Solomani/Terran Name Generator

Faced with possibly having to name the whole 480+ crew of the Deepnight Revelation (well maybe only some of them) I started looking for a better way to generate "ordinary" names since the standard (including my own) Traveller Word Generators are very hit and miss - particularly for languages you know! A quick hunt on the web found that https://forebears.io/ had lists of the most common 1000 first and last names globally. Whilst the list is bound to have some biases it certainly seemed to be pretty representative, with strong showings from China/Africa/South America - far better than most "baby name" lists. So I screen-scraped the two lists and dropped them into a little Javascript app that just randomly matches a first name with a surname. The list didn't have any gender information, so you'll have to check that yourself if it's vital, but otherwise I think the app generates really usable names - and moves nicely away from the Anglo-Saxon centric naming that can dominate in some SF RPGs.

You can find the app here:

http://www.taunoyen.com/traveller/solomaninames.html

Next step will be to add it into my Traveller Word Generator so you can get Vilani/Galangic first/last names matched with Solomani last/first names!

Travellogue - Journal Software for Traveller, 2D6 SFRPG and more - WIP

 

This is an itch I've been meaning to scratch for years and have finally got around to doing something about. I've always liked the idea of (near) real-time-Traveller, playing Traveller so that one real day or hour represents one game day or hour. So Traveller almost becomes like an ARG, something that just exists alongside your own daily life. Now I'm not too fussed about the "real-time" bit, it's more the idea that if I have an idle moment I can quickly move an adventure (that is probably a part of a longer campaign) forward. How else could I hope to reproduce the DGP trip from the Spinward Marches to Core and Terra?

Over the years I've tried to do this in various ways - in a paper notebook, in Word, on blogging software or in a mobile phone notepad app, but none have done what I wanted - which was to be instantly available anytime, anywhere, quick and easy to use, and give me rapid situational awareness - where I was, what I was trying to do, and where I was trying to go.

So finally I've written a web app for it. I've also taken the opportunity to learn some Node.JS and Redis Key-Value store tech and I think it's a stack I can really work with.

The main screen on the app (see above and below) has four main sections:

• At the top is your current status, what sector/subsector/system/world you are in, what day it is, how much cash you have, who's in the team, what ship you're on and what you are trying to do. Instantly you know what's going on. Key fields are also hyperlinked to Traveller Map and Traveller Wiki.
• In the centre is the big text box to write your journal entry. This could be one line or a whole adventure write up. There are also buttons to increment the date, and if you want to keep track of time do that in the text.
• At the bottom are all the previous journal entries, newest at the top, so you can see what you did the last few times - and all the way back to the start
• At the right is the only thing that really makes it Traveller (or even SF) specific with not only quick links to the Traveller Map and Traveller Wiki, but also links to specific and collections of web based Traveller apps (e.g. NPC gen, mission gen, word gen), and a few embedded Javascript apps for the most common functions (space encounter, system generation, surface encounter etc). There's also a die-roller (including Fate and Flux dice)

I've been using it for a week or so, trying to cross the Spinward Marches from Regina to the Zhodani Consulate at Chronor, and apart form a few bugs it all working out really well and actually giving me some sense of journeying through Traveller space.

Although I'm writing it primarily as solo tool there is no reason why a GM shouldn't use it to help run and record an adventure, and no real reason why you shouldn't use it in non-Traveller space settings, or even beyond SF (just pretend Sector/Subsector means something else and ignore UWP!) I'm thinking about doing a Twilight 2000 Adventure next (and of course you can have multiple adventures running at the same time). A key thing, which I don't intend to change, is that there are no mandated mechanics in the system, ultimately it's just you writing things and updating fields.

So it's a work in progress, and probably a few months from Alpha yet, but hopefully I can get it opened up to Alpha and then Beta users as the year progresses. 

Whereas my much delayed Port2Jump app took a very simulation based approach and got very bogged down as a result, this is very much a narrative tool, and has been a lot easier to pull together as a result - all the really clever stuff is in your head.

Any thoughts as to the sense of the idea and interest in the app welcome, as well as wish lists of features!

Here are a couple more screenshots to whet your appetite.

