World Building - Windemere Crossing

This, and my Traveller Career Bibliography, are going to be works in progress. I may take each to make a document from, but until then, I'll just update these posts and, when I have another post, will keep things updated. But I have added a Windemere tag, so you should be able to search for them now by tags. Going to go ahead & hit publish on this one, but I'll come back to it as I expand it out. In ways that will probably never get used by my players, but hey, I do like to world build. I can at least live in some of these places in my own mind.  

I tried to play a bit with Campaign Cartographer's City mapping but that will take a LOT more practice to get anything close to what I want. In the meantime, this site (Watabou) makes some really cool random things, and I've always liked the medieval cities it can generate. After a few random hits, this one came up that does have the east/west route as well as a southern route back into the mountains. And about the right number of buildings. 

We do know that a few of the buildings are outside the walls, including the tanneries due to the smells. I'll have to look a bit closer at the various shops we have and place them in the map. The central plaza there is the marketplace with a central fountain of some sort. I'll see about a color coded map for the places I expand out here, and try to note the color and number in the description.

Northern Gatehouse from D'Architect (yes, a KS I backed as it has some really nice pictures!)

We need our list of what is available, as well as whatever additional info to make the shops a bit more interesting. Though honestly I've yet to make some of that role playing come across well. It is like the mapping: what is in my head does not seem to come out the same way. The answer to that is the same answer to most things: practice, practice, practice!

I am also using a few other resources I've picked up to help flesh out Windemere Crossing. I'll note where those come from as well.

And onwards to the shops and services listing. The notes in the parenthesis are number of help and the general quality. I = Individual, T = Team, G = Guild. 

General Store (I, Good), Zrag's Mercantile. Green building 1. Owned by the diminutive Goblin Jesp Zrag, Zrag's Mercantile has a central and large building just off the market place. Carrying a wide quantity of goods, the overall quality is good to respectable: while you won't find the Lenu'r Bow here, the equipment and wares are of good quality, no bent swords here! With a not insignificant amount of traffic on the Ocean Trade Route, Jesp manages to maintain his shop with all the necessities. On occasion he has been known to trade for more exotic fare as well, but like all the Zrag Goblin merchants, you will never know what you may find. Often you find what you need without knowing you will need it. Located facing the market place, a sign with handcart hangs above the door. Three short steps open into the store, wide, well-stained planks on the floor holding shelves of equipment and gear. Behind a wide, low table is Jesp, usually cleaning some object or another and seated on a stool so he can see over the counter. Behind this table are barrels and shelves of rations and food stores. Prices are within the normal range, though Jesp does enjoy some bargaining. While he takes various currencies, he prefers to keep with the standard coinage of the Respeth Kingdom. He will direct patrons to the bank and exchange to exchange different currencies, gems and artifacts for coinage of the realm for those he won't take. He often purchases textiles, leathers and furs from the local shops and crafts them into serviceable if not great clothing. 

Wealth               Common

Prices                Normal   

Security            25% chance of something every 30 minutes

Influence           little local influence

Goods                decent but average arms, adventuring goods (ropes, pitons, packs, etc), basic clothing, whatever you may think of in an old west style of general merchandise store but fantasy flavored.

Services            directions via a range of maps, supplies

Disposition        Open to all

Favored            adventurers who do good (neutral or good aligned). Somehow the Zrag clan seems to just know what adventurers have been up to though they only imply things.

Tanner / Taxidermy (I, Fine), Durdro's Tanning Yellow building 2. Located outside the city walls near the south gate. Where Jesp gets most of his leather for the better items. Durdro is a small man with stained hands and stained teeth from the chewing tobacco he chews. He lives above the tannery, which consists of several vats, drying racks and a store room full of various salts. Some of the salts come from the Eastern Ocean, as he has a regular caravan bring him supplies. While he does not create many goods from the various leathers, the quality of the hides is very good. He may also have other creature hides available as well. Rumors from the Silver Pirate talk about a dragon hide he has been working on for months now is in a back room.

Magic Shop (I, Fine) Alore Edris' Shoppe, Red building 3. A well maintained 2 story building on the corner, the lower part of the building is dug a few feet into the earth to give tall ceilings. The height is taken up by several 12 foot tall bookshelves, with a rolling ladder to access the higher shelves. Books, containers, scrolls and interesting hats are on the shelves. The floor itself has sections for various types of clothing, from fine ball gowns to sturdy adventuring clothing. Alore Edris is a tall, thin wizard who is always messing with cauldrons of dyes and magic where she creates her magical clothing. She wears what many on town consider exotic clothing, with a silk kerchief about her neck and creased trousers, a high buttoned starched white shirt and odd looking shoes. While most of her clothing is non-magical, it is all finely made, with neat stitching of intricate designs. Clothing here is almost twice as expensive even before any magic may get applied. Some of the magical garments include clothes that are always clean and immaculate, or can repair themselves after being damaged. She also has tunics and leggings that are the equivalent of stone flesh and provide the same amount of protection. Her Cape of Innocuousness gives the wearer a +2 on being noticed. All of her clothing has a hidden tag with her signature embroidered in it. Some of the clothing is hanging by itself in mid-air with no visible means of support. Shoplifters never get far - a jacket by the door will capture any would-be thieves as they exit. How it knows they are stealing is a question asked by more than one thief!

Wealth          Prosperous 

Prices           prices start at 25% above normal and go from there based on the enchantment

Security        very high with a 5% chance of something happening every 30 minutes

Goods           excellent made clothing, minor potions (10-100 gold, priced per rules), magic scrolls and books

Services        clothing repairs, new clothes. fashion notes

Disposition    Adore welcomes most guests with a brief smile, and asks that they look around unless they are looking for something special.

Favored        magic users as she loves to chat about spells, potions and magic in the world.

Tailor (T, Poor)  blue 4 If the players cannot afford Alore Edris' shop, Keze Briarlegs shop may be more affordable. Clothing there is not particularly well made but does the job. Costs are 75-100% of the normal cost of clothing. The building is almost a hovel and not well cared for, located against the wall to the west side of town.

Butcher (I, Poor) lavender 5

General Store (G; Poor) pink 6

Tanner / Taxidermy (G, Good) orange 7

Wainwright (G, Fine) Brown 8

Rare Libations (I, Good) Maroon 9

Herbalist (G, Good) gold 10

Bank and Exchange (T, Poor) gold 11

Smith (I, Good) green 12

Textile Production (I, Poor) light blue 13

Smith (T, Poor) brown 14

Inn (G, Good)  Pink Building 15 The Nimble Priest Inn. A large 2 story building with a basement below the main floor, The Nimble Priest is run by the acolytes of the Fair Lady. Fellow clerics and acolytes get a good discount, everyone else pays fair coin for the rooms. Rooms range from a few coppers to sleep in the stable above the riding mounts, 5 silvers for a shared room and breakfast, 1 gold for a single room and breakfast. The Fair Lady is a deity none of the characters would have heard of before. 

