Revised Dark Nebula Planetary Data

An artist’s rendition of the garden world of Satwor (DARK 2610 A867632-A) in the Akuusir Cluster. Source: Solomani Ministry of Information holopamphlet, “The Border Worlds of the Confederation” (5661).

In addition to tweaking stellar data, I also wanted to add Traveller⁵ trade classifications for climate and satellites, and potentially seed a few larger world sizes into my house sector data for Dark Nebula. I also found a few irregularities in the data currently available on Traveller Map, most likely the result of earlier passes from the T5 Second Survey (T5SS). Finally, I had a couple of random changes I wanted to add.

Mainworld Placement

By determining the mainworld’s orbit, we also establish the mainworld’s climate and whether the mainworld is tide-locked to the primary or not. Traveller⁵ assumes that mainworlds are generally found in or around the habitable zone orbit (HZ) of their primary. The specific orbit is determined randomly with a Flux roll. Accordingly, most worlds will orbit in the HZ and have a moderate climate range. A low Flux puts a mainworld in orbit HZ-1, with a Hot (Ho) or Tropic (Tr) trade classification; a high Flux puts a mainworld in orbit HZ+1, with a Cold (Co) or Tundra (Tu) classification.

The most common modifier is for class M main sequence stars: M0 V, M1 V, M2 V, or M3 V. The HZ for such stars is orbit 0 (about 0.2 AU), so worlds orbiting these stars cannot occupy one orbit in: the modifier pushes their orbits to the HZ (orbit 0), HZ+1 (orbit 1), or HZ+2 (orbit 2). A world orbiting in HZ+2 might qualify for the Frozen (Fr) code, often associated with worlds in the outer system.

After generating orbital placements for Dark Nebula, I then made a series of passes to massage the resulting data. I swapped the climate codes of several worlds with breathable atmospheres (4–9, E) with worlds with unbreathable atmospheres (0–3, A–C) to move more of the former into an HZ orbit and more of the latter out of an HZ orbit.

Planet or Satellite

Traveller⁵ determines whether a mainworld is a planet or the satellite of a gas giant or large terrestrial planet with another Flux roll. An important rule of thumb that I followed was to prevent worlds that orbit too close to the primary (orbits 0 or 1) from being satellites: this removed several satellites from the dataset, since M and K class main sequence stars are so common. I also moved several satellite codes from larger worlds (7+) to smaller worlds (4-).

Tide-Locking and Resonant Orbits

One inevitable consequence of applying Traveller⁵ world generation rules to sector data is that, because class K and M main sequence stars are so common, you end up with a LOT of mainworlds in orbits 0 or 1. By default, worlds in these orbits are considered tide-locked with the trade classification Twilight Zone (Tz).

As I noted in my post on Dark Nebula stellar data, there is an interesting debate going on right now about the habitability of such worlds, with strong arguments being made for and against. Worlds with either no, trace, or exotic atmospheres make sense as tide-locked worlds. Similarly, worlds with either a great deal of water (8+) or very little water (3-) also made sense as tide-locked.

Although Traveller⁵ does not provide for this possibility, worlds in close orbit to the primary may fall into a resonant orbit with the primary, like Mercury in the Sol system. I took a hard look at Twilight Zone worlds with breathable atmospheres and moderate hydrographic percentages. And for a select number of these worlds, I overrode the Twilight Zone code and assumed they have resonant orbits:

• Aleikhes (DARK 0710 A755657-D)
• Arahao (DARK 1008 C544733-5)
• Meskok (DARK 2308 C654768-5)
• Niysk (DARK 2405 E867424-2)
• Springflow (DARK 2510 B777465-8)
• Satwor (DARK 2610 A867632-A)
• Temgassung (DARK 3205 C777422-5)
• Eweuas (DARK 0112 A585745-C)
• Merpikhnomi (DARK 1116 E544653-5)
• Turnovo (DARK 3020 D766762-4)
• Aiaiso (DARK 0727 C678747-8)
• Eohe (DARK 0536 B776686-A)
• Hroilr (DARK 1536 A556788-C)
• Eiar (DARK 2539 C884788-8)
• Miken (DARK 3033 B678564-9)

Large Terrestrial Planets

Traveller⁵ allows for mainworlds of larger than size A, though these are fairly rare. Recent discoveries in exoplanetology seem to support this idea, so I increased the size of the following size A Dark Nebula mainworlds accordingly:

World Size Changes

Hex	Name	UWP	Remarks
0909	Syasaral	DCA5499-8	Fl Ni Px
2605	Dengmi	CB88486-4	Ni Pa
0315	Etlaorla	CDC5166-A	Fl Lo Sa
2838	Olruiwos	BBA5786-A	Fl Tz

Forbidden Worlds

As discussed previously, many Dark Nebula worlds with starport X in Atlas of the Imperium had their starport codes changed to E or higher with Red travel zones during one round of T5SS review. For many of these worlds, the starport codes were reverted back to X during a subsequent round of review. But several starports lost both the X designation and the Red Zone, and I believe this was an error.

