Book 3 Scout Cartographic System Help Needed

[RevReese]

Hi all, I have been searching the internet in vain for a while now since purchasing Book 3:Scout and trying my hand at creating a system for our first game.

I have no experience as a referee or a player (I do not know anyone who plays) which is a problem but I own a lot of the books and have read them all, and have enthusiasm!.

I am still scratching my head over the System creation method on p92-93 of this book.

Could someone please provide a step by step example of this process or a video showing how its done as I cannot even get past step step 1 (roll 1d6 for JS = 3, but then significant orbits is JS+1d6 so 3+1d6= 3+1=4 orbits?).

I only want to create this one system to start with as I am planning on taking the adventure to the Spinward Marches when we have fully explored this "home" system. Shall I just pick a system from there to start even though I really want to create my own system?.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! my wife and I really want to get this game going and put our characters to use!.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Rick]

Each orbit represents a decent sized planet, gas giant or significant body orbiting the star (of unspecified type!). So, in your example, you have 3 planets within the 'Jump Shadow' (100 diameter limit within which you can't jump) and 1 outside.
Next roll for the Habitable zone - this is the area around a star sometimes called the 'Goldilocks' zone - where the chances of finding a planet with liquid water, breathable atmosphere and a decent temperature are 'just right'. If you have an earth-type planet in the system, this is where it will be.
You should now have planets arranged in Inner orbits (between the star and the habitable zone - too hot for habitable planets), the habitable orbits, and the Outer orbits (from the habitable zone outwards - too cold for habitable planets). Given that you only have 4 planets, don't worry if you end up with either no habitable zone and/or all of the planets in the Inner zone - this is an early attempt, you can roll up more systems later.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Let's use Terra from the Solomani Rim as example for this generation.
Solomani Rim/1827 Terra A867A69-F (Gas Giant Present)

Everything is defined by Orbits.
Orbit 1 - Mercury
Orbit 2 - Venus
Orbit 3 - Terra
Orbit 4 - Mars
Orbit 5 - Asteroid Belt
Orbit 6 - Jupiter
Orbit 7 - Saturn
Orbit 8 - Uranus
Orbit 9 - Neptune

 

[Rick]

For Gas Giants, refer to pg 167 of the MRB - that will tell you if there are any at all in your system - if there are, then just follow the instructions in the scout book to tell you which orbit they are in. If there aren't any at all, roll 2d6 for each orbit, but read the dice separately - Inner orbits use the low scoring dice, outer ones use the high scoring dice, using the table to tell what type of planet or object is in that orbit.
Once you have done all of that, you get to pick a habitable zone orbit for your Main world and roll it up using the tables in the MRB.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

1. Jump Shadow (JS)=1d6 orbits. Roll 3 so JS = 3
This means that you cannot Jump from Orbit 3 or less. This sort of matches since 100 diameters from the sun (diameter=1,392,684km, 100xdiameter=139,268,400km, Terra at 150,000,000km).
Orbit 1 - JS
Orbit 2 - JS
Orbit 3 - JS

2.Significant planet orbits = 1d6+JS. Roll 6 + JS(3) = 9 Orbits
Orbit 1 - JS
Orbit 2 - JS
Orbit 3 - JS
Orbit 4 -
Orbit 5 -
Orbit 6 -
Orbit 7 -
Orbit 8 -
Orbit 9 -

 

[Nathan Brazil]

3. Note if there are any gas giants from the standard system rules in the core Traveller rules.
There are gas giants in the Terra system. There are 4 gas giants.

4. Determine the three abstract zones for the system: Inner, Habitable, and Outer.
Roll of 1 and 5. The zones are defined as

Orbit 1 - I	JS
Orbit 2 - H	JS
Orbit 3 - H	JS
Orbit 4 - H
Orbit 5 - O
Orbit 6 - O
Orbit 7 - O
Orbit 8 - O
Orbit 9 - O

 

[Nathan Brazil]

For each orbit , roll 2d6 testing from the star out, retain the dice as rolled
Orbit 1.
inner Zone - Roll of 1,4. No Gas Giant. Lower Dice indicates small rock
Orbit 2.
Habitable Zone - Roll of 2,5 No Gas Giant. Terrestrial, iceball, or belt
Orbit 3
Habitable Zone - Roll of 1,2 No Gas Giant. Terrestrial, iceball, or belt
Orbit 4
Habitable Zone - Roll of 3,3 No Gas Giant. Terrestrial, iceball, or belt
Orbit 5
outer Zone - Roll of 1,6. No Gas Giant. Higher Dice indicates Planetoid or Belt.
Orbit 6
Outer Zone - Roll of 1,1. Gas Giant because of doubles.
Orbit 7
Outer Zone - Roll of 6,5. Gas Giant because roll > 3
Orbit 8
Outer Zone - Roll of 5,4. Gas Giant because roll > 4
orbit 9
Outer Zone - Roll of 3,3. Gas Giant because of doubles

Orbit 1 - I	JS	Small Rock (Size 1-3)
Orbit 2 - H	JS	Terrestrial Iceball or Belt
Orbit 3 - H	JS	Terrestrial Iceball or Belt
Orbit 4 - H	  	Terrestrial Iceball or Belt
Orbit 5 - O	  	Planetoid or Belt (Size 0-1)
Orbit 6 - O	  	Gas Giant
Orbit 7 - O	  	Gas Giant
Orbit 8 - O	  	Gas Giant
Orbit 9 - O	  	Gas Giant

 

[Nathan Brazil]

6. Mainworld planetary placement. The Mainworld is the planet defined in the UWP for the system.
Our Mainworld is already generated. Middle Habitable Zone is Orbit 3 so...

