REVISED - TRAVELLER TRADERS A SOLO CARD AND DICE GAME OF TRADING IN THE IMPERIUM NOTE: This is a revision of a game initially designed by C. Gerard Luft. This game uses names, ideas and concepts of the Traveller game systems. This is a fan homage to the decades of enjoyment we've all garnered from Traveller's various incarnations. No violation of or threat to any copyrighted material is intended. INTRODUCTION: YOU are the Officers (collectively, "The Crew") of the good ship FREE TRADER BEOWULF. Your Goal is to ship enough cargo from world-to-world to amass a profit of 73 Megacredits(73,000,000 Credits); to buy a SUBSIDIZED LINER and become a Merchant Prince. But, here in the 1350th year of the GALACTIC EMPIRE, this great utopian civilization of Humanity is far from civilized. Trading in the Spinward Marches Sector, even close to its ducal capital REGINA, can still be dangerous. You must find Patrons from whom you can buy low, and to whom you can sell high, all the while avoiding strong-arm robbery in the back alleys of seedy spaceports, corrupt officials who use their badges of authority to mask itchy trigger fingers, and outright space pirates. COMPONENTS NEEDED: The three decks of cards - TRADER, ENCOUNTER, STARSHIP; some six-sided dice (D6); scratch paper, pen/pencil, calculator (for those of us who REALLY hated learning those multiplication tables back in fourth grade) TRADER CARD DECK ENCOUNTER CARD DECK CARD NAME POWER CARD NAME # IN DECK POWER Captain 3 Patron 4 n/a 1st Officer 2 Street Thug 4 1 2nd Officer 1 Bounty Hunter 4 2 3rd Officer 0 Vagyr 4 2 Free Trader Beowulf 2 Imperial Soldier 2 3 Mercenary 2 3 Imperial Marine 1 4 Zodani Invader 1 4 STARSHIP DECK CARD NAME # IN DECK POWER System Customs Cutter 4 0 Bounty Hunter Scoutship 4 0 Free Trader (Pirates) 4 1 Subsidized Merchant (Pirates) 4 2 Imperial Navy Patrol Cruiser 1 3 Vagyr Space Pirate Cruiser 1 3 Zodani Invaders Cruiser 1 3 Mercenary Cruiser 1 4 SET-UP: Spread the TRADER CARD DECK out, face-up in front of you. Put the other two decks face-down in easy reach. BEOWULF starts on the planet REGINA, The Crew must fight past hostile encounters to purchase the first cargo, ship it to the next planet in the sector past space pirates, sell it off buy another, ship it to the next planet to sell, etc. The game ends victoriously when you've acquired 73 MegaCredits(MC). The game ends in defeat if the Crew are all killed in a spaceport encounter or the ship is destroyed in a space battle. TURNS have Seven Phases in this Order: (1)FINDING A PATRON; (2)PLANETFALL ENCOUNTER; (3)BUY MERCHANDISE; (4)SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER; (5)FINDING A PATRON; (6)PLANETFALL ENCOUNTER; (7)SELL MERCHANDISE. The combined Phases of FINDING A PATRON then a PLANETFALL ENCOUNTER then BUY/SELL MERCHANDISE are presumed to take a week. SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER Phase is whatever indeterminate time it takes to make one hyperspace jump and fight past enemy starships to your next planetfall. (1)FINDING A PATRON: You must first find merchandise to buy. You buy from a Patron. Draw cards from the ENCOUNTER DECK, laying them in order drawn face-up in front of you, until you draw a PATRON CARD. (2)PLANETFALL ENCOUNTER: If the very first card you draw is a PATRON CARD, then you skip this Phase. Otherwise, you must encounter all cards you drew before the PATRON (Space Ports can be a dangerous place). Each villain in turn will assault one of The Crew. If there happens to be more than one of the same type ENCOUNTER CARD laid out, those villains will gang-up on the targeted TRADER CARD; the player has the option to put an equal number of The Crew in that fight. a) First ENCOUNTER CARD targets the next highest ranking member of The Crew who has not just previously been attacked in this PLANETFALL ENCOUNTER: CAPTAIN, 1ST OFFICER, 2ND OFFICER, 3RD OFFICER. b) Roll 4D6 and add POWER of that ENCOUNTER CARD (or CARDS if there is more than one of the same ENCOUNTER CARD). That member of The Crew defends himself: roll 4D6 and add POWER of that TRADER CARD (or CARDS if the attack was by more than one of the same type of ENCOUNTER CARD and the player elects to have that many more of The Crew helping defend the targeted one). If the 4D6+POWER of the ENCOUNTER CARD is higher than the 4D6+POWER of the TRADER CARD, that member of The Crew is badly wounded and becomes inactive(Fusion Pulse Guns do a LOT of damage!). Turn that TRADER CARD face-down. c) If the 3RD OFFICER, a talented physician, is present and active, he can immediately first-aid to stabilize the wounded, inactive officer, who will be Recuperating