In-built UWP description pop-up

In-built Cepheus based ship encounter pop-up

 

Empress Marava in Mozilla Hubs - v1

 

About 10 years or more ago I built a full scale model of an Empress Marava class Far Trader in the Second Life virtual world (see image below). Whilst SL is still a great place it doesn't have the traction and mindshare of some of the more recent Social Virtual Worlds, and crucially you can't really use a VR headset with it. 

Empress Marava bridge in Second Life

So I've started on a project to try building Traveller environments in Mozilla Hubs, which seems to offer the best combination of capabilities and accessibilities of the current crop of worlds. Vitally  it used WebXR - so everything runs in your 2D browser and is accessible from an ordinary URL, and in a VR headset you just point the browser at the URL to get in - no software to download and install. In fact I started this project using the custom WebXR framework I developed for my 3D Traveller Map, but then realised that for something that doesn't need scripting Hubs was a better bet as multi-user, avatar design and terrain follow movement all came out the box.

You can access the Empress Marava at: https://hubs.mozilla.com/a3Bqj7N/empressmaravav1

You don't need any account or sign in. Click on Join Room, and you'' be given a random name (which you can change) and a choice of (very blocky) avatars. It wil ask you for microphone permissions as you'll be able to see and chat with anyone else in there (see them gaming possibilities...). Setting up private spaces is an option I'll talk about in another post.

You start on the bridge. If this is your first time in Hubs there's a quick tutorial on movement. It's basically WASD or cursor keys to move, hold left-button and drag to move around.

Now this build is VERY rough. It was a "disposable prototype" just to see what is possible. Even as it is it's still TWICE the recommended size of a Hubs space, so performance may be laggy. Not all exterior walls are in place, so you can walk out into space! There is also no "outside". Just walk through the doors (they don't slide open!), and there are just some random bits of furniture. I've left the deck plan on so you get some idea of where you are. The model is probably about 2x "real" size, but that makes VR movement easier.

This is the cargo deck:

And here's the Owners Quarters:

You should notice a background hum, and this gets louder as you move towards the engine room I've only done the main deck, not the upper deck.

I should note that the build only took a few hours and needed no special 3D skills - the Hubs "Spoke" editor is also free and on-line and accessed through your browser - you only need to create an account. of course the whole build and build process could all be made a lot slicker and better looking of course - I just used their basic architectural blocks and textures. And one nice feature is that you can allow others to "remix" a build, so if I enabled it anyone else could pick up the Marava and customise it to their own needs.

Now on the starboard side of the ship is the big cargo airlock. You can spot it by the image of the planet in the window.

Now if you click on the image Hubs will load up a new space - in this case a Mars like desert world.

Now feel free to wander round (and adventure) on this world. If you want to get back to the ship just head back the rocks you started by and click on the ship bridge image.

So my next plans are:

• Do a v2 build with customised "starship" walls and the second deck
• Build out a suite of different planetary surfaces

I hope you can see all the adventure (and even STEM education) possibilities that this sort of easy access 3D/VR environment opens up. I'd love to hear how you get on and your thoughts about how the Traveller community might be able to use this sort of platform in the future.

Perhaps I'll meet you on the Marava some day!

GDW Traveller Map in VR/3D

 I've finally finished the 1st release of my VR Traveller Map web application. It dynamically pulls data from Traveller Map and you can browse 25 sectors with it.  

YouTube video walkthrough below and at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfnAVowrgug. 

Instructions and link to the app at http://taunoyen.com/wiki/doku.php?id=traveller_3d_map. 

You can switch some data on and off (gas giants, zones, allegiance etc), click on worlds for UWPs, and set height and size to reflect information such as population, importance, tech level and starport. You'll need a WebXR compatible VR headset to use it (e.g. Oculus Quest). The current 2D/3D interface for ordinary users is more limited and lets you walk around Regina subsector but no more - will add fuller functionality next year.

From a technical standpoint the neat thing is that this is in WebXR so you don't need to download any software onto the VR headset, you just access through the built-in browser - but get a full VR experience.

Suggestions for v2 welcome - and of course any bug reports (only tested on Quest and PC).

Dynamic Physical Digital Tabletop

Rather nice use of a 32" 'tablet' to provide the maps for a game of Traveller at TravCon 2020, reported in the latest issue of Freelance Traveller.

Starships!

