Explore every episode of SAFCOcast - Cepheus Engine/Traveller/2d6SF Talk Podcast
Dive into the complete episode list for SAFCOcast - Cepheus Engine/Traveller/2d6SF Talk Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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16 May 2021
SAFCOcast 25: "Useless" Skills and Scurrying for Cover!
01:26:43
In this episode, we discuss the "boring, useless" skills that as teenagers we cringed if we got when we rolled up Traveller characters, and explore the possibilities of these skills with a little creativity.
We also do a quick recap of the online Mayday! even run by Cyborg Prime, Greg Caires and Ken Patterson, and Patrick Kanouse, as well as internet and rules finds.
We also found ourselves in the midst of a tornado warning! We're OK. North Texas is like that.
SAFCOcast 31: Interview with Virtual Traveller's Ken Patterson
00:16:35
In this episode we interview Ken Patterson of the Virtual Traveller Facebook group about the upcoming online streaming game to benefit Mr. Keith Frye, one of the pillars of the Traveller community as he battles serious illness.
SAFCOcast 22: Interview with Greg Caires about Virtual Traveller
00:52:28
In this episode we talk to Greg Caires about the October 2020 Virtual Traveller non-con that he and Ken Patterson organized. Always fun to talk to Greg!
SAFCOcast 17: interview with Ken Patterson, about the upcoming Virtual Traveller event
00:31:50
This episode is an interview with Ken Patterson, regarding the event he and Greg Caires are organizing for October 2020 -- Virtual Traveller: a Weekend of Virus-Free Roleplaying.
Jeff and I had a good time talking with Ken! We appreciate him coming on, and hope you enjoy the interview.
22 Dec 2019
SAFCOcast 9: Planet Generation Smackdown, Traveller session recap, etc.
01:22:04
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
In this episode we discuss two of the systems generated by listeners in our Random Planet Generation Smackdown. We had considered doing more, but we'll do two per episode until we're done with them. We had got some nice mailbag comments, and we'll do a recap of the last session of our Traveller campaign, Into the Void. And of course we'll hit a few Internet Finds.
Jeff found some interesting items on the internet, and used them for inspiration for a planet and a game hook. 1. Inspiration: Photo found on Internet of a small mining “island” at the bottom of a deep well. Island is reminiscent of a sci-fi version of the computer game “Myst” https://i.redd.it/94k99magyx541.jpg Book 3 “Worlds and Adventures” (1981) E - Frontier Installation (Marked spot on bedrock for landing) Size: Asteroid Thin atmosphere 20% water 0 inhabitants No law level, no government Abandoned outpost 2. Inspiration: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators - Russian nuclear power sources for lighthouses, in great disrepair, but still radioactive. Locating and transferring the cores to safety is very dangerous because of very short acceptable human exposure limits.https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/radioactive-waste-and-spent-nuclear-fuel/2003-11-radioisotope-thermoelectric-generators Idea for session: The power source of a long-abandoned distant monitoring outpost is desired by a salvage company.
Random Planet Generation Smackdown
Krystian in the Chaste system (X-260620-7, De,Ni,Ri,N) Submitted by Colin Turvey
Orbits a class K5 star in its first orbit remarkably despite being a desert world it's not just inhabited but bears a population in excess of 60 million mostly Belters as it's a low gravity world with only one asteroid belt orbiting between it and it's system's sun.
It does have 3 gas giants it's widely thought the massive amounts of oxygen permeating the system is the reason why Krystian remains inhabitable.
It was originally a prison colony particularly for political types despite the conditions the inhabitants and others continue to live here as a mark of defiance at their former oppressors.
The Naval base originally intended to prevent escapes now watches protectively over them such is the change of fortunes they have overcome.
Update:
Found a system generator the Chaste system now has a K5 type star with 8 orbits.
Asteroid belt the main source of the Belters pay.
Krystian
Gas Giant
Ember
Gas Giant#2
Leone
Space Station (Naval base)
Gas Giant#3
Literally the molten remains of a much larger world the only residents live aboard the refinery station that orbits this dwarf planet as it literally has no solid landmass!
A Research base is also located aboard and is largely focused on discovering what happened to the Chaste system.
Aegle Submitted by Ted Hale
C 454 227 9
Aegle was originally colonized by forced resettlement. The colonists were families belonging to the "Salvation Tears" religion. The organization's rapid growth, and popular appeal was perceived to be a threat to several surrounding world governments. The religion was designated a cult.
