations” might also have existed. Or the term used in the board game was either a misnomer or anachronism. For my own background I have written a “Suleimani Confederation" into the history of Dark Nebula during the Border Wars. It’s not a great fit but it works for my purposes.

What I like about placing the board game during this period is that we are given a potential springboard for developing interesting stories set during the Border Wars, which is mostly just one big blank in canon, particularly for this area of space. It’s not hard to imagine the board game taking place during the depths of the Long Night (say, -800 or so), when the Aslan have finally reached tech parity with the Terrans and begin pressing trailing into areas settled by the humans.

The Dark Nebula on Traveller Map.

But the most important implication of this exercise is that the dark nebula is a real thing, located in and around the cluster of worlds that includes Troutiyka (2230). This cluster is surrounded by a stellar rift, and is as good a candidate as any for locating a dark nebula in Dark Nebula.

As I was working through all of this, the Mongoose Traveller Great Rift kickstarter landed, which provides details on astronomical anomalies such as black holes and stellar nebulae. The Traveller Map was updated to include many of these new features so I proposed adding a nebula to Dark Nebula running roughly from hex 2328 to 1837 or so. I am tickled that Joshua Bell took me up on this—I don’t know that this idea was ever blessed by Marc, but for now it’s out there for other Traveller fans to play with.

Imagine a small molecular cloud, over twenty-six light years across—a cloud that somehow interferes with jump drives. During the Interstellar Wars early explorers approaching from the direction of Terra enter this cloud and never return. Soon everyone knows to avoid this region, and Terran settlers heading spinward either divert far coreward or far rimward, missing Kusyu altogether. By -2205 you have settlements in the spinwardmost section of Dark Nebula and even in Iwahfuah, but you don’t have Terran-Aslan first contact until two centuries later, when Terran development finally “backfills” the sector map.

The Dark Nebula interferes with jump drive operations to such an extent that it represented a significant navigation barrier for early Terran and Aslan explorers. Per the rules in the Great Rift Book 4: Deep Space Exploration Handbook, treat the Dark Nebula as a protostar instead of a nebula. Ships jumping into or out of the Dark Nebula (or from point-to-point within it) are more prone to misjumps, with DM-8 imposed on Engineer (j-drive) checks made to jump into or out of the Nebula and DM-4 applied to jumps passing through it. Ship movement within the Dark Nebula is as normal but sensor operations are subject to DM-4.

Copyright Information

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Developing Dark Nebula

A barbarian nomad overlooks the ruined Aslan city of Hkarlye on Gilead (DARK 2921 X586879-1).

Many years ago I sketched out a proposed Traveller game to be set in a small, backwater cluster of low tech worlds. A bronze-age swords and sandals setting, like Conan the Barbarian but instead of towers of sorcery and vaults of gleaming treasure, the great cities would hold bazaars filled with technological wonders, and a starport with the promise of passage offworld.

For whatever reason, I specifically wanted to place this game in the Third Imperium setting. So I spent quite a bit of time poring over sector data looking for a suitable location. This was all long before the T5 Second Survey Project cleaned up and regularized sector data, and before the dream that is now Traveller Map made such data readily available and searchable. Back then plenty of semi-canonical data could be found out on the internet, but it was messy and strange and hard to use.

One problem I discovered early on: truly primitive worlds (TL 0 or 1) are really quite rare, particularly inside the Imperium, and they are almost always interdicted. Checking Traveller Map, I count only nine TL 1 worlds and no populated TL 0 worlds in the entire Imperium.

I initially scoured the frontier sectors around the Spinward Marches, then looked at the neutral areas around Hinterworlds before I started zeroing in on Dark Nebula. I eventually found a promising group of fairly primitive Human worlds in the neutral space between the Solomani Confederation and the Aslan Hierate, and after reading up on the history of this region, these worlds seemed to fit the bill.

