Traveller 2300AD: The Dark Between The Stars

     Hey folks, long time no electrons. This is the info page/FAQ for my 2300AD campaign, The Dark Between The Stars. The game is based on the first edition Traveller rules and 2300AD setting from Mongoose Publishing, and is currently in the planning/recruitment stage.

The Premise: Rebco SAR is involved in more than just search and rescue operations in space and on Earth's far-flung colonies. As humankind has spread throughout the stars, it has encountered numerous alien species, mysteries, and threats. Humans being what they are, tend to take risks and meddle in things they're not necessarily well-equipped to deal with.

     That's where you, the heroes, come in. You'll be called upon to help people and organizations deal with the difficulties of off-world life on one of Earth's many colonies. With the shadow of the Kafers spreading throughout human space, will you be able to nurture and protect human civilization on the frontier, or will you simply fade into the dark between the stars?

What You Need: There are only two books you really need for this game: the Mongoose Traveller 1e rulebook and the Mongoose 2300AD 1e setting book; both can be purchased in PDF format from DriveThruRPG.

 

The Platform: Audio will be handled through Discord, while the virtual tabletop (VTT) may be handled either through Roll20 or Owlbear Rodeo. Players are not required to have their cameras active; I know I, the referee, will not.

 

The Rule of Rules (Rule Zero): As a friend of mine wrote on his own long-running campaign site:

Even if a game element is initially permitted, if it is later deemed incompatible with the campaign, it will be modified or removed. Any characters (PC or NPC) that use that element may be required to adjust to the change (in other words, grandfathering is not guaranteed). The (GM) will attempt to keep this sort of thing to a minimum (if at all), but sometimes this may happen in the process of keeping the rules appropriate to the campaign setting.

    That being said, while there are a ton of other Mongoose Traveller (and third party) books which are possibly compatible, the two aforementioned books are the foundation. Those books will be referred to and open for access as needed in the campaign at the referee's discretion. The same goes for material from the original Traveller 2300/2300AD RPG and related periodicals from GDW, Digest Publications, and Stygian Fox. Still, if an element presented in any of the material proves to be an issue, it will be removed or changed as needed.

Campaign Tone: While the Kafer War seems to dominate the setting of 2300AD, this campaign will be focusing on exploration, dealing with problems related to off-world colonies, as well as international (and interstellar) diplomacy, rivalries, and politics. As such, characters in the group will need to have a wide range of abilities and skills - medical, combat, sciences, etc. The Kafers will show up in the campaign, but they won't dominate it completely.

Character Generation: Beginning characters will be created using the rules as presented in Mongoose Traveller 1e, modified by the Mongoose 2300AD rules. I would recommend that characters be no older than 30 or 35, as I'm not aware of the 2300AD setting having anagathics to prevent the effects of aging. As with the original 2300AD, a deck of cards comes in handy for selecting a character's motivations. I'm willing to allow players to choose their character's motivations, so long as they are reasonable. Finally, all player characters are human, as the aliens in the 2300AD setting are NPCs.

Replacement Characters: Should a starting character be killed or otherwise need to be retired from play, the player may be offered the chance to generate a new character with access to one or more MgT1e career books at the referee's discretion. New characters joining the group, whether tied to a new player or to a current player, will have roughly the same amount of experience as the least experienced character in the group.

 

Rebco SAR logo by Ted Lindsay

About Rebco SAR (from Mongoose 2300AD, p.85)

Headquarters: Lansdowne, Wellon, Tirane, Alpha Centauri, Core
Mission Statement: To provide the best and most appropriate human resource to tackle any problem, anywhere.
Products/Services: Employment services, troubleshooting, security and mercenaries.
Language(s): English, French, Urdu.
Culture: Free-wheeling but at the same time very cautious. All operations must be above-board.
Staff Levels: 125,000 throughout Human space, including contractors.
Scope of Operations: Human space.

     In the year 2244, two financial institutions on Earth, the Rawal Pindi Trading Company of Pakistan and the National Express Bank of America, merged to become Rebco. The majority of Rebco’s business involved financial services on Earth but in 2257, after developing a large internal security force, the corporation created a splinter group dedicated to providing short-term security forces to organisations on colony worlds.

     This began with uniformed guards for corporations and over time ranged up to include mercenary troops for small colonial governments and even rescue operations. Rebco relocated their new organisation’s offices to the colony of Wellon, on Tirane and they called it ‘Rebco Search and Rescue,’ or, more succinctly, ‘Rebco SAR’. Since then, Rebco SAR has expanded from providing security forces to matching persons seeking employment with employers looking for experienced personnel.

     Missions for Rebco SAR can involve anything. If there is money to be made, Rebco SAR will most likely be willing to get involved, although its coordinators pride themselves upon their honest reputation and will avoid overtly criminal activities.

House Rule: Character Improvement

    One of the big questions of Mongoose Traveller was how characters advanced in skill levels during their adventures. I put the following system together to answer that question. In addition, I hacked some of the XP and learning/teaching rules from MegaTraveller (Player's Manual - p. 41-43) and Traveller: The New Era (p. 133-134) to expand upon how characters can teach (or learn from) others.

Basic XP Guidelines

• 1 XP for surviving the adventure.
• 2 bonus XP for good roleplaying and/or ingenuity in the game.
• 1 XP for each skill used repeatedly or in a particularly dangerous situation.

Spending Experience Points
    Players keep track of what skills their character used during the adventure. Only these skills are eligible for improvement with the cost in XP being equal to the new skill level (e.g. Skill-1 costing 1 XP, Skill-3 costing 3 XP, etc). Boosting a skill from Skill-0 to Skill-1 costs 1. Learning a skill from scratch up to Skill-1 costs 2 XP.

