Down on the (industrial) Farm; or company town and Latafundi, all in one !

For the new hellhole, I present another Bizarre UWP: a High tech, industrial high population Poor World......
Nevis B6339DC-C
Originally a hardscrabble colonial outpost, half penal colony, half dumping ground for losers and refugees from the collapse of the OLDCULTURE Empire, Nevis entered the long night in great obscurity and remained there until recontacted early in the third Imperium. Minimally habitable, and possessed of no great natural or artificial resources, Nevis shuddered along with only occasional contact and no known raids. Population –originally estimated to be in the 6-7 range was dropping (estimated 5 at recontact), and the local government had become quite repressive in encouraging austerity and survival at all costs.
Ironically, recontact by scout service encouraged the government to bankrupt the remaining resources and economy in attempting to find a local resource to export. And find it they did. A life form native to an inner, less pleasant planet in the system was transplanted to Nevis, in the hopes of developing a new source of protein. Unfortunately, it failed to completely adapt; and while it grew modestly, it was unable to reproduce, and additionally required intensive culturing to survive. All in all it would have been written off as yet another disaster in the colonies miserable history; except that final studies found that one result of decay after the life forms death was capable of easy processing into , locally referred to as Freem. Attempts to process the product on its native planet failed, and it became clear that the final product was a result of the source life form having initial exposure to its home environment, partial adaptation to Nevis’ ecosystem, and the interaction of native & Terran decay organisms following death; Further, the longer the life form was able to survive on Nevis, the greater the yield of Freem.



The local Government petitioned for, and received partial intervention by the scout service, allowing them to control access to the crucial final steps in the process, and to be able to negotiate export conditions from a position of strength; once deals were signed, and bribes finalized, the Government appealed for limited economic contact with its new partners, and the favored megacorps simultaneously turned the screws for access from the other side. *
The subsequent development of the processing industry was to either save the planet or doom it, depending on which side of the fence you lived on.
The need to produce the life forms on their native planet and then gather and safely move them to Nevis for secondary habituation (and eventually processing) pulled in significant off planet capital, and resulted in a boom to Nevis’ previously rudimentary space capacity. Off planet corporations involved in shoved money into the main city, and generously padded the accounts of the local government and the few wealthy native industrialists Rapidly a huge infrastructure was built on Nevis, absolutely dedicated to the management and production of Freem.

Money and technology rapidly became available, and the only remaining bottleneck was population – the husbandry required on Nevis was highly manpower intensive, and absolutely crucial. Accordingly, as time passed and the credits rolled in, the government moved most of the agricultural and industrial population to producing Freem, and simply purchased the needed food and goods from off planet. Additional labor was obtained by the same means that Nevis was originally settled by, as well as the reintroduction locally of the concept of immigration indentures.
Today, the system is a monument (of sorts) to the company town system of industry and a monoculture economy; almost no-one living in the system is uninvolved with the Freem trade, and the vast bulk of the population is little more than subsistence labor, generally hideously indebted to the government. It also should be noted that most of the rank and file suffer from the addictive nature of Freem, and would have significant problems leaving the system.


Thus, life on Nevis can only be said to have improved for the worse; there have been several investigations of reports of outright slavery on the planet, but the government and corporations involved have always been able to just skirt Imperial intervention. There have also been attempts to “export” the source of Freem, but all have failed – as a result, the “customs” patrol in the Nevis system is extremely large, tough and hard-bitten. Similarly, with a huge mass of workers to manage, the police militia is also large, well equipped, and almost entirely composed of off planet advisors. The government is still completely native, but almost all administrative and management positions in the “Nevis General Freem Corporation” (NGFC) are off world employees of the guest megacorps. The government has not changed except thru death or petty internal intrigues**, and is still highly controlling and repressive, and completely self-perpetuating. Indeed, the governing class is essentially hereditary, and, for all intents and purposes, a ruling caste.





* It should be noted that the “Freem Scandal” as the wholesale manipulation of the ISS contact regulations came to be known, did result in a complete revision of contact and interdiction procedures, as well as not a few retirements in the Scout Administration.



**for instance, the vice minister of economic development being fired and his responsibilities divided up between the Ag department and the department of trade; not exactly a tanks-in-the-town-square type of coup.



Adventures:

In the case of Nevis, the opportunity for mildly sociopathic adventurers should abound. Being hired as security team for NGFC can be lucrative for a game emphasizing mercenary contracts, either as cadre or basic security; or, for really mean GMs, as boots on the ground anti-insurgent forces; or hunting down illicit smuggler run farms (think pot farms in Mendicino in the 1980’s.

The system patrols are also an interesting source of employment – if the players have a ship with more than average weapons and/or sensors or engines (gee. Players with an upgunned hotrod. What are the odds of that ?) they can become part of the anti-piracy and smuggling patrols; again, to throw a bit of Moral quandary, perhaps the smuggler is not trying to get cut rate Freem products, but rather to get people off the planet.

Other possibilities are obvious also: they are the smugglers of pirates, or, perhaps, a Merc Cadre down on its luck that is hired by the insurgents to give them a chance; of just a rescue operation for off planet family who has lost people to the plantations.

Run a harmless mission to the capital as a courier; be contacted by anoff-planet executive who is looking for his son, who may or may not have broken a local law, or is reported as “captured or killed by insurgents”; and yet, there is a note that claims to be from him smuggled out of a plantation where he is enslaved……or is it a false flag action to wreck the executives career ?

Finally, consider that a mildly benevolent empire may well be looking for proof of servitude or other abuses, particularly by off-planet interests…….

Traveller worlds again: an enigma wrapped in a puzzle wrapped in a woogy story.

Ashigillii -4 (aka Croatoan )
E766000-0 -RSc

Ashigillii -4 is a potential gem for colonization: A standard atmosphere, ample Hydrosphere and slightly lower gravity all make it a classic and ideal garden world. Well situated in the primary star's habitable zone, its overall temperature is essentially earth normal; a minimal axial tilt and orbital eccentricity makes the planet;s seasons mild, varying from mildly cool to temperate across most of the globe. The local biosphere is at least 45% compatible with Terran metabolism, and numerous transplant species are found; very little of the non-compatible biosphere is toxic, but is simply non-metabolizable

The biosphere is well developed on both land and sea, and is reasonably diverse. No sentient life or sign of sentient life has been found

The system contains no belts, but two gas giants for refueling.

It is also completely empty of human life. Every colony placed on it has failed.

Early History

Available records and evidence suggests that Ashigillii was initially settled in the pre first imperial expansion phase, and possibly a second time in the early consolidation wars period by Vilani fleeing the New Empire. Regardless, when contacted by the first Imperium, it was found to be uninhabited, and enters the eternal Vilani archives as we know it today. Initial scouting reports suggest that the most recent colony had flourished for perhaps 20 years, but was been abandoned as the Imperium caught up with the settlers; however, no further colony has been conclusively traced to a migration from Ashigillii. Additionally, Archeological evidence suggested a previous colonization of the planet had occurred at least 100 years prior to the arrival of the refugees.

