Oollar

In looking around the D'Arlee Quandrant, one of the jump 2 systems from Montca is Oollar. It has a very interesting UWP: E83A9A-4. A low-tech water world of billions ruled by a charismatic dictator and a very thin atmosphere where you need a respirator to walk around. Steam-powered world so how does that work?

First, it is an amber zoned world. I imagine huge floating cities that use steam pumps to pressurize steel and glass domed cities that follow the currents. As it is ruled by a single dictator (odd roll so male) he must also have lieutenants on all the floating cities to keep order. Looking up what a charismatic dictator operates:

• Charisma and Personal Appeal: The leader is seen as extraordinary, often possessing moral authority, a compelling vision, or a sense of mission. Followers may believe the leader is uniquely qualified to solve national or global problems.
• Moral or Ideological Justification: Many charismatic dictators frame their rule as necessary for national survival, unity, or progress, often appealing to shared cultural or historical values.
• Personal Cult of Leadership: They build a personality cult, portraying themselves as infallible and indispensable, which reinforces loyalty and suppresses dissent.
• Use of Propaganda and Symbolism: Charismatic dictators often use media, public ceremonies, and symbols to project strength, unity, and inevitability of their rule.
• Control Through Trust: Followers may obey not because of laws or institutions, but because they personally trust the leader’s judgment and believe in their cause

And that is almost the basis for the Divine Intervention adventure almost! I may steal parts of that, though it is a high-tech world. Though I actually have a few other ideas based on the NPCs and characters that would also work, and perhaps have something buried in the ocean.

I won't do the whole world mapping as it is just a giant ocean. And the floating islands will have various guilds:

• Machinist Guild - in charge of keeping the buildings, domes and steam piping in shape. Includes the pumps but not operating them
• Pump Guild - in charge controlling the great air pumps that
• News Guild - in charge of propaganda, err, news from the glorious ruler
• Electrical Guild - in charge of the electrical systems
• Transportation Guild - in charge of driving the domed cities
• Farm Guild - in charge of the great kelp farms, the primary food stock
• Fishing Guild - in charge of the fishing fleet, primary source of protein
• Mining Guild - deep sea divers who mine the depths for the materials needed for the domes
• Security Guild - maintains security over the domes.
• Cutting Guild - loggers of the underseas forests

Probably a few more. Definitely a steam-punk vibe. Early radio with giant antennas, diving suits with air hoses connected to the pumps. 

Some questions and maybe some answers:

• Why are there even people here? Centuries ago, Miro Aspettrei, a cult leader, used all the funds and chartered 4 colony ships to Oollar. He wanted to create "The Heaven's Paradise" and wanted the whole world to himself to rule. The original domes were created from the hulls of those colony craft.
• How are the domes even built? On an ocean-covered planet, mining underwater is very hazardous yet the brave men and women of the Mining Guild done their suits and bring back the precious metals used to repair the domes and make new ones
• how are there 2 billion people? The 8 colony cruisers had almost 140,000 people in it in cold sleep. One of the tenants is to go forth and multiply, so families tended to be large. A dozen children per family was not unheard of. Population growth though has hit the hard resources of a low-tech world and the 2 billion now inhabiting Oollar discretely practice birth control. Though I think even that is not enough to explain the population.
• does Oollar interact with other systems? It is amber-zoned and while Miro the 5th keeps a firm grip on the population, there is a hidden black market for higher tech items, such as respirators, food stuffs and even birth control medications. With the low technology, ships can land in the ocean and meet up with local smugglers. Radar is not an option However, many of the domes do have slow torpedoes which can cause ship damage. 
• what does everyone eat? A lot of seaweed and fish products. The Farm Guild handles seaweed farming as well as the farm domes. The Fishing Guild handles fishing, from both boats above water to netting and fish farms in the depths. Smuggled food, especially treats, is highly prized as well as highly punished.
• What are the steam pumps burning for fuel? Dried seaweed only goes so far, but there are huge underwater "forests" of a material, that once dried, burns better than coal. The smoke does need to be vented but with the thin atmosphere, venting gases is pretty easy (and just guessing, but yes, there will be a series of baffles I assume but I am no atmosphere expert!)
• What are the conditions in the floating cities like? Crowded, cramped, smelly and mostly dirty. Think of Dicken's view of the slums. Except in the Grand Leader's area which is spotless and maintained by hundreds of servants. But with the crowds, while most people know everyone in their circles, there are so many people that strangers are not uncommon.
• Do they speak the common language, and would it have evolved over time? Yes, though Oollar does have several regional accents based on the domes, the common Anglic is still spoken.