It’s an area of Charted Space with an interesting backstory but not a ton of published canon, leaving it open for further development. And by happy coincidence, some of the best supplements written for Traveller have dealt with the Aslan: the CT Alien module, MT Solomani and Aslan, and GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 2 are loaded with gameable ideas, hooks, and background.

My original campaign idea never actually went anywhere, as sometimes happens. But much of this canoodling eventually fed into other games, including my current Into the Interface campaign. As a result, I’ve ended up doing quite a bit of development work on Dark Nebula, which I’m going to start sharing on this blog.

I had seriously considered publishing this material under Mongoose Publishing’s Travellers’ Aid Society license, but one of the more important sources I’ve relied upon has been the DGP Solomani and Aslan supplement. While this is a fantastic game book, most of the DGP material is currently trapped in a copyright limbo, usable for non-commercial fan material like a blog but generally off-limits for Mongoose to use. And as such, not usable for TAS licensed material.

So why use Dark Nebula as a setting? I find the Aslan to be one of the more interesting alien races of Traveller: a bit more exotic than simply humans in fur suits, but not so alien as to be completely unidentifiable. Intra-Hierate politics alone are complex enough to fuel many adventures, but throw in a conflict with the encroaching Solomani Confederation and the possibilities multiply quickly. Both Aslan and Solomani can work well as protagonists or antagonists, giving PCs many opportunities to work for and against either side. The Buffer Zone lends itself well for remixed Western adventures: a dangerous frontier region with a wide mix of tech levels and law levels.

Over the next few weeks I’ll walk through some of the tweaks I’ve made to the sector as well as some thoughts I have about the nature of the Aslan Hierate, which is really very different from any other major interstellar polity.

Copyright Information

The image at the start of the blog is from the science fiction illustrator Peter Elson, and was used as the cover of Samuel R. Delany’s novel The Einstein Intersection (1967).

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Thoughts on Running Out of the Abyss

As I’ve previously noted, I started in the hobby with Moldvay basic and worked my way up to the Expert set. One of the first Advanced Dungeons and Dragons products I bought was Descent into the Depths of the Earth, and that adventure module blew my middle school mind. I was so excited to run this adventure that I put my players’ party of 5th level D&D characters into it right after Isle of Dread.

And they got wiped out in the very first encounter, the drow checkpoint: a TPK so egregious that I had to fall back upon my first and only use of “it was all only a dream.” Hey, it was the 80s. If the writers of Dallas could use that one, so could I.

Eventually I graduated to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I was fascinated by the Monster Manual II section on demons and spent a lot of time poring over the lists of demon princes and lords and imagining running adventures featuring these super-powerful beings.

So when I heard that Wizards of the Coast was going to do a 5e adventure around a demonic invasion of the Underdark, they had my interest. And when I learned the book was going to be developed by Green Ronin, one of my favorite publishers from the d20 period, they had my money.

Out of the Abyss certainly looked good, and it read well enough. The elevator pitch is an Alice in Wonderland take on the Underdark, but with demons. What made the Underworld of D1-2 so captivating to my younger self was it was so vast and so alien. Instead of a high-magic, Tolkien-inspired world of goblins, elves, dwarves, and dragons we got something darker and grittier, closer to the proto-pulp and pulp writings of Verne, Doyle, Burroughs, and Lovecraft.

That sense of an alien Underworld has greatly diminished over the years, in part due to over-familiarity. I’ve read dozens of Underdark supplements and adventures. In the Forgotten Realms this region is apparently dangerous but relatively known to the world at large: regular trade links tie the underground with the surface world. In contrast, the very existence of the Underworld in D1-2 was unknown to most surface dwellers. So I welcomed a return to the weird and mysterious for this setting.

Out of the Abyss has some of the most vivid set pieces I’ve ever read in an adventure, right up there with Snurre’s Hall or the Moathouse. More than anything else, the image of Demogorgon rising out of the Darklake made me want to run this adventure. And there’s an encounter with a beholder that’s hands down the toughest thing I’ve ever thrown at a party in 5e.

