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Post by soypunk on Jul 7, 2024 22:46:36 GMT
There are rules in both the revised 5150 New Beginnings and Known Space for interstellar travel between systems but I don't see anything for interplanetary travel. Anyone given any thought to how they would handle travel within a charted system from Known Space with an emphasis on interplanetary-only travel?
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Post by squidlord on Jul 7, 2024 23:39:32 GMT
The real question that you have to ask yourself is, "Why am I doing this?" What is the point of working out the intricacies of interplanetary travel? Do you just want to have the possibility that it's interrupted by some sort of random event? Do you want it to lead to some sort of Challenge Test?
For the most part, traveling interplanetary in 5150 is pretty low stakes. The big situations are when you're leaving a planet or approaching it. And the stuff in between that's not away from inhabited systems is much less important.
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Post by soypunk on Jul 8, 2024 1:21:50 GMT
I understand that and for me there is joy in resource management, keeping the ship running, etc. Not looking for Classic Traveller levels of paying the mortgage but was wondering if anyone had dabbled with any form of managing travel at the interplanetary level. Random events/encounters would be useful for my play style as well. The time taken would be important for whether news has travelled from one planet to another which could influence which type of opposition I would find on the table.
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Post by Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy on Jul 8, 2024 12:56:12 GMT
I use Contact in Space between planets (page 82 New Beginnings). Upkeep for the ship is on page 153 for Monthly Activities. Hope this helps.
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Post by soypunk on Jul 8, 2024 15:36:32 GMT
Thanks, Ed. I think what I'll try is to downscale the travel between ring system (based on thrust) to the planet scale and see what happens. (I'm creating a different game world than the Gaea Prime setting and there are no rings or jump-gates.)
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Post by Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy on Jul 8, 2024 15:48:55 GMT
Sounds good. Let me know what you come up with. Gamer feedback is one reason why THW has been around for so long.
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Post by easyeight on Jul 11, 2024 17:44:54 GMT
As part of a project I tried to get the rights to do a 5150-based game set in the Terran Trade Authority universe, the TTA setting popularized in the 1980s via big coffee table scifi art books. The author ended up wanting way too much $$$ and royalties for nostalgia IP, but my partner at Little Metal Spaceships did get the rights from scifi artist Bob Layzell to do spaceship miniatures based on his art. littlemetalspaceships.com/collections/sci-fi-from-bob-layzellThe TTA setting uses FTL, not Jump Drives, and some of the star system travel rules almost made it into Known Space, but added complications most gamers probably don't want. Once concept was dividing a star system into Zones. You'd travel a number of Zones based on spaceship Thrust, and you'd resolve 1 PEF per Zone you went through. An abstract version of that almost made it into Known Space -- here's that map: Simple rules: 1. Travel as many Zones as you like in a Week inside a Star System 2. Resolve 1 Contact in Space Encounter per Zone, also counting the Zone you start from 3. You can make up your own modified Encounter tables by Zone -- generally a higher chance for Pirates in the Outer Zone and Fringe space of a system. Hope you enjoy!
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Post by ruckusmanager on Jul 16, 2024 1:31:42 GMT
Too bad about the Terran Trade Authority game--that would have been wicked cool! Still, thanks for the heads up on those spaceships. I'll need to get some to relive my childhood. It looks like they may would go perfectly with Fighter Command.
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Post by soypunk on Jul 18, 2024 16:50:13 GMT
Thank you for that project history easyeight! That variation is exactly what I'm looking for
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Post by hansuke on Jul 18, 2024 23:28:54 GMT
In the French RPG Empire Galactique, Huge FTL ships jump from major star systems to other major star systems in a week. All interstellar travel is from the extreme periphery of civilized systems. Smaller FTL ships ply the space lanes of less civilized star systems but it still only takes a week to make a jump. Once you get to a spacedrome or spaceport at the edge of the system, you have to board anti-grav shuttles to reach a planetary destination and it takes a week to get to the planet and a week to get back to the spacedrome. But if you go from planet to planet in same system then the travel is 1D6 days.