Aegle, an unpleasant hot world with a thin, toxic atmosphere, was also a world rich in unexploited bitumen and other petrochemicals. Ling Petrochem saw an opportunity to fulfill a long unmet need for affordable labor on Aegle. The Subsector Duke and surrounding world governments wanted a politically acceptable means to rid themselves of the cultists. A deal was struck between the Subsector Duke, Ling Petrochem, and the various world governments concerned. The cultists were rounded up and deported to Aegle.
Once settled, the colony went through a period of rapid, and sometimes violent, change in government form. Theocracies gave way to autocracies, then dictatorships both popular and unpopular. Civil wars and bloody upheavals left the remaining Aegle colonists with a disdain for violence and authority. The Aegle Colonists currently employ an informal participating democracy to govern themselves. Their laws strictly prohibit firearms and violence. Spears are the most common form of weapon and are regarded as protection from local fauna, rather than from their fellow colonist.
Two generations later, the population of Aegle has dwindled. Young people eschew the faith of their grandparents and yearn for easier lives. Economic, academic, and social opportunities are quite limited on Aegle. Most Aeglians cannot afford passage out of the Aegle system. It is widely held hat this is by design to benefit Ling Petrochem.
Aegle's starport is little more than a Ling depot for the interstellar transport of Aegle's petrochem commodities. Ling and Aegle's population are aware that the starport is a nexus for both human and illicit drug trafficking, but Ling Petrochem has not been inclined to address the problem, and Aegle's government is ill equipped to stop it.
Adam has recently started his own publishing imprint called Boondock RPG Adventures and has published a couple of adventures for Cepheus Engine or other 2d6 SF games. In this episode we catch up with him and find out a bit more about his current projects.
Our main topic in this episode is sources of inspiration for your Traveller or Cepheus Engine campaign! Where do you get your ideas? How best to use those ideas?
Of course, we cover more than that in this episode too, with X-boat Transmissions, Internet Finds, and Imperial News.
Here are the relevant links mentioned in the show:
SAFCOcast 36: MayDay 2024 and other stuff with CyborgPrime
01:24:04
We're back again! It's that time of the year. Mayday is near, and thus it is time to talk about it. Joining us is the organizer of the online Traveller celebration, Frank Succardi, also known as CyborgPrime.
We talk about Mayday, and we talk about some of Frank's other projects, including some work he's doing with AI.
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
In this episode we discuss our recent experience at the Lone Star Game Expo, an excellent gaming con held in Grapevine, TX, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
We talk about the Classic Traveller session Bob ran, the Dungeon Crawl Classics game we played in, various seminars we attended, and the great talk by Marc Miller, author of Traveller and many other games via Game Designers Workshop and Far Future Enterprises. We also discuss the new X Boat Traveller Fan Zine, some internet finds, and some new gaming purchases.
Mentions cosmopolitan nature of the Traveller universe, but notes that humans are still 51% of the population of the Imperium.
Mentions that he wanted (and has) an Alien Generator in T5.
Mentions various Traveller media projects. A
Possible Traveller "starter set", similar to the D&D starter set, at retailers.
He considers the new T5 set to be a tool kit. "Want to do [insert something like robots} - here it is ... pats the book.
Talks about world generator - using imagination to reconcile seemingly illogical world stats like low tech level with high starport level.
Talks about origin of the hobby in tactical wargames, how he learned gaming, "This is a great hobby to be in" "Good clean fun". Talks about direction of historical wargaming having young guys who were enamored of Nazi kind of stuff - fetishized it - and he thinks D&D saved the gaming hobby, by providing a setting in which people can roll play sketchy/evil people but not have it tied to offensive, real world, horrible evil like the nazis.
question about all the dice rolling -- why? (talking about the random generation of worlds, people, and creatures). Marc says that using that kind of random generation helps "allow interesting things to happen".
origin and creation of the Spinward Marches
Beside Dumarest, Vang, what novels/series does he recommend and which were really super influential in the origin of the game. He says stuff by H. Beam Piper, Space Viking, Cosmic Computer, John Varley, Citizen of the Galaxy.
I comment that I appreciate that he has always kept the bar high -- high standards. Traveller never goes low. Never incorporates creepy, sexist, gross-out, lowbrown stuff, and that from getting the boxed set when I was a kid the game was uplifting and "made me feel smart." He says many people have told him the game changed their lives, and he appreciates that. Later in the talk, with regard to potential movies/TV, he reiterates his desire not to allow lowbrow lowest-common-denominator stuff (My words, not his) to be associated with Traveller.
