What should be included, or changed in the Pirates of Drinax: Anniversary Edition
- Thread starter hopsnbaer
- Start date
I’d like to see the Companion brought up to Borderland levels for the two cluster of worlds listed in it I also like to see the stuff in it brought up to HG 2024 and VH 2026 stats. I’d like to see a Borderland style of supplement done for the Drinax Cluster and Kteiroa. I don’t want major changes to the Drinax books themselves in fact I like to see the UWP’s mostly or entirely unchanged but by the same token I’d like to see acknowledgment of the actual status of these worlds in the Drinax Cluster book (like the fact those Drinax itself doesn’t actually have a class A Starport anymore and while it’s got a TL 15 database it’s effective TL is somewhere around 3-5) You see this in Borderland. That’s about it no major changes in the Drinax slip case books themselves except updating to HG 2024 and VH 2026.
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@MongooseMatt please forward this to those that are doing the revision of Drinax
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
I would like a little more coherency.
On day #1, Rao & Oleb hand the players the keys to a shiny warship -- and basically the only armed starship Drinax owns. They talk about going out and looting as the 'grand plan'; but both of them already know the grand plan (because they wrote it) is really to entice (or threaten) other systems into joining up to a Drinax-led 'New Kingdom'. Drinaxi Companion introduces rules for recruiting & developing assets, and courting factions, and the main campaign itself has rules for 'desired policy' for every system, and how these might interact with the stances of Oleb, Rao, and Harrick. None of this seems to be mentioned to themurderhobos players at all; but it ought to be made very clear that skulduggery to install (or create) Drinax-favoring factions in places of power is the goal.
Similarly, Oleb talks about looting & piracy (and even gives the players an entirely worthless 'Letter of Marque', which they can never show to anyone) -- but Drinax needs to not be seen to be involved in promoting piracy. The players need to be sneaky, and keep their pirate activities (and the illicit activities of the incredibly distinctive Harrier) concealed to avoid Drinax getting virus-bombed (again!); and Drinax can play the heroic white-knight, rescuing the Reach from the terror of piracy and lawlessness.
Piracy is essential, but the rules for it are very bad. For far less risk, and far less time spent, the players can make much more money with legitimate trade. So, first, the payout for piracy ought to be revised to ,ake piracy more viable. Also, the value of the effect of piracy on public thought throughout the Trojan Reach is never mentioned; but a rising tide of terror will open doors -- suddenly, systems which have been happily independant for centuries might look for an outside power to provide some protection.
Building bases is kind of a mess.
It would be nice to see a little development on the Floriani; they have a trade route to the Third Imperium. What does 'standing' with the Florians look like? What do they want, and what are they willing to give up, or fight over?
'Standing' with the Imperial Powers is one system. The Piracy Response Index is another. Infamy is another. 'Visibility' in Game of Sun & Shadows is another. The various 'desired policy' of various sytems is yet another. 'Port Attitude' is different from all of these. It seems like a random patchwork of 'Ooh, maybe this would be cool!'; can we please maybe integrate these into just one or two?
On day #1, Rao & Oleb hand the players the keys to a shiny warship -- and basically the only armed starship Drinax owns. They talk about going out and looting as the 'grand plan'; but both of them already know the grand plan (because they wrote it) is really to entice (or threaten) other systems into joining up to a Drinax-led 'New Kingdom'. Drinaxi Companion introduces rules for recruiting & developing assets, and courting factions, and the main campaign itself has rules for 'desired policy' for every system, and how these might interact with the stances of Oleb, Rao, and Harrick. None of this seems to be mentioned to the
Similarly, Oleb talks about looting & piracy (and even gives the players an entirely worthless 'Letter of Marque', which they can never show to anyone) -- but Drinax needs to not be seen to be involved in promoting piracy. The players need to be sneaky, and keep their pirate activities (and the illicit activities of the incredibly distinctive Harrier) concealed to avoid Drinax getting virus-bombed (again!); and Drinax can play the heroic white-knight, rescuing the Reach from the terror of piracy and lawlessness.