Tavern (T, Fine) red 16 The Silver Pirate, run by half-Elves who used to be pirates on the Eastern Ocean. There will be tales of the Rainy City and Wex's Drift as well as plying the savage ocean currents. Occasionally one will hear rumors of Amazons but the other Elves will quickly make a sign and change the topic of conversation. Many of the regulars here are from the Ocean, and talk of the coastal cities they have been through, and the joys of the living in the salt air. When asked why they are here now, they look to the owner, Nomehi Wirididae, tending the bar. The half Elf has a scar across her face that disappears down her neck and she will scowl as the conversation quiets for a moment. The crew of her ship will stick by her, but she was banished from the open water to live her life near the desert sands by a curse. And so she took over Windemere Crossing almost a year ago. The tavern offers great drinks as well as some sea faring favorites. The near constant flow of merchants and caravans keeps her kegs full and spirits from across the world get here. While not as fine a wine selection as the Sarap Evi in Ceawla (see this post), there are some fine drinks and foods available. 

Hired Help (I, Poor) tan 17

Soothsayer (I, Fine) yellow 18

Doctor / Apothecary (T, Good) blue 19

House of Leisure (I, Fine) yellow 20

Bath House (G, Good) yellow 21

Barber (G, Fine) Purple 22

Stable (T, Good) line green 23 Lurbuk's, run by an Orc family. The Lurbuk family is a close-nit family, the only Orcs in a town of mostly human and half-Elves. Lurbuk is an Orc of few words. Standing near 7 feet tall and as wide as the proverbial barn door, Lurbuk has few issues with animals in his stable. Located outside the eastern game, Lurbuk's Stables consist of actually 3 stables and two houses. Two of the stables house horses, with the third houses more exotic fair and is also something of a vet clinic for his eldest daughter Rush. Horses of good or better quality are available here for sale, as well as stabling for those who want a bit more than a stall or corral for their mounts. And more than horses may be found here. While camels, mules and ox are not uncommon, there is a pen with a couple of giant goats in the back, and an elephant is almost healed in one of the out buildings. If asked and Lurbuk trusts you, he will confide that he can get other riding animals. He has another stable a few miles south in the foothills, where more of his family lives.

Lamia's Labyrinth Solo Test Part 3

 Exiting from the 2nd room, there is a wide corridor that stretches east and west:

Our characters decide to head east, moving slowly. Fortunately the thief character did notice the spiked trap, so they managed to avoid that. In theory this trap could actually kill the characters. It also begs the question: if the people they are searching for went this way, either they noticed and avoided the trap as it was not triggered. Or perhaps it is a self-resetting trap: I suppose with weights and counter measures that could work. I do know (spoiler!) that the main trap room actually does magically reset itself. I need to figure a good reason why, perhaps. 

Now, what I think I also need to do is roll every 15 minutes or so of game time I can roll something like:

• 1: yellow slime on the ceiling
• 2-5: nothing
• 6: the sound of a large, clawed creature can be heard, scritching down the corridor.

The circling corridor has a couple of traps that should be avoidable by the party, but there is always a chance of rolling horribly (which is how I normally seem to roll!).  As they may have to traverse it again, we'll assume that any traps they've noticed before they can automatically avoid on the return trip.

I still need to throw in some hints for 2 other places in this labyrinth: Tuvano, and perhaps those pyramids they spied coming into this area of the desert. But one of the helpful hints for the Tuvano adventure would be a small cache of valuables that may be identified as coming from Tuvano. And interestingly enough, Windemere Crossing does have a banker who takes in various treasures for coins that are more easily spent. So some of the jewels and whatnot will be identifiable as coming from that now ancient city. I also have some ancient maps they may find, with hint of treasures. 

If I have time tomorrow, I'll see about the big trap room. That will need to use the dry erase hex battle map to get something big enough for that as it is a fairly large room. And I'll roll for the yellow slimes and giant beasties that may be prowling, hungry for fresh food.

So far all I have needed so far were the adventurers minis and a giant spider: I may have to add an appendix for what is needed to play in this as well. Not that I am considering publishing, but eventually I may see if I can write up some generic yet interesting adventures or something.

Traveller Careers: A Bibliography

While Classic Traveller had all of 6 career paths, with Mercenary, High Guard, Scout & Merchants additional career paths within those careers got expanded out, and the characters started getting a lot more skills. The original LBB characters were still comparable in some ways, as they automatically had a weapon 0 skill in all weapons, and the skills were more broadly defined. Some of the later skills (looking at you, broker) could break parts of the system (always getting to add a DM to the actual value price table is a sure fire way to get rich quick. While I never played any characters with that skill, I do think it could be tempered based on distance from where you gained that skill: i.e., broker assume connections and knowledge of how the local economy works. I'd start reducing the skill by 1 for each system away from where it was picked up. But that is not in the rules).

Anyway, when Mongoose, and later Cepheus, expanded the career paths even more, there were even more career options. I have several books now with various career choices, and thought a bibliography may be a useful thing. My players may want to play something far outside the traditional path (hey, we're gamers, and while gaming is now a popular thing, for most of us it was far more niche than it is today: we're not "normal" to begin with. Thank goodness!)

I have an earlier post here about the careers, but pretty sure I've since bought even more books or PDFs. I am a Traveller hoarder! But I'll try and and make this list grouped and give the source material, and which version of Traveller it goes with. Many of course are available in all the versions.

I'm going to have to go through my books: I made this list a few years back but never added the source. I need to have the source listing so I can find them! And I'll probably be updating this post as I find more of the things I've got stashed away (for some reason I cannot find my SORAG book, pretty sure it is still in a bag I was taking to the game sessions for some reasons. Probably just to show off my ancient collection).

Abbreviations are:

• CT - Classic Traveller LBB
• MT - Megatraveller
• T5 - Traveller 5th edition
• Mg - Mongoose Traveller, either 1st or 2nd edition. Core rules unless otherwise noted
• Ce - Cepheus (and I'll try and include the publisher)
• JTAS - Journal of the Travellers Aid Society (Classic version)
• JTAS-Mg - Mongoose version

Breaking the career choices down by military, paramilitary and other. And when there were specific sub-careers, including those. I've also got a bibliography by version at the end. For the most part, with the exception of T5, all the versions I have are mostly compatible. T5 is special in a lot of ways, but mostly compatible if you adjust skill levels (and I'll need to find that, but it was something like divide by 2 as T5 has even more skill bloat than the classic expanded character generation!

Note that these are for rules and books I actually have. There are a lot more out there I don't have. Yet.

And I've added some house rules for character generation at the end of this post.