Talks about Zhodani core expeditions a bit.
That's all I got, folks. It was a 2 hour talk, and really fun.
I got a chance to really look at the new hardback Book 1. I have the PDF, and I found the PDF overwhelming. Looking at the book in person, I found it easier to understand. This isn't an official review, but it this looks really good, seems well-organized. Looking at it as a toolkit makes a lot of sense. He mentions that it will be $100 for the whole set - compared to $150 for the 3 D&D 5e books, so its a bargain! Oh, the art is pretty good in the books. Mark mentioned that he prefers descriptive art in his books so you can see what things look like, as opposed to "atmospheric" art. The new book very much adheres to this.
Christopher Rowley: Novels -- The Vang Series
www.christopherrowley.net
Jeff's models!
12 Sep 2020
SAFCOcast 20: What are the basic elements of a Traveller game?
01:24:33
In this episode Jeff and Bob discuss the basic elements of a Traveller game, as detailed by Marc Miller in the Traveller Book.
Before that Bob does a short correction from the previous episode, we do Internet Finds, and some fun Rules Finds, as well as present the last of the planets submitted in our Random Planet Generation Smackdown! (that system appears below, under the relevant links).
For anyone wanting to do some Swords & Sorcery with a Traveller/CE style system, Omer Golan-Joel’s Sword of Cepheus is now available in print from DrivethruRPG. I was looking through my PDF last night, and it is really good. I ordered the printed version.https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/304840/The-Sword-of-Cepheus
In his FB group, Traveller Gaming in the Future, Ron Stepp has posted a spreadsheet tool called Adventure Class Ship Designer. I have not tried it yet, as I hate turning on my PC, but knowing Ron’s work I’m sure it is good.https://www.facebook.com/groups/512380172987060
Speaking of Ron, he is a prolific creator of Traveller content, especially incredible settings and ship designs, and has started a blog on which to keep his work in a place less ephemeral than social media posts (I wonder how much he lost when G+ was disappeared?)?https://andromedaln2.space/
Faddle is a cold, icy world with most of the surface covered in permafrost. There is a band approximately 400 miles wide around the equator that is comfortable and is actually considered pleasantly tropical. The atmosphere is dense which helps create the effect Faddle is famous for - the floating "Udrassi" mats. Udrassi is a native organic lifeform that straddles the line between fungus, plant and animal life. The udrassi combine into large circular floating mats that organize around a central hub. On each hub, three pools of amino acids are arranged in a triangular pattern - early colonists to the planet were able to quickly determine that by adding saline water of specific concentrations to the pools in certain sequuences, the mats could be raised, lowered or steered and also directed to attract or repel other floating mats. The mats are extremely strong - some colonists built houses and larger buildings anchoring into the mats themselves. It wasn't long until early colonial families created resort hotel compounds for tourists by assembling larger mats together - and by manipulating the hub pools on the mats, small towns developed by combining mats together.
The planet is mostly a recreation destination - the floating lifestyle of the permanent residents is very laid back . Some floating resorts stay in the tropics all year round, while others float to a mountain range south of the equator in the permafrost region where a ski resort has been set up.
25 Aug 2019
SAFCOcast 5: Internet Finds, Traveller, and Descriptiveness/Immersion
01:01:40
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
In this episode we discuss a couple of internet finds, which lead us to some talk about Traveller, and then discuss the merits of being highly descriptive and dramatic in your RPGs.
As always, you can find our Into the Void Traveller campaign materials on Bob's gaming blog.
UPDATE: John Watts, of Gypsy Knights Games, sent me this clarification regarding the Traveller System Reference Document, including info on use of the name "Traveller". Thank, John, for helping and not calling me a dummy!
Just a quick note: The Traveller SRD that you've found online is the portion of Mongoose 1e which was made OGL by Mongoose (with permission of Marc Miller). It can be used by anyone for any purpose so long as the proper reference is made in the required recitation of the Open Game License in the back of whatever publication in which this is used.
The Traveller SRD does NOT allow you to call your product Traveller, state that the product is compatible, or use the logo. That requires a direct license from Marc Miller or participating in Mongoose's TAS program.
This is why Cepheus Engine, Universal Machine, and Clement Sector products cannot have the name Traveller (or, indeed, use the word "Traveller" in them) on their product. While most everyone knows that these products are usable with existing Traveller products, it can never be legally stated that they are compatible.
