The waiting time is over — the Kickstarter campaign is live now! Get ready to unravel the mysteries that lurk in the murky depths of the dark realms beyond the veil, both in the streets of Metropolis and the borderlands where the Illusion is crumbling.
https://bit.ly/kult2025
Congrats! I wasn't brave enough to do it, so I ended up creating a broader community for Sci-Fi RPGs - !scifi@ttrpg.network
I started a huge map a couple of years ago. Long story short: my cousin needed a map and I wanted a project to teach myself how to use Campaign Cartographer 3+.
The project is huge, and I totally underestimated the scope. But then my cousin's players wandered away from the city of Greengulf, so the pressure is no longer there.
This area of the city was one of the first images I shared with my cousin. I'm freeing up some space on my email account, but I thought I'd share this here instead of just deleting those old emails (don't panic, I do have a way to generate this image again in the future... or any part of the city if needed).
In the post where we're listing all the Sci-Fi games we could come up with, there's a distinct lack of PBTA games. And I get it... there's probably too many to list.
But even if I have my Sci-Fi needs fulfilled (perhaps for the moment, and for the most part) there are a few games that I'd still like to play some day. This is one of them.
Why? Because it's straight and to the point. I tell myself that one of these days, when I think of a plot for a Star Wars Worlds one-shot adventure, I can grab this and get rolling in 5 minutes.
A lot of people dislike PBTA, but I actually find it valuable. I think PBTA is particularly good at short adventures and one-shots. For longer campaigns? Not so sure. One of my favourite (non-scifi) games, Kult (!kult@ttrpg.network), uses PBTA in its newest version. They did try to think ahead to advancement for longer campaigns, but would it be enough for a regular multi-year group? I don't know.
Just from this small post, there's so much I'd like to ask anyone reading: Do you have a PBTA game you love and/or play? Have you tried this one? Do you know another overlooked Star Wars game (such as Never Tell Me the Odds)? Do you love/hate PBTA? Have you used PBTA for long campaigns?
Anyway, Streets of Mos Eisley can be downloaded from here: https://sentientgames.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/star-worlds/
Cepheus Deluxe aims to simplify many rules, and Position in space combat is a great example. It also replaces initiative (those with highest position choose if they want their action to happen before or after their opponent).
At the beginning of combat, pilots roll 1D + Piloting + DEX + Ship's maneuver. This is your starting Position.
If you want to attack ships with higher Position than you, you get a penalty (or restriction... or maybe prohibition).
There's also restritcitons depending on your weapon types (i.e.: fixed mounts are inflexible and may not attack without a favorable position). The Pilot must execute the Attack Vector action in order to allow the attack with fixed mounts (or main guns) when in an inferior position.
So, the position tracker/chart I made just lets you keep track how hard it is to hit your enemies.
I.e.: Ships placed in the top part have a better position than you; to hit them you need an Attack Vector, or to use Turrets. And you'd have a DM-3. You can hit those in the middle with DM-2, no other restrictions. Ships on the bottom are easy prey, you have a DM+1. Right area has DM0, and left area has DM-1.
So the chart/tracker is not... gamechanger, by any means. But I figured its a nice way to visualize the battle in a VTT. Perhaps someone will actually use it on a VTT and let me know if it was useful or at least cool to have.
cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/14190710
> This is the completion of what I had in mind for the "tactical map". > I must say, I didn't come up with the concept, nor the color palette. I got that from an image I downloaded from somewhere... But I don't remember where. Maybe the Traveller Discord? > > Anyway, the main image is very much tied to the M2E version of Traveller, but back when I made this image I hadn't fully commited to one ruleset (I'm both a heavy houseruler and heavy improviser). > > So here's one for Cepheus Engine: > > ! > > And here's one for Cepheus Deluxe: > > ! > > The Range tracker doesn't make sense for CD rules, but it looks cool and I didn't know what else to put there. :)
cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/14190710
> This is the completion of what I had in mind for the "tactical map". > I must say, I didn't come up with the concept, nor the color palette. I got that from an image I downloaded from somewhere... But I don't remember where. Maybe the Traveller Discord? > > Anyway, the main image is very much tied to the M2E version of Traveller, but back when I made this image I hadn't fully commited to one ruleset (I'm both a heavy houseruler and heavy improviser). > > So here's one for Cepheus Engine: > > ! > > And here's one for Cepheus Deluxe: > > ! > > The Range tracker doesn't make sense for CD rules, but it looks cool and I didn't know what else to put there. :)
I settled on Campaign Cartographer 3+.
It has a steep learning curve, but seems to be the most powerful tool by far.
This is the completion of what I had in mind for the "tactical map". I must say, I didn't come up with the concept, nor the color palette. I got that from an image I downloaded from somewhere... But I don't remember where. Maybe the Traveller Discord?
Anyway, the main image is very much tied to the M2E version of Traveller, but back when I made this image I hadn't fully commited to one ruleset (I'm both a heavy houseruler and heavy improviser).
So here's one for Cepheus Engine:
And here's one for Cepheus Deluxe:
The Range tracker doesn't make sense for CD rules, but it looks cool and I didn't know what else to put there. :)
The sun sinks below the horizon. Crooked shadows cast by the buildings fall on the streets like a funeral shroud, and reality melts where it is too dark for us to notice the silhouettes of creatures and other worlds.