Careers

Pre-career options

College (in most versions)

University: Mg

Medical College (somewhere I've got rules on that)

Military College: Mercenary (CT), Mg

Navy College: High Guard (CT), Mg

Other Pre-Career Options (Mg, Traveller Companion) [similar to background skills]

• Colonial upbringing
• Merchant Academy
• Psionic Community
• School of hard knocks
• Spacer Community

Careers

Military

 Army

• CT basic career
• CT Mercenary (book 4):
• Artillery
• Calvary
• Infantry
• Marine
• Support
• Commando
• Mg Core:
• Support
• Infantry
• Calvary
• T5 (Soldier)
• Army
• Operations
• Commando
• Technical

 Navy

• CT basic career )book 1)
• CT High Guard (book 5)
• Technical Services
• Crew
• Line
• Engineering
• Gunnery
• Flight
• Medical
• Mg Core
• Line/Crew
• Engineer/Gunner
• Flight
• T5 (Spacer)

 Marine

• CT basic career
• CT Mercenary (book 4; see above in Army)
• Mg Core:
• Support
• Star Marine
• Ground Assault
• T5 Marine

Paramilitary / Police

Agent / Law Enforcement (world based)

• Mg Core: Agent
• Law Enforcement
• Intelligence
• Corporate
• Mg Agent (1st edition)
• Law Enforcement
• Patrol
• Special Operations
• Customs
• Investigator
• Private Investigator
• Inspector
• Undercover Agent
• Spy
• Field Agent
• Operative
• Infiltrator
• Analyst
• Political Officer
• Technical Expert
• Handler
• Corporate
• Security
• Espionage
• Bodyguard
• Bounty Hunter
• Ship Tracer
• Bondsman
• Thieftaker
• Ce - Investigator (Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games)
• Forensics
• Inspector
• Private Investigator
• Ce - Police (Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knight Games)
• Beat Cop
• Patrol
• Strike Force
• T5 Agent

Space Patrol / Space Police (space based)

Space Patrol

• System Guard (Ce, Foreven Worlds, Careers Beyond the Claw)
• Crew/Line
• Inspectors
• Planetary Patrol
• Space Patrol (Ce, Space Patrol, Stellagaming)
• Secretariat
• Investigation
• Marshall
• Operations

Port Authority

• Skyport Authority (JTAS 19)
• Administration
• Passenger Service
• Freight Handling
• Ship Servicing
• Port Authority (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games)
• control
• inspection
• stevedore
• Starport Authority (Starport Planetfall, Cargonaut Press / Apocrypha 3)
• Port administration
• Port Services
• Ship Services
• Customs/Security

Other Sort of Legal Things

Bounty Hunters

• Manhunters (Ce, Gypsy Knights Games)
• Bail Enforcement
• Bounty Hunter
• Thief Taker
• Repossession
• Uplift Hunters
• Skip Tracers
• Debt Collectors
• Marshalls
• Bounty Hunter (hunter, repossession, support) (???)
• Bounty Hunters (Moon Toad Publishing - see DriveThru)

Other Career Options 

 Science/Exploration

 Scout

• CT Book 1
• CT Book 6: Scouts
• Survey
• Exploration
• Communications
• Detached Duty
• Technical
• Operations
• Detached Duty
• CT Scouts And Assassins
• Technical Support
• Surveillance
• Exploration
• Mg Scouts, Core 2nd
• Courier
• Surveyor
• Explorer
• Mg Scouts, 1st ed
• Contact
• Courier
• Exploration
• Special Ops
• Survey
• T5, Core

Scholar 

• Mg Scholar (core)
• Field Researcher
• Scientist
• Physician
• Medical Professional (Ce, Foreven Worlds, Careers Beyond the Claw)
• Surgeon/Nurse
• Long term care giver
• Physical Therapy
• T5 Scholar

Scientist (CT, Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium)

Doctor  (CT, Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium)

Everything Else

Adventurer (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games) Hunter, Pioneer, Relic Raider

Arts (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games) artist, collector, critic

Assassin (CT, Scouts and Assassins)

Athlete (Electronic, Physical or Vehicle Sports) Foreven Worlds Careers

Barbarian (CT, Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium)

Belter 

• CT Citizens of the Imperium
• Mg Beltstrike
• asteroid miner
• prospector
• worker
• researcher
• Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games

Citizen 

• CT - Citizens
• Frontierist (Ce, Archeologist, prospector, Terraformer) Foreven Worlds Careers
• Mg Core
• corporate
• colonist
• worker

Clergy (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games: evangelist, minister, monk)

Craftsperson 

• Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games:  architect, tradesperson, labor
• T5

Corporate Shipper (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games) crew, engineer, gunnery

Customer Service (Ce, Company Rep, Company Prostitute, Wait staff) Foreven Worlds Careers

Drifter/Rogues

• CT: Other(book 1)
• CT: Citizens - Rogue
• Ce: Gambler (Gypsy Knight Games, Diverse Roles: casino, sports, track)
• Mg Core Drifter
• Barbarian
• Wanderer
• Scavenger
• Ce, Organized Crime (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games: hitman, enforcer, operator)
• Ce, Outlaws (Ce, Outlaw; Gypsy Knights Games
• Cleaner, Driver, Drug Dealer, Forger, Hitman, Smuggler, Prisoner

Engineer Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games: Aerospace, biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Mechanical, Space

Entertainer (Mg, artist, journalist, performer)

Fringe Marketer (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games: professor, teacher, tutor) black market, fence, pawnbroker)

Gambler  Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games; casino, sports, track

Hunter CT, Citizens of the Imperium (and adventurer for Ce)

Instructor (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games: professor, teacher, tutor)

Merchant

• CT - Book 1
• CT - Book 7 
• Mg Merchant
• Merchant Marine
• Free Trader
• Broker

Noble requires 10+ social 

• CT Supplement 4
• Mg (administrator, diplomat, dilettante) 

Other (rogue: thief, enforcer, pirate)

Politician (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games) candidate, manager, operative

Prostitute (Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games) prostitute, hetaerae, streetwalker. here for completeness?)

Psionic (*)

Rebel/Insurgent/Partisan - Adventure Gaming, December 1981

Scavenger Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games: junker, picker, restorer

SORAG (Zhodani intelligence *)

Surface Navy

Thief Ce, Diverse Roles; Gypsy Knights Games: con artist, hacker, intruder

Bibliography By Version

Classic

Book 1 Characters and Combat: Navy, Marines, Army, Scouts, Merchants, Other

Book 4 Mercenary: Artillery, Calvary, Infantry, Marine, Support, Commando

Book 5 High Guard: Technical Services, Crew, Engineering, Gunnery, Medical, Line, Flight

Book 6 Scouts: Survey, Communications, Exploration, Detached Duty, Technical, Operations, Administration

Book 7 Merchant Prince

Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium: Pirate, Belter, Sailor, Diplomat, Doctor, Flyer, Barbarian, Bureaucrat, Rogue, Noble, Scientist, Hunter

Mongoose

Cepheus

Diverse Roles: Adventurer, Arts, Belter, Bounty Hunter, Clergy, Corporate Shopper, Craftsperson, Fringe Marketer, Gambler, Instructor, Investigator, Organized Crime, Police, Politician, Port Authorit, Prostitute, Scavenger, Thief, Engineer

T5

T5 Careers (I've not gone through these enough to generate characters easily; they are included in the above list)

    Craftsman

    Scholar

    Entertainer

    Citizen

    Scout

    Merchant

    Spacer

    Soldier

    Agent

    Rogue

    Noble

    Marine

    Functionary

Notes for Port Authority

High Passage #3: Port Authority Handbook, Arriving in system

High Passage #4: Port Authority Handbook, Interdicted Systems

High Passage #5: Port Authority Handbook, Convoys

House Rules In Character Generation

As with most games, over the years I've added a few house rules that I can optionally use when generating characters. Mostly for players who want more agency over their characters, which seems like the antithesis of Traveller generation for me. I also use several systems when letting players generate characters. While mostly the expanded character generation, if someone wants to run through the Classic, that's perfectly fine. They do get all weapon skills at 0 as per the book (which I glossed over for years until joining up at COTI a long, long time ago & finding that rule). Most of my games are fairly rules-light anyway, and for my group it is about the role-playing more than the mechanics. It really does not matter too much if you have that 1 term barbarian playing with the 6-term extended character generated that has a bazillion skills. It is what you bring to the game. I also try to wrap my games around the characters where I can so everyone gets a chance to do something interesting.

