Building a Galaxy 11 – The excessively healthy world of New Syroe

As I create worlds for my ongoing Traveller campaign set in the Foreven sector, I’ve been creating the details of new worlds just ahead of my players’ explorations (my previous Foreven posts). I’m usually creating a world based on one of the following:

• Based on the randomly generated UWP of the planet

• Based on a idea from fiction

• Just using an existing Traveller or Cepheus setting

Recently, I’ve also started creating worlds based entirely on adventure seeds and plot ideas found in various Cepheus and Traveller books I’ve collected over the years.

I took the premise of my last adventure from the out-of-print Traveller supplement 21 Plots III from Gypsy Knights Games (now called Independence Games). It’s a collection of plot seeds; sort of a modern version of 76 Patrons. There are 21 short descriptions of a patron, and some possible twists for each one. It’s specifically designed for use in Independence Games’ Clement Sector setting, but can be easily adapted to other settings.

The patron adventure I used was called “Cream Filled Pastries”. Here’s the basics from the 21 Plots Book:

Zacek wishes to hire the characters to transport a cargo container of cream filled pastries from Cascadia (Cascadia 0705) to Antryl (Cascadia 0704)…Foods such as cream filled pastries are illegal on Antryl. The characters will have to devise a way to get past cargo inspections in system and, if they choose to go there, the highport…

So, based on this, I needed to create a world around the idea of banning sweets. I took a existing world in the Magnus subsector of my Foreven setting to use. All I had was the UWP. Here’s what I came up with

New Syroe

2231 New Syroe C94978B-8
Starport: Routine quality installation. Only unrefined fuel available. Reasonable repair facilities are present.
Size: 14,400km, 1.25G
Atmosphere: Thin / Tainted – Thin. Tainted requires a filter mask. The atmosphere contains an unusual taint such as disease, a hazardous gas mix, pollutants, or sulfur compounds which requires the use of a filter mask.
Hydrosphere: Very Wet World, 86 – 95%, It is a marine (near superhydrous) environment.
Population: Moderate, 10 Million to just under 100 Million (P0,000,000)
Government: Civil Service Bureaucracy – Government by agencies employing individuals selected for their expertise.
Law Level: Extreme Law – Rigid control of civilian movement
Tech Level: Information Age – 1990 CE – Cell phones, photonics, slow drug.

History of New Syroe

A generation ago, New Syroe was a human settled planet facing a health crisis. Most of the planet’s food supply was from off-world, usually highly processed. The planet’s population lived in arcologies. Their lives were generally sedentary, and highly automated (imagine the ship in Wall-E).

Diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease were endemic, and life expectancy was in serious decline.

In response, all political authority was handed over to the Health Initiative – New Syroe’s primary medical authority. They began a crash program to improve the people’s health through the following:

• Began a program of hydroponics, so New Syroe could grow its own healthy fruits and vegetables

• Limited the import of unhealthy foods.

• Promoted exercise and healthy lifestyles.

In many ways, the reign of the Health Initiative has been quite successful. Most lifestyle diseases have been nearly eliminated, and New Syroe’s population is the healthiest in the sector. The hydroponics program has become incredibly profitable, and New Syroe-grown produce is valued across the subsector.

The Bad Bits

Unfortunately, the Health Initiative has grown into something of a police state, taking concern for the public health into the realm of fanaticism:

• All unhealthy food is banned and possession is considered a crime.

• Morning and evening calisthenics is mandatory for all citizens

• Random blood tests are performed on citizens to check for high cholesterol or blood sugar.

• All citizens are issued Health Bracelets that act like FitBits. They record heart rate, body temperature, and other medical data. This data can be accessed by the government at any time.

• All citizens are required by law to take at least 10,000 steps a day.

Notable Places and Things on New Syroe

Healthy Heart Initiative (HHI)

The primary paramilitary police force that enforce the Health Initiative’s strict rules. They have near total authority to investigate any health related crime.

HHI Ranks

• Berries – Patrolman

• Bean – Corporal

• Carrot – Sergeant

• Broccoli – Detective

• Celery – Commander

• Tomato – Chief

• Kale – Commissioner

Berries (Patrolman) 789565
Athletics-1 Gun Combat (Slug)-0 Melee (unarmed) – 1 Drive (Wheel)-0
Stun Gun (2D Stun), Revolver (3D-3 Damage)
Grey uniforms with berry rank insignia.

Broccoli (Detective) 878A69
Athletics-0 Gun Combat (Slug)-0 Melee (unarmed) – 1 Drive (Wheel)-0 Investigate-1 Streetwise-1
Stun Gun (2D Stun), Revolver (3D-3 Damage)

Gateway to Nutrition

New Syroe’s main starport. HHI agents scan incoming cargo for “nutritional contraband”, specifically:

• Sugar

• High cholesterol foods

• Food containing nitrates (Bacon is particularly forbidden)

• Salty snacks

The walls of the starport are covered with billboards giving various health tips, and warnings about New Syroe’s strict health laws. The starport is connected to Vigor City by monorail and a pressurized motorway.

