Strange New Worlds 1, Part 3

Looking into a few other resources, I did find this in the Mongoose World Builder's Book:

This tells us a few things about how long we'll need to stay in each system. 

Next, let's look at our starting point in the D'Arlee Quadrant, and decide who and what is behind the exploration. Looking at the map below, the D'Arlee Quadrant is entirely surrounded by the Imperium. The systems in the lower right, marked by X, are non-explored worlds. You may notice I did mark one as Corsairs, which is the system that the Corsairs game ran on. And yes, it does exist in MTU and there is, of course, a history there. Which sadly we never got to in our games.

The question is: who is exploring? 

1. The Imperium, which can leverage a lot of resources. But is it worth their while?
2. The League of Independent Planets, which has far fewer resources but, like the Imperium, is trade-based and this could open up new markets?
3. Private company of some sort, either for trade, for science and exploration, or some other purpose.

I'll also note that the map already indicates gas giants, and honestly after a few years probably the probability of a world in the inhabited zone. It is not like they are just going blindly out into the void. So: we have at least a class I survey of those systems based on probably decades of work with a much higher tech level than we have. And, perhaps, there have been traders already out there. Corsairs was colonized centuries ago, and while its unique system causes issues for grav drives, that is probably unique there.

But back to my question, as I am going to be running my solo game and exploring the unknown. Do I want to run as the Imperium, the League of Independent Planets, or a 3rd party similar to the Leviathan adventure? Since I am running it for me, I'm going back to my early history of the Quadrant - it was explored simply to be explored. It will be a joint venture: the League of Independent Planets, and the great-great-great granddaughter of Baroness Felicia D’Arlee Johon. Johon is an Imperial world, Amber zoned (and no idea why: that system was never expanded and we never had any adventures there). The League is supplying some of the support ships, while Juila Johon, utilizing her family fortunes, will supply the main scout ship with some providence for trade as well. 

We'll need the main ship, and it will have to be large enough for an extended trip of months. We'll make sure it is fresh out of its yearly maintenance, so we have a full year. The Johon Expedition, as it is named, has the following goals:

1. Give detailed system information on each system it explores
2. If possible, see if there are any trading opportunities
3. Search for resources that, despite a multi-jump trip, would be worth exploiting
4. and from the ancient vids: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!

I'll go through the ships I have, both Traveller and others, and find something that will work. I want a relatively small crew, no more than 30-50 or so people. Many will be scientists, ex-Scouts and the like. But, like the game I thought I may try to run, there will be room for security, pilots and others. I figure the traditional landing party to explore new worlds will work. 

But for the moment, we have the broad outlines of the next adventure. I may even write it up similar to a classic adventure book. I will have to figure out a new desktop publishing tool, as Publisher (which was simple, easy to use and did decent stuff) is sadly no longer supported and Microsoft is actually removing edit access. Which, while I understand from a security viewpoint, really sucks. 

No real plans on how often I'll get to this: if I set a specific schedule, it becomes work. 

We also played another game of Windward, bringing in the Black Market. Which also can bring in the Kroka, a leviathan of the deeps that has 10 attack dice! Like our last game, I started with a small headstart, then got really far behind. But again luck was with me. My friend got to the notoriety needed to win, but that just starts the last cycle. Like other games sometimes do, just getting 1st to the winning points does not mean you win: the other players get a last turn. I managed to tie on my last turn. The next turn he managed to get a red crester, and turning in all his gas got 7 points ahead. The wind was blowing in the right direction for me, so I ended up on the Black Market, and called out the Kroka. While it had 10 dice and I only had 8 or so, I also had a few cards that just barely put me over the edge. And defeating that beast gives 9 notoriety. Meaning I won the game, though it was via some lucky dice.

And remember, for me, Windward is also on the Corsairs planet. So our crew may find it!

 

Strange New Worlds Part 2

I've rolled up the system, though the main world did have some pre-defined values. We have a single star system with a F5V star. The main world orbits in orbit 4 at 1.9AU. Assuming I did my math correctly, this is a 2.3-year orbit. The star is 1.4 time larger than our sun, massing 1.3 times as much.

