Traveller_5th_Edition_-_Reign_of_Discordia_-_Core_Book.pdf

TRAVELLER

Credits

Design: Darrin L. Drader

Conversion: Darrin Drader and Joshua Cole

Starship Conversion: Andrew Hames, Alan Welty and

Andrew Bacon

Playtesting: John Hinz, Andrew Bacon, Kerry Schell,

Barrie Robison, Robert Morris, Alex Friedrich

Editing: Colin Dunn,Darrin Drader

Special Thanks : Shayne Vacher

Layout & Graphic Design : Will Chapman

Dedication : To Gary Gygax, the father of roleplaying

games, illuminator of millions of imaginations. Without

him this book would never have been possible and the

lives of many of us would be much less wondrous. R.I.P.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Major Worlds

Character Options

Politics & Organisations

Starships

Running Reign of Discordia

134

Rovers Beacon

140

Sample Adventure: Virus

149

Index

166

Legal Notices

“ Traveller ” and the Traveller logo are Trademarks owned

by Far Future Enterprises, Inc. and are used according

to the terms of the Traveller Logo Licence version 1.0c.

A copy of this licence can be obtained from Mongoose

Publishing. The mention or reference to any company or

product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark

or copyright concerned.

Open Game Content: All rules elements contained in

this book.

Designation of Product Identity: All proper names

of individuals, places, and things, including the setting

name Reign of Discordia .

Foreword

By Darrin Drader

In 2004, I had an idea for a new roleplaying game

product line. I’ve been a fan of science fiction from the

time I was a very young child, which is really not that

surprising, given all of the space opera themed science

fiction that was floating around in the late 1970s. There

was obviously one movie in particular that was released

in 1977 that was so remarkable that it would forever

define the standard of what I was looking for in a good

science fiction. In addition to that, there were a couple of

live-action TV series and at least one ongoing animated

space opera series that I couldn’t get enough of. As a

child, when I wasn’t in grade school being forced to

learn the mundane things like addition and subtraction

and how to read, my friends and I were on the

playground, or in their backyards, or in my apple tree…

shooting down enemy spaceships, or delivering an

enormous explosive to an incoming battlestation before

it destroyed our home planet. Ah to be young again.

have any notion of what the distances are between

galaxies, you would know that this was absolutely

ludicrous! It’s clear to me that in so many cases the

writers and producers were more concerned with

appealing to uneducated kids who liked the wahoo

elements of space opera than they were interested in

getting it right. I mean how hard would it be to open

up a reference book to learn a few things about the

realities of space? Granted, the internet didn’t exist

back then and the public education system wasn’t

overly concerned with making sure that kids our age

knew the difference between a comet and a meteor, but

they could have at least put forth a little bit of effort!

And so there I was in 2004, remembering how much

I used to love these absolutely flawed space opera

shows because of the stories, the visual elements,

and yes, the flashy wahoo parts. As someone who had

designed several roleplaying game products, I knew

that roleplaying could stimulate the same parts of the

brain that a good science fiction show could. It was all

about the imagination. Yes, there are several science

fiction games and settings on the market, but to me

they all lacked a certain something that I couldn’t put

my finger on. The more I thought about it, the more I

realized that while mass- marketed science fiction had

become more technically correct over time, it had also

become a lot more safe. The characters no longer felt

like space cowboys and the storylines rarely included

plots where the bad guys were really bad and the

good guys were undeniably good. Worlds were more

As I grew older I found that many of those shows that

I loved so much as a child didn’t age very well. While

the characters were as compelling as ever, the writing

was riddled with blatant scientific errors. Often times

the script writers obviously couldn’t tell the difference

between a planet, an asteroid, a solar system, and a

galaxy. I can think of one show in particular where they

made a big deal about the fact that they were entering

a new galaxy and yet it was a huge deal for them to get

the fleet up to light speed. Yes, light speed. Not faster

than light speed, not hyperspace… light speed. If you

often threatened with diplomatic disputes than they

were with superior technology in the hands of an

enemy bent on destroying it and everyone who lived

there. In short, most science fiction had become a bit

bland, though far more accurate from a technical point

of view.

space stations, domed cities, orbital mining platforms,

and homicidal lizard people bent on the destruction of

all life as we know it…. Reign of Discordia was written

for that inner five year old that lives within each of us,

but it was made to also appeal to the adult in all of us

who wants complexity and detail.

So I wanted to write a game setting that would inject the

excitement and the adventure back into space opera,

but I wanted to do so in a way that not only embraced

factual science, but actually showcased it. I wanted a

setting where you needed special technology to fly

into the atmosphere of a gas giant to keep from getting

crushed, and you certainly couldn’t breathe outside

of the ship unless you were breathing your own air

reserve since the atmosphere would be completely

toxic. I wanted habitable planets to not all be these

perfect worlds like Earth; sometimes they would be a

little too hot, a little too cold, or a little too large. Maybe

the gravity was a little higher than Earth standard, or

maybe water wasn’t in abundance. This is not to say that

someone with a degree in astronomy wouldn’t be able

to poke a few holes in the setting. It’s still supposed to

be fun, right? The main thing I wanted was a science

fiction universe where the errors weren’t so glaring

that me, a guy who has taken a few science courses and

regularly watches documentaries on space, wouldn’t

find glaring problems that a simple consultation with an

encyclopedia could fix.

