Inkwell Ideas Free World Map and Hexographer Pro

Some questions came up about 2 of Inkwell Ideas products, the Worldmap.jar and Hexographer Pro. I am in no way affiliated with Inkwell Ideas but I do own both products and think very highly of them. I though I would do a short overview of the 2 of them if you have more questions and I will do what I can to answer them.

First is the free world map generator which you can get from here. It is a Java app so just about anyone should be able to use it. It looks like this.

Uggh to small here is a link. Across the top you can set the hex width, planet size, Land percentage, Mountain percentage, Vegetation percentage and Temperature. Hex Width I believe is in pixels, Size is rated from 9 to 35 so I don't know what that means and the rest are rated as Min; Low; Med; High and Max. When you start it it always generates a map then you fiddle with the drop downs and hit the recreate button and get  a map.

I didn't think you could edit the map because I own Hexographer so that is where I did my editing but the strip of symbols under the map are the editing tools. Like hexographer it is easy to use, click the hex you want to add to the map than click the map hex you want to change. When you are satisfied you can export it to Hexographer, export as a PNG, Load one you have made before or save the map in the native format of the world map app.

With Hexographer pro you can open the world map you saved and it looks like this.

Again sorry for the size here is a link I have dual monitors which doesn't help with the image size. As you can see Hexographer Pro doesn't have the clipping issue the free version does. I should add this is a different world map than the one above. There are tons more stuff you can do editing wise in Hexographer than World map including changing the entire Icon set so you can do B&W

Notice that custom icon sets replace the standard hexes so if you don't have an alternate of a certain terrian it stay the base one, jungle in this case. Link here
For another example is Red Kobold's Calligraphy icon set link Here

There is a ton more hexographer does but I need to get ready for work so here is a quick list
GM only flag so you can make player maps from your map
Attach notes to each hex
Draw shapes (polygons)
make zoomed in maps from you main map
You don't have to start from world map it has a built in world map template
add text
add lines
Whine over on the forum and the designer will do his best to help you, really have seen it happen.
Any questions and I will try my best to answer with screen shots if I am at home.

Supplement 4 Belters

The next career is Belter which I am handling as a specialty of the Merchant career. This career has two oddities about it, it starts at age 14 and the survival DM is the number of terms served. The age will be ignored as no one starts as a Belter, as for the terms I am going to say prior terms in Merchants do count because realistically chances to make it through a single term is fairly low.

I had thought a lot about whether Belter should be under Scout or Merchant. My view of the Belter is a being that surveys and analyses planetary bodies to determine their content. That sounds like something the service tasked with mapping the universe should be doing. I chose Merchant instead because the end goal is profit not to see what is there. I also am going to use the existence of this career to flesh out how the Scouts work though. The Imperium picks an object in a system to place an Imperial Consulate (IC) and expends some effort on that one place. The rest of the system doesn't rate an additional effort by the Imperium leaving it to the government of the world with the IC to develop the system as it sees fit. This is why atlas's only list the one UPP for the main world and from my previous ideas almost any visitor to the system is going to start and stop at that main world to check in and out with the IC.

So to get a transfer to Belter from regular service is not easy a high DEX is somewhat helpful but a bigger bump comes from having a slightly below average or higher INT. Coordination and speed are helpful but it is more helpful to be able to analyse data and react to it.

Survival (or the lack there of) is not easy. This service makes the Scouts look like a stay in the penthouse of a 5 star hotel.There is no bonus to the roll for any stat just for how long you have been doing it. With my modified careers you start with a 7+ in the worse case (Merchant for 1 term then going into Belter for the second) which is not a good chance. It seems that GDW's view was loners don't stand as good a chance as members of a group which is pretty sensible.

There is no commission or promotion and no 2 skills per term either so a Belter won't have as many skills as a veteran of another service. I am unhappy with this but am not sure if it is worth tinkering with the rules. I am thinking of adding a 5+ on 1D6 to get a roll on a table 1. Prospecting 2. JOT 3. Vacc Suit 4. Electronics 5. Mechanical 6. Grav Vehicle each term.

The reenlistment roll means the Imperium doesn't see the value in paying people to do this for long. It is only slightly better than a 50/50 chance you can continue. So they do want people poking around in the various systems but the payout for the Imperium isn't high enough to keep people on the payroll to do it.