There are 2 gas giants and a planetoid belt, as well as 5 captured planets. Interestingly, the innermost planet is a tidally locked small gas giant in orbit 1, with a planetoid belt in orbit in orbit 2 and a large gas giant in orbit 5. Orbit 3 is empty. 

Our main world has no satellites; the inner gas giant has none either and the outer gas giant has 11 moons. The captured planets will have no moons. 

A few notes: this sort of data will take some time to calculate. While the planets in stable orbits are easy to find and calculate the orbits of, those 5 captured worlds will take a good bit more time as they are not in the main plane of the system. Refueling is of course simple enough at the gas giant or the main world.

The main world is an early-stage colony. Though how that fits into the OTU timeline is problematic at best, but fortunately this is MTU. As per a text discussion, there were about 400 colonists in cold sleep and the colony ship is now the main base for the people. What they did not know was the large flying creatures are more than dangerous. Bordering on intelligent, they are a menace to the colony. As a result, most of the colony is underground, using thermal and the remaining fusion power plants for power.

Technology-wise, they can maintain TL-7 stuff for the most part. They do have some makers, but most tooling and manufacturing is manual. The flying critters can't really be hurt by most slug weapons, and there were only a few larger weapons that could make a difference. They originally had 3 additional support craft beyond the colony cruiser. Unfortunately, after 3 generations, 1 is now used for spare parts for the other two.

A few questions I need to ponder:

• Where are they from originally?
• Why did they strike out on their own?
• I rolled up government 3: self-perpetuating oligarchy. The original colony board controls the colony, with most positions being hereditary. With the constant threat from above, few have the time or energy to do anything about the situation.
• Do they speak the same language as our potential PCs?

 Probably a few more things to think about for a potential (once I get past my pouting phase) game. 

I'll see about more mapping, but I did manage to get the typical map down with some hexes. Still need to calculate the size of those hexes.

Main world: E765330-7

Starport: E. Just a rough landing field for the remaining 2 support craft, with one used for parts

Size: 7. Just under Earth sized, with a gravity of about .87G. Makes it easier for those giant flying things!

Atmosphere: 6. Standard pressure and oxy/nitro mix

Hydrographics: 57% water. Several large continents

Population: 3, a few thousand people after a few generations from the original 400 colonists. Large families are normal. Will need to dig out Grand Census for some fun things.

Government: 3 - Self-perpetuating oligarchy. Known as the Colony Board, controls all aspects of the nascent colony. Hereditary positions.

Law Level: 0. No law level per se, and going outside everyone usually goes well armed.

Tech Level: 7. Around early 70s. Though there are some higher-tech facilities in the main colony hub: a few fusion generators, medical facilities still have functioning medbeds. There are a few makers that can create most things as well, but the knowledge to maintain a lot of this is starting to go away as people focus on survival. A caste of "magic users" may eventually start the maintenance. Or I've seen too much Star Trek.

Need to come up with a name as well. But - more to come!

Scout Mission: Strange New Worlds 1 Part 1

If I ever get back to running a Traveller game (my last 2 did not do well, but thinking perhaps a more focused approach vs the sandbox approach may be better), I already decided that the Scouting mission would be the way to go to give it more focus on exploring strange, new worlds vs trying to make a living. As pointed out in the previous post, this gives me an opportunity to flesh out MTU a bit.

And so, I'll start with one of the undefined * worlds in the D'Arlee Quadrant. My group was discussing a colony world with giant flying beasts. How that gets handled really depends on so many things: if we have ship weapons, then these are not really an issue. However, the conversation meandered all over the place, and for a pulpier and Traveller-like feel, we want to have tension with these beasts not easily killed and still posing a threat.

Though I did get AI (sorry!) to have a Scout ship shooting a pterodactyl. Despite wanting these to be a threat, powerful weapons really implies they really cannot be a real threat unless you go without weapons. Which did remind me of a college game where my gung-ho marine, in grav power armor and FGMP managed to kill a red dragon. Though she was also killed as apparently dragon flames destroy armor as well (the ref wanted to run a D&D game, so a convenient misjump to a fantasy world. Must have been a lot of fun as I remember it 40+ years later!)

I did some workups of the planet for 57% hydrographics, and will have to work through some Book 6 system generation. But as it has been a while since my last post, figured I'd let you know that things are not entirely standing still.