The Sweet Trade

Despite the best efforts of the HHI, contraband sugar has become increasingly common on New Syroe. Many citizens have a private stash of sugar packets. Current street prices per 30 gram packet:

Brown – 80 Cr
Granulated – 120 Cr
Powdered – 200 Cr

Vigor City

The largest city and capital of New Syroe. It’s a rainbow colored arcology, protecting the populace from the thin atmosphere. Residents can travel around via moving sidewalks, but there are multiple bicycle and jogging paths that most residents use.

Personal vehicles exist, but they are exclusively used for intercity travel. Most vehicles are fruit shaped.

Health Is Wealth Justice Emporium

The main justice facility in Vigor City. It’s the local headquarters for the HHI, and contains the courthouses for nutrition based crimes. Anyone arrested for smuggling will be brought here, along with their contraband.

Lean Muscle Corps

A highly trained rapid reaction force for the New Syroe military. They show up whenever the local HHI is outgunned.

They wear colorful stretchy tactical armor. Imagine 1980s aerobics wear that can stop projectiles. They’re fond of flashy, athletic maneuvers (i.e. combat rolls, parkour), sometimes at the expense of tactical effectiveness.

LMC Trooper ABA687
Athletics-2 Gun Combat (Slug)-2 Melee(Unarmed)-2 Drive (Wheel)-1
9mm CalorieBuster Assault Rifle – Damage 3d6, ROF: 3, 30 round mag
Armor: 10

Building a Galaxy 9 - Nevron- The Sea Dogs

A planet full of Vargr dog-pirates

https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2025/09/03/building-a-galaxy-9-nevron-the-sea-dogs/

#Foreven, #TTRPG, #Traveller

Building a Galaxy 9 – Nevron- The Sea Dogs

My Foreven Sector Traveller campaign (previous entries) is going well, and I’m still creating worlds just ahead of the player’s voyages. They recently visited a planet called Nevron, which I didn’t have much planned for, so I had to scramble a bit.

I didn’t have much to go on except for the randomly generated UWP, and that the planet was Vargr dominated. Here’s what I came up with:

2230 Nevron E58569A-2

Starport: Frontier installation. Essentially a bare spot of bedrock with no fuel, facilities, or bases present.
Size: 8,000km, 0.45G
Atmosphere: Dense – Dense 1.50-2.49 Shirtsleeve World: No survival gear required. The atmosphere has a pressure of 1.50 to 2.49 atmospheres The atmosphere is a standard oxygen/nitrogen mix, which is breathable without assistance.
Hydrosphere: Average Wet World, 46 – 55%, It is a normative (wet) environment.
Population: Moderate, 1 Million to just under 10 Million (P,000,000)
Government: Impersonal Bureaucracy – Government by agencies which are insulated from the governed.
Law Level: Extreme Law – Weapon possession prohibited
Tech Level: Age of Sail – 1500 CE – Sailing ships, printing

So the planet has a breathable atmosphere, 50% water, and 1500s level technology, and Vargrs. I decided to make a planet full of sea-going Vargr pirates.

Low Tech Forever

I wanted a method forcing the Tech Level to stay low, so I decided that Nevron, though a combination of an unusually strong magnetic field, and a incredibly “noisy” sun, had an incredibly high and constant electromagnetic interference problem. Essentially, Nevron has a never-ending EMP blast.

Any technology not heavily shielded will short out immediately. Anything within a starship hull is probably safe. Radios are useless. Imperial military technology, battle dress, laser weapons etc., will usually work. For any other electronic tech, there’s a 3 in 6 change the tech will short out.

The constant electromagnetic activity can also cause occasional electrical discharges, and so Nevron can’t safely develop fossil fuel technology, as large amounts of coal or gasoline are prone to bursting into flame.

History

Nevron was settled by Vargr fleets hundreds of years ago. I’m assuming they landed here is less-shielded ships, and couldn’t leave, so they had to build their own civilization.

Most of the low (5 million estimated) population lives on the main archipelago of Betkin, in a number of port cities.

Nevron is a out-of-the-way world, far from most trade routes. It does a little bit of exporting of fish and kelp protein. Starship arrivals are infrequent, and there are no starports here, though the system does have a gas giant.

The planet doesn’t have much in terms of government. There is a bureaucratic organization called the Prosperity Council that maintains some basic infrastructure – ports, roads, and a optical telegraph that is the main method of communication between towns and cities.

The council doesn’t have much authority outside the cities, but there, they enforce the no-weapons rule on pirates and off-worlders alike.

The Fleets of Nevron

The primary social institutions on Nevron are the many fleets of Vargr-crewed privateer sailing ships that ply the sea lanes between Nevron’s many islands and archipelagos. They have many roles in Nevron society, including the following:

• Delivering messages to islands.
• Protecting fishing boats from attack.
• Seizing fishing vessels for ransom.
• Hunting poachers in protected fishing grounds.
• Raiding other privateer fleets.
• Raiding settlements for loot.
• Protecting settlements from other privateers.

