#RPGThursday -Finding Earth in The Clement Sector from @IndependenceGa6

What is it about the Original Traveller RPG that keeps me coming back? I mean, I don’t play in a session that often although the RockyMountainNavy Boys have repeatedly expressed an interest. This last week, Independence Games, the new name for Gypsy Knight Games, had a sale and I couldn’t resist picking up several items in their The Clement Sector collection.

I like The Clement Sector setting. It’s a small-ship universe that tops out around TL12 or 13. It’s fun to adventure around in mostly because Gypsy Knight Independence Games gives plenty of seed material but little restrictions on where you can take your adventure.

The first item I picked up was Earth Sector: A Clement Sector Setting. As author and publisher John Watts puts describes it:

Earth Sector is an extension of Independence Games (formerly Gypsy Knights Games) Clement Sector setting. For those familiar with the Clement Sector setting, Earth Sector is set in Earth Sector after the Conduit Collapse of 2350. Earth Sector, while it can be played without knowledge or familiarity with the Clement Sector setting, is best experienced if you are conversant with the full Clement Sector story.

It is our intention with Earth Sector to branch off from Clement Sector, much as the Conduit Collapse forced the seperate evolution of both sectors. Earth Sector will be its own setting united by the past background before 2331 and then branching off in a new direction afterward. This is the first book in that adventure, and it is our sincere hope that you enjoy where this goes.

Earth Sector is a 300 page product with lots of background. All the major nations of the Earth are detailed, along with the obligatory sector maps and data. New characters from among the various subsectors are introduced as each is unique in some way. There are also multiple career paths detailed, again tailored for this sector and time in space.

As much as I like The Clement Sector and how Independence Games generally approaches the setting, there are two parts of Earth Sector I don’t enjoy. First, like John Watts says, you need familiarity with the background of Clement Sector to fully use this book. There is no timeline in Earth Sector, for that you need to get something like Introduction to Clement Sector or the Clement Sector: Core Setting Book to see the history. Come on! A simple timeline to help orient oneself is not to much of an ask, eh? Second is the aliens in Earth Sector. This is all a matter of taste and to each their own. For my aliens I tend more towards a hard sci-fi or a Space Opera approach. In Earth Sector, the Monikarans, semiaquatic carnivores similar to Earth’s otters, beavers, or weasels, pushes too far into Space Pulp for me. In no way it this a showstopper for me; the Independence Games setting doesn’t hinge on this race so it can be ignored or something else substituted in easily.

The second book I picked up was Tech Update: 2350. The cover clearly identifies this as both a Clement Sector and Earth Sector product. The book details updates to technology, on both sides of the Conduit Collapse, in the twenty years since the incident. If there is a part I really like, it is the updated Computer rules. If there was one area the designers of Original Traveller missed it was computer technology. Even Mongoose Traveller and early Clement Sector retain much of the old or outright ignore the original version. In Tech Update: 2350, Independence Games lays down a marker on new Computer rules that are a believable reworking of the original version.

The third book I purchased is Knox-Class Frigate, another is a long line of ship sourcebooks from Independence Games. Like Tech Update: 2350, this book is branded for both Clement and Earth Sector. These are 1,000 dTon ships with a 4G maneuver drive and a Zimm Drive (interstellar FTL) of 2 parsec range. The ships are very heavily armed with a 2x 50 ton Meson Bays and 2x 50 ton Particle Beam Bays.

The last item I picked up is another ship book. Lance-Class Gunboat details an older design from the days before gravitic drives. In many ways, a Lance-class looks like Independence Games version of the Rochinante from The Expanse. The Lance is a 300 dTons boat with a Fusion Plasma Reaction Drive delivering 12 hours of 3G thrust. It is armed with a 50 ton Spinal Particle Beam Mount, a Railgun Barbette, a Triple Turret. It is a ‘tower’ design with decks perpendicular to the main thruster. I like these older boats and looking at their designs as it helps me explore the full depth of world-building the rules offer.