Though I am thinking of taking a break from gaming with people for a bit: we got into a bit of a disagreement and I had it pointed out that I do tend to take a high moral ground about some things and that this "high moral ground" comes across as patronizing. As with many things, this is not all on me, but some of it most assuredly is. And to be honest, I do have a hard time in social situations for a number of reasons, and the gaming has been a bit of stress as much as I also like it. (In fact, the person I am having a hard time did call me socially retarded, which has all sorts of connotations that bother me. And I've been ignoring that as just the way he speaks but that coupled with a few other things finally got us into the aforementioned disagreement). Had I been born 40 years later, I am sure there would be a few labels on me. Though not sure if that is really the case or just me internet-doctoring! Regardless, I may back off a bit with the group and try to figure out if I am really being that obnoxious or if some are just more sensitive. It is, of course, somewhere in the middle but I feel I am the only one trying to make accommodations sometimes. And then I worry that I am just feeling sorry for myself! Ahh, naval gazing at its best and worst! Never fear - this too shall pass, but every once in a while, I do get into a funk. Just like the stress from the new job (which thankfully is a lot better) this stress will eventually go away. But I just may need some time. But I'll still post as I like thinking and writing about gaming, just the actual practice is, at the moment, something I don't think I want to do.

Windward, and maybe a Traveller Scouting game

Last weekend I finally got to play Windward, a game that I've had for a number of years. We messed up the first round or so, but in the end, it is a relatively simple game. It is just the rules as written are not particularly well-done, even after their 2nd Kickstarter for the expansion and deluxe version. But we had a good bit of fun, and you cannot go wrong with sky whales! But we figured a few things out as we went along, and the next game we'll have a better handle on things. 

player board and my hired crew

And I've been thinking a lot about why I cannot seem to run a good Traveller game with my current group. Probably a primary reason is that they prefer fantasy over SF for the most part. And Traveller runs both a sandbox SF RPG universe but also adds some limits to the style of universe (and this is from conversations on COTI and a few other blogs I've read, so nothing original other than me realizing it!). It wants to do a harder version of pulp-style science fiction: people have to do things, and it is not so much an extrapolation of science and technology in the real world, but one based on the stories of the first half of the 20th century. It came out well before the cyberpunk/AI/transhumanism themes became prevalent in the SF world. 

And honestly, I like it that way. Traveller is great for things like early Heinlein, 70s TV shows like Space:1999 and UFO (though I actually have the Space:1999 RPG but doubt I'll ever run it). It cannot run a Star Trek or Star Wars style of game: those have entirely different technological assumption underpinnings. Instantaneous interstellar communication would change a great number of things and break the basic idea of Traveller. Even cheap spaceships would have a huge impact (my pet peeve with Star Wars is everyone seems to be able to afford a starship, they never worry about fuel or life support unless it becomes THE plot point. And even a small single-seater ship is capable of vast interstellar journeys. Without a bathroom). 

However, I've been thinking that if I perhaps did an exploratory game instead. I'd limit career options to Scouts, Scientists and military careers, and they would just be the crew of a ship. I'd also reduce fuel usage by 50% and life support as well. That would allow double jumping with the same tankage and not cost so much for life support. Which would not matter much for the players as they would probably be the "boots on the ground" for our planet of the week adventure. Basically, structure it around an episodic TV format. Plus it would allow me to flesh out that section of the D'Arlee Quadrant that has been empty since college! Though I did stick the world of Corsairs there!

Traveller in a Space:1889 Theme

I have an art book by this guy, Alex Alice, and, while I've never played Space:1889, I think I could at least try a 1-shot using some basic Traveller rules based on the aesthetics of this art. The book is also beautiful.

Alex Alice

Basic premise is very Edger Rice Burroughs: Mars, Venus and the other planets can be visited and have their own biomes. You fly through space via the aether and aether engines.