Reign of Discordia was originally released as a PDF

for another rules system, and it immediately became

a huge seller within the category. So why are we now

doing a Traveller version? Because Traveller is possibly

the best science fiction roleplaying game system ever

designed, and because the more we thought about

it, the more we saw ways that the system would bring

something new to the Reign of Discordia universe while

the universe could bring something new to Traveller.

This means that if you’re a veteran player of the

Traveller system, some of the assumptions that you’ve

always held may work differently in this setting. We

try to present this as a setting that gives you a vehicle

with which to create new and compelling stories while

adding to the tools that you have at your disposal. The

new rules and equipment are mostly optional and

additive. In other words, you could play a Reign of

Discordia setting just fine without importing anything

new from this book, and the setting will still be money

well spent. Very few elements from the core Traveller

book have been taken away.

But despite the fact that I had some good ideas, this

was not to happen in 2004. In fact, it wasn’t until four

years later that I found Reality Deviant Publications,

which was a willing partner in such an undertaking. I

started writing once I got the green light, and it was like

a pressure valve was released. All of this cool space-

opera-style imagery took root in the setting, such as

If you’ve just picked this up but you weren’t around in

the ‘70s, don’t panic. Characters don’t run around in

silver jumpsuits spouting cheesy lines to the tune of

disco… unless you want them to. I’ve done what I can

to make this an interesting, compelling, action-packed

setting, so now it’s up to you. I hope you enjoy it!

Darrin Drader

Life after the

stellar Imperium

Five years. ... It has been five years since the Imperium

transports delivering food and supplies stopped

coming to Yseth. What was once considered the most

successful colony world in the Frontier systems with

over a billion people was now little more than the

galactic ghetto. While the planet struggled to increase

the production of its agrofarms so that it might support

the population of the planet, starvation took its toll

on the people. Kabe looked back at his family’s small

house for the last time, as he boarded the freighter that

would bring him back to the core worlds. He might

have to take a job he disliked at first, but at least he

would be able to find food now. Hopefully…

In addition, the governments of the many systems did

not follow the expected trends towards capitalistic

democracies. In some cases the liberated worlds

adopted Democratic or Socialist governments so they

could take care of the needs of the people. However,

many of the local leaders who led their people

against the Stellar Imperium were not interested

in handing over their new-found power, instead

claiming these worlds for themselves, setting up

petty dictatorships.

As interstellar trade struggles to reach some sort of

sustainable equilibrium, many wonder what became

of the riches accumulated by the Stellar Imperium.

Gone are the enormous warships that once patrolled

the member worlds. Much of the military hardware that

was once commonplace has been destroyed and the

replacement equipment that has found its way to the

open market is rapidly produced and of inferior quality.

Introduction

The Stellar Imperium has fallen. No sooner had the

triumphant cheers died down on hundreds of worlds

than the harsh realities of their desperate new situation

became clear. Their cold, lizard-like enemy, the R’Tillek,

may have played a significant role in the fall of the Stellar

Imperium, but the collapse did not stop thier campaign

of aggression against the former member-worlds.

Initially there was hope, as the leaders of the minor

rebellions assumed that some new and better form of

government would step in to fill the vacuum. At the very

least, they thought the various alien races would align

along species lines. They were wrong. Instead, the exact

opposite occurred as most worlds opted to embrace

their own local governments rather than take the chance

of having one imposed upon them again.

The former Imperium’s Core worlds now lie in ruins,

completely uninhabited because of the horrific

weapons the R’Tillek used against them. Scavengers

and adventurers now frequent these worlds, hoping

to find technology that will fetch a high price on the

market. Still others search the vast systems marked as

empty on all the star charts in hopes of finding partially

completed, mothballed, or salvageable ships at one of

the fabled secret shipyards of the Imperium. Such ships

would surely be built to the superior specifications

of the Stellar Imperium, and therefore be superior

to the currently produced models, both in terms of

performance and the price they would fetch from the

right buyers.

During the reign of the Stellar Imperium, technology

had been freely shared between the races. Most

races focused on manufacturing and developing the

technologies that most suited them. This resulted in

many key technological industries centering on the few

worlds that specialized in them. As a result, the prices

of many items skyrocketed as soon as the Imperium

fell, because the knowledge for producing them did

not exist on the many worlds where they were needed.

Now there are many who seek to obtain the schematics

and technical knowledge behind these proprietary

technologies from those who jealously guard them,

hoping to produce their own versions at a cut-rate, thus

reducing their dependence upon other worlds.

In this new era of decay, many have become frustrated

with the crumbling infrastructure of the settled worlds,

and have instead left for the Frontier Worlds. The

planets in this sector of space were newly discovered

during the final days of the Stellar Imperium and some

of them are home to small upstart colonies. Many

consider these worlds unspoiled places of opportunity,

where they can forge their own way and survive the

instability of the current age.

Welcome to the age known as The Reign of Discordia .

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