Space Viking for Traveller

Many years ago I wrote a blog post about the novel Space Viking by H. Beam Piper and how I always wanted to play a Traveller game in that setting.  I wrote how complex the background was and how

some of the technology differed from Traveller so I had never done it.  Well, I still haven't done it but that hasn't stopped me from thinking about it.

Since I can't do a direct conversion and I don't want to use the Sword Worlds from the Third Imperium I've decided that I should create a setting has the feel of the book.  Namely, humanity is coming out of a Long Night after the collapse of a large star-spanning empire/federation.  Most planets have not regained spaceflight, let alone interstellar flight.  Those that have have only started to voyage outward and there is still much unknown about the remnants of the empire.  And some of the planets will have regressed pretty far technologically, as far back as preindustrial.

I've thought of this before but I didn't know how to pull this off when randomly creating the couple of subsectors I wanted to start with.  How do I keep the tech levels low enough for most of the worlds?  How do I ensure that there are two or three systems that have a high enough tech level but not too high?  The randomness of the subsector creation project would make it difficult..

So, the answer may seem obvious to you but, to be honest, I'm not very good at modifying game rules or even thinking my way out of the box created by the rulebooks.  I've always been this way for some reason.  I've never wanted to tamper with games because I don't want to mess them up.  I really can't explain why.  It's probably the same reason I have troubles writing in a fresh blank book.  I don't want to besmirch it with my lame thoughts and ideas.

However, I've been reading the blog Den of the Lizard King lately and I've drawn inspiration and practical advice from it.  Den of the Lizard King is the blog of Omer Golan-Joel.  He runs Stellagama games and has done a lot with Traveller and Cepheus.  One of the main things that has inspired me is his posts about low tech settings he has worked on called Hard Space and Harsh beginnings.  These really got me thinking about how I could apply what he was been writing to my desired setting.

Then I ran across one particular post which freed my mind up and gave me a practical method to create the subsectors I need.  The post is called "Hard Space: Thoughts on World Generation".  In it he discusses the population levels, government types and the law levels for each of the worlds.  And then he creates his own random tables customized to get the results to fit his setting.  This was a revelation to me.  I don't know why is was, other than me being slow and not very creative.

Then I re-read this in Book 3: 

Finally, the referee should always feel free to create worlds which have been deliberately (rather than randomly) generated.

Now, I believe I will be able to create the Traveller setting that I've always wanted.  Of course it won't be Space Viking but that's ok.  It will be something I can be happy creating and be close enough for my tastes. All I had to do was see an example of how to do it and  give myself permission to deviate from the book.

Fuzzy Nation

As I’ve mentioned before, H. Beam Piper is on my all time favorite author list. I’ve always wanted to play in a game set in one of his worlds, either the Paratime stories or the Federation/Empire timeline. I have, however, neglected one portion of the Federation/Empire stories. I have only read Little Fuzzy once about twenty years ago. Now, John Scalzi, another author I have come to like, has written a book called Fuzzy Nation. It is my understanding that it is a retelling of Little Fuzzy. So, I am now starting my first re-read of Little Fuzzy. Then I will need to read Fuzzy Nation. And of course compare and contrast.

I haven’t been overly thrilled with Piper sequels written by other hands. Great King’s War written by John Carr and Roland Green did not really live up to the original. It wasn’t a bad book; I just didn’t enjoy it nearly as Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. Carr has written several more sequels that I have not even attempted to read. There is at least on Fuzzy book written by another author that I have ignored also.

So, some of my future reading list is now determined. And I need to work up some Piper gaming material for my son.

Oh, and I still think George Lucas owes Piper’s estate large sums of money for ripping off Piper’s idea for Return of the Jedi.

Inspirational Fiction - Space Viking

Periodically I would like to highlight various works of fiction that have inspired or influenced my rpgs.

First up is Space Viking by H. Beam Piper. This was originally published in the '60s but I did not read it until the early '80s. Right about the time I started playing Traveller. Space Viking and Traveller go together like (insert your own comparison here. They go together really, really well.) In fact Space Viking and H. Beam Piper influenced Traveller. The most obvious example of this is the Sword Worlds located in the Spinward Marches. I also think the round 800 ton Mercenary cruiser is modelled roughly after the ships in Space Viking.

Set during a "dark age" after the destruction of an interstellar entity, Space Viking is the story of Lucas Trask, his very short marriage and his search for revenge against the man who disrupted the wedding. While on his search he manages to begin the re-civilization of a planet, trashes several more by raiding them and plants the seeds of an interstellar empire.

I loved the battles, the adventures and eventually, as I got older, I came to appreciate, if not agree with, the political discussion. I wanted to create a Traveller campaign exactly like it. Not the Spinward Marches version of the Sword Worlds but one exactly like the one in the book. I never did though. Much to complex for me at the time. So many details that I couldn't or wouldn't work out. The faster than light drive wasn't the Traveller jump. Ships in the Space Viking universe could travel at about 1 light-year an hour. The characters would spend 2000 or 3000 hours travelling between stars sometimes. I didn't successfully translate it into game terms. And then there were all the planets mentioned and figuring out how far they were apart. To much for my poor, young teenaged mind. Then there are the societies, governmental relationships, etc. I wonder if I could wrap my poor, adult brain around it. Anyone know of a conversion floating around out there? I have a feeling I'm going to write more about Space Viking on this blog in the future.

You can still get hard copies of the book or you can read a version at Project Gutenberg.