The material benefits table has Low; INT; High; Weapon; Travellers and Seeker. The two passages come from the separation lottery, Weapon is participation in the service tournaments and INT from having spent time thinking for yourself. Travellers Aid membership seems a little out of place only because it doesn't show up in the basic careers except in the Navy and Marines, probably while poking around you found something more interesting than a mineral. The Seeker is the only ship you can get for free that I don't see as a distraction to play. It is to small to turn into an effective pirate or carry enough cargo to turn the game into an economics model though it can carry enough to pay for itself removing that burden from players minds. Also being a Type S the Scouts no longer wanted means it can break down whenever the GM wants it to without him being to much of a dick.

The cash table is not a thing to bring joy to the heart looking at it two chances for nothing, one pocket change, one average and two chances at big bucks. At least there is chance to gain Gambling so you can get a +1 because it isn't to likely you are going to retire from the Belters to get it the other way.

The Personal Development table has the 3 Physical stats; Gambling; Brawling and Vacc Suit. I am okay with the gold rush in space vibe of this.

Service Skills has Vacc x2; Prospecting x2; Forward Observer and Ship's Boat. I am okay with Vacc and Prospecting you are going to spend a lot of time in Zero G and Vacuum and your goal is to find stuff to mine. Forward Observer? I am dubious about the prevalence of situations you are calling orbital fire missions. Ship's Boat might make sense except the apparent craft of choice is a starship not a pinnace.

Advanced Education 1 has Ship's Boat; Prospecting x2; Electronics; Mechanical and Instruction. Electronics and Mechanical I can see to keep you Seeker functional but Instruction? Yes any service is going to need for it's more experienced members to teach new comers and the basic careers predate this skill so it could be that is why they don't have it but I am not convinced you would receive a teaching degree looking at rocks.

Advance Education 2 has Navigation; Medical; Pilot; Computer; Engineering and JOT. All of these make sense to me although I think JOT should be more prevalent throughout all four tables.

Also all Belters get Vacc Suit-1 which makes a lot of sense to me particularly as I am using Vacc Suit to represent familiarity with Zero G as well.

Supplement 4 overview and Pirates

Sorry for the Long Blog night I have been working 1st, 2nd and 3rd shifts as required and frequently all in the same week and it has killed off my ability and desire to think for recreation and coherently. As a summation this is a post in a series I am doing going through Starter Traveller and defining MTU by what I am encountering. I decided that the 12 careers in Supplement 4 are open to characters after they first serve one term in one of the 6 careers in ST.

Before dissecting the generation rules I read the rules section to see what (if anything) GDW changed with the addition of Books 4 and 5 and their expanded character generation. They didn't change the basics at all as far as I saw. Interestingly it must have been written before the revision of the LBB's because my version says most characters have a natural skill of 1/2 with weapons as opposed to the skill - 0 of the revised rules. They also decided there was not a draft if you tried one of the 12 careers covered. If you failed to enlist you tried somewhere else. 3 Careers meant you had no experience with guns but oddly everyone is assumed to be able to use blade weapons passably well. In the notes under the cash table it says anyone who has retired can add one to their rolls but this isn't mentioned in the rules section. <shrug> I see no reason to not allow it. Otherwise nothing changes from ST.

On to the Pirate career. MTU sees character generation as time spent in service to the Imperium so it is a stretch to come up with government pirates. A case has been made for privateers raiding non-imperial shipping but that would be the Navy not Pirates in my view. I had stated that characters who enlisted in the Navy or Merchants could try to get in to the Pirates in their second or higher terms and thinking on this some more I am going to add Scouts as well. This is because it is another service that has starships and a crew could go bad and start shooting up the galaxy. My premise is that this career represents a vessel in imperial service that acts against imperial interests for personal gain. This could be a Type T using its authority as a naval vessel to board an civilian merchant ship and steal its cargo, or the whole ship. A Merchant Marine vessel that kills off passengers who have something the crew desires. Or even a scout who has been in his Type S all alone a little to long and blasts ships trying to skim from a gas giant he has decided to preserve.

Enlistment is a greater than half chance to succeed which I am okay with only because I can see this as more a corruption issue than wild eyed cutlass wielding bezerkers. I find it odd being from middle class or lower will make it more likely you can succeed again feeding into my view of citizens not being all that loyal to the imperium as an institution. A high endurance gives you a bigger edge which I admit I am at a loss for explaining.

Comparing survival to the 3 base services the Navy and Merchants share the same roll and DM and as a Pirate you will be a little less safe and you need to be smarter to get the DM. Compared to the Scouts it is safer and an Intelligence of 8+ replaces an Endurance of 9+. Maybe the saner Scouts become Pirates rather than the crazier ones.