At this point, the world was left fallow as a potential site for later expansion, its records filed away, and the scouting teams moved on.

At some point immediately prior to the interstellar wars period, the planet was opened up for colonization by the first Imperium; the subsequent collapse of the first Imperium interrupted the effort, and the colony was isolated from contact with the remains of the Vilani Imperium. When contacted again by the Terran scout service, it was found to be uninhabited, and it was assumed that with the disruption of the colonizing effort, the population had been evacuated, and while no record of such was ever found, the final records of the Villani Imperium are especially fragmentary from this period, and this was simply written off as a failed colony and filed as a potential colony world.

A later attempt at setting up a colony to exploit the world  failed financially within the first year, and the initial colonization and construction teams were all relocated. The world remained fallow throughout the remainder of the second Imperium.

Later History (3rd Imperium)

Ashigillii was recontacted by the IISS of the third Imperium, and was logged as an undiscovered garden world - no significant records of previous colonization were found at that time. Again, Ashigillii was logged and filed, and essentially forgotten for several hundred years.

Eventually, the planet was identified as an ideal colonization venture and further surveyed by private corporations; political and financial wrangling resulted in it being opened to colonization by . The initial construction and settlement went extremely well, and the planet was found to have extensive exploitable resources, especially petrochemicals and rare earths. However, when the colonists and surveyors reported finding signs of previous habitation the parent corporation suppressed the news due to worries about previous claims or IISS intervention. At that point, the colony was on a semi-annual private communications route, approximately 8 parsecs from the nearest xboat link. The colony seemed to be prospering and had a permanent population of approximately 14000 until sometime in post colonization year 15, when all communications stopped.

The Event

The blackout was sudden enough that it was initially assumed that the courier (a private charter) had been lost and several months were wasted until it was confirmed that the courier was not the cause. A corporate investigation of the planet was then begun as soon as was feasible.
Subsequent findings indicated that:

1. The colony was in fact completely empty; there were no physical remains of the colonists; however some feral animals brought by the colonists were found, as were remains of other domesticated animals.

2. There was no sign of evacuation or civil disturbance; some disorder was evident, but it was unclear if it occurred as automated systems gradually failed or as a direct result of whatever happened to the colony.

3. All records were intact up to a period several days before the courier visit previous to the blackout; traffic analysis of that run indicates a sharp drop-off in communications across approximately 24 hours with absolutely no activity except for automated data dumps past that point. This unusual termination of the courier records was close enough to the normal end of file that it was not noticed until well after the fact. Interestingly, no messages were truncated; they simply became shorter, and less frequent.

4. No changes in the ecosystem/biosphere were noted. There were no novel or altered pathogens identified, and the few system capable ships were all cleanly hangared, and in one case prepped and fueled for takeoff.

5. Existing records of on planet communication show a sudden drop-off in communication with outlying areas, essentially co-incidental with the overall silence of the planetary grid.

It must be noted that despite no colonists or remains ever being identified, all investigation teams returned safely, and a semi-permanent research station was set up successfully for 18 months attempting to locate the cause of what was simply referred to as "The Event".

Unfortunately, the corporation’s final response was to cover up the expensive failure, and so, the research station was removed, and vague reports of non-compatible biosphere findings and excessive long term health risks were fabricated and reported to the (overworked) IISS, and the colony was reported closed and evacuated. It is believed that a final set of teams was placed on the planet to clean up the evidence of the event; in fact, the corporate colony was essentially erased.

Current History

Most recently, with the bankruptcy and breakup of the records of the world again became available; unfortunately, what were found were the bogus reports of the long term habitation risks, and the evidence that the colony was evacuated and closed down.
Marked as a low priority by the IISS, the planet was eventually resurveyed and found to be far more habitable than the corporate reports indicated. It was assumed that the reports were cooked by the corporation to keep it secret until it was possible to fully exploit the world. As a result, Ashigillii was again reopened for colonization in , this time by a consortium of small immigrant groups and business interests under IISS aegis.

Initially, the world seemed to prosper, and the locals again located signs of earlier habitation, which resulted in a small archaeological research station being set up on the planet. After 12 years, the colony had a population of perhaps 8000, when, once again, all communications ended. The IISS was able to respond far more quickly that the previous owners, (in part due to the IISS habit of setting up an off planet bases in systems under development). While the investigators were onsite within two weeks of the second event, the findings were essentially the same as from the corporate investigation, with the exception that far more of the imported livestock had survived. There were no signs of disorder, fighting, panic or flight. Records of the actual event do not seem to exist. There was a 24 hour period before blackout during which all monitoring or reporting devices were either shut down, failed, or suffered extensive memory degradation. Despite this, available data does not suggest any unusual power surges or EMP effects. Personal logs and diaries have either been unrecoverable, or have no useful information about the event.
A close examination of the colony indicated that the event may have had some precursor or warning. There were ample examples of vehicles pulled over and shut down, equipment shut off and stowed, etc. The power grids seem to have either been deactivated manually, or to have shut off via failsafe circuits when supervision was unavailable. There are a very few examples of damage attributed to guided vehicles or equipment suddenly losing control.
The planet was immediately red zoned, and placed under high quarantine; an extensive investigation uncovered the actual corporate information on the planet, and clues to its previous history were similarly located. In addition to exisiting record searches of the Villani and Terran periods, the onsite research station had logged evidence of at least two further small settlements during the long night, all failed. One such attempt was clearly by non-human sophonts,; Indeed, it was the investigation of these newly found settlements that had already begun unlocking the planet’s history when the Event reoccurred. Unfortunately, while the research station and its records were intact, the personnel had also vanished. Again the pattern was that of a slowdown of human initiated communication over perhaps 24 hours, followed by a complete cessation. Also, once again, the investigation teams all returned and have shown no ill effects. The planet is currently entirely interdicted by both IISS and Navy elements, and has been listed as highly toxic to human life in standard star data.

Referees notes:

This is pretty much up to you. I have a scenario for it, and if you think I’m going to blab, you’re sadly mistaken !

Some clues  have already been located:

• As noted above, one colony failed early in its history and was successfully evacuated. Records of this attempt are available , although incomplete and hard to locate. Nonetheless, Villani obsessiveness pays off. The records are millennia old, but can be found.
• One possibly significant fact found is that the proportion of Terran compatible local biosphere has clearly increased since the initial Villani survey. While unusual, this is not unheard-of, often the result of a poorly conducted initial survey being later updated.
• A final oddity is that there are no human or remains found in any of the settlements: even recorded deaths and burials will be found to be missing…and no, not freshly opened graves, clawed open from inside, either…just empty caskets. Cremated remains have, however, been identified.

 Enjoy !  Theories welcomed !

Another traveller hellhole: as primitive as can be.

Castaway E201789-7 G, A No bases



Perhaps one of the most isolated colonies ever founded by mankind, Castaway is aptly named, and was founded entirely by accident.

