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Bringing the Para-Imperium to Traveller
12 months ago
General
My carrd: https://zarpaulus.carrd.co/
After years of fiddling with the Para-Imperium or Parahuman Space setting, I have the bones of a roleplaying game set in the setting using the Cepheus system.
Tentatively titled Salvaged Heroes: Wreckage of Empire, this game takes place in the post-Federation era, just like Horizon’s story. The default assumption will be that your characters will be scrappers hunting for shipwrecks and abandoned bases containing valuable technology or resources. Your character options include a jaded spacer, a grizzled ex-soldier, a curious scientist, a bored oligarch’s child, or even a technomage wielding technology beyond anyone’s understanding. The party may even have a ship, which they can customize using Cepheus’ tried-and-true ship-building system.
The Cepheus system is an OGL fork of Mongoose Publishing’s first edition of Traveller, the modern version of one of the oldest sci-fi RPGs. It uses a simple 2D6 system where most checks are made by rolling two six-sided dice and adding your characteristic and skill modifiers, typically succeeding on a total of 8 or higher. Instead of having “classes” and “levels” your character’s skills are primarily determined by a “Lifepath” system in which you roll to determine their life experience and training up to the start of the adventure. This means that PCs start out with a bit of seasoning and are relatively competent in the areas of their expertise.
The System Reference Document is free to read here if you’re interested: https://www.orffenspace.com/cepheus-srd/index.html
That said, like in many “Old-School” games, combat is lethal. Most PCs will only be able to survive one or two hits without heavy armor. In the older editions of Traveller PCs could famously die during character creation, though at most you’ll only wind up with some expensive prosthetics in Salvaged Heroes (unless you want to play hardcore). In the course of your adventures you might also discover Federation medical technology that can increase your survivability.
After finding your first FedTech wreck your campaign might head in a variety of new directions. You could be like Horizon and become super soldiers, drafted into an interstellar invasion. Or you might be Federation survivors newly awakened from cryo-stasis, seeking to make a way for yourself in the strange new world you’ve discovered. Perhaps you’re residents of a primitive world trying to build a functioning spaceship so you can leave. Or you’re indentured employees seeking a way to escape your corporate masters. The possibilities are endless!
Changes from the SRD: To fit the Parahuman Space setting, I had to change some things in the Cepheus System Reference.
Parahumans: Traveller/Cepheus assumes humans or human-like characters, with aliens generally included as a kludged-in afterthought. I’ve developed a system where players can build their own parahuman or xenosophont characters out of a set of Genetic Traits and Metabolic Adaptations. You’ll even be able to add or remove traits with sufficiently advanced technology.
Tech Levels: Traveller generally assumes that artificial gravity and faster-than-light travel will be discovered long before (Tech Level 9) cybernetic and genetic augmentation (TL 11). Biotech is central to the Para-Imperium, while gravity control doesn’t appear until very late in the Federation’s reign and FTL is flat-out impossible, so I shifted the former down to TL 9 (near future) while the latter is at TL 12. Prototype FedTech can go up to TL 13 while some advanced successor states (such as the Ronkalli) and the Destroyers can reach TL 15.
Rockets: By default Traveller ships use reactionless drives based on gravity control to maneuver at sub-light speeds. Since I moved gravity control up to TL 12 the majority of spaceships in Salvaged Heroes use nuclear reaction drives. Traveller has rules for reaction drives, but they use a lot of fuel, with most ships only capable of carrying enough for a few hours of thrust. But while writing an article on sub-light travel for the Journal of the Traveller’s Aid Society (keep watch for JTAS #17 this coming year!) I realized that spaceships could coast for the majority of an interplanetary voyage, taking about as long as a typical interstellar voyage in Traveller and using comparable amounts of fuel. And if you’ve seen The Expanse you’ll know that a single star system with nuclear propulsion may have dozens, if not hundreds, of populated planetoids.
If a star system is still too small for your players, they can re-discover a wormhole to another system. Or salvage a prototype ship with gravity drives capable of relativistic travel, it might take years to reach another star from the perspective of those left behind, but it’ll only feel like weeks to the characters on board.