And why all this info? Because the Professor is going to want to go here. For reasons I am still working on!

And based on the Book 6 book, Oollar is orbiting in orbit 0 around the M1 V star at 0.2 AU or so, and it has 1 belt & 1 gas giant. That close to its sun gives it a 49-day year! And even though it is that close, it is going to be a cold world, so massive icebergs float around as well. And that close, probably tidally locked so the far side is a perpetual ice sheet, miles thick, and the sunward side an "eye" of liquid ocean. Now known as The Eye Of God by the 2 billion natives. The domes mostly congregate at the edge of the Eye, where there is slushy ice. There is a constant churn at the terminator zone which is also aided by a strong thermal core of the planet. The water is rich in nutrients and hosts a large number of aquatic lifeforms well-suited for this strange world!

I really need to get back to that program I was writing, though now I am leaning to just putting in a SEC line and extrapolating the system. Yes, it would be the 43rd version! And I may bow down to the inevitable and ask an AI to write it so see how that works.

Dolmenwood Session 3: Leaving the Fey Lands

After a good bit of delays for various reasons, we returned to the Dolmenwood adventure. Our party of heroes, including one very quiet Fern Evergreen (I am just really bad at running NPCs alongside characters!) peeked into the family crypt to see two dancing skeletons. Pirouetting in the air, the jolly remains of Sir Chyde's parents asked if the party wished to dance. No one took them up on their offer. Seeing the chasm on the floor, and green slime and vapors. LozeBelle carefully checked the coffins: the 2 that were open were Sir Chyde's parents, apparently the sky dancing skeletons. The three other closed coffins contained the remains of his siblings. Peeking down the chasm it seemed to have sunlight reflecting off of snow. No one tried to throw anything down, or even clamber down - which was the safest thing to do. To avoid the slime, Elrod started up on the clsoed caskets to get to the door at the opposite side of the family crypt. The skeletons where not happy and attacked! A minor hit, then Friar Moon managed to turn the undead, who fled to the furthest corner of the room. 

The group gets to the next chamber, with 4 pillars in the room (though to be honest: depending on the size of those pillars they really would have been crowding that room. I think the map could have been a bit larger, though I suppose realistically it was the correct size). At the far end are heavy looking stone doors, flanked by 8' tall dog statues. Above the door was inscribed Call to the Companions. Unfortunately, realu life had interrupted the game for a long time and no one, including me, remembered that the Fairy Princess has mentioned the dogs' names. We did a wisdom roll, and 1 player got one of the names. Anyway, LozeBelle went up to the doors, and the statues did nothing. Elrod tossed a rock the simply bounced off the statues. The Dwarf fighter then tried to open the doors and one of the statues lunged at her. Elrod jumped up to swing at the door with his hammer, but it barely chipped. A quick fight started, and Keir, being part Fey, realized that mundane weapons could not hurt the enchanted statues. 

Fleeing down a side corridor, the animated statue dog stopped at the edge of the room. Deciding to explore in another direction, they found the chapel of St. Sedge. Lighting the candle, the group felt a wind and heard the sounds of battle. Behind a tapestry they found a wedged door that led to the priest's chambers. Along with 3 wormtongues. And while the game gave the stats, no images there nor in the monster manual. Pictures are always nice. A battle happened, but being stuck in the corner only 3 characters could get into position to fight. Elord was grievously wounded, and the acid spit did not help. Technically he got to 0 HP and in Dolmenwood and OSE, that means death. I decided to use the optional rule, and washing off the acid and casting some healing spells. he was brought back. Though he lost a constitution point.

It was at this point I remembered that the Princess gave the names of those hounds, so the normally quiet Fern (the NPC Elf) suddenly recalled the names. Back to the hall and speaking both names the door opened up. Inside the ghost of Sir Chyde welcomed them and asked if they would take his ring to the princess. As they took the ring from the skeleton's hand in his casket, the ghost disappeared. 

