Classic Traveller review: Worlds

TOC

The table of contents for this review of the Classic Traveller Book is on the following page: CT Review Table of Contents

Worlds

We’ve covered how to get to interesting places, and how to kill or blow up whatever we find there, but we have yet to discover much about what kind of interesting places exist, or who or what we may find skulking about.

This chapter, starting on page 80, is both a system to fill out the universe, and yet again, a minigame. The referee is invited to fill out at least one subsector hex map composed of parsec (3.26 LY) spaces, and that no more than 16 will likely be needed, ever. The map denotes the presence of a star, the major features available such as gas giants, and the characteristics of the most notable world or population center in that sector.

Incidentally, the sample subsector grid is on page 88, not 13, another entry that leads me to believe that this was mostly reset from the original rules and that not all changes from or oversights in the LBBs were caught in the transition.

The systems

There is a basic 50-50 chance of a star appearing in any hex, modified by +1 or -1 for the whole sector or large chunks of it, if the referee desires a denser or less dense region of space. Rolling on page 84 then determines the type of starport, whether a navy or scout base is present, and if there’s a gas giant. Interestingly, gas giants, an alternate source of unrefined fuel, are apparently common in real life, not just in Traveller. The class of starport determines if shipyards are present, as well as what kind of traffic one can expect insystem. Army and surface side ground/naval/aero forces are subject to the referee’s discretion as the question comes up.

The referee also determines if the main world is an amber or red zone, either up front for his own reasons, or based on some interesting result later on in world creation that inspires the decision.

Amber travel zones indicate that travellers should exercise caution when visiting such worlds. The amber code may mean that the citizens of the world are xenophobic, that the political situation is chaotic, or that some other danger exists within the system.

Red travel zones usually indicate that a major danger exists within the system. This danger may be disease and the world is quarantined. The system may be involved in a war, and surface or space battles may be probable. Red travel zones are also used to show a government edict prohibiting entry to the system or world. This may be to protect a local civilization which is still developing and not yet ready for interstellar contacts, or to protect valuable resources until the government can mine them.

The public reason for a zone being declared may not match the real reason. In either case, it’s a flag for areas that may have interesting things going on in the proverbial Chinese curse sense.

Finally, before getting to individual worlds, there is guidance on showing major communication routes which explicitly makes clear that the rules were intended for more generic play than the imperial backdrop that Marc later filled in.

In D&D terms it’s a system for developing a semi-random wilderness map, with some referee judgement for placement of major towns and enemy strongholds or prospective dungeons. One reason you need to at least plot out the stellar positions ahead of time is because there’s no secret or hiddenness to where the nearby star systems are. And if there are - that’s an interesting place to explore for its own reasons.

The Worlds Themselves

Page 81 brings us to generating the main world within the system.

The term world refers to the various bodies that are contained in a stellar system; it encompasses planets, satellites, and asteroid belts. For example, the single most important world in a system may not be a planet; it could be a satellite of a gas giant, or it could be a planetoid within an asteroid belt.

Planetary codes are used similarly to character UPP codes, except in the case of worlds, it’s not strictly hexidecimal numeric scalar values. Where planet size and water percentage are such, others, like government type, are simply cross-indexed to a table.

Starport type, the six basic characteristics, and tech level establish the basic identity of a world. Additional information can be generated, and should be, to more fully describe a world.

When originally generating a world, a subsector index containing world name, location, universal planetary profile, and other basic data should be compiled. This listing should be available to players who travel through the subsector.

Further, it’s made clear that this is just the bare sketch of these systems and main worlds:

In addition, the referee should generate other information which may be pertinent; this may include details of other planets in the star system, radiation characteristics of the star, the types of terrain present on the planetary surface, unique encounter tables (as prescribed by the section on animal encounters), data on flora and fauna, industrial or agricultural capacity, data on social structure and government, or possibly actual maps of the planetary surface.

Incidentally, this is where the book “Scout” becomes useful. You can of course fill in per whim or default template, but, if you’re willing to take the time and entrust the fates and dice, it has a procedural system for generating stellar types, other planetary bodies and moons and belts, and so on. That said, don’t go into this detail for every system - just when and as it becomes important. You’re better off letting the players discover things as they go along to organically build your campaign.

Planetary size is a raw throw (2D6-2) from zero (planetoid/belt) to 10, averaging 5. A standard solid body is assumed - if you want L5 rosettes, ringworlds, or other artificial systems, the referee will have to decree them.

Ringworlds: An incredibly strong band may be set rotating about a central star, making a ringworld which uses centrifugal force to provide a simulation of gravity. A ring- world at the distance of Earth's orbit and with a width of 1.6 million kilometers has a usable surface area of about three million Earths

Planetary atmosphere will average out around the size of the world - which means typically thin or standard, possibly tainted and requiring filers or respirators, atmospheres. Excepting special cases and Referee discretion, you will rarely see exotic or corrosive atmospheres outside of gas giants.

Hydrographic percentages are affected by the previous atmosphere stat, and are usually water excepting special atmospheres, and by default is zero if planetary size zero (see again, interesting things the Referee can plant…). Larger vacuum worlds can have ice caps.

Population once again is a raw 2D6-2 and averages in the hundreds of thousands - so you can have a low population large world or a high population belt colony. The government type result will average the same value as the population, but here it’s not a simple scalar. Everything from anarchy to dictatorships to feudal technocracies are in play, and you can always come up with something different. Dictatorships and authoritarian types tend toward the higher values, which also matches more restrictive law levels - basically how heavily armed you’re allowed to be in public, how likely you are to be harassed by the cops and bureaucracy, and the degree to which self-defense is discouraged. Larger populations lead to higher law levels, which means not only more restrictions on weapons, but a higher likelihood of you getting tossed in the jail over a minor infraction, or worse.

At times, the referee (or the players) will find combinations of features which may seem contradictory or un- reasonable. Common sense should rule in such cases; players or the referee should generate a rationale which ex- plains the situation.

Finally, the referee should always feel free to create worlds which have been deliberately (rather than randomly) generated. Often such planets will be devised specifically to reward or torment players.

Tech Level

This isn’t hard and fast. It’s more an assessment of the degree of tech that can be produced and maintained on world. Given high tech factories in third world, aka “developing”, countries, it’s possible to have higher tech production, but the costs of interstellar transport, while relatively cheap, will still dictate most goods are locally produced as much of the support logistics outside of raw materials will have to come from elsewhere. You may also find cases where worlds require higher tech levels than designated for needed survival gear. The ref is free to determine how that works out - for example, there may be an exorbitant markup for vacuum suits on a TL5 (the lowest possible) “asteroid” world in vacuum - as TL5 is roughly interwar (1930’s) technology level.

Trade Classifications

Finally, there’s a section on trade classifications, or tags, if you will, such as rich, poor, water, industrial, and the requirements for each.

Conclusion

The rules do a good job of summarizing this:

The purpose of the world generation sequence is to prod the imagination. Even the most imaginative individual soon loses brilliance in the face of creating hundreds of individual worlds. The procedure substitutes die rolls for random imagination and then allows the referee to use that information to determine specific world data. Imagination may be required to explain a tech level 4 civilization in an asteroid belt, or a high population world with a participating democracy for a government.

While you’re at it:

If you like good books, the guys at Pilum Press have a discord server. Drop in, and if you haven’t yet, pick up a copy of everything they have at their website.

If you’re more into games, check out the Arbiter of Worlds channel, and the Autarch Discord server as well. There you will find discussions on ACKs, Ascendant, and a number of other non-Autarch RPGs and games like Traveller and D&D.