OotA also has some really memorable and interesting NPCs. For some reason, my players really seemed to take to Stool the myconid. But there are plenty of others, like Thamberchaud the overweight and cosseted dragon. The Pudding King and Droki both made for eerie and unforgettable antagonists.

But if OotA has great individual components, the whole assembly is somehow lacking. The adventure claims to be a sandbox, but if the hallmark of a sandbox is player choices, then OotA falls well short, starting with the initial setup: the PCs begin the game all prisoners of the drow. Even free, the PCs are stuck wandering around the Underdark until they reach a high enough level to exit to the surface. Yes, they can visit various locations in any order, but eventually they really need to hit all these locations before they can leave. There’s no real consequence to progressing through the sites in order A-B-C or C-B-A or B-C-A.

Contrast D1-2: as a pair of tournament adventures, the module had a specific, overarching goal: track down the drow who had engineered the giant attacks. But even with a set goal, players still have some level of choice with real consequences. Routes in the Underworld were divided into primary, secondary, and tertiary tunnels. Primary tunnels were larger and allowed faster movement, but carried a greater chance of encounters with organized patrols. Tertiary tunnels were cramped, forced slower movement, and were less patrolled. But they were also the haunts of powerful horrors such as mind flayers and beholders. In theory, players could select their own risk/reward tradeoffs.

Similarly, although the players begin play with a fairly linear map to the Vault of the Drow, several set encounters along the way can be sped through or circumvented altogether if the players wish. They don’t need to collect a particular set of items or cultivate specific allies before they reach the Vault. Despite the eerie, Lovecraftian coolness in the Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, I have never had a party actually do any exploring there: every party I’ve DM’d has avoided that fell place and its dark mysteries.

Players really don’t have that level of choice in OotA. Almost all of the set encounters contain some pretty important elements, be it knowledge, items, or contacts that are nearly essential for completion of the adventure.

Because the players are expected to spend levels 2 through 7 wandering around, the encounters are generally geared for challenge levels 4–5: early encounters will be pretty hard, but later encounters will be pretty easy. It didn’t help that I had a larger group of players, either. (Though the default set up saddles the party with a whole coterie of NPCs.) There’s no real advice on how to scale encounters up or down. And with this structure, XP is pretty broken. You could spend years trying to amass enough XP with only the random encounters: story based awards are probably the only way to go for this adventure, but again there’s no real advice or guidance.

I know that many players enjoy the grimdark survival element of the earlier chapters, but my players were pretty bored with it. They had a large enough group, which included a drow wizard and a ranger with Underdark as his favored terrain, so they were very rarely lost or out of food, and didn’t need 12 NPCs to explain the difference between a Kuo-Toa and a Duergar.

A DM is supposed to track several different mechanics that might be affecting PCs and NPCs in different ways: disease, fatigue, hunger, light, magic-warping faerzress, and madness. And few of them really seemed worth the tracking. I was particularly disappointed with the madness rules, which require a lot of record keeping. For better or worse, 5e abstracts most game effects into pure “damage,” and by the end of the adventure I felt like a better madness mechanic might have been to simply have madness inflict psychic damage that could not be healed without long rest. Players understand hit point loss in a very immediate and visceral way, better than sanity mechanics that rely an awful lot on role-playing.

OotA also suffers from a problem that seems endemic to many WotC books: terrible organization. There are chapters where it’s almost impossible to find important information in a hurry. The dwarven city of Gracklstugh would have been unplayable if not for some helpful third party guides that broke down the city and gave page references for key information. The adventure cried out for an index, flowcharts, summaries, and so on to help the DM.

On a related note, the maps for OotA are generally terrible. Pretty to look at? Oh, yes. But usable at the table? Not really. Many have very wonky scales and are overly busy, and the adventure lacks good battle maps for many key encounters.

I really like that 5e generally backed off from making miniatures a requirement for play. But I use them myself, and I played most of this game on Roll20. So I could have really used some good tactical maps in 1 square equals 5 foot scale.

