What about an every day life supplement?

[FreeTrav]

For my desert world setting I first made two lists, one with the important
technologies and devices and one with the important everyday situations
(work, household chores, holidays, etc.). Then I created an average fami-
ly, parents and kids, and made notes how each of the technologies would
affect each of the everyday situations of the members of this family, ba-
sically a normal day's journal of life in my setting. As a result I got a ra-
ther good impression how the various technologies would interact under
the specific conditions of my setting, which made it a lot easier for me to
describe everyday life in this setting.

Rust, I/Freelance Traveller would very much like to see an article about doing this generically, with some worked examples - this sort of thing would be VERY useful for game masters who want to create a "proper feel" for their worlds, or for people who want to create plausible worlds to share with others...

 

[zero]

I also tend to do what rust does for my random-rolled worlds, its recommended for those who havent done it yet as it really paints more of a picture for your world, especially when combo'd with the rest of the UWP for the world in question.

 

[rust]

It also helps to imagine common everyday situations which are not di-
rectly related to the technology of the setting and to come up with things
like typical customs of a planet.

For example, on this desert world the atmosphere is not breathable, so
everyone has to wear an environment suit when leaving a habitat. Since
people have different levels of Survival skill, the environment suits are
colour coded according to the owner's level of Survival skill, and the co-
lour determines what one is allowed to do outside the habitat and how far
he may move from the habitat.

The colour codes are also the base of the planet's "airlock protocol". The
children, the new colonists and the visitors are not expected to be able
to handle their environment suits well, so they are only allowed to leave
the habitat after a person with a "higher colour" has checked their envi-
ronment suits at the airlock.

It is also the custom that the person with the "highest colour" always lea-
ves the airlock first to check the situation outside, and that the person
with the "lowest colour" always enters the airlock first when he returns
from outside to the safety of the habitat.

This also influences the language of the inhabitants of the planet, "He has
a higher colour" or "He has a lower colour" is a typical way to express the
social status or rank of a person.

This is just one example how thinking about a piece of technology and its
everyday use in a specific setting, here the environment suit and the Sur-
vival skill required to use it, can also help to visualize what the effects on
seemingly unrelated parts of the setting's culture could be.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Interesting idea there Rust! Me Likey.

I have a Spacers Guild/Gypsy group that dominates interstellar trade in one of my pocket empires. I could see the same type of color coded ability being used for Vacc Suits! (all Day-Glo colors of course)

Kids and Newbies are Yellows
Vacc Suit 0 is Green
Vacc Suit 1 is Blue
Vacc Suit 2+ is Orange

So all kinds of phrases would pop up around these colors:

"Going for the Green" means taking those first steps towards independence. Kids and parents use it when dealing the adolescent behavior, so it isn't always a good thing.

"He/She is an Orange Pianist" means they are an expert. In this case an expert Piano player.

Fun Stuff.

 

[DFW]

I would expect a Grav Belt built by American culture to look quite different from one built by Arabic culture, but in the end, the idea is that the Grav Belt becomes common at what TL? At what TL does the Grav Belt (and the air/raft) eliminate the need for paved roads (if ever)? Whether the Grav Belt looks like a jet pack or a flying carpet is secondary to me over that first consideration.

Once I know that Grav Belts are common, then I can extrapolate what that does to the society and then throw in cultural influences as well.

Very well put. The function is primary and the "form" is secondary & mutable depending on the cultural influences.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I have been digging through some of my Traveller stuff looking for snippets that describe the everyday life stuff we have been discussing.

CSC has several pages on how TL progresses. It isn't much more than a couple of paragraphs about each TL, but what is there is pretty good.

The MegaTraveller Referee's Companion has a pretty big section on TL progression, discussing each of the major sections of the old CT TL Table. Again, aimed more at weapons and Travelling, but a lot of good stuff there too.

Between the two and just looking at the equipment that is available at each TL, it should be possible to come up with some good information.

Maybe an S&P article?