I was thinking of keeping the commission and promotion rolls of the original services because it isn't like anyone is admitting what they are doing but I decided not to. Rank in the Pirate career is a "shadow" rank. If you serve in the Navy and get to Commander then become a Pirate you start at Pirate rank 4 but any further promotions don't affect your Naval rank similarly for the Merchant Pirate. Scouts don't have any complications as they don't have a formal rank. Pirate rank is a representation of trust in the underworld society that needs to exist to get rid of ill gotten gains not an acknowledgement of skill and service to the Emperor. The suspicions and rumors of your activities will stall out any legitimate chance for advancement.

It is much harder to stay in the service as a Pirate than the base services. Every 4 years you have around a 50-50 chance of your career ending. I like this actually. The survival roll represents getting caught and the high reenlistment represents rumors of your shady behavior catching up with you.

Mustering out benefit table provides Low; Weapon; +1 Int; nothing; -1 Soc; Middle and Corsair. Weapon seems to take the place of the more specific gun or blade of the basic careers and still holds up as participation in the separation tournaments. The two alterations make sense quick thinking to pull off your schemes and rumors to destroy your standing with society. Middle and Low passages are pay outs from the separation lottery. Finally the Corsair. I never could wrap my head around who was building these things in canon. Only Pirates get them and you need a class A starport to build them, heck there is an official class name for them. However looking at the performance specs they make a descent customs ship for the Navy, Priority transport for the Merchants and a more capable ship to enforce scout interdictions so I am okay with them.

The cash table is sub-anemic so you aren't going to get rich as a Pirate. Even with the +1 you still have a chance to get nothing and without it you get nothing 1/3 of the time.

Personal development in the Pirate career can increase your 3 physical stats; Gambling; Brawling and Blade. Anyone choosing this as a career likes to gamble with their life why not cards as well? Brawling and Blade could be because if your breaking the law discipline might be harder to enforce resulting in a hands on approach to settle disputes.

Service skills are Blade; Vacc; Gun; Gunnery; Zero-G Combat; and Gun. The only one I see the need to comment on is Zero-G Combat. Here is were trying to integrate later works and the LBBs cause trouble. How do Marines not have this skill? Or the Merchants and Scouts? It is a plausible skill but I don't think I am going to use it instead it will be subsumed into Vacc Suit. I think Vacc Suit training is much more likely to occur or represent familiarity with a lack of gravity as well as a non-breathable atmosphere.

Advanced Education 1 has Streetwise; Gunnery; Engineering; Ship Tactics; Tactics and Mechanical. Streetwise is necessary to get rid of whatever you pirated. Gunnery, Engineering and Mechanical you need to keep your ship flying. Ship Tactics is another later skill I am not going to use. Situations calling for it will use Pilot instead. Tactics I am okay with as it is a more combat intensive service.

Advanced Education table 2 in this case further encourages me to change how you get access to the final table. Your BA in Art History qualifies your to learn advance skills as a Pirate? Using a system that doesn't have a way to go to college? However that will be a post for after I finish the careers. Navigation; Pilot; Forgery; Computer; Leader; and Electronics are what is on this table. Forgery and Leader are worth noting. Forgery assists in both getting stuff and getting rid of it after you have it and Leader is not available to the base three services. I mentioned under Navy that I believe this is a conscious decision as all the major upheavals in Imperial history have pretty much been caused by naval admirals so the Imperium doesn't provide leadership classes as a general rule. I do think they train leaders just not as a general skill available to all service members. Interestingly I think this is the first service to escape the papery fist of Admin.

Starter Traveller, supplement 4 interlude

I am planning on using the careers in supplement 4 as "advanced" careers. Everyone serves their first term in one of the basic 6 careers and if they reenlist successfully they can try and go into one of several optional careers or continue with the basic one. You would also continue in the basic career if you fail enlistment in the optional career. Rank carries over into the new career and you muster out of your final career, although I am mulling over picking from any benefit table you served in. I had thought there was a basic career in Law Enforcement but I can't find it outside of MT and I am not interested in adding special duty to all careers and don't want to have it for just one career so I guess I will skip it or make my own.

Here is my proposed advance or optional careers and the reasoning for why they are split up the way they are.

Navy: Pirate. As I am deliberately coming up with a setting where there are internal rivalries I am thinking some naval vessels go rogue. If enough of the crew is from one world or faction they could start targeting "enemy" shipping using trade war as cover. Unlike normal piracy there wouldn't be survivors from these attacks and less money to boot as it is to damage the economy of a rival world. A failed survival roll is death in this service.

Navy: Diplomat. The Imperium believes in presenting a fierce face to all it's neighbors so it's diplomatic corp is largely military personal.

Marine: Flyer. The marines are tasked with base defense and aerospace defense not the navy which operates starships. In the case a marine flyers aircraft adds ship's boat to the list of choices for aircraft.

