Traveller: "what everyone knows"

[Triumvir]

Here is a "what everyone knows" text I whipped up for a possible Classic Traveller short campaign.

1) Trying to keep it to one page so as not to scare off the normals.
2) I want to use the "official Traveller universe" to save on prep, but this is my take; no psionics, so the Zhodani are now sinister transhumanists (until you get to know them, maybe). This is the kind of Imperium you got in the early materials, so not the "evil empire" as such, but it's overstretched and struggling and probably a bit too inclined to interdict problem worlds and lock up troublemakers on prison hulks and ask questions later.
3) I always thought the scope for Dune-style great house tension was a big missed opportunity in the Trav universe. I mean without nuking the whole setting in a massive civil war. More "wars of assassins" / inter-corporate Trade War level stuff. So I want to hint at that side.

Anyway here it is...


Today’s date: 031/1105 (the 31st day of the 1105th year since the founding of the Imperium).

The IMPERIUM: large, human-dominated interstellar power, over 1,000 years old and containing over 11,000 worlds. Sometimes called the Third Imperium. Member worlds are mostly left to run themselves so long as the Imperium’s basic interests are observed. A hereditary nobility serves as the interface between the provinces and the Imperial centre.

HUMANS: native to dozens of worlds. No-one knows why or how they came to be scattered across space. The current dominant theory is that humans originated biologically on Terra (Solomani Rim Sector), and were dispersed across space in prehistoric times by some unknown power.

JUMP DRIVE: the only means of faster-than-light travel. A ship enters Jump space a safe distance from a gravitational source, and emerges up to six parsecs away, about one week later (barring misjump). There are no FTL comms; messages can only travel at the speed of the fastest ship.

COMPANIES: corporations with operations covering many sectors, the whole Imperium, or even wider areas. Some predate the Imperium itself. Each is a massive concentration of capital and economic power. The nobility collectively largely owns the Companies. Intermeshing economic and political rivalries between Companies and their nobles can lead to outright warfare. The Imperium tolerates such conflicts and tries to regulate them, although there is a widespread sense that its power to do so is weakening.

DIRECTIONS IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE: the most common system is based on two axes: “spinward/trailing” (relative to the direction of the Galaxy’s rotation), and “coreward/rimward”.

SPINWARD MARCHES: border province of the Imperium, months of travel from the Imperial core.

ZHODANI CONSULATE: a major human-dominated state to Spinward/Coreward of the Imperium. Smaller in territory but more advanced technologically and to all appearances, more socially cohesive. The Zhodani embrace cybernetics, even including neural modification; these practices are rejected, and often hated and feared, by mainstream Imperial citizens. This cultural divide contributes to the political tension between the two powers.

FOURTH FRONTIER WAR: latest in a series of wars between the Imperium and the Zhodani, 1082-84. Generally viewed as inconclusive.

OUTWORLD COALITION: alliance of the Zhodani Consulate, the Sword Worlds, and some Vargr tribes, formed during the 4th FW.

SWORD WORLDS: small federation of worlds settled by humans during the time of troubles after the collapse of the Second Imperium. Widely viewed as intolerant of outsiders and militaristic.

VARGR: major species whose homeworlds lie to Coreward of the Imperium. Vargr show limited capacity for large-scale political organisation. Often encountered as mercenaries or pirates in human space.

DARRIAN FEDERATION: another small state near the Imperial border. Descended from a species of humans that achieved very high levels of technology in the past, but then experienced a great disaster and collapsed to a primitive stage before rebuilding. The Sword Worlds seized several of their systems during the Fourth Frontier War. Tends to ally with the Imperium.

ASLAN: another major species descended from hunter-carnivore ancestry. Several Aslan clans have crossed the Great Gulf from their homeworlds to Rimward, and settled near the Spinward Marches.

ARDEN: Mainly human-populated independent world in neutral space between the Imperium and the Zhodani. Aggressively commercial and expansionist.

DUCHESS DELPHINE OF MORA: senior Imperial noble in the Marches.

DUKE NORRIS OF REGINA: another important Marches noble, perceived by many as a potential rival to Delphine as the leading noble of the sector.

 

[bleys21]

That's a great synopsis! I've not done much beyond reading the rules for Traveller, but that one page contains almost everything you need to know to get started.

