Traveller Tuesdays - Encounters in Sphere Fenix (3)

This week for Traveller Tuesdays, Gaming with Chuck is continuing in a series of articles on random encounters in Sphere Fenix - a star government in the first quadrant of the Crucis Margin sector that spans approximately 15-20 parsecs across.  The reason for this approach was to generate enough background information about the organizations and ships in and around Sphere Fenix to be useful for a sandbox type game.  All of this will be gather up into a pdf once it is finished.

There are times when a random starship needs to be determined (as a floating hulk, derelict, victim of a pirate, or other reason). The following table, which is keyed to starport type (and is modified from the table found in The Traveller Book) is useful for this.

Starships, by Starport Type
dice	A	B	C	D	E	X
2	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	-	-	-	-	K	-
5	-	-	-	-	-	L
6	S	A	-	L	-	-
7	A	S	R	K	-	-
8	R	A	A	S	-	-
9	M*	R*	R*	SP	S	T
10	Y	M	Q	A	A	Q
11	T	R	T	R	Q	CP
12	R*	C*	Y	M	CP	C
13	M*	Y*	A	Y	-	-
14	C*	T*	S*	Q	-	-
15	T*	C*	Y*	-	-	-
DM +2 if Naval Base in system DM +1 if Scout Base in system

A letter code indicates a standard ship class, as indicated by the following list. If a ship class is accompanied by the letter P that indicates that the ship, while not specifically a pirate vessel, is engaged in pirate activities. An asterisk indicates that there are also small craft (1d3) present. Roll for them on the Small Craft table below. A dash means something non-standard, roll on the Special table below.

• A - Trader
• C -Mercenary Cruiser
• K - Safari Ship
• L - Laboratory Ship
• M - Passenger Liner
• Q - Pirate Vessel
• R - Merchant Vessel
• S - Scout Vessel
• T - Patrol Cruiser
• Y - Yacht

If small craft are indicated, roll on the following table. If located in a system with a ship that could carry the craft, then it is part of that ship's complement. Otherwise roll on the small craft disposition table.

Small Craft Table
Die	Vessel
0	20t Launch
1	30t Ship's Boat
2	30t Slow Boat
3	40t Pinnace
4	40t Slow Pinnace
5	50t Cutter
6	95t Shuttle
7	10t Fighter
DM+1 if Naval base in system DM-1 if Scout base in system

Once the vessel(s) are determined, consider the accompanying starship that was already determined. If the small craft can be carried by that starship, then that is its source, otherwise the role of those not assigned to starships in the system is determined by the following table.

Unassigned Small Craft
Die	Role
1	Derelict
2	Marooned Crew
3	Survivors
4	Smugglers
5	Survey
6	Patrol
7	In-system Cargo
8	In-system Liner
9	Courier
DM +1 if Pop 6+ DM +2 if TL 8+

Each one of the ship types listed above can be given more information on the appropriate subtables either already developed, presented below, or to be developed.

Pirates, for instance, have already been covered in this posting.