Again as part of the Traveller project I needed a model to represent a Free Trader and found this (right) Surcouf class Destroyer which passes muster. I thought I might as well get something to represent an aggressor (pirate or Imperial) if required and the Tshwane class Heavy Cruiser looked suitably menacing.

Who knows I might finally get around to trying out Full Thrust.

Mystery SF Figures

Needing some figure to support a Traveller RPG idea I'm working on I remembered some figures (25mm), painted and unpainted sulking around in my Striker box. No idea where they came from - possible the original Games Workshop shop in the early 80s, but I finally painted up the unpainted ones.

If anyone knows who manufactured there's I'd love to know, the adventurer figures in particular are great sculpts.

Here's the unpainted ones as I retrieved them from the Striker box.

Port2Jump on Azure!

This image may look no different to one I posted a month ago but it represents a big step forward as the software is now running on Microsoft's Azure platform. What this means is:

• I can open up access to the software for alpha and beta testers, and end users, as I'm ready
• There is "industrial grade" hosting for the images and data
• The system can scale well beyond any Traveller fan use
• I can apply the tech to other nascent projects such as the Combat60 Google Maps Campaign system

It also means I can now got back to actually writing the functional code for Port2Jump, as well as some nice bells and whistles like WebGL 3D graphics!

Port2Jump Resurrected

Having got the Gushemege Guide effectively completed and now just struggling to find the best way to get it out into the big wide world I can turn my attention back to Port2Jump which I haven't worked on since 2016 - but this will be the Winter I get it working and out there!

Port2Jump is a player/GM helper app for the Traveller role-playing game which takes you through the whole sequence from loading up at a starport, heading out to jump, jumping, and then dock back in the new system. I hope it will also be far more than that and become a way of adventuring in the Traveller universe quite independent of a "physical" game. Whilst it was initially very text centric I started adding still images and am now looking at adding WebGL 3D visualisations. Who knows where it will end up.....

First challenge, completed today, was to get the 3 yr old code running on Visual Studio 2019. Next is to start publishing to Azure so that I can open it up to alpha testers sooner rather than later. Then I'll start actually adding new features.

Earlier Perl Version

Skirmish Rules Testing: Part 3 - Azhanti High Lightning

Next up in the Skirmish trials is Azhanti High Lightning. In my 20s I lusted after this but it was already out of print. Nowadays it turns up on eBay every so often for about £30-£50.

Presentation

Large format box with deck plans for a huge spaceship. Must get them all out one day! An A5 LBB to describe the cruiser and another LBB with the combat rules and scenarios. Similar layout to Snapshot, again rules in about 6 pages and  something approaching a QRS double-fold.

Set-Up

As with Snapshot everything was kept at ground level. Normal span points for teams of 2 insurgents. AK47s and SA80s were treated as Assault Rifles, RPG 7 as 4cm RAM, UGL as a downgraded 4cm RAM, and Minimi and PKM as LMG, but without set-up time. Body armour treated as Cloth.

How It Played

Cpl Hore moved off at a pace down to the corner at the T junction as before with Pte Jones providing cover. Then WHAM an RPG round was fired off from the house at the end of the street - 3rd time out of 3 games! But this time the round thudded into the building behind him and he and Jones survived. In the ensuing firefight though Jones got hit, but Wade and Kronfield moved out to the left flank behind the wall and building, came up on the rear of the Insurgent position and killed both the RPG man and the Insurgent leader. The next Insurgent group laying in wait the other side of the RPG house saw their leader go down and instantly decided to withdraw. Already the game was feeling to have a bit more subtlety than previous versions.

LCpl Wall's fireteam moved through Hore's fireteam and took up positions in the compound NE of the T junction. LCpl Wall got it from an insurgent team further down the road.Wilson the Grenadier moved up and put a UGL round in the midst of them.

Meanwhile Hore and Kronfield were moving up behind the same house, but that put them in the line of fire from some insurgents behind the hedgeline on the edge of the cropfield.

Hore bought it this time, but Kronfield poured Minimi fire into the sheepfold that the insurgents retreated into. LCpl Wall's fireteam moved up to provide UGL support,first with smoke to enable Hore to be retrived and then with HE to take the insurgents out. With only one team left the insurgents withdrew, and the Brits organised the casevac of their two casualties.