In some ways, I think OotA would have benefited from embracing the adventure path that it really is, rather than pretend to be a sandbox. The adventure could have been much tighter, better focused, and encounters better balanced. One problem with the pseudo-sandbox structure is that the players can become enmeshed in storylines that appear to have tremendous urgency, like stopping Zuggtmoy’s wedding—but with no way to resolve this plot for months and months of game time.

In general, the adventure is just too overstuffed. It spans too many levels, and has too many themes. Although it sounded metal to mix demons and the Underdark, each are expansive topics all by themselves. I think this adventure would have been better focused on a smaller number of sites, with fewer themes, and spanning a narrower range of levels: say, 5–15.

I realize this comes across as very negative, and I’ve struggled to write this review because, although this adventure occasionally drove me crazy, I also had a blast running it. But in the end, I was running for a group of good friends in the midst of a pandemic, and it gave me a weekly occasion to connect with people I love, during a time when that was otherwise very hard to do. I have had many great nights with good friends at terrible restaurants, dive bars, and lousy concerts. It doesn’t mean those places were actually good: it just means that with good company, anything can be fun.

After 56 sessions of playing through this adventure to completion, I feel comfortable writing that while Out of the Abyss is not a terrible adventure, it is an overstuffed, poorly organized, underachiever. That’s all the more frustrating because there are some truly great pieces within it, and I think with better editing and tighter direction, this might have been a spectacular adventure.

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The Ship's Account

Each adventuring ship has a continuing need for money to pay expenses such as crew salary, maintenance, life support, and other supplies. This cash flow is handled through the Ship’s Account —Traveller⁵ Book 1, p 30.

I never set out to play Papers and Paychecks. But Traveller, with its mortgages, salaries, maintenance funds, and pensions can sometimes feel a little like it. And when you like to tinker with the rules as much as I do, understanding the ramifications of all that tinkering is pretty important.

An ideal Traveller campaign will provide enough rewards to let the players feel successful but to also keep them hungry enough to continue to strike out into the blackness of space. Given the complexity of starship economics, further complicated by some house rules, it’s pretty easy to get the balance out of whack: either the players are so flush they have no incentive to adventure, or so poor that they can’t hope to keep up with a crushing ship payment.

It took me a few iterations to finally come up with an armed packet design that I felt comfortable with, and then modify that for the PC’s Starjammer. I needed to figure crew requirements and salaries for starships, maintenance costs, and even berthing fees.

The only way to test this all was to build the ship’s account and then track the revenues and expenses across a few different games. I built a fairly simple spreadsheet that also helped me keep track of in-game time. The following table is a decent representation of my sheet:

*Starjammer* Ship’s Account
Date	Location	Transaction (Cr)	Description	Balance (Cr)
243-1102	Stanko (A555649-C)	750,000	1st Payment for KST Charter	750,000
247-1102	Stanko (A555649-C)	(250,000)	Replacement Delgado XS-7 missiles (12)	500,000
249-1102	Stanko (A555649-C)	(45,500)	Fuel (91 tons, refined)	454,500
250-1102	Stanko (A555649-C)	(15,000)	Berthing Fees (35 days, Class A)¹	439,500
250-1102	Stanko (A555649-C)	(720)	Cargo Handling (18 tons)	438,780
278-1102	Double (A541500-E)	(45,500)	Fuel (91 tons, refined)	393,280
278-1102	Double (A541500-E)	(33,800)	Renew Life Support Systems²	359,480
278-1102	Double (A541500-E)	(7,797)	Annual Maintenance Fund³	351,683
278-1102	Double (A541500-E)	(35,225)	Crew Salaries	316,458
279-1102	Double (A541500-E)	(2,339)	Monthly Maintenance	314,119
285-1102	Double (A541500-E)	(3,000)	Berthing Fees (8 days, Class A orbital)	311,119
292-1102	Goodhurst (A535649-D)	(45,000)	Fuel (90 tons, refined)	266,119
298-1102	Goodhurst (A535649-D)	(500)	Berthing Costs (Class A)	265,619
305-1102	Chorus (A944768-C)	(45,500)	Fuel (91 tons, refined)	220,119
305-1102	Chorus (A944768-C)	(37,800)	Renew Life Support Systems	182,319
306-1102	Chorus (A944768-C)	(2,339)	Monthly Maintenance	179,980
307-1102	Chorus (A944768-C)	(7,797)	Annual Maintenance Fund	172,183
307-1102	Chorus (A944768-C)	(35,225)	Crew Salaries	136,958
311-1102	Chorus (A944768-C)	(1,000)	Berthing Fees (Class A orbital)	135,958
319-1102	Xian (B7B48DC-9)	(45,000)	Fuel (90 tons, refined)	90,958
322-1102	Xian (B7B48DC-9)	(750)	Berthing Fees (Class B orbital)	90,208
350-1102	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(57,417)	Crew Salaries (includes hazard pay)⁴	32,791
352-1102	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(720)	Cargo Handling (18 tons)	32,071
352-1102	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(7,797)	Annual Maintenance Fund	24,274
352-1102	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(2,339)	Monthly Maintenance	21,935
356-1102	Wu (B66A99A-E)	250,000	2nd Payment for KST Charter	271,935
358-1102	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(180,000)	Crew Bonuses	91,935
004-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(35,225)	Crew Salaries	56,710
011-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	650,000	1st Payment for Ross Charter	706,710
012-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(45,500)	Fuel (91 tons, refined)	661,210
012-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(37,800)	Renew Life Support Systems	623,410
012-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(7,797)	Annual Maintenance Fund	615,613
012-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(2,339)	Monthly Maintenance	613,274
012-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(16,500)	Berthing Fees (27 days, Class B Orbital)	596,774
019-1103	Linate (A200544-E)	(30,000)	Fuel (60 tons, refined)	566,774
021-1103	Linate (A200544-E)	(500)	Berthing Fees (Class A)	566,274
029-1103	Angle (A977223-A)	(30,500)	Fuel (61 tons, refined)	535,774
029-1103	Angle (A977223-A)	(36,500)	Renew Life Support Systems	499,274
029-1103	Angle (A977223-A)	(7,797)	Annual Maintenance Fund	491,477
029-1103	Angle (A977223-A)	(2,339)	Monthly Maintenance	489,138
030-1103	Angle (A977223-A)	(42,064)	Crew Salaries (includes hazard pay)	447,074
032-1103	Angle (A977223-A)	(500)	Berthing Fees (Class A)	446,574
039-1103	Colcan (B9C5268-9)	(30,000)	Fuel (60 tons, refined)	416,574
040-1103	Colcan (B9C5268-9)	(750)	Berthing Fees (Class B, Orbital)	415,824
047-1103	Wang (D789899-2)	(9,100)	Fuel (91 tons, unrefined)	406,724
047-1103	Wang (D789899-2)	(36,500)	Renew Life Support Systems	370,224
060-1103	Wang (D789899-2)	(7,797)	Annual Maintenance Fund	362,427
065-1103	Wang (D789899-2)	(37,225)	Crew Salaries	325,202
065-1103	Wang (D789899-2)	(700)	Berthing Fees (19 days, Class D)	324,502
065-1103	Wang (D789899-2)	(100)	Port Guide Fee	324,402
065-1103	Wang (D789899-2)	(15,233)	Starport Fines	309,169
072-1103	Colcan (B9C5268-9)	(45,000)	Fuel (90 tons, refined)	264,169
075-1103	Colcan (B9C5268-9)	(750)	Berthing Fees (Class B, Orbital)	263,419
083-1103	Baconan (C574534-7)	(9,100)	Fuel (91 tons, unrefined)	254,319
085-1103	Baconan (C574534-7)	(100)	Berthing Fees (Class C)	254,219
092-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(45,000)	Fuel (90 tons, refined)	209,219
092-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(34,500)	Renew Life Support Systems	174,719
092-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(7,797)	Annual Maintenance Fund	166,922
093-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(2,339)	Monthly Maintenance	164,583
094-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	650,000	2nd Payment, Ross Charter	814,583
095-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(37,225)	Crew Salaries	777,358
095-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(180,000)	Crew Bonuses	597,358
102-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(250,000)	Replacement Air/Raft	347,358
103-1103	Wu (B66A99A-E)	(750)	Berthing Costs (Class B Orbital)	346,608

