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 What is this? Traveller: The Coldest War is a custom setting from the Traveller game system based on the setting and atmosphere created by the amazing bgreman, OP and runner of the awesome The Coldest War: You Play Aurora!, an ongoing, three and a half year old lets play using the Aurora game engine. If you haven't checked it out yet, click the link and prepare to read the entertaining shenanigans of Goons trying to run a space government and dealing with reasonable fallout from their poor choices. Seriously, check it out, its awesome. I'll wait... Welcome back! Now this setting is based on the experiences we've had so far in the game, but changed around a lot to be firmly alternative universe to bgreman's game. Take anything that happens here as non-canon. That's cool, but what is this? Ah you want some lore here you go! *Clears throat to become deep and gravely* The Year is 2190 One hundred and sixty five years ago, humanity made an incredible breakthrough with the discovery of Trans-Newtonian Elements. These wonder elements allowed humanity to break the bonds of Earth, Newtonian physics and and the expectation of being stuck in their own solar system. Uniting under the banners of the United Nations and the Eurasian Federation, these early pioneers blazed a trail that generations would later follow. Settling the Moon, Mars, Callisto and Titan, humanity soon covered Sol and all its bodies. With the discovery of jump points, humans were able to leave their home system for the first time Sol and settle the vast frontier that was opened to them. Early humanity's star was ascendant in the void, in time more than a dozen worlds were claimed by the various governments of Earth, and by 2065 there seemed to be no stopping human's progress...Until it met the MIND. A xenological gestalt of unknown origin, the MIND styled it's self as the self-appointed guardians of the universe. Seeking to conserve the rare Trans-Newtonian elements that composed the advance technology of much of the galaxy, the MIND attempted to constrain humanity's rapid expansion in the name of preserving as much of the rare mineral as possible. When negotiations broke down though, the MIND launched a brutal surprise attack along the frontier. Humanity, spread out across more than two dozen star systems, found itself unable to concentrate its forces sufficiently to defeat the intruding MIND fleets. Worse still, it appeared the MIND possessed the ability to influence and control the thoughts and actions of humans. While a number of warships were destroyed outright by MIND warships, many more were subverted by the alien's insidious methods of mental control. One by one, the colonies of humanity went dark as the defense fleets were pushed back, with the MIND advancing down all three axis of human expansion. A desperate plan was hatched; withdrawing the remaining fleets to Sol, the colonies were left to their fates. Hundreds of thousands managed to evacuate back to Earth, but millions more were left behind. Prototypes of a mental shield were rushed into development and attached to the warships and defense stations built on Sol's jump points. On May 17th, 2067, the combine fleets of the MIND and their subverted puppets launched a simultaneous three pronged strike into Sol. A desperate battle erupted as the human defenders lashed out with all the remaining equipment they had and the MIND warships temporarily stunned from the effect of jumping. Dozens of the MIND's ships fell before bringing their systems back online and returning fire. The ships defending the jump points were eliminated one by one, but the long rage fire provided by the defense stations provided vital assistance in tipping the balance. At the UN jump points, the MIND invasion was beaten back and after a fierce struggle along the other two entrances and through Sol, the invasion fleets were destroyed, though not after Earth suffered withering nuclear bombardments. Now after decades of rebuilding, years after new methods of FTL were discovered and humanity spread to the stars, a new age stands before the human race. Incursions by the MIND and their puppets continue to harangue Sol System. To the galactic south, the rebellious United Commonwealth fights a bitter war against the powers of Earth. Throughout human space corporations and governments continue their deadly dances of intrigue while small independent spacers try and eek out a living.  Image 1.1: A map of the known universe. Not shown, the myriad of systems secret government/ corporations and crazy citizens have found beyond 15 light years No, what is this game? Oh, Traveller.  