[Traveller OOB] Setting & Technology Assumptions

[marianlh]

Comments

[dorchadas]

While jumps still take one week in the sidereal universe, from the perspective of those aboard ship a jump is instantaneous. This leads to tension between frequent space travelers and planet-dwellers, who seem to age at different rates.

I really like this change. I know Traveller isn't space horror (which is probably my favorite space genre), but I like the differences this adds between starship travellers and planet-dwellers. Space travellers stick together because they know others will age and die much faster than them, that gets perceived as clannishness and maybe those who don't understand how jump drives work think they have a fountain of youth they aren't sharing with people down the gravity well...

I think you could build a whole setting just around that one detail.

[marianlh]

Thanks! And it occurs to me that it also helps give another answer to the question, "why are the PCs together in the first place?"

[dorchadas]

Nothing like getting suspicious glances from the locals everywhere they go to make people stick together!

Orienting ships to jump

[ext_4194667]

I really like the idea of ships jumping to a destination must jump along a line going between the planet and the destination. A line because ships can jump at different multiples of planet diameter:
Jump to that system 'north' on the hex map you must travel away from the planet at least 100 planetary diams going 'north'. If you jump at 150 diams you'll end up 150 diams 'south' of the target system. This way a ship leaving will tell you where it is going and ships arriving will tell you where they came from.
Interstellar warfare still won't boil down to watch the jump exit points as the enemy fleet may arrive at any point from 100 to 1000 (?) diameters and tricky fleets may jump into a random planet in the target system aside from the main world and jump a short final jump to the main world coming from a line between those.