for one week. If THIRD OFFICER absent or inactive, then the wounded member of the CREW is so badly hurt they must remain on that planet, in intensive care at advanced lifesupport facility, until BEOWULF returns at which time that member is fully active and can freely rejoin The Crew. Set that TRADER CARD aside. i) Cost of advanced lifesupport is .1 Megacredits, payable in advance. ii) If The Crew can't or won't pay for this, that member of The Crew succumbs to his wounds and is permanently removed from the game. iii) If both CAPTAIN and FIRST OFFICER are rendered inactive and there is no 3RD OFFICER present to render first-aid, then there's nobody who can authorize or pay for advanced lifesupport, continue to seek Patrons, or fly the ship. The Crew disbands, and the game is over. d) After each attack on a TRADER CARD, The Crew can retaliate against whoever attacked them. If the officer attacked is still active - was not wounded by the attacking ENCOUNTER - roll 4D6+POWER of that TRADER CARD and 4D6+POWER of that ENCOUNTER CARD. If sum of the former is higher than the latter, the Villain is dispatched, ENCOUNTER CARD goes to discard. i) An inactive officer may not retaliate. ii) The next highest ranking officer active may do so at the player's option. iii) If all The Crew is inactive at the same time the game is over. e) PLANETFALL ENCOUNTER is repeated, as long as there are active TRADER CARDS until all the ENCOUNTER CARDS that were drawn before The Patron have been defeated. When the ENCOUNTER DECK is used up, shuffle and re-use the discards. (3) BUY MERCHANDISE: The Crew now buys what the Patron has to sell. Roll 2D6 on the MERCHANDISE TABLE to find type and base price of Merchandise available, and 4D6 on the MARKET PRICE TABLE for final price of that Merchandise. a) POWER of highest rank Officer active is subtracted from MARKET PRICE TABLE roll. b) If price of merchandise exceeds amount of Credits you have, or you hope to get a better deal, The Crew must seek another Patron by repeating Turns (1) & (2). c) On the very first BUY MERCHANDISE TURN only, presume The Crew already had pooled their existing assets to come up with exactly enough Credits to buy what is offered by that first Patron. i) If there is an inactive Officer, who did not receive advanced first aid from the 3RD OFFICER, on this first turn, there will then be insufficient funds for an advanced lifesupport facility, and that Officer(s) is removed from the game. ii) Note that FREE TRADER BEOWULF can be flown by either CAPTAIN or FIRST OFFICER, and the game may continue with just that one Officer. d) REPLACEMENTS: On any BUY MERCHANDISE TURN, except the very first on REGINA, if The Crew has sufficient funds after buying the Merchandise, they may hire a Replacement for anyone who was left in advanced lifesupport on another planet, or anyone removed from the game. i) There are always down-on-their-luck spacers at every port. The Replacement(s) is considered to have been found just after buying Merchandise, during the week that the first three Phases occur. ii) Cost is: THIRD OFFICER = .15 MC SECOND OFFICER = .2 MC FIRST OFFICER = .25 MC CAPTAIN = .3 MC iii) Experience and Quality of Replacements may vary. Roll D6. On 1-2 that Officer has 1 less POWER, on 3-5 the same, on 6 one more than noted on the TRADER CARD DECK list. iv) The highest ranking Officer active, if of higher rank than the Replacement being recruited, may add the difference, between his POWER and the listed POWER for the rank being sought, to the D6 roll. v) If Replacement was for an Officer left in advanced lifesupport on another planet, when FREE TRADER BEOWULF calls there again the player may choose either the original or replacement of that rank to remain aboard. The other is considered paid off and leaves the ship with no hard feelings. (Maybe that's where Replacements come from for other Free Traders?) e) RECUPERATING: Inactive Officers who received first-aid from the THIRD OFFICER are considered Active at the end of the next SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER COMBAT Phase. i) If both CAPTAIN and FIRST OFFICER are in this situation, take-off is delayed an additional week. Cost of the layover is .1 MC ii) One, but not both, are considered Active at the end of this week, and can participate in the next SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER COMBAT Phase. Roll D6: 1-3 CAPTAIN, 4-6 FIRST OFFICER. Other considered Active at end of next SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER COMBAT Phase. iii) If this is the first turn, and/or there isn't .1MC remaining after the BUY MERCHANDISE