Rules Impressions

AHL showed a marked improvement over Snapshot, and apart from the lack of spotting rules you could almost see it as the grand-daddy of modern rulesets like Danger Close. The biggest issue though was the activation system which was again prioritising the leaders and making it hard to move in a tactical way. The morale rules worked really well though, as did the to-hit DMs giving lots of missed shots and armour saves. If you fixed the activation model it would be a very playable set.

Overall, 5/10 as is, but 7/10 with a fix to the activation.

Skirmish Rules Testing: Part 2 - Snapshot

Next up is Snapshot - the old (1979!) Traveller Skirmish box game for combat on board starships. Not really designed for Afghan but we'll see how it goes (think of it as TL8 vs TL7). And having owned it for a while I really wanted to get it out onto the table.

Presentation

I've got the A5 box version, with an A5 Traveller LBB style rule book and a set of deck plans. The core rules probably only take up half a dozen pages and one table. No QRS.

Long out of print, but occasionally on eBay.

Set-Up

The only change to the scenario is that since Snapshot has no concept of "up" (you're in a corridor 

dammit) I put all spawn points at ground level, typically wall corners. AK47s and SA80s were treated as Assault Rifles (full automatic), RPG 7 as 4cm RAM, UGL as a downgraded 4cm RAM, and Minimi and PKM as LMG, but without set-up time. Body armour treated as Cloth.

How It Played

Sunray down!

The patrol moved rapidly down the road to the T junction. Cpl Andrews peered round the corner and Wham! the insurgents had rolled again for the RPG7 to be at the first spawn point and Cpl Andrews was blown to bits. 

There being no morale or shock issues his team then went into overdrive. His No2 took out both the RPG man and sidekick in a burst of auto-fire. The second Fire team came through and started moving down the street. 

Clearing the street

As each insurgent pair spawned the Brits just pre-empted them and in one burst took them out. One other rifleman got hit (unconscious but OK), but otherwise the team cleared the whole street for no further loss!

Rules Impression

Well, wasn't expecting that! I though being an RPG based set the damage model would be quite gentle so my guys could soak some damage John Wayne style. Now it may be that as the insurgents were mostly 777777 goon NPCs they only  needed 7 hits to take out, but I was anyway rolling 9+ each time, so most PCs would have been goners too.

The big issues though were:

• Most shots were autohits (i.e. modified targets of 2 or less on 2D6) - short ranges I know but even so
• Most shots got the 7+ to make unconscious first time
• The ability for the higher spec soldiers to pre-empt the lower speck insurgents whenever they tried to activate meant Brit's got first shot, and first shot was 100% on target and 100% deadly - they didn't stand a chance.

I did try and use the "cover" rule (ie watch a hex for movement then fire), but even then as the soldiers were typically only entering arc that was a -3DM, running, so -1 DM and with a 7+ target (as in Cloth armour), had the insurgents needing 10/11+ to hit.

On the plus side at least activation was in reverse ability, so Commanders went last.

And that's apart from no spotting rule!

ENDEX

Overall

I suppose given 1979 this was GDWs first attempt to move beyond the abstract combat rules of the LBB Traveller into something more detailed. The core AP based system is fine, but the hit system includes protection, and has nD6 damage against characteristics, so feels very D&D like. 

So overall a bit of a disappointment and really only 1/10.

Will be interesting to see how the following year's Azhanti High Lightning compares!

Back to PortJump

Having dragged myself away from No Man's Sky for a while I've decided to try and get Port2Jump to a stage that I can release it in beta before Christmas. You get a clue as to what Port2Jump is about by the ship name in the above photo chosen about 2 years ago - the "Poor Man's Sky"! P2J is a GDW Traveller play aid, letting you take a ship from downport to anywhere in the system, and then jump to another system and land on any other planet. However it's all about implementing Traveller rules, not about graphics! Initially all feedback is via the text "COACC message log" and a set of static images which will be cued to your orbit type and the world below. Pretty quickly some of these will be replaced by some WebGL graphics of spinning globes etc.

I had most of P2J working in Perl about 2-4 years ago, but I started last year to port to ASP.NET. All the basic navigation stuff is already working. I'm now doing the table-intensive system and world generation, then once I've got the first WebGL bits in and worked out how to get it up onto Azure I may let people start playing with it.