Going back to the lower level, they entered the Fey woods, snow falling on their shoulders. Trudging through the snow they got back to the tower, where Grimmlegridge the troll and Griddlegrim permitted them to enter, despite offering more mushrooms. A threat about not letting the princess get what she asked for led them straight her. Giving her the ring, the ghost of Sir Chyde showed up and the Fey and astral ghost seemed to hug.

Rewards were given: the gem of resurrection, a few of the snow crystals, and the Dwarf got a magical hammer with a butterfly engraved on it (+2 damage and only weighs half of what a normal war hammer weighs. They needed a magic weapon). She also had their wounds healed and restored that CON stat for the Breggle. Declining to stay for the wedding, they start back. The forest seemed denser and harder to get through yet they did finally get back to the lower level of the crypt. Somehow it was night outside, so they set up camp for the evening after closing the crypt back up, adding a warning to stay out on the door, and hiking a bit into the woods so as to not be sleeping on a burial mound.

In the family crypt

Next morning, as they are fishing and getting breakfast, a large 5' Otter shows up. Only because I saw the meme a while ago and it tickled me. Though the players were really focused on the fact that the Otter was not wearing clothes. And I'm doing what one series of books did that I liked: the sentient creatures were capitalized, and the "cousins" (non-magical/sentient) were lower case. So, an Otter is an intelligent, speaking otter, and an otter is a regular otter. Anyway, the Otter, Hermes, does have a quest for the group: to correct the hidden Shrine of St. Wort. Which is lost and somewhere south of Fog Lake. They do agree to do the quest and then head back to the Giant's Nose. Where they discover it has been 5 days since they left.

Hermes, the quest-giving Otter

Resting and getting supplies, and adjusting for XP, no one leveled up. A few days later, they head up Cave Lane. This road is at the bottom of a crevice and only gets daylight at noon. No one passes them in either direction for several hours of travel. They do notice the occasional smashed instrument along the way and posit several theories, most prevalent is that someone really hates bards. 

A bit past midday they come to a stone bridge, and a Grimalkin strumming a silver-stringed lute. She introduces herself as Dandy Prisslwhiff, bard. When asked if she had any information, she was willing to trade info for a musical duel or solving a riddle. As none of the characters were a bard or had any musical abilities, they opted for the riddle. I had to write it down, but here was a bit of an issue for me: we've only started playing in the Dolmenwood, and 2 of the players were playing Dolmenwood natives. As people who grew up and lived in the woods, they would have most likely figured it out. The players, on the other hand, not steeped with all the knowledge, have no clue. I decided to just let them have the answer and give them the info that the shrine is probably west of where they are, somewhere in a river. Which is why Hermes wants it fixed - he is worried that the human god may get upset with a shrine that is not correct. 

And this is where we left that session. We finished the 1st adventure and are starting along a 2nd. I need to think things through a bit more and I have several ideas and adventures I can plunder. Hopefully keep things fun and exciting for the group.

A few things in the adventure:

1. That chasm actually led back to the Feylands - the light was reflecting off the snow fields outside the tower. That ring, connecting the 2 worlds, was weakening the barrier between Dolmenwood and the Feylands.

• Had anyone touched or had anything touch the slime, it too would have floated up. Not sure how long that would have lasted.

I am still having some issues running combat of course and tracking more than 1 NPC just seems harder than it should be. 

Kinunir Session 2: Some Action and Progress

We started in the Purple Hootch, a startown dive bar where starship yard workers tend to hang out after work. Jake, our ex-policeman, did not roll well on his streetwise, so the patrons seemed to be avoiding him as a recognized outsider. Tyrell, seeing a small group of General Products shipyard workers, introduced himself and was asking about getting employed at General Products. Going to the main office in Enris, the capital of Montca, was the solution. Todd (rumor C) mentioned he used to work there and remembered the days of building the Kinunir. This thread was not followed up, though Tyrell did meet get to know Matt and Julie a bit better. I pointed out that they could see the ID cards on the employees, and while I had the scene set up for a bar fight to see about the IDs, this group for some reason plays the Traveller RPG a lot different from a fantasy RPG. Where I am pretty sure a fight would happen. 

ready for a fight that never happened

Regardless, deciding to hack into the corporate offices, Jake finds a contact from his police days, Mike. They get there, and Mike is very anti-Imperial. For Cr2000 he helps Moses by supplying some anti-tracking and infiltration software. Between that aid, his own computer skill, and this player usually rolling really high, they get all the information they need: the actual placement of the black globe fitting, and the actual fuel tankage. Given an extra tip, Mike also gives them connection info for Treena, a drone pilot who also does not like the Imperium.

