Humanity! Fuck Yah.

New Campaign time! Inspired somewhat by the flurry of writing talent off of /TG/, here is a rough draft of what the new campaign will entail. I'm aiming for something between Syndicate Wars and Master And Commander with Humanity taking a role not unlike Orks in any other setting.

Afterall, even in the writing over in /TG/ humanity's glory moment seems to involve being able to run around and hit things.

Campaign concepts:

• Oxygen based life is somewhat rare. Intelligent species are generally Hydrogen Sulfide/Helium or Fluorine based around moons and cold worlds (-50f average temperature) that may not have liquid water and drink methane (-270F average temperature).

• A previous oxygen using life form called the Absalom once spanned human space that long ago died out. Many of their worlds are in various forms of terraforming decay but otherwise sit fallow due to their unpleasant environment to contemporary alien powers. They are nearly universally unvisited beyond enterprising human colonists.

• The vast majority of the interstellar community has been there for many millennia and are individually long lived if not faux immortal.

• Humanity is considered odd in that it is war like yet space borne, from a hot world, breathes a flammable corrosive gas, breeds quickly, and has an incredibly high metabolism. Beyond the curious coincidence in atmospheres to the Absalom, Alien opinions are that humans are best avoided like a disease.

• Another popular alien opinion stems from dinosaurs, which was the last time the planet was charted by The Community, and subsequently black listed. Though the term “Earth” is unfamiliar, referencing the planet’s galactic ID will incite speculation or outright horror as the asteroid that ended the Cretaceous period isn't widely known.
  

• Humanity is relatively small and just recently began exploring the universe (TL11). Earth is still balkanized into the predominate powers of the United States, The British Union, The French Commonwealth, Russian Federation, and The Peoples Republic of China. The year is 2331.

• The alien governments are largely disclosed to their own interests when not being enigmatic altogether. They generally shirk humans as being like a irritant rash that will go away when ignored.

• The unified front from which all species of the Milky Way act is called “The Community”. It is a representative council that overseas galactic trade and prevents conflicts from spilling over or causing irreparable harm to the galactic environment. In effect, it acts as a peace keeping force on a galactic scale. Humanity is considered a part of it by assumption though no formal representation has been established for various reasons, one of which being a mere conversation with the appointed representatives for new race relations at The Community governmental seat is rumored to take many human life times to complete.
  

• Though The Community has its own fleet, it is largely ceremonial in function. It typically out sources any activities it might deem necessary to be fulfilled. Most of which is fulfilled by the nearest community member capable of doing so in return for future credit among The Community.

• The local arm of the Galaxy is largely absent of concerted alien interests.
  

• Terraforming is active and an expanding part of human preoccupations and is done at great expense where it is possible, mostly in the form of reforming Absalom worlds. Mars has a semi breathe able atmosphere and is green in some places (lichens and shrubs, mostly) and contains large protected lakes. The moon plays host to extensive underground arcologies that provide relief to the workers of the immense ship yards that build the vast majority of human fleets.

• The solar system is considered the cradle of humanity and is nearly fully colonized throughout in one form or another in addition to Alpha Centuari, Lalande, and Barnard's Star.
  

• Aside from the immediate stellar local group known to humans, the galaxy is thinly populated with population centers being well regulated and limited to life supporting planets and artificial colonies. Vast tracts of space between colonized worlds and trade routes are virtually undocumented and rarely visited.
• Traders talk of a permanent Community outpost on a star charted as L674-15.
• The TAS is one of the few organizations that has made it beyond the local group and made great strides in human/alien relations in the form of hostels on different worlds and assistance for wayward travellers.
  

• FTL is done via warp drives and the Traveller rules cover this.

• Technology is otherwise very near future, cyber punk-ish, and Newtonian (no anti-grav). Most star ships cannot manage escaping gravity wells unassisted.

• Full Thrust will be used for ship to ship combat.

• It will be assumed the players will hire on mercenaries (or red shirts) and form ‘away teams’. They will be drawn from a recruitment deck of randomized stats. Their actions are player controlled up until they take damage or do something uncharacteristic. In which case they will make morale checks modified by their leader’s Social mod (or nothing in the event of comm. Blackout) and tactics skill.

And lastly, the real star map from which we will use. The + and - is how many light years off the galactic plane it is. And remember the distance formula is (x^2 + y^2)^0.5.

Let me know what you think!