Traveller Sandbox Game Mechanics: Homeworld Tables, Beta Quadrant...

Good Afternoon, All:

In creating additional game mechanics for the Traveller Sandbox Experiment, I wanted to provide a few tables to help players create characters based in the Beta Quadrant. The rules suggest that you pick a homeworld when creating your character. I'm going to create a few tables to help make that easier.

First, I am going to design homeworld tables based on subsectors, because that seems pretty easy for me. That way, the Referee can localize the origins of characters based on where the campaign is starting. In addition, I'm going to create a single table to choose the subsector table, in the event the Referee says a character can come from anywhere in Beta Quadrant. In fact, creating the Subsector Table should be pretty easy, so let's start there.

In order to weigh each of the subsectors in the Subsector Selection Table, I did some quick calculations to determine population totals per subsector. (Okay, the reality is that I have an application that does this for me, but that's beside the point.) I was able to determine the following total population figures: Gleti Subsector (11,126,755,870); Koyane Subsector (21,545,110,370); Litha Subsector (26,492,220,590) and Tabaldak Subsector (17,849,376,160). Looking at some very rough percentages, I came up with a table that looks like this:

Table: Subsector Selection

2d6	Subsector Table
2-4	Gleti Subsector Table
5-6	Tabaldak Subsector Table
7-8	Litha Subsector Table
9-12	Koyane Subsector Table

I started thinking about the fact that I have all of this world data for Cultural Hubs, Resource Worlds, Exploration Sites and Interstellar Threats, and I realized that I can take advantage of the work I've already done if I create reasons for the player-characters to be attached to those sites. So, I decided to make sure that all of the worlds that are appropriate for raising children are covered in the list of Homeworld options. When I don't have enough options, I'll pull in some fairly generic Homeworld candidates to fill in the gaps.

Table: Gleti Subsector

2d6	Homeworld
2	Tefnut (Segin 2005 D410204-8)
3	Qetesh (Segin 2003 C100348-B)
4	Bastet (Segin 1908 C558534-5)
5	Sutekh (Segin 1707 AADA846-B)
6	Seshat (Segin 1907 B69A8A8-9)
7	GLETI (Segin 2205 C664976-6)
8	Abrakos (Segin 2108 A66879B-9)
9	Jengu (Segin 2407 A79A89C-B Amber Zone)
10	Nyame (Segin 2202 B887797-8)
11	Zinsu (Segin 2308 A621533-B)
12	Loko (Segin 2207 C69A316-B)

Table: Koyane Subsector

2d6	Homeworld
2	Fujin (Segin 3103 D410200-8 Amber Zone)
3	Amida (Segin 2606 B8B7402-D Amber Zone)
4	Idaten (Segin 2604 B610565-A)
5	Jizo (Segin 2901 A7978AA-A Amber Zone)
6	KANGITEN (Segin 3001 C664AFD-7 Amber Zone)
7	KOYANE (Segin 2706 A5699EF-B Amber Zone)
8	Suijin (Segin 2806 C688672-6)
9	Prishiboro (Segin 2810 E596568-5)
10	Chedenoman (Segin 3201 A300569-C)
11	Kannon (Segin 2603 B410400-B Amber Zone)
12	Mirasen (Segin 3201 3209 E540337-5)

Table: Litha Subsector

2d6	Homeworld
2	Pakhet (Segin 2111 C620300-B Amber Zone)
3	Aseramachi (Segin 2214 C300678-8)
4	Melody (Segin 2119 B767565-7)
5	Beltane (Segin 2115 BA9A532-A)
6	Ghandi (Segin 2113 BA67879-6 Amber Zone)
7	Litha (Segin 2016 A7678A9-A Amber Zone)
8	Mami Wata (Segin 2311 B784879-6 Amber Zone)
9	Desa (Segin 2120 B561877-6)
10	Mawu (Segin 2211 B520420-A)
11	Sadyra (Segin 2319 C9B9300-9 Amber Zone)
12	Mudhava (Segin 2414 E526330-6)

Table: Tabaldak Subsector

2d6	Homeworld
2	Mantis (Segin 2712 C500343-8)
3	Gamab (Segin 2611 B410431-C)
4	Mingert (Segin 2719 B410783-8)
5	Malen (Segin 3018 C983773-5)
6	Lutasas (Segin 3118 C759848-8)
7	Tabaldak (Segin 2813 A6878CE-9 Amber Zone)
8	Milamapar (Segin 3113 B569879-6 Amber Zone)
9	Umikeo (Segin 2919 C969776-6)
10	Tesla (Segin 2517 C685634-4)
11	Onora (Segin 3011 B7A7523-B)
12	Djinn (Segin 3212 C658311-9)

Obviously, not all of the possible homeworlds are included in the tables above. I've pulled the best worlds from those available (best, meaning we have data on them), and filled in gaps with Class B starports. The tables are generally weighted in preference of High Population worlds, followed by better starports, because that's where the traffic goes. Now, we have tables that will immerse characters into the setting, attaching them to worlds that are likely to be sources of adventure. Should characters in a gaming group find themselves sharing a common homeworld, then that's even better.

While my list of game mechanics to develop would have Patron Encounters next, I think it would be better to save those for a few posts. Instead, I'm going to focus next on the Random Encounter tables, followed by the Rumor tables. These should make it easier for me to create Patron Encounters that are relevant to the setting and to the results generated by these tables.

Enjoy,
Flynn