The ships are wooden sailing vessels, similar to oceangoing vessels of 1700s Earth. They’re armed with simple gunpowder weaponry, though occasional off-world weapons can be found. Such weapons are highly prized.

The pirate fleets are constantly competing with one another, squabbling over territory and other petty disputes, and even having full naval battles.

The captains of individual vessels are usually democratically chosen by the individual sailors. The admirals of fleets are usually chosen by the captains. The choices are usually based on both merit and charisma. Any crewman can challenge the captain for the post at anytime.

The business of piracy is generally treated as a business. Captured pirates usually don’t have a problem joining their new captors as new crew members.

The people of the cities of Nevron treat the fleets like athletic teams, rooting for a favored fleet during conflicts, displaying the banners, and wagering on fleet battles. Young Vargr pups dream of growing up to become pirates.

Notable Fleets

These are some of the largest and most famous fleets. Each has their own distinct banner.

• Savage Mane – A red portrait of a roaring Vargr on a yellow banner
• Righteous Claw – A golden claw of a local crustacean on a red field.
• Relentless Storm – A white wave on a blue background
• Maelstrom Pack – A sliver whirlpool on a black background.

There are literally hundreds of smaller fleets as well. They tend to be formed quickly by particularly charismatic pirates, and can disappear just as suddenly.

Natural Threats

Strangler Mats: It appears as a large mass of sargasso-like seaweed. It is actually a colony of carnivorous tentacled animals. They will grasp and hold anything that comes near, slowly strangling and drowning their prey.
Hits: 40 Speed: 3m Attacks: Strangle (2D per round, 3D if submerged)

Piercer Fish: A large (3m wingspan) manta-ray shaped predatory creature. It also has a single narwhal-like horn. It uses jet-like bladders to propel itself at high speeds through the water and impale its prey on its horn. It’s no threat to larger vessels, but can easily pierce the hull of dinghies.
Hits: 36 Speed: 20m Attacks: Horn(3D)

Adventure Seeds

The Buccaneer Queen: A legendarily cruel pirate, Iolia, otherwise known as the Buccaneer Queen, has gotten hold of a large cache of off-world military weaponry – mostly assault rifles, and squad support weapons. This has given her a huge advantage and made her fleet-near impregnable.
Her rivals are looking for some off-worlders to take her out, or at least make her expend most of her ammunition.

Lost Professor: A Darrian researcher, Ral Kesoleh, who wanted to study the development of Nevronian culture, foolishly accepted a posting aboard a pirate vessel. He is now being held for ransom. His colleagues need someone to retrieve him.

Lucky Monkey: Many of the Vargr crews consider having a human aboard a ship as good luck. They’ll often make an offer to any humans they encounter a port. They don’t always take “no” for answer and might try to shanghai a PC to be their “Lucky Monkey”

#Foreven #RPG #SciFi #Settings #Traveller

RPGaDAY2025 – Day 23 – Recent – Printing a Traveller map

What’s #RPGaDAY2025 ? See the details here.

Day 23 – Recent

In this post, I’ll discuss the most recent RPG purchase I made, a large, laminated map of my custom Traveller sector.

My Traveller Campaign

I’ve been running an in-person Traveller campaign for about a year and a half now.

It takes place in the Foreven sector, which is a special “GMs reserve” in the official Traveller setting. It’s intended to be a place where the GM can create anything they want without being restrained by all of the “official” lore. The Traveller Map site has a map of the Foreven sector, but none of the worlds are detailed.

I eventually filled in the details for each world (here’s how I did it), and printed out the sector booklet to hand out to the players so they can decide where they’re going.

Making the Map

The booklet works, but the letter-sized sector map is a little small to plot routes on. Luckily, the Traveller Map site also has a Poster Maker feature, that will take the sector files (text files that have the details of each world) and create a 25″ x 36″ poster sized PDF of the sector.

I created the poster PDF with the sector files I already had. My plan was to have it printed, and laminated, so the players could plot their route directly on the map with dry erase markers.

It’ll also make a nice souvenir when the campaign is finished.

Printing the Map

To make a printed version, I used the online Staples blueprint printing service. The blueprint service is much cheaper than the poster printing service. The process was as follows:

• Uploaded my PDF that I made with the Poster Maker
• Selected the 24″ x 36″ option.
• Chose color printing. So far, this will cost $6.30
• Selected Dry Erase lamination. This raised the price to $24.30
• With shipping and tax, the total cost was about $35.00

That was it, and the poster arrived a few days later. It looks great, and I’m looking forward to introducing it to the players.

#Foreven #RPG #RPGaDAY2025 #Traveller #ttrpg

Building a Galaxy 8 – The Sovereignty of Moutrouni

I’ve been running a Traveller campaign set in the Foreven sector for a little over a year now. I’ve generated the basic UWP data for all of the worlds (see this previous post), but other than a few special locations, I don’t have a complete detailed picture of every world.

