Sindal Subsector book intro

[phavoc]

This should be re-worked a little. First it should be noted that this is simply one tiny corner of the vast Imperium, and players and referees will find a very rich setting. Secondly it says that Travellers can explore worlds, and that the main worlds are listed. Nothing at all about adventuring within a system in their spacecraft. Adventuring doesn’t always require jump drives. Since this is supposed to appeal to veterans and new people alike the idea that star SYSTEMS have a multitude of planets and stations to explore should be emphasized.

The description mentions the back story of the Sindalian Empire and Long Night. But a new player will have no idea what the Long Night is because it’s not defined. It’s something that exists in previous versions of Traveller. The Sindalian Empire is explained a little, so either the Long Night needs to have at least a sentence or two defining it, or it should be dropped because it cannot stand on it’s own definition wise.

For a starter zone it’s odd one. While there’s not necessarily an issue with it being a rough place (many adventure possibilities here), a merchant player should find it hard to make a living since it’s stated “a small amount of trade flows through the Sindal subsector”. The bigger question is…. To where? And why, if it’s also stated most people try to avoid it. Players who receive lab ships or anything unarmed are at a severe disadvantage here, especially with the underlying idea of the kidnapping of educated people.

 

[MongooseMatt]

We could, obviously, add a great deal here, but I want to resist that temptation - basically, we just want the players to have a little sandbox to play in, and one that we can come back to and expand (you can be sure we will!). We also want an area where if the players start changing governments and worlds in a big way, they won't run into continuity issues later on with supplements and adventures.

The Trojan Reach will be getting its own book, but we just want to give a flavour of it here - if players end up with questions about the deeper background, that is just fine. The answers will come or, if they prefer, they can build upon things themselves.

 

[phavoc]

Well, maybe there's no need to add that much, but I think what there is could be tweaked slightly to address some of the points. It's going to be some players first introduction to Traveller, so keep in mind that you want enough information to encourage them to explore and try the rules out while tooling around Sindal. As a player and ref I actually appreciate the effort that goes into making a planet or subsector sound interesting and potentially exciting.