Traveller AR Preview Video

http://www.traveller-ar.com/

The Traveller-AR iPhone app preview:

***Imported from old blog***

Traveller Empress Marava complete in #opensim - and whole sim rezzing

Finally completed my Empress Marava (not Minerva!) Far Trader build in OpenSim. The Far Trader is one of the work-horses of the Traveller role-playing game.

The really neat thing is not so much the spacecraft (which I could go on detailing for ages) but what can happen outside it.

So you start on a barren planet:

You close the loading ramp on the empty landscape and head for the bridge.

You then head off into space. A touch of a button on the pilots console de-rezzes the world and rezzes the starscape in a 256m diameter sphere (ought to work on a suitable brown-out transition for take-off and landing). So the view out the window changes but more importantly if you don your EVA suit and walk out the airlock you now find:

(need to do a nice jump transition too!)

Then you head down to the starport. Again a touch of a button derezzes the stars and rezzes a whole spaceport ready for you.

I'll work up a few other environments but you get the drift. Quite apart from the role-playing side of this it also begins to make a nice vehicle for STEM based education.

Full image set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/burdenshaw/sets/72157626207815093/

***Imported from old blog***

Next Ship To ...

For ages I've been after a nice algorithm for predicting traffic from one Traveller world to another. Most Traveller tables are based around the players owning a ship and wanting to pick up passengers and freight, not a player looking to hitch a ride. So finally worked out one which was nice and simple whilst walking on Foel Goch today, and coded most of it up on the iPad using JsAnywhere in a cafe in Corwen. Will tart the UI up later once the other Companion modules are done.

Go to Next Ship To...

***Imported from old blog***

Empress Minerva in OpenSim #opensim #gdwtraveller

OK, with my new found Traveller enthusiasm I've brought my in-progress work on an Empress Minerva Far Trader across from Second Life to OpenSim. Now just in he process of re-texturing it and then complete the build. What I really want to then do is see how I can use it as the hub of Traveller adventuring in OpenSim - for instance changing the cockpit view to represent travel through space, and rezzing new environments when you land - all with the spaceship staying still!

***Imported from old blog***

MicroTraveller #gdwtraveller

Traveller thoughts been all over the place as I've started to re-engage. First thought was a revival of idea for making a more realistic Traveller - 3D space maps, realistic solar systems, AI etc, but its just too big a jump (although its a "powered by Traveller" setting I might do some time, and for my latest work on 3D star maps see http://www.daden.co.uk/blog/2011/02/its-all-full-of-stars-25-light.html.

I then thought of finishing my Port2Jump application, but thought it too big (although I may soon get back to it), and moving my Minerva model to OpenSim will be a big job (although watching Dune I'm drawn to the idea of just creating some environment sims in OpenSim).

So I finally hit upon the idea of creating a Referee's Screen on the web that I could use from the iPad. Had a great time over the last few days pulling bits together from IMTU rules and MT (my favourite OTU rules) and Snapshot/AHL. What's now dawned on me though is that what I really want is microTraveller - a version of the Traveller rules that's so simple and easy to use that not only will they fit on a few screens of the iPad but I can actually play it more or less from memory (the task system of course being key here). The other part to the Referee's Screen/Companion is of course the software, automating all those parts of the rules that are needed that are just too complex to remember for data reasons (eg encounter tables etc), so that you can create encounters, map a world, jump to orbit etc just in a single mouse-click. So that's the aim, lets see where it goes to.

***Imported from old blog***

Traveller Referees Companion - #gdwtraveller

The time just isn't there to do an app like Port2Jump at the moment (and my Empress Minerva model in SL is half built and awaiting transfer to OpenSim. So thought I might try something simpler - turning the iPad into a C21 Referees Screen. Browser based first.

***Imported from old blog***

Return to the Third Imperium

After a break of almost 15 years I've decided that it's time to return to Traveller. This has been driven by a number of things, including getting the TravellerMap into our Mapscape hub in Second Life (a very Traveller space), the growing (if small) Traveller scene in Second Life, and the general resurgence in Traveller resulting from the new Mongoose Publications edition of the rules and supplements.