Learning via Observation and Training
    Characters may also learn through observation and training. A character observing another character successfully performing a task gains 1 XP for the relevant skill. This works only if the character explaining the task has a skill level twice that of the observing character (e.g. a Skill-2 character teaching a Skill-1 character how to do something; or a Skill-4 character teaching a Skill-2 character to do a task).

    Teaching a character to do something requires a Difficult check of the teacher's relevant skill (i.e. using Repair to teach another how to repair something). The students' INT and EDU modifiers are also taken into consideration when totaling the final DM. For multiple students, average the INT and EDU modifiers if you so choose.

    The teacher must have at least one level in the skill being taught and the student cannot have a skill level equal to or higher than the teacher's. If the teacher succeeds at their roll, they gain 1/2 XP per student (minimum of 1 XP). The teacher's roll is followed by the student's roll to demonstrate understanding. The comprehension DM is the difference between the teacher's roll and the target number. if the student succeeds, they gain a certain number of XP

     If the number of students is less than half the teacher's skill level, each student gains 3 XP. If the number of students is more than half the teacher's skill level, each student gains 1 XP.

    Example: Corey has INT 10 (+1 DM), EDU 7 (+0 DM), and Repair-1. His teacher, Brian, has INT 13 (+2 DM), EDU 9 (+1 DM) and Repair-2. Brian is going to teach Corey how to repair his pistol. The DM for the task is -2 (Difficult). Brian rolls 2D6, adding the task DM of -2 (for Difficult), his own INT and EDU DMs (+2 for INT, +1 for EDU), his repair skill (Repair-2) and Corey's INT and EDU DMs (+1 for INT, +0 for EDU) he gets a total DM of +4. He rolls a 7 adding the +4 to get 11; this gives a +3 (11 - 3 = 8) DM to aid in Corey's understanding. Brian has succeeded in adequately explaining the task; now Corey has to demonstrate his understanding.

    Corey rolls 2D6, adds his INT and EDU DMs (a total of +1), his repair skill (Repair-1), and the +3 comprehension DM. His roll is a 9, giving a total of 14. He shows that he understands. For his success in teaching, Brian receives 1 XP, since he has only one student. Since Corey is the only student and he understands what he has been taught, he receives 3 XP.

    Characters with a skill at Skill-0 may still learn a skill, either through observation, instruction, or trial and error (also called "The Hard Way").

Skill Caps
    Characters are limited in the total number of skill levels they can have. This limit is the sum of their INT and EDU scores. Untrained and level-0 skills do not contribute to this total.

    Additionally, a character is limited in how many high-level skills he can maintain at a time. This limit is typically one level-4 skill and two level-3 skills. If a player raises a skill up to level-3 or level-4, and thus exceeds this limit, he must simultaneously drop a skill down from that level as well.

    If the sum of the character's INT and EDU DMs is greater than zero, they are allowed that many additional skill levels toward their total. A character with an INT and EDU both of 9 (+1 DM for both) could have up to 20 levels in their skills (9 + 9 + 2 = 20). This does not allow them any additional level-3 or level-4 skills.

Skill Caps, Enhancements, and Aging
    Cybernetic enhancements will not allow a character to surpass these limitations.

    Should a character suffer a loss of either INT or EDU due to aging, the character's skill caps are also affected. For example, the same character fails an aging roll and has his INT reduced by 1, dropping it from 9 (+1 DM) to 8 (+0 DM); the character's EDU is 9 (+1 DM). Where once the character had two additional skill levels, he now loses one skill level and must drop one skill by a level to reflect this deterioration if he had previously hit his maximum number of skill levels. If the character had not already hit the maximum, they do not suffer the loss of an active skill level, only the reduction of the maximum number of skill levels they can have.

Improving Characteristics
    Characters may also improve their characteristics through training. The target characteristic score's DM, in addition to any aging modifiers, is the DM for the training roll; characteristics cannot be improved through training beyond +1 per year.

    To quote the MT rules "...a character could regularly lift weights to improve his Strength; he could study fencing to improve his Dexterity; or he could run regularly to improve his Endurance. A memory course could enhance his Intelligence, and he could regularly participate in a reading and discussion group to increase his Education."

    The exceptions to this rule are social stats (Caste, Charisma, Social Standing, and Territory). These cannot be increased through formal training or experience. Instead, "it requires significant cash expenditures and consequent changes in lifestyle to 'become' part of the desired social class."

House Rule: Sanity

     At least two of the original GDW adventures (one being "Bayern", the other remaining nameless to avoid spoilers) had scenarios and rules regarding how encountering alien intelligences affects the human psyche. The purpose of having these rules isn't to make 2300AD into some eldritch dark space where sanity-blasting xenomorphs lurk in every shadow. No, it's just to provide some point of reference in how humans deal with encountering the truly alien with little or no points of reference in common.

 

     Because the original 2300AD system differs from the Mongoose Traveller rules, and because Mongoose Traveller's base rules don't handle anything regarding sanity (Book 4: Psion has rules for psionic trauma), that leaves a bit of a gap. I've crafted some workable (at least to me) rules from the psionic trauma rules in Book 4: Psion, the rules from WildFire's out-of-print Chthonian Stars setting, and Terry McInnes' article "Losing It" from The Travellers' Digest #17. You can find them here.

House Rule: Psionics

     The original 2300AD didn't allow for PC psions. Some GDW adventures had PCs encountering psionic aliens (again, no spoilers), and as above, had rules for such encounters' effects on the human psyche. As it stands, I'm using Patrick M. Murphy's 2300AD psionics house rules as a guide, as well as my own common sense. In other words, if your character has psionic abilities, don't expect them to be crushing starships or flinging jets of fire from their fingertips. As per the Mongoose Traveller rules, characters cannot have psionic talents at generation without permission from the GM. My guidelines for psionics in Mongoose 2300AD can be found here.

