What book is needed to have a full map of the Universe

[jaz0nj4ckal]

Folks:
I have been researching Traveller, and the canon; however, I am at a lost as to what Mongoose resource I need to get, which has a complete map of the universe. In addition, what is the most era played in? I am getting a little confused, since I only received the Core Rule book a few weeks ago.

Thank you.

 

[Jeraa]

Folks:
I have been researching Traveller, and the canon; however, I am at a lost as to what Mongoose resource I need to get, which has a complete map of the universe. In addition, what is the most era played in? I am getting a little confused, since I only received the Core Rule book a few weeks ago.

Thank you.

Complete map of Charted Space? Not in one book (As far as I know). The Imperium has 11,000 worlds alone, not counting the Aslan, Vargr, Zhodani, etc. So if there is one in a book, its probably not very detailed, and just shows the borders of the major powers.

You can find a map online, like this one. That one is zoomable. You can go from viewing the entie galaxy (and seeing just how small charted space is) all the way down to seeing the subsector level, with the stats for the worlds.

Zoom in/out until the scale is 4 pixels/parsec. Every individual little dot is a named, stated up world. (Well, mostly. Some of those are just the background picture. Most are worlds, though.)

 

[hdan]

Like Jerra said, there's no official map of "charted space". There are rough diagrams though. The travellermap.com site will instantly show you the basic shape of charted space.

Most people like to play in the Spinward Marches sector; it was the original setting of the old game, and is a frontier zone at the edge of the Imperium. The Marches are bordered on three sides by hostile aliens - Vargr to the coreward, Zhodani to the spinward, Aslan to the Rimward, and a pocket of Darrian and Sword Worlders (space vikings) tucked in there too. The worlds of the Marches were in many cases only re-contacted by the Imperium, though many have been inhabited for centuries.

In the marches, the Regina subsector is the classic "starting spot", since it was the first subsector ever fleshed out in official Traveller materials, and a lot of old Traveller adventures are set in worlds found in the Regina and neighboring subsectors. Click on the "Regina" link at the side of the travellermap and it will center you there.

Mongoose is publishing sector books for all the sectors around the Spinward Marches. In most cases, the sectors are found in the "Alien Books" of the sophonts who live in those sectors. Mongoose has announced a "Deneb Sector" book as well. Deneb borders the Marches, and is a more civilized (though still plagued by Vargr pirates) area.

Another spot that seems ripe for high adventure is the "Reaver's Deep" sector, but Mongoose hasn't done a suppliment on that one yet, so you'll need to use web resources.

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

Thank you both...This is great...

This is huge...Is each hex on the zoomed in map classified as a jump for ships?

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

It would take a long time to go from one side to the other

 

[Jeraa]

Yes, each hex is 1 parsec, so is a Jump-1. Going 2 hexes is 2 Jump-1s, or a Jump-2, etc.

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

Jeraa - what is X-boat route in the map legend?

Wow...some places are 8 hex apart...I guess you would need a special jump-ship or only can jump so far, and will have to rough it the rest of the way. I was looking down in the Reft Sector at the Islands Cluster

 

[Jeraa]

Jeraa - what is X-boat route in the map legend?

Wow...some places are 8 hex apart...I guess you would need a special jump-ship or only can jump so far, and will have to rough it the rest of the way. I was looking down in the Reft Sector at the Islands Cluster

Its the route express boats take. X-boat

Since the Imperium is so big, there needs to be a way to get information from the center worlds out to the fringe worlds, and back again. Thats what the express boats (x-boats) are for. The routes are where they travel.

Basically, X-boats spread their information along the green lines. Other worlds not on those lines rely on other ships, like merchant ships, to get the information.

Wow...some places are 8 hex apart...I guess you would need a special jump-ship or only can jump so far, and will have to rough it the rest of the way. I was looking down in the Reft Sector at the Islands Cluster

If a ship has enough space, they could always carry enough fuel for multiple jumps. You aren't limited to only carrying enough fuel for 1 jump.

 

[hdan]

Also, ships tend to go around the rifts if they can.

And there are rumors of hidden refueling caches in the rifts, but of course nobody *really* believes they exist....

Yes, charted space is HUGE. You will almost never go farther than a sector, and in many cases a campaign won't leave a 4-subsector quadrant. My current group is focused on the Darrian/SwordWorlds/FiveSisters/District268 quadrant of the Spinward Marches. (The lower left corner on the map), but we may be pushing into the Trojan Reaches, depending on if I wind up developing this story arc I have in mind.

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

The X-boat idea is kind of cool. It reminds me of the American Pony Express in the 1800s, and the X-boat handles the problem with communication times between parsecs.

Thanks.

 

[Jeraa]

The X-boat idea is kind of cool. It reminds me of the American Pony Express in the 1800s, and the X-boat handles the problem with communication times between parsecs.

Thanks.