Traveller is a game setting/system created back in 1977. Since then it's gone through several iterations. The first game was infamous for its character generation process being the most lethal in any role playing game. Seriously, your character could die in character generation if you rolled a certain way. The "official" Traveller setting is the Third Imperium, a distant space future where a confederated quasi-Roman, mostly human empire rules over the center of a region of space, surrounded by various alien governments. The setting was reminiscent of the Pulp and Golden Ages of Science Fiction, so lots of space opera feelings, reasonably realistic physics (enough hand waved tech to make space travel reasonably common) and lots of excuses to have a gloriously pulpy fun star ocean action (weapon skills are equally divisible between swords and laser weapons). Sounds neat! How's it played? The game its self has gone through about ten iterations, changing mechanics and returning to old ones. We're using "Mongoose" Traveller Rules. Mongoose was the second most recent release of the game, featuring updated versions of the classic rule set, setting and mechanics. Traveller5, the newest came out of Kickstarter a couple years ago, but the rules are still kind of spotty (thought a large edit came out a couple months ago) and Mongoose publishing has a large number of support material for their product line. Character generation has changed over the years. Ironman rules still exist for those who want a lethal character generating session, but more modern rules simply have "mishaps" instead, which if rolled, give a character penalties, ranging from stat drops to a an eternal rival who wants them dead. Player first role two d6's to get six traits: Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education and Social Standing. Using these traits, the players then select a possible career path on a series of tables and role to see if they enter the career, survive a term in it, and see if they advance. Each successful term served boosts the starting skills, stats and equipment of the player, but remain too long and a player starts to get stat penalties based on age. Playing the game is pretty straight forward. TO PASS A SKILL/STAT/COMBAT CHECK, A PLAYERS ROLLS 2D6'S AND TRIES TO GET AN 8 OR HIGHER. That's pretty much it, modifiers from the player or GM can make the roll easier or harder depending on the situation at hand. Players can also support one another with skills if it can be justified, so say Peter is trying to hack a computer, its hard so he's taking a -2 to his check, but Paul is reading him Hacking for Dummies as he does so, so he adds +2 to his check. Combat is deadly. You have no hit points, instead any damage you take is subtracted from your endurance. After that you subtract from either strength of dexterity, and once one of those goes, you fall unconscious. Take enough damage to get zeros in all three, the character dies, and no resurrection exists in the game. Roll low enough to succeed, but not by much and a character can dodge an attack, but loose initiative. Armor only absorbed damage equal to its protection level, so a DR 4 flak jacket will only stop four points of damage. Not much help when your average weapon does 3d6's worth of damage, and things like lasers and explosives do anywhere from 5d6's to 8d6's worth of damage. Sounds cool, how can I listen to this? Good news, I have both video and audio for people who like either format below. So come now, join us and enjoy the edventure. My name is Jimmy4400nav, and along with me are Dr. Snark, nothingtoseehere, ForeverBWFC, Samolety and ChaseSP. Lets Space!   Full warning, for Episode 1 I had no clue what I was doing so the audio has a big ech and in episode 4, the audio get quiet at several points. Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Part 1 Episode 8 Part 2 Episode 8 Part 3 Episode 8 Part 4 Episode 9  Full warning, for Episode 1 I had no clue what I was doing so the audio has a big ech and in episode 4, the audio get quiet at several points. Episode 1 Episode 2, now with 90% less echo! Episode 3 Episode 4! Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Jimmy4400nav fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Sep 21, 2015 |
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Aug 26, 2015 22:18
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*Reserved*
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Aug 26, 2015 22:18
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Note to everyone who's starting to watch. Session one has a few slightly different people in it, as that was before we were sure this was going to be a regular campaign. From session 2 onwards the party is set, although we are studious diving off jimmys rails at least once per session. Also title should have been: 5 Shmucks in a Spaceship.
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Aug 26, 2015 23:10
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I'm keen to play. Someone has in to crush the Neville and it might as well be me.
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Aug 27, 2015 01:23
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Chiwie posted:I'm keen to play. Someone has in to crush the Neville and it might as well be me. Sadly we're all full up at the moment with our crew. If a spot opens I'll let the thread know.
