3d Traveller subsector map

[Tom Kalbfus]

Funny. I have a 6" x 4" book shelf of RPGs, reference books and board games in my living room, right next to the TV. Everyone I now knows I'm a gamer geek, including at work.I know some people are shy about it, that's ok, maybe they had bad experiences, but it's never been a problem for me.

As for thinking 10 years in advance, I can imagine all sorts of possible advances in the future, but which ones will become reality? How can I be sure any work I do on that now will be an effective use of my time? Why spend time preparing for possible games in 10 years time, when I have games I want to run this year?

10 years ago modern smartphones and tablet computers hadn't even been invented. If I had known they would be 10 years in advance, what could I have done to prepare to use it for traveller games that far in advance?

Maybe I'm missing the point. If you want to be highly speculative and talk about possible future forms of RPG using speculative technology I suppose that's fine. From a practical perspective I'm more concerned about how to use the technology we have now to help solve the actual real problems I have right now if I want to run a game of Traveller, or any of my other favourite RPGs.

Simon Hibbs

I don't really know what advancements are left besides 3-d and virtual reality Microsoft has a virtual reality headset called Hololens, and Google has something called Ocular. Google is also working on a car that can drive itself. Many elements of science fiction are falling into place in the real world, what we won't have is FTL, artificial gravity and so forth. I think someday a version of Traveller will be implemented in virtual reality. For that we may want a 3-d map, not the 2-d version. We could play with 3d maps today, even though they are difficult to work with at the moment. We could use them with a lap top and the internet. Virtual reality can erase distances and create virtual "game rooms" to play in.

 

[BrianSmaller]

This thread has been dead a while but.....

This is my take on 3D Traveller maps. I find that it works for my game.

http://woolshedwargamer.com/2013/08/19/more-on-3d-mapping-in-traveller/
and
http://woolshedwargamer.com/2013/08/17/traveller-rpg-3d-sector-map/

Cheers
Brian

 

[briansommers]

why not do this:

I create a gridded paper - no less than 1/2" - I prefer 1" grid.

I use the intersections of the lines not the "empty square"

print several sheets of this gridded paper, an odd number - this will be the Z axis
the middle is z=0 the sheets above it are z+1, etc and below are z-1 etc

now take the "middle" sheet (z=0) and label the center intersection x=0,y=0 this then is your 0,0,0

each intersection is 1 parsec or whatever you want it to be both in x y and z

now roll for the star system in each intersection and you will eventually build a list of star systems with an x,y,z coordinate system
then to solve distance it's

d=sqrt((x2−x1)^2+(y2−y1)^2+(z2−z1)^2)
where d is parsecs, lightyears, or whatever else you want as long as you keep them the same throughout.

or plug it in here: https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/geometry-solids/distance-two-points.php

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

3D Hex Maps are fun. See mine at YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AyDPuyjd-Q

 

[Arkathan]

Gaming is not so much a secret as much as my wife don't like looking at my role playing books, she wants them out of sight. When they are e-books, she doesn't see them.

This is why we need public service announcements to young gamers to only have sex with other gamers (or at least people who tolerate them)...
All of my old games wound up at a friends house, and all current ones are on Fantasy Grounds or from DriveThruRPG.