The way I'd run this, and this is an early idea so I may draft more actual rules later, has the basic stuff as follows:

1. Classic Traveller Book 1 & Supplement 4 careers only. But also limit TL options to TL4 (late 19th/early 20th century analog)
1. Using what I understand the TNE way works: roll 7 times, pick the 6 you want and put in the attribute you want
2. no rolling to get into the career - automatic
3. roll then select table for skills (my normal house rule)
4. failing survival => leave service or die and start over again
2. Ship rules
1. Fuel is not really required - aether engines works very differently and does not require the same space/fuel. So very small relative to the ships
2. life support is still needed - takes a larger percentage of the ship and I'll need to figure out a good amount required per person/per day. 
3. Ships can be made of light metals and glass, and you can tell a lot from the style where it comes from (nationality)
4. Can fly on planets and in space, but not underwater. They will float on top.
5. No external weapons? People get out in bulky space suits and fire weapons? Or turrets / shup guns are available?
6. Speeds
1. max atmospheric
2. max in the aether / between worlds: calculate days for trips to destinations? Different aether engines that do have some correlation between size/mechanics/ship mass. Tiny engines can power gliders and personal flight wings, larger ones for ships to traverse the heavens. Details to be mulled and hopefully written out but may use the same or similar tables from book 2. But will probably work with, other than the moon, something like 1 week to Mars or Venus, +/- days based on engine, 3 weeks to Jupiter, 5 weeks to Saturn, etc. Will have to look at distances again. But I do want to maintain the week trope if I can with some minor adjustment for a better aether engine or engineer.
3. Universe
1. Earth analog, 1890 maybe?
2. Mars as per ERB / art book. Native life includes sentients; Mars Princess is currently on Earth at the Expo (starting point of game?). Dying race?
3. Venus as per ERG / art book, prehistoric environments, no intelligent life
4. Combat
1. always my weak point!
2. armor may work as per a discussion on COTI where the armor level is the number of dice to subtract from damage inflicted which may be interesting:
1. Leather/Synth = Armor 1D
2. Cloth = Armor 2D
3. Combat = Armor 3D (old school plate armor - see image below)
4. Battle Dress = Armor 4D (not in this game)
3. range DMs as per rules with DMs based on range. 8+ to hit

Plate armor (more Alex Alice)

Adventure ideas:

1. At the World Fair they meet a sponsor who requires a small crew for a trip to Mars to fetch something for the Princess
1. all is at it seems, and the crew can meet the last Princess of Mars with her blessings to get the golden seal
2. the sponsor is trying to curry favor with the Princess and Martians and is wanting to retrieve her golden seal from Mars and trade it for favors.
3. The sponsor is working for a rival faction on Earth and want to steal the golden seal and hold it hostage for forcing the Martians to do something
4. The sponsor wants to kill off the Princess' parents for some nefarious reason. The characters may notice that the ship has a few untrusty looking members and more guns than you may expect
5. There is another wanting to retrieve the golden seal and there will be a race to the Red Planet. One of the two is working for the Princess, the other against. Which one are you with?
6. There is nothing to fetch, the Princess is actually sending a message to Mars with the pretense of retrieving the seal. That request is a hidden message to the Martians.
2. A hunter wants to hire the group to go to Venus
1. All is as it seems. Base on one of the several Classic Traveller Hunter adventures
2. All is at it seems, but the hunter does have enemies. Who may be wanting to do their nefarious things. Attempts to sabotage the ship before or during the trip, as well as attempts on the planet itself would be interesting and challenging.
3. The hunter is using this as a pretense to "accidently" kill a rival on Venus. 
4. The hunter is hunting something that is, for reasons, illegal to kill. The players may not find out until sometime on the way there and unable to back out.
5. The hunter is really a spy and wanting to get intel on a foreign power's bases on the planet.
6. The hunter is very inept and kills himself on Venus. What do the players do?

Kinunir Session 5: Into the Dome

Our intrepid group of 4 was down to 2 last session for reasons. Deciding the 2 would stay in the research pinnace while Jake and Moses entered the dome.

Moses tried to communicate with Professor Plutonis and his lovely assistant, Yvonne. Who for some reason I just picture as the character from Star Trek: Voyager's Proton holodeck series:

Yvonne

Plutonis was glad to hear from his comms: while he and Yvonne had been imprisoned for the last 2 weeks or so, and he had lost weight due to the bland seafood diet, he was okay. But his Mightiness was still debating whether to flush them out the nearest waterlock, or see if he could extract information and technology from them. Plutonis said they were on the same level as the sub but was not sure how far away. From a technical note: the Oollarians did not recognize the comm-dots, and those things have an amazing battery life!

