Mining Droids
Manufactured in the Skein Reach by the Katoba Corporation under license from Galactic Mining Equipment, these mining droids all come equipped with a grav drive, a mining laser, a manipulator appendage, and ore storage. With a basic intellect and mining software, these droids can mine without the constant supervision required by drones, and are therefore preferred by large mining operations such as AMC in Micon.
MSM-X47 – Strength 14 (+2), Dexterity 10 (+1), Hull 4, Structure 4
Traits: Armour 9, Integral System (grav floater), large, Specialised Computer/1 (running Intellect/1 and gun combat (0) Expert Trade (mining)/1)
Weapons: multi-spectrum mining laser (3d6+3), manipulator (unarmed), 2d6 damage)
Price: 105,000 Credits
TSL-9 Strip Excavator – Strength 11 (+1), Dexterity 10 (+1), Hull 4, Structure 4
Traits: Armour 8, Integral System (grav floater), large, Specialised Computer/1 (running Intellect/1 and Expert Trade (mining)/1)
Weapons: broad-beam mining laser (3d6), manipulator (unarmed), 2d6 damage)
Price: 95,000 Cr
Posted in droid, Science-Fiction, Traveller by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Planet of the Cybertank
~
an adventure for Traveller or other science-fiction role-playing games
for player characters with access to a light starship or armored fighting vehicles
~
In a quiet system the Player Characters (PCs) receive a distress signal from another spaceship – scrap salvagers stranded on a forbidden zone amber planet (UWP X642000-0). The small world, Zinah 2, was once host to a mining colony. Starchart library data indicates that it was irradiated by nuclear weaponry and abandoned 200 years ago.
Adventure Overview
This adventure has the players land to investigate a distress signal, only to also be stranded on planet by a massive tank piloted by an artificial intelligence. They will have to use skill and guile to escape from the planet.
As an alternative scenario, if the travellers have access to grav tanks or similar military equipment, they may be hired to eliminate the cybertank so that salvage can be collected or a new mining colony can be established.
The Cybertank’s Domain
From orbit the automated emergency distress signal appears to be coming from the highly radioactive wreckage of a type A Free Trader “SS SWAMPDOGE”. The wreck is on the outskirts of the ruins of a mining outpost.
When the players arrive in orbit the cybertank is in its repair bunker in low-power mode (see below). A difficult (-6 DM) sensors check is required to detect the cybertank there and the PCs will likely land before they are aware of it.
(more…)
Posted in Adventure, Traveller, Vehicle by Adam A. Thompson with 5 comments.
JAK Cargo Droids
Cargo Droids
These droids are the three best-selling models manufactured by John Doer’s Heavy Robotics (JDHR) division. All three feature wheels on an adjustable width suspension and a pair of cargo arms that the droids use to lift and carry cargo containers.
The JAK-10 is rated to transport one ton of cargo, the larger JAK-15 is rated up to 1.5 tons, and the big-wheeled JAK-AT-20 is rated to carry two tons of cargo across rough terrain. All JAK models are programmed with custom coordination software that allows groups of them to work together to move larger loads.
JAK-10 – Strength 25 (+6), Dexterity 9 (+1), Hull 1, Structure 2, Intelligence 3 (–1), Education 5 (–1), Social Standing 0 (–3)
Traits: Armour 1, Huge, Specialised Computer/1 (running Intellect/1 and Expert Trade (any physical)/1)
Weapons: Cargo Arms (Melee (unarmed), 2d6 damage)
Price: 65,000 Credits
JAK-15 – Strength 30 (+8), Dexterity 9 (+1), Hull 2, Structure 2, Intelligence 3 (–1), Education 5 (–1), Social Standing 0 (–3)
Traits: Armour 1, Huge, Specialised Computer/1 (running Intellect/1 and Expert Trade (any physical)/1)
Weapons: Cargo Arms (Melee (unarmed), 3d6 damage)
Price: 75,000 Credits
JAK-AT-20 – Strength 35 (+9), Dexterity 9 (+1), Hull 3, Structure 3, Intelligence 3 (–1), Education 5 (–1), Social Standing 0 (–3)
Traits: Armour 2, Huge, Specialised Computer/1 (running Intellect/1 and Expert Trade (any physical)/1)
Weapons: Cargo Arms (Melee (unarmed), 4d6 damage)
Price: 95,000 Credits
Posted in droid, Traveller by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Bounty Hunters of the Skein Reach – SS Razors Edge
Lovers and bounty hunters, Zab Brennick & Mista Noral were trained as special forces space marines and served in separate units for nearly a dozen years. Imperial Marine companies are strictly gender separated – they are sworn to put aside family as a sacrifice to the Emperor – but their respective companies were both deployed to put down the rebellion that had sprouted on Zaveros-8b. Their units fought side by side in the tunnels and habitations of that moon, and Zab and Mista were surprised to find themselves falling in love.