Piracy is essential, but the rules for it are very bad. For far less risk, and far less time spent, the players can make much more money with legitimate trade. So, first, the payout for piracy ought to be revised to ,ake piracy more viable. Also, the value of the effect of piracy on public thought throughout the Trojan Reach is never mentioned; but a rising tide of terror will open doors -- suddenly, systems which have been happily independant for centuries might look for an outside power to provide some protection.
Building bases is kind of a mess.
It would be nice to see a little development on the Floriani; they have a trade route to the Third Imperium. What does 'standing' with the Florians look like? What do they want, and what are they willing to give up, or fight over?
'Standing' with the Imperial Powers is one system. The Piracy Response Index is another. Infamy is another. 'Visibility' in Game of Sun & Shadows is another. The various 'desired policy' of various sytems is yet another. 'Port Attitude' is different from all of these. It seems like a random patchwork of 'Ooh, maybe this would be cool!'; can we please maybe integrate these into just one or two?
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None of this is actually accurate. Pg 17 in the Trojan Reach book talks about all of this “So, here’s what we’re going to do. You take the Harrier and you cut a bloody swathe across the stars. Attack shipping, raid starports, hit fuel depots. Take what prizes you can. Don’t kill anyone you don’t have to, though – we want to bleed the merchants until they go crying to the Imperium, not start a bloody war. Piratingis part one of the plan.
“Part two is all those worlds out there. We make them our allies. Sell stolen goods there, defend ‘em from raiders, recruit crew, give them a taste of wealth, and bring them back under the banner of Drinax. When the time comes, we offer the Imperium a deal – the pirate attacks stop if they recognise the Kingdom of Drinax and give me my rightful due.” I would say it’s kept vague on purpose giving the Players as much free range as possible
Ive always thought the implication of the piracy directive (scare the merchants until they go crying to the Imperium and then offer the Imperium an end to it in exchange for legitimacy) is that the Travellers are only, or at least mostly, targeting trade THROUGH the Reach. Not IN the Reach. Local merchants or merchants flying a flag of a world allied to Drinax have little / nothing to fear.
Otherwise every act of piracy is harming the Traveller's own attempt to build relationships.
Otherwise every act of piracy is harming the Traveller's own attempt to build relationships.
sbrengard
Mongoose
I think a Pirates of Drinax Anniversary Edition should be a cleanup and upgrade, not a rewrite.
The big thing with PoD is that the core campaign already works. The reason people still talk about it is because it gives you a ship, a letter of marque, a dangerous part of space, and then basically says “go make something of this.” That freedom is the whole point. You can back Oleb, betray Oleb, build your own pocket empire, play pirate, play privateer, or accidentally start a war. That part does not need fixing.
What I would want is everything around it tightened up.
First, a full refresh to current rules. Ships, vehicles, gear, NPCs, all of it. Not because the old material is bad, but because it would be nice to have the whole line speaking the same rules language.
Second, a real consistency pass. PoD was clearly written and published in pieces, and it shows here and there. That is not me taking a shot at it, it is just reality. Gareth Hanrahan has even said, after the fact, that some parts are stronger than others and that there are bits he would revisit if he had the chance. An Anniversary Edition is exactly the place to do that. Keep the campaign, clean up the joins, tighten continuity, smooth over the rough patches.
Third, I would really like to see the regional material brought up to the level of Borderland. The Drinax Cluster, Kteiroa, and the surrounding worlds should get the same kind of practical treatment: what is really going on there, who actually has power, what trade looks like, what the world profile says versus what conditions are actually like on the ground. That sort of thing is incredibly useful for referees.
