More like the Borderlands Please

[Vormaerin]

So I'm just getting around to reading the The Borderlands since the Trojan Reach vibe isn't my cup of tea.

But I have to say, I think this type of book should be more prevalent in the Traveller library. I feel that deep dives in small regions are substantially more useful to most GMs than a surface treatment of two sectors in a book.

This book showcases how to use entire systems, how different worlds interact with each other, what kinds of businesses are involved in the area, plots hooks, and just a lot of practical material for an actual campaign. You do something like this for the Aramis Trace or the Regina Subsector and they would probably be twice as useful as the Beyond the Claw at the actual table.

Just putting planetary maps and system maps front and center adds tons of inspiration to people looking to run a campaign. Showing you don't need a wide open, skip around the universe playstyle and there are lots of ways you can use the UWP to make unique worlds ripe for a variety of adventures. It's hard, as someone who has been playing pretty consistently since the late 70s to be entirely sure what new people see coming to Traveller. But it sure seems like there are a lot of people who struggle with the scope of possibilities and how to make worlds worth visiting repeatedly.

So, yeah, I'd love to see more books like this published.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Noted!

 

[Hardwire]

Agreed, this is an absolute gem of a book.

 

[IanBruntlett]

This book showcases how to use entire systems, how different worlds interact with each other, what kinds of businesses are involved in the area, plots hooks, and just a lot of practical material for an actual campaign. You do something like this for the Aramis Trace or the Regina Subsector and they would probably be twice as useful as the Beyond the Claw at the actual table.

Last week I ran a Traveller trading session in the Sword Worlds. Mongoose' "Sword Worlds" book pretty much manages to be a sub-sector book with a bit of overlap here and there. I found it to be very useful and so here is an extended contents of the book

I used quite a few Mongoose books for that. I also used the Referee's Briefing 3: Going Portside e-book which I feel is more Third Imperium oriented but the game is Sting / Biter based so those worlds are a bit more cosmopolitan.

I, too, would like to see more subsector books. Sindal sub-sector would be interesting

 

[Hardwire]

A Sindal Sub-Sector that expanded on the Pirates of Drinax would be great, it could be an expansion to the Shadow of Sindal.

 

[Hardwire]

Last week I ran a Traveller trading session in the Sword Worlds. Mongoose' "Sword Worlds" book pretty much manages to be a sub-sector book with a bit of overlap here and there. I found it to be very useful and so here is an extended contents of the book

I used quite a few Mongoose books for that. I also used the Referee's Briefing 3: Going Portside e-book which I feel is more Third Imperium oriented but the game is Sting / Biter based so those worlds are a bit more cosmopolitan.

I, too, would like to see more subsector books. Sindal sub-sector would be interesting

I see you just expanded the table of Contents. I was thought you may have scoured other sources and pulled in content to expand the content. Still a handy document.

 

[MasterGwydion]

I would love to see subsector books like the Borderlands as opposed to sector books. There is just too much valuable information in the Borderlands book that would have to be omitted in a full sector book. I think that subsector books should be the new paradigm.

Edit- More awesome details and hooks for us and more money for Mongoose! Win win!

 

[Terry Mixon]

I would love to see subsector books like the Borderlands as opposed to sector books. There is just too much valuable information in the Borderlands book that would have to be omitted in a full sector book. I think that subsector books should be the new paradigm.

Edit- More awesome details and hooks for us and more money for Mongoose! Win win!

I’d like to see both.

 

[Conjoinedpigs]

I agree borderlands is useful and I’d like to see more subsector books, the games I’ve run for a couple years has three Vargr and one human, I’d really love to see a subsector book like borderlands but set in the Vargr extents. Maybe Grnout, where the Vargr home world is?

 

[Terry Mixon]

I agree borderlands is useful and I’d like to see more subsector books, the games I’ve run for a couple years has three Vargr and one human, I’d really love to see a subsector book like borderlands but set in the Vargr extents. Maybe Grnout, where the Vargr home world is?

I'd like to see a sector book AND a Borderlands style book both set in the Vargr Extents.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The Traveller Adventue shows how a single subsector, patron encounters, side adventures, and a campaign can make a good book.

I've been toying with writing a campaign, side adventures and patron encounters that can be dumped into any subsector of your choice.

 

[Hardwire]

I would like to see a book like Clans of the Aslan but for the Vargr.

 

[CordwainerFish]

Maybe Gemini subsector, straddling the Imperium and the Confederacy, along with the little enigma of Smade's Planet.

 

[Arcanum]

I am with you Terry Mixon. I love Sector books. They are many regions so mysterious, in the Imperium and elsewhere that need such a book. I think mostly of the road betwen Earth and Sylea, with a Massilia/Diaspora sector book, the vilani border (because vilani are the unloved of Humaniti Major races so far) with a Vland/Lishun Sector book, or the intriguing frontier with the mysterious Julian Protectorate with a Antares/Empty quarter sector book, or even the centre of Solomani confedaration with a Aldebaran/New world sector book, or one in the Vargr Extents like a Gvurdon/Tugliki sector book.

But Borderland styles books are great too. The Borderlands and Sworld worlds were great books. I would love a book about the Regina subscector, the Dpres subsector or even a Tobia subsector book for a detailed setting within the Third imperium in the Trojan Reach

 

[Vormaerin]

The Traveller Adventue shows how a single subsector, patron encounters, side adventures, and a campaign can make a good book.

I've been toying with writing a campaign, side adventures and patron encounters that can be dumped into any subsector of your choice.

Yeah, that's why I mentioned the Aramis Trace in my post. It is one that could be reasonably done without having to invent everything from scratch. Adding the world maps, system maps, and more about who the important actors are besides just the two companies that figure in that adventure. The Trace is great example of an 8 world pocket if you want to run a J1 campaign inside the Imperium. Or the Towers cluster, which is 11 worlds in a J1 pocket and also right on the border with the Vargr.

Obviously, if you have a J2+ vessel, then you are off to the races and can just up and go elsewhere. But I think part of what is valuable about doing a cluster book is showing how you can be part of the larger setting while keeping your campaign to a manageable size and lots of recurring characters by making an interesting cluster and a jump 1 vessel.

That's a thing I see moderately often from GMs asking for help or just discussing the game: "what if they just keep going spinward?" "How do I use recurring characters when the players can go anywhere?" "My players never visit the same world twice."

Take a cluster and a jump 1 ship until everyone is ready for a change and then they can upgrade to J2 and have the freedom of the whole sector (generally). If you ever get to that point.

Obviously, you can take a larger cluster like the Islands Subsectors if you are so inclined. Same principle, just for J2 vessels since the J4 rift boundary around it does the same thing.

 

[collins355]

Joining the pile-on in favour of books about smaller regions of Charted Space with more detail about the systems within them.

I always regret that GDW didn't carry through on their plan to detail District 268 through a series of books and adventures. Tarsus, Beltstrike,,,

 

[SpectrePlasma]

I also wanted to throw my two cents here. I loved the Borderlands book and would love to see more like it. While I have enjoyed sector books, the scope of Charted Space can make it tough for me to referee in the setting. While I take inspiration from the sector books, I feel much more comfortable running The Borderlands straight as-is.