Castaway seems to be the result of a disastrously failed generation-style colonization effort. The colony, only recently located by the scout service, is on, or rather within, the sole iceball moon of a rogue gas giant/brown dwarf at least x parsecs from the nearest actual star system.

The moon is essentially a mico-Europa, with a large internal liquid water layer sustained by internal heat generated by the massive tidal forces generated by its companion. The main habitations are anchored to the bottom of the external ice layer, which is several kilometers thick. The actual surface is hard vacuum at near absolute zero. The water/ice zone covers a roughly circular area approximately 10% of the surface of the planet, and is likely the result of an early impact/meld with an ice body, possibly during planetary formation.

Little is known of the circumstances surrounding the no doubt desperate situation that necessitated the colonization of Castaway. It is clear that access to the liquid zone was obtained by impacting the asteroid based colony ship into the ice surface, hopefully after it was stripped and evacuated. Several beacons and at least one decommissioned shuttle have been found in orbits around both the primary, and Castaway, apparently in an attempt to mark their presence, as once the ice layer reformed no contact with the moon's surface was possible.

The surviving technology has been maintained at approximately TL 7, barely sufficient to support and maintain life in a subaquatic, low temperature microgravity environment.

Most technological equipment is adapted and recycled colony equipment; almost no new production is possible due to both the environment and the resource-poor nature of the moon; nonetheless, the original colonists, who seem to have been a fraction of the original colonists and crew, did have access to a large store of prefabricated and varied high tech colonizing equipment.

Almost all other resources available are scavenged from the wreckage of the original colony ship, and the asteroid hull. A few fusion plants are still active, along with a makeshift geothermal technology to provide heat and power to the habitations. Food is entirely based on either thermal based plant forms apparently introduced by the colonists, or vat grown protein and plants.

The habitations tend to be as self-sufficient and dispersed as much as possible, but an extensive communication system and submersible transport has maintained a mostly cohesive society, likely a testament to the constant struggle to survive.

The colonists have not lost memory of their origins, nor of the outside universe; however, it appears that the impetus for the initial colonization effort was to create a hidden haven for the human race, an ethos which is still strongly in existence. Accordingly, the society is extremely exophobic and opposed to any external contact. They essentially believe that they are the last true humans in the universe, and that an unspecified "evil empire" (physically resembling humans) has eliminated earth and all other colonies.

The colony as a whole is a loosely federated Polis, with full citizen participation in important decisions; otherwise, most of the habitations are governed by a changing board of expert technologists and biologists, who are quite ruthlessly and unforgivingly tested for competence and fired for failure.

The central goal in the society is survival and efficiency, and as a result individuals are very strictly tracked and monitored by the central committees, and each other, and observation is almost ubiquitous. This has become so ingrained in the population that the concept of privacy is almost non-existent; rather, the concept of "oversight" is taken as a basic human need. This observation is seldom if ever used for political or social manipulation goals; indeed such use of "oversight" is strictly taboo. Rather it is used to safeguard individuals in a very dangerous and unforgiving environment, and to allow constant refinement of working techniques. Indeed, given the strong social restrictions on oversight as a method of supervision or control, most inhabitants are acutely uncomfortable in its absence, and are highly agoraphobic when alone.

Population levels are strictly limited and limited to replacement. Life expectancy is low, and the population is as a whole fairly young. Education and training are universal, and begun at a very early age. Most individuals will be working for most of their waking hours, for most of their life.

Resources and property, as well as all production is entirely held in common, and strictly rationed and distributed on a strictly per capita basis; material goods or access to same is not used as a reward or benefit. Private ownership is limited to clothes, and, oddly, musical instruments and religious items.

Waste of resources or failure to recycle is considered a major criminal and moral offense. Interestingly, human life is also considered a scarce and perhaps the most vital resource (after power ) needed to preserve the colony (and thus the human race). Even the worst of crimes have no death sentence; however, the societies concept and implementation of "forensic resource recovery" would give even hardened criminals pause before offending.

Finally, it must be noted that the population has diverged significantly from the original human population, primarily due to adaptation to a constant microgravity environment. It is unclear if the colonists are aware of this divergence, and if so, what part it plays in their hermit/survivalist ethos.

The initial effect is that it is impossible for a baseline human to infiltrate their society.

Interestingly, all information suggests that the colonists are unaware of the orbital beacons which attracted the initial survey expedition; it is possible that this is the remnant of early, perhaps initial, schism in the colonist society.

The classification as an E starport is due to the scout presence on the surface. A semi permanent post has been created, as they anticipate a long, long period of study before contact, if it is ever deemed to be necessary.


Adventure hooks.

One obvious possibility is trying to make contact with the society. This would be a major challenge for a group –one that would have to be comfortable with a very “talky-thinky” campaign.

Another would be running the initial discovery by the scouts; note that in this case, the planet should still retain a type E port – insofar as the scouts quickly discover that someone has been here before, and plans to come back. Who ? Why ? well, seems that One habitation has broken the ultimate taboo; when a private ship had to enter the system, they found the colony and made contact with one of the habitations –the rulers of which are trading local resources for luxuries for the upper few. Obviously this is depleting the resource loop of the colony, and will likely cause its collapse if the mayor of habzone 8 doesn’t stop trading trace elements and compounds for really tasty food bars.

A less official scenario would be the players being hired to either find the colony by an undisclosed private company; the kicker is that when the colony ship set off, it was funded by the inventor and of a unique and very efficient fusion power plant (who was also owner of the start-up to exploit it) – a design which was never produced, an as she left with the colony ship and all known prototypes. The remains of the start up company were left behind, and actual ownership of the process has been passed from corporation to corporation, and been the focus of several unsuccessful attempts to replicate it, as it still has several unique advantages over current designs (GM: make up your own, could be as as simple as an extremely low production cost, could be as revolutionary as room temperature fusion). While it was supposed that the design and prototypes were lost with the ship, and have never been rediscovered, the patron has evidence that someone is trying to reverse engineer one of the exact designs of the originals with the goal of putting it on the market as their own invention. So, the mission is to find out where the unit came from. Turns out, the prototypes are the fusion units running the habitations –one of which recently vanished, condemning the local population to a rapid, icy, death.

Extra twisty bits (for those who need them) would be that the holding corporation is mostly interested in suppressing the design, as they really don’t hold ownership of it after all this time; a cheap, public domain design would cost Imperial Gizmotronics a serious hit in their profits . For further twistiness, make the reverse engineers are a subgroup of the same company with different goals; see, the patrons cannot kill the project, and its success may well put them out of a job; or at least supplant them. So, barring blowing their own lab (not really an option) they can either cut off the source of prototypes, or uncover the fact that it isn’t an invention of the rival department, or even that they killed a whole habitation to get it; thus possibly doing the right thing, for the basest of reasons.

Alternately, the reverse engineers might be agents of the inhabitants (only the highest levels know about this contact, see above as regards taboos) attempting to raise funds for the colony to be either improved or relocated, like say, to somewhere that isn’t the inner circles of hell. So, now we have the “big oil suppressing the water powered car” scenario.