Notes

¹ Berthing fees are per the T20 schedule.

² Per CT Beltstrike, “Life support supplies include food, air, and water (to replace leakage from the recycling process), and consumable elements of the life support system, such as filters, CO₂ absorbers, and so on.”

³ The Purser allocates Cr7,797 each month to a separate maintenance fund in anticipation of the ship’s annual overhaul (Cr93,564 total). Meanwhile, the Chief Engineer performs his own monthly maintenance to the tune of Cr2,339/month. Per our house rules, each monthly maintenance reduces the annual overhaul cost by 5%, up to 50%. So if all goes according to plan, the Chief Engineer’s efforts will reduce the annual overhaul costs to Cr46,782 and the savings can be transfered back to the Ship’s Account.

⁴ Hazard pay is double for work in Amber Zones and quintuple for work in Red Zones. See GURPS Traveller: Far Trader 27.

After reviewing the cashflow over about six months of game time, I think I am generally in the zone for balancing rewards and demands.

Charters appear to be a reasonably viable way for the Starjammer to make a living. The Owner had enough revenue to cover all expenses and even pay out some nice bonuses to the crew. (The Starjammer does not have a formal profit-sharing agreement, so Sonny was generous enough to just issue everyone equal shares.)

But that said, ongoing costs steadily ate away at the ship’s account: by 352-1102 the account didn’t have enough funds to make payroll or pay for a refueling. The Owner would clearly not be able to berth the ship and take a six-month sabbatical. A few unexpected repairs and the wolf could be at the airlock.

The cashflow is helped immensely by not having a mortgage payment: with one, the Starjammer would be deep in the red: six months of mortage would have been MCr4.678! Instead, the ship was a gift from Duchess Shanika Adelbert in exchange for the PC’s discretion regarding a matter of great delicacy.

In retrospect, a much, much better arrangement would have been for her to have retained an ownership stake in the ship. This would have added a bit more economic pressure but would not have been nearly as onerous as a full mortgage. But it would have also kept the PCs a bit more connected to this powerful patron, allowing her to more frequently call on them to render some new service for the Duchy of Walpurgis.

Copyright Information

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Berthing Fees

An unidentified subsidized merchant (Type R) on approach to its berth at Kline Highport, 033-1101.

In Classic Traveller, there are five canonical starship expenses: (1) Fuel, (2) Life Support, (3) Routine [Annual] Maintenance, (4) Crew Salaries, and (5) Berthing Costs. The first four expenses are fairly large, generally costing tens of thousands of credits, but berthing costs are so cheap as to be almost negligible in comparison: Cr100 to land and remain for up to six days, and Cr100 for each additional day spent in port. Why track such a small expense?

Mongoose Traveller does a few interesting things with berthing costs: First, berthing costs increase with starport quality. Berthing at a Class A port will cost thousands of credits, while berthing at a Class D port will only cost dozens of credits. Second, MgT introduces a random element into the calculation, so the expense of berthing varies. I like this approach quite a bit, and use this system for non-aligned worlds in the Buffer Zone of Dark Nebula.