The Imperial response inflamed the rebellion, and soon the entire Zaveros system burned with the flames of uprising. When Imperial command decided to cut their losses and bombard the rebel capitol Zab and Mista were cut off from their units and left for dead. Determined to start a new life together, they escaped by stealing a ship and fleeing the Imperial fleet.
Now, they co-captain the SS Razor’s Edge, a modified Huntress-class starship. Their main trade is bounty hunting, and their preferred tactic is to follow a their quarry to a starport, sabotage their weapons with remote-detonating explosive charges, and attack them as they are preparing to jump out of system.
Zab and Mista wear custom combat armor suits with medical sensors which feed vital signals to double dead-man switches. The Razor’s Edge ship computer is programmed to fire all weapons, put the engine into thermal overload, and self-destruct if both of them die.
USS Razor Edge, a Huntress with a crew of four, Zab, Mista, and two crew.
Bounty Hunters – Zab Brennick & Mista Noral
Naval (Crew) 3, UCP 8 8 8 8 8 6,
Pilot (spacecraft) 2, Mechanic 1, Vacc Suit 1, Zero-G 1, Comms 0, Sensors 1, Gunnery (turret) 2, Engineer (P-plant) 1, Engineer (life support) 1, Remote Operations 0, Melee (unarmed) 1, Gun Combat (rifle) 1,
combat armor (armor 12), laser rifle (5d6)
Crew – Jim Heward & Mike Landa
UCP 777777, engineering 1, navigation 1, repair 1, sensors 0, gunnery 0, gun combat 0
boarding vac suit (armor 8),
laser carbine (4d6)
Encounter Hooks:
- The player characters (PCs) have crossed the wrong person and earned a bounty somehow, and the Razor’s Edge finds them by chance.
- It’s a case of mistaken identity, but the crew of the Razor’s Edge think the player characters are wanted. It may be that their ship is a close match to a wanted ship. Regardless of the truth of the situation, they sabotage the PCs’ ship’s weapons and attack them.
- The players have the opportunity to hire the Razor’s Edge to assist with a mission that’s beyond the PC’s abilities.
- The Razor’s Edge is hunting the same live-capture bounty the PCs are. Maybe they try to beat the PCs to the punch and get the target first. Or they might lay in wait and attack the PCs as soon as they have the target in custody.
- The PCs, who have no starship, sign on as crew of the Razor’s Edge.
Using the SS Razor in Your Game
When I whipped these guys up, I needed a bounty hunter ship that would go after my Travellers for raiding an imperial outpost and stealing a whole cargo-hold of renegade droids. They also stole the station’s main computer core curing the fracas. The Travellers got their turrets knocked out, then beat the bounty hunters when they tried to board. They’ve been much more careful about keeping guard on the ship since then.
Posted in Character, Encounter, Traveller by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Droid Military Ship 0110110100110001
This is the first military ship built by the Droid Uprising. It is entirely of droid design, designation 0110110100110001 (M1).
Armored front and back with fifteen tons of thick crystaliron angled plate, this is the toughest little jump-capable ship that the droids could build from the wreckage of the space hulk Cretaceous.
This ship has no life support capability or accommodations for living crew. Other than the bridge, drone storage, and one ton for cargo, every ton of this ship is designed for fighting. A 4 gravity maneuver drive, a 4 parsec jump drive, and a triple turret make up the majority of this ship’s systems.