But thanks for mentioning it! Much appreciated...and yeah...tons of backstabbery. LOL.
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
In this episode, Jeff and Bob discuss the length of the podcast, read some listener comments, look at the Classic Traveller rules for Cover/Concealment and the Medical skill, do a quick look at Gerry Miller Jr.'s excellet Agweedo-Girdena Traveller campaign, and do a quick discussion of our groups last Into the Void session.
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
In this episode we discuss our usual Traveller stuff, including some internet finds, rules we wanted to talk about from Classic Traveller, and of course start off with the SAFCO Mail Bag! This is long one, folks, but we did stay on-topic! There's just so much cool stuff out there to discuss!
Then we talk about something a little different, Session Zero of our upcoming superhero campaign, called SuperTex, using the legendary Jeff Dee's and Jack Herman's The Mighty Protectors: Villains & Vigilantes 3.0 system. We'll be playing it maybe every three sessions, and will also play it when our whole SAFCO Traveller group can't meet.
SAFCOcast 16: Traveller Session Recap, Imperial News, Etc.
01:07:59
In this episode we discuss their last Classic Traveller session (written recap here on Bob's gaming blog). We also do Internet Finds, Imperial News, and Rules Finds.
SAFCOcast 3: Homebrew vs. Published Setting, and the Variety of GURPS Homebrew.
00:45:07
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
We recorded this episode in the same session as episode 2. This is not really a "versus" article as much as a discussion of the crazy variety and creativity of homebrew settings, with examples from the online GURPS community.
Show Notes:
GURPS - on Steve Jackson Games. You can find all the GURPS source books here.
In this episode we talk to CyborgPrime, the main organizer of the upcoming Mayday 2022 Online Traveller event, and Greg Caires of Virtual Traveller, who (along with Ken Patterson) is organizing the online game sessions for event. The main event day is, of course, Sunday May 1, but there will be virtual games going Friday and Saturday (so as not to waste the weekend!).
We'll learn a bit about the event's history, how it is organized, who is involved, what is going on, and most importantly -- how to keep track of it and be involved!
Episode artwork by the legendary William H. Keith Jr.
25 Oct 2020
SAFCOcast 21: Xboat Transmission, Game Recap, and So Forth
01:24:24
In this episode we read some great email's from listeners! Lots to think about! We also cover Internet Finds and Rules Finds, and discuss the latest session of our Into the Void Classic Traveller campaign! Relevant links:
In this episode we are focusing on two more of the random planets submitted during our Random Planet event a few months ago, this time from Dwayne "Hiverlord" Walstrom and Jonathan Daylett (check out his Desert World RPG - a great adaptation of a Mad Max style setting).
From Hiverlord Planet/System: Not Assigned Rolled with T5 rules. FV main star (no companions). Standard orbit. Temperate climate.
B735BDG-9 Hi In
GG=0 PB=3 No bases. Importance (Ix)=2 Ranks worlds within a region Economics (Ex)=BA9(-2) Culture (Cx)=6D68 Population= 102 Billion Hi=Hi population In=industrial
With an extremely high population level and poor atmosphere, this overwhelmed planet is run by an accepting, yet overbearing and stern, Religious Dictatorship. The religion itself promotes, perhaps even encourages, Free Love, and has strict rules against contraceptives and most forms of abortion. Birth (and survival) rates are high, given the planet's TL of 9. Combined with longer lifespans associated with higher technology, the world quickly reached and exceeded its purported capacity.
Several nearby Agricultural worlds have a ready-made market with this extremely overpopulated system.
This world is located in a 'Dumarest'-style setting, with no significant interstellar powers. The reasons why this world hadn't begun expanding (aggressively or otherwise) is simple to deduce: with over 100 Billion citizens to support, it doesn't have any resources to spare for expansionist activities.
From Jonathan Daylett
Planet/System: Aristodma CAB2654-9 R Ni
Large, extremely hot planet with a corrosive atmosphere and scant water. Rich in phosgene and hydrogen chloride, very valuable chemical compounds used in plastics and technology manufacturing. Due to the high gravity, the densest parts of the atmosphere are much lower to the ground, allowing for research stations, collection facilities and refineries to be built on the highest points of elevation.
