Setting suggestions

Greetings, Travellers! I've recently discovered Mongoose's Traveller and have been diving in in a big way. I'm looking to start working on a campaign and trying to choose a campaign area/setting and, honestly, I'm overwhelmed trying to narrow it down. Both the Third Imperium and the 2300 setting are new to me. I'm drawn to the 2300 setting for its frontier feel and exploration spirit, but I can't stand the Stutterwarp drive. And while I love 2300's alien races, I like the classic Third Imperium races as well. So, given the volume of material available, I'm inclined to go with a Third Imperium region.

So, regardless of area/setting, I'll be sticking to standard High Guard starship technology. I'd like an area that supports exploration, outposts, new colonies (i.e. Space Western style) but can support the gamut of Traveller campaigns as I don't know what my players characters will be or where their interests will lie. Right now, they're leaning towards classic freewheeling adventurer/free traders.

What would you recommend? Which of the various Traveller regions/sourcebooks would you suggest? Or would you go 2300 with High Guard ship tech? Or should I go the create-your-own setting route?
 
If you're sticking to the Third Imperium itself, there's a good reason that the Spinward Marches/Deneb sectors are a focus of so much content: it's at a strategic junction between multiple powers, and while it's mapped and 'known', the 'known' is often relatively cursory, and many of the worlds found therein are backwater/undeveloped/frontier in their theme.

If you want a more lawless frontier region then the Trojan Reach sector is right next door. The Pirates of Drinax is a large-scale campaign set there, but you can use it in a fully sandbox fashion too. The reach of the Third Imperium is still felt there, but it isn't in direct control (at least not beyond one small corner of it).
 
@Sigtrygg:

I may ultimately do that but given I'm new to Traveller, there's so much other stuff to focus on that I'd only go that route if no existing areas could support my desired criteria.


@Garran:

Thanks for the suggestions. Behind the Claw seemed like it fit the bill, but I was concerned I was projecting my hopes on the description. I appreciate the expanded description and knowing the Trojan Reach can open things further, I think that will more than set me up. Looks like Behind the Claw is on my Christmas list!!

Thanks again.
 
If you like 2300 except for the stutter warp mechanics, either use standard jump drives or get High Guard and use hyperdrives/warp engines with reduced TL. With the latter, you don't need to have neat subsector hex maps, just the distance to the destination, and enough fuel to keep the power plant running long enough to get there.

That way you can get the flavor of the setting without the other hassles.

Personally, I think the hyperdrives and warp engines should be larger, so I calculate using a jump drive plus fuel for its rating as the size of the hyperdrive/warp engine. That way, old designs can be used in either setting. YMMV.
 
If starting Traveller from scratch I would suggest you don't try and eat the whole elephant.

Your first few game sessions could easily take place within one system, plenty of adventure to be had if you flesh out a star system.

Only when you are ready would you need to generate the other systems in your starting subsector, you could probably get away with just the adjacent systems to your starting system.

Making up your own setting like this is a fun way to do it.
 
I also enjoy the exploration aspects of the game and have been working on a campaign starting on a TL 9 (Pre-Stellar) world. No jump drives yet, but fusion power and M-Drives are available to make exploration and development of the star system fairly easy. Ships would be rare in such a system, so the players are probably employees of the government or a large corporation looking to explore the asteroid belt(s) and other planets in the system. If colonization is desired, those ideas work for building a research base or company town, or the players could be searching for a new place to live free from discrimination or oppression for their group's politics, religion, ethnicity, etc.

When it comes time to breakout from the initial system there are several ways to get the technology: scientific development, a starship (mis-)jumping into the system, the discovery of a centuries-old starship abandoned on a barren world/moon/asteroid, or even the discovery of an information cache or research station with advanced knowledge that allows the group to discover jump technology on their own. One good source for a ship or the technology would be a lost scout from one of the original surveys.

There are many possible worlds in the 3I setting, go to Traveller Map and pick a remote world with an X or E starport and tweak the UWP (outdated survey data, maybe) or you can dip your toe into system creation by building one star system and drop it into an empty hex on the existing maps. If you go with your own creation it might be nice to come up with a reason that the system has not been added to the map yet. That lost scout never came back to report the system or it was ignored because the system's sun is of a type unlikely to provide habitable worlds, either by being too small and faint (the main world orbits quite close) or very large, with huge amounts of radiation sterilizing the inner planets.

Whatever you decide to do, have fun with it.
 
DickTurpin said:
I also enjoy the exploration aspects of the game and have been working on a campaign starting on a TL 9 (Pre-Stellar) world. No jump drives yet, but fusion power and M-Drives are available to make exploration and development of the star system fairly easy. Ships would be rare in such a system, so the players are probably employees of the government or a large corporation looking to explore the asteroid belt(s) and other planets in the system. If colonization is desired, those ideas work for building a research base or company town, or the players could be searching for a new place to live free from discrimination or oppression for their group's politics, religion, ethnicity, etc.

When it comes time to breakout from the initial system there are several ways to get the technology: scientific development, a starship (mis-)jumping into the system, the discovery of a centuries-old starship abandoned on a barren world/moon/asteroid, or even the discovery of an information cache or research station with advanced knowledge that allows the group to discover jump technology on their own. One good source for a ship or the technology would be a lost scout from one of the original surveys.

There are many possible worlds in the 3I setting, go to Traveller Map and pick a remote world with an X or E starport and tweak the UWP (outdated survey data, maybe) or you can dip your toe into system creation by building one star system and drop it into an empty hex on the existing maps. If you go with your own creation it might be nice to come up with a reason that the system has not been added to the map yet. That lost scout never came back to report the system or it was ignored because the system's sun is of a type unlikely to provide habitable worlds, either by being too small and faint (the main world orbits quite close) or very large, with huge amounts of radiation sterilizing the inner planets.

Whatever you decide to do, have fun with it.

I did this a long time ago... before Firefly. I had a double-star system with 3 habitable planets and a bunch of outposts and research stations. The characters found a small ship WAY out there, unusual, but not completely unknown design - they accidentally activated the Jump Drive and misjumped into the Spinward Marches...
 
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