Experiment 7: New Hope

“One must be cunning and wicked in this world.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

I found generating the statblocks for Hollis in multiple game systems gave me quite a good feel for the place, so as I'm using the 5150 setting now, let's repeat that exercise with New Hope, the default base world for 5150. I'm dropping Stars Without Number this time, it's been years since I've used it in anger and that probably won't change any time soon; class and level advancement and SF just don't go together for me.

The details of New Hope vary a little from product to product, so I'm working from a combination of 5150 Fringe Space, 5150 No Limits Maiden Voyage and the 2021 edition of 5150 New Beginnings, all of which go into some detail, although the latter has the most information. Where there is a clash, NLMV has precedence, then FS, then NB. There's also at least one setting book for 5150, but I have what I need already, and I'm cautious of getting sucked down the rabbit hole again, as happened many times with Traveller.

5150

All one needs to know mechanically for 5150 is that New Hope is a Class 2 world with Law Level 2, that it is part of the Hegemony though not under its direct control, but the Xeogs dispute that and say it's theirs.

Traveller

TL:DR: New Hope C76254-9 Ni

Starport: C. In 5150 you can repair damage and refuel on any planet, but there's no mention of any construction facilities or bases on New Hope.

Size: 7. That's the closest to Earth-sized you can get for the stated atmosphere and hydrographic percentage. Any edition of Traveller would give you a surface gravity of around 0.9 for that.

Atmosphere: 6. Standard pressure and breathable without assistance.

Temperature (Mongoose Traveller only, and not even Mongoose actually uses it): Strictly speaking, New Hope just squeezes into Temperate, but the descriptive text for Hot is a better fit. If we were to use Hot, it would give a -2 DM to the Hydrographics roll, which could be accommodated.

Hydrographics: 2. 5150NB explicitly says 15% surface water, so I'll round that up to 20%. It seems to be this which makes it a Class 2 planet rather than Class 1.

Population: 5. No Limits Maiden Voyage is silent on this; Fringe Space says 125,000 to 300,000, 98% in NHC; New Beginnings says one to three million, with 90% in the city. Maybe there has been a recent influx of population? I've gone with the earlier statement.

Government: 4 (Representative Democracy). 5150 says political power lies in the hands of a few, some elected, some not.

Law Level: 4. No Limits Maiden Voyage states that automatic weapons are illegal, but pistols are permitted, which is an exact match for level 4.

Tech Level: 9. Here, you could argue anything from TL 9 to TL 13, depending on which items you think are designed and built locally, and which are imported. I decided to roll with 9, as it's the highest possible given the other stats. That means all enhancements, robots, ships etc are imported, and local weapons are slugthrowers or lasers, which means I don't need to add any weapons from the SWADE SFC.

Remarks: No bases or gas giants are mentioned, though a gas giant is more likely than not. It's a Non-Industrial world whichever edition of the rules you use, and if you want a cultural difference from Mongoose 2nd Edition, I'd go with Barbaric - the principal sport is the Competitive Violence League, and gunfights in the streets are not uncommon.

SWADE SF Companion

Planetary Gravity: Normal. (There's nothing in any 5150 product I have to say it isn't.)

Dominant Terrain: Desert. (15% free-standing water, and from private correspondence with the author I know he based the NHC area on Arizona.) That gives a base temperature of 85 F.

Atmosphere: Normal. (Again, nothing to say it isn't.). Modify temperature by 1d20-10 F, so we may as well leave it as is; 85 F or about 29 C. That would be the average annual temperature, I assume; Lake Havasu City, on which NHC is patterned, has an average temperature or 23 C or 73 F, give or take a couple of degrees depending on whose figures you believe.

Population Density: Let's say Sparse. My dislike of this approach to world population is well known; the reality is that it would be very or extremely dense in NHC, and very or extremely sparse outside it. I can feel my blood pressure rising already, so let's move on.

Dominant Government: Could be anything, but let's go with Oligarchy.

Authority: This is the equivalent to law level, let's say Lenient.

Customs: The best fit I can see is "weapons limited" for all of society. No assault rifles for you.

Technology Level: Meh, "Average for the Setting", since it doesn't seem to vary much from planet to planet in 5150.

Spaceport: Looking at the description of available facilities, Small looks like a good match; can provide services, basic repairs, and fuel, with developed areas a short ride away.

Dilemma: Clearly a Diplomatic Dilemma, as ownership is contested.

Factions and Fronts

I'll allow the rules to generate fronts procedurally, so that the game has some elements of surprise, but from the description of New Hope in 5150 I can see some major factions and questions which would make interesting plot threads:

• The Gaean Hegemony wants to impose their laws and will on New Hope. (Why haven't they done that already?)
• The Xeogs want to claim New Hope as part of their sphere. (Why? Why haven't they done that already?)
• Organised crime in Ring 3 wants to retain New Hope as a safe planet. (Is that why the Gaeans and Xeogs have left it independent? How much influence do the crime rings have, how are they using it, and on whom?)
• The local rulers want to retain their independence and power rather than simply being a puppet for one of the other factions. (How are they playing the other three off against each other to achieve that?)

There are some other questions to explore in play as well:

• Who built the ATP network, and why?
• What in-game reason is there for all races and states using the same ship types?
• Why are the other races so close to Terran hominids?

Quite possibly the 5150 Setting book explains those, but I've learned from Traveller to limit which official products I use in a campaign.

Coda

So there we have it; New Hope is Class 2 Law Level 2, or if you prefer Traveller for this sort of thing, C762544-9 Ni. I could park it in Foreven Sector, but there's neither need for that nor benefit to it.

I'm quite looking forward to visiting there again.