Orbit 1 - I	JS	Small Rock (Size 1-3)
Orbit 2 - H	JS	Terrestrial Iceball or Belt
Orbit 3 - H	JS	Terra A867A69-F
Orbit 4 - H	  	Terrestrial Iceball or Belt
Orbit 5 - O	  	Planetoid or Belt (Size 0-1)
Orbit 6 - O	  	Gas Giant
Orbit 7 - O	  	Gas Giant
Orbit 8 - O	  	Gas Giant
Orbit 9 - O	  	Gas Giant

All done...

 

[RevReese]

Nathan and Rick,
Thank you so much for your quick replies!!.

I have been away from this forum for too long and have forgotten how extremely friendly and helpful you all are!

I was on roughly the right track, but it is nice to be reassured I was thinking correctly!.

My only question is to you Nathan:

Orbit 4
Habitable Zone - Roll of 3,3 No Gas Giant. Terrestrial, iceball, or belt

Why is there no Gas Giant here? I thought any double places one? or have I got confused somewhere?.

Well, I am going to spend today working on my subsector (yeah, the power is going to my head and I got more ambitious! :lol: )

Thanks again for the clarification!.

 

[Rick]

Doubles in the Outer Zone indicate a Gas Giant, or any total greater than half the orbit.
Double 1's in the Inner Zone indicate a Gas Giant.
As far as I'm aware, Gas Giants can never be placed within the habitable zone.

The roll of a 3 on the table indicates a planetoid or belt.

Good luck with your subsector, I hope everything goes well. :shock:

 

[RevReese]

Rick,
Thank you for the clarification! I will be doing some industrial-strength rolling later today!.
We had a friend over yesterday and I darn near talked his ear off about Traveller! :lol:
Hopefully another person to add to our little gaming group!.

Thanks again for all the help, you are both fantastic!

 

[RevReese]

Slightly off topic but I have the Spinward Marches book and want to use it in my campaign.

Every system has the UWP for the mainworld but no information on other possible planets in system, is it possible (and allowed) to use the Scout system generation rules to flesh them out as and when required?.

 

[Rick]

For most campaigns, the players will usually only visit the main-world in a system, so the entries have pretty much all of the basic info you'd need for a quick visit - it would be a little like generating information for every town and village in England if you are basing a campaign in London. If you have a specific system (or 2) that you want to flesh out for an extended campaign there, go for it - make it your own and put as much detail into it as you want to - the books are there to provide a framework to have fun with, not to stifle it!

Having said all that, try doing a search for it online, there's a big Traveller wikipedia that holds a lot more information on the Spinward Marches worlds that people have put together from published material and campaigns. Take a look, you might find what you're looking for.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

Doubles in the Outer Zone indicate a Gas Giant, or any total greater than half the orbit.
Double 1's in the Inner Zone indicate a Gas Giant.
As far as I'm aware, Gas Giants can never be placed within the habitable zone.

The roll of a 3 on the table indicates a planetoid or belt.

Good luck with your subsector, I hope everything goes well. :shock:

Of course in real life, gas giants have been found in the habitable zone of stars and every where else!

 

[simonh]

Of course in real life, gas giants have been found in the habitable zone of stars and every where else!

Good point, there seems to be no reason nowadays to weight the distribution of world types in any particular way. Gas giants (really big ones) in other systems have been found closer to the central star than Mercury.

I'm not sure that a completely random distribution of gas giants, rocky planets and asteroid belts is realistic either though.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Based on the current surveys of exoplanets, the Gas Giants do seem to clump into either Sun-Blazers or farther out, but they have been found everywhere.

Based on what we have seen so far, they are most likely in the Outer Zone, then the Inner Zone and least likely in the Habitable Zone (mostly because the habitable zone is so small compared to the other two).

If I were doing it:

Doubles is Gas Giant.

Higher than the Orbit Number is a Gas Giant.

The Zone doesn't matter.

 

[CaptainOrs]

How does the new Referee's Aid "A Guide to Star Systems" come into play with this topic. Is it the same thing as what is in the scout book? More detailed approach? Completely different purpose?

On the surface, it looks like it would serve the same purpose, but I haven't bought it yet. Trying to understand what value it provides if you have the scout book already. Also curious if it would provide the OP additional guidance with what he wants to do.

 

[Rick]

How does the new Referee's Aid "A Guide to Star Systems" come into play with this topic. Is it the same thing as what is in the scout book? More detailed approach? Completely different purpose?
On the surface, it looks like it would serve the same purpose, but I haven't bought it yet. Trying to understand what value it provides if you have the scout book already. Also curious if it would provide the OP additional guidance with what he wants to do.

It doesn't duplicate the scout book generation system, or the main rulebook one either; there are no system generation tables in it whatsoever. What it does is explain what each of the elements of the generation tables are in a lot more detail; what a gas giant is, the different types of planets and what they'll look like, and how they all fit into a system. The rulebooks are the 'nuts and bolts' hardware and this is the user manual. Well worth getting for background information, more detail than is in the main books and a few ideas on how to visualise the system, but it doesn't add anything to the system generation process itself.

 

[CaptainOrs]

Ah, got it... I have it on my wish list. It sounds like an interesting read!