Traveller world again: Truckstop of adventure plus adventure hook !

Another one from my campaign....

This would have been reduced to a pop zero rockball by the standard rules for tech and habitability if it/I was rules pure.  However, the vagueness of what exactly a tech level means (local production ?  Maintenance ? Local innovation ?  Best available ? Average?) is something I've always seen as a feature, particularly if one wants to have a universe full of the same old sameold.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present:


Truckstop of Adventure !!!



Ta's Rock D100120-6


An airless rockball in the outer system,Ta's Rock is a secondary link in a low traffic secondary route into Subsector from .

The Ta system's star is a smallish M2 Star of great age, possibly of the original galactic population. The system is dominated by an extremely large inner orbit gas giant ("Gigi")with an extensive debris belt. Ta itself is likely a rogue planetoid captured semi recently. No other planets exist
Ta itself has no water deposits, and the Oort cloud of is exceedingly sparse due to the great age of the system and the effects of the Gas Giant. Accordingly, the main source of fuel for the station is from scooping the Gas Giant.
Ta was originally colonized by a start up freight and transport corporation as a rest/refueling stop, but only the basic installation was completed when the company collapsed in bankruptcy, fraud and embezzlement. The rough and ready nature of the frontier judiciary resulted in the station being awarded to the inhabitants in lieu of back salary and contract payment. Those who decided to stay bought out those who wanted out, and incorporated as a joint ownership company.
The main resource of the station is a set of five modular cutters with fuel scooping modules and high thrust engines. Two are inoperable and currently being stripped for parts. The three remaining cutters make regular runs to GiGi to scoop fuel. The stations survival is due to the extremely dangerous nature of skimming operations off Gigi. The debris belt is massive and uncharted, and Gigi itself is a borderline brown dwarf requiring high thrust to escape and special protection for the crew. Few merchants entering the system are willing to make the extremely hazardous attempt, when the locals will do it for them for a very reasonable fee.
Population is approximately 50-90 persons mostly composed of six or seven families and some transient workers. Provides Fuel, Bar, Brothel and Bijou.
As noted, the locals sell fuel, but currently only unrefined fuel is available as their latest makeshift refinery has failed. Originally the station was supported by a dedicated (if small) refinery, that has long since broken down beyond repair It was then replaced by a junked small freighter with fuel processing modules. This, too has since broken down. Ships with a processor will be offered a good discount price on unprocessed fuel, if the ship will process an equal amount for the station.
It must be noted that the locals have lost at least two fuel skimmers to the operations off Gigi, and one of the disabled cutters is entirely due to a barely survived collision with what may have been a large lifeform in the upper atmosphere of Gigi. The locals will not provide pilots or up to date chart info on Gigi (likely useless in any case due to the complexity of the system) but have no objection whatsoever to outsiders attempting to skim the giant planet; it provides them with much needed entertainment when successful, and a source of much needed salvage when not.


The tech level reflects the effective level of maintenance possible on Ta. As noted, almost no support infrastructure was built before the original corporations bust, and the owners have little capital to bring it in. As a result, almost everything is imported, with very limited local technology or production beyond spacecraft service, recreation and habitability. Vacuum survival and food supplies can be maintained and even expanded , but little else not directly related to habitability. However, the inhabitants are no more than one or two generations removed from the original founding, and most are able to operate much higher tech equipment than can be maintained.
All permanents inhabitants are part owners of the station, and by default, the system. With the exception of semi-retired elderly family members, and one or two colorful retired travellers, all inhabitants are directly employed in servicing passing ships in one way or another, or in maintaining and feeding the station.

There is a small group of transients and drifters hired to fill some job unfillable or unsuitable for the locals; occasionally they will buy in and stay, but generally make their passage off, and leave. The economy is well described as being one of subsistence service.
Check out Trader Jim’s mobile Bar and Grill, but avoid the Vilanii frijoles.

Be nice to Sal, she'll be nice to you.


Adventure Hook:

During the last  war with the ENEMYPOLITY towards the end, a commerce raider (destroyer size, M6 J3) infiltrating deep behind imperial lines raided a research station investigating an ANCIENTFALLEN archaeological site, initially to resupply at an out of the way location, as it was mainly of academic interest.  What happened next suggested that it was anything but a boring academic dig.  When the raider left, it slagged the site, and apparently captured the archeology team, as no traces of survivors or remains were found.  The raider then apparently abandoned its mission, and fled at maximum speed for ENEMYPOLITY space.  Local planetdef pickets detected and engaged the raider as it entered SYSTEM, and while they were able to identify it, they were unable to stop its departure.  Imperial forces were notified.  Next citing of the RAIDERSHIP occurred in SYSTEM, again by local forces: in this case, the raider was closely followed by several Imperial ships of cruiser class an up, who immediately signalled an all ship mobilization to intercept the Raider; this included several Battleship & Battletender class ships.  Again unable to do more than track the Raiders exit, it should be noted that the entire imperial force was ordered to jump out in pursuit (leaving the system undefended), and the x-boat system was preempted to send an all systems alert ahead of the raider .  The further records are somewhat fragmentary as no Imperial report or acknolegement of the events exists, and much local data has been cleaned. Nonetheless, it is clear that the raider continued fleeing, utilizing (and revealing) ENEMYPOLITY supply caches throughout the sector -and indeed, marooning at least two other raiders which later showed up expecting to find supplies. At some point, a fast squadron of imperial ships did manage to intercept and damage the raider as it attempted jump -which apparently caused a misjump to occur.  This last factoid is gleaned from a comet miner who happened to be in sensor range of the raiders last battle.  The flight of the raider  was with obvious disregard for consequences (it frequently was seen to maneuver at the very edge of the safe combat limits of the class of ships, and was clearly being damaged by such) .  Combined with the massive imperial response, it is clear that they found somthing that seemed of extreme importance, vital enough to blow a raider network throught the subsector.

The adventure is to find it, a classic myth across the local area, and source of innumerable scams since then. However, in this case, the adventurers have access to new data -the sensor logs of the miner who was onsite at the raider's misjump which can be mined for an approximate vector, and evidence at Ta's rock that something entered the system one jump week later, and attempted (unsuccessfully) to refuel at GiGi.
Perhaps one of the old retired codgers at Ta is the miner ?  Or his son ? or just a deluded seeker ?  Perhaps its the final stop on a search of possible misjump exits based on the data from the sensors.

Regardless, the stage is set for an expedition to GiGi, especially when the players detect a faint ENEMYPOLITY distress beacon out of the electronic hash around the planet.......

Adventurer: New experience rules

The issue of experience in traveller is always difficult and often (cough, cough) contentuous.  To some extent, I think it reflects different genre styles.  The wellspring fiction of traveller does tend to value continuity more than the wellspring  fiction of Swords and sorcery as it was in the day. What a character is capable of  is a big part of that.  Intrerestingly, experience (from a character viewpoint) is one of the unchangingly simple elements of an FRP:  score points, go up.  SF seems determined to real it up by worrying in depth about training and etc., generally resulting in obscure or byzantine ways to improve characters.  Plus, what one tracks isn't experience points (easy) but compliance with the training program -which is a pain (ask any HR or manager).