The primary authority is a feudal technocracy. What began countless rotations ago as a corporately owned resource, Aristodma is now home to millions of people who live in ports, research stations, and other dense plastic fortresses. They are governed by those with the highest level of understanding of the environmental hazards present. People came here for the high risk, high reward lifestyle of gas-farming. Over the years, however, it became apparent that there were those more suited to the dangers involved, and they soon became leaders among the people. Generation by generation, the highly profitable gas-farmers have gained a reputation of shrewd but fair governance.
It has worked well enough, until recent years as a few other factions started to see the cracks in the system and decided to try and make their own ways of life beyond the confines of primitive feudalism. Now those in command have to contend with not only an environment that is actively trying to kill them every second of every day, but with a contentious minority group that steals technology and parts for building new facilities as well as a political faction that seeks to upend the centuries-long reign of those who see themselves as de facto rulers of Aristodma.
04 Mar 2021
SAFCOcast 24: Interview with Ken Patterson and Greg Caires about the 2021 MayDay! online Traveller event!
00:37:26
In this episode we interview Ken Patterson and Greg Caires about the upcoming Mayday! event.
The first day of May – May Day – has special meaning to Traveller players due to the infamous Mayday call from the Free Trader Beowulf that has appeared on box and book covers of various variants of the game since its earliest years.
In 2021, May Day will be a Saturday – an ideal time to play Traveller.
To help the global Traveller community celebrate May Day, three groups of players have teamed up to create a unique day of Traveller-related programming.
Operating from its home base on Facebook, the Virtual Traveller group – the same people who organized the weekend-long online “non-convention” last October – will organize “MayDay! a Celebration of Traveller through online roleplaying.” GMs from across the globe will be invited to run Traveller games online using whatever communications tools they prefer and during any suitable time period based on their locale. The only requests are:
All games must begin and be run during May 1st in the GM’s local time-zone;
All games must conclude by 7 pm Saturday night Central US Time on May 1st to “clear the decks” for a charity game that will be broadcast live on Twitch (more about this below).
Based on lessons-learned from the Virtual Traveller weekend, MayDay! will be organized using Tabletop Events for simplicity game submission, player registration and communication. To cover the expense of using Tabletop, a nominal fee (likely $3) will be charged. That fee buys players their convention badges, and they can then join and play as many games as their schedules will allow.
Both GMs and players are sought. Questions can be submitted via the links above.
If online gaming isn’t your thing, CyborgPrime is organizing the 3rd annual “Mayday! Mayday!” event, which consists of live interviews of Traveller authors and others who contribute to keeping the game popular and replenished with fresh material. Last year, CP interviewed both Matthew Sprange and Marc Miller, and generous prizes were awarded to members of the audience.
This year, CP intends to interview a variety of new voices, giveaway more and better prizes, give a platform to Ken Burnside of AdAstra Games to host some Traveller Squadron Strike vector combat simulations. The marquee event will be – like last year – the live broadcast of Patrick Kanouse’s Traveller game to benefit his charity The Carcinoid Cancer Foundation (https://www.carcinoid.org/).
Joining him as players are Two Brothers Gaming, High Shelf Gaming, and The Death Die Club. They will be playing Michael Brown’sAngle of Incidence: “A routine cargo run leads to a station orbiting a black hole and one man’s world of obsession, secrets, and madness. As the heroes help an intelligence agent investigate the mad scientist’s activities, they come to realize that they may bear witness to the ultimate adventure…or become just more bits of matter crushed by the black hole’s gravity.”
The Carcinoid Cancer Foundation’s mission is to increase awareness and educate the general public and healthcare professionals regarding carcinoid and related neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), to support NET cancer patients and their families, and to serve as patient advocates. We’ll be giving away a bunch of things, and you can even have an effect on the game. The game will stream on High Shelf Gaming’s Twitch channel (https://twitch.tv/highshelfgaming/profile) at 8:00 pm Eastern. The game will include giveaways and opportunities to influence the game.
01 Dec 2021
SAFCOcast 27: Cepheus Deluxe and Alien Androids
01:40:17
In this episode Jeff and Bob dig into a couple of listener emails, announce a new event, review their last Traveller Session, and dig into a tiny fraction of the greatness that is Cepheus Deluxe.
This episode is dedicated to the great Ron Stepp, a devoted member of the Traveller community, who recently died. Ron emailed us often, and his friendship was indeed valued.
First, thanks to all our listeners for sticking with us! It has been two months since the last episode, which of course is not our goal, but life got in the way!