Sinking the pinnace to what seemed to be the level of the moonpool, Jake and Moses get into the gel suits and get loaded with 2 spare gel suits and their weapons. It was decided that being submerged would not hurt the gauss rifle and things that could get damaged were placed in the convenient dry bags that Professor Cosmosis had brought along. He of such foresight. The might of the infinite ship's locker perhaps. 

outside the moonpool. The sub is the escape pod.

Swimming across the 10 or 20 meters, they got into the moonpool. There was a ledge and ladder going up to the double sea doors. The sub mas amber and red lights and is badly damaged.  After changing back into their armor (though not specifically mentioned I think leaving the gel suits either on the shelf or in the sub?), they ease their way past the doors. Rolling on my tables from the previous post, there were a few Greenies way down at the end of hall. Fortunately, the 2 that saw them, while they were His Mightiness' guards and police, were part of a nascent freedom league. They closed the doors behind them, and one trotted towards our two suspicious heroes. Keeping his arms well away from his large (and single shot) sidearm, he whispers that the prisoners are 3 sections away, past two pumping stations. He has to whisper pretty loudly as this is one of the engineering levels, and the pumps make a lot of noise. The guard backs up, and Jake and Moses start moving through the various sections towards the prison area.

In the middle of one of the pumping stations, they meet Jason and Thriss. The two agree to lead the characters to the jail. Jake gives Thriss his taser. Who immediately pulls a Luke Skywalker and stares down into the needles. Jake quietly pulls it back and explains how it gets used. Moving to the prison section, which according to Plutonis has not been fully guarded the last week or so after the initial surprise of illegal aliens wore off. His Mightiness or one of his counselors was concerned with spreading information about the rest of the universe and wanted to minimize contact with the professor and his assistant. 

Opening the hatch to the prison section, Thriss tries to shoot the guard with the taser. Rolling a 3, and with his -3 for an unfamiliar weapon, they were lucky he did not shoot himself! Rolling out of the way as the guard got up, drawing his gun, Thriss did not feel like a hero. Moses shot him in the back with a tranq shot, putting the guard to sleep. Grabbing the keys, they sent up and found Plutonis and Yvonne in adjacent cells. Putting the sleeping guard in there, they started to retrace their steps back to the moonpool. 

Unfortunately, I keep rolling 3s on the encounter table, and the tangle with 5 more Greenies. As they were pulling out pistols to shoot, Moses decided enough was enough and the gauss rifle came out to play. While our group was shot at, the players are fortunate the dice gods hate me even as a referee, and not a single shot landed (one roll was even snake eyes). Moses took down two of them, and I think Jake did as well. Unfortunately, gauss needles, while making hamburger of the guards, also ruptured the pump tanks behind the guards. Water was gushing out like a fire hose. Jason started to worry as automatic locks would quarantine each section, so they had to hurry to the next section. They got out as the water was above their ankles and rising. 

Thriss really wanted to leave Oollar, and said that his life expectancy as a sea miner is measured in a few years. Jason's wife had been killed by the dictator in one of the purges. He wanted outsiders to help arm the resistance but had no idea what Oollar could trade for. This discussion went on as everyone got into their gel suits. Thriss got into his suit, fortunately stored in the locker next to the moonpool. Without an air hose he ony had a couple minutes of air, but Jake and Moses maneuvered him to the air lock of the research sub. 

Thriss' diving suit.

And that is where we left the session. I'll need to fluff out the various NPCs, Plutonis, Yvonne and Thriss, a bit more, and poke around for some images other than Yvonne's above. Still no idea why that is how or why that was the image I had of her. Oh well - my brain works in strange ways!

Work update

The computer equipment shows up tomorrow, and I need to finish cleaning off that section of my desk to get it set up. The paints and minis will just have to be moved to the 3rd section only instead of being spread out. And of course, I have my normal jitters and nervousness about a new position. I've been that way since junior high school: the strangest and most uncomfortable dreams so I don't sleep well. Especially as I am not entirely (or even partially!) sure of what the expectations of this position are. Despite 73 items so far in the onboarding (all bureaucracy stuff), the software onboarding (source control trouble tickets, wikis and all the stuff around being a developer on a team) is yet to happen. So - I am nervous. Even after doing this stuff for 40 years, I still question myself. Which I think is a lot better than when I was being an arrogant a-hole and thinking I knew everything!