They meet up with her the next day in the park, and she has 2 drones flying around to keep track of her surroundings. She agrees to the job, with Cr2500 up front, and Cr2500 after the job. She has drones that can fly in Montca's thin atmosphere, and spider bots that can probably get into the Kinunir. Pascal and Tyrell notice the drones flying surveillance. They are probably aware that the drones carry full, high-def holographic cameras and microphones. Treena said that this evening would be a good time to do this as the 43rd Dive to the Bottom is starting right outside the port, and between the drones reporting on that and all the activity, there will be a lot of false positives for the General Products yards. Giving her a better chance at success. 

Treena

Later that morning, the Oberlindes Lines executive shows up, asking if they will do the job. They agree as they have half the required info already, and with Treena's work should have the corroborating data.

And let it here as it was about 9, and despite not being employed at the moment, I still get up at 4am to get to the gym. 40-year-old habits are hard to break, and I want to keep doing that regardless. Health is important!

Equipment

Stuff the players will have bought already or had.

• Comm dots: short range comm devices that fit behind the ear. By themselves they are like a walky-talky with about a 1km range. But they can interface in the standard networks (and standard charges will apply) and be basically a cell phone. The League uses standard Imperial codecs and interfaces as well as their own, and the League comm dots can work across both networks. Cr100, battery recharges wirelessly in most starships, or there is a small charging pad that can plug into various sources
• Communicator. Something between a cell phone and walky talky. Range is 500km and can be used as a base station for comm dots as well. Includes audio and a slide out vidscreen, and like most smart phones of today, is a small hand-held computer as well. It can record in holo, flat and audio, and if connected to the local GPS system can be used as a mapping system. Cr500, TL14
• portable computer. For those requiring more oomph in their computing power, portable comps (aka laptop) give a full keyboard and holographic screen and can connect wirelessly to League of Imperial networks. Additional software can be loaded on it, and in a ship can be used to interface with the main ship computer.
• Drones. There are all sorts, from rotorcraft for atmospheres to much more expensive grav drones that can work with no atmosphere. Usually have a full raft of sensors, including audio, holographic cameras, 2D cameras, thermal imaging. Prices vary from a few hundred credits to tens of thousands depending on types. For Treena, she has several, but all are rotary craft designed to work even in Montca's thin and tainted atmosphere. She also has several spider drones that use legs to walk about and have manipulators. 

The players will also have their guns if they bought any or mustered out.

Characters Met

Mike - hacker, anti-Imperial bent. Helped hack into General Products servers for plans of the Kinunir

Treena - drone pilot. Will attempt to get into the Kinunir via drones

Todd - ex-General Products shipyard worker. Aka rumor C in the book. 

Matt, Julie - current General Products shipyard workers, met at the Purple Hooch.

Oberlindes Lines exec - name has never been given, will pay Cr240K for the info. 

Professor Victor Cosmosis - scholar who wants to hire the team for a trip to Xyman. Which, entirely coincidentally, is where Pascal has an asteroid claim. The universe works in mysterious ways.

News Feeds

In case the players did not notice, I do have news feeds that (a) give some flavor and (b) can give help to planning and doing things.

https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2026/07/montca-news-6-distraction.html

https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2026/06/montca-news-5-painting-imperium.html

https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2026/06/montca-news-4-anti-imperial.html

https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2026/06/montca-news-3-seadventures.html

https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2026/06/montca-news-2-meditech-and-imperial.html

https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/2026/06/montca-news-1-shuttle-crash.html

Kinunir - The Professor

The professor was introduced in session 1, basically taking one of the rumors and making it also a patron. Realizing I need to create the actual character, I started rolling up. Oddly, my 1st set of rolls worked out well: 543CAA, so really smart and educated but not a great physical specimen! 

