Become a JTAS Journalist!

[MongooseMatt]

A new set of volumes for the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society is on its way, and we have just enough room in them for some budding Traveller writers to add articles of their own! If you have ever wanted to contribute to the ever-growing universe of Traveller, now is your time.



Such articles can cover almost any Traveller-related topic, though they are usually connected to the Charted Space universe in some way. They can be adventures, items of equipment and weapons, starships, vehicles, lore pieces on specific aspects of the universe, descriptions of planets, patrons, starports... just about anything you think might be useful to Travellers or Referees during a campaign!

Articles should be between 1-12 pages in your average Word document, and can be sent to msprange@mongoosepublishing.com. The submission period will run up to the end of June.

Please include your name and email address under the main title of your article, in the document itself.

If you already have an article submitted to us, good news - we should be in touch about it within the next 2-3 weeks, so by all means submit another!

 

[GabrielGABFonseca]

Purely for record-keeping reasons, is "the end of June" equivalent to June 30th, 23:59:59 at British Summer Time, something a bit earlier than that, or a slightly nebulous ±1 day kind of deal?

 

[MongooseMatt]

Probably best not to cut deadlines that fine, but we can be flexible

 

[Studio Cat]

By any chance, would it be possible to reprint and update to MgT 2E standards the old JTAS article "Small Cargoes and Special Handling" by John Marshal from Issue #18? That single article brought about more adventure hooks for my players and fun over the decades than any other article.

 

[OldGuy59]

What would the Imperium version of Doctors Without Borders be? How would that work? This may require an 'Official' rating of Medics in the Mongoose Universe. There are a few places around the Internet with Medics as topics, but not really a good feel within the game rules. There are a few sources for the Medic discussion, but I would like to shoehorn something like Doctors Without Borders into Mongoose Traveller 2E.
Oh. A recent discussion online about ship's crews and wages:
A Pilot with a few (hundred?) hours training and a decent DEX. Probably has a licence. Cr6000/month at Skill level 1
A Medic is a medical professional with certifications and, depending on level of skill, years of training and internships. As a 'Doctor', Skill 3 and if a 'Surgeon' DEX of 8+. Cr2000/month?

Within the current campaign, it is possible to sign up with Doctors Without Borders, and get certifications that are recognized in more than just the Imperium. It is recognized in all sorts of places, some favourably, some not (due to the broad media reach, if not other reasons). This allows 'Medics' to get certified at different levels for their capabilities. My current character is a Combat Medic, with tons of Triage and battle wound experience, even field surgery. Not a traditional doctor, but very highly skilled. Lots of time as a Hospital Assistant, so he knows clinical medicine from Navy/Marine Medical Inspection Rooms (similar to walk-in clinics).

Worth an article?

 

[MongooseMatt]

By any chance, would it be possible to reprint and update to MgT 2E standards the old JTAS article "Small Cargoes and Special Handling" by John Marshal from Issue #18? That single article brought about more adventure hooks for my players and fun over the decades than any other article.

Good call. Consider it done

 

[Studio Cat]

Good call. Consider it done

YES!!

 

[MonkeyX]

Ok I really have to try and think of something this time.

 

[Jame Rowe]

I have a couple of things to submit.

 

[verny]

Sounds good! I have a question though, is this a paid submission and if yes, what are the rates? Thanks!

 

[OldGuy59]

Well, there are really good articles out there, which I have on file. One of which is:

Traveller Compendium 1 P61
Medic! (Medics and Tech Levels)
by Alex Green

So, I will have to tailor anything I submit around that, if not other articles. A few over the years, including the following:
JTAS 11 P11
Medical Treatment In Traveller
by McInnes, Terry & Marc Desmond

JTAS 22 P18
Imperial Academy Of Science And Medicine
by Jeff Groteboer

JTAS 23 P11
Imperial Academy Of Science And Medicine (additional)
by Jeff Groteboer

Travellers’ Digest 11 P29
Human Medicine, Tech Level 9 – 12
(Medical Digest)
by Nancy Parker and Robert Parker

There is room for an article on Duties of a Ship's Doctor (somewhat covered in the 'Medic!' article, but it could be fleshed out with suggestions and hooks? Also, perhaps on portable kits and contents, giving suggestions on planetary complications and hooks.

Any of the above for reprinting?

 

[MongooseMatt]

Sounds good! I have a question though, is this a paid submission and if yes, what are the rates? Thanks!

It is! Given the nature of submissions like this (and the increased editing they demand) it is usually 3 cents/word.

 

[Zarpaulek]

I had some ideas for expanded sub-light travel.