As the campaign continues, I’ve building the details of each world just ahead of the player’s visits. It’s lot like a video game that generates the scenery just before the player sees it.

I’ve found I don’t really need to generate the societies of each world in as much depth as I’ve been doing. The players generally aren’t spending that much time on any particular planet. All I need to do is sketch out the basic nature of each world, and provide a few adventure seeds. Here’s a little three-world empire I’ve created.

The Sovereignty of Moutrouni

The Sovereignty of Moutrouni is a small pocket empire in the Eisengrim subsector.

Currently ruled by the House of Moutrouni, who claim (with little evidence or scholarly support) to be descendants of the Zhunastu Dynasty, founders of the Third Imperium.

The empire is currently ruled by Her Sovereign Empress Francesca Wilhelm-Chang Moutrouni.

The idea behind the Sovereignty is to have a small Ruritanian-style empire with ridiculous, pompous noble families that can serve as either patrons or antagonists.

2225 Moutrouni A733898-A Ph Na Po 623

Starport: Excellent quality installation. Refined fuel available. Annual maintenance overhaul available. Shipyard capable of both starship and non-starship construction present.
Size: 11,200km, 0.9G
Atmosphere: Very Thin – Vacuum 0.10-0.42 Very Thin requires a respirator. The atmosphere has a pressure of 0.1 to 0.42 atmospheres, which requires the use of a respirator to ensure sufficient oxygen.
Hydrosphere: Wet World, 26 – 35%, It is a normative (wet) environment.
Population: Pre-High, 100 Million to just under 1 Billion (P00,000,000)
Government: Impersonal Bureaucracy – Government by agencies which are insulated from the governed.
Law Level: High Law – Blade Weapons Controlled, open display of weapons prohibited
Tech Level: Basic Fusion Age – 2120 CE – Lifters, anti-virals, fluidics.

The capital of the Sovereignty of Moutrouni. Due to the thin atmosphere, various domed cities and palaces are scattered across surface of the planet, connected by a monorail system. From orbit, it looks like a web of jewels.

Moutrouni is plagued with dozens of noble houses constantly competing for power and influence. The constant scheming is arcane and endless. The actual dull day-to-day affairs of government are handled by the Imperial Bureaucracy.

Her Sovereign Empress Francesca Wilhelm-Chang Moutrouni: Rarely seen in public these days, she spends much of her time floating in tanks of expensive anagathic fluids.

The Watchful Eye: The secret police of the House of Moutrouni have a reputation as a fearsome, all-seeing organization with vast capabilities. In fact, years of neglect have left them as a hidebound den of incompetence, more concerned with internal politicking than any actual intelligence work.

Adventure Seeds for Moutrouni

The Big Ball: Prince Phemulous Boule will be attending a ball, one of the endless social events the many nobles of Moutrouni use to while away their days. It’s fashionable to have off-worlders as part of their retinue, so the Prince will pay the players to attend the ball, acting as bodyguards.

A rival prince will attend, and the two minor nobles will try to outdo each other in an escalating series of stunts and displays, which may lead to danger or violence.

I’ve actually run this one, and will write it up at a later date.

2325 Phylliana X555667-0 Ag 301

Starport: No starport. Class X starports are generally indicative of an interdiction. No provision is made for any starship landings and such landings are probably prohibited.
Size: 8,000km, 0.45G
Atmosphere: Thin – Thin 0.43-0.70 Shirtsleeve World: No survival gear required. The atmosphere has a pressure of 0 43 to 0.70 atmospheres. The atmosphere is a standard oxygen/nitrogen mix, which is breathable without assistance.
Hydrosphere: Average Wet World, 46 – 55%, It is a normative (wet) environment.
Population: Moderate, 1 Million to just under 10 Million (P,000,000)
Government: Captive Government/Colony – Government by a leadership answerable to an outside group, a colony or conquered area.
Law Level: Moderate Law – Shotguns prohibited
Tech Level: Neolithic Age – 6000 BCE – Polished tools, fire, agriculture.

A world dominated by a rich ecosystem, consisting entirely of mushrooms, lichens, and various fungi. The Sovereignty uses this world to provide much of its food.

The official name, Phylliana, was given to honor for a favored daughter of the current Empress. Locals call the world Stench, due the strong smell of the fungal ecosystem.

Large automated fungal collectors roam the planet, collecting fungus that is processed and exported as protein, providing the majority of the food supply to the Sovereignty. As there’s no proper starport, packages of fungi are attached to large cargo balloons and are released into the upper atmosphere, where they’re collected by passing starships with tethered skyhooks.

Prince Oswin Moutrouni, a minor relation of the Empress, has been named the Imperial Prescence of Phylliana. He’s widely viewed as a popinjay and an idiot.