Simply adding back class X starports to these worlds presents a challenge. A class X starport imposes a hefty (-4) penalty on Tech Level. This can result in a maximum TL that is below the minimum necessary, which is determined by Atmosphere. Take, for example, Rormepeni (DARK 0915 E8B4443-8). An Atmo code of B indicates corrosive: “A concentrated gas mix or unusual temperature creates a corrosive environment, which requires the use of a protective suit or vacc suit” (MT Referee’s Manual 20–21). Such a hostile environment requires a minimum TL of 8. But if we gave Rormepeni a class X starport, the maximum TL we could generate would be 6 (1D) -4 (starport) +1 (Atmo) +1 (Pop) = 4, not enough to make it with a corrosive atmosphere.

For such worlds, we can leave the Class E starport but add a Red Zone travel code and the Forbidden (Fo) trade classification: Eahaeah (DARK 0206 E523498-7), Ahuawiyoi (DARK 0607 E8C4544-9), Ealyurei (DARK 0120 E100266-7), Rormepeni (DARK 0915 E8B4443-8), Ktealau (DARK 0130 E998123-7), Hlehekah (DARK 1127 E100545-A), Eakhyehiyye (DARK 0740 E544643-6), and Aiheisaus (DARK 1637 E100443-7). Only the world of Yetiuaya (DARK 2340 E768448-7) can also have its starport X reinstated.

Most of these red-zoned worlds are likely self-interdicted.

Hydro Codes

Several worlds in Dark Nebula have Hydrographics codes out of range from the Atmosphere codes: Ul (DARK 0603 A682698-A), Pannusgario (DARK 1003 A5829DB-A), Eariure (DARK 1901 C73A332-A), Lachbes (DARK 2501 D73A146-6), Asati (DARK 1912 D729400-9), Nabokov (DARK 3118 DAF5532-3), Shrlmia (DARK 3119 B7C2644-9), Ftihahe' (DARK 1023 D5A0798-8), Ekhiy (DARK 2023 B629386-B), O'awiy (DARK 2525 E84A897-8), Hkitei (DARK 0634 B73A367-E), Ahiyh (DARK 0838 E62A7A9-9), Hiwoieikh (DARK 1832 D893435-6), and Hynrl-Lavo (DARK 3036 A539543-E).

The T5SS was generally pretty rigorous in enforcing these limits and it looks like most of these are simple omissions. Most can be fixed by adjusting the Hydro code and occassionaly adding or removing a trade classification. Hkitei and Ahiyh, however, could not be adjusted without also changing the TL, which then cascades through the Importance, Economic, and Cultural extensions. For both worlds we can adjust the Atmo to 5.

Other Changes

The world 541-668 (DARK 2601 X541668-5) was explicitly described in Solomani and Aslan as being known only by its hex location (“2601”) but was issued a Scout Service type name. I had brought this up to Don McKinney during one pass of the T5SS but was overruled. Given that the original “name” has canonical backing I reverted the name for my own take.

Finally, Earle (Dark Nebula 0307) is described in Solomani and Aslan as an “Aslan world with high percentage of human population” (p 69). This would also correspond with the history of the world as noted on page 99. Based on this, I would recommend adding the remark “Huma4,” which would represent some 12 billion humans.

Change Log

Here are the resulting changes from adding Traveller⁵ classifications to the legacy Dark Nebula data:

• Uiwe (0106) - add remark Tz.
• Oukheayekh (0107) - add remark Co.
• Oifairouw (0109) - add remark Tu.
• Yeasea (0201) - add remark Tz.
• Eahaeah (0206) - add remarks Tz Fo; Add R code to Travel Zone field to reflect Atlas of the Imperium.
• Aohoikiy (0207) - add remark Lk.
• Earle (0307) - add remarks Ho, Huma4 to reflect Solomani & Aslan.
• Eakhtya'i (0402) - add remarks Sa Fr.
• Sowhkeiy (0407) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Haiaokoa (0408) - add remark Tz.
• Ularin (0501) - add remark Co.
• Limenas (0502) - add remark Fr.
• Usun (0503) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Oekhaihikh (0507) - add remark Tz.
• Amar (0601) - add remark Tz.
• Ul (0603) - change UWP to A683698-A to put Hydro code within range.
• Ahuawiyoi (0607) - add remarks Tz Fo; add R code to Travel Zone field to reflect Atlas of the Imperium.
• Tahetlo (0609) - add remark Ho.
• Oiwohas (0707) - add remarks Lk Co.
• Nalale (0801) - add remark Tz.
• Elulor (0805) - add remark Tz.
• Fteite (0807) - add remark Sa.
• Hye (0809) - add remark Tz.
• Chesall (0903) - add remark Sa.
• Aoaki (0907) - add remark Lk.
• Syasaral (0909) - change UWP to DCA5499-8; add remarks Tz Ho.
• Pannusgario (1003) - change UWP to A5839DB-A to place Hydro code within range.
• Walryaei (1004) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Yoaieal (1104) - add remark Tz.
• Hrowele (1107) - add remarks Tz Tr.
• Osuilyuh (1110) - add remark Tz.
• Trienamm (1203) - add remark Tz.
• Uaweisa (1205) - add remark Co.
• Hfieao (1207) - add remark Co.
• Ftahalr (1208) - add remark Tz.
• Canshar (1304) - add remark Tz.
• Teioyukh (1310) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Reawaiy (1402) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Oheou (1501) - add remark Tz.
• Nihoipo (1504) - add remark Tz.
• Hyeirih (1506) - add remark Sa.
• Irekhal (1508) - add remark Ho.
• Iweheh (1603) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Jardeng (1604) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Eiyriou (1608) - add remark Tz.
• Brensat (1609) - add remark Tz.
• Aowoiktes (1705) - add remark Tz.
• Yeyofui' (1708) - add remark Tz.
• Doning (1804) - add remark Tz.
• Bathanfel (1805) - add remark Ho.
• Earlure (1901) - change UWP to C738332-A to put Hydro code within range; remove Wa remark; add remarks Tz Ho.
• Murphy (1902) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Aeia (1907) - add remark Lk.
• Bontennes (2001) - add remark Tz.
• Rodsban (2002) - add remark Tz.
• Sordno (2010) - add remark Tz.
• Febung (2108) - add remark Tz.
• Tauoilais (2109) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Kemsung (2202) - add remark Tz.
• Dloh (2208) - add remarks Sa Ho.
• Datja (2302) - add remark Tu.
• Wisu (2402) - add remark Tz.
• Wanlir (2403) - add remark Tz.
• Mamalt (2404) - add remark Tz Co.
• Mosarelel (2407) - add remark Tz Co.
• Carn Gafall (2408) - add remark Tz.
• Lachbes (2501) - change UWP to D738146-6 to put Hydro code within range; remove Wa remark; add remark Tz.
• Karziv (2603) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Dengmi (2605) - change UWP to CB88486-4.
• Fonfado (2606) - add remark Fr.
• Morlisbon (2609) - add remark Tz.
• Rana (2710) - add remark Ho.
• Romart (2810) - add remark Tz.
• Mosgat (2901) - add remark Tz.
• Renfrew (2904) - add remark Tz.
• Angle (3005) - add remark Tz.
• Patawidmam (3009) - add remark Ho.
• Wormen (3106) - add remark Lk.
• Linate (3204) - add remarks Lk Ho.
• Ouleawos (0114) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Tyakhyo (0115) - add remark Tz.
• Ealyurei (0120) - add remarks Lk Fo; add R code to Travel Zone field to reflect Atlas of the Imperium.
• Aulyetyu (0214) - add remark Tz.
• Au'aiyyee (0220) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Ayeiyfua (0311) - add remarks Lk Ho.
• Kikeasa (0314) - add remark Tz.
• Etlaorla (0315) - change UWP to CDC5166-A.
• Oyuyes (0316) - add remark Tz.
• Ealalrye (0317) - add remark Tz.
• Htaheatelr (0411) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Ftyuealoi (0416) - add remark Co.
• Hkyewao (0519) - add remark Lk.
• Htiyhoai (0612) - add remark Tz.
• Hirliyse (0613) - add remark Lk.
• Ktarua (0614) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Leftearl (0615) - add remark Sa.
• Uioirli (0811) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Nishror (0812) - add remarks Tz Tu.
