As I do my monthly organic towns, I am reminded of not one but two TAS articles: in JTAS 13 and JTAS 18. In JTAS 13, Real Time Traveller:
The boardless nature of Traveller, however, permits greater flexibility. With some ref's notes small adjustments, a satisfying solitaire Traveller campaign can be conducted on the basis of a few minutes each day, by playing the game in "real-time" terms. Make one day in your life match one day in the game. After breaking down Traveller events into daily steps, most actions (a patron search, selling cargo) can be handled in the few minutes it takes to throw dice, consult a table, and note the result in a continuing log.
In JTAS 18, Travelling Without a Starship:
A single planet alone can furnish multitudes of adventure ideas. Tens of millions of square kilometers of surface area are open to ventures in dozens of climates and terrain types, among many cultures and subcultures, and among different levels of civilization . . . any referee could keep games going for years on a single isolated planet, with no need for repetition of adventures and no need for a spaceship. Some vary successful adventure novels have worked this way.
Of course, I have tried the Zozer Solo rules and while that works, I may have to expand out to see about the mythic DM or some other process. But anyway, doing my monthly turns at Organic Towns is essentially the same sort of thing - roll some dice, note the results, and move on. While I'd much prefer a real time game with people, adulting is hard to get everyone coordinated! Though our group does have 1 retired gamer, I'm still 6 years out (unless I win the lottery, but of course, I'd have to actually play to win!) Not sure if I'll return to that solo Traveller game - it was not as much fun as I was hoping. In fact, I do find most solo games pretty boring. Though world-building is fun, I am not sure it will actually go anywhere.
And I seem to recall a trading without a starship article as well - I may have to dig through my actual print copies as pretty sure I read it (and yes, I do have the Journal CD but as I've said so many times, I much prefer reading "real" books. I'm old, so get off my lawn!)
Month 4 of Organic Towns for Windemere Crossing
Moving on to month 4, we are still constructing our western gate: workers are expecting to have it completed next month. In the meantime, the taverns in town have benefitted from the workers thirst and hunger.
First, our building roll: the tower (which honestly I had forgotten I stuck there but as this was a military outpost in the past, it was part of the infrastructure!) And it is a level II tower, so, this morning the guards spotted an ominous sign: hundreds of birds migrating the wrong way!
Next, our moral roll, slanderous graffiti regarding the settlement leaders has been appearing more frequently. Wonder if this is the same graffiti artist that was writing those bawdry limericks on the barracks a couple of months ago?
Interestingly, other than graffiti, there are no reports of crime. Could be our newly enlarged town guard is having a beneficial effect on our fair trade town.
At this point, the town hall is complete, and the first town meeting took place with a bit of festivity. The Sea Elves are still looming in the back of the meeting hall, with the grand table for the Burgermeister, sheriff and Nomehi Wirididea representing the town, the police and the local merchants. A decision was reached to expand out the market. As caravans pass almost daily along the Ocean Trade Route, they want a bigger piece of that pie. And it could make Windemere Crossing a destination instead of a waystation. This will cost us 36 SP and take two months to build. We're also going to add a pasture to help feed the town, and the fencing should be completed next month.
There was rumor of a retired merchant fightng a weaver outside of town, but no one is certain of that, and Rennor, who seems to know everyone, has not said anything. And she does like to break up fights. The new fine tooling from Bernice Lister (town guard who dabbles in leatherworking) and Durdo's wife Viola have started selling some wares in the merchants' quarter. Sheriff Sprigbasher did buy a nice new coin purse with his initials stamped on it from them. As he did get a small raise now that he is leading two new guards.
The spearmen train daily in the space behind the barracks. They also patrol outside the city walls in pairs, while the town guard stays inside the walls.
With the new housing, pastures being built, and Durdo and his wife welcoming twins, our population is now 348 residents.
And asked for some fantasy spear carrying soldiers patrolling outside a walled townvnext to the desert and got this. Though I could also image dive in the web but then I feel bad when I don't attribute who did that art, then I remember the AI is trained on that and also does not give proper attribution. We do live in strange times! But I do like to browse through art and find things that seem interesting. I am so glad people do share their stuff online!
I am also tracking a lot of these updates in the Windemere document (and got lazy and just doing some copy/paste) but thinking some stuff I really need to consolidate better. And I know - I keep saying that! For someone who likes organization, I am not that good at it!
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