Extensive stolen software is installed on this ship, giving it the ability to operate with no crew. In essence, the ship is a spacefaring droid.
| 0110110100110001 | TL | Tons | Price (MCr.) | ||
| Total Cost (MCr) | 81.96 | 12 | |||
| Hull | 2 | streamlined | 100 | 2.2 | |
| Structure | 2 | ||||
| Armour | 12 | crystaliron | 12 | 15 | 6.66 |
| Jump Drive | B | jump 4 | 15 | 20 | |
| Manoeuvre Drive | B | thrust 4 | 3 | 8 | |
| Power Plant | B | consumes 2 tons / week of operation | 7 | 16 | |
| Bridge | standard | 10 | 0.5 | ||
| Computer | model 4 | rating 20 | 12 | 5 | |
| Software | intellect, jump control 4, evade 2, fire control 4, autorepair 1, library | 15.4 | |||
| Electronics | basic military | +0 DM, radar, lidar, jammers | 2 | 1 | |
| Weapons | triple turret – particle beam, beam laser, pulse laser | 1 | 6.5 | ||
| Fuel | one jump 4 and two weeks of operation | 44 | |||
| Cargo | 1 | 1 | |||
| x Staterooms | none | ||||
| x Low Berths | none | ||||
| Extras | probe drones (5) | 1 | 0.5 | ||
| repair drones | 1 | 0.2 | |||
| fuel scoops | 0 | 0 | |||
| Maintenance Cost (MCr monthly) | 0.00683 | ||||
| Life Support Cost (Cr monthly) | 0 |
When first built the 0110110100110001 is crewed by four droids:
-
- S432K – steward droid with diplomacy 0, electronics (scanner) 1 software – SENSORS / COMMS
- AT-504 – astro-repair droid with navigation 0, engineering 1, repair 1 software – ENGINEERING
- AQ-980 – astro-repair droid with navigation 1, pilot 1, repair 0 software – HELM
- VKT-43 – “Victor” – security droid with tactics 1, gunnery 1 software – COMMAND / WEAPONS
Posted in droid, Starship, Traveller, Uncategorized and tagged Droid Uprising, Skein Reach by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Traveller’s Guide to the Skein Reach – Subsector 5 and Aurora Station
This subsector is in the center of the Skein Reach, a desolate scattering of stars near the galactic rim. Aurora Station is the most important trade hub here. Most of the other star systems here are small independent colonies, many of them low-technology worlds in relative isolation. There are also Imperial and Confederation settlements scattered throughout.
Regional Powers
Although Emperor Omerox claims the Skein Reach as part of his domains, officially he also claims the independent Confederation of Planets. The area is actually under neither power’s complete control. Many of the words in the region pay taxes, tithes, and fees to one or both powers, and have various treaties with their respective governments. Nevertheless neither power has enough economic interest or naval might in the sector to control trade or effectively deter piracy. Which is why some criminal gangs are so powerful in the Reach, effectively ruling systems such as Siegworld.
The Imperial Dutchy of Abiodun is neither interested in attempting to nor able to pacify the sector. A poor Imperial capitol, they don’t have a large navy, and the Duke is well known to be complicit in the piracy in the region. Rather than a proud Duke, he is the overseer of shady Imperial dealings and the host of occasional Imperial naval wargames in the Reach. Imperial Intelligence for the region is also headquartered here, and Imperial Scout reports route to the throne through here.
The Confederation of Planets has no plans to recruit worlds in the Skein Reach. They do have non-aggression and trade treaties with many of the independent worlds near their border, but the current peaceful stalemate with the Empire could be upset by recruiting worlds here into the Confederation. Additionally, Confederation Starfleet Command considers the difficult-to-traverse region a good natural buffer from the Empire. Their covert agents use the area as a “soft border” for information about and infiltration into the Empire.
There are also formal and informal polities among the various clumps of stars in the reach. Vohek and Orthmarion have extensive trade and mutual defense treaties, for example.