Phase, The Crew can't afford to go on, disbands, and the game is over. MERCHANDISE TABLE MARKET PRICE TABLE 2D6 MERCHANDISE BASE PRICE PLANET** 4D6 MULTIPLIER OF BASE PRICE 2 Luxury Items 2.8 MC 4 2 3 Machinery 1.0 MC Forboldn 5 3 4 Clothing .55 MC Knorbes 6 4 5 Robotics .11 MC Whango 7 5 6 Miscellaneous .07 MC Uake 8 6 7 Foods .07 MC Efate 9 7 8 Weapons .4 MC Alell 10 8 9 Rare Metals .75 MC Regina 11 9 10 Synthetics 2.0 MC Helfey 12-16 10 11 Gravitics 3.5 MC 17 11 12 Medicine 8.5 MC 18 12 19 13 20 14 ** The indicated Merchandise may not be sold 21 15 on the indicated Planet, enough is already 22 16 produced on there. If that happens to be 23 17 the next port-of-call, skip it and instead 24 18 conduct two SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER COMBAT Phases. (4) SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER COMBAT: The Beowulf has a HYPERSPACE JUMP FACTOR of 1, its path from planet-to-planet through this Sector is: REGINA -> HELFRY -> FORBOLDN -> KNORBES -> WHANGO -> UAKE -> EFATE ->ALELL -> WHANGO -> KNORBES -> FORBOLDN -> HELFRY -> REGINA a) The Hyperspace Jump takes no appreciable sidreal time, ships cannot be detected or attacked, cannot communicate or scan, while making the Jump. b) The tricky part is exiting the Hyperspace Jump into the next system in which you want to make planetfall. Villains lurk behind asteroids and gas clouds, or come as "customs inspectors" in every solar system. Luckily, space is vast so you'll encounter them one-at-a-time. Shuffle STARSHIP DECK for each Encounter. c) Draw the top card from the STARSHIP DECK and battle it. d) FREE TRADER BEOWULF is augmented with the latest armament and fire control The Crew could afford, and fires first IF the keen-eyed FIRST OFFICER is Active. i) Roll 4D6 + BEOWULF's POWER of 2. Roll 4d6 + STARSHIP DECK CARD's POWER. If the total for BEOWULF is higher, one Hit is inflicted on the opponent. ii)Repeat. If total for BEOWULF is lower, one Hit is inflicted on it. iii) If FIRST OFFICER not present or Active, reverse previous two steps and let the Opponent fire first. iv) Continue the battle in space until one or another has taken Three Hits. e) DAMAGE: Hits reduce POWER for the remainder of that conflict unless/until Repaired. i) On the first Hit taken by a ship, indicate by rotating the Card 90 degrees. That ship is at -1 POWER unless/until Repaired. ii)Second Hit received, indicate by rotating it the Card 180 degrees. That ship is at -2 POWER unless/until Repaired. iii)On the third Hit that ship is immediately destroyed with all hands. If BEOWULF then the game is over. If opponent from the STARSHIP DECK, The Crew may now make planetfall and go on to next Phase. f) REPAIRS: Opponents from the STARSHIP DECK repair 1 Hit if they do not receive any Hits for three consecutive shots from BEOWULF. If the 2ND OFFICER, a top class engineer,is active and present, BEOWULF repairs 1 Hit if it does not receive any Hits for two consecutive shots from that Opponent. i) If SECOND OFFICER not active or present, BEOWULF cannot be repaired unless and until it defeats the Opponent. ii) If BEOWULF survives the SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER it may be repaired during the week spent selling/buying on this Planet, at a cost of .1 MC per Hit. If there are insufficient funds, or the player chooses not, to do so, the ship may continue in play at reduced POWER rating, and may be repaired anytime later at any port-of-call after a SPACEFLIGHT ENCOUNTER at that cost of .1 MC per Hit. (5) FINDING A PATRON: This Phase is the same as the previous FINDING A PATRON phase. (6) PLANETFALL ENCOUNTER: This Phase is the same as the previous PLANETFALL ENCOUNTER Phase. (7) SELL MERCHANDISE: This Phase is the same as BUY MERCHANDISE except that there is no need to roll 2D6 on the MERCHANDISE TABLE, and the POWER of the highest ranking Active Officer present is added to the MARKET PRICE TABLE 4D6 roll. After the 4D6 roll, if you think the price is too low, the Patron's offer may be rejected, and repeat Phases (5) & (6). If you reject an offer and seek a new Patron more than once in this Phase, must also pay layover cost of .1 MC for each additional time you do this. If sales price of the Merchandise plus any accumulated Credits from previous sales is as high as 73 MC, The Crew has enough money to purchase a SUBSIDIZED LINER and you win the game. If you have not acquired enough Credits: keep track of the Credits you do have; start a new turn at (1) FINDING A PATRON; pay any desired or necessary costs for advanced lifesupport, replacement crew members, repairs, or layover; the game continues.