Using the Mongoose rules, he went to the University of Tryonas in the League where he got more educated, especially after graduating. Though he did not get honors. Joining the scholar career as a scientist, he spent 5 terms there and got a fair number of skills as well as exercising regularly. Mustering out went well, getting Cr60,000, +1 social to become a knight, the lab ship 3x so it is 75% paid off, 14 years old so 15% cheaper as well. And as I mentioned the University is also helping out, so we will not have to worry about some payments at least due to an educational stipend.

Professor Victor Cosmosis

563CDB age 47, 5 terms Scholar, rank 6

Language (Vilani-0), Drive (Grav-0), Medic-0, Science (Linguistics-0, History-2, Planetology-2, Archaeology-3), Engineer-2, Investigate-2, Admin-2, Computers-1, Diplomat-1,

Graduated University of Tryonas

Cr60,000, Lab Ship (75% paid off, 14 years old)

Graduating from the University of Tryonas, Victor immediately started working for the university itself. Bureaucracy created a mess after his first few years, and Victor learned to weave between the administrative jungle with aplomb. He met with Thomas Plutonis, a very eccentric scientist whose ideas of the Chirpers and how they related to the Droyne created a rift in the scientific community. However, those years taught Victor the value of diplomacy. Not long after that, Victor had his first breakthrough on the correlation of planetology and history and transferred to Montca to further his ambitions. His investigations lead to his first published paper. On Montca he took some advanced training on planetology. His next breakthrough on ancient cultures came not long after, and his publication on Planetological Explorations of Ancient Cultures was well received by the scientific community. The last few years of working with the University on a secret project furthered his planetology studies. 

After 20 years, Victor decided to work on his own. His years of service got him a Lavalier class lab ship which, thanks to both his years of service, is 75% paid off. He has spent the last several years on Montca, but is ready for the next leg of his journey to Xyman as he believes, based on his investigations and research, that the belt may well be the remains of a pre-human culture that destroyed its home planet. 

Victor Cosmosis

Lab Ship

Based on the Mongoose book, as I have that open at the moment, the lab ship costs MCr135.9018 (though the Wiki says MCr158) taking 15% off that gives MCr114 (we'll round for simplicity) and then 75% paid off gives a balance of MCr28.6. Operating costs are Cr11,325/month. With his Cr60,000 he can cover operating expenses for a bit, but I'll make the backstory be the Montca University of Enris is also supplying 3 scientists that also want to do some research in the Xyman system, so they are going to pay the monthly maintenance for at least 6 months, as well as the mortgage to cover the expenses. The professor is still on the hook for fuel, and who knows who the scientists really are (okay, not going to go bra-hah-hah-hah and twirl my mustache, but if the game needs something like that, well, there we are!) But that will simplify the accounting aspect of things as my players really do not enjoy that part of Traveller. 

We also need some NPC crew as the players only fulfill a couple of the positions. The professor, having had this ship, and having engineering skill, will be one of the 2 engineers it needs. The navigator also acts as a backup engineer in case the professor gets busy. And really, outside of setting up jump plots, what does the navigator do the rest of the time?

• Pilot: Tyrell Adanac, ex-Space Patrol (pilot-2) [Player]
• Navigator: Sir Wor Weura (Navigation-1, backup engineer-1) [NPC]
• Medic: Pascal Esperan, ex-Belter (Medic-2) [Player]
• Engineer: Professor Victor Cosmosis (Engineer-2) [NPC, also owner and lead scientist]
• Engineer: Bevin Cramer, ex-Belter (Engineer-2) [NPC]
• Ship Security (new roles): Jake Rockwell, ex-police [Player]
• Ship Communications (new roles): Moses Cook [Player]

And as these are paid positions, what do they get paid? Again, with the rates from Mongoose which I think match classic) this is the monthly rate:

• Pilot: Cr6000
• Medic: Cr3000
• Ship Security (same as gunner or marine): Cr1000

To be honest I always thought it odd that the medic did not get paid as much as the pilot, but that position is not a doctor. And I will add that the medbay will have one of the Krim high-tech auto docs. 

