Preview: World Builder's Handbook

Geir said:
<insert Homer Simpson faceplant>
What, computer isn't a verb?
Well, I do proof these things at least three times, including a print out and red pen edit before I turn them in, but I'm blind to some of my own errors. Maybe Skynet ChatGPT integration into Word will help in the future.
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I use Grammarly.
 
As an astronomer undergrad myself, I am going to ravenously devour this book when it comes out...

... and expect my trademark proof-checking remarks! 😁
 
I've seen the mega traveller version of this. If you are including equipment, I hope you change the name of the floater to a grav sled or something 😁
 
GabrielGABFonseca said:
As an astronomer undergrad myself, I am going to ravenously devour this book when it comes out...

... and expect my trademark proof-checking remarks! 😁
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Looking forward too it. No really, I hope I didn't screw up any actual physics, but my last college astronomy class was in 1985 (zero exoplanets back then - not even around pulsars).
 
CordwainerFish said:
Book 6 isn't the only reason I came close to getting a second minor in astronomy (and was a full-on astrophysics major my first year), but it sure is a big one.
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Book 6 didn't prevent me from dropping Engineering Physics and ending up with a History degree (with a minor in math/physics, for what that's worth), but it did set me off on a project to do system generation better and to improve my programming skills to the point where I not only learned the astrophysics on my own, but also got me a job that eventually put me into an IT career... so Traveller is why I got a third of a century of employment, so far.. And that job (and a little pandemic that allowed from work form home) gave me the time to write this book. So full circle. That little black book paid for itself.
 
I am looking forward to both the handbook and the Imperial Navy book. Both have been at the top of my wish list for years.
 
MongooseMatt said:
The truly long-awaited World Builder's Handbook for Traveller is imminent! All going well, you should be seeing it on PDF and pre-order in the last week of the month. So, what can you expect to see?

Ultimately, this book is a toolset for the Referee to expand a world or system profile into a fully realised setting. It includes star system generation procedures for determining the type and location of a system’s significant stars and worlds, an expansion of mainworld generation – both physical and social – and the specifics for applying these rules to determining the physical and (if inhabited) social characteristics of the star system’s other worlds.

View attachment 1081

Both comprehensive and modular, this handbook allows the Referee to focus on whatever aspect of a world or system’s characteristics are most important to their adventure or campaign, and it includes knowledge gained in the thousands of exoplanetary systems discovered over recent years. You will be able to build habitable and hostile worlds, moons, gas giants, twilight worlds, and this book will showcase what your Travellers can see in the skies above these worlds.

View attachment 1082

Written for those wanting to dress up a world without paralysing (!) maths, those wanting to create a layer of verisimilitude in the planets they create, and those wanting to be sure the astrophysics of their universes hold true, the World Builder's Handbook utilises the modular nature of Traveller to allow you to use as much or as little as you need for each adventure.

View attachment 1083

Also included are checklists, forms, examples, and the procedures and equipment used by the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service to survey and record information on the thousands of systems within and surrounding the Third Imperium, as well as a glossary to cover the astronomical terms introduced.

So get ready to dive into the World Builder's Handbook and begin to build your universe your way.

Expect to see this mighty tome on the week of June 26th!
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Looking forward to it thx
 
Geir said:
You don't need to.


The other method is the continuation method. It assumes you already have a Mainworld generated, either using the Core book or from an existing Traveller setting, and you want to expand the details of the system or world. In this case 'all the rest of those things' are only those things that you want to develop. In most cases, they don't need to be developed at once, or at all, though there is a flow of dependences in that Size feeds Atmosphere feeds Hydrographics , and likewise Population feeds Government feeds Law Level and most of those (and Starport) feed Tech Level, so when you dig into the details of these values, the other Physical or Social values will have some dependency on one another.
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This is the style of thing I'd like. To build from the UWP outwards
 
(Urgh. And today I learned about a thing I didn't even know existed: a white dwarf pulsar. Just goes to show you: 'pulsar' is a characteristic of a thing, not a thing. Not going to update the book for that, though. Already have white dwarfs and neutron stars... and black holes. Things.)
 
Lol, remember the disclaimer :)

More constructively there could be future JTAS articles updating to the latest discoveries.
 
So I have this daily routine where I go through a list of space-related website while drinking my coffee. Found the white dwarf pulsar article, which interesting. Also saw the result of a lack of atmosphere detection on Trappist-1C, which was thought to be Venus-like. But isn't. Might not bode well for decent atmospheres around M dwarfs, at least the very dim ones - which may also include Proxima Centauri, though Trappist is way cooler and barely a star at all. Might also be a Io-like problem with gravitational tides heating the planet even further. Don't know. Can't tell. Yet. Yes, the disclaimer applies...
 
Eh, Niven's "The Coldest Place" was written and sold when Mercury was thought to be tide locked, but before publication it was discovered that it wasn't. There is worse company to be in.
 
Geir said:
(Urgh. And today I learned about a thing I didn't even know existed: a white dwarf pulsar. Just goes to show you: 'pulsar' is a characteristic of a thing, not a thing. Not going to update the book for that, though. Already have white dwarfs and neutron stars... and black holes. Things.)
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You should write it up as an appendix to the book. There will be new papers, ideas and discoveries released as our understanding of the cosmos is expanded.
 
Geir said:
So I have this daily routine where I go through a list of space-related website while drinking my coffee. Found the white dwarf pulsar article, which interesting. Also saw the result of a lack of atmosphere detection on Trappist-1C, which was thought to be Venus-like. But isn't. Might not bode well for decent atmospheres around M dwarfs, at least the very dim ones - which may also include Proxima Centauri, though Trappist is way cooler and barely a star at all. Might also be a Io-like problem with gravitational tides heating the planet even further. Don't know. Can't tell. Yet. Yes, the disclaimer applies...
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Damn science, always marching forward and making fools of authors. :D
 
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