The Third Imperium, however, and to a lesser extent the Solomani Confederation, takes great pains to standardize starport charges. And as I looked through different editions, I was once again struck by how neatly and elegantly T20 handled this topic. I use the following table, adopted from the T20 core rules, for starport fees in the Imperium or Confederation:

Starport Fees (Cr)
		Starport Type
Category	Service	A	B	C	D	E/X
Landing Rights¹	(24 hour max)	100	50	20	10	–
Berthing²	Landing and Berthing (up to 6 days)	500	250	100	50	–
	Berthing (per day after 6)	500	250	100	50	–
Orbital Berthing³	(up to 6 days)	100	50	20	10	–
	(per day after 6)	100	50	20	10	–
Cargo Handling (per ton)	Standard	40	30	20	10	–
	Security	50	40	30	20	–
	Hazardous	70	60	50	40	–
Cargo Shuttle Service (per ton)	Standard	30	20	10	5	–
	Security	40	30	20	10	–
	Hazardous	60	50	40	30	–
Passenger Shuttle Service	(single passenger, 200 kg baggage)	100	75	50	25	–
Warehousing (per week per ton)	Standard	15	10	5	–	–
	Security/Refrigerated	25	15	10	–	–
	Hazardous	50	25	15	–	–

¹ One-time docking and departure clearance at the starport, no other services.

² Add Cr500 to the listed costs for orbital starports.

³ Provides an orbital “parking slot” where a ship may remain during its stay.

Copyright Information

The Type R illustration at the beginning of the blog is by Jesse DeGraff and appeared in GURPS Traveller: Far Trader (2004), published by Steve Jackson games.

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

The Ship's Articles

A ship’s articles of agreement are real world legal documents, part of a ship’s papers. Although not mentioned in other editions, GURPS Traveller: Far Trader (1999) introduced this concept to the Third Imperium setting:

A ship’s articles are its “constitution” – a contract that spells out, in broad terms, the responsibilities of the ship’s captain and crew.… By signing the articles, crew members “sign on” with the ship and agree to the conditions of the ship or voyage (GT:FT 71).

I would imagine that in the Third Imperium a universal, standardized set of articles are used for commercial ships from the Solomani Rim to the Spinward Marches. These articles perfectly reflect the game rules for crew requirements, salary schedules, maintenance routines, and so on. And thus the articles normally just exist somewhere in the background and don't require much thought on the part of referees or players.

But a private ship owned and operated by PCs is free to be run by its own set of rules. And here the ship's articles provide a colorful in-game way for players to do things differently. Probably the item of most interest would be establishing a system of shares for distribution of profits. In general, most profits go to the ship's owner, with the balance divided between the senior officers with much less to the junior officers and nothing to the loyal deckhands. But I find that players, like pirates, generally prefer more egalitarian distributions.

While Far Trader provides a generic TAS Form 1 - Ship’s Articles, it's pretty skeletal. And what's more, it doesn't incorporate many of the suggestions sprinkled throughout the supplement, like establishing hazard pay rates for Amber or Red Zones, or setting watch schedules.

The Starjammer, with its android owner and unusual crew, is a particularly good candidate for a bespoke set of ship's articles. I adapted the following draft from Form 1, but also found a great example on the wiki for the Ethically-Challenged Merchants (what a name!) campaign.

The generic TAS Form 1 does not cover shore leave, even though Far Trader notes that “Ship’s articles will usually specify how much and how often port liberty is granted, and require the captain to provide transportation to and from shore facilities” (82). Although not explicitly stated, Classic Traveller implies that crew members are granted shore leave between voyages as a matter of course. The Traveller Book, for example, under Interstellar Travel, explains that commercial starships usually spend “one week in the star system, travelling from the jump point to the local world, refueling, marketing cargo, finding passengers, leaving the starport, and proceeding to a jump point again. The week in the system usually provides some time for crew recreation and for wandering around the planet [emphasis added]” (49). This language is echoed almost verbatim in the MgT core rules at 153.