 I know classic traveller has a way to improve characters, and if one reads it, it isn't the complicated or glacially slow  process it is often clamed to be.  And it isn't a constant process, one just makes some decisions, rolls some dice, and them waits until one has to roll again.   But the fact that after 30+ years it is still overlooked and misunderstood tells me that there is a problem.

So, in porting the traveller ethos to the Original RPG mindset, we run smack into that.  So, I've tried to devide an experience system that is front loaded (no tracking compliance) and simple; and yet a bit more than 1gp =1xp.  This is the new default experience system I'm proposing.  Comments and questions are solicited !

Plus, my own feeling is that I'll accept more power creeep in a fantasy setting than in a SciFi setting, where it seems more muchkinly. No idea why, really, just my gut reaction.




Regardless, experience seems to be one of the two  big style issues that differentiate traveller from Many Another Fantasy RPG (tm)

Increasing everything else (skills and characteristics): Simple Method

Assume that the campaign is broken into sessions, episodes and epics. Sessions are when you sit down and play; episodes are sessions that make up a specific story arc or chapter. Several chapters are an epic –or a chapter can be free standing. The intent is to allow players to advance something every three to five related sessions –so for a monster story arc, have several smaller ones, as that is where players will advance.

At the end of each session, if the player was present and has at least tried, each character gains one skill point. Ending a successful Epic or story arc gains a bonus equal to the episodes (sessions) involved. Note that one-offs or side quests don’t count for the bonus. Wildly successful, helpful or genre consistent play should also be given a bonus.

Unconnected or side sessions are just that; the players can get general experience, but not the bonus for completing an arc, and cannot spend them until an arc is completed.

After each chapter, during immediately subsequent session, a player can opt to improve one existing skill by spending skill points equal to the new level, and them rolling greater than the new level on 2d6. Extra skill points can be added at this point to increase the roll.

• If the roll succeeds, the points are expended and the skill increased by one.
• If the roll fails, no skill is gained, but the points remain; the player may spend one point to attempt to increase a different skill, repeating while points remain or until successful.

Only one skill may be improved per chapter, and only by one level, but the player may try several skills until successful. Note too that advancement can only occur immediately after a chapter. If desired, points may be saved for the next chapter resolution, but cannot be spent until then.
Instead of increasing an existing skill, a player may automatically gain a new skill at level 1 by spending 3 points. This too can only occur once, for one skill, per chapter.

Any physical stat can be increased by treating it as a skill equal to ½ the value of the stat.

Increasing characteristics may only improve the characters undamaged characteristics; also, the player must be in good health with regard to the stat in question.

A characteristic that has been reduced by ageing cannot be further increased

The Verne cannon.

By 1968, quite a few nations had joined what was sarcastically refereed to as the "fat man club".  While fusion boosted weapons were still a monopoly of the big two (USA/USSR, despite what they say about their allies and fellow countries), it had proven fairly easy to obtain the informtion and infrastructure to jumpstart a basic Fat-man plutonium bomb, or, if refining was the issue, a uranium little-boy or a Debner tactical nuke. In many cases, they were purchased whole on the black arms market, or even successfully salvaged from battlefields or wrecks.

Some minor unaligned clashes had already involved battlefield atomics and in three cases, larger fat-man size weapons used on cities, generally against non-armed neighbors to terminate conflicts (Montevideo, Kampala and  and Falan).  It was clear that for the smaller or non-aligned countries, an A-bomb, any A-bomb, was vital to ensure national sovereignty, much as a dreadnaught was in 1910.

As a result, no-one was suprized when Brazil and India announced that they would be holding a series of collaborative underground nuclear tests in both countries.  many regarded this as a propaganda ploy, showing the collaboration of the two major non-aligned nations. Additionally, adding UN observers was seen as little more than a publicity ploy, as was the insistence on the testing being underground; both countries and the UN had been pushing for a moratorium on above ground tests due to the already major biosphere damage from the nuclear conflicts of the past twenty years.

The suprise came when the test shots, six of them, occurred early, and almost simultaneously; more surprising was the realization that they were in fact, massive cannons using 150kt nuclear charges to loft over 15,000 tons of equipment and self deploying structures into orbit.  Three major Orbital command stations were quickly manned and finished off by crews waiting in orbit under cover of the UN orbital clearance forces which had been clearing wreckage and debris in orbit since 1963.  Within twenty four hours, the heavily armored and armed stations were weapons operational, and with the existing clearance craft had captured and deactivated or destroyed all non-UN orbital assets.  While the crews were small and initially had to live in their spacesuits (crew quarters were a lower priority than weapons) , they were invulnerable.

As the blindsided superpower alliances attempted to respond, conventional/kinetic weapons impacted in the near vicinity of all the NATO/PACT nearside lunar bases, and within uninhabited areas of the superpower homelands. With minimal casualties, and near total surprise, the UN and Non-aligned nations had seized the high ground.

The UN peacekeeping directorate, aka PAX, took command and declared all cislunar space and lunar nearside to be a demilitarized disarmed area under its jurisdiction, backed by an estimated 200 orbital nuclear weapons, some claimed to be as large as the 1953 Moscow busters.  Both superpowers blustered, and both learned that the threat was real when military groundside assets were hit by nuclear weapons; a brief attempt to destroy the stations failed partly due to lack of cooperation, and partly due to the fact that a 5000 ton armored and heavily defended station was a much tougher nut to crack than the earlier platforms proven so vulnerable in the previous wars.  Finally, too, when station two was critically damaged by one of the few joint strikes, the Nuclear Cannons (aka Verne Guns) lofted a cloud of simple but deadly unmanned ageis hunter killers (aka killer crowbars); soon after, a fourth station was also was lofted and deployed.  East and West were forced to the negotiating table, much as Burma and Urugay had been, and with equal humiliation and desire for revenge.

The terms PAX imposed by the  treaty of the Azores were simple.  Cislunar space was declared a demilitarized exclusion; military craft and platforms were forbidden, and all other assets in orbit were open to inspection at any time.  Military craft were similarly forbidden, except for transit through the exclusion zone.  Use of nuclear weapons Earthside were forbidden on pain of massive reprisal, initially nuclear, but later from the lunar mass cannons that PAX constructed.   It was also noted that the Verne cannons did not have to deliver their payloads to orbit.

By 1970, kicking an screaming, the superpowers had been dragged into a cold, conventional standoff Earthside and in orbit, although arsenals for deterrence began growing at a prodigious rate.  While far from safe, the immediate threat of nuclear holocaust was at least delayed, and local space made free for all.  Unfortunately, the solar system would be the next area of conflict. 


Next: Yes, at last we come to one of the two eras for an RPG campaign !