• an extra roll. I'll allow for 7 rolls, and you can swap out any 1 roll if you'd like. Sucks though if the 7th roll is worse than the others. I sometimes let the player try again
• Sill rolls: you may roll then choose which table to pick your skill from. This allows for better control over what skills you get
• swap a benefit roll for a promotion. Got this from Deluxe Cepheus, and I like the idea. Not sure how well that would play with the Noble career but that is its own can of worms

Things I do insist on though:

• roll stats straight. Roll for STR, DEX, END, INT, EDU, SOC in that order
• if running Classic generation, failed survival is death. 

There are lots of house rules other referees use as well, I'll try & post links if I get permission (so I am old school and like to get permission even for what is already public. Perhaps enough ethics courses back in college, and come to think of it, my master's program, which was liberal arts, had a lot of ethics classes. Hopefully some of it sank in!)

World Building - Fantasy Trip Trade Post Windemere Crossing

 I have an awful lot of world building books and PDFs, primarily aimed at fantasy. Traveller of course has its own set of world building, from the basic building blocks built into the core rules as well as several expansions such as Grand Census. I'm slowly organizing the plethora of electronic sources into a single directory instead of scattered everywhere for my fantasy games, and then there was a black Friday sale at Nord for Sensational Settlements. Apparently I did not follow the Kickstarter from 2 years ago, but at 40% off for both the hardback and the PDF, I was sold. 

I figure there needs to be a trading post of sorts at the south end of the path the characters are traversing. It meets up with the Eastern Ocean Trade Route, and is also the intersection to the city of Tuvano, the published adventure that I've been dropping a few hints on (and need to possibly drop some more into the Lamia's Labyrinth adventure I am so slowly play testing for the day we do get to play again). 

There is a brief review of the contents at the end: I've never done a review before and not sure I want to go down that route. But I am certain if you search you can find reviews of Nord Games books much better than mine. My review is more of a let's go through the process and see what happens.

Windemere Crossing

Situated at the south end of the Path of Lost Hopes where it ends at the East Ocean Trade Route, Windemere Crossing is built up out of the remains of what was once a military outpost of Tuvano. The remains of a road still head south into the mountains to the dead city, but the majority of traffic is heading east or west along the ancient trade route. 

Origin

Windemere is built on the bones of an ancient military outpost, and boasts a wall that is mostly still standing around the core of the trading post. There have been a few buildings added outside the walls, most noticeably Durdro's Tannery, run by the Tanner's Guild and providing an interesting set of smells to the outpost.

Specialty

Known for its hospitality, the Nimble Priest Inn is a welcome sight to many travelers. Maintained by the acolytes of the Fair Lady, the inn charges reasonable rates, with a steep discount to fellow clerics and adherents of the faith. The Silver Pirate Tavern, run by a band of half-Elves thought to be pirates who have moved far inland, provides exceptional fare and drink.

Age

Windemere has only come into its current form in the last year or so. While the buildings have existed for hundreds of years, it was only in the last few months that a concerted effort was made to make this into a more bona fide trading post. The reason behind that is in recent history, a criminal element has taken over. Rumors abound about the half Elves being the true power behind Windemere, and deals brokered to continue their grip on the community.

Condition

The trading post is in good condition: the original outpost was well made and withstood the passage of the centuries with little wear. The roads in the outpost were recently cobbled, providing better drainage for the few rains Windemere Crossing receives. 

Crowds

Being on the East Ocean Trade Route, there is a fair amount of traffic in the east/west directions. Caravans and traders show up every few days, and rest a day or two and reprovision. Lurbuk and his family, the only Orcs in town, have a good stable and can provide mounts for a variety of purposes and people. They also take in and care for animals, his eldest daughter being a vet.

Size

This is a larger trading post than the population really supports. There are over 70 buildings, the majority being inside the 8 foot walls. However, several of the buildings are unoccupied or abandoned. 

Community

Going to combine the resident population, demographics, disposition together here.

Windemere is sparsely populated: several buildings are not being used. When the pirates moved in, a few businesses also left, either from fear or from losing any power they may have had. Some may have been removed more forcibly. While move than half of the population are human, half Elves make up a sizable portion as well. The original group that built up the Silver Pirate Tavern seem to have more employees than would be warranted by the tavern itself. There is a smattering of other races who either live in Windemere or nearby. The residents are neutral towards newcomers, appearing a bit stand-offish. Once you get to know them, though, they are more open hearted. Frequent visitors are warmly greeted.

Combining Law Enforcement, Leadership, Crime and Population Wealth

Windemere Crossing has a small local watch, consisting of the sheriff, Ira Sprigbasher and his deputy Ellis Newtonson. Though the titular sheriff, he reports to Nomehi Wirididae, the former pirate captain now in charge of the Silver Pirate. The pirates have moved from the open seas to this trading post and have ousted the previous ineffectual leaders through various means. To the average visitor this would not be apparent as the trading post is run like most other trading posts: stores and services are there to help travelers as well as create some profit for themselves. It is just that a bit of everyone's profit goes to the half Elves. Despite that, there is no abject poverty: Windemere Crossing is about average in terms of the population's wealth.

Crime does exist in Windemere, with the occasional theft or tavern brawl. When necessary, Sheriff Sprigbasher can round up a watch to aid him, either in breaking up a fight or pursuing a thief. 

Points of Interest

Shops

There are 14 shops available in Windemere Crossing. The general store is a good store, run by Jesp Zrag. See this post for the Zrag Goblin family of traders. The store is well stocked for the average trader, but may have some specialty items. Additionally there are 2 tanneries, a magic shop that specializes in clothing, a second general store in much worse shape than Jesp's store, a butcher, tailor, herbalist, two smithies, textile production, herbalist, rare libations, a banking exchange and a wainwright. 

Services

There are 9 services, ranging from the Silver Pirate to Lurbuk's stables. A tavern, hiring hall, soothsayer, doctor, a house of leisure (and this house may vary based on who is going through the town: the father and his two boys will have a different house of leisure than my other gaming group!), the bath house and a barber.

There is no specific place of worship, though the Nimble Priest Inn is run by acolytes and clerics, and there is a small sanctuary in the back. It is not unknown for some locations to have small sanctuaries or alters to whatever deity they may follow, but there is no central place.

Extra Intrigue

As previously mentioned, the trade post has been taken over by the half Elf pirates. There is tension in the air as the neighboring kingdoms seem on the brink of war. There are the occasional trouble makers that the town watch can usually take care of. An occasional raid happens, though it was more than six months ago since the last one from a band of Ogres from the west. 

Quick Review of Spectacular Settlements

So I really like it so far, having rolled up just one trading post. Now I need to use the Remarkable Inns and Remarkable Shops to expand out on the inn, shops and wares available. And I need to make a map to practice at that some more. 

As per the Remarkable books, there are examples of each of the types of settlements you can create. And as per those books, they make clear that these are for inspiration: don't like what you rolled, feel free to re-roll or pick what you need. However, just like the Traveller odd worlds you can generate, part of the fun is figuring out how to make the oddities fit together. And those are some game mechanics that really help me. Part of the reason I really like Traveller, other than being a good SF game: the classic character generation can give you characters you never would have thought of. For those who have an idea in mind it is horrible, but if you let the dice roll and go from there, you can have something you may never have thought of.