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Aug 28, 2015 00:48
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We've just wrapped up today's session! We get our vision (and other body parts) augmented, and then we execute the heist that we've been hyping up since last update. I will only say one thing about it: corporate security plans loving suck.
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Aug 31, 2015 00:51
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Dr. Snark posted:We've just wrapped up today's session! ... not in the sense they are bad, just that they suck to work around. We should also have some character bio's coming with the update, for 3 of us at least!
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Aug 31, 2015 01:22
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Drones. loving drones. Always carry something that can hurt drones.
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Aug 31, 2015 17:10
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EPISODE 6 Video Link to Playlist MP3 Join us on our fun adventure as our brave spacer heroes attempt to Shadowrun their way through the universe. Now with 95% less corporate fatalities!
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Aug 31, 2015 21:06
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Personally, I find it hilarious when you discuss the centuries-long consequences of my terrible decisions. :iamafag:
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Sep 1, 2015 01:09
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Added Space posted:Personally, I find it hilarious when you discuss the centuries-long consequences of my terrible decisions. :iamafag: Well to be fair, Mars is alright, so it wasn't too bad, it was the drat Freds who attacked Venus that made it a mess. *For non-Coldest War viewers, last year in the Coldest War thread their was some discussion about weaponizing a terraforming array to mess up a colony we were getting ready to lose.
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Sep 1, 2015 02:08
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Well, we just wrapped up the latest session, and we got into our first space combat and bought a bunch of cool stuff. In particular, I am now the unholy fusion of Iron Man and Motoko Kusanagi. ...There's a lot more that happens in between those two events, but saying anything else would spoil this session. Prepare for plot twists!
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Sep 6, 2015 23:45
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EPISODE 7 Video Link Audio MP3 The gang returns, in mid flight they must flee a fighter attack before figuring out what to to with all their ill gotten gains from the lunar shadowrun. Short episode this week as we handled a lot of purchasing and trading off camera and didn't wanted to make a three hour video with half of it being SPACE COMMODITIES SIMULATOR 2015!
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Sep 7, 2015 22:34
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Samolety, who was playing our pilot, just dropped out of our game. So for anyone that wants to join now is your best time! Edit: The generator I posted was for a different version. Please join #coldestwar on irc.synirc.net if you are interested in joining. We will supply books for you to look for at your leisure. ChaseSP fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Sep 13, 2015 |
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Sep 13, 2015 18:37
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What time do you record?
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Sep 13, 2015 18:40
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Right now, it's on Sundays at 4PM Eastern Time. We'd be prepared to change that if needed and if possible.
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Sep 13, 2015 18:44
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Or 8PM GMT. We usually play for about 3 hours per session.
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Sep 13, 2015 18:48
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IT'd be best if you got on now so we can make your character before the whole session starts. Regardless if you end up joining or not having it premade will be convenient.
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Sep 13, 2015 18:56
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Just wrapped up the latest session! This session includes (but is not limited to): -Cyborg Ninjas! -Hilarious Shriekerbox Usage! -Reenactments of Attack on Titan! -Reenactments of Mass Effect! -More improvisation than you can shake a blank script at! It starts slow, but becomes a must-see!
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Sep 13, 2015 23:42
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EPISODE 8!!!! Sorry this is so late comming, started my new job today so thats taking up lot of time, but I hope everyone enjoys,. The Coldest War! Now we're getting some plot in and with 100% more southern preachers! Video Link MP3 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
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Sep 15, 2015 05:08
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We just finished this last session, and it's got everything. Bombastic IT men, tactical espionage action, and shittons of missiles! As a reminder, we're still looking for a fifth man, and we've reached a point where it would be easy for you to join in story-wise.