One very small, secretive step......

it will probably never be clearly know who the first successful lunar explorers were, nor for which side they served.  In a more peaceful world, perhaps, the moon landing would have been a public display of national will, or technology- essentially a piece of dramatic propaganda to humiliate the opposition.   In reality, the moon landings were  military missions to gain and map  the new high ground, and as such, as secret as possible.

It is known that across 1965 and 66 both east and west used nuclear propelled heavy lifters to orbit and then land materials on the moon to build the national bases, redoubts and missile silos.  What is also clear is that crews were already present on the moon, and had been for some time. 

While theoretically at peace, or at least ceasefire, both sides actively attempted to sabotage or impede the other sides construction once on the moon.  While only partly successful (both sides successfully installed military bases by 1967), this set the tone for the constant low level skirmishing on the Lunar surface.

While only a few missiles were installed by either side, they were uniformly armed with the massive new fusion boosted warheads that had been developed by the end of the orbit wars, making them potent final strike weapons.   Initially intended as deterrence weapons, their potential as first strike weapons had the actual effect of drastically destabilizing the shaky ceasefire between East and West.

By 1968, tensions were rising once again, and the lunar skirmishing was spreading once again to earth's orbitals.  Given that both sides had deployed ICBMs earthside with fusion warheads it seemed fated that the next outbreak of war would be conclusive, if not survivable.

However, in October of 1968, everything changed.

As above, so below.

The second orbital war was carried out both in space and on land.  The large demilitarized zones of Germany and Northern China became battlegrounds once again; but unlike the first conflict, the forces were small, highly mobile, and nuclear capable.  As with the Orbit war, the clashes earth showed that offense had greatly outstripped defense, and both sides rapidly depleted their available first line forces and came to use tactical nuclear bombardment to respond to enemy breakthroughs.  Due to the highly dispersed and small uit organization, the actual military casualties were quite small, but they represented the elite of both sides forces.

While the battlegrounds, still unrecovered from 1953, were much less densely inhabited than beforehand, the civilian casualties were enormous, and the collateral environmental damage was extreme. Both the superpowers homelands were largely safe from direct attack, but the overall damage and radiological contamination began to effect even the safest of homeland havens. By 1963, both sides were forced to institute food rationing, and a second world-wide famine was already spreading.  Most of the Third estate (as the nonaligned powers were known as to the media) were able to feed their populations, but only in the core countries, and even then at similarly rationed levels.  Nonetheless, the growing reliance of the superpowers on food imports from the Non-aligned powers gave the UN and PAX forces the leverage needed to broker a ceasefire.  The second orbital war ended with no political or territorial advantages gained by either side, and a bitter extended winter was to make 1964 one of the bleakest years in history.

Socially, nations that survived the post war years tended to become highly centralized, tightly controlled planned economies and societies.  Despite the vulnerabilities of such, metropolitan areas expanded in population, if not in size, with military installations moving as far as possible from the refugee choked cities.  With all sides populations becoming highly concentrated, and critical climate damage, a tacit understanding between the powers limited strike to military targets wherever possible.  Protracted nuclear war had come to stay.

In space, both sides had little to show that could be considered successful.  The willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons as a standard element proved that offense had again trumped defense. Orbital missle installations were spectacularly unsuccessful after the first hour of the war, and orbit denial strategies insured that no new stations could be deployed.  Use of indiscriminate orbital mines and simple debris fields insured that NEO would likely never again have permanent military stations.

While the rational solution would have been detente, and possibly a final negotiated end to the war, neither side was able to make the political and social sacrifices needed to do so.  As a result, as the war ended,  both sides reached for the moon to gain the high ground and impose a final peace on their enemies.

The attempts to reach the moon were both hasty, and desperate.  Of the four missions from both sides that attempted to establish a foothold, some were initially successful, but none survived to return.  The 1962 moon orbit missions resulted in a twin Soyuz missing return insertion and being lost; the newly deployed Apollo succeeded in achieving a return trajectory but suffered a series of failures culminating in a non-survivable re-entry failure.  The three Gemini landing mission racing the Soviet attempt resulted in one crashed lander, and a mutually destructive combat in lunar orbit between the orbital elements.  The single surviving two man USAF lander and the two single man soviet landers, as planned, touched down within five miles of each other.  The Lunar Gemini had the potential for earth return, whereas the Soviet LK landers did not.  Once the orbital assets had been mutually destroyed, contact was lost with both teams, and never regained. Limited observation  from earth  (orbital observatories being eliminated) suggested that both engaged in a long range duel with light mortars before a cross-lunar attempt was made by the marooned Soviet team to destroy (or possibly capture) the Gemini lander. At some point, at least one small tactical nuclear weapon was detonated, destroying the site and killing any surviving crew.

 If both sides managed to learn any lesson from the Lunar and Orbital debacles, it was this: Chemical rockets and small, fragile capsule-based craft were no longer viable weapons or long range systems; nor was orbit a viable environment for long term military assets.  Relentlessly, the quest for the high ground now turned to the moon.

Back to the cold war: Red Stars and Rockets

The second orbital war flared in 1961 and dragged on, continuing in fits and starts until ending in 1963, with the treaty of New Dehli.

While generally regarded as an accidental war, it was nonetheless inevitable in retrospect, given the continuing militarization of earth orbital (and, after 1959, the lunar surface).  A second, and less well understood cause was the fact that in reality, both sides were operating beyond the bounds of their current technology and resources.  In truth, many of the craft used thru this period would have(at best) qualified as testbed or prototypes; due to the press of the cold war they were tested in active missions, direct confrontation, or, post 1961, front line operations.  Accidents are a natural result of experimentation, and under the pressure of the east-west confrontation, easily become disasters. 

The 1961 catastrophic deorbiting of the newly deployed USAF Manned orbiting labratory#4 during a confrontation/provocation with Vostok 17  was the spark that started the second war. Both sides faced what seemed to be a sudden, unexpected  attack, followed by a sudden cascading  failure  of communication and observation capacity, possibly by hostile action, and escalated accordingly. 

It was little consolation that post war examination of blackbox data and operational telemetry concluded that the explosion of Aug 16, 1961 was due to an electrical failure in the reserve LOX tanks when the new station was brought up to full emergency power due to the approach of the Vostok Interceptor.  That the explosion/collision  destroyed the Soviet craft simply increased the uncertainty of what happened;  the disruption of both sides’ overloaded communication and orbital C3 infrastructure by secondary debris guaranteed that a tragedy became a war.

1953-58 : Post Bellum, Ad Astra

After the armistice, it was clear to both sides that the key to the next war was orbital superiority.  For the Western Alliance, this was underlined by the destruction of the strategic air forces in the final raids; even after enduring a nuclear strike and command decapitation, Soviet air defense was able to stop conventional bombing attacks.  The Soviet Union had a devastated capital to counter the arguments of the Air Marshals.  Both sides had made it plain that extensive use of tactical nuclear weapons had changed the face of land and sea warfare forever.  Across the board, it was accepted that expensive and extensive military assets were easily countered by much cheaper nuclear weapons, and the lions’ share of what military spending was left went to development of space assets. 