House Rules: Armor Ablation and Other Options

     Combat will use both the Knockout Blow and Random First Blood optional rules on p.66 of the MgT1e book. With regard to damage to armor, one (1) point of armor protection is lost for every three (3) points of damage that gets through.

So What's The Difference (Between Games)?: Around 1986, Game Designer's Workshop released Traveller: 2300, which was essentially a follow-up to Twilight: 2000. Unfortunately, the title caused a bit of confusion, and so GDW revised and retitled the game 2300AD.

 

Different and yet...

     In "The 2300 AD Revision" (Challenge Magazine #34), Lester Smith writes (bold emphases are his as they appear in the original article):

Some people originally confused Traveller: 2300 with Traveller or thought that there was some link intended between the two games. By changing the title to 2300 AD, we put an end to that problem, while at the same time maintaining the continuity of the releases in the 2300 line. Let me emphasize here for anyone who might still be wondering: 2300 AD has nothing to do with Traveller. Not only are the rules to the two games much different, the games are set in different "universes," with completely different alien races, different routes of travel between the stars because the FTL drives in each game operate on completely different theoretical bases, different technologies (there are no grav plates in 2300 AD, for instance), and different themes. Traveller spans the Milky Way galaxy and concerns humanity's struggles to maintain a civilization over that broad reach of space. 2300 AD reaches stars just beyond 50 light-years from Sol and concerns humanity's struggles just to survive among those stars.

     Flash forward to 2012, and Mongoose Publishing releases their edition of the 2300AD license - with "Traveller" emblazoned on the cover. Granted, the second edition doesn't have that same point of confusion, but I'm not really thrilled with the second editions of either Mongoose 2300AD or Mongoose Traveller. Overall, I find it rather ironic that Mongoose Publishing has unintentionally reinstated the relationship between Traveller and 2300AD.

 

     "So, what about 2320AD?" you say. Well, that's a different matter. If the campaign timeline runs through the end of the Kafer War, we'll cross that bear when we get to it.

     If anything else should need to be addressed with regard to the game rules, it will be added to this blog post. Now, let's reach for the stars.

Project Jasper: Hope for Carrie Edition

So, today my wife went out with a friend to see Star Wars: Rogue One while I spent the day studying the backs of my eyelids (I work the overnight shift at an emergency shelter for troubled youth, for the record, so I had to take one for the team). While I was sleeping, 2016 decided it wanted to continue being a dick and I awoke to the troubling news about actress Carrie Fisher. Having already remarked on how nasty the year has been, I had thought about giving this post an especially nasty title. Fortunately, the more rational parts of my mind and heart teamed up and beat down my inner cynic.

As a continuation of my remembrance of Benoist Poire's canine friend Jasper, my latest entry combines my love for dogs and Star Wars with hope and prayers for Carrie Fisher's full recovery. Here I present Jhaspar Gnarr.

Jhaspar Gnarr, Jedi Padawan (22 BBY)

Artwork from The New Essential Guide To Alien Species; Del Rey; 2006

Male Shistavanen

DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 3D+1
Lightsaber 4D
Melee 4D
Melee Parry 4D

KNOWLEDGE 2D
Survival 3D

MECHANICAL 2D
Astrogation 2D+1
Starfighter Piloting 2D+1
Starship Gunnery 2D+1

PERCEPTION 3D

STRENGTH 3D
Stamina 3D+2

TECHNICAL 2D
Lightsaber Repair 3D

Move 10/13

Special Abilities
Night Vision: Shistavanens have excellent night vision and can see in darkness with no penalty

Force Skills
       Control 2D
       Sense 1D

Powers: Remain Conscious (C), Lightsaber Combat (C/S)

Force Points: 2, Character Points: 5, Dark Side Points: 0

Equipment: Two lightsabers (5D dmg. ea.), Jedi battle armor, Jedi robes, commlink, blaster pistol (4D dmg)

A Quote: "Squad Aurek will move around the hills to the southwest. Squad Besh will flank from the east. Master Taresh and I will lead the charge down the center with squads Cresh and Dorn. Hopefully we can convince General Sanguinus of the error of her ways."

SAD UPDATE: This morning (12/27/16) I read with a heavy heart the news that Carrie Fisher passed away. My heart goes out to my fellow fans as well as the rest of the Star Wars cast for the loss of everybody's princess. This post is still a work-in-progress, and I will post a background and Rebellion Era stats for Jhaspar after an appropriate bit of time.

 

In the Beginning...

"The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”

― Douglas Adams, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

I have just spent the better part of my Thursday overnight shift breathing life into a series bible for Project Frying Pan. If there's one thing I have learned thus far in the process, it's this: Creating a universe from scratch is a lot of hard work, even if it's been percolating in the back of your brain for over a year. The sheer act of organizing, clarifying, defining, and just plain expressing it is daunting, exhilarating, and exhausting all at the same time. I have drawn upon my favorite aspects of various authors' universes as well as some of my own unpublished writing to find interesting bits to add.

No worries! I'm not dead yet!

While I will be taking a brief rest from the Project Frying Pan creative process this weekend, it is far from over. While the series bible (Did I forget to mention Project Frying Pan is the first in a series?) stands at an ephemeral eight pages in length, there is more to come and more to develop. The Frying Pan-verse (there will be a better name for it, I promise you), is in its infancy not only in the present, but also in its past and future.

Research will continue apace as I delve into the worlds of astronomy and con artistry. Project Frying Pan may be a science fiction book, but it's still got to have some basis in reality, after all. Of course, that's just a small part of the bigger picture. Historical research as well as some further reading in the genre is needed as well, all of which I look forward to.