Keep watch for Salvaged Heroes: Wreckage of Empire, coming to Kickstarter in 2025 (hopefully).
Posted using PostyBirb
Tentatively titled Salvaged Heroes: Wreckage of Empire, this game takes place in the post-Federation era, just like Horizon’s story. The default assumption will be that your characters will be scrappers hunting for shipwrecks and abandoned bases containing valuable technology or resources. Your character options include a jaded spacer, a grizzled ex-soldier, a curious scientist, a bored oligarch’s child, or even a technomage wielding technology beyond anyone’s understanding. The party may even have a ship, which they can customize using Cepheus’ tried-and-true ship-building system.
The Cepheus system is an OGL fork of Mongoose Publishing’s first edition of Traveller, the modern version of one of the oldest sci-fi RPGs. It uses a simple 2D6 system where most checks are made by rolling two six-sided dice and adding your characteristic and skill modifiers, typically succeeding on a total of 8 or higher. Instead of having “classes” and “levels” your character’s skills are primarily determined by a “Lifepath” system in which you roll to determine their life experience and training up to the start of the adventure. This means that PCs start out with a bit of seasoning and are relatively competent in the areas of their expertise.
The System Reference Document is free to read here if you’re interested: https://www.orffenspace.com/cepheus-srd/index.html
That said, like in many “Old-School” games, combat is lethal. Most PCs will only be able to survive one or two hits without heavy armor. In the older editions of Traveller PCs could famously die during character creation, though at most you’ll only wind up with some expensive prosthetics in Salvaged Heroes (unless you want to play hardcore). In the course of your adventures you might also discover Federation medical technology that can increase your survivability.
After finding your first FedTech wreck your campaign might head in a variety of new directions. You could be like Horizon and become super soldiers, drafted into an interstellar invasion. Or you might be Federation survivors newly awakened from cryo-stasis, seeking to make a way for yourself in the strange new world you’ve discovered. Perhaps you’re residents of a primitive world trying to build a functioning spaceship so you can leave. Or you’re indentured employees seeking a way to escape your corporate masters. The possibilities are endless!
Changes from the SRD: To fit the Parahuman Space setting, I had to change some things in the Cepheus System Reference.
Parahumans: Traveller/Cepheus assumes humans or human-like characters, with aliens generally included as a kludged-in afterthought. I’ve developed a system where players can build their own parahuman or xenosophont characters out of a set of Genetic Traits and Metabolic Adaptations. You’ll even be able to add or remove traits with sufficiently advanced technology.
Tech Levels: Traveller generally assumes that artificial gravity and faster-than-light travel will be discovered long before (Tech Level 9) cybernetic and genetic augmentation (TL 11). Biotech is central to the Para-Imperium, while gravity control doesn’t appear until very late in the Federation’s reign and FTL is flat-out impossible, so I shifted the former down to TL 9 (near future) while the latter is at TL 12. Prototype FedTech can go up to TL 13 while some advanced successor states (such as the Ronkalli) and the Destroyers can reach TL 15.
Rockets: By default Traveller ships use reactionless drives based on gravity control to maneuver at sub-light speeds. Since I moved gravity control up to TL 12 the majority of spaceships in Salvaged Heroes use nuclear reaction drives. Traveller has rules for reaction drives, but they use a lot of fuel, with most ships only capable of carrying enough for a few hours of thrust. But while writing an article on sub-light travel for the Journal of the Traveller’s Aid Society (keep watch for JTAS #17 this coming year!) I realized that spaceships could coast for the majority of an interplanetary voyage, taking about as long as a typical interstellar voyage in Traveller and using comparable amounts of fuel. And if you’ve seen The Expanse you’ll know that a single star system with nuclear propulsion may have dozens, if not hundreds, of populated planetoids.
If a star system is still too small for your players, they can re-discover a wormhole to another system. Or salvage a prototype ship with gravity drives capable of relativistic travel, it might take years to reach another star from the perspective of those left behind, but it’ll only feel like weeks to the characters on board.
Keep watch for Salvaged Heroes: Wreckage of Empire, coming to Kickstarter in 2025 (hopefully).
Posted using PostyBirb
Good stuff and good luck.