The Western alliance had advanced rail based launch systems, whereas the Soviet bloc had developed advanced rocket capacity.  Both immediately rushed to grab superiority with their homegrown systems, and to simultaneously catch up in the opponents systems.  

For the next five years the soviet rocket forces and the newly reorganized United States Aerospace force were able to loft communication and spy satellites and frantically competed to develop survivable manned vehicles; By early 1956, both sides had developed maneuverable orbital fighters and, more critically, preliminary launch platforms for nuclear weapons. Still grudgingly at peace Earthside, both were involved in discreet campaigns to destroy the unmanned orbital assets of their opponents.  By 1958, however, it was clear to both sides that unmanned assets in orbit were ineffective due to the ease of their destruction; unsurprisingly, both sides finally deployed manned platforms which were attacked and destroyed by their opponents.

Next : The first Orbital War.

and then.....1953: Project Prometheus and Operation Fleaflicker

The war has been stalemated since the soviet thrust across the Rhine was cut off and destroyed in 1950. Vast air attacks on the UK have consistently kept it unusable as a base for long range strikes on the Soviet homeland.  Mass B-29/50 raids from south France or Iceland have been consistently unable to penetrate past Poland  or the east Baltic sea without destruction. Leningrad was damaged by Atomic weaponry at the cost of 70% of the strike aircraft in the most successful such raid. The Mig-15 has proven to be a terrifying air defense fighter against unescorted bombers, even the new B-36 - of which half were lost in the Leningrad raid. By 1952 the Soviet R-1 (the "super v-2") is deployed in a nuclear air defense variant effectively sealing off Pact airspace from large formation attacks.

On the ground, Germany and Poland have absorbed dozens, perhaps a hundred nuclear strikes from small dirty tactical strikes up thru the 50kt Nagasaki busters. East and west line up on opposite sides of the Rhine, keeping dispersed and dug in against tactical strikes.  R-1 and the new R-2 rockets occasionally bombard eastern France and Southwest UK with Diebner bombs and radiological weapons. Both sides are locked into fortress economies, currently safe from attack, surrounded by devastated allies.

Nov 7, 1953, Cold Lake USAFB, Alberta, Canada: Project Prometheus.

Seven orbital Bombers designed by Eugene Sanger from his original Silbervogel Antipodal bomber scream into the air at the end of  10,000 foot long rail tracks. Launched in three waves, the bombers carry seven Atomic bombs, three of the now all-too-common fat man design, four carrying Super Oralloy Weapons estimated at a half megaton each - an order of magnitude more the the fat man bombs.

One of the rail boosters of the second wave explodes at separation, destroying Prometheus 5 and it's launch track; the remaining two rails launch the final bombers successfully.  Two of the remaining six break up and are destroyed as they begin skipping off of the atmosphere.  All will be destroyed during final re-entry, but four will deliver their bombs first: two superbombs on Moscow and two fat man bombs on command and control sites in the heartland of Russia. The capital and command bunkers are pulverized.  Amidst the hundreds of thousands of casualties, two key ones are included: Stalin and Beria; as well as Molotov, Malenkov,  Bulganin,  most of Presidium and Stavka command including Marshal Zhukov. The Soviet military and government is effectively decapitated; even more, news of Stalin and Beria's death creates an instant power struggle among the few survivors, paralyzing the response.

Operation Fleaflicker
As the strikes in Russia are confirmed, the remaining long-range bomber and Ficon squadrons launch from the newly built Frobishers bay AFB, passing over the ruins of Thule on their way to Russia.  However, Soviet air defense is hampered but not crippled; few bombers make it to targets past suicidal fighter attacks and massed air detonations of nuclear weapons.It is the effective destruction of both the NATO's  strategic air forces, and  the soviet fighter command.  The survivors will land, ditch or bail out across northern Canada, Greenland and Scandinavia.

That night, as the bombers and their fighters are attacking  soviet airspace, NATO  commits  all remaining ground force reserves in what is to be the last, desperate offensive of WWIII. Widely dispersed NATO forces cross the Rhine; winter slows down the attacking forces and burdens supply, but gives tactical surprise and removes the specter of nuclear air attacks from the equation.

Within three weeks, NATO forces are at the Wesser, Main, and Danube and the uneasy alliance that currently rules the USSR (Nikita Kruschev, and the only surviving Marshals Ivan Konev and Vasily Sokolosky) requests a cease-fire. With logistical support failing across the blasted German battlefield,  NATO, quite literally on its last legs desperately grabs the olive branch and accepts an indefinite armistice.  Germany between the Wesser and the Elbe becomes the northern region of a DMZ that will stretch to the Adriatic. The troops remain on the lines, and will for the next thirty years; at least the wounded will be home by Christmas.

Next....so how does this get us into space ?

 

So.....1949.

So, I'm thinking on the whole retro-rockets red glare setting (cold war in space) .  The main difference (or POD as the alternate history hipsters call it) is this:  Stalin had access to something that he felt was a useful counter to the Allied A-bomb much sooner than the actual 1949 date that the Soviet A-Bomb arrived on the scene.  My assumption is that given an earlier counter, his actions 1946-1949 would largely be similar, or at least similarly motivated as his actual actions before his death in 1953.

So, this opens the question, what was his action plan for the USSR post WW-II ?

But first, a digression.

Well, in all truth, we have nothing but speculation about alternates.  Particularly so in this case, as Stalin played his cards very close to his chest, tended to have multiple plans that would be modified by real world changes, and never told anyone what he was doing.  And he lied. And used threat and intimidation.  And lied.  Plus, if you looked cross-eyed at him, you died.

That said, I'm not a historian, so I can take the luxury of making decisions about questionable issues with input from the game setting I want to describe rather than relying entirely upon documented facts.  So, while all the following is at least,  as I see it, possible, it is not necessarily likely.  In fact, the most likely possibility, insofar as we have no idea at all what the actual quantifiable probabilities involved were has to be exactly what happened in the real world.   Which, due to a lamentable lack of nuclear torch fighters duking it out among Jupiter's moons doesn't work for the setting I want.  So, I'll go with some other outcomes.

However, the "and then Nikoli Tesla/Albert Einstein/unnamed Genius/alien benefactors invented/introduced grav. drive in 1929/1939/1949" has been done before (did you notice ?) and tends to create a future Alt universe with what we think of as the future as envisioned by us, now.  Make sense ?  I suppose I'm interested in "what did the future look like in the 50/60's to those in the 50/60's", and how do we get there in a game ?

So, what defines that period for me ?
1. Cold war and global polarization
2. Inevitable apocalyptic conflict
3. Crap computers and the last generation of narrow access to information and communications.
4. Crew cuts, lantern chins: jocks and nerds, as opposed to slackers and geeks.
5. Less pesky information about the solar system.
6. BIG projects, engineering uber-alles. Skunk works.


