tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post1573541001337581804..comments2024-03-19T05:48:34.142-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Sanjaa SubsectorJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-69453763940755158492021-02-08T09:32:49.675-05:002021-02-08T09:32:49.675-05:00Love these vintage Traveller notes and maps!
I en...Love these vintage Traveller notes and maps!<br /><br />I enjoy looking at these from an astropolitical focus. I always try to have crude estimates of fleet strength to identify where the power centers are and where their interests would lie: what systems they would want to protect their homeworld and to gain control of strategic locations.<br /><br />So I'm curious why Jia, with the lion share's of the subsector's population seems fairly insignificant in local politics. Assuming I'm reading UWP/UPP data correctly, Jia has literally 100x the population of Sanjaa and while they are lower tech, they still have stardrive tech. Even with a moderate investment in industrial capacity and a starfleet, it could launch a massive navy compared to Sanjaa and claim everything within two hexes as their defensive perimeter. That would even be prudent, given their homeworld could otherwise be open to attack.<br /><br />There could be reasons, of course. Maybe Jia is so badly mismanaged or riven by internal conflicts that it's incapable of projecting power outside its system. Or maybe most of those tens of billions are either low-tech autochthons (Piper's Fuzzies) or some form of transhuman who long ago adapted for planetary conditions (they do not need the breather masks 'regular' humans need there), but remain mired in outdated tech due to a darkfall collapse.<br /><br />Still, Jia is either a sleeping giant or an obvious target of acquisition for the SDL, in order to counter Nagoya's significant population advantage over Sanjaa. Perhaps the Riphaean Union currently guarantees the independence of Jia as a preliminary step to incorporating it into *their* union.<br /><br />Another anomaly that leapt out is Aingeru's independence. Given its strategic location, one might think either Nagoya or the SDL would have laid claim to it, brushing aside the concerns of a mere 100 locals who can be accused of supporting space piracy or something, true or not. You could probably hide 100 starship troopers in a freighter and take the place in a day ...<br /><br />I realize this post is a couple months old, but only recently found the blog. Keep up the great work!J. Edmondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10146581545303087860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-15318049695128715222020-10-08T21:08:31.457-04:002020-10-08T21:08:31.457-04:00I agree. It turned out excellent. Lots of thought-...I agree. It turned out excellent. Lots of thought-provoking UWPs, a nice cluster there on the trailing half, with a nice rift cleanly separating the subsector in two.<br /><br />Your method sounds a lot like mine. I start with a list of names running off a theme suggested by the subsector name. (I typically know the subsector name first, since the TAS Form 6 in Book 3 has blank spaces to put neighboring subsector names in. When I generate a new subsector, it's almost always because the players are close to the edge of another one.)<br /><br />I don't do placements completely randomly, though. After I roll up a sector, I typically move some of the systems around to make very nice jump-1 mains for my free-trader crews to adventure on. That's sometimes necessary when you have a subsector with a 33% stellar population density.<br />Foothillbillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16729976818149067524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-84555903590254105342020-10-07T21:29:03.481-04:002020-10-07T21:29:03.481-04:00This is an entirely hand-rolled subsector. As for ...This is an entirely hand-rolled subsector. As for the names, I came up with a list of them before I began designing the sector. I picked from the list as I went. Most of the names came from my imagination (and using Google Translate), as well and a handful of random name/word generators to come up with a good mix.<br /><br />I think it turned out pretty well.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-13283034461240942492020-10-07T21:18:48.340-04:002020-10-07T21:18:48.340-04:00
Did you place the systems yourself, or did you ju...<br />Did you place the systems yourself, or did you just roll 5+ one one die for each parsec hex?<br /><br />And more importantly, how did you come up with those names!?<br />Foothillbillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16729976818149067524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-41611958326697488842020-10-07T13:04:54.468-04:002020-10-07T13:04:54.468-04:00My serious, sincere, non-snarky answer is "I ...My serious, sincere, non-snarky answer is "I don't know. No one visited Jia."<br /><br />The Riphaeus Sector was largely a "just in time" setting. I didn't have much idea about most of its worlds until the characters set foot on them. That's the truth of it. Maybe one day I'll have a better answer.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-23265700193875972502020-10-07T12:50:56.889-04:002020-10-07T12:50:56.889-04:00Okay, I have to ask - what's going on with Jia...Okay, I have to ask - what's going on with Jia? Only a class C starport, but 10 billion inhabitants out of 11.1 in the subsector? This one system (with a weird neighboring system full of quantum singularities, no less) has more people living on it than both the subsectors you've shown us combined. <br /><br />Is it a homeworld to some non-starfaring alien species under the protection of a few human warden/xenologists? Is it a holy world of some sector-wide religious group where all the followers try to go live when they grow old? Is it extremely heavily exploited system with multiple inhabited planets and/or a large spacer community but little interstellar trade? Something weirder?<br /><br />Inquiring minds want to know. :)Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.com