In this episode, besides the usual sections, our main topic deals with non-violent/non-combat Traveller (and other RPGs) sessions. Not arguing against a good shoot-em-up, but just using other kinds of challenges to create a good game.
We also mention Jeff's table of 2d6 outcome probabilities, so here it is!
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware. This is our first episode! It's going to sound like two friends talking about tabletop roleplaying games, because that's what it is. Our goal for this episode is simply for listeners to know a little about who we are -- just two regular guys talking about gaming.
We'll discuss our history, the first campaign of our current group, a little about our Traveller campaign, and the upcoming North Texas RPG Con.
Upcoming episodes will be 25 - 30 minutes long, and have regular segments.
We invite you to submit comments to SafcoMailbag@gmail.com or comment on this page. We'll read and discuss interesting comments.
You can find session reports and information on our campaigns on Bob's blog -- Concrete Lunch Gaming.
24 Apr 2022
SAFCOcast 29: Your Longest Traveller Campaign! Winner announced!
01:14:26
In this episode Jeff and Bob read some much appreciated email from listeners, go over from great finds from the internet, talk about some rules finds, announce the winner for the random drawing from the Longest Campaign submissions, and read the first six of the twelve submissions!
Thomas of Kingston MegaTraveller w mods 8-10 Months (detail is a bit fuzzy)
It was set in the JG Glimmerdrift Reaches on an Imperial planet (Petra). The planet was balkanized and there were many tensions among the double handful of nations but the big players were 2 or 3 larger nations. The tech level of the planet was 9, but there was another Imperial planet (TL-12) not far away. The time period was about 1114, but in this particular setting, the Solomani were pushing into the open spaces in Glimmerdrift reaches.
It would have been a more typical game if one of the players hadn't rolled up a retired Imperial Marine who had Soc 12 (Marquis). He ended up being the Marquis of Petra and being the Imperial representative. The other characters were a mix of retired Marines, Navy, and some active duty, with one being a local noble.
The Marquis was, to the eyes of some of his senior people, a bit erratic. So much so that his Security Chief rapidly decided that if this was what the Imperium would put in charge, the Solomani were welcome.
That led to the Security Chief running a Solomani-sympathizer campaign against the Imperium. He was also the funnel and organizer who managed data flow to the Marquis. So on the one hand, he organized an underground flyer that regularly knew a lot about Imperial business and failures, he recruited like minded PCs and NPCs who had Solomani sympathies, and he set the Imperials against the local governments. It got worse as time went on: The high port blew up (the only GM-inflicted campaign event I can think of) and then shipments of high tech offworld arms and vehicles were sabotaged, the Marquis' family was assassinated, and a few PCs and NPCs who were Imperial sympathizers were fingered as being behind the Solomani underground (leading to their execution by the Security Chief after convincing the Marquis he needed to kill these guys who were actually on the Marquis' side).
In the end, the Solomani invaded, had local support, and the Marquis had to flee for his life. The Security Chief wrote a full explanation in a letter categorizing every step he took against the Marquis and how at every turn, he turned allies against the Marquis or fingered them for troublemakers, and how he managed to deflect suspicion falling upon himself by having the underground flyer make fun of the Security Chief (and the Marquis immediately felt this made him not in with the Solomani because he seemed the sort to never make himself look foolish... except that's exactly what he was doing to avoid suspicion).
There was a lot time spent individually (because of the nature of intrigues) and there were many views and motivations that clashed, intersected, or sometimes passed like strangers in the night.
It wasn't easy to GM. I gave the Marquis chances and enough of the other players tried to warn him or help him, but the person he most trusted was the mastermind that he should have normally suspected and that set him against those who were actually trying to help (some were playing both sides and deserved what they got....).
I've run a fair few 8-12 month campaigns of more traditional Traveller, but this one ended up being legendary. The Security Chief's final message was done up in an X-Boat transmission....
I don't think we could do this again, but it will always live in memory of those who participated.
(2) Winner! Mark Ayers This first was original Traveller, the second was MegaTraveller. Each were about three years
I have two longest campaigns. My first ran from winter 1977 until spring 1980. Our teen selves evolved the game as each new Traveller item was published and came into our possession. My next was a revival, in a new town, more than a decade later. It ran from autumn 1993 until autumn 1995. As young adults in jobs, this campaign was appreciated more and died when a classified job function of one of our key members prohibited their participation for two years.