The main settlement is the city of Plentiful, where most of the fungal processing plants are located. Prince Oswin maintains his imperial compound here, commonly known as the Perfumed Palace, due to the various fragrances the Prince’s staff pumps into the air to mask the planet’s odor.

The Sovereignty has plans to construct a proper starport here, but they’ve been postponed for years.

Adventure Seeds for Phylliana

Fungi Pirates: A band of bandits as seized control of a number of harvesters and are collecting the fungus for themselves. They’ve established a base deep in the wilderness.

They travel across the planet in airships constructed from stolen repurposed cargo balloons. A substantial bounty has been placed on their heads.

Meet the Mushrooms: Unknown to the local humans, there’s a native sentient species on Phylliana. They’re a fungal-based semi-humanoid species that generally avoid direct sunlight. They mostly dwell in caverns or heavily shaded valleys.

They’ve avoided making contact until now, but the increasing number of automated harvesters has them concerned. They’ve decided to make contact by travelling to Plentiful, grabbing some locals, bringing them back to their caves, and speaking to them reasonably. Unfortunately, the Phyllians can only communicate by spewing spores into each other’s faces, which makes talking to humans difficult.

A panicked Prince Oswin is looking for someone to retrieve the townsfolk. I’ve run this one as well, and will write it up at a later date.

2326 Grandia E134412-A Ni 210

Starport: Frontier installation. Essentially a bare spot of bedrock with no fuel, facilities, or bases present.
Size: 1,600km, Triton, 0.05G
Atmosphere: Very Thin – Vacuum 0.10-0.42 Very Thin requires a respirator. The atmosphere has a pressure of 0.1 to 0.42 atmospheres, which requires the use of a respirator to ensure sufficient oxygen.
Hydrosphere: Wet World, 36 – 45%, It is a normative (wet) environment.
Population: Moderate, 10,000 to 99,999 (P0,000)
Government: Company/Corporation – Government by a company managerial elite, citizens are company employees.
Law Level: Low Law – Portable Energy Weapons prohibited.
Tech Level: Basic Fusion Age – 2120 CE – Lifters, anti-virals, fluidics.

Grandia is a mining world that provides most of the wealth for the Sovereignty. It’s run by the Grandia Wealth Collective, a privately held corporation. All of the shares of the corporation are held by Moutrouni nobility, with the lion’s share being held by the Moutrouni family itself.

Much of the automated mining equipment is of Darrian manufacture and are well above the technical ability of Moutrouni technicians to repair or even understand.

The Big Dig: Delver-78 is the largest and deepest automated mining station on Grandia. The humans that maintain it live and work on the upper levels, rarely descending into the lower levels. The last few technicians who went down to the lower levels have disappeared. Also, the output of the mine has declined. The company will hire the players to investigate.

The problem is that an obscure, emergency subroutine deep within the stations complex computer system has been activated. It’s now in a wartime mode, using the mining material to construct robot defenses and capture or kill any intruders.

#Foreven #RPG #SciFi #Settings #Traveller #ttrpg

Building a Galaxy 7 – Olminda – The Casino Planet

https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2024/12/29/building-a-galaxy-7-olminda-the-casino-planet/

Created a giant space casino for my Traveller campaign. Basically Vegas in Space.

#Foreven, #RPG, #Traveller #TTRPG

Building a Galaxy 7 – Olminda – The Casino Planet

Another in my series about creating worlds for my Traveller campaign set in the Foreven sector – Previous entries here.
For this world, I didn’t have anything specific in mind, so I just went with whatever the randomly generated UWP was.

Olminda – C521224-7

So it’s a dry world with a low local population. It’s got a bad atmosphere, so everyone is probably located in a central city. Democratic, with a lot of weapons restrictions, at least in public.

The planet itself is on a X-Boat and trade route, one jump away from a large Imperial Navy base on Hollis.

My first thought – Las Vegas in Space.

Olminda is a giant Canto Bight-style casino city. Off-duty Imperial personnel from Hollis, traders, and tourists from the nearby Illoanian League flock here for entertainment.

The small local population are just the original Olmindan settlers who live around and work at the casino. There are constantly tens of thousands of visitors here, far outnumbering the natives, along with traveling entertainers.

The casino is owned and operated by Fortuna LLC, a entertainment focused megacorp. They have a long-term contract with the local government to run the casino as they see fit.

The Casino

From above, the casino is a large dome (10km diameter), glittering with holographic displays across it’s surface. Inside, it’s even gaudier, with flashy lights, signs, and holograms everywhere. There are no clocks, and no windows, and it’s never clear what time of day it is.

• Multiple square kilometers of Slot Machines
• Multiple restaurants and hotels of various price levels.
• Private gaming rooms for high rollers.
• An endless number of bars, taverns, and recreational pharmaceutical facilities.
• Other recreational facilities of all varieties.
• Various theaters for musical and comedy acts.

Old Olminda

There are clusters of various low-tech pressurized modules attached to the main casino dome. This is the community where the original Olmindan settlers live. Outsiders are rarely found there.