Two of the NPCs are characters from the character challenges I've done in the past, as is one of the player characters who changed his mind about his initial character. And he may know of Bevin Cramer, another belter. Or not - the universe is a huge place. I'll have him roll a reaction roll when they eventually meet and if it is high, say 9+, then they know of each other. 

And using a Vilani generator, we'll go with naming the ship the Shu Nidurninni which we'll say translates to Planet Culture Search. Because Victor only has linguistics 0 it may not be correct!

I'll have to roll up or find 3 scientists (I know I have a few from those character challenges) and why they want to go to Xyman - perhaps anti-matter research or belt gravitational theories. 

Montca News 6: Distraction

 To give the players more opportunities, the Race to the Bottom submersible race will start off not too far from the Montca port. 2 of the concourses are actually rented out for viewing as the Grand Red Ocean is not too far in that direction. Being a high-tech world, the viewing ports at the terminal are not only strong enough to handle pressure but also have some magnification so that passengers can zoom into watching their shuttles or ships approach. Yeah, that's what I am going with. What this means, especially for the ex-police officer, is that security around there is a bit tighter than normal, but guards and whoever at other places, such as the General Products port, may be distracted by the start of the race. 

Dateline 356-1105

Teams are preparing for the 43rd Race to the Bottom. This year’s course takes it from the edge of the Grand Red across the Undershoals to finish at Port Jerico. Concourse 10 and 14 of Montca Downport have been fully reserved as they will be able to see the launch of several submersibles. Excitement at the port has increased, as well as security and safety precautions.

Concourse 17, while technically open, has not seen traffic since 350 as the inspection and safety divisions continue their analysis. The shuttle will be removed in the next few days, the pads repaired, and Concourse 17 should be able to resume normal traffic by 015-1106 according to the Ministeries of Safety and Starport Maintenance.

Not sure how the game is going as we've just had the 1st session, but I have set it up for a few sessions down the road with the professor. Who needs a name if I've not already done that. I also need to check the systems between Montca and Xyman, and look into other adventures I have that could fit into some of those systems. And I may fall back on 76 Patrons as I used the heck out of that book back in the day!

A Star Wars sub from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_submarine

from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_submarine

That last rendered sub looks like it could also be a shuttle. Maybe another Flying Sub!

from https://modelermagic.com/science-fiction-composite-artwork-kenn-flying-sub/

Kinunir Session 1: Slow Start

 Our first session had a lot of talk, few rolls, and lots of ideas but little action. First, we have our 4 characters:

• Jake Rockwell, ex-cop of Montca (native to the current world)
• Moses Cook, ex-pirate. Co-owner with Jake of O'leray's O'Lasers. We never asked about homeworld, and he may or may not be a citizen of the League of Independent Planets
• Tyrell Adanac, ex-Space Patrol. Citizen of the League, but not sure which home system he is from
• Pascal Esperan, ex-belter from Helfom. Has a claim in the Xyman system

Pascal

Moes

Tyrell

Jake

They divvied up the basic Traveller skill package, and the scene was introduced. They were all sitting in Concourse 17, which due to the shuttle accident 2 days ago, was empty of passengers and customers. While Jake and Moses are apparently cousins, Tyrell had just mustered out of the Space Patrol due to an injury (failed survival roll and we opted to not use the Iron Man rules) and Pascal was in transit to get to his claim but for some reason was stuck here. 

The middle-aged gentleman from Oberlindes Lines shows up and makes the proposal: for Cr200,000 he needs info on the black globe fitting location and actual fuel tankage capacity of the old Kinunir Colonial Cruiser. Of which there happens to be one in the General Products yards that was supposed to have been scrapped but has not yet. Pascal bargained a bit and we managed to get that up to Cr240K and then he left, to come back the next day to see if they agreed to his plan. He did say that the server at the General Products terminal as well as the main office in Enris (capitol city a few hours away) would also have that information. 