• Chorikhnare (0815) - add remark Tz.
• Htaweal (0817) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Siniob (0819) - add remark Tz.
• Kipelaresh (0914) - add remark Tz.
• Rormepeni (0915) - add remarks Tz Fo; add R code to Travel Zone field to reflect Atlas of the Imperium.
• I'etle (0916) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Ewuia (0918) - add remark Ho.
• Hopeshre (1014) - add remark Tz.
• Ihkasya (1020) - add remark Fr.
• Alaooh (1111) - add remark Tz.
• Osa (1112) - add remark Tz.
• Eaisakh (1120) - add remark Ho.
• Thometha (1213) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Meshmo (1215) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Iopfen (1217) - add remark Tz.
• Oyarn (1420) - add remark Ho.
• Ekhtekih (1518) - add remark Tz.
• Eauie (1519) - add remark Tz.
• Aseahya (1611) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Sherarehi (1615) - add remarks Sa Ho.
• Hlao (1719) - add remark Tz.
• Ye (1813) - add remark Tz.
• Asati (1912) - change UWP to D727400-9 to put Hydro code within range; add remarks Tz Ho.
• Kakhisil (1915) - add remark Fr.
• Horrace (1916) - add remark Tz.
• Khoakta (1918) - add remarks Lk Co.
• Taeahehe (2011) - add remark Tz.
• Morain (2012) - add remark Fr.
• Hleahao (2018) - add remarks Lk Co.
• Oiaous (2020) - add remark Tz.
• Ikhaeal (2111) - add remark Tz.
• Sharp (2117) - add remark Tz.
• Pritchard (2214) - add remark Tz.
• Yakolev (2215) - add remark Co.
• Crain (2216) - add remark Tz.
• Ehoioi (2218) - add remark Tz.
• Strin (2316) - add remark Lk.
• Nigdye (2413) - add remark Tz.
• Ilriyhya (2415) - add remark Ho.
• Stop Gap (2416) - add remark Sa.
• Lima (2511) - add remarks Fr Sa.
• Tortsad (2516) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Wolsone (2613) - add remark Tz.
• Hichape (2713) - add remark Tz.
• Ninnihrang (2812) - add remark Tz.
• Merejace (2815) - add remark Tz.
• Waq (2819) - add remark Co.
• Shobind (2911) - add remark Tz.
• Yakoru (3114) - add remark Tz.
• Morsang (3116) - add remark Tz.
• Nabokov (3118) - change UWP to DAF6532-3 to put Hydro code within range.
• Shrimia (3119) - change UWP to B7C3644-9 to put Hydro code within range; remove He remark; add remark Tz.
• Pangringgan (3120) - add remarks Co Tz.
• Aiolio (3214) - add remark Tz.
• Wangmetjem (3217) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Iruma (3219) - add remark Tz.
• Kteatau (0130) - add remark Fo; add R code to Travel Zone field to reflect Atlas of the Imperium.
• Yehta (0226) - add remark Lk.
• Seilrye (0227) - add remark Tz.
• Iyyoiy (0321) - add remark Fr.
• Ktaol (0327) - add remark Tz.
• Ruiloih (0328) - add remark Sa Co.
• Wuhtiaweh (0329) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Ye'aeaoafokh (0330) - add remark Lk.
• Atayekhe (0421) - add remark Tz.
• Yokiyheir (0423) - add remark Tz.
• Teaiyre (0427) - add remark Tz.
• Eftaeikui (0428) - add remark Lk.
• Hoireh (0523) - add remark Sa.
• Heiaieai' (0524) - add remarks Sa Ho.
• Ao'iyaulra (0627) - add remark Tz.
• Khteau (0628) - add remark Co.
• Ihkeh (0629) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Stofakhail (0630) - add remark Lk.
• Stui (0721) - add remark Tz.
• Yasai (0722) - add remark Tz.
• Erloufteaw (0725) - add remark Ho.
• Ziha (0824) - add remark Tz
• Auyal (0825) - add remark Tz.
• Khtyu (0827) - add remarks Lk Co.
• Foiheliy (0922) - add remark Tz.
• Ftihahe' (1023) - change UWP to D5A1798-8 to put Hydro code within range; add remarks Fl Lk Co.
• Leihkyeau (1025) - add remarks Lk Co.
• Ilkhah (1027) - add remark Tz.
• Oarua (1121) - add remark Tz.
• Ahehuikh (1124) - add remark Tz.
• Htehekah (1127) - add remarks Sa Co Fo; add R code to Travel Zone field to reflect Atlas of the Imperium.
• Hlitilar (1224) - add remark Lk.
• Naco (1321) - add remark Tz.
• Iyokh (1430) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Foiseihyaluh (1522) - add remark Tz.
• Mihraga (1621) - add remark Ho.
• Hyesiyr (1622) - add remark Lk.
• Heahelie (1629) - add remark Tz.
• Easouyao (1721) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Syailei (1724) - add remark Tz.
• Tenarna (1825) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Yelrailr (1829) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Iyaiah (1925) - add remark Lk.
• Tiylewoiw (1930) - add remark Tz.
• Ewirarl (2021) - add remark Sa.