More to come.

Preview of Races for Adventurer: Elves from before Legolas, and why we dare not go a'hunting.....

Fey

The fey are typified as long-lived, highly intelligent, magically proficient humanoids, often more slender and sometimes taller or shorter than mundane men. While it may be simply Fey propaganda, they are usually more intelligent, graceful and beautiful than mundane man, often having much higher technology (or magic) than is available to mankind. They can be an alternate evolutionary track that evolved in a high magic environment, dwellers in or from an alternate plane, decadent survivors of an earlier race, or embodiments of nature or sprits of the air (or some such). 

They tend to be aggressively secretive, dwelling in magically hidden refuges from the grubby, human infested world.  Their homelands are very dangerous to the uninvited, combining cunning illusions, traps, and good old arrows to the liver from ambush.  Those few that do venture out into the world are often aloof, and always have their own agendas and goals, which will dominate their behaviors.  Humans and other such are either treated as annoying pests, barely sentient savages or, at best, cute, but none to bright pets.

Being extremely long lived, they are certainly possessed of far more skills and spells than a typical human could ever learn. Despite these advantages, they suffer from some weaknesses: they cannot break a promise, harm their guests or enter a house uninvited, nor can they abide priests or holy artifacts; taking a -3 on all rolls while within sight of a holy artifact, and 1 pt of damage each round they are touching either.

They cannot be magically healed by priests, and can never be resurrected.  Finally, they are traditionally unable to tolerate iron and take 1d6 from any contact with iron, and double damage from any iron weapon.  Alloys of iron (such as steel) may or may not reduce or retard this effect at the game master’s discretion.

Fey player characters must be assumed to be very

young members of their race, perhaps outcasts, or youths on a walkabout before settling down.  Any fey character is rolled with a +2 DEX, -2 STR and a minimum INT of 8.  Available careers include Fighter Mage or Other. Fey may always choose to make one skill roll per term on the Mage tables.  Fey that fail enlistment automatically spend a term in Nobility.  All All have an indeterminate age, do not

suffer from aging, but may not spend more than 5 terms in their career.  For a variety of literature related reasons, all elves gain Notable(spellcasting) and Notable (weapon: sword or bow)

For a less elf-welfy nicey-nice earth-spirity view of the Fey, add the following ability to either the Lords of the Fey,  or to all Fey (for maximum effect).  Fey are natural, but limited shapeshifters.  They can take the shape manners and voice of any creature they know of or imagine, gaining all of its basic physical abilities within certain specific limits.  They may be as small as a (human) thumb, or as large as three times normal human size.  Their mass and strength remain the same regardless, and as a result most forms tend to human size or smaller.  The Fey gains any ability or skill that is based on physical structure, subject to the physics or lack therof in the campaign world.  Thus, wings let you fly regardless of mass (in most fantastic realms), and stingers produce poison, but invisibility is not possible.

Additionally, while any type of form may be chosen, they may never take the form a specific creature.  Thus, the form of a huge tiger might be chosen, but not the specific one eyed tiger-king of the local jungle; likewise an inhumanly beautiful human or humanoid may be taken, but not the specific form of the king, or an adventurer.  Essentially, their inherent self-centered ego and lack of empathy  makes it impossible for them to  take the form of any recognizable individual other than themsleves.   

Finally, while they are able to switch forms as humans do clothing, they definitely have a favored form, which is highly individualistic, and in many ways, intended to distinguish them from other Fey.   Note that fey forms are treated as a unique possession of a particular Fey –much as with Coats or Arms, or less majestically, clown faces.  The prohibition on imitating another individual applies to the favored form of another Fey.

If the shapeshifting option is used, players should not have access to it; this may or may not rule out player character Fey, or it may limit it to very specific areas or situations if the GM so desires . An example would be only to allow Fey shapeshifting only in their home forest (or other very local home area), or perhaps requiring players to renounce it so as to be able to wander the world and not be bound to  their home.

Updates of the swords and sorcery old-school ancient cities of myth, adventure and eldritch peril !

Or somesuch.

Thanks for the comments on the previews, especially Greg. Part of the problems is just the difficulty of getting tables to format correctly when moving from word to blogger to the readers browser, (and I'm working on that), and some from bloggers odd decision to truncate at least one post (thus the duplicates); but the other part are some omissions by me.

 So, here's some corrected text:

Ruler

None	Might makes right; the strong do as they will, and the weak do as they must.
Family	Rule  and law applied on a family by family basis
Tribal	Clan based, families have common rule and decision making
Council	A small group of rulers make laws and policy.  Membership is generally quite open,  and terms limited.
Oligarchy	As Council but membership is limited to a small subgroup  of the demos.  Entry into the subgroup is possible, but limited or difficult. May be obvious or covert, defined by law or custom.
Autocracy	As Oligarchy, but the subgroup is generally small, socially  defined, and closed to new members; Terms are often defined by the members. Invariably obvious, generally legally defined
Factional	No one authority controls the polis.
Conquered	The Polis is a conquered possession of another; rule is imposed by the conqueror with little input locally.
Dictator	Rule by a single person, generally chosen to deal with a crisis, with limited term but unquestioned power and support. Ruler type should be rerolled at +2 once term ends.
Dynastic	As dictator, but it has become inherited, either thru families (as with a king)  or institutionally (as with a theocracy), and potentially of unlimited term.
Tyrant	As dictator, but with unlimited term, and support is irrelevant; often replacing a Dynasty, and/or the start of a new one.

Polis is the city (or town) Demos is the population of the Polis. Term is the time any one member can expect to remain in power.

Secondary characteristics are always rolled with an unmodified D6, and represent ways the primary characteristic can be expressed.  These should only be used when one does not have a clear idea of the characteristic in question, AND have a need for its expression in the game.  If needed, each primary characteristic has several additional descriptors, with each having a range of values; for example, Population can have the additional descriptor of Morale: defeated vs jingoistic.  If this is needed, simply roll a d6 to determine where on the range the city is for that secondary characteristic. A roll of 2might indicate a sullen, pessimistic general mood, whereas a 5 might indicate extreme patriotism and belief in their citries superiority.   Optionally, if this is not granular enough, roll 2d6-2; this gives a more detailed range, but also usually produces middle values, which, while likely more realistic, for me isn't very helpful, nor in keeping with the goal, which is generating cities for adventure, not sociological description.

Primary	Secondary(roll 1d6 for range)
Population	Openness vs. Insularity
	Religion: Few vs. Many
	Morale: defeated vs jingoistic
Wealth	Source: Trade vs. Treasury (wealth is mobile/situational vs. hoarded)
	Military quality: Poor vs. elite
Size	changes in size: Declining vs. Expanding
	Age: Ancient vs. new
Ruler	Complacency vs. Aggression
	Allegiance: local vs. distant
Law	Ruler: stability vs. instability
	Consistency: arbitrary vs absolutely codified and inflexible
Influence	Diplomacy vs. Military means of control of neighbors