This is the first time that I thought about using 5150 for an Empire Galactique campaign but I think easyeight's system-zone system may work with very minor tweaking. Thanks easyeight.
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Post by easyeight on Jul 19, 2024 16:50:22 GMT
In the French RPG Empire Galactique, Huge FTL ships jump from major star systems to other major star systems in a week. All interstellar travel is from the extreme periphery of civilized systems. Smaller FTL ships ply the space lanes of less civilized star systems but it still only takes a week to make a jump. Once you get to a spacedrome or spaceport at the edge of the system, you have to board anti-grav shuttles to reach a planetary destination and it takes a week to get to the planet and a week to get back to the spacedrome. But if you go from planet to planet in same system then the travel is 1D6 days. This is the first time that I thought about using 5150 for an Empire Galactique campaign but I think easyeight's system-zone system may work with very minor tweaking. Thanks easyeight. Cool! Now I have the theme for another Patreon Book -- 5150 FTL. I can use the rules I created for TTA so gamers can use that style of gaming and travel instead of jump gates, and have more granular in-system adventures. A few questions - in addition to general "how to" rules: 1. Do you want variable FTL travel in the style of Star Trek or TTA? In those settings the ships use a warp space bubble (Warp Drive, Alcubierre Drive, etc.) to travel and have an FTL speed. 2. Based on #1, would you also want FTL travel times/rules based on real world stars? For example, a travel chart showing FTL travel time Sol to Barnard's Star, etc. 3. Do you want some sample settings and ships? These could be ideas based on say, Traveller 2300, sci-fi novels and settings similar to TTA, and so on Cheers!
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Post by hansuke on Jul 20, 2024 0:08:39 GMT
easyeight: 1. The settings I play in mostly lately: a. Empire Galactique. 1st edition used a variable FTL speed based on size of vehicle. ( pixilivres.free.fr/wa_files/EGtome3_Partie1.pdf / page 3). Second edition uses the system listed in my last post. b. GURPS Humanx. Ships use variable speed between 30-75 parsecs a day. Maps are non-gridded but there are travel time charts. c. Aliens. In one of the last movies, they traveled 34.6 light years in 2 years 4 months 18 days. I think the movie referenced a jump if I remember correctly. 2. I don't really care about real stars, unless they are used in the specific setting above. 3. I think sample settings and ships would be a nice fit, as long as they fit into the ship stats for 5150 ships. Not a perfect fit but one where they could be used with 5150 NB, Star Navy, and Known Space. Hans
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Post by hansuke on Jul 21, 2024 19:51:19 GMT
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Post by Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy on Jul 21, 2024 22:29:37 GMT
He knows his stuff.
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Post by soypunk on Jul 23, 2024 19:46:03 GMT
A few questions - in addition to general "how to" rules: 1. Do you want variable FTL travel in the style of Star Trek or TTA? In those settings the ships use a warp space bubble (Warp Drive, Alcubierre Drive, etc.) to travel and have an FTL speed. 2. Based on #1, would you also want FTL travel times/rules based on real world stars? For example, a travel chart showing FTL travel time Sol to Barnard's Star, etc. 3. Do you want some sample settings and ships? These could be ideas based on say, Traveller 2300, sci-fi novels and settings similar to TTA, and so on - I'm sure this would be useful to some! (Personally I either prefer "Jump Gates" or no FTL at all in my games)
- Kinda the same answer as #1 it is probably not something I would use but I suspect there's demand based on other RPGs that dabble in this area and where I see the community plugging holes with their supplements. I do think a game-ready map of our solar system would be super fun to have (for folks who want to do some kind of alternate-space race cold-war setting or The Expanse, etc.)
- I love examples as they give me some ideas for baselines I can grab and tweak to my needs - anything that cuts down prep time is always welcome.
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