And that's what happened here in Windemere's Crossing: some of the rolls were interesting, and after I rolled on another random table from a different book for the tavern name (Silver Pirate), and another table for who the 40% population was (the half Elves), and the recent history roll of being taken over by a criminal element, I had my half Elf pirates :) And the fact that it ended up being built on the remains of a military outpost helped me to link it to Tuvano for an as yet to be run Fantasy Trip adventure. Now to re-read that adventure to see if I can add hints about that city to my new trade post and the adventure I am so slowly play testing.

The other settlement types that can be built are trading posts, villages, towns, cities, capitols and fortresses. There are random tables for a variety of things such as names, rumors, and encounters as well as a bunch of "useful" tables that I have to poke through more. I printed off the work sheet for the trading post, and it makes for a nice summary as you go through the various tables. I'll be adding that to my notebook (yay hole punch things!) as I am slowly getting more organized for gaming. Very slowly... The sheets are easy to work with and will be a good aid when running the game as 2 pages covers the majority of what most players probably want to know. There is also room for a lot of potential game hooks.

From my one run through with Windemere Crossing Trade Post, I have to say it is another good resource to help produce settlements that are not going to be cookie cutter copies. I am hoping the physical book is well made: the Remarkable series are physically great books, a pleasure to hold and read. Here is hoping that book is the same. 

If anyone wants me to do longer and more in-depth reviews, let me know. I just figure there are enough sites out there that do this already, and while I've been gaming since the 70s, there are some decade+ long gaps in there so I missed out on a lot.

So sometime soon (4 day weekend - yay!) I'll try and do a map and expand out on the Nimble Priest and a few of the shops and NPCs in town.

Tryonus - Darkside Ski Resort

 Being a tidally locked, rich world with a standard atmosphere and a smaller gravity, Tyonas sports one of the Leagues premier ski resorts. Rivaling those even in the Imperium, the Darkside Ski Resort sits on the dark side of the terminus between the habitable and frozen Dark Side of Tryonas. Perpetual twilight is off-set by the skiers personal drones: each skier has up to 3 drones that both record their epic ski runs as well as provide light and directions. These drones also serve as the chair lift and rescue vehicle: skiers are taken to the top of the mountain via the grav drones kilometers from the chalets and their soaking tubs.

With a  lesser gravity of just over .7G, the jumps go further and land softer. 

The drones are modified grav cycles, with additional AI to follow their charges. Complete with a comprehensive GPS system as well as Lidar to verify snow conditions, these large drones carry two additional drones for additional lighting. 

With temperature perpetually at -8 degrees Celsius, and the winds from the temperate zone creating fresh drifts and powder daily, no run is the same twice in a row.

Additionally, there are several small huts available throughout the mountains for those who may wish a more private interlude.

Rates vary based on the package, from the deluxe personal habitation that can comfortably sleep you and up to 11 of your friends and family to the honeymoon cottages. There is also the Grand Palace Hotel, a 5 star hotel and restaurant with a variety of rooms and suites available. There is also a credit exchange office to convert Imperial credits to local currency.

Some potential ways to use the ski resort

• hired to follow someone to see who they are meeting. The slopes and private huts make for excellent private meeting places.
• pure rest and recreation - what could go wrong?
• avalanche! was it natural or an overly ambitious plot to kill someone?
• your broker is on vacation and you need to meet her here.
• your cargo needs to be delivered to one of the larger huts on a distant mountain. The law here does not permit personal vehicles to stray from designated flight and travel lanes (to keep the views pristine as tourists drive the economy). You will need to rent a drone and use it as a sled dog to carry your cargo. To a very distant research hut days away.
• a drone has led a skier to a dangerous place and the players are the only ones near by. This is where the Mountain Environment supplement could come in handy

Tionma - God of All Living Things

 Tiomna is the God of All Living Things. With Blizria, the Goddess of All Demons, he is the father of Tona, Goddess of the Lesser Creatures (explored a bit here) and Tinma, God of Non-Living Lives. He probabkly has a a few other children, either via mortals or other goddesses. My pantheon was limited and based on the miniatures I was getting at the time, and there is no reason there cannot be other deities out there (in fact, there will be the Silver Lady from a friend's homebrew at some point I am hoping!)

Tionma, as with all the deities, can choose any form they like. He is most often associated with that of a young man, a crown of stars across his brow, and raven wings. 

Being the god of all living things means he also sees all living things when he chooses. Having a wandering eye, he is the father to dozens if not hundreds of half-godlings across Cidri. Some know their father, most do not. And often they posses no godly powers other than an affinity for life. Most would be considered charmed though, and good fortune does seem to smile on them. Though some seemed cursed, especially when Blizria finds them: their lives seem full of imps that cause nothing but minor problems.

Tionma also recognizes the full circle of life, and has no qualms in culling the sick. He often takes on the appearance of Death itself for those he has favored or despised. He wanders the world, far from the planes of the deities, and often can show up as a peddler with charmed tokens to aid those he wants to, or harm those he dislikes.

One of his favorite forms is that of an old man and a travelling bar: a large tent where he can create small meals and share his souza, a drink from the dream times to share in his patrons dreams, and to help them in some way. Or to punish them depending on his mood and the person. 

This "pop-bar" has mystical signs on it, and the smell of fresh food cooking. It will often show up when a person is unsure of what they should do, and as they drink the souza they will fall into a deep sleep and have dreams that Tionma shares and can direct to aid that person. It can show up anyplace but cannot be found again after the person awakes, usually in their own beds or campsite. 

And yes, the mystical pop-up bar is a series I just finished, and enjoyed. About a 500 year old person trying to assuage 100,000 grudges to save her unborn child from a cycle of painful reincarnations. It told the story over 12 episodes, which was really good for drawing out the past and how it fit in the present. It allows for great character development that you cannot do in a single 2 hour movie. And it ended with a complete story of redemption and hope. I thought I'd try to squeeze that concept into my world somehow. 

And realize I may want to see if and how we can use these deities in games. What's the use of having a lot of background information if it never gets used? In using the pop-up bar idea and his other forms, the characters could:

• be in the wilderness searching for something or someone and come across the bar. Tionma will give the characters dreams to help them know where they need to go
• the pop-up bar could be in the middle of a settlement or city, an innocuous tent with the sounds of fresh meat sizzling on a grill and an old man humming to himself. If they drop in, they could receive a token for good luck: lets the player re-roll 1 die 1 time.
• could be a patron: an appearance by his younger form and asks for the characters to go on some quest
• an NPC may remember this pop-up bar and how good fortune came his way. the players could see about a quest to find the bar. 