Another part of the process is going to be resolving how to set parameters for the development of characters, technology, and all that other fun stuff. Being a tabletop gamer, I've got what I consider a number of useful tools at my disposal for defining things. The big decision is what system (and edition) to use. No system is perfect and part of my brain is itching to pair Project Frying Pan with another ongoing project on this blog.

What's ironic is that this fits Douglas Adams' opening quote to "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" perfectly. I have no doubt that someone, somewhere is now foaming at the mouth, fingers feverishly poking at their keyboard in an effort to "educate" me on how "wrong" I am to use an RPG as a tool to define my characters and the universe they live in. In fact, that subsection of my aspiring authorial peers is doubtlessly a speck compared to the massive hipster horde pounding away at their keyboards about how whatever system I choose is wrong and how my use of tropes and aspects of other authors' universes is so "derivative" and "unimaginative".

As a writer, I readily acknowledge that there's nothing new under the sun - it's just a matter of what you do with it. That's where the real challenge lies. While I look forward to that challenge, I realize that failure is a possibility, and at the same time, it's a learning experience. No plan survives first contact with reality, let alone "the enemy". A slight change has already been made to one character and I'm sure more changes will be made to Project Frying Pan before all is said and done. The main thing to remember above all is this: "Don't panic!"

And so it begins...

So, it's been no secret that I'm a writer or that I write game material and some fiction. However, most of the time I keep what I write secret until it's done or at least until I know nobody is going to steal my ideas. At any rate, I'm throwing my hat into the ring for NaNoWriMo 2016 with a book I'm writing. We'll call it Project Frying Pan. Why? Because in the tradition of George Lucas, I don't want things getting out before it's time. Only two or three other people know the true nature of the project, and I know they'll keep it.

While I have the general idea of the project's plotline set up, have capsule descriptions of the characters, and actually have a head start on chapter one, there's a lot of work to be done on research so I can get things right. These last two months are going to be precariously balanced between my job, home life, my writing, getting some design work done for Beyond the Wall, and a Shadowrun campaign I'm running. I may not get Project Frying Pan done in one month, but I intend to put a good sized dent in it before the year is through.

But enough talk. It's time to act. I've got research and writing to do.

Kenny Baker: The Most Metal Star Wars Actor Of All

Gorramit, 2016! Quit kicking me in the feels! And stop stomping on my childhood!

The most metal man in the Star Wars movies. Rest in peace, Kenny.

In case you didn't know, Kenny Baker, the man who put the heart in R2-D2, died yesterday at the age of 81. While I never had the honor, let alone the opportunity, to meet Mr. Baker at any kind of science fiction convention, I have to say I admire the dedication he had to his craft despite the bad deal he physically got from life.

I honestly believe that he was perhaps the most metal of all the Star Wars actors. While Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels had to contend with the heat and sweat of their costumes, Kenny had to deal with dwarfism and its associated ills on top of it all. What's more, Kenny's late wife Eileen - who was also afflicted with dwarfism - played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, so she understood and shared her husband's struggle. In the heat, cold, muck, and bugs, Kenny Baker was more than just a little person in a metal shell. He was the personality and heart of R2-D2. He was metal.

Thank you, Kenny, for the happiness you brought me and millions of other fans. Rest in peace.

The Silent Sage Publishing RPG Catalog

Welcome to the Silent Sage Publishing RPG catalog. All of the items linked here are free of charge. From time to time, links will be updated to reflect new and improved material. While it may appear small now, there will be more products added in the future.

BEYOND THE WALL

Flatland Games' fantasy adventure RPG combines rules from the newer editions of the world's most popular fantasy RPG with the simplicity found in the same game's older editions.

SBW1001 - BW1: GM and Player Reference Pack
Status: In revision but available as a work in progress! (Details here.)
You can download the full document here

When adventuring beyond your village, it always pays to be prepared - and that goes for the gamemaster too! In this product you'll find:

• Color and black and white six-panel GM screens
• A never-before-seen bonus color GM screen 
• Regular and form-fillable character sheets
• Character and adventure tracking logs for the GM
• Indices for NPCs and monsters in all current material available from Flatland Games
• Listings for cantrips, spells, and rituals found in the same material, including "Beyond the Wall - Further Afield!

It's dangerous beyond the wall - take this with you! 

Worth The Wait

Product: Joyride #2
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Writer(s): Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly
Artist(s): Marcus To
Colorist: Irma Kniivila
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Price: $3.99 (US)
Page Count: 30, including ads and front and back inside covers

Welcome back travellers. Joyride #2 is out and in it we get to learn a lot more about our protagonists and the universe they're exploring. This issue starts in media res as Dewydd's parents get an awkward, semi-unwelcome visit from a government official about their son's new status as an Aberrant. The scene quickly flashes over to Dewydd, Catrin and Uma, who are up to their necks in trouble on an alien space station, thanks to Uma's sticky fingers.

To throw the pursuing security guards off, the trio splits up with Uma using a dive bar as her bolt hole and Catrin and Dewydd taking shelter in an alien fashion emporium. Uma quickly finds herself under the protective wing of an alien thief calling himself Kolstak the Wander (That name sounds familiar, doesn't it? ;) and we learn that humankind's reputation is pretty bad in the universe's eyes - in fact, it's much worse than the pathos-evoking reputation we get in Titan AE. Flashing back to Catrin and Dewydd, Catrin learns a valuable lesson about herself after being confronted by an alien with an alluring offer. We also see the questionable results of Dewydd's alien makeover and learn he has a skeleton in his closet beyond his familial ties to the government.