Marine: Diplomat, As with the navy.

Army: Sailor. A specialized planetary combat branch.

Army: Barbarian. Either raised on a low tech world or assigned to one this is meant to be a guerrilla force and able to function with limited to no support.

Scout: Scientist. This would be a more long term on world investigation of a system. I am underwhelmed with the science a scientist can learn and am going to have to think about how I want to change the skill table for this career.

Scout: Hunter. The study of a biosphere and the use of eco-tourism to support conservation efforts.

Merchant: Belter. A specialized field of commerce which the Imperium has an interest in keeping mega corporations from dominating as it encourages more wildcat exploration.

Merchant: Pirate: In government service as a merchant this is more in the line of smuggling than boarding actions however a failed survival roll indicated death as a merchant pirate as well.

Other. Rogue: This is either a life of crime or of crime fighting as the skills work equally as well for both sides.

Other. Bureaucrat: The faceless cogs that keep the giant machinery of the Imperial government working. I can't fathom actually wanting to play one of these but who am I to judge.

All services: Doctor. You can never have enough medical professionals.

All services: Noble. Because all that matters is who your parents are for this one.

Starter Traveller Post 6, Weapon and Vehicle skills

Okay I really don't like the individual weapon skills, they don't seem to make a lot of sense to me. However with the everybody has skill 0 in everything I am okay with it as it stands. Imperial Conscription has the first 4 weeks covering firearms and melee combat, the second 4 weeks covering ISO (Imperial Standards Office) electronic and mechanical iconography and vehicle controls, the final week covers standard computer UI elements.

Weapon skill Changes:

Melee skills can be divided up into attack and defense DM's.

Gunnery is any vehicle mounted weapon and also includes using sensors to locate targets.

Vehicle skill I feel should be a little broader than it is including repair of the vehicle you know how to operate. I am also adding Animal to the categories as there are more than enough worlds who's technology level make them a primary source. All instances of Air/Raft; ATV and Ship's Boat are replaced by Vehicle. The categories are now

Grav
Ground Contact
Ship's Boat
Watercraft
Submersibles
Hovercraft
Animal
Lighter than Air
Propeller
Jet
Helicopter
Vacc Suit

I am inclined to treat these categories like Zero level skills with characters having a more specific specialization. Mostly this is because I have a lot of material on specific vehicles so I don't think I will (I am looking at you 101 Vehicles). I may instead let the Player designate 1 vehicle per year as you guessed it Equipment Qualified. Instead of it being a positive DM it would be used to reduce any penalty by +1. So you would get Vehicle, select Ground Contact and pick 4 specific vehicles (Horrinon Tracked ATV; Jak Rabbit wheeled Automobile; Shackleton Tracked ATV; Dyncha Strider).

Starter Traveller Post 6, Basic Skills

Here starts the heavy lifting in dealing with ST. I am slightly hostile to the skill set as presented. There is a huge (IMHO) difference in the scope of the various skills and yet they all take 4 years to gain. Each one of the basic skills seems to have its own rules governing it's use which I find annoying. I was thinking of trying to use them as presented but I like to have a little continuity in the way games I play operate.

The task system has in the past on the board generated an impassioned response. I don't discount the points expressed during that debate however I like to be able to consistently handle situations. I know there is support for the "make up a roll and go with it" style and for some it is valid not for me. It is annoying to end up feeling like similar situations had wildly divergent requirements depending on the GM's mood and I don't want anyone in one of my games to end up feeling that way. Also it is easier for me to look at a situation and think that is very difficult rather than try and figure out the percentage chance of success on a bell curved 2D6 roll. I am going to use this one by Paul Elliot on Freelance Traveller which gives me the framework to quickly and consistently set difficulties and retains the skill mods as presented. Mr. Elliot's thoughts on the skill tables mirror my own which I will cover at the end of character generation.

My problem with scope is best expressed by comparing Mechanical and Steward. Mechanical skill covers the use and repair of any mechanical device, Steward covers cooking. Huh? So I will be proposing expanding what some skills cover to make them a little more useful. I will be placing skills from later books under skills from ST to keep the list short and using the Equipment Qualified on block to indicate skill areas the PC has.

The Basic skills and there expanded changes in MTU

Administration: no change

Bribery: This is going to be more the skill to get someone else to do something for a character rather than the more narrow offering money to break a law. Coercion or Persuade might be a better name for the skill. Carousing and Liaison will be replaced by Bribery if I need to change published material.

Computer: No Change
Electronics: No Change
Engineering: No Change
Forgery: No Change

Forward Observer: Seeing as you need to detect the target, contact the firing unit and not die to accomplish this it will cover Recon; Communications and Stealth.

