Leviathan SOLO campaign - Part 0.1

Cepheus Engine Leviathan SOLO campaign - Part 0.1

What is this?

For any readers unfamiliar with this form of writing: this is a hybrid form of fiction writing that uses an RPG as the basis for an imaginative creative writing exercise. Part game; part creative writing, this is an ongoing writeup of a niche campaign set in the Traveller universe. It's a bit like fanfic I suppose (if you are already familiar with that term and form) but it's a lot more like an interactive game to be accurate. This is a chance for me to let my imagination roam freely and create something fun and interesting as I do so.

I'm using a number of source material books and systems as jumping-off points for writing the fiction, and readers are invited to comment, ask questions, and suggest possible outcomes or events for the story.

I'm writing this in real-time as I post, and I am starting with minimal ideas about where it is heading or what the final ending will actually look like. Almost anything might happen! :-)

The Setup

This is the log of a solitaire Traveller campaign.

Location: The Spinward Marches.

Rules: Various incarnations of Traveller rules (Classic, Megatraveller, TNE, T4, Cepheus), plus Striker, Snapshot, and Mythic blended with SOLO, Stars Without Number, and These Stars Are Ours.

As I embark upon this landmark journey across an enigmatic subsector of barely-known space, I thought it would be best to keep a record of what I am doing; how I am doing it; and why I am doing it. I am going to be writing this initially on Steemit, and then archiving the results with a degree of time delay over at my Unskilled OK blog.

Why am I playing Traveller?

I have always loved the vastness of imagination in Traveller ever since I first played it back in 1981. I've run and played a huge number of games over the last few decades, but Traveller has been one of the games I've run/played the least in proportion to the amount I actually want to run/play it.

Why am I playing an RPG solitaire?

I could (at a stretch) get a face to face group for a game, or convene a group from a larger pool of buddies over the internet using something like Roll20. But with a family and a time-demanding job, committing to a regular chunk of time that coincides with the availability of others is not so straightforward.

By playing solitaire I can fit bits in among the other things in my life, without having to worry about who else is available. I can even carry on gaming while I'm sat with family, because it is no more intrusive than reading, writing and typing. I can stop and chat for a bit without putting a gaming group on hold while I do so; and then I can resume any time I like for as long or as short as I like.

Also, I can indulge in some aspects of the game that I enjoy but which others might not ("Don't you just love how this slow-burning relationship between the pilot and the navigator is developing over time?"), or which might be pretty antisocial for a gaming night ("Hey! Let's roll up a subsector using the advanced start system generation system in Book 6 Scouts! It'll only take about a week to do a few star systems!")

Finally, in my gaming group I am usually the GM, and this has been the case since way back in 1980. It's hard to get my group together unless I offer to run something. Which is fine by the way, I love running games or I wouldn't have been doing it these last forty years! But a solitaire game lets me run and play the game simultaneously, which is something that the simulations/researcher/people-watcher in me loves doing too.

Why am I writing a record of it all?

I want to explore a story and a theme, and enjoy coming back to remember it all when I read and reread these writeups in years to come. I am inspired by the solo wargamers who do some of the most amazing AARs and some who even turn their write-ups into good fiction. There used to be one guy called Bob who specialised in colonial wargaming, and his write-ups were amazingly vivid pieces like reading hitherto unpublished Flashman stories. If I can create even one hundredth of the buzz I got from those, with my little excursion into the voids of space with my motley crew on Leviathan, I'll be happy.

Credits

http://zho.berka.com/stuff/lbb-covers/
I made my header graphic using P-O Bergstedt's superb Traveller LBB Cover Generator at the Zhodani Base website.