And what sort of temples would a god of life want? In my early charts, Tinma, his son via Blizria, is the god most druids tend to pray to. Tona, his daughter, is the patron goddess of female wizards and magic users (I had just bought some female wizards at a guess!). His temples would be full of life: both animal and plant. Large and small statues celebrating life. Sacrifices would be non-living things: jewels, precious metals. The clergy may be getting rich off of this but as long as they do no active harm Tionma seems to not notice. Some temples may just be waiting for a skilled thief. So some additional ideas:

• you are getting paid to find the thief who made off with a substantial amount of gold from the temple
• there are rumors of an abandoned temple of Tionma that is still full of gold and jewels. Perhaps guarded by large predators. Or perhaps not even abandoned but used by one of Tionma's off-spring, one who may have some god-like powers or spells.
• And if there is a character who deals with demons or imps (which is always a risky thing in The Fantasy Trip!), perhaps Blizria via an avatar wishes the group to do something to one of Tionma's temples: rob it, desecrate it, or take out the clerics
• a temple has been desecrated and needs to be cleaned up. The local clerics will pay very handsomely for that.
• a temple has been getting too greedy and affecting the lives of those in the neighboring villages. The characters are hired to "talk" to the cleric in charge. There could be hints from Tionma himself that this is a good thing to do.

And finally, in looking over some of my other posts, I realize there are no real evil deities. I tend to live in a PG-13 world and want just the good things, but I think I do need to have some evil in my world for the characters to fight against, or be a part of if they want. Part of this was when I finally started playing this as an RPG, the group I was GMing for was a father & his children. So I kept it well within safe limits, especially as one was a girl maybe 8 or 9 or so. And the father is both very protective and very large, but a good friend and I did not want to do anything that would upset anyone.

But the other group I've played with are are adults, and most like a grimmer game. So I'll see about something a bit darker perhaps in the future.

TFT: Healing Spells

 The Fantasy Trip is a pretty lethal game. Healing is not as easy as taking a nap and waking up, refreshed from horrendous wounds. Without magical aid of some sort, wizards can restore from the fatigue of casting spells at 1 point for 15 minutes of resting. Physical wounds heal at one point every 2 days! 

There is the physicker who can heal 2 points after the battle, and the master physicker who can heal 3 points. This assumes they are carrying around their medical kits, but that is a safe assumption! 

There are healing potions that heal 1 point of damage. I have my version for my group that consists of a d4 in a little bottle I found, the "big boy" healing potion that heals 1-4 points. I like to watch them shake the bottle and roll out the die. 

A lot of RPGs have your cleric, with the laying on of hands. The Fantasy Trip has no classes other than fighter and magic user, and all those do is adjust how much skills or spells cost to learn. There is no laying on of hands as per the paladins in DnD. I have to say that I do like the simplicity of the rules a great deal.

Working with a friend of mine to translate his priest into the Fantasy Trip. And while we can play around with the stats, skills, spells, weapons and armor, we wanted to have a way to lay on hands for healing.

I found this home rule at this site (inthelabyrinth.org) and tweaked it a bit.

Laying on of Hands Healing (IQ 12) will heal up to 4 points of damage for a cost of 3 ST from the user. However, as this is a blessing from your deity of choice, we're using a variation of the to hit rolls:

• roll 5 and it only costs 2 ST
• roll 4 and it only costs 1 ST
• roll 3 and there is no cost to the cleric

Laying on of Hands Major Healing (IQ 15) Will restore up to 8 points of damage; 2 ST is restored for every 3 ST put into it. Depending on the roll:

• roll 5 and it only costs 2 ST per 2 ST healed
• roll 4 and it only costs 1 ST per 2 ST healed
• roll 3 and there is no cost to the priest

Now in my pantheon, I may use this for the paladins or clerics I am working with. So far I've used enchanted weapons which are entirely within the rules. I've also got a DnD character we've moved to a microlite game (see this post) I may get around to converting him to The Fantasy Trip and use as an NPC.

The priest's weapn of choice is a pair of matching great hammers. These are blessed (aka enchanted) to do 2d+3 (vs 2d+2) damage, and also have a +1 to hit. I am also thinking about making them contain powerstones that can hold a 3ST so that in theory he could do 2 healings a day without cost. While I don't think this would unbalance the game, we're still discussing it. I like the lethality of TFT: it makes players think a bit more. Or should, but since creating characters is not complicated...

In the end, I think the costs work well and don't break the idea of the Fantasy Trip, but also allows for some blessings if the player rolls well.

Tryonas (League of Planets)

 Tryonas, a tidally locked world in the D'Arlee Quadrant. A rich, non-industrial world with 2 gas giants, a thriving belter population in the belt, and home to the rich as well as poor. There are many "vacation" homes here for the rich from Krim. While Krim is quite the thriving world, with high technology and a thriving economy, all the cities are covered or underground. Though the available land is limited, the fresh air and open skies bring in many people from neighboring systems. The Shadowside Ski resort has perpetual night, perpetual fresh tracks, and enough light to seem as bright as Brightside.

I'll have to generate more details later, but at least I have some images. And I like Brightside and Shadowside. 

Patron Encounter: Vax Datas CEO of Psziz Autonomous Autos

 Noble / Executive    Required Skills: Computer, Investigation    Required Equipment: None

System Requirements:  High tech (TL B+), High Law Level, Moderate to High Population

Target group: traders, 2-6 players. Rewards could be adjusted for non-traders: substitute a military vehicle perhaps as the reward for a more mercenary group

Players Information The group was beat to the sale of a lucrative contract for shipping  autonomous vehicles to a neighboring system at a huge profit. The CEO, Vax Datas, brings the players to his expansive private offices to proffer a deal that may even be better. He will give them up to 4 vehicles, and, depending on how well they do in their job, fill their passenger roster with high passage-paying sales team to go to the next system to start a sales group there. 

The job: fearing that a rival company is doing industrial espionage, he would like the group to gather evidence. His legal alternatives are slim: the high law level is working against them with a large set of laws limiting access to other corporations, and needs a group that is unknown to the other company. There is a safe on the 33rd floor of the office that has the information he needs.

Referee's Information

1. All is as it seems: there is industrial espionage, and the safe does have physical evidence of this. 
2. There is no evidence in the safe, but a more careful analysis and searching will turn up evidence. The reward will be higher if the players find this other evidence.
3. The safe only has the normal legal hard-copies and no evidence. There is no industrial evidence.
4. The safe actually has plans for the rival's vehicle, and Datas is performing his own industrial espionage. How the players handles this should provide a number of possible outcomes. 
5. The safe is empty and is actually a honey-pot trap: the players will be captured upon attempting to open this. There are larger plans between the companies and they have become pawns in the game.
6. There is no safe. Nor cake.

Other information: being a high-tech system, there will be all sorts of high-tech security devices. Due diligence before attempting any sort of break-in should be taken: floor plans, alarm systems, guard routes, etc. The high-law level also means probably jail time should they be caught. 

SOLO: Still on Krim 246 through 250, 1106

 The executive, Vax Datas, leaned back in his chair, looking over his entirely unnecessary glasses at Eow and myself. "It has come to my attention that Sprockets has some deep agents in our corporate hierarchy. While we are doing our own due diligence, some hard evidence of illegally tampering with our employment server, RUDI. While we cannot be involved in anything illegal, in exchange for the evidence, we feel that there may be a reason for a significant remuneration." He continued to look at us over steepled fingers. I looked over at Ewo who was calmly returning the man's gaze, and with a quick nod of her head, she replied "I'll take that under consideration. Let me confer with my colleagues and we'll be in touch." She unfolded from her chain in a graceful move and started to the door. I jumped up after her.