Gambling: Includes how to game the various government lotteries and other sweepstakes like elements of Imperial life.

Jack of All Trades: No Change

Leader: Broadened to cover interaction with all subordinates not just troops. Like all social interaction skills it is hard to game. People in general will follow someone who acts like they are in charge and this skill represents having that presence.

Mechanical: No Change
Medical: No Change

Navigation: The use of ship's sensors to analyse planets and other astronomic objects (Survey Skill). Also Communications skill.

Pilot: Also adds Communications and the use of sensors to detect things relatively (in space terms) close to the ship.

Steward: Getting a positive interaction with another being. Not just feeding a passenger this will be used when dealing with any being. It is the skill in verbal and non-verbal communication to get another to like you. Examples are obsequies behavior around an arrogant self important prick or telling fart jokes to 12 year old boys.

Streetwise: This used to gain acceptance into any insular group not just criminals.

Tactics: No Change
Vacc Suit: No Change

Starter Traveller Post 6, Skills - Default or level 0

Sorry for the delay that whole real life thing was bothering me. I am planning on using Supplement 4 Citizens of the Imperium but before I go into those careers I wanted to deal with skills.

I have an issue concerning the scope of skills in CT. On one hand you have Engineering which covers the use and repair of Jump Drives; Reaction-less Maneuver Drives  and Power Plants and on the other you have Body Pistol which covers accuracy with a specific kind of automatic pistol. Oh, did I mention it takes the same amount of time apparently to learn both? Later incarnations of the game added more skills to the 54 (not counting the cascade skill titles only the ones under them) which I am reluctant in most cases to use.

I have been thinking on what a skill of 1 means. For most things I think a skill of 0 is what the average person has to perform their job. This is because you don't have skill 0 in everything but no skill at all. A skill of 0 is something you can do with no negative modifier whereas a no skill starts at -3 on the roll. Also I have noticed that home world skills from later editions are level 0 not level 1 contrasted with service skills. The note about default skills in the rule book describes them as "orientation to the skill by an experienced person" so it does imply some training or experience.

In an earlier post I had noted GDW seemed to making a game for larger than life adventure. Character generation doesn't seem to support this though as you get random stats and limited control of what you career is or how long it lasts. Then skills are semi-random as well with your control limited to picking which four sets of six skills you will be randomly awarded. Add to that the generally low number of skills and levels in skills basic character generations produces and it seems unlikely you will end up with heroes instead of plucky comic reliefs.

If however the average person has a skill of 0 in their job a skill of 1 becomes much more heroic. Having more experience with the D20 based linear progression it is easy to fail to see that is in no way related to the progression on a 2D6 based system. The base roll of 8+ is around 40% (I think being to lazy to look it up) for someone with a skill of 0, a skill of 1 changes it to 7+ (50%) and no skill changes it to 11+ (something under 10% I think). It also helps the GM with NPC's if you need to do them on the fly.

Lets veer off and look at TAS form 2 for the moment to bolster this premise. I am thinking of block 17 "Equipment Qualified On". This is different than skills because they are listed in the various block 18s. So what can we use this block for to add to the game? Battle Dress is in the ST game but the skill is not being covered under Vacc Suit and needing at least skill 1 to use. I have difficulty seeing the Merchant Service training it's members in use power armor no matter how much Vacc Suit training they get. So if you are a Marine (in MTU the only service that uses this) you put Battle Dress in block 17 and use Vacc Suit skill as listed, anyone else has 0 skill with a powered integrated weapon and armor system.

Also it is a way to give a skill outside of the normal gun/car recommendation. For instance the Engineering section of a starship has the chief engineer (Engineering skill 1) and J tech (skill 0 block 17 J Drive), M tech (skill 0 block 17 M Drive) and a power tech (skill 0 block 17 Power Plant). In the Engineering example block 17 is used to indicate when the skill 0 applies and when it doesn't. The skill 0 guys only avoid the -3 penalty when trying an engineering task related to their training, the J tech gets the -3 trying to use the M drive as an example.

You can use skill 0 in addition to the character improvement system in the rules. The systems available to train your character after character generation is done are difficult which they should be as it is really hard to pick up a mastery of a skill or change how you live enough to impact the characteristics. Level 0 can be used for "Starkiller is going to teach Potato Head piloting when we are on our ship" and after a period of time Potato Head get Pilot - 0 and puts Type S in his block 17. Potato Head (after escaping a bad movie) can fly a Scout/Courier with no penalty or bonus but not a Type A Free Trader. The idea is to still have skill 1 be noteworthy but let characters have some sense of advancement in an easier to implement way.