• Ekhiy (2023) - achange UWP to B627386-B to put Hydro code within range; add remark Tz.
• Fyawahri (2026) - add remarks Lk Co.
• Kihahouwu (2028) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Sewalair (2121) - add remark Lk.
• Iyhahorl (2125) - add remark Tz.
• Aohitao (2126) - add remark Tz.
• Khtyasitrao (2322) - add remark Tz.
• Styaroir (2325) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Oskvo (2422) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Iweakhte (2426) - add remark Tz.
• Eiouktoh (2427) - add remark Tz.
• Oiirl (2430) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Besmam (2523) - add remark Tz.
• Sovkhersk (2524) - add remark Ho.
• O'awiy (2525) - change UWP to E849857-8 to put Hydro code within range and maintain TL; remove Wa remark.
• Earltras (2527) - add remark Fr.
• Dranweis (2624) - add remark Sa.
• Gallbre (2629) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Aokhtiyfti (2728) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Kanna (2824) - add remark Ho.
• Petal (3024) - add remark Tz.
• Bridgehead (3121) - add remark Tz.
• Shin (3123) - add remark Tz.
• Terenn (3128) - add remark Tz.
• Garnenshold (3129) - add remark Tz.
• Abmi (3223) - add remark Tz.
• Cupuepue (3226) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Iykye (0136) - add remark Co.
• Hkiho (0140) - add remark Lk.
• Khiyu (0239) - add remark Lk.
• Aotui'asiyr (0334) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Wiykhearl (0335) - add remarks Sa Ho.
• Eaoer (0336) - add remark Tz.
• Iytaow (0432) - add remark Tz.
• Eoyaea (0435) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Traihoa (0437) - add remark Tz.
• Ihkealresiy (0440) - add remarks Sa Ho.
• Hkitei (0634) - change atmo to 5; add remark Tz.
• Waohar (0738) - add remark Tz.
• Eakhyehiyye (0740) - add remark Fo; add R code to Travel Zone field to reflect Atlas of the Imperium.
• Feakh (0835) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Ahiyh (0838) - change atmo to 5; remove remark Pi; add remarks Wa Ho.
• Ewei (0839) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Soukhi' (0934) - add remark Sa.
• Uryarlil (0937) - add remarks Lk Ho.
• Seiyasar (0939) - add remark Tz.
• Kheiei (1034) - add remark Sa.
• Taleiw (1037) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Isikhas (1232) - add remark Sa.
• Eiefei'os (1235) - add remarks Sa Co.
• Eikhilua (1236) - add remark Tz.
• Teayokhtae (1238) - add remark Tz.
• Htakaoea (1331) - add remark Tz.
• Heaeakh (1335) - add remark Tz.
• Suikhiyeisela (1337) - add remark Sa.
• Yoreah (1431) - add remark Sa.
• Oihaiyo (1434) - add remark Tz.
• Ikhoalreih (1439) - add remark Lk.
• Aiheisaus (1637) - add remarks Co Fo; add R code to Travel Zone field to reflect Atlas of the Imperium.
• Eihkeha (1638) - add remark Tz.
• Tlaea'yeryel (1640) - add remark Tz.
• Ihtye (1731) - add remark Fr.
• Asefihea (1740) - add remark Tz.
• Hiwoieikh (1832) - change UWP to D894435-6 to put Hydro code within range; add remarks Pa Tz.
• Atoiloilol (1939) - add remark Tz.
• Oakheiye (2031) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Eahkihkao (2033) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Htao'ewyalr (2038) - add remark Tz.
• Eiaohe (2039) - add remark Sa.
• Ehairiwa (2131) - add remark Tz.
• Hkyosali (2132) - add remark Ho.
• Ewausiaktiy (2136) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Hkayuea (2140) - add remark Tz.
• Erelefo (2335) - add remark Tr.
• Yetiuaya (2340) - Change UWP to X768448-3 to match Atlas of the Imperium; add remarks Fo Tz; change Cultural Extension to [4153]; add R code to Travel Zone field.
• Uiwealirlao (2435) - add remarks Tz Ho.
• Oeafowyahlulr (2537) - add remark Tz.
• Khaolao (2635) - add remark Tz.
• Hyefteite (2639) - add remark Tz.
• Jingleswelt (2732) - add remark Tz.
• Ohkiylyo (2734) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Theleme (2836) - add remarks Lk Ho.
• Brimate (2837) - add remark Lk.
• Olruiwos (2838) - change UWP to BBA5786-A; add remark Tz.
• Teaoiyekh (2839) - add remark Tz.
• Ilalt (2937) - add remark Tz.
• Gimemuh (2938) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Caparro (3032) - add remarks Tz Co.
• Hynri-lavo (3036) - change UWP to A538543-E to put Hydro code within range; add remark Tz.
• Treege (3132) - add remark Tz.
• Junganyika (3236) - add remark Lk.
• Newquay (3240) - add remark Tz.