In re-embracing Traveller I'm struck by the fact that yet another lynchpin of my youth has become a "fantasy". Just as the Third World War which I trained and wargamed for will now not happen as advertised (central Germany, circa 1985), so too will the future of Traveller, or any "Star Wars" type SF, not happen. I am convinced that AI, or simpler personality constructs, and their gleisner robot selves will be the first "earthkind" to reach the stars. If we ever get there as our biological selves then we'll find local space already populated by our digital selves and their bretheren. This goes far beyond the Cyberpunk of William Gibson et al, and is still best captured by Greg Egan's books - although just how you'd make an SF-RPG of them I've no idea (but it is an idea).

There certainly remains a couple of issues with Traveller, in all its incarnations. The first is the whole take on AI, wetware, cyberpunk, and robotics, which are generally frowned upon (or banned) and the most over-taken by real tech development. But at least an IMTU (In My Traveller Universe) approach can incorporate those without too much damage to the canon. The bigger issue is 3D space. The Traveller Universe is a 2D map, and I love that map. But nowadays it seems just too unrealistic - particularly when I can use SL to visualise 3D volumes of space. Traveller 2300AD was a great product, and in some ways it would be great to have its version of real, 3D space, grow into the accepted Traveller Known Space. But for now I'll accept the 2D map - even if I play around with my own morphing of the 2D data onto a possible 3D mapping.

And why Traveller and not another SF RPG. I love its depth of history, the detail of the history, the community effort, the fact that the only FTL is by jump, the fact that it *was* a beleivable future - if a little Imperial.

So which Rule Set and Milieu to use. I "grew up" in CT, I remember where I was when the Fifth Frontier War broke out (travelling through Minneapolis), so for me the setting has to be the classic one, circa 1100 - 1110. Rule wise I always preferred MT, I love the task system (and still use its principle in other games), and the amount of background detail it had. The fractured Imperium plot-line I can take or leave. TNE was just too different and messy, T4 OK (and I wrote a lot for it), T20 so-so (no great fan of D20), and still haven't got T5. GURPS Traveller is a sore point as I wrote a whole supplement for them which was cancelled at the last moment and I never got paid. Reading the reviews it sounds like the Mongoose Traveller may be good - with improved character generation and a task system - so I'll probably buy that and if as good as it sounds use that as my base.

Then there's a question of style. I probably haven't played a face-to-face game of Traveller since I left school - it's never been the most popular of RPGs in the UK, and a lot of us just get enjoyment from the setting and literature. But virtual worlds like Second Life offer the opportunity for virtual role-play, not just meeting up with Travellers, but acting out adventures in "real" Scouts and at "real" starports. One day I can see an entire OpenSim grid for Traveller (or a more generic SF setting), and I'm happy to help build it. But once I also had fun playing real-time Traveller - where you play a solo adventure but everything happens in real-time - so if you character makes a 7 day hyper-jump trip you spend 7 real days waiting for the to reappear. I don't think I want to constrain myself to such a literal linkage, but the idea of using Traveller to effectively drive a long term narrative does appeal. In fact the other driver to get back into Traveller is my daughters interest in what she calls "role-playing" - collaborative interactive fictions created on discussion board sites live Envision Free. Why not play Traveller more like that.

So I think I'll take a blog approach. My character, Corro Moseley, of course, will adventure across Known Space, initially from Gushemege (where I was HIWG Sector Analyst and so built most of it!) through Vland to the Spinward Marches, and then into Zhodani space, and who knows on to the Galactic core (or Longbow?). I'll record his adventures on the Gushemege blog, using random encounters a lot to spark adventure ideas, and pre-published adventures where they fit.

Of course another driver for this is to try and automate Traveller. If we do get that Open-sim Nirvana I don't want to spend the whole time rolling dice and looking up tables, I want to play it like a fully immersive MMORPG. So the whole exercise will give me an excuse to track down the current web based software and information support for Traveller, make extensive use of (and add to) the Traveller Wikia, and maybe create new resources too. I also want to be able to do a lot of this in dead-time, so that means finding/creating resources which will work on my iPhone or Netbook.

So that's enough of a brain dump about what I want to do, and why. Let's hope I can now make the time to do it.

Follow the evolving adventure on my Traveller site - http://www.converj.com/sites/gushemege/

***Imported from old blog***