New colony

[mortal]

Hi. Haven't played since the original little books and megatraveller but i want to resume. Thinking of the following campaign: a newly established colony (or about to be established) wishes to contract travellers for the following services. Firstly a small security force to protect and train the colonists (think 7 samurais). Secondly a team of scientists (at least one with medical skills) to teach and investigate the planet and its biology. Thirdly a team of explorers and hunters to explore the wild areas around the colony. Lastly a merchant with a ship to make monthly run for supply, new colonists, and to sell surplus items from the colony (food, minerals, etc). Expected events include pirate raids, infection outbreak, search and rescue, natural disasters, etc.

My questions are:
1. Rules wise standard traveller or 2300AD?
2. Are colonization efforts always goverment or corporations or can a group of like minded people organize one in the traveller universe vs 2300AD?
3. Does this sound doable and fun?

 

[MasterGwydion]

1) I am not the right person to answer this.
2) Colonization can be done by a group as small as a family dropped off on planet with no ship and very little initial cost, so anyone can do it, but the more well-funded you are, generally, the better the colony does survival-wise.
3) YES! Sounds like a blast!

 

[boggo2300]

My questions are:
1. Rules wise standard traveller or 2300AD?
2. Are colonization efforts always goverment or corporations or can a group of like minded people organize one in the traveller universe vs 2300AD?
3. Does this sound doable and fun?

1. Depends on what you want the setting to be like
2. Depends on 1. but pretty much Government, Corporate, or anyone with enough cash to get sufficient people and resources to a colonisable location
3. Most definitly, Traveller would prpbably be easier as you can just go totally custom universe for it. 2300 is more setting than anything (especially now)

 

[Condottiere]

Have players assigned a character in each group?

 

[mortal]

Have players assigned a character in each group?

yes. i was to make this is how the characters meet up.

 

[rinku]

Even in the default Third Imperium there's borders, unclaimed space and scope for undiscovered (or unrevealed) worlds, as well as listed but uninhabited ones. Plenty of scope for anyone with the means to set up a new colony.

 

[Condottiere]

You could squat on an abandoned planet.

Or, be an Aslan.

 

[rinku]

Adventure awaits, as you slowly find out why it was abandoned...

 

[Regnarts]

You could go for the Rim Expeditions and Solomani explorers trying to deal with terrae incognitae. Have some politics, maybe some SolSec - I once had a campaign idea like this

 

[Arkathan]

Adventure awaits, as you slowly find out why it was abandoned...

Dawnworld

 

[ottarrus]

Hi. Haven't played since the original little books and megatraveller but i want to resume. Thinking of the following campaign: a newly established colony (or about to be established) wishes to contract travellers for the following services. Firstly a small security force to protect and train the colonists (think 7 samurais). Secondly a team of scientists (at least one with medical skills) to teach and investigate the planet and its biology. Thirdly a team of explorers and hunters to explore the wild areas around the colony. Lastly a merchant with a ship to make monthly run for supply, new colonists, and to sell surplus items from the colony (food, minerals, etc). Expected events include pirate raids, infection outbreak, search and rescue, natural disasters, etc.

My questions are:
1. Rules wise standard traveller or 2300AD?
2. Are colonization efforts always goverment or corporations or can a group of like minded people organize one in the traveller universe vs 2300AD?
3. Does this sound doable and fun?

Ok the difference between the two milieux is the Official Traveller Universe [OTU] and the 2300 milieu.

Starting a colony is HUGELY expensive in either universe, but it is far more expensive in 2300. There's a lot more too it than just getting 25 friends to build cabins on zero population world and try to do a 'Jeremiah Johnson'.
However, there is no absolute requirement that a government or megacorp must be the sponsor. You just have to have millions of credits, a large supply of colonists, and place to colonize.
For the OTU, let me recommend 'Project Steel', a whole mini-campaign revolving the colonization of a world in the Spinward Marches.
There isn't an adventure in 2300 specifically set in a new colony, but almost all the published adventures feature a colonial atmosphere.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Dawnworld

Death World (Harry Harrison).

A killing machine left over from the ancients just waiting for a target to show up. It will take time to detect you, fully activate itself and dig itself out of the sediment that built up since it was last active but then the screaming starts.

Or maybe the survey missed the sublight ship from Chamax that landed but failed to release the "cargo" till someone opens the air lock.

 

[rinku]

The TNE World Tamer's Handbook is still probably the best Traveller resource for setting up a colony.

Although admittedly, it doesn't have that much competition...

 

[MasterGwydion]

The TNE World Tamer's Handbook is still probably the best Traveller resource for setting up a colony.

Although admittedly, it doesn't have that much competition...

Agreed! Even with all of its flaws, it is still one of My all-time favorite Traveller books.

 

[mortal]

Ok the difference between the two milieux is the Official Traveller Universe [OTU] and the 2300 milieu.

Starting a colony is HUGELY expensive in either universe, but it is far more expensive in 2300. There's a lot more too it than just getting 25 friends to build cabins on zero population world and try to do a 'Jeremiah Johnson'.
However, there is no absolute requirement that a government or megacorp must be the sponsor. You just have to have millions of credits, a large supply of colonists, and place to colonize.
For the OTU, let me recommend 'Project Steel', a whole mini-campaign revolving the colonization of a world in the Spinward Marches.
There isn't an adventure in 2300 specifically set in a new colony, but almost all the published adventures feature a colonial atmosphere.

The players are bidding on contracts from the colonists but are not sponsoring the colonists themselves.

 

[ottarrus]

The players are bidding on contracts from the colonists but are not sponsoring the colonists themselves.

Contracts to do what, exactly? Pathfinding... aka finding a suitable world, surveying the world, and selecting a colony site?
A team of PCs isn't large enough to actually prepare a colony site for occupation. That's essentially a construction project requiring lots of workers, expensive machinery, and some administration.

 

[mortal]

Contracts to do what, exactly? Pathfinding... aka finding a suitable world, surveying the world, and selecting a colony site?
A team of PCs isn't large enough to actually prepare a colony site for occupation. That's essentially a construction project requiring lots of workers, expensive machinery, and some administration.

As per the original post a new colony is offering contracts for the following services:
“Firstly a small security force to protect and train the colonists (think 7 samurais). Secondly a team of scientists (at least one with medical skills) to teach and investigate the planet and its biology. Thirdly a team of explorers and hunters to explore the wild areas around the colony. Lastly a merchant with a ship to make monthly run for supply, new colonists, and to sell surplus items from the colony (food, minerals, etc). ”
The rest has been or will be covered by the colony themselves.

 

[Ol'Weedy]

Unless you already have a planet to set it on, there's a free adventure download called 'Stranded' on DrivethruRPg (Here). I've always thought it might be a good setting for just the sort of campaign you've described. Not the most hospitable world, but it's partly developed for you, and you can always change what you don't like. The adventure itself is a good way to "blunder" some of the characters in, if you can't think of a better reason...

 

[rinku]

Since what the player group will be doing is employment oriented and not at the level of running the colony, you won't really need hard rules to design things, but something like World Builders' Handbook will have good ideas you can use. As can a lot of fiction (not just science fiction) and how things were run historically.

You could look at the European settlement of Africa, America or Australia, although if there isn't a native population on this colony world the Polynesian settlement of the Pacific might be a better model.