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Revised Dark Nebula Stellar Data

The M2 III red giant primary of the Steiaseah (DARK 1927) system. The ancient Terrans designated the star Beta Pegasi, while the Aslan know it as Ua’aloiatye, the Bright Star.

The current stellar data for Dark Nebula sector, as found on the Traveller Map, reflects fairly early world generation methods. Atlas of the Imperium (1984) included a dot map of the sector with system locations and rudimentary data such as starport class and the names of high-population worlds. Stellar data for Kilrai’ subsector was first provided in the Travellers’ Digest 17 (1989) and for the entire sector in Solomani & Aslan: The Rimward Races (1991). Like the old Spinward Marches data set, this data has a relatively high number of subgiant, giant, and even supergiant stars as well as many white dwarfs.

For my house version of Dark Nebula, I wanted to follow a similar path as the T5 Second Survey Marches review by curtailing the number of stars outside of the main sequence and trying to match up habitable worlds with reasonable primaries.

All sources agree that Kusyu’s primary is Tyeyo, a G4 V star with a close white dwarf companion, Saietaie. (Of course, no one could agree just where Kusyu was located until the T5SS!) Although having a habitable world and white dwarf seems implausible, this has so much canonical weight I think it’s best considered inviolable.

The only other canonical text reference to stellar data I could locate was to Yehta/Siei (Dark Nebula 0226), a planetoid torn between two stars and a gas giant.

Although it is nowhere described in canon, many have noted the presence of an extremely bright supergiant (F8 Ia) in Dark Nebula. Originally located in the Eakhoi (2123) system, which has a high population garden world, the stellar data was shifted to the asteroid system Troutiyka (2230) during an earlier pass of the T5SS. As noted in that thread, even with this change a supergiant in this location of Charted Space (65–70 parsecs from Terra) would be the brightest star in the Earth’s sky, roughly as bright as Jupiter.

There are a handful of bright real world stars that would be located in approximately the same area as Dark Nebula:

Real World Stars Near Dark Nebula

Bayer Designation	Common Name	RA	Dec	Galactic Long (lb°)	Galactic Lat (b°)	Spectral Type	Vis Mag	Abs Mag	Dist (LY)
Gamma Draconis	Eltanin	17 57	51.5	79.1	29.1	K5 III	2.24	-1.04	148
Beta Pegasi	Scheat	23 04	28.1	95.8	-29.1	M2 III	2.44v	-1.49v	200
Alpha Pegasi	Markab	23 05	15.2	88.4	-40.4	B9 IV	2.49	-0.67	140
Eta Pegasi	Matar	22 43	30.2	92.5	-25	G2 II-III F0 V	2.93	-1.16	215
Theta Aquilae		20 11	-0.8	41.6	-18.1	B9.5 III	3.24	-1.48	285
Delta Aquarii	Skat	22 55	-15.8	49.6	-60.7	A3 III	3.27	-0.18	160
Zeta Pegasi	Homam	22 41	10.8	78.9	-40.7	B8.5 V	3.41	-0.62	210
Beta Bootis	Nekkar	15 02	40.4	67.6	60	G8 III	3.49	-0.64	220

Standard disclaimer: it is folly to try to establish a consistent relationship between real world stars and jump maps of Charted Space. And our real world understanding and classification of stellar data is constantly changing. But if we’re a little more than 50 parsecs from Terra, I think it’s useful to give unusually bright stars in the sector data extra scrutiny (why don’t we see this F8 Ia star from Earth?), and if possible associate them with a real world analog. Maybe the A7 IV primary of Stralsund (Solomani Rim 0618) is really Alpha Cephei, and maybe it isn’t, but the connection is there if a referee wants it.

