It's been a while since my last post, but I've been busy working on a new Traveller supplement, tentatively titled Starports and Bases. The project draws inspiration from Judge's Guild's Fifty Starbases and other published works featuring starports and similar facilities. The goal is to create a collection of detailed, high-quality starports and other facilities for use in your Traveller games. It will be Traveller version generic and could even be used for other science fiction role playing games.
Each entry will include an annotated site plan of the facility, a 3D illustration, and a narrative description. Additionally, each entry will include a blank site plan, for use by players and referees to label and customize however they wish. As currently envisioned, the collection will span everything from remote Class E frontier landing fields to sprawling Class A facilities, both highports and lowports, along with non-starport facilities like research stations, mining camps, scout bases, and more. Randomized tables will help generate local flavor and provide ideas for making each starport feel unique and memorable. I'd like to include notable local NPCs, vehicles, robots, and adventure hooks if time and space permit.
Below are several work-in-progress images (some previously posted to a couple Facebook groups), to give an idea of the direction I am heading. My goal is to include around fifty facilities. Progress has been slower than I'd like as I try to maintain a consistent level of quality.
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| A Type C starport on the planet Skull in the Lanth subsector |
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| A detailed view of the Skull downport |
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| An annotated site plan of the Skull downport |
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| A Type D starport on an agricultural planet |
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| A Type A starport adjacent to an ocean or lake |
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| A Type C space station and larger cousin to the Wyngate and Arcturus Stations |
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Really superb work. The best part is seeing all of the various ship types in the starport pits. Very inspirational for gaming.
ReplyDeleteYes please! Take my money!
ReplyDeleteThe Skull annotated diagram does have one oddity: passenger terminal is lumped together with starship construction. I'd move construction over to share space with emergency services, since they sort of overlap anyway, or maybe move it out to the perimeter near the navy base.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying something new with this particular starport by putting all services in one large building. Ideally, I envision adding a cross section of the building to explain it better, or maybe a diagrammatical floor plan. Also, spacecraft construction would be limited to small craft, and repair services could be performed by mobile repair craft.Everything so far is a work-in-progess, so is subject to change.
DeleteThis is so cool!
ReplyDeleteAnother amazing contribution to the gaming community, thanks!
ReplyDeleteAlready excellent. I look forward to buying the finished result. Judge's Guild's 50 Starbases was one of their more useful books, and still has some useful things in it - I can understand it being an inspiration, and a modern version will be welcome.
ReplyDeleteI had similar thoughts. I think 50 Starbases has a ton of great information, but the starport plans just need a bit more polish, information, and detail.
DeleteThis sounds so great. Having a visual of different starports of different sizes, and in different environments is such a help. I look forward to you completing this and getting it out to the public.
ReplyDeleteYou even remembered to put in shadows all facing the right direction. 👍
ReplyDeleteI still have my old JG Starport Guide. This is a definite buy for me once it comes out
ReplyDeleteOne aspect of starports in Traveller that I've never quite understood is the assumption that the planet's starport is a single place. That might be true for an E or D port on a remote frontier world, or maybe the C port which is the only point of entry to a planet with xenophobic rulers (like the Treaty Ports in China during the 19th century). But it seems implausible for a well-populated and advanced world with an A or B port. There's simply no reason for spacecraft to all set down at a single port rather than land at the equivalent of regional airports. Repair and construction yards would have their own dedicated landing and launch facilities. Earth, right now, arguably has the equivalent of a B or C starport, but there's no one place that has all the facilities.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I've seen some rules that allow for multiple starports (interstellar), or the addition of spaceports (local system travel only), but much of the information about starports is inconsistent across the various versions. Major powers on balkanized worlds are more likely to be fighting for offworld traffic, so can be expected to have more than one downport (or even highport), that is run by one power. The Imperium may decide to only fund one high or low port per system, making it the "official port". I'm struggling myself to rationalize high population worlds with only an E or D port. Some starport rules indicate limited numbers of landing pads at these ports where there should be tons of traffic. I'm also questioning the "no fuel" or "only unrefined fuel" at E and D ports which might have a water source nearby and a tech level high enough to support fuel purification technology. Surely some entrepreneur would fill that gap. I've always tried to find creative ways to explain these types of idiosyncrasies, without bending the canon, but I think my book will challenge some of the canonical rules.
DeleteThe "no refined fuel" for a C or even a D port is particularly odd given that fuel refiners simply aren't that expensive. Per High Guard a 1-ton refining system can produce 20 tons of fuel a day and costs only 50,000 credits plus whatever you need to power it.
DeleteFrankly, I think either the refined/unrefined distinction should be ignored, or refineries should be considerably more bulky and expensive so that it really isn't worth having one on every starship.