A bit later in a cafe overlooking the wide park under the steel sky we were drinking tea, Ewo on the comms to the No Refunds. The air felt fresh and there seemed to be a breeze blowing from the park as I could smell fresh cut grass, and hear children playing. Transportation in the city was all via the tubes, no personal vehicles. The air just tasted good it seemed. Perhaps because being in the ship for a week at a time, despite the best scrubbers, you are still breathing the same air. Of course, we were breathing the same air here as well, but in a city of over a hundred thousand people build in huge underground shells. With parks, I thought to myself, watching couples walk by. 

Ewo finally got off the comms, looked at me and said, "It's a go. They'll be here tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we can start gathering additional info from what Datas gave us." We already had the floor maps and some basic security information. I was wondering who had agents where as we had what appeared to be sensitive information. Paying our tab, we found a cheap hotel overlooking the Sprockets building, and I took out my computer and interfaced with the system to start digging into our target. I was helped a bit with the codes and infostream from Datas. It was a long night, and Ewo was working her own set of leads through the more public facing bots and people, using her advocate training along with her native glare.

Trying to be a bit more thematic. Not sure if I want to keep trying this or not, though I have always thought about being a writer. Regardless, I am going to chain together a few rolls, to see if I get any additional modifications for my success roll against what is going to be both a risky and difficult job. Malik rolls an 8 for his comms role. While he does not have computer skill other than at 0, I think parlaying some of that investigative skill may help, and so while not getting a great deal of info, neither does he trigger any intrusion alarms. So going to call that nothing extra. Ewo, on the other hand, rolls an 11. With her computer 1, I'll throw in an extra bonus for their roll. The next day the rest of the crew shows up, and with floor plans and computer intrusions and al the other preparations, it is time to see how we do. I think Malik may be a bit unnerved by their willingness to cross an apparently legal line, but as this is not in the Imperium but rather the League, perhaps his morals are a bit more flexible. Though this time he is in the action rather than reporting on the action!

Going with this is both a shaky plan due to the high technology Krim has, and dangerous as there well could be lethal protections over at the Sprockets building. And we squeak by, but only with the advantages from Ewo's previous roll as well as our passports (going to count that as a great asset), else there may have well been a fatality. And we can't afford that as I really need more crew about the ship as it is larger than I accounted for. We had a good consequence, so not only did we get the information Avison is wanting, we got some piece of kit. So, a high-tech office which I've not figured out what they are high-tech in...ahh, Psiz was a company that was working with autonomous vehicles. There are a couple of possibilities: a very high-end computer, much better than Malik's, perhaps with some autonomy? I think we'll go that way, and I'll work up the computer. Put an intelligence in there and see what else we can do with computers in various versions of Traveller. Classic not much, but I think T5 and Mongoose have some interesting things we may be able to do. Maybe a robot instead...that would also fit into the autonomous aspect of things. I'll see - I have at least book 8 (robots) in PDF form though I think I also have rules in a few other places. A small robot could be cool.

We're going to wrap up our Krim trip here: Datas is going to supply a couple of sample autonomous vehicles as well as pay for first class passage to Tryonous for his sales team. We'll be able to sell those vehicles so that will be pure profit, as well as have passengers aboard. So there will be some in-jump rolls to see what happens there!

Now to print up a travel sheet of sorts (and I may post that in a bit) to give me some basic world info and contacts and what we did there. I've found digging back through the blog just does not work well for me!

Traveller Tracker Again?

 Yep, broke down as I really miss programming in C# and a overly-complicated IDE (Integrated Development Environment) as well as XAML. Nice things about XAML is data-binding is pretty straight-forward. I do need to mess with the Blazor web development as I can actually use XAML to create web pages. In theory...

Regardless. I decided that I can work on the trade part of this as is. So I've added a world button that does absolutely nothing at the moment. The plan is start small: have a place to put in the UWP and start chugging away. First step is to calculate the trade codes as they can all be calculated from the UWP with some exceptions (capitol, puzzles, etc). 

So Visual Studio is up to date, finally got the XAML styler installed so that the code looks better, added the gear icon for the settings (to be defined) layout, and used one of my ISO maps for the world icon.

So not entirely thematically consistent. I may redo the icons (hey, I can be like Microsoft & have an entire release that make the icons all look different. They spend a lot of time working on icons it seems!)

So I do have steps planned. First, get the rules for the trade classifications back in. I've done this more than once. I need to decide if I want to use an external file, JSON perhaps, to hold the rules so that the users can edit them. The idea would be something like:

{

"Asteroid": {

"Size": "0",

"Atmosphere": "0",

"Hydrographics": "0",

"Population": "",

"Government": "",

"Law Level": ""

},

"Desert": {

"Size": "",

"Atmosphere": "23456789",

"Hydrographics": "0",

"Population": "",

"Government": "",

"Law Level": ""

},

"Pre-Agricultural": {

"Size": "",

"Atmosphere": "456789",

"Hydrographics": "45678",

"Population": "48",

"Government": "",

"Law Level": ""

}

}

Pretty straightforward: for a desert world we don't care about anything but the atmosphere & hydrographics: need 0 (or up to 5% depending on your interpretation of how the UWP works) free standing water and an atmosphere 2, 3...9. We can have a trade classification model that can read that and then generate the appropriate tags. I think most people could edit this easily enough if it is an external file. I still may create a table but then I'd need an editor, but the table is pretty much the same as above, just built into the SQLite database this uses. 

Classic Traveller had a table to roll on the actual value based on individual cargos, a d66 list. T5 handles it via a straight +/- Cr1000 based on the trade which is entirely independent of what the cargo actually is. It is based, from what I understand, the old T4 trade rules. The base cost also changes based on the tech level from purchase and selling. And seems...bland. What I'll probably do it have it both ways: have a T5 cargo generator AND a Classic. But as above, probably allow for cargos to be edited by the user, which would also include the base price and the adjustments based on the trade classification.

Or perhaps I am biting off more than I'll actually get done. Again. It all works in my head at least...Pretty sure I'll just start with the Classic approach. Again.

Where is Traveller Tracker?

 I'll admit that I've not worked on this in far too long. Part of it is simply developer fatigue: work has picked up for me as we're in the process of converting systems, and as I work from home I don't want to spend even more time at the same place I work even if it is fun. Though I do spend evenings here when we game over Skype. And I work on these posts there as well.

Plus, the latest version I was working on uses .Net Core. It has been a race to keep up with that process as it seems every few weeks there is yet another update to .Net Core, but it looks like they actually have a publish option that can give the end user just an .exe file. So I may change the target to that version and see if we can get a basic .exe out there for anyone who even cares.

But in doing so, I am thinking I may change directions. Again, yes. Start with the actual cargo generator part. And this could even be a pure console thing, and start really small. A simple loop where the user enters the UWP and we generate the cargos. This would be the core of what the tracker was in my eyes: a thing to generate cargos. The backend would be modular so we could plug that into a GUI version later. And yes, Microsoft is also changing the GUI. I was using XAML which, though cumbersome, I think has a lot of power behind it. I think that will drive their new Windows GUI framework idea, but who knows. It is getting as bad as javascript frameworks: which one do we use this week?

Anyway, it has not been forgotten. But I also realize that there are maybe a dozen people who would use it, so it is not something anyone is actually clamoring for, not even me! The group I am with now does not want to play a trading game. So far I've had a Scout going to retrieve his Scout ship along with a scientist in his lab ship; a "let's start with you were all kidnapped and wake up on a sinking ship coming out of cold berth and good luck surviving on this planet"; and a "there is something out there we'd like you to investigate" scenarios. These were all what the SOLO Traveller rules would consider the Traveller campaign: living from job to job. Though there has been a big of cargo speculation but more for personal  rather than filling the ship cargo bay sort of thing.

