Turn your face to the sky at night, and you will see Charted Space: A glittering whorl of starlight, as far as the eye can see. And as far as the mind can comprehend (or farther), every star’s planets are teeming with life. Here, where Gvurrdon sector kisses the Spinward Marches, life is precious. Even to the grasping, callous hands of empire and megacorporation, life is precious. Even to the dhoune, who toss their own lives to the wind in the name of freedom, life is precious. Even in the midst of war, in the midst of desperation, in the midst of a gilded age that seems more and more like a gilded cage–even now, turn your face to the stars and know that around them, life goes on. Now raise your voice, and protect it.
Traveller Tuesdays: An MFQ Unofficial Traveller Sourcebook
What are Kavanot?
In Jewish tradition, it is sometimes said that doing the right thing is pointless without the intention to do it.1 The Hebrew word Kavanah (more properly כַּוָּנָה) is translated simply as intention, but it means so much more. It comes from the root כון–a root whose simplest meaning is often given as ‘to direct’ or ‘to straighten’, but again, there is more nuance there. To form a steady base, to determine exactly, to prepare one’s mind, to compare, to propose, to direct, to exist. Kavanot (more than one kavanah) are the preparation for a project, but they stay with us throughout the work and are baked into its final form–the whole existence of the project stems from that moment of intention. Traditionally, kavanot are applied to prayer2, but in my tradition, they have been expanded to all kinds of projects, religious and secular. Whenever I make a game, or undertake any other creative project, I begin by stating my kavanot, my intentions, for this project: a few simple statements of intent to be followed throughout my work. I like to keep these in the form of simple statements, using strong verbs and positive constructions. These are, after all, things I am saying I intend to do as I pursue this project. And like traditional kavanot, they are intended to better me as a person and as a creator, so don’t expect a traditional statement of scope or deliverables among them. Ideally, I should be able to apply these kavanot to any project in a similar field, or even to life itself.
Kavanot for Traveller Tuesdays
Respect all life.
Like a doctor, I promise first to do no harm. My respect for all cultures and peoples, and for humanity itself and the world it lives in, must suffuse my art, or it is worthless. With this kavanah, I swear to the following: I will refuse and challenge bigoted tropes and stereotypes, because the games we create teach a worldview to our players, and every bigoted trope that sees print teaches real people to reproduce the structures of oppression and hatred. I will reject fatalism. By this I mean that I will reject the idea that people are inherently cruel or kind, since that worldview fails to hold us responsible for doing good in the world, and I will reject the idea that personality and actions are decided by genetics, because that worldview supports discrimination on the basis that others are inherently less worthy or good. I will depict realistic societies and characters, because while abstraction can be narratively useful, in a project like this which purports to show a holistic view of an entire setting, it reduces worldviews to simplistic tropes. As part of this, I will center societies as being the creation of groups of people. Nations and societies are not individual characters with their own goals and ideals; they are groups of fallible and conflicting people with aligning goals and ideals who create structures which can and will change. Treating societies as individual characters takes agency away from the people who make them up, teaching us to ignore our own agency in the societies we are part of. Lastly, I will avoid anthropocentric thought. No one species, however powerful, is a perfect species against which all others should be measured. There are infinite kinds of minds and bodies, infinite ways of life, and all are worthy of consideration.
Explore Real-World Science
In making a science-fiction project, I promise to myself and my readers to do as much research as I feasibly can. Basing my work in real science highlights the amazing work scientists are doing in the world, shows myself and my readers how fantastic and inspiring the world we already live in is, and provides a grounded basis from which to branch off into speculative elements without overwhelming readers. I do not promise to always constrain my work to the real, but when I do depart from it, I intend to do so only knowing what our understanding of reality is and what departing from it adds to the world I’m creating.
Investigate Every Decision
In keeping with the former two kavanot, the purpose of this project is to provide a Traveller setting where no decision has been made lazily. Every detail of the world I create here is one that I choose to make true; I swear to myself to know exactly why that detail is the way it is and not some other way. Even if that reason is “there were several equally good options, and I picked one,” it will not have been reached without thought and intentionality. Among my considerations, I want to highlight respect (as per my first kavanah), realism (as per my second kavanah), wonder and excitement (as per my next kavanah), tradition from official Traveller works, ease of play, and inspiration.
Center Player Experience
Traveller is first and foremost a game, and this project is a game design project. I commit to center the joy and fun of the players whenever and wherever I reasonably can. One of the powerful elements of speculative fiction is the wonder and excitement new worlds evoke in us; I want those feelings to be an important part of the setting. Another important feeling I want to evoke in players is empowerment, the knowledge that through action we can change the world. I don’t intend this supplement for players who want to simulate the minutiae of capitalism, since I think the core Traveller ruleset adequately covers that. I intend to focus on players who want to experience the Traveller world as everyday heroes facing down injustice in the name of the many unique and beautiful worlds of Charted Space. Also, I find it important to state that the GM is a player, and deserves just as much excitement, joy, fun, and support from the game as any other player. Playing in this world must not become a chore for anyone.
Listen to All Advice
I am bringing this project from the depths of my mind to a blog anyone can read to share my joy and inspiration with you, but also to learn from others what impact my creations are having. If you, reading, have any thoughts on what I have to say, in this or any Traveller Tuesday, please comment. No thought is too insignificant, no idea too silly or stupid, no question too obvious. I will try my best to respond to all comments made with respect. I may not, after thinking about what you’ve brought forward, agree with you, or make exactly the changes you want or even any changes at all, but I promise that I will read every comment, consider it with an open mind, and reply.
So What Are Traveller Tuesday?
Put simply, I’ll be sharing some aspect of my homebrew Traveller setting every Tuesday. I intend to start with a general topic, then dive into the specifics, maintaining a clear linking between related posts through footnotes. Each Tuesday, I’ll introduce an aspect of a Traveller game setting, then discuss the specifics of that aspect in my world. Then there will be an Investigate Every Decision section where I discuss the choices I’ve made, other things I’ve considered, and why my decisions are the way there are. If you’re reading this in the future, for older articles, there may also be a changelog which addresses changes made to the post on that topic and links to where I’ve discussed making that change. After that, I will highlight some comments made since the last Traveller Tuesday and reply to them in detail for posterity. Finally, there will be footnotes with citations and links to connected posts.
Edit, 1/9/24: Corrected all instances of “Thursday” to Tuesday. Apologies for the inconvenience!
See You Next Week For “Traveller Tuesday: Milieu XX16”!
- “Learn from this that mitzvot require intent”, Berakhot 13a, The William Davidson Talmud (via Sefaria) ↩︎
- Read more about this tradition here! ↩︎