Kultists, get ready to roam the streets of Metropolis and marvel at the terrors lurking the areas of our world where the veil is thin. We aim to launch the Kickstarter campaign for the new sourcebooks and scenario collections on February 3rd. Sign up here to be notified of the launch: https://bit.ly/kult2025
Traveller Discord?
Yeah. There's a very active Discord server for Traveller and all it's variants:
Love the art! Thanks for sharing.
From the outside, it seems like you’re close to finishing it. What’s next?
While learning Traveller I came across this video where he explains how to use a ruler to keep track of distances relative to other ships.
I liked the idea, but found a 20-inch ruler, just up to long range, a bit impractical. So I created this tracker.
I used black background and neon colors because I thought I would be playing with a VTT, but in the end I've only played in person. So I also have this PDF, in Ledger/Tabloid (11" x 17"). I don't think you'll find a printer that's able to print up to the very edge, so I'll let you decide if you'd rather scale it below 1" per square or just accept cropped stuff on the edges.
This was just a test I made while trying to get the hang of the Cosmorgapher3 addon for CC3+.
Basically I just took Seth Skorokowsky's map (linked in the comments of his Flatlined review) and tried to retrace it.
A trope, a seed
Back in the 90s, my GM ran a "Thieve's guild" adventure for D&D. You know the drill: something's going on in town, the PCs track a trail and find a secret entrance to a dungeon, they realize there's a thieves' guild creating the trouble, they deal with it and get the treasure. Then I found a few fan-written "thieve's guild" but had no resemblance to my friend's, just the main concept. Years later, while trying to wrap my head aroung Mage, I asked a friend what would be the "thieve's guild" equivalent for Mage (he said it was "defend a node"). I now call these "seeds", or maybe tropes (but I wouldn't call them that for a long while).
The milk run
Fast-forward to just a few years ago... I had discovered Shadowrun and felt dry with ideas for getting started. I googled for a while and came up with a reddit post recommending a "Milk run". Basically, have the crew tasked with snatching something from someone (the post suggests swapping briefcases), most likely a courier, and then just let them see how they go about it.
Perhaps you have to let them figure out how to track the mark or maybe give them a nudge. They get to decide if they want to do it stealthily or forcefully. Maybe the police arrives. Maybe the courier is armed and trained. And of course, maybe the patron never intended to pay them after delivery anyway.
Do you have any go-to seeds you like to use for SciFi games?
>Image by ttrpg.network/u/roflo1, based on milk in a bottle, Matt Bango, CC0 and Bol, Petit déjeuner, Muesli.
Google threw this at me... haven't read it, but at least it costs $0 to check it out:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/220027/esper-genesis-basic-rules
I created this as a prompt for a small one-on-one adventure for Traveller. A very simple adventure where the player found a gig where she was tasked to go scoop hydrogen from a gas giant.
This was also my first attempt at drawing a ship.
cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/13455043
Might as well cross-post this here.
> > Back to the map: I created it over a year ago, but hadn't shared it on Lemmy. As with many Traveller maps, a square is meant to be 1.5m (close to the 5ft used in most fantasy genres). > > >This space station design was commissioned, to the lowest bidder, by a local planetary government much to the horror of the IISS. And it shows that is was done on a budget. Sure, the comms are prefectly suited for a relay station, but it often feels like a death-trap. Just ask any of the employees. > > > >Made up of four general-purpose modules glued together, and then fitted to accomplish it's purpose, any outsider would think everything should work fine. However, many bottom-credit decisions were made and it might be just a matter of time until something goes wrong. > > > >For instance, the original design had a fourth spoke for an additional docking module, but it was scraped from the implementation and now this station only has a single docking port, usually occupied by the emergency escape pod. Mind you, the pod can seat 2 sophonts and the station has 4 or 5 regular employees (though it can house up to eight at a time), so any real emergency would lead to drawing straws. > > > >The escape pod itself is also bare-minimum, with only a 1G M-drive (and no J-drive). The two lucky survivors would arrive at the closest port after 4.5 days (just as much as the pod's life-support will last autonomously). > > > >If that's not enough to label it a death trap, just consider that most of the life support systems are phisically located in the station's center module, but only the docking module could be properly isolated in case of a hull breach. >
Aside from the ones mentioned, Star Wars also has the FFG system, right?
No hard rules at the moment. Though it's hard to judge if a digital image is truly "micro". ;)
That thought has crossed my mind. At first I thought it might be too broad, but now I'm thinking otherwise.
Maybe Lemmy isn't as big (yet) as I initially thought.
It’s… weird. There seems to be a lot of people who play it, but you’re right: we don’t hear much about it.
There’s a Discord server (not a fan of Discord myself, I get lost easily) with tons of users (and many publishers) very much active. Even r/Traveller has decent traffic (but r/cepheusengine not so much). There’s a relatively active T5 community at MeWe as well.
Maybe most players are happy to use Discord. Aaaand maybe I should be asking over there if there would be people interested.
Thanks!
Micromaps are quite forgiving. Maybe I can convince you to give it a shot sometime? :)