 

[rust]

By the way, what I would very much appreciate, because it would be most
useful for my work on my settings, would be a Traveller "technology tree",
similar to the kind of "tech tree" certain computer games like Civilization
have. It would make it a lot easier to imagine or decide how specific socie-
ties concentrate on specific "branches" of the "tech tree", for example be-
cause of their environment, and what the results of such different techno-
logy developments or paths could look like.

As an example, the technology development in my water world setting is
certainly different from the technology development in my desert world
setting: No ground vehicles except seafloor crawlers, more biotechnology
than "metal technology" because of the difficulty of seafloor mining, and
so on. With a "tech tree" I could look up where this could lead the water
world society, in which other fields it could have advanced technology, or
which fields could be only marginally developed.

Sure, I can also do this in my head or on a sheet of paper, but it would be
nice to have a "standard example" of a Traveller "technology tree" as an
inspiration to begin with.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

You might be able to get that from the Tech Level Table in the MegaTraveller Referee's Companion. It is an expanded version of what is in CT book 3. It breaks down Transportation into Land, Sea, Air and Space, also showing when these are combined by Gravitics. The 3 pages of discussion by subject area explains in words how things develop. Putting that info into something graphic should be pretty easy.

 

[rust]

Thank you very much, I have the MT material on some backup CD and
will take a look at it.

 

[Loconius]

I think instead of life at each tech level, how about life at each social standing rating, since they each cost a certain amount each month and that amount could quantifiably be listed as a standard of loving at that social level...

 

[rust]

I think instead of life at each tech level, how about life at each social standing rating, since they each cost a certain amount each month and that amount could quantifiably be listed as a standard of loving at that social level...

The Central Supply Catalogue has a table of this kind on page 182, but
there the monthly costs of living are implausibly low, for example 400 Cr
for an average standard of living suitable for social standing 7.

 

[Loconius]

I think instead of life at each tech level, how about life at each social standing rating, since they each cost a certain amount each month and that amount could quantifiably be listed as a standard of loving at that social level...

The Central Supply Catalogue has a table of this kind on page 182, but
there the monthly costs of living are implausibly low, for example 400 Cr
for an average standard of living suitable for social standing 7.

That is low, but they have descriptions of each on that book? Sounds like the base rulebook has theproper values for cost

 

[rust]

That is low, but they have descriptions of each on that book?

No, just a few general remarks and the table.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Not too low though, 400 Cr is $1,200 per month (ish) which is $14,400 per year, which is about the average income in the US at the time of writing.

 

[DFW]

Not too low though, 400 Cr is $1,200 per month (ish) which is $14,400 per year, which is about the average income in the US at the time of writing.

At the time of writing, US avg personal income was ~$33,000/year

 

[Loconius]

Not too low though, 400 Cr is $1,200 per month (ish) which is $14,400 per year, which is about the average income in the US at the time of writing.

yeah i made more then this at safeway!!!! i thought credits went straight to current currency?

 

[locarno24]

Hmm...

New Car (Ground Car): Cr 6,000

Laptop (TL7-8 Computer): Cr 50-100

Not exactly direct read-across, is it?

 

[rust]

Not too low though, 400 Cr is $1,200 per month (ish) which is $14,400 per year, which is about the average income in the US at the time of writing.

According to the equipment chapter of the core rules, a cheap burger
costs about 2 - 3 Credits, so with 400 Credits per month the character
would have approximately 13 Credits per day, the equivalent of 4 to 6
burgers, to pay for rent, food and all other costs of living. I am very
sceptical.

Laptop (TL7-8 Computer): Cr 50-100

Not exactly direct read-across, is it?

Nice, you can get a laptop for the price of 25 burgers ... :shock:

 

[DFW]

Hmm...

New Car (Ground Car): Cr 6,000

Laptop (TL7-8 Computer): Cr 50-100

Not exactly direct read-across, is it?

From day one, the econ system of Trav has been a bit psycho to say the least.

 

[zero]

Nice, you can get a laptop for the price of 25 burgers ...

True, but the TAS throw in a drink and fries and charge another few credits ontop, so you think you're paying 3 creds but then they ask 5 creds, even if you didnt want the extras :roll:

I have a RL experience of this from a well-known burger chain... sorry :?