Thats exactly what they are. The x-boats belong to the Communications branch of the Scout Service. Their symbol is like the Pony Express symbol, except instead of a horse its an 8-legged lizard thing. Which just happens to be called a Ponii. So they are the Ponii Express. (Not that anyone actually calls them that.) [Or so I've heard. I can't actually find a source on that info though.]

Edit: Finally found a picture of the logo. http://biomassart.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/scout3small.jpg In the upper right corner.

 

[Hans Rancke]

Most people like to play in the Spinward Marches sector; it was the original setting of the old game, and is a frontier zone at the edge of the Imperium. The Marches are bordered on three sides by hostile aliens - Vargr to the coreward, Zhodani to the spinward, Aslan to the Rimward, and a pocket of Darrian and Sword Worlders (space vikings) tucked in there too. The worlds of the Marches were in many cases only re-contacted by the Imperium, though many have been inhabited for centuries.

That depends on whether various recent (i.e. MGT) references to pre-Imperial settlements in the Spinward Marches are deliberate retcons or mistakes. According to previously published (i.e. non-MGT) material, most of the Spinward Marches was settled by Imperials from 60 onwards. There are some exceptions, notably the Sword Worlds, the Darrians, "a few Zhodani worlds", Algine and Vanejen. Also a grey area concerning settlements betweem -1511 and 60.

What is clear is that what there were of early settlements had been recontacted (or interdicted) by 100 and the rest of the Marches had been "substantially settled" by 200. There were still a number of holes in 200, but by 500 most of those had been filled in. Imperium-sponsored settlement of the Marches took place from 200-400. What there was before that was [NB! my interpretation of canon, not canon] mostly commercial exploitation (e.g. Mora) and colonies set up by Imperials trying to get away from the Imperium (e.g. all the worlds in the the Regina Cluster).


Hans

 

[Hans Rancke]

The X-boat idea is kind of cool. It reminds me of the American Pony Express in the 1800s, and the X-boat handles the problem with communication times between parsecs.

Thats exactly what they are.

That's exactly what they're supposed to be, and that's what they were conceived as back when they were first set up. However, if they work as they're described as working, they are incredibly inefficient. Even if we ignore the question of J5 (available from 700) and J6 (available from 1000), they convey information at a rate much slower than they would be capable of if employed rationally (canonically they average 2.6 parsecs per week -- that's slower than commercial traffic would be).

And any institution with access to J6 ships will, of course, leave them utterly redundant. They're the mule-riding mailman, not the Pony Express.

[Note: Yes, I know the story about the Imperium deliberately keeping the X-boats slower than they could be in order to achieve a communications advantage. That story has more holes than a colander; I just don't believe it.]

The x-boats belong to the Communications branch of the Scout Service. Their symbol is like the Pony Express symbol, except instead of a horse its an 8-legged lizard thing. Which just happens to be called a Ponii. So they are the Ponii Express. (Not that anyone actually calls them that.) [Or so I've heard. I can't actually find a source on that info though.]

It goes back to the original JTAS writeup.


Hans

 

[Jak Nazryth]

jaz0nj4ckal. Welcome to Traveller!
I started playing Traveller in 1982 and my friend who introduced me to the game had the big fold-out map of the Spinward Marches. So it has always been my favorite area of known space. As others have said before, the SM's sector is kind-of like the "Wild west" of the Imperium. It's a nice mix of civilization, danger, back water worlds, lost alien technologies, pirates, smugglers, honest and dishonest merchants.
It is not absolutely necessary, but if I were you, I would get the Spinward Marches supplement along with the fold out map - large map is sold separately unfortunately The websites already mentioned are great, but to me it's so much better to have a map folded out on a table in front of all your friends with them searching worlds and plotting their next move. I'm not sure if you can print directly from Travellermap.com.... Anyone know if you can print from that site???

I have also purchased the Alien supplement "Alsan" along with the large fold out map. This part of known space is called the Trojan Reach sector, just Rimward "south" of the Spinward Marches. My players started adventuring in the Spinward Marches but are now heading deep into the Trojan Reach.

I will also point out that T20 released a large pdf version of the Gateway Sector (on the other side of the Imperium) You can still use the Mongoose rules but use any previous released settings. The Traveller Universe is huge, so have fun!

 

[Hans Rancke]

Double posting. Any way to delete this one?

 

[Hans Rancke]

For the past 20 years I've been working on the history of the Spinward Marches as a hobby. I've written a number of adventures and world writeups for JTAS Online. Sadly, some of the material has been superceded by subsequently published material, but a lot of it is still canon-compatible. Nor am I the only one who has written Spinward Marches stuff for JTAS Online. If you don't a subscription, I urge you to look into getting one. It is arguably the best bargain around because not only do you get a two-year subscription with 150 articles for $20, you also get access to the archive with more than a thousand articles.