Games of Chance

Some of these are from JTAS Vol. 12, others I just made up.

Table Games

Lunion Stud: Basically Poker
Quantum Wheel: Players bet on the outcome of a random quantum fluctuation visualized by a hologram.
Runestones: A game from the Sword Worlds using stones with runes carved into them.
Fusor: Betting on a crystal with a radioactive isotope at its core. Gamblers bet on which facet will flash.
Psi-Cubes: For psionically adept gamblers only. Seated around a table, one player rolls a handful of dice, while all players attempt to telekinetically manipulate the outcome.
Crystal Tree: Twenty tree rats (Classic JTAS 10) dyed in various colors are released into a large tree-shaped crystal sculpture, with multicolored branches. Gamblers bet on which tree rat will reach which color branch.

Note: All of these games, while favoring the house, are honest. The casino does not actually cheat. Fortuna LLC wants to keep a clean reputation on that front.

Sporting Events

There are any number of sporting events held in or around Olminda that can be wagered on.
Zero-G Martial Arts: Olminda has a small dodecahedra-shaped space station where Zero-G events take place. There are regular shuttle flights here, though most gamblers watch on video. There are various Zero-G sports, but the most popular by far are the combat sports.
Zombie Boxing: Reanimated corpses battling until their corpses cannot physically withstand any more punishment. Sometimes called The Meat Show. Considered a bit gauche in more refined circles.
Steel Valley: A small desert valley several kilometers from the casino where furious battles between groups of military robots take place. Most watch these events remotely, though there is a casino maglev to a private armored viewing bunker carved into the valley walls, for big spenders.
Dueling: Often with lower tech weapons. Technically, the participants are only allowed to wound one another, but in some higher stakes games, this rule is ignored.
Darwinia: Officially, these events do not take place. Unofficially, in well-hidden parts of the casino, away from prying eyes, participants bring dangerous animals from across the known universe to battle each other in an arena. Many of these beasts are highly restricted, illegal to own or trade in most jurisdictions.

True Olminda

A lot of the original Olmindan settlers aren’t happy with the Fortuna corp. They originally thought allowing the casino to open would provide them with opportunities to grow their society, economically and technologically.

This hasn’t happened. After a few decades, they find themselves serving drinks, and cleaning hotel rooms, with little chance of advancement.

Some have begun to form a resistance group, called True Olminda. They’ve taken no action yet, but they’re getting close. Their resistance will most likely take the form of sabotage.

Their goal isn’t necessarily to close the casino, or even throw out Fortuna. All they really want is a piece of the action.

The Network

The sector-wide criminal organization has a presence on Olminda. Mostly they just provide loan sharking services for gamblers, but they’re trying to expand their influence by fixing games, or even corrupting some casino personnel to fix table games.

Rumors of Olminda

• If the casino finds a cheat, they drop them in the deep desert without a respirator.
• The casino itself is a merely a front for intelligence collection by the (Imperium/Zhodani/Ancients) etc.
• Some (or most) zombie boxers are former cheats.
• There’s a secret super-high roller casino where the only currencies allowed are the deeds to starships.
• The casino keeps a hidden ultra-luxury suite for use by the Emperor himself.

Notable NPCs

Harmony Diminished

Hiver COO of the Olminda Casino
6B7AB6
Admin-2,,Deception-2, Persuade-2, Science (Psychology)-3, Diplomat-1, Streetwise-2, Broker-2

• An officer of Fortuna, LLC. Harmony has complete control over the casino and all of its employees.
• Usually keeps to itself, and is rarely seen on the casino floor.
• Seems to be running the casino as some kind of social experiment, occasionally changing the rules, decor, or available games for unknown reasons.
• Has a Ithklur bodyguard – Lijak

Zebr Brez’tadl – “Brez”

Zhodani Chief of Security – Olminda Casino
897BA9 – Psi 10
Investigation-2, Recon-1, Melee-1, Gun Combat-1, Streetwise-1
Telepathy-2

• Former Tozjabr (Zhodani Intelligence)
• Has control over the casino’s extensive surveillance system, as well as a network of informers and spies. Tends to know everything that happens.
• Tends to overlook criminal activity as long as it doesn’t affect the Casino’s profits.

Volis Varche

Gangster, Loan Shark, Member of the Network
B8DA56
Brawling-3, Streetwise-2, Gun Combat-1, Decpetion-1

• A brutal Network enforcer, recently arrived on Olminda
• He runs a loan sharking ring, preying on degenerate gamblers.
• Looking to expand into protection rackets or match fixing.
• Grew up on a High-G world and is quite strong.

Okuda Gholan – “Prime Minister”

Friendly bartender and Prime Minister of Olminda
Profession (Mixology)-2, Carousing-2, Persuade-2, Admin-1

• Bartender and part-owner of the Rusty Sunrise, a bar in a central location on the casino floor.
• Literally is the head of the Olmindan government, but has little practical power.
• Knows everyone of importance in Olminda, and is the first to hear any rumors.
• Will provide information for tips.