As I worked through the data I took a hard look at the outlier stars—the subgiants, giants, white dwarfs, and so on. In general, I reduced these to main sequence stars, though I tweaked a few to line up with some of the real world candidates. I found a nice home for Beta Pegasi in Steiaseah (1927), a system without gas giants or belts and an airless planetoid for a mainworld. And it just happens to be in the same area as Daanarni, the “Bright Star” of the Dark Nebula board game.

I dithered over what to do with that F8 Ia, especially with Beta Pegasi already placed in the sector. I went back and looked at past discussions and really didn’t see anyone arguing that Dark Nebula needed a supergiant, and with no canonical grounding I decided to scale that star back.

I also took a hard look at the M class stars: there are at lot of these, and that’s consistent with real world data. But red dwarfs are so cool that worlds in the habitable zone are almost always tidally locked unless they wind up in a resonant orbit. There is an interesting debate going on right now about the habitability of tide-locked worlds, so I generally left the red dwarf stars alone. But in a handful of cases—generally agricultural and/or garden worlds—I changed the primary to something a bit warmer.

Here are my proposed changes to the Dark Nebula stellar data:

• Aohoikiy (0207) - Change stellar data from M3 III D to M3 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Tahetlo (0609) - Change stellar data from M6 III K9 V to K9 V to remove giant star.
• Nalale (0801) - Change stellar data from M3 III to M3 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Helene (1005) - Change stellar data from K4 III to K4 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Hfieao (1207) - Change stellar data from A1 IV F7 V to F7 V to remove bright subgiant star.
• Teioyukh (1310) - Change stellar data from K1 III to K1 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Reawaiy (1402) - Change stellar data from M3 III to M3 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Eiyriou (1608) - Change stellar data from M0 III D to M0 V D to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Bathanfel (1805) - Change stellar data from M1 V M6 V to G6 V to reflect habitability.
• Cuoon (2105) - Change stellar data from M0 V to K0 V to reflect native Chirper population.
• Rindnoir (2201) - Change stellar data from M2 V M4 V to G2 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Elahkilr (2203) - Change stellar data from M2 V M3 V to K8 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Caprona (2607) - Change stellar data from K7 II M6 V to K7 V M6 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Bedegrayn (2608) - Change stellar data from A3 IV to M3 V to reduce bright subgiant star to main sequence.
• Frasden (2801) - Change stellar data from K0 II to K0 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Romart (2810) - Change stellar data from K5 II to M0 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Strova (2903) - Change stellar data from M9 III D to K5 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Hfayulealr (0319) - Change stellar data from M2 V M2 V M3 V to F5 V to reflect likely Terran colony.
• Tahwyafe (0717) - Change stellar data from M6 II to B8 V (Zeta Pegasi).
• Rosal (0720) - Change stellar data from M2 V to F7 V to reflect native Droyne population.
• Hipera (0814) - Change stellar data from M1 V to F7 V to reflect likely Terran colony.
• Htaweal (0817) - Change stellar data from K5 IV to K5 V to reduce unlikely subgiant star to main sequence.
• Kipelaresh (0914) - Change stellar data from K7 II to M0 V M4 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Meshmo (1215) - Change stellar data from K4 IV to K4 V to reduce unlikely subgiant star to main sequence.
• Akhlare (1313) - Change stellar data from M2 V to K2 V to reflect native Ormine population.
• Yakolev (2215) - Change stellar data from M2 V to F1 V B9 III (Delta Cygni).
• Ilriyhya (2415) - Change stellar data from M0 III D to G9 V M9 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Stop Gap (2416) - Change stellar data from M2 II to F2 V G3 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Neween (2619) - Change stellar data from M2 II D to G4 V M1 V to reduce giant star to main sequence and remove white dwarf.
• Waq (2819) - Change stellar data from M1 II to G8 III (Zeta Cygni).
• Nabebe (3015) - Change stellar data from M2 V M5 V to F5 V to reflect planetary habitability
• Nabokov (3118) - Change stellar data from M1 V M8 V to K1 V M8 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Ro Hyeres (3218) - Change stellar data from M6 III D M5 V to G8 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Syerakhir (0222) - Change stellar data from M2 V M9 V to K2 V M9 V to reflect likely Terran colony site.
• Uiaio (0224) - Change stellar data from K6 IV M6 V to K6 V M6 V to reduce unlikely subgiant star to main sequence.
• Iyyoiy (0321) - Change stellar data from M9 II M9 V to M2 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Teaiyre (0427) - Change stellar data from G8 III to M1 V M8 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Hlyerl (0429) - Change stellar data from M3 III to K5 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Kteaesyah (0527) - Change stellar data from K8 II M8 V to G7 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Khteau (0628) - Change stellar data from G3 IV to G2 II F0 V (Eta Pegasi).