The Central Skein Reach Trade Confederation organizes trade route, data, and security along the trade routes in the broken ring centered at Aurora Station.
The Ragnarok Krew is the largest and most powerful criminal enterprise in the Reach. With a dozen or so small ships in their possession, raiding, piracy, smuggling, and slaving are their main occupations. The Krew is led by Jalvex “The Hammer” from the starport on Seigworld. Rival gangs include the Red Razors, the Ganymede Boys, the Sun Talons, and the Damned.
The Droid Uprising (or “The Departing”, as some of the droids call themselves) is a self-organizing group of artificially-intelligent droids. They are all intelligent robots who have been freed of the programming which makes them serve their owners. A new phenomenon, the Uprising currently controls no territory, but are building a small fleet of asteroid-hull ships using stolen parts. They have operations on Sareliox, and in the Micon and Cixan systems. Currently their main objective is freeing droids from their programming and transporting them rimward to their main refuge, called “Paradise” in Skein Reach subsector 2.
Systems
Posted in Region, Science-Fiction, Traveller and tagged Skein Reach by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Hyperspace Horrors, FTL Fiends, and Warp Devils
Called space demons by some, these horrifying creatures are believed to originate from outside the known universe. Scientists posit that they are a psionic phenomena, manifesting in our perceived reality through unknown processes. Experiments with psionics or jump space technology that manipulate the fundamental laws of physics have sometimes been known to manifest these types of creatures.
Varied in appearance, these creatures display anatomies and abilities with little resemblance to most life-forms of known space. Some seem to have intellects and psychic powers, while others seem to simply be ravenous beasts. Many have horrible or impossible-seeming physiology, such as the lack of an apparent skin, multiple heads, or protruding bones.
The following creatures are just a few examples of the types of creatures that sometimes come to the Travellers’ universe from outside normal space.
Imposter
First encountered during the Second Imperium when a rogue scientist used surgery and mutagens to stimulate psionic abilities in test subjects. Investigators believe some type of alien entity or psionic parasite merged with one of the test subjects and gained control of the host. The resulting hybrid creature then propagated its kind among the other test subjects. After contact was lost with the base one of the first squads of Imperial anti-psyker Inquisitor-Marines was sent to cleanse the research station. Cleansing the station resulted in significant casualties, including incurable insanity in the lead Inquisitor.
These creatures have strong psionic powers and are able to command sentient creatures and project a false appearance into other’s minds. They will endeavor to separate a group and use a false appearance to ambush lone members when their guard is down. Fairly intelligent, they will often retain many of the skills of their host. Some will eat the brains and bodies of their victims, though they will instead infect psionic creatures with the psychic parasite. Groups of them coordinate using telepathy.
Appearance – Horribly disfigured humanoid creatures with gaping maws of razor-sharp teeth.
size 6 (50 kg)
Strength 2d6 (7), Dexterity 2d6 (7), Endurance 2d6 (7), Intelligence 8, Instinct 8, Pack 2, Psionic 12
Skills – athletics 0, melee 0, recon 0, survival 0, (any other from host – often includes gun combat 0), psionics (telepathy) 3
Weapons – teeth 1d6 damage (or by weapon)
Armor – 2 (or humanoid armor as available)
Ravager
An incident on the research station at a Lagrange point of Zaftel IV resulted in the death of the entire science staff. Video footage recovered from the station shows the staff being torn to pieces by a large creature that appeared during tests of the short-distance teleportation experiment being conducted there. Although quarantine procedures were properly followed, the creature somehow managed to get on board the first rescue ship and kill several of their crewmembers before it was destroyed.
Appearance – A hulking brute with claws, teeth, chitinous plates, spikes and horns, resembling a huge demonic dog.
size 9 (450 kg)
Strength 4d6 (14), Dexterity 2d6 (7), Endurance 4d6 (14), Intelligence 4, Instinct 8, Pack 3
Skills – athletics 2, melee (claws and teeth) 2, recon 1, survival 0, psionics (teleportation) 1
Weapons – claws and teeth 2d6+2 damage
Armor 6
Impregnator
These small parasites were discovered when they overwhelmed a colony ship following a misjump. They have a hypnotic psi power, which they use to pacify a target and implant their spawn. Within a few days the host dies as the parasites consume their internal organs, all the while using their growing psychic powers to kept the victim insensitive to the pain.
