Location in the Universe

[Red Bart]

I've drawn up two subsector maps from scratch and filled them with random worlds (all fully fleshed out). Actually I started out with one subsector, but it got so crowded that I rearranged the worlds and spread them over two subsectors.
Some details of my subsectors (lets call them alpha and beta):

Alpha:
- Uninhabited world with an abandoned super high tech base in a hard to reach upper left corner.
- Lost, barbaric world in the bottom left corner. Also somewhat hard to reach (i.e. 3 jump required).
- Major naval base and highest tech in both alpha & beta in an asteroid belt bottom center.
- Cluster of mostly important worlds center right.
- One world with a hybrid society of both humans and Aslan in the middle of the subsector.

Beta:
- Cluster of mostly important worlds center left.
- Top right are two Zhodani worlds. Here is the border with the Zhodani Consulate.
- Bottom left is a Droyne world under imperial control.

I intend to have my subsectors be a part of the third empire, but I am fairly new to Traveller and am a bit at a loss where to place them. The universe that has been described is so incredibly large (looking at the full third empire map) that it would appear that there isn't really room for random subsectors. How do you as a GM handle this? Do you just "override" some previously generated subsectors? Or is there a place in the universe where new subsectors sort of fit naturally?

 

[Sigtrygg]

I just ignore anything I don't want to use.

It's your 'verse, you can put those sub sectors anywhere you like within Imperial borders.

In my Traveller universe I have a very different take on the core sectors of the Imperium, so while I use the Spinward Marches and Solomani Rim as detailed, nearly every other sector is a home brew.

 

[Solomani666]

Good luck on your campaign setting.

The Foreven sector is reserved for development and borders on Zhodani space.
You could just rewrite the sector.

You cold also use a far away sector with lost colonies of Zhodani.

 

[simonh]

As Solomani666 says, if you want to place it somewhere in the official Traveller setting then Foreven sector is a good place. Just ignore anything published about it anywhere else and create your own version from scratch, it's reserved specifically for this purpose.

Please do take a look at StarBase. You can download it from the link in my SIG. It's specifically designed to help setting creators work up their own world details. The OGL rules set is the one you want for something like this.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Solomani666]

Another point:

If I were creating my own subsector or two for a campaign, I might randomly generate some of the planets and planetary stats, but more than likely I would just create systems that I thought would make for an interesting adventure or fit within the theme of my campaign.

 

[Red Bart]

Thanks for all the answers!

The Foreven sector looks like it might work. The only thing that is "wrong" with it is that it doesn't have any imperial presence. But I can massage that away by stating that an imperial expedition fleet has conquered subsectors G and H a couple of centuries ago. That would work. And it would create a lot of tension between the Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate in the region, which would be perfect for the setting I want.

One question though: There are some differently marked areas in the sector. The Mnemosyne Principality and the Avalar Consulate. Are these just fancy names, or have they been fleshed out somewhere?

Thanks for the link to Starbase, simonh. I will have a look at it later.

Solomani666, leaving a few worlds blank can be a nice way to have some legroom in creating a campaign, but having everything fixed can also be a nice foundation to build different events on that make a campaign. I could see myself doing either (and have done so in different settings), but right now my campaign is about 75% done so that idea will have to wait for the next one

 

[Solomani666]

Solomani666, leaving a few worlds blank can be a nice way to have some legroom in creating a campaign, but having everything fixed can also be a nice foundation to build different events on that make a campaign. I could see myself doing either (and have done so in different settings), but right now my campaign is about 75% done so that idea will have to wait for the next one

You mentioned that you randomly generated a lot of the worlds in your subsectors, which is just great if it works for your campaign.

What I trying to suggest is that you do not limit yourself to randomly rolled worlds, and that you consider either tweeking some to fit your campaign or even generate some by design.


A general description of a sector I created for my traveller universe:
http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=56554

 

[GypsyComet]

Thanks for all the answers!

The Foreven sector looks like it might work. The only thing that is "wrong" with it is that it doesn't have any imperial presence. But I can massage that away by stating that an imperial expedition fleet has conquered subsectors G and H a couple of centuries ago. That would work. And it would create a lot of tension between the Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate in the region, which would be perfect for the setting I want.

One question though: There are some differently marked areas in the sector. The Mnemosyne Principality and the Avalar Consulate. Are these just fancy names, or have they been fleshed out somewhere?

Foreven is specifically a Referee Reserve. While there are documents describing its basic features available from both Mongoose and FFE, even those are subject to alteration at Referee need. The version found on The Traveller Map site is a popular mixture of three or four different authors work (including mine) but is not in any way official.

That said...

The Avalar Consulate is, by inference, friendly to the Zhodani. While it also crosses over into The Beyond Sector, there has been no definition done there for this version of the sector. The Beyond had a prior incarnation that was rather... wild, but that has been decanonized.
The Mnemosyne Principality is described in old works by FASA in the next sector over (Far Frontiers/Afachtiabr) as being a couple decades into a hard core revolution that overthrew the old monarchy. They are described as "currently" being a Zhodani ally as well.

Beyond that, you are free to manipulate as you wish within the boundaries of Foreven.

You might also use The Beyond, actually. Alter a pair of subsectors to yours, set the nation state you are in as a solid Imperial Ally, and proceed. Note that using subsectors C and D puts you adjacent to Imperial territory in the Marches.

 

[simonh]

You mentioned that you randomly generated a lot of the worlds in your subsectors, which is just great if it works for your campaign.

What I trying to suggest is that you do not limit yourself to randomly rolled worlds, and that you consider either tweeking some to fit your campaign or even generate some by design.


A general description of a sector I created for my traveller universe:
http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=56554

I love the sector writeup, properly space opera. Juts my cup of tea.

Apologies* for tooting my own horn again, but as well as including random world generation, StarBase also has a world group editor that allows you to apply changes to world attributes across whole regions or collections of worlds. It's designed for taking a random setting and then bending it to your will, without having to manually edit every single world all the time (though you can certainly do that, even editing the description text for each individual world attribute).

Simon Hibbs

* Note: No actual apologies included