Back at the bar, Uma engages in some creative mayhem to bust out of the security cordon with Kolstak in tow, sacrificing her recently acquired loot in the process. The group meets up, beats a hasty retreat to the ship and engages in more creative mayhem in an effort to shake off pursuing starfighters. Unfortunately, their efforts have an unintended side effect, leaving them stranded in a dangerous part of space. The issue ends on a cliffhanger as we see Special Interceptors - special agents of the World Government Alliance - preparing to hunt down our heroes, and we learn just how far up the food chain Catrin's parents really are.

Overall, Joyride #2 is an excellent follow-up to the debut issue. The pace slows a bit in jumping between scenes, but picks up again toward the end before leaving us hanging on the cliff's edge. In case you hadn't heard the news or didn't notice the change in numbering on the cover, Joyride is now going to be an ongoing series. This is really good news, as four issues is really not enough to cover a joyride through an entire galaxy (as compared to Spanner's Galaxy, a six-issue limited series which left off with Polaris Spanner getting ready to pursue the man who harassed him throughout the series).

This series is definitely hitting all the right buttons for me as well as the big green nostalgia button in me. If you're looking for a series to jump into this summer, Joyride is definitely it - just get a hold of the first two issues, put your feet up and enjoy the ride.

WRITER'S NOTE: As it stands, I haven't decided if I'm going to continue reviewing the series beyond the first four issues. Why? Because while I love the series, I have a lot of projects and other things to write about in the future. Additionally, my previous review didn't generate as much interest as my gaming material, but we'll see what the future holds...

The Mongoose and the Big Red Button

 "They finally really did it..."

A while back I wrote my breakup letter to Traveller as a third party publisher and gave my reasons why. Today, I have to honestly say I'm glad I walked when I did. John Watts, head of Gypsy Knights Games, recently announced that he had major issues with the new Travellers' Aid Society terms and conditions, which you can't see until you go to upload something on DriveThruRPG. The terms state:

"'User Generated Content' shall be defined as the copyrightable elements included in your Work, such as original characters, scenes, locations and events. User Generated content shall not include the illustrations and cartographic artwork included in your work. Per the terms of this Agreement, you expressly agree that your User Generated Content, once submitted to the Program will become Program IP and useable by other members of the Program as well as the Owner as described in this Agreement."

 ...and furthermore:

No Reversion. Due to our licensing arrangement with the Owner and the collaborative nature of the Program, you are granting us broad licenses in your Work and your User Generated Content included in your Work, and the rights to your Work will not be reverted once it is published in the Program. You will have the ability through online tools at OBS websites to stop public display and sale of your Work on OBS marketplaces, but not to stop the sale of works of other authors in the Program even when such works use your User Generated Content that you originally created in your Work and thereby became part of the Program IP for other authors to use.

In short, surprise! You've just lost control of your intellectual property! Now, I don't have a problem with the way the original OGL states things - namely, if you clearly specify what material in your product is Open Game Content, as well as acknowledge the copyrights of the authors whose OGC you use in Section 15 of the OGL, you're fine. However, this - at least to me - implies the need for professional courtesy, namely, asking the author of the material you want to use for their consent. What the Mongoose TAS "program" does is eliminate the professional courtesy aspect of things and allows anybody who is part of "the program" to have their way with your material, even if you've taken your product off the market after another person makes use of the material in their product.

Further clouding the waters is the fact that now people can publish material for ANY part of the Third Imperium, including the Spinward Marches, which has long been a historical landmark for Traveller. The original licenses restricted OTU publications to the Foreven Sector, which was a player/GM reservation of sorts. Now it would seem nothing is holy to Mongoose Publishing. How Marc Miller let this slide is beyond me.

Overall, trading the freedom to write material for all of the OTU in exchange for giving up your IP rights is a bad trade - a very bad trade. With the Traveller and Foreven Sector licenses, there was still enough freedom in exchange for maintaining control over one's intellectual property. The choices were simple - you could write your own setting for Traveller under the Traveller license, or you could publish material for the OTU set in the Foreven Sector. The only checks and balances were that the writers had to ensure their products trade dress was significantly distinguishable from that of MgT or any other previous Traveller product (CT, MT, TNE, etc).

At any rate, there's discussion of the matter on the CotI boards and Mongoose forums. You'll have to log in to comment at either place, but given Mongoose's track record of a barely-supported SRD, a failed attempt at Traveller organized play, and running with bad ideas while ignoring playtest feedback, I'm not holding my breath for change.

EDIT: As I reflected upon what I wrote today, I felt it was a good idea to further explain why the TAS offer is such a bad deal as compared to the original Traveller/Foreven OGL. Additionally, I thought I was a bit misleading and hyperbolic regarding the discussion of the matter elsewhere online. While it has remained fairly civilized at both forums, Mongoose has been very quiet with regard to the concerns voiced by third-party publishers; meanwhile, general questions regarding Marc Miller's control over the OTU have been quickly answered... Make of that what you will...

EDIT #2: Some of you may have noticed all of my Foreven material has disappeared from my old Forge of Foreven blog. I purposely reverted everything to draft in order to prevent any "misunderstandings" between me and Mongoose Publishing. That being said, if any of it does see the light of day again, it will most likely be under the FFE Fair Use Policy. Meanwhile, John Watts of Gypsy Knights Games was kind enough to post the full language of the TAS "agreement" to the MgT 3pp group on Facebook. I'm providing it here for those of you who are masochistic enough to wade through a bunch of legalese. TL;DR version: "All your Traveller are belong to us. Good day."