Given this, a standard 24- or 48- hour leave per crew member per jump would not seem unreasonable. Presumably, most ships stagger leave to keep a skeleton crew on board in port to guard the stores, perform maintenance, arrange for new cargo, freight, mail, or passengers, and so on. But I did not spell out shore leave requirements in the Starjammer’s articles only because I assumed that charters, the ship’s bread and butter, are often time-sensitive and require the master to grant leave between charters rather than between individual jumps.

Starjammer’s Articles of Agreement

The following Standing Ship's Articles of Agreement (hereinafter referred to as Articles) are made effective as of 180-1102 to govern the Imperial Merchant Vessel STARJAMMER, Registration Number 338-C-2725 to the Port of KLINE (MAGYAR 3012), and whose owner is BODYGUARD 3185D31A, a/k/a “Sonny” (hereafter referred to as Owner Aboard).

Article 1. Term Of Articles

IT IS AGREED between the Master and the Crew named below on the Manifest that the Crew shall serve aboard the STARJAMMER, of which CRYO (or whoever lawfully replaces him) is Master, from the Port of KLINE (MAGYAR 3012) to other ports and planets as the Owner Aboard may direct, and back to a final port of discharge in the Imperium.
At the will of either party, the term of service will end.

Article 2. Conduct of Crew

The Crew agree to conduct themselves in an orderly, faithful, honest, and sober manner, to be diligent at all times in their respectful duties, and to obey the lawful orders of the Master (or of any person who lawfully succeeds him) and of their superior officers, in everything related to the vessel, and her passengers, stores, and cargo, whether on board, in boats, or in port.

Article 3. Compensation

The Owner Aboard agrees to pay the Crew, as wages, the sums and shares entered next to their names on the Manifest.
It is also agreed, that the wages for duties performed in systems designated Amber Zones shall be accrued at twice (x2) the rates established in the Manifest. Further, the wages for duties performed in systems designated Red Zones shall be accrued at quintuple (x5) the rates established in the Manifest.
Crew members shall be paid their salaries in local currency or Imperial credits every thirty (30) days at the first available port of call.
Crew members are entitled to receive from the Owner upon request, in local currency or Imperial credits, up to one half of their monthly salary at every port of call in advance of their scheduled salary payment, but not more than once in any thirty (30) day period.
Crew members shall be entitled to participate in discretionary bonuses that may be authorized and declared by the Owner Aboard from time to time.
The Master agrees to supply the Crew with room and board according to custom and Imperial regulations, to accommodate incidental storage of personal items in unused cargo space, to provide livery of such ports as time and circumstances permit, and to provide for their repatriation to the port named above if they separate from the vessel through no fault or negligence of their own.
The Master agrees to provide the Crew with free medical care; if their requirements exceed the ship’s capabilities, the Master will procure appropriate care on the nearest convenient port of call.
The Master agrees to afford the Crew two (2) weeks paid liberty each year, to be taken during the annual maintenance overhaul.

Article 4. Watchkeeping

The Master shall ensure that watchkeeping arrangements are adequate for maintaining a safe continuous watch during vessel operations, taking into account the prevailing circumstances and conditions. Watchbills shall be posted where they are easily accessible on board the vessel.

Article 5. Obligations of Crew

It is also agreed, that no member of the Crew may depart the vessel in port without permission of the Master; that any embezzlement or willful or negligent destruction of and part of the vessel’s cargo or stores shall be made good to the Owner Aboard out of the wages of the guilty person and that if any member of the Crew has a grievance under these Articles or otherwise, he will report it in a quiet and orderly manner to the Master or officer in charge of the vessel, who shall then take such steps as the case requires.

Article 6. Record Keeping

The Master shall record in the vessel’s log all matters of discipline, and any complaints brought to him by the Crew, for review by the Imperial representative at the next Imperial port of call.
The Master shall provide each departing member of the Crew with a Crew Member’s Identification and Record, specifying the period of service and the time, place and reason for discharge from service.

IN WITNESS, CRYO, Master of STARJAMMER on 180-1102.

The Crew have signed above their names on the attached Manifest, dated as indicated on each, which are specifically included by reference in the terms of these Articles.