The Good, The Bad, & The Clement Sector - Thoughts on the Blackness & The Frontier

 Clement Sector is one of the more interesting incarnations of the Cepheus Engine rpg  has a starship universe that tops out around TL12 or 13 that is perfect small interstellar craft space adventure campaign setting. Why?! Because of the fact the Clement Sector has very few limits on the PC's & so many options for campaign angles. 

The Clement Sector thrives on the Space Western themes & works best when coupled with rpg players who are into the idea of the Western theme. Time & again over the past couple of months the Serenity tv show has been one of my go too jams to sell a Clement or Earth sector because of the way John Watts sells these two rpg settings; "Clement Sector is a small ship setting, with restrictions on the size of starships bought about by the Zimm drive, the setting’s only means of FTL interstellar travel." The Zimm drive is as much of a part of the Clement Sector as other rpg campaign setting elements. The closing of the Earth wormhole is both a blessing or a curse depending upon how it affects the further expansion of humanity within the blackness. The Zim drive is a part of the balancing element allowing humanity to expand itself further into the edges of the map. And because of the small size of the starships and their technological levels it has many elements in common with the Wild West of history. And these translate into the expansionist attitude known as "Manifest Destiny" and the historians' "Frontier Thesis" being a part of the Clement Sector. Why is this important because it makes creating adventures that much easier.And this gets borne out far more in the Tech Update 2350 where the borders expand as the space technology eases the map expansion just a bit more.

The stakes have become higher, the corporations exploration agenda kicks into high gear, and there's fare more going on within the Clement Sector & without. The smaller starships means that the frontier is just as dangerous at the lower technological levels as the higher ones. Exploration, jobs, etc are all in a day's work for a day's pay for a starship crew. 
Within the Clement Sector its business as usual but outside of the borders of the known qualities there's plenty of danger to be had. And its within these grey areas that our parties often find themselves in the Wild West adventure  analogies .  From cattle russling, to straight up bank robbery the players I've played with over the last couple of months have drawn straight from the American Frontier. And almost every time the mini campaigns have been highly successful. 

Five Reasons for this have been as follows: 

1. There have been very low scale jobs involving both sides of the law enabling there to be far more grey areas then in other campaigns. 
2. The Space Western adventure idea lends itself to lots of different campaign venues. You can literally go from straight up exploration into almost borderline Science Fiction horror scenarios easily. 
3. The sheer variety of ideas, settings, etc. when a party has a space craft is mind blowing & the hooks, lines, and sinkers from a Frontier campaign is baked into the Clement Sector. 
4. There are a lot of NPC's & factions within the Clement sector allowing the DM to set one or more of them after the PC's. This is regardless if their aware of it or not. 
5. The bad elements of the Clement sector are not ones to sit on their laurels. They will & do continue to cause mayhem in space regardless of the players wishes and this is something that will cause the PC's endless trouble. 

OSR Commentary On The Pleiades-class Light Freighter For The Clement Sector Rpg

 "Need a freighter?  On a budget?  We have the ship for you!

Smaller sister ship to the venerable Atlas-class, the Pleiades is a 300 tonne light freighter designed in competition to the Rucker-class.  Perfect for a crew who are carrying cargo and campaigning through Earth Sector or Clement Sector!"



"This book features both the TL11 version of the Pleiades common in Clement Sector and the TL13 version often found in Earth Sector.  Also featured is the Dustmote-class variant of the Pleiades designed to remain insystem and is shown here in both the TL11 version found in Clement Sector and the TL13 version found in Earth Sector.

The book fully details the ship with deckplans by Michael Johnson and beautiful art by Ian Stead."
Today's blog entry is going to pick right up from here.  So back in April we took a look at the  Pleiades-class Light Freighter For The Clement Sector Rpg. And now in June we're looking at using these startships as a 'Pony Express' style  Western hyperspace gateway corridor within our Cepheus Engine campaigns. This being said the Pleiades-class Light Freighter is going be perfectly angled as targets for space pirates!

So what does this have to do with the Pony Express well metaphorically speaking this hyperspace gate run is going to be a test run of only 20 years or so. This is chicken scratch to the corporations of the Clement Sector who are used to ventures taking quite a bit longer. And this is all made way too clear within the  the tech update 2350 which goes over the roles of star ships  in the Clement Sector. 