(3) Felbrigg Herriot Classic Traveller Not sure exactly, but at least six months of weekly play
My longest Traveller game was a Mercenary Campaign. The PCs started as simple bodyguards, making money on the side, then they started hiring on people. Ended up with them having three ships, landers, plenty of men.(Bob - damn - this is very ambitious stuff from the players!)
Had to use a spreadsheet to track the men's injuries and promotions etc. About half way through the players got a second PC each. The original PCs became the leaders doing all the politics, admin, negotiation etc, and the new ones were boots-on-the-ground leaders.
Had some great sessions, a few with them working as guards on a passenger liner, with murders, fires, and chaos in jump. The scene of them strafing sea monsters from the beach with PGMPs as the beasts consumed holiday-makers will live with me forever.
(4) Patrick Kanouse Classic Traveller 2 years
I refereed a Classic Traveller for two years in college. We played a session at least once a month, and I sometimes held individual player sessions.
At the time, I was heavily influenced by Dan Simmons HYPERION, and the main villain was a version of the Shrike—albeit not as cool and very psionic based. It was also fickle, tormenting the players in Q-like ways, and designating one of the players as “the Chosen One.” LOL, we still don’t know what that actually meant. Nonetheless, nearly 30 years later, those former players still occasionally shout at me, “The Chosen One!” Great times.
(5) Pete Burke Mongoose 2e 6 months
Longest continuous campaign - I ran a Pirates of Drinax campaign for 6 months over Roll20 last year during COVID.
(6) Neuro Lancer Mongoose 2e 6 months
I refereed a campaign which lasted 6 months. It was a homebrew campaign using the flavor of the OTU. I used Mongoose 2nd Ed rule set. It started as a trader campaign and ended up being more mercenary-like.
27 May 2020
SAFCOcast 14: Traveller on Roll20, Session Recap, and other Traveller Stuff!
01:18:58
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
In which Jeff and Bob discuss a very nice mailbag submission, recap the last Classic Traveller session of their Into the Void campaign, discuss their end-times transition to the Roll20 online system, and various other fun things like some rules finds! Also, Bob drops an f bomb that must be bleeped, thus revealing his true, dark nature!
06 Oct 2019
SAFCOcast 7: Interview with John Watts of Gypsy Knights Games
01:26:51
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
After a quick review of the SAFCO mail bag and discussion of a couple of internet finds, we are honored to present our interview with John Watts, of Gypsy Knights Games, author of the Clement Sector and associated books compatible with Cepheus Engine and useful with any 2d6 science fiction RPG (our words, not his).
In this episode Bob interviews the creators of the Scoundrels of Brixton Cepheus Engine/Traveller setting and books, Jeffrey Jones of the RPG Ramblings podcast and writer Adam Kovac.
SAFCOcast 30: More Campaign Descriptions, Bribery Confusion, and Review of our Campaign
01:32:10
In this episode we do internet finds, rules finds (in which Bob gets even more confused about the Bribery skill in the little black books), xboat transmissions, two from our longest campaign event, and we review our own campaign 4.5 years into it.
SAFCOcast 34: update on Keith Frye Memorial Game and Mayday! 2023 Interview with CyborgPrime
00:51:38
In this episode I read a quick message from Greg Caires and Ken Patterson regarding the passing of Keith Frye the upcoming online memorial game for him, and then we interview CyborgPrime (Frank Succardi) about the upcoming Mayday Mayday 2023 online Traveller celebration.
SAFCOcast 4: Traveller Recap and Homebrew Vehicular Combat System, Mail Bag, Upcoming Cons in Texas
01:03:16
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
After a month of work and vacation, we're back!
This episode is all about Traveller, specifically Classic Traveller and Cepheus Engine stuff. It's also the debut of SAFCO Mail Bag, in which we respond to comments and email we've gotten.
As always, comment here, on Bob's gaming blog (where this show is embedded), or email us at SAFCOmailbag@gmail.com.
Gypsy Knights Games - where you can find all the Clement Sector rulebooks, including the Core Rulebook and the Core Setting book. Fantastic stuff!
Cepheus Engine - the core rulebook for "Traveller with the serial numbers filed off." Very compatible with Classic Traveller, and like the Clement Sector stuff a great source of usable modern updates to the classic system.
SAFCO Simple RPG Vehicular Combat Framework pdf - used in our games when fun and speed are important, but we don't want to use heavy, complex systems. Intended to be very cinematic.
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
This is a very rare SHORT episode! Only about 11 minutes! I quickly talk about a few things that have been going on, and about winning a great contest I didn't know I'd even entered on the Traveller RPG Headquarters group on Facebook!