But: this may mean I don't get as far as I'd like in this game. I do want to get them to the asteroid belt, so that the player who dropped out can at least have his character check his claim. Perhaps joined by the engineer, who knows. But I may get caught up with work for a bit and need to concentrate on that more. We'll just see how that goes.

Oollar Factions

While officially there are multiple guilds on Oollar to handle the day-to-day work of surviving on a hostile planet, there are of course multiple political factions even within a dictatorship. A lot of this the players will never see or notice assuming they do go on a rescue mission for Professor Plutonis and his assistant Yvonne (who I am just going to use some pregens from Citizens of the Imperium for stats and all that). But I do want to have some NPCs from Oollar that will interact with the players.

First, I have a large map made from several segments of the Starship Geomorphs. There will be a chase from the moonpool or a water lock to get to the prisoners. Of course there will be people there, but not everyone is backing the dictator. There are some freedom fighters, and in fact, that telescope they noticed in their fly-by was in fact from one of those groups. And yes, even if I post this my players either won't read it or will read it after I post the next update. And even if they do read it, we're good about not meta-gaming. 

the lower complex

In the 10,000-meter view, His Mightiness Lord Grey is the dictator of Oollar. Fourth generation dictator who is barely holding the world together as the technology is hard to maintain. He has his goons nicknamed the Greenies as they were a seaweed green uniform. These men and women carry single-shot guns that are low impact but cause damage from the larger slug (same as a body pistol). His immediate circle of guards are actually well-trained and are willing to die for him. Those at the lower levels may not have that same fervor and harbors many who just want the benefits of working for his Mightiness.

There is at least one faction openly opposed to the dictatorship. Lord Grey has his own spies in this group and feels it is better to know your enemy. When they get too close to actual action, he initiates a purge where the most vocal are summarily tried and tossed out the nearest water lock. Survival in measured in seconds between the cold, the thin atmosphere, and the luck of the draw from any nearby carnivorous sea creatures. This group is known as the Freedom Fighters. 

There is another more subtle group that is also working on bringing down his Mightiness and his goons. This is the group that also has spies in both the Freedom Fighters and the Greenies. This group is working more slowly but also realize that the Greenies still outnumber their group by a significant margin. Working for his Mightiness allows for better food rations, weapons and much better working conditions. And the vast majority of the 2 billion inhabitants are, if not happy, then at least not in misery. 

Using the rogues pregens in the Citizens of the Imperium book, we have two rebels:

• Jason Garch 8948A5, age 50, 8 terms. Streetwise-1, Forgery-1, Bribery-1, JoT-1. An older man with thinning hair, Jacob has held a grudge against his Mightiness since his wife was murdered by him. She was a leader of the Freedom Fighters and caught up in one of the purges. 
• Thriss Hardy 85A35B, age 22 1 term. Streetwise-1, Demolition-1. A shaggy-haired and wiry youth,  Thriss just hates being part of the Mining Guild as it is dangerous work, though he has picked up demolitions as part of his job there. He wants off the planet if at all possible but has little to provide outside of demolitions. He will beg to leave with the group should they meet.

Interesting that someone with 8 terms only has 4 skills. And I'm ignoring the mustering out benefits, though Thriss does have a gun that he really does not know how to use!

And pulling from OSE, we'll have random encounter checks every 10 minutes or so, or once per sector (20x20 grid map). 1d6, and 1 = an encounter. Then a d6 roll each time they enter a new section:

1. Greenies. 1d6 guards show up, each has a body pistol with a single shot. Wearing cloth armor. Reaction roll as per rules, so the players may be able to talk their way through.
2. Freedom Fighters. 1d6. The Freedom Fighters want to get the 2 prisoners out of the prison and hidden in the main dome. Reaction roll + 2. They are armed with cudgels, no armor.
3. Greenies with Freedom Fighters. 1d6 Greenies or which at least half will be rebel sympathizers. If fighting starts the sympathizers will aid the players and help get the prisoners released. They will also explain the world politics as they understand it if asked.
4. Guild workers. 1d6 Machinist Guild workers (who have a wrench insignia). Reaction roll and utilize any character streetwise, carousing as a DM. A bad result and they will try and send out an alarm.
5. Jason and Thriss. The players will meet up with these two. They will help the players. 
6. Guild workers as above (4) but from the Pump Guild. Insignia is what looks like a tube connected to some machine (a pump),

If an alarm does go off (a chance with encounters 1, 3, 4 & 6 unless all enemies are either killed or unconscious), it will be 2d6 rounds before a squad of 4 Greenies shows up. 