Appendix N

Inspirations for this world
Casino: The Martin Scorcese movie about the real-life Tangiers casino.
Battlestar Galactica (1978) – Saga of a Star World: The early pilot episode where the Galactica stops at a casino world, only to find the gamblers were being used as food for bug people larva.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) – Vegas in Space: Buck Rogers visits a gambling city in space.
Oceans 11 (either version): Classic casino heist movie.

#Foreven #RPG #SciFi #Settings #Traveller #ttrpg

Building a Galaxy 6 – The Foreven Sector Map

For my ongoing Traveller campaign, I believe I’ve finished up the sector map I discussed in my previous post, Building A Galaxy, One Hex at a Time.

Using the Booklet Maker on the Traveller Map site, I’ve made this PDF booklet of the Foreven sector. I’ll be handing it out at our next session. I can’t guarantee I wont be making any tweaks to it, but this is mostly the final form.

Creating the Worlds

A handful of the worlds on this map were designed, for specific societies and situations I wanted to create.

A few were taken from existing adventures:
Alezar (3229) and Raschev (3230) are from the Double Adventure 5 The Chamax Plague/Horde, the only official Traveller adventure set in the Foreven sector.
Aurelia (2128) is from Zozer’s GodStar
N-68956 (2520) is from Chaosium’s Thieves World.

Most of the worlds, however were generated entirely randomly, using the following resources:

A lot of the worlds (especially the Zhodani ones) were generated with the Random Subsector Generator from the Zhodani Base site: https://zhodani.space/stuff/generators/random-subsector-generator/

I also use the Traveller Worlds site quite a bit:
https://www.travellerworlds.com/

For world naming, I also used the following resources:
https://namesgenerator.io/planet-name-generator
https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/planet-names.php

Other Bits

The campaign starts in the Reidain subsector, so I made that the most Traveller-like, by which I mean dominated by the Third Imperium. It’s a string of Imperial client states connected by the sector’s only X-Boat route, commonly referred to as the Imperial Arm. This is where my players are now, but will most likely be branching out from here soon. The idea is that the Imperial Arm would be a small island of normalcy (though still dangerous), before they get into the weirdness of the greater sector.

For the rest of the map, I invented a bunch of pocket empires. Most of them haven’t been fleshed out yet. I just have basic notes, mostly inspired by the name of each empire. For example, the Eisengrim Triumphant Dominion will clearly be some kind of expansionist, militant empire.

I used this list of government types from Wikipedia to provide inspiration for empire names.

As my campaign continues, I’ll continue to post bits and pieces of the sector as I write them up. Here’s the stuff I’ve posted about so far:

• Building a Galaxy 2 – Water World
• Building a Galaxy 3 – Pollix
• Building a Galaxy 4 – Taslan
• Building a Galaxy 5 – Warnov: A Steampunk Pirate Planet

#5 #Foreven #FreeStuff #RPG #Traveller #ttrpg

Building a Galaxy 5 - Warnov: A Steampunk Pirate Planet https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2024/08/26/building-a-galaxy-5-warnov-a-steampunk-pirate-planet/

Created a steampunk world on the verge of war for my Traveller campaign.

#Foreven, #RPG, #Traveller #TTRPG

Another in my series about creating worlds for my Traveller campaign – Previous entries here.

This planet is Warnov with a UWP of C886773-3. Dropping this into this UWP Translator site, I get this:.

Warnov is a wet world, mostly ocean, with the land mostly being islands or archipelagos. This has led to a balkanized world, full of little pocket empires and city-states.

The tech level is 19th century, so I’m thinking naval steampunk. Try to imagine vast coal-powered navies.

Despite the low technology, Warnov is quite wealthy. Its economy is based on the export of various spices, fish, and kelp-based products.

Keeping to the steampunk theme, I’ve decided the culture is going be fairly formal, loosely based on 19th century Central Europe.

The Guns of August

The current political situation on Warnov is increasingly tense. The trade that has enriched the planet has also fed the ambition of many of the planet’s larger powers. They are increasingly jockeying for power, both political and economic. A naval arms race has broken out, with larger, better armed warships constantly being built.

Small conflicts between smaller polities on Warnov are common, but the peace between the larger powers has held for decades, under auspices of the Treaty of Warnov (see below). It is possible, however, that even a small incident could spark a global conflict.

The next Imperial Survey may cause Warnov to be designated as an Amber Zone for this reason, or possibly Red, if a full war erupts.

An Incomplete List of Polities

There are literally hundreds of little nations and cities scattered across Warnov. The following are some of the major ones. The term “major” meaning they have the ability to build and maintain wet navies, and project force.

• Kukulcan – A mercantile empire based out of a large archipelago.
• Amphitrite Confederation – Loose democratic league of multiple city-states.
• Aegir, the Iron Republic – Expansionist empire, with a rapidly growing navy.
• Posideon Hydrocracy – Isolationist monarchy, dominating the icy northern polar region.