This Community Content Agreement (this “Agreement”) is a binding agreement between you, the individual identified by your customer account on this website or the legal entity you represent, and OneBookShelf, Inc. (“OBS”) the parent company of website marketplaces including DriveThruRPG, RPGNow and more.
This Agreement covers your participation in and use of The Travellers' Aid Society and the OBS websites that administer it, (the “Program”).
1. Acceptance
You accept this Agreement by clicking “I Agree” to set up and submit a new title (the “Work”) to OBS.
2. Intellectual Property Definitions
(a) Mongoose Publishing (collectively, the “Owner”) has granted OBS the right to use elements of Owner’s Traveller game (“Owner’s IP”) and sublicense certain limited rights to you under the terms of this Agreement.
Owner’s IP includes any and all Traveller tabletop roleplaying materials and content made available to you through the Program including, but not limited to:
Traveller rule sets
Portions and elements of Traveller campaign setting(s)
Artwork and other graphic templates and materials
Owner’s IP may be amended at any time and for any reason whatsoever without liability to you. However, any Work published in the Program prior to the removal of Owner’s IP will not require the removal or amendment of that Work.
(b) “Program IP” shall be defined as any User Generated Content (defined, below) distributed by the Program.
(c) “User Generated Content” shall be defined as the copyrightable elements included in your Work, such as original characters, scenes, locations and events. User Generated content shall not include the illustrations and cartographic artwork included in your work. Per the terms of this Agreement, you expressly agree that your User Generated Content, once submitted to the Program will become Program IP and useable by other members of the Program as well as the Owner as described in this Agreement.
3. Account Information; Account Suspension.
(a) Account Information; No Multiple Accounts. You must have an active user account in order to participate in the Program. You must ensure that all information you provide in connection with establishing your account, such as your name, address and email, is accurate when you provided it, and you must keep it up to date as long as you use the Program. You may maintain only one account at a time. You will not use false identities or impersonate any other person or use a username or password you are not authorized to use. You also consent to our sending you emails related to the Program and other publishing opportunities. This consent regarding contacting you by email takes precedence over any contrary directions you may have given us, including through Owner’s website.
(b) Account Security. You are solely responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your account username and password and are responsible for all activities that occur under your account, whether or not you have authorized the activities. You may not permit any third party to use the Program through your account and will not use the account of any third party. You agree to immediately notify OneBookShelf.com of any unauthorized use of your username, password or account.
(c) Account Suspension. We may suspend your account or your participation in the Program at any time. You acknowledge that if we do so, you may be prevented from accessing communications and content on the OBS websites. If we suspend your account, you must stop using all The Travellers' Aid Society accounts and you will not create any new accounts.
4. Rights Granted to You.
(a) Subject to your compliance with the terms of this Agreement, OBS grants you the limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable, personal, worldwide and revocable right to use and otherwise incorporate Owner’s IP and Program IP into your Work(s) for distribution through the Program or other platforms and channels at the sole discretion of Owner.
(b) Except for short promotional excerpts used to promote your Work, you may not display, recreate, publish, distribute or sell your Work (or derivatives thereof) outside of the Program administered on OBS websites or through other platforms or channels authorized or offered by Owner.
5. Rights You Grant to OBS
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(b) Exclusive License to your Work. Effective as of the date you setup your Work through the Program on OBS’s website, you grant us the exclusive, irrevocable license for the full term of copyright protection available (including renewals), to develop,
license, reproduce, print, publish, distribute, translate, display, publicly perform and transmit your Work, in whole and in part, in each country in the world, in all languages and formats, and by all means now known or later developed, and the right to prepare derivative works of your Work.
(c) Exclusive License to all User Generated Content in your Work. Effective as of the date we first make your Work available through the Program, you grant us the exclusive, irrevocable license for the full term of copyright protection available (including renewals), to all User Generated Content included in your Work. You agree that the User Generated Content is available for unrestricted use by us without any additional compensation, notification or attribution, including that we may allow other Program authors, the Owner and other third parties to use the User Generated Content.
6. Waiver of Claims; Waiver of Moral Rights.
In order to prevent legal claims that could be disruptive to the Program participants or impede the ability of you and other Program authors to participate in the Program, you irrevocably waive any legal claim you may have under any theory of law in any territory that your rights were infringed due to any use of your User Generated Content by us, the Owner or its affiliates, licensees and sublicensees, and/or any other Program authors, including copyright infringement. This waiver does not apply to royalty payments we may owe you under Section 7. You also irrevocably waive any moral rights in your Work and agree not to assert any moral rights in your Work against us, the Owner, and/or other Program authors. If, under any applicable law, this waiver of moral rights is not effective, you acknowledge that your Work is subject to the licenses you grant in Section 4 without any credit obligation, that you intend for your Work to be used in this way, and that this form of use will not be contrary to your moral rights.
7. Royalties and Payments
(a) Royalties. As full consideration of the rights you grant us under this Agreement, we will pay you a 50% royalty of the price paid on digital download format sales of your Work, and a 50% royalty on the print margin of print-on-demand sales of your Work. Print Margin is the amount paid less the print cost to physically manufacture the book as listed on OBS websites.
(b) Sales taxes and freight charges are not considered part of the price paid.
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(d) Royalties are computed in US dollars.
(e) Royalties are paid via PayPal. You shall have access on OBS websites to a webpage that allows you to withdraw accumulated royalties to your PayPal account. OBS may deduct a fee of $2 or PayPal’s prevailing fee for its MassPay service from each payment to you.