There was a lot of talk about breaking into the yards to get into the physical ship, getting forgers to fake the IDs as a General Products worker, even getting a job there. I had to try & steer them a bit to finding more information and research outside of talking amongst themselves. Plus I've added a lot of news feeds to help set up some of the possible rumors and info they need to move forward. Post 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 

After a while, I broke it up by bringing in the professor who is rumor I, and also now a source for a job in a week or so. A regular at O'Leary's as he loves the greasy astroburger, he was doing some research on Xyman and Q'auntar and pre-human cultures that lived there. He mentioned the collapsed culture of Pax Stellar as well. He's been pushing the University for a research ship to visit Xyman and Q'auntar to further his thesis and will be needing a crew. Setting up 2 things here as Pascal probably wants to check out the claim he got when leaving the Swift Rock Group.

Tyrell heads back to the Explorer's Hostel at the edge of the port, where he has been staying the last couple of weeks. Leo, who has worked there for the last 1 years, does say that a lot of the wrenches for shipyards tend to hang out at the Purple Hootch, over on Line J, Intersection 15, Avenue Q.

Getting back with the others, they all go to the Hooch but come in at different times. Jake fails his streetwise roll so the regulars seem to notice that he may be a cop. Tyrell, good at carousing, makes small talk with the bartender and others. They do notice that many are still wearing their work coveralls, you cannot tell Imperial from League, and there are several shipyards on Montca. They do see some from General Products, and I did not make them roll, but will now let them know that they also see several of them have their ID patches on their work clothes. 

At this point, we lost one player due to internet connections, so we closed off the session there. I am also using a Points In Space location for the Purple Hootch.

from Points In Space

It also seemed to go slow, and I am not sure all the players are involved. I probably need to add some more action so they have things to do, but this was the set up. And there is a fair amount of background and while I am doing part of that via the news feeds, lore dumps are hard to do well. Hopefully we'll just keep introducing things as needed. I do think I at least managed to portray the Imperium as not the good guys. Why I stuck this in the League of Independent Planets and MTU - hopefully let them let loose a bit more. But we'll see!

Montca News 5: Painting the Imperium

I sort of want to go back to earlier Traveller when the Imperium was really a dark place and not necessarily the good guys. So - one more entry before the start of tonight's game!

Dateline: 355-1105, Preacep 0803 C22467B-A

In a stunning change from normal Imperial processes, Preacep has been placed under Imperial martial law. Its 21,000 inhabitants, previously unaffiliated with neither the Imperium nor the League, have been protesting at the class C starport. Our last report has rumors of the Ine Givar being active. It is reported that a small Imperial Navy task force is guarding the orbit and a single Marine squadron is maintaining the starport. 

Dateline 355-1105, Montca

Our daring ship trackers have managed to see the scrapped Adda Dubsar Kinunir-class ship in the General Products shipyard. It appears to not have been broken down as expected from the normal disposal of military grade ships. Photos show it and several other ships in what appear to be mothballed status as the crash investigation continues in Enris and near Concourse 17 of Montca Port. Two guards in a grav jeep chased off the daring duo.

And picking on Preacep since it is next to the League and as noted in one of the posts where I detail out this system, unaffiliated even though it is in Imperial borders. Wonder if all planets inside the borders are technically Imperial? Which this also implies that the port, a class C starport, is not actually an Imperial starport. Unless those marines and the Naval forces make it so somehow. Even threw in some Ine Givar!

There are a few more posts with Preacep in there, so I may have to adjust some tags. In the meanwhile, from my solo game a while back, here are the posts tagged correctly.

Next to the League, inside Imperial space, but not an Imperial system

And entirely unrelated to Traveller, still unemployed or early retirement. Though I had a 2nd interview with a company after apparently passing their technical interview. And I have another interview with another company in a couple days. I really want to work at least another few years and think I can do good things, but the software world is really changing fast. Even the thing to chase after a few months ago is now in the rear-view mirror for the next thing with AI and software development. It used to be a technology would show up, and mature over months and years. Now that has been cut to months. I have a lot of opinions on that, but this is the place for gaming. 

But as this sort of relates to Traveller - in the 3000 years that are between now and 1105 (if I got the dates right!) things have not changed as much as you would think. Of course, Traveller is really based on the pulp SF of the 40s, 50s & 60s and never really caught up with technology even in the date it was published. But it is really a framework for your own SF universe and can really do anything. Though if you break the speed of communication that changes the entire universe!