I just want to keep at least a little up to date with C# and the .Net ecosphere. 

So, if I start with a console style program to use the cargo library, it would be be something like:

Enter the UWP here: A123456-7

and then it would take that, figure out the trade codes, generate the cargos that are available. Need to think about which version, and I am really thinking about getting back to having plain text files (maybe JSON) for the various lists and things rather than SQLite. But who knows - I may just continue on with what I've got :)

Sadly the Traveller Ruby project I said I'd help with I never actually helped with, and the developer is dropping it as well to get back to python development. Sad because I am finally making some progress with Rails and Ruby, learning the application we use at my work. I would have been able to actually start helping! I've even had a few small releases for work, and cleaned up some older code that did not reflect some of the newer things. As I've told them when I started picking up the Filemaker side of things, it is like pointillism: eventually there are enough dots to make an actual picture. Took me less time with the Filemaker side as that was all I did for 8 hours a day for the most part. Ruby/Rails I have now established an hour a day when I do "open programming": start a meeting on Teams, share my screen, and start working with the application. Mostly getting told what to do but at least now I know where to look for some of the things. And I can monkey-code: find a similar bit of code & use that. There is an image slowly forming finally, though I cannot say I like a lot of Rails conventions. Coming from a history of strict type checking and compiled code to the more loosely defined Ruby environment is sometimes jarring. Especially with Rails and how it "helps" you. Too many assumptions built into the framework for me. But I'm just an old, grumpy developer, and get off my lawn!

Paladins of the Pantheon: Tona's Guardians

 Thinking I could do an entire series of paladins for the various gods and goddesses of my little corner of the Fantasy Trip world. And that eventually I may have to bring it all together a bit better. And so here we are, some details for the goddess Tona's Guardians. Here is the description for Mim's Paladins.

The goddess Tona is the goddess of lesser creatures, as well as healing and the strife of life. Her paladins will always be animal and healing centric in their goals as well as their skills. There are only a few large enough temples that can train her paladins. These expansive temples have a temple, a hospital and healers training as well as the paladins training. There are two branches a paladin can follow when following Tona: the way of the creatures, where the focus is on the animal world, and the way of healing, where it is a both healing and more clerical path.

There is a bit of overlap between the paths. Both will eventually lead to horsemanship, bow, animal handling, naturalist, ax/mace and the cleric skill. Advanced paladins may also pick up vet though the healing path stresses that aspect more. 

For those following the creature path, the talents a follower will pick up will have basic weapon skills, though the bow is the preferred weapon of choice. They will be taught running, alertness, tracking, expert horsemanship, expert naturalist. 

Those on the healing path pick up physicker and master physicker, master theologian, literacy and scholarship (to read all those tomes).

The Temple of Reysandoyal, located in the grasslands, is a sprawling collection of temples, training facilities, and a healers college. Large pastures surround the facility and they are also known for well trained horses. There is also what many would consider more of a zoo, but is actually a place of healing for various creatures. There are several surrounding villages, as well as wandering tribes. Children are brought here to see if they have an affinity for the goddess and her creatures, and if so, may remain to be trained. Training takes years, and more than a few stay on to train the next group. The first few years are when the trainee decides which school to follow. They are all taught to care for animals. and learn horsemanship, animal handling, naturalist, cleric and the bow. After the first few years, when they are deemed ready, they make a training circuit throughout the grasslands and beyond with a senior paladin. Upon returning, they are granted their mace, the official indication that they are now a paladin of Tona.

The main advantage of being a paladin of Tona is there is magic involved. The mace is more than a well-crafted mace: it is enchanted with the spells of control animal and summon wolf without any cost to the wielder. After that the normal cost in ST is spent. Each spell may be called once per day without ST cost. The mace has an affinity for the goddess, so that a 3rd enchantment limits this spell to only her paladins. There are a few magical users in the temple that help enchant these weapons. Critical hits bring down the blessings of Tona, which make the character seem to glow for a moment:

• 5 will restore 1 hit point to you
• 4 will restore 2 hit points to you as well as double damage
• 3 will restore 3 hit points to you as well as triple damage

And yes, this is more than vague reference to Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series. But I enjoyed those books and so I decided to bring them in a bit to my world. Hey. Cidri is a BIG place!

We could do a bit of homebrew and add more spells or skills, but I am happy with the base rules of the Fantasy Trip. It has enough flexibility to play any sort of fantasy game you want to. Pretty much like Traveller, despite it getting deeply entrenched into the 3rd Imperium setting. The original rules, like those of the Fantasy Trip, were enough of a sandbox you can do what you want to. 

Opinion piece coming up Seems like DnD keeps rehashing the old adventures, just like Mongoose is doing with Traveller. There is so much more that could be done. Just like Traveller 5.10 reboots the Imperium and allows for even higher technology than the Classic but has not really given any real details to the environment. The exception there being the XBoat zine I backed on Kickstarter [and now available in DriveThru I think] that does a bit more explanation of the Galaxiad. Except via fan zines, and that is where the gold is for new adventures and ideas. And why I back way too many of those zines on Kickstarter - to get ideas. And hopefully use some of them! The Lamia adventure I've been working on is using parts from close to a dozen things, some for other games systems as well as a lot of system neutral stuff. Anyway, people need to work on their own worlds and let their imaginations soar beyond what is written. How many times has Ravencroft been done? I made the mistake of getting Mongoose's Travellers Aid magazines: fully 75% or so was stuff I already had, though changed a bit (usually for the worse) to fit in with the Mongoose current version of Traveller. It is the fan zines where real imagination is taking place. End of opinion piece. 

Okay, so we really need to create  two paladins, one that followed the healing path and the other that followed the creature path. If we assume we're getting a new paladin just off their training circuit, we can also add a few more points as this is no longer the kid just off the turnip truck. I'll work on the warrior version first, then another post for the cleric style paladin.

Sir Jenlak Layne of Reysandoyal, Guardian of Tona

ST 14 DX 14 (10) IQ 9

Fine Mace 2d (enchanted: summon wolf, animal control)

Long Bow 1d+2

Dagger1d-1

Fine Plate stops 6 points, -4DX 

Skills Knife, Ax/Mace, Bow, Horsemanship, Literacy, Running, Alertness, Priest

Spells Animal Control (though the mace also has this as an enchantment)

Rides a large horse, Cylof, well suited for the plains with long legs and great endurance. Not a war horse but a fine steed none the less.

Entering his 3rd decade, Sir Jenlak came from one of the many nomads drifting across the vast grasslands. His sister was injured by a charging boar, and the family, hearing of the Temple, got there. His sister was healed and, as the family was both impressed and felt gratitude, stayed on to help work the Temple's fields. His sister Dascia was more attuned to the medical arts and studied to become a Paladin of Tona. Jenlak, both more brash and feeling stifled from the family's shift to a settled life, pursued the path of weapons. Just back from his first training circuit, he has been knighted by the Temple as a full paladin. His training is not complete - he needs more experience to fully embrace his path. As he gets more experience, he will learn the naturalist and cleric skills eventually.