Welcome
Aboard.
Quick Reference // orientation
Traveller is a tabletop roleplaying game set in the far future — the year 1107 of the Third Imperium's calendar, roughly 5,600 AD in our reckoning. The universe is vast, complicated, and steeped in history. There is an empire holding thousands of worlds together, but it's not Star Wars with rebels and emperors in black robes. It feels more like the late Roman Empire: a civilization that mostly works, held together by tradition and bureaucracy, full of cracks and frontiers nobody really understands.
The players are ordinary people — ex-military, pilots, merchants, medics, scouts, criminals — moving through this universe, often aboard their own ship or as crew on someone else's. Sometimes they work for the Imperium, sometimes against it, usually somewhere in between.
Each world has a Technology Level (TL) — a number describing what the planet can produce and maintain. It's a quick snapshot of what's available. A merchant can sell a plasma weapon on a TL 4 world, but the planet's factories can't manufacture it. Starports always operate at high TL regardless of the surrounding world.
| TL | Approximate level | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Stone Age | No metal tools |
| 1–3 | Antiquity to Medieval | Bronze weapons, the wheel |
| 4 | Early industrial | Steam engines, simple chemistry |
| 5 | Industrial | Firearms, internal combustion engines |
| 6 | Atomic age | Early electronics, radio |
| 7 | Modern (roughly our era) | Computers, early in-system spaceflight |
| 8–9 | Early space age | Fusion power, basic jump drive |
| 10–11 | Advanced space age | Grav vehicles, advanced medicine |
| 12 | Imperial Standard | Baseline for a prosperous Imperial-governed world |
| 13–14 | High technology | Force fields, advanced robotics |
| 15 | Cutting edge | Experimental weapons, the edge of known science |
Traveller always uses 2D6. You roll two six-sided dice, add your skill level and any characteristic modifier, and compare against a difficulty target.
| Difficulty | Target (2D6 + mod) |
|---|---|
| Simple | 2+ |
| Routine | 6+ |
| Average | 8+ |
| Difficult | 10+ |
| Formidable | 12+ |
| Heroic | 14+ |
Effect = roll result minus the target. Large positive Effect = spectacular execution. Negative Effect = failure with consequences. A natural 2 is always an automatic failure. A natural 12 is always a success regardless of modifiers.
The campaign is called Children of the Fifth War. It is not a campaign about heroes who win the war. It is a campaign about what war does to ordinary people — and what you are willing to do with truths you should never have learned.
- War thriller with moral grey zones
- Consequences for failure and bad choices
- NPCs with their own motives — not just enemy/ally
- Political complexity: the Zhodani are not monsters
- Economic reality: you pay for fuel and repairs
- "Superhero" dynamics — you are competent, not invulnerable
- Free gear or solutions without motivation
- One "correct" path through the scenario — sandbox, nodes, choices
- Black-and-white moral choices — consequences are complex
All Group 1 characters are part of the RVSC tour's crew or passengers. You all have good reasons to be aboard. Pick one of these concepts as a starting point and build from there.
| Role concept | Career suggestions | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| RVSC employee | Merchant, Engineer, Navy veteran | Loyal to the company — or used to be. What do you know about the contract? |
| Freelance expert | Scout, Agent, Scholar, Medic | Hired for specific competence. No permanent contract. |
| Notable figure | Noble, decorated military, ex-diplomat | Your presence elevates meetings. Why you're really here is open. |
| Fake | Any career | The papers don't quite check out. Bluffed your way in, nepotism, or more complicated. |
| Plant | Agent, Scout, Navy | Parallel agenda. INN, rival corporation, political faction — or naval intelligence. |
| Rule | Variant |
|---|---|
| Luck (LCK) | Active in the campaign. Starting value hidden — revealed in play. |
| Sanity (SAN) | Active but hidden. Psychological consequences of the war tracked by the GM. |
| PSI | Available at character creation but Imperially forbidden. Use has legal consequences. |
| Careers | No restrictions beyond setting logic. All MGT2 careers allowed. |
| Death | Characters can die from consequences. New characters introduced via campaign mechanics. |
| Task chains | Used frequently. Success eases the next roll; failure imposes DM-. |
Session Zero is not a "real" play session — it is a shared establishment of the campaign's premise and your characters. Everything generated during Session Zero is canon from day one.
- Character creation (MGT2 Core, p. 8–63)
- Background contacts — connection rules with fellow characters
- Group skill package
- What was my role on the RVSC tour?
- Tour memories: what happened during the three months?
- Open questions to carry into Session 1
| Format | Hybrid · table + Discord |
| Duration | TBD · approx. 3–4 hours |
| Preparation | No rules required — but feel free to read the Traveller Primer |
| Discord | Channel: #5fw-grupp-1 |