 And the Lance-class Gunboat design and variations could be left over Earth sector technology that the Clement sector has adopted and modified for their own uses. 
Michael Johnson's writing on the Pleiades-class Light Freighter makes this perfectly clear within the development of this iconic class; "Prior to the Collapse, all Dustmote-class in-system haulers in Clement Sector are modified Pleiades-class ships converted by local shipyards rather than new builds imported from Earth Sector. This was done for the simple reason of cost savings rather than any other reason, given the fact that the in-system hauler could have a relatively inexpensive reconversion back to a starship. After the Collapse in 2331, Cascadia Orbital began to offer the Dustmote-class as a purpose-built option with steady sales being reported with the hope of trying to capture some of the conversion market by offering a new vessel. Buying new meant far fewer issues with maintenance and reliability." 

And its this reliability & ultility that makes  the Pleiades-class Light Freighter a winner especially in combination with other caravan style military starships. We'll get into the how's & why's later on. 

OSR Review & Commentary On The Lance-class Gunboat By Michael Johnson, & Bradley Warnes From Independence Games

 "The Lance-class is a 300-ton Royal Navy gunboat that revived the concept of a gunboat.    Armed with a 50-ton particle beam spinal mount and a railgun barbette, the Lance had the capability to be a serious threat to larger warships.  The Lance was used by the British to defend their colonial holdings in Earth Sector and inspired several nations to come up with their own versions of these powerful little vessels."

"Together with a purpose constructed interstellar capable gunboat carrier, the Maidstone-class, this allowed the Royal Navy to deploy up to six Lance-class gunboats to any system in which it was needed. This allowed for enormous flexibility and was a novel concept at a time where carriers were beginning to be considered by some navies to be an obsolete concept in space."

"This book comes complete with full deckplans and statistics for both the Lance and the Maidstone to make your use of our product simple, easy, and fun.  In addition, the book includes some excellent fiction by author Bradley Warnes."

"Though specifically designed for our Clement Sector setting, the Lance and the Maidstone can be imported into any science fiction setting with little effort."

"Climb aboard!  Adventure awaits!"

Lance-class Gunboat By Michael Johnson, &  Bradley Warnes is a very solid sixty one page supplement for old school Traveller & the Earth Sector rpg. Here the Lance-class Gunboat is really featured right out of the gate. The Lance class Gunboat isn't the first sort of ship that one thinks of when it comes to interstellar adventure. But these boats see themselves into the thick of the fray in many battles & there aftermaths. The fact that these gun boats are often embroiled in the affairs & battles of the Clement  sector makes them excellent foils for Cepheus Engine rpg adventure especially in the Clement sector rpg. 
And it's this aspect of the gunboat that makes them perfectly suited to a small party of crew that find themselves in trouble & battles more oftern then not. This is also true of the Lance Class gun boats even unto their development; " At the same time various designs for a new uprated patrol boat (that later evolved into the Lance-class gunboat) were being examined by the Royal Navy, the Admiralty Board requested expressions of interest for a Zimm capable carrier of no more than two and a half thousand displacement tonnes that could deploy a full six boat squadron. The carrier design tender took longer to resolve and even longer to decide which design was preferable. Eventually though, a design was chosen and construction of the first of the three carriers to be ordered was commenced in 2208. "
From busting up space piracy, interstellar smuggling, human trafficking, etc. the Lance class gunboat is going to be where the action is! 
This is especially true of the tech update 2350 which goes over the roles of star ship in the Clement Sector. The role of the Lance Class Gunboat reminds me of the Iron Clads during the American Civil War. 

The attention to detail in the design of the Lance Class Gunboat is reflected in the fiction of Bradley Warnes and Michel Johnson's writing. There's more then enough adventure hooks if the Lance class gunboat is used in a Cepheus Engine campaign. The deadliness of these ships is not to be underestimated within a Clement or Earth Sector campaign. The Lance-class Gunboat By Michael Johnson, &  Bradley Warnes is solidly done & would make an excellent addition to any Cepheus Engine or Old School Traveller rpg campaign. 

Lance-class Gunboat By Michael Johnson, &  Bradley Warnes From Independence Games For Old School Traveller & Cepheus Engine rpg is Available Here