 

[Ravenswing]

Pretty concise; I can't imagine anyone objecting to that.

 

[T. Foster]

This is very good. The only thing I might add if there’s still room on your sheet is some note to the effect that, just like FTL communication and instantaneous transportation, matter replication is beyond the tech-level of the game, so it’s not a “post-scarcity” environment - interstellar traders ply the space lanes buying and selling goods and seeking profit, and there’s a symbiotic relation between industrial and agricultural worlds.

 

[Triumvir]

That's a great synopsis! I've not done much beyond reading the rules for Traveller, but that one page contains almost everything you need to know to get started.

Cheers! I'm now a little concerned I might lead folks astray though - this is only my take. So in the official materials, Zhodani society is based on psionics, not transhuman tech, and it's a little less technologically advanced than the Imperium. I just don't like psionics.

Also the Companies are usually called Megacorporations. I think that sounds a bit too cyberpunk though.

 

[Triumvir]

This is very good. The only thing I might add if there’s still room on your sheet is some note to the effect that, just like FTL communication and instantaneous transportation, matter replication is beyond the tech-level of the game, so it’s not a “post-scarcity” environment - interstellar traders ply the space lanes buying and selling goods and seeking profit, and there’s a symbiotic relation between industrial and agricultural worlds.

Very good point thanks, it needs to go in - a better use of space than starting to name nobles.

If I could change another thing about the OTU it would be to change Norris's name. I just struggle to take Norris seriously as a first name (taking a massive risk here, no offence to any so-monikered pubbers). I mean, give him a cool scifi name at least, rather than naming him after the bloke from Record Breakers.

 

[dragoner]

Looks good, Arden is great place to start also.

 

[Acmegamer]

Cheers! I'm now a little concerned I might lead folks astray though - this is only my take. So in the official materials, Zhodani society is based on psionics, not transhuman tech, and it's a little less technologically advanced than the Imperium. I just don't like psionics.

Also the Companies are usually called Megacorporations. I think that sounds a bit too cyberpunk though.

I don't have your hate of psionics but I do really like your turn to transhuman tech. Its a nice change up. Personally I'd not worry about the comparison to cyberpunk for megacorporations honestly. It just as well as a solid term to use for corporations that would grow to the size that they would achieve where space flight was a thing.

 

[rogersm]

I’ve never feel comfortable with psi in any rpg, it’s like magic, but if you have magic why do you want psi?

Even being Traveller being the only exception I usually did not introduce psi powers in my campaigns. So reframing Zhos as cybernetic humans is something that makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[AsenRG]

Pretty concise; I can't imagine anyone objecting to that.

I can, but let's hope the OP won't have to deal with one of those cases...

Cheers! I'm now a little concerned I might lead folks astray though - this is only my take. So in the official materials, Zhodani society is based on psionics, not transhuman tech, and it's a little less technologically advanced than the Imperium. I just don't like psionics.

Also the Companies are usually called Megacorporations. I think that sounds a bit too cyberpunk though.

Add a thick, bold heading "Triumvir's Take on Traveller, T'sToT for short", that should be enough!

 

[Bill White]

I like the Zhodani as transhuman cyborg types also. A hivemind without the psionics. Very nice!

 

[Simlasa]

Also the Companies are usually called Megacorporations. I think that sounds a bit too cyberpunk though.

I agree, 'megacorps' are a cyberpunk thing. My preference would be to hew toward something more 'age of sail', invoking charters, guilds, ventures, and compacts. Maybe named for the areas of the Imperium they cover.

 

[Simlasa]

I like the Zhodani as transhuman cyborg types also. A hivemind without the psionics. Very nice!

That description has me thinking of the Omar in Deus Ex 2, which were a favorite element of that game for me.

 

[Sharrow]

I agree, 'megacorps' are a cyberpunk thing. My preference would be to hew toward something more 'age of sail', invoking charters, guilds, ventures, and compacts. Maybe named for the areas of the Imperium they cover.

If using the canon Imperium, many of them cover the whole Imperium, Tukera, for example is the major freight hauler and large liner operator, especially for long-haul transport. Their presence is stronger in some areas than others, but they're ubiquitous. The same goes for the other really big ones, as they have their fingers in pies everywhere, though they tend to specialise in certain industries (and they're usually all in on vertical integration, for obvious reasons).