If the group does not encounter Thriss and Jason, they will meet with them at the moonpool as the group makes their exit (assuming they actually make their exit, which assumes they also go in! But pretty sure that they will). Thriss really wants to leave with the group, and there is a mining suit near the pool. It will take 5 minutes for him to get into though and only has air for a few minutes as it normally uses an air pump from the station or boat to supply air. He will be begging, and Jason will urge the group to take him as well. 

While this is mostly an extraction scenario, the Freedom Fighters may try & get the players to stay and help "fight the man". With their weapons and skills the Fighters would have a real chance. Or so they believe, but as there are thousands of Greenies and limited ammo, the fight probably would not go well.

Inside the domes, the light is from incandescent bulbs that tend to flicker and cast a pale light over dark walls. The air is still thin and reeks of wet metal, but it is breathable. Endurance may be impacted if the players try to do too much but should normally not be an issue. The furniture and everything has a brutalist appearance: purely there for function with no style. The heavy equipment in the engineering sections looks old: rust, scuff marks and dents. And loud - there is always the sound of pumps, fans and heavy machinery make conversations on this level difficult. 

Some notes on running Traveller here. I really like Traveller - I tend to like rules-heavy games. Unfortunately, my group tends to be more narrative driven so I've always hesitated to running a Traveller game because of that, and they do not like science fiction as much as I do. And there are always assumptions, known or not, about any game. Traveller is a sandbox game: each game can be something entirely different, and the players do not have the built-in assumptions of most fantasy games. One of the players decided he was just not having fun so is dropping out. Part of it is I am not a great GM, but I think another part are some assumptions about the Traveller universe. Which is why I stuck this in MTU - leave a lot of the 50 years of lore behind unless it pops up organically. But I fear I am not getting this across well except for 2 of the players that have played Traveller before and know that each universe is different. This is also why I gave up running Corsairs: I don't think the players understood the world of Corsairs and were not having fun. Dolmenwood is a pretty generic fantasy game with known tropes and a specific setting, so they are comfortable there it seems. I do have a pretty thick skin at this point, but it bothers me if the players are not having fun. As it is mostly my presentation that I feel is lacking. 

As I am starting a new job in a week, not sure how long this game will run. But I may give up running games for a while as it does stress me out. I'd make a good assistant GM as I love all the stuff around running games: creating worlds, maps, characters, ideas. But getting them across in a good way seems to be more difficult than I like. And I do have a good bit of social anxiety, even among my friends. Which is one of the reasons I do try & run games - to get over those issues or at least learn to deal with them better. And of course, part of this is the anxiety from starting yet another new job. I am not discounting that impact on my emotional stability! You'd think a 62-year-old guy would have more confidence in himself!

Kinunir Session 4: Off to Oollar

Still calling this the Kinunir as there are a couple more scenarios that can still play out. And it is easier to tag a set of games so we can find all the posts.

Our crew meets up with the Professor at O'Leary's O'Lasers, who explains why they are taking a slight detour to Oollar. Professor Plutonis had chartered a ship (a 600-ton merchant) to transport himself, his assistant Yvonne, and a 4-person sub that could be transported in a 50-ton shuttle to Oollar. He firmly believes that there is an alien city in the depths, and despite the inherent dangers of that system, went anyway. The pilot's story:

We were researching at the edge of the Eye, looking for remains of an alien city Dr. Plutonis believed existed there. He was in a pocket sub with Yvonne when an explosion rocked the sub. I think they used some sort of underwater explosive device. It killed the controls of the ship and they towed them to one of those big floating domes. Think they said it was St. Yon City - each of their cities I think are named after their saints. The comms still worked but I was in the cutter waiting for them to return. I saw some surface boats heading my way, and Dr. Plutonis said to leave and get help. That was almost 10 days ago. He did have some comm equipment, and I know which dome he was taken to before I was out of range. 