(f) OBS or Owner may send complimentary copies of your work for reasonable promotional and administrative purposes. No royalties shall be paid to you on such copies.
(g) You shall set the sale price of your Work. OBS may include your Work in site promotional sales events at discounts up to 40% off your normal sale price.
(h) Royalties on a sale of your Work shall be eligible for your withdrawal 60 days after the sale.
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(c) Excluding the Owner’s IP and Program IP which we license to you and excluding the illustrations and cartographic artwork in your Work, you are the sole owner of all rights in your Work. You have the rights or license to use the illustrations and cartographic artwork in your Work.
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You will indemnify and hold OBS and Owner harmless from any liability or cause of action arising from any breach of your representations and warranties including all reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
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10. Disclaimers; Limitation of Liability. THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS." WE AND THE OWNER WILL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, COST OF COVER OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR RELIANCE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR IN RELATION TO THIS AGREEMENT, OR FOR ANY EQUITABLE REMEDY OF DISGORGEMENT OR OTHERWISE, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THEORY OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR (OR OWNER) LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) THE AMOUNT OF FEES DUE AND PAYABLE BY US TO YOU UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE CLAIM AND (II) FIFTY DOLLARS ($50.00). WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM, WITH RESPECT TO ALL SERVICES, SOFTWARE, CONTENT OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED BY OR ON BEHALF OF US IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE PROGRAM, ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU AGREE THAT WE CANNOT ENSURE THAT EDITIONS OF YOUR USER GENERATED CONDITIONS WILL BE PROTECTED FROM THEFT OR MISUSE OR THAT CUSTOMERS WILL COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. ONEBOOKSHELF WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM A FAILURE OF ANY SECURITY SYSTEM OR PROCEDURE OR OF ANY CUSTOMER TO COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT OUR SYSTEMS WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, AND WE WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM SYSTEM OR PROCESS FAILURES, INTERRUPTIONS, INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR LATENCIES.
SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES; AS SUCH THE FOREGOING DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU IN ITS ENTIRETY.
11. Execution of Further Agreements and Documents. Protection of rights sometimes requires formal filings of paper documents and it may be helpful for us to have physical signed versions of this Agreement or other documents. You agree to sign and deliver to us any further documents that we may reasonably request to confirm your grant of rights to us (and Owner) under this Agreement, following all instructions we provide for signature and return (“Additional Documents”). If you do not complete and return any such Additional Documents within 30 days after we request them, you agree that we can sign the Additional Documents on your behalf and, to make your agreement legally enforceable, you hereby irrevocably appoint us as your attorney-in-fact with full power to execute, acknowledge and deliver the Additional Documents as required to confirm our rights. In legal terms, your appointment is a power coupled with an interest.
12. No Rescission or Injunctive Relief. All rights granted to us (and Owner) under this Agreement are irrevocably vested. No breach by us (or Owner) of this Agreement will entitle you to equitable relief, whether injunctive or otherwise, against or with respect to your User Generated Content or any other works produced pursuant to the rights granted under this Agreement or their exploitation. If the rights granted to OBS (or Owner) under this Agreement should revert to you under any copyright law or similar law, and if you are at any time thereafter prepared to enter an agreement with a third party for the license, exercise or other disposition of all or any of those rights, you will, before entering into the agreement, give OBS and Owner notice of the proposed terms (and all modifications of the terms) and the party involved. In each case, both OBS and Owner will then have 10 business days in which to elect to acquire the rights involved on the terms you offered to that third party.
13. General Provisions.
(a) This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to its subject matter. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid by a court or other tribunal with jurisdiction over the parties to this Agreement, that provision will be deemed to be restated to reflect as nearly as possible the original intentions of the parties in accordance with applicable law, and the remainder of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. The failure of either party to enforce any provision of this Agreement does not waive the party's rights to subsequently enforce the provision.
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(c) This Agreement will be binding upon, inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the parties and their respective successors and assigns.
(d) You agree that all matters relating to your access to or use of the Program, including all disputes, will be governed by the laws of the United States and by the laws of the State of Georgia without regard to its conflicts of laws provisions. You agree to the personal jurisdiction by and venue in the state and federal courts in DeKalb County, Georgia, and waive any objection to such jurisdiction or venue. The preceding provision regarding venue does not apply if you are a consumer based in the European Union. If you are a consumer based in the European Union, you may make a claim in the courts of the country where you reside. Any claim under this Agreement must be brought within one (1) year after the cause of action arises, or such claim or cause of action is barred. You expressly acknowledge and agree that no recovery may be sought or received for damages other than out-of-pocket expenses, except that the prevailing party will be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. In the event of any controversy or dispute between us and you arising out of or in connection with your use of the Program, the parties shall attempt, promptly and in good faith, to resolve any such dispute. If we are unable to resolve any such dispute within a reasonable time (not to exceed thirty (30) days), then either party may submit such controversy or dispute to mediation. If the dispute cannot be resolved through mediation, then the parties shall be free to pursue any right or remedy available to them under applicable law.