Among the articles you might find interesting is a writeup of District 268, Glisten, Egyrn and Pax Rulin in the year 400 called "The Outrim Frontier" that I wrote as a background for backdating Leviathan (the CT adventure) to a time when it made more sense. It's called "Leviathan:400" (Sadly, some of it has recently been invalidated by the Drinsar Pirate adventure, but it's still good stuff if I do say so myself). There's also a series of articles written by a group of authors (me included) that combine to make a beginners' campaign intended for both beginning referees and players. There's a campaign setting (Regina Starport), PCs, NPCs, half a dozen amber zones, and a campaign outline with a starting adventure. PCs meet by staying at the same small hotel . The articles should all show up if one searches for the string "Regina Starport".

I also co-wrote GT:Sword Worlds with Paul Drye and Robert Prior. That was a lot of fun.


Hans

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

jaz0nj4ckal. Welcome to Traveller!
I started playing Traveller in 1982 and my friend who introduced me to the game had the big fold-out map of the Spinward Marches. So it has always been my favorite area of known space. As others have said before, the SM's sector is kind-of like the "Wild west" of the Imperium. It's a nice mix of civilization, danger, back water worlds, lost alien technologies, pirates, smugglers, honest and dishonest merchants.
It is not absolutely necessary, but if I were you, I would get the Spinward Marches supplement along with the fold out map - large map is sold separately unfortunately The websites already mentioned are great, but to me it's so much better to have a map folded out on a table in front of all your friends with them searching worlds and plotting their next move. I'm not sure if you can print directly from Travellermap.com.... Anyone know if you can print from that site???

I have also purchased the Alien supplement "Alsan" along with the large fold out map. This part of known space is called the Trojan Reach sector, just Rimward "south" of the Spinward Marches. My players started adventuring in the Spinward Marches but are now heading deep into the Trojan Reach.

I will also point out that T20 released a large pdf version of the Gateway Sector (on the other side of the Imperium) You can still use the Mongoose rules but use any previous released settings. The Traveller Universe is huge, so have fun!

Thanks...I am hooked already, and I just started reading the Core Rule book. I was given the book as a gift, and now it has become a staple in my daily reading.

-=back ground=-
I am glad I was given Traveller, but I’m not even sure if I was thought of in 1982 ++smiles++ . A while back I was given GURPS for doing well in school; however, I found the system over complicated and overwhelmed with all the different modifiers/penalties, which seemed to change with every situation. In addition, I couldn’t get anyone to play, since most of my friends are into PlayStation or World of Warcraft; however, to me it is all about: the story, rolling the dice, and making an elaborate story of my own.

Thanks again everyone!!!

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

The X-boat idea is kind of cool. It reminds me of the American Pony Express in the 1800s, and the X-boat handles the problem with communication times between parsecs.

Thanks.

Thats exactly what they are. The x-boats belong to the Communications branch of the Scout Service. Their symbol is like the Pony Express symbol, except instead of a horse its an 8-legged lizard thing. Which just happens to be called a Ponii. So they are the Ponii Express. (Not that anyone actually calls them that.) [Or so I've heard. I can't actually find a source on that info though.]

Edit: Finally found a picture of the logo. http://biomassart.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/scout3small.jpg In the upper right corner.

Thanks for the info - This is agreat stuff I am learning about Traveller. Alomst has a gritty western feel to it almost.

 

[BFalcon]

Jeraa - what is X-boat route in the map legend?

Wow...some places are 8 hex apart...I guess you would need a special jump-ship or only can jump so far, and will have to rough it the rest of the way. I was looking down in the Reft Sector at the Islands Cluster

That's where drop tanks and collapsable cargo-bay fuel tanks come in... allowing a jump-4 capable ship to do multiple jumps - although it's a little risky at lower TLs and you need to allow for the extra time in jump for food and other provisions, it is possible.

Navies can also use tanker relays, but if you look at Britain's Falklands War in 1982, specifically what it took to get the Vulcan bombers down there, you'll see that such an undertaking takes far more than just a few ships, since each of those tankers need tankers themselves, often they will need tankers... and so on... so getting a ship across would need to be a really urgent requirement or they'd just tell it to take the scenic route...

But yeah, seeing that imperial map in all its glory does kinda make you feel humble, knowing that Sol is just one of those dots...

OK, I know it's not real, but who knows - maybe someday...

 

[Hans Rancke]

Jeraa - what is X-boat route in the map legend?

Wow...some places are 8 hex apart...I guess you would need a special jump-ship or only can jump so far, and will have to rough it the rest of the way. I was looking down in the Reft Sector at the Islands Cluster

That's where drop tanks and collapsable cargo-bay fuel tanks come in... allowing a jump-4 capable ship to do multiple jumps - although it's a little risky at lower TLs and you need to allow for the extra time in jump for food and other provisions, it is possible.

If there's an 8-parsec X-boat link marked anywhere, it's some sort of mistake, most likely a missing world in between.


Hans