New Referee Question on Sharing Info with Players

[Zen Infidel]

I'm curious how much of the space sector map do you share with the players? Do you give the players a complete list of every world in the subsector, or only reveal the significant worlds and leave some of them hidden?

 

[dragoner]

Yes, I'll give the sector map wth worlds, but a more precise subsector pdf.

 

[F33D]

If the players are from worlds within the sector that have interstellar capability, all basic world data would be available to them. There would have to be extraordinary circumstances for a world's basic data to be unknown to star-faring persons...

 

[Zen Infidel]

OK. I need to have fleshed out descriptions of every world then, so they can choose which world there characters are from.

 

[Zen Infidel]

I actually have another question that is closely related to this topic. Do players usually use one of the planets from the subsector, or do you allow players to create their own homeworlds?

 

[dragoner]

Either or; but when using the sector, and about having it drawn up, it is very handy to be prepared by having an outline of the sector and campaign.

 

[Zen Infidel]

Are pirate bases, Imperial consulates, and TAS hostels listed in the UWP?

 

[dragoner]

No not usually, but you can make a secret record of where they are. By fleshed out, for most systems, all you really need is the UWP, base codes and trade codes. If making a world, it is a good idea to flesh that out if there is going to be adventure there.

 

[Zen Infidel]

OK, thank you. Since all of my players will also be new to the system, and some will not have the main rulebook, I think I will go ahead and flesh out several of the more obvious planet choices as recommendations for homeworlds.

 

[dragoner]

Cheers, have fun is the number one rule!

 

[Zen Infidel]

Thank you, and thanks again for the help!

 

[Greylond]

What I do as a GM and I've done as a Player with GM approval, is to have available a Computer Expert Software package called (Name_of_Sector) Survey Database and charge 10 credits for it(or 100 Credits for the FULL website). Then I define it as http://www.travellermap.com

I typically use a computer with internet access at the table anyway so I just consult that website as we play.

 

[Zen Infidel]

You mean the entire universe has already been mapped out? I wish I had seen this earlier. I've already generated my own subsector though, so I want to use it. Maybe I will insert it somewhere in this map.

 

[Greylond]

It's not the entire universe. There are whole sectors that only have the star positions. Also, as a GM it's your game, you can change whatever you want. Databases have been known to have incorrect information in them.

 

[IanBruntlett]

I'm curious how much of the space sector map do you share with the players? Do you give the players a complete list of every world in the subsector, or only reveal the significant worlds and leave some of them hidden?

One thing to consider is the economics of Jump travel. It costs the same amount of time and money to Jump from the current solar system as it does to travel within the same solar system. This means that starships jump from solar system to solar system and locals handle the distribution of cargo and passengers within system. This means you don't necessarily have to detail all the solar systems within your particular sub-sector. Having a few worlds and space stations available for emergencies would be a good idea.

By the way, I would consider buying a copy of The Campaign Guide published by Mongoose. I've read it and will be integrating it in my games in the New Year.

HTH

 

[Greylond]

One thing to consider is the economics of Jump travel. It costs the same amount of time and money to Jump from the current solar system as it does to travel within the same solar system. This means that starships jump from solar system to solar system and locals handle the distribution of cargo and passengers within system. This means you don't necessarily have to detail all the solar systems within your particular sub-sector. Having a few worlds and space stations available for emergencies would be a good idea.

Yes. To put it modern terms, crews of freight ships, or even military ships, rarely go further from ship than the nearest bar or brothel and many ports end up looking very similar so you really don't need to detail more than you really need.

 

[Zen Infidel]

When I get some extra funds, I probably will get the campaign guide. I think I have enough information to get the game started now though.

 

[Greylond]

Another good resource is the Traveller Integrated Timeline(PDF) that is FREE

http://dmckinne.winterwar.org/pdfs/TravellerIntegratedTimeline.pdf

 

[Nathan Brazil]

The basics for navigation are not likely to change (Size, Atmosphere, Hydrographics) over the course of a few years unless there there has been some large planetary disaster, or the authority recognizes a change due to terraforming. The people data is likely to be more volitile (population, govenment, law level, tech level).

The validity of the UWP data in the library database is only as good as the authority that publishes it, and the how often it is updated. In the Third Imperium before the Rebellion, the IISS handles much of that. In its time it has done Grand Surveys of the state, but I wonder what how it handles presentation of updates. Starport classification is handled by the SPA (Starport Authority). TAS is handled by the Travellers' Aid Society (duh...).
Some things like Pirate Bases are not likely to last hundreds of years between Grand Surveys. I take the UWP's like snapshots of the state of the area as of certain date.

What would be interesting is how data from chaotic areas like the Vargr Extents are handled. Governments and Law Levels should be changing much more frequently because of Vargr psychology.

Finally, in the Megatravller book Hard Times, the referee is supposed to intentionally reclassify the UWPs as the war/campaign progresses as the Rebellion progresses and keep the Library Data for the players unchanged. With no central authority to handle data, each Jump can be a scary proposition. You can safely Jump, the nav data is still valid, but who knows what you will find (Starport destroyed last week, atmosphere now Tainted due to nukes, etc.)

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I'm curious how much of the space sector map do you share with the players? Do you give the players a complete list of every world in the subsector, or only reveal the significant worlds and leave some of them hidden?

I give the players printouts of such maps according to how they are displaying it. I take the printout back if they are just viewing a screen. I give the players time to draw a quick map of their own (they can trace over my diagram for their own copy). If their dash has a working printer, they get a printout of the map in the quality of their dash printer's working condition.