Fourth, consolidate the Harrier material. The Harrier is the heart of the campaign. All the defects, repairs, upgrades, crew issues, commerce raiding rules, operational stuff, all of that should be in one updated place and not spread around (And expanded upon)
Fifth, better referee tools in general. Faction summaries, reaction guidance, timelines, campaign trackers, cleaner indexes, clearer “if the Travellers do this, these groups respond like this” support. Drinax is a great sandbox, but it could be much easier to run.
And the one big new thing I would absolutely want is this:
Equipment of the Reach
Not just a chapter. A real book. Basically, a Central Supply Catalogue-sized book for PoD and the Trojan Reach.
Because one of the things Drinax campaigns keep running into is that equipment is not just “can I afford this?” It is also “where do I get this?”, “who will sell it to me?”, “is it legal here?”, “is this Imperial, Aslan, GeDeCo, black market, military surplus, salvage, or some weird relic?”
That book could cover Drinaxian relics, Aslan gear, Imperial frontier gear, corporate hardware, smuggling tools, salvage and mining equipment, boarding kit, local vehicles, field workshops, ship fittings, sensor packages, survival equipment, medical gear, all of it. But the really important part would be availability.
Tell me what can be bought on Tobia, what only turns up through shady brokers on Theev, what you can get out on the frontier, what you need connections for, what is salvage-only, what is common in the Reach but rare in the Imperium, and vice versa. That would make the setting feel a lot more alive and useful. And you can add Reach 'flair' to it all.
And lastly, I would want an Empire Building book.
Because let’s be honest, a lot of Drinax campaigns end up going there sooner or later. The Travellers stop being “just a crew in a ship” and start rebuilding the Kingdom, taking control of bases, backing worlds, managing trade, building alliances, running deniable ops, hiring NPC captains, and in some games, basically trying to bring back Drinax or even the Sindalian Empire.
And at that point, a lot of referees have had to just wing it.
So give us a proper book for that side of the campaign:
That feels like one of the most common long-term outcomes of a PoD campaign, and it deserves actual support instead of always being pushed onto the referee to invent from scratch.
That would be my ideal Anniversary Edition.
The big thing with PoD is that the core campaign already works. The reason people still talk about it is because it gives you a ship, a letter of marque, a dangerous part of space, and then basically says “go make something of this.” That freedom is the whole point. You can back Oleb, betray Oleb, build your own pocket empire, play pirate, play privateer, or accidentally start a war. That part does not need fixing.
What I would want is everything around it tightened up.
First, a full refresh to current rules. Ships, vehicles, gear, NPCs, all of it. Not because the old material is bad, but because it would be nice to have the whole line speaking the same rules language.
Second, a real consistency pass. PoD was clearly written and published in pieces, and it shows here and there. That is not me taking a shot at it, it is just reality. Gareth Hanrahan has even said, after the fact, that some parts are stronger than others and that there are bits he would revisit if he had the chance. An Anniversary Edition is exactly the place to do that. Keep the campaign, clean up the joins, tighten continuity, smooth over the rough patches.
Third, I would really like to see the regional material brought up to the level of Borderland. The Drinax Cluster, Kteiroa, and the surrounding worlds should get the same kind of practical treatment: what is really going on there, who actually has power, what trade looks like, what the world profile says versus what conditions are actually like on the ground. That sort of thing is incredibly useful for referees.
Fourth, consolidate the Harrier material. The Harrier is the heart of the campaign. All the defects, repairs, upgrades, crew issues, commerce raiding rules, operational stuff, all of that should be in one updated place and not spread around (And expanded upon)
Fifth, better referee tools in general. Faction summaries, reaction guidance, timelines, campaign trackers, cleaner indexes, clearer “if the Travellers do this, these groups respond like this” support. Drinax is a great sandbox, but it could be much easier to run.
And the one big new thing I would absolutely want is this:
Equipment of the Reach
Not just a chapter. A real book. Basically, a Central Supply Catalogue-sized book for PoD and the Trojan Reach.