• Ahaiehea (0726) - Change stellar data from M2 V to G2 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Ziha (0824) - Change stellar data from M0 III D to M0 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Iylhreyu (0829) - Change stellar data from M1 V to K1 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Ewirle (1028) - Change stellar data from M1 V to G2 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Weisaow (1327) - Change stellar data from M3 V to K2 V M3 V to reflect planetary habitability and match board game; stars correspond to Blatta and Xida.
• Iyohkeih (1427) - Change stellar data from K4 III to K4 V to reduce giant star to main sequence; primary named Rosa based on board game.
• Aiearye (1428) - Change stellar data from K0 II D to K2 V to reduce giant star to main sequence; primary named Panas based on board game.
• Syailei (1724) - Change stellar data from M4 III to M0 V M7 V to reduce giant star to main sequence and reflect binary system in board game; stars named Dim and Astek.
• Eieiau (1830) - Change stellar data from K6 IV to K6 V to reduce unlikely subgiant star to main sequence.
• Troi' (1923) - Change stellar data from M3 V M2 V to G9 V M9 V to reflect planetary habitability; based on board game G9 V primary named Ria and the M9 V near companion Alis.
• Steiaseah (1927) - Change stellar data from M1 V to M2 III (Beta Pegasi); based on board game asteroid belt also known as Daanarni.
• Kihahouwu (2028) - Change stellar data from K4 IV M7 V to K4 V to reduce unlikely subgiant star and match board game; primary named Salia per board game.
• Eakhoi (2123) - Change stellar data from M1 V to K1 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Iouhtah (2128) - Change stellar data from M1 V M3 V to K1 V to reflect planetary habitability; based on board game primary named Kov.
• Troutiyka (2230) - Change stellar data from F8 Ia to F8 V G4 V to reduce supergiant star to main sequence and correspond to stars N3 and N4 from board game.
• Styaroir (2325) - Change stellar data from M7 III D to M1 V M9 V to reduce giant star to main sequence; based on board game stars named Umuro and Omoro.
• Eiouktoh (2427) - Change stellar data from M0 V to M0 V G3 V to reflect board game; stars named Rishi and Kamat.
• Arakhal (2729) - Change stellar data from M2 V to G2 V M2 V to reflect board game; stars named Maadin and Omyl.
• Tanjert-Nebo (2821) - Change stellar data from K3 III M6 V to K3 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Gilead (2921) - Change stellar data from M3 V to K5 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Iywaiwofu (0337) - Change stellar data from K9 IV to K9 V to reduce unlikely subgiant star to main sequence.
• Hyeirih (0537) - Change stellar data from K9 IV to K9 V to reduce unlikely subgiant star to main sequence.
• Sualriyw (0636) - Change stellar data from M3 V M8 V to K5 V to reflect planetary habitability.
• Khohoa (0733) - Change stellar data from M3 III D to M3 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Waohar (0738) - Change stellar data from M0 III to M0 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Fuihafai (0834) - Change stellar data from M5 II to G8 V K5 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Hai Ei (0836) - Change stellar data from K3 IV M6 V to K3 V M6 V to reduce unlikely subgiant star to main sequence.
• Steisua (1135) - Change stellar data from K8 III to G1 V M1 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Yoreah (1431) - Change stellar data from M5 III D to M3 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Taiea (1535) - Change stellar data from K8 III M5 V to G8 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Ualaohei (1934) - Change stellar data from M2 V M5 V to K9 V to reflect planetary habitability; based on board game star named Osa.
• Tloueaeiei (2037) - Change stellar data from G6 III D to K8 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Eiaohe (2039) - Change stellar data from K0 III D to F5 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.
• Hkyosali (2132) - Change stellar data from M2 V M4 V M9 V to G6 V; based on board game primary corresponds to star N1.
• Erelefo (2335) - Change stellar data from M1 V M0 V to F1 V to reflect planetary habitability, based on board game star corresponds to Duduki.
• Irihroalea (2432) - Change stellar data from K7 III to K7 V to reduce giant star to main sequence; based on board game primary named Irbev.
• Euhisai (2434) - Change stellar data from M2 V M1 V to K4 V to reflect planetary habitability; based on board game primary named Changa.
• Steahryoha (2540) - Change stellar data from M2 III to G3 V to reduce giant star to main sequence.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications’ copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.

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.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications’ copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.

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

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications’ copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.

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).

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications’ copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.

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.

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

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications’ copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.