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Sep 20, 2015 23:50
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EPISODE 9!!!! MP3!!  Video Link: Video Episode 9 So the gang is finally on the path of the main plot, next week the saga of the start continues as they join the fight against the vile MIND. For those of you wondering about Dragoslav and are not regular Coldest War viewers: Anton Korbalev, the guy Dragoslav turned out to be, is a reoccurring character in the Coldest War thread. A Federation agent, he's been responsible for more the several incidents where the UN lost, territory, face, or both. He's was basically the threads archnemesis until the MIND was discovered. The Cyborg people referred to is a thread goer named Raw Beef, who was in turn Korbalev's archnemesis, though Korby got the better of him once or twice and implanted ancient alien cyber parts in him. Long story.
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Sep 21, 2015 05:02
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Today (or yesterday for some people), we had a breather episode-during which we learned that we are some of the shittiest psychics ever, ran for Commonwealth space, and checked out a suspicious freighter. Naturally, it ends explosively (as everything involving us does at this point).
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Sep 28, 2015 06:39
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Due to some technical difficulties (and the fact I don't have as much time during the weekdays to edit videos) the next video likely won't be out until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.
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Sep 30, 2015 04:32
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Episode 10! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1IisS7M3VE We fought hard and leave the bonds of Federation space only to go to the sector of hypermilitaristic rebels.
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Oct 1, 2015 07:35
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Also this sunday I won't be able to play, sorry for the last minute nature, but I just remembered a family function I thought was next week is this week. So the Traveller-verse will be getting a one week break!
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Oct 2, 2015 08:00
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Oh, hey, this has its own thread now! In your adventures, know always that somewhere in the universe Charlie Phelps, Space Loser, is thinking fondly of you as he trips idiotically over something and ruins someone's plans.
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Oct 2, 2015 10:10
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After a hiatus, we got together for another session! Traveller will return! This session: EVERYTHING IS hosed
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Oct 19, 2015 03:51
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Will I finally be able to reveal the glory that is the holy costner?
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Nov 7, 2015 01:01
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Sorry for the delays in getting these up, real life and such. I'm having trouble with the audio extracts, so I'll just put up the youtube videos for now. Not a lot happens in the videos themselves so they're good for just listening too mostrly. Episode 11 Episode 12 The players have been delving deeper into conspiracies and mystery in a universe gone mad. And this Sunday, when we play, things should be interesting...
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Nov 8, 2015 05:25
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It's been a while, but to tide you over these past few sessions have involved excessive amounts of explosions. We rack up an insane amount of property damage, and it's so great.
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Nov 16, 2015 00:59
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I just realised there's a wolf in an admiral's uniform with a laser gun on the front cover of the book.
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Nov 17, 2015 04:56
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Episode 13 Episode 14 Sorry its taken forever to upload these, technical difficulties and work have made that a tad hard. But yes, episode 13 and 14, the episodes we meet Saurus, AKA Kevin Costner, the king of the scrap heap and newest party member. As the gand fights the MIND, where will their adventures take them. Jimmy4400nav fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Dec 3, 2015 |
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Dec 3, 2015 05:26
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EPISODE 15 For once, it doesn't take me weeks to actually make and upload the videos... Anyways the gang is in for a special return trip to Earth, join us for espionage, intrigue, ninjas, fake mustaches and anti-climactic chases. What the final video was supposed to look like before holographic shenanigans were used.
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Dec 7, 2015 08:00
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No Traveller today on account of me being sick. Sorry
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Dec 13, 2015 18:42
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EPISODE 16 After months of play, fighting countless enemies unknown and navigating all the twists and turns of the Traveller Coldest War-Verse, finally, ALL IS REVEALED!!!
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Jan 13, 2016 06:09
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Turns out all of our problems were caused by massive gently caress-ups who didn't know what they were doing. Also, we are SO boned right now...
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Jan 13, 2016 06:14
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Dr. Snark posted:Turns out all of our problems were caused by massive gently caress-ups who didn't know what they were doing. But enough of real life.
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Jan 15, 2016 18:02
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