Because one of the things Drinax campaigns keep running into is that equipment is not just “can I afford this?” It is also “where do I get this?”, “who will sell it to me?”, “is it legal here?”, “is this Imperial, Aslan, GeDeCo, black market, military surplus, salvage, or some weird relic?”
That book could cover Drinaxian relics, Aslan gear, Imperial frontier gear, corporate hardware, smuggling tools, salvage and mining equipment, boarding kit, local vehicles, field workshops, ship fittings, sensor packages, survival equipment, medical gear, all of it. But the really important part would be availability.
Tell me what can be bought on Tobia, what only turns up through shady brokers on Theev, what you can get out on the frontier, what you need connections for, what is salvage-only, what is common in the Reach but rare in the Imperium, and vice versa. That would make the setting feel a lot more alive and useful. And you can add Reach 'flair' to it all.
And lastly, I would want an Empire Building book.
Because let’s be honest, a lot of Drinax campaigns end up going there sooner or later. The Travellers stop being “just a crew in a ship” and start rebuilding the Kingdom, taking control of bases, backing worlds, managing trade, building alliances, running deniable ops, hiring NPC captains, and in some games, basically trying to bring back Drinax or even the Sindalian Empire.
And at that point, a lot of referees have had to just wing it.
So give us a proper book for that side of the campaign:
- base building
- starport upgrades
- money flow
- trade income
- maintenance
- spy networks
- agents
- NPC pirate crews working for the players
- privateer licenses
- small fleets
- loyalty and betrayal
- subordinate captains going off-script
- how to actually hold worlds
- how to govern them
- how much they give back
- how much they cost
- how much trouble they cause
That feels like one of the most common long-term outcomes of a PoD campaign, and it deserves actual support instead of always being pushed onto the referee to invent from scratch.
That would be my ideal Anniversary Edition.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
@Geir has been grumbling about making something like the Empire Building book. Maybe this could be the place for it.
RadioFreeWABA
Mongoose
This.
collins355
Emperor Mongoose
I would support an Imperial Squadrons equivalent so that the big fleet actions at the later stages of PoD could be resolved a bit better than the bare-bones combat resolution system currently included in the campaign material.
I would support a World Tamers Handbook/Pocket Empires equivalent as an empire-building booklet to help run that stage of the campaign - as others have said above.
I would support a World Tamers Handbook/Pocket Empires equivalent as an empire-building booklet to help run that stage of the campaign - as others have said above.
Base building is in the new vehicle handbook so there’s no reason for that work to be duplicated.
I also think there needs to be support for campaigns where the players choose other options than pirating or raiding, possibly bounty hunter style support. Piracy as a means to an end will only work so far at some point the PCs have to switch to fighting piracy if they want the support of the major powers. The palace is an escort destroyer away from ceasing to be a problem if it’s the source of the piracy but it’s also a useful tool if it’s actively suppressing piracy.
Drinaxian relic’s are really not a major concern what I’d like to see is details on the Sindalian Empire their relic’s and ruins. We know that Sindar was TL 15 and there’s supposed to be ruins from that empire all over the reach. We even know that their navy consists primarily of small 200dt ships supported by 600 dt command vessels (this makes sense since the biggest threat to the Empire was their own navy, I bet home fleet ships ran 5000-10000 dt). Shadows gives us a little information but not much more than a teaser. Maybe another borderland like book for the Sindalian Main like the one we proposed for the Drinaxian Main.
I also think there needs to be support for campaigns where the players choose other options than pirating or raiding, possibly bounty hunter style support. Piracy as a means to an end will only work so far at some point the PCs have to switch to fighting piracy if they want the support of the major powers. The palace is an escort destroyer away from ceasing to be a problem if it’s the source of the piracy but it’s also a useful tool if it’s actively suppressing piracy.