Why I Create

When I started college, I had dreams of jumping feet first into working for a sci-fi/fantasy magazine along the lines of Analog or Starlog and then possibly moving into game design and writing. When I naively raised questions about getting into the profession on Usenet, a number of people were quick to tell me I wouldn't be making big money, not even steady money at that, if I went freelance. Disappointed, I quietly seethed, posted a few desultory flames, and sulked a bit before reformulating my plans for the future.

My naivete faded those next four years, but I remained hopeful that I would break into the industry and I would live my dream. As graduation neared, I weighed the options and knew that I had to have steady work in order to keep a roof over my head and a shirt on my back. So, I decided that I would work as a newspaper reporter and do my SF and RPG writing on the side. At that time I was already a member of Pete Maranci's amateur publishing association (APA) Interregnum. (Writer's Note: My first 'zine, Tales from the Electric Underground appeared in IR #5 and ran semi-regularly. After a while - somewhere between IR #31 and IR #35, the online archive for the APA is incomplete - I rebooted the 'zine and changed the title to The Chrome Libram; that 'zine lasted three issues and I left the APA in 2000 as it didn't feel the same without Pete at the helm.)

In 2009, before the luster of being a third party publisher for Traveller and an award-winning writer wore off, I envisioned my creations - and myself - being very popular. Over the past seven years, various events and individuals - some chronicled here, others not -  have made me reconsider the so-called "importance" of being popular, let alone being highly visible and well-known in the industry.

I can hear some of you saying, "But, don't you want to be successful?" Yes - who doesn't want to be successful? In a way, it boils down to defining what success means to oneself. Having lived as a small fish in a small pond before moving on to be a small fish in several bigger ponds, and dealing with people jealous of the successes I've had in life, I've learned that it isn't always good to be popular or visible. The politics of the Hugos, ENnies, and Origins awards, as well as the recurring dramatic performances of the Outrage Brigade, have reinforced that lesson. In short, it has shown me that it's better - for me, at least - to create things I like and can be proud of.

Unlike my younger self, I now like - no, I relish - the idea of some, if not all, of my works being hidden gems that someone finds unexpectedly. My products may not be groundbreaking or innovative by some peoples' standards, but I do quality work and creating something and doing it well makes me happy. If they sell well and become popular, so be it; if not, well, it's a learning experience.

Winning an award like a Hugo or an ENnie - or even just a nomination - would be nice, but to be honest, at this stage I'd rather just do what I like and do best. I'll leave the popularity contests to those who can weather it all the best. That being said, I have a lot of ideas to work on and more coming into focus every day. It's time I got to work.

It's Not Me, Traveller, It's You

     Soooo... This is a letter too long in coming... a "Dear John" letter of sorts... Actually, it's a "Dear Marc Miller and Traveller" letter of sorts...

     For all my years as a gamer, I've had an interest in Traveller ever since I saw the picture of the interdiction satellite from GW's IISS Ship Files book in Ian Livingstone's "Dicing With Dragons". I took the dive with T4, learned that 25 pages of errata is 24 pages too many, and forged ahead, getting the reprints of the CT books and the GURPS Traveller books.

     The relationship intensified when Mongoose came out with their edition of the game in 2008 and announced there would be an Open Game License, SRD, and a Foreven Sector license. That was when I came to see the unfortunate, true colors of a cancerous subsection of the Traveller community.

     You might think I'm guilty of excess hyperbole here, but it's true. The Traveller community has a cancer that it can't seem to cut out of its fabric. There's a subset of Traveller fans who apparently can't stand change. It's natural with any RPG fandom, but with Traveller it seems to be particularly virulent, resistant to any kind of common sense or diplomacy. Narcissism, sycophancy, arrogance, and hubris run rampant among a number of the game's fans, particularly some of its older fans.

     Happen to like the Rebellion in MT or the post-Long Night era of TNE? You're a heretic. Like Mongoose Traveller? Get ready to be burned at the stake. Favor a third party setting over the OTU? You obviously don't play "true" Traveller.

     Traveller holds a precarious position in the history and fabric of both the tabletop RPG hobby and industry. It was one of the first SF roleplaying games out there, but it is also one of the smallest. Rooted in the classics of SF, it favors hard science, but not to the exclusion of having a massive star-faring empire out of space opera.

     Because it fits in such a tiny niche within the hobby, its fandom is equally small. Despite its size, Traveller fandom is very vocal and active in trying to keep this venerable game and setting alive. Marc Miller's Kickstarter for Traveller5 was evidence of that. Sadly, that size and vociferous nature is also why the bile rises so quickly and drives so many away from the game's community. One would think that a fandom so dedicated to keeping the game alive would want it to grow in a variety of ways, including the creation of new settings. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

      But I digress. Early on, I decided to try and stand my ground. I put out a trio of good products - The Starfarer's Kit (a set of player and GM aids), the Starfarer's Kit Character Folio, and Captain Sturmhammer's Command Cards, under the OGL and the Foreven license. They did moderately well considering the size of the market I was working with.

     But, after witnessing and fighting the cancerous minority for several years, I was nearing my breaking point. That point came when Mongoose announced it was going to release a second edition of its version of Traveller. That alone really wasn't the problem - it was how Mongoose proceeded to handle it.

     I'm not a fan for pay-to-playtest schemes, not even when the publisher offers a $20.00 gift certificate for the final version of the rules once it comes out. Mongoose took it a step further and stated that third party publishers (3PPs) would no longer be able to release material for MgT1's license. If you want to publish for MgT as a third party, you have to wait for the new edition and its SRD and then invest in the new edition.

     As someone who works for a living separately from being a 3PP, that's unacceptable. I don't have the time, money, or space in my home or hard drive to devote to a new edition of a game I want to publish material for, let alone one with a cancer in its community. To add further insult to injury, Mongoose, in its hubris, refuses to listen to - let alone acknowledge - any kind of constructive criticism from any quarter.

     If you've managed to follow me through this wall of text, here's the endgame. It's not me, Traveller, it's you. While I love your universe with all its eccentricities and inconsistencies, the canonistas and zealots in your community make it impossible to do anything right as a 3PP. Coupled with a creator who can't see past the sycophants at his feet and a company that can't take a hint, and you can see where this is going.

     That being said, I've divested myself of most of the community. I'll lurk, but I won't be actively posting anything in any forums. I'll produce my own material under the Fair Use policy using the D6 system (and if we're all lucky some of it might find its way online), but I won't produce anything for profit. My Mongoose material is officially off the market, the last products being pulled from DriveThruRPG this past December. If you want it, sorry, it's not for sale any more.

      I'd like to thank John Watts, Ian Stead, Hunter Huntman, and many others not named here, for their support as fellow 3PPs and fellow Travellers. I wish you the best in your future endeavors with (or without) Traveller as your case may be. I'd also like to thank those of you who bought my product, showing me there are those who appreciate my efforts.

Clear Skies, Travellers