With a lot of tables, particularly for reaction drives. I'm not sure if that'll make it more difficult to translate the article or not.

Is the 1,000-diameter limit for maneuver drives still in effect this edition?

 

[Vormaerin]

Sadly, yes.

 

[tytalan]

Sadly, yes.

Can you reference where that’s stated? And am I translating that right was a 1000 X diameter of the closest body?

 

[Vormaerin]

Yes, its 1000D of the nearest body. So in our solar system, you can use the Sun out to about 9.3 AU, so just shy of Saturn. Beyond that, you have the proximity of the various outer planets.

It is directly referenced first in MgT2e during Deepnight Revelation. But the more mainstream reference would be World Builder's Handbook:



You may notice from the chart that the various outer planets are not actually that helpful. You can basically travel to and from the jump point without falling off to negligible efficiency, effectively the same as still using the Sun.

 

[tytalan]

Yes, its 1000D of the nearest body. So in our solar system, you can use the Sun out to about 9.3 AU, so just shy of Saturn. Beyond that, you have the proximity of the various outer planets.

It is directly referenced first in MgT2e during Deepnight Revelation. But the more mainstream reference would be World Builder's Handbook:

View attachment 1890

You may notice from the chart that the various outer planets are not actually that helpful. You can basically travel to and from the jump point without falling off to negligible efficiency, effectively the same as still using the Sun.

So you can get to Saturn since you get close enough to use it for the last bit. This changes a few things tho having it not in the CRB or even HG does confuse things.

 

[Geir]

Even more obscure (as in nowhere else), is the Deepnight Revelation "fix" to the 1000D problem (I mean, other than reaction drives, which work just great until they run out of propellent):

The Deep Space Maneuvering System (DSMS), which is basically a bootstrap deal where you push against your own artificial gravity gradient (Hey, I'm just reporting, not creating). For a low, low cost of 4x the power requirement, another 60% cost added to the m-drive and a declining with TL amount of additional displacement, you can get a fractional bump to your m-drive. For instance at TL 10, add 175% to your m-dive (so the total m-drive with DSMS would be x2.75 of the drive without) and you get 10% efficiency (instead of 1% at 1000D+) out of your m-drive. There's a whole table - I hacked it up a bit for my Highguard spreadsheet so it looks like this:

DSMS TL	Power X	Cost X	Tons X	Eff X
9​	4​	1.6​	3​	0.05​
10​	4​	1.6​	2.75​	0.1​
11​	4​	1.6​	2.5​	0.15​
12​	4​	1.6​	2.25​	0.2​
13​	4​	1.6​	2​	0.25​
14​	4​	1.6​	1.75​	0.3​
15​	4​	1.6​	1.5​	0.35​

That's not the way it's presented in Deepnight's Campaign Guide, but it works better on my still buggy* ship-building spreadsheet this way.

*'still buggy' being two adjectives, not a horse-drawn cart for distilling alcohol.

 

[G'Naakbusters]

'still buggy' being two adjectives, not a horse-drawn cart for distilling alcohol.

That's an idea for a TAS article: mobile alcohol production, TL-2 to TL-17.

 

[Zarpaulek]

Even more obscure (as in nowhere else), is the Deepnight Revelation "fix" to the 1000D problem (I mean, other than reaction drives, which work just great until they run out of propellent):

The Deep Space Maneuvering System (DSMS), which is basically a bootstrap deal where you push against your own artificial gravity gradient (Hey, I'm just reporting, not creating). For a low, low cost of 4x the power requirement, another 60% cost added to the m-drive and a declining with TL amount of additional displacement, you can get a fractional bump to your m-drive. For instance at TL 10, add 175% to your m-dive (so the total m-drive with DSMS would be x2.75 of the drive without) and you get 10% efficiency (instead of 1% at 1000D+) out of your m-drive. There's a whole table - I hacked it up a bit for my Highguard spreadsheet so it looks like this:

DSMS TL	Power X	Cost X	Tons X	Eff X
9​	4​	1.6​	3​	0.05​
10​	4​	1.6​	2.75​	0.1​
11​	4​	1.6​	2.5​	0.15​
12​	4​	1.6​	2.25​	0.2​
13​	4​	1.6​	2​	0.25​
14​	4​	1.6​	1.75​	0.3​
15​	4​	1.6​	1.5​	0.35​

That's not the way it's presented in Deepnight's Campaign Guide, but it works better on my still buggy* ship-building spreadsheet this way.

*'still buggy' being two adjectives, not a horse-drawn cart for distilling alcohol.

So, would you suggest deleting the half-page I dedicated to "ignoring the 1,000-diameter limit" and travel time to the outer system?