SAFCOcast 18: Classic Traveller Combat, Mailbag, and other Stuff
01:12:48
Our main topic, inspired by one of our SAFCO Mail Bag submissions, is a discussion of the combat procedure from Classic Traveller.
We also go through some great mailbag submissions, discuss the Central Supply Catalog supplement for Classic Traveller, Timothy Collinson's Generation-X Traveller book, and Internet Finds!
In this episode Jeff and Bob do their best to explain their way out of the fact that it's been nearly two years since they recorded together!
Seriously, we thank all the listeners who have stuck with us. We love doing the podcast.
We jump into some X-Boat Transmissions and hear from numerous listeners. Bob then corrects a rules mistake he made about blade throwing in Classic Traveller two years ago. It's a great rule, and Bob throws in another Earl Dumarest example.
We then to through some fun Traveller/Cepheus Engine-related Internet Finds, quickly discuss some Imperial News, and Bob thanks John Watts of Independence Games for his massive generosity.
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
We are honored and happy that Robert Eaglestone, of the Xboat 'zine joined us for conversation on this episode!
For those who don't know, Rob did a very successful kickstarter for a four issue Traveller 'zine called Xboat: a Traveller5 Zine. It's a great publication! Bob and Jeff talk with Rob about his beginnings in Traveller, the zine, and of course playing the game!
10 Jun 2020
SAFCOcast 15: Random World, Awesome Online Con Game, and Other Traveller Delicacies
01:15:39
Weirdly we had no XBoat Transmissions this time! We need email!
In this episode, we get back to our Random Planet Generation project by reading about Algira, a planet created by Patrick Kanouse (full description below). Really nice work, Patrick!
We then move on to Internet Finds, including...
Darkest Stars, a Classic Traveller Fanzine by Omer Joel and Paul Elliott
Jeff finds two Traveller articles in online copies of the old Dragon magazine. Dragon #43 p 35: Traveller Adventure "Canard" by Roberto Camino is the first one! The next one on our next episode!
Stray RPG Thoughts. Just found this blog. Dude has amazing stuff about mega corps and the super rich in RPGs. Highly relevant for Traveller, Cyberpunk, or whatever. https://strayrpgthoughts.blogspot.com/
Our main topics was our participation in an online Classic Traveller Game run by Greg Caires, as part of the online offerings of this year's North Texas RPG Con. It used Greg’s Sappers character class, which appeared in Freelance Traveller, September/October 2019: Character Generation Rules: Deep Space Rescue Corps: A Career for Classic and MegaTraveller.
We wrap up with News of the Imperium, a new segment in which we discuss upcoming convention games and events relevant for Traveller, upcoming or recent product releases, and anything else that fits. This time it included...
TravellerCon 2020: at this point it looks like TravellerCon/USA is going on as scheduled, Oct 9-11, in Lancaster, PA. Link:http://www.travellercon-usa.com/
Patrick Kanouse write: Hey there! Wanted to let you know that I’m planning on running Murder at Arcturus Station using Traveller5 rules for Gen Con Online. Still needs to be accepted, but that’s the plan.
In this episode we discuss the last two "longest campaign" submissions, talk about the Parry rule in Classic Traveller Combat, go through a lot of great Internet Finds, and briefly touch on the OGL debacle.
In this episode, besides reading some X-boat transmissions and talking about some Imperial News, we talk a bit about some articles in the Classic Traveller: Out of the Box series from Chris Kubasik on his Tales to Astound blog.
It's no secret (since we talk about is constantly) what we use Classic Traveller in our campaign. Chris's exploration of CT is one of the best on the web, and really got us thinking.
SAFCOcast 8: Agent of the Imperium, Participation Announcement, and other Traveller stuff!
01:29:55
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
In Episode 8 we start with Mailbag! Thanks to everyone who has contacted us! Then we move on to Internet Finds and talk about some cook things on the internet! Then a session recap of our campaign. Then we talk about Marc Miller's Agent of the Imperium. A fun talk!
Note: Episodes 1-14 happened before we changed to a Traveller-only show. In those episodes we discuss some other RPGs. As time went on we realized we were really a Traveller-only podcast, and in Episode 15 officially made the switch. You will find lots of Traveller talk in 1-14. Just be aware.
In episode 2 Jeff tells us about his recent experience at North Texas RPG Con, a great convention.
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