The group does some shopping (I had posted the extensive Consolidated Equipment list to a resource channel in Discord), I stock the lab ship as well, and the next day they fly up to the lab ship, Tyrell piloting the research pinnace up. Fortunately, Pascal can also pilot the shuttle, and Jake can fly the air/rafts. 

They make a quick tour of the ship, and meet the rest of the crew and scientists:

• Navigator Sir Wor Weura
• Engineer Ben Cramer
• The Boffins

Getting their stuff loaded, and Tyrell flies out to the 100-diameter mark to make the jump to Oollar. It was an uneventful week, though Moses does have a habit of cleaning his weapons in the small lounge. 

Coming out of jump near Oollar, they make a few orbits around the planet. There are no radio, radar or other electromagnetic signals. Moses gets a faint reading on the sub's beacon system. Loading into the pinnace, they go to take a closer look. The very thin atmosphere is clear over the Eye, so I did not make them do any piloting checks. They did zero in on the dome.

the Eye of God

Getting closer, Moses managed to get the feeds from the sub. It was sitting in what appeared to be a moon pool. The engines were inactive, and the explosion damaged the hull so that it was no longer seaworthy. On one of the flights search they also noticed what appeared to be a telescope, so it would appear that they had been spotted via the old Mk1 Eyeball. 

And this is where we left the session. I've a few notes on the lab ship and estimate it will take 8 trips of the pinnace to refuel the ship (which has fuel purifiers even if the original ship did not list those). 

Lab Ship Info

Refueling: 90 tons, shuttle as 12-ton fuel capacity, will take 8 trips to refuel. From a water world, 1 hour on land and round-trip time is about 2 hours. No idea how close this is, and it could go faster if they use a collapsable fuel bladder that would give an extra 8 tons or so of fuel per trip.

Staterooms:

9: Pilot / Tyrell

10: Navigator / Sir Wor Weura

11: Medic / Pascal

12: Engineer / Bevin Cramer

19

20

21

22

23

24

25: Aurora Oaks, lead scientist

26: Tora Beauchamp, student/scientist

27: Ivo Bardot, student/scientist

28

29

30: medbay, with Medtech autodoc & medical stuff

31: gym - treadmill, compact weight machine

33

34: Lounge

38: Professor Victor Cosmosis / Engineer, scientist

Ship’s Locker:

2x respirators A

Disposable vacc suit x2

2 shotguns, loads for shells, rubber bullets

2 handguns, auto-pistols

Other items as needed depending on story (things get lost in that locker and found much later. Just like my pantry at home)

Air/Rafts (x2)

Beacon, small (500km range)

Comms, TL-12 continental range

Air filters x4

Filter canteens x4

Emergency blanket x4

Trench knife x4

Vehicle survival kit

Labs (main and aux)

Hazmat suits x2

O2 masks (1 hour) x4

Other

Vacc suits (TL12) x4 (2 in the spoke)

Medtech AutoDoc (stateroom 30)

6 gel suits suitable for the cold of Oollar

2 harpoon guns

I am also using vacc-rated air/rafts. No need to wear a vacc-suit. Unless you plan on disembarking in a vacuum. I'll also note that grave vehicles can only get to about 10 diameters out from the planet before the grav drive no longer has enough to push against. At 10 diameters effective gravity is about 0.1m/s or 0.01G. Flying a grav vehicle to orbit the pilot will notice things slowing down as they get further away. 

Other updates

I've not done much with the Traveller software. I did add a .NET 1 page repo for what are essentially scripts. Smaller in scope, and runs on Macs, PCs, and Linux systems. And no need for an internet connection. Which was also the point of the larger, more complicated version. But I got disheartened watching what others are doing, even though my stuff had an entirely different intent. I may get back to it, but with the news below, not sure when I'll have time and interest simultaneously.

I'm also employed again, starting Aug 3. Working for a large, international company which I've never done before. So I'll admit to being nervous. But if I decide I do not like it or fit in well, I will go ahead and retire. But I really like writing software, and as long as the fun outweighs any potential issues I'll go ahead. I even have a fancier title: Principal Software Engineer. Which is also alarming (me and my Peter Principle / imposter syndrome issues!). 

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.

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

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!