Things of Note

The Peace of Warnov: A 50-year old treaty keeping a tenuous peace among the larger nations. Organized by the Leviathan League.

Aegaeon: Giant sea beast. Mostly teeth and tentacles. Hunted by off-worlders for sport. Locals have enough sense to leave them alone.

Leviathan League: A trade group dedicated to keeping off-world trade going. Backed by various wealthy merchants. They’re basically an analogue to the League of Nations.

Grendel’s Wolves: An off-world mercenary company based in New Atlantica. They are funded by the Leviathan League. Their sole purpose is to protect Warnov from outsiders. They will not intervene in any disputes between the nations of Warnov. Many of the Wolves are Vargr, though there are members of many different species.

New Atlantica: An independent city-state, run by the Leviathan League. Protected by Grendel’s Wolves. This is where the starport is located, which is where all off-world import and export activity happens. The League gets a small cut of most export trade.

New Atlantica is an open city, and neutral ground for the nations of Warnov. Various navies are constantly making it a port of call, and the sailors and officers of various nations, in their incredibly ornate uniforms, are a common sight on the streets. It’s also a haven for spies and smugglers of various kinds.

The architecture of New Atlantica is an odd combination of the homemade gothic stone structures of Warnov, alongside the sleek, metal and plastic off-world buildings around the starport.

Things to Do

Basically, you could set any Ruritanian romance-style adventure on Warnov. There are lots of little quaint kingdoms and republics to play with. Note that Grendel’s Wolves will intervene if there are any attacks from spaceships (i.e. blasting stuff from orbit), but will ignore small-scale adventuring or skullduggery.

Pirate Queen of the Argellan Strait: A band of pirates, led by the infamous pirate queen Hathia, has established a base on an island in the Argellan Srait. From there, they prey on local shipping fleets in their steam powered attack boats. The Strait, an important trade artery, is considered neutral territory, so Warnov naval forces generally avoid entering it for fear of sparking a war. The Leviathan League will pay off-worlders handsomely to eliminate them quietly.

I’ve actually run this one, so I may write it up later as a separate post.

I Demand Satisfaction: The various Warnovian naval officers that visit New Atlantica generally adhere to a strict honor-based code (i.e. they’re dumb, violent hotheads). If a player offends an officer, in any way, they’re likely to challenge them to a duel. Duels are usually conducted with sabres, revolvers, or small cannons specially designed for that purpose.

If a player survives a duel, they’re likely to make enemies with the officers of that navy, possibly leading to further duels.

Note that a well-connected naval officer may have enough political pull to delay a starship’s permission to leave port. Not indefinitely, but enough to cause problems.

Lovers in a Dangerous Time: If the players own a ship, a young couple approaches them with an offer. They claim to have just been married (True), and are looking for passage off-world for a honeymoon (False). In fact, each of them are the noble children of two warring city-states who’ve found themselves in a Romeo and Juliet situation. They have a collection of near-priceless jewelry that they’re using to pay for passage. The jewelry is, of course, the stolen crown jewels of one or both nations.

The couple is being pursued by parties from both families, and a gang of criminals after the jewels. They will all arrive well before the players can take off from the starport.

Little Boy Lost: Yolus von Kleeg is a wealthy merchant. Her young son, Tolen, has set off across Warnov on his own, looking for adventure and to “find himself” (he’s something of an idiot), and she will pay to get him back. This adventure is basically an excuse for the players to bounce around Warnov, basically island-hopping, in search of the foolish young man. It’s assumed they’d have various adventures along the way.

Peace in our Time: Concerned by the rising tensions and the naval arms race on Warnov, the Leviathan League is sponsoring a naval conference in New Atlantica to try and reduce the risk of war. As the city is riddled with spies and turncoats, the League is looking to hire off-worlders to provide security.

The conference will be threatened by everything from drunken attendees, angry dueling officers, to full-blown acts of terrorism.

Hell’s Heart: Omri, captain of the steam-ship Hell’s Heart, is looking for a crew to help hunt down an unusually large and dangerous Aegaeon. No naval experience needed. Omri is too obsessed and insane to get a Warnovian crew, but his madness won’t be apparent until the ship leaves port. He’s rigged the ship with explosives, and will threaten to detonate them, unless the players agree to help him hunt down the sea-beast.

I Am Not Impressed!: Some of the more unscrupulous naval forces on Warnov will add to their ranks by drugging and kidnapping people in various port towns. When the poor souls awaken, they are aboard a warship at sea, and will be forced to serve as crew for several years, according to the contract they don’t remember signing.

Generally, the press gangs avoid taking off-worlders, but for your players, they might make an exception.

Images from Vadim Voitekhovitch – Instagram – Deviant Art

https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2024/08/26/building-a-galaxy-5-warnov-a-steampunk-pirate-planet/

#Foreven #RPG #SciFi #Settings #Traveller