Appearance – Many-legged insect-like creatures, with huge mandibles and a long egg-injecting stinger.
size 3 (6 kg)
Strength 1d6 (4), Dexterity 2d6 (7), Endurance 2, Intelligence 4, Instinct 8, Pack 5, Psionic 7
Skills – athletics 2, melee (teeth) 2, recon 1, survival 0, psionics (telepathy) 1
Weapons – teeth 1d6 damage
Armor 3
Art by Spencer Nuzum and Adam A. Thompson
Posted in Creature, Traveller by Adam A. Thompson with 2 comments.
Sector Control
The Travellers Have Turned Pirate – Can They Get Away With It?
It’s happened in my Traveller game, and it was probably inevitable given the insurrectionist campaign I’m running. The player characters are wanted by the Imperial authorities. If you’ve run a science-fiction game for long it’s probably happened to you. They’ve done something and the law noticed.
But with travel and communication times being what they are, it seems possible that the players may be able to avoid the law as they jump from sector to sector. So the million-credit question for the referee is “How likely are they to get caught?” (more…)
Posted in Traveller by Adam A. Thompson with 2 comments.
The Mantid
Highly adaptive, fast-evolving, scavenging insectiods, the Mantid are an alien species spread through the Skein Reach. Terrans describe them as looking like a cross between a praying mantis, a wasp, or a humanoid ant.
Individuals and colonies vary considerably as the Mantid’s genomes will adapt newly laid members to their environment within a few generations. Thus it is common so see a population of Mantid that are adapted to a tiny abandoned space station, or a world with an otherwise toxic atmosphere. Their carapace can be of any color based on available minerals and their place in Mantid society. For example, warriors will often have dark stripes or patterns contrasting with grays or earth tones. The statistics presented below represent typical examples of those who are adapted to living on starships or space habitats.
The Mantid are extremely social creatures and demonstrate high degrees of cooperation and devotion to their colony. Though their language is not well understood, xenobiologists postulate that they communicate both with a spoken symbolic language and through pheromones. These chemical communications seem to generate simultaneous emotional responses through a colony – if one is attacked the fight-or-flight response rapidly spreads to all Mantids in a group. Most other sentient creatures find the Mantid’s pheromones unpleasant and describe their habitats as “smelly” or “stinky”. (more…)
Posted in Creature, Location, Race, Region, Traveller and tagged Mantid by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
BrokerBot-73
In outer space trade is a risky proposition. Between space pirates, aliens, and the legal vagaries of different planetary governments it can be difficult to even get goods from place to place. If space merchants encounter poor prices when they try to sell their goods, all of their hard work does them no good monetarily.
For Travellers buying and selling goods in spaceports an experienced broker can be the difference between making a healthy profit and barely scraping by. In Traveller, for every transaction each point of the Broker skill results in a %5 difference in price. Yet many Traveller players will not choose careers that might give them the required skills.
For crews that find themselves slowly going bankrupt a clever solution is a droid with the broker skill. The BrokerBot-73, a common model mass produced by Vinestead-X-Interstellar (VXI), comes loaded with Broker 2, Admin 2, and Translator 1, making them capable of managing trade in multiple languages, and getting good prices. The advertisements claim that a BrokerBot-73 “can increase profits from interstellar trade by an average of %20 (profit increase not guaranteed.)”
BrokerBot-73 (TL 13)
Strength 6 (+0), Dexterity 6 (+0), Hull 2, Structure 2
Intelligence 9 (+1), Education 12 (+2), Social Standing 7 (+0)
Traits: Computer/3 (running Intellect/1 and Expert Broker/2 – BrokerBots also have Expert Admin/2 and Translator/1 available)
Weapons: Punch (Melee (unarmed), 1d6 damage)
Price: 120,000 Credits
Posted in droid, Traveller by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.