Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The current goal is to create a swords and sorcery setting for....Traveller !

The first draft idea is that the players have a nasty misjump somewhere in SOL system, and end up in a decaying orbit around a nasty world with a dense tainted atmosphere(X/E859XXX-3).

They can break orbit and try for repairs, or land, but not both. The system has some kind of brioadcasts -on a very non-standard band and unitelligable; and what may be a cleared landing area, which on observation seems to have a badly overgrown wreck of a huge ship of antique design. In fact, and IW period experiemntal Jump colony ship.

There are ruins concentrated on the mid coastal area, and around the landing area -which is now above the anoxic level, although it wasn't originally. At least one ruin is on the plateau.

What has happened:
The planet is earth in the perian era, at the height of the mass extinction/ecocollapse. The misjum they experienced has happened before -possibly more than once. An experimental colony ship -one of the first equipped with the new J2 drive, misjumped just after the 3IW (the bombardment); and ended up here. It was designed to reinforce an existing haven colonywhich was already established, so it had limited colony equiptment -although it had some, intended as upgrades or replacements for the haven.

The players will be able to figure much of this out without trolls if they have access to any kind of historical database. The actual ship identity and mission was highly classified, but became a mystery after the wars, so a difficult task resolution will be required, unless they land and explore.

The ship is stripped and badly eroded - it is clearly older than even the gap between the players time and it's fateful launch.


Clearly the survivors were able to set up a colony, starting with an initial settlement near the hul; however, it is clearly abandoned and stripped. No bodies, very little except for permanent buildings, and obvious abandoned farms and even parks. Suggestion is that at the time it was abandoned .the survivors maintained a TL2-3 with some higher TL in weapons (4-5), agriculture(5) and filter tech (5)-it also shows signs of long term habitation; Cached records and plaques as well as general remains and detritus(classic citry on a hill issues as in , say Ur) will be found suggesting at least 500 years occupation, with considerable cultural divergence across this time. Settlements spread to the area around the plateau, and boomed.

At the end the players will descover unmistakable evidence and records of some kind of attack.....and suggestions that the city has been abandonded for at least another 2000 years.

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