Drinaxian relic’s are really not a major concern what I’d like to see is details on the Sindalian Empire their relic’s and ruins. We know that Sindar was TL 15 and there’s supposed to be ruins from that empire all over the reach. We even know that their navy consists primarily of small 200dt ships supported by 600 dt command vessels (this makes sense since the biggest threat to the Empire was their own navy, I bet home fleet ships ran 5000-10000 dt). Shadows gives us a little information but not much more than a teaser. Maybe another borderland like book for the Sindalian Main like the one we proposed for the Drinaxian Main.
sbrengard
Mongoose
I was originally thinking more along the lines of a full Sindalian sourcebook. I just tried to keep the Anniversary Edition wish list realistic, so I scaled that back and figured an equipment book could pull double duty as a broader Reach sourcebook.
So yes, if base-building is already covered elsewhere, there is no need to duplicate it here. And I think you are right that the stronger angle is the broader Sindalian side of the Reach, not just Drinaxian relics or Reach equipment in isolation.
So yes, if base-building is already covered elsewhere, there is no need to duplicate it here. And I think you are right that the stronger angle is the broader Sindalian side of the Reach, not just Drinaxian relics or Reach equipment in isolation.
Some more thought into character generation:
1) If the whole population of The Floating Palace is noble then what does the social status stat even mean?
2) Some actual information on the Vespexers - why are they called that? how many of them are there? are they like the Fremen and way more numerous than anyone not living on the surface imagines? How does the relationship between them and the Floaters actually work?
3) Ditto for Asim - what is the foundation other than a throwaway Isaac Asimov line? how did a planet of millions that has a TL high enough to produce small arms and high explosives get conquered by a few guys in combat armour?
4) More on surrounding planets that could produce PCs with ideally a d66 table to randomly produce characters from a wide range of Trojan Reach planets and give them event tables and backgrounds they can later work into adventures returning to those homeworlds.
5) A Florian character write-up as I do like the idea of playing a hulking simpleton and his weedy little boss.
Also can we finally address the ancient Traveller problem of how planets with no A-class starport nevertheless build and maintain starships and even have interstellar pocket empires.
And how does this all fit into the 5FW timeline?
1) If the whole population of The Floating Palace is noble then what does the social status stat even mean?
2) Some actual information on the Vespexers - why are they called that? how many of them are there? are they like the Fremen and way more numerous than anyone not living on the surface imagines? How does the relationship between them and the Floaters actually work?
3) Ditto for Asim - what is the foundation other than a throwaway Isaac Asimov line? how did a planet of millions that has a TL high enough to produce small arms and high explosives get conquered by a few guys in combat armour?
4) More on surrounding planets that could produce PCs with ideally a d66 table to randomly produce characters from a wide range of Trojan Reach planets and give them event tables and backgrounds they can later work into adventures returning to those homeworlds.
5) A Florian character write-up as I do like the idea of playing a hulking simpleton and his weedy little boss.
Also can we finally address the ancient Traveller problem of how planets with no A-class starport nevertheless build and maintain starships and even have interstellar pocket empires.
And how does this all fit into the 5FW timeline?
1) Your Social is how you see yourself as well as others. So if you are High Duke of the Privies, you are still a Noble.
2) I agree, fleshing out of the Vespexers and a couple of adventure hooks would be cool.
3) WIth an agrarian economy, they probably didn't think that they were in danger.
4) That's a fun idea.
5) I think there is a Florian Book being worked on.
6) You can build ships with a Class B or less. Just not big ones.
I think the 5th Frontier war kicks off in 1107 and it's a couple subsectors away. It may never really impact the Outrim Void. It might actually keep the 3rd Imperium away as they deal with issues in the other direction.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
World governments and navies have shipyards that are not available to civilian use. A civilian starship yard earns a starport an A rating. A government/corporate/military/private yard doesn't affect the civilian starport code, the world may have a C class starport and be building battleships.
So Drinax does not build ship and doesn’t actually have a class A starport. Drinax’s starport runs between B and C it can’t build anything and while it does have limited repair bays it doesn’t have any support so it can use them. A class B starport can only build maneuver drive space ship it requires a Class A to build jump drives ships.