 

[Bill White]

I like the idea of "megacorps" being treated as Imperial chartered companies owned by the nobility. When you see Gov Code 1, you know the planet is the property of some cabal of aristocrats empowered by the Imperium to take it for all they can get.

 

[robertsconley]

Here is a "what everyone knows" text I whipped up for a possible Classic Traveller short campaign.

This writeup has worked well for me over the years. I just tailor the subsector info to whatever I am using.

 

[Sharrow]

I like the idea of "megacorps" being treated as Imperial chartered companies owned by the nobility. When you see Gov Code 1, you know the planet is the property of some cabal of aristocrats empowered by the Imperium to take it for all they can get.

Or it's owned by some holding company and is some old noble family's personal resort world.

 

[robertsconley]

Some canon breakdown of shareholders of MegaCorps
Hortalez et Cie


Zirunkariish
\

Sharushid

Sternmetal

Tukera

Traveller Wiki

 

[Sharrow]

Note how a fair bit of the ownership of these corporations is circular - they all own chunks of each other.

Also note that the Imperial family owns some to quite a bit of them all (it's a common interpretation that one of the requirements for becoming an Imperial corp is that the Imperial Family gets a small percentage of your stock).

The Zhunastu Family is the house of the original emperors, so that's yet more stock held by nobles, these Imperial adjacent even in the latter days of the Imperium.

The one that stands out is Hortalez et Cie, the most powerful banking and insurance organisation in the Imperium, as it's majority owned by just one family trust. The companies' name comes from that of Roderigue Hortalez and Company, a shell company used in the American Revolution to move war material from France to the US - a little easter egg from Loren Wiseman (as I recall).

 

[Triumvir]

Not necessarily inconsistent with that canonical table, but what I want is to have alignments among the nobles the PCs are more likely to come across and the Companies (my age-of-sail term for megacorps). And that can be a driver of conflicts in the sandbox, that the PCs can get mixed up in. So, e.g., the Duke of Trin is thick with Zirunkarish, but the Duchess of Mora is in with Tukera. Which plays into the growing tensions between the 2. I doubt that is canonical, but I don't care; I want wheels within wheels.

 

[Acmegamer]

The Duchess of Mora, is not to be trusted.

 

[Sharrow]

Not necessarily inconsistent with that canonical table, but what I want is to have alignments among the nobles the PCs are more likely to come across and the Companies (my age-of-sail term for megacorps). And that can be a driver of conflicts in the sandbox, that the PCs can get mixed up in. So, e.g., the Duke of Trin is thick with Zirunkarish, but the Duchess of Mora is in with Tukera. Which plays into the growing tensions between the 2. I doubt that is canonical, but I don't care; I want wheels within wheels.

I think that sort of thing is entirely within canon, though who is in with whom might not be if you do it all yourself. Heck, one of the faction leaders in the 'Shattered Imperium' (MegaTraveller period) was married to an important member of the Tukera family, and thus had access to a great deal of its resources.

 

[AsenRG]

Note how a fair bit of the ownership of these corporations is circular - they all own chunks of each other.

Also note that the Imperial family owns some to quite a bit of them all (it's a common interpretation that one of the requirements for becoming an Imperial corp is that the Imperial Family gets a small percentage of your stock).

The Zhunastu Family is the house of the original emperors, so that's yet more stock held by nobles, these Imperial adjacent even in the latter days of the Imperium.

The one that stands out is Hortalez et Cie, the most powerful banking and insurance organisation in the Imperium, as it's majority owned by just one family trust. The companies' name comes from that of Roderigue Hortalez and Company, a shell company used in the American Revolution to move war material from France to the US - a little easter egg from Loren Wiseman (as I recall).

Makes total sense to me - and the Hortalez et Cie...Is Not To Be Trusted, obviously!

 

[Triumvir]

I like the Zhodani as transhuman cyborg types also. A hivemind without the psionics. Very nice!

I must admit, this is lifted from Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space factions of the Conjoined (advanced-tech hivemind) and Ultras (heavily cyborgised crews of interstellar sub-FTL ships).

"Telepathy" with non-Zhodani could be cybernetically-enhanced extreme-sensitivity perceptiveness. With other Zhodani, it's just the hive-mind implants.

Instead of telekinesis, they can manipulate electronics using their implants. Still powerful in a largely tech-using setting.

But no teleporting.